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"Save the Little Girl! The Chōjin Warriors, the Godmasters" 少女を救え!超神戦士ゴッドマスター () (Shōjo o Sukue! Chōjin Senshi Godmaster)
Production company	Takara, Toei
Airdate	20 September 1988
Writer	Toyohiro Andō
Director	Jōhei Matsūra
Animation studio	Toei
Continuity	Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

Cab's return home is an unhappy one thanks to the latest scheme by the Decepticons, which puts the life of his childhood friend Copo in danger.

Synopsis

Mars needs men too?

The Autobot Headmaster Juniors have some downtime, and Cab is overjoyed to return to the Karin Islands. He, Minerva and Shūta are already on their way as Cab's guardian Donq tells Cab's friend Copo of the prince's impending return to the island. However, Copo is suffering from a circulatory disease, and the visiting physician, Doctor Dado, recommends to Donq that she be moved to the hospital on Viscas Island right away. Dado returns to his office, but then disaster strikes when he becomes a victim of the Decepticons' latest plan—to kidnap doctors from all around the world. Gilmer bursts through the floor and seizes the doctor, departing before Donq's shocked eyes.

Cab and the other Juniors soon arrive and are greeted by Donq, who, unwilling to trouble his prince any more than is necessary, does not tell them about Gilmer, but gives them the bad news about Copo's illness. They go to visit her in the medical hut, but as Cab presents her with a gift, she collapses, and Donq is forced to reveal that Doctor Dado has been kidnapped. Recognizing Gilmer from Donq's description, Shuta contacts Metalhawk at Autobot Base, and the four Godmasters are deployed to take care of the situation.

"So we just keep 'em here?"
"Yep"
"We're not gonna eat 'em or anything?"
"Nope"

Meanwhile, the captured doctors are being held on Atlan Island in the South Pacific by the Decepticon Pretenders under specific orders from Mega, desperate to regain their lost standing among the Decepticon ranks. Amongst their number, Dado spots the circulatory expert who needs to treat Copo, Doctor Rhodan, but Dauros silences them when he attempts to communicate with him. The rest of the Decepticons observe the scene from afar, gathered around a viewing monitor in their base, and Mega muses on the nature of her plan—to rob humans of their will to live by making them realize the fleetingness of life. This is, er, accomplished by removing doctors from the equation, apparently. Mmn.

That's some mighty fine dental work.

As Copo's condition worsens, Cab and Minerva attempt to take her to Viscas Island themselves, only for their boat to be attacked by a Gulf Seacon. Thankfully, they are rescued by the timely arrival of the Godmasters aboard a hovercraft, which speedily carries everyone to Viscas Island. As the Godmasters return to Karin Island to pick up Shūta, they discover Doctor Dado floating in the water—he has managed to escape the Decepticons, outracing Dauros and diving off a cliff into the ocean in the process, and tells the Autobots about the doctors held on Atlan Island. Shūta then escorts Dado to Viscas Island where he can tend to Copo while the Godmasters go to the rescue of Rhodan and the other doctors.

As night settles in, the Godmasters begin their attack on the island. Road King creates a distraction that draws the Decepticons out of their cave, and while Blood is occupied with him, Ranger attacks from behind, only to be met with resistance from Dauros. Lightfoot proceeds to tackle Gilmer directly, drawing him away from the cave and allowing Ginrai to slip inside. As the battle rages outside (with the Pretenders getting thoroughly thrashed), Ginrai explains to Rhodan and the other doctors that Copo's time is running out, and that he must take Rhodan to her right away, with no time to get the other doctors to safety. Putting the health of a patient before themselves, the doctors all encourage Rhodan to go to Copo's aid right away, but as they exit the cave, they are confronted with a number of Seacons that the Pretenders have summoned.

Unfortunately the Autobots failed to stop the Decepticons' next plot: draining the world of color and leaving everything sepia toned.

As the beasts charge, the Godmasters leap to protect Rhodan, and unleash their most powerful super-moves. Lightfoot blasts a Tentakil to smithereens with his Land Waterfall attack; Road King unleashes the Rotary Burst Typhoon, spinning himself and colliding with a Gulf with explosive results; Ranger reduces an Overbite to particles with a wave of his Heat Sand Attack; and Ginrai connects with his transtector in time to let loose the almighty Atomic Fire Guts, destroying a Lobclaw.

The Pretenders flee, returning to their base in disgrace, where Hydra and Buster reveal that they were the ones who came up with the plan. As the brothers argue with the Pretenders, Mega silences them, disgusted at the sight of comrades fighting, and tells them that it was not a failure, merely a first step.

The Autobots, meanwhile, rush to Viscas Island with Doctor Rhodan, who successfully treats Copo, leading to a full recovery. The Godmasters head back to Japan, but the Juniors are able to stay on the island and finally enjoy their vacation.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Young master, it is dangerous to associate with a beautiful girl like this!"
"Gramps! You're always talking nonsense!"

—Donq and Cab

Notes

Animation and technical errors

• The portion of the floor that Gilmer bursts through is colored distinctly different from the surrounding floorboards.

Continuity errors

• The wall Gilmer breaks through to the outside of the clinic should instead contain a door to another room of the facility.
• Ginrai ordered Shūta to use the hovercraft to get Dr. Dado to Viscas Island, but then the Godmasters immediately used it to go to Atlan Island.

Continuity notes

• Donq previously appeared in "Terror! The Decepticons' Manhunt".
• Viscas Island was last seen in "A Fierce Battle!! The Autobots Are in Trouble".
• This episode features the first and (in all but one case) only use of the Godmasters' unique super-attacks, most notably Ginrai's soon-to-be famous "Fire Guts" attack. This is the only time he uses it in his basic robot form, and it is simply a powerful blast from his cannon that he names the "Atomic Fire Guts"—a far cry from the even-more-dramatic super-finisher that it will become.

Trivia

• "Chōjin" means "Super-God". The word is also used in the literal Japanese title of the series (Chōjin Masterforce), but the R2 DVD translation for this episode title left it untranslated as we have done here, 'cause the translated form is bit on the redundant side here ("The Super-God Warriors, the Godmasters").
• It's pretty obvious why Hydra and Buster don't make plans for the team that often—because this is the single most ridiculous Saturday-morning-cartoon scheme the Decepticons try to pull off in the entire series (and, indeed, is even more short-sighted and takes more liberties and assumptions than any of Megatron's plans). Kidnapping doctors to make people fear for their health, thereby making them recognize the brevity of life, thereby making them lose the will to live? WHAT?
• There would very much appear to be some of sort of thematic basis in the classic elements for the Godmasters' individual powers. Ginrai's is clearly fire, Lightfoot's is water, Ranger's would be earth, and... well, we guess "spinning around" might count as "wind" or "air" for Road King. However, although they do not use their powers in the series, Buster and Hydra's on-package bios note that they possess control over wind and thunder respectively (the later being control of electricity, a typical "extra" element you'll find tossed into Japanese fiction), and if the idea is that each Godmaster gets an element to themselves, Road King's whirling dervish routine becomes hard to classify.

Foreign localization

English

• Title: "Save the Young Girl" (Omni Productions dub)
• Original airdate: November 4, 1990

Home video releases

DVD

2003 — Transformers: Super-God Masterforce — DVD Box 01 (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2006 — The Takara Collection Vol 2 — Transformers: Super-God Masterforce (Metrodome)
2007 — Transformers — The Complete Takara Collection (Metrodome)
2008 — The Transformers: Super God Masterforce (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — The Transformers: Japan Generation 1 — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)
2012 — Transformers: The Japanese Collection (Shout! Factory)
2012 — Transformers Japanese Collection: Super-God Masterforce (Shout! Factory)