« Transformers: The Headmasters ep 25 »
Do I feel lucky? Well, do you... punk?
"The Emperor of Destruction Vanishes on an Iceberg" 氷山に消えた破壊大帝 () (Hyōzan ni Kieta Hakai Taitei)
Production company	Takara, Toei
Airdate	29 January 1988
Writer	Yoshihisa Araki
Director	Akinori Ōrai
Animation studio	Toei
Continuity	Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

With the true extent of Galvatron's master plan revealed, the Autobot Headmasters face the Emperor of Destruction in a final battle in the Arctic.

Synopsis

"So what will you do when you finally find Sixshot?"
"Step on him."

Growing bolder and more determined following the death of Ultra Magnus, Sixshot steps up the Decepticon attack on Earth, dispatching the Stunticons, Combaticons, Terrorcons and Horrorcons to assault the Autobots on numerous fronts. Five installations are simultaneously attacked, and Fortress instructs Twincast and his cassettes to gather information that will allow them to pre-empt the next attack. Even Metroplex, still smarting over Ultra Magnus's demise, wants to participate in the upcoming counterattack. Fortress is not willing to risk Metroplex in battle, and as he argues with the city-bot, reports start pouring in from Autobot bases that are under attack, and numerous Autobot teams race to respond to their distress calls. Metroplex acquiesces, with one provision—when the time comes, Sixshot will be his.

"Now don't go blabbing to everyone, Counterpunch. We don't know who is an Autobot spy."

Meanwhile, on Chaar, Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge watch footage of Sixshot's attack on Earth, with the two lieutenants quietly grumbling about how Sixshot is constantly showing them up. Elsewhere in the base, Counterpunch regards the colossal stockpile of energon cubes that the Decepticons have amassed, and then crosses paths with Galvatron, who explains that he is about to travel to Earth, in order to make history with his next move. Counterpunch, as Punch, heads for Autobot City to inform Fortress and the Headmasters of this, but they mistakenly believe that Galvatron plans to have Scorponok, who has been absent from their sights for some time, lead the attack against the planet. At the same time, Scorponok is discovered by Twincast and Steeljaw in the ruins of an Autobot energy plant in Alaska, which he has demolished. The pair come under attack from a passing Sixshot, who blasts Twincast into a chasm while Steeljaw escapes to report back to Fortress.

Ironically comes to pass nearly twenty years later.

On Athenia, Wheelie, Daniel and Spike watch footage of Decepticon attacks on Earth, with Spike growing more and more enraged at the villains' continuous destruction of Earth's natural environment. He is about to contact Fortress to find out why the Autobots have not done something about this, but Arcee stops him, pointing out that they can fight each other at any time, but that victory can only be won by finding out what Galvatron's true plan is. That part of the equation is concurrently being taken care of by Punch in the Decepticons' Earth base, where, as Counterpunch, he resorts to the most basic of espionage techniques—listening in on a conversation between Sixshot and Galvatron through an air vent. Aware of Scorponok's movements on Earth, Sixshot believes that the Headmaster leader is attempting to blow up Earth as he did Cybertron and Mars before it, in order to stop Galvatron's master plan. Galvatron finally reveals the true extent of his plan to Sixshot—he intends to fuse both himself and the Earth together, so that he may become a Unicron-like entity known as "Grand Galvatron". However, to accomplish this massive feat of engineering, he will require many powerful transformation components, particularly to safeguard the weakest spot on his body, his head. These parts, Galvatron explains, will be culled from the finest Decepticon warriors—with Sixshot being his number one choice for this "noble" sacrifice. Punch makes a beeline for Autobot City to report all he has learned, arriving just as Metroplex convinces Fortress to allow him to join in the attack on Scorponok in Alaska.

One Galvatron, on the rocks.

At the Autobot Science Base in Alaska, Scorponok and the Decepticon Headmasters are planting another in a series of planet-destroying explosives when Sixshot arrives. Scorponok expects a conflict, but Sixshot explains that they may now consider him an ally—he is not willing to allow Galvatron to willingly sacrifice him for spare parts. Galvatron himself arrives seconds later, and Sixshot and Scorponok pantomime a struggle to distract him as the Autobots arrive on the scene. As Metroplex and Sixshot engage in an aerial battle, and Scorponok attacks Battleship Maximus, the four Headmasters surround Galvatron for their final battle with the Decepticon leader. Their fight takes them out of the chasm to a nearby ice field, where Galvatron hurls the four young Transformers into the icy waters. He is about to deliver the killing stroke to Chromedome when Punch arrives to inform the Headmasters that Galvatron's weak spot is his head. The quartet enters Head Formation, bombarding Galvatron with blasts of their combined energy, but the formation is broken when Galvatron shoots Hardhead out of the sky. He retaliates by knocking Galvatron into the ocean, and rejoins the Head Formation; the Headmasters then collapse several icebergs on top of Galvatron, before putting an end to the villain with a colossal explosion. Sixshot and Scorponok retreat, as the Autobots look out over the icy sea—the final resting place of the Emperor of Destruction.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Well dun Sixshot very good WAHAHAHA!"

—Galvatron is extremely happy with Sixshot's performance.

"This is Unicorn! The Earth will soon be a part of me!"
"Whooooooaaaaa."

—Galvatron proudly unveils the Grand Galvatron design to Sixshot.

"His plan is terrible."

— Counterpunch says what we're all thinking about Galvatron's plan.

"I'm gonna kill all of you!"
"We should be saying that to you Galvatron!"

—Galvatron threatens Hardhead.

"Darn, my dream is ruined! Come and help me somebody quicklyyyyyyahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

—Galvatron's last words.

Notes

Continuity notes

• Galvatron's master plan was first hinted at in "Fight to the Death on Planet Hive!!", and it was revealed that he planned to "incorporate the Earth into his system" in "Ultra Magnus Dies!!", but precisely what that entailed was not explained until this episode. The idea itself was a decent one (especially given Galvatron's desire to gain control of Unicron's power by subjugating him in The Transformers: The Movie), but the visual execution was absolutely, ridiculously hilarious.
• Scorponok's desire for power was pretty obvious almost from the moment he appeared in the series, but his current plan for the destruction of Earth was begun in the previous episode.
• Head Formation continues to undergo new changes with each passing episode. This time, the Headmasters debut the ability to shoot their charged-up energy as destructive bolts.
• Galvatron will not be freed from his icy imprisonment until Return of Convoy, when Dark Nova releases him and upgrades him into Super Megatron.

Animation and technical errors

• When Twincast sends the Cassettes off to their work, his chest buttons are yellow some of the time instead of gray.
• Strafe and Afterburner appear to form a large amount of Computron's torso as well as his arms.
• As Brainstorm announces that MegaZarak's going to lead the attack on Earth, his lower forehead is grey instead of the same mustard color as the rest of his face.
• During his conversation with Metroplex shortly before they go to find the Decepticons, the bit beside Fortress's eye is white like his face instead of blue like his eyes as usual.
• When Metroplex first takes off after the Maximus, his helmet is white instead of black.
• In a couple of shots as Sixshot and Scorponok talk, the bottom rim of Weirdwolf's visor is grey instead of red.
• During the long-distance shot of the Headmasters standing on the ice shelf, Fortress is colored as Fortress Maximus and Twincast's torso is drawn as a yellow block.

Continuity errors

• When the Autobots are looking for Galvatron, they're flying over snow fields. Meanwhile, he's in a rocky desert area and that's where they find him and start fighting. It remains rocky until Galvatron throws off the four Headmasters, and as he gloats that they're not a match for him, suddenly he's standing in front of a glacier. Then it switches to a scene with Twincast, and when we return to the fight with Galvatron, they're completely in a polar region.
• So, Galvatron can survive being at ground zero of an explosion powerful enough to blow up an entire planet, and yet he can't dig his way out from under a few tons of ice? That's really screwed up, man.

Trivia

• This episode is one of only a small number to include an original animated sequence before the title card appears. Thus far, every copy of this episode released in the West omits this sequence, which consists of Sixshot rallying the Decepticons.
• Galvatron II's end in Marvel Generation 1 Comics somehow bears a little resemblance to Galvatron's final fate in this episode.
• The Omni Productions dub versions of Galvatron revealing Grand Galvatron and Galvatron's "death" scene are downright hilarious.
• Galvatron's revelation that he's been eyeing up Sixshot's head is... interesting to say the least. It's not revealed which other Decepticons he's hoping to turn into 'volunteer' organ donors, which is perhaps something to be thankful for.
• Punch is the worst spy EVER. During his conversation with Galvatron he acts incredibly nervous, asks random questions that make no sense in the current context, and basically gives Galvatron a massive hint that he's a spy. It's alright though because Galvatron is apparently too stupid to notice this.
• When Sixshot knocks Twincast into the chasm, Steeljaw cries. Real, watery tears. Not in a comedic anime fashion.
• Later on, there's another moment of humanization as we see Twincast has his eyelids shut when he's unconscious.

Foreign localization

English

• Title: "The Final Demise of the King of Destruction"
• Original airdate: January 3, 1993

• Title: "The Emperor of Destruction Vanishes on an Iceberg" (Shout! Factory sub)

• The cold open of Sixshot rallying the Decepticons is removed.
• Repeated references to the Pit and the Inferno are made.

Mandarin

• Title: "Xiāoshī zài Bīngshān de Pòhuài Dàdì " (消失在冰山的破坏大帝, "The Emperor of Destruction Vanishes on an Iceberg")

Italian

• Title: "L'imperatore del male scompare nel ghiaccio!" ("The Emperor of evil disappears in ice!")

Home video releases

Laserdisc

1996 — Transformers: The Headmasters Set (Takara) — Japanese audio only.

DVD

2002 — Transformers: The Headmasters — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2005 — The Takara Collection Vol 1 — Transformers: Headmasters (Metrodome)
2007 — Transformers — The Complete Takara Collection (Metrodome)
2007 — The Transformers: Headmasters (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — The Transformers: Japan Generation 1 — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)
2011 — Transformers Japanese Collection: Headmasters (Shout! Factory) — Japanese audio with optional English subtitles only.
2012 — Transformers: The Japanese Collection (Shout! Factory) — Japanese audio with optional English subtitles only.