Prime Target
Title card via TFWiki, fan-archive fair use
A big-game hunter sets his sights on the ultimate trophy, Optimus Prime, baiting a trap the Decepticons are happy to exploit.
Over the Arctic, Oktober Guard One is flying an experimental jet, when it is suddenly speared by a submarine under the ice. She ejects, but the plane is captured. It turns out that the plane was stolen by Lord Chumley, a game hunter, who tells his manservant Dinsmore that he needs one more thing to complete his collection... the head of Optimus Prime.
Heading into town, Tracks and Bumblebee spot Blitzwing and Astrotrain and head after them. However, the Decepticons are revealed to be holograms as part of a trap set by Chumley. Back at the Autobot base, the Autobots are watching a soap opera which is interrupted by a news broadcast about the theft of the plane. Apparently, the Soviet Union is accusing the United States of America of the theft, which the United States denies, and the two countries are ready to go to war. Having not heard back from Bumblebee and Tracks, Prime orders the Autobots to search for their friends. However, Chumley has devised several traps for the Autobots and manages to capture Jazz, Beachcomber, Grapple, Blaster, and Inferno, the latter of whom sends a message to Prime about the capture. Not wanting to risk the others, Prime orders the Autobots to return to base.
While they regroup, Cosmos sends a message to Prime, saying that he's found the missing bots, who are being held in (poorly designed) traps intended to prevent them from escaping. Chumley himself contacts Prime and requests his presence. Pissed at seeing his friends tortured, Prime overloads Chumley's screen and orders the Autobots to remain at the base.
However, Megatron has been keeping an eye on the events and feels that Chumley, though a flesh creature, may be useful...especially since he's done more in two days than Megatron has done in two years, which Starscream takes the time to point out. Unaware that Chumley is only after Prime, Megatron sends Blitzwing and Astrotrain (surprise, surprise) to make a deal between Chumley and the Decepticons.
Arriving at Chumley's castle, Prime finds himself in a "well researched" mock-up of Cybertron. He unleashes a monster on Prime, but Prime is able to defeat it. Heading down a corridor, Prime finds a young woman imprisoned, but leaves. Blitzwing investigates, and gets trapped in a goo-net intended for Prime, much to Astrotrain's irritation. Finally, Chumley sends out a mechanical scorpion, but Prime is shot in the back by Astrotrain and apparently killed. Furious that his prize has been ruined, Chumley takes the Decepticons prisoner and defuses their energy weapons.
Knowing that Prime is alive, Bumblebee sends their coordinates to the Autobot leader, who enters the castle. A mechanical spider is dispatched, but Prime destroys it and heads into Chumley's control room. Dinsmore hides in a tank while Chumley frees the Decepticons on the promise that they'll fight the Autobot. Instead Astrotrain and Blitzwing go after Chumley to "See how he likes being hunted." The Autobots are freed by Prime, and Blitzwing and Astrotrain retreat after realizing that they are unarmed. Chumley is left at the mercy of Prime.
The Autobots return the plane to the Soviet Union, with Chumley strapped to its nose. The world thanks Optimus Prime for his efforts in solving the mystery.
—Dinsmore and Chumley are older'n hell, apparently.
—The Autobots do not like to miss their soaps.
—Chumley and Astrotrain on the same wavelength as Blitzwing falls for the booby trap.
—Optimus Prime says "boobies".
—Astrotrain vainly tries to free Blitzwing
- Grapple's voice is much higher and more nasal than usual in this episode, presumably an attempt by Peter Renaday to distinguish him from Lord Chumley, whom he also voices.
- Chumley is one of the most outlandish characters in the entire series. He seems to be insanely rich, while having access to scads of ludicrous technology: He deploys some unfathomably improbable traps and devices. The most hilarious are a pair of giant hands that come to life from a billboard to fold up Blaster into his tape deck mode (somehow forcing him to shrink at the same time). The list also includes a giant fully-animated mechanical scorpion that is impervious to Optimus Prime's laser fire, some sort of instant-hardening liquid which is also impervious to Astrotrain's blaster, a giant mechanical black widow, a self-animating energy net, a "holographic projection rifle" that projects fully-animated 3D images of Astrotrain and Blitzwing running through alleys and streets, complete with sound effects; giant mechanical tentacle arms (which can somehow be transported by a comparatively tiny forklift), a tube/hose/thing that is smart enough to wrap itself around Inferno and snip off his communicator, and a set of heavy steel girders which can assemble themselves into a cage while in freefall.
- Furthermore, he's somehow worked quite a few of his traps and gadgets right into publicly-owned infrastructure. A suction clamp comes snaking out of a toll booth; a giant drill comes out of a street lamp while clamps emerge from a manhole; and railroad crossing gates descend at his command.
- In addition to all the crazy technology he uses for recreational purposes, he's seen to own a submarine, a sprawling clifftop castle (with what looks like an abandoned oil refinery right next to it), a fully operational steam locomotive, a custom-modified car wash, an apartment building (which he casually burns), a veritable fleet of flatbed and other trucks, a heavy construction crane (and presumably the entire construction site where it's located), a taxi cab, a fire truck, and a barge.
- He also has the money to build a replica of part of Cybertron just to hunt Optimus in.
- Chumley's hunting and history includes: Hunting Javanese tigers
Screencaps via TFWiki (Teletraan I), used under fan-archive fair use.