The Revenge of Bruticus
Title card via TFWiki, fan-archive fair use
The combiner Bruticus runs amok with a scheme to knock Earth out of its orbit.
Stuck in a cosmic "time out" with the Combaticons, Starscream decides to book it, declaring the Combaticons incompetent. Unfazed, Onslaught has developed a plan of revenge; Blast Off is towing their asteroid to Cybertron. The Combaticons' arrival on Cybertron interrupts a little target practice Shockwave is holding for the Sentinel drones. The Combaticons merge into Bruticus, decimate the Sentinels, and launch gun-mode Shockwave into deep space. Onslaught declares that Operation: Revenge has begun.
On Earth, Megatron is overseeing the Insecticon army, as they devour a city one building at a time. Optimus Prime and the Autobots arrive, but the Insecticons are moving into a nearby neighborhood that is still inhabited. Prime is unwilling to risk civilian casualties, so the Autobot leader sends in the Protectobots to evacuate the civilians.
At the Autobot base, Perceptor is giving Spike Witwicky a little astronomy lesson about shooting stars, noting that the odds of an actual star colliding with the Earth are slim...
Meanwhile, out in space, Starscream literally runs into Shockwave. Apparently unaware that Starscream has been exiled, Shockwave enlists his help to rescue Cybertron.
At Shockwave's base, Brawl is itching for a fight, Blast Off advises calm, as Onslaught is sure to have a plan. That plan involves the Space bridge. Though it is far ahead of any Decepticon technology Onslaught has previously seen, he manages to rig the space bridge to move Earth into its sun, which will destroy the Decepticons and the Autobots at the same time!
On Earth, the humans have been successfully evacuated from the city, and the Autobots begin blasting the Insecticons to bits. However, Spike and Perceptor arrive, Powerglide dropping them off, having learned of Earth's altered orbit, and inform Prime of the peril. The Autobots head for the space bridge, and Megatron orders Shrapnel to remove the space bridge's control console and evacuate.
On Cybertron, Starscream and Shockwave use a holographic projector to make the Combaticons believe that they are under attack. Shockwave discovers Onslaught's space bridge modifications, but Starscream shoots him, then sends Megatron an ultimatum: Surrender leadership of the Decepticons, or everything on Earth, including Megatron and the Decepticons, will fry. However, the Combaticons eventually figure out the ruse, and they imprison Starscream and Shockwave.
Megatron sends Dirge and Ramjet to locate the Insecticons, but they discover that the bug-bots have chewed up the console. The Autobots, who have also tracked down the Decepticons, offered to assist Megatron and the Decepticons. Perceptor repairs the console with parts from Prime and Megatron. Prime insists that the Autobots be included in the trip to Cybertron, which Megatron relents to, and the united teams head to Cybertron, leaving the Protectobots to struggle with rising temperatures and find a way to keep the human race from being wiped out.
—Starscream's mewling is too much for Brawl to take.
—Spike being taught about shooting stars by Perceptor, only for...
—... Onslaught to take the idea.
— Life is simple when you're a bot named Brawl.
—Megatron gets schooled by a human.
- Unlike Megatron, who is frequently used in gun form by other Transformers by shrinking down to the size of a Cybertronian-sized weapon, Shockwave has never demonstrated this ability, leaving his alternate mode too large to be used by most Cybertronians. Bruticus, being larger than the typical Cybertronian, has no issue using Shockwave as a firearm. Years later, this would be homaged in toy form by Combiner Wars Shockwave, who was advertised as being held by the same line's Bruticus.
- This episode was the only circumstance of Shockwave being wielded by another character for 39 years.
- In a cut line, Starscream would've called Shockwave "a lousy space-leech" when they collided into each other in space.
- This is the Protectobots' first appearance in the series, yet there is absolutely no mention of where they came from. While this does put them in the company of most of the rest of the new season-two cast, it's the first time a combiner team wasn't given a special origin episode. The reason for this, as noted in the show's production bible, was that the information on the team was not delivered to the cartoon's production staff before the episode plots for the rest of the series had been finalized. Consequently, there were no open slots left to give the Protectobots an episode dedicated to their origin, but they were inserted into some of the predetermined stories (namely, this episode and "B.O.T.") to appease Hasbro. That said, it's not the greatest advertisement. Only First Aid is identified by name; and Blades, First Aid and Hot Spot aren't even shown in robot mode.
- Gadgets and powers: Bruticus takes advantage of his arm kibble by spinning Vortex's rotors to shred some of the Sentinel drones.
- Prowl, Tracks and Optimus all display hood-mounted laser cannons. Tracks also launches a couple of missiles from his hood. No more repeats of "The Autobot Run" for these guys!
Screencaps via TFWiki (Teletraan I), used under fan-archive fair use.