Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4

Galvatron is recovered from a lava planet and returns to seize command of the Decepticons once more.

On Goo, the Decepticons open fire on the Autobots (and miss spectacularly). Judge Deliberata cheers them on, until Grimlock slams him into the goo. As they get closer, Galvatron arrives, intending to punish the Decepticons for their "disloyalty". Upon seeing (and being shot by) their long-lost leader, the Decepticons repledge their loyalty to Galvatron and tell him that they were bribed into following the Quintessons for energon. Galvatron is not happy and decides to punish the Quintessons for their usurpation.

On Goo, the Autobots find the control center, and Rodimus Prime and Ultra Magnus find out that the planet is a garbage collection system for the Junkions. Contacting Wreck-Gar, they request assistance after managing to "talk Teevee".

On Io, Blurr and Wheelie are under attack by the lightpoles, who are ferociously flapping their wings in the two Autobots' faces. Wheelie is overtaken, but tells Blurr to leave him and take Metroplex's transformation cog. Instead of leaving his comrade to die, Blurr heads right into the thick of the swarm. Marissa Faireborn arrives and manages to drive off the lightpoles, but a number of them transform into missiles and destroy her ship. The three begin a search through the ship's wreckage, hoping that the communications are still working.

Galvatron introduces himself by firing on the Quintesson ship. Realizing that Galvatron must be handled differently, the Quintessons offer an alliance with the Decepticons against the Autobots, but Galvatron says he never asked for their help. They offer Galvatron the Decepticon Matrix of Leadership, but Galvatron simply demands it in exchange for letting them live. The Quintessons say that their lives are not enough, and that the Autobots must be destroyed.

Galvatron attacks the Autobots, but the Junkions arrive and melt the goo out from under the Autobots, sucking them right through the planet. Judge Deliberata winds up getting ejected in the process. Galvatron destroys Goo, but by the time he's done, the Junkions and Autobots have fled.

Heading back to the ship, Galvatron rants at the Quintessons, who counter that they would be powerful allies. Galvatron demands to know why the Quintessons haven't destroyed the Autobots themselves. They explain that the Autobots have been made unpredictable by their interactions with the humans. Sneering at the Quintessons' fear of the flesh creatures, Galvatron agrees to an alliance. The Decepticons cry "Hail Galvatron!" to affirm their support of their leader, and even the Quintessons give out a shout.

On the Planet of Junk, Wreck-Gar restores Springer to life. However, Rodimus is not as cheered up as expected. He has questions about the Quintessons—about their hostility towards the Autobots, how they know so much about them, and about their intentions. Rodimus has become convinced that the answers behind the Quintessons lie in the Matrix, but he still doesn't know how to consult the wisdom of the ages. Springer makes a sarcastic suggestion, saying that he should just come close to death again. Although Arcee says not to do that, Springer assures her that Rodimus is not as stupid as he looks. Wandering off, the Autobot commander short-circuits himself and falls unconscious.

Rodimus enters the Matrix, where he is greeted by the spirits of the Ancient Autobots, who show him the face of the creators of the Transformers... the Quintessons! Eons ago, the Quintessons used Cybertron as a factory to build two lines of robots: consumer goods and military hardware, who evolved into the Autobots and the Decepticons, respectively. Millennia of torturous abuse led the Autobots to rebel and drive the Quintessons off Cybertron. Afterwards, the Cybertronians warred with each other for control, which was ended when the Autobots developed the art of transformation. A Golden Age followed, which was ended when the Decepticons mastered transformation and created a new leader: Megatron. He killed the Matrix-bearer, who passed the Matrix to Alpha Trion, one of the oldest among them. However, Alpha Trion did not take the Matrix for himself, but gave it another who would challenge Megatron. This was Optimus Prime, who became the Autobot leader for the Third Cybertronian War, which has raged for nine million years and continues to rage even now.

—Rodimus Prime and Ultra Magnus have rather different leadership styles.

—Judge Deliberata annoys Grimlock.

—Galvatron isn't so good with specifics.

—Rodimus shows the value of knowing a second language.

—Marissa Faireborn isn't impressed with Blurr's tactics.