Webworld
Title card via TFWiki, fan-archive fair use
Cyclonus commits Galvatron to an asylum planet in a desperate attempt to cure his master's madness.
The Decepticons approach an asteroid belt in deep space, searching for a material known as isidrite to repair their weaponry. As Galvatron rants about crushing his enemies and everyone else, Ratbat finds an isidrite deposit — already being mined by the Autobots. A battle ensues, during which Galvatron spends nearly as much time bashing his own troops aside as he does firing at the Autobots. With his "help", the bemused Autobots make a clean escape aboard Sky Lynx.
Back on Chaar, Motormaster and Swindle have words with Cyclonus: either do something about Galvatron's madness, or face rebellion. A holographic image of a Quintesson appears to Cyclonus, and advises him that there are planets which specialize in repairing damaged minds, such as Torkulon. Not knowing what else to do, Cyclonus considers the idea, while the Quintessons gloat among themselves that shortly they will have several less Transformers to deal with — including the "most dangerously unpredictable of them all."
Cyclonus lies to Galvatron, informing him that the Autobots are resting on Torkulon after their most recent skirmish; the deranged leader eagerly takes the bait, flying to the planet with Cyclonus and the Sweeps. Upon landing, Galvatron threatens several alien flesh creatures, demanding that they hand over Ultra Magnus. The intelligent Torkuli arrive shortly; when Galvatron predictably refuses their orders for non-violence, they restrain him. Galvatron quickly realizes Cyclonus has deceived him. Galvatron is carried away to begin his therapy, while Cyclonus fills out a small ream of paperwork.
As the therapy proceeds, Scourge has his doubts — "This is stupid! Let's get him out of here!" Cyclonus says to at least give it a chance. The Torkuli are unsuccessful in getting Galvatron to talk about his problems, and even less successful when they have him put together external objects to repair his damaged psyche: Galvatron builds himself a blaster and tries to escape. Finally they attempt "exo-drama", where patients act out their problems, but a bouncing alien screaming at Galvatron finally causes him to snap further, shouting back that "I'll give you something to scream about!!" Galvatron becomes immune to the electromagnetic restraints of the Torkuli; they throw everything they have at him, restraining him for their last resort — the Alya solution.
The chief therapist reveals that Torkulon itself is a living planet, and can manifest itself in the form of insectoid creatures that consume the damaged portions of those who cannot be helped, in effect lobotomizing the planet's victims and leaving them mindless. Cyclonus protests and demands Galvatron's release, but he and Scourge are also restrained by the Torkuli.
The Alya begin to feed on Galvatron who continues to resist: "You have no right to change what I am!" The Torkuli doctor informs him "You've already been changed; that's the problem." Cyclonus can barely watch as his leader's mind is invaded by Torkulon — but something goes wrong. The madness of Galvatron proves to be too strong for the living planet, causing it to malfunction. In the chaos, Galvatron, Scourge and Cyclonus are released from the planet's grasp. After taking a few shots at Cyclonus for getting him in this mess, Galvatron fights to the center of the planet, having seen into its mind while it was inside his. The planet fears Galvatron's madness and destructive potential and attempts to restrain him, but Galvatron powers his way through to its living-computer core. Several cannon mode blasts render the entire planet inoperable. Galvatron informs Cyclonus he will now destroy whatever is left, and warns Cyclonus against stopping him.
After the planet is reduced to smoke and rubble, Galvatron gloats over the beauty of "devastation wrought with precision and care," seemingly just a little more sane... until Cyclonus informs Galvatron that it will take the Torkuli centuries to rebuild. Galvatron decides his work isn't done if it's going to take "only centuries", but a weary Cyclonus suggests that the Autobots might be a more pressing concern. Galvatron smiles at the prospect of killing Ultra Magnus; the Decepticons flee the planet, leaving the Torkuli at the mercy of their insane former patients.
—Sky Lynx notes the arrival of the Decepticons in typical fashion
—Perceptor watches Galvatron bash his way through his own troops
—A three-headed patient
—The Torkuli present Cyclonus with his mightiest foe yet: bureaucracy.
—A therapist starts Galvatron on word association
- This is by far the most Decepticon-centric episode of the series; the Autobots are only onscreen for part of the first act.
- Twice in this episode (when Cyclonus takes him to Torkulon to look for the Autobots, and when leaving the planet in search of the Autobots), Galvatron says "Ultra Magnus", as if Magnus is the leader of the Autobots. To be fair, by this point in the show Magnus is usually the one issuing orders, and Galvatron is completely out of his mind throughout the episode, so...
- It is ironic that Motormaster is the one to declare an ultimatum of rebellion against Galvatron to Cyclonus, considering he was the first Decepticon to loyally donate Energon to help find Galvatron in "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1".
- The Torkuli diagnose Galvatron with a few processor problems, such as "a severe failure in reality processing, malignant plasmoneural tic, and embrittlement of the metaprocessing circuitry", all of which leave him constantly on the brink of a perceptual crash. Poor guy.
- Storyboards for the episode's third act depict a rather different look for the Torkuli than the ape-men they're ultimately depicted as, looking more like reptilian/cat hybrids. It remains unclear if this was what they were designed like before the episode entered the animation stage, or if this was just how the storyboards rendered them.
- While the reason for the Decepticons need the Isidrite to repair their weaponry is not explicitly stated, the previous episode ended with Galvatron stating the Starscream-controlled Trypticon had "neutralized all our weapons".





Screencaps via TFWiki (Teletraan I), used under fan-archive fair use.