Invasion (episode)

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"Invasion" Địa cầu の thủ hộ thần ライブコンボイ() (Chikyū no Shugojin Live Convoy) "Guardian of the Earth, Live Convoy"
Production company	TV Aichi,We've,Tōkyū Agency
Airdate	June 25,2005(Japanese) October 20,2005 (English)
Writer	Kazuhiko Sōma
Director	Megumi Sakai
Animation studio	GONZO,Office Take Off
Continuity	Unicron Trilogy cartoon continuity

The Earth is plunged into chaos as Starscream's forces sweep the planet...but the Autobots are about to gain two new allies in their fight!

Synopsis

AtStarscream'scommand, the legions ofAncient Decepticonsspread out acrossEarthto search for theCyber Planet Key.The time for secrecy and disguise is long past: merging into massive "seeker ships," theDecepticonsfill the skies of every country, plunging the world into total chaos as humanity is suddenly faced with an alien invasion.

Deep beneath theArctic,Jetfirerepeatedly punches a wall of ice, trying to break his way through to the entombedOptimus Prime,LandmineandLeobreakeron the other side. He is about to use hisCyber Keypower to blast it when the otherAutobotsarrive and stop him, pointing out that he's liable to collapse the entire tunnel on top of them. The team all set to work on the ice, struggling against the cold that is freezing up their systems.

At the Autobot base, the kids and the other Autobots observe the spread of Starscream's army across the world and debate their next move.Loribelieves thatLucy Suzukiwould have an answer, but Lucy is currently up to her neck in her own problems, as she andColonel Franklinare caught in a stalemate, each unwilling to divulge to the other the information they have gained about the Transformers.

Elsewhere on Earth,Crosswisecontinues his trek across a desert, unaware that he is being followed bySideways.Reaching his destination, Crosswise activates a hidden button in a rock face, which reveals a stairway that Crosswise quickly ascends, calling out for "Evac"as he climbs. The stairs lead to a secret chamber, and while Evac is not sitting in the chair within it, he is not far away: as Crosswise steps back outside, Evac descends from the sky in the form of a helicopter. Having spotted Sideways from his vantage point, Evac exposes the enigmatic 'bot, and pursues him through a canyon when he attempts to flee. As the chase plays out, Crosswise tells Evac about Sideways and Starscream's search for the Cyber Planet Key, and Evac informs Sideways that it's not at their current location before blasting him and allowing him to depart.

"GIVE ME YOUR FA-- wait, wrong character."

Back in the Arctic, the Autobots have nearly finished breaking through the ice wall, so Jetfire transforms tovehicle modeto melt the remainder of the ice with the heat from his jets. His plan succeeds, and Prime, Leobreaker and Landmine emerge, a little worse for wear but still functional. The Autobots immediately roll out to confront Starscream;SnarlandVector Primealso depart from the Autobot base to enter the fray, and they reach Starscream first. Though vastly outnumbered by the ancient Decepticons, Snarl gives a good account of himself, and Vector Prime then opens adimension gateto teleport the rest of the Autobots into the midst of the battle. As if armies of Decepticons weren't enough, however, the Autobots are soon beset by a squadron of unmanned drone planes scrambled by the American military forces, who aren't bothering to distinguish between friend and foe. Colonel Franklin, however, has determined that the Autobots are on their side, and resolves to bring inCoby,Budand Lori to get the full story.

Back in the Autobot base, Coby passionately suggests that they reveal the truth about the Autobots and Decepticons to the world, but over the comm-link, Optimus Prime refutes the idea, pointing out that humanity is sure to react badly if they learn that aliens have been hiding amongst them for so long. With things looking more and more hopeless,Scattorshotdecides he cannot sit idly by any more, and leaves to join the battle. Unfortunately, this leaves the kids unsupervised, and they and theMini-Consdecide to leave the base and get involved in the fight too.

Back at the battlefield, Evac and Crosswise arrive to aid the Autobots in their struggle. They take on Starscream directly, but when the Decepticon fires upon them, Optimus Prime suddenly leaps to their rescue, diving in front of them and taking the blast. With Prime wounded,Red Alertcalls off the battle and has Evac, Crosswise and Jetfire help him carry the Autobot leader to safety. A little later, some distance away, Red Alert works on Optimus's wounds as Evac and Crosswise introduce themselves to the Autobots properly. When Red Alert mentions Cybertron in passing, the two ancient Earth Autobots react with shock, and then joy: the fabled planet they have heard spoken of only in legend truly exists! With Optimus on the mend, the team rallies, and vows to defeat Starscream for good.

Elsewhere, the kids and Mini-Cons are running through a forest to join the Autobots, when a black car suddenly pulls up in front of them, barring their way. Colonel Franklin emerges and requests a moment of their time, and before the kids know it, they, their parents and the vehicle mode Mini-Cons are being transported by the military to a secret location. Their parents just think they're receiving special treatment from the military in the face of the world crisis (even if they can't explain why), but the kids are understandably a lot more worried. Bud fears that Franklin intends to dissect the Mini-Cons, and Coby vows to keep his friends safe no matter what...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

Evac:What are you doing here? What do you want?
Sideways:Sorry, if I told you, then I'd have to tell everyone, and it wouldn't be much of a secret!
Evac:Smart alec. Crosswise, you got anything?
Crosswise:Well, I heard someone say something about a Cyber Planet Key...
Evac:Oh, so that's it. Sorry, but you're way off base. What you're looking for isn't here!
Sideways:Then where is it? Tell me!
EvacI'm sorry, but if I told you... I'd have to tell everybody!

—Oooh, burn!

"You're very brave to take me on by yourself, Snarl. Well, either that or you're simply foolish. Since you're about to be destroyed, I'd say foolish."

—Starscream

"The people of Earth have already seen cruel invaders flying through their skies. How do you think they'd react to knowing there have been outsiders hiding among them? Humanity would feel betrayed, not eager to help!"

—Optimus Prime

Evac:"I've gotta get in there to back up Crosswise! Evac, transform! *twenty seconds of transforming*"
Crosswise:"Hrr. What took you so long?"

—Transformation stock footage, the dubber's eternal enemy!

"Yeah, we're with the military. What could happen?"

—Ernestodoesn't watch much TV.

Notes

Differences withGalaxy Force

• WhileCybertronhas the Autobots discuss forcing a battle between with Starscream's forces, theGalaxy Forceversion of the scene has them come to the realization that the third Cyber Planet Key must be on Earth. The removal of this dialogue fromCybertronmeans that the Autobots know about the existence of the Key without explanation. The same strange omission repeats itself at the end of the episode as Red Alert works on Optimus's wounds: inCybertron,everyone merely talks about rallying and defeating Starscream, while inGalaxy Force,Optimus Prime is shocked to learn that the third Cyber Planet Key is on Earth, and Evac reassures him that it is locked away securely in the North Pole.
• InGalaxy Force,the Mini-Cons dance around in agitation as they try to decide what to do. InCybertron,it's a dance of joy at the prospect of finally getting to do something again.
• InGalaxy Force,Starscream gives a rallying cry to his forces while Optimus calls for his men to endure. InCybertron,Starscream and Optimus are talking to each other: Starscream giving Optimus a chance to surrender, Optimus telling him to shove it.

Animation or technical errors

• As with the preceding episode, "Trap",when this episode debuted, Crosswise was referred to with the name"Smokescreen"in dialogue.^[1]This gaffe was corrected by the time the episode premiered in Canada, and the corrected version is used on the show's DVD releases.
• Not an error per se, but the shot where Evac and Crosswise are both standing in profile as they are stunned to hear about Cybertron's existence, Crosswise's right door is missing (it would probably obscure his entire head if it was there).

Continuity errors

• Here's an odd one: just before confronting the kids, Colonel Franklin is apparently telling his driver to "stop here"... except he then disembarks through the driver-side door! The "stop here" line was not inGalaxy Force,where it would have been understandable, since they drive on the other side of the road over there, but the cartoonisset in America, so the animators were on the ball enough to get the side right, only to have the dub get weird with it.

Continuity notes

• This episode features the first appearance of the civilian Autobots since "Ship".
• Colonel Franklin shows Lucy Suzuki the photographs he was seen studying back in "Collapse",depicting the events of"Hidden".

Trivia

• Looks like Signal Lancer and his payphone friend have taken a break from hiding out in the desert and moved into the city for this episode.
• It's not particularly clear how the Ancient Decepticons transform into "seeker ships" -hundreds of them just converge on a single point and transform into a massive grey flying machine. Nor is it clear exactly how merging into one huge machine helps increase their ability to search the planet for the Cyber Planet Key. Whatisclear, however, is that the Ancient Decepticons probably obliterated the record for the number of members in acombinerteam.
• The seeker ships are hand-drawn, instead of the CGI used for most Transformers in the show.

Home video releases

DVD

2005 —Transformers: Galaxy Force— Vol. 07 (Victor Entertainment) — Japanese audio only.
2008 —Transformers: Cybertron— The Ultimate Collection (Paramount)
2014 —Transformers: Cybertron— The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)

References