Champion
From Transformers Wiki
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 We are the champions, my friends. | |||||||||
| "Champion" (Eikō no Planet Cup) "The Glorious Planet Cup" | |||||||||
| Production company | TV Aichi, We've, Tōkyū Agency | ||||||||
| Airdate | May 14, 2005 (Japanese) October 12, 2005 (English) | ||||||||
| Writer | Kazuhiko Sōma | ||||||||
| Director | Kei'ichirō Kawaguchi | ||||||||
| Animation studio | GONZO | ||||||||
| Continuity | Unicron Trilogy cartoon continuity | ||||||||
It's Hot Shot and Coby versus Override in the final stage of the race for the Planet Cup!
Contents |
Synopsis
On Velocitron, Override, Hot Shot, Crumplezone and Ransack assemble before the Planet Cup shrine. All four racers begin to glow as the shrine recognizes them as participants in the final round of the great race, and a new subterranean course is unlocked on which the final race will take place. Hot Shot is excited at tackling the roller-coaster-esque track, but Red Alert gives him some grave news: injuries he has sustained throughout the course of the race have damaged the circuit pathways that deliver commands to his main engine. He will need a passenger to ride with him for the duration of the race and to constantly make corrections to his system. Jetfire, who has recently arrived from Earth, suggests Jolt for the job, but the Mini-Con's rotor blades make him too big to fit into Hot Shot's cockpit. Reminded of a time when he lost a moto-cross race in his younger years, and the importance of the lesson he learned on not giving up, Coby volunteers for the task, and after clearing it with Override, the Autobots allow it.
The last race soon commences, and Override and Hot Shot quickly outstrip their two Decepticon opponents. Crumplezone and Ransack have not been resting on their laurels, however: they have installed several new gimmicks and gadgets into their systems, and begin their trickery by using springs to launch themselves across the raceway, quickly closing the gap between the racers. Hot Shot's speed begins to drop as the group nears a huge vertical loop, but Coby soon fixes the problem with a little prompting from Clocker. Crumplezone and Ransack reveal their second modification, activating new nitrous boosters to speed them through the loop... except the two goons run out of nitrous at the top of the loop, and fall off the track, knocking themselves right out of the race. Abandoning any pretense of following the rules, the troublemaking pair then try to steal the Planet Cup outright, but they can't get through the forcefield protecting it. Override and Hot Shot break off the race long enough to send the partners in crime packing, but as he and Override laugh at the retreating Decepticons, a sudden twinge of pain shoots through Hot Shot...
The race resumes, with the next obstacle on the course taking the form of dangerous high-speed 90° cornering. As the two Transformers tear up the track, Hot Shot's speed starts to drop once more, and the cause is soon traced to Hot Shot's fried main engine connector, a physical problem that Coby cannot fix through his computer. Risking his own safety by unlatching his harness, Coby opens an access panel in Hot Shot's cockpit and manually rewires his circuits. Holding the key cables together with his bare hands, Coby gives Hot Shot the power boost he needs, and the Autobot racer draws level with Override once again. For the final push, Hot Shot activates his Cyber Key power, and the two opponents tear through the goal in a photo finish! After a long, tense moment, the photo comes in... and Hot Shot is the winner! Though stunned at her loss, Override congratulates Hot Shot on his victory, and Hot Shot thanks Coby for all his help.
With the race complete, the forcefield around the Planet Cup dissolves... at which point, a dimension gate materializes in the air above the track, and Megatron and his Decepticons arrive to steal the trophy! He has been followed, however, by Optimus Prime, Leobreaker and Vector Prime, and a battle breaks out between the two sides as Megatron seizes the Planet Cup. Override and Hot Shot charge Megatron in vehicle mode, throwing him off balance, and Leobreaker and Optimus Prime combine into Savage Claw Mode to exploit this opening and take the Decepticon leader down. The Planet Cup goes flying, but Override nimbly snatches it out of the air. The battle and the prize lost to them, the Decepticons retreat, leaving Hot Shot to be crowned the new champion of Velocitron! After Override hands him the Planet Cup, she informs him that she wishes to join the Autobots and help save the universe. Optimus Prime happily accepts her into his team.
The Autobots all return to their base on Earth, where Override is given the honor of adding the Planet Cup to the Omega Lock. As Override holds the cup up to the Lock, it dissolves into particles of light before reforming into the first Cyber Planet Key. Override inserts the key into the Lock, which begins to pulse with energy and fires a beam of light off into the depths of space. The energy wave is felt by Megatron in the fire dimension, by Starscream out in space, and by Scourge on Jungle Planet. The Autobots' computers are activated by the wave, as the Omega Lock feeds them coordinates to a location somewhere on Earth. But where do these coordinates lead...?
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"You sure about this?"
"*pauses hammering* Er.... yeah, of course! Trust me, you're gonna be a sure winner after I give you this super duper tune-up!"
"It's super duper? Well, why didn't you say so?! Hit me again!"
- —Ransack and Crumplezone
[Optimus strikes Megatron with his Savage Claw attack.]
Megatron: This isn't over!
Optimus Prime: Give it a second!
[KA-BOOM!]
- —Take that, drawn-out stock footage!
"This'll be great! Of course you'll have to learn to follow orders, Override."
"Doubt it. I mean, you do just fine, and you never follow orders."
"But...Hey!"
- —Hot Shot and Red Alert discuss Override joining the team.
Notes
Differences with Galaxy Force
- Galaxy Force features a short sequence before its title card that features a narrator summing up recent events, with footage of Red Alert working on Hot Shot.
- When Coby rewires Hot Shot's systems for the big finish, Galaxy Force starts playing the show's opening song, "CALL YOU... Kimi to Boku no Mirai". Rather than replace this with its own theme tune, the Cybertron dub substitutes in another piece of suitably dramatic music from the show's soundtrack.
- As in the previous episode, the Savage Claw Mode stock footage is cut short for Cybertron by having the final "pose against the insignia" shot removed.
- In Galaxy Force, the Autobot computers are detecting something on Earth that is reacting to the activation of the Omega Lock, while in Cybertron, the location of the object is provided by the Omega Lock.
- Cybertron adds the customary reference to the Omega Frequency when Velocitron's Cyber Planet Key is added to the Omega Lock.
- As with the previous episode, the cluttering of otherwise dialogue-less scenes in Galaxy Force continues in Cybertron: announcer narrating the start lights before the race (again), Leobreaker partially narrating the link-up transformation sequence with Optimus (again), additional jargon about keeping Coby safe, and Optimus smack-talking Megatron whilst clobbering him with his Savage Claw attack, to name a few.
- At the end of the episode in Cybertron, Hot Shot strictly says that to be a good Autobot, Override must learn to follow orders. In response, Red Alert jokingly says that Hot Shot does just fine despite never following orders, causing everyone to laugh. In Galaxy Force, the humour is the other way around. Hot Shot jokingly says the secret base on Earth must be converted to a race track for himself and Override, and Red Alert strictly says that racing is off-limits due to the severe damage Hot Shot took, causing everyone to laugh at his misery. Jerks.
Animation or technical errors
- When Optimus Prime and Megatron stare each other down after Savage Claw Mode is formed, the Planet Cup has disappeared from Megatron's hands.
- As Megatron and the others escape, the portal closes before Sideways enters it.
Trivia
- Numerous online sources list this episode with the title "Champions". It doesn't appear to have ever aired under this title, however.
- In all past installments of the great race, the action has been narrated by a flying blue robot with a camera in his chest. For this final race, the announcer is replaced with a Velocitronian variant of the Decepticon Buzzsaw. Amusingly, though the 'bot onscreen changes, the announcer's voice is the same as the old one!
Home video releases
- DVD
2005 — Transformers: Galaxy Force — Vol. 05 (Victor Entertainment) — Japanese audio only.
2008 — Transformers: Cybertron — The Ultimate Collection (Paramount)
2014 — Transformers: Cybertron — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)
