The Final Showdown on Earth (Part 2)

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Earth, right before being demolished for a hyperspace bypass.
"The Final Showdown on Earth (Part 2)" Cuối cùng の địa cầu đại quyết chiến ( sau biên )() (Saigo no Chikyū Daikessen (Kōhen))
Production company	Takara,Toei
Airdate	28 March1988
Writer	Yoshihisa Araki
Director	Katsutoshi Sasaki
Animation studio	Toei
Continuity	Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

With Death Towers threatening to tear the Earth apart, everything comes down to a climactic battle between the Autobots and Decepticons at the North Pole, where Fortress Maximus and Scorponok have their final showdown!

Synopsis

Metroplexarrives atBattleship Maximusto inform theAutobotsof the emergence of the thirdDeath TowerinWashington, D.C..Mapping out the locations of the existing towers, Fortress speculates on the location of the fourth tower, and they theorise that theDecepticonsmay be hiding beneath theMediterranean Sea.Highbrowgoes one better, putting the pieces of the puzzle together—according toEarthlegends, the ancient continent ofLemuriawas said to have sunk beneath theIndian Ocean,and could be where the Decepticons are getting thecrysmagnetalused to make the Death Towers. Just then, a report comes in fromPunch,revealing thatScorponokis outfitting the various Death Towers with energy induction boosters to amplify their effects, and that the fourth tower is about to be set up inCairo,Egypt.Battleship Maximus immediately lifts off for Egypt.

The Decepticon version of theBremen Town Musicianswas ridiculous at best.

Meanwhile,Sixshotis already in Egypt, examining the area. And he's not the only Decepticon around—Soundblasteris stationed in theAlps,and reports toApeface,standing guard by a pyramid, that Battleship Maximus is approaching. Apeface alerts Scorponok, and the DecepticonHeadmastersare sent out to attack. They clash with the Autobot Headmasters on the hull of Maximus, revealing their new "Trio Formation"—they transform tobeast modeand stack on top of each other like a totem pole. The Autobots are not quite sure what to make of it, but any worries are taken care of when Apeface andSnapdragonpile on top of the formation, unbalancing it; Fortress then fires Maximus's boosters, and the sudden jolt sends the villains toppling off. At that point, the fourth Death Tower emerges!

InSan Francisco,whileDanielis talking with his injuredmother,Wheelie reports that Fortress has called for all available Autobots.Spiketells Daniel that he will take care of Carly, and not to be distracted from the task before him, and Daniel and Wheelie head off.

"Why does...the Power of Grayskull...hurt so much?"

Back in Egypt, Scorponok directsWingspanandPounce,seemingly repaired after their clash with Sixshot, in setting the energy induction booster into the Death Tower. With this task accomplished, the tower begins to surge violently with energy, and Scorponok emerges from beneath the desert sands and orders the Decepticons to climb aboard. Cackling that even Fortress has a role in his plan, Scorponok lifts off, promising to see the Autobots at theNorth Pole.Fortress transforms into Fortress Maximus and attempts to stop him, but a tendril of energy from the Death Tower blasts him out of the sky. Sixshot, however, is able to stay on Scorponok's tail, and follows him as he dives deep into the Indian Ocean and vanishes into the inky depths. Sixshot finds himself caught up in a sub-aquatic whirlpool, and when he is disgorged, is stunned to discover that he has been swept into the undersea ruins of Lemuria! Scorponok is stunned to see Sixshot alive, but maintains his facade of happiness at the ninja's safe return, and shows him the furnace that is smelting the crysmagnetal. After Scorponok explains that the Earth will be destroyed thanks to the energy-accumulating satellite he has placed in orbit, Sixshot bids him farewell, and Scorponok accuses him of scheming to betray him. Scorponok opens fire on the ninja, but his blast passes harmlessly through him—he has merely fired upon one of Sixshot's hologram duplicates, and the true Sixshot escapes.

Daniel and Wheelie sting Scorponok before he can step on them, which is quite ironic.

With energy emissions from all the Death Towers increasing, and a fifth Death Tower appearing at the South Pole, Earth is encircled by a field of energy that is wreaking havoc with the natural balance of the planet. Following Scorponok's last words, Fortress pilots Battleship Maximus to the North Pole, with the whole Autobot army in tow. Unsurprisingly, the entire Decepticon army is waiting for them, with a dais of inactive crysmagnetal behind them. A hail of laser fire heralds the beginning of a colossal battle—Battleship Maximus collides with theZarak Shield,the Targetmasters square off,Twincastand his cassettes saveChromedomeandHardheadfromMindwipe's hypnosis, and Fortress becomes Fortress Maximus to confront Scorponok directly. As the two giant foes grapple, Scorponok distracts Maximus by telling him to watch out for their fortress overhead—a complete lie that Maximus falls straight into, allowing Scorponok to deprive him of theMaster Swordand knock him aside. Wheelie and Daniel come to his aid, distracting Scorponok with a few blasts of their own and allowing Maximus to regain his sword, but thenBattletrapattacks the two youths. A laser beam comes out of nowhere to strike Battletrap, who is then tackled byDefensor;Daniel realizes that Sixshot has come to their rescue, but the ninja refuses to show himself, untilMenasorattempts to stomp Daniel, forcing Sixshot to save him. Sixshot tells Daniel to take care of himself, and vanishes once more.

"By the power ofGrayskullThe Final Formation!"

Meanwhile, Fortress Maximus and Scorponok's duel has moved, allowing Scorponok to position himself on the crysmagnetal dais. As Fortress leaps at his opponent, a glint of light in the sky heralds the arrival overhead of the energy-absorbing satellite, which discharges its energy back into the dais, completing the circuit and threatening to tear the Earth apart. With both Maximus and Scorponok caught in the beam, Scorponok disconnects from histranstector,retreating to the fringes of Earth's atmosphere with the rest of the Decepticons to watch. The Headmasters attempt to power up their commander, enteringHead Formationand sending their energy to him, but it is not enough, and Fortress begins to buckle. Daniel recalls Sixshot telling him about the strong bond of friendship the Autobots have, and hits upon the idea to have all the Autobots lend Maximus their strength. Wheelie calls out to the assembled Autobot forces, and they all link arms in a ring around the Headmasters—thus combined in "Final Formation", the Headmasters channel the combined energy of the entire Autobot army into Fortress Maximus. Supercharged by his troops, Fortress Maximus uses the Master Sword to redirect the energy beam back into the satellite, destroying it, much to the shock of the watching Decepticons. Then, with a single slash of his mighty blade, Fortress Maximus destroys the Zarak Shield and bisects Scorponok's transtector, which explodes into smithereens.

Time passes. With the victory at the North Pole, the Decepticon forces have finally been broken, and they withdraw from Earth, but they still pose a threat to the other planets in the universe, and it is the duty of the Autobots to pursue them and stop them. As the entirety of the Autobots forces gather to leave Earth for good, Fortress, the Headmasters and Wheelie say goodbye to Daniel, Spike and Carly. The farewell between Daniel and Wheelie is especially tearful, and the two vow to see each other again. Battleship Maximus lifts off, and Daniel cries out his goodbyes, which echo through the air as the Autobots vanish into the setting sun.

'Til all are one.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Commander, pull yourself together!"

—Fortress Maximus

"Wahahaha! I'm going to betray you! Goodbye!"
"Darn it! I'm going to totally destroy you along with Earth!"

—Sixshotlays his cards on the table.Scorponokisn't impressed.

"Just look above you."
"Above me?!"
"HAW!"

—ScorponoktricksFortress Maximus.

"Darn it!"

—Scorponokreacts to his master plan being ruined.

Notes

Continuity notes

• During the farewell scene between the Autobots and the Witwickys, Fortress declares that he and the Autobots are going to work on rebuildingMarsas one of the many tasks that lie ahead of them. Mars had been destroyed by the Decepticons back in "Explosion on Mars!! Maximus Is in Danger".

Transformers references

• The Decepticons all apparently disappeared from Earth back in "Miraculous Warriors, Targetmasters (Part 1)",but we only ever saw a small number of them in the intervening episodes. This episode reveals that the characters that we have not seen since then, like Scourge, Menasor, and Devastator, have been hiding inLemuria,preparing for Scorponok's plan.

Animation and technical errors

• The map of the world viewed by the Autobots near the start is woefully off. Africa is the size of Australia and North America is almost as big as Europe and Russia. Greenland appears to neighbor Great Britain.
• As Metroplex holds Wheelie and Daniel in his hand, his head is offmodel—his antennae appear to be freestanding instead of attached to the sides, the slot on his forehead is red, and his cheek lines extend right up to his forehead.
• When Fortress Maximus lifts the Master Sword after striking, the lowest segment of the blade has orange and yellow stripes on it that it's never had before. These details actuallyareon the toy of the sword, but they've not appeared in the cartoon before!

Continuity errors

• TheQueen Worldwas a marine blue last episode, but this episode is pale purple.
• Seems there were a few crossed wires regarding the Decepticon attacks last episode. Here, the injured Carly is seen being carried off theQueen Worldluxury liner—except that she was hurt in a plane crash caused by the energy discharge from the Death Towers, and theQueen Worldsankas a direct result of a Decepticon attack. Whoops!
• Despite it seeming very much like Sixshot killed them last episode (knocking their heads off, with wires and circuits lying all over the place), Wingspan and Pounce are up and about with no ill effects here.
• As in "The Master Sword Is in Danger!!",Scorponok's smaller form is depicted as tiny compared to the other Decepticons, whereas he's usually about the same size as Sixshot.

Trivia

• According toTransformers Generations,as noted above, this episode aired on the 28th of March. This would make it the onlyThe Headmastersepisode to air on a day other than the show's normal Friday, being screened on the following Monday, only three days afterPart 1.
• After the closing scene of the episode, but before the credits, the episode ends with thetheme tuneplaying alongside a "clean" version of the opening sequence (devoid of on-screen text). The Decepticons donotflicker in this segment, as they have been doing in the actual opening since "Explosion on Mars!! Maximus Is in Danger", and a shot from the conclusion of Fortress Maximus's transformation sequence is added to the end of the segment.
• Theeighth and final chapterof the manga version ofThe Headmasterspublished inTV Magazineconsist of an additional scene that fits into this episode, between the destruction of Scorponok's transtector, but before the Autobots leave Earth. In this short story, Soundblaster makes a last ditch attack against Chromedome, Spike, Carly, Daniel and Wheelie withSlugfestandOverkill(who did not appear in theHeadmastersanime at all),Rodimus Primereturns, having been gone since "Cybertron Is in Grave Danger, Part 2",and Sixshot plans to travel to many different planets, to learn new transformations. Comments made by Rodimus about humans and Transformers working and evolving together, Sixshot's desire to" transform "into a human, and the narrative's promise that Earth will not go unguarded all seem to foreshadow the next series,Super-God Masterforce.
• A special prose "epilogue" published inTV Magazinefilled in the gap betweenThe HeadmastersandSuper-God Masterforce,explaining that, after the events of this episode, the conflict shifted to a space-based war between the two sides, involving exchanges betweenChaarandAthenia.The advanced technology of planetMasterformed the backbone of this conflict, but the destruction of thespace bridgeback in "Daniel Faces His Biggest Crisis Ever!!"meant that transport to and from the Earth were severely limited, hence the large role played by humans inMasterforce.
• The Latin American dub for this episode is just crazy, as if the voice actors thought that nobody was watching the show anymore, since they use the opportunity to have everybody either making jokes or acting out of character, like Weirdwolf being "weird" for once, even breaking the "fourth wall" when mentioning staff from the dubbing studio; also, the narrator changed his voice from an energetic person to an old one. Of course, therewerepeople seeing the show, (and still seeing it throughMasterforceandVictory). At least they didn't make Wheelie rhyme.

Foreign localization

English

• Title:"The Last Battle on Earth, Part 2"(Omni Productionsdub)
• Original airdate:March 14,1993
  • The "Trio Formation"performed by the Decepticon Headmasters is inexplicably (even for the Omni dub) referred to as the"BuddhaFormation ".
  • The reprise of the title sequence at the end of the episode is accompanied by complete silence, rather than thetheme songas on the Japanese soundtrack.

• Title:"The Final Showdown on Earth: Part 2"(Shout! Factorysub)

Mandarin

• Title:"Zuìhòu de Dìqiú Dà Juézhàn (Xià)"( cuối cùng địa cầu đại quyết chiến ( hạ )," The Final Great Decisive Battle on Earth, Part II ")

Italian

• Title:"L'ultima battaglia sulla Terra"(" The last battle on Earth ")

• Both Sixshot and Scorponok are voiced by two different actors each in this episode.

Home video releases

LaserDisc

1996 —Transformers: The HeadmastersSet (Takara) — Japanese audio only.

DVD

2002 —Transformers: The Headmasters— DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2005 — The Takara Collection Vol 1 —Transformers: Headmasters(Metrodome)
2007 —Transformers— The Complete Takara Collection (Metrodome)
2007 —The Transformers: Headmasters(Madman Entertainment)
2009 —The Transformers: Japan Generation 1— Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)
2011 —Transformers Japanese Collection: Headmasters(Shout! Factory) — Japanese audio with optional English subtitles only.
2012 —Transformers: The Japanese Collection(Shout! Factory) — Japanese audio with optional English subtitles only.