Triage (episode)

	; Look, a crackhead!
	"Triage"
Season	2
No. in season	14
Production company	Hasbro Studios
Airdate	May 19,2012
Written by	Marty Isenberg
Directed by	Vinton Heuck
Animation studio	Polygon Pictures
	Watch this episode on YouTube

This article is about theTransformers: Primeepisode. For theTransformers Universecharacter, seeTriage (Prime).

During the third relic hunt, Ratchet and Wheeljack get a one-of-a-kind opportunity when Soundwave's Deployer is disabled.

Synopsis

Black Hawk down!

Ratchetrendezvouses withWheeljackin a wooded area to search for the third of four relics. Though Wheeljack rubs Ratchet up the wrong way, they take off in theJackhammerto find the relic and soon pick upSoundwaveas company. After Wheeljack dogfights with Soundwave for a few minutes, Soundwave releasesLaserbeakto take over the attack on the ship. Wheeljack is more than happy to chase Laserbeak instead, though as they chase the drone, it almost causes them to hit the side of a mountain, much to Ratchet's panic. He finally scores a hit on Laserbeak, but as it goes down, a random shot hits theJackhammer,bringing the ship down as well.

After this, you wanna go build aDinobot?

Ratchet is keen to resume the search for the relic, but Wheeljack spots the downed Laserbeak. They examine it, and Wheeljack hits on the idea of planting a grenade in it to provide the Decepticons with a surprise. It gives Ratchet a better idea—implanting a virus to get them access to theNemesiscomputer and hack theIacondatabase. He contacts base and asksRafto prepare a virus. At Raf's suggestion, they implant a grenade into Laserbeak as well to provide a decoy that the Decepticons will find and throw them off the scent of the virus. Wheeljack leaves Ratchet to find Soundwave so he can buy Ratchet time.

Meanwhile, Soundwave has located the relic, theResonance Blaster,and dug it up. Wheeljack quickly locates him and attacks. They trade blows until Soundwave relieves Wheeljack of a sword and uses his tentacles to throw the Autobot around. Wheeljack manages to use Soundwave's tentacles against each other and cracks the Decepticon's visor with his head. They go flying off the cliff, but Wheeljack finally has Soundwave at his mercy, at least until Soundwave grabs the Resonance Blaster with a tentacle and uses it on Wheeljack.

What was that safe word again?

Ratchet and Raf begin uploading the virus into Laserbeak, but as they need it online to do so, the drone activates and tries to fly off, forcing Ratchet to hold it down. Soundwave is about to finish off Wheeljack when he detects activity from Laserbeak and heads off to investigate. Wheeljack has time to warn Ratchet before falling unconscious, and the virus download finishes in time for Ratchet to hide before Soundwave arrives. After some tense moments, the Decepticon picks up Laserbeak, but appears to be alerted to Ratchet. Soundwave's tentacles venture into Ratchet's hiding place, but as it turns out they're merely after a lost piece of Laserbeak. Having retrieved it, Soundwave heads off back to theNemesis.Ratchet, unable to raise Wheeljack, goes to help his comrade.

"NO I WILL NOT LISTEN TO SOUNDWAVE SING!!"

Megatronis happy with Soundwave's find, though disappointed atDreadwing's andKnock Out's performances. Megatron has Knock Out examine Laserbeak and they find the grenade which Knock Out disposes of (after some initial panic). Soundwave returns to working on the Iacon database, where Megatron and Knock Out have a conversation in the back about Soundwave, that he WILL provide the coordinates of the remaining relics. After that, Megatron orders Knock Out to repair Soundwave's visor. Knock Out frowns at Soundwave secretly.

Returning to theJackhammer,Ratchet calls for aGroundBridge,having forged a mutual respect with Wheeljack. He bridges back to base, where the computers are busily downloading the Iacon database. A short time later, Raf reports thatBulkheadis returning to base, but as they open the GroundBridge, Bulkhead comes flying through, his back smoking.

To be continued...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Wheeljack(1) Ratchet(2) Bulkhead(11)	Soundwave(3) Laserbeak(4) Megatron(7) Dreadwing(8) Knock Out(9) Vehicons(10)	William Fowler(5) Raf Esquivel(6)

Quotes

“I'll be sure to be on my best behavior, Doc."
"Please don't call me 'Doc'."
"Whatever you say, Sunshine."

—Wheeljackpulls out a rather unfitting nickname forRatchet.

"Wait a minute, a grenade inside of Laserbeak, inside of Soundwave? Like a turducken!"
"I'm sorry?"
"It's a turkey, stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a... never mind."

—Raffails to enlightenRatchet.

"Any last words?"
"..."
"Right. Silent type."

—Wheeljackremembers only too late thatSoundwaveisn'tgoing to say anything.

"Soundwave, if we are to maintain any advantage over the Autobots... *pauses briefly as an explosion rocks the ship and barely lifts an eyebrow*...decoding the remainder of the Iacon Database must remain your highest priority. "

—Megatrongives Soundwave a mission as Knock Out deals with a surprise.

Notes

Continuity notes

This episode happens concurrently with the previous two and the following one. Knock Out returns from his mission in "Tunnel Vision",which was a failure, andDreadwinghas already returned after losing theApex ArmortoStarscreamin "Triangulation".On the Autobot side of things, Bulkhead returns from his mission, which takes place in thefollowing episode,diving through the GroundBridge with severe damage to his back.
Overall, it appears that the relic hunt in either this episode or "Triangulation" was the first to be completed. Ratchet returns to base before any of the other Autobots, but it is implied that Dreadwing returned to theNemesisbefore Soundwave did.
Ratchet informs Wheeljack that he "proved his mettle during thewar for Cybertron".

Transformers references

"Here I go again,Shattering Expectations."

Real-world references

For those who are wondering,turducken is real.
Rafael was using a command-line interpreter with a black screen that printed white text, a nod toCommand Prompt.

Errors

The sound normally used for an arm weapon transforming is used as Soundwave straightens his fingers before fighting Wheeljack.
As Soundwave stands over Wheeljack at the edge of the cliff, Laserbeak can be seen on his chest.
The ends of Soundwave's tentacles can be seen on his chest as he stands over Wheeljack with the Resonance Blaster on his arm, as if they weren't fully retracted.
Even though Knock Out lost a wheel in "Tunnel Vision",he appears to have all four of them when he returns from his failed mission. Perhaps he had a spare?
It's implied at the end of "Loose Cannons"that Wheeljack leaves theJackhammerback at the Autobot base to explore Earth in his new vehicle mode, but in this episode he has it with him already when Ratchet GroundBridges to him. Perhaps he left it somewhere the other Autobots knew was safe and decided to meet with Ratchet there.

Trivia

Laserbeak is named for the first time in-series.
In the real world, attaching live grenades to wounded enemies is a war crime. It's rather inappropriate as a "good guy" tactic in a cartoon aimed at children.

Foreign localization

French

Title:"Virus"(" Virus ")
Original airdate:?

German

Title:"Der Resonanz-Blaster"(" The Resonance-Blaster ")
Original airdate:12 January 2013

Japanese

Title:"Onpa Henkei! Ratchet no Hisaku"( sóng âm 変 hình!ラチェットの bí sách," Sonic Transformation! Ratchet's Recipe ")
Original airdate:5 January 2013
Since turduckens aren't as well known in Japan, Raf instead compares Ratchet's plan to the layers of a boiled egg.

Brazilian Portuguese

Title:"A Triagem"(" The Triage ")
Original airdate:20 June 2013

Italian

Title:"Triage"
Original airdate:4 February 2013

Home video releases

All releases listed are in English audio unless otherwise noted.

DVD

2012 —Transformers Prime— Season Two (Shout! Factory)
2013 —Transformers Prime— Vol. 20 (Avex Trax) — Japanese audio only.
2013 —Transformers Prime— Folge 10: Bulkheads Mission (EDEL:kids) — English and German audio.
2013 —Transformers Prime— Volume 3: Weapons of Choice (Madman Entertainment)
2014 —Transformers Prime— Season Two Collection (Madman Entertainment)
2014 —Transformers Prime— Season 2 Vol. 3: Toxicity (Primal Screen)
2014 —Transformers Prime— Saison 2 Vol. 3: La course aux reliques (Primal Screen)
2015 —Transformers Prime— Stagione 2 Vol. 3: Il Tox-En (Primal Screen) — English, Italian, Swedish, Finnish, Danish and Norwegian audio.
2015 —Transformers Prime— Intégrale Saison 2 (Primal Screen)
2015 —Transformers Prime— The Complete Season 2 (Primal Screen)
2015 —Transformers Prime— La Seconda Stagione Completa (Primal Screen) — English, Italian, Swedish, Finnish, Danish and Norwegian audio.