Battle for Defense of the False Planet - Transformers Wiki

The Decepticons' newest target is the energy-rich Twin Star planetary system, but before the Autobots can come to its defense, the Headmasters are going to have to settle their own arguments first!

Synopsis

The Decepticons on Scorponok are on course for the Twin Star system, home of the diametrically opposed planets Sperity and Toruin. Scorponok voices his opinion that time would be better spent contemplating Galvatron's "master plan", but Galvatron makes the point that they will require the vast energy of Sperity to complete it. Before long, Scorponok is in Sperity airspace and fending off attacks from the planet's defensive weaponry.

The Autobots on Battleship Maximus, meanwhile, are lagging behind their Decepticon quarry somewhat, and frayed tempers and the desire for a fight lead to an argument between Chromedome and Hardhead and the more relaxed Brainstorm, who claims that the two hotheads never think with their heads or consider strategy in their fights. The fight is interrupted when the Twin Star system comes into view, and Fortress explains the nature of the Sperity and Toruin. Fortress instructs Arcee to take Wheelie and Daniel to the barren Toruin to keep them out of harm's way, and Brainstorm decides to accompany them, which Chromedome immediately interprets as cowardice.

Down on the surface of Sperity, Scorponok lands, and the Decepticons pour out, beginning their search for energy. Before long, the Autobots arrive and a battle begins, which is observed by the Twin Star council, led by Dafuna, convincing them to maintain an evacuation of the planet. The Headmasters take the opportunity to try out their new "Triple Jump" technique, powering up by exchanging heads, and then launching Chromedome, attached to Hardhead's transtector, into the air to "Triple Master Kick" each of the Decepticon Headmasters.

Meanwhile, the Trainbots deposit Brainstorm, Daniel, Wheelie and Arcee on Toruin, and after a brief search, they find a cave to take refuge in. By and by, however, a strange little animal comes crawling by the cave mouth, which, on closer examination, appears to be a toy robot. They follow it to a tall rock, where they discover a young native, Clang, and follow him down into the depths of the cave. There, behind a secret door, they discover a hidden city, to which all of the Twin Star inhabitants and their energy supplies have secretly been moved, via a cable tunnel connecting the planets. They are captured by Twin Star security and brought before a commander. The Autobots win the commander's trust and Brainstorm goes to inform the other Autobots of the Twin Starians' deception.

As a result of this evacuation, Galvatron and the Decepticons have been unable to find any energy on Sperity, and Galvatron starts taking out his rage on Fortress when Brainstorm arrives with a message he has been given by Dafuna. After a further argument with his fellow Headmasters, Brainstorm gets them to repeatedly exchange heads with him, transplanting his own head from Transtector to Transtector so that he can reach the other side of the battlefield and deliver the message to Fortress. Now aware of the Twin Star government's plan for the planets, Fortress has the Autobots pull out as a siren sounds to signify the completion of the evacuation, at which point Soundblaster reports that he has discovered the energy at last—a puny stack of energon cubes that Galvatron kicks over in rage. Just then, the planet shudders as Toruin disconnects from the cable bridge and floats off into space. Unaware that the departing planet holds the energy he was seeking, infuriated that he has wasted so much time, and unwilling to be made a fool of any longer, Galvatron calls off the Decepticons and they leave.

On Toruin, the Autobots celebrate their victory, and Chromedome, Hardhead and Brainstorm make their peace before the team sets off in pursuit of the Decepticons once more.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notes

Continuity notes

• This episode is the first to make reference to the "master plan" that Galvatron has for the energy that the Decepticons are gathering throughout this story arc. Precisely what the plan is will be revealed in "The Emperor of Destruction Vanishes on an Iceberg."
• This episode features the return of the Headmasters' "Cross-Head On" technique, with a twist. Instead of directly swapping heads, the Headmasters first link hands in small robot modes to pool their energies before connecting to each other's Transtectors. The narrator explains that by entering this "Power Up Formation," they triple their own individual energies (presumably because there are three of them). In particular, this bit of terminology foreshadows the "Head Formation" technique used a little later into the series, and is a key maneuver in the final episode.

Animation and technical errors

• While Sixshot is navigating, Apeface's entire face, save for his visor, is colored purple.
• When Soundblaster is first shown, his forearm is missing its red stripe, and his hand is completely white.
• When Weirdwolf says he can see Twin Star, Skullcruncher joins him at the window, but he's also coloured like Weirdwolf.
• When Galvatron runs out of MegaZarak, he is missing his particle cannon.
• When Galvatron tells his troops to search for the energy, Soundblaster is colored like Soundwave.
• While Chromedome is wearing Highbrow's body (shortly after using it to kick the Decepticon Headmasters down one by one), his head is coloured like Highbrow's rather than his own.
• Later, when Brainstorm-the-head jumps from Hardhead's body to Chromedome's, when seen from behind, he's coloured like Hardhead.
• Then he takes that body inside to talk to Fortress, who has an Autobot insignia on his chest at first (as he usually does), then loses it when he's next in shot.
• When Brainstorm leaps over Galvatron's shot, his head is colored like Fortress' head.
• Hardhead's head is drawn as Highbrow's head when he detaches from Highbrow's body to swap heads back to his own body.
• When Soundblaster comes to tell Galvatron he's found the energy, most of the gray/white parts of his head are black. Then he goes inside, his chest panel is white instead of purple.
• Fortress' chest panel loses its symbol and its color during the farewell scene with the natives.

Continuity errors

• Fortress tells Daniel and Wheelie that it's too dangerous to have them on-board Maximus during a fight, which is great, except that it doesn't seem to have bothered him at any other point. If they're so much of a liability, why did he bring them along on the voyage in the first place?
• How did everyone manage to not notice the significance of the GIANT TUBE connecting the two planets?
• Why was it necessary to do that slow and overly complicated head-switch thing in order to deliver a message to Fortress? The Headmasters have previously been shown to have telepathic powers. Not to mention that both sides have had communicators for the longest time. It's even the specific job of two of them.

Trivia

• This episode originally aired in Japan as part of a triple bill alongside "Find MegaZarak's Weak Spot!!" and "Head Formation of Friendship" on December 18.

Foreign localization

English

• Title: "The Attack on the Twin Planets" (Omni Productions dub)
• Original airdate: November 29, 1992

• Title: "Battle for Defense of the False Planet" (Shout! Factory sub), "Battle for Defence of the False Planet" (Shout! Factory menu)

• In a holdover from the Metrodome subtitles, Dafuna is mangled into "Darthner".

Spanish

• Title: "Ataque al planeta Géminis" ("Attack on the Gemini Planet")
• Original airdate: ?

Mandarin

• Title: "Zhēn-jiǎ Shuāngxīng Gōngfángzhàn " (真假双星攻防战, "Battle for Defense of the Double Planets-True & False")

Italian

• Title: "Twinstar, il pianeta doppio" ("Twinstar, the double planet")

Home video releases

All releases listed feature the original Japanese audio with optional Omni dub and English subtitles, unless otherwise noted.

Laserdisc

1996 — Transformers: The Headmasters Set (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.