Cybertron Is in Grave Danger, Part 2 - Transformers Wiki

The end looms for Cybertron as Scorponok's plan to secure power nears fruition.

Synopsis

As Weirdwolf and Skullcruncher outfit Mindwipe with the bombs Scorponok has specially prepared, the Autobot Headmasters wonder why the villains broke off their fight so suddenly, and begin investigating.

Elsewhere, the Predacons are brought to a halt by the Trainbots and quickly begin fighting them. Defensor and Bruticus grapple. As Galvatron orders Soundblaster to call for reinforcements, Scorponok pops up to suggest maybe it's time to change strategy, and Galvatron tells him to get lost.

Rodimus Prime announces that the Cybertonuron is completed and must not fall into Decepticon hands!

As the Stunticons and Aerialbots clash, Chromedome spots Mindwipe and Weirdwolf, and follows them as they meet Skullcruncher at an entrance to the planet's sub-levels. After Mindwipe disappears inside, Chromedome summons the other Headmasters with his telepathic powers. Fortress lets him know that the Cybertonuron is complete and the Headmasters assume that that's what the Decepticons are after. Weirdwolf and Skullcruncher block their way, but Chromedome makes it through and pursues Mindwipe. Minutes later, Battleship Maximus arrives overhead and provides covering fire so the other Headmasters can run inside as well.

Chromedome somehow takes a wrong turn, and gets into trouble as the walkway collapses under him, sending him plummeting into the depths. The other three Headmasters run into other defenses, while Mindwipe finds himself under attack by bats. Chromedome comes around to find himself in an area filled with sulfuric acid. On the surface, the battle between the Autobots and Decepticons for control of the planet rages on.

In the Autobot base, Rodimus tells Daniel Witwicky that he believes with the Cybertonuron, they'll soon gain more allies, but first they must repel the Decepticon attack.

Shaking his bat escort, Mindwipe reaches Vector Sigma and starts planting the bombs. Chromedome arrives and challenges him, but Mindwipe informs him that the bombs are tamper proof, and they have 30 minutes to get out. While the Decepticon scarpers, the other Headmasters arrive. Skullcruncher and Weirdwolf spot that the bombs are set and immediately head in the other direction while the four Autobots make a futile attempt to try and remove the bombs. With time running short, the Headmasters are forced to abandon their attempt and flee to the surface to sound the alarm.

On the surface, Scorponok informs Galvatron that he has arranged for the planting of the bombs and the destruction of Cybertron, ostensibly to prevent the newly-created Cybertonuron from falling into Autobot hands. As Galvatron departs for Vector Sigma's chamber to stop Scorponok's plan, the Autobot Headmasters inform Rodimus of the situation, and he quickly and regretfully arranges for the evacuation of the planet. As the Autobots and Decepticons escape to safety, Galvatron enters Vector Sigma's chamber—just as the bombs go off and he is consumed in the fireball. The explosion devastates Cybertron utterly, reducing it to a charred, broken hunk floating in space.

Touching down on the ruined, uninhabitable surface of Cybertron, Rodimus Prime realises that the age of his generation of Transformers has come to an end. Vowing to find a new planet for the Transformers to live on, he appoints Fortress as the new Supreme Commander of the Autobots, and accepts Blurr and Kup's offer to accompany him. When Arcee moves to join them, he refuses, telling her to stay and take care of Wheelie and Daniel. Promising to return, Rodimus and his companions depart for space.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Eh, you bunch of mooncalves!"

—Galvatron breaks out one of the more obscure insults for his men.

Notes

Continuity Notes

• Previously hinted at in "Birth of the Fantastic Double Prime", the Headmasters' telepathic powers are properly explained in this episode (albeit by the narrator) as an ability they developed on planet Master.
• Galvatron is not out of commission for too long—although he is missing for several episodes, he returns in "Return of the Immortal Emperor".
• Despite his promise, Rodimus Prime did not return in the course of the Headmasters cartoon. He did, however, come back from his journey in the final chapter of the comic. In the current Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity (which ignores the events of the 80s comics), Hot Rod went to the planet Micro (see below for more).

Animation and technical errors

• Several pieces of footage are reused from "Four Warriors Come out of the Sky", including aerial dives by Vortex and Blast Off, Jazz returning fire, and a skirmish between Superion, Abominus and Devastator.

Continuity Errors

• Not only does Rodimus feel the need to run away very quickly on his Boy's Own mission with Kup and Blurr (presumably lest Arcee followed them), it doesn't seem to occur to him that the Autobots already have a peaceful planet to live on—Athenia. But of course that wouldn't allow for him to get out of the way and let Fortress assume command.
• Furthermore, his decision to install Fortress as new leader because of his 'youth' makes little sense given that Fortress is roughly the same age as most other Transformers seen since the start of G1, having left Cybertron 4 million years ago and having known Kup. If anything, Rodimus is the more youthful of the two given that, as Hot Rod, he was shown to be something of a Cybertronian teenager, implying that he was built later than Optimus and co. It's probably supposed to refer to Fortress and the other Headmasters not literally being "younger", but being more of a "new generation" of Transformers, with their crazy new powers and tech, but it's still really iffy.
• It certainly doesn't help that Cybertron's destruction makes not only Optimus's sacrifice back in "Birth of the Fantastic Double Prime" completely pointless, but pretty much every character who died on both sides did so completely in vain.
• How is Daniel breathing when the Autobots stand on the shattered chunk of Cybertron at the end? Would it really retain an atmosphere? Or sufficient gravity for that matter?

Trivia

• The devastation of Cybertron is probably the single most famous event from the Headmasters cartoon, and is well-known even among those fans who have not seen the series themselves. The planet would later show up seemingly unscathed by the time of G-2, and its rebuilding was depicted decades later in Unite Warriors.
• On occasion, people wonder why Rodimus did not give Fortress the Matrix when he made him leader. Well, for no real reason, that's just not really how things work in Japan—there are fewer Supreme Commanders who have held the Matrix than there are those who haven't.
• Despite this episode featuring the final appearances of Rodimus, Kup and Blurr, they continue to appear in the show's intro, which was never altered despite their exit happening so soon in the show's airing.
• It had been speculated for years that the planet Rodimus goes out to find is Micro, because when Rodimus returns years later in Return of Convoy, he is a Micromaster. The Legends comic would eventually confirm this.
• Mindwipe doesn't seem to like bats. Hmm.
• Horrid pun: Razorclaw asks if Shouki is 正気 ("sane", and which is pronounced "shouki"). The Autobot simply replies "I'm Shouki".
• Years later, the authors of the Facebook version of Ask Vector Prime would utilize the destruction of Cybertron in this episode as an in-universe way to explain this highly convoluted thing. See this and this for details.

Foreign localization

English

• Title: "Crisis on Cyberton, Part 2" [sic] (Omni Productions dub)
• Original airdate: September 20, 1992

• The Omni Productions dialogue script included on the R2 release of the Headmasters series gives the episode title as "Crisis on Cybertons Part Two".
  • Shouki, rather than Raiden, is identified as "Grimlock" in this script. Razorclaw and Soundblaster are still identified as "Sogo" and "Puda", respectively. Divebomb is referred to as "Bo".

• Title: "Planet Cybertron Is in Grave Danger: Part 2" (Shout! Factory sub)

• The review of the last episode shown before the title card is omitted.
• The bombs' countdown in "minutes" is at first translated as "cycles" and then as "clicks" onward.

Italian

• Title: "Cybertron è in pericolo - Parte seconda" ("Cybertron is in danger - Second Part")

• The narrator once says "to the Vector Sigma".
• Once, Scorponok calls the Decepticons by their Japanese name, and without any article preceding it.
• When Rodimus tells Arcee not to go with him, he says that that's "a journey just for me and Kup", seemingly forgetting about Blurr. Poor Blurr...

Mandarin

• Title: "Wēijī Lóngzhào xià de Sāibótǎn (Xià)" (危机笼罩下的塞伯坦(下), "Cybertron under the Shadow of Crisis, Part II")

Spanish

• Title: "Crisis en el Planeta Cybertron, Segunda Parte" ("Crisis on the Planet Cybertron, Second Part")

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.