Honor
From Transformers Wiki
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 And so was born "the Fantastic Four"!! And from that moment on, the world would never be the same!! | |||||||||
| "Honor" (Tatake! Ligerjack) "Fight! Ligerjack" | |||||||||
| Production company | TV Aichi, We've, Tōkyū Agency | ||||||||
| Airdate | May 28, 2005 (Japanese) October 14, 2005 (English) | ||||||||
| Writer | Manabu Ishikawa | ||||||||
| Director | Mitsuru Kawasaki | ||||||||
| Animation studio | GONZO | ||||||||
| Continuity | Unicron Trilogy cartoon continuity | ||||||||
Defeated by Scourge once again, Leobreaker learns of his foe's past and finds it surprisingly familiar...
Contents |
Synopsis
In the Autobot base, Coby is busy working to repair the wounds Hot Shot, Red Alert and Override have sustained in the course of their Velocitron adventure, while Bud and Lori petition Jetfire to be allowed to go to Jungle Planet. Naturally, Jetfire refuses, so the two kids complain to the convalescing Autobots, and Override agrees to take Lori with her to Jungle Planet when she is fully healed.
On Jungle Planet, Optimus Prime, Leobreaker and Vector Prime arrive at Scourge's temple, where they are met by the planet leader and his Decepticon allies. Prime and Leobreaker merge into Savage Claw Mode to address Scourge, but the dictator will not hear them, and repeats his earlier ruling: if they wish to have a voice in his court, they must beat him in combat. Leobreaker can hold himself back no longer and forcibly separates from Prime to attack Scourge, only to be felled by a blast of flame from Scourge's twin dragon heads. Megatron moves to finish Leobreaker off, but Scourge forces him to stay his hand, noticeably ruffling Megatron's feathers. After the Decepticons depart, the Autobots rush to Leobreaker's aid, but the angry lion-bot brushes Optimus Prime's hand away and leaves to be on his own. The two Primes return to Backstop's cave, while Snarl goes searching for Leobreaker and finds him training in a volcano, punching the rock face to build up his strength. Simultaneously, Backstop and Snarl tell the same story of their pasts...
- Years ago, Snarl and Scourge were great friends and Backstop's two top students, in a time when the people of Jungle Planet were under constant threat of attacks by raiders. Scourge believed that he could use his strength to become the new ruler of the planet and protect its people, but Backstop argued against him, adhering to his long-standing mantra that violence only creates more violence. Scourge was forced to turn from his teacher, and Snarl accompanied him to watch over him. As the years passed, Scourge attained his goal, but Backstop's belief held true, and Scourge's rule of "might makes right" turned Jungle Planet into a world of unending conflict, with him as its dictator.
Leobreaker does not appear particularly moved by Snarl's story, and continues punching the wall, telling him a tale of his own...
- Back on Cybertron, when he was Overhaul, Leobreaker worked alone and enjoyed the glory and praise it brought him, until one day, he overheard some soldiers talking about how they didn't want to go on a mission with him because of his recklessness and lack of regard for other troops. Continuing to work alone out of bitterness, Overhaul was then caught beneath a collapsing rock wall during a battle on a barren planetoid, and believed himself done for, until Optimus Prime suddenly appeared to rescue him.
Leobreaker explains to Snarl that this was the incident that proved to him he always had friends he could rely on, and that he hopes to teach Scourge the same lesson, seeing as he does much of himself in the planet leader. Snarl points out that Leobreaker is not practising what he preaches, reminding him of his disagreement with Optimus Prime, and Leobreaker accepts his own foolishness, just as Optimus Prime and Vector Prime enter the volcano. Optimus and Leobreaker apologise to each other, and Optimus reveals that has at last decided to follow the laws of Jungle Planet and face Scourge in battle, but to win, he will need Leobreaker's help! The two shake hands, and all the Autobots put their hands in and vow to work together.
As night falls, Backstop approaches Scourge's temple, and brushes past Undermine and Brimstone to deliver Optimus Prime's challenge to Scourge. Curious as to why Optimus has turned around on the issue, Scourge asks Backstop why the Autobot leader fights, and Backstop tells him that he fights for peace and to protect others...something that Scourge ought to be familiar with. Backstop leaves, and Megatron approaches Scourge in an attempt to dissuade him from going through with the battle. Scourge stays true to his own law and insists upon the match standing and leaving his throne room. Furious, Megatron departs through a dimension gate... without noticing the shadowed forms of Sideways and Starscream, standing behind a pillar and listening in. Sideways comments on the possibility that Prime may defeat Scourge... then whispers something into Starscream's ear that makes the air commander smile...
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"He fights with his own arm!"
- —Megatron
"Master, you have taught me well."
"Have I, Scourge? If you truly believe the madness you are spouting now, then I fear I have failed miserably. What you propose will only end in more destruction, or tyranny!"
- —Scourge and Backstop
Leobreaker: "Back when I was Overhaul, I was kind of a lone wolf... uh, no offense."
Snarl: "None taken."
- —Because Snarl is a wolf, you get it?!
"Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, wishes to face you in battle, at a time and place of your convenience."
"Why didn't he just fight this morning? I thought that was pretty convenient."
"Maybe this time, he'll argue with his left arm!"
- —Backstop, Crumplezone, and Ransack continuing Megatron's gag from before.
Notes
Differences with Galaxy Force
This episode features no major differences between Galaxy Force and Cybertron, although the Cybertron version does feature a notably large amount of additional and modified "flavor" dialogue, even by the show's usual standards.
Plotting and continuity errors
- So... um... did the Autobots just give up looking for the object in the Arctic causing the atmospheric disturbances in the last episode? Seems like that would be kind of important to get sorted out...
- Since they don't intend to fight Scourge, there is absolutely no reason for Prime and Leobreaker to combine, except because the plot wants to have the visual of Leobreaker forcibly separating from Prime about a minute later. Cybertron tries to justify it by adding a line about how they're taking the form "out of respect" for Scourge.
Continuity notes
- Leobreaker appears to retreat to the same volcano in which he trained back in "Detour".
Transformers references
- The battles in Jungle Planet's past are referred to as the "Great Wars".
- Some of the rubble visible in Leobreaker's flashback is identifiable as chunks of Unicron's body as it appeared in the Armada and Energon cartoons.
Trivia
- This episode offers us our first look at other Jungle Planet inhabitants (previously, it's seemed as if the entire population of the planet is less than half-a-dozen guys). Only a few body-types are used, with alternate modes including several different types of dinosaur, an owl and a lobster, each used multiple times to fill out crowd scenes. In a first for the show, these Transformers are hand-drawn, instead of the CGI that Cybertron customarily uses for all its robots and vehicles; when more Jungle Planet natives appear (much) later in the series, they are all new models, rendered in the more traditional manner of the show.
- Override blushes in this episode when talking to Lori.
Home video releases
- DVD
2005 — Transformers: Galaxy Force — Vol. 06 (Victor Entertainment) — Japanese audio only.
2008 — Transformers: Cybertron — The Ultimate Collection (Paramount)
2014 — Transformers: Cybertron — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)
