Rage!! Little Devils with No Need for Rules

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I'm gonna rouge my knees and roll my stockings down...
"Rage!! Little Devils with No Need for Rules" 大暴れ!!ルール無用の小さな悪魔 () (Ōabare!! Rule Muyō no Chīsa na Akuma)
Production company	Takara, Toei
Airdate	10 May 1988
Writer	Toyohiro Andō
Director	Katsutoshi Sasaki
Animation studio	Toei
Continuity	Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

Minerva is forced to overcome her fear of fighting when the Decepticon Headmaster Juniors cause chaos as they seek revenge on a motorcycle gang from Wilder's past.

Synopsis

"Look, just take the damn puppy."

Full of energy and enthusiasm since becoming a Headmaster Junior, Shūta is lambasted by his soccer coach for his grandstanding plays and lectured on the importance of working as a member of the team. After school, the three Headmasters Juniors are called to Autobot Base by Metalhawk, although Cab is held up a little by a little show put on by his pets: His parrot accompanies his armadillo's unrolling with a caw of "Armadillo, transform!" Once the trio are gathered, Cab is a bit taken aback by an unusual look that Minerva gives him. In reality, it's just a Japanese dance pose, since she has just come from a lesson, but the two boys' failure to appreciate this fact does not impress her. At that point, Hawk enters and explains to the Juniors that Diver has invited them to join him in America. Upon arriving at the Ocean Research Institute, however, they find out that they have been duped; expecting a leisurely vacation, they are, in fact, here for some serious training with their new Headmaster powers. Shūta and Cab fare quite well against the battle drones that they wind up combating in holographic simulations, but when Minerva has to rescue a puppy from a raging river, her lack of confidence causes her to fail the task. Diver is called away to investigate a sub-sea volcano and leaves the centre in the Juniors' hands, consoling Minerva before he goes and reminding her that the Masterforce requires faith.

This shot would be more impressive if his metal pants weren't riding up.

By unfortunate coincidence, the Decepticon Headmaster Juniors are also active in America, led by Wilder on a mission of personal revenge against the motorcycle gang known as the Cool Guys, who ran his group, the Jack Boys, out of their territory and caused them to break up. They challenge the Cool Guys to a confrontation, and their Headmaster powers make short work of the thugs, after which Wilder makes the gang the Decepticons' lackeys. The gang watches in rapt awe as the three boys proceed to tear through local police, and after some begging from the gang leader, Mac, Wilder allows them to join in the chaos.

"Wait, it's just a doll!"

While taking advantage of the institute's well-stocked cafeteria, the Autobot Headmaster Juniors are alerted to the Decepticons' attack by a news report. Shūta races for the door, but Minerva holds him back, thinking that they should call on Diver or Hawk so the Juniors themselves can stick to their usual rescue operations. Shūta refuses, and Cab follows his lead. Minerva tries to stop him too, but Cab brushes off her feelings as a product of her fear of fighting. Minerva knows he is not wrong—she lacks the courage necessary to join the fight—but when watching the coverage on television, she sees a little girl and her dog caught in an explosion, and she races into the thick of the battle without even thinking. She arrives as Shūta is being pursued by the three Decepticon Juniors and Cab is attempting to put out fires. When the girl's dog, Pis, appears barking frantically, Cab is able to translate, and they follow the dog into a collapsed underground parking garage, where the girl is trapped by rubble. Although they are able to free her and tend to her injuries, Cool Guys member Priest spots them and informs Wilder.

Finally Wilder answers the ancient question of who would win in a fight: a puppy or a giant alien robot.

Wilder calls out a Lobclaw to deal with Shūta while the Decepticon Juniors prove their immaturity by ganging up on Minerva, although Cab holds them off while Minerva watches the girl and her dog. Pis, however, wriggles out his owner's arms and scampers up to the robot-mode Wilder, barking at him. Irritated, Wilder kicks the poor animal, killing it outright. As the distraught little girl tosses rocks at Wilder, an emotional, furious Minerva finds the will to fight and transforms to robot mode, paralyzing Bullhorn with her shock blaster and taking down Cancer in combat. With his two teammates having fallen, Wilder spouts a line about how he "now knows the measure of the Autobots' power" and beats a hasty retreat. Cab and Minerva then go to Shūta's aid and are able to sever the Lobclaw's claw, but then a Kraken appears to worsen the odds. Diver arrives on the scene in time to take out the Kraken, allowing the three Juniors to deal with the Lobclaw. Minerva paralyzes it, Cab passes the severed claw to Shūta, and Shūta kicks it home, spearing the Lobclaw with its own limb and destroying it.

After the battle, Minerva helps the little girl set up a cliffside memorial for Pis and tells her she will get her a new puppy just like him. Diver commends her for her courage and tells the three Juniors that bravery and teamwork are their greatest powers.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

Cab: Yeah, you have to master them!
Shūta: That's right!
Cab and Shūta: We're the Master-force! ... Just kidding!
Minerva: Neither of you have a bit of refinement or delicacy.

Notes

Animation and technical errors

Minerva's SPO and IHT levels were the envy of the other Juniors.

• Minerva's transformation footage takes a very literal, toy-based approach in this episode. There appears to be absolutely nothing under the bonnet of her Transtector, between the front wheels. Also, in the same sequence, her chest-mounted Tech Spec meter shows readings of "SPO," "STR," and "IHT." It should read "SPD," "STR," and "INT," short for Speed, Strength, and Intelligence, respectively. This sequence will be reused several times throughout the series, notably in "Escape!! The Underwater Volcano Erupts". The error remains unchanged each time.
• Pis and his owner appear to be about a foot away from an exploding petrol tanker, yet survive.
• As the Decepticon Headmasters corner Shūta in a dead end, we get a shot of Wilder inside his Transtector, and the Decepticon symbol on his chest is red.

Transformers references

• That green car that Diver is driving while the Headmaster Juniors are training totally looks like Hound. And they're fighting illusions, too, not at all unlike Hound's holograms from the first two seasons of the original series.

Trivia

• Wilder is a stone-cold bastard.
• What do Decepticons have against puppies? This is the second time a Decepticon killed a dog, having done so in Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #8. Someone had better watch those Antilian bumble-puppies.

Foreign localization

English

• Title: "The Troublemaking Little Monsters" (Omni Productions dub)
• Original airdate: July 1, 1990

• Title: "Rage!! Little Devils with No Need for Rules" (Shout! Factory sub)

Italian

• Title: "Il ritorno dei Distructors" ("The return of the Decepticons")
• Original airdate: ?

• In the title, the term "Distructor" (Italian name of the Decepticons) is pluralized as "Distructors", despite the fact that in the dub of this series "Distructor" is used as both singular and plural.
• When Minerva is seen dancing, there's no background music.
• Normally, in the Italian dub of this series the title cards are cut out (the title appears instead on a blue background right after the theme song). Despite that, in this episode the beginning of the card is shown, although it cuts right before the title itself appears.

Spanish

• Title: "Los pequeños monstruos revoltosos" ("The troublemakers little monster")
• Original airdate: ?

Home video releases

VHS

1988 — Transformers: Super-God Masterforce — 2 (VAP) — Japanese audio only.

DVD

2003 — Transformers: Super-God Masterforce — DVD Box 01 (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2006 — The Takara Collection Vol 2 — Transformers: Super-God Masterforce (Metrodome)
2007 — Transformers — The Complete Takara Collection (Metrodome)
2008 — The Transformers: Super God Masterforce (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — The Transformers: Japan Generation 1 — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)
2012 — Transformers: The Japanese Collection (Shout! Factory)
2012 — Transformers Japanese Collection: Super-God Masterforce (Shout! Factory)