The Crossroads

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Trust no one. Not even yourself.
"The Crossroads"
Season	2
No. in season	18
Production company	Allspark Animation
Airdate	September 17, 2019 (Australia/NZ) December 27, 2019 (CN app/website) January 4, 2020 (USA)
Writer	Randolph Heard
Director	Ehud Landsberg
Animation studio	Boulder Media Studio
Watch this episode on YouTube

The Autobots repair a damaged space bridge in hope of reaching Cybertron faster, only to wind up trapped in unspace.

Synopsis

The Ark hovers over a derelict space bridge, currently undergoing repairs by a squad of Autobots under Wheeljack's supervision. Optimus Prime asks if the repairs are complete, but Wheeljack admits he's unsure if the repairs will do the trick.

On the Ark's bridge, Cheetor is fascinated by the idea that the space bridge will be a shortcut to Cybertron, but any levity is quickly quashed when Optimus reveals why they must accelerate their voyage: a desperate call from Chromia, calling on Optimus to return because "Cybertron is falling." With the need to return now impressed on the others, Optimus orders Teletraan-X to take them through the space bridge.

Exiting the space bridge, the Autobots find themselves in a strange, kaleidoscopic place. Wheeljack comes to the amazing realization that they have entered unspace. Upon noticing Hot Rod's confusion, he explains that unspace is the space between the entry and exit points of space bridge portals. Teletraan-X chimes in that they are not the only ones stuck, as he has detected a distress signal from a nearby vessel. To the Autobots' collective amazement, the source of the distress signal is coming from a very familiar-looking ship: an exact duplicate of the Ark!

Seeking answers, Optimus leads an away team consisting of himself, Wheeljack and Grimlock and boards the duplicate Ark. Grimlock observes that the hangar they have docked in looks exactly like theirs, and wishes that fact made him feel better. Optimus decides to split up and search for signs of life. Optimus reports nothing on the bridge, and attempts to restore power are unsuccessful. Wheeljack has found an exact duplicate of his lab, except for a machine he can't identify (though he admits it looks like something he would build). Grimlock meanwhile has discovered the stasis pods are all empty, and again repeats that he has a bad feeling. That feeling is soon proven right as the ship begins to disappear right under his feet, a fact seconded by Wheeljack. Ordering his team back to the shuttle, Optimus flees the bridge. The away team does not quite make it, and the duplicate Ark completely disintegrates and leaves them floating in unspace. Explaining that quantum disintegration seems to be an inevitable effect of being in unspace, Wheeljack declares that they have to escape as soon as they can. As their dire straits sink in, Teletraan-X reports another ship approaching: yet another Ark!

Optimus orders Grimlock to hail the other ship, and everyone is surprised when another Optimus and Hot Rod appear on the viewscreen. Confusion mounts as realization dawn that they are facing doppelgängers. Wheeljack and his duplicate suggest that both groups meet up, and soon both groups have joined up and are exchanging details. Windblade's double explains that their group entered the space bridge after receiving an urgent distress call from Perceptor as opposed to Chromia. This leads to the Wheeljacks postulating that unspace is where the multiverse meets.

As the two Optimus Primes agree that working together is the key to escape, Teletraan-X reports that yet another Ark has arrived as well. To everyone's surprise, this Ark is captained by none other than an alternate Rack'n'Ruin. Meanwhile, the Wheeljacks (now joined by the Wheeljack from the Rack'n'Ruin Ark) compare notes on the device Wheeljack found earlier on the now-vanished Ark. They conclude that the Wheeljack on that Ark must've been trying to use the power of the AllSpark to break out of unspace, but tragically ran out of time. The three Wheeljacks decide to use the combined power of their three AllSparks in order to try and create a space bridge and thus a way out.

Even with three AllSparks, however, there isn't enough power to open and maintain a portal long enough, and as the Wheeljacks decide to try again, one of them disintegrates, followed by his ship and crew-mates. At that moment, several more Arks appear and after a short meeting the various Optimus Primes (and Rack'n'Ruin) agree to pool the collective power of all the AllSparks. With nine AllSparks, the gambit is successful and a stable space bridge portal is opened to each crew's universe. With a cry of "Autobots, roll out!" the fleet enters the portal to return home and save their own Cybertrons.

The Ark emerges from the space bridge with Cybertron in sight. Bumblebee and Windblade are awestruck at the sight of Cybertron after so long, and Optimus joins them in enjoying the sight. However, all is not well, as Shockwave has already detected the Ark's approach. Megatron congratulates Chromia on bringing the Autobots back so quickly, and upon declaring that when the Autobots arrive the Decepticons will destroy them the other Decepticons erupt into cheers of "Destroy them! Destroy them!"

Meanwhile on the Ark, the blissfully unaware Autobots cheer their return home, and Optimus allows himself to smile...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Optimus Prime, if you're out there we need you now! Cybertron is falling, you must return immediately!"

— Chromia does her best impression of Princess Leia.

(in unison) "And it's fantastic! We gotta meet up! And we gotta stop talking at the same time."
(Wheeljack) "Okay?"
(Wheeljack 2) "All right..."

—The Wheeljacks realise what is happening and put an end to comedic mirroring.

(in unison) "We must work together... er..."
(Optimus (?)) "You first."
(Optimus 2 (?)) "... to escape the unspace!"
(Optimus) "Yes! Exactly!"

—The Optimuses (Optimii?) try to rally the combined crews.

"Wheeljack thinks it's possible."
"So does my Wheeljack."
"My Wheeljack agrees."
"Mine as well."
"And mine."
"Our Wheeljack thinks so too."
"My Wheeljack-"
"Yes, yes, all the Wheeljacks agree."

—Can you find the Rack'n'Ruin in the midst of all the Optimus Primes?

Notes

Continuity notes

• The episode opens with a transmission from Chromia who was last seen, albeit barely, as part of the Ark's crew in "Eruption." While it is not made clear in the show, according to showrunner Randolph Heard, Chromia returned to Cybertron during the time skip between seasons one and two.^[1]
• Optimus tries to restart the alternate Ark using the override key on the right arm of the command chair that Teletraan-X used to reboot the ship in the last episode.
• The Decepticons space bridged to Cybertron in "Escape From Earth."

Transformers references

• While attempting to fix the space bridge, Wheeljack remarks that he's "no Quintesson," possibly alluding to the fact that the Quintessons were the ones who introduced space bridges to Cybertron as in the Aligned continuity family.
  • This line stands at odds with season 3 of Cyberverse, in which the Quintessons appear to be wholly new to this universe.
• When the Ark enters unspace, Wheeljack swears by Prima.

Real-world references

Other trivia

• Beginning with this episode, Chromia's voice actor changed from Latonia Phipps to Jaime Lamchick.
• Noticeably, Wheeljack pronounces "Quintesson" with the stress on the second syllable (like how Simon Furman pronounces it), whereas previous media had placed emphasis on the first syllable (i.e."Quintesson"). Characters will continue to use this pronunciation for the remainder of the series.
• The crew of the Rack'n'Ruin Ark aren't included in the "Autobots, roll out!" shot just before all 9 Arks enter the Space Bridge.
• As a rather funny move, different voice actors are credited separately as the voices of the alternate versions of their characters; for instance, Jeremy Levy is credited as both Bumblebee and Bumblebee 2, and Jacob Tillman as nine different Optimus Primes.

Animation and technical errors

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "Le carrefour" ("The Crossroad")
• Original airdate: October 27, 2019

German

• Title: "Zwischen den Weltraumbrücken"
• Original airdate: January 4, 2020

Japanese

• Title: "Uchū Kūkan kara no Dasshutsu" (宇宙空間からの脱出, "Escape from Outer Space")
• Original airdate: January 11, 2020

Portuguese

• Title: "A Encruzilhada" ("The Crossroad")
• Original airdate: January 14, 2020

Home video releases

• TBA

References