Warzone

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"Warzone"
Season	1
No. in season	16
Production company	Entertainment One Nickelodeon
Airdate	March 3, 2023 (Paramount+) August 19, 2023 (Nickelodeon)
Writers	Greg Johnson
Director	Matthew Humphreys
Animation studio	Icon Creative Studio
Watch this episode on Paramount+

Megatron gives the Maltos a history lesson on the end of the war...one that becomes all too real.

Synopsis

"Isn't that usually my job?"

In the final battle of the Transformers War, Bumblebee and Optimus play hot potato with the AllSpark as they, and the rest of the Autobots, fight through the Decepticon Army in the hopes of returning it to Cybertron. Intercepting the AllSpark himself from Starscream's clutches, Megatron just manages to toss the AllSpark back through the Spacebridge portal as Optimus fires off the shot that destroys said Spacebridge, and the AllSpark seemingly along with it.

In the present, where the former battlefield is now Spacebridge Memorial Park, the Malto siblings and Terrans playfully re-enact the final climatic battle, but the fun comes to an end when Twitch tosses the trashcan they were playing with at Megatron, which he instinctually destroys with his fusion cannon and then takes aim at the Malto youths. Coming to his senses, Megatron apologizes for scaring them, saying the place brings back painful memories for him. Apologizing themselves for the game possibly being disrespectful to play at a war memorial, the Terrans inquire as to why he brought them there in the first place, to which Megatron only responds with “learn”.

Taking the group to the center of the park, where a holographic projection of the AllSpark appears covered in a type of blue flower, Robby and Mo inform their Terran siblings the flowers are Cybertronian remembrance flowers, that absorb and represent the sparks of Autobots and Decepticons who died in the final battle. Megatron shares with them that the war had reached the point where it was destroying Transformers as a species and he finally became convinced of the error of his way thanks to their mother; Dorothy, claiming the greater compassion she showed for his own troops than he did reminded him of how lost he’d become. Continuing the tour, Megatron then asks what the Terrans know of the AllSpark. Having only limited info provided by their father, Megatron explains that as the source of life for all Cybertronians, the AllSpark could also be used as a powerful weapon to create legions of new warriors in an instant. It was when the Decepticons moved the AllSpark off of Cybertron, depriving their planet of its life source, that Megatron realized the war had entered its darkest hour. Following Optimus' orders, Megatron had to sneak behind enemy lines to retrieve the AllSpark.

As Megatron attempts to sneak into the Decepticons' base to retrieve the AllSpark, he is stopped by Shockwave. Trying to get his old friend to see reason, Megatron finds his efforts rebutted as Shockwave only responds that all the losses so far will be all be worth it as the Decepticons will rule both Earth and Cybertron. Revealing his ultimate plan of bringing to life a massive Protoform army currently on Cybertron that will overwhelm the Autobots, Megatron realizes his old friend has gone too far and forcibly shoves Shockwave into a stasis pod while he's distracted. Shockwave can only utter a spiteful “traitor” as he slowly goes into forced stasis. Optimus and Bumblebee soon arrive on the scene, congratulating Megatron for getting the AllSpark, and all three depart to go return it to Cybertron.

Given the totality of the explosion caused when the Spacebridge was destroyed, Megatron’s greatest fear since the end of the war has been that, with AllSpark's destruction, Cybertron itself was also destroyed. With the arrival of the Terrans, his hope is now this new generation will able to find a better way towards the future than either the Autobots or Decepticons could. Thrash however can only shake his head and walks off. Meanwhile, in the derelict Decepticon lab beneath the memorial, Shockwave’s stasis tube cracks open, allowing the long-forgotten Decepticon to reactivate.

No yesterday / No tomorrow / Just an everlasting now

Thrash sits sullenly overlooking the names of those lost in the Great War as Mo comes to join him. Thrash vents about what he feels is the unfair burden of having to clean up the mess caused by Megatron and the Decepticons in the war despite the fact the Terrans had nothing to do with it. Mo however points out it’s probably more he doesn’t want them to fix his mistakes but not to make the same ones. Taking these words to heart, Thrash is ready go back and finish hearing Megatron’s lesson, only for the moment to be interrupted by Shockwave blasting his way onto the scene. Surveying the environment, Shockwave reacts with horror to see the Spacebridge destroyed and demands to know who’s responsible. Trying to prevent further escalation, Megatron informs Shockwave the war’s been over for years in the time since he was imprisoned. Refusing to listen, Shockwave grabs Thrash and keeps Megatron and the others at bay with the threat of the Immobilizer. Curious about these new lifeforms with Megatron, Shockwave performs a mind scan of Thrash, only to react with horror and toss Thrash to the ground, calling the Terran an abomination. Megatron claims the Terrans are the future of the species. Shockwave only scoffs and says he’ll betray them eventually just as he did the Decepticons and fires a blast at Megatron that sends him flying. Jawbreaker, Hashtag, and Twitch attempt to get Megatron out of the way of a shot from the Immobilizer that only hits them instead, locking them into stasis. An enraged Megatron battles it out with Shockwave, with the latter activating both a personal energy shield that entraps the both of them and initiating an overload of the Spacebridge’s old power core chambers.

Shockwave's already getting ready for his "Shackwave" redeco

With three of them incapacitated and the power core chamber set to blow, Nightshade takes Thrash and Robby with them to find a way to prevent the power chambers from exploding, while Mo is ordered to stay behind. Rushing into the inner layer of the Spacebridge chamber, Nightshade and the others get to working ripping out the wiring powering up the chambers, slowly shutting it off. Above ground, Megatron is shot out of the sky by Shockwave and buried under some rubble. Gradually approaching his former leader, Shockwave stops to see Mo vainly trying to move the rubble off of Megatron. Amused, Shockwave offers the child an attempt to leave, with Mo standing defiantly as Megatron uses the opportunity to fire off a shot from the Immobilizer at Shockwave, it having been knocked out of the latter’s grip earlier in the fight. Shockwave only snarls in a rage as he’s once again put into forced stasis. With Nightshade, Thrash, and Robby having disabled the rest of the power cores, Megatron uses the Immoblizer to release Hashtag, Twitch, and Jawbreaker.

As the morning approaches, the inert Shockwave is taken away by G.H.O.S.T. and the Terrans ask for one last bit of advice from Megatron before departing. Megatron tells them that there will come a day where they will have to reveal themselves to the world, imploring them to not let whatever disagreements they may have divide them and instead of trying to emulate their Autobot and Decepticon seniors to instead be better than them.

Featured characters

Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

Twitch: "And now I, Megatron, shall end this war!"
Hashtag: "You'll have to deal with Starscream first!."
Nightshade: "Wait!" (makes a time out gesture) "You're Soundwave! I'm Starscream!"

"That war—I get why it started, but once it became Decepticons versus Autobots? I mean, yeah, sure, Megs finally cleaned up his mess, but he's the one who let it get that far! Now he wants to put the weight of it all on our shoulders you know? And I mean...why aren't you talking?"
"I'm here to listen."
"Well, what's he trying to teach us? All I've learned is that he messed up, and we're supposed to fix things."
"Maybe he's trying to teach us not to make the same mistakes."

—Thrash and Mo talk out Thrash's inter-generational issues.

"You think you can just start over with these lower class Cybrids?"
"Class? You have learned nothing!"

—Shockwave gets called out by Megatron over forgetting the Decepticons' origins.

"When the day comes for you to emerge from hiding, expect harsh words from those who do not understand. Stand up for yourselves, yes. But remember, do not let your disagreements divide you. The Decepticons and Autobots could have accomplished so much more had we remembered that. Do not do what we did...do better."

—Megatron gives some words of advice to the next generation.

Notes

Continuity notes

• Alex previously described the final battle and the destruction of the Spacebridge in "Secret Legacy, Part 1". While his version was slightly exaggerated and framed through a very '80s lens, this is the first time we get to see how it actually happened.
• Megatron still bears a scar on the right side of his chest where Mandroid tried to surgically remove his arm in "Age of Evolution, Part 2".

Transformers references

• The AllSpark and the war fought over its life-giving properties have been a central component of many prior Transformers series. Its appearance in EarthSpark most resembles its appearance in the live-action film series.
• Megatron refers to the final battle of the Transformers War with the AllSpark being in Decepticon hands as their "darkest hour".
• Megatron's disgust over Shockwave's "lower class" comment and his statement that he began the war so that "no one would kneel again" hearkens back to the class-based origins of the Great War in many previous series, most notably the Aligned continuity family and the 2005 IDW continuity.
• The Cybertronian remembrance flowers that grow from the AllSpark are based on the flowers that first appear in issue 44 of More than Meets The Eye, where they were planted on the Necrobot's planet. While their appearance is visually identical, they work slightly differently; each flower represents an Autobot, Decepticon, and human who died during the battle, and are not linked to particular killers.
• What appears to be Blitzwing and Astrotrain (in space shuttle mode) cameo in some images depicting scenes from the Transformers' war on Earth. They are the only Decepticons featured in it who haven't appeared in the series proper.
• Shockwave ends up locked in a stasis pod very reminiscent of the "stasis cells" from the 2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon, where they fill with a freezing gas to induce "cryo-stasis".
• A new version of the Immobilizer is introduced in this episode. It debuted back in the original The Transformers cartoon and new versions of it showed up in Prime and Cyberverse. It largely seems to function identically to its previous incarnations.
• Shockwave's tentacled claw and mind probe is very similar to the cortical psychic patch that first appeared in the Prime cartoon, in which it was created by the series' own resident Shockwave.
• The memorial is also reminiscent of the Memorial Crater from the 2019 IDW continuity, being located in a crater from the final battle of the war it's memorializing, and featuring a list of the war dead's names.

Real-world references

• Spacebridge Memorial Park seems to take inspiration from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, specifically the black stone walls with the names of those who died in the war etched on to them.

Errors

• When Megatron throws the Allspark into the Spacebridge, his fusion cannon is inexplicably missing from his arm. The image of Megatron throwing the Allspark is paused, the scene transitions to an identical image of the statue of Megatron throwing the Allspark, but the fusion cannon is now present on the statue in the memorial.

Trivia

• For those wondering, none of the Ancient Autobot script on the memorial walls spell anything.
• While not mentioned in the episode itself, a deleted scene would have elaborated that Megatron and the Maltos were visiting the memorial on the 15th anniversary of the war's end, something that Megatron had done on every anniversary since. This detail was also integrated into Transformers EarthSpark The Official Guidebook.
• A set of deleted scenes from this episode would have continued the "Ravage infiltrates G.H.O.S.T." plotline set up in "Decoy", with Ravage stealing a remote-control device from G.H.O.S.T.'s evidence locker and bringing it back to Soundwave and Starscream. Starscream then activates the device, which is what releases Shockwave instead of just the wear and tear of age causing his pod to malfunction. This deleted scene would have also confirmed the EarthSpark incarnation of Ravage to be female.^[1]

Foreign localization

Brazilian Portuguese

• Title: "Zona de Guerra" ("War Zone")
• Original airdate: March 4, 2023

French

• Title: "Zone de guerre" ("War zone")
• Original airdate: September 9, 2023

• When the Terrans and Megatron discuss at the memorial, one of Thrash's lines is mistakenly pronounced by Karine Foviau, Twitch's VA.

German

• Title: "Kriegsgebiet"
• Original airdate: March 9, 2023

Hungarian

• Title: "Villámháború" ("Blitzkrieg")
• Original airdate: September 2, 2023

• Previous episodes were released on Nickelodeon and Nicktoons simultaneously. Beginning with this episode, the series would premiere first on Nicktoons, while the Nickelodeon broadcast was pushed back by one week.

Indonesian

• Title: "Zona Perang" ("Warzone")
• Original airdate: TBA

Italian

• Title: "Zona di guerra" ("War zone")
• Original airdate: March 6, 2023

Home video releases

DVD

2024 — Transformers: EarthSpark - Season 1: Episodes 11-26 (Paramount)

References