Lightfoot: A Dramatic Encounter



The search for the next Godmaster leads Ginrai to Canada, and young man named Lightfoot!


 * English/Malay dub name:  "The Dramatic Encounter"

Detailed synopsis
It's summer, and at the International School, gym class has become swim class. Cab, Shūta and the rest of the boys class complete their lengths and head for the locker room, but Cab decides to head back to the pool, to peep at the girls class through the fence in hopes of getting a look at Minerva in a swimsuit. Shūta is trying to dissuade him when both boys are caught by the coach, much the disgust of all the girls. Minerva berates Cab and Shūta all the way back to the base after school, but when they apologize, discussion turns to the upcoming summer break, and they decide to ask Hawk about taking a vacation. When they arrive at the base, Hawk is reviewing Ginrai's televised appeal, and in permits their vacation request if they promise to keep in touch.

In America, Ginrai is visiting the television studio that runs the programme he made his appeal on, where he receives a large handful of mail from people responding to his appearance. One in particular catches his attention immediately – a letter from a young man named Lightfoot in Canada, which includes a drawing of a robot!

Meanwhile, Hydra and Buster, still smarting over Ginrai's upgrade into Super Ginrai, have also come to the TV studio in an attempt to pick up any leads to his whereabouts. They menace a producer to try and find out where he has gone, to no avail. Subsequently, they meet with the Decepticon Pretenders in a junkyard to arrange a search. The search bears fruit a little later, as Blood spots Ginrai – already well on his way to Canada – getting directions at a gas station. The other Pretenders converge on his location and chase after Ginrai through the cover of the roadside forest, intent on defeating him themselves to improve their standing in the eyes of Giga.

Ginrai eventually arrives at Lightfoot's home – as it turns out, he is heir to the vast British Motors automotive engineering company. Ginrai is quite smitten with the maid who serves him a drink as he waits, but Lightfoot himself soon arrives and Ginrai gets straight to business, presenting him with the drawing of the robot. Lightfoot explains that he has been dreaming of the robot for the last three months, and was encouraged to write to Ginrai by a friend who saw him on television. Showing Ginrai around his home, he tells him the story of how his father moved from a run-down repair shop in England to Canada, where he started making cars. The first car he made led to the success of the British Motors company – the family even still has the original model, which Lightfoot's father just recently gave to him for his birthday... right before his dreams began. Ginrai gives the car a look-over, and requests that he be allowed to drive it; Lightfoot allows him, but is a bit distressed by the fast speeds and rough terrain that Ginrai subjects the car to. His suspicions growing ever more likely, Ginrai hands Lightfoot one of the pairs of Master-Braces that he found. When Lightfoot dons them, the bracelets are pulled together, and the car fills with light as the young man is surrounded by a suit of armor! At Ginrai's instruction, he utters the command – "Transform! God On!" and becomes one with his car, transforming into the robot from his own dreams! Lightfoot is the second Autobot Godmaster!

Ginrai explains the whole situation to Lightfoot, who is a bit more interested in figuring out how to turn back into a human. Before he can, though, the three Decepticon Pretenders suddenly attack; with no combat experience, Lightfoot is helpless, and Ginrai instructs him to change back so they can escape. Fleeing in vehicle mode (nailing Gilmer right in the ball bearings along the way), Lightfoot takes Ginrai back to British Motors, where he reunites with his own Transtector and transforms to robot mode. The Pretenders attempt to target his trailer in order to prevent him from become Super Ginrai, but their scheme fails when the trailer knocks Dauros aside and merges with Ginrai. As Super Ginrai, he grapples with Gilmer and Dauros while Blood attempts to take Lightfoot hostage; the newly-born Godmaster transforms to robot mode again and struggles to hold off the Pretender, while Ginrai pursues the other two, who summon the Seacons to the battlefield. The water-monsters fuse into King Poseidon, who is once again quickly overcome by Super Ginrai's Chokon Power and even winds up impaling his leg on his own sword. With the Seacon combiner beaten, the Pretenders flee, and Lightfoot requests that Ginrai continue to teach him. The hunt is now well and truly on to find the remaining Godmasters!

Stats
Written by:  Yoshihisa Araki

Original airdate: 9th August 1988

Featured Characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Animation and/or technical glitches

 * The footage of the Decepticon Pretenders transforming and retreating is once again reused from "Rise Up!! Pretenders", with new backgrounds to reflect the change of scenery.

Transformers references

 * Ginrai appeared on television in "Eliminate the Godmaster Ginrai."
 * Ginrai found the new Master-Braces indicating the existence of other Godmasters in his glove compartment in "A Strange Friendship: Cancer and Minerva."
 * Super Ginrai and King Poseidon made their debuts in the previous episode.
 * It's not explained in this episode how the car built by Lightfoot's father could be his Transtector, given what we know of Godmaster origins. It's clarified somewhat in the next episode.

Miscellaneous trivia

 * When Cab happily sings a song about the impending summer vacation, he tries to perform a traditionally Japanese schoolchildren's song, except that it's normally about New Year, not the summer, hence his confusion and everyone else's laughter.
 * Lightfoot's father makes his debut in this episode; although is not identified by name here, he will be named "Leftfoot" later in the series. This is part of one of those L/R puns you get in the Japanese language – in Japanese, there's no distinction between these two sounds, so it's possible to read "Lightfoot" as "Rightfoot." Hence, the pun of his father being named "Leftfoot."
 * When Lightfoot rams Gilmer, he nails him right in the crotch, and Gilmer makes out one of those untranslatable Japanese-language puns when he painfully groans "Ta... ma... ge... ta" – from "tamageta" ("a shock") and "tama ga kereta" ("kicked in the balls").