A Fistful of Energon

'''Prowl goes off on his own to capture the fugitive Starscream, but finds some competition in the form of a Decepticon bounty hunter. '''

Summary
As the Elite Guard's ship proceeds on its journey, an explosion rocks the hull and out flies Starscream, declaring vengeance against Megatron once again.

On Dinobot Island, Prowl and Bulkhead are on the lookout for their feral friends in response to reports of some rampaging going on. Prowl has been sent along with Ratchet's EMP generator and some stasis cuffs, but doubts he will need them since the Dinobots are such gentle spirits and he has always been able to reason with them. Grimlock soon contradicts Prowl's perspective by charging into the clearing like an angry rhino. Prowl is still determined to take it easy on the big guy until his jaws get dangerously close to a nest filled with adorable little baby birdies. Using an EMP blast, Prowl quickly incapacitates Grimlock. Prowl and Bulkhead are both surprised that it came to that, but Prowl rationalizes that he did what he had to do to save the little birds. At this point he notices a thorn stuck in Grimlock's paw as the likely source of the Dinobot's extra aggression. With some advice from Ratchet over the comm., Prowl uses controlled bursts from the EMP to stabilize the affected area, and Bulkhead yanks out the spike. Grimlock sighs in relief and everything is all better. Before they can head home however, Ultra Magnus contacts the Autobot base with a message that Starscream has escaped and was last seen headed back to Earth. They would have sent that message sooner, but it seems their tachyon transmitter has gone missing. Megatron, who has been intercepting the message, takes a look at his own tachyon transmitter and sarcastically wonders where the Autobot's could have gone. He then wastes no time putting out a bounty on the escaped Decepticon traitor.

Back on the island, Prowl is feeling pretty tough after taking down the big bad Grimlock all by himself and is already contemplating a similar hunt for Starscream. At the very least, while they're in the neighborhood, he and Bulkhead use Teletran 1's Sensitive Scanner to locate Starscream's All Spark fragment...on the moon. Prowl believes they have everything they need to go after him right away, but Bulkhead reminds him that Starscream is a little out of their league if it's just the two of them. Prowl agrees, and so as soon as Bulkhead's back is turned and off the ship, he takes off in a shuttle by himself and heads for the moon. Prowl tracks the All Spark fragment to the remains of the Decepticon warship. Optimus and Ratchet try to warn him how crazy his plan is and order him to return, but Prowl disregards them with some unconvincing fake static and heads inside the warship. He believes the mission of apprehending Starscream is best suited to a single bot built for stealth. Then, as he's sneaking around, his target finds him first. Way to use that stealth.

Before Starscream can fire his null ray, a well-placed shuriken disables it. The fight begins, and thanks to the EMP, Prowl manages to hold his own. Starscream eventually gets in a direct hit, but 'twas a hologram. The real Prowl gets into position and an EMP blast knocks the Decepticon out. As soon as the fugitive is stasis cuffed, a newcomer walks up and offers to take the bounty off his hands. It's Lockdown...wearing a poncho? He and Prowl start to fight over the prize while it comes to and heckles them from the sidelines. Neither combatant appreciates Starscream's comments and yell at him to shut up. He does, but as he's silent for about two seconds, they look back to notice it's because he escaped. Those stasis cuffs are worthless. Outside, Starscream blasts Prowl's shuttle and flies off toward Earth. Lockdown decloaks his own ship and takes pursuit, with Prowl hitching a ride on the hull.

Lockdown is finding it difficult to locate Starscream's Decepticon signal when Prowl ambushes him, deflecting a counter-attack with a shield mod borrowed from Lockdown's own display case. Once they're at a standstill, Prowl points out that he knows how to track Starscream's All Spark fragment, but he'll need Lockdown's sensors to do it. Thus a partnership is created, and Lockdown offers his new friend a few more upgrades to make sure they get the job done right.

Lockdown's ship touches down in Detroit and disguises itself as a building again. Lockdown and Prowl transform and roll out, with Prowl enjoying the feel of his new samurai armor/sidecar. They track the signal to a highway where Starscream is cowering beneath a bridge. When they confront him, they notice he's acting considerably more cowardly than usual, and is painted considerably more purple. Prowl shows off his upgrades, flying circles around the fleeing Decepticon and eventually taking him down with an. Lockdown is impressed. With the bounty secured, he contacts Megatron and sets up a meeting at an abandoned warehouse. Prowl is shocked to learn the two-faced bounty hunter he'd partnered with had been working for someone evil and attempts to cross him. However Lockdown double crosses Prowl, tying him up with a bola and drives off with his bounty in tow.

The other Autobots show up to untie their errant companion and chew him out, but Prowl is more interested in continuing pursuit of Starscream. The rest of the team follows, but point out that Prowl is starting to sound too much like Lockdown, the mods are going to his head.

They almost catch up with Lockdown and the purple Starscream when they're stopped on the road by the arrival of another Starscream. This one sports an orange color scheme and a sneaky, manipulative personality. He attempts to negotiate a pact with the Autobots to work together and destroy Megatron, but Prowl turns down the offer and attacks. Using his new arsenal, he leads, disarms, and disables the orange Screamer. It's a cool but messy victory. Ratchet scolds Prowl for not just taking him out with a single EMP blast. Prowl attests that his way was more fun, but Ratchet points out all the collateral damage he caused, including a knocked down bird's nest with its eggs broken all over the sidewalk. Prowl feels awful upon realizing what he had done, but puts it aside. Chasing Lockdown is still more important.

The Autobots crash the Decepticons' warehouse meeting and a Cybertronian standoff occurs. Then, when Megatron notices there are two Starscreams, he demands an explanation. The clones open their cockpits to reveal a pair of ticking time bombs. The real Starscream's voice announces that it was all part of his plan to take his enemies all out at once. Megatron isn't about to sit around and be blown up though, so he shoots the skylight and calls for the Decepticons to transform and rise up. The bad guys escape, but the good guys can't let the bombs just explode or the blast would take out half the city. Prowl gets an idea and uses his mods to weld the Starscreams together and jam their jets on so they rocket straight up into the atmosphere. The explosion doesn't harm the city (besides setting off a lot of car alarms) but does do a number on the fleeing Decepticons.

While Lockdown is escaping from the planet again, he contacts Prowl and offers a permanent partnership, since they're so much alike. Prowl turns down the offer, claiming it was fun while it lasted, but the super-charged bounty hunter life just wasn't his style. With all his upgrades shorted out or gone, Prowl detaches the one mod that got out without a scratch, Ratchet's EMP generator, and returns it to its rightful owner.

Later, Starscream sits within his new base aboard the wreckage of the Decepticon warship and watches an announcement from Megatron stating that the bounty on the fugitive has been increased, but whoever captures him had better make sure it's the real deal. Starscream himself is furious that his trap failed, but it doesn't matter, as he has plenty more decoys where that came from...

Stats

 * Written by: Andrew Robinson
 * Directed by: Irineo Maramba, Matt Youngberg, & Makoto Fuchigami
 * Original airdate:

Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes
[Ratchet and Prime are communicating with Prowl over the radio] Ratchet: Prowl, any sign of the Dinobots? Prowl: Negative, Ratchet. I'm starting to think those reports of rampages were nothing but exaggerations. Optimus: We're not taking any chance, Prowl. That's why I had Ratchet lend you his EMP generator and those stasis cuffs. Prowl: Still, I hardly think they're necessary. The Dinobots are territorial, but if they're left alone, they're perfectly happy. [Grimlock roars, then runs out of the forest, charging the Autobots] Bulkhead: He doesn't look too happy to me!
 * The Autobots are Dinobot hunting...and things are not going well.

Other notes

 * This episode was first shown in Asia.

Animation errors

 * The thorn supposedly jammed through Grimlock's foot looks like it's merely stuck betwixt his toes.

Transformers references

 * Turns out there's a lot of guys who look like Starscream but in different colors!

Real-world references

 * This episode contains numerous references to A Fistful of Dollars, including the title, Lockdown wearing a poncho in his first appearance & the Mexican standoff scene in the warehouse.
 * Grimlock's foot problem recalls "The Lion and the Mouse," an Aesop's Fable about a mouse who befriends a lion by pulling a thorn out of his paw.

Miscellaneous trivia

 * Bumblebee and Sari are absent from this episode, with Optimus saying that they're on an "important fact finding mission" (actually, an amusement park).


 * Lugnut and Blitzwing, on the other hand, appear, but say nothing.


 * The purple Starscream represents Starscream's cowardice and the orange Starscream represents Starscream's manipulative and deceitful nature.


 * Prowl desides that modifications are bad. This goes against everything Hasbro wants us to believe.


 * So...where did Starscream get the clones from?