God Ginrai - Save Cancer!?



Learning that BlackZarak is about to attack China, Cancer attempts to go to the rescue of his friends and countrymen.


 * English/Malay dub name:  “Rescue Squeezeplay!”
 * Also known as: “Save Caner?”, “Will God Ginrai Save Cancer!?”

Detailed synopsis
Now that the Autobots have foiled their plans to attack the Earth from space, the Decepticons begin a ground assault on Europe. As Overlord blasts his way through the southern half of the continent, he meets resistance from Lightfoot, while Ranger contends with Hydra and Buster in northern Europe and the Autobot and Decepticon Pretenders battle in Latin America.

The Decepticon Headmaster Juniors, meanwhile, have been left to sit around the Decepticon base reading and playing cards. Bullhorn voices his concern over Devil Z’s new, deranged plan to wipe out Mankind, but Wilder brushes it off, remarking that in becoming a Decepticon, he’s already sold his soul, and has few concerns for the lives of others now. This rather merciless outlook surprises Bullhorn, and he asks Cancer’s opinion, but the youngest Junior is lost in thought and doesn’t reply, until Wilder announces that BlackZarak is about to attack China, Cancer’s home country. Horrified, Cancer (with Browning in tow) races from the base in a helicopter and returns to his hometown in China, where he attempts to encourage the populous to evacuate. Rather than listen to his warnings, though, the crowds simply run from him. Amongst the fleeing crowd members, Cancer spots an old friend of his named Chang, and disembarks from his Transtector to greet the boy. The meeting between the two friends is a happy one, and Chang is only too willing to listen to the warning Cancer brings, but the mood darkens when Cancer suggests that they go to their old sensei for help, and Chang is forced to reveal that the old man died six months prior. Cancer’s sensei, it is revealed, had raised Cancer as if he were his own son after Cancer was orphaned, and when Cancer left his dojo to join the Decepticons, he fell ill, thinking he had turned from him. The pair travel to the dojo, where the distraught Cancer cannot even grieve for long before he is attacked by two of the dojo’s pupils, who blame him for everything. Browning flattens the thugs, and he and Cancer prepare to clear out before BlackZarak’s attack, but as they return to Cancer’s Transtector, Road King steps out from behind it. The Autobot Godmaster has been on patrol in the area and overhead Cancer’s story; he attempts to empathise with the boy, but the angry Cancer opens fire on him with Browning, boards his Transtector, and runs.

At the same time, Lightfoot’s struggle with Overlord worsens, prompting Ginrai to take off for Europe with the Autobot Headmaster Juniors. As they are en route, Road King radios Ginrai to inform him of the situation. While Shūta and Cab never waste an opportunity to rag on Cancer, accusing him of lying, Minerva is once again given cause to voice her feelings that he’s not as bad as the other Decepticons.

At the edge of a river, Caner sadly reflects on his lot in life. He realizes now that he has no place among his old friends, and that the only home he has is with the Decepticons... at which point, BlackZarak erupts out of the river, and begins destroying the city! Cancer attempts to appeal to him, but BlackZarak continues to fire, not caring whether or not he hits his fellow Decepticon, and Cancer realizes there truly is nothing he can do. About to depart, Cancer’s attention it caught by cries of help from Chang, who has been trapped in a burning building while looking for Cancer. Cancer transforms to robot mode and lifts them to safety, but is then struck from behind by a stray blast from BlackZarak and knocked to the ground. As he struggles to get up, a building collapses on top of him, and he is trapped beneath the rubble.

Meanwhile, Road King alerts Ginrai to the situation in China, and Ginrai radios Ranger to reinforce Lightfoot while he heads in to deal with BlackZarak. Ginrai arrives just in time to save Road King from becoming a smear on BlackZarak’s claws, and the Headmaster Juniors roll out to perform their usual rescue duties. While searching the streets, however, they are approached by Browning, who pleads for them to save Cancer from the wreckage. Shūta and Cab, of course, is only too happy to let Cancer rot, and a furious Minerva starts digging him out herself. Ginrai instructs the two boys to help her, and before long, they have unearthed Cancer, whose gratitude extends as far as telling them not to butt in where they weren’t wanted. When they tell him that they freed him on Ginrai’s order, however, he falls silent with surprise...

At the same time, Ginrai and Road King’s clash with BlackZarak takes a turn when a new type of Decepticon is summoned into battlethe fire-breathing Sparkdash! Dodging jets of flame, the two Godmasters return fire, and fortunately, the Sparkdash prove to be just a fragile as Seacons, and they explode quite easily. At this point, Devil Z instructs Overlord to pull out of the battle in Europe and aid BlackZarak, and the Ambassador of Destruction races to China to join the fight there. As the fight continues, the combatants find themselves on top of the Headmaster Juniors, and Ginrai ceases fighting to protect them, Overlord is about to open fire when Shūta cries out that Cancer is buried, and a shocked Overlord lowers his weapon. BlackZarak has no such compunction, but with his number of active opponents reduced to one, Ginrai is able to use the God Cannon to push BlackZarak back. Then, he seizes the shocked Overlord, flying him into the sky and pile-driving him down right on top of BlackZarak. The two Decepticons are badly wounded, and Devil Z instructs them to retreat.

After some brief celebrations, the Autobots finished extracting Cancer from the rubble, and the young Decepticon asks why they saved him. Ginrai replies that it was because Cancer tried to sae the people of his hometown, proving that, like the Autobots, and unlike his fellow Decepticons, he has a heart. The Autobots allow Cancer to leave peacefully, and he boards his helicopter and flies away with a sad, lingering look back.

Stats
Written by:  Toyohiro Ando

Original airdate: 17th January 1989

Featured Characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Transformers references

 * After not touching on the sub-plot for a while, this episode sees the series swing some focus back on Minerva and Cancer’s unusual friendship, which began back in “A Strange Friendship: Cancer and Minerva”.
 * Cancer refers to his “Super Dragon Fist” attack, which we saw in “A Fierce Battle!! The Autobots Are in Trouble”.

Miscellaneous trivia

 * The Sparkdash are the Japanese equivalent of the Firecons. However, while the Sparkdash toys sport different color schemes to the Firecons, the animated series consistently colors them in the Firecons’ hues.