A Battle... and Then...



It's BlackZarak versus God Ginrai - the power of evil against the power of man, and the winner will decide the fate of Earth!


 * English/Malay dub name:  "The Ultimate Battle"

Detailed synopsis
At the peak of the Matterhorn, Ginrai and the fused BlackZarak/Devil Z entity prepare to face off against each other in their final battle. BlackZarak inquires if the Autobot leader plans to fight him alone, and Ginrai respond with a barrage of laser fire, which BlackZarak shrugs off. The villain transforms to scorpion mode and takes to the air, but Ginrai pursues him and seizes him by the tail. BlackZarak roars that he does not have time to waste on Ginrai, freely divulging his planhe has placed an amplifier for his Devil Power at the South Pole, which will allow him to eliminate humanity in the blink of an eye. The furious Ginrai attempts to drag BlackZarak back down to the mountain's peak, and he calls out for Overlord and the Darkwings brothers to aid him. Help is not forthcoming, however, and Ginrai manages to rip off BlackZarak's cannons and tricks the villain into blasting himself with his own tail weapon. Damaged, BlackZarak begins to lose altitude, and Ginrai uses his own jets to steer the Decepticon into the mountainside. At the last second, however, BlackZarak throws Ginrai off, and collapses part of the mountain, burying Ginrai in an avalanche.

Elsewhere on the mountain, the other Autobots and Decepticons are recovering from their injuries. While Minerva tends to the wounds Metalhawk received during his battle with King Poseidon in one location, in another spot, Hydra and Buster finally recover consciousness after the beaten administered to them by BlackZarak. While Buster is still trying to wrap his mind around what happened, Hydra simply writers it off as punishment for weakness, and proof that they must fight even harder. The chance for such a fight immediately arrives in the form of the Autobot Godmasters, and even though the two weakened Decepticons practically collapse after only a few shots are exchanged, they continue to draw the fight out.

Some miles away, Clouder has supplied Cancer, Wilder and Bullhorn with a heavily-armed buggy so that they can participate in the battle on the Matterhorn. As they quartet head towards the Alps, Wilder chooses to remind everyone that he has definitely not joined the Autobots, but the protest has grown so stale that Cancer laughs it off, much to Wilder's annoyance.

Back on the Matterhorn, BlackZarak is in mid-gloat when Ginrai comes bursting out of the ice and snow, and stomps his opponent into the rock face. BlackZarak transforms back into robot mode and unleashes the "Devil Thunder Ring," encircling Ginrai with Devil Power with the intent of removing his humanity and transforming him into a true robot, just as he did with Hydra and Buster. As Ginrai fights the effect, Grand Maximus comes flying around the mountainhaving been unable to communicate with Ginrai, Grand and the Headmaster Juniors have come to help. And help they doa blast from the Maximus's cannon throws off BlackZarak's focus long enough for Ginrai to escape his Devil Power and take the fight up close. With a mighty swing and a flare of incandescent energy, Ginrai punches BlackZarak's head clean off his shoulders, and the decapitated Decepticon crashes into the mountain. Shūta cheers for his commander as BlackZarak's severed head lands alongside his body and explodes, but Grand silences him... because something is happening! BlackZarak's twitching, headless body rises up out of its crater, and as the shocked Autobots watch, it begins to transform into a new form!

At the base of the mountain, Mega and Giga stand by their Transtectors, and debate on what to do next. Realizing that they have been mislead by Devil Z, who has placed his hatred of human beings above even their comradeship, they know they can no longer serve him... and they now also owe Ginrai a debt of honor for saving them from his wrath. And they are not the only Decepticons to reach a decision at this point, eitherHydra and Buster have reached the end of their strength, and combine into Darkwings to flee their battle with the Autobot Godmasters.

Meanwhile, far above, BlackZarak's new form now stands revealed – a twisted, two-headed serpent, which launches energy blasts at God Ginrai from its mouths and swats him out of the sky with its tail. As the battle rages, Overlord appears overhead, and BlackZarak offers him a chance to redeem himself, but the Ambassador of Destruction opens fire on BlackZarak instead. Infuriated, BlackZarak vows to show Overlord what happens to traitors, and envelops him in a beam of Devil Power. Crying in pain, Overlord last act is to tell Ginrai to ensure that BlackZarak does not live, before Giga and Mega are suddenly ejected from the sphere of Devil Power. Shocked at what they are seeing, Ginrai and Grand Maximus are distracted enough to be blasted out of the sky by BlackZarak, just as the cocoon of Devil Power recedes, and the Overlord Transtector emerges... now a truly living super-robot lifeform itself, brought to life by the power of Devil Z! Giga murmurs that he wishes they could have settled their rivalry with Ginrai honourably, and with that, he and Mega die, and their Master-Braces vanish from their wrists. Burning with righteous anger and Chokon Power, Ginrai rises, and Shūta, Cab and Minerva all feel the energy of their commander. In a flash of light, the three children find themselves in God Ginrai's chest cockpit, ready to fight alongside their leader as the defining moment of the battle draws nearer. Overlord lunges for Ginrai, but Grand Maximus transforms to robot mode and tackles him. BlackZarak orders Wilder, Cancer and Bullhorn's now-living Transtectors to attack Ginrai instead, but the Godmasters arrive just in time to handle them, leaving Ginrai to face off against BlackZarak.God Fire Guts and Devil Power collide in a mighty explosion, hurling Ginrai back and leaving Devil Z simply laughing from within BlackZarak's body. He announces to Ginrai that his very existencethe existence of all the Godmastersis as a result of his machinations, and to him, they are nothing more than tools that will never be able to defeat their maker. Ginrai refutes this, declaring that Devil Z has long underestimated the strength of humans and the limitless possibilities that exist within mankind, and that is why he shall never defeat them. Exploding into flame once more, Ginrai activates the God Fire Guts and dives at BlackZarak, driving hard against a beam of Devil Power. Fighting with all his power, Ginrai overpowers the beam and crashes into, and through, BlackZarak, whose body finally explodes into fragments, exposing the glowing orb of Devil Z. As the villain rages impotently, Ginrai and the Headmaster Juniors unite every drop of their Chokon Power for one last, mighty attack: the FINAL FIRE GUTS! Burning with the passion and strength of his fellow humans and Autobots, Ginrai dives like a flaming spear into the heart of Devil Z, who screams, and explodes in a coruscating wave of light and darkness.

As the blast dies out, the skies clear, and Ginrai fades back into, the Decepticons battling below stop and gape, unable to comprehend what has occurred Overlord is the first to action... and that action is retreat. With their leader lost, the Decepticons immediately take to the air, and head for space. Ginrai comes floating down out of the sky and ands in front his troops, but the surprises are not yet through, as all of the Godmasters and Headmaster Juniors suddenly glow with blinding light. When the light fades, seven ordinary human beings are left standing on the snowy ground, and Minerva is the first to realize that their Master-Braces have vanished. It is Road King who then makes the next discovery: a short distance away, their Transtectors are standing in robot mode! Ginrai's Transtector looks down at the humans assembled before it, and thanks them for all they have done. It is then that Ginrai realizes what has happenedwith Devil Z's death, the link that he created between the humans and their Transtectors has been broken. But now, their Transtectors live on, having become true super-robot lifeforms themselves, and it is their duty to pursue the fleeing Decepticons back into space. As goodbyes are said, Cancer and company roll up the mountain in their buggy, all weapons firing, just a little bit too late to do any good. As everyone watches and waves, the Godmasters and Headmaster Juniors board Grand Maximus and blast off for space. As the narrator says, Ginrai's long battle with the Decepticons is over at last, but throughout it all, he has been supported by his friends, his fellow humans, and the beauty and peace of planet Earth.

Stats
Written by:  Yoshihisa Araki

Original airdate: 28th February 1989

Featured Characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Animation and/or technical glitches

 * In the first shot after the title card, BlackZarak is absolutely towering over God Ginrai. In the past, he's not been much more than a head taller than him.

Continuity errors

 * Having not appeared in the previous episode, and having been absent for two-thirds of this one, Cancer, Wilder, and Bullhorn's Transtectors are suddenly among the Decepticon ranks in the third act. The Doubleclouder Transtector is still missing, however, and is not seen among the Decepticons flying into space at the episode's close.
 * This episode explains that Devil Z was responsible for forging the link between the Godmasters and their Transtectors. This makes sense – the Godmasters' Transtectors were not originally intended to be bonded with humans, so it had to be someone else's doing, and fact that the death of Devil Z in this episode causes this link to be severed makes it clear that he's not lying about it. However, Shuta, Minerva and Cab are also separated from their Transtectors, and this doesn't make sense, because Devil Z had no hand in their combination.
 * Grand Maximus carries the Godmasters and Headmaster Juniors into space at the end of this episode, which is inconsistent with how he has been presented in the rest of the series. Whereas his big brother, Fortress Maximus, was large enough to transport Transformers around, Grand's battleship has been consistently depicted as being scaled for transporting humans around (consequently, he only transforms into a robot as tall as God Ginrai, instead of a towering giant like his sibling). But here, he is boarded by Transformers. Oops.

Transformers references

 * BlackZarak has been decapitated before, back in "God Ginrai - Showdown on the Surface of the Moon".
 * Cancer, Wilder and Bullhorn (and Clouder) had their Transtectors brought to life in "Autobots! Desperate Attack!!"

Miscellaneous trivia

 * The insert songs "Push On! Super-God Masterce" and "We Believe Tomorrow" are reprised for this episode, the former in instrumental form.
 * BlackZarak's serpent mode, like Sixshot's "Wingwolf" mode and Overlord's "space jet" mode before it, was created by the production staff of the animated series by tinkering around with the toy. In comparison to those other two characters, though, this mode was streamlined to a greater degree for animation, and it doesn't look quite as good if one tries transforming the toy into this form in real life. Giant scorpion legs stickin' outta the side, for instance.
 * Metalhawk (and presumably the other Autobot Pretenders too) remains behind on Earth. Presumably, that's because someone still needs to hunt down the Decepticon Pretenders and the Seacons, who last appeared (chronologically speaking) in the previous episode, and whose fates are left unrevealed.
 * While this episode marks the end of the Super-God Masterforce story, it is not the end of the series. For the video release of the show, five clip episodes were created, and the final one of these, "With the Masterforce, You Too Transform", was aired as the forty-third and final episode of the broadcast series.