Balance



'''Cybertron episode #32

Primus speaks, ancient history is revealed, as is the location of the fourth and final Cyber Planet Key.

Detailed synopsis
Jolt and Coby survey the surface of Primus-form Cybertron from the air, flanked by Wing Saber and Jetfire.



On the surface of the world-bot, the Autobots are setting up equipment to communicate with Primus directly. Scattorshot connects a wire, which Jolt then plugs into himself. Snarl reminds Evac that Jolt was the one who channeled Primus when the Jungle Planet's Cyber Planet Key was inserted into the Onega Lock back on Earth. The equipment is turned on, and as Optimus invokes Primus, Jolt glows yellow and begins to float, and Primus begins to speak through him.

Optimus asks Primus how to stop the black hole, and Primus notes it's no ordinary black hole. Primus gives the assembled an image of two forces, one good, one evil, that have been in existance for all time, but the evil force has vanished. Primus says that the destruction of Unicron left the balance of good and evil severely unbalanced, whch distorted space and time, and formed the black hole. Vector Prime explains to the kids that Unicron and Primus are balancing forces, and one cannot exist without the other, which Coby illustrates to Bud with a coin.

Primus says that only he can close the black hole, but his spark must be fully restored first, by obtaining all four Cyber Planet Keys and puttng them in the Omega Lock.... but the Autobots only have three Keys so far. Hot Shot says that even though both Megatron and Starscream had copies of the ancient map of the colony worlds that the Autobots lack, and they hadn't found the fourth planet yet, so what chance have they?

Primus gives them an image of four "wise elders" mulling over the Atlantis pattern, which is a diagram of the Space Bridge project, and deciding which planets to colonize and entrust with the Cyber Planet Keys. Images of the Atlantis, Ogygia, Hyperborea, and one more colony-world ship are shown, each one heading towards a planet... but the fourth ship and the ringed planet it approaches vanishes.

Primus explains that the planetary system the fourth colony was part of was caught in a wormhole and transported to another universe. Red Alert explains the theory of alternate universes, and Scattorshot realizes that that's why nobody could find the fourth key... and then that Primus' energy levels are dropping. Vector Prime notes that Starscream's absoprtion of Primus' energy has taken its toll, and he's a long way from full conciousness. Optimus asks Primus one last question, the name of the fourth planet, and get the answer "Gigantion" as Jolt returns to normal.

Vector Prime is shocked to hear this, as Gigantion is the home planet of the four Mini-Cons currently accompanying the Autobots. Little does anyone suspect that Sideways has been lurking nearvy and heard everything...

Back on the starship Atlantis, Starscream has been recovering after his last beatdown, rescued by Sideways. He comes back online, and Sideways greets him, letting him know things have just gotten very interesting indeed.

Back at Autobot HQ on Cybertron, Jolt says he has no idea where Gigantion is. Vector Prime recounts the tale of his first meeting with the Mini-Cons, as their shuttlepod was drifting aimlessly throguh outer space. Jolt says they were playing hide-and-seek, hiding in the pod, and well... aheh. Red Alert asks if everyone on Gigantion is Mini-Con sized, and Jolt replies that nope, there are big robots too... probably some larger than even the Autobots. Red Alert thinks he can reassemble the deteriorated data from Jolt's memory banks, though Jolt's not thrilled about the prospect of having his brain looked into.



Back in the debris field surrounding Cybertron, Scourge looks on towards Primus far in the distance, and gives the fallen Megatron a short little eulogy, then tells the others that he's now in charge of the Decepticons. Thundercracker, Ransack and Crumplezone immediately start fighting among each other over this, and then gang up on Scourge. Thunderblast declares she's outta there and prances behind an asteroid for cover. Starscream and Sideways fly overhead, talking about Megatron's destruction, and continue on towards Primus. Thunderblast muses that maybe leaving Starscream was a mistake.

Back at Autobase, Red Alert is scanning Jolt, a process that apprently tickles. Reverb and Six-Speed are releived that they don't have to be scanned. Red Alert says that Jolt's brain has more in common with a human than a Transformer, which means it will take longer to analyze. They're interrupted by an alarm, and see that Starscream and Sideways are on their way!

starscream lands to take the Omega Lock, but the Autobots of course step in the way. Optimus and Wing Saber combine into Sonic Wing Mode, but their combined attacks don't do much against the gigantic Starscream. Jetfire and Evac tackle Sideways, while the others concentrate their fire on Starscream.

The kids back at Autobase discover that the other Decepticons are on their way, with Thunderblast cruising through space in boat-mode by creating her own energon waves. Landmine leaves the kids in the Mini-Cons' care to back up his allies, and he' Jetfire and Leobraker send Thunderblast flying away. Scourge hurls the other three Decpeticons into the Autobots, and tackles Optimus Prime himself. Starscream uses the distraction to jet away, intent on reclaiming the Omega Lock.

Starscream fires his cannons at Primus' face... but Primus' hand moves, blocking the shots, then swatting Starscream away, much to everyone's surprise. Starscream recovers quickly though, and takes another headlong charge, only to take the brunt of Primus' leg-cannon-fire. He's briefly stunned, but tries again.



The observers make various remarks about Starscream's sanity, and Scourge realizes that while everyone's distracted, now is the perfect time to attack Optimus, so he does. This starts another round of fighting, but it's interrupted when Primus moves again, this time bringing out a pair of reeeeeeeeeeeeally big over-shoulder cannons. Even Starscream is intimidated, and the two blast him real good. He drops the map, which falls to the planet and lands in Vector Prime's hand.

Back on the surface, Ransack and Crumplezone are sneaking around, trying to get a good position to shoot somebody in the back. However, they're interrupted when a swarm of Scrapmetal attack. Crumplezone manages to smash and blast quite a few of them, but they return fire, knocking him downthen hogpiling him... and he explodes. The other Decepticons start beating a retreat, but are stopped cold when the ghostly image of Megatron appears!

And in the Autobot base, the kids react to Megatron's reappearance... and then realize that the Mini-Cons are missing. They quickly discover it's because Sideways is there, and has nabbed them! He warps away, but the kids leap into his warp-field before it dissipates. They re-appear, floating in zero-gravity, in an unknown location...

Stats
Original airdate: ???

Written by: ???

Featured characters
(''Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notable quotes
"He's the creator! We're standing on him with our dirty feet!" "I sure hope we don't get smited for this!"
 * -- Leobreaker & Landmine

"Optimus Prime, you and the Autobots defeated the evil Unicron." "We kicked his planet-eatin' butt is what we did!"
 * -- Primus & Leobreaker

"Now hold steady. You may feel a slight sting but don't worry." "Gu-huh?" "I'm fairly certian I can put you back together again..." "GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"
 * -- Red Alert & Jolt

"This'll be good."
 * -- Optimus Prime, watching Primus handle Starscream

"Whaoh!!! Big guns!!!'" "SLAG!"
 * -- Starscream at a loss for words as Primus perpares to cannon-blast him

Animation and/or technical glitches

 * At Autobase, Wing Saber asks the Mini-Cons about their being adrift in space with Evac's voice.


 * When Thundercracker calls Scourge to tell hm they should run away (having witnessed Crumplezon'es death at the claws of a Scrapmetal swarm), Scourge replies using his deeper dragon-mode voice, even though he's in robot mode.


 * When Thunderblast starts running, though Evac is in the scene, he seems to be talking with Wing Saber's voice, a reversal from before. Of course, we don't see his face, so maybe Wing Saber's off-camera.

Transformers references



 * Jolt's glowy-gold-and-floating-as-Primus-speaks-through-him bit recalls Emirate Xaaron doing the same thing from the original Marvel comics series.


 * So the red force represents good, and the purple force represents evil, hm? A nod to the colors of the Autobot and Decepticon faction sigils, perhaps?  Naaaaaaaaaaaah, coincidence, surely.


 * The "wise elders" shown use the animation models of Generation 1's Optimus Prime, Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus and Jazz.


 * The "Mini-Con brains are more like humans" bit --intentionally or not-- recalls the Armada cartoon, where humans and Mini-Cons are linked together, which is elaborated on a bit more in the "Linkage" mini-comics. In the Armada cartoon, Mini-Cons acquired souls and free wills thanks to an encounter with three time-displaced human children.

Miscellaneous trivia



 * Gigantion, as it appears in this flashback, is way smaller than in later "present day" episodes. This would indicate (though it's never stated explicitly) that Gigantion's super-sizing occured after it was pulled into the alternate universe.