Dweller In The Depths (Cyberverse)

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In those grisly eyes were mirrored all the unholy things and vile secrets that sleep in the cities under the sea-
"Dweller In The Depths"
Season	3
No. in season	24
Production company	Allspark Animation
Airdate	February 25, 2020 (UK) May 31, 2020 (USA)
Writer	Zac Atkinson
Director	Jean Texier
Animation studio	Boulder Media Studio
Watch this episode on YouTube

Chromia and Bumblebee venture into Cybertron's gaseous Argon Sea in search of Windblade.

Synopsis

Chromia, Ratchet and Bumblebee stand before Windblade, preparing to upload what they have of her mind. Just as they finish, a shark-bot breaks into the sickbay and steals their friend. Taking a shuttle, Bumblebee and Chromia follow the thief to the Argon Sea and dive in. Meanwhile, Optimus Prime assembles the Autobots in a strategy meeting. Just before he finishes, he freezes as the Matrix of Leadership floats out of his chest.

In the Argon Sea, Bumblebee and Chromia find a beautifully populated landscape under the surface and spot the thief, immediately giving chase. Unfortunately, he topples nearby structures to throw them off. Upon escaping, Bumblebee and Chromia dive deeper to find a giant transmission of Windblade's face screaming for help. It disappears and local wildlife attacks them. Meanwhile inside the Matrix realm, Optimus finds himself surrounded by 12 slabs belonging to deceased members of the Thirteen. Maccadam emerges from one of the slabs.

Back in the Argon, the sea creatures manage to damage the shields on the shuttle. Once the creatures leave, the shark-bot arrives and smashes the window. Bumblebee mounts and incapacitates the shark-bot with a surge from his stinger but falls into the ravine. As Chromia follows Bumblebee down, the captured shark-bot awakens in a grumpy mode over his current condition. An argument breaks out, which ends with the shark-bot introducing himself as Hammerbyte, the Argon Sea's Guardian, and admitting that he was under the thrall of a recently-awakened beast known as the Dweller. Chromia and Hammerbyte set off to rescue Bumblebee and Windblade.

Finding Bumblebee, they follow him down a hatchway. Just before Hammerbyte enters, a tentacle appears and hits him with an orange gas, sending him into a mind-controlled trance. He quickly catches up to Chromia, who flees until she reaches a mind-controlled Bumblebee. Evading both of them, Chromia reaches a large room with Windblade floating in the middle. The Dweller reveals that he was awoken by one of the cityspeaker's psychic shards and sent Hammerbyte to retrieve her so he could return the piece to her.

Quickly working out that the Dweller is a Titan, Chromia strands defiant. The Dweller sics Bumblebee and Hammerbyte on her, though Chromia quickly turns Bumblebee's stinger against them, breaking them out of their trances. Not willing to lose potential citizens, the Dweller releases more hypnotic gasses. Bumblebee, Chromia, and Hammerbyte grab Windblade and manage to escape, though at the cost of their shuttle. Returning Windblade to her friends, Hammerbyte apologizes for his Dweller-induced actions and heads back into the Argon Sea.

Back in the Matrix realm, Optimus asks how Maccadam could also be in the Matrix. Revealing himself as Alchemist Prime, the former bartender instructs Optimus to destroy Megatron's Matrix. A confused Optimus worries that destroying the alternate Matrix will destroy the other Primes, but Alchemist reveals that a piece of Windblade is also inside. As Optimus returns to the real world, he rounds up the Autobots for a universe-saving mission on their hands.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Long have I awaited for new citizens to repopulate my body."
""Citizens to repopulate your body?" You're a Titan?"
"Yesss. This Cityspeaker's psychic shard awoke me. She was incomplete, like me. I made Hammerbyte fetch her body, so I could make her whole again. Now she will make me whole again."
"That is the creepiest thing I've ever heard."

— Chromia finds the Dweller disturbing.

Notes

Continuity notes

• By the end of this episode, 80% of Windblade's scattered mind has been gathered due to the Dweller having returned the psychic shard that reactivated him to her.
  • It is also revealed that the remaining 20% of Windblade's mind is currently in the alternate Matrix in Megatron's possession.
• The Argon Seas was first mentioned by Sky-Byte in "The End Of The Universe II".
• Like Croaton before him, the Dweller is able to possess a cityspeaker, suggesting that this may be an ability of the Titans.
• When Optimus hosts his meeting with the other Autobots, he mentions the discovery made by Rack'n'Ruin in the previous episode.

Transformers references

• When faced by the possessed Bumblebee, Chromia swears by the Mistress of Flame.
• The Dweller first appeared in the The Transformers episode which this one takes its name from.
• We finally learn the truth about Maccadam and, as we totally called, he is none other than Alchemist Prime, taking inspiration from the idea put forth in Transformers: The Ultimate Guide that the old barkeep was one of the Thirteen Primes.
• Speaking of the Thirteen, the other eleven slabs seen within the Matrix in addition to Alchemist's are identified in concept art as belonging to Megatronus, Prima, Micronus, Solus, Alpha Trion, Vector, Nexus, Onyx, Liege Maximo, Quintus, and Amalgamous. In other words, this universe's version of the Thirteen is in line with their depictions in the "Aligned" and 2005 IDW continuities.

Real-world references

• Though the original Dweller was a Quintesson Trans-Organic, this version is a monstrous tentacle-wielding Titan that has some heavy Lovecraftian vibes. Specifically, he calls to mind H. P. Lovecraft's most famous creation Cthulhu.

Other trivia

• The mechanimals of the Argon Sea appear to be based on the Cambrian Era Opabinia regalis and Anomalocaris canadensis.
• The reason why Optimus doesn't have a slab for himself in the Matrix realm, despite it showing up in concept art, was to ensure that a dead Optimus would have to be an alternate counterpart.^[1] This explains why there is a slab for Optimus in the Matrix realm featured in the following episodes.

Animation and technical errors

• TBA

Foreign localization

Portuguese

• Title: "Andarilho nas Profundezas" ("Wanderer in the Depths")
• Original airdate: October 14, 2021
• Notes: The YouTube upload of this episode is titled "Morador nas Profundezas" ("Dweller in the Depths").

Home video releases

• TBA

References