Kicker Beware!

« Transformers: Energon ep 13 »
You're in for a scare!
"Kicker Beware!" 狙われたキッカー () (Nerawa re ta Kicker) "Kicker Targeted"
Production company	TV Tokyo, NAS
Airdate	2 April 2004 (Japanese) June 25, 2004 (Canada) June 30, 2004 (USA)
Writer	Akira Okeya
Director	Mitsuru Kawasaki
Animation studio	Actas, Studio A-CAT (3D)
Continuity	Unicron Trilogy

Kicker and the Autobots make a series of startling discoveries amid the ruins of Lunar City.

Synopsis

Megatron practices using his new tentacles on his loyal soldiers.

Sitting atop his control throne, Megatron angrily flashes back to the activation of the energon towers on Earth. Cyclonus and Demolishor speculate on what's got him so grumpy. Overhearing them, he snares them both with tentacle—wires and bawls them out. Suddenly, Megatron suspects Demolishor isn't telling him something about how the Autobots are finding energon; Cyclonus mentions that it's some human who's allowing them to do it, and Megatron extracts Kicker's name from him.

Scorponok reports that a Command Jaguar Terrorcon has been captured by the Autobots and transferred to Lunar City. As the city was reduced to a ruin months ago, Megatron suspects the Autobots have found an energon motherlode, and prepares his troops to attack.

Alpha Q contemplates the news of a human who can sense energon. As his faces struggle with one another, his calm face says that he wants to meet this boy.

On the Moon, Ironhide and Kicker are searching the ruins of Lunar City for energon, but Ironhide has his doubts. Optimus Prime and the Omnicons voice their trust in Kicker's abilities. Using a tethered Terrorcon, the search continues. Kicker suspects they're being watched.

Suddenly, Kicker, Ironhide, and Signal Flare come across Demolishor, who says he's deserted Megatron. As proof, he tells them to follow. When Ironhide has doubts, Demolishor says that he stole the Decepticon mobile fortress, and will be finished if Megatron finds out. Before they go any further, a horde of Terrorcons storms toward the group and surrounds them. Ironhide reports to Prime that he's engaged the enemy, and he thinks they're after Kicker.

Good doggiebot!

Megatron attacks Optimus Prime, who sends his copter drone to help out Ironhide, and calls for backup from Ocean City on Earth. Kicker's worried parents watch the Autobots depart.

Watching from nearby, Rodimus tells Prowl and Landmine that it's not their place to interfere in the battle. Elsewhere, Kicker agrees to head off with Demolishor and the Terrorcons; Demolishor threatens force when Ironhide tries to suggest otherwise. His parents observe the unarmed Kicker walking off among the Terrorcons and continue to worry; Rodimus also watches, planning to keep an eye on the situation.

Kicker and company arrive at the Decepticon mobile fortress. Within, Scorponok watches. Alpha Q laments Demolishor's betrayal, and tells Scorponok to keep Megatron away from Kicker, and to destroy them all when they arrive.

So, where's the door?

Suddenly the fortress begins to rise into the air, to Demolishor's surprise. The blast knocks him aside. When Ironhide runs to help him, he refuses, telling Ironhide that he came here to trick him.

The fortress approaches Megatron's battle site and opens fire on the Autobots, though it also blasts Megatron. Meanwhile, Kicker and Ironhide observe some seismic upheavals in the moon's surface; Ironhide is worried, but Kicker tells him everything is fine, and that "they're on their way". A huge construct breaks through the ground, and a horde of Omnicons storms forth—the city's inhabitants survived!

Prime radios Dr. Jones to send up the energon tower, as they have a foundation. With a lot of grunting, the Signal Flares prepare the way. Megatron orders his troops to destroy the tower, and Prime works to counter it. The tower lands and is energized; the pulsewaves drive off the Decepticons.

After a while, it starts to feel kinda good.

Kicker tells his Terrorcon captors that they'd best split while the splitting is good, but one of them suddenly channels the voice of Alpha Q. Alpha Q explains that he plans to rule the universe, but needs lots of energon to do it, and tells Kicker to stay out of his way. Kicker demands to know more, but the energy blast from the tower arrives and destroys the Terrorcons. Prime's copter drone retrieves him.

Aboard the airborne fortress, Scorponok looks down on the moon and bids Megatron farewell, only to find himself at the point of Megatron's sword. Demolishor emerges from the dirt, to find Ironhide demanding to know whose side he's on. Demolishor says he's a Decepticon serving Megatron, and is evacuated by Cyclonus. They nearly grab Kicker while escaping, until fire from an unseen group drives them off. Kicker wonders who saved him. Nearby, Rodimus quietly says that he'll find out in due time.

Cyclonus says he's damaged and needs repairs, so Megatron reformats him into a new body. Megatron is faintly glad that Scorponok failed to destroy the Autobots, leaving Prime for him.

Dr. Jones rejoices over the completion of the new tower, till Sally tells him to calm down. Kicker and Misha reflect on the battle's outcome. Kicker says it's almost like he's got a guardian angel. Misha wonders if it's Alpha Q, but Kicker doubts it. They both lament the endless fighting, but Misha says that one day they'll understand everything about the universe.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notes

Differences with Super Link

Wonder Woman features in the DC vs Transformers crossover.

• The essence of the opening conversation among the Decepticons is unchanged in Energon; however, it's not nearly as disjointed in Super Link.
• Kicker's It's a good thing they have no idea I know exactly what I'm doing! thought is originally a more modest reflection that he doesn't quite understand the sensations he's picking up either.
• When Rodimus refuses to jump in and help Optimus on the Moon, he merely thinks an explanation. Super Link features him saying it out loud, with mouth animation. He also further explains that there's nothing they could do that Optimus couldn't, with some implication that Rodimus feels himself lost in Prime's shadow.
• Demolishor explicitly asks Kicker to come with him, rather than Kicker randomly figuring out that the trap was for him. As they start off, Kicker's original comment is that Demolishor should have just stated his business clearly right from the start.
• In Super Link, Alpha Q doesn't express a desire to rule the universe; instead he calmly states that the energon is his only hope for reviving his world, and he rather gently requests that Kicker not interfere. This is clearly another attempt at Hasbro pushing the Alpha Q villain status.
• In Super Link, Scorponok doesn't say "Farewell, Megatron," which would be a pretty bad thing to be caught saying; instead he merely wonders if "this is the end". Megatron later implies that of course Scorponok didn't mean to target him along with the Autobots, another bit of interplay lost in Energon.
• In Super Link, Ironhide rather calmly and sadly lets Demolishor go, regretfully wishing he'd rejoin the Autobots. In Energon, the scene is played more for anger at Demolishor's betrayal.
• Misha and Kicker's final conversation in Super Link has more to do with discussing how the Omnicons survived (because the tunnels were so vast, and by detecting Prime's emergency transmission to Earth), and with the sadness of Alpha Q's words. Misha concludes that one day they'll understand Alpha Q's enigmatic words about energon being his only hope; Energon bizarrely mutates this into her saying, "Don't worry, I believe that one day we'll understand the whole universe!"
• When Cyclonus becomes Snow Cat, Super Link has him with his mouth open in a gasp, while Energon has him with his mouth closed.

Pain count

• "Uh?": 16
• "We need/they want energon": 3
• "It's time to": 1
• "Let's do it": 1
• "Gimme a break": 4

Animation and technical errors

• During the opening scene when Demolishor and Cyclonus are suspended by cables, Megatron is missing from the fullscreen shot, despite being face to face with them in every other shot.
• The Battle Ravages are referred to as "Command Jaguar Terrorcons." Command Jaguar is their Japanese name, meaning the English name wasn't swapped in during dubbing.
  • This is also the first instance of any of the Terrorcons being referred to by a title, even if it is the wrong one.
• Everyone's movements on the Moon are once again too fluid and "normal," making it realistically incorrect; this fault is likely due to the animation.
• When Kicker is riding inside Ironhide, Ironhide's steering wheel is drawn in the form of a plane's steering.
• After Optimus Prime (in his Super Mode) launches Copter-2 to watch over Kicker, it's still shown serving as Optimus's left arm.
• When Landmine tells Rodimus he can't leave Optimus in danger, his mouth is covered up by a green square.
• When Team Rodimus fires on Demolishor and Cyclonus, saving Kicker, Prowl and Landmine's cannons are correctly shown, however, Rodimus appears to be using Optimus Prime's standard blaster, rather than his own. It's highly likely that Rodimus's gun wasn't rendered in CGI at the time this episode was made/released, which is further reinforced when characters like Jetfire and Cyclonus were wielding unfinished/incorrectly colored weapon models in the first few episodes.
  • Following this clip, however, Rodimus pulls his hand back, making it seem as if he was firing from his wrist blaster. Weird.

Continuity notes

• This is the first appearance of Alpha Q's fourth "calm" face.
• Signal Flare uses the Battle Ravage that Kicker caught back in "Megatron Resurrected" to detect the energon on the Moon.
• Cyclonus gets upgraded into Snow Cat due to damages sustained by Team Rodimus's hidden attack.
• Gadgets and powers:
  • Signal Flare uses an energy leash to hold the Battle Ravage.
  • Powerlinx Inferno fires his arm-mounted Plasma Blaster for the first time.
  • The Skyblasts use their Energy Spears for the first time. One Skyblast is also wielding a claw, which is presumably a piece of mining equipment.
  • Likewise, the Strongarms use their Energy Axes. Another Strongarm is seen carrying what appears to be an I-beam that's about twice his size.
  • Alpha Q uses the Autobots' captive Battle Ravage to communicate with Kicker. This also partially explains why Battle Ravages have cameras on their heads, as Alpha Q is shown talking with a hologram of Kicker back at his base.
• Powerlinx forms:
  • Optimus Prime Super Mode
  • Powerlinx Inferno with Hot shot
  • Landmine Brute Mode (first use, shoulder cannon only)

Continuity errors

• How Demolishor was planning to trick Alpha Q isn't clear at all in either version of the show.
• After this episode, Megatron seems to forget about Kicker completely and never tries going after him again despite learning about his energon-sensing ability. And let’s face it, we’d all be rooting for the Autobots to lose for once.

Trivia

• Jetfire's stock footage transformation sequence has all of his red colored closer to the brown-ish color of his toy. The following scene has his colors return to bright red.

Foreign localization

Italian

• Title: "Attento Kicker!" ("Watch Out Kicker!")

Home video releases

DVD

2004 — Transformer: Super Link — Volume 004 (Interchannel) — Japanese audio only.
2008 — Transformers: Energon — The Ultimate Collection (Paramount)
2014 — Transformers: Energon — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)