“Don’t forget your tape recorder…”
The Autobots are overseeing the test of Wheeljack’s new invention, the Megavator with the U.S. Army. It’s a super weapon which vaporises its targets. Soundwave however is on hand spying on them. Red Alert detects his presence, and the Autobots head out to stop him, after all, they can’t let Megatron get hold of the Megavator. Red Alert requests that Inferno stays with him for backup at the bunker. Soundwave of course, is a one-man army, and he sets several of his minions off to stop the Autobots.
Seeing that Prime and Co. could use a hand, Inferno leaves Red Alert to help on the battlefield. His presence in the battle helps to turn the tide, but as the Decepticons flee, Rumble blasts a missile into the bunker. The Missile explodes near Red Alert, trapping him under rubble and obviously damaging him. Red Alert is furious at Inferno for leaving him unprotected and expresses his grievance to Optimus Prime.
Red Alert’s battle damage seems to have made him paranoid, and he becomes convinced that his comrades want him out of the job.
“I shall succeed where others have failed”
Furious that he has lost the Megavator, Megatron laments his troops failing, so Starscream offers to take on the job.
Megatron takes his Decepticons on a sneak attack to ambush the Autobots. There are signs that the Decepticons are near, but Red’s battle damage prevents him from picking up on them. Just as Megatron is about to steal the Megavator, Smokescreen steps in and uses his smoke to hide the Megavator and shroud the Decepticons’ vision. Thanks to Smokescreen’s intervention, The Decepticons are unable to capture the Megavator. They flee, leaving a crashed Starscrem behind.
Prime and colleagues try to convince Red Alert that his battle damage prevented him sensing the Decepticon ambush, and that he needs repairs. But his paranoia won’t let him believe that his friends have his best interests at heart, so he runs away from them. Starscream sees this and uses it as an opportunity to turn it to his advantage and get back at Megatron for leaving him.
“Megatron and the other Decepticons envy my superiority too”
Starscream manages to get to Red Alert and convinces him that they both have the same problem: their leaders and comrades are jealous of them both. If only they could both capture the Megavator-everyone would see how superior they are! In his delusional state, Red goes along with Starscreams’ idea.
Back at the Army base, the Megavator is securely deposited under high level protection. However, being Prime’s security chief, Red Alert knows how to get to it. Unbeknownst to them, Ravage is spying on them and sending the images to Megatron, who plans to let them capture the Megavator then seize it from them. Prime sends a couple of his troops off to continue the search for Red, as they’re concerned that in his condition, he could explode.
Starscream and Red steal the Megavator, and Optimus Prime and the team try to stop them. True to his word tough, Megatron turns up to steal the Megavator for himself! Starscream turns on Red Alert, and a blast from him seems to realign his logic circuits. Coming to his senses, Red sets the Megavator to self-destruct, which causes the Decepticons to flee! Inferno rushes into the devastation caused by the destruction of the Megavator to rescue Red, putting any concerns about Inferno’s loyalty to him to rest.
Key Scenes, Plot Points and Characters:
This episode focuses mainly of Red Alert, however, Smokescreen has a standout scene in which he foils the Decepticons’ attempts to steal the Megavator, and Inferno shows his bravery on multiple occasions.
The Verdict:
Not a bad episode, but not a standout either: 5 energon cubes out of 10.
Afterthoughts:
Reviewing these G1 episodes has caused me to re-evaluate my thinking on many of them. I’ve found many to be better than I’d previously given them credit for. However this episode remained exactly the same, no better, and no worse than my original thoughts on it. However, watching it this time I did become more aware that the writers were also trying to showcase other characters, even if only in a small way, such as Smokescreens heroic efforts and talents.
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