Decisive Battle is the twenty-first episode of Armada. It first aired in the United States on January 24, 2003 on Cartoon Network.
Content
Summary
With the power of the Skyboom Shield at his disposal, Megatron invites the Autobots to what could be the last battle.
Plot
Testing the power of the Skyboom Shield, Megatron disintegrates an entire comet. Satisfied with his new toy's power, Megatron anticipates the next conflict will allow the Decepticons to end the routine of battling for new Mini-Cons and finish the Autobots. In the Autobots' base, Hot Shot is running through an obstacle course of suspended metal pieces, while the Mini-Cons try to slow him down by tossing stuff at Hot Shot. But before Hot Shot can win, Blurr catches up and captures the flag. Smokescreen arrives and asks to join in the training, and Blurr goads Smokescreen to attempt a run by challenging his performance hardware. While taking several hits in the process, Smokescreen eventually manages to grab the flag. In the Autobot control room, Optimus receives a direct challenge from Megatron. Optimus knows that despite being hopelessly overpowered, it is his job to accept the challenge. The Autobots all rush out to teleport to the location Megatron specified. When the Autobots arrive to battle the Decepticons, Megatron summons his Star Saber and Skyboom Shield, and tells Demolishor to hold back, as Megatron anticipates that with his new weapons, he can defeat the Autobots on his own. The shield blocks attacks from Hot Shot and Blurr, and then all of the Autobots' firepower. Megatron moves forward and slices apart Optimus's rifle. Cyclonus and Demolishor contribute by raining down gunfire on the scattering Autobots, allowing Megatron and Optimus to be separated from the rest of the group. Hot Shot and Blurr notice Optimus fighting Megatron by himself and the two transform and rush to aid Optimus. Starscream and Cyclonus chase the duo from the air. Hot Shot provides cover-fire while Blurr attempts to lose his pursuers. Blurr and Hot Shot trade positions, and eventually Cyclonus and Starscream fly out of range. Powerlinking with Swindle, Starscream 'lays a pounding' on the two cars. In a move even Demolishor finds unwise, Sideways dives directly to Red Alert, but is soundly blasted away. Smokescreen, tired of the Decepticons holding an advantage, powerlinks with Liftor and disrupts Starscream. Demolishor rolls a large boulder at Smokescreen who is pinned to the ground. When Cyclonus observes that the Decepticons are maintaining their advantage, he's blasted out of the sky by Sideways, whom neither side sees. Near a crevice, Optimus is still surviving against Megatron. Hot Shot and Blurr arrive to distract Megatron, allowing Optimus to literally grab onto the Skyboom Shield while Megatron is still holding it. Trying to slice Optimus away, Megatron accidentally tosses the Skyboom Shield into the crevice. Angry, Megatron attempts to impale Optimus but is halted by Sparkplug. With Megatron intending to get at Optimus by slicing through Sparkplug, the Skyboom Shield activates and levitates from the crevice to protect the Autobot. The two weapons used against each other sends out a bright light that Rad notes is similar to the light that reactivated all the Mini-Cons in the first episode. The Decepticons, having lost the shield, retreat to their base again. The Autobots congratulate Smokescreen for changing the tide of battle (that is, before he was caught under a rock) and Fred hugs Carlos.
Trivia
In the episode
Background
English dub changes
Characters
Characters (In order of appearance):
Megatron, Starscream, Sideways, Cyclonus, Demolishor,
Hot Shot, Street Action Mini-Con Team, Jolt, Blurr
Rad, Carlos, Billy, Fred, Alexis,
Smokescreen, Scavenger, Optimus Prime, Red Alert,
Air Defense Mini-Con Team, Race Mini-Con Team, Swindle, Liftor, Sparkplug
Quotes
Carlos: Ooh, wicked cool!
Fred: He kinda reminds me of myself when I was working out more.
Blurr: Somehow I find that a little hard to believe, Fred.
Smokescreen: Hahaha! In your face.
Blurr: Sorry Hot Shot, but it looks like Smokescreen smoked you, but good.
Hot Shot: Didn't think we'd show, did ya, ya overgrown motherboard.
Sparkplug: Lock onto shield.
Notes
- Sideways' poorly thought out attack on Red Alert could have been to intentionally get himself disabled, helping the sides stay level so the conflict endures. This is consistent with his secret long-term agenda.
- During the chase, Starscream's jet blast is solid black. Several other places during the episode where glowing energy would be expected are solid black.
- Although overall the animation in this episode was pretty bad, it's really noticeable when for a moment, Starscream himself is a solid black dot with wings.
- This is one of the episodes with the largest amount of animation errors;
- A few seconds in, and the meteor headed for the Decepticon base doesn't look consistent with the rest of the animation.
- Similarly, when Demolishor rolls a boulder at Smokescreen, the boulder moves ahead, but keeps jerking to the right.
- On two occasions during the battle, Cyclonus is shown against a night-time sky, when it's supposed to be the middle of the day.
- In one shot when Megatron is holding the Star Sabre up, only his hand is shown - the rest of his right arm is completely missing.
- When Hot Shot fires at Megatron near the start on the battle, he looks... strange. His wheel gun doesn't even look even somewhat right.
- Ironically enough, this episode is riddled with animation errors, but almost no name mix-ups so commonly associated with Armada.
- On a more humorous note, during the battle (in the chase scenes in particular), we don't see Megatron and Optimus Prime fighting at all except at the very start and finish. It's like the camera just kinda forgot about them.
- Not that anything terribly interesting would've been happening, though.
- This is the first time a Mini-Con speaks English.
- This is one of the three Armada episodes with more than one word in the title.
- When Megatron Powerlinks with the Star Saber and Skyboom Shield, he calls the Skyboom Shield the Star Saber when he powerlinks with it.
Gallery
Title screens
Title Cards
Title Sequences
Other pictures
Episode
Preview
Videos
Episode
Preview
Links
References
External Links
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