Sabotage

« Transformers: Cyberverse ep 11 »
"And that, Windblade...that is how one dominates."
"Sabotage"
Season	1
No. in season	11
Production company	Allspark Animation
Airdate	October 26, 2018 (Xfinity X1) November 9, 2018 (CN app/website) November 10, 2018 (USA)
Writer	Dan Salgarolo
Director	Ehud Landsberg
Animation studio	Boulder Media Studio
Watch this episode on YouTube

Shockwave traps Bumblebee in a false memory designed to convince him he's a Decepticon.

Synopsis

On Cybertron, Shockwave is able to tap into the systems of the Decepticon scout ship on Earth. As he watches Windblade and Bumblebee use his cortical psychic patch, he informs Slipstream that his plan is underway, and that it's up to the Seeker to dispose of the Cityspeaker as she sees fit; in the meantime, Shockwave announces that he will tap into Bumblebee's mind to "show him what he truly is..."

Simultaneously, in their hiding place in the Bumblebee Cave, Windblade and Bumblebee search the latter's memories for any clue as to the identity of the "king of the dinosaurs", unaware that the Decepticon scientist has already invaded the connection. When Windblade realizes that something is amiss, however, she's too late to stop him, and Shockwave is able to eject her from the connection and take her place. Masquerading as Windblade, Shockwave is able to coax a hesitant Bumblebee into accessing a new memory he's never seen before, supposedly another clue to the fate of the Ark, with the yellow Autobot unaware that their ship is now under Shockwave's control.

"See? We're stronger together than apart."

During their long voyage, Optimus Prime gathers the crew of the Ark to announce a breakthrough in their voyage; Teletraan-1 has located the AllSpark. The assembled Autobots cheer, unaware that Bumblebee has crept off on a mission of his own: transmitting their coordinates to Megatron through the ship's communication terminal. The Decepticon leader praises his perfect spy, instructing him to disable the ship's engines so that the Decepticons can find the ship, and Bumblebee tells the Decepticon leader that he lives to serve.

Bumblebee recoils from the memory, unable to process the idea of him being a spy all this time. In the real world, meanwhile, Windblade attempts to salvage the connection, unaware of the peril she's in; suddenly, the ship's autopilot kicks in as it takes off, and though Windblade wrestles with the unresponsive controls she can't prevent the ship's doors sealing themselves shut and flying off. At a nearby abandoned airfield, Slipstream gets word from Shockwave that his plan is in motion, and readies Nova Storm and Thundercracker to get ready for the arrival of their ship.

Bumblebee continues his memories with "Windblade;" after illicitly disabling the engines, he remembers, he heads off Rack'n'Ruin's concerns, but isn't able to fool Wheeljack, who blames him for disabling the energon filtration system. Bumblebee has no choice but to zap the Autobot engineer and dump him into space, but in doing so, he's found out by Ratchet, who immediately takes in the traitor.

Horrified by what he's done, Bumblebee breaks out of the memory once again, still unaware of his current predicament. Meanwhile, Windblade is having problems of her own as the ship arrives inside the Decepticon-controlled hangar, where Slipstream casually restrains and captures the lone Camien.

"I will remember you as you were."

Stasis cuffed and brought before the Autobots, Bumblebee stands trial for his crimes, with Grimlock acting as Wheeljack's prosecuting attorney. As Grimlock concludes his closing statement, Optimus finds Bumblebee guilty, and decrees that the penalty is deactivation. Despite his cuffs, Bumblebee is able to elude the court and flees into the depths of the ship, and Optimus prepares to give chase.

In the hangar, Windblade is able to escape her own captors through some quick thinking, downing Thundercracker and Nova Storm. She's unable to outmaneuver the ship itself, however, which is revealed to be under Slipstream's control, pinning her down under a barrage of fire.

Bumblebee races through the ship's empty corridors, pursued by Optimus. Before long, however, he stumbles into a dead end, and Optimus raises his axe, only to slice through Bumblebee's cuffs, revealing himself as a Decepticon. Optimus tells Bumblebee that they should initiate the second part of the plan: kill everyone else aboard the ship. Realizing neither Optimus nor he would ever do such a thing, Bumblebee smashes the memory to pieces and declares the entire experience a fake, prompting Shockwave to reveal himself and take a new tack: he demands the location of the AllSpark in exchange for Windblade's safety, but Bumblebee ignores him and simply disconnects himself, severing the connection.

Bumblebee reaches the bridge, and Windblade tells him to push the red button she warned him to avoid earlier; as it turns out, this is the ship's self-destruct button, and the ship flies into the hangar and explodes, blowing the abandoned airfield to nothing as the two Autobots flee in alternate mode. The pair have suffered a crucial setback, now deprived of a ship and a way to reach Bumblebee's memories, but Bumblebee is simply grateful that they're still alive.

Featured characters

Characters in italic text appear only in the fake memory.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"That looks like the face of a king!"
-Bumblebee focuses on a memory of a dog-
"No, no. That's... a horse."

—Bumblebee and Windblade

"Kings wear crowns, right? Here's Starscream wearing a crown."

—Bumblebee references the obvious.

"Bumblebee. You must access this memory now."
"What? Why are you talking to me like that?"
"Because we are friends. I enjoy your... company. Do not be afraid. This is a good memory."

—Shockwave's Windblade impersonation is good enough to fool Bumblebee, at least...

Notes

Continuity notes

• Maccadam told Bumblebee and Windblade that they needed to find the "king of the dinosaurs" in the previous episode, "Maccadam's." The same episode saw the two Autobots take shelter in the "Bumblebee Cave" that they begin this episode in.
• Deadlock, first seen defecting from the Decepticons in the same episode, is here shown as an Autobot and part of the crew of the Ark. As we later learn in "The Visitor", he has in fact changed his name to Drift as is traditional for the character.
• The red button first appeared in "Whiteout"; this episode clarifies that it triggers the ship's self-destruct function.

Transformers references

"A single point of light against the infinite darkness."

• Shockwave's current base of operations on Cybertron seems to be a skyscraper of some description, evoking the tower that first appeared in Dreamwave Productions' Generation 1 comic book and subsequently reappeared in the Aligned continuity family.
• While scouring his mind for information about kings, Bumblebee notes that he has a memory of Starscream wearing a crown — a reference to Starscream's infamous "coronation" scene from the 1986 animated film, which has since been homaged in countless media and many, many toys.
• Shockwave refers to the cortical psychic patch as "his," implying that, as in the Aligned continuity, Shockwave is the inventor of the device.
• Windblade swears by Primus.
• First appearing as a Wrecker in the Marvel UK comics, a new version of the classic character(s) Rack'n'Ruin marks the first televised appearance of this oddball 'bot.

Real-world references

• Windblade uses the Stormfall Sword to deflect the scout ship's laser blasts like a lightsaber from Star Wars.
• "Optimus'" pursuit of Bumblebee through the Ark—strolling through the red-lit corridors of the ship while casually dragging his axe against the wall—evokes Freddy Krueger's boiler room scene in A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Trivia

• According to showrunner Randolph Heard, the dog horse Bumblebee remembers seeing is based on Gavin Hignight's French bulldog, Cowboy.^[1]
• This episode was originally scheduled to debut on Canadian television on October 21, 2018, several weeks ahead of its US broadcast. A re-run of "Fractured" wound up airing instead.
• This episode was made available for YouTubeTV subscribers and OnDemand for subscribers to U.S. cable provider Comcast's Xfinity X1 service on October 26, 2018, along with the ninth, tenth, and twelfth episodes of the series, "Shadowstriker," "Maccadam's," and "Teletraan-X," all prior to their Cartoon Network broadcast debuts. Initially, "Sabotage" was not included in this release, leaving a one-episode gap, but it was added before the end of the same day.

Animation and technical errors

• While these animation errors can easily be justified for being part of a fake memory, the errors during the memory are:
  • In the "celebration" scene, Ratchet is missing his Autobot insignia, while his chest "windshield" piece is transparent through-and-through, letting the background behind him show through his chest!
  • When Optimus stands up ordering everyone to their stations, Bumblebee is missing his insignia. It's back when the camera cuts and we see Bumblebee over Optimus' shoulder.
  • Wheeljack is missing his Autobot insignia when Grimlock cross-examines Bumblebee. He gets it back once the camera cuts back to him after it shows 'Bee in handcuffs.
  • As Bumblebee gets chased by Optimus, we see the hallway turn left into the dead end. This tracks as the audience sees from the dead end hallway, Bumblebee coming from the right. However, once Prime appears, the hallway pattern is flipped and he comes from the LEFT side.
  • In the same scene, Prime has his axe deployed from his left hand when he is scraping it against the wall, but deployed from his right hand when he turns the corner.
• Slipstream is missing her Decepticon insignia and her cockpit framing when all three Seekers land on the ground after pulling Windblade out of the ship and when she says "I can dispose of you any way I like. So many choices!" She gets them back in the next cut both times.
• In the first scene where Windblade is deflecting laser blasts from the scout ship, none of the blasts are shown to actually hit her sword, yet alone be deflected by it, despite repeated "ricochet" sounds.
• Nova Storm is missing her cockpit framing for the entirety of the episode, even though she has had it in previous episodes.

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "Sabotage"
• Original airdate: November 12, 2018

German

• Title: "Der Feind im Kopf" ("The Enemy inside the Head")
• Original airdate: December 16, 2018

Hungarian

• Title: "Szabotázs" ("Sabotage")
• Original airdate: December 9, 2018

Italian

• Title: "Sabotaggio" ("Sabotage")
• Original airdate: November 24, 2018

Japanese

• Title: "Shockwave no Wana" (ショックウェーブの罠, "Shockwave's Trap")
• Original airdate: June 22, 2019

Portuguese

• Title: "Sabotagem" ("Sabotage")
• Original airdate: December 18, 2018

Home video releases

DVD

2019 — Transformers Cyberverse — Intégrale Saison 1 (ESC Éditions) — French audio only
2019 — Transformers Cyberverse — Terminal Velocity (Beyond Home Entertainment)

References