Without Warning

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Nooooo! This isn't happening! There's no reason for me to go on! What...What am I fighting for?!
"Without Warning"
Production company	Hasbro Studios, Machinima
Airdate	May 15, 2018
Written by	F.J. DeSanto Adam Beechen Jamie Iracleanos
Director	Yuzo Sato
Animation studio	Tatsunoko Production

As Predaking and Volcanicus attack, Megatronus celebrates a win while reminiscing over a loss.

Synopsis

Predaking continues to attack Victorion, despite her claims that she does not have the Enigma of Combination. Windblade fires on Predaking and Victorion in an attempt to free the latter, but to little effect, while Volcanicus gets back on his feet and approaches the fighters. Perceptor yells to Predaking that he has the Enigma, causing him to release Victorion and give chase with Volcanicus close behind. This provides enough of a distraction for Windblade and Victorion to sneak attack the Combiners, and they grab Perceptor and run. However, Predaking and Volcanicus quickly recover and follow them.

Not far away, Megatron comes across a giant glowing dome embedded in the landscape. Placing his hand on it, he reveals a door bearing the marks of the Thirteen. Meanwhile, in the Well of Sparks, Megatronus holds the Enigma of Combination and marvels at its beauty, complimenting Solus Prime's craftsmanship. He places it in one of three open slots on an unknown device which begins to draw power from the Enigma.

Solus Prime continues to argue that the Requiem Blaster has served its purpose and is too powerful to continue existing, but Megatronus claims it still may have purpose yet, reminding her of disasters foretold in texts such as the Book of the Second Prophecies. Solus sees through this, knowing Megatronus's love of destructive tools, and attempts to take the gun from him, but Megatronus pulls back. As the two struggle, the weapon is accidentally discharged, firing a blast that rips through the forge and mortally wounds Solus. A mournful Megatronus struggles to apologize as Solus dies in his arms and her life energy leaves her body, dispersing in the atmosphere.

A lone spark descends from above and enters the Well. Megatronus recognizes it as one of his minions' victims. Pleased with their progress, he opens up a storage case and pulls out the Matrix of Leadership.

Back in Primal Swamp, Windblade and Victorion continue running from Predaking, though they can't understand why Volcanicus is still pursuing them. Predaking's blast launches the three over a chasm, but he and Volcanicus cannot slow down in time and fall in. As the Combiners begin climbing up the chasm wall, the others retreat into the reeds, where they find Megatron. The Combiners catch up, but stop when they see Megatron, who uses his hand to open the dome. He tells the others to stay and wait for his return as he enters inside, the door closing behind him as the others are left dumbfounded.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"So what's the plan?"
"Just keep doing what you're doing. You're following the plan perfectly."

—Windblade and Perceptor run away.

"In all the millenia, I never considered their true beauty, regarding them only as tools. Now it is both tool and art, for it shall help me bring back the most precious work of art ever built."

—Megatronus the art critic.

"Megatronus...why would you...tear us apart...like this?"

—The final words of Solus Prime.

Notes

Continuity notes

• The Enigma of Combination appears in its diamond-shaped "active" state seen in "A War of Giants" and most other media, rather than the spherical appearance it has in most episodes.
• The lone spark that descends into the Well of Sparks is likely Computron, who was killed in the previous episode shortly before his two companions, whose sparks ascended together.

Transformers references

• The flashback to the death of Solus Prime and the Requiem Blaster is a very loose adaptation of the events from The Covenant of Primus; where an argument over the use of the Unicron-killing weapon led to the inadvertent death of Solus Prime and Megatronus's subsequent grief. There, however, the incident was orchestrated by Liege Maximo as part of a larger scheme, whereas here the death seems to have been a genuine accident.

Errors

Continuity errors

• In "Our Heroes Respond", Perceptor's study of the Enigma of Combination led him to believe it was older than the Primes. This episode, however, clearly states it was a creation of Solus Prime. Either this was a retcon, or Perceptor isn't quite as good a scientist as he thinks.

Animation and technical errors

• The blast from the Requiem Blaster, which was powerful enough to kill Unicron, is shown to be large enough to be seen from space, with the beam taking up a large swath of Cybertron. Yet much of Solus Prime's forge is still standing, and Solus herself doesn't have any visible injuries. Megatronus, similarly, seems to have escaped totally unscathed.
• The captions for the episode spell "Dinobots" with a Y. While the team has occasionally used the "Dynobot" spelling in previous media, the first episode's captions establish the use of the "Dinobot" spelling in Power of the Primes.
• Perceptor is also misspelled as "preceptor" at least once.
• While Windblade, Victorion, and Perceptor are being blasted through the air in dramatic slow motion, Windblade is somehow talking during this at regular speed?

Trivia

• Whereas Combiner Wars and Titans Return were rather ambiguous about the Enigma of Combination's origins, this episode establishes it as a creation of Solus Prime, making this the first continuity to establish a link between the two. Later fiction like the IDW comics would similarly confirm the Enigma to be one of Solus's creations.