In Good Hands

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Hey...I only see one good hand here. Clearly, this is false advertising.
"In Good Hands"
Production company	Hasbro Studios, Machinima
Airdate	December 26, 2017
Written by	Eric S. Calderon F.J. DeSanto Adam Beechen
Director	Yuzo Sato
Animation studio	Tatsunoko Production

Just when all hope seems lost, Optimus Prime arrives to turn the tide of the battle.

Synopsis

Trypticon continues stomping on the wounded Ultimate Victorion before charging a blast of flame, but Victorion throws her sword at him, causing the blast to barely miss. This gives her the opportunity to stand up again and begin counterattacking, but Trypticon shrugs off her blows, knocking her to the ground and taking her sword. As they fly towards Metroplex City, Fortress Maximus witnesses the state of the battle, reporting it back to Windblade and Emissary. In light of Metroplex's destruction, Fortress Maximus admits he is not sure he can win, as he is more pacifistic in nature. However, he confirms he will do what must be done to protect Cybertron.

At the Primal Basilica, the Chorus of the Primes warns Optimus Prime that Trypticon is not the true enemy and to beware the power of the Primes, though he does not understand their meaning. Undeterred, Optimus charges towards the battle. As Trypticon is about to decapitate Ultimate Victorion with her own sword, Optimus arrives at the last second and blasts him in the back with his ion blaster, catching the Titan off guard. Prime jumps in the air and resumes firing, dodging each of Trypticon's own fire blasts. Too damaged to continue fighting as a super-Combiner, Ultimate Victorion splits back into the four Combiners and they charge into battle alongside Optimus. As Optimus strikes Trypticon's head with his energon-axe, Devastator attempts to hit Trypticon's foot, but is knocked back into one of the city's exposed energon mains, causing an explosion. He emerges, barely holding himself together, while Menasor and Computron begin attacking a weak point in Trypticon's leg. Inspired by Devastator's accident, Victorion grabs a nearby energon spike and tells the others to get clear as she hurls it into an energon main behind Trypticon, triggering a massive explosion that engulfs the Titan and knocks the others away.

As energon sparks in every direction, Trypticon begins transforming into his fortress mode, and Optimus orders the Combiners to attack from all sides. In turn, Trypticon begins firing all of his cannons, one of which manages to hit Optimus, sending him flying towards a large sharp piece of rubble, but he is safely caught by Fortress Maximus, arriving on the scene and standing tall against Trypticon.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

*Voice-only appearance

Quotes

"You need not remind me of my duty. But it is no crime to wish there were a more peaceful solution."

—Fortress Maximus wishes there were another way.

"Beware the Power of the Primes."

—Even the Chorus of the Primes is trying to warn us about the next series.

Victorion: "Combiners! Let none withstand our righteous thunder!"
Menasor: "Can we just fight?!"
Devastator: "Menasor finally said something smart!"
Computron: "Statement: This unit concurs with previous two statements."
Victorion: "...fine."

—Less talk, more smash.

"I will...not...separate!"

—Devastator barely pulls himself together. Literally.

"Relax. You're in good hands."

—Windblade sneaks in a title-drop at the last second.

Notes

Continuity notes

• Like Metroplex before him in "Our Heroes Respond", Fortress Maximus has vowed to protect Cybertron until his dying breath.

Transformers references

• As Optimus charges towards Trypticon, he inexplicably shifts into alt-mode for a grand total of two seconds before transforming back to robot mode and jumping into the air. These poses match Optimus's actions in the opening of the famous "The Touch" scene from the original movie.

Errors

Continuity errors

• Fortress Maximus reports that Victorion is fighting Trypticon, "though she appears to be... much bigger." Fortress Maximus had never met Victorion prior to her enlarging to Ultimate Victorion, which happened in "Desperate Actions" while Fortress Maximus was still offline.
• When Trypticon is about to stab Ultimate Victorion, Optimus shoots Trypticon, which somehow hurts him enough to drop the blade and to be clearly injured, something that even a super-Combiner was incapable of. There are even big explosions upon impact from each blast. We know Optimus's ion blaster is powerful, but holy hell.
• As Trypticon is charging a blast, Optimus actually transforms back to robot mode, walks slowly forward, and stands still for a moment before reacting to the shot about to be fired. Why even do this when he would have had more than enough time to actually get out of the way had he just kept driving? Or perhaps the editing was meant to make this sequence appear slower than it actually was?

Animation and technical errors

• It's rather odd for Fortress Maximus, who in this continuity was created during the Great War to combat the Decepticons, to claim that he is "not a fighter by nature."
• While Devastator pulls himself together, we can see the cement mixer on his left leg clipping through his foot until he starts running.
• Computron, after telling Menasor that he will calculate the exact weakest spot on Trypticon's leg for him to strike, vaguely points in Trypticon's direction and says "There." So much for precision.

Trivia

• Much like how the eighth episode of the previous series name-dropped Titans Return in its dialogue, so too does this episode (coincidentally also the eighth of the series) name-drop its own sequel, Power of the Primes, foreshadowing future events with all the subtlety of a brick through a window.