More than Meets the Eye, Part 2

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Oil is a burnin' thing, and it makes a fiery ring.
"More than Meets the Eye, Part 2"
Production code	4024
Season	1
No. in season	2
Production company	Sunbow Productions
Airdate	September 18, 1984
Written by	George Arthur Bloom
Animation studio	Toei, Ashi Productions, Nakamura Production
Continuity	Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Packaged with	Optimus Prime
Watch this episode on YouTube

The Decepticons continue raiding Earth's energy sources, including Sherman Dam and the Ruby Crystal Mines of Burma.

Synopsis

"Are you Samuel James Witwicky, descendant of Archibald Witwicky?"
"No."
"Oops, sorry, my bad." [Throws him back in the water]

The fire at the off-shore oil rig continues to grow. Poor Huffer is caught in some girders, but is freed by Brawn. Not so easy to extricate are the humans Spike and Sparkplug Witwicky. As Optimus Prime grapples with the debris trapping the workers, Trailbreaker and Wheeljack put out the fire. Rescued by Prime, Spike and Sparkplug introduce themselves to the Autobots, offering their terrestrial knowledge to help them.

A legacy of Stupid Human Tricks begins here.

Their newfound human friends return with the Autobots to their headquarters. As Spike explores the Ark, he finds a small cassette player and brings it in with him, setting it aside. Little does he realize he has brought Soundwave into Autobot Headquarters. Soundwave and his minion Ravage begin using Teletraan I to locate Earth's most plentiful energy resources. Meanwhile, Spike enjoys a tour of the headquarters and some sunset joyriding with Hound. Returning to the base, Spike spots Soundwave's intrusion and sounds the alarm. Soundwave escapes, but the Autobots catch Ravage, thanks to Gears' infrared light.

Soundwave briefs Megatron on his findings. Megatron decides to attack Sherman Dam, causing a tidal wave to increase the dam's output. The next day, the Decepticons arrive at the dam. Rumble dives into the river and activates his piledrivers to whip the river into dangerous rapids. The energy output is detected by Teletraan I, and the Autobots rush there to stop the Decepticons.

Raise your hand, raise your haaaand—if you're sure!

With the river at its peak, the Decepticons begin producing energon cubes. The Autobots arrive, and a battle ensues. Hound dives into the river to stop Rumble's quaking, and the two scuffle in the depths, with the Autobot coming off worse. Ironhide and Bumblebee help divert the course of the river to save a nearby neighborhood from being flooded. Megatron and Optimus Prime duel with energy melee weapons atop Sherman Dam while exchanging insults. Megatron knocks Prime into the rapids (the latter was distracted by Spike's shouts for help) and he and his Decepticons escape with their spoils.

Jazz helps pull Prime from the river. The Autobots regroup and vow to stop the Decepticons as they continue their activities across the land... but apparently don't do a very good job of it at all. The space cruiser they are developing is almost complete, and they are one more energy raid away from having enough fuel to return to Cybertron. Unfortunately, the impudent Starscream feels the need to test some of the energon cubes. His wasteful experimenting forces the Decepticons to now make two trips. Their first destination, the ruby crystal mines of Burma. These plans are overheard by Trailbreaker, Spike and Sparkplug, who are eavesdropping on the Decepticons.

Trailbreaker deploys his combat bird bath.

As Trailbreaker returns to Autobot headquarters to relay the news, the trio are attacked by a pair of generic Seekers. Sparkplug radios for help, which comes in the form of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. Sunstreaker uses a vehicle mode cannon to give one of the Seekers a small scratch on its wing, prompting the two jets to retreat.

The Decepticons are soon in Burma, pulling energetic rubies from the Earth's crust. The Autobots wait for them outside the mine. Wheeljack has developed a powerful and compact explosive. Bumblebee and Sparkplug volunteer to plant the charge in the mine. They do so, but are caught by Thundercracker and Skywarp as they make their escape.

Concerned that Sparkplug and Bumblebee haven't returned, Optimus Prime drives up the mine's entrance and dispatches Roller into the mine. The explosive detonates, and the blast knocks Prime off his wheels, sending him tumbling down the mountainside.

To be continued...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"For someone who doesn't like to fight, heh, you're not bad, Mirage!"

—Cliffjumper complimenting Mirage after he helped fight off Skywarp and Thundercracker

"You destroy everything you touch, Megatron!"
"Because everything I touch is food for my hunger, my hunger for power!"

—Optimus Prime and Megatron banter while fighting on top of Sherman Dam

"You're old, Megatron. Yesterday's model—ready for the scrap heap!"
"We'll see who's ready for the scrap heap!"
"Junk! That's what you are, junk!"
"Silence!"

—Optimus Prime insults Megatron during their battle

"Don't push me, Megatron, my desire for power is as great as yours!"
"Power flows to the one who knows how. Desire alone is not enough."
"Time makes all things possible. I can wait."

—Starscream and Megatron, foreshadowing several repetitive scenes in the future

"Let's give Megatron a little present."
"Heh. Maybe we oughtta wrap him up and put a little bow on him."

—Skywarp and Thundercracker on capturing Bumblebee. Not seen: Bumblebee's humiliated weeping.

Season 5

Tommy Kennedy once again runs out into the middle of the barren wastelands and summons help from Powermaster Optimus Prime. Prime arrives via rocket-boots and lifts him up to his face, inquiring if he's still working on his "special project" for school. Tommy says that it's a time-consuming effort, so Prime continues his story of how the Transformers first came to Earth without delay...

After concluding the story, Tommy remarks that the "tumble" Prime took sure was something. Prime starts to tell him about the tumble he took when he pursued Megatron into outer space, but Tommy laughs, telling Optimus, "Next time, take a spaceship". Prime passive aggressively replies, "What would I do without you, Tommy?" Prime's eyes then narrow as he demands to know what Tommy's "special project" is. Tommy once again withholds the information, but vows to bare all next time, when he "transforms" Prime's day "into an adventure". Prime then blasts off into space, giving Tommy a ride back to Autobot City.

Notes

Production information

• Script revisions: 13 March 1984
• First draft storyboards completed: 7th April 1984 (Artists: Wendell Washer, Don Sheppard, Paul Gruwell, Jim Fletcher)
• Storyboards revised: April 16th and 19th, 1984
• Telecine: 27 August 1984

Continuity notes

• Gadgets and powers:
  • Brawn uses a retractable welding tip to cut Huffer free. This same hooked welding tip seems to be fairly standard Autobot equipment, showing up in many future episodes, attached to many different 'bots.
  • Trailbreaker's "force shield" is fired from a three-pronged wrist-gun.
  • Wheeljack can shoot a fire extinguishing chemical of some sort from his retracted wrist.
  • Jazz uses a retractable grappling hook that slides out of his wrist (with a little pulse-glow of energy, no less.) This gadget will show up a couple more times in this and the next episode.
  • Soundwave gives us the most overt instance of size-changing we've yet seen.
  • A couple of stock powers make their debut, as Hound demonstrates his holograms and Mirage turns invisible.
  • Gears displays his infrared. Well, actually, it's just a red light. Don't tell anyone.
  • Jazz and Prowl can both fire energy-net things out of their wrists. Prowl will repeat this ability in "Attack of the Autobots".
  • "The noal null ray" actually does what it's supposed to this time, shutting down some generators when Starscream shoots them with it.
  • When Hound submerges to pursue Rumble, he drops a face shield into place, implying he may be susceptible to water.
  • Ironhide has a mounted cannon in the back of his van. It's heavily based on the similar cannon that his toy's repair bay has.
  • Starscream owns a slingshot and uses some unidentified crystal as ammunition.
  • In one of the series' most inexplicably well-remembered scenes, Megatron and Optimus both deploy glowing, semi-solid energy weapons from their wrists: a morning star and an axe, respectively.
  • Trailbreaker can deploy a roof-mounted radar dish to listen in remotely on the 'cons.

• Early in the episode, the scene is shown changing from the Ark to a similar-looking shack nearby. This shack appears to have the same construction as the Ark itself, but is not a part of the ship. It is almost never seen again, except in the episodes "The Ultimate Doom, Part 2" and "The Autobot Run".
• As he returns to tape mode to enter Teletraan I, Ravage's missiles disappear in a glowing flash.
• According to Starscream, 1,750,000 KiloWatts is not enough electrical power to make energon cubes!
• The script that Teletraan I displays differs significantly from the Ancient Autobot language the Decepticons find in "Cosmic Rust". It's also rather different from the Ancient Cybertronian that Cerebros finds on the control panel of the Plasma Energy Chamber in "The Rebirth, Part 1". One might reasonably fanwank it by saying that Jazz is reading the modern version of these languages.
• Optimus calling Megatron old lines up quite well with the later episode "War Dawn". In it, Orion Pax is portrayed as a much more youthful bot than Megatron.
• Optimus deploys Roller for the first time. He's gray, based on an earlier iteration of the toy, rather than the blue of the US release.
• While Soundwave and Ravage are using Teletraan I, a shot of the oil rig from Part 1 was briefly shown.

Non-final premises

As part of the series pilot, this episode features some conventions and details which would be changed for the series proper:

• The Autobots can all fly in robot mode.
• Corey Burton employs a different voice for Brawn, one that is higher and more hoarse-sounding than the "correct" version that will appear in later episodes. The same voice pops up again in "A Plague of Insecticons" (after Skyfire catches a falling Brawn).
• Mirage gets a different sound effect for his disappearing abilities (which would actually be used again in "The Ultimate Doom, Part 3").
• Wheeljack acquires a bit of southern accent in the third act of this episode. Oddly, he already had his finalized voice in the previous episode, and indeed, shows no real signs of the accent in his sparing lines during this episode's first two acts. Consequently, fans have speculated that voice actor Chris Latta was trying to differentiate the voice from his Sparkplug voice, as they are pretty identical, and he only begins to affect the accent when Wheeljack and Sparkplug share a scene.
• The "next time" preview refers to the three episodes collectively as "The Transformers". They would later be rechristened "More than Meets the Eye" (obviously!)

Real-world references

• Burma is a country in southeast Asia, currently known to the United Nations as Myanmar. It is, indeed, particularly rich in rubies, and is the source of 90% of the world's supply of the gems.

Animation and technical errors

• In the recap of "Part 1" at the beginning of the episode, a scene is shown in which Optimus Prime is trying to lift a grate trapping Spike and Sparkplug. However, in "Part 1", the grate was orange, while in the recap that same grate is shown as gray.
• Huffer's trapped arm does not appear to actually connect to his torso.
• As Huffer and Brawn converse, Brawn's lips move for Huffer's line, "Let's take off."
• Prime's running lights are drawn as rectangular instead of round as he explains the Decepticons to Spike and Sparkplug.
• Soundwave commands Ravage to "enter Teltraan I", omitting the second syllable from the computer's name.
• After picking up Soundwave, Spike runs into the Ark carrying his rucksack slung over his shoulder. In the next shot, the rucksack has vanished.

Hey! That's my color scheme!

Ratchet and Bluestreak just came back from the helmet salon.

• Coloring errors:
  • Soundwave's eject button is one of the most common coloring errors of the whole series. Based on his toy, it's supposed to be white in the cartoon, but almost as often as not, the colorists simply colored it the same blue as the rest of him:
    • Soundwave's eject button and cheek guards are both blue instead of white as he returns to robot mode.
    • Blue button as he swipes at Spike.
    • And after he plays back the Sherman Dam info.
    • And as Megatron pontificates about the ruby crystals. (Cheek guards too.)
  • Brawn's helmet is a bit too light as he watches Soundwave retreat.
  • When Gears transforms, his blue parts change to red, leaving him as an all-red truck.
  • Soundwave is missing all his yellow stripes as he plays back Teletraan I's info on Sherman Dam.
  • When Optimus orders his troops to head to the power plant, he has a gray eyeband instead of two blue optics. In the next shot, the Autobots who take off beside him include Windcharger coloured like Cliffjumper, Brawn coloured like Sunstreaker, and Gears coloured like Brawn.
  • As the Autobots blast into the power plant, they shoot down both Starscream and a Reflector colored like Starscream.
  • Soundwave's visor switches from white to red and back as he and Megatron ride the elevator.
  • Starscream's collar is yellow as he asks "What's the difference?"
  • Half of Starscream's collar is yellow again during "I can wait".
  • In the establishing shot of the Autobots outside the Burma ruby mines, Ratchet's head is black and gray. When the shot is repeated, Bluestreak's head is yellow, making his head resemble Bumblebee's.
  • As Thundercracker faces Sparkplug, his wing insignia are rendered as purple rectangles. As he joins Skywarp to double-team Bumblebee, they're missing completely.
  • Sideswipe's helmet is red instead of black as Bumblebee transforms in front of him.
  • Bumblebee's midsection flickers between grey and yellow as he walks down the mine with Sparkplug.
  • Starscream's face is white instead of gray as Bumblebee and Spike spy on the 'cons.
  • Jazz's helmet and hand are mostly white instead of black as he worries about Bumblebee.
  • When Optimus and Megatron confront each other atop Sherman Dam, Optimus is slightly miscolored; his helmet, hands, lower legs and skidplate are all dark gray...which makes him look a heck of a lot like Sideswipe, funnily.

Maybe it's Sideswipe cosplaying as Optimus Prime?

• As the Autobots try to capture Ravage, their miscellaneous shouts were scripted simply as being collectively delivered by the group and were not attributed to any individual 'bots. As such, they were performed by a random collection of actors, not using any of their standard Transformers character voices, but the animation would then depict mismatched Autobots speaking the lines in voices that are not their own. We hear "There he is!" (voiced by Chris Latta, but delivered by Sideswipe), "Get him!" (Ken Sansom, Jazz), "Fire!" (Frank Welker, Sideswipe again), "It's too dark!" (Latta again, from offscreen) and "Can't see him!" (Welker again, also from offscreen). Another example of this problematic practice would crop up next episode; it would mostly be avoided in the series proper, but another instance can be heard in "S.O.S. Dinobots".
• Gears and Hound are extremely tiny in their vehicle modes in the next shot, as a titanic Optimus Prime walks up behind them.
• When arriving at the dam, Optimus Prime speaks the line "We've got to work fast", but Prowl is shown talking.
• When Optimus orders the Autobots "to the air," Hound is part of the group that takes off, but in the very next shot, he's on the ground by the river with Spike. Per the script of episode, he is actually meant to take off with the group, but a shot of the Autobots then splitting up and going in different directions to deal with different threats was cut from the episode; as intimated by the cloud of dust visible around Hound's feet, he's meant to have just landed again after his brief flight.
• One of the neighbors that Ironhide and Bumblebee rescue appears to be a woman in a pink dress...who is waving and moving as a man's voice says, "Thanks, neighbors!"
• When the Autobots are first confronting the Decepticons at the power plant, Sideswipe and Optimus appear to have Decepticon logos on them. (See the flying picture above.)
• As Megatron is taunts Prime during their battle on the dam, Optimus disappears for a couple of frames at the beginning of the wide shot after the closeup of Megatron.
• The camera is strangely blurry as two Seekers attach two wires together at the snowy oil refinery before it quickly refocuses.
• As Starscream prepares his strange slingshot thing, one of his wing stripes becomes transparent. His wings are also mounted much higher on his back than normal.
• As Soundwave and the Reflectors fill Energon cubes in a grassy meadow, there is a registration error that causes Soundwave's lower half to vanish several frames before the foreground content is meant to block it.
• The second purple jet to leave the Black Diamond mine does so alone, but when he drifts back into the shot, he's got a Rumble and a Reflector with him.
• Both he and Megatron are missing their insignia as the elevator reaches the bottom.
• While the Reflectors are stacking Energon cubes, the Energon cubes are translucent enough to see the background (and to see that the Reflectors' legs weren't animated).

They were only counting on having to fight three Autobots back home.

• Starscream's leg is disconnected from his body as he fires his cannon.
• The microphone that Sparkplug uses to radio the Autobots changes appearance between shots; it looks like a microphone in closeup, but more like a Simon toy when Sparkplug is holding it.
• In the "strike force" lineup, all of the Reflectors have gray lower legs, rather than the lavender they're supposed to.
• One gun, many lasers:
  • The two generics who attack Trailbreaker shower him with a dozen or more lasers, despite having only two guns apiece.
• After Sunstreaker shoots one of the generics and Spike's comment, Sideswipe's shown to have a weapon in the same place as Sunstreaker's, with smoke pouring from the end.
• The ends of the ruby collection tubes are closed like test tubes, leaving the falling crystals nowhere to go.
• Prime's right antenna disappears as he points at the mine entrance.
• Only the front of Wheeljack's "ears" flash as he shows off his new explosive.
• Norm McCabe is again credited as Nor M McCabe.
• Like the previous episode, Frank Welker's name was accidentally omitted from the credits.

Continuity errors

• Brawn uses a blow torch to free Huffer's oil-soaked arm, and somehow, it doesn't catch fire.
• All the other humans from the oil-rig disappear. (Or drowned, DiCaprio-style.)
• For some reason, Sunstreaker and Cliffjumper are just sitting around in the repair bay in automotive form.

We don't know where we came from, either.

"Rumble, Rumble, Rumble, Rumble, eject. Operation: crowd filler."

• This episode totally shatters the previous episode's consistent cast of Decepticons, which was clearly shown to be Megatron, Soundwave, 3 jets, 3 Reflectors, and 3 tapes. To pad out the Decepticon ranks, a horde of generic Decepticons just starts appearing out of nowhere:
  • A light purple-gray jet is standing behind Thundercracker after the Decepticons land at the dam.
  • As Reflector compresses the energon cubes, there are four Reflector robots, as well as three Rumbles. The real Rumble is, at this point, still underwater, fighting with Hound. Rumble shows up in two more subsequent shots as well, including one where he's the only guy in the shot!
  • And then it all goes to hell after the Sherman Dam sequence. Two purplish jets are with Thundercracker in the snow. Then a subsequent pan shot shows four light blue jets, three light purple jets, and two Thundercrackers.
  • At the Black Diamond mine: three purple jets, and a slate blue Rumble.
  • The assembled strike force: one Skywarp, two Thundercrackers, another lavender jet, four Rumbles in yellow, orange, bright blue and slate blue, and seven Reflectors.
  • Two lavender and one slate blue jet answer Megatron's order to "Scramble!"
  • A shot of the Decepticons in flight shows a total of twenty-seven robots.
  • Two generics even get their own scripted appearance, attacking Trailbreaker, complete with speaking parts!
  • After all that, there's not much point in noting 2 blues and 2 lavenders loading ruby crystals, is there?
  • 6 generic jets plus Starscream as Bumblebee and Spike observe the 'cons mining the crystals.
• Megatron's definition of "tidal wave" is a bit wonky, considering that Rumble doesn't really make one huge wave. Of course, we wouldn't expect aliens to have a perfect grasp of the English language.

"Okay, Spike, here's your next Cybertronian lesson!"
"Uh...for a...good...time...call..."
"Whoops! Wrong screen!"

• When Spike tells Jazz that there's trouble at Sherman Dam, the screen shows what is presumably Cybertronian text. Spike shouldn't be able to read this.
• Likewise, the dam worker says "she's gonna blow" (twice!) in reference to the crumbling dam. The dam might crack, fail, or give way, but neither the dam nor the generators are likely to explode.
• Megatron lacks his signature fusion cannon when battling Prime atop Sherman Dam.
• Superhuman Spike:
  • A shot of Sherman Dam shows us that the water behind it (where Rumble is making his earthquake) is clearly hundreds of feet deep. Somehow, Spike just leaps right into it to rescue Hound. The water is also ragingly turbulent in the previous shot, yet perfectly still once Spike is actually in it.
  • He then has no trouble at all moving a big boulder that's pinning Hound in place.
  • It must be hereditary. Sparkplug survives being punched directly in the ribcage and into a stone wall by Thundercracker. He should be wall-pizza after that. Spike also is no worse for wear after Rumble whacks him across the face. A blow like the one Rumble gives Spike should have shattered Spike's skull.

Thus explaining why Burma was the dominant world superpower in 1984.

• Megatron yells to his troops from offscreen to "Follow me!" when he's getting bashed around by Prime; according to the dialogue script, this line was supposed to be spoken by Starscream.
• One of the shots of filling energon cubes appears to take place in a forest, with no machinery of any type in sight. Are they stealing energy from trees?
• A few shots from Starscream's little cannon drain a whole gigantic stack of energon cubes. Are the cubes really that paltry?
• The likelihood of rubies being a viable power source, let alone "the richest source of energy on the face of the Earth", is questionable. Apparently Megatron is not yet familiar with the bizarre physics of cartoon Earth, where all kinds of super-powered crystals are just sitting around waiting for someone to sap energy out of them.
• Sparkplug claims to have previously worked in the ruby mine, which, while not thoroughly implausible, seems unlikely for an American oil rig worker/mechanic.
• Wheeljack tells Sparkplug that the bomb timer is 60 seconds. All the views of the countdown timer show it decreasing at approximately two units per second, meaning that the bomb would go off in about 30 seconds.

Trivia

• Deleted scenes from the original script to this episode include Spike and Jazz tapping Teletraan I into "the Emergency Alert System" (thirteen years before the real world system of that name would exist), leading to it detecting the trouble at Sherman Dam; Trailbreaker covering Ironhide as the older 'bot uses his adhesives to seal the cracks in the dam; the two nameless Decepticon jets appearing in robot mode, standing guard at the Decepticon base, where they spot Trailbreaker and the Witwickys driving by and decide to pursue them; and Bumblebee and Sparkplug facing two Decepticon guards at the mine entrance, who Bumblebee paralyzes with a stun ray from his headlights. Other differences include Bumblebee teaming up with Wheeljack, rather than Ironhide, to carve the trenches that break up the raging river; in accordance, Wheeljack's alternate mode is described as a "van", which, coupled with several other awkward or incorrect alternate mode descriptions in the "More than Meets the Eye" scripts, suggests that complete finalized details on the Transformers' alternate modes hadn't been provided to the writer yet.
• The dam sequence was adapted for the UK comic story "Decepticon Dam-Busters!" in issues #29-30, and also released as a set of View-Master reels. The weapons used by Prime and Megatron would be immortalized in toy form several times, and even get a bit of an homage in the live-action movies, where Prime thrice wields orange-glowing bladed energy weapons in all three films, including an axe, while Megatron uses a flail in the first film.
• Much of the character animation in this episode is pleasingly fluid, with some rather dynamic transformations. Decepticons in particular do lots of flips as they transform.
• Bumblebee's mission is hilarious. He transforms to car mode, drives about twenty feet, returns to robot mode, stands outside the mine and says "Come on, let's go inside." Well, what else were you planning there, 'Bee?

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "Plein la vue - Partie 2" ("Show off - Part 2")
• Original airdate: ?

• In the European French dub, Jazz's line "Catch!" is replaced by "D'accord !" ("Okay!"), which does not really make sense in the scene.

German

• Title: "Die Rückkehr" (Generation 2, "The Return")
• Original airdate: May 7, 1994

Italian

• Title (dub 1): "La miniera di rubini" ("The Ruby Mine")
• Original airdate: ?

• Title (dub 2): "Molto più di quel che appare - Seconda parte" ("Much More than What Appears - Second Part")
• Original airdate: ?

Japanese

• Title: "Ruby Crystal no Himitsu" (ルビークリスタルの秘密, "Secret of the Ruby Crystals")
• Original airdate: July 13, 1985

• Cut: After Spike picks up Soundwave outside and runs off, a few seconds are shaved off of him disappearing off screen. The long shot of him running through the entrace of the Ark is cut, as are the first few seconds of him running down the hall of the Ark with Soundwave clutched in his right hand.

Mandarin

• Title: "Dì'èr Tiān" (第二天, "The Second Day")
• Original airdate: ?

Brazilian Portuguese

• Title: "Mais do Que Os Olhos Veem, Parte 2" ("More than Meets the Eye, Part 2")
• Original airdate: ?

• This episode did not air in the 1980s and was first released on DVD with a different dub from the rest of the show.

Russian

• Title: "Ne vsjo tak prosto (Chast' 2)" (Не всё так просто (Часть 2), "Not All Is So Simple (Part 2)")
• Original airdate: ?

Serbian

• Title: "Više nego što se vidi drugi deo" (Generation 2, Више него што се види други део, "More than Meets the Eye Part 2"), "Sile zla drugi deo" (Generation 2, Силе зла други део, "Forces of Evil Part 2")
• Original airdate: ?

Toys inspired by this episode

Takara, setting trends since 2000.

• The Transformers Collection 0 Convoy (Takara, 2003)

A reissue of the original Generation 1 Optimus Prime toy that includes a new accessory, an Energon-axe based on the one he wields in this episode that can be swapped out for one of his fists. A plethora of other Optimus Prime toys (including various Masterpiece figures) also include the axe, either as an optional accessory or as a permanently affixed hand replacement, which includes a Super Collection Figure (later released by Hasbro under the name "Heroes of Cybertron") that predates the Transformers Collection line.

• The Transformers Collection 6 Megatron (Takara, 2003)

A reissue of the original Generation 1 Megatron toy that includes a new accessory, an Energon mace based on the one he wields in this episode that plugs over one of his hands. Like with Optimus Prime's Energon-axe, the mace has also become a standard accessory or permanent feature of numerous additional Megatron toys, again including an SCF figure that predates the Transformers Collection line.

• Masterpiece MP-47 Hound (2019)

This figure includes, among its accessories, a Spike figure to represent their friendship through the 3-parter and the holographic driver he briefly shows to Spike in this episode. His head also features a flip-out face shield to recreate his underwater scenes.

• Masterpiece MP-56 Trailbreaker (2022)

This figure features accessories based on this episode, such as the multi-nozzle forcefield generator that attaches to his left hand and the satellite dish that attaches to the car roof.

Home video releases

VHS

1985 — The Transformers — Volume 1: "More than Meets the Eye" (Family Home Entertainment)
1985 — Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers (VAP) — Japanese audio only.
1986 — The Transformers — Arrival from Cybertron (A.M.T. Video Gems)
1988 — The Transformers — Arrival from Cybertron (V.I.P. Video Gems)
1991 — The Transformers — Arrival from Cybertron (Little Gems Junior Video Club)
1999 — The Transformers: Generation 2 — More than Meets the Eye (Seville Entertainment)
2001 — The Original Transformers — Exclusively from Blockbuster (Rhino Entertainment)

LaserDisc

1994 — Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers — Convoy Set (Takara) — Japanese audio only.
1998 — The Transformers — Autobot Edition (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.

DVD

2001 — The Transformers — DVD Box 1 (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2002 — Transformers: Generation 2 (Sony Wonder)
2002 — Transformers — Original Series: Volume Two (Sony Wonder)
2002 — Transformers — Complete Original Series: Deluxe Edition (Sony Wonder)
2002 — The Original Transformers — First Season Collector's Edition (Rhino Entertainment)
2002 — The Original Transformers — Volume One (Rhino Entertainment)
2003 — Transformers — Collection 1: Series 1 (Madman Entertainment)
2004 — Transformers — Season 1 (Metrodome)
2004 — Transformers — Volume 1 (Déclic Images) — European French audio only.
2006 — The Best of The Transformers (Madman Entertainment)
2006 — Transformers — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome)
2007 — Transformers — The Classic Episodes (Metrodome)
2007 — Classic Transformers — Series One: Part One (Metrodome)
2007 — The Transformers — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)
2008 — Transformers — Volume 01: Stagione Uno Parte Prima (Medianetwork Communication) — English and Italian audio.
2009 — Transformers — Season One (Metrodome)
2009 — The Transformers — Complete Collection: Decepticon Edition (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — The Transformers — The Complete First Season: 25th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory)
2009 — The Transformers — More than Meets the Eye (Shout! Factory)
2009 — The Transformers — The Complete Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection (Shout! Factory)
2011 — The Transformers — The Complete Original Series (Shout! Factory)
2014 — The Transformers — The Complete First Season: 30th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory)
2014 — Transformers — The Classic Animated Series (Metrodome)

External links

• Zobovor's Bloopers list
• Full episode script with revision pages dated 13th March 1984
• Full storyboards for Act I and samples for Act III of this episode