History Recap / TransformersPrimeS1E1DarknessRisingPart1

* IdiotBall:
** PlayedForLaughs. Jack Darby, who is working at K.O. Burger, leaves the food on top of the counter ''before'' the customers pay, and when he isn't looking they laugh at his [[WhatAnIdiot stupidity]] and swipe their burgers and fries then drive off in a dash.
** Arcee, who is following Jack, deciding to reveal herself in robot mode right in a back alley for humans to see, just so she can make Jack see who she really is outside of disguise. Miko, who was following them, catches sight of Arcee in robot mode, resulting in the Autobots having to bring along an annoying Japanese teenager back to base.

Cliffjumper is on the open road, boasting to Arcee over the comm about how he's been messing with the humans, when he detects a large amount of Energon nearby. As he goes to investigate, a Decepticon ship appears over the crater and Decepticon troopers drop down to attack him. Arcee alerts the rest of the Autobots, who head back to base and prepare to Groundbridge to his aid. Cliffjumper fights on, destroying several of the Decepticons, but their blasts detonate the Energon, causing a huge explosion. They drag his defeated form back to the ship, where Starscream seethes angrily about the loss of the Energon. Cliffjumper is defiant, but Starscream executes him. The Autobots arrive at the crater via Ground Bridge, only to find the aftermath of the fight. Arcee finds one of Cliffjumper's horn broken off in the ground, and a signal scan by Ratchet confirms their worst fears: Cliffjumper has ben terminated.

Back on the Decepticon ship, Soundwave replays a recording of Arcee's comms talk, and Starscream decides she will be their next target.

Optimus reminds the other Autobots that they must continue to survive in order to honor the memory of their fallen comrade. Arcee refuses to dwell on it and drives off.

In Jasper, Nevada, Jack Darby is working at the KO Burger drive-thru. Arcee finds herself being chased by a couple of Decepticons, and she ducks into the KO Burger parking lot, where Jack mistakes her for a real motorcycle and, fantasizing about one day having a motorcycle of his own, hops on.

Sierra and a friend catch him apparently talking to the motorcycle, but while Jack has an awkward moment, the Decepticons spot Arcee. She takes off with a startled Jack still on board. After a short chase, she attempts to let Jack go, sending him down a side alley with a warning not to tell anyone what he's seen. As she speeds off, she spots one of the Decepticons heading after Jack and is forced to double back and pick him up. The chase moves onto the freeway, where Bumblebee arrives to help them out.

In a nearby drainage canal, Rafael Esquivel is playing with a remote-controlled car when Arcee and Jack literally drop in. The Decepticons pursue, and the Autobots. Raf draws the 'Cons' attention, which unfortunately works too well, and the two kids are forced to flee into a drain. While they make their escape, Bumblebee and Arcee stand defiant against the Decepticons and, as Bulkhead joins the fight, the two Decepticons flee.

At Autobot headquarters, Optimus Prime informs the Autobots that since the Decepticons have seen the boys, the two humans may be targeted.

At high school, Jack and Raf meet up again, and Bumblebee and Arcee come to take them to the Autobots' HQ. Though Raf roars off in Bumblebee, Jack walks away. Miko Nakadai, sitting outside the school, draws Arcee, but when the motorcycle disappears, she peeks around the corner and spots Arcee in robot mode arguing with Jack. After realizing that Miko has seen her, Arcee is forced to take both kids. After Arcee catches up to Bumblebee, they drive to the Autobots' HQ, concealed in a mountain, where the three kids marvel at the rest of the Autobots and Optimus Prime gives them some exposition regarding the Transformers' war. Optimus fears the imminent return of Megatron.

Soundwave detects a transmission from deep space, and Starscream orders the Space Bridge activated. As it opens, Megatron emerges, announcing his return.

* GrumpyBear: After Cliffjumper's death, Ratchet makes his opinion clear to Optimus that helping humanity will only result in further Autobot casualties. Optimus merely responds that his opinion is noted. He doesn't seem especially pleased when the human kids are brought back to Autobot base, either, and is insulted by Raf's question of [[InnocentlyInsensitive "Who built you?"]]

--->'''Megatron:''' Decepticons! [[HesBack I have returned.]]

* [[OhCrap OhScrap]]: The main cast give these off several times throughout the episode:

* ContinuityNod: ''Literature/TransformersExodus'' is the basis of the Prime continuity's backstory, according to WordOfGod. However, Exodus has the split between Optimus and Megatron causing the war, whereas this episode implies with the line "In war, ideals change" that their split happened during the war. It's all neatly vague enough to imagine that "war" in this instance could have been a metaphorical summation of Optimus and Megatron's ideological conflict with the council, rather than actual battlefield warfare, and in any case, [[Recap/TransformersPrimeS1E26OneShallRisePart3 "One Shall Rise, Part 3"]] would later give a more detailed account of this period that {{retcon}}ned the characters' history back in-line with the depiction seen in Exodus.

In a nearby drainage canal, Rafael Esquivel is playing with a remote-controlled car when Arcee and Jack literally drop in. The Decepticons pursue, and the Autobots, . Raf draws the 'Cons' attention, which unfortunately works too well, and the two kids are forced to flee into a drain. While they make their escape, Bumblebee and Arcee stand defiant against the Decepticons and, as Bulkhead joins the fight, the two Decepticons flee.

* CurbStompBattle: In contrast to how they would be portrayed, [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness later on]], the Vehicons are clearly seen kicking Cliffjumper's ass, and later two of them were clearing winning the fight against Arcee and Bumblebee until Bulkhead arrives.

** In additions, the Vehicons had guns popping out of hidden panels in their vehicle modes in the pilot. This effect was dropped for all characters except those whose vehicle modes had visible weaponry (Starscream, Megatron, Shockwave, and Vehicons with jets as their altmode).

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Arcee unleashes her fury on two vehicons over her partner's death. [[NoSell It doesn't work...]]

* StuffBlowingUp: For those unfamiliar with {{Transformers}}, this is the part where you learn that Energon + ammo = kablooie.

** Arcee, who is following Jack, deciding to reveal herself in robot mode right in a back alley for humans to see, just so she can make Jack see who she really is outside of disguise. Miko, who was following them, catches sight of Arcee in robot mode, resulting in the Autobots having to bring along an annoying Japanese teenager.

** PlayedForLaughs ack Darby, who is working at K.O. Burger, leaves the food on top of the counter ''before'' the customers pay, and when he isn't looking they laugh at his [[WhatAnIdiot stupidity]] and swipe their burgers and fries then drive off in a dash.

* KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade: The Decepticons are shown to be quite willing to kill any human that sees a giant space robot as shown when Starscream orders the two Vehicons to destroy Jack along with Arcee. It's because of this that the human kids are placed under Autobot protection because Optimus fears the kids will be mistaken for Autobot allies just for stumbling across a confrontation.

* GrumpyBear: After Cliffjumper's death, Ratchet makes his opinion clear to Optimus that helping humanity will only result in further Autobot casualties. Optimus merely responds that his opinion is noted. He doesn't seem especially pleased when the human kids are brought back to Autobot base, either, and is insulted by Raf's question of "Who built you?"

* CurbStompBattle: In contrast to how they would be portrayed, [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness later on]], the Vehicons are clearly seen kicking Cliffjumpers' ass, and later two of them were clearing winning the fight against Arcee and Bumblebee until Bulkhead arrives.

* SeriesEstablishingMoment: The episode starts off with a conversation between Cliffjumper and Arcee, then a fight with Decepticons where Cliffjumper fights them alone, doing well, then he's captured, and unceremoniously [[SacrificialLamb murdered by Starscream in cold energon]], to kickstart the [[DarkerAndEdgier Darker and Edgier]] tone the series is going for.

* HesBack: [[BigBad Megatron]] has returned.

* SeriesEstablishingMoment: The episode starts off with a conversation between Cliffjumper and Arcee, then a fight with Decepticons where Cliffjumper fights them alone, doing well, then he's captured, and unceremoniously [[SacrificialLamb murdered by Starscream]], to kickstart the [[DarkerAndEdgier Darker and Edgier]] tone the series is going for.

* [[OhCrap Scrap]]: The main cast give these off several times throughout the episode:

* OhCrap: The main cast give these off several times throughout the episode:

--->'''Megatron:''' Decepticons! [[Hesback I have returned.]]

* HesBack: [[BigBad Megatron]] had returned.

* WhamLine:
-->'''Megatron:''' Decepticons! I have returned.

* HesBack:
-->'''Megatron:''' Decepticons! I have returned.

* WeHardlyKnewYe: Cliffjumper is quickly and unceremoniously killed off [[SacrificialLamb not five minutes into the episode]]. {{Subverted}} later on, while he remains dead, he isn't forgotten, as he is regularly addressed within in the series, unlike most dead characters in Transformers.

* WeHardlyKnewYe: Cliffjumper is quickly and unceremoniously killed off [[SacrificialLamb not five minutes into the episode]].

* He'sBack:

* BigDamnHeroes: Subverted when the other Autobots are literally seconds too late to help Cliffjumper.

* BlindedByRage: Optimus implores the other Autobots not to fall into this trope over the loss of Cliffjumper.