Feeling isolated from their siblings due to their scientific hobbies, Nightshade finds comfort in a sci-fi book series by Witwickian author D.E. O'Neil. While visiting his grave in the old Witwicky cemetery, they meet the Decepticon scientist Tarantulas and unexpectedly form a friendship with him.
Tropes
- All Webbed Up: Alex and Dot end up in Tarantulas' web. He also immobilizes Nightshade this way when they try to keep him from hurting the two humans.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Tarantulas decides to lead the G.H.O.S.T. troops away from Nightshade and their family, in order to repay Nightshade's kindness and generosity toward him.
- Bittersweet Ending: Nightshade has both found an altmode and repaired their friendship with Tarantulas. But Tarantulas sacrifices himself to lure G.H.O.S.T. away from Nightshade's family and without his holo-projector it's doubtful he'll get away or manage to hide for long.
- Call-Back:
- Dot repeats her assessment from "House Rules" of Decepticons not being inherently evil.
- The leitmotif of G.H.O.S.T.'s secret Decepticon-prison briefly plays when Nightshade asks Dot about incarcerated Decepticons.
- Commonality Connection: Tarantulas and Nightshade bond over their passion for science.
- A Day in the Limelight: In this episode, it's Nightshade's turn to look for an alt-mode.
- Dark Is Not Evil:
- While Tarantulas' appearance may be off-putting, Tarantulas himself really just wants to be left alone and resents the Decepticon/Autobot conflict. His only "evil" act in the episode is him kidnapping Dot and Alex, in a misguided attempt to protect his friend Nightshade.
- Nightshade's chosen altmode turns them into a dark-colored owl, but they remain the same friendly, if eccentric, young Terran they've always been.
- Exact Words: On Nightshade's request, Hashtag uses her internet connection to determine the current whereabouts of Night Sentry author D. E. O'Neil and finds out that he currently resides in the Witwicky cemetary. When Nightshade travels there, they find only O'Neil's gravestone.
- Foil: Tarantulas could be considered one to Swindle. Like Swindle, Tarantulas is a Decepticon in hiding who strikes up a friendship with one of the Terrans. But while Swindle only used his "friends" Mo and Thrash to get what he wanted and was ready to get rid of them the second they refused to do his dirty work, Tarantulas genuinely cares for Nightshade, going so far as to blow his cover to protect them from G.H.O.S.T.
- Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Tarantulas. He might look scary, but he's perfectly harmless when left alone. Even at his worst in the episode, all he wants is to keep his Only Friend Nightshade safe and out of G.H.O.S.T.'s hands.
- Poor Communication Kills: Nightshade neglected to tell Tarantulas that Dot and Alex are their parents, meaning even though Dot is working for G.H.O.S.T., she would never sell Nightshade out. So when Tarantulas finds out just who employs Dot, he freaks out, thinking that Nightshade is in trouble, kidnaps Dot and Alex and tries to erase their memories to keep Nightshade safe.
- Title Drop: Nightshade chalks Tarantulas' hologram-drone not working up to him only programming it from a Cybertronian point of view and completely neglecting the human side. Or in their words: He has a missed connection.
- Wham Line: It's not lingered on, but while explaining his plan for Dot and Alex to Nightshade, Tarantulas reveals this worrying nugget of information:Tarantulas, holding up a memory-erasing gun: This device was designed by G.H.O.S.T. for use on Cybertronians.
- Uncertain Doom: Last we see Tarantulas, he's being chased by G.H.O.S.T., with one of their helicopters slowly catching up to him. Time will tell whether he managed to get away.
- With Us or Against Us: Implied. Tarantulas doesn't like being a Decepticon or fighting, but when Nightshade tells him he could just not fight, Tarantulas bitterly replies that he never had a choice in the matter.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: While fairly hostile at first, Tarantulas backs off as soon as he realizes Nightshade is a protoform (the Cybertronian equivalent of a very young child). It probably helps that Nightshade is unaffiliated with either side of the Transformers War, at least as far as Tarantulas knows. It's also notable that while he does kidnap Dot and Alex later on, he leaves Mo and Robbie alone.
