Recap / Transformers G 1 Dark Awakening

Yes, this is exactly what everyone meant with "Bring Optimus Prime back".

Optimus Prime returns from the death! He single-handedly saves our heroes from the Decepticons, turns on the Autobots, starts a franchise-wide tradition, and dies again, this time with more Body Horror!

Transformers: The Last Knight borrows some elements from this episode, most notably, Optimus being brainwashed by the Autobots' Abusive Precursors and forced against his will to fight his young protege.

Tropes

• Back from the Dead: Optimus returns, though it doesn't last long.
• Batman Gambit: The Quintessons revive Optimus Prime, Frankenstein style, and brainwash him into serving as their agent to destroy the Autobots from within. They then establish contact with the Decepticons, offering Galvatron a rebuilt Revenge ^note the flagship that was destroyed by Unicron in the movie and the location of the Autobots, ensuring that they chase the Autobots into the mausoleum... where they are blasted by the brainwashed Optimus, giving him a Big Damn Hero moment to earn Rodimus' trust.
• Came Back Wrong: Optimus Prime's chassis is recovered by the Quintessons and reprogrammed to turn him into a Manchurian Agent.
• Continuity Snarl:
  • Causes one in a future episode, where the climax of this episode is heavily retconned (though in the script for that episode, Optimus's body is in its heavily damaged state from this episode).
  • Among those buried in the mausoleum are Huffer, who wasn't shown being killed in the movie. Conversely, Brawn isn't listed, adding fuel to the theory that he survived the attack on the shuttle, especially since he took two point-blank shots from Megatron in "Fire on the Mountain" and survived without a scratch.
• Darker and Edgier: A Zombie Optimus Prime attacks the Autobots, gets gruesome injuries, and dies again. As the wiki points out, this episode even has a body count.
• Empty Shell: Optimus starts as this, as his body retains very little of his memories and personality, and his body was reprogrammed by the Quintessons.
  Second Magistrate: ...and some lingering remnants of his memory and personality.
  Third Magistrate: But without our circuit implants, he would be utterly mindless. An ordinary machine.
  First Magistrate: A robotic zombie.
• Face–Heel Turn: Optimus has been reprogrammed by the Quintessons.
  Optimus: Forgive me...
• Foreshadowing: Rodimus is very quick to want to hand back the Matrix to Optimus and expresses glee at returning to Hot Rod, clearly hinting towards the struggles he has with The Chains of Commanding, something that comes up again notably in "The Burden Hardest to Bear".
• Hammerspace: When Cyclonus draws his blaster during the Mausoleum shootout, it appears as if he has pulled it out of thin air.
• Heel–Face Turn: The Matrix's influence overrides Optimus's evil programming.
  Optimus: Monsters... they made me a weapon, to destroy the very ones I loved in life. But you will save them... Rodimus Prime.
• Heroic Sacrifice: After regaining his senses, Optimus pilots a ship into a Quintesson trap, which kills him but allows others to escape.
• Horrible Judge of Character:
  • Galvatron is foolish enough to trust the Quintessons, even though he specifically indicates he should know better.
    First Magistrate: You see, Galvatron, we kept our word. We led you straight to the Autobot leader.
    Second Magistrate: And now he is yours to destroy.
    Galvatron: Oh yes, you are loyal allies, so long as it suits your purposes!
  • And once Galvatron drops the Idiot Ball, Rodimus picks it up, handing the Matrix to the Came Back Wrong Optimus a little too easily.
    Rodimus: I've been keeping it warm for you.
    Ultra Magnus: Wait! Optimus is in no condition to assume leadership!
    Rodimus: Come on, guys, he's just shook up a little! You'd be, too, if you'd been dead for years!^note This line works a little bit better in the Japanese dub, which sets the episode 5 years after the movie instead of 1.
    Kup: That's the point, sonny. What happened, Optimus?
    Optimus: Darkness. Cold. Then, light.
    Daniel: Maybe he was in a... you know, a coma.
    Spike: Possible.
    Rodimus: Hey, he's here, he's back, and who cares how?
    Optimus: Must... complete... plan.
    Rodimus: Yeah! What's the plan?
• Hypocrite: When the Sweeps panic at the sight of a Back from the Dead Optimus shooting at them, Cyclonus berates them for their cowardice and tells them to keep fighting... just as he and all the other named Decepticons make a run for it.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: A rather brutal one between Hot Rod and Optimus: Optimus is aware of his actions and literally begging to be stopped; Hot Rod is reluctant to attack him despite his violent rampage. Provided inspiration for the fight between Bumblebee and Optimus in Transformers: The Last Knight.
• Mistaken for Afterlife: After seeing that Hot Rod and co. are alive despite Optimus reporting their deaths, Sludge concludes not that Optimus was lying, but that he and Snarl are also dead and they're all ghosts or in the afterlife.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: When Galvatron, the Kylo Ren of the Decepticons, is the clown that gets shooed out to take the story into a darker direction, you know you're in for a grim affair.
  • Downplayed with the Dinobots. They get about a minute of screen time then they're gone, but unlike most of their appearances this season, they're in no mood to provide comic relief save for a couple of quick gags when Sludge has to push Snarl out of the way of the crashing shuttle and the Mistaken for Afterlife.
• So Last Season:
  • The Autobots attempt to escape the Decepticons by sacrificing their ship and fleeing in a shuttlepod, using the explosion to cover their escape. Galvatron recognizes this trick from the movie and doesn't fall for it this time.
  • Optimus had previously gone rogue against his will in season 2's "Attack of the Autobots". But it's played darker and more tragically this time around.
• Spanner in the Works: Snarl and Sludge being left on Cybertron and encountering Hot Rod, Kup, Arcee and Ultra Magnus results in Sludge saying that the Autobots left to smash the Quintessions and when Ultra Magnus demands to know what Quintessions have anything do do with this, Snarl says that the Quintesstions killed the group and Optimus said so...at which point he realizes something's not right.
• Technically-Living Zombie: Zig-Zagged to hell and back. On one hand, Optimus definitely died in The Movie. Here he runs on Quintesson programming until the Matrix overrides it, yet he remains alive.
• Unexplained Recovery: Played With: When asked how he returned, Optimus himself has no idea. We later find out the Quintessons were responsible.

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