History Recap / TransformersPrimeS3E8Thirst

* AwesomeButImpractical: Knockout states the [=SynthEn=] is this because the more he uses on a subject the faster they burn through it.

** Knock Out references [[Recap/TransformersPrimeS2E11FlyingMind "Flying Mind"]] when talking about how Dark Energon once affected the ''Nemesis''. Though Starscream wasn't there at the time, he still acts like he knew about it.

* DueToTheDead: Averted. Knock Out has no problem experimenting on what's left of Breakdown, though he feels that his old friend would agree given the circumstances. At least Cylas gets to suffer more.

* KlingonsLoveShakespeare: Knock Out has watched a number of horror movies at drive-in theaters. Too bad it made him WrongGenreSavvy for this particular incident.

* NightmareFace: Starting with Sylas, all of the Decepticon mook infected possess ghastly mouths with a tendril that drains Energon amd infect others.

* StrappedToAnOperatingTable: Ever since he was made a Decepticon prisoner/Knockout's personal science project, CYLAS has been subjected to this trope while Knockout uses him as a test subject for Synthetic Energon.

* AssholeVictim: After every egregious thing he and MECH has done to both 'Bots ''and'' 'Cons, it's doubtful that anyone will miss Silas when he expires. Airachnid simply brushes off his thanks after he finally does by her hand. Same goes for Airachnid herself for being too much trouble for both sides, ''especially'' involving Arcee.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Starscream nearly got the entire ship turned into Terrorcons and tried to pin the blame on Knock Out. No tears are shed over Megatron's implied beating of him.

* AnArmAndALeg: If you look carefully at Knock Out's monitor, you will realize that Silas lost all of his limbs when he was crushed by Nemesis Prime.

* WhamEpisode: It seems Cylas is out for good, the Insecticons are gone, Airachnid is freed... and she's part Terrorcon.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Inverted. Starscream has no problem with Knock Out's experiments on Silas himself, but finds what's being done to Breakdown's body a bit disturbing.

* EasilyForgiven: While Starscream gets another beating, Megatron lets Knock Out off pretty easily but demotes him from director of scientific research to simply Shockwave's lab material fetcher.

* TheEndOrIsIt: The final scene reveals Airachnid has been infected, which she begins to spread to her Insecticons.

* FateWorseThanDeath: Airachnid and the Insecticons get stranded on one of Cybertron's moons, revealing Airachnid has been infected. She has to feed on her Insecticon mooks to survive. Even though there are many Insecticons, they're not infinite, and Airachnid will eventually exhaust them all and starve.

* LoopholeAbuse: Megatron had ordered Knock Out to report all science-related projects to Shockwave for his approval. Starscream provides a workaround: because this Dark Energon-centered project on Cylas is to provide Super Soldiers, it falls under "military operations", which he is in charge of. This allows them both to proceed in secret, though it bites them in the chassis in the end when Megatron finally finds out.

* MercyKill: Unintentionally so. Airachnid kills Cylas, not knowing he's within Breakdown. He is grateful to be free of being a Terrorcon, but she doesn't care.

** Despite Knock Out's part in the mess, Megatron is surprisingly lenient with him since he was following Starscream's orders. He simply gives Knock Out a stern warning that from now on, he is going to answer to Shockwave and to turn his projects over to him. Considering Megatron typically punishes failure with harsh verbal or physical abuse (as happens to Starscream), this is generous by his standards.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: This is as close to this trope as this incarnation of Megatron gets. He makes it clear to Starscream he's running out of patience with him after giving him a second chance. He doesn't buy Starscream's sudden pinning of the blame to Knock Out, and when he's shown the truth about what's going on, he listens to a full report on it from the duo. While Soundwave and the troops head off to battle, he makes sure Knock Out and Starscream deal with Cylas personally for unleashing him in the first place. When all of this is said and done, and despite the heavy losses, he acknowledges Knock Out was only following orders from a superior officer and only sternly reminds him he answers to Shockwave, and asks him to turn over his projects to him. Starscream, [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown on the other hand...]]

* RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain: Knock Out suggests this to take out infected Terrorcons, saying he's seen it work in human horror films. But it doesn't work, leaving them panicked.

* NeverMyFault: Starcream and Knock Out do a [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments downright hilarious]] case of this when Starscream starts saying everything is Knock Out's fault rather than his, even though as Knock Out points out, meddling with Dark Engeron was Starscream's idea.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Thanks to Starscream and Knock Out, the Decepticons have lost ''all'' Insecticon legions and over half of their military forces. The Autobots have gained a huge advantage just by sitting at home!

* DueToTheDead: Averted. Knock Out has no problem experimenting on what's left of Breakdown, though he feels that his old friend would agree given the circumstances.

* UngratefulBastard: Megatron is getting sick of Starscream's blundering this season. The quote below is before [[NiceJobFixingItVillain the situation got even worse for the Decepticons]].

* DumbassHasAPoint: Despite the entire situation being his fault, Starscream has a moment when Knock Out asks the Predacon can't be sent to kill zombie Breakdown. He points it would be too dangerous given that even though the Predacon can easily snap Breakdown in half with its jaws, it would also get infected and make the contagion exponentially worse. Even before that, Starscream retorted that Megatron should reconsider making more than one unruly, primitive beast machine like the Predaking, claiming it's dangerous to create an entire legion of beasts far more powerful than their own masters.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Knock Out thinks Starscream's idea to use Dark Energon in his experiments is a mistake. Naturally he is right.
** Knock Out knows that [[BadBoss Megatron]] will be mad if he and Starscream report that they created a Terrorcon that is running loose on the ship, but has the decency to want to report the failure to prevent things getting out of hand. Likewise he wants to raise an alarm when it turns out that the undead menace is turning their troops into more Terrorcons.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Starscream trying to keep Megatron from learning about the disaster creating a Terrorcon that turns its victims into more Terrorcons just makes the situation worse and worse. Not to mention Megatron finds out anyways.

* ZombieApocalypse: One part Synthetic Energon and one part Dark Energon equals one zombie vampire plague.

* PutOnABus: Airachnid is sent to one of Cybertron's moons by Soundwave as an energon-vampire and has to feed on her Insecticon troops to survive. The Insecticons are under her control, [[AndIMustScream with no chance of escape.]] There's also the fact that she'll run out eventually...

* PutOnABus: Airachnid is sent to one of Cybertron's moons by Soundwave. Her newly reacquired Insecticon horde joins her there.
** PutOnABusToHell: Airachnid becomes an energon-vampire and has to feed on her Insecticon troops to survive. The Insecticons are under her control, [[AndIMustScream with no chance of escape.]] There's also the fact that she'll run out eventually...

* HesBack:
** Silas/CYLAS returns after a long absence.
** Breakdown is also back having been revived as a zombie much like Cliffjumper has.
** Airachnid near the end.

* AbsenteeActor:
** Shockwave. Megatron is shown conversing with him twice, but it's one-sided and Shockwave's ends of the conversations aren't heard.
** This is the first and only time in the series a single Autobot doesn't appear in new footage or [[Recap/TransformersPrimeS2E24Patch via a clip]].
** Predaking, fortunately for Starscream. Knock Out complains he's not in the episode and protests Predaking should go take down Breakdown. Starscream asks [[AndThenWhat what will they do if Predaking gets infected]].

* BaitAndSwitch: When it looks like Starscream is finally about to sound the alarm, he asks a bunch of Vehicons if they have noticed unusual activity, only for them to reveal they are Terrocons, in true zombie movie fashion.

* CassandraTruth: Megatron does not believe Starscream and Knock Out's story about Cylas until he is forced to kill an attacking Terrocon.

* DumbassHasAPoint: Despite the entire situation being his fault, Starscream has a moment when Knock Out asks the Predacon can't be sent to kill zombie Breakdown. He points it would be too dangerous given that even though the Predacon can easily snap Breakdown in half with its jaws, it would also get infected and make the contagion exponentially worse. Even before that, Starscream retorted that Megatron should reconsider making more than one unruly, primitive beast machine like the Predaking claiming it's dangerous to create an entire legion of beasts far more powerful than their own masters.

** Knock Out knows that [[BadBoss Megatron]] will be mad if he and Starscream report that they created a Terrarcon that is running loose on the ship, but has the decency to want to report the failure to prevent things getting out of hand. Likewise he wants to raise an alarm when it turns out that the undead menace is turning their troops into more Terrorcons.

** Starscream asks what could happen if Predaking gets infected. In "Predacons Rising" a resurrected Unicron brings a whole army of Predacons back from the dead as undead Terricons, and they are only stopped when their master is destroyed.

** Starscream also thinks messing around with Dark Energon is a good idea. Knock Out points this trope out that time.

* GoneHorriblyWrong: Starscream's plan to combine Dark Energon and Synthetic Energon, under the belief it will give Megatron full control over Cylas, due to his symbiotic link with Dark Energon. Not only does this turn Cylas into a Terrocon that slowly infects the Decepticons on the ship, but it is discovered that Megatron actually ''can't'' control him anyway because the Synthetic Energon half is apparently disrupting his link.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Starscream and Knockout don't like having to kill the Terrorcon Breakdown themselves, but as Starscream points out, Megatron sending them is a more sensible decision than sending in the Predacon since if it got infected they would have an unstoppable Terrorcon on the lose.

* MenOfSherwood: When Soundwave reorganizes the troops into an extermination party, that's probably the most competent we've seen the Vehicons.

* NeverMyFault: Starcream and Knock Out do a [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments downright hilarious]] case of this when Starscream starts saying everything is more Knock Out's fault than his, even though as Knock Out points out, meddling with Dark Engeron was Starscream's idea.

** This has even more horrific consequences for the Decepticons later on. Thanks to Starscream's stupidity in this episode, Megatron orders Project Predacon to be sped up. This gets scrapped when Predaking reveals his sentience, which in turn leads to Synthetic Energon and CNA combing to merge cybermatter, which leads to Megatron rebuilding the Omega Lock, Ratchet telling Predaking about Megatron's treachery, and the Autobots storming the Nemesis, killing Megatron, and restoring Cybertron. Long story short, Starscream's debacle in this episode winds up costing the Decepticons the war.

** The relationship between Knock Out and Starscream is sorta humanizing. Knock Out is willing to save Starscream from Breakdown!Silas. On the other hand, Starscream also shows concern for Knock Out at the beginning of the episode, where he asks if he is alright with dissecting Breakdown. There is also his ItHasBeenAnHonor speech (despite it is ruined by Starscream putting blame to Knock Out when they have to deal with an angry Megatron). It is clear that Starscream genuinely likes Knock Out to the extent of a Decepticon.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: This is as close to this trope as this incarnation of Megatron gets. He makes it clear to Starscream he's running out of patience with him after giving him a second chance. He doesn't buy Starscream's sudden pinning of the blame on Knock Out, and when he's shown the truth about what's going on, he listens to a full report on it from the duo. While Soundwave and the troops head off to battle, he makes sure Knock Out and Starscream deal with Cylas personally for unleashing him in the first place. When all is said and done, and despite the heavy losses, he acknowledges Knock Out was only following orders from a superior officer and only sternly reminds him he answers to Shockwave, and asks him to turn over his projects to him. Starscream, [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown on the other hand...]]

*** Starscream and Knock Out even complain at one point that shooting a Terrorcon in the head doesn't kill it, when Knock Out had seen it happen in the drive-thru movie he seen. The same "movies aren't correct" statement sprang up in above stated film.

* VillainEpisode: Except for Predaking, this episode plays out as all the Autobots' enemies in an all-out war to wipe each other out on the Nemesis.

-->"Let me just say, you have been awarded more chances for redemption than ''anyone'' in Decepticon history!"

** Knock Out knows that [[BadBoss Megatron]] will be mad if he and Starscream report that they created a Terrarcon that is running lose on the ship, but has the decency to want to report the failure to prevents thing getting out of hand. Likewise he wants to raise an alarm when it turns out that the undead menace is turning their troops into more Terrorcons.

** his is the first and only time in the series a single Autobot doesn't appear in new footage or [[Recap/TransformersPrimeS2E24Patch via a clip]].

** Shockwave. Megatron is shown conversing with him twice, but it's one-sided and Shockwave isn't even heard.
** No Autobot appears at all. This is the first time in the series a single Autobot hasn't appeared in new footage or [[Recap/TransformersPrimeS2E24Patch via a clip]].

* PetTheDog: The relationship between Knock Out and Starscream is sorta humanizing. Knock Out is willing to save Starscream from Breakdown!Silas. On the other hand, Starscream also shows concern for Knock Out at the beginning of the episode, where he asks if he is alright with dissecting Breakdown. There is also his ItHasBeenAnHonor speech (despite it is ruined by Starscream putting blame to Knock Out when they have to deal with an angry Megatron). It is clear that Starscream genuinely likes Knock Out to the extent of a Decepticon.
** Despite his warnings to Knock Out and Starscream, Megatron is surprisingly lenient to the former since the entire mess was the fault of the latter. He simply gives Knock Out a stern warning that from now on, he is going to answer to Shockwave and to turn his projects over to him. Considering Megatron's typically berates his underlings for screwing up or pummels them (which happens to Starscream) this is generous by his standards.

* AssholeVictim: Starscream nearly got the entire ship turned into Terrorcons and tried to pin the blame on Knock Out. No tears are shed over Megatron's implied beating of him.

* RealityEnsues: Starscream trying to keep Megatron from learning about the disaster creating a Terrorcon that turns its victims into more Terrorcons just makes the situation worse and worse. Not to mention Megatron finds out anyways.

* ZombieApocalypse: One part synthetic energon and one part dark energon equals one zombie vampire plague.

* {{Callback}}: The FriendshipMoment Starscream and Knock Out have echoes Arcee's and Optimus Prime's moment back in[[Recap/TransformersPrimeS1E7Scrapheap "Scrapheap"]]. Knock Out's "you know the worst part?" moment even reflects what Arcee said way back in that same episode - not that he'd know it.

* WrongGenreSavvy: Knock Out suggests decapitation as a tactic against the Terrorcons, citing human zombie filmography as his inspiration. The Terrorcon keeps coming despite the absence of a head. Had he defaulted to human ''vampire'' filmography, he would have had the right idea. Starscream gets the idea to blow away he spark instead, as that will keep the Terrorcons down permanently.