Tarantulas finds a new Stasis Pod and tries to claim it for himself, as well as the Protoform within.
Tropes:
- Ax-Crazy: Inferno, completely convinced he is a fire ant and his colony is being attacked, tries to kill everyone in sight.
- Badass Boast: Inferno to Tigatron:"I will destroy you and all your kind!"
- Big Damn Heroes: Optimus's missile blows Inferno to pieces—saving Tigatron.
- Big "NO!": Tarantulas after seeing Tigatron destroyed the stasis pod.
- Big Word Shout: Inferno shouts "WHO?!" when demanding to know who destroyed the stasis pod.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Airazor borrows Cheetor's "Ultra-gear" catchphrase when introducing herself to Inferno.
- Broken Record: What's left of Inferno just keeps muttering "Defend the colony" over and over again. Scorponok finally just conks him on the head to shut him up.
- Defiant to the End: A battered Tigatron when facing being scrapped by Megatron.
- Didn't See That Coming: Inferno's beast mode dominating his logic circuits.
- Dramatic Irony: After Tarantulas uses a magna pulse to disable both bases, both sides think the other is gearing up for an attack.
- EMP: To keep Maximal and Predacon scanners from detecting the approaching stasis pod, Tarantulas fires a magna pulse that disables equipment at both bases.
- Establishing Character Moment: The first thing Inferno does upon waking up is scream.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Upon seeing Tarantulas towing a stasis pod, Megatron realizes exactly why base systems suddenly went off-line.
- Foreshadowing: Tarantulas being more concerned about an intact stasis pod than anything else.
- From Bad to Worse: After incapacitating Inferno, Tarantulas is confronted by Scorponok and told Megatron wants both the new recruit and the stasis pod. Tarantulas fumes over this setback to his agenda, only for Tigatron to make it worse by destroying the pod outright.
- Halfway Plot Switch: The episode introduces a new character, but at the end of the second act, Tarantulas reveals what he was really after (which ties into the Myth Arc).
- I Owe You My Life:Optimus: Airazor said you might need a lift.
Tigatron: That's another of my nine lives I owe her. - I Work Alone: What Tigatron insists before heading out to try to retrieve the stasis pod by himself. This leads to...
- Ineffectual Loner: Tigatron's refusal to wait for backup leaves him outgunned and badly damaged. Optimus and Airazor arrive mere moments before Inferno can deliver the kill shot.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Tigatron doesn’t have a good time of it near the end of the episode. Blackarachnia smacks him off a cliff, followed by a vengeful Tarantulas unleashing More Dakka onto him from close range. Megatron then arrives and blasts him multiple times with his laser arm, and finally, Inferno nails him with a shot of his cannon.
- No Indoor Voice: Inferno often.
- Oh, Crap!: Scorponok when his hovering platform suddenly gives out.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When suffering an energon surge, Inferno experiences a brief moment of clarity. He calmly notes something is wrong with his logic circuits and is clearly confused by it.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: During the climax, Tarantulas and Blackarachnia the moment that Megatron appears on the scene.
- Spanner in the Works: Tarantulas intended to make the new protoform a spider, but the stasis pod's DNA scanner automatically detected the nearby fire ants.
- The Starscream: Blackarachnia outright states she'd make a better leader than Megatron.
- Tempting Fate: Inferno's Badass Boast mentioned above? It's followed by getting hit by Optimus's missile.
- Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: Tarantulas seemed quite enamoured with Blackarachnia in her debut episode, but in this one he's discomfited by her amorous attentions and only includes her in his scheme because she forced herself into it.
- Unstoppable Rage: Inferno does not take the destruction of his stasis pod well."AHHHHHHH! THE COLONY! Whoever has done this thing will burn!"
- Villain Team-Up: Blackarachnia proposes an alliance with Tarantulas.
- Wham Line: "This planet is doomed!"
- Witch with a Capital "B": How Tarantulas describes Blackarachnia.
- Women Are Wiser: Airazor when expressing skepticism of Tigatron's I Work Alone attitude.
- Written-In Absence: At the end of the episode, Optimus says Rattrap, Cheetor, and Dinobot are out on patrol.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Blackarachnia is certain that Tarantulas simply wants to reprogram a Maximal protoform into a Predacon loyal to him. Tarantulas lets her think this is his plan, in order to get what he's really after.
- Xanatos Gambit: Tarantulas's mission is twofold: reprogram the stasis pod's inhabitant into another arachnid nominally loyal to him, and repurpose the pod itself into his one-man ark off the failing planet. Even if the latter scheme fails, the former will strengthen his future endeavours. Too bad both his plots spoil.
- "You!" Exclamation: Tarantulas when Blackarachnia arrives in his secret lab.
