Commandos

« Transformers: Robots in Disguise ep 15 »
"All we need is a pet dog with a racist name and we're sorted!"
"Commandos" 5体合体! バルディガス () (Gotai Gattai! Baldigus) "Quintuple Merge! Baldigus"
Production company	TV Tokyo, NAS, Studio Gallop
Airdate	12 July 2000 (Japanese) September 24, 2001 (English)
Written by	Yukiyoshi Ōhashi (Japanese) Marc Handler (English)
Director	Yoshiaki Tsutsui
Animation studio	Studio Gallop

New troops prove themselves
Decepticons versus dam
Four Optimuses?!

Synopsis

Scourge and the Decepticons demonstrate their firepower to Megatron by destroying a dam at a remote location. They then plan to attack another one on which people depend. Sky-Byte, meanwhile, is angry that the Decepticons are gaining Megatron's interest, and he enlists Slapper, Dark Scream and Gas Skunk for his plan to steal the credit for Scourge's next plan by disguising themselves as Autobots.

"No, I'm Optimus!"

For their part, the Autobots have witnessed the Commandos' assault, and Optimus Prime sends patrols to a number of other dams. At the Sherman Dam near the Las Bogus desert resort, Koji Onishi and his friend Doctor Bridget are going on a tour of the dam by themselves. Meanwhile, X-Brawn is patrolling the dam as well when he encounters Scourge, Mega-Octane, Armorhide and Rollbar. He engages the Decepticons in battle, only to be thrown by Scourge into the water, where he finds he can't swim to the surface. The Predacons watch all this from a distance. When the Decepticons start to plant their pulsar bombs, Koji alerts Optimus, who sends in Side Burn and Prowl. Meanwhile, Sky-Byte orders his disguised Predacons to attack the Decepticon group, who are still planting bombs as they climb up the dam. Scourge goes to deal with this diversion and ends up attacking Side Burn and Prowl, throwing the two into the same water as X-Brawn, where they find themselves similarly stuck. As this occurs, Sky-Byte sends Dark Scream to install a transmitter to take control of the bombs.

And nothing ever happens
Nothing happens at all...

While Optimus Prime arrives elsewhere, Megatron broadcasts his threats to Las Bogus, which relies on the dam and includes a casino Kelly is visiting. Megatron orders Scourge to destroy the dam, but when Scourge obediently trips the detonator, nothing happens, because Sky-Byte has taken control of it. Sky-Byte then says he will trigger the bombs at Megatron's word, but just as Megatron finishes a three-count for him, Optimus intervenes, and the detonator falls into the water where the Autobot Brothers are waiting. Angered at being made a fool of in front of the humans, Megatron orders Scourge to destroy the dam by any means necessary. Mega-Octane fires at the main bomb, blasting a hole in the dam and causing a blackout in the casino just as Kelly is close to getting a jackpot. While Optimus Prime wrestles with Scourge, the Autobot Brothers slide towards the Commandos and attempt to overturn them. Ro-Tor and Movor try to provide air support, only to be blocked by Team Bullet Train.

Dance off!

Sky-Byte and the Predacons hope to take out both parties with some indiscriminate fire, but the plan boomerangs on them when Scourge tries to shoot at the dam, only for Optimus to tackle him. He unwittingly fires at Sky-Byte and company, sending them into the water.

Team Bullet Train decides to combine into Rail Racer, but the Commandos counter this by forming Ruination. They initially pin down the giant Autobot, but the three Autobot Brothers jump into the fray, allowing Rail Racer to blast Ruination into his separate components. Scourge is forced to abort the mission.

The dam is then repaired and power is restored, revealing to Kelly that she didn't win anything. Meanwhile, Megatron is angry with Scourge, while Sky-Byte vows to make Earth his own personal domain.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Rollbar is all-terrain terror!"

—Scourge's sales pitch introduction for his teammate.

Slapper: "Well, if we're gonna dress up like Autobots, then I'm gonna look like Optimus Prime! Yeah, that's it!"
Gas Skunk: "No, I'm gonna be Optimus Prime! I'll have a red helmet and a siren..."
Dark Scream: "I'll be Optimus Prime, I want him!"
Sky-Byte: "Stop this nonsense! If you had any brains, you'd be dangerous. I, of course, shall be Optimus Prime."
Slapper: "Well, ain't that just prime."

—The Predacons seem to have a slight fixation.

"Ha! Hey, I like being a good guy, as long as I can blow things up."

—Slapper has a keen sense of priorities.

Sky-Byte: "Silence! I'm Optimus Prime, I told you that!"
Slapper: "Whoa, check him out. He really went all out."
Gas Skunk: "We've got four Optimus Primes here."
Dark Scream: "It's kind of...embarrassing, you know!"

—The Commandos fell for THIS?!? Who swapped their intelligence?

Mega-Octane: "Isn't it supposed to blow up?"
Scourge: "Don't even go there."

—Scourge is definitely not the mood for some wiseguy comments.

Side Burn: "We must have some options."
X-Brawn: "Sure we do! I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with 'F'."
Side Burn: "Oh, I hate that game. How about we play a round of Old Maid instead, huh?"
Prowl: "Don't encourage him, X-Brawn. Next thing you know, he'll be down here playing Go Fish!"
Side Burn: "HA HA HA HA HA!"

—The Autobot Brothers amuse themselves while stuck at the bottom of the dam.

"Someone will pay for this! They are all going to feel my wrath!"
"I like that line. 'They are all going to feel my wrath.' Who wrote this script, somebody's fiancée?"

—Megatron talks big, and Kelly gets nasty.

Megatron: "I can't believe I trusted you, Sky-Byte! You made me look like an idiot! It's terrible, people are laughing at me!"
Sky-Byte: "He came out of nowhere—like lightning! It was Optimus Prime!"
Megatron: "AAUUUGGHHH, NOT PRIME AGAIN! I CAN'T STAND IT! ....hooo, got this under control. Scourge, you're going to blow up that dam RIGHT NOW, understand? I don't care how. Blast it with your lasers. Burn it with your flamethrowers. RIP it apart with your BARE HANDS. Just MAKE IT GO AWAY!"
Scourge: "We can do that."

—Megatron in full diva mode.

"I've been waiting for you, Prime."
"Then you've been waiting for trouble!"

—Scourge and Optimus Prime

Notes

Differences with Car Robots

• The opening scene of the episode is carried out in relative silence in Car Robots, but reinterpreted as an introdump for Robots in Disguise to re-introduce the Commandos to the audience. Additional footage is added to the scene of Megatron in his throne room, as Scourge reports on their attack on the dam to him and lists off the Commandos names and powers; in Car Robots, his raising his open palm to his face and clenching it into a fist is just a dramatic gesture, while Robots in Disguise reinterprets this as him talking into a communicator on his wrist as he speaks to Megatron.
• Megatron's goal for this episode is fairly aimless in Car Robots: he merely wishes to "spread terror" with a grand act of villainy—the destruction of Sherman Dam—and the destruction of the dam in the opening scene is presented as a test run for this. In Robots in Disguise, his motives are to force humanity into surrendering to Decepticon rule by destroying major sources of power.
• As Dr. Bridget rattles off Sherman Dam's tech specs, Robots in Disguise shortens the sequence by cutting out bits of the pan over the dam and fading instead of cutting between the angles.
• Some extra footage is inserted between shots in Robots in Disguise as Koji calls Optimus, including a shot of a screen in the Autobot base blinking to life and displaying Koji's image, and Prime reacting to his call.
• An extra shot of Slapper opening fire on the Commandos is added as the disguised Predacons attack in Robots in Disguise.
• As Side Burn and Prowl sink into the water, the joke they deliver is much the same in both versions: the stroke Prowl uses is a formal one (a traditional Japanese stroke in Car Robots; taught by the police academy in Robots in Disguise), and Side Burn quips about its lack of effectiveness. Once they hit bottom, though, the humor gets changed up: while Robots in Disguise has the characters joke about playing games to pass the time, in Car Robots, Side Burn suggests they have themselves rebuilt to be amphibious, prompting Prowl to joke that if they did that, he'd spend his time chasing red submarines.
• Robots in Disguise amps up the tension by adding a commercial break just before Scourge flips the switch for the bombs; as the show returns, some additional footage of Megatron giving the order to flip the switch is added, and the shot of the detonator in Scourge's hand is also repeated and this time shown to conclusion as the switch is thrown.
• Though Robots in Disguise has already consistently played up Megatron much more theatrically than in Car Robots, his threat to destroy the dam and subsequent embarrassment when the dam doesn't explode (twice) is played waaaay more over-the-top than usual in the dub, resembling Lord Zedd levels of hysteria. Whereas in Car Robots, Megatron's much more subdued demeanor in these scenes is much less exaggerated from his usual bouts of frustration.

• A CGI overlay is added to Robots in Disguise as Mega-Octane targets the explosives; this one is the same as the standard Predacon overlay we've seen in multiple past episodes, but with a Decepticon insignia instead.
• As he grapples with Prime, Robots in Disguise has Scourge order Mega-Octane to "get ready to take out the Autobot Brothers", as if he knows the brothers are about to come tumbling through the hole in the dam. In Car Robots, he simply orders Mega-Octane to blow the explosives.
• In Robots in Disguise, Prime instructs the Autobot brothers to "consider themselves a wrecking crew" as a cue to attack. In Car Robots, he gives the rather more specific instruction for the brothers to not let the Decepticons use their weapons; this is reflected in the animation even in Robots in Disguise, as the brothers are clearly shown grappling with their opponents' weapons, throwing their aim off.
• In Car Robots, Sky-Byte's plan is to open fire on the bombs, destroying the dam and washing the Autobots and Decepticons away, leaving him as Megatron's second in command. Robots in Disguise changes this to him planning to just open fire on the 'Bots and 'Cons directly, wiping them out, and figuring that such a "bold move" will land him in Megatron's good graces.
• Sky-Byte's screaming, flailing retreat is played more for exaggerated humor in Car Robots, as he does it in response to Gas Skunk asking what they're going to do next. Robots in Disguise changes Gas Skunk's dialogue to have him suggest the Autobots have just heard Sky-Byte insulting them, prompting him to flee in terror.
• Robots in Disguise adds a commercial break after Sky-Byte's crew swims off, editing out a fade between this scene and the next.
• Other scenes extended for Robots in Disguise include:
  • Scourge hailing Megatron's name
  • Sky-Byte berating the Predacons for thinking about helping Scourge
  • X-Brawn grumbling about his patrol
  • Scourge ordering the Decepticons to begin preparations at the dam

Animation and technical errors

• At the end of Ruination's combination sequence, his right arm (formed by Movor) is behind him making his thumb clip into his shoulder. All subsequent uses of the sequence have this fixed.

Continuity errors

• The Autobot brothers have no trouble swimming in "The Hunt for Black Pyramid", but in this episode they sink like rocks.

Coninuity notes

• The Megastar is still resting in the same mountainous desert as it was in last episode.

Transformers references

• Slapper quotes Optimus Primal: "Well, ain't that just Prime."
• Sherman Dam is named after the dam which appeared in the Generation 1 episode "More Than Meets the Eye, Part 2".

Real-world references

Also, possibly Orson Welles back there.

• Though Robots in Disguise identifies the dam as Sherman Dam (and the desert resort it powers as "Las Bogus"), the dam is implied in Car Robots to instead be Hoover Dam, with Las Bogus actually being Las Vegas.
• When Kelly criticises Megatron's speech, she is standing next to a man who bears a striking resemblance to Spike Spiegel of Cowboy Bebop
• X-Brawn speaks Spanish on multiple occasions while underwater.

Foreign localization

Italian

• Title: "Attacco alla diga" ("Attack on the dam")

• "Sherman Dam" in both translated as "diga Sherman" and as "diga di Sherman".
• Instead of saying that he's "near the Las Bogus desert resort", Koji says that he's "near the desert of Las Bogus", making it look like "Las Bogus" is the name of the desert. The fact that said name is never pronounced again doesn't help.
• X-Brawn never speaks Spanish.
• Instead of starting playing I spy, X-Brawn suggests playing È arrivato un bastimento carico di..., a game that shares some similarities with I spy. Then Side Burn suggests playing Battleship instead of Old maid, and Prowl's line: "Don't encourage him, X-Brawn, you know next thing he'll be down here playing Go Fish!" is changed to: "Do you understand the situation? We've been all hit and sunk!" ('cause, you know, Battleship...).
• When Kelly repeats Megatron's line... she fails in quoting it correctly! In fact, while Megatron says: "You'll feel my wrath!", she then says: "You'll all feel my wrath!". It looks like her memory is as good as her luck...

• Also, "somebody's fiancee" is changed to "the director's fiancee".

Portuguese

• Title: "Comandos" ("Commandos")

Home video releases

DVD

2000 — Transformers: Car Robots — Vol. 4 (Pony Canyon) — Japanese audio only.
2004 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Three-Disc Box Set: Part 1 of 2 (Maximum Entertainment)
2007 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Season One (Maximum Entertainment)
2007 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Ultimate Collection (Maximum Entertainment)

External links

• "Commandos" transcript on RIDForever.info