Journey To The Valley Of Repugnus

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"Journey To The Valley Of Repugnus"
Season	3
No. in season	22
Production company	Allspark Animation
Airdate	February 24, 2020 (UK) May 24, 2020 (USA)
Writer	Dan Salgarolo
Director	Jean Texier
Animation studio	Boulder Media Studio
Watch this episode on YouTube

In search of Windblade, Grimlock journeys with Bumblebee to prehistoric Cybertron.

Synopsis

Exploring Cybertron's underworld with Grimlock, Bumblebee contacts Hot Rod to show off the now-flowing energon rivers. Hot Rod's not that keen on the place, as it's where he almost died in combat with Drift and emerged to find the Quintessons had taken over. Bumblebee and Grimlock resume their search for Windblade — Grimlock detects her psychic shard in the tunnels below them and as the way has been blocked by the energon river, he transforms to dinosaur mode intending to break through the ground. Instead the ground crumbles and the pair are swept away by the energon river.

Awakening at the bottom of a waterfall, Bee finds himself alone with Grimlock nowhere in sight. What is in sight is a huge metropolis of energon. As he marvels at a tower, he is jumped from behind by Stinkus, who starts draining his energon until he is rescued by the city's residents. The residents take him into the city proper, showing off a statue and introducing themselves as Energon Masters. Bumblebee realizes he should look for Grimlock, but the Energon Masters persuade him to come to the first energon party of the evening where they are sure someone can help. Bumblebee is impressed by the party and assumes it is a charity event when he sees grand leader Affluous taking energon donations. However, he is proven wrong moments later when they reach the target of one million cubits and it turns out the energon is to power a fountain that showers everyone present with energon. Bumblebee is appalled at the waste, which offends Affluous. The moment is defused as the party's singer is suddenly paralyzed by an energon surge, a condition Affluous identifies as "the shocks", and enclosed in a bubble to be taken away. Affluous suggests Bumblebee should leave but when he tries to transform, he also suffers from the shocks and the guards take him away as well.

Elsewhere, Grimlock is unable to find Bumblebee, instead encountering a fleeing Repugnus. When Grimlock sees the swarm of Injectors pursuing the bug, he flees as well. They reach the rest of Repugnus's tribe, but while they hide safe in their burrows, Grimlock's too big to fit and the Injectors attack him. Enraged after they sting him in the rear, he swats one away with his tail and scares off the others with his fire breath. Repugnus labels Grimlock a hero after this and offers up his last cup of Energon. As it turns out, the Energon Masters have hoarded the rest of the energon, leaving the bugs to scavenge for scraps. Grimlock is unhappy about this and sets out to get energon for everyone.

The guards lead Bumblebee to a cell and throw him in. He demands to be let go, but Affluous is happy with the way things are and knows Bumblebee will stir things up if he is set free. Once Affluous leaves, Bumblebee recognizes the singer from the party, who says she gets the shocks every time she tries to do something. A bug prisoner named Teknicus reveals that he knows why and admits it is all his fault.

On the edge of the city, Grimlock and Repugnus' tribe assault a guard by the tower. Bumblebee powers up with multiverse energy and busts through the jail wall, starting a jailbreak. As Repugnus' tribe drink from the energon river, Affluous directs his guards to attack only for Grimlock to knock them flying before advancing on the Energon Master leader. Bumblebee and the freed prisoners arrive, at which point Bumblebee explains that both Repugnus' tribe and Energon Masters have more similarities than they realize. Although Repugnus is confused and Affluous angrily denies this, Teknicus reveals that Affluous had him build the tower that causes the shocks. Bumblebee blasts the tower, destroying it. One by one, the Energon Masters involuntarily transform into bug-like creatures similar to Repugnus. Likewise, Repugnus' tribe assume robot modes that look like the Energon Masters. Affluous protests he is not a bug only to involuntarily transform into bug mode and runs off in dejection. Bumblebee and Grimlock find Windblade's psychic shard in the remains of the shock tower. As they retrieve it, Grimlock notes that they will have quite a story for the restored cityspeaker.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"That place has nothing but bad memories for me."
"Why is that?"
"Oh, just 'cause that's where I got dragged down under the energon waste, and when I finally crawled back out, everyone I knew had been enslaved by a bunch of Mr. Squiggles."
"Uh... that would do it."

—Hot Rod trauma dumps on Grimlock

"She appears to have contracted the shocks. Terrible thing; it can happen to anyone."

—Affluous

"Energon for everyone!"

—Comrade Grimlock

Notes

Continuity notes

• By the end of this episode, 60% of Windblade's scattered mind has been gathered.
• The episode opens in the energon lakes first featured in "Battle For Cybertron III." As Hot Rod reminds Bumblebee, this was the site where Drift betrayed them and he was dragged beneath a toxic pool of energon waste, not reemerging until the Quintessons had already taken the planet.
• Repugnus, his tribe, and the forest they live in first appeared in "Battle For Cybertron IV."

Transformers references

• The creatures that attack Repugnus' tribe are based on the Beast Wars character Injector.
• The Monsterbots' robot modes are modeled after Generation 1 Repugnus' special edition Titans Return toy. Some of Affluous's guards share the same color scheme as Repugnus himself.

Real-world references

• This episode is a fairly transparent critique of modern day capitalism and the arbitrary divisions that exist between the rich and the poor.

Other trivia

• TBA

Animation and technical errors

• Just before he starts transforming, Grimlock speaks with his dino mode voice without moving his lips.
• While the Monsterbots lose or gain a good 3/4 of their mass when transforming, Teknicus is obscenely big in bug mode, losing only about 1/4 of his mass when transforming.

Foreign localization

German

• Title: "Reise in Repugnus' Tal"
• Original airdate: February 20, 2021

Portuguese

• Title: "Jornada ao Vale do Repugnus" ("Journey to the Valley of Repugnus")
• Original airdate: October 14, 2021
• Notes: The YouTube upload of this episode is titled "Viagem ao Vale do Repugnus".

Home video releases

• TBA