Find MegaZarak's Weak Spot!!

« Transformers: The Headmasters ep 21 »
It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A!
Find MegaZarak's Weak Spot!! メガザラックの弱点をあばけ!! () (MegaZarak no Jakuten o Abake!!)
Production company	Takara, Toei
Airdate	18 December 1987
Writer	Toyohiro Andō
Director	Takao Yoshizawa
Animation studio	Toei
Continuity	Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

On the planet Daros, the Autobots aid desperate prisoners in overthrowing the Decepticons and the planet's decadent ruling class. But that's not all—the key to defeating Scorponok is also hidden on this world!

Synopsis

Carly, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys.

As the Autobots onboard Battleship Maximus continue in their pursuit of the Decepticons from planet to planet, Daniel, Wheelie and Arcee are afforded a brief moment of relaxation, which Daniel spends playing Video Challenger, shooting holographic Decepticons with his Challenge Blaster. Wheelie is unimpressed with his marksmanship and plays William Tell with a ball, challenging Daniel to shoot it out of his hand—only to wind up getting shot in the arm.

On the bridge, the Headmasters detect an SOS signal, which they trace to the planet Daros. Setting down in the planet's northern hemisphere, they trace the signal to a factory, where the Decepticon Headmasters are playing target practice with the human-like workers. As the villains kill the workers with a hail of laser fire, they justify their actions by pointing out that this is a penal colony, and the dead are convicted criminals. This, of course, does not wash with the Autobots, who attack the Decepticons, forcing them into a quick and painful retreat. Searching for their enemies, the Autobots come upon a group of three prisoners, who explain that a Beastformer named Tekna was responsible for sending the SOS.

Alright, show of hands, who was rooting for Curl during this moment?

The three prisoners are brought to Battleship Maximus to recuperate, and Daniel and Wheelie attempt to make friends with them. Unfortunately, the lead prisoner, Curl, seizes the boy and holds a knife to his throat, demanding control of Battleship Maximus in exchange for Daniel's life. As Fortress stalls for time, telling the prisoners that the Headmasters must return to the ship in order to pilot it, Daniel is able to wrestle free and use his video game gun to blind the prisoners, who are then hit with a paralysis ray by Fortress. Their advantage lost, the trio explain the reason for their actions—in the past, the wealth of the energy-rich southern hemisphere of Daros was shared amongst its inhabitants, until an elite group seized power and monopolized control of the planet's resources. The lead prisoner was in charge of a failed rebellion against this corrupt ruling class, and consigned to the prison camp. Now knowing the truth of the matter, Fortress offers the Autobots' aid.

Aw, look, it's sucking on my fing--OW! GET IT OFF!

Meanwhile, still out exploring, the Headmasters come upon a mass grave of dead prisoners. Punch arrives on the scene, and explains to the Headmasters that this massacre was ordered by Galvatron, to prevent the secret weakness of Scorponok's Transtector being revealed. The being who knew this secret, Tekna, was one of the Beastformers who worked on the construction of the Transtector, but who managed to escape the killing and is currently hiding in the South-North Caves. While Hardhead and Brainstorm return to Battleship Maximus, Chromedome and Highbrow head into the caves to search for Tekna, who they soon locate. Tekna explains that Scorponok's Transtector has a secret weak spot hidden on it—but before he can tell the Autobots what it is, he is cut down from behind by a laser blast from Weirdwolf! As Chromedome holds off the Decepticon, Highbrow takes Tekna to Battleship Maximus for medical care.

The Autobot Headmasters first use of the Care Bear Stare Head Formation.

Meanwhile, Battleship Maximus has set down in the southern hemisphere, where the ruling class and the Decepticons are enjoying a feast as energy from the planet's sub-aquatic oilfields is being loaded into Scorponok as part of the deal between the two groups. A battle between Hardhead and Brainstorm and Sixshot and the Horrorcons erupts, while Chromedome and Highbrow soon returning from their mission to join in. The Headmasters suggest using the Master Shot attack, but Hardhead and Brainstorm find that the battle has depleted their energy, leaving them unable to transform. Leaping from their Transtectors, the four Headmasters initiate the "Head Formation", linking hands and pooling their internal energies, recharging Hardhead and Brainstorm and allowing all four to transform to robot form. Battleship Maximus disconnects its cannon, and the Headmasters take control of it, opening fire on the Decepticons. When the weapon is turned on Scorponok, he transforms to robot mode, and Fortress retaliates by transforming into Fortress Maximus. As the two titans battle, Galvatron orders Scorponok to retreat—although defeated in battle, the Decepticons still successfully escape will all the energy they have acquired from Daros.

Shortly, the Autobots confront the planet's rulers, who offer them energy in exchange for protecting them. Daniel speaks up for the group, who shouts the Autobots' refusal in the king's face so hard that he collapses back into a reflecting pool. It's soon made abundantly clear that Curl will be taking charge of the planet, and the Autobots depart, with more pressing matters still to be dealt with. As Chromedome tries to gently coax the information on Scorponok from the badly-injured Tekna, the Beastformer raises one hand, and then drops it, as he dies. Beneath the fur of his forearm, however, the Autobots discover a strip of microfilm, which Higbrow suspects contains the secret of Scorponok's weak spot. Tekna's body is given a space burial, and Highbrow sets to work attempting to decode the information.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notes

Continuity notes

• Enslaved Beastformers were shown working on Scorponok's Transtector back in "The Shadow Emperor, Scorponok". Tekna is a generic Beastformer, not based on any figure from the toyline, but similar dog-based Beastformers appeared in "Rebellion on Planet Beast".
• The power-up ability used by three of the Headmasters in the previous episode returns in this episode, only now, all four Headmasters are involved, and they connect to their own Transtectors, rather than swapping between each other's, as with the "Cross-Head On". This process is given the name "Head Formation", and will be an important power for the remainder of the series, and key in the final battle.

Animation and technical errors

• When Danny first appears to "save" Arcee and Wheelie, the animation has been flipped, apparently to accommodate a production boo-boo that would otherwise cause his gun holster to switch hips. As a result, the "D" on Danny's jumpsuit is backwards and appears on the wrong side.
• As Brainstorm and Headhead "head on" shortly after landing on Daros, their heads disappear for a bunch of frames.
• When we first see Curl's group, the rotund chap in the brown outfit is standing at the back, but in the next show he switches places with the fellow in blue.
• As Curl tells his tale of woe, in some shots Daniel's left arm appears to be in a sling, while in others it isn't.
• When Scorponok departs Daros, he's about three or four times longer than he should be. He actually looks more like a ship, instead of just a giant flying scorpion.
• During the pan across the Autobot Headmasters as they confront the rulers of Daros, the top of Brainstorm's head is blue.

Continuity errors

• How would Daniel's light gun, essentially just an NES Zapper, be able to hit the ball, let alone injure Wheelie's arm?
• Fortress seems oddly keen on regime change for a planet he's never been to before based on the word of a guy who was holding a child hostage at knifepoint mere minutes earlier.

Trivia

• As in "Explosion on Mars!! MegaZarak Appears", the MegaZarak mentioned in the title is, of course, the Japanese name for Scorponok's Transtector.
• This episode originally aired in Japan as part of a triple bill alongside "Battle for Defense of the False Planet" and "Head Formation of Friendship" on December 18.
• The R2 DVD release of this episode suffers from a subtitling glitch, in which, on a few occasions throughout the episode, subtitles from another episode appear onscreen. Painfully ironically, the subtitles are from "I Risk My Life for Earth", the episode in which Scorponok's weak spot is revealed, and one of the subs which appears is the very line that contains that revelation. Oy.
• The R4 release of this episode, despite being released two years after the R2 release, still contains the same subtitle errors, including spoiling the actual location of Scorponok's weakness. Way to be observant there, Madman.
• This episode is one of the very few instances in the G1 era of the franchise where Decepticons are shown killing humans on-screen.

Foreign localization

English

• Title: "Scorponok's Weakness" (Omni Productions dub)
• Original airdate: December 6, 1992

• Title: "Find Scorponok's Weak Spot" (Shout! Factory sub)

Mandarin

• Title: "Jiēchuān Sàkè Jùrén de Ruòdiǎn " (揭穿萨克巨人的弱点, "Expose Scorponok's Weakness")

Italian

• Title: "Il Segreto di Lord Zarak" ("The Secret of Lord Zarak")

Home video releases

LaserDisc

1996 — Transformers: The Headmasters Set (Takara) — Japanese audio only.

DVD

2002 — Transformers: The Headmasters — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2005 — The Takara Collection Vol 1 — Transformers: Headmasters (Metrodome)
2007 — Transformers — The Complete Takara Collection (Metrodome)
2007 — The Transformers: Headmasters (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — The Transformers: Japan Generation 1 — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)
2011 — Transformers Japanese Collection: Headmasters (Shout! Factory) — Japanese audio with optional English subtitles only.
2012 — Transformers: The Japanese Collection (Shout! Factory) — Japanese audio with optional English subtitles only.