The Transformers find themselves on an alien planet where they're no bigger than toys to the inhabitants!
Child's Play (Japanese title: "Children Play") is the twenty-eighth episode of the second season of The Transformers and is the forty-fourth episode of The Transformers series overall. It is overall the forty-fourth episode of the G1 Era of Transformers.
Summary[]
There's nothing in the rule book that says a Decepticon can't pitch!
At a baseball stadium on Earth, the Decepticons are setting up a space bridge, over the objections of the humans. Megatron decides to let his troops have some fun: Thrust fires baseballs at people from his cannons, Soundwave and Skywarp play catch (using a human), Ravage chases a player around the field, and Starscream starts grabbing people in jet mode. The unwholesome family fun is ended when the Autobots arrive. As Optimus Prime and the Autobots attack, Perceptor tries to run a scan on the space bridge, but Megatron shoots the controls. However, Optimus Prime, Perceptor, Bumblebee, Inferno, Smokescreen, Soundwave, Ravage, Thrust, and Starscream are within the space bridge's confines at the time, and they are sucked into a portal along with the energon cubes. As Megatron laments the loss of the energon (and fails to notice the bright side of Optimus and Starscream probably being dead), the space bridge self-destructs. Ironhide leads the remaining Autobots back to the base, hoping that Teletraan I can figure out where the others were sent.
Meanwhile, the lost Transformers awaken to find themselves somewhere else. All of a sudden, a large sphere lands atop Starscream. Then a monster attacks, chasing Soundwave. Thrust tries to fly away, but lands in a body of water. Also, Ravage is caught by some plant life. Convinced the Decepticons are no longer a threat, Optimus has the Autobots load the energon into his trailer, and they roll out. They find a building made of relatively poor materials, only to discover something quite shocking: They're in the bedroom of a gargantuan alien child.
"If you let us out, we'll give you free candy! Decepticon promise!"
The boy, name Aron, places Starscream, Soundwave, Ravage, and Thrust in a small bowl, while Nitro (his pet and the cat-like creature that was chasing Soundwave) smells the Autobots. As Aron tells him to stop, the Decepticons escape. Thrust is tied down with a piece of string, Ravage is chased down like a mouse and locked in a small cage with a rodent-like pet to run on a wheel (how embarrassing), and Soundwave is locked in a toy box. Starscream manages to hide in the small toy building and sees the Autobots. Naturally, Screamer fires his null-ray at the energon, causing a fire. Starscream is quickly recaptured, and Inferno douses the fire. Optimus introduces the Autobots to Aron, when the boy's parents arrive. Hiding the Autobots in a desk drawer, Aron shows the Decepticons to his parents. However, Aron is also compelled to show the Autobots.
The Transformers are taken to a lab, where scientists intend to dissect them (starting with the Decepticons). However, Aron steals the Autobots away, with the authorities in pursuit. Aron hides behind a trash can, dodging his pursuers, but a local bully named Marty comes along. The Autobots hide within a trashcan, and Marty wanders off. Meanwhile, Ravage has picked his locks and frees the other Decepticons. Aron is still being chased by the authorities, so he intends to hide the Autobots at his house. However, Optimus tells Aron that they have to return to Earth, a planet far from this one. Aron wonders if he could see it through his telescope, and Perceptor happens upon an idea. However, Soundwave has overheard them.
Mr. Toad's Wildrider—er, Wild Ride
The authorities spot Aron, so the Autobots decide to escape by traveling to Aron's house through the sewers. The Decepticons see the Autobots and follow them below. As the two groups fight it out within the sewer, a wave comes along. (Let's not ponder what the wave is made of.) The Decepticons hightail it out, while the Autobots ride the wave in a teacup. Escaping out through a drainage pipe, the Autobots head to Aron's house.
Crikey! They're REALLY mad now!
Using Nitro as a way into Aron's room, Perceptor explains that they can use the energon, along with modifications to his light cannon, to propel them to Earth through the telescope. Once he's ready, however, the Decepticons arrive and grab Bumblebee. Starscream orders Optimus to let them pass, and just as the Autobot leader is prepared to let them go, Nitro pounces, freeing Bumblebee but allowing the Decepticons to escape back to Earth...and land right in a lake filled with alligators.
Back on...whatever Aron's planet is called, Aron suggests using his toy rocket ship to go home. Perceptor is able to modify it for interstellar transport, and the Autobots depart, with Optimus telling Aron that whenever he looks into the sky, he'll be seeing them.
Stats[]
Original airdate: November 7, 1985
Production number: 700-43
Written by: Beth Bornstein
Featured Characters[]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regulars
Guests |
Notable quotes[]
"Skywarp, think fast!"
- —Soundwave playing catch with Skywarp...using a human.
"Strike three, Megatron. You're out."
- —Optimus Prime, umpire.
(Soundwave is being chased by a giant alien cat)
"Alert! Alert! Assistance required!"
- —Ravage seems pretty tame now, huh, Soundwave?
Smokescreen: "A rocket ship!"
Inferno: "A toy rocket ship."
Perceptor "Well, anything's worth a try. With some modifications to the propulsion core—"
Optimus: "Perceptor, just do it."
- —Smokescreen and Inferno debate the rocket's effectiveness as Perceptor exhausts Optimus Prime's patience.
Perceptor: "Whatever it is, I hope it is friendly."
Starscream: "WELL?"
Perceptor: "Well what?"
Starscream: "Get this thing OFF ME!"
- — Starscream stuck under a huge ball and actually expecting the autobots to help him out.
Notes[]
Animation and/or technical glitches[]
- When Skywarp flies up to catch the human Soundwave just threw, he is colored like Starscream. Unless Starscream caught the person before Skywarp could.
- Starscream also demonstrates his magical color-switching abilities several times during scenes taking place on that alien planet.
- When the alien is going to dissect the 'Cons, on the close-up of the Buzzsaw he is holding, the edge of it isn't animated.
- In the sewer scene, there is at least one shot where the water has not been animated around the characters, thus making them look like half-robots floating in midair.
- At one point in the episode when Soundwave overhears Perceptor and then Starscream congratulates him, Starscream's nullray is a part of his face.
- When Aron removes the energon cubes from his drawer, his full body is shown, but then his body except for the arm holding the energon disappears.
- In the shot that follows, the animation cells are totally messed up. The Autobots in Aron's hand also seem to be appearing from nowhere, as they were not to be seen at the beginning of the shot.
- When the Autobots are about to get into Aron's toy rocket, the animation cells are apparently shifted upward, as Bumblebee and the cat creature appear to be attached to the ship at the waist.
- Perceptor's scope on his shoulder is only partially drawn near the end.
- After Aron grabs the Energon cubes from the drawer, he is missing his left arm and head.
- Several sewer scenes use static cells, such as the whirlpool stops moving, un-colored water scene listed above. When Optimus first confronts Starscream, he is kicked down by a Starscream leg that is animated over a motionless Starscream — which means that Starscream momentarily has three legs.
- When Optimus Prime raises his arm while saying "Strike two!", his arm is bent at a strange angle, so he appears to be hitting himself in the face.
- When Aron's pet, Nitro, is chasing Soundwave, Perceptor is shown instead.
Continuity errors[]
- Thundercracker was not one of the Decepticons transported to Aron's planet, but after Aron drops Starscream into his crystal cylinder, we see Thundercracker inside the cylinder, and then there's Starscream again!
Transformers references[]
- References
Real-world references[]
- References
Notes[]
- When the Autobots are fighting the Decepticons at the baseball field, Brawn picks up Soundwave, who is twice his size, and throws him over his head. Apparently Brawn is called "Brawn" for a good reason.
- Optimus forgets to name Smokescreen when he introduces the Autobots to Aron. Smokescreen doesn't seem to mind.
- When the Decepticons are flying through the air, Ravage is shown to be "running" next to them. So cute.
- If Transformers as large as Optimus Prime and the Seekers can fit in the palm of Aron's hand, let's not speculate on how tiny a human would be.
- The Decepticons are in a loop of being the attackers who like to play games to the victims in playing games.
- Let's not even try to imagine how big Unicron would be, compared to Aron and the other aliens of Aron's species.
- This episode represents Transformers fans (Aron) and their toys (the actual characters).
- The Aliens recognize the Autobots' alt-modes; strange that they have the same vehicles as we do.
- The alligators (maybe crocodiles) of the lake the Decepticons landed in are unusually large. They seem as big as Starscream, who is over twenty feet tall, mind you.
- This episode presented the space bridge as one-way transport device, without need of a receiving end as one found in Cybertron. Considering the missing receiver's end, the space bridge seems to have a distance limit of some sort.
- Instead of being lost trapped in the cold void of space and ceasing to exist, the characters just dropped into someone's room in a house, in an unknown city on an unknown planet in an unknown solar system somewhere in the galaxy? Either it's a safety feature of the space bridge or we are talking about some serious luck.
- Neither the Decepticons or Autobots were seen even trying to figure out where and how far Earth was and yet still the Decepticons were successfully transported back to Earth. Let's not even begin to think how long it would take for Optimus Prime and his men to get back with a modified toy rocket.
- Considering the sheer size of the aliens and their surroundings, the planet has to be extremely huge by Earth standards. Megatron would have faced a real challenge attempting to suck that planet dry of its energy; An educated guess is that drying energy equivalent of whole Earth would probably go unnoticed on that planet.
Keywords[]
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External links[]
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