With Tigerhawk at their side, the Predacons having lost their base, and Tarantulas destroyed, it seems that the Maximals are finally victorious. But Megatron, undeterred, seeks out Tarantulas's final secret and discovers the ultimate trump card. The final battle between the Maximals and the Predacons has begun!
Tropes featured:
- Ambiguous Syntax: Megatron's description of Tarantulas as "Unicron's spawn" can either be interpreted as a Cybertronian insult or a literal description. The original writers intended the former, but fans and subsequent writers have made the latter canon.
- The Antichrist: Megatron named himself after the Cybertronian equivalent written about in the Covenant of Primus ...who turned out to be him!
- Being Evil Sucks: Why Waspinator quits being a Predacon. As he says, all being evil has ever gotten him was constantly being shot at and blown up.
- Berserk Button: Rampage keeps Depth Charge distracted by talking about his "tasty" friends at Starbase Rugby and how he failed to keep him contained.
- Big Entrance: How the Nemesis makes itself known "as if it were a great mountain, raging with fire, arose from the sea."
- Came Back Strong: The Nemesis was always a powerful warship but Tarantulas gave it the ability to Time Travel.
- Crazy-Prepared: Tarantulas found and fixed the Nemesis as a last ditch strategy installing it with transwarp cells and a Predacon scaled console.
- Elaborate Underground Base: Tarantulas found the time to not only restore the Nemesis but build a console detailing it, an elevator and a monorail system.
- Enemy Mine: As Optimus lampshades, he and Depth Charge butt heads but Megatron cannot be allowed to raise the Nemesis.
- Evil Plan: Megatron is all too delighted to usurp the late Tarantulas's.
- Facepalm: Inferno during Waspinator's desertion.
- Flashback: When Optimus explains to Tigerhawk how the Nemesis took on the Ark before crashing along with it.
- Foreshadowing: When Depth Charge stabs Rampage, Dinobot II howls in pain, and we briefly see shots of the original Dinobot.
- Godzilla Threshold: The Decepticon ship, the Nemesis serves as this for Megatron. A giant ship that shot down the Ark with its impressive arsenal, Optimus is rightfully fearful of it surfacing.
- Henpecked Husband: The damaged Silverbolt insists to Optimus that he can still function. Blackarachnia orders him to obey his commanding officer, leading to a meek, "Yes, dear."
- Hold Your Hippogriffs: Word of God is that "Unicron's spawn" is the Cybertronian equivalent to "son of a bitch". The fandom has taken it literally due to the previous episode having Tarantulas say he's not descended from Autobots or Decepticons.
- Hope Spot:
- Rattrap even lampshades that for once, things were going in the Maximals' favour before Megatron found the Nemesis.
- Later on when it seems that Depth Charge managed to destroy the Nemesis. He didn't even scratch it.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Rampage refers to Depth Charge's friends on Starbase Rugby as being quite tasty.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Depth Charge kills Rampage by forcing a piece of raw energon into Rampage's spark.
- Kill All Humans: A side-effect of Inferno and Quickstrike's plan for a new base is killing all the primitives currently living in it.
- Killed Off for Real: Depth Charge and Rampage are definitely dead; scrap heap "terminated". It's notably the only time a Maximal kills a Predacon (Terrorsaur and Scorponok were basically an accident, Ravage was more collateral damage in the destruction of his ship, the Vok were essentially responsible for Tarantulas's death, and Megatron is responsible for the deaths of Inferno, Quickstrike and Dinobot II in the next episode)
- Made of Iron: The Nemesis was pilotless when it fell from orbit and into the ocean. It only has minor gaps in its plating.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Waspinator finally stands up for himself. He gets shot in the back for his troubles.
- My Greatest Failure:Rampage: [to Depth Charge] I was your assignment, and you failed!
- Mythology Gag: Megatron offhandedly refers to Tarantulas as "Unicron's spawn".
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: By allowing Depth Charge to stab him in the Spark, Rampage frees Dinobot II and allows the original's personality to take over.
- Noodle Incident: According to Rampage, Depth Charge had friends on Starbase Rugby... "tasty ones, too!"
- Not So Invincible After All: By stabbing a shard of raw Energon directly in his Spark, Depth Charge kills Rampage.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- Waspinator actually standing up for himself. He even starts his rant by using first-person for once.
- Depth Charge immediately agrees and complies with Optimus orders on stopping the Nemesis from activating. He even goes as far as to initially ignore Rampage when the latter shows up.
- Oh, Crap!:
- When Primal finds the files on the Nemesis and when the ship is raised, he issues a code 1 alert.
- A more humorous moment of panic occurs when Depth Charge uncovers the hatch, only to find a bomb about to go off.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Rampage gives a continuous string of mockery to Depth Charge in their final confrontation.
- Retcon: Though it's well known by now, this is the first piece of media to establish that the Decepticon ship used in the pilot of the original show was called the Nemesis.
- The Reveal: Tarantulas' absence throughout the Season has been due to his discovery and refurbishment of the ancient Decepticon flagship Nemesis.
- Revenge Before Reason: Subverted. When Depth Charge encounters Rampage for the last time, he claims he doesn't have time to deal with him. Unfortunately, Rampage won't let him past to get to the Nemesis, forcing Depth Charge to fight his rival. It's hinted that Depth Charge thinks that the energon explosion from killing Rampage that costs him his own life would be big enough to swallow the Nemesis too. Unfortunately, it survives.
- Sadly Mythtaken: Megatron states that the Nemesis was the ship that shot down the Ark. however, in the cartoon, both ships crashed because no-one was at the controls, while in the comics, Prime deliberately crashed the Ark in a Heroic Sacrifice to take out the Decepticon leadership. Justified, as the cartoon is supposed to have a mythological G1 past.
- Series Continuity Error: Nemesis is shown here having crashed in ancient Earth's oceans, yet "Microbots" had previously established it had crashed in what became South America. However, this gets subverted after the next episode reveals what seems an error here is actually part of a time loop.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: While he, Dinobot II, and Rampage pursue Tarantulas's posthumous agenda, Megatron forms a Goldfish Poop Gang of Waspinator, Inferno, and Quickstrike and dispatches them to secure a new Predacon base. Waspinator deserts, and the other two geniuses are seemingly routed by primitive humans wielding sticks fused to stones. To crown the humiliation, this ends up being a superfluous venture when it becomes apparent what exactly the fallen spider uncovered. A steep fall from grace for Inferno in particular, who started out as fearsome as Rampage.
- Shout-Out: An inscription on the side of the Nemesis reads Red Dwarf.
- Space Age Stasis: An oddly straight example considering the other advancements in Cybertronian technology the show has shown (time travel/stasis pods/CR Chambers). The Nemesis is outright referred to as the most powerful Decepticon warship in Cybertronian history and despite having been built in the "present" would have been able to conquer 24th century Cybertron that exists 4 million years later. It might be Fridge Brilliance as the Nemesis was powered by the ultra-powerful "Heart of Cybertron" which turned G1 Megatron into a Physical God. It's also possible that in a Cybertron that has barely recuperated from the Great War, such ships are Lost Technology.
- Superhero Paradox: Rampage attacked Starbase Rugby solely because Depth Charge had friends there ("tasty ones too!").
- Taking You with Me: Depth Charge deliberately jabbed a shard of energon into Rampage's spark, intent on blowing up both of them and the Nemesis. Unfortunately, it only got him and Rampage.
- This Cannot Be!: Optimus and Depth Charge over all this being about Nemesis.
- Took a Level in Badass: The tribe of early humans that Inferno and Quickstrike attack. Instead of running in a panic, they arm themselves with spears and go on the attack against the Predacons.Quickstrike: Dang! Them little flea pickers is tougher than they used to be!
- Underestimating Badassery: Dinobot II refers to the Nemesis as looking impressive, but Megatron says he's actually underselling it and talks about its historical pedigree.
- Villainous Legacy: Figuring that Tarantulas might've left one behind, Megatron went looking for it and discovered that, sure enough, the spider had one final project that Megatron could use: the modified Nemesis.Megatron: Excellent! Even after his demise, the spider's treachery remains my best asset!
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Waspinator finally stands up for himself...and Quickstrike and Tarantulas blow him to bits.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: When a massive explosion goes off under the ocean, Optimus logically assumes that it meant Depth Charge succeeded in destroying the Nemesis. Alas, that explosion was all Rampage's Nigh-Invulnerable spark finally biting the dust — Optimus' celebration is cut short within seconds as the Nemesis rises from the sea in front of him.
