The Quintessons seek to recover a lost journal of theirs that landed on the planet of Junk. To get around the Junkions, the Quintessons hijack their television broadcasts encouraging them to be neat and attack any other lifeform that approaches their planet. The transmitter is damaged during a fight and the Junkions soon broadcast their signals across the galaxy, plunging entire worlds into interstellar war.
Tropes
- Animal Jingoism: One of the worlds shown being affected by the Quintessons' broadcast has a race of cat-people, who launch their spaceships and start attacking a nearby city of dog-people.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: The Junkions are brainwashed by the Quintessons when they hijack their TV broadcasts and are forced into attacking anyone approaching their homeworld.
- Comic-Book Adaptation: This was the only episode of the cartoon to be adapted into the Marvel comic series as a fill-in issue, claiming to show a possible future for the Transformers. Due to the inconsistencies with the future timeline shown in the UK issues, the UK printing added a framing device of Wreck-Gar being interrogated by the Quintessons and making up the entire story on the spot as he's being tortured.
- Description Cut: An example induced by sloppy editing. The Quintessons note that they’ll have to be more subtle in attacking the Junkions to recover the journal, which is followed by a group of Sharkticons attacking the planet.
- Do Not Adjust Your Set: When the transmitter is damaged, Wreck-Gar becomes convinced he needs to share the Quintessons' broadcast across the galaxy and adds his own special take on the typical announcement.Wreck-Gar: There is nothing wrong with your television set. We are controlling transmission. We control the horizontal. We control the vertical. We've got the touch!
- Intelligent Gerbil: Among the races shown being affected by the Quintessons' broadcast include a world of populated by cat and dog-people, and a world of intelligent bees.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: When Ultra Magnus gets Omega Supreme back online, Cyclonus cuts his losses and calmly retreats without putting up any resistance.Cyclonus: Another time, Autobots?
- Reused Character Design: One of the humans being overwhelmed by the chaos reuses Marissa’s model, but speaks with a scratchy southern accent, so we know it’s not her.
- Speaks in Shout-Outs: Being a Junkion focused episode, half the dialogue is made up of quotes.
- Sequel Hook: The episode ends with the journal the Quintessons were looking for being launched into space, with the Quintessons hoping to find it before anyone else learns of its contents. The journal and its contents would be followed up in "The Quintesson Journal".note
- Taking the Bullet: Omega Supreme leaps in front of the Autobots to protect them from one of Galvatron's cannon blasts. The blast knocks him out for the rest of the fight.
