Mistaken Identity
From Transformers Wiki
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 Let's Samuraize, guys! | |||||||||||||
| "Mistaken Identity" (Black Convoy no Yabō) "Black Convoy's Ambition" | |||||||||||||
| Production company | TV Tokyo, NAS, Studio Gallop | ||||||||||||
| Airdate | 6 December 2000 (Japanese) March 2, 2002 (English) | ||||||||||||
| Written by | Yukiyoshi Ōhashi (Japanese) Michael McConnohie (English) | ||||||||||||
| Director | Akira Katō | ||||||||||||
| Animation studio | Studio Gallop | ||||||||||||
Sky-Byte needs Koji
To move Fortress Maximus
Oops, got the wrong kid
Contents |
Synopsis
Carl and Jenny find their friend Koji in a park, pondering how to control Fortress Maximus. They're both impressed that Koji was able to control the giant robot, but their discussion is interrupted by the arrival of Scourge and Mega-Octane, who attempt to kidnap Koji. Fortunately the Autobot Brothers are nearby and soon chase the two Decepticons off. Back at base, Optimus explains he's detailed the three brothers with protecting Koji since the Decepticons seem to think he's their best bet at controlling Maximus.
Indeed, in the Megastar, Scourge is telling Galvatron the same thing. Sky-Byte questions Scourge's loyalty, but Galvatron will hear nothing of it, and demands that Koji be captured and brought to him.
Meanwhile, Koji and Carl are skateboarding, and Koji laments that the Autobots are keeping him from wandering far, but he has a plan. Soon afterwards, Side Burn follows "Koji", only to find that the two boys have switched clothing, and he's following the wrong one. Side Burn and Prowl quickly catch up with the real Koji and take him back to base to be told off by Optimus. Wedge suddenly calls in to report in panic that Koji has just been kidnapped by Sky-Byte—which Koji quickly realises means that the Predacons have Carl.
Sky-Byte's pride in having successfully done Galvatron's bidding is short-lived, as Scourge points out the captured boy is not actually Koji. Galvatron rages, but Scourge suggests that they should try having Carl attempt to control Fortress Maximus. Movor reports that Maximus is currently located in a forest in Sector Gamma Four, and it doesn't take long for the three evil-doers to arrive there with Carl and Cerebros. Carl is able to command Maximus to transform, and a tractor beam pulls him into Maximus's command centre. At Scourge's order, he makes Maximus punch a mountain, with devastating results.
T-AI manages to trace Maximus's location, and Optimus and the Autobot Brothers set out, with Koji managing to persuade Side Burn to take him along.
Carl finds controlling Maximus exhilarating and realises he can now help the Autobots by destroying the Decepticons. On the ground, Scourge orders Carl to destroy Galvatron and Sky-Byte, much to their respective fury and alarm. Galvatron transforms into "Iron Mammoth" mode and waits. As it turns out, Maximus refuses to obey the command, and stops short of crushing the pair underfoot.
The Autobots arrive and begin attacking Galvatron. Sky-Byte sees his chance to capture Koji, but Carl has Maximus grab the Predacon and toss him away. The giant expels Carl gently onto the ground, and he's reunited with his friend. A second attempt by Sky-Byte to capture Koji is foiled by the newly arrived Ultra Magnus. Omega Prime and the powered-up Autobot Brothers are soon seeing off Galvatron, but not before he disables Scourge and promises pain in the Decepticon's future. Fortress Maximus sinks into the ground once more.
Koji apologises to Carl for letting him get kidnapped, but Carl is just happy to have gotten the chance to command Maximus.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Predacons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes
Carl: Bet I could control it.
Jenny: Who'd do what you'd say?
- —Carl and Jenny will probably end up married someday.
Prowl: Hey! You don't bother kids on my watch.
Side Burn: In fact, you just don't do it at all!
- —The Autobots do not approve of bothering kids. Teleporting them into a desert is all good, though.
"In those clothes, he looked exactly like Koji."
- —Side Burn subtly brings the deficiencies of the character design to our attention.
Scourge: That is not Koji. You failed again!
Sky-Byte: Urrrghhh! I have no idea how this could've happened, sir. I was led astray!
Galvatron: You will pay for this!!
Sky-Byte: Would you... take a check?
Galvatron: Shut your mouth, fool. How'll you fix it? Tell me that.
Sky-Byte: Well, I still have the receipt, I could see about doing an exchange.
- —Sky-Byte attempts to dig himself out of a hole. Even by his standards, it's a poor effort.
"Pompous fool! I am here for Fortress Maximus. When I awoke from protoform stasis, I got more than you planned. I got a heavy dose of your ambition!"
- —Scourge demonstrates the overlooked pitfalls of cloning your spark when you're a ruthless, egotistical megalomaniac.
"Sir, you may not have noticed, but actually, he's just a little bit larger than you..."
- —Sky-Byte, on the other hand, is highly observant.
Galvatron: Sky-Byte, bring Scourge back to base. Don't hurt him... that's something I'm looking forward to.
- —Hell hath no fury like a jet-bat-dragon-hand-car-transport-griffin-mammoth-robot scorned.
Notes
Differences with Car Robots
- In Robots in Disguise, Koji is glum at the start of this episode because of the troubles he's having controlling Fortress Maximus. In Car Robots, however, he's glum because of the "scolding" his dad gave him in the Japanese version of "The Human Element" (though that's a harsh way of describing Onishi's firm but kindly-phrased words).
- Jenny has heard of Fortress Maximus in Robots in Disguise, but not in Car Robots (Carl has heard of him in both versions).
- When Jenny asks how Koji controlled Maximus, in Car Robots, the boy explains that the giant robot responds to the "heroic spirit of human children". In Robots in Disguise, this is replaced with gag-ish dialogue about how Maximus isn't a lawnmower that one drives, and that he responds to voice commands. Robots in Disguise does go a little further in describing the mental/spirital natural of the connection with Koji's next few lines, as he talks about how one has to "really concentrate" on what they want Maximus to do; in Car Robots, these lines involve Koji describing past instances where he and other human children controlled Maximus.
- When Carl talks about how he wants to control Maximus, Car Robots has him note that he should be able to do it because he's a human child. After Jenny jokes about it, Carl's clenched-fists-shouting-mouth routine is played as annoyance at her remarks in Robots in Disguise, while in Car Robots, he's having a little rant about how jealous he is that Koji gets to control Maximus.
- When the Autobots talk about how the Decepticons want Koji for his ability to control Maximus, in Robots in Disguise Koji points out that he doesn't know how he did it, while in Car Robots, he notes that he's not the only one who can do it (on the whole, the opening scene of Robots in Disguise seems to have forgotten about the climax of "The Human Element" and the other children who got involved, as any reference to anyone other than Koji controlling Maximus has been omitted, though it's probably not a deliberate thing).
- Robots in Disguise extends the scene of Galvatron, Scourge and Sky-Byte by adding a second close-up shot of Galvatron before Scourge starts outlining his plan.
- When Carl and Koji agree to swap outfits, Fortress Maximus is mentioned in different contexts depending on the version: in Car Robots, Carl thinks this stunt will give him a chance to control the giant, while in Robots in Disguise, he tells Koji he has to take him to see Maximus as a favour for going along with the switch.
- When Wedge radios the Autobot base, Robots in Disguise extends the shot of him reacting to the fact Koji's is safe, and the shot of Prime ordering the Build Team back to base.
- Robots in Disguise has Wedge give excuses for his inability to save "Koji" from Sky-Byte ("There was this huge traffic jam! And I'm not designed to chase flying sharks!"), while Car Robots has him simply explain that Sky-Byte flew off before Wedge (and the Build Team, presumably) could intervene.
- After Wedge signs off, a Car Robots scene transition is replaced with a Robots in Disguise one.
- When Galvatron bellows at Sky-Byte during the split-screen shot after they find out he's captured Carl instead of Koji, Robots in Disguise loops the footage a little so Galvatron's rant is a bit longer.
- While Galvatron remarks in Robots in Disguise that he is running out of patience with Scourge's theories, in Car Robots, he's puzzled at the notion Carl could control Maximus, which is what prompts Scourge to point out their similar age.
- Robots in Disguise shortens the scene of Maximus's emergence in the jungle by removing an oddly-timed dissolve from Car Robots, specifically from the top-down shot of him rising out of the ground to the shot of Movor's monitor. It compensates for the time lost by slightly extending the shot of Galvatron saying he wants to head out as well, just before the scene transition.
- After Carl looks up at Maximus and remember's Koji's words, Scourge's subsequent line of dialogue is an instruction to the boy in Robots in Disguise, but in Car Robots, he's calling out to Maximus, entreating him to activate in response to Carl.
- Right afterward, while looking terrified and thinking to himself, Car Robots sees Carl recall the events of "Sideburn's Obsession", when the Predacons took over Carl's dad's car-crushing facility. The reference is removed from Robots in Disguise; again, probably not a purposeful erasure, but just a case of the writers not being able to remember what was being referred to.
- Robots in Disguise goes to commercial break after Carl has Maximus punch the mountain; when it returns, it adds 7 extra seconds of footage to the scene of T-AI reporting to Optimus by adding some re-used footage to the start. In Car Robots, the scene starts when she turns back from the console.
- In a truly baffling bit of dialogue, Car Robots has Koji convince Side Burn to take him into the fight because this will allow Carl to operate Brave Maximus in front of him, which will make Koji humble, after his showing-off in the first scene. Robots in Disguise wisely takes this out and replaces it with Koji blaming himself for Carl being taken.
- When Side Burn goes back to base for Koji, a Car Robots scene transition is replaced with a Robots in Disguise one.
- While Scourge rants about stomping Galvatron and Sky-Byte into bits of metal in Robots in Disguise, in Car Robots, he's pointing out the irony of the situation, considering the impending stomp to be "repayment" for the evil Galvatron instilled in him. Sky-Byte's whimpers that they'd rather not have "this kind of repayment".
- When the Autobots emerge from the space bridge, Robots in Disguise adds Prowl and X-Brawn's transformation stock footage.
- The dialogue from Koji that follows Scourge blasting X-Brawn differs across the two shows: in Robots in Disguise, he's calling out to X-Brawn, but in Car Robots, he's calling to Carl.
- In a strange move, Robots in Disguise cuts out a shot of robot-mode Cerebros landing in front of Omega Prime, after Maximus disappears. With the removal of this shot, it's not particularly clear that the Autobots have finally obtained Cerebros, as he only appears again mostly hidden at the back of a group shot.
- Robots in Disguise cuts to commercial after Maximus disappears again, removing the dissolve that links this scene to the next in Car Robots.
- In the final scene of the episode, Car Robots features the Autobots driving through the "wireframe" version of the Global Space Bridge seen intermittently throughout the series. Oddly, for the first time since it debuted in "Landfill", Robots in Disguise finds it necessary to replace these visuals with footage from other episodes of the CGI version of the space bridge.
- Where Robots in Disguise has Koji tell Carl to leave things to the Autobots in the future, in Car Robots, he asks him not to brag about the fact he got to control the giant. The conversation between the two boys plays out over the final shot of the Autobots heading home, as Carl describes the inside of Maximus's command module, but in Robots in Disguise, this is replaced with Optimus telling the Autobots to roll.
Animation and technical errors
- When Sky-Byte dumps Carl on the ground in front of Galvatron, both his and Sky-Byte's shadows appear purple.
- At the start of the scene where Fortress Maximus transforms into robot mode, Galvatron is coloured as Megatron for a single shot.
Continuity errors
- Scourge appears ignorant of the fact that Fortress Maximus responds to any human biosignature, only realising the truth midway through this episode; apparently, he has totally forgotten that he already worked this out in "The Human Element", and had previously used the knowledge to control Fortress Maximus himself. This is true for the Car Robots version of the episode as well.
- In the previous episode, Maximus responded fairly well to Scourge until several bullet trains' worth of humans arrived on the scene. In the absence of Koji and a thousand other children, Scourge should, once again, be able to use his amplified signal to control Maximus, rather than taking the risk of bestowing Carl with the power to crush them all.
- Previously, entering the command center was a matter of getting the door to open and climbing in. Carl however was directly beamed in by Maximus.
Transformers references
- Fortress Maximus appears to be common knowledge among the humans (but then, he did stomp around in a major city and was then yelled at by one thousand small children, so...).
Trivia
- Koji's helmet has a "Y" on the back, which stands for his Japanese name, Yūki, whilst the "K" on Carl's stands for his Japanese name, Kenta, as well as his English one.
- Speaking of names, Scourge seems to have a bit of difficulty remembering Galvatron's. It can be hard to keep up sometimes...
- Wedge isn't designed to chase flying sharks. A completely understandable oversight.
- Judging from the bit of paper he holds up when he says it, it would appear that Sky-Byte genuinely does have a receipt for the child he kidnapped. Commerce works strangely in Metro City...
- With the series just a few episodes from ending, this one begins the rush to introduce Galvatron's new alternate modes. Here, we get the debut of the "Iron Mammoth" (the "Devil Elephant" in Car Robots), which Galvatron was going to use against Fortress Maximus, but didn't get to since Maximus stopped moving before Galvatron could use it. He then uses it to mostly stand around and do nothing for the rest of the episode (except spank Scourge with his trunk once). Yet apparently, he likes calling out “Iron Mammoth”, since he does it for every alt mode transformation for the rest of the series.
Foreign localization
Italian
- Title: "Scambio di persona" ("Person switch")
- Sky-Byte's line: "Is that right?" finishes too late, so you can see him still talking with his mouth closed.
- When Koji, pretending to be Carl, sneaks away from the Autobots, his sigh of relief is clearly voiced by Carl's actor. Man, Koji's disguise managed to trick not only the Autobots, but even the people who worked on the dub!
Portuguese
- Title: "Troca de Identidades" ("Change of Identities")
Home video releases
- DVD
2001 — Transformers: Car Robots — Vol. 9 (Pony Canyon) — Japanese audio only.
2005 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Three-Disc Box Set: Part 2 of 2 (Maximum Entertainment)
2007 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Season Two (Maximum Entertainment)
2007 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Ultimate Collection (Maximum Entertainment)
