More...Much More Than Meets The Eye!
It is a world transformed...where things are not as they seem...

War Dawn

Written by David Wise

Synopsis by Shwiggie

     The Arielbots are in pursuit of the Decepticon jets, who have kidnapped a number of Earth's human leaders. Even though the majority of the Arielbots don't care about the kidnapped humans, they shoot down Skywarp and Thundercracker, forcing Starscream to jettison the people in order to allow their escape. The Arielbots then save the humans while the Decepticons get away.

     Following the battle, the Arielbots are espousing their admiration of the Decepticons and are rebuked by Ratchet, Ironhide and Optimus Prime, who comments that the Arielbots hadn't been fighting long enough to see what the Decepticons were really like. Teletran I breaks into the discussion, reporting strange energy readings from Cybertron. The Autobots then board Omega Supreme and travel to Cybertron.

     While the Decepticon Jets repair themselves, Megatron rails on them for losing to the Arielbots and laments over his failing air supremacy. Soundwave interrupts the conversation, reporting that the Autobots have left for Cybertron. Megatron remarks that they must have detected his new device called the Chronosphere. After determining that the Arielbots are accompanying the Autobots, Megatron begins to set a trap and commands that they activate the Space Bridge.

     Upon their arrival, Starscream inquires about the Chronosphere. Megatron reveals that it's a time machine with which he plans to steal energy from Cybertron's past, but that he'll use it against the Arielbots as well. As this occurs, Omega Supreme lands on Cybertron, and shuts down to save energy. Prime leads the Autobots in a search for the weird energy. During the search, several of the Arielbots question the Autobot's reasons for living on Earth and start thinking that the Decepticons are right. However, their leader, Silverbolt, won't allow such dissention and quashes it.

     Suddenly, the Decepticon jets attack! However, the four dissenting Arielbots stop and try to talk to the Decepticons. After Starscream successfully deceives the Arielbots, Silverbolt alerts Optimus, who surmises that it's a trap. Sure enough, the Decepticons lead them to the Chronosphere, and Megatron triggers it to send them to the beginning of time. But, the other Autobots interrupt the Decepticon's plans. Despite stiff resistance on the part of the Decepticons, Optimus Prime is able to stop the device before it completes it's work and causes the Arielbots to fall out of the time warp prematurely.

     The Autobots chase off the Decepticons and discern that the Arielbots have traveled nine million years in the past, during the Cybertronian Golden Age. They immediately begin rebuilding the machine to bring the Arielbots back to the present. At this time, the Arielbots are touring the ancient Cybertron when they meet a young Cybertronian named Orion Pax. They follow him to a warehouse where the ancient Transformers are unloading crates. The Arielbots are introduced to Orion's friends, Dion and Ariel.

     During the introductions, some new flying robots fly by, but the Arielbots recognize them: it's Megatron, Shockwave, and Soundwave; the Decepticons! However, they realize that the Decepticons in the past don't recognize them, for they haven't been built yet in this time. The young Cybertronians are awestruck by the impressive new robots, and can't believe they are responsible for some of the things they've heard of.

     Megatron introduces himself to Orion, asking to store his wares at his storage facility. In the course of conversation, Megatron asks him what they stored there. When he finds out that they store energy, he commands his troops to attack and take over the warehouse at once! Before the Arielbots can find out what is going on and help, Orion, Ariel, and Dion are deactivated by Megatron, who has left the scene.

     In the present, the Decepticons make plans on recapturing the Chronosphere. Shockwave discovers an old, headless Guardian robot (droids that served as city protectors in ancient Cybertron), which the Decepticons immediately begin to reconstruct to use against the Autobots. Prime and his crew continue to work on the time machine.

     Back in the past, the Arielbots look for someone to repair Orion Pax, and find a Cybertronian who is building new robots to combat the Decepticon threat. He decides to totally rebuild Orion in order to save him, and when he is done, he reveals Orion Pax's new form: Optimus Prime! The new Optimus Prime and the Arielbots go to battle the Decepticons, while the Cybertronian considers how to rebuild Ariel and settles on the name, "Elita-1".

     Meanwhile the Decepticons of the past are battling the Guardian robots. Out of nowhere, Megatron is confronted by a Transformer he's never seen before; Optimus Prime. Megatron cannot shoot him down, and Optimus decimates the Decepticon forces. The Arielbots then notice the Decepticon carriers moving toward the energy warehouse, and resolve to stop them.

     Meanwhile, Optimus and his present band of Autobots finish rebuilding the Chronosphere, but are attacked by Megatron's forces and the reanimated Guardian. Two minutes remain until the Arielbots are returned.

     The Arielbots collect energy packs to blow up the warehouse, but aren't able to escape while the Decepticons block the exit. As the warehouse explodes, the Arielbots are recalled by the Chronosphere. Upon their return, they find themselves in the middle of the present day battle with the Guardian. They transform into Superion and battle the Guardian hand to hand and defeat it, resulting in Megatron's retreat.

     After producing some energy packs they obtained from the past for Omega Supreme, the Arielbots relate some of what they experienced to Optimus Prime, who was astonished to remember their interaction nine million years ago. Prime begins to tell the story of what happened and the episode ends.

     There are several points to notice about this episode of the Transformers saga:

1. The Arielbots were very new characters, only having been created in "The Key to Vector Sigma, Pt. 2; therefore, their naivete is very apparent. It is also apparent why Optimus chose Silverbolt as their leader; he's very much more level-headed and loyal than his brothers.
2. The mysterious Cybertronian that rebuilt Orion Pax into Optimus Prime was none other than Alpha Trion. His second creation, Ariel/Elita-1, makes an appearance in "The Search for Alpha Trion".
3. While it is open to conjecture, it is a widely held belief among Transfans that after Dion was deactivated that Alpha Trion rebuilt him as well as Ariel. He is believed to have become Ironhide, although there are some that think he became Ultra Magnus.
4. At the end, the Arielbots have energy packs to repower Omega Supreme in order to get back to Earth. When they blew up the warehouse, A) they didn't know they would be recalled, and B) they were not planning to survive. Therefore, why did this happen? *hint: plot hole*