Head On!! Fortress Maximus

« Transformers: The Headmasters ep 13 »
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"Head On!! Fortress Maximus" ヘッドオン!! フォートレスマキシマス ()
Production company	Takara, Toei
Airdate	October 2, 1987
Writer	Yoshihisa Araki
Director	Katsutoshi Sasaki
Animation studio	Toei
Continuity	Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

Fortress must reveal his ultimate transformation when the Decepticons attack San Francisco with a carnivorous plant.

Synopsis

"Bring Your Plant To Work" day goes tragically wrong.

The lack of recent Decepticon activity has Chromedome and the Headmasters restless and eager to hunt the villains down. Fortress warns them to cool off, pointing out that there's no reason to go looking for trouble during such a rare moment of peace.

Such peace, of course, does not last long, as, down on Earth, an office building in San Francisco is suddenly and violently overwhelmed by a rapidly-growing alien plant that bursts through the ground beneath it. Local authorities open fire on the plant as it attempts to devour the citizenry, and Ultra Magnus scrambles the Aerialbots, Technobots and Trainbots to help. An Autobot response has been anticipated by the authors of the event, however—Bruticus and Menasor lie in wait and spring an attack on the teams as they arrive on the scene. As Ultra Magnus calls upon the Headmasters for aid, Soundblaster reports to Scorponok on Chaar that another of his plans to divert Autobot attention to Earth has succeeded. With Fortress having identified the plant as the buridanka species from the planet Darhos, the Headmasters enter the fray on Earth. As they wrestle with the plant, and clash with the Decepticon Headmasters, the vicious vegetable uproots itself, becoming mobile!

"We're not home! Come back later!"

Meanwhile, on Athenia, Daniel is in the botanical gardens, tending to the seeds of a plant he brought from Earth, which have not yet sprouted. He soon discovers, however, that the Decepticons have replaced his seeds with those of the carnivorous plant, as it blooms with terrifying speed and attacks him and Wheelie. Daniel calls upon his father for help, and when Spike sees the monstrous plant, he has Arcee help him identify it via the base computers. Spike realises that the Decepticons have used Daniel to bring the plant to Athenia, just as it uproots itself and attacks the base.

"I'm just a mean green mot...OW!"

As the situation worsens back on Earth, Fortress receives the report from Athenia just as Battleship Maximus becomes entwined in the still-growing plant's tendrils. As Scorponok celebrates the success of his plan for vengeance over Fortress, Fortress realises that he has no options left—he must unleash the power of the Master Sword. Reaching beneath his control console, he seizes the hilt of the weapon, only to find that it will not unsheathe, until the cries of the helpless Headmasters below ring out and he successfully draws the blade. Its energies course through Battleship Maximus, blasting the plant free, but this is only a fraction of the sword's power—to the shock of all onlookers, even Scorponok, Battleship Maximus ascends into space, and reveals itself to be a colossal Transtector by transforming into robot mode. Assuming head mode, Fortress connects to Battleship Maximus, forming the colossal Fortress Maximus! With a huge version of the Master Sword forming in his hand, Fortress Maximus makes salad out of the buridanka in seconds, causing a chain reaction that destroys the plant menacing Athenia. As the Headmasters marvel at their commander's surprising new transformation, Scorponok prepares to destroy him with his own secret weapon, and the Headmasters head back to Athenia.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Now watch, a men-eating flower than can dance!"

—Weirdwolf is weird.

Notes

Continuity notes

• Fortress's "head mode" was previously seen in "Rebellion on Planet Beast" and "The Shadow Emperor, Scorponok". Its true purpose is revealed in this episode. Given the surprise expressed by the Autobot Headmasters, despite the fact they were aware of his big head alternate mode, they apparently never stopped to ask their leader what was up with that.

Animation and technical errors

• Daniel is so excited by his plant sprouting that he completely disappears for a couple of frames.
• When Battleship Maximus is smashed to the ground by the plant, Fortress is shown falling over inside his ship, and his chest Autobot insignia is missing.
• The Autobot insignia on Fortress Maximus's chest is missing its "jaw" during his transformation sequence. As this becomes stock footage for future transformations, the error repeats throughout the series.

Continuity errors

• The Headmasters are cruising around space, bored and wanting something to do. Hey, why not go check out that mysterious planet you saw the Decepticons guarding and sending energy to two episodes ago and haven't mentioned since?
• Despite the fact he's seen it brush off Wheelie with no trouble, Daniel decides to later attack the man-eating plant again, alone, with nothing more than a stick. There is a point at which characters become too stupid to live.

Trivia

• Why Fortress is unable to draw the Master Sword at first is not explained in this episode. The situation repeats itself in the next episode, where the answer is given—to use the sword's power, his physical and mental energies must be in complete harmony. In the next episode, a cry for help from Chromedome is what galvanizes Fortress, synchronizing his energies — presumably, then, it is the calls for help from the Headmasters in this episode that allow him to draw the sword after his first failure.
• We're not told how exactly the Decepticons got the alien seeds into Daniel's packet. One can only assume some poor, early G1 third-stringer was forced to go undercover and run a flower shop on the off-chance Daniel stopped by.
• It sure looks like there was some actual human deaths among the helicopter and ground police.
• Raiden and Bruticus pull blades of their own out of nowhere for an impromptu laser sword duel somewhere in the general mayhem. This would go on to inspire the "Light Sword" accessory included with Raiden's MPG toy some thirty years later.
• The human helicopters which attack the plant are of a design used extensively—in police and other decos—for the Inhumanoids cartoon the previous year.

Foreign localization

English

• Title: "Fortress Maximus's Gigantic New Being!" (Omni Productions dub)
• Original airdate: October 11, 1992

• Title: "Head On! Fortress Maximus" (Shout! Factory sub)

• Fortress ("Cerebros" in the subtitles) bizarrely asks "What's that?" when confronted with the Master Sword. A better translation would have been "That...?"
• Likewise, Soundblaster is apparently surprised at the existence of the carnivorous plant after it explodes. The original dialogue actually has him express surprise that it is destroyed.
• The plant's name, "buridanka", is completely omitted from the subtitles, with the vegetation only being referred to as "carnivorous plant".

Italian

• Title: "La potenza segreta di Fortress Maximus" ("Fortress Maximus's secret power")

Mandarin

• Title: "Sàkè Jùrén duì Jùwúbà Fútè " (萨克巨人对巨无霸福特, "Scorponok vs. Fortress Maximus")
• Original airdate: ?

Russian

• Title: "Krepysh Maximus Obretayet Novouyu Silou" (Крепыш Максимус обретает новую силу, "Fortress Maximus Becomes More Strong")
• Original airdate: ?

Home video releases

LaserDisc

1996 — Transformers: The Headmasters Set (Takara) — Japanese audio only.

DVD

2002 — Transformers: The Headmasters — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2005 — The Takara Collection Vol 1 — Transformers: Headmasters (Metrodome)
2007 — Transformers — The Complete Takara Collection (Metrodome)
2007 — The Transformers: Headmasters (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — The Transformers: Japan Generation 1 — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)
2011 — Transformers Japanese Collection: Headmasters (Shout! Factory) — Japanese audio with optional English subtitles only.
2012 — Transformers: The Japanese Collection (Shout! Factory) — Japanese audio with optional English subtitles only.