The Key to Vector Sigma, part 2

After an extremely brief re-cap of what happened in the first part, Optimus Prime starts the second part of by saying to Alpha Trion that they must try to build new robots out of the old transports they saw and soon all of the Autobots are busy helping to create Earth style jets out of all the spare parts around. Soon, a fleet of five new planes have been assembled.
 

These new Transformers are lifeless drones though unless they are taken to Vector Sigma, who can give them personalities of their own. Megatron has the activation key to Vector Sigma but Alpha Trion says that he just happens to have another one and when they all head back to the computer, Alpha Trion merges with it, despite Optimus' protests for him to do so.
 

Alpha Trion's lifeless body drops to the ground as Optimus tells the others that he must have merged with Vector Sigma, which has not activated. The super computer demands to know who has bought it back online and why, and Optimus answers saying that he was the one responsible and that he needs Vector Sigma to give life to the five Transformers they have built. As the process starts, the Autobots are not the only ones present, but they do not notice as Vector Sigma finishes the task it was give.
 

Silverbolt, Air Raid, Fireflight, Skydive and Slingshot transform from their jet modes to robots and introduce themselves to all of the other Autobots. Optimus Prime welcomes this new group, which he calls the Aerialbots, to the team, but then the voice of Alpha Trion can be heard from Vector Sigma, and he tells Optimus that Megatron still has the key and that he could use it to devastate the Earth. Optimus tells everyone that they are all heading back to the Earth immediately.
 

Meanwhile on Earth, the Stunticon's attack at the US army base has resulted in Megatron obtaining the formula to the superfuel that he was after, and the Decepticons head back to base. Shockwave then calls in telling Megatron that the Autobots have also created a bunch of new robots, but he also states that the key to Vector Sigma can be used as a weapon to destroy the Earth, so Megatron decides that they'll have to test it.
 

The Autobots get to the surface of Cybertron and find that some of the surviving Centurions have made up a small force to fight them, but the Aerialbots display their power be going on a spree of destruction and getting the other Autobots out of there and back up to Omega Supreme, who quickly transforms to rocket mode and takes off.
 

The Autobots arrive back on Earth but as Optimus starts to welcome the Aerialbots back to their new home, Omega suddenly tells them to get out of his as he's going to explode! They do so and within a few seconds Omega does blow up and fall apart. His parts are taken back inside the Autobot base where Ratchet begins to try and fix him although it's not looking good for his survival.
 

Optimus says that they still have other work to do for now so he leads a group out to the army base, but is immediately attacked. The army guys think that it was the Autobots who stole the superfuel formula, so Optimus tells the others to stay back for now, but most of the Aerialbots are not impressed by this, and consider the humans to be a bunch of morons.
 

The Stunticons then appear and knock all of the Autobots over the cliff, and as they return fire the humans at the army base realise that it wasn't actually the Autobots who attacked them earlier. As the sides battle, the Aerialbots see that the other Autobots can't seem to deal with this so it is up to them to straighten things out, and they transform and attack as the two special teams fight for the first time.
 

When Megatron finds out about this however he says that he gave no orders for the Stunticons to attack and gets them to retreat. As they head off back to where Megatron is, the Aerialbots think they're so great although Slingshot has a go at Silverbolt for not saving him earlier, but then he finds out that Silverbolt is scared of heights!
 

The Autobots then return back to base to find out if any more progress has been made with Omega Supreme, and whilst Ratchet has saved Omega's brain unit, they need to get the body back together as the machine supporting the brain unit will not last out forever. As the Aerialbots decide to go and check the base out, Optimus asks Silverbolt what happened earlier and Silverbolt admits that he's scared of heights as he was only a low-level cargo carrier back in the day on Cybertron. And so to help him overcome his fear, Optimus makes him leader of the Aerialbots because it will give him something else to worry about. I'm glad Optimus dies in the movie.
 

Meanwhile, the Aerialbots watch some TV and the silly soap opera they watch part of confirms their suspicion that humans are nothing but a waste of time, although Silverbolt tells them that they shouldn't judge them all so quickly. They ignore him though and then go off back to where Omega Supreme is being repaired and Slingshot thinks that the Autobots are also a waste of time, and they then decide to leave. Silverbolt promises Optimus that he'll get them to return.
 

Meanwhile, the Decepticons are conducting tests on the key to Vector Sigma to try and figure out how they can actually use it to do terrible things, and Soundwave then falls over and drops it. But this does the usual cartoon cliché of activating it and turning the part of the ground where it landed into metal. Megatron then sees that the key has the power to turn organic life to just cold, hard metal and with this power he could turn the Earth into a new Cybertron, so he begins his quest.
 

Teletraan-1 finds out about it soon enough and the Autobots have got no option but to try and stop him, but with Omega Supreme down, the Aerialbots gone and Megatron having these new Stunticons, Optimus knows that they'll just have to give it a shot anyway and he leads out a team. Meanwhile, most of the Aerialbots hate the Earth and want to go back to Cybertron, and they also think that they are so much better than the other Autobots. But Silverbolt plays along and tells the others that if they are so much better, then they should take over and be the guys in charge of the entire side.
 

At the Autobot HQ, Silverbolt tells the others that whilst they could take over, the would still always be hunted down by the Decepticons. Slingshot still isn't convinced until Silverbolt takes him and the others back to Omega Supreme, and they see that Ratchet is nearly out of energy so he heads off to re-charge, but Sparkplug remains working. The Aerialbots wonder where Sparkplug gets his energy from and Silverbolt tells them that it is his concern for another than keeps him going. This finally twigs with the Aerialbots who head off to fight the Decepticons.
 

With Optimus' assault going badly anyway, the Aerialbots arrive just in time to take on the Stunticons. As they battle, Megatron suddenly stops them and tells Optimus that his cars have a secret that will rip his puny planes to pieces, and he then tells the Stunticons to unite. They all transform together to form a massive robot called Menasor.
 

But Optimus says that the Aerialbots have also got a secret as they transform and unite into Superion, who tackles Menasor and then throws him off a cliff. Before the Decepticon gestalt can really get a chance to fight back, Omega Supreme runs into the battlefield and helps Superion lift up Menasor and throw him again.
 

Megatron sees that the Autobots have now got the advantage so he tells Menasor to disengage as they all retreat, but as Superion also disengages, Silverbolt notices that Megatron still has the key to Vector Sigma and goes after him. As Megatron goes higher and higher, Silverbolt does and crashes into him, causing him to drop the key.
 

Silverbolt then transforms and as he falls he keeps shooting, eventually hitting the key and destroying it for good. He hasn't got time to change back to jet mode before he lands but Slingshot saves him from going squish and the destruction of the key results in the parts of the country Megatron turned to metal changing back to normal. The Aerialbots apologise to the others for being such jerks earlier as they all agree to head back to base, although Silverbolt says he'd rather walk home.

The original title for this episode was "Fury of the Aerialbots".

Quite strange how Omega explodes for no reason when he lands on Earth isn't it? Once again, this relates to a scripted scene that was never animated which involved another deleted scene from the first part, where Omega fought Shockwave. What was meant to happen after the battle between the two was for Omega to run off and start to repair himself, but can only do a rudimentary job, and he says that his chance of survival are "highly improbable" but he takes the Autobots back to Earth regardless, and that journey is what causes him to explode.

Another scene that changed drastically from the original script was the part where Silverbolt shows the others that Sparkplug is still working on restoring Omega. In the original script, Sparkplug yells at the Aerialbots for being jerks and that Omega sacrificed himself for them, and that they owe the Autobots their lives.

Want some interesting Menasor trivia? His original animation model was actually quite different. The limbs were all in different positions from the one used in the series, and, either due to a mistake or a last minute change, it featured an Autobot logo on Menasor! This alternative model sheet was actually used, however.

You can see it in the old TV commercials for the Aerialbot and Stunticon toys, like this one.

Superion and Menasor bother have really, really terrible voices in this episode. You can barely even tell what Menasor tries to say (thankfully he only gets one line) and Superion has this slightly ridiculous Dinobot-like voice when he first talks, and then an even higher pitched voice when he says "Omega!". Thankfully their voices change in later episodes.