The Five Faces of Darkness, part 5

The Quintessons monitor the fight and gloat to themselves how they won't even need twenty four hours for Cybertron to be rid of their rebellious creations, while the Autobots attempt to cope with their knocked out defence systems amidst the chaos and all. Over on Earth, Trypticon moves towards the Ark...
 

Powerglide attempts to fend off the Decepticon city, but I think that statement alone shows what a ridiculous plan that is, so the other Minibots roll out to assist by sitting in a valley and shooting at it as it passes over them. This damages it's underbelly, giving them the false hope that they're actually useful, only for it to form it's dinosaur mode and make them realise that alerting Autobot City, or Metroplex of this would be a good idea.
 

But since Wheelie and Blurr are stranded on Io with the transformation cog, this leaves the big lug in a sticky situation, unable to contact Cybertron either, so Blaster calls for Sky Lynx to head over to Io and collect that cog. The Quintessons interrupt the transmission to thank him for being told of the cog's whereabouts, and claim that Sky Lynx won't fare too well against the Predacons before resuming regular activity.

Sky Lynx is alerted of this but thinks little of it, while Wheelie has the cog knocked out of his hand by one of the bat things. The Minibots on Earth are left no choice but to move their last stand by the Ark with the intention of holding Trypticon off until the cog is delivered to Metroplex.
 

Needless to say, that's easier said than done.

With no one to protect the Ark, Warpath commands Teletraan-1 to activate it's defences, which actually manage to stop the dinosaur Decepticon for a few moments, but it manages to resist long enough to claw the volcano mounted guns, the only defences it had, and lasers what's left into molten rubble with nothing left to salvage. After twenty two years of service on Earth, Teletraan-1 and the Ark are destroyed in one fell swoop, and if the transformation cog isn't delivered soon, Metroplex may not live long enough to be commended for anything.

Over on Cybertron, Ultra Magnus is hounded by just about every Decepticon there is, though he does manage to give Ramjet and Dirge some mighty swell fists to their nosecones that send them crashing and burning. Galvatron shows up to duel with him, but they really only manage to shoot at each other once before the emperor of destruction claims he has better things to do.

After a confusing sequence with one of the Sweeps spinning out and crashing into everyone else, Blitzwing is commanded to return to the Quintesson ship for a status report, though he instead manages to catch a briefing for the Sharkticons, who are to lead the Decepticons to their doom under the belief that they're leading them to the Decepticon Matrix of Leadership (which doesn't exist). A final message to them involves a command to hit a switch that will turn all the Transformers inert, a fact that Blitzwing needs to relay to Galvatron!

Back on Io, Sky Lynx arrives and shoos off the red monster things while dropping his lynx carriage to let his comrades board, though five fireballs crash on the moon and encircle them, revealing themselves to be the Predacons! They set about attacking their enemies, but really just prove how terrible they are, falling victim to the dreaded tactic of their target moving out of the way so they run into one of their own. The Predacons suck.
 

On the contrary, Predaking doesn't suck, which is what the five members form into, and he and Sky Lynx proceed to exchange unpleasant vibes, undergoing the act of violent misconduct and general unfriendliness. Or in a nutshell, kicking each others' asses, but in the end all the flying Autobot needs to do is tug on his head and they all fall apart. A few more laser shots send the Decepticons packing, while the heroes board him to return to Metroplex with the cog in hand.
 

Trypticon arrives before Metroplex, who still can't transform without the cog, but he can still unleash some cannons and lasers in his city mode. This isn't enough to fend him off, much to Blaster's sudden realisation, but Sky Lynx arrives just in time, only to be shot down.

He manages to make a safe landing though with the news that his passengers will need to make it to Metroplex on foot, with the Constructicons, Combaticons, Trypticon, Laserbeak and Ramjet all after them. This, ultimately, just means that it results in one of those "the enemies want this item but we'll just be throwing it to each other for two minutes to keep it away from them and make it safely" moments.

With the help of Sky Lynx's lynx component, they manage to make it past all the forces and into Metroplex, but it needs to be installed before Trypticon turns them into burnt-out toaster ovens. Back on Cybertron, Blitzwing arrives before Galvatron and tells him that the Decepticon Matrix is just a load of baloney and salami, but Galvatron just punches him in the face and mocks him with "tell it to the Autobots!"

And that he does, begging Rodimus and Kup not to shoot him while telling him what the Quintessons and Sharkticons are really up to. Back on Earth, the transformation cog is installed with perfect timing, allowing Metroplex to grab Trypticon and toss him aside as he turns into robot mode. After the usual "this place is too small for the both of us" banter, they start the clobbering.

The battle is quickly shifted to a nearby human city, which is conveniently evacuated for the two to start duelling and wrestling, but they don't bother staying there long either before Metroplex lifts Trypticon and gives him a mighty throw, flinging him across several mountains, down a few cliffs and finally into the ocean, where the Decepticon city struggles for no more than a second before sinking.

Metroplex is naturally pretty chuffed with this accomplishment.

Rodimus, Blitzwing and Spike dash into the chamber of Cybertron where the kill switch is and finish off the Sharkticons in no time at all, but they have little time to celebrate before Galvatron enters, believing Blitzwing to have lied to him and be searching for the Matrix himself, and pulls the switch to spite him.

This disables Transformers across the galaxy, freezing them on the spot and leaving nearby citizens rather confused and under the assumption that no matter how fancy or high-tech they are, they'll still go the way of that old fridge. The Quintessons exit their ship and relish in the moment of reclaiming their home planet without those pesky robots getting in the way...

Only for Spike to take Rodimus' gun and blast the switch, negating it's effects and allowing Galvatron to chase after the five-faced f-word-ers, but they exit in an escape pod before he can mangle them. He and Rodimus aim their weapons at each other, though Blitzwing points his at his leader and tells him that the war is over for today. The Decepticon leader accepts and calls for his troops to retreat, but banishes Blitzwing from the Decepticon forces, never to return again.

An uneasy victory for the Autobots, Rodimus concludes with a speech, now with the knowledge that there is a third party in their war that wants nothing more than either side's complete destruction, and is more than happy to take advantage of their creations to assist in that task.

Although the original script for the movie aimed for Cyclonus to have several clones, much like Scourge and the Sweeps, this is really the only episode to do that almost consistently, showing tons of them before Ultra Magnus faces off against Galvatron and more at the end of the episode when the Decepticons leave.

The Insecticons are shown among a blockade of Decepticons on Earth, even though I've said it a million times that they should be dead.

The front view shows two Shrapnels and one Bombshell and Kickback, while the back view replaces the sole clone with Soundwave.

My obligatory pointing out of errors include Bumblebee appearing on Cybertron even though he's already on Earth, Blitzwing gaining an Autobot symbol conveniently when Rodimus asks him if he would consider changing sides...

And how Io is no longer consistently an ice-like place now but keeps changing terrain between just about every cut.

One minute it's rocky and space-like, the next with creepy purple ground and a space sky, and then it's ice-like with blue skies like it was originally. Wild!