Mandroid makes his move, and he’s got some surprising backup. Outnumbered, outgunned and outfought, the Autobots find help where they least expect it and the Malto family gets a lot bigger.

This is a hell of a mid-season finale. Everyone’s back on the table (aside from the two Decepticon luminaries we glimpsed at the end of the previous episode but they’re patient. Well, one of them is…) and nothing is held back as Mandroid makes a play for the next stage of his evolution and chooses Megatron as his unlucky victim. Worse still for everyone’s favourite reformed war criminal, Megatron is also bait for Prime. And so is Dot Malto.

The family are at the core of the action in every sense this episode. Benni Latham’s Dot gets a chance to shine over and over and establishes herself as the moral core of the show. She’s also the most competent action leads the franchise has had in years and the show, yet again, combines this with its emotional aspect to fantastic effect. JonHon Briones continues to do brilliant work as Alex and gets comedy and pathos in equal turn from how much Alex misses his wife. The Maltos are goofy for each other in the sweetest of ways and the emotional punch of Dot using purple smoke to signal to Alex, because it’s his favourite colour, is so well done.

The other family aspect that works brilliantly here is the introduction of the new Terrans. We get some extra lore (and some hints of Clancy Brown’s upcoming character) and we also get Hashtag (voiced by Stephanie Lemelin), Jawbreaker (voiced by Cyrus Arnold)  and Nightshade (voiced by Z Infante). All three are fun but the standouts are the massive and sweet-natured Jawbreaker (named after Mo’s favourite candy) and Nightshade, the first non binary transformer we’ve met on any incarnation of the show. They’re sweet and kind and forthright and the moment where Mo explains about pronouns and Optimus Prime instantly corrects himself and uses the correct ones is a textbook example of how to explore identity with kindness and courtesy.

The heart of this show is always big but this time the action is bigger. Not only do Prime, Bee and the Terrans do the ‘We found him on the perimeter!’ trick with some adorable stick-on Decepticon badges but there’s also a near-episode long fight with Mandroid, his Seekers Sky Warp and Nova Storm (both voiced with glorious evilness by Dubuc) and his army of Arcachnabots. It’s massive in scope and includes some smart hints about the future (namely that Mandroid and Dot may have served together) and some jaw-dropping action. Mandroid’s entire factory is a warsuit and when it stands up, the characters are all ejected. We go with them, in freefall, as Megatron transforms around Dot to save her, Prime grabs the others, grabs Megatron and hits a rolling landing. It’s so well done, yet again placing family at the core of the action and subtly reinforcing what a great team Prime and Megatron are.

That’s built on in the final act as the family work together to take the cameras on the factory-bot out and the Autobots stage a near impossible attack led by Twitch. Even here there are character moments and Megatron’s genuine concern for the rookie flyer (who’s about the size of his forearm) is really sweet. Plus the action is phenomenally well-handled.

By the end of the episode, Mandroid is dealt with for now and the family are bigger and back together. It’s a great note to end the half season on.

Verdict: EarthSpark closes this first run as one of the best, most inclusive and kindest iterations of Transformers to date. The second half of the season can’t get here fast enough. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart