By Katori watches an old samurai movie and starts mimicking their speech, which scares off Champ. Kenta arrives and tells Katori that people no longer talk like that, and switches the TV to a news channel to better let him learn their language. The newscaster announces that several heads of state will be holding a summit on the Queen Mary 5, a luxury liner which just arrived in Tokyo. In the lab, Hiroshi is tinkering with a new invention when he hears someone talking. Suspecting an intruder, everyone heads inside the rescue vehicle hangar. They find the voice coming from the armored tank, which Katori identifies as one of his friends. The tank apologizes for scaring them and reveals that it and Katori are part of the Space Police Force which chased Draias here to Earth. Hiroshi asks if they have other friends and Katori replies that there are others outside the lab. Hiroshi then decides to name the tank Ace Baron, which the latter reluctantly accepts. Down in Jango’s lair, Shura and Zol apologize to Draias for failing due to Fighbird‘s interference. Jango wonders who Fighbird is and why he’s getting in their way. Shura explains that he’s part of the Space Police Force and Draias tells him not to worry. Jango decides to proceed with the next plan which will terrorize the world leaders and ensure their conquest of Earth. Hiroshi reveals his latest invention: A time control device which stops any surrounding machinery to prevent industrial accidents. He tries to test it on a table saw but instead stops his grandfather clock. The minus energy detector goes off and Katori suspects that the summit is in danger. A giant mechanical lobster emerges from the sea and attacks the Queen Mary 5. Satsuda and news reporter Momoko Yamasaki try to get closer but are knocked back by the shaking. Shura and Zol disembark from the monster and easily get past Satsuda and the police guards. They barge into the summit room and have their Teshita robot soldiers hold the world leaders at gunpoint. Shura announces that they are messengers of Draias and demands that the rights to rule the planet be handed over to them. When the ministers protest, he places a bomb on the table. Over at the Amano Peace Labs, everyone catches the news report about the summit and Katori decides to take off. Kenta accompanies him despite Haruka’s protest and the two launch in the Baron team’s combined jet form.
The ministers refuse to hand Draias the world, so Shura sets the bomb to explode after five minutes. Satsuda tries to barge in from the adjacent room but the police chief warns him that any recklessness might cost them the hostages. The Baron team arrives underwater and separates. Katori and Kenta take the submarine Aqua Baron to rescue the hostages while the rest standby in robot mode. Momoko tries to get closer to the summit room but the police stop her. Katori and Kenta run past and the former overhears Shura saying that he forgot how to disable the bomb. Katori runs into the summit room and tussles with Shura and Zol. The ministers try to disarm the bomb but are unable to detach it from the table. Katori rips off the bomb and runs with it to the deck while dragging Zol with him. Kenta tells Hiroshi to use his time control device to temporarily freeze the bomb before it explodes. On the deck, Shura tries to attack Katori with the monster and the latter orders the Baron team to attack. Ace Baron combines with the other Baron machines to form the giant robot Thunder Baron! Thunder Baron tackles the monster and the two grapple while Hiroshi prepares the time control device. He turns it on and manages to stop the bomb just when it was two seconds shy of detonating, allowing Katori to throw it overboard where it explodes harmlessly. Thunder Baron attacks the monster with his Thunder Cannon, forcing Shura to jettison its jet pack to use as a fighter craft. Zol tries to ram the Queen Mary 5 with the lobster part but Katori summons the Fire Jet and combines with it into Fighbird. Fighbird kicks Zol away then uses the Flame Sword to reflect his blasts back at him. Thunder Baron hits Shura with his rocket punch and the latter recombines with Zol. They attack Fighbird with a barrage of shots but the latter blocks them with his Flame Barrier. Fighbird destroys the monster and Shura and Zol fly away in escape pods. The police chief orders Satsuda to find out the identities of the robots and Momoko spots Kenta getting on the Fire Jet and leaving with the Baron team.
This episode introduces us to the first of Fighbird’s support combiner teams as well as nosy reporter Momoko. In an interesting homage to Thunderbirds and the 2086 anime that it inspired, all five Baron team vehicles are numbered and combine into one large vehicle. Thunder Baron himself looks impressive enough to star in his own show. Shura and Zol personally get into combat for the first time and suffer the first of many defeats and subsequent use of many a super robot show villain’s staple tool: The escape craft. Another first also is Hiroshi’s potentially useful inventions backfiring horribly. Aside from that, there wasn’t much else in terms of plot advancement. For the remainder of the series, I won’t be mentioning Fighbird’s combination with the Flame Breaster or him charging up his sword because that practically happens every episode.
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