The following contains spoilers for The Mandalorian Season 3, Episode 2, "The Mines of Mandalore," streaming now on Disney+.
Season 3 of The Mandalorian has given Din Djarin an important mission of redemption. Mando took off his helmet in the past, so he's been told by the Armorer to bathe in the Living Waters of Mandalore to make himself worthy of the Creed again. It's why Din tries to revive the IG-11 robot to help with this absolution, using some of Babu Frik's Anzellan tribe for assistance.
Thankfully, The Mandalorian doesn't delay this arc, having Din meet with Bo-Katan Kryze and quickly head off to Mandalore for the atonement bath. As Mando reaches his target, he runs into a world of trouble down in the ruins of the planet. And in the process, the series nods to a key skirmish with Scorponok from Michael Bay's Transformers, reminding fans how some robots have unique methods of surprise attacks.
Transformers Unleashed a Sandy Scorponok
In the first Transformers movie, Josh Duhamel's Captain Lennox and his platoon were ambushed in the deserts of Qatar. They knew something was hiding beneath the sand, stalking them like the shark in Jaws. It resulted in a horrific action sequence, revealing Scorponok. This invisible enemy was quite intimidating, giving the soldiers a run for their money with its machine tail and pincers.
What made the scene stand out was how the machine camouflaged itself in the sand. The iconic villain was trying to kill the humans as part of the plan to free Megatron. Come Revenge of the Fallen two years later, Scorponok would attack soldiers the same way in Egypt, but this time, Jetfire rallied and crushed its head. Still, Scorponok once more proved how much of an alpha predator it was, using the dunes and just about all elements of its dusty surrounding to sneak around.
The Mandalorian Has a Remixed Scorponok
The Mandalorian unleashes a similar bot to Scorponok when Din gets to the caverns beneath Mandalore. He and Baby Yoda sneak around, looking for the pool after Din beat up some Alamites. However, something emerges from beneath the sand, with the droid shell having a similar aesthetic to Scorponok.
The bot is a mix of an arachnid and a crab, trapping and kidnapping Din. It's so good at the stealth game, not to mention big and powerful, that Din has Grogu flee to find Bo-Katan so that she could help free his "dad." And like Scorponok, it's quick and deadly and has a high invulnerability factor. It's not until the General Grievous-like creature within comes out that the machine becomes susceptible. Thankfully, Bo-Katan uses the Darksaber to kill it, because unlike Transformers, which had bigger bots and missiles to fire at the enemy, Team Mando has to be careful, so they didn't bring the cave down on everyone and spoil Mando's rebirth.
New episodes of The Mandalorian premiere Wednesdays on Disney+.