Togetherness

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Two heads are not so better than one.
"Togetherness"
Season	2
No. in season	5
Production company	Hasbro Entertainment Nickelodeon
Airdate	June 7, 2024 (Paramount+) TBD 2024 (Nickelodeon)
Writer	Matt Wayne
Director	Vinton T. Heuck
Animation studio	88 Pictures
Watch this episode on Paramount+

Left behind by his siblings, Jawbreaker finds a new friend and sticks close to him.

Synopsis

In the wilderness outside Witwicky, Robby and Mo Malto race around in circles on Twitch and Thrash before crashing together. They're attempting to reproducing the "syncing" event that caused them to merge together, while being observed by Nightshade and Wheeljack who discuss the nature of syncing in comparison to regular combining. Nightshade believes there's an emotional component, which leads Mo to bring up Robby's crush on Izzy, and during their next attempt, they successfully sync. They only stay merged briefly before splitting apart right over a waterfall, but fortunately they're able to re-sync before they can plummet to the ground, and Nightshade and Wheeljack begin tailing them. Jawbreaker, who has also joined the party, attempts to keep up but is quickly left behind and instead stumbles on Aftermath searching through discarded barrels. Aftermath finally finds what he's after, and despite Jawbreaker's warnings, goes to take a big swig of contaminated energon. Jawbreaker knocks it from his hands, sending the energon flying. Aftermath collapses in need of energy, so Jawbreaker gives him some cave water before starting to lead him to the cave where the Terrans were born.

Unbeknownst to either of them, the contaminated energon has caused a mushroom to mutate, and once it devours a squirrel, it grows further and starts shadowing them. Jawbreaker's personality quickly rubs on Aftermath, who smashes a boulder over the other Terran's head, only to find it has no effect whatsoever. Aftermath continues to be antagonized by Jawbreaker's chatter but as Jawbreaker expresses sympathy for the chaos Terran's plight, suddenly the pair sync into a tow truck dinosaur hybrid. Aftermath is very dismayed. They attempt to switch to bot mode, only to end up as a merged two-headed robot. When Aftermath learns that they have maybe a couple of miles to walk to get to the cave, he attempts to split from Jawbreaker, which fails, and he ends up drinking the last of the cave water before the fused pair set off again, still unaware they're being tailed. As they go, Aftermath starts modifying signs and blasting flowers. Though Jawbreaker objects, he's soon getting into helping Aftermath create crop circles and carving their combiner name, J'BAM, into a boulder.

Back at the farm, the kids are getting the hang of cyber-syncing. As Wheeljack, Nightshade and Alex observe, it does take more energy, leaving Robby and Mo hungrier and Twitch and Thrash consuming more cave water.

J'BAM finally nears the cave, but Aftermath has had enough and renews his attempts to split from Jawbreaker. This is as unsuccessful as the previous tries, even when Jawbreaker attempts to use Aftermath's tow chain to simulate a cyber-sleeve. They're still struggling when a quintet of now-huge mutated mushrooms suddenly surround them. The pair manage to scramble out of the way as one of the mushrooms starts firing spores and spewing energon at them. A chase ensues. At the farm, Wheeljack gives a lecture on their findings as to what makes cyber-syncing possible, while in the woods, Jawbreaker and Aftermath find themselves being overwhelmed by the giant mutant mushrooms. Aftermath reluctantly lets Jawbreaker take control and they switch to vehicle mode, knocking down and smashing the mushrooms. When Aftermath finally realizes he can trust Jawbreaker, the pair finally split and the pair finish their journey to the cave.

Jawbreaker arrives back at the farm and informs the others that he cyber-synced with Aftermath, which throws a wrench in the theories they've come up with so far. As Alex discovers they've run out of cave water, they head back to the cave to restock only to find Aftermath has emptied it and left it dry. Jawbreaker is left feeling betrayed as Aftermath drives through the desert towing a water truck.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Do I LOOK like a mutated bear to you?"
"I mean, kinda!"

—Aftermath and Jawbreaker

"Is Starscream cool? He looks cool. It's a cool name and has scream in it. I bet he'd like me cause I'm tough. Oh, I bet I'd be his favorite-"
"GAH!" smashes boulder on Jawbreaker's head

—Jawbreaker makes friends with Aftermath.

"Hey, don't we need a combo name?"
"N. O. No."
"Uh, Jawmath? Afterbreak? Mathbreak? Oh! J.B. A.M. J'BAM!"
"Augh!"

—Jawbreaker and Aftermath collaborate on a name.

Notes

Continuity notes

• The original syncing and Robby's crush on Izzy occurred in "The Butterfly Effect", which this episode establishes was "the other day".
• The contaminated Energon and its mutating effects on organic life were seen in "Bear Necessities", though it wasn't identified as contaminated Energon at the time.

Transformers references

• Wheeljack mentions the Enigma of Combination, which Nightshade confirms is a physical object.
• In response to the successful cyber-sync, Wheeljack exclaims "holy heterodyne!", a phrase that was used back in "S.O.S. Dinobots". As a heterodyne is a frequency created by the combination of two other frequencies, it's even more appropriate here!

Real-world references

• Wheeljack believes that the cyber-syncing process involves oxytocin, a hormone involved in sexual activity which is common among vertebrate Earth species.

Errors

Trivia

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "Ensemble" ("Together")
• Original airdate: July 20, 2024

Brazilian Portuguese

• Title: "Juntos" ("Together")
• Original airdate: July 6, 2024