The Need for Speed

« Transformers: Rescue Bots ep 98 »
In Aligned, it's traditional that when two Autobots meet, one assumes the other is a Decepticon.
"The Need for Speed"
Season	4
No. in season	20
Production company	Hasbro Studios
Airdate	August 22, 2016 (UK) September 10, 2016 (US)
Writer	Mairghread Scott
Director	Patrick Archibald
Animation studio	DHX Media Top Draw Animation
Watch this episode on YouTube

A mysterious criminal and unexpected visitor challenge Blurr's future as a Rescue Bot.

Synopsis

"Yes I know I only have four fingers, don't rub it in!"

Blurr races around the model racetrack in the training center, narrating his own imaginary race, however he's stopped short of the finishing line by Heatwave, who tells him there's an emergency and only he and Blurr are available to respond. The pair head to the GroundBridge, though over-excited Blurr speeds through. They head to coordinates provided by Cody and find Kade standing surrounded by green sludge. Blurr charges in, skids in the substance and ends up showering Kade with it. Fortunately it's just Doc Greene's self-replicating cake frosting, as Heatwave reveals the whole thing was a training exercise. Blurr is upset that the others still think he needs training, and takes off when Heatwave suggests they review his performance.

"What's this, then? 'Romanes eunt domus'? People called Romanes, they go, the house?"

Racing through town, he almost takes out Mrs. Neederlander, but while he's sitting there feeling sorry for himself, he suddenly notices Cybertronian graffiti on a nearby billboard. It doesn't take long to find the culprit, a Cyclone Mini-Con which Blurr assumes is another test. He takes off in pursuit and calls it in to Cody, who alerts the rest of the team. The others converge in the park, where the human team members start setting up a perimeter to keep the townsfolk out. The Bots attempt to grab the Mini-Con, but it proves too tricky for them to catch, even when they temporarily corner it in a pipe. Meanwhile Jerry accidentally breaks through the perimeter and his cargo of gas canisters spills. Moments later the Mini-Con crashes into his truck and the street is littered with leaking canisters of nitrous oxide, which result in some laughing humans and some confused Bots. Boulder buries the canisters.

"Look, four is a perfectly acceptable number of fingers where we come from! Will you just drop it?!"

Meanwhile Blurr chases the Mini-Con into the countryside, where he's suddenly joined by a red sports car. His annoyance at having to deal with a civilian turns to surprise when the sports car turns out to be an Autobot. Sideswipe's attempt to catch Bounce halts when he spots Blurr and assumes the other Bot is a Decepticon and attacks. While Bounce escapes, Blurr tries frantically to explain he's an Autobot, but it's only when the rest of the team arrives that Sideswipe stands down. He makes a valiant attempt to mimic a robot when he spots the humans, but they soon explain that they already know about Cybertronians. After introductions are made, they return to the firehouse where Sideswipe explains how Bounce escaped into the GroundBridge and Sideswipe pursued him to Griffin Rock. Blurr asks for some tips to help in rescues, but Sideswipe isn't interested in the rescue side of things, though he promises to recommend Blurr to join Bumblebee's team. Graham shows off the electromagnetic trap they have for use on Trex which might work on the Mini-Con.

Griffin Rock residents ask Sideswipe and Blurr to please keep it in the bedroom!

Blurr and Sideswipe are assigned to drive Bounce towards the park so the trap can be sprung. Cruising the streets, they soon spot the Mini-Con and give chase, however he's too quick for them. An attempt to grab Bounce goes awry, and Blurr almost runs into some humans at a cafe. After Bounce disappears into the sewers, Blurr decides they need to use their smarts instead of their speed. The pair return to the firehouse where he pulls out some energize equipment, and they enlist Cody and Servo to go in and flush Bounce out, though Cody is unhappy that Blurr's thinking of leaving. The ploy works, however Bounce's antics endanger humans as he recklessly speeds along the roads. Blurr automatically jumps in to help, while Sideswipe continues chasing Bounce. He drives the Mini-Con to where the rest of the team are waiting with the trap, and with some deft work with their energize tools, Bounce is safely ensconced in an electromagnetic field. Blurr is unhappy that he didn't catch Bounce, believing he messed up again, but the others point out that he just saved two humans without thinking twice. He ultimately decides to stick with being a Rescue Bot, and Sideswipe heads off with the Mini-Con captive... only to ask for a Groundbridge home after a few steps.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Come and get me, you bucket of... blots?! Oh! Bolts! Why would one of the Bots deface a human billboard? And who doesn't know how to spell bolts?!"
"Autobots smell like- OK, that's just rude."

—Blurr checks out Bounce's graffiti.

"What did he write on me?"
"Nothing I care to repeat in polite company."

—Blades and Chase

"Do all these humans have to be here? They kinda creep me out."
"I'm sure once you get to know them, they'll feel the same about you."

—Sideswipe and Heatwave

Notes

Continuity notes

• This is the first time an antagonistic Cybertronian sets foot on Griffin Rock.
• Sideswipe at first refuses to believe that Blurr was a Rescue Bot, as it was widely believed they had been completely wiped out. Optimus was also surprised when he first met the team.
• This episode takes place roughly in the same span of time, Robots in Disguise-wise, as "Uninvited Guest" did. Bumblebee still hasn't got his catchphrase according to Sideswipe, so it must occur before the first season finale of Robots in Disguise. It has to be after the web-exclusive shorts, which also occur at some nebulous point in that range of episodes, as Sideswipe didn't know what Cyclone Mini-Cons were until then. It also must come after at least "Deep Trouble" and "The Champ", as Sideswipe in this episode alludes to his team having had multiple mishaps with their GroundBridge, which occurred for the first two times in those two episodes.
• Sideswipe is noticeably unarmed, drawing neither his trademark swords nor his Decepticon Hunter during his visit, as befits the more tool-oriented - and less fight-happy - show.
• Sideswipe is portrayed as, in Heatwave's words, "squeamish" about the Griffin Rock humans. This is kind of weird given Sideswipe is the one who made first contact with humans, and is pretty much one of Russell's best buds.
• The energize tools were originally created back in "Road Trip" and have appeared periodically since then, but this is the first time Blurr has been shown wielding one.
  • This episode also reveals that "power up and energize!" which they've been saying since then is actually a type of activation code, not merely a catchphrase.

Transformers references

• While racing in the episode's opening scene, Blurr pretends that he is competing with Override and Racemaster, two inhabitants of Velocitron, the Speed Planet, from other Transformers stories; Override originated in Transformers: Cybertron but has an "Aligned-verse" counterpart, while Racemaster appeared in IDW Publishing's Windblade comic book. Blurr also pretends that Circuit is commenting on the race, a nod to the character's role as a television reporter in IDW's various series.
• Sideswipe is, of course, a main cast member from Robots in Disguise dropping as a special crossover guest-star. He makes reference to the other members of his team over there, including Strongarm and Grimlock.
• Bounce is a Cyclone Mini-Con of the same design as Ransack and Backtrack from Robots in Disguise. It can be safely assumed that, like the other Mini-Cons from the series, Bounce was one of the many hundreds of prisoners interred about the prison ship Alchemor; upon cornering the Mini-Con, Sideswipe tells the Mini-Con that it's time for him to "go back to jail," which seems to confirm this.
• Chase claims Bounce called him a close relative of a Scraplet.

Real-world references

• The episode's title could refer to a catchphrase from the movie Top Gun, or a series of video games.

Animation and technical errors

• (tbd)

Trivia

• As of this episode, Rescue Bots now has the same number of episodes as the Generation 1 cartoon.
• Ironically, the longest running Transformers series is the only one to not feature any Decepticons, unless Bounce is aligned with them. It was previously established in the Robots in Disguise cartoon that Cyclones are unaligned, but many have since been seen allying with Decepticons.
• This episode seems to confirm that Bumblebee (and possibly Optimus Prime) keep the Rescue Bots' existence and presence on Earth a secret to other Autobots, even their closest comrades. Then again, knowing Sideswipe, Bumblebee probably didn't trust him with that information. (Would you?)
• Blurr will later join the Bee Team for a few adventures in Robots in Disguise, starting with the episode "Blurred."
• This episode was adapted into a children's storybook in 2016 and an interactive game-storybook in 2017.

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "Tout pour la vitesse !" ("Everything for speed!")
• Original airdate: ?

Italian

• Title: "Il bisogno di andare veloci" ("The need for going fast")
• Original airdate: 15 October 2017