Fight for Energon

Optimus Prime and Bumblebee must stop the Decepticons from converting Earth's fossil fuels into energon. Also, bunny.

Synopsis

Somewhere in the desert, a typical bunny rabbit is having a typical bunny rabbit day, until Optimus Prime and Bumblebee come racing along and almost run it over. The two Autobots have been alerted by a Decepticon energy beacon in a remote location in the desert. On the way, Optimus and Bumblebee muse that it's too bad that humans do not yet know how to convert energy into energon.

Prime and Bumblebee transform and observe that Cyclonus and Megatron are pumping up oil from the Rock-It Fuel gas station! Optimus warns Bumblebee to be careful, and Bumblebee notes that caution is his middle name... or would be if he had one.

Meanwhile, Cyclonus fires on the bunny, showing his disgust for it. Megatron is annoyed that Cyclonus is even willing to waste energy on it, and Cyclonus humbly agrees with his master.

Bumblebee and Prime wonder why Megatron is even interested in the oil, until they note that he could convert it into energon! Bumblebee wants leap right into battle, but Optimus stops him, and notes that it might be better to first create a diversion... and thus they decide to blow up a truck. Megatron orders Cyclonus to put out the flames before the fuel catches fire. Before he can do so, Bumblebee drops out of the sky and attacks Cyclonus with the guitar sign of the gas station, mildly annoying Cyclonus and distracting him long enough for Prime to knock him out with his ion axe.

With one down, Bumblebee and Prime turned their attention to Megatron, who gloats that they came too late, and that he has collected enough energy from Earth. Megatron transforms his arms into a giant cannon and fires at them. The shot misses, instead blowing up the gas station. Megatron curses and swears that he will wipe the Autobots from the face of the Earth, even if it's the last thing he ever does. He and Cyclonus then transform to their jet modes and flee. Optimus and Bumblebee give each other a motivational speech in front of the burning gas station on how the Decepticons can never win. They transform and leave the burning gas station behind, almost running over the bunny again.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Hey, alert is my middle name! Or... would be if I ever had one."

—Bumblebee says... silly things.

"The Decepticons are rash and reckless beings."

—So Optimus Prime says after blowing up a gas station...

"Never fear the darkness old friend, fear those who refuse to shine the light!"

—Optimus Prime talks about... you know what? Forget it.

Notes

Continuity errors

• None of the featured characters look like they did in the first episode; Bumblebee and Optimus Prime don't even have the same alternate modes!
• There is no explanation given to Cyclonus's paradoxical appearance. Since the video seems to advertise Universe, he was probably thrown in to sell toys.

Transformers references

• Optimus Prime implies that Cybertron has fossil fuels too, which (almost certainly accidentally) matches the Beast Machines theme that it had once hosted organic life.
• Optimus Prime transforms into an entirely red version of his live action movie truck, but his robot mode is very similar to Generation 1 Prime's robot mode.
• Whenever Bumblebee speaks, there is an intermittent radio interference sound effect over his otherwise clear voice. This may be an odd reference to his live-action movie counterpart's speech impediment.
• Bumblebee has creepy eyes that extend from his face like Bender's in Futurama and Bulkhead's in the episode "Rise of the Constructicons"... a reference to his original tech spec power of having telescopic vision, but still damn weird looking.

Trivia

• Who are the voice actors here? Even Hasbro doesn't know! It was later revealed that Optimus Prime was played by Ron Hayden.
• The character models in this cartoon are a bizarre mix of live action movie style bodies with "classic" heads and coloration. Megatron's cannon blast is even lifted from his live-action namesake's double-arm cannon-blast move.
• The previous episode was "Action Blast 1", yet this is not "Action Blast 2".
• Optimus Prime orders Bumblebee to "shut down external systems and initiate stealth mode"… upon which both transform from their fairly stealthy alternate modes into their much less stealthy robot modes.
• The large guitar that Bumblebee uses to bash Cyclonus is actually the gas station sign in the shape of a guitar. It is barely seen in the video itself, although the storyboards show it more prominently.
• Megatron's jet mode is just Cyclonus's, but colored silver.
• After Bumblebee says "a diversion?" his mouth remains agape in a still frame for a good two to three seconds.
• The ending music is taken from either Transformers: Energon or the commercials thereof.
• Everyone talks really fast.
• This whole video is just plain weird. So much so that it was one of several cartoons parodied at the BotCon 2009 MSTF panel.

External links

• Transformers Fight for Energon on Brian Torney's blog