Transformers: Robots in Disguise

Given a mysterious request by believed-dead OPTIMUS PRIME, BUMBLEBEE begins a new mission on Earth, accidentally joined by enthusiastic Autobot law enfrorcement cadet STRONGARM and bad boy SIDESWIPE. Investigating a crashed Cybertronian prison ship that has spilled the worst Decepticon fugitives all over the planet, the unlikely team encounters human father and son DENNY and RUSSELL, prison ship caretaker Mini-Con FIXIT, apparently-wrongly-convicted Dinobot GRIMLOCK, and UNDERBITE, a metal-consuming Decepticon fugitive who most definitely was not wrongly convicted, and who sets his sights on the gleaming skyscrapers of a nearby metropolis.

Bumblebee’s new team and their allies struggle desperately to keep Underbite from chowing down on the metal spires of Crown City, but their unfamiliarity with each other creates much conflict before the Autobots finally figure a way to bring the Decepticon down, assisted by Optimus, who is apparently not quite deceased. With their mission accomplished, Optimus tells Bee and his squad that capturing the escaped Decepticon fugitives isn’t the only, or hardest, task they will face in the near future. Denny and Russell agree to let the Autobots use the Scrapyard as their home base for the duration of their stay on Earth.

Bumblebee tries to build trust between his young charges in order to make a better team, but their immaturity makes the job difficult. Sideswipe and Strongarm in particular have a love-hate relationship, so when two Decepticon alerts come in simultaneously, Bee sends them to check out one while he and Grimlock investigate the other. Sideswipe and Strongarm encounter Steeljaw, a sly ‘Con with designs on turning Earth into a Decepticon homeland, while Bee and Grimlock confront Hammerstrike, a Sharkticon looking to pump oil into the waters off Crown City in order to make it more like his natural habitat. The two pairs of heroes only succeed when they work together, a small step on the road to becoming a formidable team.

As Russell struggles to fit in with local kids by joining their touch football game, Fixit’s feeling a little left out among his fellow ‘Bots, given that he remains behind when they go on missions. Fixit gets his chance to go where the action is when Decepticon combiner Chop Shop, who can split his body into five independent pieces, steals jet fuel for a ship he’s building to help him escape Earth. When one of his pieces is waylaid, Chop Shop forces Fixit to become his fifth piece. The Mini-Con discovers unknown depths of courage, fighting Chop Shop’s control enough to allow his friends to bring the Decepticon in. After the mission, Fixit decides to stay in the Scrapyard, where he can be most of use to the team.

With Bumblebee struggling to find his own leadership style and not simply ape Optimus’, the Autobots head into Crown City for the first time when they learn scientists have located a stasis pod and taken it to the Natural History Museum for study. With Denny and Russell providing a cover story, the ‘Bots sneak into the museum, but not in time to keep Buffaloid Decepticon Terrashock from breaking out of his pod. While chasing Terrashock through the museum and apprehending him on the streets of Crown City, Bumblebee learns the best way for him to lead is to simply be himself and trust his own instincts.

Strange purchase requests by locals visiting the Scrapyard lead our heroes to realize that a Decepticon is posing as a local legend in order to acquire the parts he needs to build a SpaceBridge that will let him escape Earth. Tired of taking orders, Sideswipe breaks off from the team during the search, and when the Decepticon is revealed as Cybertronian crime-boss Thunderhoof, the young Autobot seems to seriously consider the ‘Con’s job offer, since it will get him off Earth. But Sideswipe’s crisis of loyalty proves to be a ruse, and he turns the tables on Thunderhoof, helping his friends apprehend the crook and destroy the SpaceBridge.