Freedom Fighters

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"When I found you, I saw raw, untamed power. And beyond that, something truly special."
"Freedom Fighters"
Season	3
No. in season	26
Production company	Hasbro Studios
Airdate	November 4, 2017 (United Kingdom) November 11, 2017 (United States)
Writer	Adam Beechen
Director	Frank Marino
Animation studio	Polygon Pictures, drop (2D)
Watch this episode on YouTube

As the Bee Team struggles to liberate Cybertron from the Decepticon controlled High Council, Optimus and his All-Stars fight back the advance force of an Earth-bound Cybertronian invasion!

Synopsis

"This is not going to go the way you think!"

Surrounded by High Council troopers, the Bee Team fruitlessly attempts to convince them that they're being mind controlled. Dropforge and his men arrive and take custody of the prisoners, who puzzle over the fact they previously broke the mind control over their new captor. As it turns out, Dropforge is still free of the mind control, though he's surprised Bumblebee's team has Steeljaw with them. They reach the High Council Tower where Dropforge frees the team, before leaving to tell the authorities that the prisoners "escaped". Once he's left, the team realizes Steeljaw has disappeared and immediately assumes the Decepticon is up to no good, but Steeljaw has just been deactivating the defenses for them. Everyone heads inside.

Back on Earth, Optimus Prime and his team have survived the destruction of the warehouse thanks to Ratchet's Triage Shield, though the device fails shortly after they emerge from the rubble. They resume their search for the High Council forces — according to Ratchet, the enemy are constructing a space bridge receiver near the Crown City coast. The team reaches the docks and start searching. Bulkhead stumbles on half a shipping container, which turns out to be partially affected by a Light Bender. Bulkhead breaks the device, revealing the council forces and their Space Bridge receiver, just in time for the rest of the team to arrive and engage the troopers in battle. Ratchet covers the area with his Triage Shield to try to avoid humans detecting the conflict. Optimus and Windblade take to the air, but are hit by missiles that send the pair hurtling towards the ground. Optimus fortunately recovers in enough time to save Windblade.

"Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to. That's the only way to become what you were meant to be."

The Bee Team reaches the main council chamber where Cyclonus is ordering Cyberwarp to make another transmission. Fixit detects Light Bender technology, so Drift deploys Jetstorm and Slipstream to investigate. Cyberwarp begins her transmission about the impending invasion of Earth, but falters. Cyclonus finishes the speech for her. Cyberwarp's protest that humans should control their own planet goes unheeded by Cyclonus, who orders Skyjack to signal the start of the invasion. Slipstream yanks a device from Cyberwarp's leg, deactivating the Light Benders and revealing the High Council to be Decepticons. As the Decepticons attempt to capture the Mini-Cons to use as hostages, Sideswipe notes that the camera is still broadcasting to the planet, but as the mind control is still in effect, the populace won't react. The team goes to try and deactivate the signal, and Bumblebee notices Steeljaw has disappeared. Cyclonus blasts the two Mini-Cons and the Decepticons, minus Cyberwarp, engage the Autobots in a melee. The Autobots succeed in taking them down one by one. Cyclonus has the other 'Cons merge with him into Galvatronus, and the Autobots likewise merge into Ultra Bee. As the two combiners battle, the fight is broadcast to the rest of Cybertron.

"I've seen this raw strength only once before. It didn't scare me enough then. It does now."

Optimus's team fights as the Space Bridge portal looms ominously overhead. Optimus has the other Autobots draw the fire of the Autobot troopers while he flies in and pulls the main dish of the receiver free. He throws the dish directly into the portal, creating a feedback loop that causes the Space Bridge to explode.

"We are the spark...that will light the fire that will burn the First Order down."

Galvatronus spots the alarm from the portal's destruction and, enraged, starts pounding Ultra Bee while outlining the various plans the Autobots have foiled. Fixit finally locates the mind control transmitter, which Steeljaw promptly destroys. The population are freed from their stupor in time to see the broadcast of Galvatronus repeatedly punching Ultra Bee and detailing his plans. His attempt to finish off Ultra Bee is put on pause when Cyberwarp rebels, giving Ultra Bee the chance to fight back. Galvatronus is defeated and splits into his component parts, as around Cybertron the Autobots cheer. The Bee Team splits as well and Cyberwarp expresses hope that both sides can work together instead of fighting.

Bee and Optimus's teams stand before a crowd of cheering Autobots. Optimus turns down the idea of leading the planet, and designates the rest of his team as a temporary council. Bee's team are keen to get back to Earth, and Optimus suggests they be appointed ambassadors.

Sometime later on Earth, the Bee Team are back in the scrapyard. Denny and Russell, despite all the times they've been endangered by their adventures with the Bee Team, happily welcome them to continue staying with them. Right on cue, the team immediately starts squabbling. They're interrupted by a distant howl from Steeljaw, resulting in them revving up and rolling out.

'Til all are one.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Perfect! They fell right into our trap!"
"Oh, is that what that was?"

—Bulkhead and Windblade, shortly after the former is ambushed.

"Let's just smash everything in here!"
[Autobots charge off yelling]
"I was gonna suggest that anyway."

—Grimlock and Bumblebee

"We... share a planet. There has to be a better way... to settle our differences... than destroying one other."

—Cyberwarp's final plea.

Notes

Continuity notes

• The members of the High Council are revealed to be Decepticons masquerading as Autobots with Light Benders. In other words, real robots in disguise.
• Galvatronus lists off the actions of the High Council in Season 3: freeing Steeljaw's Pack to kill the Bee Team and freeing Soundwave from the Shadowzone to summon Megatron "to lead our conquest"; apparently the Council hasn't gotten the memo about Megs' change of heart, or simply doesn't believe it.
• The freight depot where the All-Stars stop the space bridge tranceiver looks like the same depot where Optimus, Bulkhead, and Wheeljack battled Dreadwing in "Loose Cannons".
• While combined as Ultra Bee, the Autobots recall their fights against Menasor in "Combine and Conquer" and "Moon Breaker".
• Dropforge and his three officers were made immune to the High Council's mind control and left for Cybertron back in "Five Fugitives".
• Light Benders and their suitability for use as cloaking devices were first established back in "Guilty As Charged".
• Several background models clearly reused the designs of Bumblebee and Blurr (and presumably Sideswipe and Strongarm).

Transformers references

• The Space Bridge receiver is a near dead-ringer for the Earth-bound Space Bridge rings in the original cartoon.
• The Decepticon High Council's combined form goes unnamed onscreen; however, the toyline (and the credits for the episode) calls the guy "Galvatronus". Nonetheless, he is heavily influenced by his Combiner Wars counterpart, who also had a Cyclonus as the central component.

Real-world references

Errors

• Right after Fixit credits Steeljaw with assisting them, the shot switches back to Bumblebee, Strongarm, Optimus and Ratchet so Strongarm can deliver a line. At the beginning of this shot, Ratchet's head and neck are momentarily rendered in front of his torso until he starts looking at Strongarm.

Trivia

• It's not stated if the Decepticons that the Bee Team captured in the tail-end of the series—Clampdown, Quillfire, Thunderhoof, Underbite, and Wingcode—were returned to Cybertron. Adam Beechen stated in a deleted blog post that they were sent back to Cybertron in custody.
• Skyjack gets referred to by name, so "yay" for that. Regardless, she never gets any dialogue like Treadshock and Riotgear.
• The series ends with Steeljaw as the only known Decepticon still at large on Earth; however, this is done to show that "the adventure continues" for Team Bee.
• Surprisingly, Galvatronus is shown to have the same personality as Cyclonus, of all 'bots.
• With Cyberwarp's appearance, this marks the second time a "good" Decepticon has appeared in the series, after Grimlock who decided to change sides all the way back during the series' debut, possibly hinting that not all Decepticons are hostile after the war. This would go on to be further explored in the following Aligned cartoon Rescue Bots Academy, most prominently in the episode "More Than Meets The Eye".

Foreign localization

French

• Title: Combattants de la liberté ("Freedom Fighters")
• Original airdate: November 26, 2017

Hungarian

• Title: Szabadságharcosok ("Freedom Fighters")
• Original airdate: January 14, 2018

Home video releases

DVD

2018 — Transformers Robots in Disguise: Combiner Force — Freedom Fighters (Beyond Home Entertainment)