Hot Rod Bot

« Transformers: Rescue Bots ep 92 »
Driving fast and turning left... and sometimes explosions.
"Hot Rod Bot"
Season	4
No. in season	14
Production company	Hasbro Studios
Airdate	July 23, 2016
Writer	Jackson Grant & Shannon McKain
Director	Patrick Archibald
Animation studio	DHX Media Top Draw Animation
Watch this episode on YouTube

Blurr is torn between his desire to be a winning racecar and a working Rescue Bot; Dani helps Blurr find balance.

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Featured characters 3 Quotes 4 Notes 4.1 Continuity notes 4.2 Transformers references 4.3 Real-world references 4.4 Animation and technical errors 4.5 Trivia 4.6 Foreign localization

Synopsis

Dani and Cody sit down to watch a race being broadcast from the mainland. Huxley Prescott is on hand to report on the race, and introduces both crowd favorite Donatello Camposecco, and local mayor Bertram Luskey who has scored the hosting rights for his town. The race starts, only for a mystery racer to join the field. Blurr quickly passes the other racers, unaware he's been recognized by at least two audience members. He naturally wins, but as he's surrounded by press, he realizes he's in danger of blowing his cover and makes his escape. As the rest of the team arrives in the firehouse, Dani resolves to keep Blurr's activities a secret and she and Cody evade the questions over the mystery racer. On the mainland, Griffin Rock's Mayor Luskey almost exposes the Rescue Bots' secret while arguing with his brother that the race should be held in his town.

Blades catches Dani firing up the GroundBridge, and she claims she's going to run some errands on the mainland. Blades jumps to the conclusion that she's planning a surprise party for him, which Cody encourages as an alternative to telling the truth — she's gone to the mainland to lecture Blurr over his entry into the race. Blurr explains that he's been feeling useless as a part of the team and feels the need to race. He manages to convince her to act as his driver for one more race.

Mayor Luskey shows his brother the rescue team, and Cody tries to cover for Dani's absence until Dani herself shows up. Bert invites the team to watch the next race.

As the race begins, the team notes that Dani is absent having gone to a "cooking class", though of course Dani is taking part in the race along with Blurr, who is now sporting a new paint job. The race starts, but as Dani and Blurr argue, the latter switches his steering to manual so Dani can prove she's a better driver. This results in them running one of the other racers into the wall. At Dani's insistence, the pair go back and make sure the driver's OK before they resume the race. Working together, they reach second place, and then Blurr fires off an energon boost. The sonic boom he creates strips his new paint job off and rattles the stands so much the structure starts to buckle. The rescue team swings into action, stabilizing the stands so the crowd can be evacuated, and Blurr and Dani pluck the two mayors out of the way of falling debris. Dani cops the blame, and Bert Luskey points out that now they have to hold the qualifier on Griffin Rock after all.

Later back on the island, Luskey has Doc Greene show off his latest invention, the Directional Momentum Amplifier, a device to be fitted to the racer's wheels to make them faster. Doc demonstrates the device on his solar car, though he tells the mayors he has an appointment on the mainland and won't be around for the race itself.

The streets of Griffin Rock are all set up. With the crowd gathered and Dani and Blades flying overhead, the race starts. Bert prompts his brother to use the DMA controller, insisting that it be set to maximum. Dani observes that the cars now look like they're having trouble and alerts the rest of the team, who head out to help. One of the racers spins out and heads off a cliff into the sea, but is fished out by Dani and Blades. The team finds the DMA attached to the car's wheel and contacts Luskey, who tries to switch off the devices, only to find the controller is broken. Blurr turns up at the rescue site, despite being restricted to the fire house, and convinces the others to let him help. Boulder and Graham set up a ramp on Old Canyon Road which they use to stop one of the remaining cars, and Chase and Blurr stop a second with a pincer move. Dani joins Blurr in pursuing the last driver, Donatello, and manage to stop him just short of the finish line. Though Bert Luskey objects to Dani being pronounced the winner of the race, his brother objects to the objection, and in the resulting struggle, Bert's secret comes out — he also wears a toupée.

Dani and Blurr return to the fire station with the race trophy, which Dani presents to Blades in thanks for teaching her what it means to be a real partner.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"I hope you're proud of yourself!"
"Pretty much all the time, yeah."

—Dani and Blurr

"Still not sure how a bulldozer fits into a rescue team."

—Bertram Luskey speaks for the viewer

"Tell me honestly: was he a better partner than me?"

—Blades asks Dani a probing question

"I-I don't know, Bert. Usually that red light is a bad thing."
"Ah, you worry too much, little brother. C'mon, I had my private chef make us some race day sushi."

—Mayor H.B. Luskey and Mayor Bertram Luskey. Yes, H.B. Luskey is actually being the sensible one.

"Bert? You too? All of these years, we could have been toupée buddies!"

—Mayor H.B. Luskey

Notes

Continuity notes

• (tbd)

Transformers references

• Donatello's race car is decked out in Generation 1 Hot Rod's color scheme, including painted flames, and even authentically animation-accurate magenta instead of red!

Real-world references

• Doc Greene has his Back to the Future-inspired solar car fitted out with a remote control, much as Doc Brown did in the film. The soundtrack also includes music evoking that movie's main theme.

Animation and technical errors

• (tbd)

Trivia

• (tbd)

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "Un mystérieux pilote" ("A mysterious pilot")
• Original airdate: ?

Italian

• Title: "Il Rescue Bot taroccato" ("The pimped Rescue Bot")
• Original airdate: 3 October 2017