Sick as a Bot

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"It ain't easy being green."
"Sick as a Bot"
Season	3
No. in season	23
Production company	Hasbro Studios
Airdate	October 21, 2017
Writer	Will Friedle
Director	Todd Waterman
Animation studio	Polygon Pictures, drop (2D)
Watch this episode on YouTube

After the Energon seeking Wingcode infects the Autobots with a virus, Bulkhead joins Grimlock in his hunt for the Decepticon.

Synopsis

"Here's something interesting. It's a possible gamma sickness."

A gargoyle-shaped Decepticon climbs a peak near the scrapyard and, spotting the pile of Energon there, takes flight. The Autobots and their human friends are still cleaning up after the recent Decepticon attack. Denny is overjoyed to find some intact pond decorations, and Russell is just carrying them away when the Decepticon swoops down at him. As the Bee Team starts fighting back, Fixit admits that the defense system is offline for diagnostics. The Decepticon releases a noxious-looking green gas, covering Bumblebee, Sideswipe and Strongarm, who start to malfunction. The Decepticon manages to grab some of the Energon but Grimlock holds her at bay long enough for Fixit to get the defenses back online and she's forced to flee. The Autobots are just about to assess their damage when a space bridge portal opens and Bulkhead steps out, having been summoned there to meet Optimus Prime. Grimlock and Fixit appear to not be affected by the nanovirus the Decepticon released, but Fixit believes it's likely to be fatal unless treated. The Mini-Con checks Wingcode's history for clues, before deciding the way forward is to try to synthesize an antidote.

"Well, if Banner knows what it is, I'm gonna track him down, I'm gonna put my foot on his throat, and I'm gonna..."
"That was Banner. IT was Banner."

After some work, Fixit determines that neither his nor Grimlock's nano-cells are compatible. The virus starts affecting him too, and Grimlock decides he needs to go capture Wingcode so they can try to use her to make a cure. The Dinobot rushes off blindly and Bulkhead follows, trying to tell Grimlock that they need a proper plan. Grimlock refuses to listen and when Bulkhead tries to force him to go back to the scrapyard, the resulting tussle ends up with them landing in front of a bunch of humans. Bulkhead comes up with a story on the fly to cover up their appearances and carries Grimlock back. Bumblebee claims to be feeling better, but as Denny notes, he and the other afflicted Autobots are burning up. Denny and Russell try to attend to the ailing Fixit, and while they're doing so, Strongarm drives off in a delirious state. The two humans drive off to find her just as Bulkhead returns with an unconscious Grimlock. Grimlock comes around and is horrified at how much worse everyone looks, realizing he should have stayed put. Bulkhead stops him from panicking more and suggests he do something that relaxes him.

"I want more. You've seen what he becomes, right?"
"I have. And it's beautiful. Godlike."

Wingcode devours the energon she stole, and goes looking for more. Elsewhere, Strongarm reprimands an ice cream truck for noise pollution and when it fails to respond, starts threatening it. Denny and Russell arrive to act out their cover story that Strongarm is an automated police drone, and Strongarm is distracted by another passing car.

"You should know that there's a flip side to this, too. If we miss on the low side, if we induce me and it fails, this will be very dangerous for you."
"I've always been more curious than cautious, and that's served me pretty well."

Back at the scrapyard, Grimlock relaxes by smashing cars. He and Bulkhead are about to start thinking of a plan to capture Wingcode when they're called on to bring every cooling device they can find to the command center as Bee and Sideswipe's core processors are overheating. Something Bee says gives Grimlock an idea for a plan. He loads the energon onto a trailer, and despite Bulkhead's objections, they haul it off. Wingcode spots them leaving the scrapyard and heads in pursuit. She attacks them as they argue on a mountainside, causing the trailer and most of the energon to fall into a river below. Grimlock throws the remaining energon into a nearby cave. Wingcode follows him into the cave and is amused by his poor attempt at claiming he doesn't know where the energon is, until the Dinobot points out that he was smart enough to lure her into the cave where she can't fly. Wingcode turns to escape, only to find the way out blocked by Bulkhead. The two Autobots charge and render Wingcode out cold.

Denny takes a sample of Wingcode's nano-cells and injects them into Bumblebee. Though there's a few tense moments, Bee's condition returns to normal. The other Autobots are likewise quickly cured. Bulkhead reveals he intends to stick around until Optimus turns up, and Grimlock leads him off to the nearby quarry so they can punch granite.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Stay calm. Calm helps, crazy doesn't."

—Bulkhead

"Hey! No amusing antenna toppers! Pull over!"

—Strongarm lays down some Cybertronian law.

"A fist denting in a Sharkticon's snout with one punch."

—Bulkhead calms down Grimlock

"I think part of the problem is we're not really thinkers."
"Yeah, not so much."

—Grimlock and Bulkhead

"Hey, don't talk smack about my tail. It will smack you back."

—Grimlock

Notes

Continuity notes

• He's back, baby! Bulkhead was last seen on-screen in Predacons Rising; he had also appeared in Robots in Disguise's tie-in comic, but the episode establishes that they are in a separate continuity from the cartoon, as Bulkhead has to be introduced to the Bee Team.
• Nightstrike is referred to multiple times.
• Grimlock uses the fake energon cubes that were meant to trick Ped in "Can You Dig It?".

Prisoner manifest

• In stasis: Clampdown, Quillfire, Underbite, Thunderhoof, Wingcode
• Known at Large: Steeljaw.
  • The Autobots have run out of stasis pods at this point in the series. This has plot implications as Fixit says otherwise he would put the three stricken Autobots in stasis to slow the progress of the virus.

Transformers references

• Bulkhead jokingly calls Grimlock "Dinobutt," which was an affectionate insult Rattrap frequently lobbed at Dinobot in the Beast Wars cartoon.
• Bulkhead's design seems to share a lot of similarities with his RID Prime toy, from the headlights on his hips instead of his chest, his flat hood on his stomach, and his clearly visible chest windscreen.

Real-world references

Errors

Trivia

• The episode's name comes from the common expression "sick as a dog".
• By this point in the series, all the original members of Team Prime from the Prime cartoon have made an appearance: Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, Ratchet, and finally, Bulkhead. They will finally be seen all together for the episode Enemy of My Enemy, along with cameos from Arcee, Cliffjumper, Wheeljack, Ultra Magnus, Smokescreen, and Knock Out.
• Early in the episode, Fixit observes that the Autobots have run out of stasis pods. Following the capture of Wingcode, it was revealed by showrunner Adam Beechen that she was placed in a makeshift pod as a result.^[1]

Foreign localization

French

• Title: Un antidote pour BOT ("An Antidote for BOT")
• Original airdate: November 18, 2017

Hungarian

• Title: Bacibot ("Germ-Bot")
• Original airdate: January 6, 2018

Home video releases

DVD

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

References