Switcheroo

This article is about the Rescue Bots episode. For the Construct-Bots episode, see Switcheroo!.

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"Hey! What you eat ends up on my thighs!"
"Switcheroo"
Season	3
No. in season	8
Production company	Hasbro Studios
Airdate	December 13, 2014
Writer	Brian Hohlfeld
Director	Kevin Altieri
Animation studio	DHX Media Top Draw Animation
Watch this episode on YouTube

A space nebula causes the Rescue Bots and Burns family to switch bodies.

Synopsis

Earthquakes were felt all the way to Lucifer.

Chief Burns plays chess with Chase, though as he observes, Chase has made the pieces slightly too big for humans. Chase apologizes and checkmates him. Heatwave and Kade Burns arrive back at the firehouse; the latter is suffering from a toothache and Heatwave accuses him of whining. Cody complains that Boulder's too busy to build him a skate ramp — as it turns out, Boulder's trying to learn tap dancing which is not helping the floor in the garage. Blades is also disgruntled as Dani is claiming to be too tired to wax him. Chief reflects that everyone needs to walk a mile in each other's shoes. The team is soon called to the laboratory, where Doc Greene is having some trouble with an anti-gravity patch he's developed. Once Heatwave uses a tool to stop Doc bouncing around the lab, Frankie is able to remove the patch, and Doc explains that he was wearing it to complete a delicate invention, but now will have to do it in space instead. When Frankie wants to come too, Doc invites everyone along, though Graham has had enough of the Asgard already.

OK, which one of them gets to be Mister Fantastic?

The group boards the Asgard, and as they prepare for launch, Doc Greene explains that the invention he's trying to complete, the Binary Diagnostic Link, allows doctors to feel what their patients feel, assisting in diagnosis. The space elevator lifts off, and once it's in orbit, Doc Greene turns off the gravity simulators. The team enjoys the zero gravity for a while before Doc attempts to install the crystal into his new invention. Graham alerts them to an incoming nebula, which should be harmless but somehow compromises the air filtration system. Doc turns the gravity back in, and since the emergency compartment only fits two, he and Chief head in there while everyone else gets into a Rescue Bot. As re-entry begins, there's a blaze of light. The Asgard touches down, but as the team emerges, it becomes clear that everyone has swapped bodies: Chief with Doc, Heatwave with Kade, Chase with Frankie, Blades with Dani, and Boulder with Cody. Confusion ensues.

Kade, you said these things give people money!

Graham starts making notes on who is who. Doc Greene and Frankie head back to the lab to research the problem. Boulder tries to head back to the firehouse before remembering he no longer has a vehicle mode, resulting in both Cody and Dani trying out their respective alt modes. The team returns to the firehouse, where Boulder finds tap dancing much easier in Cody's body, and Kade takes a spin around the racetrack in firetruck mode. Chase finds Cody working on a skate ramp, while Dani is concerned about Blades wearing a dress and binging on yogurt. Chief and Chase head to the lab to see how Doc Greene's getting on, but Doc says he's having trouble getting used to Chief's body which doesn't have quite the manual dexterity he's used to. An emergency call comes in alerting Chief to a fire near the water tower, and the scrambled rescue team scrambles to respond. Unused to each other's bodies, the team flails in their attempts to put out the fire, with Cody banging into the water tower and Dani inadvertently fanning the flames. Finally Graham grabs Heatwave's hose and extinguishes the fire.

Yes, that's right, surf! Surf down the oncoming torrent that will wipe out countless innocent lives in a great flood! Surf away!

Returning home, Dani forces Blades to exercise to work off some of the food he's eaten, while Cody laments that he's too big to use the skate ramp he's constructed, and Heatwave upsets Kade's dentist. Chief lets everyone know that Doc's come up with a solution to their problem — replicate the original accident. At the airport, they assemble to go back into space, though Chief briefly goes missing — they find him busting a move, Doc Greene style. Unfortunately they also notice that the water tower is on the verge of collapsing and is endangering two hikers and the Asgard. Frankie and Chase help get the hikers to safety, but are washed down the mountain and have to be picked up by Kade and Dani. The water flows safely into the ditch Cody and Boulder have constructed. With all haste as the nebula is passing, the Asgard is launched once again, and Chief replaces the crystal in the Binary Diagnostic Link. There's another flash of light and everyone is returned to their normal bodies to relief all round.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Humans
Chase (2) Heatwave (3) Boulder (6) Blades (8)	Charlie Burns (1) Kade Burns (4) Cody Burns (5) Dani Burns (7) Frankie Greene (9) Doc Greene (10) Graham Burns (11) Dr. Bieber (12)

Quotes

"I think I made the right choice staying down here."

—Graham realizes he dodged a bullet.

"Now that you have that straightened out, what do we do?"
"I have no idea, but I've got a great diagram!"

—Kade and Graham

"Oh yeah, totally get you now, Heatwave. Hey, if I were this powerful, I'd be arrogant too!"

—Kade

"How can you not love flying, Blades? The wind blowing past you, the freedom..."
"The moment when you realize there is absolutely nothing between you and the ground but a thousand feet of air."
"I'm gonna fly a little lower, OK?"
"I will spare you the snarky comment about irony."

—Dani and Blades

"Can you believe it? I'm a car! Hey, can I turn on the siren?"

—Frankie

Notes

Continuity notes

• Doc notes that now he knows how a Flobster feels.
• The Asgard space elevator was introduced in "Space Bots".

Transformers references

• (tbd)

Real-world references

• Doc Greene once again refers to Frankie as his "little Aldrin".
• During the zero gravity sequences, Johann Strauss's The Blue Danube is played in reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey, and possibly to a scene parodying the same movie in The Simpsons.
• Doc Greene invokes Fourier's law.
• During Cody's attempts to steer Boulder's bulldozer form during the rescue, the soundtrack imitates "Yakety Sax", a staple of farce comedies such as The Benny Hill Show.

Animation and technical errors

• (tbd)

Trivia

• Though the "body-swap" plot is a staple of kids' telvision, this episode was, in particular, inspired by the cast teasing each other by imitating each other's characters. As such, in a move that's comparatively uncommon for such a storyline, the characters' voice actors do not swap with their minds, allowing nearly the entire cast to spend most of the episode doing imitations of the characters they have been swapped with. Master impressionist Maurice LaMarche does an especially impressive LeVar Burton.
• A "passing nebula", guys? When you have LeVar Burton on your show? You can science better than this...

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "Drôles d'échanges" ("Funny Exchanges")
• Original airdate: ?

Hungarian

• Title: "Szerepcsere" ("Role Switch")
• Original airdate: 20 September 2016

Italian

• Title: "Scambio di personalità" ("Personality switch")
• Original airdate: 14 August 2017

Portuguese

• Title: "A Nebulosa" ("The Nebula")
• Original airdate: 1 June 2016 (Netflix)