Wedge's Short Fuse

« Transformers: Robots in Disguise ep 20 »
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"Wedge's Short Fuse" 熱血戦士! ビルドマスター (Nekketsu Senshi! Buildmaster) "Hot-Blooded Warriors! Buildmasters"
Airdate	16 August 2000 (Japanese) September 28, 2001 (English)
Written by	Junki Takegami (Japanese) Richard Epcar (English)

Build Team want to fight!
Space bridge plans come under threat
But are they for real?

Synopsis

We're in Revenge of the Fallen!

It's a state of emergency at Autobot headquarters. With T-AI sounding the alarm bells, Optimus Prime rushes into the command centre, where the officious hologram briefs him on the Predacons' latest misdemeanour: a diamond heist at an Antarctic mine. Wasting no time, T-AI dispatches the Autobot Brothers to the scene to investigate, only for their progress to be stopped dead when they realise that the Global Space Bridge access tunnel they intend to use is not only incomplete, but is still an active construction site being worked on by the exuberant Autobot Build Team. When the Build Team learn about the Antarctic skirmish, the construction bots' young leader Wedge seizes the opportunity to strike a deal with Optimus: he and teammates Heavy Load, Hightower and Grimlock will agree to finish the southern passage in exchange for a chance to prove themselves in active service. Prime is understandably sceptical about the prospect of sending the inexperienced crew into battle, but with T-AI reminding him that time is of the essence, he agrees. The Build Team are overcome with excitement, but after a bit of "encouragement" from an irritable T-AI, they speed off to their first assignment.

He's trying to catch Mothra!

As it would happen, the arrival of the Autobots is exactly what the Predacons are waiting for, the entire Antarctic diamond heist having simply been planned as bait for a typically hare-brained scheme by Sky-Byte to capture the enemy, discredit Scourge and win back Megatron's favour. Nevertheless, the appearance of the unfamiliar Build Team catches the Predacons off guard, to the extent that Gas Skunk, Slapper and Dark Scream initially mistake them for transport trucks hired by Sky-Byte. Once the misunderstanding is cleared up, however, the Build Team charge headlong into battle, where the Predacons quickly make their superior combat experience tell: despite the best efforts, the rookie fighters are quickly overwhelmed, with Wedge seized within a crushing jaw-grip by Sky-Byte.

Early versions of Linux could fit on one floppy disk!

With their young leader's life in peril, Heavy Load begs for a trade: a disk containing a full map of the Autobot Global Space Bridge network in return for Wedge's safety. Realising that such knowledge would could easily win the war for Megatron, Sky-Byte delightedly agrees, and entreats Heavy Load, against the desperate protests of Hightower and Grimlock, to place the valuable disk on a rock for the Predacons to retrieve. Just as Slapper is about to claim the prize, however, Optimus arrives through the space bridge, causing enough of a distraction for Wedge to break free of Sky-Byte's clutches. Desperate to make amends for his earlier capture, Wedge rallies the Build Team to chase after the map, which has just been carried away on the head of a confused and distressed penguin, with the Predacons in hot pursuit; the race to retrieve the disk, however, is won by the newly-arrived Decepticon Ro-Tor, who carries it back to a waiting Scourge. Enraged by the thought of his bitter rival claiming credit for his operation, Sky-Byte demands the return of his "property", which Scourge refuses, leading to a full-on pitched battle between the Decepticons and Predacons.

Puppy Power!

The Autobots, meanwhile, find themselves left behind, left out and wondering what to do. Impetuous Wedge is still raring to charge back into the fray, but Optimus advises calm and rational thinking, before questioning Heavy Load on the wisdom of his actions. Heavy Load, it seems, has been thinking further ahead than he let on; the map that he traded to Sky-Byte is in actuality a fake, containing sewer schematics rather than the promised space bridge map. Unfortunately, Wedge fails to hear Heavy Load's confession, and goes recklessly and obliviously charging back to retrieve the worthless disk. Luckily, the warring Predacons are too preoccupied with each other to treat the little Autobot builder as anything more than a distraction, and in their efforts to get him out of their way, he is inadvertently sent flying into Scourge, who drops the disk straight back into Sky-Byte's possession. Scanning the schematics, a jubilant Sky-Byte realises that there is an entrance to the "space bridge" nearby, and, hoping to use the system to travel back to base, decides to make a break for it, with the Predacon trio in tow and the furious Decepticons still in pursuit. As the last of the Predacons disappear into the tunnel entrance, a desperate Wedge is all set to follow, until he is restrained by his Build Team colleagues and finally filled in on the true nature of the map; the Predacons themselves, on the other hand, are finding that out the hard way as they land in an angry heap in the stinking sewer below. As the truth dawns upon a bemused Scourge and Sky-Byte, Optimus sends a full-power Blizzard Storm blast into the tunnel after them, freezing the hapless villains solid.

Back on the surface, Optimus debriefs his unlikely soldiers on their unlikely victory, writing off their day's mistakes as valuable experience and reassuring his rough-diamond troops that he knows that they'll be "super-warriors" one day.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Predacons
T-AI (1) Optimus Prime (2) X-Brawn (6) Prowl (7) Side Burn (8) Wedge (9) Heavy Load (10) Grimlock (11) Hightower (12)	Dark Scream (3) Gas Skunk (4) Slapper (5) Sky-Byte (13) Megatron (dream sequence) (14) Ro-Tor (15) Scourge (16) Mega-Octane (17) Movor (18) Armorhide (19) Rollbar (20)

Quotes

"Attention, Autobot Brothers, red alert. Repeat, this is an emergency. Respond at once. A diamond mine in Antarctica is being robbed by the Predacons."
"Stay calm. I'm already on it, cutie pie."
"Roger that, Side Burn. And don't ever call me "cutie pie" again!"
"...I-I won't. Sorry."

—T-AI burns Side Burn.

Wedge: T-AI, we can't just go like that. We're fighters. What about the send off? The cool things you do for the other guys!
T-AI: Oh, that stuff. You know, for first timers, you're very demanding. Time's running out. Should we take it from the top, Optimus?
Optimus: [wearily] All right...[clears throat] T-AI, activate the member select program.
T-AI: Roger! Copy that, Optimus. Member selector! Computer has pulled up the Build Team. Attention, Build Team, red alert! Emergency, a diamond mine in Antarctica is being robbed by the Predacons. Heavy Load, Hightower, Grimlock and Wedge, report to the field immediately!
Wedge: Oh man, that sounded so cool, didn't it?!
Heavy Load: Wowee! This is just like I imaged it!

—The Build Team share a fanboy moment.

Wedge: Together, we are—(*DRAMATIC POSE*)—the Build Team!
Sky-Byte: What?! Who are they? What do they want?
Slapper: They told you they were the Build Team. Weren't you listening?

—How very droll, wot?

"Wedge, if I'm not mistaken, that dancing shark having a nervous breakdown on the iceberg is Sky-Byte! He's Megatron's second in command!"

—Heavy Load demonstrates that Sky-Byte's reputation precedes him.

"Here, pengy, pengy! Here, boy!"

—Heavy Load and the Build Team encounter their most wily opponent yet, a penguin.

"Hmmm...how many Transformers does it take to capture a flightless bird?"

—Ro-Tor cruelly sets up the audience for a punchline that never arrives.

Gas Skunk: Yeah, well, it's been fun, but we've gotta go now. Ta-ta, guys.
Dark Scream: Buh-bye.
Sky-Byte: Where do you think you're going? Where's your pride in being part of Team Sky-Byte?
Slapper: That kid must've really kicked his head hard. I don't remember signing up for his crew.
Dark Scream: I didn't.
Gas Skunk: I think I was sick that day.

—Teamwork, Predacon-style.

"What's this? This smells funny. This can't be right, can it?"

—Sky-Byte begins to get an inkling that the fetid sewer in which he is stood is in fact not the Global Space Bridge.

"With a little experience, this team may distinguish itself as a fine combat unit. Wedge reminds me a lot of those diamonds: he's a little rough now, but with some work, a little discipline, a little training, with a little polish, he could shine and become a valuable fighting Autobot one day."

—Optimus Prime gets all lyrical. Aww...

Other notes

Continuity errors

• Wedge at one point refers to their tunnel project as an "Arctic link", even though they're supposed to be going to the Antarctic. Sure, that sounds nitpicky, but try telling that to Optimus Prime when your warp tunnel ends up transporting his troops to the exact opposite point on the globe from the one the Predacons are attacking.

Miscellaneous trivia

It's long past time Sky-Byte sought therapy.

• This is the first episode of Robots in Disguise not to feature any human characters whatsoever, meaning that the previously ever-present Kelly finally gets to escape her lifelong vehicle curse for one episode, at least.
• Megatron also fails to appear in person in this episode, for only the second time ("Volcano" being the first). The Predacon leader still manages to get a spoken line in, though, thanks to the overactive and adorably super deformed imagination of Sky-Byte.
• Optimus is surprisingly generous in appraising the performance of a combat team that, with the exception of Heavy Load, did nothing but screw up at every turn, failing to overcome enemies who have been repeatedly proven to be utterly incompetent, losing a footrace to a penguin and ultimately winning the day pretty much by accident. Maybe he was seeing some potential there that wasn't immediately obvious.

External links

• "Wedge's Short Fuse" transcript on RiDForever.info