Bee in the City

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"Bee in the City"
Original presentation 9:45pm on April 26, 2008 (BotCon)
Written by Greg Sepelak and Trent Troop
Continuity TransTech

Two Transformers and a human are zapped to another dimension. Fourth-wall-breaking hijinks ensue!

Synopsis

One morning in Detroit, Professor Sumdac presents his latest invention, the Bi-directional Unified Transit Terminal, to Sari, Optimus Prime, and Bumblebee. Sumdac hopes that the BUTT can allow for the Autobots to return to Cybertron while also assisting on Earth. Sumdac starts the machine for a test, but Sari's AllSpark Key interacts with the machine, sending her, Prime, and Bumblebee through a crack in space, to a strange city, filled with unfamiliar robots. The three are suddenly by Flareup, who grows exasperated when Optimus tells her that he is a Prime, and points to a sign indicating that Megatrons, Primes, and MacGuffin's are banned. Falreup radios in the three's arrival, and proceeds to explain to the confused three that they are in Axiom Nexus, a city in an alternate Cybertron with no war. She takes the three to processing, where, after seventeen hours, the exasperated travelers exit. However, they are soon confronted by the TransTech Shockwave and a group of TransTech guards. The TransTech scientist detains Optimus Prime and Sari, the former for being a Prime, and the latter for carrying a MacGuffin, which makes them threats to planetary security. Bumblebee is incensed at Shockwave's insistence that he's only dangerous in conjunction with Sari, while Flareup, feeling guilty for their detainment, promises Bumblebee that she'll help rescue them.

At Shockwave's lab, Sari and Prime are chained to tables, as Shockwave beings "Proactive Maintenance" to see if they are a threat to his Cybertron. Sari begs to be let go, but her pleas fall on deaf ears, and Shockwave takes her key away. Turning his attention to Optimus, he begins to preform a routine matrix check, and the Autobot begins to scream. Back in Axiom Nexus, Bumblebee is ordering some food, much to Flareup's consternation. In the line behind them, a purple reptilian Transformer shouts for them to hurry up. Bumblebee apologizes, telling him that he's new here. The Transformer's tune changes, welcoming him and telling him that his name is "Joe". Bumblebee seems to recognize him, but sets that aside, telling "Joe" that his friends were nabbed for one being a Prime and the other carrying an illegal MacGuffin. "Joe's" eyes light up at the mention of the former, and promises the two that as a "heroic" Predacon, he will help save their friends. Bumblebee comes up with a plan involving a trained chimp marching band, but after that plan fails, "Joe" comes up with another one at the car wash.

At Shockwave's lab, Flareup is stopped by a TransTech guard, who demands to know what she's doing. Flareup explains that she's transferring her prisoners, "Beeimus Prime" and "Joe Convoy", for being Prime. The guard, while annoyed, falls for it, and lets her in with the two. "Joe" tells Bumblebee and Flareup to keep Shockwave occupied while he frees the hostages. Bumblebee confronts Shockwave, telling him to free his friends, but Shockwave has already accounted for the possibility of a rescue, and activates the automated defenses. Unfortunately for the TransTech scientist, "Joe" has managed to slip by, and the Predacon proceeds to knock the TransTech scientist down. "Joe" begins to laugh malevolently, and grabs Sari's key. Dropping his "Joe" facade, Megatron declares that with the key, he will conquer the TransTech's Cybertron. Shockwave reluctantly releases Optimus and Sari, and the Transformers all work together to attack Megatron. Unfortunately, all damage they incur to him is healed by the key, and Megatron uses the key to give life to Shockwave's lab equipment. Megatron declares himself unstoppable, but Sari, thinking quickly, uses the power of bureaucracy. The heroes proceed to explain to the lab equipment that with their newfound sentience, they now need licenses, registration, tax forms, and school. Angered, the lab-bots grab Megatron and take off with him, the Predacon declaring that he will have his revenge. Sari retrieves her key, and Shockwave, heavily annoyed, uses his authority to send the three straight back to their home dimension. Shockwave and Flareup agree to never speak of this incident again.

Back on Earth, Optimus, Bumblebee, and Sari also agree never to talk about this adventure. Prime compliments Bumblebee for his bravery, and is moved by what he saw in Axiom Nexus. Autobots, Decepticons, Maximals, Predacons, and countless other faction all living in harmony has inspired him, and he begins to burst into song. Bumblebee and Sari scream, and knock down Prime before he can wax lyrical.

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons/Predacons Humans Others
  • Narrator (1)
  • Drive-thru speaker (9)
  • Newly-created robots (11)

Quotes

Dr. Sumdac: "We're ready for a test run now. Here we go!"
Sari: "Hey! My Key is acting weird again."
Dr. Sumdac: "Oh, my! This is not going to turn out well!"
All: "ahhhhhhhhhhhhh."

—Sari, Dr. Sumdac, Optimus Prime, and Bumblebee show us a fine example of dull surprise.


"Hmm. No Megatrons, no Primes, no Cosmic MacGuffins, and no soliciting. By order of the Axiom Nexus... tourism board?!"

—Bumblebee reads the sign of rules in Axiom Nexus, unlike Megatron, Prime, and Sari!


"Begin proactive maintenance log: Subject A, adolescent human female, has regained consciousness and has demonstrated both an awareness of the narrator and an utter disregard for the fourth wall."

—Shockwave records his observations.


"Okay, so you've got some crazy no-Prime policy, I can roll with that. But why am I under arrest? I'm just a little girl. I'm no harm to anyone. Can you please just let me go, pleeeaaaase?"
"Child, the only way you could make me more suspicious is if you were wearing a yellow hard hat!"

—Despite Sari Sumdac's best efforts, Shockwave knows the deal with human companion characters.


"Items of cosmic significance like this AllSpark-powered key are contraband in Axiom Nexus, and I will not allow you to deus ex machina your way out of this."
"Deus ex machina isn't a verb."
"SILENCE!!"

—Shockwave and Optimus argue proper grammar usage.


"I shall begin with you, as to avoid delving too deeply into any dark secrets of this girl's past that the audience might find too interesting."
"What? It's not like I'm some hyper-advanced, human-like robot my dad made or anything. That's silly."

—Shockwave and Sari carefully avoid spoilers.


Bumblebee: "Uh, yeah. I-I'd like, um... whoo. Uh, y—lemme get a shake...some fries, side of barbecue sauce... uh, what's a Manwich? ...Ohhh, okay, yeah, I'll take one of those too!"
Loudspeaker: "Revah ruh rug reese, issra rayest ruh."
Flareup: "Bumblebee, what are you doing?!"
Bumblebee: "A contractually obligated gag."


"We need help. BIG help! Maybe we can rig up a communicator and call in Grimlock. Or maybe con Lugnut into helping us out."
"Oh, please. What do I look like, Scott McNeil?"

—Bumblebee's plan is shot down by "Joe". Maybe he should've tried asking Blitzwing instead?

Notes

Look to this day, graduates, as you meta-reference the world.

Continuity notes

  • Optimus, Bumblebee, and Sari all come from an indeterminate point in the Animated cartoon timeline. Ask Vector Prime would later state they did not come from the main Animated cartoon universe.
  • This story, while jokey, is canon to the TransTech stories, with Prime, Bumblebee, and Sari's arrival being mentioned in Withered Hope, and Bulletbike noticing Flareup and Bumblebee in I, Lowtech.

Transformers references

  • Prime points out that Professor Sumdac sounds weird: with Tom Kenny not being at the convention, Sumdac's role is filled by Marty Isenberg.
  • The Bi-directional Unified Transit Terminal, or BUTT for short, is a gag based on the Fully Automated Rapid Transit System from Animated's first episode, which had the unintentional acronym "FARTS".
  • When Prime, Bumblebee, and Sari are transported to Axiom Nexus, they let out a dull, lifeless yell, in reference to dull surprise, which plagued the Dreamwave Productions comics in the early 2000's.
  • Bumblebee yells out to a passerby, asking how they walk without knees. This was an incredibly common articulation issue of most figures pre-Beast Wars.
  • Flareup was a BotCon 2005 exclusive.
  • Bumblebee is consistently misidentified by characters in the story to various other kid-appeal characters. Flareup identifies him as "a kid-appeal yellow-car-type", narrowed down to either "a Bumblebee or a Hot Shot", also referencing early Animated plans for Hot Shot to be the kid-appeal character of the crew. Various characters later "mistake" him for Wheelie, Side Burn, and Cheetor.
  • Bumblebee is the fifth Bumblebee that has entered Axiom Nexus on that day, in reference to his live-action counterpart's popularity boosting the number of Bumblebees.
  • Sari's befuddlement at a robot having high heels and Flareup's own distaste at having such an attribute is a reference to the long-standing tradition of giving female Transformers heels to look more feminine.
  • Shockwave states that the only thing that would make him more suspicious of Sari would be her wearing a yellow hard hat, which was used by multiple human characters in the original Transformers cartoon, regardless of profession.
  • Shockwave and Sari tongue-in-cheekly refer to her then mysterious origins. They almost get it right!
  • Shockwave refers to Optimus as "Rescue Roy", heroic firetruck from the 1-2-3 Transformers toyline.
  • Bumblebee ordering fast food is a reference to a longstanding BotCon voice actor panel tradition, which involves the attending actors performing their characters ordering at a drive-thru.
  • When introducing himself to Bumblebee and Flareup, Megatron mentions that when he and his kind came in, it was believed that they would destroy the franchise, er, multiverse. This refers to the somewhat...over-the-top reaction that the original Beast Wars toys were greeted with.
  • When Bumblebee thinks up of various David Kaye-voiced characters to call in for help, Megatron asks if he looks like Scott McNeil, who played quite a few characters in Beast Wars.
  • While masquerading as a Prime, Megatron identifies himself as "Joe Convoy", playing on the Japanese name for Optimus and his ilk.
  • Bumblebee calls Shockwave "Shockblast", the "close enough" name used as a substitute for "Shockwave" for a time when Hasbro was unable to secure that trademark.
  • Shockwave suggests they defeat Megatron by having Prime attack him with long, drawn out stock footage attack while the other stand around and call out with burning justice to help empower him. This is in reference to the last few Transformers cartoon's final showdown, with rather bog-standard anime fights.
  • In a sort of anti-reference, Prime and Bumblebee's "let us never speak of it again" conclusion provides an in-story reason for why none of this extra-dimensional silliness was ever mentioned on the actual Animated cartoon.

Real-world references

  • Professor Sumdac refers to Sari as "the joy and the laughter," a reference to actress Tara Strong's role as Bubbles in The Powerpuff Girls. Bubbles is proclaimed to be "the joy and the laughter" in that show's closing theme tune.
  • Prime remarks that waiting in line for 17 hours "took longer than an InuYasha story arc". David Kaye played a recurring role in that series as InuYasha's brother, Sesshomaru. (David also punctuated the gag with a little fist-pump.)
  • When Bumblebee places his fast-food order, the nearly incomprehensible drive-thru speaker replies "Sever your leg please, it's the greatest day." The line is a direct lift from the Homestar Runner cartoon "Drive-Thru" featuring a randomly-appearing, nearly incomprehensible drive-thru speaker.
  • When trying to sneak Bumblebee and "Joe" into Shockwave's lab, Flareup tells the TransTech guard that it's a "prison transfer from cell block 1138". While the guard does not get the reference, it's a line uttered by Luke Skywalker in the first Star Wars film (which in turn is a reference to one of George Lucas's early films, THX 1138).
  • Bumblebee tries to get the maniacally laughing (and coughing) Megatron's attention with a "Yo, Joe?" This is, of course, a reference to the battle cry of G.I. Joe from the eponymous '80s cartoon series. Flareup follows up with "Wrong convention", referencing Fun Publications' role in running the annual G.I. Joe convention.
  • Sari calls Megatron a "big bucket-headed bully Barney", in reference to the other purple dinosaur.
  • When Sari snatches Bumblebee's meal, Bumblebee laments "My manwich!", a line used by another of voice actor Bumper Robinson's characters, Dwight Conrad of Futurama.
  • With the AllSpark Key in hand, Megatron claims he has "a big boost of confidence", a tag line from commercials Kaye narrated touting Enzyte, a non-prescription drug for... er, male performance enhancement. In a similar vein (Ha-haaa! Vein!), he also refers to himself as "the Keymaster" (much to Flareup's disgust), a reference to the movie Ghostbusters.
  • One of the newly born lab robots, upon being told of the forms it will have to fill out, says "What you talkin' 'bout, Wheelie?", a reference to the catchphrase of a young Gary Coleman in Diff'rent Strokes.
  • Bumblebee calls Megatron a "Jurassic dork".
  • During the epilogue, Prime adds to the list of Bumblebee's misnomers by calling him "T-Bob", the robot sidekick from the '80s cartoon series/Kenner toy line M.A.S.K..

Trivia

  • Sari is mistakenly described as an "adolescent", which is a teenager.
  • After Sari's "human-like robot" line, Marty Isenberg put his finger to his lip and looked upwards in a very hammy faux-innocent look....

"Bee in the City" Live Recording:

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