Cube (episode)

The name or term "Cube" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Cube (disambiguation).

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Put the teams on the field and get 'em pumped up right 'Cause all my rowdy friends are here for Monday night!
"Cube"
Production company	Hasbro Studios
Airdate	October 7, 2018 (Canada)
Writer	Randolph Heard
Directors	Robert Cullen & Ehud Landsberg
Animation studio	Boulder Media Studio

Bumblebee learns how he first met Windblade and relives a Golden Age encounter with a young Starscream and his Seekers.

Synopsis

Inside the Decepticon scout ship, Windblade trawls the ship's computer for Decepticon intel, but is unable to turn up anything useful. Bumblebee, on the other hand, has found a heavy-duty weapon, but is more impressed with his other find: a glowing cube that he can't identify, but Windblade immediately recognizes. Despite Windblade's best attempts to remind him of his love of the game of Cube, she instead opts to simply patch into his mind. Inside his mind, Bumblebee is overwhelmed by the amount of Cube-related memories he has, and Windblade points him in the direction of a relevant memory...

On Cybertron, in the years before the war, Bumblebee finds himself ejected from a sports stadium, unable to get in. His interest is piqued, however, when he observes a group of jet Transformers — Starscream, Dirge, and Ramjet — making their way into the stadium, accompanied by their "honored guest" Windblade. Despite trying to hide behind WIndblade and sneak in past the guard, but still finds himself unable to get past the guard. Instead, Bumblebee steals a costume and disguises himself as a cube mascot to gain entrance, but unexpectedly finds himself thrown into the center of the arena to perform!

In the grandstands, Windblade is amused by the "mascot's" dance before the game begins, pitting the Iacon against Polyhex. Iacon gets the upper hand, but Bumblebee's jubilant celebration is cut short when the real Cube mascot arrives, and after a brief scuffle Bumblebee abandons the disguise. On his way out, however, he crosses paths with Windblade, who's amused by his performance. Winblade reveals that she's from Caminus, and only recently befriended Starscream and his Seekers after arriving on Cybertron; on learning that the Camien doesn't know anything about Cube, Bumblebee tries to teach her the rules of the game as Polyhex scores the first goal. When Starscream and his underlings catch up with Windblade, however they're not pleased to see her fraternizing with the yellow 'bot, and a brief scuffle ends when Starscream uses his prestige to convince arena security to eject Bumblebee from the stadium.

Out on the streets once more, Bumblebee turns to walk away... until a mental projection of Windblade's head instructs him to sneak in through the back door. Inside, Windblade explains that her Cityspeaker talents allow her to telepathically interact with others, but the conversation ends when the two spy the three Seekers skulking around the back of the arena, aiming to "spice up" the game. The pair spy on the villains as Starscream creates a custom Cube with its own rogue AI. Though some quick reflexes allow Bumblebee to down Dirge and Ramjet, his hold on the counterfeit Cube sends him spiraling up into the game, knocking players down and sending Bumblebee on a wild ride as he tries to control it long enough to absorb the energon and score a goal. Outside the stadium, Bumblebee invites his new friend to ditch the Seekers and join him and his friends at a local oil house.

Bumblebee asks who won, but Windblade tells him that all anyone can remember is his ride on the Cube. When Bumblebee suggests that they play a round of Cube on Earth, Windblade agrees... until they remember that neither of them know the rules.

Featured characters

Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Others
Windblade (1) Bumblebee (2)	Stadium security officer (3) Starscream (4) Dirge (5) Ramjet (6) Cube mascot (7) Cube announcer drone (8) Iacon City Cube team (9) Polyhex Cube team (10)

Notes

Continuity notes

• Bumblebee mentions his favorite "old oil house," foreshadowing the eventual appearance of MacCadam's in a future episode.

Transformers references

• Windblade notes that she's from Caminus, a planet first introduced in the IDW Generation 1 continuity and the homeworld of that universe's incarnation of Windblade.
• Starscream describes the Cube's AI as being "designed by scraplets".

Real-world references

• The "Seeker training program" Windblade finds on the scout ship's computers is Pong.
• While there are obvious differences (we'll start with the "ball" literally having a mind of its own, and go from there), Cube would not be entirely unfamiliar to a human who played rugby.

Trivia

• When the player for Polyhex's team is shown scoring, the announcer drone declares "Discharge scores for Polyhex". It's not entirely clear if he's referring to the player (i.e. that they are named Discharge and have just scored) or to the act (i.e. the cube "discharging" its Energon into them, indicating a score). Notably, later on when Bumblebee is desperately holding on to Starscream's spiked Cube, the announcer drone, upon reaching the end of the countdown, starts to announce (before 'Bee is hurled out of hearing range) "Absorption-", making it seem as if the former could be more likely.

Home video releases

• TBA