Haunting of Bot House
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| Production company | Allspark Animation | |||||
| Airdate | December 22, 2020 | |||||
| Director | Mickey Lee Lesson Lin | |||||
| Animation studio | Counter656 | |||||
 Watch this episode on YouTube
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The Autobots try to scare up some attention by making a horror video.
Synopsis
After seeing the attention the Decepticons last video did, Optimus Prime decides the Autobots could make an even better one. Everyone except Prowl is stumped on coming up with a video idea, who suggests a horror video. Suddenly the television turns on by itself startling everyone, showing the movie Birdbox. Ironhide and Chromia watch huddling together while Hound and Sideswipe take swings at each other while blindfolded. Noticing Optimus is engrossed in the movie, Ultra Magnus decides to give him a scare by touching him. Optimus jumps from his chair in fright, then gives Ultra Magnus an angry glare.
Sideswipe slowly walks down a darkened hallway, looking about apprehensively. Behind him, two blurry shapes scuttle out of sight just before Sideswipe turns to look. Not seeing anything he grows scared, moving quicker. As he steps past a door, it opens with a creek. Peering in, a large shape moves through the room as it darkens, a low an ominous noise is heard. Lightning flashes and a shadowy image of a woman appears for a moment before the door slams shot.
Sideswipe dashes into a room at the end of the hall, and hides in a wardrobe. A knock can be heard at the door. Slowly opening the wardrobe revealed the door to the room open. Suddenly Ultra Magnus slides into, eyes glowing red and head spinning around. Ultra Magnus then reaches out and tags Sideswipe before running away. Sideswipe catches his breath, before looking up, eyes now red and head spinning around.
In the Decepticon headquarters, Megatron, Astrotrain, and Starscream all shiver in fear watching the Autobot horror movie while Mirage sits blindfolded. As the music swells, Barricade becomes so terrified he jumps and accidentally shoots the television. He hides his gun and looks about sheepishly as all the other Decepticons except Mirage glare at him angrily.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons |
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Quotes
👻☠️
- —Prowl suggesting a horror movie.
😈🤬
- —Optimus Prime after Ultra Magnus gives him a scare.
🙈
- —Mirage calmly "watching" the horror movie blindfolded.
Notes
- The short was initially released via the Netflix Japan Anime account on Twitter in September 2020, though this has since been deleted, followed by releases on Counter656's YouTube channel in November and the English Netflix Anime YouTube channel in December.
- Lionizer and the smart speaker can be seen in the background in one shot during the recap of the last episode.
- As with other Netflix stop motions, BotBots appear in both the Autobot and Decepticon bases as props. For the Autobots, we see Bogus Pocus and Professor Wellread on the bookshelf behind Optimus. Greeny Rex and Smerg the Sad are on the side wall of the room and Game Over is seen on a shelf at the back of hte room. Finally Brotato, Duderoni, Hawt Diggity, Shredder Jack, Sippyberry, The Fizz, and Twerple Burple are on the table as snacks. In the Decepticon base Angry Cheese, Burrito Favorito, Carb O'Nate, Duderoni, two Hawt Diggitys, S'up Dawg, Sippy Slurps, Spud Muffin, The Vengeful Terror-Yaki, and Twerple Burple are on the table as snacks. In the final shot Arctic Guzzlerush and Kikmee can be seen behind Soundwave while Rootwing is behind Astrotrain.
- Ranger Lampton can also bee seen in the recap from the previous episode.
- It's also possible the two blurry shapes moving behind Sideswipe in the horror video were BotBots given their size. However they are so out of focus it's impossible to tell for sure.
Animation or technical errors
Real-world references
- Birdbox was a Netflix exclusive horror movie that premiered on December 21, 2018.
- A major plot point in Birdbox was needing to remain blindfolded for protection. Sidesipe, Hound and Mirage all sport blindfolds through the video.
