The Bot Dance Off
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| Production company | Allspark Animation | |||||
| Airdate | October 10, 2020 | |||||
| Director | Mickey Lee | |||||
| Animation studio | Counter656 | |||||
 Watch this episode on YouTube
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The Autobots and Decepticons finally settle their feud with an epic dance off!
Synopsis
As Optimus Prime sees the Decepticons have more likes on social media than the Autobots, he decides something must be done and sends a text...
At Decepticon headquarters, everyone is celebrating the success of their latest video. Megatron hears a notification sound and checks his phone, discovering that Optimus has sent him a challenge, with an accompanying video link. Playing it, he sees the Never Have I Ever dance video and realizes Optimus has challenged them to a dance off.
The Decepticons wait at a basketball court, watching Shockwave skate around riding his combat armor as a hovercraft. Everyone cheers as Shockwave uses Starscream's jet mode as a ramp to do a flip. The Autobots arrive, and the two groups face off. Optimus and Megatron begin to taunt one anther and the rules of the contest are decided: the best pair of dancers win!
Ultra Magnus steps up as Optimus' partner. Soundwave transforms and begins to play music, while Hound begins projecting effects and recording using his shoulder hologram rifle. Optimus and Ultra Magnus begin to dance, moving in perfect sync. Even the Decepticons are impressed, until Megatron silences them with a glare. Prime and Magnus finish their dance, with all the Autobots going wild.
A furious Megatron declares that he can do better and calls for a Decepticon volunteer. Starscream enthusiastically steps up, wanting to show he's a star. As Soundwave starts the music again, the two begin to dance together. This only lasts a moment before Starscream decides to take the spotlight, showing off his dance moves. Blocking a confused Megatron from view, Starscream tears up the dance floor. Both the Autobots and Decepticons go wild for his performance, infuriating Megatron, who can no longer curb his troops' excitement. As Starscream finishes his dance, both sides face off again, then turn to the camera as the video ends.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons |
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Quotes
"🤗🤪🤣🤭"
"💥😡🤬"
"🤯🤬👊😀😏"
"💢👿😏😎"
- —Optimus Prime and Megatron talk some smack.
Notes
- The short was initially released via the Netflix Japan Anime account on Twitter in October 2020, followed by releases on the English Netflix Anime YouTube channel in December and Counter656's YouTube channel in March 2021.
- Once again many BotBots are used as props. In the Autobot base, Bogus Pocus and Professor Wellread are on the bookshelf behind Prime, Smerg the Sad behind Sideswipe, and the tops of Brotato, Sippyberry, The Fizz, and Twerple Burple can be seen in the foreground. In Decepticon headquarters, Arctic Guzzlerush, Batsby, Dinger, Kidd Klobber, Kikmee, Laceface, and Poo-Shoo can be seen on shelving at the side of the room. Rootwing can be seen behind Astrotrain and Shockwave as they sit on the couch while Angry Cheese, Hawt Diggity, Sippy Slurps, Spud Muffin, and The Vengeful Terror-Yaki all sit on the table in front of the Decepticons. Finally, each of the Decepticons holds a BotBot as they celebrate; Astrotrain has Duderoni, Barricade has a second Hawt Diggity, Megatron has Twerple Burple, Mirage holds Burrito Favorito, Shockwave has Fizzkick, Soundwave has S'up Dawg, and Starscream holds Carb O'Nate.
Continuity errors
- After Optimus reacts to the video, the scene of him slamming his fist down and chanting with the Autobots in "Anime Attack!" is missing, replaced with him texting Megatron.
Transformers references
- The banner image on Megatron's social media account is of the War for Cybertron animated series.
- Optimus Prime's social media account has a banner for the live-action film series Optimus.
- Before opening Optimus's text, Bonecrusher, Skywarp and Skytread can be seen on Megatron's phone.
- As in past episodes, a large picture of Cybertron, as seen in the first episode of Transformers: Prime, can be seen on the wall in Autobot headquarters.
- At one point Mirage changes from his Decepticon War for Cybertron Trilogy figure to his War for Cybertron: Siege Autobot figure, then changes back. This may have been a reference to Mirage disguising himself as a Decepticon in the third episode of the Siege animated series.
Real-world references
- Never Have I Ever is a coming-of-age teen comedy/drama series that debuted on Netflix on April 27, 2020. While the series itself doesn't focus on dance, Optimus sends Megatron an advertisement for the show styled as a viral TikTok dance video.
