Haunting of Bot House
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 Come on in heeEEEeeeEEEeeEEEeere... | ||||||
| Production company | Allspark Animation | |||||
| Airdate | September 10, 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 received, 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. Teletraan I suddenly activates, startling everyone, and begins playing the movie Bird Box. 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 and begins moving quicker. As he steps past a door, it opens with a creak. Peering in, a large shape moves through the room as it darkens, and a low, ominous noise is heard. Lightning flashes and a shadowy image of a woman appears for a moment before the door slams shut.
Now in a panic, Sideswipe dashes into a room at the end of the hall, and hides in a wardrobe. Hearing a knock at the door, he slowly peers out to see the door to the room is open. Suddenly Ultra Magnus slides in front of him, 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 screen. He hides his gun and looks about sheepishly as the others glare at him.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons |
|---|---|
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Quotes
"👻☠️"
- —Prowl suggesting a horror movie.
"😈"
"🤬"
- —Ultra Magnus gives Optimus Prime 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 the 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 be seen in the recap from the previous episode.
- Two unidentified BotBots were also used as the blurry shapes moving behind Sideswipe in the horror video. However, they're so out of focus it's nearly impossible to tell which ones.
Transformers references
- As with the other videos in the series, a large picture of Cybertron, as seen in the first episode of Transformers: Prime, can be seen on the wall in Autobot headquarters.
Real-world references
- The episode title is a play on the name of the Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House.
- Bird Box was a Netflix exclusive horror movie that premiered on December 21, 2018. A major plot point in the film involves the characters needing to remain blindfolded for protection, which is why Sideswipe, Hound and Mirage all sport blindfolds through the video.
- When Teletraan I turns on, everyone reacts with exclamation marks suddenly appearing over their heads, accompanied by a horn-like noise, in reference to the Metal Gear video game series.
