Stowed Away, Stowaways
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 "Get the lead out! Bus is leaving!" | ||||||
| "Stowed Away, Stowaways" | ||||||
| Season | 1 | |||||
| No. in season | 23 | |||||
| Production company | Entertainment One Nickelodeon | |||||
| Airdate | July 28, 2023 (Paramount+) April 20, 2024 (Nickelodeon) | |||||
| Writer | Gavin Hignight | |||||
| Directors | Matthew Humphreys | |||||
| Animation studio | Icon Creative Studio | |||||
 Watch this episode on Paramount+
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Bumblebee infiltrates G.H.O.S.T. on a secret mission, unaware that the Maltos are following him.
Synopsis
In the dark of night, Bumblebee meets with Optimus Prime at Witwicky Donuts. Optimus has found a piece of Mandroid technology in G.H.O.S.T. HQ and assigns Bumblebee the task of infiltrating a section of the HQ that Optimus doesn't have access to.
At the Malto farm the next morning, the kids are playing a round of "the floor is lava", though Robby objects to Twitch using her alt mode to fly. Bumblebee tells them he can't join the game as he has a mission and, though the kids want to help, Bumblebee prefers to keep them off G.H.O.S.T.'s radar. Nightshade provides him with a mobile hologram emitter and the Smart Trainer 5008. As the scout heads off, the kids resolve to help him in his mission anyway. To this end, Twitch tails him using her alt mode, though she struggles to keep up and ends up smashed into the front of a truck at one point.
At HQ, Megatron and Executive Agent Croft argue about how best to pursue Starscream until Optimus interrupts them to encourage cooperation. Croft turns down Optimus's query about the areas of the base he can't access.
Twitch tracks Bumblebee to the Witwicky Ranger Station, where he heads into a tunnel hidden behind a huge boulder. Once she reports back to the Dugout via radio, Robby takes Thrash and Nightshade to join her while the others remain back to monitor from the Dugout. While Bumblebee stealthily makes his way through the G.H.O.S.T. base, the Maltos rendezvous at the ranger station and access the secret elevator in the back. Hashtag remotely activates the lift, allowing Twitch to pose as a pizza-delivery drone and distract the G.H.O.S.T. agent down below so the others can sneak in. Meanwhile Bumblebee finds himself in a corridor laced with laser tripwires and uses the Smart Trainer to deactivate them. Unfortunately this involves smashing the control panel, which also leaves Bumblebee unable to open the door at the other end.
Agent Schloder, conferring on the phone regarding the pizza he supposedly delivered, literally bumps into the Malto quartet as they sneak around the base and though Nightshade immediately restrains him, he's able to trigger the base-wide alarm on his phone. Turrets start pelting the group with fire until they manage to convince Schloder to shut the alert off. Elsewhere Optimus delays Croft from investigating the alert shortly before it goes silent. Schloder's enthusiastic that Bumblebee's around as he's been trying to recruit the scout for G.H.O.S.T. for ages, and he joins the group in attempting to find Bee.
Bumblebee finally opens the door and discovers what G.H.O.S.T.'s been hiding from them — the salvaged spacebridge. Croft finds him inspecting the device and sics a G.H.O.S.T. agent on him. To Bee's surprise the agent displays superhuman abilities and is more than a match for him. Meanwhile Megatron has realized Prime is up to something and insists they take more direct action, but Optimus has confidence whatever Bee uncovers by stealth will help them. During the fight, Bumblebee knocks the agent's helmet off, revealing it to be an artificial construct, and Croft calls in more of these "Ghoids" to finish him off. Scholder and the Maltos find the Smart Trainer and hurry their efforts to find Bumblebee. They succeed, finding Croft about to deactivate Bee, and join the fight against the Ghoids. Schloder tries to unsuccessfully to convince his sister to stop, but Croft refuses, believing Cybertronians bring only destruction and having spent years secretly gathering resources to wipe them and their planet out. Unable to make her see reason, Schloder activates the spacebridge as an escape route with Bumblebee's help. Though both Bee and Schloder are captured by the Ghoids, Nightshade, Robby, Twitch and Thrash manage to make it through the portal and end up outside. They're just trying to work out where they are when a new figure looms over them — Shockwave!
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Terrans | Others |
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Quotes
"Bye, Bumblebee!"
"...We're totally gonna help Bee, right?"
"Obviously."
- —Mo and Robby
"I was under the impression this was an equal partnership."
"You are mistaken. Now, if that's all, I have an organization to run."
- —Optimus Prime and Agent Croft
"Smart Trainer, I need you to travel to the other end of the corridor and evade all those tripwire lasers."
"It would be a better training exercise if you were to evade all these lasers."
"Just get over there and avoid the lasers!"
- —Bumblebee gets lip from the Smart Trainer.
"Deception, Optimus? Consider me impressed".
- —Megatron
"Bumblebee! You really are here!"
"Oh, great."
- —Schloder and Bumblebee
Notes
Continuity notes
- The Smart Trainer and hologram disguise first appeared during "Missed Connection".
- Starscream escaped during the events of "What Dwells Within" and is still at large.
- While not explicitly stated, the Ghoids possess the same six eyes beneath their masks as the Arachnamechs, implying them to be one of the creations Mandroid developed after being recruited by Croft in "Home, Part 2".
- Shockwave was previously seen being taken into custody by G.H.O.S.T. in "Warzone".
Transformers references
Real-world references
- Bumblebee and Optimus Prime evoke the taped briefings from TV show Mission: Impossible as Optimus gives Bee his mission.
- The spacebridge is installed in a manner reminiscent of the title device from Stargate and even has a similar activation sequence.
- Bumblebee starts quoting the film Predator with the line "Buddy, you are one ugly—" but fortunately for the rating, does not complete the quote.
- After Twitch bumps into the truck, transforms to robot mode, and then flies off, the trucker immediately pours out what he was drinking as a classic gag.
Errors
Trivia
Foreign localization
Brazilian Portuguese
- Title: "Intruso Escondido" ("Hidden Intruder")
- Original airdate: July 29, 2023
French
- Title: "La mission de Bumblebee" ("Bumblebee's Mission")
- Original airdate: October 1, 2023
Hungarian
- Title: "Potyázó portyázók" ("Freeloading Prowlers")
- Original airdate: September 24, 2023
Indonesian
- Title: "Penumpang Gelap yang Diselundupkan" ("Stowed Away Stowaways")
- Original airdate: TBA
Home video releases
- DVD
2024 — Transformers: EarthSpark - Season 1: Episodes 11-26 (Paramount)
