Trouble Cubed
From Transformers Wiki
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 In the old days, an image like this would've preceded him turning into Shotimus Prime. | ||||||
| "Trouble Cubed" | ||||||
| Production code | 207 | |||||
| Season | 2 | |||||
| No. in season | 7 | |||||
| Production company | Allspark Animation | |||||
| Airdate | April 25, 2020 | |||||
| Writer | Ben Ward | |||||
| Director | Ray Quigley | |||||
| Animation studio | Boulder Media Studio | |||||
 Watch this episode on YouTube
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When Hot Shot borrows Grimlock's cube without asking, things rapidly get out of hand and the only one who can help is Grimlock himself.
Contents |
Synopsis
The recruits are helping Grimlock move boxes into Heatwave's office as he's covering for Heatwave for a while. Hot Shot discovers one of the boxes contains a classic Cube, and when they find an MVP trophy, they ask Grimlock if he used to play. Hot Shot corrects them that the trophy was won by a player named "Steelwall" and doesn't believe Grimlock was ever a Cube star. The other recruits whisk Hot Shot away from the now-angry Dinobot before he gets eaten. Back in the living quarters, the oblivious Hot Shot says he's going to ask Grimlock about borrowing the cube, but the other recruits suggest he leave it a while. Hot Shot returns to the office regardless, and finding Grimlock is absent, "borrows" the cube.
Retiring to the gymnasium, Hot Shot quickly finds the classic Cube is not much of a challenge to catch. Hoist arrives and, believing Hot Shot has borrowed the Cube, offers to restart its AI so it'll be a challenge. After a bit of work, the pair reactivate the Cube and quickly discover they've created a monster. The Cube now learns from listening to them and quickly destroys the remote Hoist has built to deactivate it again. As they chase it through the corridors, Hot Shot announces he's confident they can catch it while it's in the academy, which is its cue to escape and head for Milford. The pair round up the other three recruits, and Hoist tries to remotely shut down the Cube, only for it to engineer feedback that destroys the transmitter.
The recruits head to Milford and start the hunt. The cube initially starts chasing Medix before evading the rest of them by ducking down an alley. Hot Shot decides they need to think like a Cube team, and they set up an ambush for the rogue cube. They successfully lure it into a dead-end alley and Hot Shot grabs it so he can deactivate it, however the cube starts emitting light and sound, forcing Hot Shot to release it and transform to avoid humans seeing him. The recruits realize they need another Cube player and therefore they need Grimlock. Hot Shot thinks they can just wait for the Cube to run out of juice, but as it turns out, the Cube has worked out it can drain power from Milford's power grid. Hot Shot finally confesses he took the Cube without asking. The recruits return to the Academy to get Grimlock, who comes up with a plan. The recruits force the Cube to the edge of the city, where Grimlock stops it, allowing Hot Shot to drain it. Hot Shot realizes he was wrong about Grimlock's cube ability, and Grimlock promises to tell him stories from his time as Steelwall, while he does chores as punishment for taking the Cube.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
Quotes
"What have you got in here? Rocks?!"
"Yeah! A bunch of them! And other cool stuff too!"
- —Wedge and Grimlock
"The changes will make it smarter and much faster. It will study its opponent and exploit their weaknesses."
"Oh, you're forgetting: When it comes to Cube, I don't have any weaknesses."
- —Hoist and Hot Shot
Notes
Continuity notes
- Grimlock's Cube uses the same model as the original Cube in Ratchet's lab seen in "Medix Steps Up To The Bat" — Hot Shot identifies this look as a "classic Cube". According to Grimlock, those are the only two classic Cubes left.
- Assuming Grimlock's comment about chewing up and spitting out bots for doing less than stealing his Cube wasn't hyperbole... maybe it gives a bit more context behind the Dinobot's former imprisonment aboard the prison ship Alchemor in Robots in Disguise.
Transformers references
- TBA
Real-world references
- TBA
Animation and technical errors
- TBA
Trivia
- Grimlock's MVP trophy is from the 217 Cybertron AllBot Bowl. Hot Shot suggests that Grimlock's Cube "could have been used at Cubemania before it merged with the Quake League."
- The Autobots text on Grimlock's game plan says "CUBE LOCATED..."
Foreign localization
- TBA
