Defrosted

Defrosted is the third episode of Season 3 and the fortieth-eighth overall of Transformers: Robots in Disguise.

Plot
Grimlock begs to learn new fighting methods from a reluctant Drift when the Autobots travel to the Antarctic and take on the professional Decepticon thief Crustacion

Synopsis
Antarctica: a glacial ice face crumbles into the sea revealing a stasis pod which breaks open as Crustacion frees himself. The Decepticon immediately starts looking for his Shanix, and heads towards a nearby human base.

In the scrapyard, Bumblebee searches futily for his Decepticon Hunter, though as Denny points out, Bee lost it on the battlefield. Bumblebee tries to contact Fixit too see if the Mini-Con detected any other lifeforms at the time the weapon went missing, but Fixit is engrossed in Russell's handheld video game. Meanwhile, Jetstorm and Slipstream are sparring, overseen by Drift. Jetstorm is unhappy with his performance and Drift ropes Grimlock into taking part in a lesson. Grimlock hesitantly attacks Jetstorm, who manages to knock the Dinobot on his face. Grimlock is so impressed he asks to be Drift's "poodle" too. Russell continues unsuccessfully to wrest his game back from Fixit, but even when there's a Decepticon alert, Fixit continues trying to play while delivering a briefing to the team. The alert's coming from an ice cave where one of Windblade's caches was located. The team rolls for the GroundBridge, though they have to get Fixit to put down his game for a moment to activate the portal, and as a result Fixit has a game over.

The team arrives in the Antarctic, which Sideswipe observes is warmer than he expected. The team adopt arctic camouflage and ask Fixit to scan the base for human life signs. Fixit hands his video game over to Denny for a moment and confirms there are no humans inside, though it results in him getting another game over. Inside the base, Crustacion is still hunting for his Shanix and Strongarm recognizes him from the most wanted list. Due to him pulling a big robbery by breaking into the treasury room and robbing it by stealing a fortune of Shanix. Bumblebee, Strongarm and Sideswipe move in, and though the Con knocks Strongarm and Sideswipe aside, he gets his claw caught in a metal railing. Bumblebee reaches for his Decepticon Hunter before remembering it's missing, allowing Crustacion to knock him down. Bumblebee pulls out his regular gun, however it turns out Crustacion has eye lasers, when he uses to free himself. The Con demands the Autobots tell him where the Shanix are, and Sideswipe realizes that Crustacion has lost the loot he stole. Heading outside, the Con flattens Drift before Grimlock attempts unsuccessfully to use Drift's earlier lesson. Crustacion drives off. The Autobots split up to try to track the Decepticon down. Paired with Drift, Grimlock apologizes for failing and says he'll do better next time. The rest of the Autobots finally find the base's personnel taking shelter in a small building. Bumblebee tells them to stay put until the coast is clear.

Back at base, Fixit is hooking the video game up to the command center in an attempt to reprogram the game's code, or as Russell puts it, cheat. The attempt is less than successful, and Fixit experiences another game over.

Bumblebee's team find Crustacion has located the remainder of Windblade's cache and accessing it with his eye lasers. When it doesn't turn out to contain Shanix, he starts throwing the contents aside as he searches. One item lands near the watching Autobots and explodes, making them realize they need to stop the Con before he causes any more damage. Crustacion transforms and leads the Autobots on a chase through an ice cave, however the Con soon finds the cave ends in a dead end. He has an epiphany as to where his Shanix are located, and when the Autobots catch up with him, he uses his lasers to bring the cave roof down on them. Grimlock thinks Drift's teachings will help him free the team, and to everyone's surprise, his technique of knocking a stalactite down with his tail actually frees them up a bit. Sideswipe and Strongarm use their Decepticon Hunters to make thermo-swords and finish the job of freeing themselves, and the team resumes the hunt for Crustacion.

They emerge from the cave to find the glacier is crumbling even more. Leaving the others to stabilize the glacier, Bumblebee and Drift head underwater where Crustcion is digging into the sea floor. Thanks to the glacier crumbling, Grimlock joins them. Bumblebee and Drift don't have much luck attacking the Decepticon, while Sideswipe and Strongarm find the glacier is cracking, endangering the trapped humans. Grimlock tries to attack Crustacion and is knocked flying, but as the Con charges at him, this time he's able to put Drift's teachings into practice and mounts Crustacion. Up top, Strongarm and Sideswipe manage to pull the glacier back together, saving the humans. Grimlock manages to defeat Crustacion by using the Con's own claws to knock him out. The team speculates that more of Windblade's caches may have been compromised, and resolve to make sure they're all secure. They try to contact Fixit for a GroundBridge home, but the Mini-Con is still engrossed in his game, and Russell has to open the portal. As the Autobots come through, Grimlock knocks Fixit, who drops his game which shatters. Grimlock thanks Drift for teaching him, believing he's graduated, and an exasperated Drift declares him "master of punching".

Elsewhere, a Mini-Con emerges from a purple GroundBridge portal, with orders from Soundwave to retrieve another Decepticon Hunter.

Back in the Antarctic, another chunk breaks off the glacier, and within can be seen Crustacion's missing Shanix.

Autobots

 * Bumblebee
 * Strongarm
 * Sideswipe
 * Grimlock
 * Drift
 * Jetstorm
 * Slipstream
 * Fixit

Decepticons

 * Crustacion
 * Soundwave (voice only)

Humans

 * Denny Clay
 * Russell Clay
 * Researchers (voices only)

Others

 * Trickout

Quotes
"Drift, what are you trying to teach them? Jet can't fight me! I'm uh... I'm... have you seen me?!"
 * —Grimlock wants to fight bots his own size.

"I'm implementing a strategy humans wouldn't think of! Reprogramming the game's code! *cackles*"

"Yeah. That's called 'cheating'."

"I am merely analyzing the game's strategic algorithms in an effort to counter-strategize with superior Cybertronian algorithms!"

"Yeah. Cheating."
 * —Fixit is determined to win, Russell is unimpressed

"Didn't anyone teach you to pick on bots your own size?"

"There aren't many bots my size!"
 * —And Crustacion' s taunt goes over Grimlock's head

"I've learned everything I need to know! So I guess this means I've graduated!"

"No, Grimlock. You have not even—"

* Grimlock gives Drift puppy-dog eyes*

"...Yes, Grimlock. For your many... minutes of work under my tutelage, I declare you a master... of... punching." "Aww, thanks, teach!"
 * —Grimlock learned a lot being a poodle for Drift

Continuity notes

 * As Bumblebee searches for his Decepticon Hunter among the racks, a few past pieces of plot paraphernalia appear:
 * A Billy the Breakfast Beaver statue from "Pilot (Part 1)".
 * The mascot head with Sideswipe's face crudely drawn on it which Strongarm was first seen using as a punching bag in "W.W.O.D.?".
 * The rocking horse Strongarm used to illustrate Earth animal abilities from "The Buzz on Windblade".
 * Windblade's worldwide network of supply stashes and captured Decepticons was established in her introductory episode, "The Buzz on Windblade", and played into the "Away Team" storyline in season 2. Looks like this will be our primary source of new villains going forward, since most of the Alchemor  prisoners were carted off to Cybertron back in "Decepticon Island (Part 2)".

Prisoner manifest

 * In stasis: Crustacion

Transformers references

 * The currency Shanix makes its first appearance in the Robots in Disguise series.
 * Strongarm namedrops "Rampage" in her thermo-sword plan, a nod to the Generation 1 Predacon  Rampage who did indeed carry a thermo-sword. In fact, the Hunters' thermo-sword modes are even patterned after the original Rampage toy's sword accessory, complete with the partial branch under the crossguard!

Real-world references

 * The game Fixit fixates on uses sounds from Super Mario World.
 * Strongarm remarks that global warming is the likely cause of the less-inhospitable temperatures in the arctic, as well as the glacier's general instability.
 * Crustacion cites walking under a ladder as a source of his bad luck, a common Earth superstition.

Trivia

 * The original description text for this episode gave the name of the unfrozen Decepticon as "Prong." Presumably this was a preliminary name for Crustacion.