Disordered Personalities

Disordered Personalities is the tenth episode of Season 3 and the fifty-fifth overall of Transformers: Robots in Disguise.

History
An experiment in combining accidentally causes the Autobots to swap personalities. Stuck in the wrong bodies, the team is called on a mission to defeat the Stunticons in a road race.

Synopsis
Team Bee stands wired up to some heavily technological machinery which Fixit thinks will probably merge them into Ultra Bee. While the others are apprehensive, Grimlock is more interested in watching television, as the Crown City Grand Prix is about to be broadcast. Fixit fires up the equipment, and the Bee Team are all heartily zapped until Fixit's console starts smoking. Nothing seems to have happened at first, but suddenly Drift starts speaking in Grimlock's voice. It's swiftly obvious the Autobots have swapped bodies — Sideswipe, now occupying Strongarm, admires his own body from the outside, it now being occupied by Drift. Strongarm is thrilled to find she's now Bumblebee while Bee himself quickly realizes that he's been transferred into Grimlock's body. While Fixit explains that the controls are fried and he can't switch them back, Grimlock enjoys being a car for a change. Fixit believes the effect will be temporary, and Bee thinks it'll mostly be an annoyance, so long as they don't have any crises to deal with. On cue, Denny calls them over to the TV — the Grand Prix has been gatecrashed by four of the Stunticons. The team realize they're going to have to do something about it while still body-swapped. As Bee will be incongruous in dino form (not to mention slow), he puts Strongarm in charge of the mission to stop the 'Cons, and asks Fixit to deal with the television broadcasts so they don't blow their cover in doing so.

Over at the start line, current champ "Crasher" Casey sits confidently at the head of the pack. The Stunticons, behind the other racers, argue over which of them is going to win, much to Slashmark's annoyance. As the race begins and the cars speed off, Fixit manages to cut off the television broadcast. In the lead, Casey decides the race is too easy and pops in a beginner Spanish tape to keep herself occupied. The Autobots join the race, and Grimlock immediately zooms ahead, identifying Heatseeker when the Stunticon calls him a "squishie". Strongarm tries to pull over Drag Strip, who explains he intends to become "Ruler of the Roads" by winning the title. He takes Strongarm's comments about the title not being literal as an attempt to confuse him, and has Wildbreak knock her into the barrier.

Sideswipe and Drift manage to stop Slashmark, however he evades them by energizing his wheels. Drift tries to deploy his Mini-Cons before realizing he's in Sideswipe's body, and Slashmark taunts the "lawbots" before speeding away. The two Autobots give chase, though Sideswipe is having ongoing problems controlling Strongarm's sirens. Ahead, Casey starts on another lap while continuing her Spanish lesson. Grimlock confronts Drag Strip and manages to deploy Jetstorm and Slipstream, only for the pair to get a face full of Drag Strip's nitro-boost as the Stunticon speeds away. Closing in on Drag Strip and Wildbreak, Strongarm contacts the others for backup, however the others disregard her orders to her immense frustration.

Bumblebee's anxious pacing annoys Fixit, who reveals he's finished fixing the equipment. Bee immediately manages to knock the console flying with his tail.

Drag Strip and Wildbreak discuss how they're probably going to win, but Drag Strip's daydreams of taking command are cut short when they realize that Casey is ahead of them. Strongarm catches up with them and Wildbreak keeps her busy by energizing the road behind him. She again calls for backup. Grimlock is unable to come, as he's having trouble getting the Mini-Cons to undeploy, and Drift and Sideswipe are busy with Slashmark. Strongarm tries dealing with the pair herself, only to be blasted by Drag Strip's boost and ends up hitting the barrier, half-dangling over a long drop. The two Cons move in on Crasher Casey and Wildbreak unleashes a literal wave of energized road which Casey, obliviously musing that she didn't remember there being a hill at that spot, manages to ride out. As Strongarm laments the state of her mission, Grimlock arrives and helps her back onto the road. Elsewhere, Sideswipe and Drift manage to tackle Slashmark and take him down after Sideswipe blinds him with Strongarm's lights, Drift punching the Stunticon off the cliff.

As Casey heads towards the finish line, the remaining three Stunticons close in. Heatseeker unleashes a pair of guided missiles which streak towards the unaware human, until they suddenly lock on to Sideswipe and Drift coming the other way. The pair swerve around the three Stunticons, who end up being blitzed by their own missiles, leaving Casey to cross the finish line, victorious for the fifth straight year.

Back in the scrapyard, the team reports that the Stunticons all managed to get away in the confusion. Fixit once fires up the equipment to swap everyone back. The Autobots are all zapped, but in the aftermath they're all back in their own bodies. Everything is fine again, until they discover, as Sideswipe gives Fixit a piece of his mind, that the Mini-Con's consciousness has been swapped into the control panel. While Fixit starts on one of his stories, the others go to get the parts needed for Denny to transfer him back.

Autobots

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

Decepticons

 * Dragstrip
 * Slashmark
 * Heatseeker
 * Wildbreak

Humans

 * Denny Clay
 * Russell Clay
 * Casey
 * Security guard

Quotes
"Is this truly necessary, Bumblebee?"

"It is if we want to create and control the effect that merges all of us into our Ultra Bee Team Combiner form."
 * —Drift discovers that Bumblebee is a salesman at heart

"Y'know, I may not even give the title over to the boss when we get back. If I'm Ruler of the Roads, what's he gonna do about it?"

"Probably run ya over, back up, and then, run ya over again."
 * —Dragstrip and Wildbreak discuss Motormaster's management style

"Gee, uhh...Sorry about that, Dragstrip."

"One of these days, Wildbreak. Pow! Right in the grill!"
 * —Wildbreak and Dragstrip continue their Ralph-and-Ed routine.

Continuity notes

 * Casey is definitely a jack of all trades, isn't she? Stated to be the Rumbledome's champion in "The Champ", she is also Crown City's greatest road racer.

Prisoner manifest

 * In stasis: Crustacion, Ragebyte, Zorillor, Springload, Boostwing, Jacknab, Pilfer, Shadow Raker

Transformers references

 * One of the humans' cars in the race uses Knock Out's alt-mode model.

Real-world references

 * The Spanish phrases Casey learns include:
 * ¿Donde está el baño? — "Where is the bathroom?"
 * Mi tío tiene pulgas. — "My uncle has fleas."
 * Creo que estoy en un gran problema. — "I think I'm in big trouble." (as the Stunticons close in)
 * Me gustaría hacer un poco de surf. — "I would like to do a little surfing." (as Wildbreak unleashes the ground wave)

Trivia

 * This episode premiered at the "Transformers Through the Years" screening event, which was held by the Paley Center for Media in New York City, where it was shown on a large film screen alongside episodes from various Transformers series. The screening took place a week before this episode's official airdate.
 * Unlike Transformers: Rescue Bots which also used a body-swapping plot, the characters' voices switch between their bodies.