Collect 'Em All

Collect 'Em All is the seventh episode of Transformers: Robots in Disguise.

Premise
As Denny and Russell work to stave off a greedy memorabilia collector, Bee and his Team chase a collector of their own - a Decepticon with an impulsive urge to hoard all things "shiny."

Synopsis
A family, including their unenthusiastic kid, stop at a gas station on their way to a campout. The kid's wish for someone to save him from the family vacation is granted when a giant mechanical bird swoops down, grabs their camper and flies off. Meanwhile, the Autobots are patrolling in search of a Decepticon signal without much luck. Monitoring from the scrapyard, Fixit notes that the signal is on the move, and Strongarm and Sideswipe soon spot their quarry as it lands atop a transmission tower. As Fixit continues to monitor events in the field, the front bell at the scrapyard rings. Bumblebee and Grimlock head to back up their teammates as Denny answers the front door and is irked to find it's Larry LaRue, an ex-collector who's now hosting a reality TV show called Scrapmeisters. Denny is not keen on being TV and throws Larry out. Elsewhere the bird Decepticon is getting the better of Sideswipe and Strongarm and starts carrying them off, until Bumblebee ninja-kicks her out of the air. A glint from an insulator on a nearby transmission tower catches the bird's eye, and she flies up to grab it. As Bumblebee tries to scale the tower to grab her, the power lines break, electrocuting him, and she flies off. Back at the scrapyard, Russell asks his father why he doesn't want to be a star on television, which Fixit misinterprets. Denny says he doesn't have a desire to be rich and famous. The Autobots returns, and Fixit checks the Alchemor database and determines that the Decepticon they're after is compulsive thief Filch, who has been merrily stealing everything shiny. Sideswipe observes that Strongarm's been hitting the rulebook hard lately, and Bumblebee attempts to give Strongarm a pep talk as he thinks she's feeling homesick. Meanwhile, Filch launches from atop the statue near Crown City and is detected by Fixit's instruments. The Autobots prepare to roll out, but Grimlock is disappointed when Bumblebee says he's not going because there's the risk of being seen by humans. Diving behind a stack of junk, he attaches wheels and a grill to himself in an attempt to look like a truck. Bumblebee isn't convinced.

The other three Autobots head out with Denny, and find Filch attempting to pull a beam from the bridge into Crown City. Unfortunately they're not fast enough to stop her from pulling it free, but Bumblebee grabs onto it as she flies overhead. A tug-of-war ensues as the bridge starts to crack, keeping Strongarm and Sideswipe occupied as they have to stabilize the structure. Denny adopts a disguise and manages to stop a police officer, whom he convinces to set up a road block by pretending to be from an exotic bird sanctuary. Back at the scrapyard, Grimlock reports that someone's climbing over the outer wall — it turns out to be Larry LaRue. Russell thinks having the scrapyard on TV might be a good thing as they might actually sell something, while Fixit is mainly confused as to how LaRue's video camera induces stellar fusion. Russell approaches LaRue and gets briefly interviewed before LaRue goes wandering.

The struggle continues on the bridge, until Filch notices the shine on Denny's helmet. She promptly grabs him and makes off with both him and the bridge beam. Grimlock soon gets a call for help from Bee, but has to again disguise himself as a truck to get past LaRue. Unfortunately LaRue sees him. Denny recovers consciousness to find himself along with a bunch of other scrap in the torch at the top of the statue near Crown City. He bumps into Filch who seems more hostile now he's not shiny, but he points out a recycling plant in the distance which sees her heading off in that direction. Unfortunately his phone battery is flat. Russell meanwhile covers for Grimlock by claiming he's a remote-controlled dinotruck. While he's dealing with that, Fixit picks up LaRue's video camera and accidentally films himself. As Grimlock heads off to help the others, LaRue ventures deeper into the scrapyard. Grimlock rolls up to the bridge, stealthily avoiding the backed up traffic, and finds the other Autobots supporting the structure. He takes over while the others go look for Denny. Denny's finally found power for his phone and calls Russell. Bumblebee, Strongarm and Sideswipe are soon pulling up to the statue to rescue Denny. As they start climbing, Filch turns up and tackles Bumblebee right off the side of the statue. Meanwhile, LaRue finds something in the scrapyard that interests him. As Bumblebee grapples with Filch, Strongarm comes to a decision to disobey orders and aids him by punching Filch. Sideswipe reaches the torch at the top of the statue and hurls the bridge beam, knocking out Filch. Bumblebee takes the beam back to the bridge so he can relieve Grimlock. Denny arrives at the scrapyard, where LaRue demands Denny sell him some stuff. As the Autobots sneak past, Denny agrees, and confiscates the memory cards from his camera. Bumblebee congratulates Strongarm for breaking the rules for a change.

Autobots

 * Will Friedle as Bumblebee
 * Constance Zimmer as Strongarm
 * Darren Criss as Sideswipe
 * Mitchell Whitfield as Fixit

Decepticons

 * Khary Payton as Grimlock
 * Constance Zimmer as Filch

Humans

 * Ted McGinley as Denny Clay
 * Stuart Allen as Russell Clay
 * John Katovsich as Larry LaRue
 * Raymond Stein as Policeman

Quotes
"Shiny!"
 * —Filch showing off her extensive vocabulary.

"Polly wants to crack me!"
 * —Sideswipe shows that even bad jokes can make you want to, "crack up."

"Pardon the interruption, but I'm confused. How would appearing on television induce stellar fusion?"
 * —Fixit, on becoming a "star"

Bumblebee: "Grimlock, we need you!"

Grimlock: "Say it again. Slooooower."

Bumblebee: "JUST GET OVER HERE!"
 * —Grimlock wants to savor his usage. Bumblebee doesn't tolerate scrud like that

Bumblebee: Grimlock, how are you holding up?

Grimlock: Awesomely. I am literally holding up awesomely. (Bridge starts to crumble) Slightly less awesomely now.
 * — Grimlock describes his progress as awesomely crummy

Continuity notes

 * Denny previously used the "Nevada Flieber" name in "W.W.O.D.?".

Prisoner manifest

 * In stasis: Underbite, Hammerstrike, Bisk, 4/5ths of Chop Shop, Terrashock, Filch
 * On probation: Grimlock
 * Known at large: Steeljaw, 1/5th of Chop Shop (possibly unknown to Bee), Thunderhoof
 * Countless others all missing, presumed at large

Real-world references

 * Junior's use of hashtags suggest he is using the micro-blogging website Twitter.
 * Denny mentions playing Sudoku on his phone. Sudoku is a logic-based combination number-placement puzzle.

Trivia

 * The first thirteen episodes of the series, this included, first premiered in Mandarin on Chinese streaming video site M1905.