Adventures in Bumblebee-Sitting! TFP

Adventures in Bumblebee-Sitting! is the eleventh episode of Transformers: Robots in Disguise.

Premise
While in pursuit of a rebellious Decepticon, Bumblebee is exposed to a toxin that impacts his maturity, leaving the rest of the Bee Team to deal with both an escaped fugitive and a hyperactive leader.

Synopsis
Quillfire dashes through a car park, pausing to fire quills at Grimlock who blocks them with a car. The other Autobots speed past Grimlock and as they continue the pursuit, Bumblebee orders everyone to split up. The Bee Team surrounds Quillfire in a warehouse area, but he begins firing quills at them, and Bumblebee has to knock Grimlock out of the way. With the pair down, Quillfire triumphantly carves his signature into a cargo container and departs. Bumblebee barely makes it to his feet before collapsing again, a quill embedded in him. Back at the scrapyard, Fixit works on Bumblebee before transforming into a tool so that Strongarm can extricate the quill. Analyzing the weapon, Fixit reports that each of Quillfire's quills have unpredictable toxins and there's no knowing what effect it will have on Bumblebee. Strongarm realizes that with Bumblebee incapacitated, she's in charge, much to the alarm of the other Autobots. Bumblebee recovers consciousness and immediately pulls a prank and drives off — Fixit surmises that the toxin has caused Bumblebee to regress in maturity. Elsewhere, Quillfire spots something he intends to liberate as part of his rebellion against authority.

The Autobots split up to search for Bumblebee in the scrapyard, and soon become the victim of various pranks — Grimlock gets an oil pie to the face while Sideswipe hits a tripwire and gets a load of bolts flung at him. Sideswipe returns to Fixit, as does Strongarm who is now covered in fire extinguisher foam. The Mini-Con has determined that they'll have to wait for the poison to pass through Bumblebee's system. Russell thinks babysitting Bumblebee will be easy, though Bumblebee's antics while balancing on top of a stack of clothes dryers cause him to think he was a little too optimistic. As night falls, the elephants at a local carnival get a visit by Quillfire, who intends to liberate them from oppression, however he merely succeeds in stampeding them. Quillfire once again triumphantly makes his mark. Back at the scrapyard, Strongarm gets her foot stuck in a washtub full of rubber cement and requires Grimlock's help in getting free. Leaving Sideswipe, who seems amused by the whole thing, to look after Bumblebee, Strongarm takes Grimlock to go find Quillfire.

Pondering how to get Bumblebee to sit still, Russell and Sideswipe strike on getting him to watch television. Unfortunately once Russell leaves to get popcorn, and Sideswipe goes to dry his eyes, the television hits a commercial and Bumblebee loses interest. Overhearing that Quillfire's in a carnival, Bee takes off before Sideswipe and Russell return. At the carnival, Strongarm and Grimlock are contemplating the police cars guarding the area when Bumblebee arrives. After getting Grimlock to sit on Bumblebee, Strongarm goes down and draws the police cars away by reporting a fake emergency in town. Feeling smug, Strongarm enters the carnival, only to be confronted by the stampeding elephants. As she runs, Bumblebee appears running alongside her, followed by Grimlock who tackles the elephants. Strongarm persuades Bumblebee to round up the elephants, though to Grimlock's dismay, he has to serve as Bumblebee's mount.

Fixit alerts the trio that Quillfire is nearby and as she's telling everyone to be quiet so they can surprise the Decepticon, the carnival's rides all suddenly power up, thanks to Bumblebee. While Bee's busy using the dodgems as skates, Strongarm and Grimlock go Decepticon hunting, unaware Quillfire has already spotted them. The pair are lured onto one of the amusement rides by one of Quillfire's signatures, and the Decepticon activates it, causing them to be spin and pinned against the ride's walls. Quillfire goes into a tent to hide, only to find the floor is extremely bouncy. He's joined by Bumblebee who bounces around happily, causing an alarmed Quillfire to bounce high in the air. Strongarm manages to use her crossbow to stop the ride and she and Grimlock quickly track Bee to the tent thanks to Quillfire's terrified cries. Quillfire attempts to fire quills at Bumblebee, only to be bounced in the air and become a victim of his own weapon, swiftly passing out as a result.

Outside, Bumblebee is distracted by some distorted mirrors. Strongarm quickly gets an idea, and Bumblebee is soon chained up at the top of a tower. Morning eventually comes, and Bumblebee is back to his old self. Back at the scrapyard, Quillfire is secured in a stasis pod, and Bumblebee thanks Strongarm for her work.

Autobots

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

Decepticons

 * Andy Milder as Quillfire

Humans

 * Stuart Allen as Russell Clay
 * Will Friedle as Bob

Quotes
Bumblebee: "Autobots, roll up...and..a..roll up." [faints]

Grimlock: "That was Bumblebee's worst battle cry yet."
 * —Bumblebee fails at another battle cry attempt again!

"Young Bee is an evil genius!"
 * —Sideswipe bonds with a fellow brat

"Yes, I understand you're overwhelmed by the prospect of freedom, but you can't stay in this cage out of fear!"
 * —Quillfire trying to inspire some elephants

"OK, so how did my babysitter get me to sit still?"

"Duct tape?"
 * —Russell and Sideswipe try to decide how to keep Bee still

(Excitedly) "I love cowboys!"

(With a warm smile.) "I know."
 * —The incapacitated Bumblebee and his substitute Strongarm share a touching moment.

Bumblebee: Can I be the cowboy that rides a dinosaur?

Grimlock: No.

Strongarm: Yes.
 * —Bee follows the example of his predecessor

"I just wish I could remember what happened."

"Nah, you don't. Really."
 * — and Grimlock shows another astonishing amount of intelligence

Continuity notes

 * The movie Bumblebee watches is interrupted by a commercial for "Flieber-brand lunchmeat". It is possible this is where Denny got his "Nevada Flieber" alias.

Prisoner manifest

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

Transformers references

 * Bumblebee riding Grimlock is a reference to Optimus riding Grimlock in Transformers: Age of Extinction.

Real-world references

 * The episode's title references the 1987 comedy film Adventures in Babysitting.
 * Quillfire's porcupine-based appearance, his ability to launch spikes, and the intelligence-lowering effect they have on Bumblebee are very similar to Spike (Experiment 319) from Lilo & Stitch: The Series.
 * Russell's "booyah!" comes out very similar to how Cyborg from Teen Titans delivered the line. Coincidentally, Grimlock & Cyborg are both voiced by Khary Payton.

Trivia

 * The first thirteen episodes of the series, this included, first premiered in Mandarin on Chinese streaming video site M1905.
 * The cowboy movie that Bumblebee watches has the same background music that played during the team's pursuit of Terrashock in "W.W.O.D.?".