Overloaded, Part 1

Overloaded, Part 1 is the twenty-seventh episode and the first episode of Season 2 of Transformers: Robots in Disguise.

Plot
The Bee Team must cope with a global Decepticon threat in the Form of Polarclaw who overwhelms them with his sonic roar and Enhanced eyesight and a weakened Optimus Prime. Meanwhile, Bumblebee must Face the Decepticon overload and his New mini-con partners backtrack and ransack

Synopsis
Russell buffs Grimlock's side, Sideswipe watches Denny and Fixit play Go Fish, Drift inspects his sword, Windblade examines a stasis pod, and the remaining members of Team Bee listen to Optimus Prime's old war tale. Sideswipe hassles Strongarm, believing she's bothering Optimus, leading to the pair fighting and dislodging the pod Drift is carrying. After Bumblebee has Grimlock stop the pair fighting, they suddenly spot Micronus manifesting as a projection on Grimlock's side. Micronus announces that Optimus must return the portions of the Primes' sparks that he borrowed, and despite Bumblebee's protests, the reversal takes place. Optimus is left perceptibly weakened, though Micronus insists he will recover, eventually. Optimus insists he's mission ready, and Bumblebee announces that he's forming an "away team" consisting of Drift and Windblade to hunt Decepticons far from the scrapyard. Sideswipe opts to join the team too, however when Bumblebee reveals he intends for Optimus to monitor things from the command center, Optimus insists on leading the away team. Fixit detects a Decepticon in the Arctic Circle, and after Optimus gives a brief speech, the away team heads through the GroundBridge, which suddenly explodes!

The remaining team deals with the fire by stomping on it, using a fire extinguisher, or in Grimlock's case, dumping a water fountain over it. Fixit manages to raise Optimus and they learn that the away team has safely reached the Arctic near a research installation. Unfortunately the GroundBridge will need to be fixed to get the team back. In the Arctic, Optimus scans for the Decepticon and detects one in a nearby cave, however as they move out, it's clear that Optimus is having trouble just walking.

The other Autobots work on fixing the GroundBridge. Denny and Strongarm wonder if it was a good idea to split the team, especially since they can no longer combine their Decepticon Hunters. At this point Overload arrives and demands they turn over Optimus Prime. The scrapyard's defense systems fire, though they simply bounce off Overload, forcing Fixit and the two humans to seek cover. Bumblebee attempts to attack the Decepticon, but is thrown, knocking the two stasis pods holding the Cyclone Minicons.

Optimus's team make their way up the mountain, though the other Autobots note their leader is slow going, and suggest he fall back. Optimus is about to agree when the Decepticon above starts tossing chunks of ice down at them. Optimus orders the others to move in while he draws the Decepticon's fire, but as they argue, he's knocked off the mountain. Windblade heads up the mountain in her jet mode to distract the Decepticon while the rest of the team try to prevent Optimus from falling. Unfortunately while Slipstream and Jetstorm are able to plant themselves in the side of mountain to provide footholds, the ice quickly begins to crack.

The two Cylone Mini-Cons, freed from their stasis pods, hide themselves in the scrapyard. Fixit looks up Overload in his database, revealing the Decepticon has a history with both Optimus and Bumblebee. Overload has gotten the better of the Autobots, and when Bumblebee reveals that Optimus is absent, Overload realizes he can draw the Autobot leader out by threatening humans in nearby Crown City. The Cyclone Minicons follow him and once the Autobots pick themselves up, they follow suit. The Minicons find Overload first, and he's all too happy to team up with them and wreck the cars in the parking lot he's found. The three soon head towards the city, eager to cause more destruction.

Autobots

 * Bumblebee
 * Optimus Prime
 * Strongarm
 * Sideswipe
 * Grimlock
 * Fixit
 * Drift
 * Slipstream
 * Jetstorm
 * Windblade

Decepticons

 * Overload
 * Backtrack
 * Ransack
 * Polar Claw

Humans

 * Denny Clay
 * Russell Clay

Others

 * Micronus

Quotes
"Looks like you're up, away team."

"You mean, 'Bad Bot Bashers'. Huh? Right? C'mon!" [awkward silence] "Ah, I'm just warming up."
 * —Bumblebee passes the job of awkward  running gag   catchphrasing  naming to Sideswipe. We know where this is going…

"Did I call it? Optimus is already messing us up. It's going to take us forever to drive back to the scrapyard from here."

"Cut him some cable, Slick. It wasn't his fault the groundbridge fritzed."
 * —Sideswipe and Windblade discuss blame

"Grimlock, please help me gently separate the pieces of the GroundBridge."
 * —Fixit invites disaster.

Continuity notes

 * The Cyclone Mini-Cons were previously found and captured in a series of shorts released on transformers.com and YouTube, starting with "Knock, Knock".

Prisoner manifest

 * In stasis: Hammerstrike, Bisk, Chop Shop, Terrashock, Filch, Minitron, Springload, Ped, Quillfire, "that one with all the eyes", Malodor and the Skunkticons, Nightstrike, Vertebreak, Octopunch,  Groundpounder, Headlock, Scowl, Scratch, Zizza, Pseudo, Fracture, Airazor, Divebomb, Thunderhoof,  Underbite, Clampdown
 * Known at large: Steeljaw, Kickback, Overload, Backtrack, Ransack, Polarclaw
 * Released: Grimlock
 * Countless others all missing, presumed at large

Trivia

 * A new title sequence debuts with this episode, adding Optimus Prime to the lineup of named characters. Drift and Windblade do not get name callouts, though they appear along with the rest of the team in the group shot at the end of the sequence.