Moon Breaker TFP

Moon Breaker is the sixteenth episode of Season 3 and the sixty-oneth overall of Transformers: Robots in Disguise.

History
Optimus Prime arrives to recruit Drift for a special mission, sparking a competition between Sideswipe and Strongarm over who'd be better suited to take Drift's spot; the Autobots go to the moon to recover a dangerous weapon.

Synopsis
Bumblebee asks for progress on the combiner conundrum, but Fixit still has no idea how they all merged into Ultra Bee without equipment. They receive a transmission from Windblade, who's checking to make sure they found her cache on the Moon, which contains a plasma thermal accelerator module. Bee makes securing potentially dangerous device top priority but he doesn't even have the chance to finish his order to prep Drift's ship when another ship appears overhead. Optimus Prime emerges, announcing that he believes a grave threat to both Earth and Cybertron is imminent, and he needs to borrow Drift to assist him. Sideswipe and Strongarm are also keen to volunteer. As Drift won't abandon their current mission, Optimus opts to lend a hand.

Nearby, Slashmark and Wildbreak are using a tracker to look for Cybertronian tech, which leads them directly to the scrapyard. While the Mini-Cons load Energon onto Optimus's ship, Sideswipe and Strongarm decide to try to prove themselves worthier than Drift for Optimus's mission, while Optimus and Bumblebee discuss what Drift's absence will mean for their combining. The ship soon launches, observed by the two Decepticons. They report back to Motormaster, who decides the best course of action is to attack the Autobots in space.

As the ship heads towards the Moon, Optimus points out a satellite they'll need to avoid. Bumblebee discusses Menasor with Optimus and whether the Autobots can combine properly. The Stunticons' ship appears behind them, and in the ensuing battle, the satellite is bumped out of orbit, and Optimus successfully knocks out the Stunticons' weapons systems. The Stunticons pick up the signals from the tech in Windblade's cache and they make a bee line for it. Optimus grabs Fixit and goes after the satellite, which is packed with ballistic missiles, while the rest of the team continues after the Stunticons.

The Autobots land their ship next to where the Stunticons have parked. Though Strongarm and Sideswipe both come up with ideas on how to proceed, Bumblebee orders the team to rev up and roll out. Meanwhile, Optimus and Fixit reach the satellite, however as Fixit's trying to determine how to detach the heat shield, the satellite's defenses begin firing on them. The Autobots on the Moon catch up with the speeding Stunticons and quickly deal with the four cars, but Motormaster gets the jump on them, blasting them with missiles. Ordering his men to finish off the Autobots, Motormaster speeds off towards the cache. Dragstrip prefers to follow Motormaster and find out what goodies await them.

Motormaster reaches the cache, but as observed by the nearby Autobots, is unable to break through the force field protecting it. The Stunticons merge into Menasor, who stomps his way through the force field. Overjoyed at finding the plasma module, he installs it in his arm and uses its power to blast the Autobots. The Stunticons separate and head back to their ship, leaving Sideswipe and Strongarm bickering over their next step. Bumblebee says they need to combine. They make an attempt but fail, and Strongarm and Sideswipe resume their fight until Bumblebee tells them to settle down. The team successfully combines this time.

Optimus and Fixit manage to navigate their way through the satellite's defenses and reach the base of the heat shield just as it starts entering the atmosphere. With the heat shield gone, the satellite explodes, and luckily both Autobots make it clear in time.

The Stunticons reach the Autobot ship and merge into Menasor so they can destroy it. He doesn't get the chance before Ultra Bee catches up with him. Ultra Bee manages to destroy the plasma module. Menasor attempts to keep fighting, but his component parts start rebelling, allowing Ultra Bee to land a punch that separates the Stunticons. Optimus and Fixit arrive back to find the Stunticons have been defeated.

Back on Earth, the Stunticons are loaded into stasis pods, so Optimus can take them back to Cybertron. Strongarm announces she and Sideswipe have accepted Optimus is taking Drift, and Optimus reveals he didn't want to deprive Bumblebee of their talents, before departing with Drift.

Autobots

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

Decepticons

 * Menasor
 * Motormaster
 * Dragstrip
 * Heatseeker
 * Slashmark
 * Wildbreak

Quotes
You know, those signals might belong to... weapons, handled by, um, Autobots."

"Oh, and here I was thinking we were hunting for squirrels."
 * —Wildbreak and Slashmark hunt for Cybertronian tech.

"Way to blow our element of surprise, cadet."

"Yeah, like they haven't already seen our giant spaceship."


 * —Sideswipe and Strongarm

Continuity notes

 * The fact the team was able to combine without Fixit's equipment in "Combine and Conquer" is deliberately invoked.

Transformers references

 * Optimus Prime also led the Prime Force in Transformers: Energon.
 * The satellite is of the same design as Project Damocles.
 * "Autobots cannot truly combine 'Til all are one".
 * Sideswipe refers to Optimus Prime as "Boss-bot," a term Cheetor coined in Beast Wars.
 * Optimus refers to the Council of Ancients while discussing combining with Bumblebee.

Real-world references

 * The episode's title references the classic James Bond film Moonraker.
 * "Prime Force One" of course references Air Force One.

Errors

 * Hitting a satellite midway between Earth and the Moon would not result in an immediate re-entry and crash.