More than Meets the Eye

More than Meets the Eye is the fourth episode of Transformers: Robots in Disguise.

Premise
As Russell nervously tries befriending the neighborhood kids, Fixit-craving the action of a field assignment-gets in way over his head.

Synopsis
Russell looks wistfully through binoculars at Crown City's amusement park, and Fixit fails to cheer him up with tales of his solitary existence on the Alchemor. Denny suggests Russell check out the football field where the local kids hang out, and provides him with a vintage Bronko Kowalski helmet.

Elsewhere, a groundskeeper admires the perfect state of his golf course before heading off, unaware that the Decepticon Bisk has just emerged from a water hazard nearby. Bisk is pleased with his achievements so far, but spots the Bee Team incoming. Bisk zaps Grimlock with a blast of energy, knocking the Dinobot on top of Sideswipe. He proceeds to likewise flatten Bumblebee and Strongarm, who recover while Grimlock and Sideswipe attack the Decepticon. The team quickly pulls together and defeats Bisk by dropping Grimlock on him. The groundskeeper returns to find his lawn ruined.

At the football field, Russell finds a group of children playing football. He reluctantly joins them and is introduced to Hank (real name Henrietta) who is impressed with his helmet and Butch. As they start playing, Russell becomes confused by their jargon and ends up face down eating grass, before heading off in frustration. Back at the scrapyard, Grimlock is excitedly relating the fight they just had, and Fixit mentions he'd like to go out in the field someday. Fixit is disappointed at the news it's against regulations, which isn't helped by Grimlock's boasting. The Autobots all hide as Hank arrives to return Russell's helmet, and she invites him back to practice the next day.

That night, Chop Shop walks through an airfield in search of something. His signal is detected by the Autobots who roll out to investigate. As Grimlock would stand out, the others leave him on a hill near the airfield and enter the airfield, splitting up to search for the Decepticon. Bumblebee hears a noise from one of the hangers and moves in, but is unprepared when Chop Shop splits into his five component bug forms and attacks. Sideswipe, Strongarm and Grimlock come to Bumblebee's aid, but the bugs attack them as well. Having obtained the component they need, the bugs flee the scene and down into the sewers before the Autobots can stop them.

The team returns to the scrapyard, where Fixit briefs them on Chop Shop's capabilities. The Mini-Con checks local law enforcement databases for thefts, and they figure out Chop Shop's building a spaceship so he can leave Earth. Denny knows of a manufacturing plant that makes liquid oxygen, the last item Chop Shop will need to complete his ship, and since the Autobots will be too conspicuous, they decide to send Denny and Fixit in.

Chop Shop arrives at the manufacturing plant and starts pumping liquid oxygen into a tanker. Russell returns to the scrapyard from football practice to find Grimlock alone in the scrapyard, and confesses he's going to quit, though Hank arrives to talk him into continuing on with football practice. Denny and Fixit (in disguise) infiltrate the manufacturing plant by driving up in Strongarm and pretending to be safety inspectors. At the scrapyard, as Grimlock tries to talk Russell into going to the football game, Russell kicks his helmet in frustration, and they both watch it go sailing over a nearby building.

At the plant, Strongarm spots Chop Shop filling the tanker and tackles one of his bug components to the ground. Chop Shop attempts to merge, but missing an arm, he instead grabs Fixit and jams the Mini-Con on his shoulder. Decking Strongarm with his new limb, Chop Shop has his spare component take the tanker's wheel and jumps on the back of the vehicle as it drives off. The Autobots set off in pursuit of the tanker, but after a pincer maneuver fails, Chop Shop demolishes an overpass that lands on the three Autobots.

Though Chop Shop is long gone by the time they dig themselves out, Strongarm is able to track the tanker using its tire pattern, and they reach the abandoned building Chop Shop is using for a base. The Decepticon jumps the trio as they admire his rocket, and Bumblebee warns the others not to shoot, in case they ignite the rocket fuel. A reluctant Fixit is used to knock the Autobots around and flatten Bumblebee. Denny tries to creep up on one of Chop Shop's components, but his blow with a pipe does nothing, and he's forced to run from the bug. Fixit finally finds the strength to fight back, and begins punching Chop Shop, who is forced to jettison the Mini-Con. Bumblebee finishes up by uppercutting Chop Shop into the tanker, which covers the Decepticon with freezing oxygen, though one of the combiner's components scurries off.

Back at the scrapyard, Grimlock is impressed by Fixit's part in the fight. The Autobots head to the football field, where they watch from a discrete distance as Russell punts the ball between the posts. The other kids are happy with their new friend, and Denny and the Autobots celebrate.

Autobots

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

Decepticons

 * Khary Payton as Grimlock/Bisk
 * David Hunt as Chop Shop

Humans

 * Ted McGinley as Denny Clay
 * Stuart Allen as Russell Clay
 * Bailey Gambertoglio as Hank
 * Will Friedle as Butch

Quotes
Russell: My old friends, fun, excitement, so close and yet so far

Fixit: ''You know what I did for fun when I was the only conscious bot on the prison ship? Nothing, and lots of it. That...really didn't help did it?''

— Russell and Fixit share different ideas about fun.

Groundskeeper: ''[Tastes the grass] Nitrate levels perfect. A masterpiece! No no no no no, a Grass-terpiece!''

— The groundskeeper gets a little too into his work.

Bisk: ''You think I don't know how to beat this attack? It's just up-up-left-down-claw-claw!''

— Bisk

Grimlock: ''Whoo! and Bisk is tossin' us around with his giant claws I mean whoosh! Whoosh! So I nailed him with the Dino Demolisher! POW! Hehehe, it was epic.''

— Grimlock

Bumblebee: ''Let's roll and recapture! [silence] Yep, yep, not feeling that one either.''

— Bumblebee still tries to come up with an exciting catchphrase.

Fixit: ''He's a combiner named Chop Shop, a one-man heist crew with a list of crimes as long as Alpha Trion's beard. Have you seen that beard? It's more like a steel carpet actually.''

— Fixit's report on this week's criminal goes a little off topic.

Bumblebee: ''Sideswipe and I are in low-profile spots outside the plant, Strongarm. We'll move in for the collar as soon as you flush out Chop Shop.''

Strongarm: ''Copy that. I will not forget to flush.''

— Bumblebee and Strongarm

Fixit: ''Field work is fun! Let's find more humans we can fool.''

— Fixit enjoying being a robot in disguise.

Fixit: I work for my team!

— Fixit tells Chop Shop how it is.

Continuity notes

 * When fighting Bisk, Bumblebee notes that he helped saved the universe from Starscream, Megatron and Dark Energon.
 * The amusement park Russell is looking wistfully at in the first scene was not there when we saw the city in "Pilot (Part 2)".
 * According to Hank, Bumblebee's current alternate mode is a Griffin Motors 1995 Windblazer. His Prime alternate mode was revealed as the Urbana 500 in "Operation: Bumblebee, Part 1". Griffin Motors is likely a reference to Rescue Bots setting Griffin Rock.
 * It's sunset when Hank invites Russell to football practice "in the morning", however practice instead appears to take place in the middle of the night. He returns from it prior to the Autobots' second nighttime battle against Chop Shop.

Prisoner manifest

 * In stasis: Underbite, Hammerstrike, Bisk, 4/5ths of Chop Shop
 * On probation: Grimlock
 * Known at large: Steeljaw, "Righty"
 * Countless others all missing, presumed at large

Transformers references

 * The episode's title is a reference to one of the brand's earliest taglines.
 * Fixit notes that Chop Shop has a list of crimes longer than Alpha Trion's beard. Smokescreen previously mentioned Alpha Trion's beard in "Predacons Rising".
 * When Hank comes over for the first time, if you look closely behind Strongarm and Grimlock, you can see a red Camaro of the same model as live-action movie Bumblebee.

Real-world references

 * Steven Melching previously used "Poughkeepsie Piledriver" as the name of a wrestler in the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon episode "Headlock Prime".
 * Grimlock ploughs through a wall while yelling "Oh Yeah!", a reference to the Kool-Aid Man's signature entrance.
 * Denny's disguise appears to be a non-copyright-infringing version of a Star Trek dress uniform.

Trivia

 * The first thirteen episodes of the series, this included, first premiered in Mandarin on Chinese streaming video site M1905.
 * When Grimlock is left at the base alone, he builds a house of cars, like people would build a house of cards.

Gallery
More than Meets the Eye Gallery