Enemy of My Enemy

Enemy of My Enemy is the twenty-fifth episode of Season 3 and the seventieth episode of Transformers: Robots in Disguise.

Plot
When Optimus returns with old friends and dire warnings of a Cybertronian invasion of Earth, the Autobots must split up to defend their old home and their new one, with the Bee Team returning to Cybertron, while Optimus and his All-Stars stay behind to defend against the invasion's advanced force.

Synopsis
The Bee Team, Russell, and Denny are pinned down in the scrapyard as they are attacked by their own security system. Fixit claims that this is no malfunction, but rather due to an outside source. Just as Fixit is about to be blasted, Sideswipe manages to cut the power to the laser cannon. While they ponder what could have caused this, Prime Force One de-cloaks above the scrapyard. Optimus Prime emerges, flanked by a team made up of Jazz, Windblade, Ratchet, and Drift. Prime apologizes, explaining that the ship's damaged cloaking technology had been replaced with an experimental substitute built by Ratchet, which triggered the defense system. As the Bee Team welcome their friends back, they can't help but feel that Optimus owes them an explanation of his recent activities. Optimus agrees and asks the Bee Team to aid them in his mission: Cybertron's liberation.

Optimus explains that following Cybertron's post-war reconstruction, a new Autobot High Council took power and began to discourage interference with other worlds while blaming Optimus for Cybertron's destruction and warfare, along with any Autobot who ever stood with him. As a result, all his allies were blacklisted and left with low-level positions on Cybertron. Since then, Optimus had been gathering evidence and recruiting new 'bots to his cause. With Drift having obtained proof of the Council mind-controlling Cybertron's populace into supporting their goals, Optimus has the last piece he needs to expose them. As if on cue, multiple Autobot signatures are detected near Crown City, signalling the start of the Council's final plan: a Cybertronian invasion of Earth.

In the High Council Chambers on Cybertron, Cyclonus holds a meeting of the New High Council, reviewing the details of their plan one final time in the face of their impending victory. Cyberwarp remains skeptical of the Council's violent methods, but she is alone in her dissent, the others silently concurring as Cyclonus seems almost gleeful at the idea of others suffering for their gain. He reminds Cyberwarp that she has been complicit in everything up until this point, and assures her that the ends will justify the means as long as she plays her part.

Bumblebee wants to take the fight to the invaders, but Optimus insists someone must return to Cybertron to free the population from their mind control. Because his team is too recognizable, Optimus sends the Bee Team to Cybertron while he and the others protect the Earth, with Bumblebee camouflaging himself to avoid recognition. As the Bee Team pilots Prime Force One back to Cybertron, Fixit detects an extra energy signature on board, with the stowaway revealing himself to be Steeljaw. Having overheard Optimus's story while staking out the scrapyard, Steeljaw proposes an alliance until the High Council can be stopped, as their invasion clashes with his own goal of turning Earth into a Decepticon homeworld. Bumblebee refuses, placing stasis cuffs and a paralytic patch that prevents speech on Steeljaw, and orders the team to lock him up. On Earth, Optimus and his team follow a Cybertronian signal to an electronic parts warehouse and watch a Cybertronian covert craft emerge, suggesting the invaders are an advance party and not the main force. The team investigate the warehouse, which has been cleared out save for a Cybertronian tablet with a list of items to be collected. Optimus realizes they are trying to build a space bridge receiver, through which an entire invasion force could pass.

The Bee Team continue to debate whether Steeljaw should assist them on the mission, but are interrupted by Cybertronian drone defenses attacking the ship after a satellite temporarily disrupts their cloak. They attempt to defend themselves, but all except Bumblebee and Fixit are knocked out by a sudden blast. With Fixit busy piloting and drones firing from every direction, Bumblebee needs another bot to join him at the weapons console. Steeljaw volunteers, having freed himself in the commotion, and Bumblebee reluctantly agrees. Steeljaw proves to be an adept shooter, and the two manage to take out their attackers. Still unconvinced Steeljaw was acting out of anything but self-preservation, Bumblebee knocks him out and re-imprisons him. On Earth, Ratchet and Jazz deduce that all the space bridge activity since the Bee Team arrived on Earth has left millions of charged space bridge particles in the air, which the receiver could harness for power. Optimus notices a device generating the signal they had followed, and Windblade realizes it was a decoy meant to lure them, which she discovers is connected to a bomb. Before they can escape, the bomb explodes and destroys the warehouse.

On Cybertron, Prime Force One touches down near the High Council Chambers, and Steeljaw again insists the team will need his help due to his familiarity with the building and its subsonic defenses, which have been upgraded after the Council learned of Drift's intrusion. Through Strongarm is unconvinced, Bumblebee refuses to take any chances and agrees to bring Steeljaw. As they pass through Kaon Plaza, they witness Cyberwarp spreading pro-council propaganda via giant holoprojections all over the city. A High Council trooper notices Grimlock and begins running a facial-recognition scan, forcing the team to drop their cover and make a break for the Council Building. They turn into an alleyway, only to be faced with innumerable troopers and drones surrounding them on all sides.

Autobots

 * Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime
 * Will Friedle as Bumblebee
 * Constance Zimmer as Strongarm
 * Darren Criss as Sideswipe
 * Khary Payton as Grimlock
 * Eric Bauza as Drift
 * Mitchell Whitfield as Fixit
 * Erica Lindbeck as Windblade
 * Jeffrey Combs as Ratchet
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Bulkhead
 * Arif S. Kinchen as Jazz

Decepticons

 * Troy Baker as Steeljaw

Humans

 * Ted McGinley as Denny Clay
 * Stuart Allen as Russell Clay

Autobot High Council

 * Harry Lennix as Cyclonus
 * Brooke Goldner as Cyberwarp

Quotes
"I've just never understood why in order for our kind to succeed, others must suffer."

"Oh, they don't have to suffer, Cyberwarp. That's just a happy bonus."

"You're taking too much pleasure in this, Cyclonus."

"And you're not taking enough."
 * —Cyberwarp realizes Cyclonus might possibly not be the best boss.

"When I first came to Earth I wanted a planet. Any planet, to rule as a Decepticon homeworld. But, I've come to like this world. And if the High Council conquers Earth, I can't have it."
 * —Steeljaw keeps his stuff here.

"This is what all of you seem like to me: blindly following your leaders and never truly free."

"We choose our leaders, Steeljaw. Just usually without being mind-controlled into our choices. Besides, if you ever get your 'Decepticon utopia', you'd be just another dictator. You'd crush any opposition rather than step aside if your people wanted you to."
 * —Steeljaw and Bumblebee talk freedom.

"Your High Council knows what is best. Optimus' time has passed. The galaxy is ours to shape."
 * —Cyberwarp, High Council Member for Agitprop.

Continuity notes

 * A total of seventy Autobot profile images flash past as Optimus describes the 'bots who are blacklisted for associating with him. Each one has the character's name written on it in the "Decepticon Graffiti" font (though most are too small to translate), with a Tech Specs bar graph across the bottom, both of which we have been able to use to identify everyone. You can view an itemized series of screenshots here.
 * We called it way back in "Decepticon Island (Part 1)", and we now get confirmation that Bumblebee's low status as a beat cop at the start of the series was due to the new Council's anti-Autobot attitude.
 * Cliffjumper, Tailgate, and Seaspray all appear on the list of blacklisted Autobots despite the fact that they're all dead, having perished long before the Council ever took power. However, the council may not have known they died, considering the large sums of casualties during the Great War.

Prisoner manifest

 * In stasis: Clampdown, Quillfire, Underbite, Thunderhoof, Wingcode
 * Temporarily allied: Steeljaw
 * The Autobots have run out of stasis pods at this point in the series.

Transformers references

 * Besides all the new G1-inspired character designs shown when the profile images fly by, there are also some references in the characters we have seen in Prime:
 * Smokescreen is donning a new color scheme and body based off Generation 1 Smokescreen.
 * In contrast to being an altered version of Cliffjumper as shown in Transformers: Prime, Tailgate is shown having a MTMTE-inspired body style his Generation 1 counterpart employs. This could be an earlier version of his body.
 * Arcee's appearance has been tweaked with some elements of her Generation 1 counterpart, including helmet-hairbuns and shoulder-backpack kibble.
 * Wheeljack is equipped with a shoulder-mounted cannon.

Real-world references

 * Ratchet said he's a medic, not an inventor. This is a reference to the catchphrase "I'm a doctor. not a..." used by Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in Star Trek.

Trivia

 * The episode's title refers to the ancient proverb, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend".