Human Error, Part I



The Autobots wake up on Christmas morning to find they have become human!

Synopsis
The episode starts with Optimus Prime patrolling the city and seeing Soundwave toys running everywhere. He decides to return to base. Sari was making oilnogg for them. Later, a Soundwave (Who was Bulkhead's present) used some sort of electric device on the oil Sari had made. The Autobots drank it and it made them dizzy (drunk) and they went for a stasis nap.



The next morning, Optimus and his crew realise they had become organic humans and there was no evidence of how they became human according to Ratchet's scanners. Prowl did not mind his human form (which resembled his human hologram, helmet and all) but the others did. They were wondering what happened to their original bodies and decided to go to Sumdac tower - on foot. The Auto-Humans get hungry and stop to eat, but their meal is interrupted by Starscream attacking the city. The humanized Autobots attempted to stop them, but failed.After the Autobots fled, Starscream continued his rampage. The Autobots were then surprised to see that Cybertron was coming towards the Earth. It landed near the surface, sucking up some debris. Next, Team Chaar (excluding Cyclonus, who was replaced by Shockwave), Lugnut, and Megatron arrived. The Decepticons planned on killing the Autobots, but the new humans had other plans.

Prowl discovered that if you believed it would happen, then it would. The Autobots, still in human form, totally kicked all of the Decepticons' skidplates. (How's that for ya' huh, Megatron? Got your aft kicked by organics!)

The Autobots then useed the power of "belief" to make themselves robots again, but poor Bulkhead had a lot of trouble doing so. They then realized they were in a virtual reality.

Sari, who had now gotten a jetpack for Christmas (along with a Soundwave figurine) goes to the base to find the Autobots. She looks all around, and cannot find them. She still sees that they are in the building, because of their energy signatures. Then, she finds the "basement" and goes down. There, she finds the Autobots in deep stasis, controlled by Soundwave. She was attacked by Soundwave, who used Laserbeak in guitar mode to fight her. He wins, and Sari leaves, wounded, vowing to come back. Meanwhile, the Autobots are still stuck in Soundave's virtual reality. They try to escape, but a giant, white Soundwave stops them from doing so. Soundwave then proceeds to reprogram the Autobots into....... Decepticons.

Quotes
Isaac Sumdac: That toy rightfully belongs to me Powell! You are a thieving crook! Porter C. Powell: And a Merry Christmas to you too Professor Sumdac. But I acquired this toy's patents fair and square when I owned your company. Now I'm sharing Soundwave with the entire world! For only 19.99 each! Isaac Sumdac: 19.99?! How does he do it?!
 * Business is business.

(After Bumblebee and Bulkhead(in human form) crash and slip into a tower)

Bulkhead: There's no Anti-Lock brakes on these servos! Bumblebee:I think humans call them "legs".

-Get Real Bulkhead, humans don't have airbags or ESP.

Ratchet: I'm telling you, there is no way this Santa Claus can deliver billions of presents in one night. Prowl: I... can think of at least one way. (Prowl smiles as he creates two holographic duplicates of himself) Prowl: Ho.. ho... ho! Optimus Prime: A sound theory, Prowl. I did see multiple Santa's in the shopping district tonight.
 * The Bots try and explain the magic of Christmas, maybe they can try to explain the case of the missing trailer next.

Optimus Prime: We need to get to Sumdac Tower! Auto uh.. men. Transfor... er uh roll... er uh... let's just go...
 * Easy there Human Prime, after all, you are only human.

Sari Sumdac: A... Soundwave toy? Isaac Sumdac: To replace the one that tried to take over the world. Sari Sumdac: Dad... that thing tried to kill me! Isaac Sumdac: Ah but this is an action figure, assembled in China and not by Megatron.
 * Sumdac fails to see the obvious. Again.

Ratchet: Hey, how come your fuel is different from ours? Prowl: I choose the vegetable fuel because it burns cleaner. Don't you know where that animal flesh comes from? Bulkhead: (With his mouth full) No, but I know where it's going! Bumblebee: Half of it's going on your clothes.
 * Bulkhead is starting to enjoy human life.

"C'mon you guys can't still be sleeping, it's Christmas! Hello, guys, cute girl with jetpack is here! Okay, you guys better not be messing with me. Nice try, but you can't hide your energy signatures... which are coming from right here? All right, no more hide and seek.  I'm going home, hear me, I'm going ho-ome! Fine, guys, don't spend Christmas day with me."
 * Sari is being ignored like every human sidekick.

Starscream: Prime? Ratchet? I thought I recognized those voices! HAHAHAHAHAH! You've been living with these pathetic organics for so long, you've become them! It will be a simple matter to crush you out of existence right now! Huh? Where did you go? I can't tell the difference between one insignificant human and the next. (blows up some cars) Ah well, no matter. There is much more Decepticon fun to come.
 * Starscream gets easily distracted...

Bulkhead: No. It can't be... Prowl: ...Yet there it is. Optimus Prime: Cybertron!
 * Whoa, deja vu.

Icy Blitzwing: Why would the Autobots choose to be human? Random Blitzwing: Not for the fashion sense, I can tell you that. HAHAHA! Hothead Blitzwing: Who cares!? I will crush them into human meat pies!
 * We missed you guys.

Random Blitzwing: Not the! Icy Blitzwing:Faces!
 * Bumblebee taking a shot at the faces.

(Soundwave lets Sari escape in the elevator) Soundwave:The human is of no consequence.
 * Soundwave you idiot! NEVER underestimate the plucky human sidekick!

Soundwave: Escape is impossible. Autobots inferior, Soundwave superior.
 * Whoa... talk about deja vu.

Soundwave: Initiating final phase of Operation "Autobot Reprogramming". Soon, the Autobots will unite with us. Soon, they will call themselves... Decepticon.
 * Soundwave's plan is revealed.

Animation and/or technical glitches



 * Megatron's arm is quite large when he is being hit with it.


 * Besides, why is Megatron's arm hollow all of a sudden? Where are all the wires and circuitry?


 * When Random Blitzwing is first shown, his eyes appear connected instead of their normal appearance. This happens only once in the episode.




 * Before Bulkhead puts down his present, the horizontal ribbon was visible underneath the vertical ribbon but as be put the backed back, the horizontal ribbon was gone.


 * When the Autobots first wake up human, everything else seems to have grown with them; things like Optimus' bed and Ratchet's medical equipment. Soundwave seems to have a very loose concept of scale.


 * When human Bulkhead was grabbing his burger again and when he said the rumble wasn't him, the burger was in perfect shape after he munched on it.


 * After the Autobots are caught by Soundwave, Prowl's helmet is missing.

Continuity errors



 * Where did Soundwave get images and voices of the various Decepticons to use for his virtual world? Of all of them, he's only seen or heard Megatron, and him in his Cybertronian form (as seen on the television screens in the shop window.) It's possible that he downloaded from the memory banks of the Autobots, but even then, he wouldn't know about Team Chaar, or what Shockwave looks like from the neck down.


 * Speaking of Team Chaar, it's also curious that Cyclonus and Blackout are missing and Shockwave is taking their place. (Much more destruction would have been guaranteed had Blackout been there.)


 * The scene where Sari discovers the Autobots in the basement, after she blasts Soundwave's speaker, it reappears in the next scene, prefectly healed. Of course, it's back to broken in the next episode.


 * Of course, most of the "errors" listed can be explained away by the fact that it was all a "Matrix"-like illusion created by Soundwave.

Real-world references



 * Human Optimus looks remarkably like David Kaye. Although, that's probably the point. Also, human Bumblebee is black, like his voice actor, Bumper Robinson. The designs of their clothing, reflecting their humanoid modes, also resembles the popular fanart practice of depicting the Autobots as humans.


 * This is the second Transformers Animated holiday-related episode, the first being Along Came a Spider which took place on Halloween.


 * This is the first Transformers TV Christmas special EVER!!! Only its premiere was not broadcast in December. Urgh!


 * After the human Autobots destroy Megatron and his Decepticons, Bumblebee says, "I don't think we're in Detroit anymore", a reference to the Wizard of Oz.


 * The boy dressed as a ninja looks like Cancer from Masterforce.


 * Though the colors are different, the woman in the burning tower is dressed in a EFSF uniform from the Gundam franchise.


 * Cybertron fired a laser on Sumdac Tower, resembling the White House's destruction from Independance day.


 * After human Bulkhead smashes through Blitzwing's leg, Blitzwing says "I have a hole in my rocket.", a reference to when Ringo Starr in the movie "The Yellow Submarine" says, "I've got a hole in my pocket."

Transformer references

 * Does this episode sound familiar?


 * Prowl in his human form looks like his hologram. This makes him a ninja-cop, which is awesome.


 * Soundwave's numerous musical instruments are very much like his cassette tapes from G1: Laserbeak and Ratbat. Only Laserbeak is utilized in both its bird and guitar modes, the later enabling Soundwave to produce a sonic boom. Near the end of the episode, Soundwave plays a keytar to continue the Autobots' reprogramming.


 * The scene where Cybertron appears above Earth and emits a beam of light, which sucks up some rubble resembles the scene where Unicron sucks up some of Lithone in the G1 movie.


 * In addition, the idea of Cybertron appearing above the Earth suddenly has kind of happened before.


 * ...and as seen in those episodes, Cybertron has apparently shrunk quite a bit.


 * The smiling missiles that Starscream fires resemble those of Terrorsaur.


 * Soundwave restates one of his awesome lines, although this time to the Autobots. And the fandom rejoiced.


 * When Ratchet contemplates facing the Decepticons, he asks, "What chance do we have?".


 * Too much "oil nog" leaves the Autobots suffering the effects of "over-charging", which also hearkens back to oil's use as a stand-in for beer in the Constructicon episodes, though Soundwave's tampering may have had more to do with it.


 * In the virtual world when Soundwave appears, he looks like he's in his Shattered Glass colors.


 * In the virtual world, the Decepticons talk as if they are in an old Saturday morning cartoon, especially Megatron.

Miscellaneous trivia

 * This episode takes place on Christmas Eve and Christmas. Considering the presence of snow at the end of Season 1, and one Halloween before then, it seems to have been well over a year since the Autobots were re-activated from their 50-year stasis under Lake Erie.


 * When the Autobots became human, their voices sound...different. (It's amazing how much the robotic voice filter makes a difference.)


 * Sari finally returns, after four episodes. Excluding G1, this may be the longest absence of a Transformers series' main human sidekick.


 * Sari uses her cyborg form in this episode, and manages to control it easily, joyriding around without any city-wrecking or overloading. Looks like Ratchet's tinkering payed off.


 * Sari's gift from her father seems to be an upgrade of her trike-jetpack thingy from the early stages of the show's production. Like Sari herself, it transforms with the high-pitched variant of the transformation noise.


 * It seems Prowl is a vegetarian while in his "human" form..., no surprise, right?


 * Carly can be seen in the Burger Bot sitting next to that baby Prowl was playing peek-a-boo with. Remember, the one she was pregnant with in the episode "Garbage In, Garbage Out.


 * Spike and Daniel can be seen riding the bus that the Autobots take to Sumdac Tower. Recession's a pain, huh?


 * Where did the Automen get the money for Burger Bot and the bus? Or do they just not understand money and so Soundwave ommited the need for it in the simulation?


 * When Sari is opening her presents, she holds off on complaining about her Soundwave toy until after she opens it. Yet the box has a clear plastic window...


 * How does Sari know how to make Oilnogg in the first place anyway?


 * Giving an Autobot, let alone Bulkhead, a Soundwave toy for a present doesn't seem like the brightest of ideas. Then again, Soundwave does seem to have that Pied Piper effect on other appliances and mechanical beings, so maybe the original "gift" might have been adulterated.


 * None of the Autobots question why Starscream is among the Decepticons, though they were kinda preoccupied with trying not to get vaporized at the time.


 * This is the first time Blitzwing has an ongoing spinning face.


 * Soundwave sounds very different, but he was still voiced by Jeff Glen Bennett.


 * Powell's new mass-produced Soundwave toys were quite smaller than the toy form of the original Soundwave, who was quite taller than 8-year-old Sari.


 * Each of the Autobot's human forms seems to correspond with their "age": Ratchet (senior), Prowl (adult - 30s), Prime (adult - 20s), Bulkhead (late teen), and Bumblebee (teenager).


 * This episode marks the most humiliating defeat  chase in Optimus Prime's entire career.