Human Error, Part I

Okay, why is Bumblebee the only mexican?

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

Japanese title: "The Autobots became Human" (人間になったオートボット, Ningen ni natta Autobotto)

Synopsis

Hey! Who spiked the oilnog?

While Optimus Prime was patrolling the city, he sees Soundwave toys running everywhere. He decides to return to base. Sari was making oilnog for them. Later, a Soundwave, which 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.

WHAT HAS SCIENCE DONE?!

The next morning, Optimus and his crew realize 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, Strika, Oil Slick, Spittor, 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 used the power of "belief" to make themselves Transformers again, but poor Bulkhead had a lot of trouble doing so. They then realized they were in a virtual reality.

You can not compete with my mad skills.

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. Sari lost the fight and leave. Wounded, she vows to come back.

The birth of Nemesis Prime!

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.

Stats

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans	Others
Optimus Prime (1) Bumblebee (2) Prowl (9) Bulkhead (5) Ratchet (8)	Soundwave (7) Laserbeak (20) Ratbat (22) Megatron (virtual, 21) Shockwave (virtual, 13) Starscream (virtual,12) Blitzwing (virtual, 13) Lugnut (virtual, 22) Strika (virtual,15) Oil Slick (virtual, 16) Spittor (virtual, 17)	Isaac Sumdac (4) Porter C. Powell (3) Carly Witwicky (virtual, 10) Jennifer Witwicky (virtual, 11) Spike Witwicky (virtual, 19) Daniel Witwicky (virtual, 18)	Sari Sumdac (6)

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. (smiles as he creates two holographic duplicates of himself) 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: Vhy vould ze Autobots choose to be human?
Random Blitzwing: Not for ze fashion sense, I can tell you zat. HAHAHA!
Hothead Blitzwing: Who cares!? I vill crush zem into human meat pies!

—We missed you guys.

Bulkhead: Leave him alone! (smashes through Blitzwing's leg)
Icy Blitzwing: Vhat?
Hothead Blitzwing: How?!
Random Blitzwing: Ooh, look! I have a hole in my rocket!

Random Blitzwing: Not ze!
Icy Blitzwing: Faces!
Random Blitzwing: Oh!
—Bumblebee taking a shot at the faces.

Soundwave: (lets Sari escape in the elevator) 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.

Other Notes

Animation and/or technical glitches

• Besides, why is Megatron's arm hollow all of a sudden? Where are all the wires and circuitry? Or is that just what virtual things do

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

• Optimus suddenly pulls an axe out of nowhere and throws it into Megatron's cannon, causing it to backfire.

Two images of Bulkhead's present. Notice that on the right the horizontal ribbon is gone.

• 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.

Stop hitting yourself, Megatron. Stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself.

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

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

• When Sari is steering the oilnogg, her stockings are below her thighs. In the next clip they are just below her dress.

• Lugnut appears when the main Decepticons arrive for a full scale assault, but when the auto-men are fighting the Decepticons, Lugnut disappeared.

• When Blitzwing passes by in his tank mode, his treads are missing.

Continuity errors

Rock You Like A Hurricane!

• 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.)

• It's never actually explained just HOW Soundwave came back online, rebuilt himself, created Laserbeak, e.t.c. Then again, this is a two-part episode, so it may yet be explained.

• 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

I see you!!!

• Some of the "Autohumans" seem based on their voice actors. For example: Bumblebee is African American like Bumper Robinson (but most likely Sari's colour) and is also the youngest of all Transformers in respond to his voice actor being the youngest of the Transformers Animated voice actors group. Bill Fagerbakke and Bulkhead have ginger hair, Optimus has a similar hair style to David Kaye and Ratchet is old in respond to Corey Burton, the oldest of the main Transformers Animated Autobot voice actors.

• The designs of Autohumans' 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.

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

• Cybertron fired a laser on Sumdac Tower, resembling the White House's destruction from the film "Independance Day". Also, Bumblebee says "We're baaaack" once returned to his normal form, which is similar to another line in this movie.

• 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?

• This episode is similar to The Transformers episode "Only Human", whose plot is Autobots turned into humans. However, "Only Human" had human criminals turn the Autobots in humans while in this episode, Soundwave did.

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

• 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.

• The boy dressed with a Kung-fu-styled clothes and a man with sunglass and a necktie in Burger Bot respectively looks like Cancer and Hydra from Masterforce. Besides, the guy sitting in middle of them is Marty Isenberg, the head writer of the show.

• The giant Soundwave that comes out of the ground resembles the Music Label Sonic White Soundwave's alt mode.

• The child that Prowl saves from the fire wears a shirt with Generation One Optimus Prime's face on it.

• When Starscream called the Automen "pathetic fools", he almost sounded like his namesake from another continuity.

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. When asked about this in an interview, Dereck Wyatt claimed that he recieved orders from Hasbro to give the human characters less screentime, including Sari.

• 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?

Peek-a-boo.

• Carlee 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 Oilnog 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.

HOOOOOLLLLLLYYYY CRRRRRAAAAAP!

• 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 (young teen).

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

• This is the second time Prowl has cut off Megatron's hand although it was the left arm this time instead of the right arm.