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

Japanese title: "The Autobots Became Humans" (人間になったオートボット Ningen ni Natta Autobot)

Plot[]

On Christmas Eve, Optimus Prime is patrolling the city. He sees Soundwave toys running everywhere, some of which have suspiciously glowing red optics. He decides to return to base where Sari is making oilnog for them. In the base a Soundwave toy, which was smuggled in as Bulkhead's present, uses some sort of electric device on the oilnog Sari has made. The Autobots drink it and find that it makes them disorientated. As one, they decide to take a stasis nap.

The next morning, Optimus and his crew realize they have become organics, but Ratchet can find no logical explanation for their transformation. Prowl is the only one who is not particularly concerned by his new form (which resembles his human hologram, mustache and all), but the others are horrified. They start wondering what happened to their original bodies and decide to go to Sumdac Tower on foot.

The Autobots gets hungry and stop to eat at Burger Bot, but their meal is interrupted by Starscream attacking the city. The humanized Autobots attempt to stop them, but find their human bodies soft and weak. When Starscream realises what has happened to them, he predictably starts taunting them, but is cut short when they flee, realising that he cannot distinguish one insignificant human from another! He dismisses them, and continues his rampage. The Autobots are then surprised to see that Cybertron is coming towards the Earth. It landed near the surface, sucking up some debris. Next, Strika, Oil Slick, Spittor, Shockwave, Lugnut, and Megatron arrive. The Decepticons plan on killing the Autobots.

The Autobots realise that what's happening is completely impossible and Prowl reasons that it clearly must be an illusion, and if you believe it can happen, then it will. The Autobots, still in human form, totally kick all of the Decepticons' skidplates. (How's that for ya' huh, Megatron? Got your aft kicked by organics!) The Autobots then use the power of "belief" to make themselves Transformers again. This brings them to realise that they are in a virtual reality.

Sari who had now gotten a jetpack for Christmas along with a dancing Soundwave figurine goes to the base to find the Autobots. She looks all around, and cannot find them. She realises that they are in the building and finds the "basement". There, she finds the Autobots in deep stasis, controlled by Soundwave. She is attacked by Soundwave who now had Laserbeak, who can transform into a totally awesome keytar. After losing the fight, Sari vowed 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.

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 antilock 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 1 night.
Prowl: I... can think of at least one way. (smiles as he creates 2 holographic duplicates of himself) Ho.. ho... ho!
Optimus Prime: A sound theory Prowl. I did see multiple Santas 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 its 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.

—Racist much?

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.

Bumblebee: What's in this stuff any way?
Bulkhead: (burps) I don't know but my processor is pretty fuzzy.
Ratchet: (yawns) Yeah, it sure got me ready for a status nap.
Prowl: (yawns) And me as well.
Sari: What no waiting for Santa? You guys are a bunch of party poppers!

—Bulkhead burps and Sari can't spend time with her best friends for Christmas? Well, she should have seen them as humans. Maybe that would have changed her mind (especially Bumblebee.)

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.

• 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.

• 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.

In the last scene when giant Soundwave emerges from the ground, Prowl is seen not wearing his samurai helmet

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.

• Most of the "errors" listed can be explained away by the fact that it was all a "Matrix"-like illusion created by Soundwave. Still, it's never actually explained just HOW Soundwave came back online, rebuilt himself, created something as awesome as Laserbeak and Ratbat, e.t.c.
  • It is possible that Megatron built Soundwave with auto-repair systems, but this was never stated.

Real-world references[]

• The designs of Autohumans' clothing, reflecting their humanoid modes.

• 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 it's 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 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?. The Autobots are mind-controlled to do evil by Decepticon control!

• This episode is similar to The Transformers episode "Only Human" where the plot is Autobots turned into humans. However, "Only Human" had human criminals turn the Autobots into humans accidentally while in this episode, Soundwave made them just think they were human, intentionally.

• Prowl in his human form looks exactly like his hologram, right down to that rather stylish moustache and the helmet. 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.

• Starscream totally hated being touched by Bulkhead ("You dare touch me?!"). This is similar to how his G1 counterpart hated being touched (when he was touchable before he died and turned into a ghost), for example, if any Transformer was on top of him, he would complain, "Get off me!"

• ...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 appeared, he looks like he's in his Generation One counterpart's Music Label color, later known as Electrostatic Soundwave in the Transformers Animated toyline — which has been cancelled.

• 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.

Notes[]

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

• When the Autobots became human, their voices sound slightly different, and you finally realise 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 Derrick J. Wyatt an interview, claimed that he received orders from Hasbro to give the human characters less screentime, including Sari.^{[May, 2009]}

• 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 was a vegetarian while in his "human" form... no surprise, right?

• 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?

• 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?

• None of the Autobots question why Starscream was among the Decepticons thought 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 sounded 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.

• Human Bumblebee seems markedly younger than any of the other Automen, including Bulkhead - he can't that much older than Sari. The other Automen buy into this completely as his transformation into a human, and everything about their human modes reflects their robot modes. Considering how Bumblebee has already applied to join the Elite Guard, it poses a slightly disturbing question - is he in Cybertronian optics considered a child soldier?

• Each of the Automen's forms seems to correspond with their fan-percieved "age": Ratchet (late-50s), Optimus (adult - mid-30s), Prowl (adult - mid-20s), Bulkhead (late teens), and Bumblebee (early teens).

• Bumblebee was the token black kid. Notably his voice actor Bumper Robinson is the only black person among the main cast.
• There was originally going to be a fart joke with Bulkhead at Burger Bot instead of a bathroom emergecy. With Bumblebee referencing a deleted scene from Predacons Rising. "At least it's not as bad as the one you pulled on Dinobot Island..."

• 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.

• Professor Sumdac sure can dance...