More Than Meets The Eye, Part 2

After a brief recap of what happened in the previous episode, the Autobots and oil rig workers are trapped in a blazing inferno, and Huffer is about to be burnt to a crisp because he's got one of his arms stuck, but then Brawn comes along and cuts it loose. Optimus tells Trailbreaker to use his forceshield to take on the fire and Wheeljack helps him by using a water jet to put it out.
 

Optimus finally manages to get Spike and Sparkplug free and takes them onto dry land, and then explains who they are and where they're from along with information on who the Decepticons are. Spike then asks if they can help the Autobots in their cause and since they know much more about Earth than any of the Autobots do, Optimus lets them.
 

Sometime later Spike is outside the Autobot ship and writes in his diary about who the Autobots are and how they are from a planet far away from Earth. As he goes back inside the ship he finds an object and like anyone would, he picks it up and leaves it inside the base, not having a clue that it's Soundwave who was spying on him.
 

At Ratchet's repair bay^[1], Spike starts asking Trailbreaker, Mirage and Hound about why they transform and stuff like that. Trailbreaker says that transform for disguise and then Hound transforms and shows him his special ability -he can create holograms. Mirage then shows off what he can do by turning himself invisible and re-appearing again.
 

Meanwhile Soundwave transforms and sends Ravage into the Autobot computer, Teletraan 1, and starts to get information on where the best places to get energy are on Earth. Spike then sees Soundwave and sets off an alarm, and whilst Soundwave gets away, Ravage doesn't thanks to Gears using his infrared to find him hiding outside and then Jazz and Prowl firing a net over him.
 

Clearly not really caring for what happens to his team-mate, Soundwave heads back to the Decepticon base and informs Megatron of a place called Sherman dam. Whilst the energy it generates on it's own isn't enough to make energon cubes, Megatron gets a great line and then says that they'll create a huge tidal wave to make all the energy they need there.
 

The next day the Decepticons fly to the dam and Soundwave sends out Rumble to use his pile-driver arms to create the tidal wave that Megatron wanted. And the strategy works as soon the river begins to rise and overflow the dam, as Megatron and the other Decepticons fly upward to the main dam complex.
 

The Decepticons invade the complex and shove all the human workers into a corner, and Soundwave then starts to make energon cubes which Reflector takes to fill up. As the Decepticons start to make the energon they want, the Autobots arrive having found out about some kind of trouble brewing at the dam thanks to Teletraan 1 and are immediately attacked by Megatron upon their arrival. Optimus and the others head up to the dam whilst Hound and Spike wait on the ground to find out what's causing the tidal wave.
 

Ironhide and Bumblebee see that the water is going to flood an entire town unless they do something fast and Ironhide transforms whilst Bumblebee mans the laser turret, and uses it to shoot out parts of the ground to divert all of the water away from the humans, and they just manage to do it without and casualties.
 

With the humans saved the Autobots arrive at the complex and are shot at by the Decepticons, starting a fight between the two sides. Optimus pushes Megatron outside and they both start to fight on the top of the dam...
 

...which includes the use of special melee weapons which are only ever shown in this episode. Megatron gets a mace whilst Prime uses an axe, and they start to batter each other but down on the ground, Rumble beats up Hound in the river and then grabs Spike, who starts calling for help and distracts Optimus, meaning Megatron has an easy hit and knocks Prime off the dam.
 

The Decepticons continue to steal energy from all over the Earth and soon their new ship will be ready to launch, but they just need one more energy raid to have enough power to return to Cybertron. Soundwave has found out about the ruby crystal mines of Burma which is where they can get the last bit of energon they need. However, Starscream tests some of the energon they already have to power a super laser which he uses to destroy an entire mountain. This angers Megatron because now they'll have to go on two raids rather than one to make up for the energon Starscream tested, but Soundwave says that they can go and steal some rocket fuel after they've been to the mines.
 

What they don't know is that their entire plans have been listened in on by Trailbreaker, Spike and Sparkplug who head back to the other Autobots, but two Decepticon jets follow them. Thankfully Sideswipe and Sunstreaker arrive to save the day by shooting the jets and forcing them to back off.
 

Soon the Decepticons invade the mines and start to make more energon. But the Autobots head their too and decide to blast the Decepticons out of there by using a high-powered bomb which Wheeljack has made. Sparkplug and Bumblebee head up there and sneak inside the mine, getting past the Decepticons and placing the bomb which starts it's 60 second countdown.
 

However, as they head back out the way they came, they run into Skywarp and Thundercracker who easily deal with the two. The other Autobots who are waiting outside realise that something must have gone wrong in there and Optimus heads up to find out more, sending out Roller to investigate, but just as he reaches the top the bomb goes and the explosion sends Optimus rolling over the edge. Will he survive?

In this episode, Trailbreaker has a "force shield", but in later episodes everyone calls it a force field.

^[1]Ratchet's repair bay is shown to be a separate building bear the ship, but I think it only appears one more time in the second season.

There are an awful lot of Decepticons that appear out of nowhere in this episode, who look exactly like Starscream but in different colours, like this:

Really, there should only be three of these Decepticons, these being Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker, and by episode 4 that's the way it'll be.