The Revenge of Bruticus

Starscream is stuck on an asteroid after being exiled from Earth in the previous episode, but he is so fed up of it all that he decides to try and head to Cybertron anyway, believing that anything is better than being stuck with the Combaticons, who he now considers to be idiots. They let him go however as they have their own plan to take revenge on Megatron, Cybertron and the Earth as Blast Off pulls the asteroid toward Cybertron.
 

After a short trip they land on the planet where Shockwave and his army of generic soldiers arrive and demand to know who they are. Swindle says that some people call them the Combaticons, but they are also know as Bruticus, and they unite into the giant robot. After crushing all the generic robots and blasting Shockwave into space, the Combaticons have Cybertron under their control.
 

Meanwhile on Earth, the Insecticons are once again causing trouble and are attacking a city. As Megatron is watching from a far, he is making more energon to send to Cybertron, not having any idea that the planet is now under Combaticon control. As a group of Autobots led by Optimus Prime show up, they see that the Insecticons have now moved onto another town and they can't fight them with all these people around, so Optimus calls for backup from the Protectobots.
 

Starscream is still flying around trying to reach Cybertron when Shockwave crashes into him and tells him that he must help to save their planet from invaders. Starscream is happy that he is so close to the planet and gives Shockwave a ride as they head back.
 

Meanwhile Onslaught has put the Combaticon's plan into motion, and after seeing how Decepticon technology has advanced so much since he was imprisoned, he sets up a machine to control the very orbit of the Earth and sets it on a collision course with the sun! Outside Shockwave's base, Brawl is saying how he wants to go beat Megatron up and destroy the Earth right now but Blast Off calms him down as he's sure Onslaught's plan will be brilliant. Meanwhile on Earth, the Insecticons continue their assault.
 

But the Protectobots -Groove (bike) First Aid (ambulance) Streetwise (police car) Hot Spot (fire truck) and Blades (helicopter) rescue everyone and get them all away from danger, letting the other Autobots open fire. As they do this Perceptor and Spike arrive in the area and tell Optimus that the Earth's orbit has somehow been changed by a power coming from Cybertron, and it is now heading toward the sun! Desperate to stop it, Optimus heads towards the Decepticon space bridge only to find Megatron, who orders Shrapnel to take away the control panel for using the space bridge.
 

On Cybertron, the Combaticons suddenly find themselves under attack by strange creatures, and they engage in battle although it doesn't seem like they can even hurt these new invaders. As they fight, they do not realise that it is actually Shockwave's doing as he is using a holographic projector unit to create the fake invaders.
 

Hoping that the Combaticons will waste all of their energy fighting the holograms, Shockwave and Starscream head inside and find Onslaught's device, which has been created from the Combaticon's back-pack thing. Shockwave finds out what is going to happen to the Earth, but Starscream is pleased as not only will every Autobot be destroyed, but so will Megatron, and he then shoots Shockwave in the back whilst saying that his Combaticons have done well.
 

On Earth, Megatron sees that the Autobots are looking for the space bridge control panel. As he starts to laugh at this a familiar voice contacts him and says that if he doesn't stand down as leader, the Earth will be destroyed by crashing into the sun. As the Combaticons continue to fight they can't believe that they don't seem to be doing any damage until Swindle finds the hologram projector and turns it off.
 

Shockwave gets up and starts to fight Starscream, but the two are stopped when all of the Combaticons find them and throw them both into a cell together, despite Starscream protesting that he is their creator, but they just don't care any more. As all of this is happening the Earth is getting closer and closer to the sun.
 

As several Autobots attempt to put out the fires that are happening all over the planet, the Insecticons are found in a underground parking lot by both the Autobots and Decepticons, and as they depart they drop the space bridge control panel. Perceptor takes a look at it and sees that it can be fixed, although he'll need spare parts to do it, so Optimus and Megatron agree to donate the needed items as they both know that if they don't act fast they'll all die.
 

With the space bridge fixed Perceptor transports a team of Autobots and Decepticons to Cybertron and they soon find and release Starscream and Shockwave. Starscream tries to tell Megatron that the Combaticons forced him to threaten Megatron earlier but Shockwave says that he is not telling the truth. The Combaticons then attack but with the large number of both Autobots and Decepticons ready to stop them they don't do very well.
 

They transform into Bruticus and as more of those generic Decepticons attack him Starscream reveals that there is a weakspot on the back of the gestalt which he himself put on there just in case he ever rebelled. All that needs to be done is for the three spots on his back to be shot to paralyze him, and since Onslaught's back-pack, which usually covers this area, is now being used for the device to send Earth into the sun, Optimus goes and does this which does indeed cease Bruticus from being able to move.
 

Sideswipe quickly changes the direction of the Earth and saves it from being destroyed, and with everything back to normal, Optimus and Megatron agree that Bruticus is too dangerous to keep alive and so they decide that he must be destroyed. Starscream and Ramjet fly him up into the air and then Megatron charges up a powerful shot...
 

...which destroys Bruticus for good. Optimus and the other Autobots then head back to Earth, and whilst they find it strange that Megatron didn't try to attack them as soon as Bruticus was destroyed, they can't think much more of it as without his help they wouldn't have an Earth to return too. But on Cybertron, Megatron is more than happy to accept Starscream back on the team as his plan of destroying a holographic Bruticus has worked - and now they will have a new powerful warrior when they reprogram Bruticus to obey only Megatron.

This episode plucks the Protectobots out of nowhere - the only special team not to get a back-story in this season. Only Groove and Streetwise are seen in robot mode here, by the way, quite briefly.

Apparently nobody bothered to tell Shockwave that Starscream had been exiled from the Decepticons.