Only Human

  by Galvatron

In a rather futuristic city, everything is nice and peaceful until suddenly buildings start to explode and it seems that the entire place is going up with bomb blasts. As the rescue services start to do their jobs, it means that the docks aren't being guarded giving a bunch of criminals the chance to steal something. Back at the city, a group of Autobots arrive to help out in the rescue operation.
 

The criminals meanwhile find what they were after, something called "Newtronium" and are about to leave when Rodimus Prime and Ultra Magnus head towards them, and their weapons are no use against the robots. Rodimus gets them to hand over whatever it was they took, which they do, and he has a close look at it although he doesn't know what it is.
 

Ultra Magnus does see what it is though and tells him to put it down because it's a highly explosive device, but the criminal leader who was hiding behind a building, Dutch, pulls out his laser pistol and takes a shot, blowing up the newtronium in Rodimus' face and sending him and Ultra Magnus into the sea. The bad guys then get onboard their jet car and leave.
 

A news report interviews the chief of police, but he has no comments about the bombings being used as a cover up for the possible theft of newtronium at this time but does thank the Autobots. This is watched by the criminals, who have returned to their boss, Victor Drath, and say that they failed because of the giant robots. Victor says that they will deal with the Autobots just like they would with any other impediment, and later on he and Dutch head out to find someone who can help them.
 

And that person happens to be someone known as "Old Snake" who Victor finds our waiting for him on a street. It's clear that the two have worked together before, and Victor has another task for Snake to do and talks to him about the "synthoid" technology that the faction Snake used to work with used to use, and Snake says that he still knows about it and how to use it. So they all head back to Victor's place.
 

At Autobot City, the chief of police has contacted the Autobots to tell them about an anonymous tip they received about the one who was behind the city bombings. The Autobots have waited long enough for a clue for this case and decide to take it, even though the tip mentions Victor Drath. Springer isn't concerned about him though as he's only human, so he, Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus and Arcee head towards Victor's place, but when they get inside they set off a laser trap.
 

Rodimus leads everyone into another room, but the fools all follow him straight into a massive test tube and some claws all hold the Autobots in place as Victor Drath and the others come into the room. Snake tells the Autobots to say goodbye to their bid, strong bodies and then a lot of purple electricity hits them as the humans watch.
 

As the synthoids are created, where the transferred minds of the Autobots are put into these new fleshy bodies, Victor orders for them to be destroyed post haste whilst the now lifeless bodies of the robots can be melted down for scrap. But Snake tells him not to do that as they can use these machines to their advantage. The synthoids are taken out to a junkyard and about to br crushed, but they all climb out and escape this fate.
 

As they get out they run towards a building and batter down the door to get inside, and find some clothes. It's then that they realise that, somehow, Victor Drath has managed to transform the Autobots from robots to human type creatures. They then hear noise outside and realise that they were not meant to survive and so head out the back door.
 

They decide to split up as it means it will be tougher for Victor's mean to find them for now, but Rodimus wants to find out how Victor did this to them and he and Springer hop and hide on the back of a garbage truck going back to Victor's whilst Magnus and Arcee make a break for it. The next morning Rodimus and Springer arrive at Victor's estate but get spotted, so Rodimus tells Springer to go and find the others whilst he leads their pursuers away from him.
 

He gets blasted in the shoulder though and tumbles down a bank where Michelle, one of Victor's girls, opens the door to let him in, and then tells Victor's men that she didn't see anyone when they ask. Elsewhere, Springer sees himself in the mirror and sees that he already needs to shave, but is then startled when Arcee and Ultra Magnus walk behind him and then transform and speed off. He runs round a corner to follow them only to see Rodimus Prime and his own body being used to commit crimes, and it becomes clear to him that the Autobots' bodies have been converted so the criminals can use them.
 

Springer sees that the criminals are having trouble transforming his real body from robot to car, and so he runs up and says he could help as he knows how to operate heavy machinery, so they let him join them. Meanwhile Ultra Magnus and Arcee have come across one of Victor's warehouses and sneak inside through a open window and find lots of weapons inside.
 

Neither of them get that long to search through the entire building though as their real bodies suddenly crash through the main door, and Ultra Magnus picks up a photon grenade and tells Arcee to go to Autobot City whilst he deals with them. Arcee leaves by heading out the back door and then kicking a thug away from his bike so she can use it.
 

At Michelle's place, Rodimus wakes up and is given some breakfast, although it isn't to his liking taste wise. Michelle recognises him to be the Autobot leader though having seen him "die" as a robot the night before, but he tells her that he has to get into Victor's house somehow and asks her for help, and she says that she'll aid him.
 

Arcee arrives at Autobot City, but the humans working there say that they are on alert status and aren't letting anyone into the main complex without being screened first. Arcee explains who she really is and that Victor Drath used some machine on her to transfer her to what she looks like now, but the two guards don't believe her and instead say that they know a doctor she can see instead. Kup then goes past and she tries to stop him but fails to do so.
 

Meanwhile Michelle leads Rodimus into Victor's study, but it's a trap and he realises that Michelle was just leading him straight to where Victor and his men could get him too late. Victor tells him that he is going to destroy Metroplex and then tells Rodimus that he can watch his plan in motion before he dies. In the city, Springer finds out that the plan is to plant a lot of newtronium into Metroplex and blow him up along with Autobot City, and they are to make sure that this guy, the captured Ultra Magnus, is also killed in the explosion.
 

But Springer punches the thug sitting in the cockpit with him and gets Ultra Magnus to climb onboard, and they take off and head back to Autobot City to warn their friends about Victor's plan. But they are hit by a blast from Rodimus' real body and start to go down. Meanwhile the human Rodimus beats up Dutch and another thug and then beats up Victor as Snake escapes, but Victor says that it's too late now as his plan is now in action.
 

At Autobot City, Blaster finds out that their missing friends are coming back home as he's picked them up on the radar, but only Springer and Ultra Magnus know the truth and they also know that they can't take on Victor's men because they don't have the power to beat all three of them. So instead, Ultra Magnus suggests they attack the city to get it to transform into battle station mode.
 

So human Springer gets his real body to shoot at Metroplex, much to the surprise of all the other Autobots, and Metroplex transforms from city to battle station mode. And even though it was only Springer who fired, Metroplex's guns all start firing at all four of the Autobots, who take hits and all of Victor's thugs leave their vehicles to run away.
 

The Autobots all return to Victor's estate and Perceptor sets up the machine so the process is reversed, and soon Rodimus, Magnus, Springer and Arcee are all back in their normal robot bodies again. As they all head back outside, they see that Victor Drath and his cronies are being taken away to jail, so overall they've been successful and they roll out back to Autobot City.
 

Meanwhile, Snake watches Victor being taken away and says that they don't make terrorists like they used to...and then says a familiar battle cry... "COBRA!"

It's the cross over you've all been waiting for: Transformers vs. G.I. Joe! Well not really, since "Snake" (a.k.a. Cobra Commander in the G.I. Joe universe) is the only character from the other series to appear in this episode. But here's something I copied directly from this page:
"However, his participation in this episode creates a very minor continuity glitch.  The problem used to be that in 1987 (a year after this episode was produced), COBRA Commander was retro-mutated to a snake in G.I. Joe: the Movie.  This particular problem was thankfully solved when he was returned to normal in the five-part miniseries, "Operation: Dragonfire." Now that you've been given more background than you ever needed to know, here's the blooper:  Up until his mutation, COBRA Commander usually wore a silver face mask.  When he was restored after G.I. Joe: the Movie, he got some snazzy new body armor, complete with a Darth Vader-ish silver helmet.  This happened in 1989.  So why, then, did he go back to the silver mask in 2006?"

The episode was also animated by Akom, so there is the usual ugly characters at times, and stupid animation, but there are some other odd things like a different Ultra Magnus. Notice how his missile launchers in car carrier mode are on the front rather than the side. This is actually toy accurate, but usually in the series, they are on the side. My favourite error for this episode is, however, the fact that in one shot of some Autobots celebrating the return of their missing friends, Perceptor is coloured like Sideswipe.

The city in the start of this episode seems really futuristic, especially compared to ones in episodes like "The Ultimate Weapon". This city even has flying police cars and ambulances and the like buzzing around it.