Money Is Everything
Title card via TFWiki, fan-archive fair use
A swindler's get-rich scheme draws the Autobots and Decepticons into a chase for alien treasure.
Out by the Moon, the trader ship Lazy Sue is under attack by Hun-Grr, who is very hungry. The ship's pilot, Dirk Manus, calls for help. The EDC sends Marissa Faireborn out to assist, with Scattershot and Strafe backing her up. Unfortunately, Strafe gets confused and shoots down the Lazy Sue, while Scattershot is grabbed by Hun-Grr (good choice of backup there, Marissa). Faireborn calls Autobot City, and Nosecone, Afterburner, and Lightspeed head out to help their comrades. The other three Technobots manage to drive off Hun-Grr.
Manus, unseen, buries something near his ship. He introduces himself, hitting on Faireborn, who is a little flustered. Manus claims that Hun-Grr may have attacked due to his discovery of a Quintesson base near Saturn. He offers a deal: pay his fee, he gives up the Quintessons. The Technobots form Computron, who concludes that they should repair the ship and pay the fee. However, Faireborn decides to keep Manus nearby, which Manus uses as an excuse to take Faireborn out dancing.
Later that night, Manus heads out to what he buried, and contacts his clients—the Quintessons. Apparently, the Quintessons sent Hun-Grr to ambush Manus, who now demands triple his original payment, or they don't get the Recreator. The Quintessons are concerned about the Technobots, but Manus decides to lead them into an ambush. Faireborn has overheard his duplicity, and points her blaster at Manus. Unfortunately, Manus has a microblaster of his own, which he uses to disarm her, then ties her up.
The next morning, Scattershot, Lightspeed, and Strafe fly off with Manus, who is calculating his profits. Heading towards Saturn, the Technobots are attacked by Abominus. The three Technobots are shot down by the Decepticon combiner, who then goes for the Lazy Sue. However, coming over the Quintesson base, Abominus separates into the Terrorcons. Rippersnapper and Cutthroat are upset by this; the Quintessons installed an automatic timer which forced them to separate. Manus shows the Recreator to the Quintessons, who decide to test it on Blot. The Recreator dematerializes Blot, then reforms him. Manus explains that the device also cured Blot of any injuries he may have received. Impressed, the Quintessons agree to pay Manus. However, Manus places a micro-size nuclear nullifier on the Recreator before leaving. As it turns out, that was a wise move, for the Quintessons gave him mimic dust instead of real gold. Manus activates the nullifier only to discover that the Quintessons have placed a bomb on his ship, which goes off... while the Quintessons flick Manus's mini-bomb away from the Recreator. A triple cross!
Manus survives the crash, only to discover that the Technobots did as well, and they're quite angry. As he protests his innocence, Manus shouts to look behind them. Lightspeed says that old trick won't work—and is the first to be shot by the Sharkticons. The Technobots bring a set of thorny vines down on the Sharkticons, but their escape is cut short when they reach the edge of a cliff. Fortunately, Nosecone and Afterburner arrive and drive off the Sharkticons. Marissa's ship arrives, and she jumps out, uppercutting Manus. Marissa advocates leaving him to rot, but Manus warns them about the Recreator. Even though their injuries prevent them from becoming Computron, the Technobots decide they have no choice but to trust him. After a little trudging through the forest, Marissa is grabbed by a vine. Manus jumps to her rescue, getting a reward when he steals a kiss—and her weapon. Now with a hostage, the Technobots are forced to surrender to Manus.
At the Quintesson base, Manus attempts to renegotiate his contract. Marissa is disgusted, then horrified when Manus uses the Recreator to vaporize the Technobots. Just as the Terrorcons decide that she'd make a good lunch, Manus reforms the Technobots, the Recreator having healed their injuries. They promptly transform into Computron. As Computron and Abominus duke it out, Manus reveals to Marissa that he brought the Technobots there so that they could be healed. He just didn't tell them because he wanted their reactions to be real. Computron detects the timer placed on Abominus, and fires a blast, causing Abominus to separate. Now facing a pissed Autobot combiner, the Terrorcons fly off, while the Quintessons retreat.
On Earth, the EDC decides to let Manus leave with the Lazy Sue, without any reward. Marissa is seeing Manus, but Lightspeed arrives, saying that the currency the EDC confiscated has been stolen. As Marissa assumes it's Manus, he takes another kiss, then takes off. Marissa, however, says they shouldn't bother pursuing him. On his ship, Manus discovers that the money he stole is mimic dust. But instead of being upset, he merely laughs, impressed that Marissa outsmarted him.
—Dirk Manus. What a gentleman.
—Lightspeed's hopes and dreams aren't very interesting to Strafe.
—Blot doesn't take well to being germ-free.
—Dirk Manus and the Quintesson to themselves after the Recreator transaction.
—Dirk Manus understates his situation.
- Dirk plants the nuclear nullifier on the Recreator right in front of the Quintessons. No wonder they were able to disable it!
- The animation style randomly changes at a few scant points from standard animation to the more stylized type used on "Call of the Primitives", implying that some scenes may have had to be redone by a different studio or something similar. This is most immediately visible after the final commercial break, during the scene where Lightspeed yells, "Strafe! Shoot there!", and again during the battle between the two combiners.
- This is the only episode in Season Three where none of the major characters (Rodimus Prime, Springer, Galvatron, etc.) appear. Instead, the focus on the Technobot team lets every member get at least a line or two of characterization, generally well in line with their toy bios - Lightspeed is cool and competent but daydreamy; Afterburner is angry and impatient; Nosecone is slow and methodical; Strafe shoots without thinking...
- Scattershot mentions that they're "still new here". The Technobots were created just an episode or two earlier, a few weeks in the show's time frame.
- Both Sinnertwin and Hun-Grr walk around on their back legs throughout the episode, despite being four-legged beasts.
- Flying Autobots: All five Technobots are shown flying in robot mode, in defiance of the usual "Autobots can't fly" convention. Whether it's via the "invisible" rocket packs that Autobots sometimes use in Season 3 ("invisible" insofar as the animators never remembered to draw them), or the handiwork of their temporarily super-intelligent creator Grimlock (who can also fly in robot mode), is open for debate.
Screencaps via TFWiki (Teletraan I), used under fan-archive fair use.