Should you watch this, Wiki this, or wait for the next episode’s recap? Watch this.
A horror movie comes to life when the Autobots investigate the source of a strange disturbance – which turns out to be a fear-inducing vampiric Decepticon, Nightstrike! Can the Autobots overcome their worst nightmares and defeat Nightstrike, especially when Righty, the missing Mini-Con component of Chop Shop, gets involved in the fray as well?
“Even Robots Have Nightmares” is the fifteenth episode of the first season of Transformers: Robots in Disguise. It’s the sequel series to Transformers: Prime, and revolves around Bumblebee and his group of cadets on Earth, with a subplot involving Optimus Prime pursuing a mystical mission in the afterlife. This episode sees the Autobots fighting Nightstrike, with Righty, a component of Chop Shop, thrown into the mix.
This is one of those Halloween-cum-nightmare-come-to-life episodes, where the Autobots are trapped in their own worst nightmares. It’s pretty interesting because until now, the series has been rather light on the characterisation of our heroes. It’s not that their personalities aren’t well-defined, but rather that we don’t know much of their backstory. This episode grabs that opportunity to flesh out a bit more about the backgrounds of the Autobots, and drop tiny hints about the possible flashback tales of our heroes.
Highlights
Seeing the Autobots’ fears
It’s a quick and dirty way to give characterisation to our heroes by showing us insights into their worst fears. While Bumblebee’s is pretty much expected, Strongarm’s fear drops some tantalising hints about Kaon and some possible misdemeanour that could have happened there. Grimlock’s fear is rather lame, though you can tell they were trying to go for funny.
Metaphorical representation of Sideswipe’s fear
This is pretty interesting. Sideswipe’s nightmare breaks the fourth wall and literally has the sides of the screen closing in on him. I’d say this even borders on the artistic and metaphysical, the way his fear is represented. Again, there’s pretty little chance to be able to use storytelling devices like this, so I’m glad the producers took on the opportunity to show Sideswipe in this light.
Righty’s redemption
Honestly, I thought Righty would leave them for dead and set up a burning antagonism towards Chop Shop (and also an eventual rematch). But he didn’t! Perhaps this can lead to some sort of internal conflict between Chop Shop’s parts when he finally returns. It helps build the suspense and anticipation for future stories to deal with Chop Shop (and possibly some Mini-Con shenanigans too).
Letdowns
Nightstrike is physically quite weak
I really didn’t like how Nightstrike is, in effect, quite weaksauce when you take away his special powers. True, not all Decepticons have to be big and powerful and menacing, and Nightstrike breaks the trend by being a more indirect villain. Still, because Filch was a physically powerful flier, I kind of had that same expectation for Nightstrike too.
Nightstrike’s powers are countered too easily
If all Transformers have built-in earmuffs (switching off audio receptors), why is Nightstrike still a threat to anyone? Furthermore, since they have a way to nullify his abilities, will Nightstrike even be returning in future episodes? Poor Nightstrike. So, so nerfed.
“Even Robots Have Nightmares” may be an archetypal episode that every series needs, but it also provides good characterisation for our heroes.
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