The Autobots stop a group of men from stealing an dangerous explosive. When crime lord Victor Drath finds out about this, he decides to do something about the Autobots. He has a meeting with former terrorist leader Old Snake, and asks him about a type of technology his organization once used: synthoids. Snake brings the required equipment to Drath's mansion, whilst Drath has an anonymous tip sent to Autobot City. Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Springer and Arcee head to the mansion, but they get trapped in a room full of lasers.

They run out and into a chamber, which activates another trap. The Autobots get caught and have their minds transferred into synthoid bodies. Drath orders for the synthoids to be destroyed and wants the robot bodies destroyed, but Snake convinces him to keep them. The synthoids are taken to a junkyard to be crushed, but they escape before this happens. Rodimus and others realize what's happened to them. Rodimus and Springer head back to the mansion to confront Drath, whilst Magnus and Arcee head to Autobot City.

Rodimus and Springer are seen by Drath's men. Springer escapes, but Rodimus gets grazed by a laser blast and falls down a hill. He meets Michelle, Drath's girlfriend, who keeps him safe from Drath's men. Meanwhile, Springer comes across the Autobots, who have been converted to be used by human operators -he sees Drath's men use them to rob a jewelry store. He also sees them struggle to operate his robot body, so he says he can help, claiming to have operated heavy machinery. Meanwhile, Magnus and Arcee come across one of Drath's warehouses and investigate it, but trip and alarm. They are soon confronted by themselves and more of Drath's men. Magnus tells Arcee to go, so she steals a bike and heads to Autobot City. Magnus is captured by Drath's men.

Arcee arrives at Autobot City, but the staff there think her story is crazy, and don't allow her to speak to Kup. Meanwhile, Michelle betrays Rodimus, and hands him over to Drath. Drath explains his plan: his men are going to transport several crates full of explosives into Autobot City, then detonate them so Metroplex is destroyed. Springer is also told about this plan, but he rescues Ultra Magnus and heads to the city.

Rodimus manages to take down Drath, but Drath tells him he's too late. The Autobots are nearly at the city, and Springer thinks it's too late. But Magnus comes up with a plan, and has Springer open fire on the city. The Autobots there activate Metroplex's battle station mode, making it impossible for Drath's men to drive into it. The city then fires at the Autobots, taking them down.

Later on, the other Autobots find out what happened, and they all head back to Drath's mansion. Perceptor reverses the synthoid process, and the Autobots are returned to their original bodies. They see Drath's and his underlings being arrested, so they head back to Autobot City. Meanwhile, Snake watches as Drath's group are taken away, and says that they simply don't make terrorists like they used to. As he walks off, he shouts out a familiar battle cry... "COBRA!"

Notes

-The neutronium canister has it spelt "newtronium", but this it most likely an error -the episode's dialogue script consistently spells it as neutronium.

-Snake, or Old Snake as he's also sometimes called, is Cobra Commander, one of the bad guys from G.I. Joe. You can occasionally see that he has scaly fingers, which seems to be a reference to what happened to him in the G.I. Joe movie. Although the G.I. Joe movie was actually released after this episode was broadcast.

-Synthoids were originally featured in the The Synthoid Conspiracy, a two part episode from the G.I. Joe series which first aired in 1985.

-This episode doesn't feature any of the new music used in many of the third season episodes. It instead only uses music from the first two seasons. There are a couple of scenes early on which feature no music at all, which is a real rarity for this series.

Errors

-The flashing red light effect meant for this fire truck is on the wrong place, appearing above the truck instead of on it.
-When Magnus transforms for the first time, he separates from his trailer and somehow becomes his robot mode without it.
-During Dutch's meeting with Drath, it appears to be daytime at first. But a few shots later, it's suddenly nighttime.
-During this shot, part of Rodimus' face goes missing when Magnus turns his head!
-Rodimus is the one speaking Magnus' "our survival was unintentional" line.
-A few shots later, Magnus suggests he and Arcee go to Autobot City, but Rodimus is the one saying it.
-When the remote control Autobots are marched into a room, the background is bronze colored. But for the next shot, the background is colored blue.
-The Autobot symbol is missing on the front of Rodimus during this shot.
-When Michelle takes Rodimus to Drath's study, they're inside a building. But when the shot changes, Rodimus is outside.
-Hot Rod's vehicle mode is used during this shot, it should have been Rodimus'.
-A nighttime background is used for this shot, it should have been a day one.
-Half of Magnus' trailer cab is colored blue instead of white during this shot.
-Grimlock's chest is colored light blue instead of yellow during this shot.
-The lightning effect for Springer's lasers overlaps part of the monitor during this shot, making them look like they're coming out of the screen.
-Another nighttime background is used when some of Autobot City's guns are moving into place.
-Springer overlaps Rodimus when he flies over him. A nighttime background is yet again used instead of a day one.
-The synthoid Arcee can be seen driving herself during this shot. She's supposed to be at Autobot City.
-As Snake walks off, one of the police cars briefly overlaps him.