Traditions

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Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof!
"Traditions"
Season	1
No. in season	6
Production company	Entertainment One Nickelodeon
Airdate	November 11, 2022 (Paramount+) February 17, 2023 (Nickelodeon)
Writer	Maasai Singleton
Directors	Jordan Rosato Matthew Humphreys
Animation studio	Icon Creative Studio
Watch this episode on Paramount+

Alex tries to share some of his family traditions, while Twitch attempts to win the approval of her "Dad2".

Synopsis

Who must raise a family and run the home, so Papa's free to read the holy book?

Late one night, Alex Malto is recounting to Robby and Mo tales of the Wakwak, a vampiric birdlike monster that feeds on lost children. As he concludes the story, their Terran siblings put their hands on the kids' shoulders, catching them off guard and frightening them. Twitch and Thrash complain about being left out of story time, to which Alex apologizes for forgetting. Robby, however, thinks he's too old now to believe in such things. Alex insists his grandfather once fought off a Wakwak to save a child, starting an annual tradition of training to fight one, but Robby simply steps away to get back to practicing for an upcoming online gaming tournament. As Mo also heads off to bed, the Terrans invite Alex to tell the story again, to which he obliges. Elsewhere, in his newest secret lab, Mandroid attempts some target practice to train himself with using Hardtop's arm, but its size combined with the blaster's recoil makes things difficult. Believing he will have to further upgrade himself to take on the Cybertronian menace, he orders his Arachnamechs to bring him more of their kind that he can use for parts.

The next morning, Alex invites Robby to join him in their annual Wakwak hunt, but Robby refuses, as the tournament is that day and he no longer enjoys the annual hunt. Robby suggests his father take Mo instead, but she is busy teaching Thrash how to play the makeshift guitar he's just built. Alex is left heartbroken, but he notices Bumblebee unsuccessfully attempting to make a full-court jump shot. Alex picks up the ball and does the same, landing flawlessly in the hoop and amazing Bumblebee. Alex offers to teach him that and more, as part of sharing his family's history and culture; hoping to pick up a few basketball skills from the experience, Bumblebee agrees. Having observed all of this, Twitch asks Robby what a "tradition" is, and he does his best to explain, stating that traditions have personal meaning and help give a sense of belonging to something, leaving Twitch feeling uncertain.

I hear they've picked a bride for me; I hope she's pretty.

As he and Bumblebee enter the forest, Alex notes that much can be gleamed through careful observation, demonstrating by using the rings in an oak tree stump to discern its history. He explains that he gained his love of history from his grandfather, or lolo, growing up in Bohol in the Philippines. Bumblebee reveals he spent time in Tagbilarian City, and that he too is familiar with the legends of the Wakwak. When they hear a screeching noise coming from nearby, Alex picks up his bastons and begins teaching Kali defense techniques to Bumblebee, who imitates him using a pair of large branches.

Robby continues to compete in the tournament, but is interrupted by Twitch, who asks if she can "borrow" Robby and Alex's Wakwak hunting tradition, having none of her own. Trying to focus on his game, Robby agrees and tells her to grab some sticks — by which he means not the trees their mother just planted — and meet their father at the big stump in the forest. Ever eager, Twitch heads to the stump, but finding no one there, she begins hitting everything she can with her sticks, though she still feels no closer to the sense of belonging she expected. When she accidentally tosses her sticks into a tree, she transforms to her drone mode to retrieve them, but is suddenly blasted by an electromagnetic pulse and powers down.

Preparing her to marry whoever Papa picks

When Twitch comes to, she is being carried by an unknown Transformer. Breaking free, Twitch shocks the Cybertronian when she starts talking back to him, as he didn't recall programming his drones with speech. Believing his creation to have self-actualized, the newcomer attempts to stun her again for study, but Twitch transforms back to robot mode to tell him off. Realizing she is one of the new Terrans Optimus Prime told him about, the Cybertronian apologizes for the confusion and properly introduces himself as Wheeljack, the inventor of the drone Twitch scanned for her alternate mode. Twitch, realizing this connection, decides to dub Wheeljack her "Dad2", though this makes the scientist more than a bit uncomfortable. Wheeljack explains that he's in the forest hunting for Arachnamechs, but when Twitch offers to help him, he refuses and takes off. As Twitch sadly walks through the forest, she hears rustling in the underbrush before being attacked by an Arachnamech.

Back at the farm, Robby and his team take first place in the tournament, but when he goes to tell the others the good news, he's saddened to find everyone else gone. He wanders into the forest looking for his father, but is repeatedly frightened by brief glimpses of Arachnamechs, which he mistakes for the Wakwak. Alex and Bumblebee, meanwhile, are progressing well in their Kali practice. Bumblebee is energized, but Alex laments that Robby no longer sees the appeal of the Wakwak hunt, feeling traditions like this are important to who they are. Seeing how important this is to Alex, Bumblebee decides to go back to the house to get the kids, unaware that he is being followed by a horde of Arachnamechs. Nearby, Wheeljack continues to track the Arachnamechs, when Twitch suddenly arrives with the one she just defeated, though it suddenly wakes and takes off. Wheeljack asks why she didn't stun it with her EMP, something Twitch didn't realize she had, and Wheeljack agrees to teach her how to use her drone mode's abilities if she helps him recapture the Arachnamech.

Twitch and Wheeljack's training progresses quickly, with Twitch learning to use her EMP and shield tech, as well as coming up with the idea to use her rotors to create whirlwinds. Wheeljack praises her ingenuity, prompting Twitch to open up to Wheeljack about her feelings of not belonging, uncertain as to quite who she's supposed to be and desperately wanting a tradition so she can feel like she's part of something. Wheeljack reassures her that tradition or not, she still has a family that loves her to make new ones with. At the stump, Robby finds himself cornered by Arachnamechs, which are targeting his cyber-sleeve. He attempts to escape by hiding in a log, but the Arachnamechs find him, and their attacks manage to dislodge the log and send it rolling down the path.

Who has the right, as master of the house, to have the final word at home?

By the time the log stops, Robby emerges to find himself surrounded by Arachnamechs. He attempts to fight them off with a stick, but is overwhelmed before being saved by Alex, who arrives just in time to fend off the attackers with his Kali skills. Reminded that he learned the moves during their previous Wakwak hunts, Robby and his father team up to fight the mechs off and drive them away. Twitch senses through their emotional link that Robby is in trouble, moments before she and Wheeljack are beset by more Arachnamechs. Wheeljack attempts to send Twitch away for safety, but she helps fend off the drones, and the two defeat them by combining their skills to create a laser whirlwind that blasts all the Arachnamechs. Wheeljack retrieves one of the destroyed Arachnamechs, eager to study it. Twitch is upset to see him leave, but Wheeljack senses her sadness and suggests they make mechanical spider hunting their new tradition. Robby apologizes to his father for skipping out on the Wakwak hunt, and asks if there's still time to resume it, which Alex happily accepts.

Robby and Alex return to the house, where Bumblebee is waiting for them as Mo and Thrash demonstrate their new musical ability, playing an approximation of Alex's lolo's song for him. Their playing is interrupted as Twitch returns with a broken Arachnamech, with Alex noting one of his colleagues used to use similar technology. Wheeljack arrives as well, introducing himself to the others as Twitch's Dad2, much to her elation. As Thrash ponders if Wheeljack is also his Dad2, Bumblebee picks up the basketball and is shocked to find he's now able to perfectly make the long shot.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"This isn't another attempt to read my diary, is it?"
"I'm a history professor! Having a primary source is...not what today's about."

—Bumblebee reminds Alex of personal boundaries.

"He used to say, 'The past is a present, the present past.'"
"...what does that mean?"
(chuckles) "I don't know."

—Alex tells Bumblebee about his lolo.

"You built the drone I scanned?"
"One of my better inventions. No accidental self-destructions...yet."

—Twitch meets Wheeljack.

"But I can help."
"You can! ...by pretending we never met. Bye now!"

—Twitch watches Wheeljack make his exit.

"You can't have my sleeve unless you rip my arm off!"
[Arachnamechs approach]
"That wasn't an invitation!"

—Robby finds himself cornered

Notes

Continuity notes

• Wheeljack was briefly mentioned as the creator of the drones back in "Secret Legacy, Part 2".

Transformers references

• Wheeljack retains the beard of many of his other incarnations, originally dating back to his Animated counterpart, along with the southern twang of Cyberverse Wheeljack.

Real-world references

• Alex's description of the Wakwak is rooted in stories from real-life Philippine mythology.
• In Robbie's bedroom, a poster can be seen with reversed Japanese characters that can be translated to "My Villain University", a reference to the anime My Hero Academia, with the poster stylized to resemble its common promotional material.

Animation and technical errors

Trivia

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "Les traditions" ("The Traditions")
• Original airdate: December 5, 2022

German

• Title: "Traditionen"
• Original airdate: December 5, 2022

Hungarian

• Title: "Hagyományteremtők" ("Tradition Makers")
• Original airdate: December 5, 2022

Brazilian Portuguese

• Title: "Tradições" ("Traditions")
• Original airdate: December 10, 2022

Italian

• Title: "Tradizioni ("Traditions")
• Original airdate: November 11, 2022

Mandarin

• Title: "家族传统 ("Family Traditions")
• Original airdate: July 20, 2023
  • The translators of the Mandarin dub misunderstood "drag races" as the drag race for drag queens, so Mandarin Bumblebee now has canonically won a drag queen show at the Tagbilaran Airport. Good for him.

Home video releases

DVD

2023 — Transformers: EarthSpark - Season 1: Episodes 1-10 (Paramount)