Recap / Transformers G 1 Thief In The Night

After a bad beating by Metroplex, Trypticon is out of commission and hiding with Octane in the "Socialist Democratic Federal Republic of Carbombya" somewhere in Africa, due to the country's oil having properties that makes "super-energon", which empowers the user for a short while. They are under the protection and surveillance of the country's glorious leader Abdul Fakkadi, who despite having found the two useful as a coast guard, is growing tired by their constant drain on the country's oil resources.

To avoid being chased out or worse, the two Decepticons agree to steal American gold for Fakkadi, and end up doing so by taking the entire Fort Knox with them back to Carbombya, and find out that bribing Fakkadi with famous landmarks is a worthwhile effort. Meanwhile, the Autobots are still trying to find Trypticon's remains, and end up investigating Fort Knox's disappearance.

Eventually, Galvatron, angry at Octane for taking Trypticon without his express permission, finds and forgives him after finding out about super-energon.

Tropes

• Artistic License – Geography: The building Trypticon tries to steal from the Soviet Union is consistently referred as the kremlin, but it's drawn to look like the St. Basil's cathedral.
• Artistic License – Physics: Sure, buildings can just be uprooted from the ground without any damage.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Fakkadi feels this way about Octane and Trypticon. As a coast guard they do their work well enough, but they drain ridiculous amounts of oil to function (it takes 1000 barrels to produce 1 energon cube, while Trypticon requires 50 cubes an hour) they are a massive drain on the country's resources.
• Bait-and-Switch: The opening fight between Metroplex and Trypticon turns out to be a recording the Autobots are rewatching.
• Big Eater: Trypticon requires 50 energon cubes an hour to function. That said, he's explicitly said to be low on it throughout the episode.
• Boring, but Practical: Fakkadi figured out that radar-guided rocket defences would be just as efficient as a coast guard as the Decepticons, but would require much less maintenance.
• Easily Condemned: After Metroplex is seen carrying the "kremlin", the world seems to instantly believe the Autobots are behind every stolen monument.
• Evil vs. Evil: Where to start.
  • First there's Abdul Fakkadi, the dictator of Carbombya, a country that is suggested to have history of sinking passenger ships on international waters and claiming self-defence (although how much of this happened before Trypticon got bored is uncertain).
  • Octane is planning on overthrowing Megatron and taking over the Decepticons, and while at odds with Fakkadi at times, manages to use diplomacy (and stolen monuments) to keep the partnership going.
  • Then there's Galvatron, who is angry at Octane for taking Trypticon without his permission, but forgives him after finding out about his super-energon. Later, he starts threatening Fakkadi to take over Carbombya's oil fields, a goal he manages to achieve for a time.
• Glad I Thought of It: Not explicitly stated, but Galvatron more or less takes over Octane's operation.
• Idiot Ball: The Autobots know that Trypticon is loose, but after Fort Knox is stolen and Grimlock senses "Dinosaur transform static", they assume one or all of the dinobots were somehow part of the theft. Perceptor points out the flaw in logic later.
• Improvised Weapon User: Trypticon throws the "kremlin" at Metroplex. Miraculously, it suffers no damage.
• For the Evulz: Trypticon should be resting after being beaten up in the beginning, but he keeps wasting his energon by sinking cruise ships on Carbombya's coast.
• MacGuffin: The super-energon drives a lot of the episode.
• Monumental Theft: The gimmick of the episode. Octane and Trypticon end up stealing several monuments for Fakkadi, starting with Fort Knox, before giving him the Taj Mahal and the Eiffel Tower. They also try to steal the "kremlin", but fail.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Grimlock senses "Dinosaur transform static" around the area where Fort Knox was stolen from. Apparently all transformers with dinosaur-based alt modes emit it.
• Never Found the Body: The Autobots can't find Trypticon's body in the ocean.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Fakkadi keeps playing both sides of the Autobot - Decepticon conflict, threatening the Decepticons he'll call the Autobots if they step out of line. Eventually he does so.
  • Fakkadi instantly gives in to the Autobots demands after he is rescued by them. No need to anger them too, after the Decepticons effortlessly dethroned him earlier.
  • Upon finding out about Octane's super-energon, Galvatron takes over the operation, and even tries to negotiate with Fakkadi at first. When he declines, they take over the oil fields.
• Qurac: Carbombya is a rather infamous case, even being the page image, not only for its general offensiveness (just look at that name), but for pissing off Casey Kasem so much that he quit the show.
• Ripped from the Headlines: The nation of Carbombya is a very thinly veiled reference to Libya, a country that saw a lot of news coverage when the show was first airing, due to their support of terrorism and being bombed by the US in 1986.
• The Starscream: Octane plans on using the super-energon to take over the Decepticons.
• Tempting Fate: One of the cruise ship passengers points out that a lot of ships have sunk near Carbombya recently, and the captain tells him that they're on international waters so that's not going to happen. Cue missiles.
• Title Drop: When examining the crater Fort Knox left behind.
  Rodimus Prime: Whoever it was just made off with Fort Knox like a thief in the night.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Fakkadi is tired of Octane and Trypticon draining the country's oil, and keeps threatening that he'll call the Autobots if they step out of line. Eventually he does so, but this also makes him someone Galvatron has no use for anymore, although he is merely imprisoned.
• Zero-Effort Boss: In the climax, Metroplex tosses a detached oil tower into Trypticon's chest and tosses him into the ocean. To be fair, the episode had established multiple times that he was low on energon.