Robots from Japan

A Transformers Movie-verse Fanfiction

By Hibana

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

A.N. Here is a second update as a sort of apology for taking so long! I was just reading over the wonderful reviews that I got while I was on break. Thank you everyone! This is my tribute to my time in Japan, inspired by some of the things I saw there. I hope you enjoy it!

Watching TV late at night while eating snacks and drinking highly-caffeinated beverages has never been recommended as a way to get a good night's sleep. Especially when the snacks involved are junk food with large amounts sugar in addition to the sugar and caffeine in the sodas. It's rather obvious that you'd have strange dreams, if you can even sleep at all. For Sam, the dream (or nightmare) that made him wake up gasping for breath in the early hours before dawn was definitely caused by this.

He had been hanging out with Bumblebee in the garage, watching a TV show on one of the science channels. It had been about robots, which had caught both of their attention.

"Hey, look, Bee, they're almost like you! I mean, they're obviously nowhere near the level of an Autobot," he said hurriedly, "but they're pretty cool, huh? I bet you didn't think humans could make robots like that."

"Japan is a leading competitor in the research and development of these animatronics creations. They are on display in such places as Tokyo's famous Akihabara District, where you can see robotic dogs in the windows as examples of the latest robots you can take home, like pets," the narrator of the program said.

"Yeah, those are a lot smaller than you," Sam grinned. " 'Bet Dad wouldn't have been so freaked out if you were the size of Mojo."

Bee warbled something in response that sounded an awful lot like 'Really?'

"…these marvels of science can perform an astounding range of activities from walking, talking and answering questions, even doing household chores."

"I wish you'd do some household chores," Sam muttered under his breath.

"However, these robots are not the kind out of science fiction works just yet. They're light-years away from possessing anywhere near the same level of intelligence of a human. So, we don't have to worry about an army of robots taking over any time soon."

"Ha. What does he know," Sam muttered, sipping his soda, and changed the channel.

However, when he went to bed much later he began to dream…

It was one of those strange, trippy dreams where colors were a little off and reality was upside down. There was an army of small Japanese robots, looking like little foot soldiers, stretching out as far as the eye can see. The scene shifted, and the army was divided into ranks of different kinds of robots, though they were still the kind similar to Bumblebee when he was not in car mode. Some were red, some were blue, some looked like Marines while others were colored like Gundams, and there was even a weird pink and white girly one with the face of a cat and a bow on her head. "Konnichiwa!!!" they shouted as one in a far-too-enthusiastic tone of voice. Then, the different ranks began to sound off. "Konnichiwa—Konbanwa—Ohayou—Irashaimase!" Each rank had a different greeting in Japanese. "Irashaimase!" They all shouted as one, and repeated the word again.

Behind them loomed Bumblebee, towering over them all—no, he was their king, on a throne, and they were all his servants or foot soldiers. And then Sam was there with Bumblebee, and he was happy, because they ruled over the robots. They ruled over all of this land, and they called it…this land. And they were happy.

And then the dream changed into a nightmare, for suddenly a calendar appeared in the sky and there was a test on every day. And then Bumblebee turned his army onto Sam to force him to study, and Sam was surrounded by robots.

"What is the square root of 2?"

"When was the Battle of Waterloo?"

"Ohayou means good morning in Japanese!"

Sam cried out as he was smothered by knowledge…

And then he woke up, gasping. And vowed to never combine Red Bull, ice cream, and late night TV again. Especially TV shows about Japanese robots.

If I recall, in the first movie Sam initially thought Bumblebee was Japanese. So this was a nice connection.

There was a Firefly reference thrown in there. Kudos to anyone who saw it and recognized it! Also, the girly cat robot is obviously Hello Kitty, which is everywhere in Japan. Believe me. And I threw in Gundams too. :)

Apparently I love to torture poor Sam... He's much too easy.

Till next time!

~Hibana