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"Neigbors in Disguise" is the second episode of Sym-Bionic Titan. It debuted on September 24, 2010.

Overview[]

Ilana visits the mall to buy furniture for their new home, but Lance sees everyone around them as enemies, leading to a confrontation with mall security. Lance activates his powered Manus armored suit in Ilana's defense, attracting the attention of a five-headed robot beast sent by Modula. Lance tries to redeem himself for the mess he has caused by being swallowed so that he can destroy the beast's power core from within. Later, Solomon takes security footage of Lance transforming.

Synopsis[]

Posing as the Lunis Family; Ilana, Lance, and Octus are in a large house with a realtor in a suburban neighborhood. Octus, wearing the hologram of a middle-aged man and playing the role of father to the Lunis siblings, produces the full price for the house in cash. The confused realtor takes the payment, gives them the keys and leaves. Soon Ilana and Lance are bickering over whether securing the house for her safety or furnishing it to help their disguise is more important. Octus sides with Lance on keeping Ilana safe, much to her frustration.

Barbara in Neighbors in Disguise

Hello, neighbor!

When the doorbell rings Lance and Octus think they’re under attack but it's really just one of their new neighbors coming to greet them. The woman introduces herself as Barb, and when she starts talking about furniture she tells Ilana of a store in the mall and how to get there by bus. Lance doesn't want Ilana to leave the house, but she’s determined to go and manages to get away from him long enough to get on the bus. It's not long before Lance is chasing after her, and he uses his amazing strength and speed to hitch a ride on top of a truck.

While riding the bus, Ilana overhears other passengers talking about mysterious robots and sees a TV news report about the damages caused by their previous week's battle with the Fire Monster. The news report also refers to the giant robot as the Titan, a name that Ilana likes. The bus then drives through the large crater in the middle of the city where their battle took place. Soldiers and tanks are posted everywhere as guards. Lance, still riding on top of the truck, avoids being spotted but loses Ilana's bus. He continues the chase in the city by jumping from one building to another and at last catches up to her bus again. When he swings through the open window and into the seat next to her, Ilana glares at him in annoyance.

Meanwhile on Galaluna, General Modula is overseeing his Mutraddi troops when some rebel soldiers attempt an attack on him. Even though the rebels outnumber him and have weapons, Modula defeats all of them with little effort. When the fight is over, a Mutraddi messenger reports that the creature Modula sent to destroy Ilana has been defeated and that her Galalunian signal has been lost. Modula decides to send a more intelligent monster this time and summons a huge robotic beast with five heads for the job.

Back on Earth, Ilana and Lance arrive at the mall. Ilana is impressed by the place but Lance is worried about the soldiers surrounding the place. He follows her inside and they head toward the furniture store, but are intercepted by a lotion salesman. Lance mistakes his bottle of scented cream for a death spray weapon and attacks him. Ilana scolds him for hurting a harmless merchant but Lance remains determined to protect her from everything. In the furniture store Ilana tries to make Lance relax a little and invites him to try out a couch with her. He humors her but fails to relax at all.

They go to several model rooms and eventually Ilana finds one that she likes. Then she notices a snow globe there with a miniature castle inside. She picks it up and recalls a happy memory from her childhood on Galaluna of moving to a new palace with her father the King. When she says she misses home, Lance suggests that they leave the store. This causes Ilana to get angry with him for his apparent lack of feelings. After she stomps away, Lance looks at the snow globe she left behind and says he doesn't have much to miss.

Back at the house, Octus goes to a room on the top floor. He sheds his human disguise and begins installing a security system, but is interrupted by Barb bringing cookies and quickly resumes his Mr. Lunis form when she comes in. When Barb touches one of the floating orbs of the security system, Octus pulls her away and suggests taking the cookies down to kitchen. After they leave the room, a sensor in one of the orbs starts beeping. A new rift gate opens in space and Modula's beast makes a crash landing in Egypt. It begins searching for Ilana's signal but can't find her.

As Lance and Ilana leave the furniture store, they are confronted by a group of security guards and the salesman Lance attacked earlier. When one of the guards grabs Ilana, Lance knocks him down and the other guards quickly surround them. Despite Ilana's protests, Lance activates his armor. This succeeds in frightening off the guards, but it also attracts the attention of the robotic monster on the other side of the planet. Locking onto the signal of Lance's armor, it launches itself on jets into the sky.

Back at the house, Barb is chattering to Octus in the kitchen. Just as he's about to bite into one of her cookies, Octus hears the alarms on his sensors upstairs going off. He then tells Barb very seriously that he needs to plant several dampening markers in the yard for the home security system right away. To his surprise Barb offers to help him and brags about her thriving tomatoes to prove her skill in yard work. This seems to convince Octus to accept her help and they get to work at once.

At the mall, a large number of soldiers swarm into the building and converge at the furniture store, where Lance is still in his armor. Once the soldiers start shooting Ilana activates her own armor and tells Lance they need to go. The two of them leap down to the mall's bottom level, scaring shoppers and causing damage to the building along the way. As soon as they land a tank crashes through a wall and fires at them, but Ilana blocks the blast with an energy shield. They then break through the hole the tank made and end up outside on the street. Ilana wants to blend into the crowd to lose the soldiers, but the new monster is waiting for them.

As the monster chases them through the city, Lance and Ilana wonder how it found them and see that their weapons have no effect on it. Lance creates a smoke screen with some missiles, giving them the chance to head back for the suburbs. Octus is planting dampening markers in the yard with Barb when he senses the beast and his two comrades approaching. He sends Barb back to her house and Lance and Ilana land in the street in front of him. Octus tells Lance that the creature is tracking his armor's signal and following him to the house. Ilana scolds Lance but he becomes defensive and blames Octus for not warning them that the creature was coming. Then Ilana points out that the creature never would have found them if Lance hadn't ignited his armor. He realizes she's right and feels guilty for his recklessness.

The giant creature arrives and the humans run for cover. Octus sheds his disguise and is about to start the symbiosis when Ilana suggests the name Titan. Octus likes it and the three of them join together to form the Sym-Bionic Titan. The creature shoots an energy beam from one of its five mouths and the Titan uses a force field to shield itself. It punches at the creature's heads but it catches its arms in its mouths and tosses the Titan into the air. The huge robot lands on all four, smashing trees and roads under its hands and feet. Then it tackles the monster and takes a flying leap into the forested hills beyond the town. However, the monster holds the Titan's limbs and head down in its jaws.

Inside the Titan, Octus states that there’s a volatile energy signature coming from inside the creature, but its skin is too thick to penetrate. Lance orders him to disengage their link and Ilana realizes that he intends to defeat the creature by going inside of it. She tells him not to do it, but he’s determined to get them out of the mess he caused. Octus disengages the link, freeing them from the monster's grasp and separating the Titan into their three individual units. Ignoring Ilana's protests, Lance flies up toward the creature's heads, produces a long spear, and dives straight into one of its mouths. He finds the energy core down in its belly and stabs it. The core bursts and destroys the monster from the inside out in a huge explosion. When the smoke clears, Lance is unscathed and all that's left of the monster are its mechanical legs.

That night, the three of them are eating Barb's cookies for dinner on the floor of their still empty living room. Lance comments that the cookies aren't half bad and then leaves to go to bed. Once he's out of sight, Ilana asks Octus why her father would choose someone as strange as Lance to help her. Octus replies that maybe her father sees something in Lance that no one else does. Later, Ilana is surprised to find the snow globe from the mall in her room. Smiling, she picks it up and says a good night to Lance. In his room down the hall, Lance is leaning against the window and smiles as he says a good night back to her.

Meanwhile at the mall, a night watchman is playing recorded footage from a security tape of Lance's armor activation over and over for fun. Then the door to the room slides open, Solomon enters and tells the guard he needs all of the tapes.

Errors[]

  • When Lance actives his armor while being surround by guards at the mall, Ilana's lipstick disappears momentarily.

Trivia[]

  • This is the first episode that the composite entity Ilana, Lance, and Octus can form is referred to as the Sym Bionic Titan.
  • This is the first episode where someone thinks Lance and Ilana are a couple.
  • The neighbor who lovingly picks up the young boy is modeled after series creator Genndy Tartakovsky.
  • The title references the 'Robots in Disguise' tagline from the Transfomers franchise.
  • All that remains of the robot after the battle are two giant legs, which later appear, still standing, in two scenes in Disenfranchised, one of which is the concert in the park.

Gallery[]

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