With the other Titans are away, Cyborg is forced to take a road trip with Robin the control-freak to Metropolis so he can attend a ping pong tournament.
Plot[]
The episode begins with Cyborg sulking on the couch, with Robin noticing and asking what's wrong. Cyborg answers that the Metropolis Annual Ping Pong Invitational is coming up, and all of the other Titans are busy, leaving him with no one to go there with. Beast Boy (Cy's top pick) is hanging with his family The Doom Patrol, Raven is at a Pretty Pretty Pegasus convention, and Starfire has gone to celebrate with her people at her home planet Tamaran. Robin repeatedly hints to Cyborg that there is one other member still available, obviously himself, to which Cyborg bluntly states his disinterest in being paired with him. Robin, on the other hand, is excited about the prospect, thinking they will embark on a fun buddy road trip and ultimately discover the power of friendship. Cyborg is still less than enthused about this but begrudgingly complies just to get to the Invitational.
The two set off on their road trip and first take a plane, a seatless plane surrounded by farm animals. Cyborg complains about the safety and conditions of the plane, with Robin telling him they'e on this kind of plane to save money and that planes are statistically the safest mode of transportation. Contradictorily enough, the plane makes a rather hard landing on the runaway, and everyone and everything rolls out from the cargo door. Cyborg kisses the ground thinking they've made it to metropolis, only for Robin to inform him they're really in Bismark, N.D., and they'll be making a stop at a motel for the night to do some bonding.
The two get to the motel and see them run-down the room they'll be sleeping in. The room is completely infested with cockroaches, though they file out after being frightened by the two, there is only one bed, and said bed is drenched. Robin goes in the bathroom to wash up, with Cyborg rushing him so he can do the same after being stuck with farm animal stench. The two exchange and Cyborg goes in to clean himself. To his horror, Robin has left his underwear everywhere in the bathroom.
An exhausted Cyborg gets into bed to wind down for the night, which isn't easy with Robin constantly trying to get close to him or making obnoxious noises. Finally, Robin plugs in his humidifier, which interrupts the circuiting of the extension cord and throws off the alarm clock.
The next morning, after Cyborg discovered that he slept on Robin’s firm butt cheeks, he tells Robin that he is a horrible travel buddy before he asks when the plane leaves only to discover that they missed it. Luckily, Robin knows another way to get to the tournament: A train! But apparently the train doesn’t seem to work out, although Robin tries—and fails— to help Cyborg by singing a song. After realizing that they’re probably not train people, Robin and Cyborg decide to ride a rental car to Metropolis. Cyborg decides to sleep in the car while Robin struggles to stay awake. Robin drives recklessly as Cyborg becomes frightened of Robin in a demon like costume with Sticky Joe. Eventually they drive off a cliff and the car and the suitcases explode. Cyborg is upset with Robin and decides to leave him behind, not caring if he missed the ping pong tournament. Robin tries to remind him of the power of friendship, but Cyborg, now angry, yells that it is a lie.
As Cyborg heads to Metropolis, Robin rides a donkey that feeds on his *cringeworthy* underwear. Cyborg is still upset over this, but quickly gets over it because he loves donkeys. And the two of them get to the tournament together. Cyborg is happy, knowing the road trip wasn’t bad as he thought. However, Robin reveals that they didn’t practice for the tournament but Cyborg knows they don’t have to practice because they have a donkey and competes with the donkey. The episode ends with Robin talking to his hand and invites him on a buddy road trip only for his hand to pound him and say “NO!”
This is the fifth episode that does not feature the full Titans cast. The others being the first three parts of Beast Boy's That's What's Up! and Magic Man.
Beast Boy, Raven and Starfire don’t physically appear in this episode, only appearing in quick explanations of their whereabouts.
Originally in the motel bathroom scene, Cyborg was going to vomit on the doorknob and had a mental breakdown by smashing his head into the mirror after being repulsed by Robin’s skivvies, but it didn't make the cut because of being deemed as too inappropriate for the audience.[1]
With Beast Boy with his family The Doom Patrol, this episode most likely takes place in the summer.
This episode reveals that Cyborg loves donkeys.
Continuity[]
Raven is seen unhooded for the 120th time in the series.
Planet Tamaran is seen again.
Robin talks to his own hand once again at the end of the episode.
Robin wears a retainer to sleep, which is a callback to his “war with crooked teeth" in "Slumber Party".
Raven wears her Pretty Pretty Pegasus costume (minus the head) from "Halloween".
The Doom Patrol makes their 3rd appearance in the series.
