The Autobots were forced to scramble for cover, allowing Darkwing access to the building while Dreadwind remained on the offensive. This hindered him greatly when Darkwing and Dreadwind attacked. Slapdash, Joyride, and Getaway were tasked with guard duty at the game company, though upon arrival Slapdash realized he had forgotten something important: his Nebulan partner! Without Lube, he was forced to remain in vehicle mode throughout the mission.

Unfortunately, this made the installation a target for Decepticons, who could put the disc to malicious use. Out of nostalgia for a time when he had lived inside a computer game, Optimus kept a spare copy of his mind stored in a floppy disk at Alternate Reality, Inc. As the Autobots settled down, Optimus Prime returned from his moment alone to impart to Slapdash and the rest the importance of their responsibility to the planet. Deciding to investigate quietly, Getaway took Slapdash, Joyride, and their partners the town of Border Flats, where they fought these mysterious Transformer troublemakers, only to find out they were Autobots! The whole incident had been a misunderstanding, the confusion brought about when the Advance Surveillance Unit, Sandstorm, Inferno, and Broadside, attempted to join a Christmas celebration. The broadcast was interrupted by an emergency news bulletin, which reported a Transformer-caused disturbance in town. As Optimus Prime stood outside their shuttle in the snow, Slapdash watched ' Miami Metal Clamp' with some of their Nebulon partners.

The Cosmic Carnival Finally, they reached Earth on Christmas Day. Upon seeing that Sky Lynx was part of the show's line-up, Optimus and Goldbug investigated, though the rest of the crew did not, as the carnival had a steep entrance fee. This was interrupted by a transmission from the Cosmic Carnival, which Slapdash and Joyride agreed looked fun. While traveling back to Earth aboard the Steelhaven, Slapdash stood with the others as Optimus Prime displayed images of Cybertron and Earth for the benefit of their new Nebulon partners. After successfully driving off the Decepticon Powermasters with their new strength, the Autobots and their binary-bonded partners all chose to leave Nebulos and return to Earth, with Optimus Prime once more functional. Slapdash was binary-bonded to Lube, one of Hi-Q's top assistants. But after seeing the Autobots' determination to revive their leader Optimus Prime at any cost, the Nebulan scientist Hi-Q and his research staff decided to help save the Autobots and underwent the Powermaster process themselves. Slapdash and the others tried to fight back against the Decepticons, but were running dangerously low on fuel due to their long journey and proved no match for their Powermaster opponents. What's worse, a pair of crooked Nebulans had made an alliance with two Decepticon bandits and made them uniquely immune to the poison fuel, putting Nebulos at their mercy. The inhabitants were less than cooperative and had poisoned their fuel supplies since Fortress Maximus's crew had left in order to prevent further Transformers involvement on their world. They ran into difficulties on Nebulos, however. When the Decepticons did attack, Goldbug commandeered the Steelhaven and its small crew to return to Nebulos, in the hopes of rebuilding the legendary Optimus Prime as a true leader to oversee all Autobots. While two Earth Autobots named Blaster and Grimlock settled their differences in a crater on Earth's moon, Slapdash, Joyride and Getaway remained behind on the Steelhaven as a skeleton crew to guard the ship from attack. Absent-minded Slapdash left his not-standing-in- character model stance at home.

Slapdash careers