The Energon Pub

I saw this topic on another board and I thought it would be interesting to start a thread here about it..

What do you think makes up the 'biology' of a Cybertronian?

How do they transform?

How do they reproduce?

How do they eat?

Do they breathe?

Do they dream?

Is battle their only aspiration, or do they eventually move on to other things?

Zombie Starscream wrote:How do they transform?

I think they just move their various parts the same way we move our arms and legs and just hold them there. Other than that, they have preset positions which they merely switch to.

Zombie Starscream wrote:How do they reproduce?

They just build more bots on their assembly line, I'm pretty sure. There was another more gooey method used in the comics, but someone else'll have to tell you about that.

Zombie Starscream wrote:How do they eat?

A few transformers have shown they eat basically through their mouths (Trypticon). But some other Transformers might absorb materials directly into their superstructure (Terrorsaur, G1 Megatron's antimatter).

Zombie Starscream wrote:Do they breathe?

Apparently. Armada Scavenger was seen snoring, Hot Rod was choked by Galvatron. Maybe it's a method of cooling their internals.

Zombie Starscream wrote:Do they dream?

Cheetor had a dream in 'The Web'. and Hot Rod seemed to enjoy short circuiting himself to go on trips (and I do mean TRIPS) into the Matrix

Zombie Starscream wrote:Is battle their only aspiration, or do they eventually move on to other things?

Only for Decepticons. Autobots were used for labour or something. Prowl was said to have been a merchant in War Within.

Blue Streak was the merchant I believe.As for transformation, could we add a theory that Cybertronians are composed of billions of nano machines that gives them the figure alteration ability?

fenrir72 wrote:Blue Streak was the merchant I believe.As for transformation, could we add a theory that Cybertronians are composed of billions of nano machines that gives them the figure alteration ability?

Ah youre probably right there with Bluestreak. It was one of that lot.

As for the Nano-tech, that was just introduced in Beast Wars for the protoforms. I guess if theyre in G1, they only recofigure when given a new form to deal with, and hold that form until its changed again. That is, Optimus' nano's are configured to allow him to transform into his cybertron truck mode. When he comes to Earth, his nano's reconfigure to allow him to transform to an earth truck mode. Thereby losing his previous alternate form.

Zombie Starscream wrote:I saw this topic on another board and I thought it would be interesting to start a thread here about it..

What do you think makes up the 'biology' of a Cybertronian?

How do they transform?

How do they reproduce?

How do they eat?

Do they breathe?

Do they dream?

Is battle their only aspiration, or do they eventually move on to other things?

Transform- Like a thought process, I'd assume, like how you plan to do a specific routine for diving, or how you focus your exact, coordinated movements when doing any track sport. Probably more complicated than moving arms and legs... but the same idea of muscle coordination.

Reproduce- They don't, right? Aren't Transformers given life by the matrix, and until then they're just empty shells created from Lord knows where? Boo.

Eat- The same way we need food, basically. It's a nutrient source and energy source, as opposed to eating something for its taste. The intake process probably has to do with absorbance of those compounds needed to sustain minimum energy requirements for basic bodily functions. These components can be internalized through a similar gastrointestinal system where nutrients are taken up into various 'organs' for further processing and storage. Do they have waste? Probably chemical waste from unusable forms/waste products (like acids, I guess, and water too as described in the breathing section).

Wow.

Anyways,

Breathe- If they do, probably the same reason why we need to breathe. One example is the oxygen as the final electron acceptor in the ETC. It is needed in order to recycle components that were previously used in other processes, which we have a limited supply of. Ultimately, what you get is water (Oxygen plus a couple of electrons, followed by protons, gives you H2O). I will leave it right there before I confuse people even more... This is just one reason why you need oxygen. Essentially, you need oxygen for a lot of chemical processes, oxidative reactions specifically. I'm sure Transformers have similar kinds of reactions going on all the time in their bodies.

Dream- I would say why not. It wouldn't be like our dreams because of the way their own thought processes work. But what do I know.

Hum.

Zombie Starscream wrote:How do they transform?

Physically, like the toys only much more complex.
Psychologically, it's as natural as we move in my opinion.

Zombie Starscream wrote:How do they reproduce?

I prefer the comic version for this.
Originally, it was a much more complex form of cell division, they basically split in two.
After a while they lost the ability so built new robots and the Matrix gave them life.

Later the powermaster process lead to a hybrid Nebulon/Cybertronian, so I'm guessing that's where they began to change reproductively and eventually developed sparks and became BW/BM era bots.

Zombie Starscream wrote:How do they eat?

Do they breathe?

Like fembots, I'm guessing these things were just humanization.

Zombie Starscream wrote:Do they dream?

They're sentient so there's no reason they wouldn't.
Just like us, thought processes are likely to continue if shut down or "sleeping".

Zombie Starscream wrote:Is battle their only aspiration, or do they eventually move on to other things?

If you read back through old tech specs, many Autobots and Decepticons had hobbies, interests etc.
They're pretty much like us in that respect.
Very few want battle for battle's sake, they're at war to achieve something.