The Energon Pub

I belive it started in Beast Machines. Transformer robot designs that don't actully have legs. Well their toys do but they don't seem to in the cartoon or movie. So I thought I'd make a list of all these oddly designed Transformers.

Jetstorm who in place of haveing legs was just stuck in a constant state of flight as this pointed thing hang down from his torso where his legs should be.

Thrust who in place of haveing legs rolled around on his front tire.

Obsidian see Jetstorm.

Rampage who in place of haveing legs appears to be a fan of Dan Brown. (From YouTube not the author) Offically it's refered to as a jackhammer and for good reason, a pogo stick isn't much of a construction tool but I don't think jackhammers can bounce quite as gracefully as Rampage does.

Scavenger (Or Demolisher or Wheelbot whichever you prefer) who in place of haveing legs has not one but two seemingly interchangeable wheels that rotate around his head while it seems his arms hold him up briefly while he's switching wheels for no forseeable reason other than to make this rather simple design look cooler than it really is. Or maybe he lost his balance and the only way to regain balance was by rotateing his wheels around, I don't know.

And the only Autobots I have to add to this list...

The Arcee Triplets see Thrust only with more twisted spines.

Anyone have anything to add that I missed?

I think most of those characters/designs are pretty rad.

Counterpunch wrote:I think most of those characters/designs are pretty rad.

yes, because Primus forbid that robots have to look like humans

yeah, actually i love jetstorms look. didn't the toy have feet and a almost show accurite look mode?

Name_Violation wrote:yeah, actually i love jetstorms look. didn't the toy have feet and a almost show accurite look mode?

There were two Jetstorm toys. A delux and supreme. Both had a more triditional robot mode with legs which were never seen in the cartoon and a more show accurate robot mode. The supreme version however was a great deal more show accurate than his little brother unfortunatly he's really exspencive so I never managed to get the supreme version.

for the most part, it never made sense to me that these guys have to walk around at all.

what's the point of carrying those wheels around and not using them.

it just makes sense.

this makes me think...

since all cons can fly, why do they even have lower bodies? they hover/fly with anti garvity tech. why do you need legs?

Name_Violation wrote:this makes me think...

since all cons can fly, why do they even have lower bodies? they hover/fly with anti garvity tech. why do you need legs?

Same reason for haveing landing gear in vehicle mode.

I have to admit I hated the Vehicons designs in Beast Machines and I hate the Movie characters mentioned above. I'm sorry but I almost boycotted ROTF when I saw the abomibation that is Demolisher in the trailer. Of course, I almost gave up Transformers after I saw the film.

Bad enough, the first movie line ruined the traditional TF look with barely discernable faces but then the ROTF bots like Demolisher, Wheelie, the Twins and Jetfire were really the final nails in the TF coffin. TF Beards, googly eyes and robo-jar jar binkses are not cool.

They took all the crap from other TF series and threw it into ROTF, including the live action Armada Carlos. All that was missing was the dubbing team from Headmasters and an awful Victory-esque title tune.

I will admit I didn't like Beast Wars originally because of the designs but I gave it a chance and grew to love it. I am trying to give ROTF another chance but the one thing BW had that ROTF didn't was great writing.

After the Japanese cartoons and ROTF, I really want a well written series. Animated came close but i can't forgive characters like Dirt Boss and Professor Princess.

All future TF writers should be made watch MTMTE 1-3 because bad animation aside, that was how TF's should be done.

I know I sound like a G1-er but I just like the traditional TF look. I have no problem with characters like Ravage but silly looking unicycle-bots and indiscernable faces just annoy me.

Rial Vestro wrote:

Name_Violation wrote:this makes me think...

since all cons can fly, why do they even have lower bodies? they hover/fly with anti garvity tech. why do you need legs?

Same reason for haveing landing gear in vehicle mode.

the landing gear is shearly for disguise. to blend in.

Name_Violation wrote:

Rial Vestro wrote:

Name_Violation wrote:this makes me think...

since all cons can fly, why do they even have lower bodies? they hover/fly with anti garvity tech. why do you need legs?

Same reason for haveing landing gear in vehicle mode.

the landing gear is shearly for disguise. to blend in.

Not exactly.

Why do flying animals have legs? It takes more energy to fly than to walk or in their case it probly takes more Energon when they're flying than walking. The vehicons were smaller just like the Maximals and Predacons which we allready know use less Energon than the Autobots and Decepticons. So the Vehicons were probly able to stay in a constant state of flight where the Decepticons weren't able to.

Oh, and just out of curiosidy, should we count BW Megatron on this list? His first form we couldn't really see his body under the controll harness but the second form not only has no legs but no body at all, just a giant floating head. Unicron's giant floating head doesn't count sence it was severed from his body where Megatron was built without a body.

Rial Vestro wrote:Oh, and just out of curiosidy, should we count BW Megatron on this list? His first form we couldn't really see his body under the controll harness but the second form not only has no legs but no body at all, just a giant floating head. Unicron's giant floating head doesn't count sence it was severed from his body where Megatron was built without a body.

You do mean BM Megatron [Beast Machines] right????

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:

Rial Vestro wrote:Oh, and just out of curiosidy, should we count BW Megatron on this list? His first form we couldn't really see his body under the controll harness but the second form not only has no legs but no body at all, just a giant floating head. Unicron's giant floating head doesn't count sence it was severed from his body where Megatron was built without a body.

You do mean BM Megatron [Beast Machines] right????

Damn it, I sware I'm not dyslexic, where'd that "W" come from?

the toy for BM megs head mode has legs.. in both modes



but i don't remember seeeing them on the show

Name_Violation wrote:the toy for BM megs head mode has legs.. in both modes



but i don't remember seeeing them on the show

That's because that toy was by far the LEAST show accurate toy ever made.

The head mode would be fine if you just remove the spider legs but the head was his robot mode. He didn't transform from a head into a robot. His alt mode was a space ship that was verry simular in shape to the Darksyde.

The ship mode was never made as a toy and the robot mode was never on the show. And I still don't know why the toy has spider legs.

spider legs = more playability

kids might want a big head tf, but a big head with spider legs? holy crap i gotta get one

Name_Violation wrote:spider legs = more playability

kids might want a big head tf, but a big head with spider legs? holy crap i gotta get one

How about what kids really want, or at least what I allways wanted as a kid, toys that are actully show accurate.

Screw the spider legs, I just want a giant head that transforms into the Darksyde.

I allso want a TM2 Optimus with Megatron's face on it.

I loved the unique rotf designs it showed that the robots are truly alien e.g. Rampage a sort of giant metal sock with arms on it

Different robot designs allow for more specific functions. A humanoid form is like a general purpose design. Arcee with the unicycle feet allows for high speed and maneuverability. She can keep up with Sideways when he was in alt mode and make sharper turns than he could. She's perfectly built for alleyway pursuit.

I really love the non-humanoid designs. I wish that we'd see more "Guardian mode" jet robots, too.

Rial Vestro wrote:

Name_Violation wrote:yeah, actually i love jetstorms look. didn't the toy have feet and a almost show accurite look mode?

There were two Jetstorm toys. A delux and supreme. Both had a more triditional robot mode with legs which were never seen in the cartoon and a more show accurate robot mode. The supreme version however was a great deal more show accurate than his little brother unfortunatly he's really exspencive so I never managed to get the supreme version.

You could transform BM Jetstorm's legs to resemble the cartoon version

http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/ ... /667/1/48/

Razorclaw0000 wrote:I really love the non-humanoid designs. I wish that we'd see more "Guardian mode" jet robots, too.

I sometimes have RotF Thrust displayed in a sort of Gerwalk mode with the body in a modified jet mode and the legs are fully transformed. The figure has great stability due to its fairly big feet.

I like how BM and the live action movies played with different design ideas for Transformers. It's nice to see alien robots who don't walk on two legs.

Convotron wrote:

Razorclaw0000 wrote:I really love the non-humanoid designs. I wish that we'd see more "Guardian mode" jet robots, too.

I sometimes have RotF Thrust displayed in a sort of Gerwalk mode with the body in a modified jet mode and the legs are fully transformed. The figure has great stability due to its fairly big feet.

I like how BM and the live action movies played with different design ideas for Transformers. It's nice to see alien robots who don't walk on two legs.

BM Thrust is incredibly underrated. He was an awesome figure, with the little piston-like parts, and all. I just wish the Unicron.com stand came standard issue.

Rial Vestro wrote:Anyone have anything to add that I missed?

Beast Machines Rattrap. His animation model had wheels instead of legs (but alas, his toy gave him legs too. Though, his McDonald's toy had wheels only).

Sabrblade wrote:

Rial Vestro wrote:Anyone have anything to add that I missed?

Beast Machines Rattrap. His animation model had wheels instead of legs (but alas, his toy gave him legs too. Though, his McDonald's toy had wheels only).

Well this was originally aimed twards characters that don't have legs. Didn't really say anything about the lack of feet. While Rattrap, Tankor, Sideways, and Sideswipe don't have any actual feet in their animation models they do still have seperated legs as apposed to others that have been mentioned who only have one unified leg for lack of any better way to describe it.

I haven't really seen the toys of Sideways so I don't know how screen accurate their robot modes are nor have I seen much of Sideswipe except I do have the Human Alliance version and while he is fairly accurate the way his kick stands transform prevent any real movie accurate use of his wheels which is kind of a dissapointment. Tankor likewise has no show accurate mode.

There's a basic version which was sold as nothing more than a drone but was actully more show accurate than the larger Tankor toy and doesn't have normal legs. His show accurate legs have backwards bending knees and his treds from vehicle mode are used in place of actual feet. (probly the main reason Tankor was the slowest Vehicon in both modes where other tank Transformers tend to walk faster in robot mode than their vehicle mode modes on it's treds.)