The Energon Pub

While looking at one of the other threads on this board, I was suddenly struck with a question:

Why do some of the Transformers have a non-humanoid "robot" mode?

Most of the incarnations of Cybertron I've read or seen seem to be lacking in inorganic flora and fauna, outside of the Transformers themselves--a good majority of which are in a humanoid form. So was it a freak chance of design that lead to certain TFs to lack a humanoid form, similar to the mutations in organic lifeforms as suggested by evolutionary biology? Or were the likes of Laserbeak and Sky Lynx once humanoid in form, but were transferred to new bodies for reasons strategic (or, for someone like Sky Lynx, purely aesthetic)?

Not that there's a particular answer to this question...I'm just curious to see what everyone else thinks.

Transformers started out as a Hasbro toyline borrowed from Japanese Microchange and Diaclone toylines.

As i see it, all or most are just indiscriminately taken. I see no effort from Hasbro to thresh them out or make some designs of their own.
This explains why there's a gun, radio, cassettes, camera, etc. And also why some of them transforms into something else other than humanoid.
If it had been well-thought out, and toys are carefully selected, plus Hasbro designing some more of their own... I guess we'd see mostly, if not all, vehicles and humanoids. And there won't be a problem of size-shifting.

In other words... Hasbro wasn't expecting Transformers to develop into a long-lasting culture, spanning more than 3 decades.
They just simply want to sell some imported toys.

I think Lazerbeak and Ravage at are "domesticated" Cybertronian animals, and Soundwave is able to command them through a mental link. This mental link might also grant them the ability to understand the biped Decepticons' langauge, instead of it being a sort of gibberish to them if the didn't have the link.
Just a theory, of course.

I can't think of a theory about Sky-Linx though...

Auto Bot wrote:Transformers started out as a Hasbro toyline borrowed from Japanese Microchange and Diaclone toylines.

I realize the history of the toys themselves was the driving force behind the line's "quirk," but I more so meant the reason story-wise. Hardly make for a good speculation thread if we just went with the most practical reason...

I think the borrowed toyline is exactly the reason.

But let's explore a possible storyline reason.

My theory is that, some aasume a non-humanoid form for practical reasons. Such as function and size, and also, to conform to the way their alt mode was built.

For example, ravage is more mobile and travels faster on non-uniform terrain. And fits easily into small crevices. Which lead it to assume a four-legged, small-size form. It would be impractical for him to jump around on wheels. That's why some missions are best suited for ravage rather than rumble.

Another reason could be, that some of them are just extensions of a larger robot host.

Again, the cassettes are typical examples.

a bot can either be designed that way, altered during the "birthing" process or modified after initial creation to suit the need or desire.
Some may even choose a non humanoid form.

sisnce humanoids are not warrented in a non organic society, limitations of form and function can become limitless.

Following the G1 story, Teletran 1 sent out a probe to explore a possible alt mode for each transformer.

It's a wonder why a few alt mode chosen were BIOLOGICAL creatures.

Granting the choices were not limited to machines or mechanical devices, how come only humans, among the biological creatures, were EXCLUDED as possible alt form? All earth creatures, being alien to them, should have been equal in the eyes of the probe. Humans, being among the most populated biological species, not to mention supreme, would be INCONSPICUOUS, and should have been given top priority.

I know most of you would ask, how can a human form become alt mode of a humanoid robot?

Simple. Think Terminator 2&3. The perfect disguise.

Comments?

Addendum:

Examples of BIOLOGICAL species as alt mode:
Dinobots
Insecticons
Predaking

Auto Bot wrote:Addendum:

Examples of BIOLOGICAL species as alt mode:
Dinobots
Insecticons
Predaking

Ever watched Master Force? That's a whole new ball game. And as lovely and beautiful Transformers are in the inside, they would die in human form against aniti human decepticons or even autobots, unless tranformed into mad killing machines, with super cool powers, so I heard. Of course I could be wrong...

Auto Bot wrote:Following the G1 story, Teletran 1 sent out a probe to explore a possible alt mode for each transformer.

It's a wonder why a few alt mode chosen were BIOLOGICAL creatures.

Granting the choices were not limited to machines or mechanical devices, how come only humans, among the biological creatures, were EXCLUDED as possible alt form? All earth creatures, being alien to them, should have been equal in the eyes of the probe. Humans, being among the most populated biological species, not to mention supreme, would be INCONSPICUOUS, and should have been given top priority.

I know most of you would ask, how can a human form become alt mode of a humanoid robot?

Simple. Think Terminator 2&3. The perfect disguise.

Comments?

isn't that the whole premise of pretenders?

and the exterier of the human form can be a synthetic plastiform that shifts and expands and flips and reveals the taller, stronger armor plated bot inside.

I meant for G1 storyline.

I haven't encountered pretenders yet. Are they in continuity with G1 storyline?

Question: Are the robots inside the pretenders smaller or equal in size to humans?

It's actually a good question. I suppose the reason the earthen animal robot modes (Ravage, Laserbeak etc) were so designed is to correspond with the original Cybertronian robot mode. I don't hold with the theory of them being 'domesticated', though, as they were portrayed (not in the cartoon, but everywhere else) as distinct characters, not just Soundwave's 'pets'.

Why they'd have these 'animal' (if that's the right word under the circumstances) forms in the first place, it's hard to say. I think Ravage and Laserbeak's robot modes for instance would suit their personalities, so if, as some have suggested, their modes are chosen upon initial formatting according to personality - like a subconscious choice on the part of the protoform - that'd work. Though I don't think the theory works for, say, Buzzsaw, who I'd really think should be a humanoid, if only for the opposable thumbs (it must be hard doing art with just a beak to work with!).

Auto Bot wrote:Following the G1 story, Teletran 1 sent out a probe to explore a possible alt mode for each transformer.

It's a wonder why a few alt mode chosen were BIOLOGICAL creatures.

Actually, if you follow the original comics, the 'sky spy' picked out the mechanical entities it did actually because it thought they were the dominant lifeform - it had never encountered biological life before and so didn't acknowledge it. Only later (presumably once the Transformers' presence been firmly established on Earth) did 'organic' alt-modes come into play. Maybe by this point disguise had become much less of an issue, and the alt-modes were designed with a more active function in mind.

Kranix-76 wrote:While looking at one of the other threads on this board, I was suddenly struck with a question:

Why do some of the Transformers have a non-humanoid "robot" mode?

Most of the incarnations of Cybertron I've read or seen seem to be lacking in inorganic flora and fauna, outside of the Transformers themselves--a good majority of which are in a humanoid form. So was it a freak chance of design that lead to certain TFs to lack a humanoid form, similar to the mutations in organic lifeforms as suggested by evolutionary biology? Or were the likes of Laserbeak and Sky Lynx once humanoid in form, but were transferred to new bodies for reasons strategic (or, for someone like Sky Lynx, purely aesthetic)?

Not that there's a particular answer to this question...I'm just curious to see what everyone else thinks.

Is your name Kranix or Wheeljack?