Transformers (Species)

The Transformers are a species of sentient, living robotic beings (mostly) originating from the distant machine world of Cybertron. The stories of their lives, their histories, and most especially their wars have been chronicled across many different continuities in the vast multiverse.

The designation "Transformer" stems from the species' generally-shared ability to transform, to change their bodies at will, rearranging their component parts from a robotic primary mode (usually, but not always, humanoid) into an alternate form; generally vehicles, weapons, machinery, or animals. In some continuities this ability to transform is innate to all members of the species, in others it was a wartime innovation that was adopted by most, but not all, of the populace.

While this species is commonly known throughout the galaxy as "Transformers", the technical term for these beings is Cybertronians, which they generally use to refer to themselves. Other, less-frequently used terms to refer to beings from Cybertron include Cybertronic or simply Cybertron. {| class="wikitable"

Contents
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 * 1 Origins
 * 1.1 The Quintessons
 * 1.2 Primus
 * 1.3 The AllSpark
 * 1.4 Other origins
 * 2 Transformer biology
 * 2.1 Physiology and variance in form
 * 2.2 Physical construction
 * 2.3 Transformation
 * 2.4 Sparks
 * 2.5 Fuel
 * 2.6 Combination
 * 2.7 Weapons and abilities
 * 2.8 Organic components
 * 2.9 Gender
 * 3 Transformer life cycle
 * 3.1 Birth
 * 3.2 Early life
 * 3.3 Lifespan
 * 3.4 Death and the afterlife
 * 4 Transformer culture
 * 4.1 Society
 * 4.2 War
 * 4.3 Politics
 * 4.4 Religion
 * 4.5 Sciences
 * 4.6 Art
 * 4.7 Linguistics
 * 4.8 Medicine
 * 4.9 Romance
 * 5 Related species
 * 6 Notes
 * 6.1 Foreign names
 * 7 External links
 * }

Origins
Just how exactly did these towering marvels of technology become living, sentient beings with the ability to transform their appearance to adapt to their environment? Two words: WHO CARES?"

The many origin stories of the Transformers—why and how these shapechanging robots became the way they are—has been explored across a wide variety of mediums. As is the case for just about every Transformers story, many of the details of these tales are mutually irreconcilable with one another.

The three most prominent origins for the Transformer race are as follows:

The Quintessons

 * See also: QuintessonThe 1984 cartoon established that the Autobots and Decepticons began as two different product lines of robotic slaves, only developing civilization after overthrowing their cruel Quintesson creators.

What the Quintessons failed to grasp was that their robots had developed emotions. That we knew and felt the difference between freedom and slavery. And that oversight sealed their fate.

The malevolent aliens known as the Quintessons first appeared in the 1986 animated film, but it would not be until the third season of the the 1984 Transformers cartoon that would explain their role in the history of Cybertron. In "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4," Rodimus Prime experienced a vision of the past and learned that Cybertron had once been a planet-sized factory overseen by the aliens: the ancestors of the Autobots were designed as "consumer goods," and the Decepticons began as "military hardware". In time, however, the Quintessons' robotic creations would gain sentience and overthrow their masters in a rebellion before driving them off-planet, later inventing transformation when those military robots went rogue and made war against their proto-Autobot brethren.

Although well-known because of the cartoon's prominence, it has been given relatively little attention in subsequent media; with the rise of the Primus origin story, subsequent works of fiction have largely reduced the Quintessons to merely interfering with the natural development of the Transformers, as seen in 3H's Wreckers comics and the Aligned continuity family.

Transformers vs. G.I. Joe would offer a variation on the Quintesson origin story, depicting the aliens as fifth-dimensional beings who had created the living planet known as "Daiakuron", which itself would go on to spawn Primus and the Transformer race.

More recently, the fourth instalment of the live-action film series, Age of Extinction, would reveal that the Transformers of that universe had also been created by some other alien race. It is, however, unclear if the mysterious, organic aliens known only as the "Creators" are this universe's version of the Quintessons, and what, if any, connection they possess to the equally enigmatic mechanoid who calls herself "Quintessa".

Primus

 * See also: Primus, Unicron, Thirteen, Well of All SparksPrima was the first Transformer to be created by Primus, and would later be reimagined as the leader of the mighty group of Transformers known as the Thirteen.

They were the dream--mechanical beings able to transform their bodies into vehicles, machinery and weapons; a last line of defense against the chaos bringer, Unicron!

Independent of the cartoon's Quintesson origin, writer Simon Furman came up with his own origin for the Transformers. As first detailed in the Marvel UK comic, the Cybertronians of that universe had been created by their god, the benevolent Primus, as proxies to carry on the battle with his villainous opposite: the dreaded chaos-bringer known as Unicron. This origin story was eventually folded into the American books when Furman took over from US author Bob Budiansky, overwriting the earlier "atechnogenesis" theory. From there, the tale would undergo various permutations in various pieces of ancillary media before settling on a widely-accepted version of events, establishing that Primus himself, like Unicron, could transform from a robot into a planet; unlike Unicron, however, Primus transformed into Cybertron itself.

The first Transformer that Primus created was dubbed Prima, bearer of the Matrix of Leadership, and later stories set in other universes would take this concept and run with it. Future works would establish that the very first group of Transformers to be created, of which Prima was traditionally a part, would become known as the "Thirteen," demigod-like figures of enormous power, and who themselves would go on to play a major role in the overarcing Transformers mythos in their own right. The Unicron Trilogy was the first cartoon to incorporate the Primus and Unicron origin into its storyline, as would several Fun Publications-exclusive stories, and for many years this was widely accepted to be "the definitive" Transformer origin story.

Note, however, that not all modern continuities adhere to this strict interpretation of events; notably, the original 2005 IDW continuity would establish a very different interpretation of Primus, who that continuity's version of Unicron was entirely unconnected to.

The AllSpark

 * See also: AllSpark, AllSpark Mutation, Energon radiationThe AllSpark, a mysterious relic capable of granting life to the Transformer race, has featured prominently in some more recent Transformers stories.

Before time began, there was the Cube. We know not where it comes from, only that it holds the power to create worlds and fill them with life. That is how our race was born.

The very earliest drafts of the 2007 Transformers movie originally had the Autobots and Decepticons come to Earth in search of the Matrix of Leadership; for one reason or another, this relic was later reworked into a new artifact, a life-giving cube that was first deemed "the Energon Cube," and then hastily redubbed into "The AllSpark," evidently co-opting the name from Beast Machines and its description of the Transformer afterlife.

The first Transformers movie depicted the AllSpark as the sole creator of the Transformers; a powerful, semi-sentient object of unknown manufacture, this artifact was responsible of energizing the living metal of Cybertron with Sparks and creating the first generation of Transformers. When loosed on Earth, AllSpark energy was capable of spontaneously imbuing human machinery with Transformer life, creating "AllSpark Mutations" from mundane vehicles or appliances. As part of Hasbro's attempts at brand synergy, the AllSpark would also feature in that year's Transformers Animated cartoon, with more-or-less the same backstory, treating the mysterious object as the creator of the Cybertronian species, with individual fragments of the AllSpark displaying the power to bring new Transformers online from whatever inanimate objects happened to be in the vicinity. The concept would be folded into the "Primus" origin in the "Aligned" continuity family, which established the Allspark as the divine mechanism Primus created to generate new sparks. Almost a decade later, 2018's Cyberverse cartoon would once more establish the AllSpark as the mysterious, and seemingly sole, progenitor of Cybertronian life.

Recent developments in the live-action series continuity family—most notably the introduction of the enigmatic "Creators"—have offered a possible insight into the true origin of the live-action version of the AllSpark, but no concrete information has yet surfaced.

Other origins
The theory of atechnogenesis proposes the Transformer race evolved naturally, rather than being created by an external force.


 * Atechnogenesis

The very first origin ever put forth for the Transformers established that the Transformers had evolved through atechnogenesis, a mechanical parallel to the Darwinian evolution of life on Earth and arising from the interaction between "naturally occurring gears, levers and pulleys" on the surface of Cybertron. This questionable theory was given in the very first Transformers comic ever produced and was quickly forgotten, though the concept occasionally crops up as an in-universe "atheist" viewpoint to contrast against more spiritual perspectives. A more serious take on the concept was published in a Japanese-exclusive manga. Beast Machines suggested that Cybertron was once home to organic creatures, long-since extinct.


 * Migration

Several installments of the Generation 1 continuity — most notably Beast Machines, but also Kiss Players — revealed that, long ago, the metallic world of Cybertron was once a verdant, Earthlike planet. The first episode of Beast Machines had Optimus Primal muse that the first Transformers "came to Cybertron," and subsequently learned to transform—an event that evidently coincided with the extinction of Cybertron's natural biosphere. The Japanese continuity would reconcile the basics of this premise with the cartoon's Quintesson origin, but no American media has ever expounded on Primal's words or their significance. The Gorlamites were once organic beings that came to adopt robotic forms.


 * Biomechanical evolution

The origins of our own planet are lost in the distant mists of time. Perhaps, once upon a time... Cybertron was something like this.

In the 2005 IDW continuity, the world of Gorlam Prime was a planet whose humanoid inhabitants developed a culture of cybernetic implants, rapidly shedding their biological forms to become a Transformer-like race and eventually rebuilding their planet into a metallic world and rechristening it "Cybertron". On a visit to Gorlam Prime during the earliest stages of this evolution, Nightbeat idly wondered if Cybertron and its inhabitants had once passed through a similar phase. To date, no continuity has ever established this "biomechanical evolution" as a proven origin for the Transformer race, but a similar process is how the Transformers' sister race, the GoBots of Gobotron, came to be. The conclusion of Tom Scioli's Go-Bots series implied that the Cybertronian race was descended from a civilization of spacefaring Go-Bots.


 * Go-Bots

Go-Bots! Transform and roll out!

The long-dormant GoBots property, a one-time rival to the Transformers brand, was unexpectedly revived in late 2018 by writer and artist Tom Scioli for a 5-issue miniseries. Though the miniseries was, for the most part, an affectionate pastiche of various sci-fi concepts unrelated to the Transformers brand, and, indeed, most prior iterations of the Go-Bots—Terminator, Planet of the Apes, and so on—the comic ended with a peaceful Gobotron sailing through space as Go-Bot leader Road Ranger announced his intention to seed the multiverse with a panoply of mechanical worlds. In the meantime, he worked to construct an "optimized" version of himself, a mechanical "heir" that, while not seen, is heavily implied to be Optimus Prime; Bug Bite considered building a similar copy of himself, and Cy-Kill and Leader-1's remains were amalgamated into a new jet-bot. For a variety of reasons, it's very unlikely that any future Transformers story will touch upon this origin.

Physiology and variance in form

 * See also: Robot mode, alternate mode, scaleMost Transformers are essentially humanoid...

I take great pleasure, and indeed pride, in noting how varied we are throughout the cosmos and beyond. Organic Cybertronians, modular Cybertronians, Cybertronians binary-bonded to other Cybertronians, Cybertronians binary-bonded to organic life, Cybertronians with organic shells, Cybertronians who combine their sparks with other Cybertronians, Cybertronians who can split their sparks in twain, Cybertronians who become cities, or insects, or starships, or even planets... it makes my spark pulse brighter.

The vast majority of Transformers are built along a humanoid frame, generally referred to as their "robot mode:" two arms, two legs, a torso, and one head. This isn't to say that all Transformers are humanlike, however: some have unconventional limbs, their hands (or whole arm) replaced with tools, claws, weapons, or some other form of manipulator (like a beast mode's head). Though most Transformers possess a pair of humanlike legs, some Transformers have opted for more exotic forms of locomotion; a Transformer might possess digitigrade legs, wheels or tractor treads instead of feet, or no discernible legs at all, floating on antigravity. Some Transformers have more or less than the normal number of limbs altogether, such as the six-armed Octus. Transformers' faces run the gamut of design, from looking like a metal human in a helmet, to characters like Shockwave or Whirl, whose faces consist of little more than a single glowing eye, or more animalistic designs such as Waspinator. ...but many are not. While humanoid forms are the norm, they are certainly not the rule, and it is not at all uncommon for a Transformer to possess a primary mode based on an animal or vehicle—for instance, Ravage, Grand Slam and Raindance, who transform from cassette tapes into a panther, a tank, and a jet, respectively. We consider these to be their "robot modes;" while they are definitely inhuman, they are at least capable of independent movement.

Transformers are generally large in comparison to Earth lifeforms; the average Transformer stands roughly four times the height of a human, depending on its size and shape. However, great variances in form are common; some Transformers, like the Mini-Cons, Micromasters, Maximals, or Predacons, are approximately human sized. Still others, such as the Real Gear Robots or the BotBots, are small enough to fit in a human's palm.

On the other end of the scale, some Transformers are large enough to dwarf other Cybertronians. The colossal city-bots known as Titans are one such faction, transforming into entire cities for smaller Transformers to inhabit. Particularly large Transformers, like Unicron and Primus, might transform into entire planets. In the Cybertron series, the planet Gigantion is populated by both extremes: robots who tower over "normal"-sized Transformers, aided by their tiny Mini-Con partners. For the most part, however, the "average" Transformer ranges from about 15 to 40 feet in height.

Physical construction

 * See also: Living metal, Transformation cog, Brain module, Transformer anatomyTransformer anatomy is made up of several different mechanical parts, each of which serves an important function.

You're a motorcycle, Arcee. Shouldn't you know how to build a motorcycle engine?

You're a human, Jack. Can you build me a small intestine?

Though their metal bodies were shown to be easily built by other Transformers from conventional materials, even the very earliest stories in the franchise showed that Transformers could feel pleasurable and painful sensations—physically "alive" in body, not just mind. This "living metal" was described as having a cellular structure in the Victory cartoon, a fact independently reiterated by the the Marvel Generation 2 comic books, which also established that Transformers possessed "genetic material" (useful when "budding"). It was the Marvel comic which first introduced the idea that the Transformers originally emerged from the very fabric of the planet Cybertron itself, an idea that has become the dominant "origin" story for the species in modern media, and the means by which new Transfomers come into being even in the present day. Following its introduction in the Beast Wars cartoon, the first stage of Transformer life, prior to taking on an alternate mode, has come to usually be depicted as the raw, featureless "protoform". As living matter, Transformers' bodies are even capable of being ravaged by disease.

Being mechanical creatures, Transformers possess a number of distinct parts that make up their anatomy; some are largely analogous to human components, but many others serve exotic purposes: complex fuel reactors and ammunition storage are among them. Significant components include the the transformation cog, which controls a Cybertronian's ability to change shape, and the brain module and/or personality component, which houses a Transformer's mind and controls the functions of the body.

Transformation

 * See also: Transformation, Transformation cog, Scanning, Action Master, MonoformerMost Transformers are capable of changing between two or more different forms at will.

Why do you transform into cars and things?

Simple. Disguise! Besides, it sure beats walking.

The eponymous, and most iconic, component of the Transformers franchise is, of course, their characteristic ability to transform from one shape to the other—in most cases, this involves changing from a humanoid robot mode into an alternate mode; this alternate mode is usually some kind of vehicle or creature, but Transformers across the multiverse have assumed unconventional forms: buildings, plants, household appliances, or even human food.

Early stories depicted this ability as something that the Transformer race as a whole was not created with; it was either a wartime innovation designed to disguise themselves from their opponents, or an unexpected side effect as a result of their rebuilding at the hands of the Ark on Earth. However, it would not take long for this ability to be cemented as a natural extension of Cybertronian biology; later stories would, for the most part, establish that Transformers are born with a functioning alternate mode, or at least the ability to assume one.

Modern Transformers fiction has established that the complex mechanical "organ" known as the transformation cog, or T-cog, allows a Cybertronian to transform; most Transformers in contemporary fiction can change their alternate modes at will (e.g., changing their Cybertronian vehicle mode into a suitable Earth disguise) through a process known as scanning. Some Cybertronians possess unique forms of transformation: they may have the ability to transform much faster than "regular" Transformers or the ability to assume multiple alternate modes, for instance.

In rare instances, Transformers may lose the ability to transform over their lifetimes; the Marvel Comics continuity depicted this as a symptom of inducing mutagenic Nucleon as a fuel source, sacrificing transformation for enhanced durability and power, while in the 2005 IDW continuity the decision to give up one's alternate mode was a religious choice which involved voluntarily removing the Transformation cog.

Sparks

 * Main article: Spark

The presence of an animating spark is what separates most Transformers from simple robots. We call it a 'Spark'. It contains our life force and our memories.

Yeah, we call that a 'soul'.

Though their bodies and minds are robotic in nature, Transformers are not mere automatons: most Cybertronian lifeforms are living, sentient, emotional, and fully-intelligent beings. This animating, semi-mystical "life-force" that sets them apart from simple machines is traditionally referred to as the spark, a specially charged mass of positrons that resides in, and energizes, their mechanical frames. Though the concept was first introduced in the Beast Wars animated series, it has gone on to inform every incarnation of the Transformers franchise, and has even been retroactively applied to the earliest Generation 1 continuities. A spark can be thought of as the "soul" of the Transformer; a Cybertronian life effectively begins with the ignition of a new spark, and ends when that spark is extinguished.

The spark's relationship to the rest of the Transformer is somewhat nebulous and varies aross continuities. In some stories, a spark is the sum totality of a Transformer; it can be extracted from the body of one Cybertronian and implanted into the frame of another, effectively "uploading" the memories and personality encoded in that Spark into a new body. In other continuities, the spark's presence in the body is harder to define; in these continuities, it coexists with other components crucial to Transformer life, such as the brain module, making it harder to define where certain aspects of Transformer life begin or end. Some Cybertronians are created without sparks, and these Transformers are generally referred to as "drones", deriving sentience from their programming. While their appearance and programming may allow them to adopt a convincing imitation of life and intelligence, most Cybertronians generally do not consider these Transformers to be truly "alive".

Fuel

 * See also: Energon, Dark Energon, Synthetic Energon, Transformer fuel, Nucleon, Power sourcesIn the 1984 cartoon, Transformers can process different types of fuel into energon cubes, their primary energy source.

No more artificial energon derivatives, no more scrabbling for micro-ergs of some foul local brew. This... is the real thing!

Unlike humans, who require food, air, and water to survive, the only substance Cybertronians require to assure their continued functioning is a fuel source—though for a species as large and powerful as the Transformers, the average Cybertronian consumes a significant amount of fuel on a regular basis. This desire for energy has led to many wars, and the frequent depletion of their home planet's energy sources. Though early stories such as the Marvel comic, suggested that Cybertronians could directly convert human energy sources like oil and gasoline, into a nebulously-defined Transformer fuel, it wasn't long before the 1984 cartoon introduced the concept of "energon:" a Cybertronian fuel that could be created by processing other fuel sources into an energon cube, which generally became the default form of Transformer fuel going forward. The Micromaster upgrade allows Transformers to downsize into smaller, more fuel-efficient bodies. To survive the constant fuel shortages, various Transformers across the multiverse have attempted to find means of either reducing or circumventing their reliance on energon. Alternate fuel sources, such as Nucleon, Angolmois Energy, or even the dreaded Dark Energon, can fulfill most of the energy needs of a Transformer, but may have unpredictable side effects. Some continuities have expanded on Marvel's idea, and asserted that while Transformers can synthesize a usable fuel substitute from local energy sources, this Energon derivative is largely inefficient and offers poor fuel efficiency, making it a poor substitute for the genuine article. In other instances, Transformers may upgrade themselves into more fuel-efficient bodies, capable of functioning on exponentially less energon than other Transformers. The most famous of these are the Micromasters, who derogatorily refer to other Transformers as "guzzlers". The Maximals and Predacons of Beast Era Cybertron would follow in their footsteps; by their time, three hundred years after the end of the Great War, the entire Transformer race had downsized to the point where they were only slightly taller than an average human.

Not all Transformers exclusively rely on energon, however, and some Transformers have developed various solutions to cheaply convert organic material into energy. The Generation 1 Insecticons were one such group, who could sustain themselves by eating both organic and inorganic matter. Transformers who upgraded themselves into Powermasters, meanwhile, could binary-bond with a specially-augmented biological partner, using this smaller lifeform's metabolism as a battery to fuel their systems in the absence of energon. In some universes, such as Beast Wars: Uprising, the Maximals and Predacons have displayed the power to directly process food into energon by using their beast modes, though this is not a universally-established ability.

Combination

 * See also: Combiner, Micromaster Combiner, Power Core Combiners, Multiforce, Mini-ConDefensor is the combined form of the five Protectobots, but possesses his own independent consciousness and personality.

Wow, how come we can't do that?

I don't know, I think they're double-jointed.

Some Transformers have displayed the ability to physically unite with one or more Cybertronians to assume a single, unified shape. These unusual Transformers are known as "combiners". The exact nature of this combination depends on the individuals. Some Transformers, such as the Mini-Cons, are capable of undergoing a unique form of combination known as "powerlinking", where the smaller partner is able to imbue their to their "bulk" partner with extra powers, and, in some cases, new weaponry.

In rare cases, two Transformers may combine to form a single, shared vehicle mode, such as the Micromaster Combiners. In other situations, teams of Transformers may unite to form weapons or tools, such as the Star Saber, the combined form of the Mini-Con Air Defense Team. Generally, though, the most famous and memorable combiners are those Transformers who unite into a single "super robot", an exponentially larger and more powerful being than any of its components. This super robot, or "gestalt", may be made up of as few as two Transformers, or as many as six, but in most cases this combined form is, essentially, their own character, possessing a unique personality and consciousness that's more than just the sum total of their parts.

The origins of combination, when explored, are not particularly clear; the earliest fictions treated it as a unique trait that only these Transformers could possess through nebulous means, but as the Transformers franchise evolved other continuities would introduce various supernatural artifacts—such as the Spark of Combination or the Enigma of Combination—which could instantaneously change any group of Cybertronians into a functional combiner.

Weapons and abilities

 * See also: Weapon, abilitySome Transformers can project energy into a physical form, creating weapons like the energon-axe and energon mace.

Have a mechanical malfunction, courtesy of my concussion cannon!

Even the most peaceful Cybertronian is far from harmless; while the sheer bulk of their massive mechanical bodies poses an inadvertent threat to smaller life-forms, most, if not all, Transformers also have access to a devastating variety of weapons. The earliest Transformers stories faithfully depicted the various accessories packaged with indidividual toys as unique handheld weapons, with Bob Budiansky coming up with a wide variety of powers to set each gun apart from the next, such as Cliffjumper's signature glass gas. Other weapons, such as Prowl's shoulder-mounted cannons, are directly incorporated into their physical form. Like humans, Transformers may display a proficiency with long-ranged artillery weapons, medium-ranged rifles and pistols, or melee weapons like axes and swords. Individual weapons display varying levels of sophistication: melee weapons may be made out of solid metal alloys or pure energy, while their guns may fire bullets, slugs, chemical compounds, or exotic laser bolts. The ion blaster is a signature weapon for Optimus Prime in many Transformers stories.

Where exactly Transformers store these weapons when not wielding them was something of a mystery for many years; some obscure media would later declare that the majority of Transformers have access to a "subspace storage pocket:" a miniature dimension capable of storing matter, and the place where weapons and other accessories (eg.g. Optimus Prime's trailer) went when not in use. Later stories, most prominently the original 2007 film and its sequels, would drop this concept entirely. Rather, these stories depicted the various weapons of any given Transformer as "built-in" extensions of their natural bodies, depicting their weapons as physical transformations for their hand and forearm. This treatment carried over into the 2010 Prime cartoon, though it would be dropped once again for its 2015 sequel.

In other instances, Transformers may possess rare abilities that, while they may not have a directly offensive use, set the Transformer apart from their comrades. Depending on the universe, these may be the result of natural upgrades to their bodies, or a sort of "genetic mutation" that distinguishes them from other Transformers—see Skywarp's ability to teleport himself from place to place, or Windcharger's power to generate magnetic fields.

Organic components

 * See also: Binary bonding, Pretender, Technorganic, Maximal, PredaconPretender technology augments Cybertronians with quasi-organic outer "shells".

So what are we? Robots, or animals?

Both... and neither. Future generations of Cybertronians use DNA scanners to adopt the forms of organic creatures Cybertronians are a constantly-developing race, and after making contact with non-mechanical intelligences both Autobots and Decepticons have been known to harness the potential of organic life, as both weapons of war and to advance their own development as a species. Though these upgrades are powerful, and frequently coveted by other Cybertronians, not all Cybertronians are convinced of the soundness of this so-called "evolutionary leap;" some Transformers view the prospect of carbon-based life as repulsive, and these technologies as revolting or downright heretical.

The fusion between organic and mechanical takes many forms across the vast Transformers multiverse, running the gamut from simple binary-bonded partnerships—where a Transformer develops a symbiotic partnership with a smaller creature, to the point where they may telepathically merge into a single entity—to the advanced Pretender armor, concealing the mechanical shape of a Transformer beneath a specially-tailored "shell" that incorporates organic matter. These so-called "Pretenders" possess enhanced regenerative abilities, with their shells even allowing them to pass as non-robotic humanoids.

In those future universes where the Great War gives way to the Beast Era, the Maximals and Predacons will go on to develop advanced DNA scanners; thanks to advancements in both Micromaster and Pretender technology, these future Cybertronians are able to copy genetic material and directly integrate organic components into their structures, allowing them to disguise themselves as organic life without the need for an external Pretender shell. Even this arrangement can be enhanced: exposure to the energies of the Oracle can unite both forms of life at the cellular level to create the first "technorganic" Transformers, a form of life said to be neither organic nor technological.

Gender

 * Main article: Female Transformer

Changing attitudes in the Transformers brand led to the creation of Windblade as a new "headline" female character.

Female Autobots?! I thought they were extinct!

As a kid-friendly franchise first and foremost, most continuities have established that Transformers reproduce through decidedly asexual means; despite this, however, the Cybertronian species is usually depicted with a degree of sexual dimorphism, with clearly "male" and "female" robots coexisting, both in fiction and on toy shelves—though the male-to-female ratio has been historically skewed greatly in favor of the former. In early Transformers installments (and even some later stories!), female Transformers were presented as an aberration of sorts, their femininity sometimes the result of alien interference or malevolent genetic experimentation, and treated as something "outside" the Cybertronian norm. Changes in the real-world pop culture landscape, and an increased number of female writers in the Transformers franchise, have led to more recent works taking steps to depict female Cybertronians and their gender presentation as nothing particularly different from their male counterparts: just a natural aspect of the Cybertronian species.

As a kid's franchise, the topic of what Transformer gender really means in a society of asexual robots hasn't really been explored in most continuities, though some works, most notably IDW's older-skewing comics, have used their settings to tackle some deeper issues relating to gender and gender identity in Transformer society and the real world.

The earliest female Transformers introduced to the mythos: Chromia, Moonracer, Firestar, Arcee, and so on, were generally depicted as curvier than the boxy "male" Transformers, looking more like attractive human women in armor than anything else. Since then, however, female Transformers have been allowed to diversify in appearance and personality, giving us some less-stereotypical females like Beast Machines Strika and Robots in Disguise Strongarm, while new headline characters like Windblade have increased representation of female characters as a whole in the franchise.

Transformer life cycle
The life cycle of the Transformer race differs greatly from those of organic species.

Birth

 * See also: Reproduction, Protoform, hatchling, Made To Order SoldiersMany continuities feature protoforms as the earliest stage of a Transformer life.

The sparks give rise to sentience. The metal gains form... and the protoforms emerge. A generation new.

The vast majority of Transformers continuities have firmly established that the Transformers reproduce asexually, though the individual mechanisms of just how a new Transformer comes to life can vary even within the same fictional universe. The creation of a new Transformer generally begins with the ignition of a spark—whether this spark comes from the living computer Vector Sigma, the AllSpark itself, or a sacred implement such as the Matrix of Leadership and its Primal Program depends on the story—and then infusing that spark into a suitable body. In some instances, such as those Transformers brought to life directly by the AllSpark, this body can be a mundane Earth machine, its structure supernaturally altered to become the living metal that makes up all Transformers, but, for the most part, most continuities have established that new Transformers begin as a "protoform:" a humanoid mass of liquid metal that requires the infusion of a spark to become a full-fledged Transformer. A protoform quickly develops into a new Transformer after accepting a spark; though the specifics are rarely elaborated upon, this process is generally understood to be very fast, occurring in a matter of days, hours, or even minutes, depending on the continuity. In Transformer society at large, "protoform" is often used as a shorthand equivalency for childhood or infancy, and Transformers are frequently said to have been "forged" as a Cybertronian synonym for "born". Other Transformers are manually assembled, like conventional machines, and subsequently given life through the infusion of a Spark. In other circumstances, a Spark may bypass the protoform stage entirely, and is implanted into a pre-constructed Transformer body; after this infusion, the new Transformer simply springs to life. Still other continuities have established that Transformers are capable of "budding", a mitosis-like process in which a Transformer sacrifices some of its own essence to create a new protoform.

The Transformers of the live-action movie series appear to be the exception to this rule; multiple Transformer characters have alluded to possessing fathers and mothers (the implications of these statements have never been explored), while in this continuity new Transformers begin as feral "hatchlings", who spend their early days nourishing themselves in egg sac-like "pods" of energon. Certainly this seems to point towards the Transformers having some kind of familial relationships, though how exactly these tie into that universe's overarching mythology of the AllSpark and the "Creators" is something of a mystery.

Early life

 * See also:Transformer educationAt five days old, Stardrive has already developed her "adult" appearance.

But back then, I was just a kid. I had to learn to talk, and interact with people. By my fifth solar cycle, I was... considerably bigger than my classmates.

While human children might take years to master the various skills required of them in later life, Transformers are brought online as more-or-less independent lifeforms, their personalities ranging anywhere from early adolescence to full maturity. These new Cybertronians are essentially adults, capable of making decisions and fending for themselves without any kind of parental guidance. It is for this reason that most Transformers do not possess, or even have any concept, of parental units or familial bonds. The sole exception to this rule are twins; akin to the splitting of a human zygote, twins are generally depicted as the product of a "split spark", granting them a unique, quasi-telepathic "sibling bond", and occasionally manifesting the power to combine with one another. Many depictions of Transformer "childhood" tend towards the comedic and are thus of dubious veracity; for instance, Side Burn claimed that he had been a non-transforming tricycle in his youth. Institutions like Autobot boot camp build teamwork and co-operative skills between young Autobots. The personality and traits of a Transformer also seem to be established rather quickly after coming online; this can occasionally lead to strange situations, where the deep-voiced, chivalric hero Silverbolt is in fact younger than the excitable, childlike Cheetor. Similar oddities occur across the franchise.

As a consequence of their unusual life cycle, most Transformers do not have much of a concept of "childhood" as humans know it, perhaps explaining why the Autobots are so prone to taking human children into harm's way. As a war story first and foremost, generally taking place long after the collapse of any functioning society, few continuities have explored how young Cybertronians are formally socialized and educated; indeed, most newborn Transformers are immediately thrust into the front lines to continue the war. Those scant references to early life do depict young Transformers learning life skills in a group setting, whether this is through Cybertron's primary programming, or a more military-flavoured education such as Animated 's Autobot boot camp. More specialized institutions, such as Animated 's Cyber-Ninja Dojo or IDW's Ultirex Technoversity, suggest that some Transformers may choose to focus on specific academic or military fields as part of their vocational path.

Lifespan

 * See also: Elderly TransformersAt more than four million years old, the elderly Transformer Ratchet is evidently in the later stages of his life.

I may be old, boys, but I've still got what it takes. Age before beauty, gentlemen!

As mechanical beings, most Cybertronians are an incredibly long-lived, and even "young" Transformers may be older than any living thing on planet Earth. Though the specifics may vary, Transformers measure time in terms of millions of years and generally exist on a fundamentally different timescale than humanity—the precise age of Transformer civilization differs from one continuity to the next, from IDW's twelve million years to Animated 's claim of "over ten billion years"—but across all of these continuities it's made clear that Cybertronians are not bound to the fleeting lifespans of short-lived organic beings; their histories, empires, and wars playing out over a period of geological epochs.

A conservative estimate would put the average Transformer lifespan at four to seven million years, though some universes, most recently 2018's Cyberverse cartoon, has suggested that its cast of characters are more than 65 million years old, with the Autobots having landed on Earth during the end of the Late Cretaceous era.

An individual Cybertronian might grow to a venerable age, outlasting entire civilizations in the process, but they are not truly immortal beings. Though one might assume that, as robotic lifeforms, a Cybertronian could simply replace worn-out parts indefinitely, it is clear that Cybertronians do age, many indeed become "elderly", (in some cases, this manifests as a variety of memory and mobility-related problems) and even die from age-related complications, such as cybercrosis. The precise nature of Transformer aging is not well-understood, though several continuities, such as the Wings Universe or the live-action film series, have linked the process to a prolonged period of fuel depletion. These sorts of "natural" deaths are very rare in the franchise; as Transformers is a war story first and foremost, it is far more common to have Transformer lives simply cut short for one reason or another.

Death and the afterlife

 * See also: Death, Transformer afterlife, Transformer funerary practices, ZombieA powerful enough explosion can fatally blow a Transformer apart.

He lived a warrior... and died a hero. Let his spark join the Matrix, the greatest of Cybertron.

Though long-lived, powerful, and able to quickly recover from even grievous injuries, Cybertronians are not invincible, and can be killed like any other lifeform, as has been demonstrated again and again by their endless wars. Exactly what it takes to bring down a Transformer varies from one continuity to the next—and, more cynically, as the needs of the plot demand—but for the most part the death of a Transformer is accompanied by the extinguishment of its spark.

Transformers can be killed through ways that are analogous to human causes of death: they can be shot, stabbed, blown to bits, or otherwise damaged by weapons to the point where their body can no longer function, their heads and torsos can be mutilated beyond repair by decapitation or simple blunt impact trauma, or their physical structures can be broken down by toxic compounds designed to damage their living metal. A Transformer can be "poisoned", sometimes lethally so, by ingesting the wrong kind of fuel, or they can simply "starve" to death if they are unable to refuel for long enough. Transformers may also die from uniquely robotic causes; long-term exposure to exotic forms of radiation may short out their circuitry, while exotic diseases like Cosmic Rust or Scraplets can destroy their mechanical bodies from within. In those universes where science and sorcery coexist, Cybertronians have also displayed a glaring vulnerability to magic. As a story of war, all of these fates and worse have befallen various Transformers across the multiverse. Starscream's mutated spark is somehow able to sustain his consciousness after death, surviving as an incorporeal ghost. Unlike humans, however, who may or may not profess a belief in an afterlife without any concrete evidence, the various afterlives are generally regarded as real; when a Transformer's spark is extinguished, it merely returns to the metaphysical dimension alternately referred to as the "Allspark" or "Afterspark", supposedly connected to the entirety of the Transformer race across the multiverse, where it can commune with the other spirits of the departed.

Death does not necessarily mark the end for a Transformer, however. It is possible that a Transformer may return to life if the spark can be plucked from the afterlife and safely transferred into a new vessel. In other cases, the spark itself may choose to re-enter our physical world if the need is great and resume life as a mortal Transformer. A handful of Transformers, most infamously Starscream, have displayed the ability to survive the complete physical destruction of their body and continue existence as a spectral "ghost", displaying typically ghostly skills such as intangibility and the power to possess the bodies of other Transformers. Various sources have flagged this ability as a rare spark-based "mutation," and as such it is the exception, not the rule.

In still other instances, Transformers may be resurrected as zombies; in most cases, these are dead Transformers whose physical shells have merely fallen under the control of another, and lack the sparks that characterize Cybertronians as truly "alive".

Transformer culture
Transformers can exhibit any number of personality types, including loving couples, peaceful creatures, impetuous adolescents and omnicidal maniacs. Regardless of continuity, the most distinctive facet of Cybertronian society has been its near-continuous state of planetary Civil War between the Autobots and the Decepticons. The conflict is mostly defined by what each faction believes is the "destiny" of the Transformers: the Autobots believe in a peaceful society where Cybertron is a place of culture and justice, while the Decepticons believe in a "might makes right" philosophy where Cybertron would be the center of a mighty empire. The fact that the vast majority of what we know about Transformers has been shaped by this constant, corrosive warfare should not be overlooked.

Society

 * See also: Functionism, Caste system, Pax Cybertronia, Cybertronian coloniesCybertronian civilization bears many similarities to human societies on Earth.

Everyone's Shape Serves A Purpose

Individual depictions of life on both pre-war and post-war Cybertron have varied wildly from one continuity to the next, but most continuities have established that Transformers organized themselves into societies comparable to most modern human civilizations, with many of the same hallmarks: a written language, clear division of labour, an organized government, complex social hierarchies, and education systems designed to pass on knowledge and culture to newly-forged Transforemrs. Individual career paths on Cybertron are largely analogous to many human jobs: soldiers, teachers, construction workers, miners, journalists, professors, scientists, bartenders, and sanitation engineers, to name a few. Other facets of society are similarly Earth-like, with fads and fashions, theater, film, aristocracy, poverty, and so on. Millions of years old, life on Cybertron is very much guided by ancient traditions and millennia-old schools of thought, and many Transformers regard their forebears with great reverence and respect—even if a cursory analysis of the history books reveals that those "ancestors" were not particularly upstanding individuals themselves.

Unlike humans, however, Cybertronians place great importance on the value of their shapeshifting abilities and alternate modes, and have been known to divide themselves into social groupings based on this premise. Depending on the universe, those Transformers who share a similar alternate mode or profession—for instance, all Transformers who become aircraft, or those who work in Cybertron's various scientific fields—may be lumped together under a single, inflexible social group or caste. The rigidity of this system varies by continuity, but some universes have taken this concept to the extreme, such as the Aligned continuity family's depiction of its caste system or IDW's Functionism as the defining trait of pre-war Cybertron. In many continuities, pre-war Cybertron has been depicted as something of a dystopia; whether this is due to energy shortages, an oppressive government, and simple cultural stagnation, these stories portray the planet and its culture as crumbling, highly stratified between "haves" and "have-nots," and overseen by a bloated and corrupt government in the final years before the rise of the Decepticons. Not all modern Transformers fiction adheres to this rule, however, such as IDW's 2019 comic reboot and its decision to reimagine the planet as an enlightened, largely egalitarian utopia. Cybertronians have been known to colonize distant worlds, such as the planet Micro. The Transformers are a naturally expansionistic race, and their development has been punctuated by the periodic colonization of other planets throughout the universe. What this colonization entails depends on the intentions of the Cybertronians; Cybertronians may change their worlds to fit their needs through eco-structuring, strip-mining and rebuilding the planet into a miniature copy of Cybertron, while in other cases Cybertronians may adapt by changing themselves, leaving the planet in a more-or-less natural state. Many universes have established that this period of colonization and expansion occurred in the distant past, with the various colonies cut off from Cybertron in the present day; in the interim, these isolated Transformer outposts may develop over time to become entirely new kinds of Transformer, with their own unique societies. Post-war Cybertronian society is marked by periods of turmoil and reconstruction. Wartime Cybertronian society is portrayed as heavily polarized between Autobot and Decepticon. Neutrality is rare, and when neutrals do exist, they generally fare poorly, becoming victims of Decepticon abuse and destruction or being otherwise forced to flee the planet. Those rare universes where the Great War is allowed to come to an end feature reconciliation and reconstruction efforts aimed at rebuilding a wounded planet and otherwise move on from a dark era of death and destruction. But some Transformers are incapable of letting go of their grudges; armed pockets of resistance may hold out for years on backwater planets, while more clever individuals may gather like-minded dissidents to plot revenge from the shadows. Years after the ratification of an official armistice, even the most open-minded of Transformers may still continue clinging to old allegiances, with post-war society developing along strict factionalist lines.

Some Transformers refer to the ideal outcome of Cybertronian civilization as the "Pax Cybertronia", ushering in a prosperous future for the galaxy by bringing lasting peace to the Transformer homeworld and beyond.

War

 * See also: Cybertronian Civil Wars, WarsMost Transformers stories are set during the "Great War" between the Autobots and Decepticons.

Unity would give way to discord... civil war begat a Golden Age which begat a new civil war. "Why" is the question. Why...is Cybertron locked in this cycle?

The history of Cybertron is the history of a planet wracked by brutal civil wars, interspersed with comparatively brief "Golden Ages" of peace and prosperity. Not unlike humanity, the process of war and reconciliation tends to be depressingly cyclical: the outcome of one war leads to a disaffected group of individuals who inevitably spark the next great war. Though the most famous war in the Transformers multiverse tends to be the so-called "Great War," between the (generally) heroic Autobots and the (usually) villainous Decepticons, many other equally destructive conflicts can and have occurred: the First Cybertronian Civil War, the Machine Wars, or the Grand Uprising, have all pitted millions of Transformers against one another for control of Cybertron, and sometimes the entire galaxy.

The longevity and power of the Cybertronian race means that their wars tend to be brutal, drawn-out affairs, frequently lasting for millions of years and potentially stretching across dozens of planets—these may be Cybertronian colonies, or "neutral" worlds populated by primitive organics. In many of these conflicts, Cybertron itself is rendered uninhabitable, forcing the war off-world. Cybertronians at war do not seem to follow any kind of rules of engagement analogous to humanity's Geneva Conventions; civilians, noncombatants, and wounded soldiers are considered to be viable targets, and the inhabitants of neutral planets may be exterminated, their homes cyberformed, to expand the aegis of a potential Decepticon Empire. Wide-scale atrocities and ever-more elaborate weapons of war are common, and even many Autobot leaders across the multiverse have found themselves making morally questionable decisions in the name of victory.

The constant wars of the Cybertronian race have greatly stunted their potential development as a species; in one of the few universes where Cybertron did not collapse into civil war, the Transformers of that universe gradually evolved into a highly advanced breed of life and devised a system of cross-dimensional travel.

Politics

 * See also: Transformer government, High Council, Prime (rank), Decepticon leaderMany Transformer governments are oligarchic in nature, overseen by a "High Council" of appointed officials.

Oh, great system, your "democracy"! No mechanism to break a tie!

Most Transformer governments are non-democratic in nature, overseen by one or more particularly wise or experienced individuals. This government may be oligarchic in nature, such as the various "High Councils" present throughout the multiverse, monarchic, such as the ancient Overlords of the Marvel Comics continuity, or an outright dictatorship—benevolent or not. All of them seem to wield a great deal of power over both military and civilian institutions. During wartime situations, command over a faction generally falls to a single autocratic leader, occasionally known as the Supreme Commander. Though they may seek counsel and consent from their followers, ultimately wartime decisions are theirs and theirs alone to make. Very few continuities have ever depicted a free or open electoral process on pre-war Cybertron.

On the planetary level, Cybertron is generally organized into a series of autonomous city-states with their own independent governments; some continuities have established that this present-day state of events is the result of the fracturing of larger empires during the earliest days of the Cybertronian race. Depending on the universe, these city-states may be represented by Senators, who meet to discuss international issues as part of the planetary governing body known as the Senate.

Particularly noble or otherwise pious Transformers, such as the Autobots, may gravitate to leadership under a single powerful individual known as a Prime, who serves as a head of state, spiritual leader, and commander-in-chief all in one. In most franchises, this Prime is leader of the Autobots, and their leadership is demonstrated by their ability to wield the Autobot Matrix of Leadership which is generally passed from one successor to the next. Several continuities have demonstrated that Autobot leaders can be removed by the Crisis Act—essentially a vote of no confidence—but this law is not universal. In the Transformers Animated continuity, the supreme commander of Autobot civilization is known as a Magnus, who answers to Cybertron's civilian and military guilds.

Those Transformers who rally under the flag of the Decepticons, however, bow only to the supremacy of the most powerful and normally have no mechanism for peaceful handover of power: power struggles within the faction have occasionally erupted in the form of a Decepticon Civil War.

By the era of the Maximals and Predacons, the planet is dually ruled by both the Maximal Council of Elders and the Tripredacus Council, each seeming to hold jurisdictions over their respective factions. Both appear to be composed of war veterans from the Great War, Autobot and Decepticon veterans who have retired from an active role in Cybertronian life in favour of guiding a new generation of Transformers. The episode "Chain of Command" suggests that Maximal society is democratic in nature, though IDW's Beast Wars comic would namedrop the Maximal Imperium as the name of their government.

Religion

 * See also: Religion, GodsThe devout inhabitants of Caminus worshipped Optimus Prime as a living god.

You gotta wonder: if God made man in his image, who made him?

Across the multiverse, different Transformers stories have introduced a wide range of potential belief systems for the Cybertronian race—beliefs that have an alarming tendency of eventually being revealed as more-or-less true. Very rarely are Transformers or their society writ large depicted as atheistic; most Cybertronians seem to hold at least some religious beliefs, though the nature of thieir faiths are not always clearly outlined. Most Autobots (and even some Decepticons), for instance, view the Matrix of Leadership to be a divine artifact, a combination sacred talisman and symbol of office. Sacred texts such as the Covenant of Primus and various religious rituals are common enough to be considered largely unremarkable in Cybertronian society.

Just like humans, groups of Transformers may choose to worship various deities, or differing aspects of the same deity. In most series, worship of Primus is the most predominant of these faiths, though permutations of Primus-worship take many different shapes; the 2005 IDW continuity, for instance, conflated Primus with the benevolent pantheon of deities known as the Guiding Hand. In more recent continuities, Cybertronians have been known to worship the Thirteen, treating them as infallible demigods, and some particularly pious individuals may choose to deify all those Transformers who hold the rank of Prime or carry the Matrix of Leadership. Some religious choices may have unintended consequences. Other religions are more sinister in nature; particularly malevolent Cybertronians may choose to partake in illicit rites aimed at channeling arcane forces such as "dark science". Still others may choose to forsake Transformer society entirely by worshipping the dreaded Unicron. Among their number are the evil member of the Thirteen known as "The Fallen," and a number of different incarnations of Bludgeon, both of whom have pledged to actively spread chaos and disharmony across the universe in service of their new master.

A handful of Transformers have displayed the ability to manifest paranormal powers outside the scope of natural Cybertronian science; they may have gained these powers as part of a dark pact with arcane forces, or they may be the result of studying mystical disciplines, like magic. These rare Transformers may be able to weave illusions, cast spells, fire bolts of mystical energy, commune with or resurrect deceased Transformers, or even divine the future.

Sciences
Space bridges allow Transformers to instantaneously warp from one location to another, regardless of distance. This ship is literally out of this world! Even the Fantastic Four's brilliant leader, Reed Richards, would feel like a kid at his first science fair in here!

As robotic beings who predate the earliest humans by millions of years, it should come as no surprise that Cybertronian technology far outstrips the sum total of humanity's scientific development. Exotic technologies that defy our conventional understanding of physics are treated as commonplace; Cybertronian starships, and even those Transformers who become starships, for instance, are capable of faster-than-light travel and able to traverse vast distances in a short period of time. Space bridge technology goes even further than that, allowing travelers to instantaneously warp billions of lightyears, completely bypassing the need for an interstellar voyage. Artificial intelligences of varying levels of sophistication coexist alongside their sentient creators, and exotic chemical compounds are commonplace in both military and civilian uses.

When it is portrayed at all, academia on Cybertron is very much akin to its Earthen counterparts; Transformers may choose to specialize in one or more scientific disciplines—physics, engineering, and biology being the most common. Perhaps as a result of their biological immortality, scientific progress seems to occur far more slowly for Cybertronians than it does for humanity; outside of minor innovations and development of weapons, Cybertron has been known to have technology largely stagnate for millions of years, whether within or outside of wartime. Indeed, Vector Prime has noted that in certain universes, technology developed more in the few decades following the Transformers' first contact with Earth than it did for millions of years beforehand, implying that humanity's own rapid development could act as a "catalyst" for the Transformers' advancements.

Art

 * See also: Transformer music, ArtistsSome Cybertronians have been known to study the artistic legacies of other species... though the results can be questionable.

Destruction is the highest form of art.

The Transformers have been shown to have a very active musical tradition. The Matrix itself has an archive of 11 million traditional Cybertronian songs. Many Transformers such as Jazz and Blaster have shown great interest in music, and Squawkbox is one prominent example of a Cybertronian musician.

Furthermore, sculpture seems to be one of the primary art forms of Cybertron, with many Transformers dedicated to it. One notable (and gruesome) school of sculpture, practiced by a startling number of Transformers involves making art out of the bodies of other Transformers. The Slogism movement is a part of this school.

Filmmaking is also practiced on Cybertron, though most examples seen are either documentaries or straight-up propaganda. Attempts by Cybertronians have also been made to produce films more inspired by the human art of cinema, but the results tend to be lacking.

Linguistics

 * See also: Cybertronian language, Cybertronix, Cybertronian Standard, Cyberglyphics, Ancient CybertronianOptimus Prime displays the ability to fluently speak Spanish while deployed in Mexico City.

You must realize that our actual "names" are communicated in an alien language wholly orthogonal to the human experience, and we often translate not just words but concepts. Since these are sometimes culturally dependent, our algorithms use sophisticated "best-fit" methodologies to ensure that even if a translation is not literal, it is resonant.

Nothing if not adaptable, Cybertronians can quickly adapt to life on a new planet by instantaneously learning the local languages, allowing them to fluently and easily communicate with native lifeforms. The process by which this is done so is not always so clear-cut; the 2007 film credited this skill to the Autobots' ability to access the Internet, while an issue of the Marvel Comic suggested that it was a natural ability, albeit one that that required time to unscramble and synthesize the language for Cybertronians. Various Transformers have referred to their names as "code-names," suggesting that their names as humans understand them are not their real names, but merely translated to get a similar idea of their true name across. Beast Wars introduced separate languages for both Maximals and Predacons. It can be safely assumed that stories set exclusively on Cybertron or setting otherwise devoid of humans have "translated" dialogue for the benefits of us, the viewer, though the implication is certainly that these Cybertronians are "really" speaking in their native tongue. What, exactly, spoken Cybertronian language sounds like is something of a mystery; the live-action film series, at least, have established that the native tongue of those Transformers is a collection of garbled electronic noises, its pitch and speed depending on the size of the 'bot in question. Transformers who are unable, or unwilling, to speak may use nonverbal languages, such as chirolinguistics or Cybertronian Sign Language.

Our knowledge of written languages is more concrete; over the years, a variety of Cybertronian calligraphies have surfaced, depending on era and faction—Maximals use a different language than Predacons, and both differ from the languages of Autobots from Decepticon. Out of universe, these "written languages" tend to be rather simple 1-1 cyphers of the English alphabet, and as a result of this, many stories have taken the opportunity to sneak in various Easter eggs in the form of hidden messages, for the benefit of those ultra-geeky fans.

Medicine

 * See also: Medics

While Cybertronian medical procedures superficially resemble human ones, the techniques involved are more similar to vehicle maintenance. Miko, a T-Cog is a biomechanism, not a scrapyard find. If it were that easy, don't you think I would have replaced Bumblebee's voice box by now?

Cybertronians are an adaptable and robust race, able to survive even grevious injuries, but seriously injured or ailing Transformers may turn to members of Cybertron's medical community for assistance. The robotic nature of their bodies means that a Cybertronian "doctor" is a combination mechanic, roboticist, and physician, who must be able to accurately assess and repair damage to their patient's mechanical form. Individual specializations exist, such as "blacksmiths"—essentially, a Cybertronian obstetrician—but most in-fiction Transformer medicine comes in the form of on-the-ground battlefield repairs, designed to get wounded soldiers back on their feet and into the fight as quickly as possible.

Different educational institutions on Cybertron have been known to offer courses in medicine, and the realities of war mean that their services are in generally high demand. Some particularly deranged medics may fall in with the Decepticons or other unsavory sorts, developing exotic and oftentimes gruesome "treatments" to perform on both both friends and foes, or concocting exotic new disease-based bioweapons designed to wreak havoc on their enemies.

Generally, Cybertronian physicians choose to transform into ambulances and other "first responder" vehicles, and even those who don't often sport red-and-white color schemes.

Romance

 * See also: Transformer romance, Conjunx Endura, KissChromedome and Rewind would popularize the term "Conjunx Endura" as the official term for a romantic union between Transformers.

Nudge nudge, wink, wink - know what I mean?

Although their means of propagation tend towards the asexual, the Transformer psyche is not dissimilar enough to a human's that they do not crave the same kinds of long-term social bonds that we do, and though the story of Transformers is primarily one of war, various continuities have established that Cybertronians are also capable of the same kind of romantic affection that humans regularly engage in. This behavior dates back to the earliest days of the franchise; though it was never explicitly spelled out, dialogue in the 1984 cartoon made it abundantly clear that Optimus Prime and Elita One held one another in high regard, with similar implications continuing through the 1986 animated film and its treatment of both the "swashbuckling hero" Springer and the distinctly feminine Arcee. Some instances of romance are depicted as serious, while others are distinctly played for laughs, such as the Predacon Scylla's emphatically one-sided crush on the Maximal Ikard. Cybertronians may fall in love with humans or other organic lifeforms. In rarer cases, Cybertronians may fall in love with humans or aliens (though their feelings may not always be reciprocated), while particularly clueless Cybertronians may develop an attraction to inanimate objects—see Side Burn and his inexplicable romantic attraction to red sports cars. Other Transformers may consider this behavior strange, but there do not seem to be any explicit taboos against it either.

Though one would assume that—as basically sexless lifeforms—the average Transformer would not display any real kind of preference when it comes to the already vague concept of Transformer gender, most Transformers fiction has largely displayed Transformers in "straight" relationships, with "male" Cybertronians falling in love with "female" Cybertronians and vice versa. Only comparatively recently as this situation begun to change; in 2012, More than Meets the Eye made history by introducing Chromedome and Rewind as the first definitively identified same-sex couple, with many more following in their footsteps. More than Meets the Eye would dub individuals in this kind of relationship as "Conjunx Endurae," the first official name for the concept and the term that would become the standard terminology to describe romantically intertwined Transformers of any gender.

Related species

 * See also: Junkion, Lithone, Sharkticon, Gorlamite, Stentarian, Go-BotThe Junkions had the ability to transform into motorcycle forms, which others of their species could ride. In some continuities, they are alien creatures, while in others they are the descendents of stranded Cybertronian colonists.

What is a Transformer? Going over the criteria that we have laid out here, the question seems a simple one at first blush: an alien robot who can transform from one form to another. The truth behind the answer isn't quite as easy to define, however; the Transformers franchise has populated its fictional universe with a variety of other alien species who superficially resemble Transformers, most notably the eccentric Junkions and the ravenous Sharkticons. In some instances, one could assume that these creatures are the process of a sort of convergent evolution, sharing a similar bodyplan despite originating on planets far from Cybertron.

Some more recent continuities, most notably the Aligned continuity family, have established—apparently to preserve the "uniqueness" of the Cybertronian race—that these groups are actually the descendants of ancestral Cybertronians, who adapted both physically and culturally to survive on different worlds. This is not a hard-and-fast rule, however, and many modern continuities, such as the original IDW continuity, have continued to treat these groups as entirely unrelated alien species.

Foreign names

 * Japanese: Transformer (トランスフォーマー Toransufōmā)