Was it ever mentioned whether his alt mode was an earth car or Cybertronian?

I'm asking because I display my TF:A shelf by subgroups.

Dinobots
Earth modes
Cybertronian modes
Elite Guard

 

I think it's supposed to be Cybertronian.

 

Well, if you're displaying the two groups next to each other, you could just wedge him in the middle. I don't recall whether it's Earth or Cybertron. If I had to guess, Earth.

 

Cybertronian.

 

Why not just put it with the Elite Guard...wasn't Rodimus part of that group anyway?

 

I don't think he was. He had his own group didn't he?

I don't recall him having an Elite Guard badge.

 

Cybertronian.

 

According to his bio he did graduate from the academy.

Huh. Didn't know that.

I guess his flames are supposed to mimic the Elite Guard symbol?

 

Rodimus was said to have the potential to be in the elite guard and that his skill labeled him as "the chosen one"

 

Cybertronian. He did graduate from the Elite Guard I think.

 

Off to the Elite Guard group he goes!

While we're on the topic of Animated, do most of you have Arcee with or without the spoilers?

 

Without. More cartoon accurate. mine always fall off anyways so there's no choice for me to leave them off.

 

Did her alt mode have those spoilers? I can't remember if she did.

 

She never transformed in the show, iirc. The alt-mode was made specifically for the toy.

 

Her robot mode didn't, so I doubt her vehicle mode would.

Rodimus is not in the Elite Guard. If they don't have the "wings" in their logos they're not in the guard. That's why Longarm Prime wasn't in the Elite Guard.

And his alt mode is Cybertronian.

However her S3 model was altered to include the vehicle mode bits, like wheels and windshield, however the spoiler was notably absent.

 

I guess that's why I don't remember then.  

She does look closer to her G1 roots sans spoilers in alt mode just like her robot mode does.

Sans spoiler also helps in making her look more different from Drag Strip.

 

If this toy bio is correct, he actually was:

 

Last time I checked, in animated, all prime's were Elite Guard Graduates

 

This.

 

It depends on what you consider official. DJW will swear up and down that the toy bios are wrong all the time (case in point Oil Slick, Rodimus "Minor," etc.).

Anyway, per what I remember DJW saying, the Elite Guard is part of the Autobot military. Autobot Intelligence is separate from the military, and Longarm Prime is head of Intelligence, but not in the Elite Guard. Not sure though how Blurr works for Longarm and is in Elite Guard at the same time.

The Allspark Almanac II mentions that putting the Elite Guard wings on the Longarm/Shockwave toy would be a problem for the faction-switching panel, so perhaps in this case the practical necessities of the toy helped shape the fiction.

And not all Academy graduates or Primes are Elite Guard members. The Elite Guard is a special and well, elite, group within the military. Optimus and Rodimus lead their own groups and are not Elite Guard.