This is a perfect idea.

 

Thank you. I figure in ancient times Cybetronians might have been fooled by each other but pretty soon al of them should have gotten some built in scanner that alerts them to the presence of other Cybertronians around the clock. So the only reason one would adopt an actual Cybertronian mode is because it is functionally beter suited at performing a task than an altmode based on a vehicle from another civilisation.
So all other altmodes are ones used to infiltrate alien societies or are also adopted because they are functionally exeptional, much like the altmodes of the Predators where adopted because of the particular environment of the Skimish (?) territories.
One thing i dont like about IDW is how they sometimes neglect the use of alt modes by Cybertronians for transport or other tasks.

- in the continuity represented by the intro to the 1993 UK catalogue Overlord is a Citybot and Flywheels and Battletrap perform the function Sixgun does for Metroplex, Brunt and Full-Tilt for Trypticon etc.

 

Agreed

 

Got a few headcanon in my head. Here's a few, some involving 3rd party TFs:

Generation 2
It's not part of the Generation 1 continuity or timelime, but rather its a separate universe

Robots in Disguise (2001)
RID01 and Car Robots are one and the same(remember, Car Robots in Japan is part of the japanese G1 timeline while in the US, RID is its own universe). So anything that happened in Car Robots happened in RID as well, like Junko/Kelly meeting Sunstreaker(from the Binaltech fiction), Brave Maximus travelling to other dimensions, and the appearance of the korean exclusive characters(Armored Corps, Stealth Saber, and the Scoutforce).

Cyclonus(Botcon 2002 version)is the Predacon Cryotek's henchman, kinda like how he was in the Botcon Wreckers comics.

Botcon 2007 Exclusive Alpha Trion is part of the RID universe(especially since there was an Ask Vector Prime post saying that his mini-con partner, Beta Maxx, is part of RID as well, so it only makes sense to include his bulk partner).

The Build Team have their Car Robots names instead of their RID names. (I did this because the 2003 walmart exclusive Dinobots was retconned as part of RID and there can only be ONE Grimlock in my head canon)

Mastermind Creations Jaegertron is RID's version of Lockdown.

Unicron Trilogy
Smokescreen and Hoist, Cyclonus and Snow Cat, Tank Demolishor and Dump Truck Demolishor, Tidal Wave and Mirage, Overhaul and Leobreaker, are all separate characters instead of upgrades. Dump Truck Demolishor is named Long Haul as originally intented by Hasbro.

Terrorcons are sentient beings instead of drones.

TFCC 2008 Seacons participated in the Powerlinx battles as advanced Terrorcons(as originally intended)

Sams club Exclusive Prowl vs Starscream set is Repurposed as Armada Red Alert becoming a policebot and Ulchtar, a clone of Starscream.

Energon Dinobots is composed of 5 members instead of 2(using Toyworld's Dinobot combiner)

Universe Micromaster combiners are full sized combiners instead of micromasters.

Live action
Maketoys Quantron participated in the battle against The Fallen. He was considered a legend in the Great War and came to earth to help the Autobots when Superion suffered a near death experience against Devastator and Bruticus.

 

Here's some of mine... I'm not including everything simply because it would be too long and I don't want to give away what will happen in my stories. It consists of a mix of different continuities such as Rescue bots, Prime, Animated, etc...

The Go-Bots are the ancestors of the Autobots. Botropolis is considered the sister city to Crystal City. Aero-Bot, Beast-Bot, Speed-Bot and Buzzer-Bot started the first search and rescue team which was expanded over the years. Aero-Bot was the first bot to develop an alt-mode with flight capabilities despite his associates and other scientists saying it was impossible for a bot to fly. A flight school later built in the City of Vos was named after him. Firestar is a descendant of Aero-Bot and is one of the few female Rescue bots around. Crasher, a female Decepticon is Blurr's older cousin, both are descendants of Speed-Bot. Despite being on different sides, Crasher still cares about Blurr but keeps this hidden from her fellow Decepticons. She was once friends with Dreadwing but after choosing Skyquake as a mate instead of him, the two stopped talking to each other.

Cybertronians have some similarities to Earth mammals such as femmes give birth and both parents raise offspring. Pregnancy lasts 3 months.

If two mechs like the same femme, they sometimes challenge each other over who will be her mate.

Some femmes, both Autobot and Decepticon have strong maternal instincts and will raise sparklings that have been separated from their birth parents.

Twins aren't considered uncommon though other multiples such as triplets are rare.

Sparklings are completely dependent on their mothers for the first few months of their lives, needing to be fed every 2 hours and unable to regulate their body temperature. As newborns their armor is soft but hardens as they get older and can't see further than five feet and are colorblind. By the time they are two months old they are able to see in color and further and can maintain their own body temperature.

They typically don't leave home until reaching adulthood.

Young bots take up an internship for 6 months to a year after graduating school typically to find jobs, if their field of interest changes after the internship ends they look for work elsewhere.

Sparklings imprint their parents voices early on and remember them for life.

Hybrids between Autobots and Decepticons are frowned at on both sides simply because it is against the rules for mechs and femmes from different sides to become mates and have offspring.

Bots that are capable of flight are born with wings that remain flat against their backs as newborns. As time goes on and they become more mobile they stretch and flap their wings much like birds do. Actual flying lessons only take place when bots reach their teen years.

Hybrids typically have the traits of both parents but some genes can be stronger than others.

Rumors about Optimus being related to Leader-1 and Small-Foot have circulated for years but there's been no actual record to confirm it.

Aero-Bot and his team were the first Cybertronians to visit Earth when Leader-1 and Small-Foot dispatched several bots to explore planets outside their solar system.

Megatron wasn't the leader of the Decepticons at first, the title was held by another bot named Hailstorm. The two got into a heated disagreement and Hailstorm stepped down as leader and Megatron took over. Jetfire, an older Decepticon eventually left, his daughter Twirl followed 2 years later.

Jetfire and Jetstorm(Animated) are the sons of Twirl and Seaspray, making them the first known hybrids between an Autobot and a Decepticon. Jetfire is named after Twirl's father with the same name.


Ratchet grew up on the outskirts of Crystal City, later went to medical school. In addition to eventually working at one of the city's top clinics, he taught classes at the school he attended, First Aid, Minerva and Blades(Rescue bots) were among his students.

Perceptor was one of Cybertron's top scientists and a professor at one of the schools. Wheeljack and Boulder were just two of his students before he retired.

Arcee was once a racing champion until an injury on the track prevented her from competing in the finals. She took early retirement and became a high school teacher. Sideswipe, Blurr and Flashpoint were just some of the students in her classroom. Elita-1, Arcee and Chromia are sisters and were raised in an upper middle class neighborhood in Crystal City. At one point, Arcee almost married Crosshairs but changed her mind. When things changed on Cybertron, Arcee became a Rescue bot and was trained by an older femme named Deep Blue before she met Tailgate and Cliffjumper. She met Ratchet once and the two barely escaped being captured by Lockdown.

Bumblebee was separated from his parents as a young bot when the Decepticons arrived in a small town on the outskirts of Crystal City. He was found by Perceptor and taken in by Optimus Prime and Elita-1. He considers Rodimus his older brother and treats him as such.

The Autobots and Decepticons once co-existed with no problems until natural resources and living conditions in Kaon changed. Requests for help were repeatedly by Sentinel Prime which led to problems between the two groups.

Sentinel Prime and Optimus have disagreements from time to time one of them being Sentinel doesn't want to admit his cousin is a better leader than him.

Rodimus(Hot Rod) is best friends with Hotshot and Blurr but has some confidence issues simply because being Optimus Prime and Elita-1's son, some bots assume or expect him to be the next leader.

Sunstreaker was captured by the Decepticons along with Smokescreen who escaped, Sunstreaker however
had amnesia and became a Con until he later crossed paths with his twin brother again and soon remembered who he was.

Starscream, Thundercracker, Slipstream and Skywarp are siblings. They all have the typical brother and sister relationship where they don't always get along but never treat each other like thy don't exist.

Soundwave was once a DJ at a radio station in Iacon.

Flipsides was once a school teacher like Arcee but then inherited her father's construction business and eventually befriends Scrapper and Mixmaster.

Dreadwing once taught at the flight academy in Vos but was forced to leave the city when a fire broke out. He and Skyquake are the sons of a bot named Switchblade.

Steeljaw was Lockdown's pet wolf.

Lugnut was once a security guard along with Ironhide at a steel mill.

Swindle was a real estate agent but after Cyberton was evacuated took up selling spare parts and whatever he could obtain, Lockdown and Megatron are his top customers.

Nightbird is a Decepticon instead of an android designed and owned by Dr. Fujiyama. She does talk but has trust issues when it comes to Autobots and humans. Her parents are Firebreaker and Metal Thunder.

Brawn, Bulkhead, Scrapper, Mixmaster, Seaspray, Boulder and Wheeljack once worked on the same construction team before going their separate ways.

The Stunticons were once a traveling circus act, operated by Strika but were forced to shut down due to their audience getting smaller over time.

Rosanna(Animated) is famous on Cybertron as a singer and actress. She has a diverse vocal range sometimes sounding like Jennifer Hudson, Mariah Carey or Toni Braxton.

Oil-Slick once helped Perceptor develop a cure for Cosmic rust but before they could make their presentation, Perceptor's laboratory was part of a series of break-ins the night before. Unbeknownst to him and Oil-Slick, their research was stolen by Shockwave.

Ron Whitwicky, Cade Yaeger and Denny Clay were all friends back in college.

Dr. Morocco stole much of Doc Greene and Professor Sumdac's technology research and sold it to KSI.

Reptron a Dinobot who could transform into a Velociraptor was kicked out of the group by Grimlock because of his temperament problems.

Ultra Magnus often tries to keep the peace whenever Optimus or Elita-1 have a disagreement with Sentinel Prime.

Flare-Up has lost more jobs than she can count due to her short temper.

Cody and Frankie know of Jack, Miko and Raf and Russell but none of them meet until later in life.

 

Forgot to mention that Autobots and Decepticons have their logos branded on them. Much like Cattle. Logos can be removed but the drawback is it leaves a scar.

 

Animated had touch upon this but we never saw anything where somebody tries to remove the branding.

would be cool to see happen someday.

 

That's where I got the idea about logos being branded. But figured if someone tried to remove them it would leave a scar. Sort of like the ones left behind from surgeries or burns.

 

Oh! I had a similar concept in mind. When Transformers travel throughout the galaxy they encounter various lifeforms. When their sparks are extinguished their memories of these encounters transfer to Allspark (that serves as a limitless quantum database). The next Cybertronian created by Allspark has a chance of having one of these modes or some amalgamation of them (e.g. Sky Lynx). That's why Transformers have humanoid shapes or transform into cars or animals.

Did you assume a passive or an active approach? Mine is more passive, because they don't get to choose what is and isn't remembered or how it is used. As I'm thinking about it... in an active approach, Transformers would have to deliberately scan other lifeforms and gather the data to use at a later date. The later is very much in line with Beast Wars where the Maximals were on a mission to explore the universe.

I did notice the alt-mode negligence in recent comics. I think one of the most important aspects of the Transformers is that they can transform. The duality of the alt modes was nicely done in Beast Wars, where the Transformers interacted with each other and did things in both their robot and beast modes. I don't see why it can't be done with other alt modes (Pixar's Cars and Planes come to mind).

Besides, the alt modes don't have to be only vehicle based. I think that there are plenty of non-mobile tools they can transform into. Personally, I think that an operating theater would be a fitting alt mode for a medic.  

 

Blitzwing has multiple personality disorder... There is his hot headed self which is his most dominant/prominent personality, then there is his cold and tactical personality, then there is the crazy/homicidal personality. There might be more but no one has seen anymore then these three show themselves.

I came up with this back when I picked up Thrilling 30 Blitzwing in 2014 and I couldn't get his face to change. So while he is stuck in his G1/Hot Head face it still allows for his other personalities to come through. And I will again use this when Titans Return Blitzwing comes out since he will most likely only have his G1 head sculpt without the face swaps.

 

Thanks, I had no idea what the heck it was, and sarcastic answers like the one I ignored are not helpful in the least. So thank you for answering.

I've heard people use this phrase in youtube videos too, without giving any context as to what the fuck they are talking about.
Then you mix in fan modes such as the common head cannon (weapon on a head) and it's just adds more confusion.

 

Adding on to this with the newest Leo Convoy coming out: Years into leading the Autobots, Leo Prime was growing tired. During a battle with Shockwave he took bad damage to his neck, almost removing it. Before undergoing surgery, he passed the Matrix on to the next Prime, but it had unintended side effects.

As the Matrix left Leo Prime's hands it bathed him in a bright light. Due to his injury it split him into two beings with his head reverting to Overhaul and his body becoming Leo Convoy. Combined they would mentor the new Prime, being the new Alpha Trion figure for the Autobots.

 

I have another one involving the live action universe, this time involving this 3RD party TF figure by Perfect Effect, named Xerxes, which is their take on a dark Leo Prime shown in the image below.

Leo Prime came from the future in an alternate timeline where The Fallen has won and has taken over earth and Cybertron. Leo Prime travels back in time in hopes of trying to prevent this and arrived in 2009 only minutes after Optimus Prime was killed by Megatron in the forest battle. With the Autobots in need of a leader, Ironhide and Ratchet nominated Leo Prime as the new Autobot leader. Though Leo Prime was hesitant at first to accept the position due that he felt that he couldnt fill Optimus's shoes, he accepted and led the Autobots to many successful battles against the Decepticons. Once Optimus Prime was resurrected and combined with Jetfire, he and Leo Prime fought side by side against The Fallen and Megatron, both ultimately being defeated. Optimus complimented Leo of doing a great job of leading the Autobots in his place and mentions that he will make a fine leader in the future. Leo Prime, flattered by the compliments, promises Optimus that he will live up to the Prime name, and returns home to his timeline.

 

The Coneheads died in the 86 movie, as they were intended to.

In addition, every death scene that was cut happened (Red Alert, Trailbreaker, Mirage, etc.)

 

@ GirlBot
I like your version too, it has a different basis but very interesting kind of like a shared intellect or shared memory thing.
Whatci wrote is based on my Quintesson created headcannon: sparks get harvested from the Allspark atvthe core of Vector Sigma and are put into robot-bodies. After the quints where driven of Cybertron and the Cybertronians conquered their clientstates they created new Cybertronians themselves whenever there was a need for colonists to exploit a certain area of a newly conquered planet or someone to perform a certain function in society.
When the first civilwar broke out and transformation was invented both sides used forms native to Cybertron and the other planets they engaged each other on for cloak and dagger operations and surprise attacks.
By the end of the war however everybody was equiped with radarsystems that detected any fellowCybertronian in disguise.
After they lost the empire and the colonies (Paradron and Junk where so far away they where forgotten) altmodes where designed for functionality on Cybertron.
In the current war functionality is the main determinator of an altmode but the disguise factor having becomevobsolete fashion is also a determinator with many being created or choosing to adopt an alien altmode because they like the look.
So i see it very much as an active choice be it by the Cybertronians who design the bodies that will be home to newly-branched of sparks or Cybertronians who want to reshape or "upgrade" their bodies.

Yeah Dinobot riding Ratrap is a greatBW example, so is Perceptors altmode.
I'd like IDW to use altmoded more often it would enrich the worldbuilding exploring what being able to transform would mean for their culture, society, way of life...

 

So Smokescreen's corpse lies with Windcharger instead of Wheeljack? and Wheeljack lives long enough to be in Victory?

 

Yeah even though they were cut I believe Red Alert, Trailbreaker, and Mirage died during the battle at Autobot City. I don't believe Smokescreen died though, instead he lived and showed up on Athenia in Headmasters with Hound.
I swear the first time I watched the movie I saw Shockwave die at the end and to this day I still believe he died in the movie.
But I don't believe the Coneheads died, simply look alike's had died instead. Almost like the Seeker clones we see in More Than Meets the Eye. That is how I explain the appearances of the Insecticons after they became Sweeps, it was their clones that survived while the originals became Sweeps.

 

That a Prime's spirit reincarnates into new a new body.

 

I do a lot of renaming:

Bat Optimus Primal/Convobat --> Optimus Feral
Gator Megatron/Megalligator --> Negatron
Onyx Primal (guy clone) --> Onyx Feral
Onyx Primal (bad guy) --> Nemesis Feral

Lio Convoy --> Optimus Leo
Black Lio Convoy --> Nemesis Leo
Lio Junior --> Optimus Junior
Big Convoy --> Optimus Titan
Black Big Convoy --> Onyx Titan
TFU mammoth Nemesis Prime --> Nemesis Titan

Fire Convoy --> Optimus Fire (also in my headcanon the Optimus from TF Cybertron is this same character)
RiD2001 Omega Prime --> Optimus GodFire
RiD2001 Scourge --> Nemesis Convoy

Armada/Energon Optimus Prime --> Optimus Thunder
Armada Megatron --> Archatron
Energon Galvatron --> Galvarch

 

I thought Prime or Convoy was a title. My gess would had been closer to Leonids Prime or something like that.