Personally, I prefer a bit of a mix between the 4 categories you have provided.

The members all need to be synchronized for the mind meld to work. should they un-synchronized the gestalt mind deteriorates into madness. But the team leader bears most of the weight and is the "base" consciousness for the mind meld to be built on top of with the final product being a new personality made up of the sum of its parts.

 

Except Devastator, which was explicitly said to be only do what all the minds could agree upon doing and that given their radically differing minds, made most tasks slow and simple. He's the multiple pilots version.

CW Ultra Prime seems to be more a case of the driving mind, as Prowl was it until Prime figured out the dealio and took control.

Build King in Car Robots seemed to be more of a pilot driven, with one mind in the "pilots seat" such as it could be called and the others observers who could give suggestions or suggest reconfigurations to allow their own abilities to shine more in a given situation.

All of the other G1 Gestalts are the blend, at least according to their profiles.

 

Similar observations are made about the others, while asserting their individual personality. I always took that to mean that 5-6 subconscious minds, with their distinct inclinations were merged to form one mind... but that mind was itself always slowed down by internal schisms and indecision. I never took it to mean that all 6 Constructicons were in there, fully conscious, as if they were all sitting in one cockpit, arguing over what to do next. I saw it as a more fluid thing.

But I dunno.

zmog

 

Thats nit how I read the bio.

seems pretty clear that Devastator a Blend/6th , in his case 7th Bot scenario.

 

Keep reading, "his thoughts are limited to what the six can agree upon." and then later, "The inability of his six component parts to better cooperate inhibits his mental functions, allowing him to be easily outfoxed by most opponents."

That sounds like all six are in there to me.

The other profiles say that they're a merging of the minds, some more successful than others, but Devastators points that out twice (at least the way it seems to me) that all six are there.

 

I read it all, and posted it all so as not to be said i was being bias.

yes, all 6 are in there.........each merged in mind and body forming a 7th persona

if this sounds rude im sorry, but what are you trying to say?
theres no significant difference between how all, the g1 combiners were described.

different words.........all the same message.

the combiners/gestalts persona is the "melding together", the "merging of the minds and personalities", "blend together" ,collective consciousness" the "meshed thoughts" of his individual compotes into "one single-mind"...............a single mind that results from the contribution of each team member components into a mind is unique and it own.

the better the team gets along, the better the combined form can function.

 

Yeah, sorry Pravus... but I think this line right here:

... is kind of a mic-dropper.

I think the bottom line is that the minds are melded into a single (6th/7th) identity, but it is still a composite psyche... a mind forced together by science into a single entity, but always prone to fracturing into inner conflict, like a bundle of repressed memories or neurotic compulsions all fighting in the background of the fusion mind.

I think it's notable that ALL of the combiners, although they do have distinct identities, cannot be considered truly perfect blends. They all seem to suffer from some kind of dysfunction that distinguishes them from normal free-standing minds. Even guys like Piranacon or Predaking suffer from a kind of single-minded obsessiveness, that may make them good tools of war, but lacking in the depth that comes with personal history, experience, and psychological development. They are all artificial composites... mental Frankenstein monsters.

zmog

 

Yeah. Piranacon or Predaking kiiinda have more functional mindsets, but at the same time their psyche is basically limited to this one dominant component of individuals forming them. There isn't too much to Predaking aside of being a hunter or to Piranacon aside of being obsessively single-minded.

 

That says a lot about how disturbing the gestalt process really is, when you think about it.

 

I never realized just how messed up combining is.

 

That'll happen when you only exist if other stop existing to become you. I've often wondered if the gestalt have memories of the individuals or visa versa.

 

Exactly! It's weird, isn't it?

zmog

 

It's creepy is what it is. Just imagine if the individuals could remember doing something they had no control over, but at the same time they were a will part of that gestalt form. I'd lose my mind if I went through that.

 

I kind of feel like those aspects of Combiners should be pursued more in the fiction, especially in terms of whatever alchemy is required to have a "successful" combiner merger (ie: it doesn't drive the individual members insane), rather than just "woohoo! cool giant super-robot!"  

zmog

 

Indeed, there's a lot of story to be mined there particularly as the individual gestalts seem to merge differently. In the Marvel comics, Silverbolt has a conversation with Superion while the Arielbots are formed, suggesting a separate consciousness in that continuity.

As far as the method that they combine, I like the blend theory, but with great variance between situations. For example, Devastator doesn't blend nearly as well as any of the other combiners and acts out more like the hive mind and Menasor is a poor blend due to the other Stunticons refusing to merge fully with Motormaster. On the other hand, the Predacons blend in such a way that survival instinct takes over and Abonimus is such a perfect blend that they need a timer lest they never separate.

 

Weird... it's like having a conversation with yourself, since technically Silverbolt is a part of Superion's mind...

Piranacon (not Abominus) is the one who needs a timer, but yeah... there's definitely room for some individual variation in there as well.

zmog