the TF's metal

well if you consider that all of their weight is coming down on one point when they run, busting up the street by dropping that many tons on a small area isn't that far-fetched.

Even in machines though we see a difference. A dump truck has lots of torque and power but you couldn't zip around traffic cones with it like you could with say a Mini Cooper. Or you wouldn't find a tank being able to do the same things as a small military robot even though both vehicles are tracked. No matter how powerful something is at some point weight is going to start limiting what you can and can't do.

If size and weight don't have any impact on what a Transformer can do then it doesn't seem like there is any reason to be small. You'd expect size and weight to have advantages and disadvantages just like with animals and the machines we've been able to build so far.

Well, we have to first clarify if transformers are made entirely of metal or if only the protoform is, if only the protoform is metal (which I assume is some cybertronian super strong and super light metal) then the rest is just armor and bulk and the basis of their structure is the protoform as a skeleton, and it depends if all their armor is self-regenerating as scorpomok's was.

But if their armor is made of nanites, then why all the sudden mass change? When they are protoforms is the pure TF with nothing on, but when they reformat they suddenly get all the accesories necesary to take a vehicle form.

since the transformers were born from cybertron,they could be made of an alien metal we dont know about.

i dont know how they would generate more of this metal for new forms though,unless they use earth materiel for extra parts.

A few observations:

A. The TFs are presumably powered by McGuffin Energy from the AllSpark. This is also linked with their transforming ability. It can allow Frenzy to regrow his body, and transforms cellphones and drinks machines into mechanical monsters armed with gatling guns.

B. The TFs are mechanical. They have gears and pistons and things. Also, if they were simply pure shapeshifters, there'd be no need for them to have any kibble in robot mode. That said, they're obviously able to generate their kibble/bodywork after arriving as protoforms, and some of them can change between new altmodes pretty fast.

C. It's said in secondary material that Frenzy's ability to instantaneously switch altmodes is unusual. The other TF we see do something like this is Bee, but he's also a scout, and I think he's also the second smallest in the movie, so he could plausibly have some enhanced version of this capability - if only to change into different sorts of yellow sports car. Smaller TFs can probably change more often.

D. Conclusion. AllSpark energy not only gives life but also confers the ability to generate and manipulate matter, creating complex and changable mechanical structures. Under normal circumstances, molecular-level shapeshifting changes are limited to the "cheat" aspects of transformation, like splitting solid bodywork into separate units, but it is also possible to radically change alt-mode. Rapid and regularly change may be limited to dedicated scouts, who're smaller, and have a higher energy/mass ratio.

Continuing this theory, I suspect that what stops Bee's windows from breaking in a fistfight with Barricade is the matter-controlling aspect of the energy. It's not a sci-fi metal that just looks like glass, but glass plus, alive with AllSpark energy.

It's interesting how the three things seem to develop together from the same source in AllSpark energy: Transformer sentience, macro-level mechanical movement, and molecular shapeshifting.

E. It looks cool. That's really important.

Since the universe seems to be made of mostly the same stuff I guess it would come down to how they would be able to process the raw materials on earth. Unless there was an element on Cybertron that just didn't show up at all in our neck of the universe then the elemental charts should be the same.

Of course for humans to make steel out of iron requires heat and tools so perhaps the raw materials are here but they might not have the tools to take advantage of those raw materials.

Well, we see that Frenzy is able to grow a new body with just his head/backup insect-legs and some AllSpark energy.

Sure, maybe Frenzy can trans-scan and mass-shift more than the average Transformer, but Dispensor also seems rather more massive and complicated than the inanimate drinks-can machine that he was before he was brought to life.

So I suspect that ordinary metal plus AllSpark energy is really all you need.

Macguffinni non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem!

They are living organisms but they look and feel like machines. I mean, the Allspark freaking GREW a body for Frenzy I think the easiest way to explain it is to stop thinking of their bodies as something concrete like earth steel. Instead think of them as all being made up of the same substance but it's a kind of magic nano-metal that can look like anything.

It might sound too easy, but just throwing the words "advanced," "alien" etc around are enough for me.

lol this segment made me chuckle for obvious punny reasons. but seriously, good post man.

Why waste energy to scan another duisguise....

The transformers need a cover in order to fool enemys as well. Fooling humans was just to protect themselves included from the military.

I mean if i were going to a different planet with lifeforms on it that i didn't understand, i would make sure i had firepower as well as some sort of cover.

Now they aren't such a secret after movie one, so they aren't scared of hiding, but of course they will keep their alt modes to travel, it would be impractical for them to do so.

I mean would you like to run to new york from LA..or..Drive?

They didn't need to scan anything else, and the only reason BB scanned the new Camaro was because he felt like he looked stupid...so said Megantron