the TF's metal

A little while after the first movie came out, there was discussion about how the robots could change their shapes. I presented a theory that their bodies were made out of an extremely hard metal, but that if they passed controlled electric currents through the metal they could realign it's molecules into another shape.

Now we know that it seems like their is a uniform hardness on all of the TF's body parts, so we can assume that regardless of shape, the substance remains the same.

I'm wondering, how do they imitate the glass and rubber?

I have to admit that's one of the things I don't really like in the movie universe..by letting the bots scan and adapt on their own instead of being rebuilt problems like this start popping up.

I don't know..maybe only their skeleton is of real metal, and everything else is generated nanobots, able to transform their substance into something that can resemble glass, leather, clothing, etc, but still remain rocksolid-hard?

Maybe they have substances on their bodies before that can imitate glass like the metal does? They say in the movie that they have regenerating metal, so maybe they have systems that can generate other matter on their bodies to resemble glass, rubber, etc.? It makes sense since robots aren't built entirely of metal, they're bound to ahve other properties. They're from another planet, it's not hard to imagine they have means to replicate matter visually.

Well, the basic mechanical properties of a material are determined not by the actual atoms of which it is composed, but by the bonds between those atoms. Diamond, for example, is transparent and much harder than graphite (pencil lead) yet they are only different arrangements of the same carbon atoms. It isn't unreasonable that the body panels and the windows on a Transformer could be the same substance, just reforged with a different molecular structure as needed. It would also explain how they can change color from dull metal protoforms to bright red and blue trucks with flames.

What the actual mechanism is that allows this is debatable. Nanites are certainly a possibility as Digilaut said, but if that's the case, I'd like to know whether the material is made of nanites itself (like a utility fog: Utility fog - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) or if some or all of the Transformer is a "dead" medium which is rearranged as needed by the nanites.

Whichever it is, the only limit to a Transformer's shapechanging ability would be it's mass and energy, which might explain why they scan a form equivalent to their size and only do so once in a while. If they are actually like a utility fog, then a transformer could theoretically disguise itself as a gas! However, that's unlikely because it's more energy efficient to reconstruct a few moving parts that allow you take on a disguise than to morph at will like T-1000.

Perfect. That was awesome.

Remember when Bumblebee was at the used car lot? Ok he let off a soundwave that shattered all the glass in the area. He remained untouched by it all. During the BB vs Barricade "Alien Death Match" The windows from the doors are visable in robot mode and never shatter. He and Barricade threw each other around a bit. Which suggested he didn't have regular glass windows. Also when Prime fought Bonecrusher, they fell off the highway. Hours later Prime transformed he showed no signs of damage to the windows. So clearly using this logic, these are some hard @$$ windows or they are clear metal.

I'm all for molecular/atom manipulation that only mimics what we perceive as rubber, glass, fabric, etc... but I nevertheless hate the Movie-verse idea that these things can just scan whatever they want at wil and then instantly turn into it. That essentialy makes them morphing shapeshifters - not mechancial Transformers that need places to put all of their parts when they transition from one form to another. Plus it begs the question of why don't they just take on new forms every time their current disguise is blown or becomes impractical to what they need. But since these are Bay movies with two TV writer hacks at the helm, I don't get too bent out of shape about it since it all seems par for the course.

Because there won't always be something with the same mass and size within eyeshot? And why the hate for Transformers that can be self-reliant? Would it be perfectly okay then if Frenzy's head crawled to a Decepticon ship and got reformatted in order to crawl back and turn into Mikaela's cell phone?

i'm so sick of you popping up and ruining perfectly reasonable threads by using every opportunity you can to movie-bash.

sci-fi.that the answer