I was watching City of Steel and seen this:

"I may not have a weapon, but I can still transform and roll!"

Now this only happened in the G1 cartoon but what do you guys think? I believe it's because Optimus' arm is not a primary part of his car, although... it somehow has a side? Can Transformers grow vehicle parts too?

 

You clearly see where the arm is missing so yes they can transform but if their missing limb has a wheel or wing on it this will obviously affect their alt mode capabilities.

 

Yes, but had there been other times in the series where this happened?

 

Can’t think of any no. Also most of the times when they get injured, they seem to not be able to transform.

 

In the Marvel UK comic, an Autobot called Chameleon had his arm cut off and it was shown to be extremely painful when he transformed.

 

I think it depends on the body part. As others have said as long as it doesn't effect the function of the vehicle mode then yes.

While we're on this subject, what about combiners? Could they still combine if one of their components were dead?... Not including the comics where apparently ANYONE can fill in for that missing character. (Prowl into Devastator)

I personally imagine that if they were missing an arm then yes. A leg would be a bit more difficult unless they're constantly hoping around. Torso, definitely not.

 

The prowl thing was because he had been manipulated and reconfigured to allow devastator to form following the loss of scrapper. Although they did get carried away with that enigma of combination. But later in idw, bruticus formed with a brain dead swindle. It caused heavy mental anguish, prevented bruticus from functioning properly and the swindle leg was dragging.

Actually, i think devastator did form once with dead scrapper. Again, that leg was dragging and non functional.

 

If I remember correctly, Wheelie got his arm torn off in the IDW comics and he could still transform.

 

I'm sure if it's something like a hand or a foot, or perhaps some kibble they could probably be fine, depending on what their alt-mode is, but I'm sure if they took too much damage they wouldn't be able to.

 

There's a Prime episode in which Starscream loses an arm. IIRC, he mentions that if a crucial part for the alt mode than he can't transform/transformation has no purpose.

 

Theyve been shown to transform injured / damaged other shows/comics, iirc, but with difficulty. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to think they could transform without all their parts, especially provided the toys can sort of do the same thing.

 

In the original cartoon, we see at least 1 character with a missing arm still transform

Also, in the same series we see at least 3 examples of s combiner forming up with s missing member.....for different reasons

 

YES. Headmasters do just fine.

 

And you had to remind me about that why? I still don't understand, if they take their heads off, and thus no longer have a mouth, how is the body still able to talk?

 

Easy
They talk through their radio

 

It still boggles the mind that not only did G1 have this attention to detail, but City of Steel of all episodes.

 

I was watching the episodes randomly, and came across this episode.

 

He's referring to the shite animation and art for that one.

 

My G1 Nightbeat has been TF'ing without a head for YEARS.

 

Same goes for my G1 Ironhide & Ratchet.