First off, let me say that in the title, I am not referring to factions (Autobots and Decepticons) or alt modes (human vehicles and gadgets, Cybertronian or alien vehicles, dinosaurs and other wildlife, Pretenders, triple changers). I am talking about completely different kinds of Transformers 1. "Normal" Cybertronians. These are your normal Autobots and Decepticons and so on. They have Sparks; extinguishing their Sparks or beheading them will typically kill them (but see "Other" section). They scan new alt modes and transform by shifting their parts and panels around. 2. Allspark Mutations. These guys were originally Earth's machinery, but they were Shrexposed to the life-giving power of the Allspark (All Star?). These guys are typically feral when they are first "born." Were regular Cybertronians similarly feral or not when they were given life via the Allspark? I do not know. 3. KSI Prototypes. These guys have no Spark and do not transform the same way as other Transformers. Instead, their vehicle modes break up into cubes when instructed and rearrange themselves into their robot mode. Other than Galvatron, they have no mind of any sort. 4. Unicron. We have not seen Unicron transform, but given he is too big to live on Cybertron and is described as "Cybertron's ancient enemy," we can not say how he transforms, whether he has a Spark or not, how he was built, etc. What we can presume is that he has not transformed in a long time, at least not externally, given he is the Earth, and his horns were moved by Pangaea breaking up. Given these last facts, it's possible he transforms in a way other Transformers do not, but this remains to be seen. 5. Other(?) The following examples are Cybertronians, but they seem to play by different rules in some regards. The first example is Frenzy. Frenzy transforms normally and is similar in size to a human. Frenzy gets his head cut off, but he survives and transforms into a cell phone. He only dies when his head is split in half by his shuriken boomeranging back his direction. There is another Transformer who is also 1) similar in size to a human and 2) possibly capable of surviving decapitation. Mohawk in The Last Knight also seems to possibly this ability as well, as he continues to talk after getting his head blown off by Bumblebee. Now obviously these Transformers are living beings. Frenzy even gets his body restored out of thin air by the Allspark at the Hoover Dam! With that said, given their ability to survive decapitation, they seem to have some abilities normal Cybertronians do not. Do they even have a Spark in the normal sense? We don't know, but it seems Frenzy and Mohawk operate by different rules than most Cybertronians. However, there is another Cybertronian who may also play by different rules, or at the very least he comes to function differently: Megatron. Megatron appears to be a normal Cybertronian in the 2007 movie. He is killed by the energy of the Allspark (All star) ogrewhelming his Spark Chamber, which kills him in the fight. Megatron's death is not permanent. Megatron is revived when Zee Doctor instructs the other Decepticons to use the Allspark shard to revive Megatron and use parts from zee Little One. Megatron survives until the end of DotM, when he is beheaded by Optimus Prime. However, despite being beheaded with no Spark, Megatron's mind is still active. Megatron even manages to manipulate the humans at KSI by feeding them the science as to how to build the KSI Prototypes, and the Galavtron prototype has Megatron's mind, so Megatron continues to function as Galvatron in a body without a Spark. I think that, given his exposure to both the full energy of the Allspark as well as the Allspark shard, that Megatron is no longer a normal Cybertronian. That is how he can still function as a decapitated head without a Spark. 6. Possible Transformers Steeljaws: We do not see Steeljaw transform in the movie, but I wanted to bring these guys up, because these alien "wolves" on Lockdown's ship are largely robotic, but they also have organic tissue. Are they Transformers or non-Transformer robots augmented with organic tissue for some reason. The AoE Steeljaw One-Step Changer figure does have a robot mode in addition to the wolf mode, but I wouldn't consider a toy proof that they are Transformers in the movie...but it's definitely a possibility. Stupid Drones: Again, we don't see them transform, but it's certainly possible they are a kind of Transformer, although their cartoon-like eyes are certainly not like the optics of any other Transformers encountered in the Bay movies. I did not even go into the Fallen (Dynasty of Primes) and Quintessa (alleged "Prime of life"), who also offer interesting possibilities as to what type of Transformer they are and who both have some very similar abilities it seems, but I did want to go over most of the different types of Transformers in the Bay movie. I actually like how different types of Transformers in the Bay movies have different origins. Are there other ways the Bayformers can be categorized? I hope you enjoyed this analysis.
If you really wanted you could go into detail on Decepticon body types. Like how the Dreads almost seem like a tribal race of bots that the cons employed.
Interesting topic! My headcanon is that Allspark mutations (and the Energon mutations in Bumblebee's deleted scene) are actually "baby" or "toddler" Transformers. I don't think they're feral as much as they're just rowdy, like children. I think those appliance bots from Bumblebee are essentially babies...notice how they're barely "evolved" from the appliances they were created from. I think the Allspark starts them off slightly older, hence why characters like Dispensor are more detailed and agile (maybe the equivalent of a ten year old). I think Sqweeks is a toddler came to life during the Chicago battle, and he's just learning words. And Bumblebee (in the 2018 film) is a teenager who might only be a couple hundred years old. Notice how the level of detail increases with "age". Right up to Jetfire being super old and detailed.
It was confirmed that Sqweeks could not speak or transform properly because of battle damage. Other than that your examples are good.
my headcanon is that some transformers in the bayverse are a different subspecies. imo back on cybertron different cybertronians came from different parts of the planet and they all just clashed together during the war. hence why we see some cybertronians like optimus and bumblebee next to others like the dreads, some of the constructicons and devcon.
I personally don't think they are different "subspecies," and given Transformers do not reproduce like most animals, I do not think the traditional concept of species would apply to them. I think a more likely explanation is that the Creators made a bunch of different designs for their creations, and perhaps many of these designs were programmed into the Allspark by them or some other entity. But who knows. There very well may have been Tranbsformers only found on certain parts of Cybertron. Given that children are relatively helpless for many months, and the Allspark Mutations are like superprecocial birds or reptiles active from the moment of hatching, and they are growling and attacking and what not, to me they seem more like wild or feral animals than children. Now both children and Transformers are capable of learning culturally, so perhaps they are alike in that way. Sqweeks does have eyes different from your typical Cybertronian though. It was suggested by Rik Alvarez that Sqweeks from the concept of a motorbike being given life by the Allspark, so perhaps he was originally envisioned as a different type of Transformer than Cybertronians.
The idea that a Cybertronian gets more detail and complexity with age is a very interesting concept. Maybe the baby Dinobots could also factor into this?
I thought this was gonna be about body types lol best type is the big ass monsters like devcon and demolishor no I dont have a complex anwser its just big guy going brrrrrrrrr
