Current Events > What is the point of animal Transformers?

(+) Yeah! (+)

The upcoming new Transformers: Rise of the Beats movie (as well as the old Beast Wars cartoon) got me wondering: if the whole point of Transformers is to turn into different objects to stay hidden from humans, then why do the animal Transformers turn into animals that don't like the actual animals? Instead they are robotic/cybernetic animals that any human can clearly tell are not real animals.

They had dinobots so...

I haven't seen Beast Wars in a really long, but if I remember correctly when they land on Earth there's a significant amount of Energon that's actually damaging to them and in order to not be damaged by it they have to take the form of an animal.

Because car toys stopped selling and they needed something new and different to turn into.

Rise of the Beats better have a bangin' soundtrack.

Hayame_Zero posted...

Because car toys stopped selling and they needed something new and different to turn into.

pretty much

no one is gonna buy their kid the same optimus prime 5 times. but they'll sure as fuck buy their kid 5 different optimus primes

or they would back in the day when toys were cheap I guess

In Beast Wars at least, they did look like real animals, though.

Also there were only cave men so it wasn't to blend in, it was because of energon of whatever like was mentioned.

Imagine bringing in Beast Wars and not using Dinobot or Rattrap.

thronedfire2 posted...

pretty much

no one is gonna buy their kid the same optimus prime 5 times. but they'll sure as fuck buy their kid 5 different optimus primes

or they would back in the day when toys were cheap I guess

The funny thing about this idea is I never owned an Optimus Prime until well after I moved out. I was big into the jets (so I suppose I was one of those Decepticon fans)

Dinosaurs are cooler than cars

Why did one of the Transformers (in the first movie) hide under a bridge when they could just transform into a car and park on the street?

Irony posted...

I haven't seen Beast Wars in a really long, but if I remember correctly when they land on Earth there's a significant amount of Energon that's actually damaging to them and in order to not be damaged by it they have to take the form of an animal.

Yeah, they could only stay in their robot forms for so long because they took damage in that form too.

Basically life on earth had adapted to the high levels of "plot energy" the energon gave off, but the animals weren't especially effective in a robot on robot fight. They took the animal form to stop themselves from having power surges and let the energy they built up while in robot form dissipate, and would switch to robot forms when they actually needed to fight.

Disguise wasn't really an aspect of it at all, although their animals forms were harder to distinguish from native lifeforms than their robot forms were certainly.

No clue what the fuck the justification will be in the new modern day setting, but it's really just an excuse to make transforming toys, not some serious science fiction premise.

I don't like the idea of the Maximals and Autobots being around at the same time.

Because Beast wars was always a better cartoon

The premise is that beast wars takes place after the original transformers cartoon, and during that time both the Autobots and Decepticons underwent an upgrade that allowed them to transform into biological forms. These biological forms shield them from energon which in large amount short circuits them and it also allows them to blend into planets that otherwise don't have vehicles.

IronWolf87 posted...

The premise is that beast wars takes place after the original transformers cartoon, and during that time both the Autobots and Decepticons underwent an upgrade that allowed them to transform into biological forms. These biological forms shield them from energon which in large amount short circuits them and it also allows them to blend into planets that otherwise don't have vehicles.

Wasn't one of the core premises of the beast wars sequel that Megatron was an anti-organic racist and that they only took on the organic forms because they were forced to and were upset that it permanently crippled them in some way so they could no longer take on a purely mechanical form without basically dying and giving themselves an entirely new body, a process that he was naturally highly opposed to undergoing because of how vulnerable it would make him?

As Irony pointed out, in terms of the plot the planet was covered in raw energon which shorted out their circuits after a period of exposure. The beast modes helped protect them. By the start of the second season most of the energon had stabilized or been destroyed so it was no longer an issue, and their Transmetal forms didn't take environmental damage.

and yes Hayame is correct as well. It was time for the brand to be refreshed and this is what they came up with. Not that animals and insects haven't been part of the brand prior to, but those before them were for the most part all mechanical. There were some exceptions like the Pretender Beasts which were flesh animal shells which contained the Transformer inside.

In one of the Japanese spin-offs Beast Wars II, this takes place on the planet Gaia. The Maximals take the form of animals while the Predacons find a computer in some ancient ruins that gives some history about the planet's former inhabitants. Galvatron winds up scanning both a drill tank and a dragon from it's data tracks while the other Predacons scan military vehicles.

videospirit posted...

Wasn't one of the core premises of the beast wars sequel that Megatron was an anti-organic racist and that they only took on the organic forms because they were forced to and were upset that it permanently crippled them in some way so they could no longer take on a purely mechanical form without basically dying and giving themselves an entirely new body, a process that he was naturally highly opposed to undergoing because of how vulnerable it would make him?

Yeah more or less. Megatron's new outlook on the organic forms was kind of an ass pull though. In Beast Wars he never had any opinion on their beast forms other than that they should take the strongest forms they can find (in his case a T Rex and then later a Dragon)

Beast Machines explains this by saying that Megs goes though some time traveling shenanigans and afterwards arrives at this new view point.

This discussion kind of reminds me of 'Big', where they have the transformer that turns into a building and they question why. Then come up with the bug/reptiles instead because kids would like it more.

Two hits of nostalgia in this topic.

CrazyCal posted...

This discussion kind of reminds me of 'Big', where they have the transformer that turns into a building and they question why. Then come up with the bug/reptiles instead because kids would like it more.

Two hits of nostalgia in this topic.

It's kind of funny but when Beast Wars first launched there was actually quite a bit of controversy among the fans, because a lot of people hated the idea of transformers becoming animals and "Truck not Munkey" was like a 90's proto-meme expressing that sentiment.

As for me Beast Wars came out when I was 8 and Robots and Animals were pretty much my two favorite things as a kid so I was instantly hooked and have been ever since lol.

Thanks for the responses ya'll. I am humbled by ya'lls knowledge. :)

Transformers branched out to dinosaurs. Go-Bots did rocks.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/2/0/AAEhCpAAEiMM.jpg

I stopped watching Beast Wars when their beast forms stopped looking like animals and instead looked like robotic representations of animals. I think I'll be this film as well.

Rule of cool.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Transformers branched out to dinosaurs. Go-Bots did rocks.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/2/0/AAEhCpAAEiMM.jpg

Seriously?
How did that get past the planning stage?

The new movie makes less sense narratively because it's a prequel set in the 90s iirc. Really weird decision.

Protects them from the high concentration of unrefined energon on a mysterious planet they crash landed on.

To sell toys.

To sell more toys

Questionmarktarius posted...

Transformers branched out to dinosaurs. Go-Bots did rocks.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/2/0/AAEhCpAAEiMM.jpg

Fuck yeah

Actually while we're talking about Beast Wars I always wondered how Megs managed to turn himself into a dragon.

>absorbs G1 Megs spark
>falls into lava
>dragon?

beast machines was a mistake, Hippie Optimus Primal and everything they did to Rhinox was complete bullshit

I loved Beast Wars. Even though the animation was pretty bad, the stories and voices were excellent. Beast Machines was even better, due to the very stylized art.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Transformers branched out to dinosaurs. Go-Bots did rocks.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/2/0/AAEhCpAAEiMM.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGb_l_xMs0c

Smashingpmkns posted...

The new movie makes less sense narratively because it's a prequel set in the 90s iirc. Really weird decision.

maybe It wont be connected lol

1NfamousACE_2 posted...

maybe It wont be connected lol

it's not

Honestly I couldnt stand the awful cgi even when I was a kid and it was on network tv.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Transformers branched out to dinosaurs. Go-Bots did rocks.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/2/0/AAEhCpAAEiMM.jpg

Not gonna lie... I went to see the Rocklords GoBots movie with my buddy at the dollar theater. I remember liking it and I had some of the toys. Because the rock form could be anything, the robot forms were pretty decent.

I mean Gobots were always the knock off Transformers, but even transformers started as a way to market Japanese toys to a western kids by buying up a bunch of licenses from different toy lines and hiring writers from Marvel comics to hash out a story around them.

You young'uns nowadays only know the popular 80s toys that had their own shows, there was so much more... and Gobots looks like high art in comparison to some of them!

To sell toys.

Smashingpmkns posted...

The new movie makes less sense narratively because it's a prequel set in the 90s iirc. Really weird decision.

It's a direct sequel to BumbleBee, which is a brand new continuity that is different than the Michael Bay Transformers movies.

Where my boys Rattrap and Dinobot at though? And my gal Blackarachnia?

There should be some Autobots who can transform into ponies.

The_Sock posted...

It's a direct sequel to BumbleBee, which is a brand new continuity that is different than the Michael Bay Transformers movies.

do I need to see bumblebee?

1NfamousACE_2 posted...

do I need to see bumblebee?

Probably not. It doesn't seem like any of the plot or human characters from it cross over to this film. Bumblebee is fairly contained.

1NfamousACE_2 posted...

do I need to see bumblebee?

Yeah, I would say so. But mostly because unlike the Michael Bay Transformers movies, BumbleBee is a genuinely excellent movie according to critics and people. Has a 91% on RT.

videospirit posted...

Yeah, they could only stay in their robot forms for so long because they took damage in that form too.

Basically life on earth had adapted to the high levels of "plot energy" the energon gave off, but the animals weren't especially effective in a robot on robot fight. They took the animal form to stop themselves from having power surges and let the energy they built up while in robot form dissipate, and would switch to robot forms when they actually needed to fight.

Disguise wasn't really an aspect of it at all, although their animals forms were harder to distinguish from native lifeforms than their robot forms were certainly.

No clue what the fuck the justification will be in the new modern day setting, but it's really just an excuse to make transforming toys, not some serious science fiction premise.

Um, Earth in Beast Wars is a spoiler

Tom_Joad posted...

There should be some Autobots who can transform into ponies.

There have been mlp and transformers official comic crossovers. if they crossed over with Beast Wars, I wouldn't be surprised if scanning ponies became an option.

I mean I know you posted the comment in jest, but once we have MLP and transformers magic the gathering cards, turtles crossing over with batman and the power rangers or the power rangers fighting godzilla, all bets are off

Ghostbusters have crossed over with both Turtles and Transformers as well.
And dont forget the Transformers Terminator crossover.

@Heartomaton posted...

Rise of the Beats better have a bangin' soundtrack.

I hope you really like early 90's rap and Hip-Hop.

https://news.tfw2005.com/2023/05/24/transformers-rise-of-the-beasts-soundtrack-revealed-with-previews-484301

Theme song music video;

https://youtu.be/cQaCVzUxiKQ

Airhammy posted...

Probably not. It doesn't seem like any of the plot or human characters from it cross over to this film. Bumblebee is fairly contained.

Not even John Cena?