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Preposterous intermediate modes

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Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats

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Jun 27, 2015, 11:07:19 PM6/27/15
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I was fiddling with my Combiner Wars Optimus Prime, and discovered that he has a perfectly useful half-transformed mode, where he rolls backwards on his rear wheels, his torso is spun around so he is facing the direction he is going, and his arms and head are free. He should be able to use this partially transformed mode in battle to race around quickly shooting everyone in the crotch or knees.

This isn't the only toy that has some kind of potentially useful half-transformed mode. Aerialbots should be able to reach down and grab things as they fly over them, etc.

So, why don't Transformers use them?

Is it because the toys are imperfect representations of the "actual" characters, and that sometimes they can do something the character cannot? That would be a very boring and sensible answer.

Do they lack the imagination to do this? We might have seen some evidence for this in "Triple Takeover", where Blitzwing cannot think of anything and must abduct a football coach for strategies.

Are they able to do so, but it's just considered rude? Sort of like how Autobots don't fly, except when they do...

Do the Transformers actually use them, but just don't talk about it and record it in their documentaries? This would mean that the shows aren't accurate, which would upset some people.

Is transformation an automatic sequence that they cannot stop halfway through? I think we have seen evidence this isn't true in FFOD, where Astrotrain is half-transformed, but that was a low energon situation, so he might have just been stuck.

Zobovor

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Jun 27, 2015, 11:30:05 PM6/27/15
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On Saturday, June 27, 2015 at 9:07:19 PM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:

> So, why don't Transformers use them?

They do use them, but not as frequently as might be practical.

Skywarp extended a robot arm while in jet mode to toss an energon cube at the humans in one of the early Marvel Comics stories.

Swoop used his robot hands, not his pteranodon claws, to grab Slag by the tail when the old Dinobots were fighting the new Dinobots in "War of the Dinobots."

Blaster turned into a tape deck with legs to play music for the morphobots in "Quest for Survival."

The Spychangers from Robots in Disguise could extend their arms while in vehicle mode to fire their weapons.

> Is transformation an automatic sequence that they cannot stop halfway
> through? I think we have seen evidence this isn't true in FFOD, where
> Astrotrain is half-transformed, but that was a low energon situation, so he
> might have just been stuck.

Well, we know this isn't the case. Witness "S.O.S. Dinobots" where Optimus Prime gives the usual command to transform, Bumblebee begins to shift into vehicle mode, and Prime tells him he's on guard duty. Rather than completing the change to car mode, Bumblebee just reverts back to robot mode.

I think your lack-of-imagination answer is probably the most likely. If Spike came along and told Hound or somebody to untransform his arms while in jeep mode and it somehow won the day, then I'm sure the Autobots would do it all the time. I think maybe one good reason not to do it, though, is that it would potentially make the characters much more vulnerable. Megatron, in particular, seems to have a lot of wiring and mechanisms and things visible when he's in mid-transformation. A semi-transformed robot would have protective armor panels that aren't properly locked together. It would be the equivalent of going into battle after having open-heart surgery but before getting sewn back up.

I will say that I love it when toys can change into a rolling vehicle but still "see" where they're going with their robot heads. G1 Optimus Prime can do this. So can Trailbreaker and Hoist and Cosmos and Warpath. Pretty much all the characters on Challenge of the GoBots could do this, even the ones whose toys could not achieve this configuration (Crasher, Cy-Kill, Turbo, Scooter, etc.)


Zob

Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People.

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Jun 28, 2015, 12:32:51 AM6/28/15
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I've made a few of my own odes for things out of boredom, JRX's combined robot can also be positioned to be a Galvatron-esque giant cannon, ROTF Breacher can also do the half-transformed centauresque form.

many bots should be able to use vehicle parts in robot mode, HTFD Lugnut, HTFD Seaspray. Generations Sandstorm, and Windblade should all be able to use their vehicle fans/engines to move around better in bot mode. Onslaught has used his vehicle cannons in robot mode, or were they just back cannons that were convenient for his vehicle mode?
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