Technorganic



Technorganic describes the melding of technological and biological components into a single entity, generally involving the power of the Oracle.

This fusion melds the technological and organic components of the affected being down to the cellular level. A technorganic Transformer is no longer a purely technological robot, nor a purely organic life form; in the words of technorganic guru Optimus Primal, they are "both—and neither." Instead they are a balance of the two, theoretically combining the strengths of both.

Technorganic biology
Technorganic Transformers appear to be highly resistant to injury—not a single technorganic Maximal was shown to sustain visible damage. They have advanced internal healing abilities.

Technorganic Cybertronians do not have on-board computers to handle secondary operations as previous Transformers did; functions such as transforming now require conscious thought and effort. They still retain the ability to transform between two forms, but their transforming is not a mechanical shifting of moving parts, as with their robotic predecessors. For most, it appears more like fluid shape-shifting, generally accompanied by a burst of bright energy. Botanica is an exception to this rule; her transformation is accompanied by a rapidly generated circle of technorganic plants, which shrink back down to reveal her robot mode.

Because the process is so different, many Transformers need to relearn how to transform once they find themselves in a technorganic body. They must achieve an internal, zen-like mental balance and will themselves into their other mode. Some use a mantra such as "I am transformed" to help until they get the hang of doing it on their own; others such as Silverbolt, Botanica and Nightscream seem to master the process right away.

Powers and weaknesses
Techorganic Transformers are invisible to traditional scanners while in beast mode; they no longer give off an "energy signature" like ordinary machines. However, when in their robot mode, they are as readily detectable as any other Transformer.

Optimus Primal's band of technorganic Maximals possessed powerful (almost supernatural) combat abilities. All technorganics would have similar capabilities.

Though powerful and durable, the technorganics are not invulnerable. Sufficient conventional firepower can render them unconscious, and they are vulnerable to the same sort of Spark extractors which Megatron used on conventional Transformers.

On one occasion, ingesting a seemingly organic fruit caused Primal and his team to mentally devolve into primitives. When the tree that generated this fruit was slashed by Cheetor, it shattered into fragments, as if it were a digital illusion, and the fruit's effect was immediately undone. Primal concludes that the fruit's organic nature was devolving their bodies, but the implications of the incident remain somewhat unclear.

Another vulnerability comes from the Key to Vector Sigma, a device which converts organics into "techno-matter". When applied to the technorganic Maximals, it caused them to convert to a metalized state, resulting pain and hysteria; it could eventually have resulted in deactivation if its effects were not reverted.

Technorganic Cybertron
Cybertron had long been a planet of metal upon metal, "technology" alone. According to Primal's interpretation of the Oracle, the returning Beast Warriors brought with them organic components of the planets they had visited, allowing the Oracle to begin the process of reformatting the planet to be technorganic. The Maximals eventually discovered Cybertron's organic core, with deep sublevels comprised of soil and containing organic fossils, such as the one scanned by Nightscream.

At the end of the conflict, Cybertron was reformatted planet-wide, creating a new world, a mix of technorganic flora and fauna with vast, green cities. The exact details and secrets of this new Cybertron have yet to be revealed.

Just what the reformatting of Cybertron implies for Primus, whose body is Cybertron, is unknown.

Usage problems


"Technorganic" has occasionally been used by other sources to describe pre-Beast Machines characters. IDW's Beast Wars Sourcebook makes frequent references to characters possessing features like "technorganic musculature"; the Ultimate Guide refers both to Optimus Primal's beast mode and all Transmetals as "techno-organic" (with hyphen).

This use of the phrase differs from the specific meaning given by Beast Machines; it may or may not be an accurate descriptor, given the conflicting descriptions of Beast Wars physiology:


 * A major part of the entire premise of Beast Wars was that, in order to create their beast altmodes in the first place, the Cybertronians needed to scan and replicate the DNA of living or fossilized creatures.
 * Instances of damage to beast mode tissue were sometimes shown to bleed ("Spider's Game"); yet, Cheetor states that "I don't have real blood—just mech fluid." ("The Web")
 * The Beast Warriors did need to breathe to sustain themselves. ("Dark Voyage")
 * They often consumed organic food as fuel. ("Power Surge", "The Low Road", "Code of Hero", "Victory")
 * Despite this, Cheetor explicitly states that they no longer eat food in the Beast Machines period, instead powering up on Energon alone. Confusing the matter further, Primal then says in reply that "we used to" only consume Energon, which clearly is not the case. ("Forbidden Fruit")
 * Looking outside the show, the Beast Wars writers have stated that, in animal form, the characters are "fully organic", citing both "Dark Voyage" and "Call of the Wild" as examples.



Transmetal forms likewise appear to remain at least partially organic:
 * Tarantulas continued to consume organic food after going Transmetal. ("Code of Hero")
 * Optimus Primal once showing interest in a bunch of bananas. ("Feral Scream Part 2")
 * Megatron loathed his dragon form as "disgustingly organic". ("Sparkwar Pt. II: The Search"
 * Megatron's attempts to purge his biological portions ultimately created the purely organic Savage/Noble creature. ("Prometheus Unbound")

Just how much the organic beast was integrated into the technological robot form is unknown; the original Beast Warriors appear to be simply a fleshy shell surrounding the robot within, though the Transmetals appear to intermix the two more thoroughly. Conversely, Megatron was able to create a sapient clone of Dinobot with simply "a spec of [his] DNA", implying that the robotic and organic are indeed bound up together.

The term bio-mechanical crops up occasionally in bios and reference books, used synonymously with "technorganic" in reference to pre-Beast Machines beast warriors.

Continuity quibbles

 * The Axalon was implied to be an ordinary exploration ship, with an ordinary mission: deploy new Transformers on a planet, have them pick up beast forms, explore, then return to Cybertron. If this is going on all the time, with lots of different exploration crews, why did the Oracle decide that Primal's crew was so specially needed to bring back organic elements?
 * Nightscream scans organic elements, and acquires a beast form, without ever leaving Cybertron! So again, why did Primal's team need to go through the Beast Wars just to acquire beast modes?

Non-Beast Era usage


The terms "technorganic" and "biomechanical" have also been used to describe characters from other, non-Beast Era TF franchises, general characters based on redecoed Beast Wars toys such as Armada Cheetor. In the absence of a full backstory, however, the status of such purely mechanical or partly organic is debatable.

Of particular note is Armada ' s Predacon. His Dreamwave bio states that that he has experimented on himself with "biomechanical" technology to integrate organic tissue into his Cybertronian robotics, something that most other Transformers are said to find repulsive.