Cybertronian

Team Prime

"We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron."

―Optimus Prime to the humans in Darkness Rising, Part 1.

Cybertronians, known to humans as Transformers, are a species of sentient, robotic organisms originating from the distant planet of Cybertron. To most humans, they're robotic aliens from another world, which isn't exactly wrong. The name "Transformer" stems from the species' shared ability to transform; to change bodies at will, rearranging their component parts from a robotic, humanoid (usually their primary) mode into an alternate form; vehicles, weapons, machinery, or animals. Cybertronians once lived under an oppressive and corrupt government. That all changed when the Great War began, thus leading towards great disaster on Cybertron. 

History

According to legend, at the beginning of time, there was Unicron and Primus. They battled each other for eons, with neither side remaining victorious for long. Until, that is, Primus created the Thirteen: the original Primes. These Thirteen defeated Unicron and cast him into space. Primus then became one with the core of Cybertron, and brought life to new Cybertronians through the Well of All Sparks.

In the early period of their history they were guided by the three remaining members of the Thirteen Original Primes (Prima, Alchemist Prime and Alpha Trion) who taught them about who they were and came from. While many dismissed the concept of deities and demigods, the stories were nonetheless preserved and used as lessons. They were, however, never taught of their inherent transformative abilities as Alchemist and Trion feared they were not ready yet. Prima frequently warred against the beast, Predaking (leader of the Predacons). This era came to end with the Great Cataclysm which killed the Predacons and was believed to have killed Prima.

The Cybertronians eventually reclaimed the surface of their world. Various kingdoms and city-states were erected which frequently warred with each other with various kings and queens rising and falling. Bands of criminals, such as the Vandals, Breakers and Ravagers roamed the wilderness of the planet and stealing from villages prompting the creation of the original Wrecker team. The Patterner cult rose during this time embracing the principles of logic and order as Primus decreed. Their most vocal opposer was Galvatron who promoted chaos and the way of Unicron. This would come to an end when the Quintessons came to Cybertron. Posing as benevolent entities they won the Cybertronians over with the gift of transformation (for they knew of the dormant T-Cog and how to activate it). Despite Alpha Trion's warnings (and the Quintessons essentially confirming they murdered Quintus Prime) the gift of transformation won the day and Cybertron bowed to the aliens.

The Quintessons quickly made rapid change and progress to Cybertron. The planet now had an interplanetary police force (which later became the Elite Guard). Subtly the Quintessons abducted Cybertronians to test their use as slaves and sell to other species. The problem was that the average Cybertronian was incredibly strong and durable and therefore able to overpower other lifeforms that would try to enslave them if given the chance. Under the Quintessons' arrogance a resistance formed under Sentinel. Managing to discover Quintessons plans (and steal Space Bridge plans) they broadcasted Quintesson violence to the populace who easily forced their "masters" off Cybertron. Though the memory of the invasion remained the details (specifically regarding the invaders) was lost due to poor records. The Quintessons, however, left behind space ships and bridges.

The Golden Age, a time when even Optimus and Megatron were companions

For the next 800,000 stellar cycles Cybertronians lived in a Golden Age. During this age, Cybertronians lived in peace with their fellow beings and colonized space, turning over 200 worlds into miniature Cybertrons. All this came to a sudden end when a ship encountered a "Rust Plague" which destroyed all metal. The Space Bridge network allowed the plague to spread through the galaxy rapidly. Sentinel Prime had no choice but to detonate the Space Bridges to save his race, condemning many of them to their colonies. When that came to a close the Caste system was introduced by Sentinel Zeta Prime locking each Cybertronian to one job and alternate form. Those in the lower castes did not even receive a name. It was common for those to take names for themselves.

Things started to change when the Great War began (between Autobots & Decepticons), which nearly annihilated the race and their world, thus leading to the Great Exodus, which caused the majority of Cybertronians to leave their dying world except for those who refused to leave and stayed behind. The war ended when Megatron was killed and the Autobots were able to revive Cybertron.

Biology and Appearance

Cybertronians consist of a brain, a heart-like Spark and body built of mechanical frames. Energon flows through every part of a Cybertronian's body, much like blood in a human. A Cybertronian's body is made of a type of metal called 'living metal', as it has properties that are similar to organic matter, such as repairing itself. A Cybertronian's mind can be transferred to another body using the Cortical Psychic Patch, where it is possible for two minds to occupy the same body.

They are able to leak "transmission fluid" if frightened. They also seem to be able to 'respirate'. This 'respiration' assists in functions like air cooling and/or flushing dust-like debris from their bodies. Without a mind, a Cybertronian body can be kept alive by artificial means.

Certain Cybertronian components, such as the T-Cog and Voice Box, are actually bio-mechanical organs and cannot be precisely constructed or repaired. The T-Cog enables Cybertronians to "Transform". Cybertronians are able to scan vehicles into their minds. They also appear to have mechanical nerves in their bodies and in their armor. They have the same senses that a human does with a few additional ones as well. If Cybertronian's arm or leg gets severed, it could be replaced or surgically repaired back to its proper place. If necessary a Cybertronian can upgrade to an entirely new body, through a mind transfer or other means, though this is rarely done.

Like humans, Cybertronians can get sick too. The Cybonic plague can infect a Cybertronian's energon and spreads throughout the victim's body. Once infected, the victim is weak and will require rest in order to gain some strength. If the victim is not cured, they could perish within seconds. Though there is a cure and once it's used on the victim, they are cured. If Cybertronians made contact with Tox-en, they could easily get infected and die from the effects of the Tox-en exposure if they are not treated. Indeed, the Cosmic Rust plague was what led to the end of their empire due to fear of being infected.

Despite the fact that they do not have what organic life has, they are distinguished by their appearance and personality. Alpha Trion claims that Cybertronians do not have gender in the Covenant of Primus even though both transformer body types have personalities that seem to indicate gender.

Bumblebee demonstrates masculine qualities, such as broader shoulders.

Males

Cybertronian males generally have a more "bulky" body than their female counterparts. The male populace ratio of the species is 12/13 as twelve of the Thirteen original Primes, who were the first Cybertronians to exist, were male. Some males like Optimus, Bumblebee, Knock Out, Predaking, and Ultra Magnus tend to have a "bulkier abodominal" area in their midsections. Some, like Alpha Trion, Drift, and Vector Prime have facial 'hair' while others have none. Cybertronian males have similar biology and qualities, such as broad shoulders and masculine features, of human males. 

Females

Arcee demonstrates feminine qualities, such as breasts and wider hips.

Female Cybertronians are portrayed as more graceful of form and are more rounded and curved in general.Cybertronian females tend to have a more "streamlined" body with bits of armor resembling human female hips, platted chest protrusions resembling breasts, and different midriffs, while some like Strongarm have a "bulkier" body and slim waist.

The female populace make up 1/13 and they are all modeled after Solus Prime. Cybertronian females have the biology and feminine qualities of human females, such as wider hips.

Beast Mode

Cybertronians with a Beast Mode (an animal as an alternate mode) appearance can vary wildly but usually conforms to the male/female split.

Mini-Cons

Mini-Cons are mini Cybertronians who usually come in pairs or just one. They would accompany any Cybertronian deployers who are allied with them. A lot of Mini-Cons appear in Transformers: Robots in Disguise.

Vehicle Mode

When most Cybertronians scan a vehicle they project a green beam from their eyes. Their T-Cog then reformats their body to incorporate bits of the vehicle onto their frame. Primes, however, project a blue beam.

Health

Cybertronians keep themselves well kept and hygienic. They would keep themselves clean by taking oil baths and maintain their systems with energon. When they would get sick, they would have to see a fellow Cybertronain medical expert in curing them. There are some well trained Cybertronian doctors and scientists who do their best to ensure the health and safety of their fellow beings.

When Optimus was damaged, there were sounds ofbreathing coming from him. This would indicate that, even though they don't breathe oxygen, Cybertronians would often take in a breath or so. If they were injured like Optimus was, then they would do the same. IfCybertronians get stabbed or slowly die out, they would breath deeply and perish on the spot. It would appear they breath when tired or when they get scared. It is possible that they breath as a cooling mechanism for their internal systems like Data from Star Trek: the Next Generation.

Body Parts

• Cybertronian Optics
• Cybertronian hands

Organs

• Transformation Cog (T-Cog)

Reproduction

Cybertronians are divided into males and females. Their species comes through Primus, their creator. Primus uses the AllSpark to create new life which emerges from the Well of Allsparks. Cybertronians emerge from the Well, "fully grown", in an initial alternate mode provided for them by Primus. Unlike humans, a Cybertronian does not reproduce sexually, but he or she could have a relationship with another Cybertronian. They rely on Protoforms to maintain their numbers. Insecticons are unique as they are able to self-reproduce by cloning themselves, yet each generation becomes more primitive and intellectually inferior.

Very rarely a spark can split into two sparks creating twins. The twins would be identical with their differences being their paint scheme and personalities. Examples are Skyquake and Dreadwing. Extremely rarely, the process could create triplets.

The most unique example of brothers and sisters on Cybertron are the Thirteen Original Primes who called themselves siblings.

I swear, this isn't what it looks like!

Cybertronians can form relationships comparable to members of human families with other members of their race. (i.e.: The relationship between Smokescreen and Alpha Trion could be compared to grandson-grandfather relationship). Team Prime is an example of a family. In addition, since all Cybertronians are created by Primus, one could say they are like brothers and sisters.

NOTE: Despite Cybertronians not knowing much about human biology, it appears that they do know about Sexual Reproduction. In the episode "Darkness Rising, Part 1", Arcee joked with Ratchet, asking him if he had heard that humans multiplied. Ratchet was expecting her and Bumblebee to bring back two humans. When they brought back three, Arcee jokingly implied that the teenagers had reproduced since then. In "Plus One", Knock Out said that he finds the idea of humans "interfacing" to be repulsive.

Size

Cybertronians vary in size with one another.

Cybertronians are generally large in comparison to Earth lifeforms, (on average, four to five times the height of a human). Female Cybertronians, like Arcee and Airachnid, tend to be shorter than male Cybertronians. There is quite a variety of Cybertronians who are larger or smaller than each other.

Variance in Form

Cybertronians normally have a humanoid form as their default though not all the time. They can range from massive to tiny. Given their robotic nature some have odd facial features. A Cybertronian's alternate mode affects their robot mode.

Lifestyle

Cybertronians have experienced several shifts in their lifestyle.

• Under the Quintessons they were subjected before rebelling.
• In the Golden Age, they had immense freedom. They gathered knowledge in all fields and explored the galaxy. They would also hang out with their fellow beings and get together for meetings or little conversations. Sometimes they would compliment each other on their work or personality.
• After the Golden Age, during the Caste system the average Cybertronian had almost no personal freedom. He/She would emerge from the Well, be given a job, a name (if they were lucky), and would work until they are unable to continue further.
• During the Great War, they dedicated themselves to combat but still retained their personalities. However, they were unsure what they would do if they ever stopped fighting, Bulkhead expressed these fears during the later days of the War.

Energy

Crystals of raw energon.

Unlike humans who need air and water as well as food, generally the Transformers' only major need to assure their continued functioning is Energon. Cybertronians don't eat energon physically, but they refine it for fuel. The fuel is like blood flowing through their bodies. If humans made contact with energon, it could affect them greatly.

In Cybertronians, energon is the key to their survival. It's one of the reason Cybertronians fight each other to gain control over its power. On Earth, there are small deposits located in specific parts on the planet. Energon is the key inside their biology. Without it, a Cybertronian could perish if they are not treated by field medics.

Energon deposits are rare to find in the galaxy as only Cybertron is the only known world to produce it naturally. Deposits exist on other world, but as they were planted millions of years ago, they could be hard to reach.

Some Energon types include:

• Energon (Regular Energon, a light blue color)
• Synthetic Energon (Can cause extreme aggression in Cybertronians, it's usually a green color when unstable)
• Red Energon (Gains speed and strength, a red color)
• Dark Energon (The blood of Unicron; will turn any Cybertronian into mindless Terrocon; a purple color)
• Tox-En (Poisonous Energon; can infect Cybertronians; a dull green color)
   

Gallery

Main Article: Cybertronian Galleries

Trivia

• While Cybertronians generally possess a single name -with no evidence of surnames- there are exceptions to this rule:
  • Orion Pax
  • Ultra Magnus
  • Alpha Trion
  • Liege Maximo
  • Most of the Thirteen include the term "Prime" in their name
• Cybertronians are unique in this continuity in that they do not call themselves "Transformers" rather that term was created by humans to refer to them. This is slowly becoming the standard of the franchise as the IDW comics now refer to the race solely as Cybertronians (in fact, to be called a Transformer in the comics is viewed as an insult as they find it demeans them as simple machines) as do the live action films. Both continuities at their start used the terms Cybertronians and Transformers interchangeably.
• In the Aligned continuity the Cybertronians were considered an endangered species after the Exodus (much like the continuity of the Michael Bay films, where they are almost extinct) before Optimus revived the planet. They are also thought of as one of the most advanced species in the galaxy.
• Since Cybertronians do not wear clothes like humans, their bodies are sometimes covered in cloth like surroundings. For example: Optimus Prime has built in blue sides that resembles blue shorts and Arcee has an actual built in skirt like clothing that covers around her whole waist.
• Although Cybertronians do not need to mate, it is proven that they can enter relationships with each other as shown by Megatronus and Solus. Despite Megatronus killing Solus, other Cybertronians are not seen to be in these kind of relationships.