- Stasis cuffs are devices from the Transformers Animated continuity family.
Chancellor Palpatine, you are under arrest by the order of the Jedi Temple.
Stasis cuffs are Transformer-sized handcuffs with a rigid block between the individual cuffs, which holds an extendable belt for use when placing the unit.
They place the Transformer they are used on into a form of stasis lock, which leaves the victim fully conscious and capable of speech, but - once active - unable to move in any other way or use any special powers they may possess.
Fiction
Animated cartoon
When Optimus Prime refused to agree to cover up recent events with Megatron and the AllSpark, Sentinel Prime arrested him, and threatened to use a pair of stasis cuffs on him. When he later tried to use them on Optimus, however, he quickly found them on his own wrists. Optimus would get the chance to use the same pair on Starscream later the same day.
Lots of pairs of stasis cuffs, but much thinner than seen before
When the Cybertron Elite Guard departed Earth, they left a box of stasis cuffs for Optimus' crew to use on any Decepticons they would encounter. Mission Accomplished
These cuffs were soon put to good use when it was shown that the brig of the Elite Guard's ship could not hold the rogue Decepticon. Prowl, eager to prove himself, took a pair to the moon once he tracked the signature of Starscream's AllSpark fragment there. During the scuffle between Prowl and the bounty hunter Lockdown, Starscream escaped. It is unknown if the cuffs were ineffective against Starscream's unique mechanical makeup, or if one of his clones freed him. Given his ability to break out of the Elite Guard's brig, either is quite possible - but after recovering from Prowl's EMP, Starscream seemed to have his movement limited only by the physical device, as with a human in handcuffs, rather than the statue-like state Sentinel Prime was left in.
A pair Lockdown supplied seemed to be effective enough to restrain another clone, but it was later revealed that this was Starscream's intent. Their true usefulness against Starscream or his clones is presently quite uncertain. A Fistful of Energon.
Later, Lockdown used a pair on Liar Starscream, but for some reason, they didn't work. Perhaps because they weren't fully connected together. Five Servos of Doom
Trivia
- The cuffs for the wearer into "stasis lock", meaning they can't move their bodies except for the mouths.
- The cuffs vary in size; from being big enough to hold Lugnut, to small enough to fit onto any other Decepticon.
- Later in later episodes, the cuffs appear to make the wearer limp rather than frozen in space, such as in "Decepticon Air" when a Starscream clone puts a pair on Sentinel Prime. His arms and legs hang freely instead of frozen.
- The cuffs bear similar appearance and function to the Stun cuffs from the Star Wars franchise.