“Now, a T-cog isn’t technology, it is
biology…”
Do Cybertronians breathe?
Many might have just scoffed, “What an obvious
answer! Of course not!” We do see them managing
just fine in space, underwater, and in confined
areas. So why am I bringing this up? Because
we aren’t talking about a gas exchange for
survival. We know that, but are they drawing
in air occasionally for other reasons?
First up, gasping. Cybertronians gasp as an emotional
response, but I believe it is not air producing
the sound. Cybertronians without mouths can
speak because they make the noises in the
voicebox, like a speaker in your electronics.
Starscream can gasp in space because he is
only replicating the sound. But why does Starscream
pant when running or frightened?
Here's my belief: Cybertronians respire as a way to
regulate temperature. If internals begin to
heat up, the body might draw in cooler air
from outside to help. Because Bulkhead claims
that they don’t breathe, but RID has the
bots breathe in some sickening substance.
So to remedy this, think that Bulkhead meant
that they don’t need air to live, but bots
still take in air sometimes for other reasons.
What was Megatron doing?
When Megatron is in a coma, his chest keeps
rising and falling. You might think the tubes
are doing this, but he also does it in Patch
when knocked out. When awake, he is still.
But every other character has immobile chests
when resting, like Starscream was normal in
Patch too. I think Megatron may actually have
a medical condition. This isn’t breathing,
since their chests don’t move when they
are respiring. But why would his metal be
stretching and compressing like that? I wonder
if Megatron has something like restless T-cog
syndrome or some pressure sensitivity that
makes his body want to relieve pressure off
his organs. I mean, Megatron might be messed
up. Have you seen his eyes?
Why do Megatron's eyes go in different directions? They are funky all the time, and this could very well
be a medical condition as well. Something
might have been damaged
long ago in the gladiatorial pits.
Do Cybertronians cry?
“Decent movie… I have to go dry my optics.
I seem to be uh- leaking lubricant…”
*sobbing noises*
“Blades. We don’t cry, remember?”
"Speak for yourself!"
“BOOHOO! I’m shedding lubricant!”
Yes, but not as often as humans. Or perhaps,
just not on screen because characters like
Arcee swallow their pain. Fanart wants to
make it look like energon, but please go with
the gold. It just looks like they are crying
blood I swear XD
Do Cybertronians sleep?
“Go away.”
BEEP BOOP
“You’re interrupting my power down!”
“A good power down and a stroll around the
smelting pit will put you back in touch with
your inner warlord!”
“You humans need sleep. We don’t.”
“For FIVE minutes…
Could you not be yourself?
FOR FIVE MINUTES!”
Yes, Cybertronians are shown to need sleep,
but it is not certain how often they need
it. Perhaps not every day, but they do reference
a recharge cycle in TFP and the novels.
Insecticons are probably often sleeping a
lot. Sure they are made of metal, but they
have more limitations as living things with
cells. Why do they need sleep? Well, the same
reason we do. While resting, the bots can
heal their worn down bodies and give their
heads a break.
So what is stasis and power down?
Bots are knocked out cold, coming online later.
Ratchet puts Bumblebee out to rest and recover,
so it could be like forced sleep as well.
Ratchet and Starscream both act loopy after
being woken up from it.
“I am able!”
“I can’t wait to take flight and soar above the clouds!”
Stasis is a hibernation, survival ability
of Cybertronians. It is when they freeze their
energon and shut down bodily functions to
survive waits or hide from dangers.
Cybertronians can naturally put themselves into stasis if
need be, but they may not remember how to
do it. Stasis can also be forced on bots with
technology, such as pods to spare bots of
having boring, long space trips. Stasis pods
also seem to help Cybertronians rest better
and heal faster, as in RBA. It can also be
a weapon to freeze enemies.
Cybertronian animals also used stasis to hide from predators.
In Rescue Bots, the crew hid from an energon-eater
by freezing their blood in stasis. In fact,
this could be the natural defense to hide
from Predacons- how Predaking could have lost
Wheeljack.
What form do they prefer to sleep in?
For some bots, lying down might not be so
comfortable considering their parts. Ratchet
wanted to sleep in vehicle mode, but that
might have just been the best way to avoid
detection. Arcee did not seem to like staying
in her vehicle mode too long, since it was
cramped. Bulkhead is likely the same. So whatever
formed they feel loosest in, they would probably
sleep in. As for Predaking, his bot-form is
so compact and he can’t lie on his back
with those wings. Predacons would prefer their
protoforms, the beast forms, to sleep in.
Everyone else likely just rests on their own
berths.
Are Cybertronians immortal?
Cybertronians do not die of old age. They
can die of illnesses and bodily harm, but
their sparks will not burn out. However, older
bots such as Ratchet and Alpha Trion apparently
have decreased strength. Time may wear down
those joints, but I don’t see why they can’t
have surgeries to completely replace their
limbs with new material. Heck, they could
even transplant organs from younger, dead
bots into themselves. So perhaps time could
wear down their bodies, but they can get around
it and continue living.
What other fluids do Cybertronians have if
Bumblebee could leak something and Knockout
and Blades mentioned transmission fluid?
So Cybertronians don’t have car parts, but
their bodies still need to produce other fluids
to power themselves onwards. What Bumblebee
spilled was probably not oil exactly, but
another fuel he produces. Their transmission
fluid exists, but could be of a different
chemical make-up. Also, both Blades and Knockout
mention that they might have leaked transmission
fluid when frightened, so this might be a
real thing that can happen.
"I think I leaked a little transmission fluid!"
How do Cybertronians move their faces and
flex metal parts like necks and wrists?
Back to that living metal. They can pull and
scrunch up their metal, so that is how we
get those flexible faces. But if you look
at Knockout or Starscream’s necks, it is
just bendy metal. Some parts of bodies are
hard, but they can bend other parts. You do
not need a T-cog for all movement, so Starscream
can still move his metal to a limited extent
without one.
Why do Cybertronians have different colours
of eyes, lights, and blasts, if they all live
on regular, blue energon?
A legit question considering that taking alternate
energon, like synthetic or dark, turns eyes
into that colour. And Predacons naturally
have yellow highlights without ever taking
anything special. Knockout is not on red energon,
but his body produces a red glow. This has
to do with the subject I talked about in the
first bio video on energon. See, their bodies
are equipped to show foreign, possibly dangerous
substances within them. So perhaps something
scans the intrusion and changes the lights
to display to other Cybertronians what is
wrong. But otherwise, the blue eyes of Autobots
are not showing normal, blue energon quality.
Eye and metal colour is optional for Cybertronians.
They are created with colours, but they can
scan and modify themselves easily, at least
the non-beast ones can for certain. So the
blue is not a reading of their energon. It
is the body’s random colour and it can just
as easily be yellow or red in healthy bots.
In most cases, it means nothing. Bots tend
to have themes, so a glowing red bot will
probably fire red blasts. Back to blasters,
some blasters such as Starscream’s have
other effects, so the difference in colour
could come from the other elements in the
blasts.
Can Cybertronians have mental health?
Yes, and I immediately I thought of Arcee’s
PTSD and then Whirl from RBA. Can be natural
or caused by traumatic experiences, because
what is natural isn’t an issue, just a different
structure of the brain. Whirl is not stupid,
but she has an excitable nature and difficulty
concentrating. She does not know when it is
inappropriate to shout out her random questions,
when others her age do. If you watch the show,
you will know what I mean.
Many Cybertronians might just have difficulty understanding social cues or have unusual interests.
Chase and Medix from the Rescue Bots series just do
not understand sarcasm and jokes at all.
They didn’t have traumatic experiences- they
were just forged that way, and they
relate to each other. I actually like the
message of one RBA episodes. All the recruits
talk about how they love surprises, but when
Medix claims he doesn’t, they try to force
him to like them. But they just can’t do
it, and in the end, they accept that it is
fine that he doesn’t. The young bots show
that you can just be like this, although Cybertronians
can be shaped by their experiences. Megatron
is a product of how he lived as a slave and
gladiator, but some have suggested that Starscream
isn’t just the way he is because of privileged
upbringing. Starscream doesn’t seem to get
social cues and social responsibilities either.
He shows interest in befriending Knockout,
but he is pretty bad at it. He was rude to
him a few times, but never expected him to
turn on him. You can actually hear and see
his misery when he gets locked up. Starscream
also is prone to blurting out things at inappropriate
times or without filter. He is constantly
offending and upsetting others, then is surprised
when he gets a reaction. He doesn’t seem
to even understand the emotional damage he
causes, doing things and then forgetting how
it causes lingering hatred toward him.
“Yeah but then you helped MECH steal Bumblebee’s
T-cog!”
“So? He got it back, didn’t he?”
“Hmpf!”
And Starscream can do some really smart things,
like his entire plan in Inside Job. He is
competent- he was the top commander of the
Seekers before. So why is it that he is so
bad at understanding others? Even Megatron
knows better than him.
Trauma is also possible. Arcee definitely
has PTSD, as seen in Predatory and Partners.
Starscream reacts to certain movements, raising his hands to cover his face anytime Megatron comes at
him. He also seems to have Stockholm Syndrome
in season 3, now dependent on Megatron, and
he is upset when he dies. The evidence is
against him faking it. One, there was no advantage
in freaking out. Even if Starscream thought,
“He can’t be dead, he will come back,
so I can’t celebrate”, he doesn’t need
to act sad. Megatron won’t come back and
hurt him over something like not crying at
the funeral. Also, Starscream would not have
expected Shockwave to hold him back. Shockwave
is supposed to hate him!
What organs do Cybertronians have that are
confirmed?
Processor: this is their brain
Voicebox: how they produce sounds
Spark chamber: it holds and protects their
sparks
T-cog or transformation cog : it lets them
scan things, and it also instructs their bodies
in how to transform
Pyrovalve: is the fire-producing organ of Predacons.
The Dinobots had them put inside
them.
Optics: their eyes, which can see in infrared
and ultraviolet. They can also zoom in and out.
Audio receptors: located at the side of their
heads. It allows them to hear.
Olfactory sensors: located in their faces,
which allows them to smell
However, a lot of terms you know are not official
in the Aligned Continuity. For example, we
never hear the word for foot or ass. Also,
glossas or tongues, do not seem to exist.
All art and shows except for RBA have them
without tongues, and even then, they are not
mentioned. RBA may just have included them
as a design choice for the kiddies. And of
course, there are zero reproductive organs.
Full explanation in the robot sex and is Knockout
gay video to come.
How did the Terrorcon disease create those
fangs and tubes?
Primus has creation abilities, so why not
Unicron? If he wanted to, he probably could
have created his own dark Primes. But he is
a being that loathes life and wants to destroy
it all. The supernatural, creatinalist ability
warped the bots into demonic creatures who
will kill as many as possible. Unicron can
change bodies like Primus can, and he has
done it before to Megatron.
How do they talk without airflow?
Sounds are produced in the voicebox, so probably
like speakers.
Why do Cybertronians suffer in the snow, but
not in the cold reaches of space?
I don’t have a scientific background, but
I always believed it had to do with the moisture
getting into them. Some people did some good
explanations in the comment section. One was
that space is not as cold as we think, only
freezing in the shade or in places without
the sun. Otherwise, it is hot. They may be
able to balance the temperatures. There is
also no cold wind blasting them in space either.
The issue with long exposure to snow is that
it gets into the cracks, maybe freezing up
their joints and important organs. And it
does take hours before it becomes dangerous
for them. Predaking can withstand the cold
better because while his body froze, his fire-producing
organ may have warmed his organs inside.
Moisture upon him may have frozen him when he landed, but why didn’t Predaking heat himself up
and escape earlier? He may have powered down
or gone into stasis as an unintentional response.
His important parts would be protected by
inner heat. It’s all I got.
Can Cybertronians heal? Or would they bleed
endlessly?
Cybertronians can heal naturally like humans
can with rest and time. However, also like
humans, big cuts need to be closed. But once
they are, those welds marks and dents all
fade away someday. Cybertronians can bleed
to death without treatment, but their blood
probably does clot by crystallizing. And I
think it would suck if all the bots leaked
endlessly without treatment. So I believe
energon scabs would be a thing.
The Soundwave package!
Is that Soundwave’s face, or is it a mask?
The Titan comic showed something, but I don’t
think they are canon because wacky things
go down in them, like Starscream fighting
a giant vehicon in a fight pit.
“And see about repairing his cracked visor,
will you?”
The definition of that word is a covering
for the face. Also, it looks like Soundwave
is looking through something when we get his
perspective, but you might disagree there.
But the WFC design shows some semblance of
a face. He could be wearing an eye covering
like Jazz, and a mouth visor like Wheeljack.
He definitely has optics, but a mouth is uncertain.
“Soundwave is no ordinary Cybertronian,
inside or out!”
What makes Soundwave so special?
I talked about this in the Laserbeak video,
but Soundwave has a very unique brain and
some tentacles with neat abilities. Soundwave
can download files into his brain without
damaging it, which is impossible for the others
to do. He can store all that information,
but it is possible for others to look at it,
so he has to protect himself. Soundwave can
interact with technology through his tentacles
or remotely, picking up and sending signals
when everyone else has to use devices. He
is his own device, a technical sensitivity
that he had to have been born with or else
others would just format themselves the same
way. He can connect instantly with the warship
to use its tech to open portals, but he might
only use his tentacles when uploading or interacting
hands on with files.
As for Soundwave’s tentacles, they can electrify
and also see. I mentioned before that it could
be possible that Cybertronians have tiny,
eye-like cameras on their alt-forms, and so
the same idea for these red dots on the end
of his tentacles.
What is the significance of a spark’s colour?
What colours would our characters have?
Cybertronian culture would give different
meanings to colours than we do. But Primus
might not intend to colour the sparks on personalities,
based on his perception of colour. Since Optimus’
implied spark was blue and red, spark colour
could simply determine the colour a bot’s
future body will have. That means Shockwave’s
might be purple, and Starscream’s red to
follow his previous colours. But then again,
what colours go into the vehicon bodies? Their
spark chambers might just call forth random
colours to fill them. Or maybe it was just
a coincidence, and any bot with a red and
blue spark comes out with a personality like
Optimus’. But personality varies wildly,
so colours could be limiting. I think it is
more likely to influence beginning body colour.
What would happen if you touched a spark?
Do sparks feel hot? Sparks are strange things,
so there is no telling if it would burn like
the holy light of the Star Saber, or feel
comforting like the light of the core. Maybe
you can’t touch it, since sparks are able
to slip into different dimensions. You ever
find it strange that extinguished sparks could
still join the Allspark although it was locked up?
Or that sparks could escape it and wiggle
into new bodies? Onyx Prime had a mask that
let him see the journey of a spark across
the hidden reaches of death. Dead sparks cannot
be seen or felt for certain, but a living
spark might be different since it can be seen.
Are Cybertronians naturally “born” with
single optics? How about more?
Cybertronians are not always forged with two
eyes, but most are. A few one-eyed bots occur,
and so does the eight-eyed Dr.Cogwheel. The
Well is about variety, and bots don’t even
have the same number of fingers. I think one
optic is natural.
What are mouths for? How do mouthless Cybertronians
consume energon?
You’ll wonder this since I said that all
sounds are produced by the voicebox. Mouths
allow your average bot to easily consume energon.
Mouth movement is not necessary for speech,
but they are liking only doing it as a part
of emotional expression. It is possible that
mouthless bots open up elsewhere, a slot to
insert energon. It is not logical that Primus
would create bots reliant on technology to
survive, needles that may not have yet been created.
Maybe it is as terrifying as this
fanart I saw once!
Can Cybertronians survive in radioactive areas?
I don’t know much about radiation, but simply
put, says Google, it can knock electrons from
atoms and do damage to DNA. Cybertronians
are also a sensitive, biological race, and
have weaknesses artificial robots don’t.
It is confirmed that they have cells and their
own DNA, so I am in the belief that high levels
of radiation could start to affect them. We
at least know they get weakened from substances
like dark energon and tox en.
But I am not a science student; I’m a language student!.
Can Cybertronians get fat or buff?
We see Cybertronians working out, but they
don't ever get bigger. If they could, Megatron
would give himself bulging biceps. They can’t
get fatter off energon or inactivity, because
that would imply metal is stored excess energy.
But can Cybertronians get stronger? It seems
that they can perhaps to a limit, but their
body size isn’t going to change. What they
might actually be improving is agility and
endurance. Running and doing pushups could
train their bodies to do more while using
less energon. Perhaps it is only their joints
and internal structure being thickened, and
not the plating hanging around them.
If Cybertronians are not technology, does
AI exist on Cybertron?
Yes! Chuck! Cybertronians have their own automated
technology and AI systems. If you don’t
know Chuck, he is a robot created by Cybertronians
in RBA.
How does Starscream keep replacing his missiles?
Starscream’s missiles are not produced by
his body. When Starscream uses them, they
are not automatically replaced. When animators
are paying attention, the fired missile is
missing for a while until he has an opportunity
to replace them. This also explains why Starscream
holds back on using them, instead of just
pelting others with the highly explosive weapons.
Several times, the missiles reappear after
a switch to another scene or character.
This is actually an animation error, much like
Laserbeak still being attached to Soundwave after
he has been deployed. Starscream likely stole
more missiles from military bases when he
was rogue, or the Decepticon ship may have
had a bunch in storage.
I mean look at what else it had!
Why did Starscream have a replacement arm?
If they are biology, why did Knockout say
“model”?
This bothered me for a long time because I
had no answer. But one day I was complaining
to my sister, and I think she solved it for
me. She was like, “Well, rich people clone
their organs in the movies”. Hmmm, you know
what, I could work with that!
We see vehicon parts cloned, and Predacons are made out of nothing,
so why couldn’t Starscream
clone parts of himself in case of an accident?
Higher up Decepticons might have entered a
program where they could have models of themselves
made, so that they could have spare parts
and upgrades available when needed. These
different missiles could have been the creativity
of whoever’s job this was. So Knockout could
look up what they had in storage for Starscream,
and these things might exist for Megatron as well.
Can you tickle a Cybertronian?
You see this stuff in the Rescue Bots series,
but when Starscream is taunting Optimus and
Dreadwing, he says it. So yes, the evidence
seems to be in, you can tickle a Cybertronian.
How could they disable Breakdown’s sense
of pain?
This is bullshit writing because that line
makes no sense whatsoever! How would MECH
soldiers, who knew nothing about Cybertronians,
know how to do this? And if Cybertronians
could just turn off their pain, then why not do that before charging into battle to make yourself more fearsome?
Why not do that if someone
is torturing you?
I have a feeling that it was only put in because Hasbro didn’t want excruciating vivisection on TV.
This line we might have to pretend didn’t happen.
Do Cybertronian bodies decompose?
Dead Cybertronians exposed to the elements
lose their pigmentation and turn, as Megatron
said, “to gun metal grey”. All the old
zombies are grey and Skyquake after likely
months of being buried under rock. The plague
bodies have lost most of their colours and
were going grey. However, the freshly dead
do not lose their colour, like the zombie
vehicons. Cliffjumper, Breakdown, and the
Starscream clone’s bodies are starting to
look off, but they were stored inside and
retained their colours.
The Prime buried in the tomb was likely just protected from decomposition,
and maybe even sprayed with something to preserve the colours.
So if bodies start going grey,
then this could mean that had CYLAS been allowed
to walk around outside more, the corpse he
was controlling would have gone grey and looked creepy!
Can Cybertronians taste?
Yes! And apparently dark energon is delicious
and sweet. The original Predaking also thought
Insecticons were tasty, and bipeds average.
There is also a difference in taste between
blood energon and energon, since Hardsheel
could taste the difference.
Do they have noses or not?
It’s all about the design so there is no
way of really knowing. They can smell no matter what,
so believe what you want...
Do Cybertronians dream?
Yes, Cybertronians do dream. When Megatron
was in his coma, his subconsciousness went
on to create a dream world. You can assume
that when they sleep, their brains are still
active enough to dream. And they would also
be able to have nightmares, so you can give
anyone PTSD nightmares in your fanfics.
These are all the non sexual biology questions
I received and thought you would be interested in!
The next Q&A will be all the sexual questions
I received. We will also make videos tackling
culture and plot questions later on.
“It is biology…”
