#Cybertronian anatomy

[novafire-is-thinking]

I was reading IDW2’s Halloween Special for the interesting landscapes, and I came across this:

I wonder if this means every Cybertronian has sharp teeth or fang-like canines…

[lockheed-martin-unofficial]

Hello transformers community.

I want to write fanfics, I’ve been planning certain storylines in my head for a long time, but I need help.

You see, I’m not very familiar with the body part terminology used for cybertronians, I know some stuff from briefly reading other peoples fics, but I’m not really confident I know it properly and I don’t wanna break the immersion by using human terms. Is there a diagram or something that breaks it all down for dummies? Or could a kind person on the internet perhaps give me a rundown? I’d really appreciate it.

[megatron-fucks]

This is only a passing thought right now, but would people be interested if I wrote up a guide to Cybertronian anatomical/medical terminology and how to use that while writing?

I'm thinking mainly about it being helpful to people who want to include a bit (or a lot) of medical stuff in fics without having to get too bogged down in details.

I came up with a fair chunk of that for The Slope, but also I just have been writing speculative medicine for such a very long time and I realised that could be of use to people.

Also I guess if people were interested in "how to write plausible-sounding technobabble for medicine in scifi/fantasy" I could do that separately. Right now I have robots on the brain but in the past I've given a fair bit of thought to magic's impact on the body and to bug aliens.

[walks-the-ages]

Decided to make a labled Cybertronian as an easy reference lol. based on "The Vitruvian Man" illustraton by Da Vinci.

Bullet point list of various body parts / references from an older post + what I've picked up from reading fic under the cut, which is archived here.

Spark Chamber - inside of chest, houses the Spark - the Heart/Soul of a Cybertronian

Sparkling - a newly formed or newly born / young Cybertronian, usually used for infants or unborn sparklings, which are "sparked off" usually two Cybertronians merging their Sparks during interface.

New Sparklings can be carried around inside the Spark Chamber until more developed, built a body, OR are carried in a more biological "gestation chamber" where they are born in a more biological way, either live birth or in mechanical eggs.

Cold Construction - Frame is pre-built and then charged with a Spark to create new life. Used to build "disposables" and low-caste members for the workforce.

Forged - A Spark is harvested from the Allspark (?) on Cybertron and placed in Sentio Metallico / a protoform, where it then shapes its own form and grows from there. Usually high-caste, and look down on ColdCons :/

Protoform - baby sparklings, OR base form of a Cybertronian, underneath all the armour and transformations

Mesh - base form of a Cybertronian, underneath all the armour and transformations; skin.

Root Mode - default mode; protoform.

Sentio Metallico - living metal. Cybertronian base composition

Alt Mode - vehicular/disguise mode.

Robot Mode - non-vehicular mode

Sparkmate - soulmate (after sparkbonding during interface, which is either casual and par for the course, or a much more intimate choice made rarely) or, generally, a spouse.

Conjunx - Spouse or partner

Amica - Best friend or platonic partner

Tailpipe / Bumper / Aft - butt

Piston / Spike - Penis

Valve - Vagina (^ usually both at the same time)

Plating - outer armor, skin.

Chassis / Chest Plate - chest

Vents - Lungs, and where expelled air exits from. Can be very loud like a stressed computer under duress or excitement.

Fuel Pump - stomach, usually used for emotional expressions

Energon Converter (outdated) - Heart

Manifold (outdated?) - guts, viscera, what holds them

T-Cog - transformation cog, effects balance and posture

Pedes - feet

Servos - hands

digits - fingers

Finials / Audials - Pointy head ornamentation, also doubling as ears some times

Chevron - V-shaped head ornamentations, "crowns"

Helm / Cranial Unit - head

Faceplate - face

Optics/ Opticals / Optical Units - eyes

Mouthplate - mouth or shield in front of it

Dente - teeth

Glossa - tongue

Vocal Processor - voice box

Lubricant - various bodily fluids: from keeping joints oiled, to saliva, to tears, to internal blood, to reproductive fluids

Energon - same as above, while also being food/drink, fuel for weapons, etc.

Low/High Grade- Energon which is consumed as alcohol. Can also simply be drinking more Energon than is required for a full tank called "overfueling"

Stasis - Long Term Sleep for storage or transport; medically induced coma.

Recharge - Sleep.

Defrag / Defrag cycle - Pre-sleep routine, usually requires reliving the events of the day to process them for memory storage; dreaming, nightmares.

Offline - unconscious; dead

Energy Signature - A lifesign unique to each Cybertronian, used to monitor health; if it vanishes from sensors, they are dead, or in a different dimension (rare lol)

Mech - general term for a singular or group of Cybertronians

"x looked at the other mech" "the stadium was full of mechs" etc

Femme - feminine; either an indicator of gender or physical expression.

Seekers - flying types, usually Decepticon.

Elite Trine / Trine - Seekers born, mated, or platonically bonded in groups of three

Aura / EM Field - a metaphysical field around living beings that Cybertronians can sense or train themselves to see, which emotions can be felt through like an empathic field.

Frame - Body in general, or specific body types.

Brain Module / Core Processor / CPU - the brain

Circuits - nerves, veins, etc. Catchall.

Biolights - bioluminescence, can be used to convey emotion

Kibble - decoration that is there just for aesthetic value; the equivalent of jewelry or piercings probably.

Functionism - Eugenics, Racism, and Ableism all wrapped up in one big ball of Autobot Supremacy

[jessenitrogen]

cybertronian anatomy ?? (headcanons)

FAIR WARNING, I STILL DONT KNOW THE MOST ABT TRANSFORMERS, I KNOW THERES A TCOG AND A SPARK BUT THATS IT AND ALSO WHILE I DID TAKE ANATOMY CLASS I FORGOT A BIT OF IT BUT and doesnt help I know next to nothing abt mechanics stuff

and another fair warning, the headcanons are canon to ME when I put them in the context of my continuity and exist bcuz I thought of it to fit in my continuity/my designs bcuz fuck it we ball

DENTA/TEETH/DIGESTIVE SYSTEM?

I think the purpose of their denta would not to chew but to bite into energon. Theyre metal beings, that are BIG in most cases, I believe they have a bite force strong enough enough to bite into energon in its mineral state.

For denta appearance, (while I dont know the best shape there is to cut into rock) would be sharp teeth, yknow pointed teeth. Some cybertronians have sharp pointed teeth and then there are some who dont. Well heres the kicker since these guys can also transform, I feel like they can alter their denta shape as well. highly compacted plates that can loosen and move when need be or something. Their sharp teeth can pop out like that HTTYD scene with Toothless popping out his teeth

They dont have tongues, cuz they dont taste, or use it to swallow, or use it to talk. They just kinda. Lean their helms back to get energon into their throats, like birds!!

And they dont need a tongue to formulate their speech, for their voice box is like, a literal box that generates sound waves that is the cybertronians voice. A cybertronian moves their mouth as to not muffle their voice.

While their denta is not designed to chew, in order to get energon into a shape/size that can get to their version of stomachs, their throats grind the energon into smaller bits so it can travel easier through their esophagus. or whatever the cybertronian equivalent is.

Once the energon gets to their stomachs, its melted down into a liquid state so it can flow to the spark where it is essentially "charged" and then can flow throughout tubes and circuits and power their bodies/frames and systems. And I believe, the cybertronians were created in such a way that they can utilize every component of energon so nothing goes to waste.

Cybertronians were created before the technology was made that could convert energon into a liquid state. That tech was made as to cut down digestive time and save energy that could be used for other things.

SKIN/INTEGUMENTARY SYSTEM

idk what cybertronian skin is called and I barely remember what the integumentary system is other than its skin it helps regulate body temp and helps fight infection?

ANYWAYS their skin is like a very flexible metal, its thinner in parts where the frame has more armor, but thicker in places that dont have armor to compensate for the lack of armor.

Here in this thin layer of metal are receptors that can sense touch and pain, and like idk abt this part but wanna say there is a thin layer of wire net/mesh that can either warm up or cool down as a way to assist the cybertronians ventilation system (ventilation system does most of the work when cooling down the frame)

This layer can repair itself over time. It can also be replaced with external metal if the layer is too damaged. During the early times of the War for Cybertron injuries were repaired with external metal. This external metal did not include touch/pain receptors or the wire net/mesh that assists with temp regulation. Those who were frequently repaired with this external metal have some resistance to pain but have the tendency to overheat, in severe cases need an external source to cool down their frames. ie, dipping in water

Cybertronians need to stay at a constant temp, normally a LOT warmer than we do, in order to keep the energon in a liquid state and stay warm during the nights on Cybertron. If they get too cold the energon can solidify again and cause blockage in circuits and tubing. But if their frames get too hot, the processor can fry, circuits can melt, etc

EXTRA/HALFBAKED HEADCANONS

these I dont have detailed thought on atleast yet, but

They wouldnt have noses. they dont breathe, or smell, so.

They dont have ANY reproductive organs, internal or external. They cannot reproduce with eachother or by themselves. their numbers only increase bcuz of the Allspark

AND THATS ALL I HAVE rn I'd like to state here and now that these headcanons definitely apply to all of my characters and my continuity versions of canon characters. and like, no one has to agree with them or use them but it's also cool if someone does

[ask-a-bot]

Thank you so much for answering my question. :)

My pleasure.

I think that was me, Megatron. Sorry.

No, Bumblebee, you are mistaken. I remember the name. I answered a question from this individual.

Sorry, that was definitely me.

Where are all of my fan messages? I am the star and everyone knows it!

You are a pain in my...

Megatron!

Helm, Optimus. I was going to say helm. It is not my fault that you have a dirty processor. Hmm... or, possibly, I might have decided to say boron compressor. I might have said that.

... Why? Isn't that like a human referring to something like-

Small intestine.

Megatron... why?

[knight-says-rollout]

What if lensed optics are a Kaon feature like doorwings are Praxian

So bots from different areas of cybertron tend to have different characteristics based off that and unique to that area

The best example is Praxians, with the whole doorwings and chevron thing

What if lensed optics are like that? Not kind that look like glasses, I mean the type of optic Swindle has

It would make sense, kaon has a major air pollution issue to the point it’s described as degrading optics and audials in just a few years. The second-lens-frame-thing would provide more protection so evolutionarily it makes Sense.

It makes even more sense that not every bot from there has them! Cold construction aside, there’s no need for bots anywhere else to have optics like that so they wouldn’t have cropped up in other cities. Meanwhile, the death rates in kaon were so high and at that point natural selection kinda ends up crapping out. The allspark didn’t know if making bots with them was working so not all bots got em

[decepticonfessional]

Part One of a short series on Cybertronian Anatomy.

[gardenofchrome]

SOMEONE PUBLISH A CYBERTRONIAN ANATOMY BOOK

[serotoninisheldinkiwis]

im on my bs yall /lh/j

sorry im gonna be not normal abt tf:one but i watched the trailer again and realized somethin wasn't quite right w the way elita-1/ariel moved

and yall

I REALIZED IT LOOKED OFF AND I ZOOMED IN AND???

SHE ROUNDHOUSE KICKS BUT SHE KEEPS A FOOT F I R M L Y PLANTED. HOMEGIRL SWIVELS HER HIPS INDEPENDENTLY OF HER TORSO AND LEG TO GET POWER BEHIND THE KICK. IT MAKES TOTAL SENSE SHE'S A ROBOT SHES NOT A HUMAN HER JOINTS ARE DIFFERENT THAN OURS.

STILL. THATS SO COOL AND IT ALSO ISNT ANYTHING I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF MYSELF. THATS SO COOL.

[novafire-is-thinking]

So I was wondering for a long time what would canonically happen if a human stayed inside a Cybertronian while they transformed. I came across two pages in IDW comics that mostly answered my question:

However, would this apply to all other Transformers or does it only apply to those with the same body type as Bumblebee or only Bumblebee? Does the alt mode have anything to do with this? Would the transforming noise be louder or muffled from the inside?

It definitely depends on the bot’s body type and alt mode. It probably depends on the show and continuity too.

Prime

In the second episode of Prime, Miko forgets to grab her guitar before hopping out of Bulkhead. It ends up somewhere in his “subspace”:

Notice how she says “back seat.”

In the IDW panels you sent, Bumblebee shifts his passengers to his back seat before transforming.

This tells me that, when a Cybertronian with a car mode is transforming from alt mode to root mode, people and items are probably safer and/or more comfortable if they’re in the back seat.

A couple of episodes later, it’s discovered that Miko tagged along without Bulkhead realizing it. Twice:

In the moments leading up to this part, Bulkhead is seen launching from the ground in alt mode and transforming to his root mode midair to grab onto a rocky cliff side. Miko was inside the entire time and survived, although she definitely suffered for it.

What about root mode to alt mode transformation? What would happen then?

Well, in season 3, Miko does what she does and ends up inside of Wheeljack’s subspace:

It’s never shown whether WJ first transformed to alt mode to let her hop in or if he just opened up his chest and dropped her in. My guess is the latter since, on the way out of the hangar to the ship, Magnus and Bulkhead weren’t far ahead of him when she asked if she could come. They probably would have noticed him switch to his alt mode, which neither Wheeljack nor Miko wanted.

The thing is, did he think before dropping Miko inside?

I doubt that he did, but these are the questions I would have:

Since combat might require split-second transformation, did he drop her in knowing she would survive an emergency transformation to his alt mode? (Unknown)

Did he tell her in which part of his subspace she’d be most comfortable in case he had to transform to his alt mode? (Probably not)

Was his plan to let her out in Magnus’ ship before going outside? (Maybe)

So, in TFP, The safety and comfort of a human inside a bot going from car mode to root mode is unknown.

Unfortunately, I have nothing I can go off of for fliers.

Rescue Bots

Several times throughout the series, the human members of the rescue team ride inside their partners’ chests when they switch to and from their alt modes. It’s safe and comfortable. They even get nice seats. lol

Barring the fact that this is a kids show which requires this feature, I wonder if the bots were able to choose this for their human partners or if they just made sure to scan alt modes with that particular type of subspace.

It would definitely be interesting to know if Cybertronians have the ability to choose which insides and kibble go where when first scanning an alt mode…

Anyway—

Rise of the Beasts + Bayverse films

RotB gave us a golden glimpse of Cybertronian transformation abilities.

Behold…one of my favorite parts of the movie:

Originally, I was going to use the AoE clip of Optimus scanning his new alt mode and transforming around his human passengers, but this clip works better. It’s an excellent display of what a Cybertronian body is capable of.

With more than a handful of distinct alt modes, Mirage appears to be a special case. I mean, the guy can literally separate pieces of his body to give to others and become an armored suit for a human.

Can all Cybertronians do that? I have no idea. When’s it my turn to be lovingly wrapped in living metal armor? Hm?

Looking at both AoE and RotB, Cybertronians appear to have the ability to move individual parts (within limits).

It would make sense if all bots could at least do what Mirage does in the above clip, if nothing more than that.

This is incredibly useful when transforming with human passengers.

Now, to answer your last question (finally):

The noise level inside a bot during transformation would depend on which parts are being moved and how much shifting is taking place. Cosmetic shifts would be muffled since they’re happening outside, but if parts surrounding the human(s) are being shifted, it’s going to be loud and clear to the passenger(s).

Movies are almost never a good way of determining realistic noise levels, but in the clip with Mirage and Noah, things don’t sound muffled at all.

[fourphoenixfeathers]

Drawing a robot killed me. I am deceased. My gravestone says “flew too close to the sun” for choosing to draw such a crinkled pose for a crinkled guy.

I love these boys but i need to be able to draw them perfectly right heckin now

My drawing program tracked 10 hours…….

[thunderpounce-inc]

ok I am thinking about where to place vents on the Blitzwing redesign, and realizing: bruh I wonder if they ever aim at eachother's vents when fighting, since they are probably a pretty major gap in the armor. imagine if you jammed a sword in there! ouch!

which also makes me consider. what if there were retractable plates that cover vents when not in use, or when the transformer in question feels threatened, but isn't hot enough to need to keep them open and cycling air even when in danger? also good to keep dust out in addition to whatever filters they have in there

'operculum' is now a term I will have to add to my transformers vocabulary… (ex, 'Starscream's opercula slammed shut with a click when he realized he was being fired upon.')

[belovecore]

don't know why most people say robots are cold to the touch

does your laptop refrigerate the butter while you use it??

no, i crawl up to my beloved cybertronian and he is as warm as a cozy blanket

AND

he has a sparkbeat and sometimes you can hear energon moving through his system while you lay your ear on his smooth metal and it puts you right to sleep

ya'll missing out

[lord-squiggletits]

A frustrating thing about media perceptions of violence is that there are a ton of ways I want to write Cybertronians experiencing war and violence in terms of "what are the physical limits they can take" but it seems less extraordinary than it actually is because media already tends to portray even regular humans in combat with improbable or impossible abilities.

Like, how can I say something interesting about "oh Cybertronians have more stamina in battle because they don't bleed [in my headcanon] which means getting cut won't inevitably take them out of a fight in a few minutes" except when was the last time mainstream action media ever took bleeding into account. What about the fact that Cybertronians can break limbs or lose them completely and just get a replacement put on, but human characters losing limbs or getting prosthetics are rarely shown getting physical therapy or anything that would come with losing a limb. Even something as basic as "Cybertronians can be in direct combat for hours without tiring" falls flat when so many media portrays human combat as this crazy thing where people have the stamina to do flips and shit for minutes on end which isn't accurate at all.

[transingthoseformers]

... when I thought about the whole Malto family turning into bots, my brain immediately went to Dot showing off her spike to Alex and waggling her robo-eyebrows. They just seem like the couple to be very into each other, no matter what they look like.

Ssjfjhgyyesgesdsyessseyes.

They would have so much fun just joking and being so down bad for each other the entire time too.