#combiners

[they-hermes]

earth’s greatest protector

[gardenofchrome]

I’m am dying for more combiners to be shown in Transformers media. But not just any combiners- I would like to see combiners with a sibling like relationship. Who panic in their combined form if a limb gets ripped off because they know that one of their siblings got hurt and seek revenge for it, kind of what Thundercracker is doing for Skywarp in the Skybound comics. Even in their uncombined form they take care of each other.

[justxplosions]

Imagine Blades is watching human cartoons with Cody and his mind is friggin blown by Steven Universe fusion and Voltron.

Blades:"You humans have combiners, too?"

Cody: "What's a combiner?"

Blades:"Its when several cybertronians combine to become one whole new bot! Though only certain ones and group can do it. I was a part of one, actually. No one believes me but I was the right arm of Defensor!"

He goes on a whole rant detailing what it was like to be a new person, what he did as defensor, the abilities he had like the sheil, and how nice it is to see himself in human cartoons.

Cody asks what happened to the rest of defensor.

Blades doesn't answer.

[teelguy]

the mukau was a neat combiner so I felt like the other toa mata could use some animal combos so have this cat and moose

[deadly-aim-broke-my-heart]

A new scenario.

Last pic was an accident when I trying to put Silverbolt near Motormaster (with a fighting back figure). Silverbolt's wing knocked Air Raid off and Air Raid directly fall into Mixmaster's hug. I laughed out loudly and took a photo.

[iczer-ryuga2]

Here we go, time for some Bruticus' repairing but what's this? Galvatron and Megatron overseeing the operation at the same time? 0_-

A bit of in reference to what's going in the lots of media in the 80's when y'know what happens.

Happy 40th anniversary, Transformers!

[conjunx]

Nonagon moment...

[askvectorprime]

Dear Vector Prime, Have you ever been to the DW Universe? If yes, may I ask if you’ve know about or encounter with Stunticons and Aerialbots when they’re young? I’m just wondering where they came from and what they were doing before the war. Because they’ve been existed for a long time compared to G1 cartoon and G1 Marvel Universe. Thank you for your answer!

Dear Curtailed Combiner,

After the Crisis Intervention Accords were ratified by all major factions on Cybertron, all Special Teams were forbidden to combine, lest the planet be destroyed in the ensuing carnage. This caused a rift among the Aerialbots; Air Raid, Fireflight, and Slingshot felt they had a right to combine. Silverbolt expressly disagreed with this, and so the other three called him a coward who was afraid of his own power, even his own ability to fly! They abandoned Silverbolt, and Skydive sadly joined them at Silverbolt's urging to serve as a voice of reason.

The Stunticons instead sought to sell Menasor at a premium—violating the Crisis Intervention Accords was a challenge for them, not a deterrent. Claiming they were on Starscream's Predacon faction, they combined into Menasor and overwhelmed Grimlock's Lightning Strike Coalition. As things became dire for Grimlock's team, their savior arrived—Superion!

Their battle was brief, but cataclysmic, and although they emerged victorious, the other Aerialbots realized Silverbolt’s hesitation was not cowardice, but wisdom.

After Menasor was defeated, Motormaster and Dead End escaped—formally joining Starscream’s team for protection against the other factions—while the other three Stunticons were captured and imprisoned. Silverbolt knew that he had performed an illegal combination, but for the right reasons, and despite the thanks from the Autobots and the L.S.C., the Aerialbots exiled themselves from Cybertron as per the Accords.

Much later, when Optimus Prime prepared to flee Cybertron with a group of Autobots, he granted a reprieve to the Aerialbots, who joined him and eventually ended up on Earth.

[streakyfreak-me]

a coffin and a lollipop

[fireyhotsupertalia]

Idk I’m bored and curious how this will go, thanks for answers!

[they-hermes]

as a combiner lover i have committed myself to draw all of them at least once. unfortunately its also 1 am and im not drawing alla that

[seraphim-seeker]

I just randomly thought of this but-

The Constructicons/Devastator are just the older siblings mom gives love to when deemed necessary

Combaticons/Bruticus give off middle child vibes, they’re there nobody cares though unless they’re needed

Stunticons/Menasor I wouldn’t necessarily say favorite child but they probably would get more attention or something

[serendipitoushousepet]

The Combaticons based off a sketch thanks to Obilim! Megatron's ruthless and highly volatile mercenaries loyal to her cause. Onslaught leads with precision and absolute authority. Swindle is always looking for a good arm's deal. Brawl want's to smash as many bot heads as possible, and more. Vortex is the sadist interrogator and bandit. And Blastoff is the unbound aerial specialist and no one forgets that.

[greeneyedsigma]

So like, what happens if one transformer becomes Conjunx Endura/Bonded with a gestalt accidentally thinking their combined form is, well, a single bot??

Like, say Sixshot accidentally bonded with Abominus...does he now have five Conjunx, or is he only Conjunx with Abominus??

[paragonrobits]

also one thought i've been thinking of lately is that in terms of broader in-universe reasons for new gimmicks to pop up, the Autobots are usually attributed with coming up with the technology for the new gimmick, like transformation itself at least in G1, pretender shells (and arguably beastformers entirely, since i THINK that Beast Wars-style animal alt-modes are derived from the Pretender technology) while the Decepticons steal it later, so they both have the same kind of gimmicks but don't apply it the same way, and in particular this brings my thoughts to combination.

Combiners are a big deal in the setting, and work exceptionally well as metaphors for a closeness in a particular team. They're associated with the Decepticons; while there are plenty of Autobot combiners, they're not as prevalent. So i had a thought:

wouldn't it make sense for the Autobots to have combiners more frequnetly, or at least a wider degree of combinational status among different Autobots, while the Decepticons have less combiners (even if they want the weaponization of it) and instead tend to focus more on individually powerful triple/six changers?

this is pretty consistent with what we see of their faction-wide philosophies and the way they interact with each other:

Autobots having a focus on combiners gives a literal metaphor status to 'till all are one'; depending on how you interpret that, this could mean that combining is significant to them, a literal metaphor of the Autobots literally actinng as one, a bigger team united by common goals and beliefs even if they constantly argue, or fight with each other, or go full 'Dinobot and Rattrap' on the slightest pretext. when it counts, they work together for the greater good, and that sometimes means turning into a really big composite robot

Decepticons rarely have relationships of any kind; implicit romances are quite rare among them, and most of their canonical friendships are still deeply rooted in constant hostility and passive aggression. There are few friends among the Decepticons, with the tight-knit status of a few groups outliers among the norm. consider the original Predacon team, as willing to kill and eat each other as any other victim, with zero remorse or hesitation.

The lore tends to back this up, with a lot of Autobot combiners being highly focused but still competent. A lot of Decepticon combiners are... barely sane, so to speak. A lot of them can barely talk, or they're feral monsters rampaging at anything in sight, and this is explicitly because they get along so badly that their combiner forms are barely functional in mind. Devastator and Bruticus, with their teams getting along quite well, are NOT the norm!

Decepticons focus heavily on individual advancement and power; frequently they're constantly backstabbing and plotting against each other, scheming to replace Megatron OR loyally serve him and making themselves tools for his purposes, and backstab anyone they can to secure a better position for themselves. They don't get along, basically. So this brings us to multi-form changers.

Triple changers are known in the fandom, and six-changers have become more prevalent. They're almost all decepticons, and while there's SOME Autobots with those abilities, they're somewhat obscure compared to the Decepticons; Blitzwing is kind of iconic, and Sixshot is the reason six changers exist. They're also EXTREMELY powerful individuals; IDW1 codified the idea of as part of Decepticon conquest, the likes of Sixshot or other six-changers are sent down to devastate worlds, killing all native life in preparation for Decepticons claiming it as a colony or harvesting its resources.

so with that in mind, i think its pretty resonant for the Autobots to have more combiners, or the power to be pretty common among themm, while Decepticons instead have individually powerful super soldiers, opposed by individually weaker Autobots literally combining together to overpower them with strategy, friendship, their teamwork given physical form, and also being a really big robot that punches real hard