With the recent advent of "Cybertronian mode" figures of characters like Wheeljack and Jazz, I've been wondering what these modes are actually used for.

And I've compiled a list of what I think these modes purposes are, I cannot speculate on what the Cybertronian modes of characters we don't see in those modes are used for, so I'll leave them out.

Starting with the Decepticons:

The Decepticon "Tetrajets" are very obviously for military use, however we did see Starscream explore space with Je-Skyfire in "Fire in the Sky" so it may have had alternative uses (Though he's seen with his F-15 mode in an Animation Error)

I think Shockwave is a Gun Emplacement or Turret, since he's too large to be used as an actual gun by anyone but a Combiner.

Soundwave is a Lamppost, identical to the one next to it, I struggle to believe that he always had this mode before he went to Earth, but since we don't know of any other modes he would have had I can't speculate on it's function.

We see the Retroactively named Dropkick drones in "War Dawn"
and they turn into large vehicles seen carrying troops and cargo. So it's likely a Large Scale Cargo Truck being repurposed for ambush attacks.

Now for the Autobots:

Wheeljack is a van, and it's likely that he's used for transporting science goodies around.

We saw Trailbreakers alt mode in the Ghostbusters crossover and it's pretty much the same as Wheeljacks alt mode, a transport for goods and services.

Jazz is a Hovercar, with the spoiler and the overall build, that he's some form of Racing Vehicle.

Bumblebee is a small hovercraft, I'm willing to bet that unlike Jazz, he's not a racing vehicle, I think he's just a vehicle for when Bee would want to go on a highway, rather than as a thing he needed for work.

Skyfire is a large transport aircraft, now strangely he uses it FoR sCiEnCe, but if we wanted we could apply an origin from the IDW Continuity he could be a War Robot who defies this purpose and goes into science.

We also see Dion's alt mode in "War Dawn" and it's pretty blatantly a Pickup Truck for transportation of Energon Cubes.

Swivelbot (I would love to see Hasbro attempt Cybertronian modes for characters we don't see having them)

Swivelbot wrote:

> The Decepticon "Tetrajets" are very obviously for military use, however we did see Starscream explore space with Je-Skyfire in "Fire in the Sky" so it may have had alternative uses (Though he's seen with his F-15 mode in an Animation Error)

Animation error, or confirmation that Starscream travelled back in time sometime before "Fire In The Sky"? A Starscream after he came to Earth, and before he experiences the events of the present day in that episode? (He might have also travelled from the far future to the events of this episode...)

Swivelbot wrote:

> With the recent advent of "Cybertronian mode" figures of characters like Wheeljack and Jazz, I've been wondering what these modes are actually used for.

Hmm, I always considered that for the vast majority of Transformers, their alt mode was simply for personal transport. Their way of getting from A to B when it was too far to walk. But, particularly in peace time, there were probably more TFs that had an alt mode that served a purpose for their job...

> The Decepticon "Tetrajets" are very obviously for military use, however we did see Starscream explore space with Je-Skyfire in "Fire in the Sky" so it may have had alternative uses (Though he's seen with his F-15 mode in an Animation Error)

I think you can argue that the actual F-15 is an animation error, but it could be interpreted that Starscream's peacetime alt mode was different from the tetrajet mode we see in MTMTE, and that the F-15 is at least his third configuration.

> I think Shockwave is a Gun Emplacement or Turret, since he's too large to be used as an actual gun by anyone but a Combiner.

Isn't there an episode where he scales down and somebody else holds him? Though I can't think of one right now. But Shockwave's role is defending the fort rather than going out into the field so this makes sense.

> Soundwave is a Lamppost, identical to the one next to it, I struggle to believe that he always had this mode before he went to Earth, but since we don't know of any other modes he would have had I can't speculate on it's function.

Maybe, as a spy, he changed his alt mode regularly, but he got fond of the stereo once he got to Earth? (Or maybe 'regularly' is 'once every 25 years'.

> Now for the Autobots:

> Wheeljack is a van, and it's likely that he's used for transporting science goodies around.

Makes sense. It's just now occurred to me that it's kind of weird that his Cybertronian mode allowed him to carry a minibot but his Earth mode doesn't allow for that at all.

> Jazz is a Hovercar, with the spoiler and the overall build, that he's some form of Racing Vehicle.

Built for speed, certainly. It's been nine-million years of War though... when did they last build vehicles for leisure activities?

> Bumblebee is a small hovercraft, I'm willing to bet that unlike Jazz, he's not a racing vehicle, I think he's just a vehicle for when Bee would want to go on a highway, rather than as a thing he needed for work.

He's a scout, and he's quite round in shape. This doesn't play out in the cartoon, but it would be cute if he was designed like a roomba, so he didn't really have a front and back but could move in any direction. Helpful for exploring tight spaces.

> Skyfire is a large transport aircraft, now strangely he uses it FoR sCiEnCe, but if we wanted we could apply an origin from the IDW Continuity he could be a War Robot who defies this purpose and goes into science.

I think it makes just as much sense that he's a field scientist who carries his own equipment/team with him for experiments (or to bring back samples).

> We also see Dion's alt mode in "War Dawn" and it's pretty blatantly a Pickup Truck for transportation of Energon Cubes.

Yes, and it would make sense for Orion Pax to have something similar. Ariel too, though she's quite a bit slimmer than Elita One, so maybe she does something else down at the docks.

It's worth mentioning that a lot of the Transformers released for the Movie and afterwards were generic futuristic vehicles, so arguably have Cybertronian alt-modes which you could include in your write up...

Question: what did Inferno and other fire-truck transformers turn into on Cybertron? Because a fire truck is rather specifically designed for *humans* to use.

Velvet Glove (What does Inferno do with his ladder when he's at home?)

> Built for speed, certainly. It's been nine-million years of War though... when did they last build vehicles for leisure activities?

Well given Jazz's position and rank in the Autobot forces I'd wager he's probably older than the war.

It's worth mentioning that a lot of the Transformers released for the Movie and afterwards were generic futuristic vehicles, so arguably have Cybertronian alt-modes which you could include in your write up...

> It's worth mentioning that a lot of the Transformers released for the Movie and afterwards were generic futuristic vehicles, so arguably have Cybertronian alt-modes which you could include in your write up...

If you're referring to Hot Rod, Kup, Blurr, Arcee, etc. I actually did consider them for inclusion but as far as I know they all turn into future Earth vehicles, the kind of vehicles that people in the 80s thought cars would look like in 2005. So unless there's any ancillary media that disproves this, I'm good.

> Question: what did Inferno and other fire-truck transformers turn into on Cybertron? Because a fire truck is rather specifically designed for *humans* to use.

Interesting question.. In the first episode of Rescue Bots Heatwave, when scanning his vehicle mode, refers to it as similar to job he had "Back Home" and while this is in the Aligned Continuity I do believe it works in G1 as well, It truly depends on how truly flammable the material Cybertronian is made out of is.

Firetrucks aren't necessarily human-only, A more interesting question is why these alternate modes have windshields in the first place if they aren't designed for human occupation, Is it for Nebulons? we don't know and I really have no idea.

Swivelbot (Are Cyclonus, Scourge and Galvatron's alt modes Cybertronian or Unicronian?)

Soundwave-I have thought for years that he either changes his alternate mode every few missions, or else there are multiple Soundwave-types, like there are Seekers and Datsuns, and that periodically Soundwave will trade out his spy post with another Decepticon who looks just like him. Even as oblivious as the Autobots seem to be usually, you would think that someone would notice that the scrap lamppost/communication tower on the Iacon bridge disappears from time to time.

Brian

VelvetGlove wrote:

>
> Yes, and it would make sense for Orion Pax to have something similar. Ariel too, though she's quite a bit slimmer than Elita One, so maybe she does something else down at the docks.

Cybertron: After Dark.

> Question: what did Inferno and other fire-truck transformers turn into on Cybertron? Because a fire truck is rather specifically designed for *humans* to use.

They probably transformed into emergency vehicles specialized in fighting fires. There might not have been a need for ladders, but I think we’ve seen Inferno using his ladder to spray water.