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Chaos Theory Part 1

2011-08-10T18:33:02Z

174.96.255.90: /* Notes */

{{Comicstory|
|seriesissue=''[[The Transformers (IDW)|The Transformers]]'' #22
|prev=Space Opera—Final Tableaux: Orphans of the Helix
|next=Chaos Theory Part 2
|title="Chaos Theory Part 1"
|image=Transformersissue22-CoverA.jpg
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date=[[July 20]], [[2011]]
|coverdate=July 2011
|written by=[[James Roberts]]
|art by=[[Alex Milne]]
|colors by=[[Joana Lafuente]]
|letters by=[[Shawn Lee]]
|assistant editor=[[Carlos Guzman]]
|editor=[[Andy Schmidt]]
|continuity=[[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW continuity]]
|chronology=[[IDW timeline|Current era (2011)]]
}}

'''Why did Megatron surrender...?'''

==Synopsis==

{{issuestub}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Impactor]] (1)
*[[Rung]] (3)
*[[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]] (4)
*[[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]] (5)
*[[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] (6)
*[[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] (7)
*[[Xaaron]] (8)
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] (9)
*[[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] (10)
*[[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]] (11)
*[[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]] (12)
*[[Cosmos (G1)|Cosmos]] (13)
*[[Springarm]] (14)
*[[Whirl (G1)|Whirl]] (15)
*[[Drift (G1)|Drift]] (16)
*[[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]] (17)
*[[Hot Rod (G1)|Rodimus]] (18)
*[[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] (19)
*[[Huffer (G1)|Huffer]] (20)
*[[Gears (G1)|Gears]] (21)
*[[Hound (G1)|Hound]] (22)
*[[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]] (23)
*[[Seaspray (G1)|Seaspray]] (27)
*[[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] (28)
*[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] (29)
*[[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] (30)
*[[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] (31)

|c2=
*[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (2)
*[[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] (24)
*[[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] (25)
*[[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]] (26)
}}

==Quotes==

"[[Hasbro|They]] say he can use this weird inter-dimensional circuity to syphon anti-matter from... from a [[black hole]]. You know, in space. So." 
"With respect, Ratchet, that sounds—that just sounds ''stupid''."
:—'''Ratchet''' and '''Perceptor'''

"So. How are we going to play this? Are we going to spend the next hour ''posturing'', or are we going to rise to the occasion and actually have a ''civilised conversation''?" 
"'Rise to the occasion'? What is this, a summit meeting? I'm bolted to the wall, I'm riddled with inhibitor chips, and I'm precisely ''one rash gesture'' away from being ''electrocuted to death''. It's hardly conductive to a frank exchange of views." 
"Fair point. [unbolts] Take a seat."
:—'''Optimus''' and '''Megatron'''

"I look back over the last four million years and recognize that there have been only two constants: hate... and you."
:—'''Megatron'''

"Look me in the eye and say you want it ended, and ''it will end''."
:—'''Optimus'''

"Do you even feel the ''slightest'' remorse?" 
"No."
:—'''Optimus''' and '''Megatron'''

"Understand ''this''. So long as you stand in my way- so long as ''anybody'' stands in my way, I will respond by killing. Murder on an ''industrial'' scale. Because in the final analysis, I would happily wade across a river of corpses, chest-deep in grease and engine oil just to crush the spark of the last Autobot standing. And I would do so not simply as a means to an end, no. I'd do it, Prime, because it would give me ''pleasure''."
:—'''Megatron'''

==Notes==
* '''JAMES ROBERTS!'''
* The flashbacks takes place before ''[[Megatron Origin]]'' and fill in a lot of details that the miniseries left out: namely, ''why'' Megatron is already so angry and willing to turn to violence.
* Impactor and Megatron are sitting in [[Maccadam's Old Oil House|Maccadam's NEW Oil House]].
* Ratchet and Perceptor are discussing a superpower that Megatron was given in his original [[bio]]... and which almost every single G1 story since has ignored. Probably because, as Perceptor notes, throwing a black hole around is a little too silly. Ratchet talking about it as "the thing with the eyes" is apparently a reference to the story "[[Resurrection!]]", in which Megatron used said power to channel [[antimatter]] [[:Image:MegatronAntimatterUK.jpg|through his eyes]].
* Some graffiti in Megatron's cell reads "peace through tyranny", the motto from his original bio.
* Megatron correcting the guard on his name seems to be a reference to how [[Bob Budiansky]] came up with the actual name: combining the words "megaton" and "electron."
* The free lab on [[Kimia]] that Xaaron mentions is [[Ironfist (G1)|Ironfist's]] old one.
* That's right, [[Zeta Prime|''another'']] IDW-created interim Prime! [[Nominus Prime]] comes before [[Sentinel Prime (G1)|Sentinel Prime]].
* Cybertron used to have apartheid based on if you were forged or constructed cold; this was ''supposed'' to no longer matter near the end of Nominus' reign.
* The Transformers are established as a pariah race, shunned by the intergalactic community and [[Galactic Council]].
* The montage of war scenes include: ''[[Stormbringer]]'', ''[[Infiltration]]'', "[[Spotlight: Arcee]]", ''[[The Transformers: Drift]]'', ''[[Escalation]]'', "[[Spotlight: Kup]]", "[[Spotlight: Shockwave]]", ''[[The Transformers: Ironhide]]'', ''[[Devastation]]'', "[[...For All Mankind]]", ''[[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]'', and ''[[Heart of Darkness]]''.
* Sherma Bridge is a nod to the infamous [[Sherman Dam]] punchup.
* The [[variable voltage harness]] comes from [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|the original Marvel comics]]. Also mentioned are [[Pathblaster]]s, [[communicube]]s and [[Shanix]] from the Marvel UK comics.
* The Tremorcons mentioned are from Roberts' "[[Bullets]]", while Rung is from the "[[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]" [[Autopedia]] profiles.
* Based on his recollections of near-death experiences, ''[[Escalation]]'' apparently wasn't the first time Megatron had taken on a gun alternate mode.
* The plot element of Optimus and Megatron having met before the war, and the former agreeing with the latter's ideals, is reminiscent of [[Transformers: Exodus|another]] [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus Prime]] and [[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]].
* On page 17, a [[Diagnostic Drone]]-like drone appears.
*Whirl is a major prick.
===Errors===
* Both ''[[Megatron Origin]]'' and "[[Spotlight: Blurr]]" had a pre-Prime Optimus sporting a body clearly inspired by Orion Pax. Here, before either story, Optimus is already in his usual Cybertronian Optimus Prime form.
* Despite Megatron's recollection of being trapped in a gun alt-mode after the [[Battle for Hell's Point]], Prime's recollection of the fight shows Megatron having the [[Don Figueroa]]-designed body that transforms into a Cybertronian tank. It is, of course, possible that Megatron was forced to withdraw and swap alt-modes in the midst of that battle, only to return later.
* Several Cybertronian dates are mentioned this issue: Megatron was created in "1st cycle 012", and some major battles in the war took place in "2nd cycle 087" and "3rd cycle 199". Though it's not clear exactly how the Transformers' almanac works, this seemingly conflicts with [[Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 4|''Last Stand of the Wreckers'' #4]], in which [[Ironfist (G1)|Ironfist]] claims the war had yet to begin by "5th cycle 522".

===Covers (3)===
* '''Cover A:''' Megatron's head; art by [[Alex Milne]] and colors by [[Josh Perez]].
* '''Cover B:''' Megatron's head from [[Megatron Origin]]; art by Milne and colors by Perez.
* '''Cover RI:''' Both heads combined into one time-spanning super head; art by Milne.

<gallery>
Image:Transformersissue22-CoverA.jpg
Image:Transformersissue22-CoverB.jpg
Image:Transformersissue22-CoverRI.jpg
</gallery>

===Advertisements===
* "Chaos" Checklist
* ''Walter Simonson's The Mighty Thor: Artist's Edition''
* [[IDWords]] plugging ''Thor'', 'Dave Stevens: The Complete Sketchbook", IDW Legacy Editions
* IDW on Twitter
* ''Angel: The Covers'' (back cover)

[[Category:IDW Generation 1 issues]]

Bird of Prey!

2011-08-04T15:06:53Z

174.96.255.90: /* Items of note */

{{comicstory|seriesissue=[[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|''The Transformers'' (US)]] #62
|prev=Primal Scream (issue)
|next=Kings of the Wild Frontier
|title="Bird of Prey!"
|seriesissue2=[[The Transformers (Marvel comic)#Marvel UK|''The Transformers'' (UK)]] #262–264
|prev2=Starting Over!
|next2=Two Steps Back!
|image=MarvelUS-62.jpg
|caption=Call me if you see this.
|publisher=[[Marvel Comics]]
|date=November 1989
|coverdate=January 1990
|writer=[[Simon Furman]]
|artist=[[Geoff Senior]]
|colorist=[[Nelson Yomtov|Nel Yomtov]]
|letterer=[[Jim Massara]]
|editor=[[Don Daley]]
|continuity=[[Marvel Comics continuity]]
}}

'''The Matrix Quest begins, and dime novel detective stories make a comeback.'''

==Synopsis==
After last issue's disastrous events, the [[Autobot]] leaders of [[Earth]] and [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] have sent several teams to search one cluster of the galaxy for the [[Matrix of Leadership|Creation Matrix]], in the hopes of using it against the coming threat of [[Unicron]].

Nightbeat, Siren, and Hosehead have journeyed to the planet [[Pz-Zazz]], a planet apparently covered with seedy metropolitan areas and filled with lowlifes and mobsters. While interrogating some of those mobsters as to whether they've seen the Matrix, Nightbeat's conversational skills get the three Headmasters into hot water. Siren is belted through a nearby storefront window while Nightbeat and Hosehead are preparing to be "plugged" when thugs from a rival gang drive by and begin firing on their tormentors. The firefight hits a passing alien, who collapses into the storefront on top of Siren, passing on a mysterious [[Bird|bird statue]] to him with his dying breath.

[[Image:Hosehead2.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Despite appearances, the one called "Hosehead" is on the left.]]
Though Nightbeat's first instinct is to follow up on the textbook detective story that literally dropped into their laps, his comrades convince him to put the bird away in storage and focus on their primary mission to find the Matrix. Still, Nightbeat is frustrated, citing their historical database which claimed Pz-Zazz was a lush and prosperous world once, nothing like the cesspool they've been searching through. His detective's instincts assure him the bird has something to do with that discrepancy.

[[Image:Toosnarky1.png|right|200px|thumb|Touche, gunman.]]
In the meantime, their conversation is overheard by Miss Fatale, who is willing to deal with the Autobots. She tells them of a legendary font of life that once sat atop a nearby mountain and, in exchange for leading them to that abandoned temple, she only asks for the return of the bird statue, which she claims is her property. Thinking that this healing object might be the Matrix, the Autobots agree—Siren and Hosehead go on ahead with Fatale, while Nightbeat goes to retrieve the bird from lock-up. While picking it up, though, he is confronted by the mobsters the Autobots met earlier, who also want the bird. Nightbeat clubs his way through the goons with the bird, only to get caught red-handed by another thug when he races outside. Moments from death, Nightbeat is saved by a mysterious energy blast that levels the thug before he can kill the Autobot.

Hosehead and the others reach the top of the mountain, but find the second gang-leader waiting there for them, interested in acquiring—you guessed it—the bird. Nightbeat races up then, revealing that the bird is a life-giving source of power, much like the Matrix itself. He discovered this when a piece of the statue's outer enamel was chipped off in his bar skirmish. After disabling the mobsters, Nightbeat makes a move to place the bird back in its special cradle on the temple. Fatale tries to stop him, pleading with him that they can keep the bird for themselves: she can stay forever young, and he can use it in place of the Matrix to restore his fallen comrades. Nightbeat admits having considered it, but ultimately decided that Pz-Zazz needs the bird to sustain itself, and however noble his motives, it would be selfish to keep for himself.

Nightbeat returns the bird to its proper place, and a wave of light and greenery spreads over the mountain. Pz-Zazz is given a second chance, but the Autobots are not: Thunderwing and his [[Decepticon]]s shoot Nightbeat and the others in the back, taking them captive to find out just why so many Autobots are searching this neck of the galaxy...

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
* [[Nightbeat (G1)|Nightbeat]] (1)
* [[Hosehead]] (2)
* [[Siren]] (3)
* [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] (4)
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Optimus Prime]] (5)
* [[Xaaron]] (6)
|h2=[[Decepticon|Robot Mob]]|c2=
* [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]] (10)
* [[Needlenose]] (11)
* [[Windsweeper]] (12)
* [[Spinister (G1)|Spinister]] (13)
* [[Ruckus (G1)|Ruckus]] (15)
|c4=
* [[Fatale]] (7)
* [[Louie]] (8)
* [[Gutt]] (9)
* [[B'hgdad]] (14)
}}

==Items of note==
* ''Part 1 of the [[Matrix Quest (Marvel)|Matrix Quest]]''.
* This story is an ode to the hard-boiled detective genre, a favorite of [[Simon Furman]]. In particular, many references are made to ''[[wikipedia:The_Maltese_Falcon_(1941_film)|The Maltese Falcon]]'':
** Nightbeat's initial encounter with B'hgdad's thugs occurs beneath a billboard featuring what appears to be [[wikipedia:Humphrey_Bogart|Humphrey Bogart]], who played the detective [[wikipedia:Sam Spade|Sam Spade]] in the 1941 movie.
** An alien dying of gunshot wounds gives Siren the [[bird]] (heh) wrapped in paper. Likewise, Spade receives the wrapped-up Falcon from a bullet-riddled man who stumbles into his office and dies.
** The bird sculpture bears a heavy resemblance to the Falcon, the principal difference being that the former's wings are partly outstretched instead of lying flat against its back. Well, and that it's ''enormous,'' as it's scaled up to be proportionate with the robots and aliens handling it.
** The immensely fat ganglord, Gutt, is an echo of Kasper Gutman, ''Falcon's'' rotund antagonist.
** Gutt's counterpart, B'hgdad, seems to be a more oblique parallel to Gutman's associate Joel Cairo. The name is certainly reference enough, though B'hgdad is a more authoritative and independent character than Cairo. The homage does get reinforced when Nightbeat tells him, "If you're its real owner, I'm [[wikipedia:Peter_Lorre|Peter Lorre]]!" (referring to the actor who played Cairo in the Bogart film).
** That conversation occurred while Nightbeat was retrieving the bird from a storage service. Spade similarly stowed the Falcon away in a bus terminal's lost-and-found.
** And that ''line'' occurred while Nightbeat was clobbering B'hgdad with the bird, chipping a piece of enamel coating off and revealing its true, luminous nature. The jewel-encrusted Falcon's true worth was also concealed beneath an enamel coating.
* This issue is the first US appearance for Nightbeat, Siren, Hosehead, Needlenose and Spinister.
* The people of Pz-Zazz knew Thunderwing's crew as the "Robot Mob", but they still preferred to be called "[[Decepticon]]s".
* In the [[Letters page (Marvel UK)|Dread Tidings]] for issue [[Two Steps Back!|#262]], [[Dreadwind (G1)|Dreadwind]] supplies the missing motto for [[Micromaster]] [[Battle Patrol]] member [[Flak (G1)|Flak]], while expressing his dislike of the smaller guys, and debates what [[Pincher]]'s level 5 endurance rating means<ref>[http://transfans.co.uk/popup.php?id=2181 Issue #262's Dread Tidings at transfans]</ref>.
* ''[[Transformers Universe (Marvel comic)|Transformers Universe]]'' profiles for [[Hosehead]], [[Nightbeat (G1)|Nightbeat]], [[Siren]], and [[Backstreet (G1)|Backstreet]] are found after the main story.
* "Timely", the apparent publishers of the book shown on the cover, was the original name of [[Marvel Comics]].
* Optimus Prime's belief that the Matrix could be used to revive dead Transformers is fairly ironic given that it technically causes the death and injury of several Autobots at the end of the Matrix Quest.

===References===
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Optimus Prime]] and [[Xaaron|Emirate Xaaron]] recap the relevant events, including the encounter with [[Primus]] and the [[Mayhem Attack Squad]] from US issue [[Primal Scream (issue)|#61]], and the unwitting loss of the Matrix when Prime's original body was shot into space in US issue [[Funeral for a Friend!|#26]].

===Covers===
<gallery>
Image:MarvelUS-62.jpg|'''US issue #62''' - Seen THIS?
Image:MarvelUK-262.jpg|'''UK issue #262''' - Why having an arm shaped like a drumstick is a bad idea.
Image:MarvelUK-263.jpg|'''UK issue #263''' - Grimlock - Autobot union leader.
Image:Desert island risks.jpg|'''UK issue #264''' - No, it's a giant Constructicon gameshow!
</gallery>
* '''US issue #62 cover:''' Dime store novel of the [[Headmaster Junior]]s, by [[Rodney Ramos]] and [[Eliot Brown]] (penciler and inker, respectively).
* '''UK issue #262 cover:''' Grimlock chewing on Shockwave, by [[Stephen Baskerville]].
* '''UK issue #263 cover:''' Grimlock quits on Optimus Prime, by Stephen Baskerville.
* '''UK issue #264 cover:''' Bumblebee and Ironhide, by [[Pete Knifton]].

===Advertisements===
* None yet identified.

== Footnotes ==
<references />

[[Category:Marvel US issues]]
[[Category:Marvel UK issues]]

The Primal Scream

2011-08-04T15:01:25Z

174.96.255.90: /* Items of note */

{{disambig2|the comic issue|the Titan Books collection|Primal Scream (Titan)}}

{{comicstory|seriesissue=[[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|''The Transformers'' (US)]] #61
|prev=Yesterday's Heroes!
|next=Bird of Prey!
|title=Primal Scream
|seriesissue2=[[The Transformers (Marvel comic)#Marvel UK|''The Transformers'' (UK)]] #259–261
|prev2=Perchance to Dream
|next2=Starting Over!
|image=MarvelUS-61.jpg
|caption=I am Oz! The great and powerful!
|publisher=[[Marvel Comics]]
|date=October 1989
|coverdate=Mid December 1989
|writer=[[Simon Furman|Simon Furman Maximus]]
|artist=[[Geoff Senior|Geoffire Senior]]
|colorist=[[Nelson Yomtov|Shrapnel Yomtov]]
|letterer=[[Jim Massara|Jim Lock Massara]]
|editor=[[Don Daley|Megadon Daley]]
|continuity=[[Marvel Comics continuity]]
}}
'''Don't wake the sleeping god... whatever you do! Plus: The Honest to Gosh Origin of the Transformers!'''

==Synopsis==
Well, yes. So it turns out that when Bludgeon sabotaged the [[Autobot|Autobots]]' trip to [[Earth]], everyone ended up instead in the middle of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. And it also turns out that this was where an old dude in metal robes called the Keeper lives. He was guarding, sorta, the head of Primus. Primus — the [[Transformer]]s' god.

Grimlock didn't think much of the Keeper, or Primus. He thought the whole thing was a load of bunk. So to prove to Grimlock that it was real, the Keeper recounted the origin of the Transformers. (It's this sort of logic that leads to telling the difference between a clone and the real thing by having a [[A Prime Problem|race]].)

The origin went a little something like this — at the dawn of time, two gods — Primus and Unicron — fought. Unicron beat the crap out of Primus on a physical plane, then on the astral plane. In a last desperate ploy, Primus escaped the astral plane into a massive metal asteroid. Unicron did the same, thinking Primus was onto something, and as a result they were both trapped.

Primus eventually learned to shape his prison, and made it into Cybertron. Unicron shaped his prison into a giant planet-devouring planet that could change into a robot. To combat this Primus made a race of little robots called the Transformers. And now Unicron searches the cosmos for Primus, while Primus sleeps to hide from his enemy.

The Keeper had just gotten to tell his whole story when suddenly the [[Decepticon|Decepticons]] burst in. The Autobots beat them up to stop them from waking Primus. Then, at the last moment, Octopunch shoots Grimlock in the back and the shot ricochets into Primus' face. The shock was enough to wake Primus, causing him to scream. A scream that sent shock waves through the planet.

A scream that, out in deep space, Unicron heard.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
* [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] (3)
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] (4)
* [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] (5)
* [[Stakeout (G1)|Stakeout]] (6)
* [[Xaaron]] (7)
* [[Doubleheader]] (8)
* [[Seawatch]] (22)
* [[Red Hot]] (23)
|c2=
* [[Stranglehold]] (9)
* [[Octopunch]] (10)
* [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] (11)
* [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] (14)
* [[Mindwipe (G1)|Mindwipe]] (15)
* [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] (16)
* [[Misfire]] (17)
* [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] (18)
* [[Snapdragon (G1)|Snapdragon]] (19)
* [[Slugslinger (G1)|Slugslinger]] (20)
* [[Apeface]] (21)
|c4=
* [[Keeper (Transformer)|Keeper]] (1)
* [[Primus]] (2)
* [[Unicron]] (12)
* [[Prima]] (13)
}}

==Items of note==
* The credits listed above replicate the joke credits used for the US printing of this story. The UK printing did not use these pun names for the creative team.
* Doubleheader's tech specs indicate that only his left head speaks, but in the comics either or both heads are shown speaking. During the [[Deadly Obsession|Matrix Quest]], Doubleheader's heads even talk over each other, making two different statements at once.
* There are two unnamed red [[generic]] Autobots that are just a little bit too off model to be called [[Fastlane]] and [[Cloudraker (G1)|Cloudraker]].
* [[Seawatch]] has some really sparkling patter in this issue. Who knew [[Micromaster|Micromasters]] were so funny? Invite the guy to your parties. Seriously.
* The "water" in the tunnels around Primus's chamber was explained in [[Letters page (Marvel UK)|Darn 'n' Blast #303]] to be liquid helium.
* This is one of three tellings of the origin of the Transformers that appeared throughout the Marvel US and Marvel UK comics series. Each one was told from a different point of view, and this was the only one told by someone who wasn't actually there. The other tellings of the story were by Primus and [[The Legacy of Unicron!|Unicron]]. None of the tellings are quite consistent with each other, despite all having been written by Simon Furman.
* While [[Dan Reed]] was the first UK artist to work on the US series (drawing the cover for issue [[Back from the Dead|#56]]), this is the first US issue to feature interior art by a UK artist. [[Geoff Senior]] penciled and inked the entire strip for this issue.
* This issue featured the final Transformers art to be produced for the series by long-time artist [[Don Perlin]], in the form of the issue's cover.
* ''[[Transformers Universe (Marvel comic)|Transformers Universe]]'' profiles for [[Triggerhappy]], [[Landfill (G1)|Landfill]], [[Quickmix (G1)|Quickmix]] and [[Scoop (G1)|Scoop]] are found after the main story.
* According to [[Vector Prime: In the Beginning]] (published many years later,) Primus and Unicron's dual awakenings in this story in fact reverberated across the [[Continuity|Multiverse]], ending a long period of dormancy for both entities in every reality, and making this the single most cataclysmically important Transformers story, ever.
* Octopunch's actions here not only wake up Primus, but also leads Unicron straight to Cybertron resulting in the deaths of dozens of Transformers and the near devastation of Cybertron. In short, Octopunch destroyed the world.

===References===
* Bumblebee contemplates his mortality in this issue, mentioning that he died once. This appears to be in reference to his death as Goldbug in US issue [[Dark Star (issue)|#50]]. Perhaps he doesn't consider his destruction at the hands of [[G.I. Joe (team)|G.I. Joe]]/''[[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]]'' (which led to his rebirth as Goldbug) a true death.
* Mindwipe complains to Scorponok about Starscream almost killing the Decepticons twice, references to US issues [[Dark Star (issue)|#50]] and [[Skin Deep|#59]].

===Covers===
<gallery>
Image:MarvelUS-61.jpg|'''US issue #61''' - NOM NOM NOM.
Image:MarvelUK-259.jpg|'''UK issue #259''' - And that's why you don't insult Menasor's ear-things.
Image:MarvelUK-260.jpg|'''UK issue #260''' - If this was what ''actually'' happened, it would be magical.
Image:MarvelUK-261.jpg|'''UK issue #261''' - "Guns. Lots of guns."
</gallery>
* '''US issue #61 cover:''' The Classic Pretenders in front of Primus's screaming face, by [[Don Perlin]].
* '''UK issue #259 cover:''' [[Menasor (G1)|Menasor]] vs. [[Superion (G1)|Superion]], by [[Andrew Wildman]].
* '''UK issue #260 cover:''' [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] with his Transformers chess set, by [[Geoff Senior]].
* '''UK issue #261 cover:''' [[Drag Strip (G1)|Drag Strip]], [[Dead End (G1)|Dead End]], [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]], [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]], and [[Mixmaster (G1)|Mixmaster]] vs. [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] and [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]], by [[Stephen Baskerville]].

===Advertisements===
* None yet identified.

==External links==
* [http://transfans.co.uk/comics_guide_detail.php?id=447 Transformers #303 Letters Page on Transfans.co.uk]

[[Category:Marvel US issues]]
[[Category:Marvel UK issues]]

Death

2011-07-31T20:58:00Z

174.96.255.90: /* Crushing */

{{disambig2|the end of life|the Horseman of Unicron|Airazor (Armada)}}

[[Image:Battleofautobotcity.jpg|right|300px|thumb|And lo, the children did weep.]]

''Transformers'' is a children's franchise, but at its core, it's a story of war. This means that the '''death''' of major and minor characters sometimes figures into the fiction.

Given the ambiguous nature of [[Transformer]] physiology, there is very little consistency regarding what is fatal to a Transformer, even within a single storyline. Damage that one Transformer might shrug off can prove fatal to another, or even to the same character in a different story. Sometimes just a laser blast or two will do the trick. Other times, characters survive being melted, crushed into cubes, and even utterly disintegrated. It does not take a terribly cynical viewer to conclude that the threshold of survival is generally determined by the needs of the plot.

The out-of-universe reasons for a character's death can vary from plot development to the arrival of [[To sell toys|new toys]]. Conveniently enough for writers who are beholden to the whims of a toy company, the majority of Transformers characters are machines, which means that death isn't necessarily permanent. Across the various universes, characters that appear to have been killed have been known to pop up alive again at a later date, or go through some sort of resurrection.

{{quote|"How can you all be so cold and unfeeling? He died a hero!" "Don't you even have mechanical hearts?" "The humans don't understand! Our form of life is vastly different from theirs!"|[[Spider-Man]], [[Sparkplug Witwicky]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]|"[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

==In-fiction causes of death==
[[Image:DEATH.jpg|left|thumb|400px|[[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] is just as puzzled as the rest of us.]]

There is little consistency in what can kill a Transformer. Sometimes it takes just a shot. Other times, even totally annihilating a Transformer's body still doesn't do the trick. Even the most basic method of killing, which is to destroy or otherwise cause the loss of a Transformer's [[spark]], varies quite a bit in its details from story to story, character to character, and series to series.
{{--}}
===Weaponsfire===
{{quote|This was almost too easy, Starscream!|[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (like the fandom) is surprised to find how easily Autobots die, ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''}}

[[Image:Tftm1986a.jpg|right|200px|thumb|We're here aboard the Autobot shuttle, where we've secretly replaced Brawn's hyper-dense metal armor plating with styrene plastic. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference.]]

[[Image:TFTM UltraMagnus dies.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Prepare for your death today. Yer gonna die!!]]

[[Image:Magnusdeath.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ow! Hey! Cut it out, guys! That hurts!]]

[[Image:Blades1.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Sorry, [[Outpost B-67 exo-structuring party|nameless guy]], your generic nature means you will never be miraculously resurrected.]]

Like humans, Transformers can be killed by damage caused by energy, projectile, and chemical weapons. Just how many shots it takes is widely variable, however.
* In the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]]:
** Many casualties of the [[Battle of Autobot City]] (and its run-up), including [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], were victims of energy weapons. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} This was quite a change from the cartoon's M.O., wherein the same characters routinely got shot and blasted all the time and shrugged it off, or at worst spent some time in the repair bay. Brawn and Prowl both went down after ''one shot''.
** [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] subsequently "dies" after being shot a few times by the [[Sweep]]s, exploding into pieces. He is soon revived by the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]], however. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** In the Japanese continuity, Ultra Magnus dies ''again'', for real this time, after [[Sixshot]] shoots him a few times. {{storylink|Ultra Magnus Dies!!}}

* In the [[Marvel Comics continuity|Marvel comics]]:
** [[Impactor]] was cut down by a single head shot from [[Macabre]]. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
** Most deaths in the ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' book occurred from energy weapons, such as [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]], {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}} as well as numerous generics. {{storylink|War Without End!}} Quite a few victims exploded spectacularly after being shot, including [[Tantrum]], {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}} [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]], [[Quake (G1)|Quake]], {{storylink|New Dawn}} and [[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]]. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

* In the ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' cartoon:
** [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] dies after incurring severe damage from numerous [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] weapons. {{storylink|Code of Hero}} The apparent cause of his demise is his refusal to enter protective [[stasis lock]], as other characters have survived similar or worse levels of damage.
** [[Tigerhawk]] is disintegrated by the main cannon of the starship ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]''. The same cannon subsequently blasts [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] and [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]], apparently killing them, though their "death" may be permanent simply because there was nobody around to put them back together. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 2}}

* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] dies holding back the [[Hydra Cannon]], the damage causing him to [[:Image:Sshot-arm-39-4.jpg|crumble to dust]]. {{storylink|Crisis}}

* [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]] G1 comics: [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] is killed by an assassin's blast. {{storylink|The Age of Wrath issue 1|The Age of Wrath #1}} He got better. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 3|Prime Directive #3}}

* [[Movie continuity]]: [[Brawl (Movie)|Brawl]] and [[Blackout (Movie)|Blackout]] both died from weapons fire. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)|Transformers}}

* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] gets his face blown off/in by [[Cyclonus (SG)|Cyclonus]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 4}}
{{--}}

* [[Universe (2003 comic)|Universe]]: [[Tankor (BM)|Tankor]] was shot and killed by [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] during the final battle of the [[Universe War]].

===Big explosions===
{{bigquote|They're going to blow us all to pieces! [[Guardian (Marvel)|Guardian]]'s booby-trapped - packed with enough explosives to level this whole mountain!|[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], "[[The Wrath of Grimlock!]]"}}

Transformers characters often assume that explosions are more lethal than they really are; characters survive explosions all the time. An explosion's messy nature makes a good "out" for a writer to fake a character's death. {{storylink|The Wrath of Grimlock!}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}} Nevertheless, a few characters have been permanently killed by explosions. (This list omits characters who exploded from within, like Ultra Magnus up above.)
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]] was the victim of an interdimensionally triggered explosion that destroyed his body. (In UK continuity, he survived as a raggedy, bodiless head.) {{storylink|The Bridge to Nowhere!}}
** In an alternate future, a wounded [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] died in the fiery explosion of a crashing shuttlecraft. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** [[Finback]] was presumably killed in the explosion of a huge gun battery. [[Misfire]] tried to warn him off, and may have been killed in the same explosion. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** [[Roadbuster (G1)|Roadbuster]] was killed when a prototype [[pathblaster]] exploded in his face. {{storylink|Time Wars}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon:
** [[Optimus Primal]] was blown to bits — terminally so — by the [[transwarp]] explosion that destroyed the [[Planet Buster]]. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}
** [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]] was killed by the explosion that resulted from [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]]'s death (either his exploding spark, or the exploding energon shard that pierced it.) {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

* Several of the [[Beast Era]] [[Wrecker]]s ([[Sonar (BW)|Sonar]], [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]], the [[Deployer (BM)|Deployers]]) were destroyed when part of their ship exploded with them in it. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

* Energon: [[Bruticus Maximus (Energon)|Bruticus Maximus]] was killed when Storm Jet caused a massive explosion that engulfed them both.

* ''Prime'': [[Makeshift (Prime)|Makeshift]] and the surrounding [[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicon]]s were blown up by a grenade attached by the Autobots. While it's likely the Vehicons were destroyed, whether Makeshift survived this explosion remains to be seen
*IDW Continuity: [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] and [[Skullgrin]] were killed when Springer blew them up with a grenade. {{storylink|Stormbringer issue 3}}

===Impact trauma===
Falling off a cliff or mountainside or tall building is usually just as fatal to Transformers as it is to, say... Wile E. Coyote. Only on rare occasion does it result in death:
* ''[[Classics (2006)|Classics]]'' continuity: [[Hacksaw]] met his end by falling from a huge communications tower. {{storylink|The New World}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Doubledealer]] was shot, fell off a mountain and smashed to bits on impact. {{storylink|Spotlight: Doubledealer}}
* Movie continuity:
**[[Devastator (ROTF)|Devastator]] fell off the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] after losing his balance when his arm was shot off, and he shattered to pieces as he tumbled down. ''{{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}''
** [[Barricade (Movie)|Barricade]] was smashed to pieces and killed by being flung into a freeway column. {{storylink|Movie Adaptation Issue Number Four}}
* The [[Beast (G1)|Beast]] fell off a cliff and shattered. {{storylink|The Beast Within Part 2, Consequences}} At least, we hope that's where and how it ended.
* ''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)| Prime]]'': [[Skyquake (Prime)|Skyquake]] crash-landed after [[Bumblebee (Prime)|Bumblebee]] punched out vital components in his alternate mode, reducing his body to a partially transformed scrapheap.

===Crushing===
[[Image:Edgeofextinction-hardheadbombburst.jpg|thumb|right|175px|DO NOT WANT]]
[[Image:TFAni TransWarped LongArm Cliffjumper Cube.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Before time began, there was... THE CUBE.]]

Quite a few characters have been crushed into deactivation:
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]] was smashed between [[Unicron]]'s palms, while [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] met a similar fate when they were stepped on by Unicron. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] is apparently killed when a very large building collapses on top of him. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

* [[Unicron Trilogy]] cartoons:
** [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]] is killed when caught between two folding sections of Unicron's external armor. {{storylink|Union}}
** [[Shockblast]] is crushed by Unicron's hand on [[Blizzard Planet]]. {{storylink|The Power}}
** His brother [[Six Shot]] meets a similar fate, crushed under the heel of a super-sized Galvatron. {{storylink|Galvatron Terror}}

* IDW continuity:
** [[Roller (G1)|Roller]] was crushed when Megatron caused an avalanche to fall on him.
** [[Ruckus (G1)|Ruckus]], [[Crankcase (G1)|Crankcase]], and [[Skullcruncher]] were all crushed by [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]].
** [[Thrust (G1)|Thrust]] was killed when a group of police set fire to a building and let it collapse on him, crushing him.

* ''Animated'' cartoon: [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]] is (possibly) killed by a garbage compactor-like crushing device. (An "out" by writer [[Derrick J. Wyatt|Derrick Wyatt]] was intended to show his still-pulsing spark within his cubified remains, but this did not make it into the show, leaving his fate ambiguous at best.) {{storylink|TransWarped}}

===Melting===
[[Image:BW Scorponok Terrorsaur deaths.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Even having a new toy couldn't save Terrorsaur!]]

[[Image:Fallout title.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Primal's diet had gone horribly wrong.]]

They're made of metal; therefore, with enough heat or sufficiently acidic material, they can melt. This is one of the more fool-proof methods of killing a Transformer; few if any have survived it.
* In the G1 cartoon:
** An acid vat would apparently have been enough to destroy Optimus Prime. {{storylink|The Search for Alpha Trion}}
** Another acid vat was used to disintegrate living victims of Unicron. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comics:
** Victims of the Deception [[smelting pool]]s on Cybertron were reduced by intense heat into their base metals, including [[Scrounge (G1)|Scrounge]]. {{storylink|The Smelting Pool!}}
** It is possible that an acid bath from (naturally) [[Blot (G1)|Blot]] offlined [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] [[Makin' Tracks!|(for a while anyway)]]. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] was partially melted by Unicron's flame-breath and subsequently died. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The [[Cybertronian (faction)|Cybertronian Empire]] used some kind of acid to rather messily eradicate some of their Decepticon ancestors, including [[Stranglehold]]. {{storylink|New Dawn}}

* In the Beast Era cartoons:
** [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] and [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] were apparently melted to death after tumbling into a lava pit within the [[Darksyde|Predacon base]]. {{storylink|Aftermath}}
** Optimus Primal's body was seemingly melted into the floor after his climactic face-off with [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]. Considering how many god-like forces were unleashed and conflicting during the battle, his demise may be due to more than simple temperature-induced melting. {{storylink|Fallout}}

===Incineration===
{{bigquote|I saw the end! They died in a cosmic funeral pyre!|[[Shawn Berger]], "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2]]"}}

[[Image:Armada 52 - Prime hangon to Galvatron.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Galvatron died to save everyone and came back ''twice''—you lose, [[Jesus]]!]]

Plasma, energy fields, and stellar atmospheres can all utterly destroy a Transformer's body. Like being melted, being reduced to one's component molecules would seem to be a surefire way of getting killed, but quite a few characters seem able to survive the process as ghosts and/or disembodied sparks:
* Generation 1 cartoon: [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]'s spectacular death at the hands of [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] might be categorized as incineration. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* Quite a few characters met this fate in the Unicron Trilogy, but all survived it in some fashion:
** [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]]'s spark persisted within his burnt-out body when he was dropped into the exploding Unicron. {{storylink|Mortal Combat}} {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}
** [[Demolishor (Armada)|Demolishor]]'s body was obliterated by an expanding energon grid, but his spark survived the process and was placed in a new body. {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}}
** [[Inferno (Energon)|Inferno]] was destroyed when he threw himself into a star, but his spark was salvaged by the Autobots and, again, placed in a new body. {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
** And finally, Megatron (Galvatron, whatever) threw himself into Primus's new energon sun to prevent Unicron from possessing him, killing himself yet again. {{storylink|The Sun}} This death was so inconsequential that his subsequent resurrection wasn't even explained! {{storylink|Fallen (episode)|Fallen}}

===Consumption===
{{bigquote|...If we don't find the Matrix, some bad guy's gonna ''eat'' us! Right?|Longtooth, "[[Deadly Obsession]]"}}

[[Image:Wreckers Mutants.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The shocking death of the barely-seen guys with hardly any lines!]]
[[Image:Rocky mecannibal bartender marvel uk 240.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Cannibalism is hilarious, kids!]]

Quite a few critters in the multiverse are equipped to devour giant robots. Being eaten (and, presumably, digested) generally proves fatal:
* In the G1 cartoon:
** Various life forms were routinely devoured by the [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticon]]s on Quintessa. This included [[Kranix]], a mechanical life form, though not a Transformer. [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] and [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] would have suffered this fate as well, but fought their way free. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Quite a few Transformers found their way into Unicron's gullet, though many survived the experience. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comic:
** The [[Mecannibal]]s ate robots routinely, including quite a few Transformers during their sojourn on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} {{storylink|Out to Lunch!}} There is some indication that they could actually reconstitute their victims from their "recycled" parts, though this is never explicitly shown. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
** Unicron skewered [[Brainstorm]] and ate him. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The subsurface-dwelling [[demon]]s devoured [[Runabout]]. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The Swarm "devoured" innumerable Cybertronian troopers and a handful of older-generation Transformers as well, though this was through a molecular process almost akin to incineration. {{storylink|Swarm (issue)|Swarm}} {{storylink|Total War!}} {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* The Sharkticons killed two of the [[Mutant (BW)|Mutant]]s by gobbling them up. Or ripping them apart. Or both. We don't really know. {{storylink|Betrayal}}
* [[Flanker]] was eaten up and killed by the "Deluxe" Insecticons.

===Disassembly===
[[Image:Jazz DyingAction.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"HERE'S what I think of your resemblance to your G1 counterpart!"]]

Taking a Transformer apart into its component parts can occasionally kill them:
* Marvel comics:
**[[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] met this fate in an alternate future, when Swoop used a machine to pull him apart into his component pieces. {{storylink|Another Time and Place}}
**A future version of Ultra Magnus may have been killed when a group of Decepticons mobbed him and ripped him up. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)}}
* Movie continuity:
**Being ripped in half by [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] killed [[Jazz (Movie)|Jazz]]. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}
**[[Ravage (ROTF)|Ravage]] was killed when Bumblebee ripped his spine out, tearing him apart. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* IDW comic continuity: [[Pyro]] was torn apart and killed while making a final stand against a mass of generic Decpticons. {{storylink|Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 5|Last Stand of the Wreckers #5}}
* ''Prime'' cartoon: When fighting [[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]]'s zombie army, [[Ratchet (Prime)|Ratchet]] recommended dissection to [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus]] to "cut" them down to size. How this is more effective then just blasting the living slag out of them is still up for debate. {{storylink|Darkness Rising, Part 4}}

===Decapitation===
{{main|Decapitation}}

[[Image:Cyclonus death.jpg|thumb|right|150px| "CHUK!" is good, but I could really go for a "Shakkooosh" right about now.]]

Sometimes cutting a Transformer's head off is fatal. Sometimes!
* In the Marvel comics:
** The Megatron clone killed Cyclonus by ripping his head off. {{storylink|Dry Run!}}
** Several of the Wreckers were killed by having their heads ripped or blasted off, including Twin Twist and Topspin, respectively. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars}}
** [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] had his head cut off by a propeller fired by [[Leadfoot (G2)|Leadfoot]], presumably (given the ''Generation 2'' book's emphasis on body count) killing him. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** Characters frequently die by decapitation of some form: [[Bonecrusher (Movie)|Bonecrusher]], {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and [[Grindor (ROTF)|Grindor]]. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
** Decapitation was an inconvenience for [[Frenzy (Movie)|Frenzy]] the first time. The second time, when the blow actually destroyed most of his head, was fatal.
** [[Soundwave (ROTF)|Soundwave]], [[Laserbeak (DOTM)|Laserbeak]], [[Starscream (Movie)|Starscream]], and [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] are decapitated in the third movie. [[Que]] and [[Ironhide (Movie)|Ironhide]]'s heads fell off when they died. {{storylink|Dark of the Moon (film)}}

===Vivisection===
[[Image:VictoryUKAnnual.JPG|thumb|right|150px| Ahhhh, there we go...]]

{{bigquote|I have no desire to be carved up into Auto-sushi.|Tracks, "[[Make Tracks]]"}}

Getting chopped in half is pretty graphic for a kids' story, even one about robots, so it doesn't happen very often.
* Marvel comics: In a dream sequence, [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] slices [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] in half, killing him. {{storylink|Victory!}}
* Japanese G1 cartoon: [[Predaking]] gets sliced in half by Dai Atlas. The strike dissects what appears to be an organic brain in his head. {{storylink|Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!}}
* ''Beast Wars Metals'': Terrorsaur was killed by being sliced in half by Primal's mace. {{storylink|Raise the Curtain for Beast Wars Metals!!}}
* Movie continuity: [[Sideways (ROTF)|Sideways]] dies when [[Sideswipe (ROTF)|Sideswipe]] slices his car mode in two. [[Jetfire (ROTF)|Jetfire]] slices [[Mixmaster (ROTF)|Mixmaster]] in half at the chest. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Destruction of brain===
{{bigquote|Next strike in the neural cluster, yes? Weakest spot on ''all'' Transformers...|[[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], "[[Fire on High!]]"}}

In the early days of the franchise, a Transformer's life force was sometimes understood to be entirely contained within their [[brain module]], most prominently in the Marvel comics. Destroying the brain would kill the Transformer. This premise was eventually passed over in favor of the more esoteric concept of [[spark]]s.
* In the Marvel comics:
** In an alternate future, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] is blasted by [[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], who kills him by extracting and crushing his brain module. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** The [[Throttlebot]]s ''avoid'' death by having their brain modules removed from their bodies shortly before their bodies are destroyed (by crushing). {{storylink|Toy Soldiers!}}
* Movie continuity:
** Optimus prime kills Sentinel Prime by shooting Sentinel in the head with Megatron's shotgun. {{storylink|Dark of the Moon (film)}}

===Destruction of spark===
{{bigquote|RAW energon! Right through your twisted spark!|Depth Charge to Rampage, "[[Nemesis Part 1]]"}}

[[Image:Skyfallwontbethereforit.jpg|thumb|right|200px|And then he hung Skyfall from his ceiling.]]

Getting stabbed right through the spark is almost always fatal:
* In ''Beast Wars'': The supposedly immortal Rampage was killed when Depth Charge pierced his spark with an energon blade. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}
* ''[[Transcendent Technomorph|TransTech]]'': [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] died when [[Alpha Trion (SG)|Alpha Trion]] rammed his sword right through his chest. {{storylink|Transcendent: Part 6}}
*Energon: [[Constructicon Maximus]] was killed when [[Storm Jet (Energon)|Storm Jet]] impaled and crushed his spark.
* ''Cybertron'': [[Megatron (Armada)#Cybertron cartoon|Galvatron]] died after being impaled with [[Rhisling]] by [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]]. {{storylink|Unfinished}}
* Movie continuity: Optimus Prime died when Megatron stabbed him through the chest with his death-lock pincer, followed by a blast from his fusion cannon through the spark chamber. [[The Fallen]] also met his end when Optimus punched through his chest and crushed his spark. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* ''Beast Machines'' continuity: [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] - already reduced to a spark within the matrix - ceased to be when Megatron annihilated his spark from existence. {{storylink|Singularity Ablyss}}
* [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|Titan's Movie comics]]: Transformers have forcefields shielding their sparks, which can be externalized to protect bodywork. Jazz loved doing this, leaving him far more vulnerable to death by destruction of spark than he would otherwise be. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 6|Lost in Space 4: Jazz}}

===Loss of spark===
{{bigquote|Warning. Further expenditure will result in permanent loss of spark. Stasis lock ''must'' commence.|[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]]'s internal computer, "[[Code of Hero]]"}}

Sometimes sparks can survive outside of a body; sometimes they cannot. In the Beast Era, there is some indication that a spark left outside a body will soon begin to return to the Matrix/AllSpark/another dimension.
* When Dinobot expires after his final battle, his Spark is seen exiting his body. The implication is that a sufficiently damaged body can no longer hold a spark within this dimension. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* ''Beast Machines'' subsequently showed living sparks existing outside of bodies on a regular basis. The sparkless bodies were simply considered shells, rather than "dead".
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Prowl dies when he intentionally relinquishes his own spark. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}
* Movie continuity: Jetfire rips out his own spark chamber to give Optimus a fighting chance. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Energy overload===
{{bigquote|We may need energon for power, but this is too much of a good thing.|[[Optimus Primal]], "[[Beast Wars (Part 1)]]"}}

[[Image:TFAnimated transformandrollout DEATH.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Death — the Optimus version of a power nap.]]
[[Image:Underbaseallmine.jpg|thumb|right|200px|He's got an Underbase in his underpants.]]

The average [[human]] needs a lot of [[water]] to survive. But too much water results in [[wikipedia:Water intoxication|a horrible death]]. Similarly, Transformers need energy to survive, but too much of it can be a very bad thing. Sometimes it's just plain old energy; other times it some special god-like force that does them in.
* In the Marvel comics:
** An [[Underbase]]-empowered Starscream slaughtered dozens of Transformers with energy blasts, {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}} which reportedly burned out millions of their [[microchip]]s. {{storylink|Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?}} Some Transformers were seen to recover from these attacks, either via conventional repairs {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} or through the power of [[nucleon]]. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
** Starscream himself was killed when he absorbed all the energies of the Underbase. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] was apparently killed when struck by a blast of energy from the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]], though the physical effect was more like being hit by an especially powerful laser blast. {{storylink|All Fall Down (issue)}}

* ''Super-God Masterforce'' cartoon: [[Sixknight]] died from an overcharge of BlackZarak's Devil Power. {{storylink|Malevolent and Inhuman! The True Form of Devil Z}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runabout]] dies when one of the [[Reaper]]s zaps him full of energy, causing him to explode from within. {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* Movie continuity: [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] was killed when [[Sam Witwicky]] shoved the [[AllSpark]] into his chest. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)|Transformers}}
* ''Transformers Animated'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] got caught in an explosion of [[AllSpark]] energy that may have been sufficient to kill him, although he also fell off a very tall building immediately afterwards (Starscream was caught in the same explosion and survived, but was knocked offline for an unspecified period.)

===Energy depletion===
On rare occasion, Transformers can simply run out of energy completely and expire.
* Marvel comics: the ancient [[Overlord (rank)|Overlord]] died from a lack of energy. {{storylink|State Games}}
* Movie continuity: [[Jetfire (ROTF)|Jetfire]] explains that a lack of energon causes the Transformer equivalent of aging, such as rusting joints, mental confusion, and pieces falling apart, followed by an indefinite period of stasis that can only be reversed by an infusion of Allspark energy. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Suicide===
Sometimes a Transformers kills himself for some reason.
* Marvel comics
** Megatron seemingly killed himself using a [[space bridge]] though it was later revealed that he survived.
** Dirge and Nightbeat self destructed and destroyed themselves in a last ditch attempt to destroy the Swarm.
* Beast Wars
** [[Tigerhawk]] sacrificed himself by hurling himself in the way of a fusion cannon blast from the Nemesis.
* Energon: Galvatron, Starscream, and [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Mirage]] threw themselves into a sun and vaporized themselves. [[Cyclonus (Armada)|Snow Cat]] and Demolishor may have also done this.
* Revenge of the Fallen: Jetfire riped out his entire spark housing for Optimus Prime to have enough power to kill The Fallen.

==Non-fatal deactivation==
{{quote|"You mean he's still alive?!" "No! But neither is he what you would term 'dead'!"|[[Spider-Man]] and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], "[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

[[Image:Zombiesbackfromthedead.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Braiiiiiin mooooodulllllles....]]

For almost every single cause of death listed above, there's been one or more Transformers who have survived it, sometimes without so much as a period of unconsciousness.

In particular, "deactivation" is the Transformers equivalent of being in a coma. Numerous Transformers are seen to enter this state and eventually recover, such as the Autobots deactivated by Shockwave, {{storylink|The Last Stand}} who later were repaired. However, the line between death and deactivation is a blurry one. Sometimes the two words are used interchangeably, even in reference to characters who are later revived. Most of Starscream's Underbase victims were described as deactivated, and were sometimes lamented as "dead" while at other times were shown undergoing repairs. {{storylink|Back from the Dead}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}

"[[Stasis lock]]" would eventually give a more concrete name to the state of deactivation. The inert Transformers on the crashed Ark were retconned as being in stasis lock. Various ''Beast Wars'' characters would go into stasis lock to maintain their spark when their body had sustained too much damage from weaponsfire or energon absorption. ''Animated'' showed a crew of Autobots voluntarily entering protective stasis lock in anticipation of a crash landing.

Some of the quasi-fatal things which can cause a Transformer to "deactivate" include:

===Impact trauma===
Smashing into something usually knocks out a Transformer, but almost never actually kills them:
* The crew of the original [[Ark (G1)|Ark]] is deactivated when the ship crashes on Earth and lies inert for 4 million years {{storylink|More than Meets the Eye, Part 1}} {{storylink|The Transformers (issue)}}
* Marvel comics: [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] falls to his "death", but is patched together and talking again in short order. {{storylink|Prisoner of War!}}

===Decapitation===
[[Image:Sentinelprimeanimatedhumiliated.jpg|thumb|200px|In the movie continuity, this would've been fatal. In ''Animated'', it's just embarrassing.]]

{{bigquote|Anyone who can lop your head off in one blow is alright by me!|[[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] jokes about [[Cloudburst]]'s near-death experience, "[[Recipe for Disaster!]]"}}

Like we said before, decapitation is sometimes fatal... and other times it isn't.
* Marvel comic:
** Optimus Prime was able to survive as just a head when Shockwave separated it from his body in an effort to get the Creation Matrix. {{storylink|The New Order}}
**[[Cloudburst]] was abruptly decapitated by sword, but was just fine after some repairs. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
* G1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was disassembled into his component parts, but functioned just fine as nothing more than a head once [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] connected a few wires. {{storylink|City of Steel}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] survives having his head blasted or otherwise knocked off multiple times, {{storylink|Spider's Game}} {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}} {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)}} {{storylink|Code of Hero}} and even put it back on himself one time. He even accidentally swapped heads with Megatron once. Megatron was not amused. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]] was just fine when one of the Reapers whacked his head off. (He didn't fare so well when another Reaper crushed his head with a boulder, however.) {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Decapitated victims of the ''Animated'' [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] rarely show any ill effects other than not having a body anymore. {{storylink|Headmaster (episode)|Headmaster}} {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}} {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

===Dismemberment===
Transformers get ripped to pieces all the time, and recover from it:
* Marvel comic: Scorponok tears [[Tantrum]] to pieces. [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] slices [[Horri-Bull]] in half at the waist. Both are seen alive later on. {{storylink|Cold War!}}
* Last Stand of the Wreckers: [[Guzzle]] is torn in half by [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] and is easily repaired.

===Spark removal===
{{bigquote|His spark can't exist outside a living body!|[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]], "[[Optimal Situation]]"}}

A Transformer's spark—their "soul", their living essence—can be removed from their body, or the body can be destroyed around them
* The destruction of Starscream's body, and his subsequent survival as a ghost, was eventually retconned to be his Spark enduring without a physical form. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Tigatron and Airazor's sparks spent quite some time wandering around behind Tigerhawk, before combining and entering his body. {{storylink|Other Victories}}

* In the ''Beast Machines'' cartoon:
** Megatron de-sparked most of Cybertron's population and stored their sparks in a big barrel. Most were restored to bodies eventually. {{storylink|Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}}
** Blackarachnia's spark wandered around bodiless for a time. {{storylink|Revelations Part III: Apocalypse}}
** Megatron himself, his spark in a depolarized state, wandered the surface of Cybertron without a body for a time. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}

The treatment of bodiless sparks in ''Beast Machines'' is seen by some fans as contradicting the canon established by ''Beast Wars'', particularly the quote above.

===Limbo===
Sometimes Transformers get shunted out of creation as we know it, and into various alternate, sub- and non-dimensions.
* Marvel comics:
** The [[Trans-Time Dimensional Portal]] crosses [[unspace]], "a bit of dimensional nothingness" where Ratchet and Megatron vanished and were believed dead. {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}
** Transformers mass-displaced by time travel wind up in a formless dimension known as [[Limbo]].
* IDW comics: Megatron severely damaged Optimus Prime in battle and planned on finishing him off by crushing his [[Laser core|spark core]]. Optimus Prime feigned death by downloading his "consciousness" into his [[Combat Deck|trailer section]], causing his [[Brain Center|robot mode]] to appear dead. In the time it took for Prime's consciousness to transfer to his trailer, he briefly entered [[infraspace|limbo]], the transitional infraspace between life and death. {{storylink|Escalation (IDW)|Escalation}}
*Generation 1 cartoon:
**Come on, we all know what REALLY happened to the likes of Seaspray and Tracks.

==Resuscitation==
Robots are machines. They can be switched off, taken apart, blown to bits, and put back together. Ergo, in many continuities and cases, "death" is not nearly as permanent a condition as it is for us fragile fleshy types.

===Reconstruction===
[[Image:PeoplePower-reprogrammed.jpg|thumb|right|250px| ]]

{{bigquote|I've done it! Optimus Prime lives!|A random Quintesson, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]"}}

* Generation 1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was simply ''repaired'' back to life by a Quintesson. Some fixing of this and that, a burst of power, and boom, suddenly he was alive again. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}}
* Marvel Comics: Optimus Prime's mind was encoded on a disk. After a new [[Powermaster]] body was constructed for him, the disk's contents were loaded into it, and Optimus Prime lived again. (One wonders why they couldn't make as many Optimus Primes as they pleased.) {{storylink|People Power!}}

===Spark transfer===
Transferring a Transformer's spark into a new body constitutes a form of resurrection, particularly if the Transformer's previous body was destroyed.
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Optimus Primal was restored to life when Rhinox managed to recall his spark from the Matrix, a special circumstance only enabled by a temporary window into transwarp space. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* "Beast Machines" various Vehicon generals were brought to life by placing other Transformer's sparks into them.
* ''Armada'' Smokescreen was shot through the chest at point blank range by the Requiem Blaster {{storylink|Sacrifice}} but his spark survived and was put into a new body. {{storylink|Regeneration}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Inferno and Demolishor both had their bodies ''atomized''; however, their sparks both survived, and were placed into new bodies. (The upshot of all of this is that it's nigh-impossible to kill a Unicron Trilogy Transformer, unless they do it themselves.) {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}} {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: The spark of a dying [[Yoketron (Animated)|Yoketron]] was placed into a new protoform body by [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]; however, Yoketron consciously chose to let his life end, and expired anyway. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}}

==="Magical" substances===
* Marvel Comics: The miraculous healing properties of Nucleon brought many Autobots back to life, as well as a few Decepticons. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Megatron was revived by the all-encompassing power of energon, as was Unicron. {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}

===Primus and Primus-related powers===
{{bigquote|Where the Last Autobot is concerned, even death, it would appear, is an abstract concept!|Optimus Prime explains his latest revival, "[[End of the Road! (US)|End of the Road!]]"}}

Anything tied to the primordial life-force of the Transformers' god Primus tends to be a cure-all for death. This includes Primus himself, his various power-wielding avatars and servants, and the assorted Matrixes and Allsparks, all of which can deliver an infusion of the essence of life itself. In some continuities, this is parsed as a Transformer's spark being brought back out of the Allspark dimension.

[[Image:RageInHeaven-HeroPrime.jpg|thumb|right|150px|]]

* In the Marvel comics:
** The [[Last Autobot]] was granted the power of recreation by Primus, which he used to raise numerous fallen Autobots from the battlefield. {{storylink|End of the Road! (US)}}
** Optimus Prime was eager to find the lost Creation Matrix, stating that it would be able to restore many deactivated warriors to life. {{storylink|Bird of Prey!}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the [[Swarm (G2)|Swarm]] after it had ingested the energies and knowledge of the Matrix. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** The Allspark is shown repeatedly to be capable of restoring just about anything. Frenzy gets a whole new body from its power, Bumblebee temporarily gets his voice back, {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and Megatron is restored to life by merely a fragment of it. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the Matrix of Leadership, an Allspark-related talisman. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
** Sentinel Prime is revived after crash landing on the moon by the Matrix of Leadership courtesy of Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Dark of the Moon (film)|Dark of the Moon}}

* ''Beast Machines'' cartoon: [[Optimus Primal]]'s body was destroyed, but the AllSpark granted him the choice of uniting with it or being reborn. He chose the latter, and ''poof'', just walked right out of the Oracle bubble in a brand new version of his previous body. {{storylink|Fallout}}
* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] was brought back to life by the power of the [[Mini-Con]]s after his body was disintegrated. {{storylink|Miracle}}
* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] was resurrected when he and his gestaltmates were combined together and reborn by Primus into [[Nexus Prime]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 5}} Nexus Prime then brought [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] back from the other side of the Allspark and infused him with some of Primus's power to become Galvatron. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 6}}

===Zombies===
* Dude, [[zombie]]s!

==Immortality==
===Immortal sparks===
Certain sparks have mutant qualities that allow them to, potentially, exist forever.
* Starscream survived his death at the hands of Galvatron; this was later explained as him having a "mutant indestructible spark". {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}} {{storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] was created as an attempt to duplicate Starscream's immortal spark. {{storylink|Bad Spark}} He was eventually killed by [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]], so the attempt may be seen as unsuccessful. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

===Other===
* [[Multiversal singularity|Multiversal singularities]] such as [[Unicron]] and [[The Fallen]] can be killed off in one dimension, only to still be alive and well in another (or many others), due to the varying properties of different dimensions (reverse-time dimensions, for example, are key to revival of the singularities).
* ''Animated'' [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] could not be killed so long as he retained his Allspark fragment embedded in his forehead.
* Denizens of the [[Dead Universe]] could essentially regenerate themselves out of nothing, no matter how much damage was inflicted on them. This ability appears to no longer apply, post-[[Expansion]], except when in direct proximity to the Dead Universe.
* Thunderwing's Pretender shell seemed to make him near invincible. At the very lest able to withstand incredible amounts of salvo and not even flinch.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] can never completely die no matter what for some reason.

==Out-of-fiction causes of character death==
===Drama / character culmination===
At its best, character death can be a moving plot development, the fruition of an ongoing character arc.
* Suspecting that they would have to remove a character from the show, the writers of ''Beast Wars'' began planning for Dinobot's death several episodes ahead of time. Thus, when it came, it was the outcome of the character's own choices, flaws, and history, and played a crucial role in the show's plot. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* Sunstreaker's death in ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' is intended to follow a similar style of arc... only it's missing the whole choices, flaws and history thing. Oh well!
* Optimus Primal's death(s) in ''Beast Machines'' are likewise the outcome of his own choices and character. {{storylink|End of the Line}} {{storylink| Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}} His death in ''Beast Wars'', by contrast, was more a moment of dramatic pathos — knowingly walking into danger, his enemy got the better of him. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}

===Consequences of war===
It's hard to take a war story seriously when nobody actually dies. The reality of war can be more readily portrayed when characters die. [[Generic]]s are particularly handy for this, allowing death to be shown while not removing primary characters (retail toys!) from the story. The results can range from high drama and pathos to numbingly pointless body counts.
* Impactor's death was used to drive home the threat of the Decepticons as well as the risks taken by the Autobots and their commanders. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
* The ''Generation 2'' book featured several deaths which drove home the realities of war. Most notably, Red Alert's destruction served to make Grimlock acutely aware of just how badly he'd screwed up. {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}}

===Increased threat===
An enemy that kills is an enemy to be taken seriously. Thus a writer will frequently throw in some preliminary deaths to point out how seriously the bad guy should be treated.
* The generic who dies at the beginning of "[[City of Fear!]]" serves to show the zombies as a true life-threatening menace.
* Likewise for Runabout's death at the hands of the demons ; {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}} knowing they can devour a Transformer makes the reader more concerned about the Dinobots' subsequent fate. {{storylink|Still Life!}}
* In "[[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]", [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] makes corpses in practically every scene he's in!

===Cast thinning===
Transformers stories are notorious for acquiring gigantic casts as they roll on; Generation 1 was particularly notorious for this because of its longevity. A simple way to make things more manageable was simply to kill off large numbers of characters in battle. Examples are rife in the fiction, especially the Marvel Comics.

* In the Marvel comics:
** The "[[Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars]]" storyline got rid of the [[Wrecker]]s and quite a few Decepticons as well.
** The [[Underbase Saga]] even more explicitly cleared out dozens of characters, leaving perhaps 2 dozen characters from each faction in the story.
** The battle with Unicron in "[[On the Edge of Extinction!]]" likewise got rid of a lot of older characters, leaving the story free to concentrate on more of a core cast (and associated newer toy characters.)
* [[Betrayal|Wreckers #2]] dealt with its oversized cast by killing off scads of characters right up front.

===Clear space for new toys===
{{main|To sell toys}}

Some fiction has an inherently limited capacity for characters. ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines'' are by far the most prominent examples; their CGI animation made character animation expensive and necessitated removing an old character before a new one could be brought in. But any medium can be susceptible to this toy-driven phenomena.
* The numerous casualties of "[[The Transformers: The Movie]]" were fairly explicitly removed from the story to make way for a wave of new toy/characters.
* Terrorsaur and Scorponok had to be removed — quickly — to make room for the two upcoming Fuzor characters, hence their sudden, blink-and-you-miss-it death in "[[Aftermath]]".
* Airazor and Tigatron were removed for similar reasons. When their plot was finally resolved, it was, surprise, via [[Tigerhawk|a new toy]]!

==Fleshling death==
In general, ''Transformers'' fiction is pretty squeamish about showing the deaths of Earth's organic creatures. But it's a war, and sometimes it does happen. The out-of-universe reasons generally fall into three categories: Consequences of War, Emotional Pathos, and BLOOD IZ KEWL.

The various cartoons tend to show organic death the least, as they are most clearly aimed at, and easily accessible by, children. Comics tend to be less reluctant to show the impact of the Transformers' war on innocent lives, though the death rate varies by series. Latter-day Generation 1 books especially revel in high body counts, because squishing stupid humans is killer and awesome and radical and hardcore. Even the occasional [[Satellite of Doom|children's storybook]] has been known to off mass quantities of the dumb fleshies.

===Animal death===
[[Image:MurderedPuppy02.jpg|right|150px|thumb|One dead dog]]

[[Image:Sparkwar3 Dead noble.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Two dead dogs]]

Cute little animals are almost always killed off for reasons of Emotional Pathos:
* A little girl's pet puppy named [[Pis]] barked at [[Wilder]] and was kicked so hard he died. {{storylink|Rage!! Little Devils with No Need for Rules}}
* The [[Murdered puppy]] was shot down by the Decepticons after running away from Megatron's experiments. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 8|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #8}}
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] reminded [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] that [[The Fallen]] once shot down a ship full of [[Antilian bumble-puppy|Antilian bumble-puppies]]. (Decepticons have a thing for killing puppies.)
* The dog-like [[Noble]] was shot at by [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] because of his hatred for organics {{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. III: The Siege}} and was later mourned by his "owner", [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]]. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}
* A stray shot from [[Tigatron]] accidentally caused an avalanche which killed his friend [[Snowstalker]]. {{storylink|Law of the Jungle}}
* "[[Law of the Jungle]]" also portrays the deaths of four different forest animals (a bug is eaten by a frog, which is eaten by a snake, which is taken off to be eaten by a bird. Later, an orange tiger kills an antelope). This is a rare "Consequences of War" example.
* [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] also once ate an eagle, {{storylink|Power Surge}} while [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] ate a cute little rat, {{storylink|Victory (episode)|Victory}} and nearly ate an antelope as well. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* In order to save [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] had to fight a saber-toothed tiger off a cliff killing it. {{Storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] used [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel]]'s shield to knock a spikey rock onto a giant spider effectively killing it. She later used [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus]]' axe to kill some new born baby spiders. {{Storylink|Along Came a Spider}}
* Human villain [[Trophy White]] had a grisly display of stuffed and mounted animal heads. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}}

{{-}}

===Human death===
[[Image:Razorclawshootsahuman.jpg|right|thumb|150px|This didn't happen much.]]

* Marvel US: The [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|original Marvel book]] ignored or glossed over human casualties, which were rarely if ever shown; the panel at right, from [[Toy Soldiers!|US #37]], shows a ''very'' unusual instance of a human dying right in front of us. One of the few human(oid)s to die on-panel was [[Galen]], killed off to make way for [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]]. ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' was much more explicit about human death, as Bludgeon and later [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] attacked Earth for the purpose of inflicting casualties.
* Marvel UK: The UK-original stories were much less reluctant to show human death; within the first year or so, humans had died in Autobot-induced car wrecks and at the hands of mind-controlled Autobots.
* In every US-aired cartoon series, humans essentially ''never'' die. Even ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Transformers Animated]]'', which features the city of [[Detroit]] getting smashed by robot battles virtually every week, never once mentions humans getting killed.
* Contemporary toyline-based comics (''[[Armada (Dreamwave comic)|Armada]]'', ''[[Energon (comic)|Energon]]'') seem to follow a similar policy, avoiding mention of human death — even when human cities are being directly attacked, as in "[[Multiplicity, Pt. 2]]".
* Japanese cartoons, by contrast, don't seem to mind showing human deaths (or [[Pis|dog deaths]], for that matter).
* The [[Dreamwave Generation One continuity|Dreamwave G1 comics]] really thought it was totally awesome and cool and radical to kill off those stupid humans. Thus, they start off with Megatron smushing some stupid humans. More smushing and killing and blowing up follows. DIE, dumb stubbies, DIE!
* [[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW comics]] managed to avoid this for a long time, showing human death only when it was particularly integral to the plot... then ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' came down the pike. DIE, stupid fleshies, DIE!
* The live-action [[movie continuity]] implies a great deal of human death. ''Revenge'' mentions a body count of over 9,000 (don't even think about it), and massive damage is done during the battle of [[Mission City]], though little of it is shown on screen. And of course, the first film begins with Blackout wiping out an entire military base. A handful of humans are killed directly on-screen, most notably [[Patrick Donnelly|Donnelly]]. Then of course we get to Dark of the Moon, which has Decepticons laying siege to [[Chicago]], killing most of its citizens, including several being shot and annihilated into just skulls ''directly in front of the camera''. Then of course we get to [[Laserbeak (DOTM)|Laserbeak]], whose job it is to assassinate civilians, even if it means befriending their children to do it. Twisted.
* The alternate timeline arc in Titan's Movie comic featured big wars on Earth and lots of destruction, clearly ''insinuating'' human death while not being explicit. The exceptions were in [[Transformers Comic issue 10|issue 10]], where [[NATO]] is said to be suffering losses of 11,506 and the [[France|Palais Bourbon]] is blown up when people are still clearly inside. [[Sam Witwicky]], meanwhile, was stated to have died.
[[Image:Convoy-kablooie.jpg|right|thumb|150px|They'll, uh, be okay, maybe.]]
* Titan quite blatantly stated that the [[Free Men]] had caused great loss of life at an air base, a rare example of humans killing humans. In the same story, [[Robert Epps]] opened fire on militia men, which kinda implies he was killing them. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}} Similarly, [[Wheelie (ROTF)|Wheelie]] of all people was seen zapping humans at close range during a Decepticon attack; with no "oh it was a stun beam" handwave and the 'Cons not pulling punches, it sure seems like he's murdered 'em! {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.6|Outlaw Blues}}
* In ''[[Kiss Players (franchise)|Kiss Players]]'', several [[Kiss Player]]s were seen being devoured by Legions.
* In [[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|''Transformers: Prime'']] episode "[[Convoy (episode)|Convoy]]," a group of cars being driven by [[MECH|human terrorists]] crash and flip over each other and explode. Previously, [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus Prime]] had ordered his Autobots to engage only with non-lethal force.
* [[Dylan Gould]] was killed when he was shoved into [[Sentinel Prime (ROTF)|Sentinel Prime's]] Space Bridge generator.
{{-}}

==Characters who die a lot==
* [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|Optimus Prime]]
* [[Dirge (G1)]] — the unlucky guy who gets [[:Image:Dirge DeathSerpentor.jpg|killed]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathSwarm.jpg|off]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathTimelines.jpg|in]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathUnicron.jpg|many]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathArmada.jpg|continuities]]
* [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] — the unlucky guy who gets killed over and over in the same continuity, but doesn't seem to mind.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] — the unlucky guy from ''[[Beast Wars (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'' who gets sliced, diced, and fricasseed every other episode only to be fully functional in time to get [[Slag (slang)|slagged]] ''again''. But he never actually dies.
* [[Cy-Kill (disambiguation)|Cy-Kill]], a Go-Bots character transferred to many Transformers comics just to be killed off violently. For no other reason than the lolz of ending his toyline, his universe, and finally his life... repeatedly.
* [[Sentinel Prime (G1)]] — the unlucky [[Prime (rank)|Prime]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime lou.jpg|who]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime dw.jpg|must]] [[Megatron Origin issue 4|die]].
* [[Starscream (Animated)]] - the unlucky guy that constantly gets killed, decapitated, or maimed by others, only to be brought back to life.

==See also==
* [[Transformer funerary practices]]
* [[To sell toys]]

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Transformer anatomy]]

Death

2011-07-31T20:35:32Z

174.96.255.90: /* Big explosions */

{{disambig2|the end of life|the Horseman of Unicron|Airazor (Armada)}}

[[Image:Battleofautobotcity.jpg|right|300px|thumb|And lo, the children did weep.]]

''Transformers'' is a children's franchise, but at its core, it's a story of war. This means that the '''death''' of major and minor characters sometimes figures into the fiction.

Given the ambiguous nature of [[Transformer]] physiology, there is very little consistency regarding what is fatal to a Transformer, even within a single storyline. Damage that one Transformer might shrug off can prove fatal to another, or even to the same character in a different story. Sometimes just a laser blast or two will do the trick. Other times, characters survive being melted, crushed into cubes, and even utterly disintegrated. It does not take a terribly cynical viewer to conclude that the threshold of survival is generally determined by the needs of the plot.

The out-of-universe reasons for a character's death can vary from plot development to the arrival of [[To sell toys|new toys]]. Conveniently enough for writers who are beholden to the whims of a toy company, the majority of Transformers characters are machines, which means that death isn't necessarily permanent. Across the various universes, characters that appear to have been killed have been known to pop up alive again at a later date, or go through some sort of resurrection.

{{quote|"How can you all be so cold and unfeeling? He died a hero!" "Don't you even have mechanical hearts?" "The humans don't understand! Our form of life is vastly different from theirs!"|[[Spider-Man]], [[Sparkplug Witwicky]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]|"[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

==In-fiction causes of death==
[[Image:DEATH.jpg|left|thumb|400px|[[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] is just as puzzled as the rest of us.]]

There is little consistency in what can kill a Transformer. Sometimes it takes just a shot. Other times, even totally annihilating a Transformer's body still doesn't do the trick. Even the most basic method of killing, which is to destroy or otherwise cause the loss of a Transformer's [[spark]], varies quite a bit in its details from story to story, character to character, and series to series.
{{--}}
===Weaponsfire===
{{quote|This was almost too easy, Starscream!|[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (like the fandom) is surprised to find how easily Autobots die, ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''}}

[[Image:Tftm1986a.jpg|right|200px|thumb|We're here aboard the Autobot shuttle, where we've secretly replaced Brawn's hyper-dense metal armor plating with styrene plastic. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference.]]

[[Image:TFTM UltraMagnus dies.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Prepare for your death today. Yer gonna die!!]]

[[Image:Magnusdeath.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ow! Hey! Cut it out, guys! That hurts!]]

[[Image:Blades1.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Sorry, [[Outpost B-67 exo-structuring party|nameless guy]], your generic nature means you will never be miraculously resurrected.]]

Like humans, Transformers can be killed by damage caused by energy, projectile, and chemical weapons. Just how many shots it takes is widely variable, however.
* In the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]]:
** Many casualties of the [[Battle of Autobot City]] (and its run-up), including [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], were victims of energy weapons. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} This was quite a change from the cartoon's M.O., wherein the same characters routinely got shot and blasted all the time and shrugged it off, or at worst spent some time in the repair bay. Brawn and Prowl both went down after ''one shot''.
** [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] subsequently "dies" after being shot a few times by the [[Sweep]]s, exploding into pieces. He is soon revived by the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]], however. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** In the Japanese continuity, Ultra Magnus dies ''again'', for real this time, after [[Sixshot]] shoots him a few times. {{storylink|Ultra Magnus Dies!!}}

* In the [[Marvel Comics continuity|Marvel comics]]:
** [[Impactor]] was cut down by a single head shot from [[Macabre]]. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
** Most deaths in the ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' book occurred from energy weapons, such as [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]], {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}} as well as numerous generics. {{storylink|War Without End!}} Quite a few victims exploded spectacularly after being shot, including [[Tantrum]], {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}} [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]], [[Quake (G1)|Quake]], {{storylink|New Dawn}} and [[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]]. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

* In the ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' cartoon:
** [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] dies after incurring severe damage from numerous [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] weapons. {{storylink|Code of Hero}} The apparent cause of his demise is his refusal to enter protective [[stasis lock]], as other characters have survived similar or worse levels of damage.
** [[Tigerhawk]] is disintegrated by the main cannon of the starship ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]''. The same cannon subsequently blasts [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] and [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]], apparently killing them, though their "death" may be permanent simply because there was nobody around to put them back together. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 2}}

* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] dies holding back the [[Hydra Cannon]], the damage causing him to [[:Image:Sshot-arm-39-4.jpg|crumble to dust]]. {{storylink|Crisis}}

* [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]] G1 comics: [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] is killed by an assassin's blast. {{storylink|The Age of Wrath issue 1|The Age of Wrath #1}} He got better. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 3|Prime Directive #3}}

* [[Movie continuity]]: [[Brawl (Movie)|Brawl]] and [[Blackout (Movie)|Blackout]] both died from weapons fire. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)|Transformers}}

* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] gets his face blown off/in by [[Cyclonus (SG)|Cyclonus]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 4}}
{{--}}

* [[Universe (2003 comic)|Universe]]: [[Tankor (BM)|Tankor]] was shot and killed by [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] during the final battle of the [[Universe War]].

===Big explosions===
{{bigquote|They're going to blow us all to pieces! [[Guardian (Marvel)|Guardian]]'s booby-trapped - packed with enough explosives to level this whole mountain!|[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], "[[The Wrath of Grimlock!]]"}}

Transformers characters often assume that explosions are more lethal than they really are; characters survive explosions all the time. An explosion's messy nature makes a good "out" for a writer to fake a character's death. {{storylink|The Wrath of Grimlock!}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}} Nevertheless, a few characters have been permanently killed by explosions. (This list omits characters who exploded from within, like Ultra Magnus up above.)
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]] was the victim of an interdimensionally triggered explosion that destroyed his body. (In UK continuity, he survived as a raggedy, bodiless head.) {{storylink|The Bridge to Nowhere!}}
** In an alternate future, a wounded [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] died in the fiery explosion of a crashing shuttlecraft. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** [[Finback]] was presumably killed in the explosion of a huge gun battery. [[Misfire]] tried to warn him off, and may have been killed in the same explosion. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** [[Roadbuster (G1)|Roadbuster]] was killed when a prototype [[pathblaster]] exploded in his face. {{storylink|Time Wars}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon:
** [[Optimus Primal]] was blown to bits — terminally so — by the [[transwarp]] explosion that destroyed the [[Planet Buster]]. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}
** [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]] was killed by the explosion that resulted from [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]]'s death (either his exploding spark, or the exploding energon shard that pierced it.) {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

* Several of the [[Beast Era]] [[Wrecker]]s ([[Sonar (BW)|Sonar]], [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]], the [[Deployer (BM)|Deployers]]) were destroyed when part of their ship exploded with them in it. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

* Energon: [[Bruticus Maximus (Energon)|Bruticus Maximus]] was killed when Storm Jet caused a massive explosion that engulfed them both.

* ''Prime'': [[Makeshift (Prime)|Makeshift]] and the surrounding [[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicon]]s were blown up by a grenade attached by the Autobots. While it's likely the Vehicons were destroyed, whether Makeshift survived this explosion remains to be seen
*IDW Continuity: [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] and [[Skullgrin]] were killed when Springer blew them up with a grenade. {{storylink|Stormbringer issue 3}}

===Impact trauma===
Falling off a cliff or mountainside or tall building is usually just as fatal to Transformers as it is to, say... Wile E. Coyote. Only on rare occasion does it result in death:
* ''[[Classics (2006)|Classics]]'' continuity: [[Hacksaw]] met his end by falling from a huge communications tower. {{storylink|The New World}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Doubledealer]] was shot, fell off a mountain and smashed to bits on impact. {{storylink|Spotlight: Doubledealer}}
* Movie continuity:
**[[Devastator (ROTF)|Devastator]] fell off the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] after losing his balance when his arm was shot off, and he shattered to pieces as he tumbled down. ''{{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}''
** [[Barricade (Movie)|Barricade]] was smashed to pieces and killed by being flung into a freeway column. {{storylink|Movie Adaptation Issue Number Four}}
* The [[Beast (G1)|Beast]] fell off a cliff and shattered. {{storylink|The Beast Within Part 2, Consequences}} At least, we hope that's where and how it ended.
* ''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)| Prime]]'': [[Skyquake (Prime)|Skyquake]] crash-landed after [[Bumblebee (Prime)|Bumblebee]] punched out vital components in his alternate mode, reducing his body to a partially transformed scrapheap.

===Crushing===
[[Image:Edgeofextinction-hardheadbombburst.jpg|thumb|right|175px|DO NOT WANT]]
[[Image:TFAni TransWarped LongArm Cliffjumper Cube.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Before time began, there was... THE CUBE.]]

Quite a few characters have been crushed into deactivation:
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]] was smashed between [[Unicron]]'s palms, while [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] met a similar fate when they were stepped on by Unicron. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] is apparently killed when a very large building collapses on top of him. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

* [[Unicron Trilogy]] cartoons:
** [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]] is killed when caught between two folding sections of Unicron's external armor. {{storylink|Union}}
** [[Shockblast]] is crushed by Unicron's hand on [[Blizzard Planet]]. {{storylink|The Power}}
** His brother [[Six Shot]] meets a similar fate, crushed under the heel of a super-sized Galvatron. {{storylink|Galvatron Terror}}

* IDW continuity:
** [[Roller (G1)|Roller]] was crushed when Megatron caused an avalanche to fall on him.
** [[Ruckus (G1)|Ruckus]], [[Crankcase (G1)|Crankcase]], and [[Skullcruncher]] were all crushed by [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]].

* ''Animated'' cartoon: [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]] is (possibly) killed by a garbage compactor-like crushing device. (An "out" by writer [[Derrick J. Wyatt|Derrick Wyatt]] was intended to show his still-pulsing spark within his cubified remains, but this did not make it into the show, leaving his fate ambiguous at best.) {{storylink|TransWarped}}

===Melting===
[[Image:BW Scorponok Terrorsaur deaths.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Even having a new toy couldn't save Terrorsaur!]]

[[Image:Fallout title.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Primal's diet had gone horribly wrong.]]

They're made of metal; therefore, with enough heat or sufficiently acidic material, they can melt. This is one of the more fool-proof methods of killing a Transformer; few if any have survived it.
* In the G1 cartoon:
** An acid vat would apparently have been enough to destroy Optimus Prime. {{storylink|The Search for Alpha Trion}}
** Another acid vat was used to disintegrate living victims of Unicron. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comics:
** Victims of the Deception [[smelting pool]]s on Cybertron were reduced by intense heat into their base metals, including [[Scrounge (G1)|Scrounge]]. {{storylink|The Smelting Pool!}}
** It is possible that an acid bath from (naturally) [[Blot (G1)|Blot]] offlined [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] [[Makin' Tracks!|(for a while anyway)]]. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] was partially melted by Unicron's flame-breath and subsequently died. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The [[Cybertronian (faction)|Cybertronian Empire]] used some kind of acid to rather messily eradicate some of their Decepticon ancestors, including [[Stranglehold]]. {{storylink|New Dawn}}

* In the Beast Era cartoons:
** [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] and [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] were apparently melted to death after tumbling into a lava pit within the [[Darksyde|Predacon base]]. {{storylink|Aftermath}}
** Optimus Primal's body was seemingly melted into the floor after his climactic face-off with [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]. Considering how many god-like forces were unleashed and conflicting during the battle, his demise may be due to more than simple temperature-induced melting. {{storylink|Fallout}}

===Incineration===
{{bigquote|I saw the end! They died in a cosmic funeral pyre!|[[Shawn Berger]], "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2]]"}}

[[Image:Armada 52 - Prime hangon to Galvatron.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Galvatron died to save everyone and came back ''twice''—you lose, [[Jesus]]!]]

Plasma, energy fields, and stellar atmospheres can all utterly destroy a Transformer's body. Like being melted, being reduced to one's component molecules would seem to be a surefire way of getting killed, but quite a few characters seem able to survive the process as ghosts and/or disembodied sparks:
* Generation 1 cartoon: [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]'s spectacular death at the hands of [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] might be categorized as incineration. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* Quite a few characters met this fate in the Unicron Trilogy, but all survived it in some fashion:
** [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]]'s spark persisted within his burnt-out body when he was dropped into the exploding Unicron. {{storylink|Mortal Combat}} {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}
** [[Demolishor (Armada)|Demolishor]]'s body was obliterated by an expanding energon grid, but his spark survived the process and was placed in a new body. {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}}
** [[Inferno (Energon)|Inferno]] was destroyed when he threw himself into a star, but his spark was salvaged by the Autobots and, again, placed in a new body. {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
** And finally, Megatron (Galvatron, whatever) threw himself into Primus's new energon sun to prevent Unicron from possessing him, killing himself yet again. {{storylink|The Sun}} This death was so inconsequential that his subsequent resurrection wasn't even explained! {{storylink|Fallen (episode)|Fallen}}

===Consumption===
{{bigquote|...If we don't find the Matrix, some bad guy's gonna ''eat'' us! Right?|Longtooth, "[[Deadly Obsession]]"}}

[[Image:Wreckers Mutants.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The shocking death of the barely-seen guys with hardly any lines!]]
[[Image:Rocky mecannibal bartender marvel uk 240.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Cannibalism is hilarious, kids!]]

Quite a few critters in the multiverse are equipped to devour giant robots. Being eaten (and, presumably, digested) generally proves fatal:
* In the G1 cartoon:
** Various life forms were routinely devoured by the [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticon]]s on Quintessa. This included [[Kranix]], a mechanical life form, though not a Transformer. [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] and [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] would have suffered this fate as well, but fought their way free. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Quite a few Transformers found their way into Unicron's gullet, though many survived the experience. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comic:
** The [[Mecannibal]]s ate robots routinely, including quite a few Transformers during their sojourn on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} {{storylink|Out to Lunch!}} There is some indication that they could actually reconstitute their victims from their "recycled" parts, though this is never explicitly shown. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
** Unicron skewered [[Brainstorm]] and ate him. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The subsurface-dwelling [[demon]]s devoured [[Runabout]]. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The Swarm "devoured" innumerable Cybertronian troopers and a handful of older-generation Transformers as well, though this was through a molecular process almost akin to incineration. {{storylink|Swarm (issue)|Swarm}} {{storylink|Total War!}} {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* The Sharkticons killed two of the [[Mutant (BW)|Mutant]]s by gobbling them up. Or ripping them apart. Or both. We don't really know. {{storylink|Betrayal}}
* [[Flanker]] was eaten up and killed by the "Deluxe" Insecticons.

===Disassembly===
[[Image:Jazz DyingAction.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"HERE'S what I think of your resemblance to your G1 counterpart!"]]

Taking a Transformer apart into its component parts can occasionally kill them:
* Marvel comics:
**[[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] met this fate in an alternate future, when Swoop used a machine to pull him apart into his component pieces. {{storylink|Another Time and Place}}
**A future version of Ultra Magnus may have been killed when a group of Decepticons mobbed him and ripped him up. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)}}
* Movie continuity:
**Being ripped in half by [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] killed [[Jazz (Movie)|Jazz]]. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}
**[[Ravage (ROTF)|Ravage]] was killed when Bumblebee ripped his spine out, tearing him apart. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* IDW comic continuity: [[Pyro]] was torn apart and killed while making a final stand against a mass of generic Decpticons. {{storylink|Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 5|Last Stand of the Wreckers #5}}
* ''Prime'' cartoon: When fighting [[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]]'s zombie army, [[Ratchet (Prime)|Ratchet]] recommended dissection to [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus]] to "cut" them down to size. How this is more effective then just blasting the living slag out of them is still up for debate. {{storylink|Darkness Rising, Part 4}}

===Decapitation===
{{main|Decapitation}}

[[Image:Cyclonus death.jpg|thumb|right|150px| "CHUK!" is good, but I could really go for a "Shakkooosh" right about now.]]

Sometimes cutting a Transformer's head off is fatal. Sometimes!
* In the Marvel comics:
** The Megatron clone killed Cyclonus by ripping his head off. {{storylink|Dry Run!}}
** Several of the Wreckers were killed by having their heads ripped or blasted off, including Twin Twist and Topspin, respectively. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars}}
** [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] had his head cut off by a propeller fired by [[Leadfoot (G2)|Leadfoot]], presumably (given the ''Generation 2'' book's emphasis on body count) killing him. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** Characters frequently die by decapitation of some form: [[Bonecrusher (Movie)|Bonecrusher]], {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and [[Grindor (ROTF)|Grindor]]. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
** Decapitation was an inconvenience for [[Frenzy (Movie)|Frenzy]] the first time. The second time, when the blow actually destroyed most of his head, was fatal.
** [[Soundwave (ROTF)|Soundwave]], [[Laserbeak (DOTM)|Laserbeak]], [[Starscream (Movie)|Starscream]], and [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] are decapitated in the third movie. [[Que]] and [[Ironhide (Movie)|Ironhide]]'s heads fell off when they died. {{storylink|Dark of the Moon (film)}}

===Vivisection===
[[Image:VictoryUKAnnual.JPG|thumb|right|150px| Ahhhh, there we go...]]

{{bigquote|I have no desire to be carved up into Auto-sushi.|Tracks, "[[Make Tracks]]"}}

Getting chopped in half is pretty graphic for a kids' story, even one about robots, so it doesn't happen very often.
* Marvel comics: In a dream sequence, [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] slices [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] in half, killing him. {{storylink|Victory!}}
* Japanese G1 cartoon: [[Predaking]] gets sliced in half by Dai Atlas. The strike dissects what appears to be an organic brain in his head. {{storylink|Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!}}
* ''Beast Wars Metals'': Terrorsaur was killed by being sliced in half by Primal's mace. {{storylink|Raise the Curtain for Beast Wars Metals!!}}
* Movie continuity: [[Sideways (ROTF)|Sideways]] dies when [[Sideswipe (ROTF)|Sideswipe]] slices his car mode in two. [[Jetfire (ROTF)|Jetfire]] slices [[Mixmaster (ROTF)|Mixmaster]] in half at the chest. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Destruction of brain===
{{bigquote|Next strike in the neural cluster, yes? Weakest spot on ''all'' Transformers...|[[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], "[[Fire on High!]]"}}

In the early days of the franchise, a Transformer's life force was sometimes understood to be entirely contained within their [[brain module]], most prominently in the Marvel comics. Destroying the brain would kill the Transformer. This premise was eventually passed over in favor of the more esoteric concept of [[spark]]s.
* In the Marvel comics:
** In an alternate future, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] is blasted by [[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], who kills him by extracting and crushing his brain module. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** The [[Throttlebot]]s ''avoid'' death by having their brain modules removed from their bodies shortly before their bodies are destroyed (by crushing). {{storylink|Toy Soldiers!}}
* Movie continuity:
** Optimus prime kills Sentinel Prime by shooting Sentinel in the head with Megatron's shotgun. {{storylink|Dark of the Moon (film)}}

===Destruction of spark===
{{bigquote|RAW energon! Right through your twisted spark!|Depth Charge to Rampage, "[[Nemesis Part 1]]"}}

[[Image:Skyfallwontbethereforit.jpg|thumb|right|200px|And then he hung Skyfall from his ceiling.]]

Getting stabbed right through the spark is almost always fatal:
* In ''Beast Wars'': The supposedly immortal Rampage was killed when Depth Charge pierced his spark with an energon blade. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}
* ''[[Transcendent Technomorph|TransTech]]'': [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] died when [[Alpha Trion (SG)|Alpha Trion]] rammed his sword right through his chest. {{storylink|Transcendent: Part 6}}
*Energon: [[Constructicon Maximus]] was killed when [[Storm Jet (Energon)|Storm Jet]] impaled and crushed his spark.
* ''Cybertron'': [[Megatron (Armada)#Cybertron cartoon|Galvatron]] died after being impaled with [[Rhisling]] by [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]]. {{storylink|Unfinished}}
* Movie continuity: Optimus Prime died when Megatron stabbed him through the chest with his death-lock pincer, followed by a blast from his fusion cannon through the spark chamber. [[The Fallen]] also met his end when Optimus punched through his chest and crushed his spark. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* ''Beast Machines'' continuity: [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] - already reduced to a spark within the matrix - ceased to be when Megatron annihilated his spark from existence. {{storylink|Singularity Ablyss}}
* [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|Titan's Movie comics]]: Transformers have forcefields shielding their sparks, which can be externalized to protect bodywork. Jazz loved doing this, leaving him far more vulnerable to death by destruction of spark than he would otherwise be. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 6|Lost in Space 4: Jazz}}

===Loss of spark===
{{bigquote|Warning. Further expenditure will result in permanent loss of spark. Stasis lock ''must'' commence.|[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]]'s internal computer, "[[Code of Hero]]"}}

Sometimes sparks can survive outside of a body; sometimes they cannot. In the Beast Era, there is some indication that a spark left outside a body will soon begin to return to the Matrix/AllSpark/another dimension.
* When Dinobot expires after his final battle, his Spark is seen exiting his body. The implication is that a sufficiently damaged body can no longer hold a spark within this dimension. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* ''Beast Machines'' subsequently showed living sparks existing outside of bodies on a regular basis. The sparkless bodies were simply considered shells, rather than "dead".
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Prowl dies when he intentionally relinquishes his own spark. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}
* Movie continuity: Jetfire rips out his own spark chamber to give Optimus a fighting chance. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Energy overload===
{{bigquote|We may need energon for power, but this is too much of a good thing.|[[Optimus Primal]], "[[Beast Wars (Part 1)]]"}}

[[Image:TFAnimated transformandrollout DEATH.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Death — the Optimus version of a power nap.]]
[[Image:Underbaseallmine.jpg|thumb|right|200px|He's got an Underbase in his underpants.]]

The average [[human]] needs a lot of [[water]] to survive. But too much water results in [[wikipedia:Water intoxication|a horrible death]]. Similarly, Transformers need energy to survive, but too much of it can be a very bad thing. Sometimes it's just plain old energy; other times it some special god-like force that does them in.
* In the Marvel comics:
** An [[Underbase]]-empowered Starscream slaughtered dozens of Transformers with energy blasts, {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}} which reportedly burned out millions of their [[microchip]]s. {{storylink|Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?}} Some Transformers were seen to recover from these attacks, either via conventional repairs {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} or through the power of [[nucleon]]. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
** Starscream himself was killed when he absorbed all the energies of the Underbase. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] was apparently killed when struck by a blast of energy from the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]], though the physical effect was more like being hit by an especially powerful laser blast. {{storylink|All Fall Down (issue)}}

* ''Super-God Masterforce'' cartoon: [[Sixknight]] died from an overcharge of BlackZarak's Devil Power. {{storylink|Malevolent and Inhuman! The True Form of Devil Z}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runabout]] dies when one of the [[Reaper]]s zaps him full of energy, causing him to explode from within. {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* Movie continuity: [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] was killed when [[Sam Witwicky]] shoved the [[AllSpark]] into his chest. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)|Transformers}}
* ''Transformers Animated'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] got caught in an explosion of [[AllSpark]] energy that may have been sufficient to kill him, although he also fell off a very tall building immediately afterwards (Starscream was caught in the same explosion and survived, but was knocked offline for an unspecified period.)

===Energy depletion===
On rare occasion, Transformers can simply run out of energy completely and expire.
* Marvel comics: the ancient [[Overlord (rank)|Overlord]] died from a lack of energy. {{storylink|State Games}}
* Movie continuity: [[Jetfire (ROTF)|Jetfire]] explains that a lack of energon causes the Transformer equivalent of aging, such as rusting joints, mental confusion, and pieces falling apart, followed by an indefinite period of stasis that can only be reversed by an infusion of Allspark energy. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Suicide===
Sometimes a Transformers kills himself for some reason.
* Marvel comics
** Megatron seemingly killed himself using a [[space bridge]] though it was later revealed that he survived.
** Dirge and Nightbeat self destructed and destroyed themselves in a last ditch attempt to destroy the Swarm.
* Beast Wars
** [[Tigerhawk]] sacrificed himself by hurling himself in the way of a fusion cannon blast from the Nemesis.
* Energon: Galvatron, Starscream, and [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Mirage]] threw themselves into a sun and vaporized themselves. [[Cyclonus (Armada)|Snow Cat]] and Demolishor may have also done this.
* Revenge of the Fallen: Jetfire riped out his entire spark housing for Optimus Prime to have enough power to kill The Fallen.

==Non-fatal deactivation==
{{quote|"You mean he's still alive?!" "No! But neither is he what you would term 'dead'!"|[[Spider-Man]] and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], "[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

[[Image:Zombiesbackfromthedead.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Braiiiiiin mooooodulllllles....]]

For almost every single cause of death listed above, there's been one or more Transformers who have survived it, sometimes without so much as a period of unconsciousness.

In particular, "deactivation" is the Transformers equivalent of being in a coma. Numerous Transformers are seen to enter this state and eventually recover, such as the Autobots deactivated by Shockwave, {{storylink|The Last Stand}} who later were repaired. However, the line between death and deactivation is a blurry one. Sometimes the two words are used interchangeably, even in reference to characters who are later revived. Most of Starscream's Underbase victims were described as deactivated, and were sometimes lamented as "dead" while at other times were shown undergoing repairs. {{storylink|Back from the Dead}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}

"[[Stasis lock]]" would eventually give a more concrete name to the state of deactivation. The inert Transformers on the crashed Ark were retconned as being in stasis lock. Various ''Beast Wars'' characters would go into stasis lock to maintain their spark when their body had sustained too much damage from weaponsfire or energon absorption. ''Animated'' showed a crew of Autobots voluntarily entering protective stasis lock in anticipation of a crash landing.

Some of the quasi-fatal things which can cause a Transformer to "deactivate" include:

===Impact trauma===
Smashing into something usually knocks out a Transformer, but almost never actually kills them:
* The crew of the original [[Ark (G1)|Ark]] is deactivated when the ship crashes on Earth and lies inert for 4 million years {{storylink|More than Meets the Eye, Part 1}} {{storylink|The Transformers (issue)}}
* Marvel comics: [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] falls to his "death", but is patched together and talking again in short order. {{storylink|Prisoner of War!}}

===Decapitation===
[[Image:Sentinelprimeanimatedhumiliated.jpg|thumb|200px|In the movie continuity, this would've been fatal. In ''Animated'', it's just embarrassing.]]

{{bigquote|Anyone who can lop your head off in one blow is alright by me!|[[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] jokes about [[Cloudburst]]'s near-death experience, "[[Recipe for Disaster!]]"}}

Like we said before, decapitation is sometimes fatal... and other times it isn't.
* Marvel comic:
** Optimus Prime was able to survive as just a head when Shockwave separated it from his body in an effort to get the Creation Matrix. {{storylink|The New Order}}
**[[Cloudburst]] was abruptly decapitated by sword, but was just fine after some repairs. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
* G1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was disassembled into his component parts, but functioned just fine as nothing more than a head once [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] connected a few wires. {{storylink|City of Steel}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] survives having his head blasted or otherwise knocked off multiple times, {{storylink|Spider's Game}} {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}} {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)}} {{storylink|Code of Hero}} and even put it back on himself one time. He even accidentally swapped heads with Megatron once. Megatron was not amused. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]] was just fine when one of the Reapers whacked his head off. (He didn't fare so well when another Reaper crushed his head with a boulder, however.) {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Decapitated victims of the ''Animated'' [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] rarely show any ill effects other than not having a body anymore. {{storylink|Headmaster (episode)|Headmaster}} {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}} {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

===Dismemberment===
Transformers get ripped to pieces all the time, and recover from it:
* Marvel comic: Scorponok tears [[Tantrum]] to pieces. [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] slices [[Horri-Bull]] in half at the waist. Both are seen alive later on. {{storylink|Cold War!}}
* Last Stand of the Wreckers: [[Guzzle]] is torn in half by [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] and is easily repaired.

===Spark removal===
{{bigquote|His spark can't exist outside a living body!|[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]], "[[Optimal Situation]]"}}

A Transformer's spark—their "soul", their living essence—can be removed from their body, or the body can be destroyed around them
* The destruction of Starscream's body, and his subsequent survival as a ghost, was eventually retconned to be his Spark enduring without a physical form. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Tigatron and Airazor's sparks spent quite some time wandering around behind Tigerhawk, before combining and entering his body. {{storylink|Other Victories}}

* In the ''Beast Machines'' cartoon:
** Megatron de-sparked most of Cybertron's population and stored their sparks in a big barrel. Most were restored to bodies eventually. {{storylink|Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}}
** Blackarachnia's spark wandered around bodiless for a time. {{storylink|Revelations Part III: Apocalypse}}
** Megatron himself, his spark in a depolarized state, wandered the surface of Cybertron without a body for a time. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}

The treatment of bodiless sparks in ''Beast Machines'' is seen by some fans as contradicting the canon established by ''Beast Wars'', particularly the quote above.

===Limbo===
Sometimes Transformers get shunted out of creation as we know it, and into various alternate, sub- and non-dimensions.
* Marvel comics:
** The [[Trans-Time Dimensional Portal]] crosses [[unspace]], "a bit of dimensional nothingness" where Ratchet and Megatron vanished and were believed dead. {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}
** Transformers mass-displaced by time travel wind up in a formless dimension known as [[Limbo]].
* IDW comics: Megatron severely damaged Optimus Prime in battle and planned on finishing him off by crushing his [[Laser core|spark core]]. Optimus Prime feigned death by downloading his "consciousness" into his [[Combat Deck|trailer section]], causing his [[Brain Center|robot mode]] to appear dead. In the time it took for Prime's consciousness to transfer to his trailer, he briefly entered [[infraspace|limbo]], the transitional infraspace between life and death. {{storylink|Escalation (IDW)|Escalation}}
*Generation 1 cartoon:
**Come on, we all know what REALLY happened to the likes of Seaspray and Tracks.

==Resuscitation==
Robots are machines. They can be switched off, taken apart, blown to bits, and put back together. Ergo, in many continuities and cases, "death" is not nearly as permanent a condition as it is for us fragile fleshy types.

===Reconstruction===
[[Image:PeoplePower-reprogrammed.jpg|thumb|right|250px| ]]

{{bigquote|I've done it! Optimus Prime lives!|A random Quintesson, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]"}}

* Generation 1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was simply ''repaired'' back to life by a Quintesson. Some fixing of this and that, a burst of power, and boom, suddenly he was alive again. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}}
* Marvel Comics: Optimus Prime's mind was encoded on a disk. After a new [[Powermaster]] body was constructed for him, the disk's contents were loaded into it, and Optimus Prime lived again. (One wonders why they couldn't make as many Optimus Primes as they pleased.) {{storylink|People Power!}}

===Spark transfer===
Transferring a Transformer's spark into a new body constitutes a form of resurrection, particularly if the Transformer's previous body was destroyed.
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Optimus Primal was restored to life when Rhinox managed to recall his spark from the Matrix, a special circumstance only enabled by a temporary window into transwarp space. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* "Beast Machines" various Vehicon generals were brought to life by placing other Transformer's sparks into them.
* ''Armada'' Smokescreen was shot through the chest at point blank range by the Requiem Blaster {{storylink|Sacrifice}} but his spark survived and was put into a new body. {{storylink|Regeneration}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Inferno and Demolishor both had their bodies ''atomized''; however, their sparks both survived, and were placed into new bodies. (The upshot of all of this is that it's nigh-impossible to kill a Unicron Trilogy Transformer, unless they do it themselves.) {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}} {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: The spark of a dying [[Yoketron (Animated)|Yoketron]] was placed into a new protoform body by [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]; however, Yoketron consciously chose to let his life end, and expired anyway. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}}

==="Magical" substances===
* Marvel Comics: The miraculous healing properties of Nucleon brought many Autobots back to life, as well as a few Decepticons. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Megatron was revived by the all-encompassing power of energon, as was Unicron. {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}

===Primus and Primus-related powers===
{{bigquote|Where the Last Autobot is concerned, even death, it would appear, is an abstract concept!|Optimus Prime explains his latest revival, "[[End of the Road! (US)|End of the Road!]]"}}

Anything tied to the primordial life-force of the Transformers' god Primus tends to be a cure-all for death. This includes Primus himself, his various power-wielding avatars and servants, and the assorted Matrixes and Allsparks, all of which can deliver an infusion of the essence of life itself. In some continuities, this is parsed as a Transformer's spark being brought back out of the Allspark dimension.

[[Image:RageInHeaven-HeroPrime.jpg|thumb|right|150px|]]

* In the Marvel comics:
** The [[Last Autobot]] was granted the power of recreation by Primus, which he used to raise numerous fallen Autobots from the battlefield. {{storylink|End of the Road! (US)}}
** Optimus Prime was eager to find the lost Creation Matrix, stating that it would be able to restore many deactivated warriors to life. {{storylink|Bird of Prey!}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the [[Swarm (G2)|Swarm]] after it had ingested the energies and knowledge of the Matrix. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** The Allspark is shown repeatedly to be capable of restoring just about anything. Frenzy gets a whole new body from its power, Bumblebee temporarily gets his voice back, {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and Megatron is restored to life by merely a fragment of it. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the Matrix of Leadership, an Allspark-related talisman. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
** Sentinel Prime is revived after crash landing on the moon by the Matrix of Leadership courtesy of Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Dark of the Moon (film)|Dark of the Moon}}

* ''Beast Machines'' cartoon: [[Optimus Primal]]'s body was destroyed, but the AllSpark granted him the choice of uniting with it or being reborn. He chose the latter, and ''poof'', just walked right out of the Oracle bubble in a brand new version of his previous body. {{storylink|Fallout}}
* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] was brought back to life by the power of the [[Mini-Con]]s after his body was disintegrated. {{storylink|Miracle}}
* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] was resurrected when he and his gestaltmates were combined together and reborn by Primus into [[Nexus Prime]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 5}} Nexus Prime then brought [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] back from the other side of the Allspark and infused him with some of Primus's power to become Galvatron. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 6}}

===Zombies===
* Dude, [[zombie]]s!

==Immortality==
===Immortal sparks===
Certain sparks have mutant qualities that allow them to, potentially, exist forever.
* Starscream survived his death at the hands of Galvatron; this was later explained as him having a "mutant indestructible spark". {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}} {{storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] was created as an attempt to duplicate Starscream's immortal spark. {{storylink|Bad Spark}} He was eventually killed by [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]], so the attempt may be seen as unsuccessful. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

===Other===
* [[Multiversal singularity|Multiversal singularities]] such as [[Unicron]] and [[The Fallen]] can be killed off in one dimension, only to still be alive and well in another (or many others), due to the varying properties of different dimensions (reverse-time dimensions, for example, are key to revival of the singularities).
* ''Animated'' [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] could not be killed so long as he retained his Allspark fragment embedded in his forehead.
* Denizens of the [[Dead Universe]] could essentially regenerate themselves out of nothing, no matter how much damage was inflicted on them. This ability appears to no longer apply, post-[[Expansion]], except when in direct proximity to the Dead Universe.
* Thunderwing's Pretender shell seemed to make him near invincible. At the very lest able to withstand incredible amounts of salvo and not even flinch.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] can never completely die no matter what for some reason.

==Out-of-fiction causes of character death==
===Drama / character culmination===
At its best, character death can be a moving plot development, the fruition of an ongoing character arc.
* Suspecting that they would have to remove a character from the show, the writers of ''Beast Wars'' began planning for Dinobot's death several episodes ahead of time. Thus, when it came, it was the outcome of the character's own choices, flaws, and history, and played a crucial role in the show's plot. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* Sunstreaker's death in ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' is intended to follow a similar style of arc... only it's missing the whole choices, flaws and history thing. Oh well!
* Optimus Primal's death(s) in ''Beast Machines'' are likewise the outcome of his own choices and character. {{storylink|End of the Line}} {{storylink| Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}} His death in ''Beast Wars'', by contrast, was more a moment of dramatic pathos — knowingly walking into danger, his enemy got the better of him. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}

===Consequences of war===
It's hard to take a war story seriously when nobody actually dies. The reality of war can be more readily portrayed when characters die. [[Generic]]s are particularly handy for this, allowing death to be shown while not removing primary characters (retail toys!) from the story. The results can range from high drama and pathos to numbingly pointless body counts.
* Impactor's death was used to drive home the threat of the Decepticons as well as the risks taken by the Autobots and their commanders. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
* The ''Generation 2'' book featured several deaths which drove home the realities of war. Most notably, Red Alert's destruction served to make Grimlock acutely aware of just how badly he'd screwed up. {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}}

===Increased threat===
An enemy that kills is an enemy to be taken seriously. Thus a writer will frequently throw in some preliminary deaths to point out how seriously the bad guy should be treated.
* The generic who dies at the beginning of "[[City of Fear!]]" serves to show the zombies as a true life-threatening menace.
* Likewise for Runabout's death at the hands of the demons ; {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}} knowing they can devour a Transformer makes the reader more concerned about the Dinobots' subsequent fate. {{storylink|Still Life!}}
* In "[[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]", [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] makes corpses in practically every scene he's in!

===Cast thinning===
Transformers stories are notorious for acquiring gigantic casts as they roll on; Generation 1 was particularly notorious for this because of its longevity. A simple way to make things more manageable was simply to kill off large numbers of characters in battle. Examples are rife in the fiction, especially the Marvel Comics.

* In the Marvel comics:
** The "[[Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars]]" storyline got rid of the [[Wrecker]]s and quite a few Decepticons as well.
** The [[Underbase Saga]] even more explicitly cleared out dozens of characters, leaving perhaps 2 dozen characters from each faction in the story.
** The battle with Unicron in "[[On the Edge of Extinction!]]" likewise got rid of a lot of older characters, leaving the story free to concentrate on more of a core cast (and associated newer toy characters.)
* [[Betrayal|Wreckers #2]] dealt with its oversized cast by killing off scads of characters right up front.

===Clear space for new toys===
{{main|To sell toys}}

Some fiction has an inherently limited capacity for characters. ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines'' are by far the most prominent examples; their CGI animation made character animation expensive and necessitated removing an old character before a new one could be brought in. But any medium can be susceptible to this toy-driven phenomena.
* The numerous casualties of "[[The Transformers: The Movie]]" were fairly explicitly removed from the story to make way for a wave of new toy/characters.
* Terrorsaur and Scorponok had to be removed — quickly — to make room for the two upcoming Fuzor characters, hence their sudden, blink-and-you-miss-it death in "[[Aftermath]]".
* Airazor and Tigatron were removed for similar reasons. When their plot was finally resolved, it was, surprise, via [[Tigerhawk|a new toy]]!

==Fleshling death==
In general, ''Transformers'' fiction is pretty squeamish about showing the deaths of Earth's organic creatures. But it's a war, and sometimes it does happen. The out-of-universe reasons generally fall into three categories: Consequences of War, Emotional Pathos, and BLOOD IZ KEWL.

The various cartoons tend to show organic death the least, as they are most clearly aimed at, and easily accessible by, children. Comics tend to be less reluctant to show the impact of the Transformers' war on innocent lives, though the death rate varies by series. Latter-day Generation 1 books especially revel in high body counts, because squishing stupid humans is killer and awesome and radical and hardcore. Even the occasional [[Satellite of Doom|children's storybook]] has been known to off mass quantities of the dumb fleshies.

===Animal death===
[[Image:MurderedPuppy02.jpg|right|150px|thumb|One dead dog]]

[[Image:Sparkwar3 Dead noble.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Two dead dogs]]

Cute little animals are almost always killed off for reasons of Emotional Pathos:
* A little girl's pet puppy named [[Pis]] barked at [[Wilder]] and was kicked so hard he died. {{storylink|Rage!! Little Devils with No Need for Rules}}
* The [[Murdered puppy]] was shot down by the Decepticons after running away from Megatron's experiments. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 8|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #8}}
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] reminded [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] that [[The Fallen]] once shot down a ship full of [[Antilian bumble-puppy|Antilian bumble-puppies]]. (Decepticons have a thing for killing puppies.)
* The dog-like [[Noble]] was shot at by [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] because of his hatred for organics {{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. III: The Siege}} and was later mourned by his "owner", [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]]. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}
* A stray shot from [[Tigatron]] accidentally caused an avalanche which killed his friend [[Snowstalker]]. {{storylink|Law of the Jungle}}
* "[[Law of the Jungle]]" also portrays the deaths of four different forest animals (a bug is eaten by a frog, which is eaten by a snake, which is taken off to be eaten by a bird. Later, an orange tiger kills an antelope). This is a rare "Consequences of War" example.
* [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] also once ate an eagle, {{storylink|Power Surge}} while [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] ate a cute little rat, {{storylink|Victory (episode)|Victory}} and nearly ate an antelope as well. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* In order to save [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] had to fight a saber-toothed tiger off a cliff killing it. {{Storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] used [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel]]'s shield to knock a spikey rock onto a giant spider effectively killing it. She later used [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus]]' axe to kill some new born baby spiders. {{Storylink|Along Came a Spider}}
* Human villain [[Trophy White]] had a grisly display of stuffed and mounted animal heads. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}}

{{-}}

===Human death===
[[Image:Razorclawshootsahuman.jpg|right|thumb|150px|This didn't happen much.]]

* Marvel US: The [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|original Marvel book]] ignored or glossed over human casualties, which were rarely if ever shown; the panel at right, from [[Toy Soldiers!|US #37]], shows a ''very'' unusual instance of a human dying right in front of us. One of the few human(oid)s to die on-panel was [[Galen]], killed off to make way for [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]]. ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' was much more explicit about human death, as Bludgeon and later [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] attacked Earth for the purpose of inflicting casualties.
* Marvel UK: The UK-original stories were much less reluctant to show human death; within the first year or so, humans had died in Autobot-induced car wrecks and at the hands of mind-controlled Autobots.
* In every US-aired cartoon series, humans essentially ''never'' die. Even ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Transformers Animated]]'', which features the city of [[Detroit]] getting smashed by robot battles virtually every week, never once mentions humans getting killed.
* Contemporary toyline-based comics (''[[Armada (Dreamwave comic)|Armada]]'', ''[[Energon (comic)|Energon]]'') seem to follow a similar policy, avoiding mention of human death — even when human cities are being directly attacked, as in "[[Multiplicity, Pt. 2]]".
* Japanese cartoons, by contrast, don't seem to mind showing human deaths (or [[Pis|dog deaths]], for that matter).
* The [[Dreamwave Generation One continuity|Dreamwave G1 comics]] really thought it was totally awesome and cool and radical to kill off those stupid humans. Thus, they start off with Megatron smushing some stupid humans. More smushing and killing and blowing up follows. DIE, dumb stubbies, DIE!
* [[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW comics]] managed to avoid this for a long time, showing human death only when it was particularly integral to the plot... then ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' came down the pike. DIE, stupid fleshies, DIE!
* The live-action [[movie continuity]] implies a great deal of human death. ''Revenge'' mentions a body count of over 9,000 (don't even think about it), and massive damage is done during the battle of [[Mission City]], though little of it is shown on screen. And of course, the first film begins with Blackout wiping out an entire military base. A handful of humans are killed directly on-screen, most notably [[Patrick Donnelly|Donnelly]]. Then of course we get to Dark of the Moon, which has Decepticons laying siege to [[Chicago]], killing most of its citizens, including several being shot and annihilated into just skulls ''directly in front of the camera''. Then of course we get to [[Laserbeak (DOTM)|Laserbeak]], whose job it is to assassinate civilians, even if it means befriending their children to do it. Twisted.
* The alternate timeline arc in Titan's Movie comic featured big wars on Earth and lots of destruction, clearly ''insinuating'' human death while not being explicit. The exceptions were in [[Transformers Comic issue 10|issue 10]], where [[NATO]] is said to be suffering losses of 11,506 and the [[France|Palais Bourbon]] is blown up when people are still clearly inside. [[Sam Witwicky]], meanwhile, was stated to have died.
[[Image:Convoy-kablooie.jpg|right|thumb|150px|They'll, uh, be okay, maybe.]]
* Titan quite blatantly stated that the [[Free Men]] had caused great loss of life at an air base, a rare example of humans killing humans. In the same story, [[Robert Epps]] opened fire on militia men, which kinda implies he was killing them. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}} Similarly, [[Wheelie (ROTF)|Wheelie]] of all people was seen zapping humans at close range during a Decepticon attack; with no "oh it was a stun beam" handwave and the 'Cons not pulling punches, it sure seems like he's murdered 'em! {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.6|Outlaw Blues}}
* In ''[[Kiss Players (franchise)|Kiss Players]]'', several [[Kiss Player]]s were seen being devoured by Legions.
* In [[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|''Transformers: Prime'']] episode "[[Convoy (episode)|Convoy]]," a group of cars being driven by [[MECH|human terrorists]] crash and flip over each other and explode. Previously, [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus Prime]] had ordered his Autobots to engage only with non-lethal force.
* [[Dylan Gould]] was killed when he was shoved into [[Sentinel Prime (ROTF)|Sentinel Prime's]] Space Bridge generator.
{{-}}

==Characters who die a lot==
* [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|Optimus Prime]]
* [[Dirge (G1)]] — the unlucky guy who gets [[:Image:Dirge DeathSerpentor.jpg|killed]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathSwarm.jpg|off]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathTimelines.jpg|in]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathUnicron.jpg|many]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathArmada.jpg|continuities]]
* [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] — the unlucky guy who gets killed over and over in the same continuity, but doesn't seem to mind.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] — the unlucky guy from ''[[Beast Wars (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'' who gets sliced, diced, and fricasseed every other episode only to be fully functional in time to get [[Slag (slang)|slagged]] ''again''. But he never actually dies.
* [[Cy-Kill (disambiguation)|Cy-Kill]], a Go-Bots character transferred to many Transformers comics just to be killed off violently. For no other reason than the lolz of ending his toyline, his universe, and finally his life... repeatedly.
* [[Sentinel Prime (G1)]] — the unlucky [[Prime (rank)|Prime]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime lou.jpg|who]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime dw.jpg|must]] [[Megatron Origin issue 4|die]].
* [[Starscream (Animated)]] - the unlucky guy that constantly gets killed, decapitated, or maimed by others, only to be brought back to life.

==See also==
* [[Transformer funerary practices]]
* [[To sell toys]]

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Transformer anatomy]]

Death

2011-07-31T20:34:40Z

174.96.255.90: /* Big explosions */

{{disambig2|the end of life|the Horseman of Unicron|Airazor (Armada)}}

[[Image:Battleofautobotcity.jpg|right|300px|thumb|And lo, the children did weep.]]

''Transformers'' is a children's franchise, but at its core, it's a story of war. This means that the '''death''' of major and minor characters sometimes figures into the fiction.

Given the ambiguous nature of [[Transformer]] physiology, there is very little consistency regarding what is fatal to a Transformer, even within a single storyline. Damage that one Transformer might shrug off can prove fatal to another, or even to the same character in a different story. Sometimes just a laser blast or two will do the trick. Other times, characters survive being melted, crushed into cubes, and even utterly disintegrated. It does not take a terribly cynical viewer to conclude that the threshold of survival is generally determined by the needs of the plot.

The out-of-universe reasons for a character's death can vary from plot development to the arrival of [[To sell toys|new toys]]. Conveniently enough for writers who are beholden to the whims of a toy company, the majority of Transformers characters are machines, which means that death isn't necessarily permanent. Across the various universes, characters that appear to have been killed have been known to pop up alive again at a later date, or go through some sort of resurrection.

{{quote|"How can you all be so cold and unfeeling? He died a hero!" "Don't you even have mechanical hearts?" "The humans don't understand! Our form of life is vastly different from theirs!"|[[Spider-Man]], [[Sparkplug Witwicky]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]|"[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

==In-fiction causes of death==
[[Image:DEATH.jpg|left|thumb|400px|[[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] is just as puzzled as the rest of us.]]

There is little consistency in what can kill a Transformer. Sometimes it takes just a shot. Other times, even totally annihilating a Transformer's body still doesn't do the trick. Even the most basic method of killing, which is to destroy or otherwise cause the loss of a Transformer's [[spark]], varies quite a bit in its details from story to story, character to character, and series to series.
{{--}}
===Weaponsfire===
{{quote|This was almost too easy, Starscream!|[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (like the fandom) is surprised to find how easily Autobots die, ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''}}

[[Image:Tftm1986a.jpg|right|200px|thumb|We're here aboard the Autobot shuttle, where we've secretly replaced Brawn's hyper-dense metal armor plating with styrene plastic. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference.]]

[[Image:TFTM UltraMagnus dies.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Prepare for your death today. Yer gonna die!!]]

[[Image:Magnusdeath.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ow! Hey! Cut it out, guys! That hurts!]]

[[Image:Blades1.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Sorry, [[Outpost B-67 exo-structuring party|nameless guy]], your generic nature means you will never be miraculously resurrected.]]

Like humans, Transformers can be killed by damage caused by energy, projectile, and chemical weapons. Just how many shots it takes is widely variable, however.
* In the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]]:
** Many casualties of the [[Battle of Autobot City]] (and its run-up), including [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], were victims of energy weapons. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} This was quite a change from the cartoon's M.O., wherein the same characters routinely got shot and blasted all the time and shrugged it off, or at worst spent some time in the repair bay. Brawn and Prowl both went down after ''one shot''.
** [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] subsequently "dies" after being shot a few times by the [[Sweep]]s, exploding into pieces. He is soon revived by the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]], however. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** In the Japanese continuity, Ultra Magnus dies ''again'', for real this time, after [[Sixshot]] shoots him a few times. {{storylink|Ultra Magnus Dies!!}}

* In the [[Marvel Comics continuity|Marvel comics]]:
** [[Impactor]] was cut down by a single head shot from [[Macabre]]. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
** Most deaths in the ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' book occurred from energy weapons, such as [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]], {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}} as well as numerous generics. {{storylink|War Without End!}} Quite a few victims exploded spectacularly after being shot, including [[Tantrum]], {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}} [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]], [[Quake (G1)|Quake]], {{storylink|New Dawn}} and [[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]]. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

* In the ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' cartoon:
** [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] dies after incurring severe damage from numerous [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] weapons. {{storylink|Code of Hero}} The apparent cause of his demise is his refusal to enter protective [[stasis lock]], as other characters have survived similar or worse levels of damage.
** [[Tigerhawk]] is disintegrated by the main cannon of the starship ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]''. The same cannon subsequently blasts [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] and [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]], apparently killing them, though their "death" may be permanent simply because there was nobody around to put them back together. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 2}}

* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] dies holding back the [[Hydra Cannon]], the damage causing him to [[:Image:Sshot-arm-39-4.jpg|crumble to dust]]. {{storylink|Crisis}}

* [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]] G1 comics: [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] is killed by an assassin's blast. {{storylink|The Age of Wrath issue 1|The Age of Wrath #1}} He got better. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 3|Prime Directive #3}}

* [[Movie continuity]]: [[Brawl (Movie)|Brawl]] and [[Blackout (Movie)|Blackout]] both died from weapons fire. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)|Transformers}}

* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] gets his face blown off/in by [[Cyclonus (SG)|Cyclonus]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 4}}
{{--}}

* [[Universe (2003 comic)|Universe]]: [[Tankor (BM)|Tankor]] was shot and killed by [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] during the final battle of the [[Universe War]].

===Big explosions===
{{bigquote|They're going to blow us all to pieces! [[Guardian (Marvel)|Guardian]]'s booby-trapped - packed with enough explosives to level this whole mountain!|[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], "[[The Wrath of Grimlock!]]"}}

Transformers characters often assume that explosions are more lethal than they really are; characters survive explosions all the time. An explosion's messy nature makes a good "out" for a writer to fake a character's death. {{storylink|The Wrath of Grimlock!}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}} Nevertheless, a few characters have been permanently killed by explosions. (This list omits characters who exploded from within, like Ultra Magnus up above.)
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]] was the victim of an interdimensionally triggered explosion that destroyed his body. (In UK continuity, he survived as a raggedy, bodiless head.) {{storylink|The Bridge to Nowhere!}}
** In an alternate future, a wounded [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] died in the fiery explosion of a crashing shuttlecraft. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** [[Finback]] was presumably killed in the explosion of a huge gun battery. [[Misfire]] tried to warn him off, and may have been killed in the same explosion. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** [[Roadbuster (G1)|Roadbuster]] was killed when a prototype [[pathblaster]] exploded in his face. {{storylink|Time Wars}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon:
** [[Optimus Primal]] was blown to bits — terminally so — by the [[transwarp]] explosion that destroyed the [[Planet Buster]]. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}
** [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]] was killed by the explosion that resulted from [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]]'s death (either his exploding spark, or the exploding energon shard that pierced it.) {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

* Several of the [[Beast Era]] [[Wrecker]]s ([[Sonar (BW)|Sonar]], [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]], the [[Deployer (BM)|Deployers]]) were destroyed when part of their ship exploded with them in it. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

* Energon: [[Bruticus Maximus (Energon)|Bruticus Maximus]] was killed when Storm Jet caused a massive explosion that engulfed them both.

* ''Prime'': [[Makeshift (Prime)|Makeshift]] and the surrounding [[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicon]]s were blown up by a grenade attached by the Autobots. While it's likely the Vehicons were destroyed, whether Makeshift survived this explosion remains to be seen
*IDW Continuity: [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] and [[Skullgrin]] were killed when Springer blew them up with a grenade. {{Stormbringer issue 3}}

===Impact trauma===
Falling off a cliff or mountainside or tall building is usually just as fatal to Transformers as it is to, say... Wile E. Coyote. Only on rare occasion does it result in death:
* ''[[Classics (2006)|Classics]]'' continuity: [[Hacksaw]] met his end by falling from a huge communications tower. {{storylink|The New World}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Doubledealer]] was shot, fell off a mountain and smashed to bits on impact. {{storylink|Spotlight: Doubledealer}}
* Movie continuity:
**[[Devastator (ROTF)|Devastator]] fell off the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] after losing his balance when his arm was shot off, and he shattered to pieces as he tumbled down. ''{{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}''
** [[Barricade (Movie)|Barricade]] was smashed to pieces and killed by being flung into a freeway column. {{storylink|Movie Adaptation Issue Number Four}}
* The [[Beast (G1)|Beast]] fell off a cliff and shattered. {{storylink|The Beast Within Part 2, Consequences}} At least, we hope that's where and how it ended.
* ''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)| Prime]]'': [[Skyquake (Prime)|Skyquake]] crash-landed after [[Bumblebee (Prime)|Bumblebee]] punched out vital components in his alternate mode, reducing his body to a partially transformed scrapheap.

===Crushing===
[[Image:Edgeofextinction-hardheadbombburst.jpg|thumb|right|175px|DO NOT WANT]]
[[Image:TFAni TransWarped LongArm Cliffjumper Cube.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Before time began, there was... THE CUBE.]]

Quite a few characters have been crushed into deactivation:
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]] was smashed between [[Unicron]]'s palms, while [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] met a similar fate when they were stepped on by Unicron. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] is apparently killed when a very large building collapses on top of him. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

* [[Unicron Trilogy]] cartoons:
** [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]] is killed when caught between two folding sections of Unicron's external armor. {{storylink|Union}}
** [[Shockblast]] is crushed by Unicron's hand on [[Blizzard Planet]]. {{storylink|The Power}}
** His brother [[Six Shot]] meets a similar fate, crushed under the heel of a super-sized Galvatron. {{storylink|Galvatron Terror}}

* IDW continuity:
** [[Roller (G1)|Roller]] was crushed when Megatron caused an avalanche to fall on him.
** [[Ruckus (G1)|Ruckus]], [[Crankcase (G1)|Crankcase]], and [[Skullcruncher]] were all crushed by [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]].

* ''Animated'' cartoon: [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]] is (possibly) killed by a garbage compactor-like crushing device. (An "out" by writer [[Derrick J. Wyatt|Derrick Wyatt]] was intended to show his still-pulsing spark within his cubified remains, but this did not make it into the show, leaving his fate ambiguous at best.) {{storylink|TransWarped}}

===Melting===
[[Image:BW Scorponok Terrorsaur deaths.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Even having a new toy couldn't save Terrorsaur!]]

[[Image:Fallout title.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Primal's diet had gone horribly wrong.]]

They're made of metal; therefore, with enough heat or sufficiently acidic material, they can melt. This is one of the more fool-proof methods of killing a Transformer; few if any have survived it.
* In the G1 cartoon:
** An acid vat would apparently have been enough to destroy Optimus Prime. {{storylink|The Search for Alpha Trion}}
** Another acid vat was used to disintegrate living victims of Unicron. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comics:
** Victims of the Deception [[smelting pool]]s on Cybertron were reduced by intense heat into their base metals, including [[Scrounge (G1)|Scrounge]]. {{storylink|The Smelting Pool!}}
** It is possible that an acid bath from (naturally) [[Blot (G1)|Blot]] offlined [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] [[Makin' Tracks!|(for a while anyway)]]. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] was partially melted by Unicron's flame-breath and subsequently died. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The [[Cybertronian (faction)|Cybertronian Empire]] used some kind of acid to rather messily eradicate some of their Decepticon ancestors, including [[Stranglehold]]. {{storylink|New Dawn}}

* In the Beast Era cartoons:
** [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] and [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] were apparently melted to death after tumbling into a lava pit within the [[Darksyde|Predacon base]]. {{storylink|Aftermath}}
** Optimus Primal's body was seemingly melted into the floor after his climactic face-off with [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]. Considering how many god-like forces were unleashed and conflicting during the battle, his demise may be due to more than simple temperature-induced melting. {{storylink|Fallout}}

===Incineration===
{{bigquote|I saw the end! They died in a cosmic funeral pyre!|[[Shawn Berger]], "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2]]"}}

[[Image:Armada 52 - Prime hangon to Galvatron.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Galvatron died to save everyone and came back ''twice''—you lose, [[Jesus]]!]]

Plasma, energy fields, and stellar atmospheres can all utterly destroy a Transformer's body. Like being melted, being reduced to one's component molecules would seem to be a surefire way of getting killed, but quite a few characters seem able to survive the process as ghosts and/or disembodied sparks:
* Generation 1 cartoon: [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]'s spectacular death at the hands of [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] might be categorized as incineration. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* Quite a few characters met this fate in the Unicron Trilogy, but all survived it in some fashion:
** [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]]'s spark persisted within his burnt-out body when he was dropped into the exploding Unicron. {{storylink|Mortal Combat}} {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}
** [[Demolishor (Armada)|Demolishor]]'s body was obliterated by an expanding energon grid, but his spark survived the process and was placed in a new body. {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}}
** [[Inferno (Energon)|Inferno]] was destroyed when he threw himself into a star, but his spark was salvaged by the Autobots and, again, placed in a new body. {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
** And finally, Megatron (Galvatron, whatever) threw himself into Primus's new energon sun to prevent Unicron from possessing him, killing himself yet again. {{storylink|The Sun}} This death was so inconsequential that his subsequent resurrection wasn't even explained! {{storylink|Fallen (episode)|Fallen}}

===Consumption===
{{bigquote|...If we don't find the Matrix, some bad guy's gonna ''eat'' us! Right?|Longtooth, "[[Deadly Obsession]]"}}

[[Image:Wreckers Mutants.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The shocking death of the barely-seen guys with hardly any lines!]]
[[Image:Rocky mecannibal bartender marvel uk 240.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Cannibalism is hilarious, kids!]]

Quite a few critters in the multiverse are equipped to devour giant robots. Being eaten (and, presumably, digested) generally proves fatal:
* In the G1 cartoon:
** Various life forms were routinely devoured by the [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticon]]s on Quintessa. This included [[Kranix]], a mechanical life form, though not a Transformer. [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] and [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] would have suffered this fate as well, but fought their way free. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Quite a few Transformers found their way into Unicron's gullet, though many survived the experience. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comic:
** The [[Mecannibal]]s ate robots routinely, including quite a few Transformers during their sojourn on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} {{storylink|Out to Lunch!}} There is some indication that they could actually reconstitute their victims from their "recycled" parts, though this is never explicitly shown. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
** Unicron skewered [[Brainstorm]] and ate him. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The subsurface-dwelling [[demon]]s devoured [[Runabout]]. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The Swarm "devoured" innumerable Cybertronian troopers and a handful of older-generation Transformers as well, though this was through a molecular process almost akin to incineration. {{storylink|Swarm (issue)|Swarm}} {{storylink|Total War!}} {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* The Sharkticons killed two of the [[Mutant (BW)|Mutant]]s by gobbling them up. Or ripping them apart. Or both. We don't really know. {{storylink|Betrayal}}
* [[Flanker]] was eaten up and killed by the "Deluxe" Insecticons.

===Disassembly===
[[Image:Jazz DyingAction.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"HERE'S what I think of your resemblance to your G1 counterpart!"]]

Taking a Transformer apart into its component parts can occasionally kill them:
* Marvel comics:
**[[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] met this fate in an alternate future, when Swoop used a machine to pull him apart into his component pieces. {{storylink|Another Time and Place}}
**A future version of Ultra Magnus may have been killed when a group of Decepticons mobbed him and ripped him up. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)}}
* Movie continuity:
**Being ripped in half by [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] killed [[Jazz (Movie)|Jazz]]. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}
**[[Ravage (ROTF)|Ravage]] was killed when Bumblebee ripped his spine out, tearing him apart. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* IDW comic continuity: [[Pyro]] was torn apart and killed while making a final stand against a mass of generic Decpticons. {{storylink|Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 5|Last Stand of the Wreckers #5}}
* ''Prime'' cartoon: When fighting [[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]]'s zombie army, [[Ratchet (Prime)|Ratchet]] recommended dissection to [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus]] to "cut" them down to size. How this is more effective then just blasting the living slag out of them is still up for debate. {{storylink|Darkness Rising, Part 4}}

===Decapitation===
{{main|Decapitation}}

[[Image:Cyclonus death.jpg|thumb|right|150px| "CHUK!" is good, but I could really go for a "Shakkooosh" right about now.]]

Sometimes cutting a Transformer's head off is fatal. Sometimes!
* In the Marvel comics:
** The Megatron clone killed Cyclonus by ripping his head off. {{storylink|Dry Run!}}
** Several of the Wreckers were killed by having their heads ripped or blasted off, including Twin Twist and Topspin, respectively. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars}}
** [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] had his head cut off by a propeller fired by [[Leadfoot (G2)|Leadfoot]], presumably (given the ''Generation 2'' book's emphasis on body count) killing him. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** Characters frequently die by decapitation of some form: [[Bonecrusher (Movie)|Bonecrusher]], {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and [[Grindor (ROTF)|Grindor]]. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
** Decapitation was an inconvenience for [[Frenzy (Movie)|Frenzy]] the first time. The second time, when the blow actually destroyed most of his head, was fatal.
** [[Soundwave (ROTF)|Soundwave]], [[Laserbeak (DOTM)|Laserbeak]], [[Starscream (Movie)|Starscream]], and [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] are decapitated in the third movie. [[Que]] and [[Ironhide (Movie)|Ironhide]]'s heads fell off when they died. {{storylink|Dark of the Moon (film)}}

===Vivisection===
[[Image:VictoryUKAnnual.JPG|thumb|right|150px| Ahhhh, there we go...]]

{{bigquote|I have no desire to be carved up into Auto-sushi.|Tracks, "[[Make Tracks]]"}}

Getting chopped in half is pretty graphic for a kids' story, even one about robots, so it doesn't happen very often.
* Marvel comics: In a dream sequence, [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] slices [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] in half, killing him. {{storylink|Victory!}}
* Japanese G1 cartoon: [[Predaking]] gets sliced in half by Dai Atlas. The strike dissects what appears to be an organic brain in his head. {{storylink|Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!}}
* ''Beast Wars Metals'': Terrorsaur was killed by being sliced in half by Primal's mace. {{storylink|Raise the Curtain for Beast Wars Metals!!}}
* Movie continuity: [[Sideways (ROTF)|Sideways]] dies when [[Sideswipe (ROTF)|Sideswipe]] slices his car mode in two. [[Jetfire (ROTF)|Jetfire]] slices [[Mixmaster (ROTF)|Mixmaster]] in half at the chest. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Destruction of brain===
{{bigquote|Next strike in the neural cluster, yes? Weakest spot on ''all'' Transformers...|[[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], "[[Fire on High!]]"}}

In the early days of the franchise, a Transformer's life force was sometimes understood to be entirely contained within their [[brain module]], most prominently in the Marvel comics. Destroying the brain would kill the Transformer. This premise was eventually passed over in favor of the more esoteric concept of [[spark]]s.
* In the Marvel comics:
** In an alternate future, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] is blasted by [[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], who kills him by extracting and crushing his brain module. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** The [[Throttlebot]]s ''avoid'' death by having their brain modules removed from their bodies shortly before their bodies are destroyed (by crushing). {{storylink|Toy Soldiers!}}
* Movie continuity:
** Optimus prime kills Sentinel Prime by shooting Sentinel in the head with Megatron's shotgun. {{storylink|Dark of the Moon (film)}}

===Destruction of spark===
{{bigquote|RAW energon! Right through your twisted spark!|Depth Charge to Rampage, "[[Nemesis Part 1]]"}}

[[Image:Skyfallwontbethereforit.jpg|thumb|right|200px|And then he hung Skyfall from his ceiling.]]

Getting stabbed right through the spark is almost always fatal:
* In ''Beast Wars'': The supposedly immortal Rampage was killed when Depth Charge pierced his spark with an energon blade. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}
* ''[[Transcendent Technomorph|TransTech]]'': [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] died when [[Alpha Trion (SG)|Alpha Trion]] rammed his sword right through his chest. {{storylink|Transcendent: Part 6}}
*Energon: [[Constructicon Maximus]] was killed when [[Storm Jet (Energon)|Storm Jet]] impaled and crushed his spark.
* ''Cybertron'': [[Megatron (Armada)#Cybertron cartoon|Galvatron]] died after being impaled with [[Rhisling]] by [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]]. {{storylink|Unfinished}}
* Movie continuity: Optimus Prime died when Megatron stabbed him through the chest with his death-lock pincer, followed by a blast from his fusion cannon through the spark chamber. [[The Fallen]] also met his end when Optimus punched through his chest and crushed his spark. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* ''Beast Machines'' continuity: [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] - already reduced to a spark within the matrix - ceased to be when Megatron annihilated his spark from existence. {{storylink|Singularity Ablyss}}
* [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|Titan's Movie comics]]: Transformers have forcefields shielding their sparks, which can be externalized to protect bodywork. Jazz loved doing this, leaving him far more vulnerable to death by destruction of spark than he would otherwise be. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 6|Lost in Space 4: Jazz}}

===Loss of spark===
{{bigquote|Warning. Further expenditure will result in permanent loss of spark. Stasis lock ''must'' commence.|[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]]'s internal computer, "[[Code of Hero]]"}}

Sometimes sparks can survive outside of a body; sometimes they cannot. In the Beast Era, there is some indication that a spark left outside a body will soon begin to return to the Matrix/AllSpark/another dimension.
* When Dinobot expires after his final battle, his Spark is seen exiting his body. The implication is that a sufficiently damaged body can no longer hold a spark within this dimension. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* ''Beast Machines'' subsequently showed living sparks existing outside of bodies on a regular basis. The sparkless bodies were simply considered shells, rather than "dead".
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Prowl dies when he intentionally relinquishes his own spark. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}
* Movie continuity: Jetfire rips out his own spark chamber to give Optimus a fighting chance. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Energy overload===
{{bigquote|We may need energon for power, but this is too much of a good thing.|[[Optimus Primal]], "[[Beast Wars (Part 1)]]"}}

[[Image:TFAnimated transformandrollout DEATH.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Death — the Optimus version of a power nap.]]
[[Image:Underbaseallmine.jpg|thumb|right|200px|He's got an Underbase in his underpants.]]

The average [[human]] needs a lot of [[water]] to survive. But too much water results in [[wikipedia:Water intoxication|a horrible death]]. Similarly, Transformers need energy to survive, but too much of it can be a very bad thing. Sometimes it's just plain old energy; other times it some special god-like force that does them in.
* In the Marvel comics:
** An [[Underbase]]-empowered Starscream slaughtered dozens of Transformers with energy blasts, {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}} which reportedly burned out millions of their [[microchip]]s. {{storylink|Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?}} Some Transformers were seen to recover from these attacks, either via conventional repairs {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} or through the power of [[nucleon]]. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
** Starscream himself was killed when he absorbed all the energies of the Underbase. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] was apparently killed when struck by a blast of energy from the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]], though the physical effect was more like being hit by an especially powerful laser blast. {{storylink|All Fall Down (issue)}}

* ''Super-God Masterforce'' cartoon: [[Sixknight]] died from an overcharge of BlackZarak's Devil Power. {{storylink|Malevolent and Inhuman! The True Form of Devil Z}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runabout]] dies when one of the [[Reaper]]s zaps him full of energy, causing him to explode from within. {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* Movie continuity: [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] was killed when [[Sam Witwicky]] shoved the [[AllSpark]] into his chest. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)|Transformers}}
* ''Transformers Animated'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] got caught in an explosion of [[AllSpark]] energy that may have been sufficient to kill him, although he also fell off a very tall building immediately afterwards (Starscream was caught in the same explosion and survived, but was knocked offline for an unspecified period.)

===Energy depletion===
On rare occasion, Transformers can simply run out of energy completely and expire.
* Marvel comics: the ancient [[Overlord (rank)|Overlord]] died from a lack of energy. {{storylink|State Games}}
* Movie continuity: [[Jetfire (ROTF)|Jetfire]] explains that a lack of energon causes the Transformer equivalent of aging, such as rusting joints, mental confusion, and pieces falling apart, followed by an indefinite period of stasis that can only be reversed by an infusion of Allspark energy. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Suicide===
Sometimes a Transformers kills himself for some reason.
* Marvel comics
** Megatron seemingly killed himself using a [[space bridge]] though it was later revealed that he survived.
** Dirge and Nightbeat self destructed and destroyed themselves in a last ditch attempt to destroy the Swarm.
* Beast Wars
** [[Tigerhawk]] sacrificed himself by hurling himself in the way of a fusion cannon blast from the Nemesis.
* Energon: Galvatron, Starscream, and [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Mirage]] threw themselves into a sun and vaporized themselves. [[Cyclonus (Armada)|Snow Cat]] and Demolishor may have also done this.
* Revenge of the Fallen: Jetfire riped out his entire spark housing for Optimus Prime to have enough power to kill The Fallen.

==Non-fatal deactivation==
{{quote|"You mean he's still alive?!" "No! But neither is he what you would term 'dead'!"|[[Spider-Man]] and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], "[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

[[Image:Zombiesbackfromthedead.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Braiiiiiin mooooodulllllles....]]

For almost every single cause of death listed above, there's been one or more Transformers who have survived it, sometimes without so much as a period of unconsciousness.

In particular, "deactivation" is the Transformers equivalent of being in a coma. Numerous Transformers are seen to enter this state and eventually recover, such as the Autobots deactivated by Shockwave, {{storylink|The Last Stand}} who later were repaired. However, the line between death and deactivation is a blurry one. Sometimes the two words are used interchangeably, even in reference to characters who are later revived. Most of Starscream's Underbase victims were described as deactivated, and were sometimes lamented as "dead" while at other times were shown undergoing repairs. {{storylink|Back from the Dead}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}

"[[Stasis lock]]" would eventually give a more concrete name to the state of deactivation. The inert Transformers on the crashed Ark were retconned as being in stasis lock. Various ''Beast Wars'' characters would go into stasis lock to maintain their spark when their body had sustained too much damage from weaponsfire or energon absorption. ''Animated'' showed a crew of Autobots voluntarily entering protective stasis lock in anticipation of a crash landing.

Some of the quasi-fatal things which can cause a Transformer to "deactivate" include:

===Impact trauma===
Smashing into something usually knocks out a Transformer, but almost never actually kills them:
* The crew of the original [[Ark (G1)|Ark]] is deactivated when the ship crashes on Earth and lies inert for 4 million years {{storylink|More than Meets the Eye, Part 1}} {{storylink|The Transformers (issue)}}
* Marvel comics: [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] falls to his "death", but is patched together and talking again in short order. {{storylink|Prisoner of War!}}

===Decapitation===
[[Image:Sentinelprimeanimatedhumiliated.jpg|thumb|200px|In the movie continuity, this would've been fatal. In ''Animated'', it's just embarrassing.]]

{{bigquote|Anyone who can lop your head off in one blow is alright by me!|[[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] jokes about [[Cloudburst]]'s near-death experience, "[[Recipe for Disaster!]]"}}

Like we said before, decapitation is sometimes fatal... and other times it isn't.
* Marvel comic:
** Optimus Prime was able to survive as just a head when Shockwave separated it from his body in an effort to get the Creation Matrix. {{storylink|The New Order}}
**[[Cloudburst]] was abruptly decapitated by sword, but was just fine after some repairs. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
* G1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was disassembled into his component parts, but functioned just fine as nothing more than a head once [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] connected a few wires. {{storylink|City of Steel}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] survives having his head blasted or otherwise knocked off multiple times, {{storylink|Spider's Game}} {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}} {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)}} {{storylink|Code of Hero}} and even put it back on himself one time. He even accidentally swapped heads with Megatron once. Megatron was not amused. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]] was just fine when one of the Reapers whacked his head off. (He didn't fare so well when another Reaper crushed his head with a boulder, however.) {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Decapitated victims of the ''Animated'' [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] rarely show any ill effects other than not having a body anymore. {{storylink|Headmaster (episode)|Headmaster}} {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}} {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

===Dismemberment===
Transformers get ripped to pieces all the time, and recover from it:
* Marvel comic: Scorponok tears [[Tantrum]] to pieces. [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] slices [[Horri-Bull]] in half at the waist. Both are seen alive later on. {{storylink|Cold War!}}
* Last Stand of the Wreckers: [[Guzzle]] is torn in half by [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] and is easily repaired.

===Spark removal===
{{bigquote|His spark can't exist outside a living body!|[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]], "[[Optimal Situation]]"}}

A Transformer's spark—their "soul", their living essence—can be removed from their body, or the body can be destroyed around them
* The destruction of Starscream's body, and his subsequent survival as a ghost, was eventually retconned to be his Spark enduring without a physical form. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Tigatron and Airazor's sparks spent quite some time wandering around behind Tigerhawk, before combining and entering his body. {{storylink|Other Victories}}

* In the ''Beast Machines'' cartoon:
** Megatron de-sparked most of Cybertron's population and stored their sparks in a big barrel. Most were restored to bodies eventually. {{storylink|Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}}
** Blackarachnia's spark wandered around bodiless for a time. {{storylink|Revelations Part III: Apocalypse}}
** Megatron himself, his spark in a depolarized state, wandered the surface of Cybertron without a body for a time. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}

The treatment of bodiless sparks in ''Beast Machines'' is seen by some fans as contradicting the canon established by ''Beast Wars'', particularly the quote above.

===Limbo===
Sometimes Transformers get shunted out of creation as we know it, and into various alternate, sub- and non-dimensions.
* Marvel comics:
** The [[Trans-Time Dimensional Portal]] crosses [[unspace]], "a bit of dimensional nothingness" where Ratchet and Megatron vanished and were believed dead. {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}
** Transformers mass-displaced by time travel wind up in a formless dimension known as [[Limbo]].
* IDW comics: Megatron severely damaged Optimus Prime in battle and planned on finishing him off by crushing his [[Laser core|spark core]]. Optimus Prime feigned death by downloading his "consciousness" into his [[Combat Deck|trailer section]], causing his [[Brain Center|robot mode]] to appear dead. In the time it took for Prime's consciousness to transfer to his trailer, he briefly entered [[infraspace|limbo]], the transitional infraspace between life and death. {{storylink|Escalation (IDW)|Escalation}}
*Generation 1 cartoon:
**Come on, we all know what REALLY happened to the likes of Seaspray and Tracks.

==Resuscitation==
Robots are machines. They can be switched off, taken apart, blown to bits, and put back together. Ergo, in many continuities and cases, "death" is not nearly as permanent a condition as it is for us fragile fleshy types.

===Reconstruction===
[[Image:PeoplePower-reprogrammed.jpg|thumb|right|250px| ]]

{{bigquote|I've done it! Optimus Prime lives!|A random Quintesson, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]"}}

* Generation 1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was simply ''repaired'' back to life by a Quintesson. Some fixing of this and that, a burst of power, and boom, suddenly he was alive again. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}}
* Marvel Comics: Optimus Prime's mind was encoded on a disk. After a new [[Powermaster]] body was constructed for him, the disk's contents were loaded into it, and Optimus Prime lived again. (One wonders why they couldn't make as many Optimus Primes as they pleased.) {{storylink|People Power!}}

===Spark transfer===
Transferring a Transformer's spark into a new body constitutes a form of resurrection, particularly if the Transformer's previous body was destroyed.
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Optimus Primal was restored to life when Rhinox managed to recall his spark from the Matrix, a special circumstance only enabled by a temporary window into transwarp space. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* "Beast Machines" various Vehicon generals were brought to life by placing other Transformer's sparks into them.
* ''Armada'' Smokescreen was shot through the chest at point blank range by the Requiem Blaster {{storylink|Sacrifice}} but his spark survived and was put into a new body. {{storylink|Regeneration}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Inferno and Demolishor both had their bodies ''atomized''; however, their sparks both survived, and were placed into new bodies. (The upshot of all of this is that it's nigh-impossible to kill a Unicron Trilogy Transformer, unless they do it themselves.) {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}} {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: The spark of a dying [[Yoketron (Animated)|Yoketron]] was placed into a new protoform body by [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]; however, Yoketron consciously chose to let his life end, and expired anyway. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}}

==="Magical" substances===
* Marvel Comics: The miraculous healing properties of Nucleon brought many Autobots back to life, as well as a few Decepticons. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Megatron was revived by the all-encompassing power of energon, as was Unicron. {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}

===Primus and Primus-related powers===
{{bigquote|Where the Last Autobot is concerned, even death, it would appear, is an abstract concept!|Optimus Prime explains his latest revival, "[[End of the Road! (US)|End of the Road!]]"}}

Anything tied to the primordial life-force of the Transformers' god Primus tends to be a cure-all for death. This includes Primus himself, his various power-wielding avatars and servants, and the assorted Matrixes and Allsparks, all of which can deliver an infusion of the essence of life itself. In some continuities, this is parsed as a Transformer's spark being brought back out of the Allspark dimension.

[[Image:RageInHeaven-HeroPrime.jpg|thumb|right|150px|]]

* In the Marvel comics:
** The [[Last Autobot]] was granted the power of recreation by Primus, which he used to raise numerous fallen Autobots from the battlefield. {{storylink|End of the Road! (US)}}
** Optimus Prime was eager to find the lost Creation Matrix, stating that it would be able to restore many deactivated warriors to life. {{storylink|Bird of Prey!}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the [[Swarm (G2)|Swarm]] after it had ingested the energies and knowledge of the Matrix. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** The Allspark is shown repeatedly to be capable of restoring just about anything. Frenzy gets a whole new body from its power, Bumblebee temporarily gets his voice back, {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and Megatron is restored to life by merely a fragment of it. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the Matrix of Leadership, an Allspark-related talisman. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
** Sentinel Prime is revived after crash landing on the moon by the Matrix of Leadership courtesy of Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Dark of the Moon (film)|Dark of the Moon}}

* ''Beast Machines'' cartoon: [[Optimus Primal]]'s body was destroyed, but the AllSpark granted him the choice of uniting with it or being reborn. He chose the latter, and ''poof'', just walked right out of the Oracle bubble in a brand new version of his previous body. {{storylink|Fallout}}
* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] was brought back to life by the power of the [[Mini-Con]]s after his body was disintegrated. {{storylink|Miracle}}
* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] was resurrected when he and his gestaltmates were combined together and reborn by Primus into [[Nexus Prime]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 5}} Nexus Prime then brought [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] back from the other side of the Allspark and infused him with some of Primus's power to become Galvatron. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 6}}

===Zombies===
* Dude, [[zombie]]s!

==Immortality==
===Immortal sparks===
Certain sparks have mutant qualities that allow them to, potentially, exist forever.
* Starscream survived his death at the hands of Galvatron; this was later explained as him having a "mutant indestructible spark". {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}} {{storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] was created as an attempt to duplicate Starscream's immortal spark. {{storylink|Bad Spark}} He was eventually killed by [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]], so the attempt may be seen as unsuccessful. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

===Other===
* [[Multiversal singularity|Multiversal singularities]] such as [[Unicron]] and [[The Fallen]] can be killed off in one dimension, only to still be alive and well in another (or many others), due to the varying properties of different dimensions (reverse-time dimensions, for example, are key to revival of the singularities).
* ''Animated'' [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] could not be killed so long as he retained his Allspark fragment embedded in his forehead.
* Denizens of the [[Dead Universe]] could essentially regenerate themselves out of nothing, no matter how much damage was inflicted on them. This ability appears to no longer apply, post-[[Expansion]], except when in direct proximity to the Dead Universe.
* Thunderwing's Pretender shell seemed to make him near invincible. At the very lest able to withstand incredible amounts of salvo and not even flinch.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] can never completely die no matter what for some reason.

==Out-of-fiction causes of character death==
===Drama / character culmination===
At its best, character death can be a moving plot development, the fruition of an ongoing character arc.
* Suspecting that they would have to remove a character from the show, the writers of ''Beast Wars'' began planning for Dinobot's death several episodes ahead of time. Thus, when it came, it was the outcome of the character's own choices, flaws, and history, and played a crucial role in the show's plot. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* Sunstreaker's death in ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' is intended to follow a similar style of arc... only it's missing the whole choices, flaws and history thing. Oh well!
* Optimus Primal's death(s) in ''Beast Machines'' are likewise the outcome of his own choices and character. {{storylink|End of the Line}} {{storylink| Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}} His death in ''Beast Wars'', by contrast, was more a moment of dramatic pathos — knowingly walking into danger, his enemy got the better of him. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}

===Consequences of war===
It's hard to take a war story seriously when nobody actually dies. The reality of war can be more readily portrayed when characters die. [[Generic]]s are particularly handy for this, allowing death to be shown while not removing primary characters (retail toys!) from the story. The results can range from high drama and pathos to numbingly pointless body counts.
* Impactor's death was used to drive home the threat of the Decepticons as well as the risks taken by the Autobots and their commanders. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
* The ''Generation 2'' book featured several deaths which drove home the realities of war. Most notably, Red Alert's destruction served to make Grimlock acutely aware of just how badly he'd screwed up. {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}}

===Increased threat===
An enemy that kills is an enemy to be taken seriously. Thus a writer will frequently throw in some preliminary deaths to point out how seriously the bad guy should be treated.
* The generic who dies at the beginning of "[[City of Fear!]]" serves to show the zombies as a true life-threatening menace.
* Likewise for Runabout's death at the hands of the demons ; {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}} knowing they can devour a Transformer makes the reader more concerned about the Dinobots' subsequent fate. {{storylink|Still Life!}}
* In "[[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]", [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] makes corpses in practically every scene he's in!

===Cast thinning===
Transformers stories are notorious for acquiring gigantic casts as they roll on; Generation 1 was particularly notorious for this because of its longevity. A simple way to make things more manageable was simply to kill off large numbers of characters in battle. Examples are rife in the fiction, especially the Marvel Comics.

* In the Marvel comics:
** The "[[Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars]]" storyline got rid of the [[Wrecker]]s and quite a few Decepticons as well.
** The [[Underbase Saga]] even more explicitly cleared out dozens of characters, leaving perhaps 2 dozen characters from each faction in the story.
** The battle with Unicron in "[[On the Edge of Extinction!]]" likewise got rid of a lot of older characters, leaving the story free to concentrate on more of a core cast (and associated newer toy characters.)
* [[Betrayal|Wreckers #2]] dealt with its oversized cast by killing off scads of characters right up front.

===Clear space for new toys===
{{main|To sell toys}}

Some fiction has an inherently limited capacity for characters. ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines'' are by far the most prominent examples; their CGI animation made character animation expensive and necessitated removing an old character before a new one could be brought in. But any medium can be susceptible to this toy-driven phenomena.
* The numerous casualties of "[[The Transformers: The Movie]]" were fairly explicitly removed from the story to make way for a wave of new toy/characters.
* Terrorsaur and Scorponok had to be removed — quickly — to make room for the two upcoming Fuzor characters, hence their sudden, blink-and-you-miss-it death in "[[Aftermath]]".
* Airazor and Tigatron were removed for similar reasons. When their plot was finally resolved, it was, surprise, via [[Tigerhawk|a new toy]]!

==Fleshling death==
In general, ''Transformers'' fiction is pretty squeamish about showing the deaths of Earth's organic creatures. But it's a war, and sometimes it does happen. The out-of-universe reasons generally fall into three categories: Consequences of War, Emotional Pathos, and BLOOD IZ KEWL.

The various cartoons tend to show organic death the least, as they are most clearly aimed at, and easily accessible by, children. Comics tend to be less reluctant to show the impact of the Transformers' war on innocent lives, though the death rate varies by series. Latter-day Generation 1 books especially revel in high body counts, because squishing stupid humans is killer and awesome and radical and hardcore. Even the occasional [[Satellite of Doom|children's storybook]] has been known to off mass quantities of the dumb fleshies.

===Animal death===
[[Image:MurderedPuppy02.jpg|right|150px|thumb|One dead dog]]

[[Image:Sparkwar3 Dead noble.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Two dead dogs]]

Cute little animals are almost always killed off for reasons of Emotional Pathos:
* A little girl's pet puppy named [[Pis]] barked at [[Wilder]] and was kicked so hard he died. {{storylink|Rage!! Little Devils with No Need for Rules}}
* The [[Murdered puppy]] was shot down by the Decepticons after running away from Megatron's experiments. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 8|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #8}}
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] reminded [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] that [[The Fallen]] once shot down a ship full of [[Antilian bumble-puppy|Antilian bumble-puppies]]. (Decepticons have a thing for killing puppies.)
* The dog-like [[Noble]] was shot at by [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] because of his hatred for organics {{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. III: The Siege}} and was later mourned by his "owner", [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]]. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}
* A stray shot from [[Tigatron]] accidentally caused an avalanche which killed his friend [[Snowstalker]]. {{storylink|Law of the Jungle}}
* "[[Law of the Jungle]]" also portrays the deaths of four different forest animals (a bug is eaten by a frog, which is eaten by a snake, which is taken off to be eaten by a bird. Later, an orange tiger kills an antelope). This is a rare "Consequences of War" example.
* [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] also once ate an eagle, {{storylink|Power Surge}} while [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] ate a cute little rat, {{storylink|Victory (episode)|Victory}} and nearly ate an antelope as well. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* In order to save [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] had to fight a saber-toothed tiger off a cliff killing it. {{Storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] used [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel]]'s shield to knock a spikey rock onto a giant spider effectively killing it. She later used [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus]]' axe to kill some new born baby spiders. {{Storylink|Along Came a Spider}}
* Human villain [[Trophy White]] had a grisly display of stuffed and mounted animal heads. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}}

{{-}}

===Human death===
[[Image:Razorclawshootsahuman.jpg|right|thumb|150px|This didn't happen much.]]

* Marvel US: The [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|original Marvel book]] ignored or glossed over human casualties, which were rarely if ever shown; the panel at right, from [[Toy Soldiers!|US #37]], shows a ''very'' unusual instance of a human dying right in front of us. One of the few human(oid)s to die on-panel was [[Galen]], killed off to make way for [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]]. ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' was much more explicit about human death, as Bludgeon and later [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] attacked Earth for the purpose of inflicting casualties.
* Marvel UK: The UK-original stories were much less reluctant to show human death; within the first year or so, humans had died in Autobot-induced car wrecks and at the hands of mind-controlled Autobots.
* In every US-aired cartoon series, humans essentially ''never'' die. Even ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Transformers Animated]]'', which features the city of [[Detroit]] getting smashed by robot battles virtually every week, never once mentions humans getting killed.
* Contemporary toyline-based comics (''[[Armada (Dreamwave comic)|Armada]]'', ''[[Energon (comic)|Energon]]'') seem to follow a similar policy, avoiding mention of human death — even when human cities are being directly attacked, as in "[[Multiplicity, Pt. 2]]".
* Japanese cartoons, by contrast, don't seem to mind showing human deaths (or [[Pis|dog deaths]], for that matter).
* The [[Dreamwave Generation One continuity|Dreamwave G1 comics]] really thought it was totally awesome and cool and radical to kill off those stupid humans. Thus, they start off with Megatron smushing some stupid humans. More smushing and killing and blowing up follows. DIE, dumb stubbies, DIE!
* [[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW comics]] managed to avoid this for a long time, showing human death only when it was particularly integral to the plot... then ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' came down the pike. DIE, stupid fleshies, DIE!
* The live-action [[movie continuity]] implies a great deal of human death. ''Revenge'' mentions a body count of over 9,000 (don't even think about it), and massive damage is done during the battle of [[Mission City]], though little of it is shown on screen. And of course, the first film begins with Blackout wiping out an entire military base. A handful of humans are killed directly on-screen, most notably [[Patrick Donnelly|Donnelly]]. Then of course we get to Dark of the Moon, which has Decepticons laying siege to [[Chicago]], killing most of its citizens, including several being shot and annihilated into just skulls ''directly in front of the camera''. Then of course we get to [[Laserbeak (DOTM)|Laserbeak]], whose job it is to assassinate civilians, even if it means befriending their children to do it. Twisted.
* The alternate timeline arc in Titan's Movie comic featured big wars on Earth and lots of destruction, clearly ''insinuating'' human death while not being explicit. The exceptions were in [[Transformers Comic issue 10|issue 10]], where [[NATO]] is said to be suffering losses of 11,506 and the [[France|Palais Bourbon]] is blown up when people are still clearly inside. [[Sam Witwicky]], meanwhile, was stated to have died.
[[Image:Convoy-kablooie.jpg|right|thumb|150px|They'll, uh, be okay, maybe.]]
* Titan quite blatantly stated that the [[Free Men]] had caused great loss of life at an air base, a rare example of humans killing humans. In the same story, [[Robert Epps]] opened fire on militia men, which kinda implies he was killing them. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}} Similarly, [[Wheelie (ROTF)|Wheelie]] of all people was seen zapping humans at close range during a Decepticon attack; with no "oh it was a stun beam" handwave and the 'Cons not pulling punches, it sure seems like he's murdered 'em! {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.6|Outlaw Blues}}
* In ''[[Kiss Players (franchise)|Kiss Players]]'', several [[Kiss Player]]s were seen being devoured by Legions.
* In [[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|''Transformers: Prime'']] episode "[[Convoy (episode)|Convoy]]," a group of cars being driven by [[MECH|human terrorists]] crash and flip over each other and explode. Previously, [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus Prime]] had ordered his Autobots to engage only with non-lethal force.
* [[Dylan Gould]] was killed when he was shoved into [[Sentinel Prime (ROTF)|Sentinel Prime's]] Space Bridge generator.
{{-}}

==Characters who die a lot==
* [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|Optimus Prime]]
* [[Dirge (G1)]] — the unlucky guy who gets [[:Image:Dirge DeathSerpentor.jpg|killed]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathSwarm.jpg|off]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathTimelines.jpg|in]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathUnicron.jpg|many]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathArmada.jpg|continuities]]
* [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] — the unlucky guy who gets killed over and over in the same continuity, but doesn't seem to mind.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] — the unlucky guy from ''[[Beast Wars (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'' who gets sliced, diced, and fricasseed every other episode only to be fully functional in time to get [[Slag (slang)|slagged]] ''again''. But he never actually dies.
* [[Cy-Kill (disambiguation)|Cy-Kill]], a Go-Bots character transferred to many Transformers comics just to be killed off violently. For no other reason than the lolz of ending his toyline, his universe, and finally his life... repeatedly.
* [[Sentinel Prime (G1)]] — the unlucky [[Prime (rank)|Prime]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime lou.jpg|who]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime dw.jpg|must]] [[Megatron Origin issue 4|die]].
* [[Starscream (Animated)]] - the unlucky guy that constantly gets killed, decapitated, or maimed by others, only to be brought back to life.

==See also==
* [[Transformer funerary practices]]
* [[To sell toys]]

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Transformer anatomy]]

Death

2011-07-31T20:33:48Z

174.96.255.90: /* Big explosions */

{{disambig2|the end of life|the Horseman of Unicron|Airazor (Armada)}}

[[Image:Battleofautobotcity.jpg|right|300px|thumb|And lo, the children did weep.]]

''Transformers'' is a children's franchise, but at its core, it's a story of war. This means that the '''death''' of major and minor characters sometimes figures into the fiction.

Given the ambiguous nature of [[Transformer]] physiology, there is very little consistency regarding what is fatal to a Transformer, even within a single storyline. Damage that one Transformer might shrug off can prove fatal to another, or even to the same character in a different story. Sometimes just a laser blast or two will do the trick. Other times, characters survive being melted, crushed into cubes, and even utterly disintegrated. It does not take a terribly cynical viewer to conclude that the threshold of survival is generally determined by the needs of the plot.

The out-of-universe reasons for a character's death can vary from plot development to the arrival of [[To sell toys|new toys]]. Conveniently enough for writers who are beholden to the whims of a toy company, the majority of Transformers characters are machines, which means that death isn't necessarily permanent. Across the various universes, characters that appear to have been killed have been known to pop up alive again at a later date, or go through some sort of resurrection.

{{quote|"How can you all be so cold and unfeeling? He died a hero!" "Don't you even have mechanical hearts?" "The humans don't understand! Our form of life is vastly different from theirs!"|[[Spider-Man]], [[Sparkplug Witwicky]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]|"[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

==In-fiction causes of death==
[[Image:DEATH.jpg|left|thumb|400px|[[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] is just as puzzled as the rest of us.]]

There is little consistency in what can kill a Transformer. Sometimes it takes just a shot. Other times, even totally annihilating a Transformer's body still doesn't do the trick. Even the most basic method of killing, which is to destroy or otherwise cause the loss of a Transformer's [[spark]], varies quite a bit in its details from story to story, character to character, and series to series.
{{--}}
===Weaponsfire===
{{quote|This was almost too easy, Starscream!|[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (like the fandom) is surprised to find how easily Autobots die, ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''}}

[[Image:Tftm1986a.jpg|right|200px|thumb|We're here aboard the Autobot shuttle, where we've secretly replaced Brawn's hyper-dense metal armor plating with styrene plastic. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference.]]

[[Image:TFTM UltraMagnus dies.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Prepare for your death today. Yer gonna die!!]]

[[Image:Magnusdeath.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ow! Hey! Cut it out, guys! That hurts!]]

[[Image:Blades1.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Sorry, [[Outpost B-67 exo-structuring party|nameless guy]], your generic nature means you will never be miraculously resurrected.]]

Like humans, Transformers can be killed by damage caused by energy, projectile, and chemical weapons. Just how many shots it takes is widely variable, however.
* In the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]]:
** Many casualties of the [[Battle of Autobot City]] (and its run-up), including [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], were victims of energy weapons. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} This was quite a change from the cartoon's M.O., wherein the same characters routinely got shot and blasted all the time and shrugged it off, or at worst spent some time in the repair bay. Brawn and Prowl both went down after ''one shot''.
** [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] subsequently "dies" after being shot a few times by the [[Sweep]]s, exploding into pieces. He is soon revived by the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]], however. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** In the Japanese continuity, Ultra Magnus dies ''again'', for real this time, after [[Sixshot]] shoots him a few times. {{storylink|Ultra Magnus Dies!!}}

* In the [[Marvel Comics continuity|Marvel comics]]:
** [[Impactor]] was cut down by a single head shot from [[Macabre]]. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
** Most deaths in the ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' book occurred from energy weapons, such as [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]], {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}} as well as numerous generics. {{storylink|War Without End!}} Quite a few victims exploded spectacularly after being shot, including [[Tantrum]], {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}} [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]], [[Quake (G1)|Quake]], {{storylink|New Dawn}} and [[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]]. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

* In the ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' cartoon:
** [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] dies after incurring severe damage from numerous [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] weapons. {{storylink|Code of Hero}} The apparent cause of his demise is his refusal to enter protective [[stasis lock]], as other characters have survived similar or worse levels of damage.
** [[Tigerhawk]] is disintegrated by the main cannon of the starship ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]''. The same cannon subsequently blasts [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] and [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]], apparently killing them, though their "death" may be permanent simply because there was nobody around to put them back together. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 2}}

* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] dies holding back the [[Hydra Cannon]], the damage causing him to [[:Image:Sshot-arm-39-4.jpg|crumble to dust]]. {{storylink|Crisis}}

* [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]] G1 comics: [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] is killed by an assassin's blast. {{storylink|The Age of Wrath issue 1|The Age of Wrath #1}} He got better. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 3|Prime Directive #3}}

* [[Movie continuity]]: [[Brawl (Movie)|Brawl]] and [[Blackout (Movie)|Blackout]] both died from weapons fire. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)|Transformers}}

* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] gets his face blown off/in by [[Cyclonus (SG)|Cyclonus]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 4}}
{{--}}

* [[Universe (2003 comic)|Universe]]: [[Tankor (BM)|Tankor]] was shot and killed by [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] during the final battle of the [[Universe War]].

===Big explosions===
{{bigquote|They're going to blow us all to pieces! [[Guardian (Marvel)|Guardian]]'s booby-trapped - packed with enough explosives to level this whole mountain!|[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], "[[The Wrath of Grimlock!]]"}}

Transformers characters often assume that explosions are more lethal than they really are; characters survive explosions all the time. An explosion's messy nature makes a good "out" for a writer to fake a character's death. {{storylink|The Wrath of Grimlock!}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}} Nevertheless, a few characters have been permanently killed by explosions. (This list omits characters who exploded from within, like Ultra Magnus up above.)
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]] was the victim of an interdimensionally triggered explosion that destroyed his body. (In UK continuity, he survived as a raggedy, bodiless head.) {{storylink|The Bridge to Nowhere!}}
** In an alternate future, a wounded [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] died in the fiery explosion of a crashing shuttlecraft. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** [[Finback]] was presumably killed in the explosion of a huge gun battery. [[Misfire]] tried to warn him off, and may have been killed in the same explosion. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** [[Roadbuster (G1)|Roadbuster]] was killed when a prototype [[pathblaster]] exploded in his face. {{storylink|Time Wars}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon:
** [[Optimus Primal]] was blown to bits — terminally so — by the [[transwarp]] explosion that destroyed the [[Planet Buster]]. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}
** [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]] was killed by the explosion that resulted from [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]]'s death (either his exploding spark, or the exploding energon shard that pierced it.) {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

* Several of the [[Beast Era]] [[Wrecker]]s ([[Sonar (BW)|Sonar]], [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]], the [[Deployer (BM)|Deployers]]) were destroyed when part of their ship exploded with them in it. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

* Energon: [[Bruticus Maximus (Energon)|Bruticus Maximus]] was killed when Storm Jet caused a massive explosion that engulfed them both.

* ''Prime'': [[Makeshift (Prime)|Makeshift]] and the surrounding [[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicon]]s were blown up by a grenade attached by the Autobots. While it's likely the Vehicons were destroyed, whether Makeshift survived this explosion remains to be seen
*IDW Continuity: [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] and [[Skullgrin]] were killed when Springer blew them up with a grenade. {{Stormbringer issue 3|}}

===Impact trauma===
Falling off a cliff or mountainside or tall building is usually just as fatal to Transformers as it is to, say... Wile E. Coyote. Only on rare occasion does it result in death:
* ''[[Classics (2006)|Classics]]'' continuity: [[Hacksaw]] met his end by falling from a huge communications tower. {{storylink|The New World}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Doubledealer]] was shot, fell off a mountain and smashed to bits on impact. {{storylink|Spotlight: Doubledealer}}
* Movie continuity:
**[[Devastator (ROTF)|Devastator]] fell off the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] after losing his balance when his arm was shot off, and he shattered to pieces as he tumbled down. ''{{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}''
** [[Barricade (Movie)|Barricade]] was smashed to pieces and killed by being flung into a freeway column. {{storylink|Movie Adaptation Issue Number Four}}
* The [[Beast (G1)|Beast]] fell off a cliff and shattered. {{storylink|The Beast Within Part 2, Consequences}} At least, we hope that's where and how it ended.
* ''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)| Prime]]'': [[Skyquake (Prime)|Skyquake]] crash-landed after [[Bumblebee (Prime)|Bumblebee]] punched out vital components in his alternate mode, reducing his body to a partially transformed scrapheap.

===Crushing===
[[Image:Edgeofextinction-hardheadbombburst.jpg|thumb|right|175px|DO NOT WANT]]
[[Image:TFAni TransWarped LongArm Cliffjumper Cube.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Before time began, there was... THE CUBE.]]

Quite a few characters have been crushed into deactivation:
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]] was smashed between [[Unicron]]'s palms, while [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] met a similar fate when they were stepped on by Unicron. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] is apparently killed when a very large building collapses on top of him. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

* [[Unicron Trilogy]] cartoons:
** [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]] is killed when caught between two folding sections of Unicron's external armor. {{storylink|Union}}
** [[Shockblast]] is crushed by Unicron's hand on [[Blizzard Planet]]. {{storylink|The Power}}
** His brother [[Six Shot]] meets a similar fate, crushed under the heel of a super-sized Galvatron. {{storylink|Galvatron Terror}}

* IDW continuity:
** [[Roller (G1)|Roller]] was crushed when Megatron caused an avalanche to fall on him.
** [[Ruckus (G1)|Ruckus]], [[Crankcase (G1)|Crankcase]], and [[Skullcruncher]] were all crushed by [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]].

* ''Animated'' cartoon: [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]] is (possibly) killed by a garbage compactor-like crushing device. (An "out" by writer [[Derrick J. Wyatt|Derrick Wyatt]] was intended to show his still-pulsing spark within his cubified remains, but this did not make it into the show, leaving his fate ambiguous at best.) {{storylink|TransWarped}}

===Melting===
[[Image:BW Scorponok Terrorsaur deaths.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Even having a new toy couldn't save Terrorsaur!]]

[[Image:Fallout title.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Primal's diet had gone horribly wrong.]]

They're made of metal; therefore, with enough heat or sufficiently acidic material, they can melt. This is one of the more fool-proof methods of killing a Transformer; few if any have survived it.
* In the G1 cartoon:
** An acid vat would apparently have been enough to destroy Optimus Prime. {{storylink|The Search for Alpha Trion}}
** Another acid vat was used to disintegrate living victims of Unicron. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comics:
** Victims of the Deception [[smelting pool]]s on Cybertron were reduced by intense heat into their base metals, including [[Scrounge (G1)|Scrounge]]. {{storylink|The Smelting Pool!}}
** It is possible that an acid bath from (naturally) [[Blot (G1)|Blot]] offlined [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] [[Makin' Tracks!|(for a while anyway)]]. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] was partially melted by Unicron's flame-breath and subsequently died. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The [[Cybertronian (faction)|Cybertronian Empire]] used some kind of acid to rather messily eradicate some of their Decepticon ancestors, including [[Stranglehold]]. {{storylink|New Dawn}}

* In the Beast Era cartoons:
** [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] and [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] were apparently melted to death after tumbling into a lava pit within the [[Darksyde|Predacon base]]. {{storylink|Aftermath}}
** Optimus Primal's body was seemingly melted into the floor after his climactic face-off with [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]. Considering how many god-like forces were unleashed and conflicting during the battle, his demise may be due to more than simple temperature-induced melting. {{storylink|Fallout}}

===Incineration===
{{bigquote|I saw the end! They died in a cosmic funeral pyre!|[[Shawn Berger]], "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2]]"}}

[[Image:Armada 52 - Prime hangon to Galvatron.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Galvatron died to save everyone and came back ''twice''—you lose, [[Jesus]]!]]

Plasma, energy fields, and stellar atmospheres can all utterly destroy a Transformer's body. Like being melted, being reduced to one's component molecules would seem to be a surefire way of getting killed, but quite a few characters seem able to survive the process as ghosts and/or disembodied sparks:
* Generation 1 cartoon: [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]'s spectacular death at the hands of [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] might be categorized as incineration. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* Quite a few characters met this fate in the Unicron Trilogy, but all survived it in some fashion:
** [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]]'s spark persisted within his burnt-out body when he was dropped into the exploding Unicron. {{storylink|Mortal Combat}} {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}
** [[Demolishor (Armada)|Demolishor]]'s body was obliterated by an expanding energon grid, but his spark survived the process and was placed in a new body. {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}}
** [[Inferno (Energon)|Inferno]] was destroyed when he threw himself into a star, but his spark was salvaged by the Autobots and, again, placed in a new body. {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
** And finally, Megatron (Galvatron, whatever) threw himself into Primus's new energon sun to prevent Unicron from possessing him, killing himself yet again. {{storylink|The Sun}} This death was so inconsequential that his subsequent resurrection wasn't even explained! {{storylink|Fallen (episode)|Fallen}}

===Consumption===
{{bigquote|...If we don't find the Matrix, some bad guy's gonna ''eat'' us! Right?|Longtooth, "[[Deadly Obsession]]"}}

[[Image:Wreckers Mutants.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The shocking death of the barely-seen guys with hardly any lines!]]
[[Image:Rocky mecannibal bartender marvel uk 240.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Cannibalism is hilarious, kids!]]

Quite a few critters in the multiverse are equipped to devour giant robots. Being eaten (and, presumably, digested) generally proves fatal:
* In the G1 cartoon:
** Various life forms were routinely devoured by the [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticon]]s on Quintessa. This included [[Kranix]], a mechanical life form, though not a Transformer. [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] and [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] would have suffered this fate as well, but fought their way free. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Quite a few Transformers found their way into Unicron's gullet, though many survived the experience. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comic:
** The [[Mecannibal]]s ate robots routinely, including quite a few Transformers during their sojourn on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} {{storylink|Out to Lunch!}} There is some indication that they could actually reconstitute their victims from their "recycled" parts, though this is never explicitly shown. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
** Unicron skewered [[Brainstorm]] and ate him. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The subsurface-dwelling [[demon]]s devoured [[Runabout]]. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The Swarm "devoured" innumerable Cybertronian troopers and a handful of older-generation Transformers as well, though this was through a molecular process almost akin to incineration. {{storylink|Swarm (issue)|Swarm}} {{storylink|Total War!}} {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* The Sharkticons killed two of the [[Mutant (BW)|Mutant]]s by gobbling them up. Or ripping them apart. Or both. We don't really know. {{storylink|Betrayal}}
* [[Flanker]] was eaten up and killed by the "Deluxe" Insecticons.

===Disassembly===
[[Image:Jazz DyingAction.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"HERE'S what I think of your resemblance to your G1 counterpart!"]]

Taking a Transformer apart into its component parts can occasionally kill them:
* Marvel comics:
**[[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] met this fate in an alternate future, when Swoop used a machine to pull him apart into his component pieces. {{storylink|Another Time and Place}}
**A future version of Ultra Magnus may have been killed when a group of Decepticons mobbed him and ripped him up. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)}}
* Movie continuity:
**Being ripped in half by [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] killed [[Jazz (Movie)|Jazz]]. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}
**[[Ravage (ROTF)|Ravage]] was killed when Bumblebee ripped his spine out, tearing him apart. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* IDW comic continuity: [[Pyro]] was torn apart and killed while making a final stand against a mass of generic Decpticons. {{storylink|Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 5|Last Stand of the Wreckers #5}}
* ''Prime'' cartoon: When fighting [[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]]'s zombie army, [[Ratchet (Prime)|Ratchet]] recommended dissection to [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus]] to "cut" them down to size. How this is more effective then just blasting the living slag out of them is still up for debate. {{storylink|Darkness Rising, Part 4}}

===Decapitation===
{{main|Decapitation}}

[[Image:Cyclonus death.jpg|thumb|right|150px| "CHUK!" is good, but I could really go for a "Shakkooosh" right about now.]]

Sometimes cutting a Transformer's head off is fatal. Sometimes!
* In the Marvel comics:
** The Megatron clone killed Cyclonus by ripping his head off. {{storylink|Dry Run!}}
** Several of the Wreckers were killed by having their heads ripped or blasted off, including Twin Twist and Topspin, respectively. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars}}
** [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] had his head cut off by a propeller fired by [[Leadfoot (G2)|Leadfoot]], presumably (given the ''Generation 2'' book's emphasis on body count) killing him. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** Characters frequently die by decapitation of some form: [[Bonecrusher (Movie)|Bonecrusher]], {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and [[Grindor (ROTF)|Grindor]]. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
** Decapitation was an inconvenience for [[Frenzy (Movie)|Frenzy]] the first time. The second time, when the blow actually destroyed most of his head, was fatal.
** [[Soundwave (ROTF)|Soundwave]], [[Laserbeak (DOTM)|Laserbeak]], [[Starscream (Movie)|Starscream]], and [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] are decapitated in the third movie. [[Que]] and [[Ironhide (Movie)|Ironhide]]'s heads fell off when they died. {{storylink|Dark of the Moon (film)}}

===Vivisection===
[[Image:VictoryUKAnnual.JPG|thumb|right|150px| Ahhhh, there we go...]]

{{bigquote|I have no desire to be carved up into Auto-sushi.|Tracks, "[[Make Tracks]]"}}

Getting chopped in half is pretty graphic for a kids' story, even one about robots, so it doesn't happen very often.
* Marvel comics: In a dream sequence, [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] slices [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] in half, killing him. {{storylink|Victory!}}
* Japanese G1 cartoon: [[Predaking]] gets sliced in half by Dai Atlas. The strike dissects what appears to be an organic brain in his head. {{storylink|Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!}}
* ''Beast Wars Metals'': Terrorsaur was killed by being sliced in half by Primal's mace. {{storylink|Raise the Curtain for Beast Wars Metals!!}}
* Movie continuity: [[Sideways (ROTF)|Sideways]] dies when [[Sideswipe (ROTF)|Sideswipe]] slices his car mode in two. [[Jetfire (ROTF)|Jetfire]] slices [[Mixmaster (ROTF)|Mixmaster]] in half at the chest. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Destruction of brain===
{{bigquote|Next strike in the neural cluster, yes? Weakest spot on ''all'' Transformers...|[[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], "[[Fire on High!]]"}}

In the early days of the franchise, a Transformer's life force was sometimes understood to be entirely contained within their [[brain module]], most prominently in the Marvel comics. Destroying the brain would kill the Transformer. This premise was eventually passed over in favor of the more esoteric concept of [[spark]]s.
* In the Marvel comics:
** In an alternate future, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] is blasted by [[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], who kills him by extracting and crushing his brain module. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** The [[Throttlebot]]s ''avoid'' death by having their brain modules removed from their bodies shortly before their bodies are destroyed (by crushing). {{storylink|Toy Soldiers!}}
* Movie continuity:
** Optimus prime kills Sentinel Prime by shooting Sentinel in the head with Megatron's shotgun. {{storylink|Dark of the Moon (film)}}

===Destruction of spark===
{{bigquote|RAW energon! Right through your twisted spark!|Depth Charge to Rampage, "[[Nemesis Part 1]]"}}

[[Image:Skyfallwontbethereforit.jpg|thumb|right|200px|And then he hung Skyfall from his ceiling.]]

Getting stabbed right through the spark is almost always fatal:
* In ''Beast Wars'': The supposedly immortal Rampage was killed when Depth Charge pierced his spark with an energon blade. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}
* ''[[Transcendent Technomorph|TransTech]]'': [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] died when [[Alpha Trion (SG)|Alpha Trion]] rammed his sword right through his chest. {{storylink|Transcendent: Part 6}}
*Energon: [[Constructicon Maximus]] was killed when [[Storm Jet (Energon)|Storm Jet]] impaled and crushed his spark.
* ''Cybertron'': [[Megatron (Armada)#Cybertron cartoon|Galvatron]] died after being impaled with [[Rhisling]] by [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]]. {{storylink|Unfinished}}
* Movie continuity: Optimus Prime died when Megatron stabbed him through the chest with his death-lock pincer, followed by a blast from his fusion cannon through the spark chamber. [[The Fallen]] also met his end when Optimus punched through his chest and crushed his spark. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* ''Beast Machines'' continuity: [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] - already reduced to a spark within the matrix - ceased to be when Megatron annihilated his spark from existence. {{storylink|Singularity Ablyss}}
* [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|Titan's Movie comics]]: Transformers have forcefields shielding their sparks, which can be externalized to protect bodywork. Jazz loved doing this, leaving him far more vulnerable to death by destruction of spark than he would otherwise be. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 6|Lost in Space 4: Jazz}}

===Loss of spark===
{{bigquote|Warning. Further expenditure will result in permanent loss of spark. Stasis lock ''must'' commence.|[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]]'s internal computer, "[[Code of Hero]]"}}

Sometimes sparks can survive outside of a body; sometimes they cannot. In the Beast Era, there is some indication that a spark left outside a body will soon begin to return to the Matrix/AllSpark/another dimension.
* When Dinobot expires after his final battle, his Spark is seen exiting his body. The implication is that a sufficiently damaged body can no longer hold a spark within this dimension. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* ''Beast Machines'' subsequently showed living sparks existing outside of bodies on a regular basis. The sparkless bodies were simply considered shells, rather than "dead".
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Prowl dies when he intentionally relinquishes his own spark. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}
* Movie continuity: Jetfire rips out his own spark chamber to give Optimus a fighting chance. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Energy overload===
{{bigquote|We may need energon for power, but this is too much of a good thing.|[[Optimus Primal]], "[[Beast Wars (Part 1)]]"}}

[[Image:TFAnimated transformandrollout DEATH.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Death — the Optimus version of a power nap.]]
[[Image:Underbaseallmine.jpg|thumb|right|200px|He's got an Underbase in his underpants.]]

The average [[human]] needs a lot of [[water]] to survive. But too much water results in [[wikipedia:Water intoxication|a horrible death]]. Similarly, Transformers need energy to survive, but too much of it can be a very bad thing. Sometimes it's just plain old energy; other times it some special god-like force that does them in.
* In the Marvel comics:
** An [[Underbase]]-empowered Starscream slaughtered dozens of Transformers with energy blasts, {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}} which reportedly burned out millions of their [[microchip]]s. {{storylink|Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?}} Some Transformers were seen to recover from these attacks, either via conventional repairs {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} or through the power of [[nucleon]]. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
** Starscream himself was killed when he absorbed all the energies of the Underbase. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] was apparently killed when struck by a blast of energy from the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]], though the physical effect was more like being hit by an especially powerful laser blast. {{storylink|All Fall Down (issue)}}

* ''Super-God Masterforce'' cartoon: [[Sixknight]] died from an overcharge of BlackZarak's Devil Power. {{storylink|Malevolent and Inhuman! The True Form of Devil Z}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runabout]] dies when one of the [[Reaper]]s zaps him full of energy, causing him to explode from within. {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* Movie continuity: [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] was killed when [[Sam Witwicky]] shoved the [[AllSpark]] into his chest. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)|Transformers}}
* ''Transformers Animated'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] got caught in an explosion of [[AllSpark]] energy that may have been sufficient to kill him, although he also fell off a very tall building immediately afterwards (Starscream was caught in the same explosion and survived, but was knocked offline for an unspecified period.)

===Energy depletion===
On rare occasion, Transformers can simply run out of energy completely and expire.
* Marvel comics: the ancient [[Overlord (rank)|Overlord]] died from a lack of energy. {{storylink|State Games}}
* Movie continuity: [[Jetfire (ROTF)|Jetfire]] explains that a lack of energon causes the Transformer equivalent of aging, such as rusting joints, mental confusion, and pieces falling apart, followed by an indefinite period of stasis that can only be reversed by an infusion of Allspark energy. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Suicide===
Sometimes a Transformers kills himself for some reason.
* Marvel comics
** Megatron seemingly killed himself using a [[space bridge]] though it was later revealed that he survived.
** Dirge and Nightbeat self destructed and destroyed themselves in a last ditch attempt to destroy the Swarm.
* Beast Wars
** [[Tigerhawk]] sacrificed himself by hurling himself in the way of a fusion cannon blast from the Nemesis.
* Energon: Galvatron, Starscream, and [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Mirage]] threw themselves into a sun and vaporized themselves. [[Cyclonus (Armada)|Snow Cat]] and Demolishor may have also done this.
* Revenge of the Fallen: Jetfire riped out his entire spark housing for Optimus Prime to have enough power to kill The Fallen.

==Non-fatal deactivation==
{{quote|"You mean he's still alive?!" "No! But neither is he what you would term 'dead'!"|[[Spider-Man]] and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], "[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

[[Image:Zombiesbackfromthedead.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Braiiiiiin mooooodulllllles....]]

For almost every single cause of death listed above, there's been one or more Transformers who have survived it, sometimes without so much as a period of unconsciousness.

In particular, "deactivation" is the Transformers equivalent of being in a coma. Numerous Transformers are seen to enter this state and eventually recover, such as the Autobots deactivated by Shockwave, {{storylink|The Last Stand}} who later were repaired. However, the line between death and deactivation is a blurry one. Sometimes the two words are used interchangeably, even in reference to characters who are later revived. Most of Starscream's Underbase victims were described as deactivated, and were sometimes lamented as "dead" while at other times were shown undergoing repairs. {{storylink|Back from the Dead}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}

"[[Stasis lock]]" would eventually give a more concrete name to the state of deactivation. The inert Transformers on the crashed Ark were retconned as being in stasis lock. Various ''Beast Wars'' characters would go into stasis lock to maintain their spark when their body had sustained too much damage from weaponsfire or energon absorption. ''Animated'' showed a crew of Autobots voluntarily entering protective stasis lock in anticipation of a crash landing.

Some of the quasi-fatal things which can cause a Transformer to "deactivate" include:

===Impact trauma===
Smashing into something usually knocks out a Transformer, but almost never actually kills them:
* The crew of the original [[Ark (G1)|Ark]] is deactivated when the ship crashes on Earth and lies inert for 4 million years {{storylink|More than Meets the Eye, Part 1}} {{storylink|The Transformers (issue)}}
* Marvel comics: [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] falls to his "death", but is patched together and talking again in short order. {{storylink|Prisoner of War!}}

===Decapitation===
[[Image:Sentinelprimeanimatedhumiliated.jpg|thumb|200px|In the movie continuity, this would've been fatal. In ''Animated'', it's just embarrassing.]]

{{bigquote|Anyone who can lop your head off in one blow is alright by me!|[[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] jokes about [[Cloudburst]]'s near-death experience, "[[Recipe for Disaster!]]"}}

Like we said before, decapitation is sometimes fatal... and other times it isn't.
* Marvel comic:
** Optimus Prime was able to survive as just a head when Shockwave separated it from his body in an effort to get the Creation Matrix. {{storylink|The New Order}}
**[[Cloudburst]] was abruptly decapitated by sword, but was just fine after some repairs. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
* G1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was disassembled into his component parts, but functioned just fine as nothing more than a head once [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] connected a few wires. {{storylink|City of Steel}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] survives having his head blasted or otherwise knocked off multiple times, {{storylink|Spider's Game}} {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}} {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)}} {{storylink|Code of Hero}} and even put it back on himself one time. He even accidentally swapped heads with Megatron once. Megatron was not amused. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]] was just fine when one of the Reapers whacked his head off. (He didn't fare so well when another Reaper crushed his head with a boulder, however.) {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Decapitated victims of the ''Animated'' [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] rarely show any ill effects other than not having a body anymore. {{storylink|Headmaster (episode)|Headmaster}} {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}} {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

===Dismemberment===
Transformers get ripped to pieces all the time, and recover from it:
* Marvel comic: Scorponok tears [[Tantrum]] to pieces. [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] slices [[Horri-Bull]] in half at the waist. Both are seen alive later on. {{storylink|Cold War!}}
* Last Stand of the Wreckers: [[Guzzle]] is torn in half by [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] and is easily repaired.

===Spark removal===
{{bigquote|His spark can't exist outside a living body!|[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]], "[[Optimal Situation]]"}}

A Transformer's spark—their "soul", their living essence—can be removed from their body, or the body can be destroyed around them
* The destruction of Starscream's body, and his subsequent survival as a ghost, was eventually retconned to be his Spark enduring without a physical form. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Tigatron and Airazor's sparks spent quite some time wandering around behind Tigerhawk, before combining and entering his body. {{storylink|Other Victories}}

* In the ''Beast Machines'' cartoon:
** Megatron de-sparked most of Cybertron's population and stored their sparks in a big barrel. Most were restored to bodies eventually. {{storylink|Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}}
** Blackarachnia's spark wandered around bodiless for a time. {{storylink|Revelations Part III: Apocalypse}}
** Megatron himself, his spark in a depolarized state, wandered the surface of Cybertron without a body for a time. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}

The treatment of bodiless sparks in ''Beast Machines'' is seen by some fans as contradicting the canon established by ''Beast Wars'', particularly the quote above.

===Limbo===
Sometimes Transformers get shunted out of creation as we know it, and into various alternate, sub- and non-dimensions.
* Marvel comics:
** The [[Trans-Time Dimensional Portal]] crosses [[unspace]], "a bit of dimensional nothingness" where Ratchet and Megatron vanished and were believed dead. {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}
** Transformers mass-displaced by time travel wind up in a formless dimension known as [[Limbo]].
* IDW comics: Megatron severely damaged Optimus Prime in battle and planned on finishing him off by crushing his [[Laser core|spark core]]. Optimus Prime feigned death by downloading his "consciousness" into his [[Combat Deck|trailer section]], causing his [[Brain Center|robot mode]] to appear dead. In the time it took for Prime's consciousness to transfer to his trailer, he briefly entered [[infraspace|limbo]], the transitional infraspace between life and death. {{storylink|Escalation (IDW)|Escalation}}
*Generation 1 cartoon:
**Come on, we all know what REALLY happened to the likes of Seaspray and Tracks.

==Resuscitation==
Robots are machines. They can be switched off, taken apart, blown to bits, and put back together. Ergo, in many continuities and cases, "death" is not nearly as permanent a condition as it is for us fragile fleshy types.

===Reconstruction===
[[Image:PeoplePower-reprogrammed.jpg|thumb|right|250px| ]]

{{bigquote|I've done it! Optimus Prime lives!|A random Quintesson, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]"}}

* Generation 1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was simply ''repaired'' back to life by a Quintesson. Some fixing of this and that, a burst of power, and boom, suddenly he was alive again. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}}
* Marvel Comics: Optimus Prime's mind was encoded on a disk. After a new [[Powermaster]] body was constructed for him, the disk's contents were loaded into it, and Optimus Prime lived again. (One wonders why they couldn't make as many Optimus Primes as they pleased.) {{storylink|People Power!}}

===Spark transfer===
Transferring a Transformer's spark into a new body constitutes a form of resurrection, particularly if the Transformer's previous body was destroyed.
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Optimus Primal was restored to life when Rhinox managed to recall his spark from the Matrix, a special circumstance only enabled by a temporary window into transwarp space. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* "Beast Machines" various Vehicon generals were brought to life by placing other Transformer's sparks into them.
* ''Armada'' Smokescreen was shot through the chest at point blank range by the Requiem Blaster {{storylink|Sacrifice}} but his spark survived and was put into a new body. {{storylink|Regeneration}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Inferno and Demolishor both had their bodies ''atomized''; however, their sparks both survived, and were placed into new bodies. (The upshot of all of this is that it's nigh-impossible to kill a Unicron Trilogy Transformer, unless they do it themselves.) {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}} {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: The spark of a dying [[Yoketron (Animated)|Yoketron]] was placed into a new protoform body by [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]; however, Yoketron consciously chose to let his life end, and expired anyway. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}}

==="Magical" substances===
* Marvel Comics: The miraculous healing properties of Nucleon brought many Autobots back to life, as well as a few Decepticons. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Megatron was revived by the all-encompassing power of energon, as was Unicron. {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}

===Primus and Primus-related powers===
{{bigquote|Where the Last Autobot is concerned, even death, it would appear, is an abstract concept!|Optimus Prime explains his latest revival, "[[End of the Road! (US)|End of the Road!]]"}}

Anything tied to the primordial life-force of the Transformers' god Primus tends to be a cure-all for death. This includes Primus himself, his various power-wielding avatars and servants, and the assorted Matrixes and Allsparks, all of which can deliver an infusion of the essence of life itself. In some continuities, this is parsed as a Transformer's spark being brought back out of the Allspark dimension.

[[Image:RageInHeaven-HeroPrime.jpg|thumb|right|150px|]]

* In the Marvel comics:
** The [[Last Autobot]] was granted the power of recreation by Primus, which he used to raise numerous fallen Autobots from the battlefield. {{storylink|End of the Road! (US)}}
** Optimus Prime was eager to find the lost Creation Matrix, stating that it would be able to restore many deactivated warriors to life. {{storylink|Bird of Prey!}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the [[Swarm (G2)|Swarm]] after it had ingested the energies and knowledge of the Matrix. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** The Allspark is shown repeatedly to be capable of restoring just about anything. Frenzy gets a whole new body from its power, Bumblebee temporarily gets his voice back, {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and Megatron is restored to life by merely a fragment of it. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the Matrix of Leadership, an Allspark-related talisman. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
** Sentinel Prime is revived after crash landing on the moon by the Matrix of Leadership courtesy of Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Dark of the Moon (film)|Dark of the Moon}}

* ''Beast Machines'' cartoon: [[Optimus Primal]]'s body was destroyed, but the AllSpark granted him the choice of uniting with it or being reborn. He chose the latter, and ''poof'', just walked right out of the Oracle bubble in a brand new version of his previous body. {{storylink|Fallout}}
* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] was brought back to life by the power of the [[Mini-Con]]s after his body was disintegrated. {{storylink|Miracle}}
* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] was resurrected when he and his gestaltmates were combined together and reborn by Primus into [[Nexus Prime]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 5}} Nexus Prime then brought [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] back from the other side of the Allspark and infused him with some of Primus's power to become Galvatron. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 6}}

===Zombies===
* Dude, [[zombie]]s!

==Immortality==
===Immortal sparks===
Certain sparks have mutant qualities that allow them to, potentially, exist forever.
* Starscream survived his death at the hands of Galvatron; this was later explained as him having a "mutant indestructible spark". {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}} {{storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] was created as an attempt to duplicate Starscream's immortal spark. {{storylink|Bad Spark}} He was eventually killed by [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]], so the attempt may be seen as unsuccessful. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

===Other===
* [[Multiversal singularity|Multiversal singularities]] such as [[Unicron]] and [[The Fallen]] can be killed off in one dimension, only to still be alive and well in another (or many others), due to the varying properties of different dimensions (reverse-time dimensions, for example, are key to revival of the singularities).
* ''Animated'' [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] could not be killed so long as he retained his Allspark fragment embedded in his forehead.
* Denizens of the [[Dead Universe]] could essentially regenerate themselves out of nothing, no matter how much damage was inflicted on them. This ability appears to no longer apply, post-[[Expansion]], except when in direct proximity to the Dead Universe.
* Thunderwing's Pretender shell seemed to make him near invincible. At the very lest able to withstand incredible amounts of salvo and not even flinch.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] can never completely die no matter what for some reason.

==Out-of-fiction causes of character death==
===Drama / character culmination===
At its best, character death can be a moving plot development, the fruition of an ongoing character arc.
* Suspecting that they would have to remove a character from the show, the writers of ''Beast Wars'' began planning for Dinobot's death several episodes ahead of time. Thus, when it came, it was the outcome of the character's own choices, flaws, and history, and played a crucial role in the show's plot. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* Sunstreaker's death in ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' is intended to follow a similar style of arc... only it's missing the whole choices, flaws and history thing. Oh well!
* Optimus Primal's death(s) in ''Beast Machines'' are likewise the outcome of his own choices and character. {{storylink|End of the Line}} {{storylink| Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}} His death in ''Beast Wars'', by contrast, was more a moment of dramatic pathos — knowingly walking into danger, his enemy got the better of him. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}

===Consequences of war===
It's hard to take a war story seriously when nobody actually dies. The reality of war can be more readily portrayed when characters die. [[Generic]]s are particularly handy for this, allowing death to be shown while not removing primary characters (retail toys!) from the story. The results can range from high drama and pathos to numbingly pointless body counts.
* Impactor's death was used to drive home the threat of the Decepticons as well as the risks taken by the Autobots and their commanders. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
* The ''Generation 2'' book featured several deaths which drove home the realities of war. Most notably, Red Alert's destruction served to make Grimlock acutely aware of just how badly he'd screwed up. {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}}

===Increased threat===
An enemy that kills is an enemy to be taken seriously. Thus a writer will frequently throw in some preliminary deaths to point out how seriously the bad guy should be treated.
* The generic who dies at the beginning of "[[City of Fear!]]" serves to show the zombies as a true life-threatening menace.
* Likewise for Runabout's death at the hands of the demons ; {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}} knowing they can devour a Transformer makes the reader more concerned about the Dinobots' subsequent fate. {{storylink|Still Life!}}
* In "[[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]", [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] makes corpses in practically every scene he's in!

===Cast thinning===
Transformers stories are notorious for acquiring gigantic casts as they roll on; Generation 1 was particularly notorious for this because of its longevity. A simple way to make things more manageable was simply to kill off large numbers of characters in battle. Examples are rife in the fiction, especially the Marvel Comics.

* In the Marvel comics:
** The "[[Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars]]" storyline got rid of the [[Wrecker]]s and quite a few Decepticons as well.
** The [[Underbase Saga]] even more explicitly cleared out dozens of characters, leaving perhaps 2 dozen characters from each faction in the story.
** The battle with Unicron in "[[On the Edge of Extinction!]]" likewise got rid of a lot of older characters, leaving the story free to concentrate on more of a core cast (and associated newer toy characters.)
* [[Betrayal|Wreckers #2]] dealt with its oversized cast by killing off scads of characters right up front.

===Clear space for new toys===
{{main|To sell toys}}

Some fiction has an inherently limited capacity for characters. ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines'' are by far the most prominent examples; their CGI animation made character animation expensive and necessitated removing an old character before a new one could be brought in. But any medium can be susceptible to this toy-driven phenomena.
* The numerous casualties of "[[The Transformers: The Movie]]" were fairly explicitly removed from the story to make way for a wave of new toy/characters.
* Terrorsaur and Scorponok had to be removed — quickly — to make room for the two upcoming Fuzor characters, hence their sudden, blink-and-you-miss-it death in "[[Aftermath]]".
* Airazor and Tigatron were removed for similar reasons. When their plot was finally resolved, it was, surprise, via [[Tigerhawk|a new toy]]!

==Fleshling death==
In general, ''Transformers'' fiction is pretty squeamish about showing the deaths of Earth's organic creatures. But it's a war, and sometimes it does happen. The out-of-universe reasons generally fall into three categories: Consequences of War, Emotional Pathos, and BLOOD IZ KEWL.

The various cartoons tend to show organic death the least, as they are most clearly aimed at, and easily accessible by, children. Comics tend to be less reluctant to show the impact of the Transformers' war on innocent lives, though the death rate varies by series. Latter-day Generation 1 books especially revel in high body counts, because squishing stupid humans is killer and awesome and radical and hardcore. Even the occasional [[Satellite of Doom|children's storybook]] has been known to off mass quantities of the dumb fleshies.

===Animal death===
[[Image:MurderedPuppy02.jpg|right|150px|thumb|One dead dog]]

[[Image:Sparkwar3 Dead noble.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Two dead dogs]]

Cute little animals are almost always killed off for reasons of Emotional Pathos:
* A little girl's pet puppy named [[Pis]] barked at [[Wilder]] and was kicked so hard he died. {{storylink|Rage!! Little Devils with No Need for Rules}}
* The [[Murdered puppy]] was shot down by the Decepticons after running away from Megatron's experiments. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 8|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #8}}
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] reminded [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] that [[The Fallen]] once shot down a ship full of [[Antilian bumble-puppy|Antilian bumble-puppies]]. (Decepticons have a thing for killing puppies.)
* The dog-like [[Noble]] was shot at by [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] because of his hatred for organics {{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. III: The Siege}} and was later mourned by his "owner", [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]]. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}
* A stray shot from [[Tigatron]] accidentally caused an avalanche which killed his friend [[Snowstalker]]. {{storylink|Law of the Jungle}}
* "[[Law of the Jungle]]" also portrays the deaths of four different forest animals (a bug is eaten by a frog, which is eaten by a snake, which is taken off to be eaten by a bird. Later, an orange tiger kills an antelope). This is a rare "Consequences of War" example.
* [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] also once ate an eagle, {{storylink|Power Surge}} while [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] ate a cute little rat, {{storylink|Victory (episode)|Victory}} and nearly ate an antelope as well. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* In order to save [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] had to fight a saber-toothed tiger off a cliff killing it. {{Storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] used [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel]]'s shield to knock a spikey rock onto a giant spider effectively killing it. She later used [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus]]' axe to kill some new born baby spiders. {{Storylink|Along Came a Spider}}
* Human villain [[Trophy White]] had a grisly display of stuffed and mounted animal heads. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}}

{{-}}

===Human death===
[[Image:Razorclawshootsahuman.jpg|right|thumb|150px|This didn't happen much.]]

* Marvel US: The [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|original Marvel book]] ignored or glossed over human casualties, which were rarely if ever shown; the panel at right, from [[Toy Soldiers!|US #37]], shows a ''very'' unusual instance of a human dying right in front of us. One of the few human(oid)s to die on-panel was [[Galen]], killed off to make way for [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]]. ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' was much more explicit about human death, as Bludgeon and later [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] attacked Earth for the purpose of inflicting casualties.
* Marvel UK: The UK-original stories were much less reluctant to show human death; within the first year or so, humans had died in Autobot-induced car wrecks and at the hands of mind-controlled Autobots.
* In every US-aired cartoon series, humans essentially ''never'' die. Even ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Transformers Animated]]'', which features the city of [[Detroit]] getting smashed by robot battles virtually every week, never once mentions humans getting killed.
* Contemporary toyline-based comics (''[[Armada (Dreamwave comic)|Armada]]'', ''[[Energon (comic)|Energon]]'') seem to follow a similar policy, avoiding mention of human death — even when human cities are being directly attacked, as in "[[Multiplicity, Pt. 2]]".
* Japanese cartoons, by contrast, don't seem to mind showing human deaths (or [[Pis|dog deaths]], for that matter).
* The [[Dreamwave Generation One continuity|Dreamwave G1 comics]] really thought it was totally awesome and cool and radical to kill off those stupid humans. Thus, they start off with Megatron smushing some stupid humans. More smushing and killing and blowing up follows. DIE, dumb stubbies, DIE!
* [[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW comics]] managed to avoid this for a long time, showing human death only when it was particularly integral to the plot... then ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' came down the pike. DIE, stupid fleshies, DIE!
* The live-action [[movie continuity]] implies a great deal of human death. ''Revenge'' mentions a body count of over 9,000 (don't even think about it), and massive damage is done during the battle of [[Mission City]], though little of it is shown on screen. And of course, the first film begins with Blackout wiping out an entire military base. A handful of humans are killed directly on-screen, most notably [[Patrick Donnelly|Donnelly]]. Then of course we get to Dark of the Moon, which has Decepticons laying siege to [[Chicago]], killing most of its citizens, including several being shot and annihilated into just skulls ''directly in front of the camera''. Then of course we get to [[Laserbeak (DOTM)|Laserbeak]], whose job it is to assassinate civilians, even if it means befriending their children to do it. Twisted.
* The alternate timeline arc in Titan's Movie comic featured big wars on Earth and lots of destruction, clearly ''insinuating'' human death while not being explicit. The exceptions were in [[Transformers Comic issue 10|issue 10]], where [[NATO]] is said to be suffering losses of 11,506 and the [[France|Palais Bourbon]] is blown up when people are still clearly inside. [[Sam Witwicky]], meanwhile, was stated to have died.
[[Image:Convoy-kablooie.jpg|right|thumb|150px|They'll, uh, be okay, maybe.]]
* Titan quite blatantly stated that the [[Free Men]] had caused great loss of life at an air base, a rare example of humans killing humans. In the same story, [[Robert Epps]] opened fire on militia men, which kinda implies he was killing them. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}} Similarly, [[Wheelie (ROTF)|Wheelie]] of all people was seen zapping humans at close range during a Decepticon attack; with no "oh it was a stun beam" handwave and the 'Cons not pulling punches, it sure seems like he's murdered 'em! {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.6|Outlaw Blues}}
* In ''[[Kiss Players (franchise)|Kiss Players]]'', several [[Kiss Player]]s were seen being devoured by Legions.
* In [[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|''Transformers: Prime'']] episode "[[Convoy (episode)|Convoy]]," a group of cars being driven by [[MECH|human terrorists]] crash and flip over each other and explode. Previously, [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus Prime]] had ordered his Autobots to engage only with non-lethal force.
* [[Dylan Gould]] was killed when he was shoved into [[Sentinel Prime (ROTF)|Sentinel Prime's]] Space Bridge generator.
{{-}}

==Characters who die a lot==
* [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|Optimus Prime]]
* [[Dirge (G1)]] — the unlucky guy who gets [[:Image:Dirge DeathSerpentor.jpg|killed]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathSwarm.jpg|off]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathTimelines.jpg|in]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathUnicron.jpg|many]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathArmada.jpg|continuities]]
* [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] — the unlucky guy who gets killed over and over in the same continuity, but doesn't seem to mind.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] — the unlucky guy from ''[[Beast Wars (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'' who gets sliced, diced, and fricasseed every other episode only to be fully functional in time to get [[Slag (slang)|slagged]] ''again''. But he never actually dies.
* [[Cy-Kill (disambiguation)|Cy-Kill]], a Go-Bots character transferred to many Transformers comics just to be killed off violently. For no other reason than the lolz of ending his toyline, his universe, and finally his life... repeatedly.
* [[Sentinel Prime (G1)]] — the unlucky [[Prime (rank)|Prime]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime lou.jpg|who]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime dw.jpg|must]] [[Megatron Origin issue 4|die]].
* [[Starscream (Animated)]] - the unlucky guy that constantly gets killed, decapitated, or maimed by others, only to be brought back to life.

==See also==
* [[Transformer funerary practices]]
* [[To sell toys]]

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Transformer anatomy]]

Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 3

2011-07-29T23:16:47Z

174.96.255.90: /* Errors */

{{Comicstory|
|seriesissue=''[[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]'' #3
|prev=Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 2
|next=Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 4
|image=Last Stand of the Wreckers3 Cover A.jpg
|caption="Keep shooting! The fans have money on which of us buys it first!"
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date=[[March 24]], [[2010]]
|coverdate=March 2010
|writers=[[Nick Roche]] and [[James Roberts]]
|pencils=Nick Roche and [[Guido Guidi]]
|inks=Guido Guidi, [[John Wycough]] and [[Andrew Griffith]]
|colors=[[Josh Burcham]] and [[Joana Lafuente]]
|letters=[[Neil Uyetake]]
|associate editor=[[Denton J. Tipton]]
|editor=[[Andy Schmidt]]
|continuity=[[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW continuity]]
|chronology=[[IDW timeline|Current era (2010)]]
}}
'''"Let's split up, gang." "Great idea, that couldn't possibly go wrong."'''
==Synopsis==
''Two years ago, in the Maximum Security Penitentiary, Overlord restores Shockwave to a fully functional state. Shockwave comments that it has been almost a year since Overlord took over'' ''[[Garrus-9|The Last Resort]],'' ''and yet he only revives Shockwave now. Overlord fakes guilt, but quickly moves onto business; he offers Shockwave his freedom in exchange for his removal of the [[Achilles Virus]] Megatron had him implant in Overlord years ago. Overlord comments on how he could see the weaknesses of anyone, except Megatron, leading Shockwave to muse that Overlord was actually surprised he was hobbled. However, he agrees to remove this "blind spot", as Overlord's goals further his own. Overlord is delighted and confirms he will hand over a shuttle and a hand-picked crew. Restored, Shockwave asks what Overlord's plans are, and Overlord reveals he has convinced the inmates they can fight their way free. Shockwave observes that while Overlord thinks he is enjoying his new life, it is in fact simply intended to draw Megatron to him. After all, "You're not the first phase-sixer to bait Megatron." Overlord simply responds that he only needs to be the last.''

Springer's team is running from a massive contingent of Decepticons. Impactor reveals that the others landed in [[The Pit (IDW)|The Pit]], right into Overlord's lap. Guzzle merely yells they can look after themselves as he takes out several Decepticons. The others open fire, as Impactor yells that this is for Fortress Maximus and the others. Springer and Twin Twist realise they are all trapped, but Twin Twist confirms that the others are alive... well, Topspin is, and really, their group is the one in trouble.

[[Image:laststandissue3_headshots.jpg|left|350px|thumb|HEADS A'SPLODE!!!]]

Overlord is disappointed that the Autobots are not a team of Decepticons sent by Megatron, and is unimpressed by the fact he's facing Wreckers. Rotorstorm counters by yelling, "Wreckers combine!" before commenting that ''he'' thinks it's funny. Overlord suddenly laughs, and a nervous Rotorstorm joins in. Overlord then calmly places a gun to Rotorstorm's head and shoots him between the optics, splashing the others in mech fluid.

Guzzle is ecstatic that Ironfist's ammo is causing the Decepticons' heads to explode. Under orders, he transforms and brings down the roof, buying the Wreckers some time. Springer realises they are in serious trouble. He orders Kup and Guzzle to find the "help" they discussed earlier, while the rest continue with the mission. Impactor reveals the prisoners are in Cell Block 6, directly beneath them. Twin Twist offers to drill through, but Springer is worried that his injuries will make transforming too painful. Twin Twist waves it off and transforms. He indeed suffers a wave of pain, and in The Pit, Topspin groans. Overlord offers the option of surrender. Perceptor merely orders Pyro to protect Verity as the rest attack.

Twin Twist drills through the floor and finds himself falling through thin air. Impactor and Springer follow. Springer transforms and catches the others. They are attacked by Treadshot, who is taken out by Impactor. Landing, Springer realises they are in an energy reactor. Not far away lies the broken, destroyed body of Kick-Off. Impactor reveals that he was a Pit champion with 11 kills. After he made kill number 12, Overlord gave him a choice. Impactor doesn't know what it was, but clearly Kick-Off made the wrong one. Twin Twist reveals they triggered a defense mechanism and have been sealed in. Before they can react, a field deactivates them all.

Overlord is calmly trouncing the Wreckers when Stalker reveals the other team is in Cell Block F. An amused Overlord speaks over the comm, announcing the Wreckers' presence and promising freedom to any Decepticon who brings him a head. The eager Decepticons then throw themselves after Perceptor's team. He buys them some time by exploding a fuel tank, and the team escapes.

Finally having some breathing space, they realise Ironfist is having a panic attack, revealing he never expected this kind of visceral experience: "that was ''not'' part of the deal". Topspin snaps, yelling at Ironfist that they had a vote for the others but had no say in his presence, and that people die in stupid ways. Ironfist loses his temper, telling him not to dare talk to him about death, but Perceptor calms them down, reminding them things can't afford to get personal.

Climbing down a ladder, Guzzle wonders if whoever they're searching for will be down this far. Kup merely confirms maximum security is in the basement. He tells Guzzle to watch his step, and that dying on a rescue attempt is pointless. Guzzle comments he had some friends who died [[Spotlight: Kup|saving another Autobot]]. Kup asks if it was worth it, and Guzzle merely responds it depends on who you ask.

As they make their way through the Southern Wing, Pyro asks Topspin about his attack in The Pit. Topspin reveals that he and Twin Twist share a branched spark, a condition found in only two in a million sparks which leads to them sometimes feeling each other's pain. It means he tries not to think about what happens if one dies. Topspin says he was happy as a cartographer, but found it difficult to work while his other half was with the Wreckers. This led him to join to keep an eye on him. Perceptor speaks up, saying that they are near an impenetrable chamber which must contain [[Aequitas]]. As the others question him about who Aequitas is, Pyro realises Verity is still locked in his chest. He frees her and seems disillusioned as to why the humans matter to Prime. Verity snaps at him, bringing up Rotorstorm, and immediately regrets it. Topspin merely says that while he may not have liked him, Rotorstorm was a Wrecker and always had been, he just hadn't realized it. Perceptor orders Ironfist to keep watch as he looks for a reason why the Decepticons haven't tried to break in. In moments, he realises they have, as he finds the torn, comatose body of Fortress Maximus. Perceptor says Overlord has turned him into a living lockpick, attempting billions of codes in an attempt to open the chamber. Ironfist runs in, warning that the Decepticons have caught up. Fortunately, Perceptor knows the access code, and the Wreckers enter the chamber, standing before Aequitas.

Elsewhere, Twin Twist is flashing to a conversation between Pyro and Topspin before he is snapped back to reality by Stalker. He is pinned to a table in the Spark Extraction Chamber and has his mouth forced open. Stalker has a scalpel, and as he leans in, Twin Twist begins to scream.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
* [[Guzzle (G1)|Guzzle]] (3)
* [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] (4)
* [[Impactor]] (5)
* [[Twin Twist]] (6)
* [[Springer (G1)|Springer]] (7)
* [[Pyro]] (8)
* [[Topspin (G1)|Topspin]] (9)
* [[Ironfist (G1)|Ironfist]] (10)
* [[Rotorstorm]] (11)
* [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]] (12)
* [[Kick-Off (G1)|Kick-Off]] (17)
* [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]] (18)
|c2=
* [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] (1)
* [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] (2)
* [[Stalker (G1)|Stalker]] (14)
* [[Snare]] (15)
* [[Treadshot (G1)|Treadshot]] (16)
|c3=
* [[Verity Carlo]] (13)
}}

==Quotes==
"You think you're enjoying this, but you're not. ... The open graves. The torture chambers. All just hollow theatrics. This is an exercise in ''provocation''. This is you trying to get Megatron's attention."
:—'''Shockwave''' on Overlord's "grand scheme"

"Bold words, Overlord. But you reckoned without one thing... Wreckers: '''combine'''!" (''beat'') "Well, ''I'' thought it was funny."
:—'''Rotorstorm'''. No more explanation is required.

"He shot him in the ''head'', Perceptor! In the '''head'''! This isn't what being a Wrecker's about... saving lives, yes. Dramatic rescues, yes. And having ''adventures''! '''''What's wrong with just having adventures?'''''"
:—'''Ironfist''''s fanboy illusions are crushed and mutilated.

"Nice knowing you, everyone. Even you, Verity. Kind of."
:—'''Topspin'''

==Errors==
* After dropping the character profile from issue 2, two profiles were promised for this issue to make up for it. No profiles were published in this issue. Instead, you get all those ads listed below.
* In all illustrations Rotorstorm's guns are coloured wrong placing pink at the front rather than the back.
* Topspin is missing his chest insignia throughout the whole issue.
* Treadshot being the sniper that attacks the Wreckers is possibly an error as Treadshot's last appearance in the IDW continuity showed him as having been impaled on a steel girder and killed by [[Monstructor (G1)|Monstructor]] in [[Spotlight: Hardhead]]. Whoops!

==Items of note==
*Overlord paraphrases [[wikipedia:The Master (Doctor Who)|The Master]] of ''[[Doctor (G1)|Doctor Who]]'' fame when he requests that the Decepticons "please attend carefully", a famous line of the Master's from the original ''Who'' serial "Logopolis", notable enough to be used again in the revived series episode "The Sound of Drums". James Roberts has previously said that in his head, Overlord sounds like John Simm, the actor who most recently played the Master. <ref>[http://forum.idwpublishing.com/viewtopic.php?p=166284&highlight=#166284 James Roberts commenting on the voices in his head]</ref>
*Following on from Hasbro's veto of [[Dipstick]]'s potty-mouth in issue #1, this installment featured another bit of censoring: originally, Rotorstorm was to announce the Wreckers to Overlord by informing him that they had heard he had a bad case of "penal dysfunction".
*While Nick Roche's pages continue his trend of using hand-drawn faction sigils, Guido Guidi's pages use Photoshop-applied faction sigil templates. No contest which technique ends up looking better.
*Read [[Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 4|#4]] and [[Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 5|#5]], then re-read the scene with Ironfist's breakdown and find a whole new meaning...

===Covers (3)===
{{picsneeded|Cover RI}}
* '''Cover A:''' Pyro, Rotorstorm, Ironfist, and Verity fire their weapons, art by [[Nick Roche]] and colors by [[Josh Burcham]].
* '''Cover B:''' Twin Twist falls through the air with Springer jetting to catch him, and Shockwave's eye in the background, art and colors by [[Trevor Hutchison]].
* '''Cover RI:''' "Virgin" title-free edition of cover B.
<gallery>
Image:Last Stand of the Wreckers3 Cover A.jpg|
Image:Last Stand of the Wreckers3 Cover B.jpg|
Image:Last Stand of the Wreckers3 Cover RI.jpg|
</gallery>

===Advertisements===
* [[Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 4|''The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers'' #4]]
* ''[[Nefarious]]''
* ''[[Spotlight: Prowl]]''
* ''The Last Unicorn''
* ''FX: The Lost Land''
* ''G.I. Joe: Operation HISS'' #2
* ''Alce's Adventures in Wonderland''
* ''Star Trek Movie Adaptation''
* ''Nanovor: Game Day''
* Dan DeCarlo's ''Jetta''
* ''G.I. Joe'' comics for iPhone (back cover)

==References==
<references />

[[Category: IDW Generation 1 issues]]

Time Wars

2011-07-28T21:18:56Z

174.96.255.90:

{{disambig2|the comic story|the trade paperback named after it|Time Wars (Titan)}}
{{comicstory
|seriesissue=[[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|''Transformers'' (UK)]] #199–205
|prev=Cold Comfort and Joy!
|prev2=Altered Image!
|next=Cold War!
|title="Time Wars"
|image=MarvelUK-202.jpg
|caption=Oh shit.
|publisher=[[Marvel Comics]]
|date=[[January 7|7th January]] [[1989]]—[[February 18|18th February]] 1989
|writer=[[Simon Furman]]
|art=[[Robin Smith]] (#200, #201) [[Dan Reed]] (#202, #203) [[Lee Sullivan]] (#204, #205)
|pencils=[[Andrew Wildman]] (#199)
|inks=[[Stephen Baskerville]] (#199)
|colours=[[Euan Peters]]
|lettering=[[Gary Gilbert|GLIB]] (#199, #203, #205) [[Annie Halfacree]] (#200, #201) [[Gordon Robson|GLOP]] (#202, #203) [[Peter Knight]] (#204)
|editor=[[Euan Peters]]
}}
'''The combined forces of the Autobots and Decepticons must battle both Megatron and Galvatron to save the present and the future from a rift in space and time. Everyone DIES.'''

==Synopsis==
{{note|This story follows directly from the UK Annual stories [[All in the Minds!]] and [[Altered Image!]].}}
On New Years Day 2009, a time rift has destroyed the planet [[Quintessa|Quintesson]] {{storylink|Space Pirates!}} and is now threatening to consume both Earth and Cybertron. Analysing the source of the disturbance, they find the source of the rift to be the year 1989. They correctly deduce that Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge are somehow the cause. In an attempt to solve the problem, a small group of Autobots travel back in time to 1989.

In 1989, the rift is also threatening modern day Earth, causing natural disasters. An earthquake awakens Ravage, who has lain inactive since falling down a mine shaft. {{storylink|Showdown!}} He attempts to escape back to the surface, but instead discovers the underground base of Galvatron.

Optimus Prime is giving a briefing to the other Autobots, in which he outlines his belief that the time storm is related to Galvatron. Meanwhile, outside the Ark, Highbrow is fretting over what to do with the head of Scorponok that he had captured. {{storylink|All in the Minds!}} He wishes to end the threat of Scorponok, but is unwilling to kill him in cold blood.

Before he can make a decision, he is attacked by the Decepticon Headmasters and Targetmasters in an attempt to recover the head. They capture the head, but before they can destroy Highbrow, the other Autobots come to his rescue and a major battle ensues.

In the midst of the battle, the future Autobots arrive, causing Optimus Prime, Hardhead, Highbrow, Blaster, Brainstorm and Snarl to be transported to the holding dimension as part of the time travel process. Thinking their friends have been killed by the newcomers, Fortress Maximus leads an attack on the future Autobots.

At the same time, a [[Mayhem Attack Squad's ship|spacecraft]] from Cybertron arrives on Earth carrying the combined forces of the Autobot [[Wrecker]]s and the Decepticon [[Mayhem Attack Squad]]. They have joined forces in an attempt to force Galvatron to return to his own time.

The Autobot battle is eventually stopped when Goldbug, who has seen the results of time travel before {{storylink|Target: 2006}} {{storylink|Wanted: Galvatron — Dead or Alive!}} and believes the newcomers are friends, is injured. Using the Creation Matrix that resides in both Optimus and Rodimus Prime, the present and future leaders are able to communicate with each other and resolve the battle peacefully.

The Wreckers and the Mayhem Attack Squad meanwhile enter Galvatron’s base and confront the future Decepticon. They are shocked to discover, however, that Galvatron and Megatron have now joined forces. The two of them soon leave the ranks of the Wreckers and Mayhem Attack Squad decimated, forcing them to retreat and regroup.

Optimus Prime is explaining that the rift is caused by Cyclonus and Scourge being in the present because they bypassed the usual mass transfer system when they travelled back in time using Unicron's time portal. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}} As a result, the balance of space time has been upset. The situation has been made worse by Cyclonus's death twenty years before his creation. {{storylink|Dry Run!}} They deduce that if Cyclonus and Scourge are returned to the future, the rift will seal itself.

Galvatron and Megatron follow the Wreckers and the Mayhem Attack Squad and continue the battle outside, bringing the other Autobots into the fray. Galvatron has now become totally insane and is fighting blindly and slaughtering all in his path.

[[Image:MarvelUKTimeRift.jpg|right|180px|thumb|I guess we're not in [[Kansas]] anymore.]]
Scourge, who is beginning to have doubts about his alliance with Galvatron, decides to take action and flies to the Decepticon fortress to retrieve Cyclonus's body. There, he finds Shockwave in a state of mental breakdown after learning {{storylink|Dry Run!}} that he is due to die at Cyclonus and Scourge's hands in 2008. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}} Unwilling to let Scourge take Cyclonus's body, he blasts the future Decepticon unconscious.

The battle with Galvatron is going badly and all are falling before him. Half his face has been blasted off in events that are different from how he remembers them as Megatron, pushing him even further from sanity at the same time as changing the course of history. Optimus Prime, trapped in the limbo dimension, can only watch through the Matrix link. As the Autobots continue to fall, however, he decides to take drastic action and uses the power of the Matrix to return to reality and confront Galvatron. However, because he is now in the same period as Rodimus Prime, also the bearer of the Matrix, the effects of the time rift increase.

Scourge, recovering, appeals to Ravage to get Cyclonus's body, and wanting the madness to end, he sacrifices himself by throwing himself into the rift. Ravage manages to convince Shockwave that because he has foreknowledge, he has time to prevent his fate. This snaps Shockwave from his mental decline.

Galvatron, still fighting madly, fights Optimus Prime to a standstill, but before a winner is revealed the time rift rips Galvatron apart. However, the rift continues to worsen as it needs Cyclonus as well. Just as the rift is about to rip the Earth apart, Shockwave arrives and throws the body of Cyclonus into the rift, causing it to close itself.

The future Autobots return to their own time, pledging to destroy all their time machines. Optimus Prime and Shockwave agree to a truce until they next meet.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
* [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] (6)
* [[Blaster (G1)|Blaster]] (9)
* [[Rodimus Prime (G1)|Rodimus Prime]] (10)
* [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] (11)
* [[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]] (13)
* [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]] (14)
* [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]] (15)
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Optimus Prime]] (19)
* [[Grimlock (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Grimlock]] (20)
* [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]] (21)
* [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]], [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] (22)
* [[Sandstorm (G1)|Sandstorm]] (23)
* [[Broadside (G1)|Broadside]](24)
* [[Slag (G1)|Slag]] (29)
* [[Sludge (G1)|Sludge]] (30)
* [[Goldbug (G1)|Goldbug]] (31)
* [[Springer (G1)|Springer]] (33)
* [[Topspin (G1)|Topspin]] (39)
* [[Twin Twist]] (41)
* [[Rack'n'Ruin]] (42)
* [[Roadbuster (G1)|Roadbuster]] (43)
|c2=
* [[Rippersnapper (G1)|Rippersnapper]] (1)
* [[Sinnertwin (G1)|Sinnertwin]] (2)
* [[Blot (G1)|Blot]] (3)
* [[Cutthroat (G1)|Cutthroat]] (4)
* [[Hun-Gurrr|Hun-Grr]] (5)
* [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] (12)
* [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] (16)
* [[Scourge (G1)|Scourge]] (17)
* [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] (18)
* [[Snapdragon (G1)|Snapdragon]] (25)
* [[Misfire]] (26)
* [[Weirdwolf]] (27)
* [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] (28)
* [[Mindwipe (G1)|Mindwipe]] (32)
* [[Carnivac (G1)|Carnivac]] (34)
* [[Catilla (G1)|Catilla]] (35)
* [[Megatron (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Megatron]] (36)
* [[Battletrap]] (37)
* [[Flywheels]] (38)
* [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] (40)
|c3=
* [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike Witwicky]] (7)
* [[Daniel Witwicky (G1)|Daniel Witwicky]] (8)
}}

==Errors==
[[Image:Timewars colourerror uk201.JPG|right|150px|thumb|The FortMax repaint we've all been waiting for!]]
*On page 4 of issue 200, Robin Smith draws Blaster with his Marvel US head. On pages 9 and 11, however, he is drawn with his cartoon head like in all his other Marvel UK appearances.
*The first page of issue 201 was originally printed with the wrong colours. This was corrected in the subsequent [[Collected Comics (Marvel)|Collected Comics]] and [[Titan Books]] reprints, though the colors are still slightly off (especially the dark brown-ish red on Rodimus Prime).
*Scourge was pretty mad at Galvatron last time he saw him, to the extent that he was willing to kill him. How we get from that to the look of love he gives Galvatron in issue 200 is unexplained.
*What's left of the [[Wrecker]]s and the [[Mayhem Attack Squad]], having been key characters for much of the story, simply disappear in the closing stages, shunted aside by the big names. The same happens to the rank-and-file present day Autobots such as [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] and [[Scattershot (G1)|Scattershot]] (the latter was going to be killed off [[Dark Star (issue)|shortly anyway]])
*The "present" Autobots should recognise most of the "future" Autobots—[[Kup (G1)|Kup]] and [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]], for example, are among their current forces on the Ark. Kinda lucky they didn't make the trip to Earth, really... They should probably recognise Ultra Magnus and Rodimus Prime (he looks just like Hot Rod, after all) as well, and maybe even [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]]. (Similarly isn't it lucky that Scorponok didn't bring the present day Terrorcons with him?)
* Blaster appears in the 2009 timeline but neither does he travel back in time with the other Autobots nor is he present when the Decepticons storm Autobot City. It's lucky he didn't travel back in time as his 1989 incarnation is present as well, or was.
*At least some of the present-day Autobots (such as Ironhide) should recognise the explosive effects of being shunted to limbo, so their immediate declaration that Optimus and company have been killed is a little hysterical.
*The nature of Goldbug's injury shifts all over the place—he's shot in the shoulder by [[Misfire]], but then has a critical chest injury by the time Magnus finds him. His dramatic turn done with, his life-threatening wound reverts to being a shoulder injury that [[Hoist (G1)|Hoist]] patches up in three seconds flat.
*The plan is to get Cyclonus's body and Scourge back to the future, but it is unclear how they plan on accomplishing that. Nobody in 1989 appears to have the means to transport them into the future.
*Also Rodimus Prime isn't ''really'' Optimus Prime's future self. Optimus Prime and Rodimus Prime in the same era should not cause a time disruption despite what the two Primes believe...yet it is caused by the two holding the Matrix simultaneously. Though, Optimus doesn't have the Matrix, as it is with his other body on VsQs. Head hurt yet?
**Keep in mind that the present and future had become a mess due to the temporal anomoly, There was no telling how history would reboot itself.

==Items of note==
[[Image:RobinSmithGrimlockOptimusFortMax.jpg|thumb|250px|right|You're doing it wrong, Fort Max.]]
*This marks the end of the story arc that began 121 issues ago in "[[Target: 2006]]".
*This was the last of the UK comic's 'epic' storylines. By issue [[The Fall and Rise of the Decepticon Empire|213]] falling sales meant that the page count of the UK originated strip was reduced from 11 to 6. The constant threat of the comic's cancellation meant that [[Simon Furman]] kept the story arcs limited to a few issues at most.
*The present day Ultra Magnus was going to get a rematch with Galvatron here, but the upcoming switch to black-and-white strips forced Furman to wrap up everything in Time Wars; poor ol' Magnus got lost in the shuffle.<ref>http://forum.idwpublishing.com/viewtopic.php?p=42871</ref> Insult to injury, his 2009 incarnation is never seen after this strip and, considering the state the Decepticons were making of him, could have ''died'' with barely a mention!
*As if the high death count was bad enough, keep in mind that this is right im the middle of the [[Underbase Saga]], which had many more deaths.
*Cyclonus was killed in issue 189 "[[Dry Run!]]". The initial effects of the time rift were shown in issues 182-187 "[[Space Pirates!]]" with the destruction of the planet [[Quintessa|Quintesson]].
*Here Ravage recovers from his fall down a mine shaft after a battle with [[Skids (G1)|Skids]] in issue 72-73 "[[Showdown!]]" (US issue 20).
*The future Decepticons don't really add anything to the story. They just turn up, watch for a bit and then leave.
*The Wrecker/Mayhem strategy is laughable - they simply walk into Galvatron's base, arguing loudly.
*It's a recurring problem with the rotating artists on the UK comic, but the height of characters changes drastically over the course of the story. Fortress Maximus goes from being a shade taller than Rodimus to almost half again as tall between issues.
*Galvatron actually starts off this story in a fairly sane state of mind (as he had in [[Altered Image!]]) By the end of it he's attempting to destroy every Transformer that exists and screaming his defiance at the universe itself. [[A Savage Circle| Hanging out with Megatron]] seems to have this effect on him (although to be fair, having half his face blasted off probably didn't help matters).
*Finally, Galvatron stays dead. Hard to miraculously recover from being erased from history. Except that he [[Aspects of Evil!|does]], sort of.
*Where does [[Fracas]] go?
*During the first issue when humans are fleeing from the Terrorcons on New Year's Day 2009, a dropped copy of ''Dragon's Claws'' can be seen. This prediction of the title's longevity was optimistic as the real ''Dragon's Claws'' comic folded a few months into 1989; however just a few months before the real New Year's Day 2009 a trade paperback of ''Dragon's Claws'' was published.
*Reprinted as a Trade Paperback by [[Titan Books]] in July 2003.
*The future Autobots last appeared in "[[Space Pirates!]]". Their story continues in the second segment of "[[Aspects of Evil!]]", then "[[The Void! (UK)|The Void!]]".
[[Image:RobinSmithLotsaCharacterModels.jpg|thumb|200px|right|See? That's better. Now for you, Arcee...]]
*When this story was written, it was with the intention that Megatron was the same guy we saw being blown up with the [[space bridge]] at the end of "[[Gone but Not Forgotten!]]". However, a few months later, the story "[[Two Megatrons!]]" would [[retcon]] him into actually being a [[cloning|clone]] bearing the [[Spark|mind]] of [[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]] who ''thinks'' he's Megatron. Consequently, the events of this story leave open the (originally unintended) possibility that, in the original timeline, it was actually this Straxus-Megatron who was rebuilt into Galvatron by Unicron, rather than the genuine article.
*Several panels in the two issues drawn by Robin Smith feature characters in poses directly drawn from their [[character model]]s. Most of them can be found in issue 200: Ravage on page 1, panel 2 (the same pose is used ''again'', albeit mirrored, in panel 1 on the subsequent page, with a slightly redrawn pose appearing in panel 3); The [[Ark (G1)|Ark]] on page 4, panel 2; Grimlock and Powermaster Optimus Prime (minus his handguns) on page 4, panel 3 (Fortress Maximus in the same panel appears to be an original pose); Galvatron on page 7, panel 3; Snapdragon on page 8, panel 2 (with a slightly redrawn leg); Weirdwolf and Skullcruncher (both of them slightly redrawn) on page 9, panel 1; Fortress Maximus (with a different facial expression), Rodimus Prime and Blurr on page 10 (Arcee, Kup, Ultra Magnus and Red Alert appear to be original poses); possibly Fortress Maximus on page 11, panel 3 (downscaled and with less details); and Rodimus Prime in the subsequent panel (albeit with a different facial expression and one arm redrawn to be raised). Some more can be found in issue 201: Misfire (with a redrawn hand to include his gun), Skullcruncher, Fangry and Slugslinger on page 5, panel 2 (Horri-Bull and Weirdwolf appear to be original poses); Soundwave (with his hand redrawn and lacking his gun) and Cutthroat on page 6, panel 5 (Blot appears to be an original pose); Fortress Maximus on 9, panel 4 (with an arm redrawn to be raised, and a hand redrawn to be opened). Uncertain are Scorponok on page 5, panel 5 and Rippersnapper, Hun-Gurrr and Sinnertwin on page 6, panel 5, who never had ''[[Transformers Universe (Marvel comic)|Universe]]'' profiles.

===Covers (8)===
{{picsneeded|Best of UK covers}}
<gallery>
Image:MarvelUK-199.jpg|199 cover
Image:MarvelUK-200.jpg|200 cover
Image:MarvelUK-201.jpg|201 cover
Image:MarvelUK-202.jpg|202 cover
Image:MarvelUK-203.jpg|203 cover
Image:MarvelUK-204.jpg|204 cover
Image:MarvelUK-205.jpg|205 cover
Image:TitanTW.jpg|'''Time Wars TPB'''
</gallery>
*'''UK issue #199 cover:''' [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] is on fire! by [[Robin Smith]].
*'''UK issue #200 cover:''' Wraparound cover, featuring [[Hot Rod (G1)|Rodimus Prime]], [[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]] and [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] bursting out of Powermaster [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], by [[Lee Sullivan]].
*'''UK issue #201 cover:''' [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]] fights [[Hot Rod (G1)|Rodimus Prime]] while [[Bumblebee (G1)|Goldbug]] is dying, by Robin Smith.
*'''UK issue #202 cover:''' [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] and [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] stand on heads, art by [[Andrew Wildman]].
*'''UK issue #203 cover:''' [[Carnivac (G1)|Carnivac]] and [[Springer (G1)|Springer]], by Robin Smith.
*'''UK issue #204 cover:''' [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] interrupts [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] vs [[Hot Rod (G1)|Rodimus Prime]], by [[Jeff Anderson]].
*'''UK issue #205 cover:''' [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] defeats all the Autobots, by Andrew Wildman.
* '''Time Wars TPB cover:''' [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] takes on [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Optimus Prime]], by [[Geoff Senior]] and [[Oliver Harud]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Marvel UK issues]]

The Low Road

2011-07-28T15:29:11Z

174.96.255.90: /* Continuity errors */

{{episode
|series=BWtoon
|ep=22
|image=Low Road Rhinox fart.jpg
|caption=AKA "The Low Brow"
|title="The Low Road"
|production company=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|airdate=[[February 10]], 1997
|written by=[[Bob Forward]]
|directed by=[[J. Falconer]]
|animation studio=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|continuity=[[Beast Wars continuity]]
}}
'''Rhinox is infected with a strange energon discharge virus, and if a cure isn't found, he'll destroy the Maximal base as he literally sneezes himself to death.'''

:''French title:'' '''Le Virus''' ("The Virus")
:''French-Canadian title:'' '''Le Virus'''
:''Japanese title:'' ストップ･ザ･くしゃみ (''Stop the Kushami'', "Stop the Sneezing")
:''Latin-American title:'' '''El Subterráneo'''
:''Italian title:'' '''Il virus''' ("The virus")
:''Brazilian title:'' '''O Caminho Subterrâneo''' ("The Underground Way")

==Synopsis==
[[Image:Low Road Rattrap Dinobot fight.jpg|left|200px|thumb|"Objection!"]]
The [[Maximal]]s use their tools to garden, trimming the wild bean vines that have grown around the Maximal base and, as [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] explains, could be exploited by the Predacons. [[Rattrap]] and Dinobot get into a fight. Inside, [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] detects [[Predacon (BW)|Predacons]] coming to attack, but can't activate the [[Sentinel (BW)|Sentinel]] shields because of the two arguing Maximals outside. Rhinox comes down the elevator with his guns ablaze and commands the two to get inside, but they are too busy arguing to obey. Trying to cover his teammates' withdrawal, Rhinox is hit by a strange weapon from [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]]. Dinobot blasts Tarantulas several times, and with the crucial shot fired, the Predacons retreat.

Inside, the ''[[Axalon (BW)|Axalon]]'''s computer reports on the strange effect the device had on Rhinox, giving him a [[Energon discharge virus|disease]] that causes the larger Maximal to "spontaneously discharge energy." Rhinox demonstrates this by hiccuping energy beams around the base, causing much collateral damage. It's decided a counter-virus must be found.

[[Image:Low Road Rattrap Dinobot Taratulas.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Hello? You're at gunpoint!]]
Rattrap and Dinobot attempt to trail the injured Tarantulas. The two get into an argument about who is to blame for Rhinox becoming sick, which quickly degenerates into name-calling. Eventually forgetting why they started the argument, the two follow Tarantulas's scent. Running after a glimpse of the Predacon, they fall though a hole and onto a long slide—with a heavy boulder close behind them. But after they land at the bottom of the slide, the boulder actually hits Tarantulas. Rattrap and Dinobot continue bickering as they search through the underground caverns for Tarantulas's lab.

Aboard the ''Axalon'', [[Optimus Primal|Optimus]] reveals to [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] that he paired Dinobot and Rattrap together so they could either learn to work together or kill each other. Rhinox is meanwhile kept on a life support system which drains energy from the rest of the (now heavily damaged) Maximal base.

Back at the [[Darksyde|Predacon base]], [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] sends his own forces to reclaim Tarantulas so more of the virus can be developed to use on the rest of the Maximals. They head to his [[Tarantulas's lair|laboratory]] to see if they can locate the missing arachnid there. On Tarantulas's security sensors, [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] notices the two wandering Maximals making their way through the caverns towards the hideout.

[[Image:Low Road Optimus Rhinox.jpg|left|200px|thumb|"Hey, handsome. Come here often?"]]
Primal rallies his available soldiers for action against the Predacons to seize the antidote to Rhinox's ailment forcibly. Rhinox attempts to come along with the others, but Primal orders his friend to stay behind and consume some food to help stabilize his systems. Naturally, the first option on Rhinox's menu happens to be the wild beans conveniently surrounding the ''Axalon''.

[[Image:Low Road Megatron countervirus.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Megatron discovers what has been making his beast head go all green.]]
Back in Tarantulas's lair, Blackarachnia discovers where Tarantulas stored the counter-virus. When [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] detects the two Maximals getting closer, the Predacon goons open fire, wildly hoping to hit something, but instead just ruin any chance they have of ambushing their targets. Dinobot tries to use Tarantulas as a hostage, but this tactic doesn't work on Megatron, who has no reservations about abusing his own soldiers. However, the distraction has bought Rattrap (who was supposed to be covering Dinobot) the time to sneak through some tubes to arrive behind the Predacons, leaving him close enough to disarm them quickly.

A nasal energon-expulsion from Rhinox provides a hole for the other Maximals to enter the chamber once they finish posing heroically. Megatron mentions that he alone has the counter-virus that could save Rhinox.

But then Rhinox shoots an incredible energon fart (visible from space) that blows the Predacons far away, giving the Maximals the chance to grab the counter-virus and live happily ever after. Rattrap and Dinobot still bicker like kids, though.

==Featured Characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=[[Maximal|Maximals]]
|c1=
*[[Rattrap]] (1)
*[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] (2)
*[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] (3)
*[[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] (4)
*[[Optimus Primal]] (5)
*[[Airazor (BW)|Airazor]] (13)
*[[Tigatron]] (14)

|h2=[[Predacon (BW)|Predacons]]
|c2=
*[[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] (6)
*[[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] (7)
*[[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] (8)
*[[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] (9)
*[[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] (10)
*[[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] (11)
*[[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] (12)
}}

==Quotes==
"Excuse me. Are ''you'' implying that the current situation is somehow...''my'' responsibility?!" 
"Well, you did start it...''gearhead''!" 
"I BEG to differ...cheese lips!" 
"Pre-evolved birdbrain!" 
"Eater of garbage!!"
:—'''Dinobot''' and '''Rattrap''' trade insults, part 1

"Sheesh, and they call ''me'' the immature one."
:—'''Cheetor''''s response to above argument

"Wait! I detect a scent! Vile corruption... a whiff of festering putification!" 
"So I ate a limburger sandwich for lunch! I'm a rat, gimme a break!" 
"I've been... uncomfortably aware of your stench for the past hour, ''vermin''. This is something else... something over... THERE!" 
''(Tarantulas suddenly springs out and legs it)'' 
"Oh yeah! He's mine!" 
"Leave battle to the ''warriors'', '''''mouse'''''!!!"
:—'''Dinobot''' and '''Rattrap''' trade insults, part 2

'''Dinobot:''' Unlike you, I do not spend my time scurrying through ''sewers!'' 
'''Rattrap:''' Yeah? Well, a sewer smells better than your breath, bronto-brain! 
'''Dinobot:''' Nnngrrh! You will get used to it WHEN I BITE YOUR USELESS HEAD OFF! 
''(Tarantulas suddenly wakes up)'' 
'''Tarantulas:''' DIIIIE, MAXIMALS! 
'''Dinobot and Rattrap:''' SHUT UP! 
''(They both punch Tarantulas)''
:—Rattrap and Dinobot trade insults, part 3

"So, uh, you got a better plan?" 
"No, but I ''still'' despise the idea of expiring underground. It lacks a...a warrior's nobility." 
"Oh, hey-hey, no sweat, heh heh. 'Cause I ain't lettin' ''nobody'' waste you down here! That's a job I'm reserving for myself!" 
"Oooh, I appreciate your concern, but let me assure you, being shot in the back by a malodorous ''mouse'' would not exactly earn me a seat in Silicon Valhalla!" 
"Awwww, poor baby."
:—'''Rattrap''' and '''Dinobot''' trade insults, part 4

"A bargaining chip should remain in play until the game is over, yesss." 
"Why do you always talk to yourself?" 
"Ah, I simply have a penchant for...''intelligent conversation''."
:—'''Megatron''' ripostes rather well to '''Blackarachnia'''.

''(Dinobot enters, holding Tarantulas)'' 
"Do not fire, Megatron! I have a HOSTAGE!" 
"Why, so you do..." 
''(Megatron shoots Tarantulas)''
:—Hostage negotiations with '''Dinobot''', '''Megatron'''-style

"No! Not ''that''!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH...!!!!!"
:-'''Megatron''' realises what Rhinox is about to do...

"This is ''certainly'' the most humiliating defeat of my entire career. Yess..."
:—'''Megatron''' after Rhinox defeats the Predacons single...erm, handedly

==Notes==
===Animation and technical errors===
* After the boulder hits Tarantulas, it cracks in a most unconvincing way — the cracks appear to be extremely shallow.

===Continuity notes===
*In this episode Blackarachnia mentions that Tarantulas encrypted all the information on his computers, foreshadowing that he has something to hide.

===Continuity errors===
*When Rattrap and Dinobot fall through the trapdoor leading to the underground tunnels, Rattrap's gun is left spinning in mid-air. The next shot is upwards from underground, as they fall, and the gun is not visible. Indeed, when Rattrap lands on Dinobot, the gun doesn't fall on top of them. Later, as they approach Tarantulas' lab, Rattrap has his gun back.
*Megatron's descision to blast Tarantulas is pretty reckless and flat out moronic. Tarantulas is the one who created the virus and thus is probably the only one who knows how to make it. Megatron seems to be acting as if he holds all the cards but all he really has is the antidote. How exactly Megatron plans on infecting the Maximals with a virus using THE CURE FOR THE VIRUS isn't clear.

===Real-world references===
[[Image:LowRoad fart.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The same results can be obtained by eating at Taco Bell.]]
* Dinobot refers to a [[Silicon Valhalla]] as some kind of afterlife, dually referencing both [[wikipedia:Valhalla|ancient Norse mythology]] and [[wikipedia:Silicon_Valley|Silicon Valley]] (and at a stretch [[wikipedia:Red_Dwarf|Red Dwarf's]] [[wikipedia:Silicon_Heaven|Silicon Heaven]]).
*Some of the slapstick, particularly temporarily defying gravity, and Rattrap's gun being momentarily left in the air when they do fall, is reminiscent of classic [[wikipedia:Warner_Bros.|Warner Bros.]] cartoons, such as [[wikipedia:Road_Runner_(cartoon)|Road Runner]].
* During one of their squabbles, Rattrap refers to Dinobot as a 'pre-evolved birdbrain', riffing on the recent scientific theory that birds evolved from Dromaeosaurid dinosaurs ("raptors") like Dinobot.
*When the Maximals burst into Tarantulas's lab, Airazor is kneeling at Optimus's feet, with one hand affectionately placed on his leg. Instead of, y'know, ''pointing a gun at the bad guys.'' The shot is a parody of the stereotypical heroic entrance/posturing scene, such as found on the theatrical poster for the original ''[[wikipedia:Star_Wars_Episode_IV:_A_New_Hope|Star Wars]]'' film. Once Rattrap undermines the moment, as evidenced by the musical score, Airazor can be seen standing normally with the other Maximals. All part of the fun, folks.
*When the rhino-fart shakes the globe, the epicenter is clearly in Africa, providing more evidence for the show being set there. In fact, it appears to be in the middle of the [[Sahara]], which would have been less arid in the prehistoric time of the Beast Wars than it is today.
*Rhinox dons a beer-hat style contraption from which to sip his treatment.

===Trivia===
*In the beginning of the episode, Rattrap is using one of Optimus Primal's swords to cut down the vines.
*The details of exactly ''why'' Optimus decided it was a good idea to send Rattrap and Dinobot together on a life saving mission is beyond anyone. He later confesses, "They'll either learn to work together or destroy each other. Right now I don't really care which." He apparently doesn't hold Rhinox's safety in very high regard.
*While turning around to deliver his energon fart, Rhinox's *ahem* anus is clearly visible. Now that's classy.
*The virus which infected Rhinox and which Megatron intended to use to infect the rest of the Maximals was never mentioned again. Can you blame him for washing his hands of the entire affair?
*Rattrap actually does eat garbage<ref>[http://www.tfarchive.com/toys/techspecs/beast-era/1996__Rattrap_(1996a).jpg Tech spec bio].</ref>.
*Rattrap's declaration that he and Dinobot have the Predacons under control is a bit exaggerated. He may have shot the guns from their hands, but that still leaves six Predacons with a variety of built-in weapons (Scorponok's missiles, Megatron's lasers, Blackarachnia's spider-leg machine guns, etc.) against two Maximals. Either Rattrap has a lot of faith in his and Dinobot's fighting abilities, or he has an incredibly low view of Predacon skill...
*Farts are funny. Hence, this episode is very funny if you like farts. And who doesn't?
*Episode writer Bob Forward summed up the reaction to the episode thusly: "[...] After 15 Years And A Couple Of Hundred Scripts, [I] Will Be Remembered Forever For A Rhinocerous {{sic}} Fart."<ref>[http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/msg/70dc1b8dd547cba9 Post on alt.toys.transformers by Bob Forward]</ref>
*For some reason, Tarantulas seems to have one of Waspinator's arms in his lab.

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;VHS
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1998 — ''Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers'' — Starscream's Invulnerability ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — Japanese audio only. 
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2001 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — The Beginning: Vol. 4 ([[Universal]])
;Laserdisc
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1998 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — Predacon Edition ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — English and Japanese audio.
;DVD
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2000 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — English and Japanese audio. 
[[Image:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2003 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — The Complete First Season ([[Rhino Entertainment|Rhinomation]]) 
[[Image:Flag of Canada.png|20px|Canada]] 2005 — ''Beast Wars'' — Classic Episodes: Volume 4 — The Predacons Advance! ([[Alliance Atlantis]]) — English and French audio. 
[[Image:Flag of Canada.png|20px|Canada]] 2005 — ''Beast Wars'' — The Complete First Season (Alliance Atlantis) — English and French audio. 
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2006 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — Season 1 ([[Madman Entertainment]]) 
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2009 — ''The Transformers: Beast Wars'' — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)

==References==
<references />

{{DEFAULTSORT:Low Road}}
[[Category:Beast Wars episodes]]

The Grand Victory War

2011-07-19T00:33:01Z

174.96.255.90: /* Notes */

{{comicstory
|seriesissue=''[[Victory_(manga)|Transformers Victory]]'' #10
|prev=Shine! The Five Stars of Victory
|next=Zone (manga)
|image=Victorymanga10-title.jpg
|title="Heroic! The Victory War"
|japanese=壮絶! ビクトリー大戦争
|romaji=Sōzetsu! Victory Daisensō
|coverdate=January 1990
|script=[[Masumi Kaneda]]
|artist=[[Ban Magami]]
|publisher=[[Kodansha]]
|published in=[[TV Magazine]]
}}

'''The final battle at the Decepticon Fortress begins! But what are the Decepticons hiding?'''

==Synopsis==
In [[Earth]]'s orbit, the [[Planet-Destroying Fortress|Giant Fortress Base]] is busy bombarding the planet with a destructive onslaught of meteorites. [[Star Saber (Victory)|Star Saber]] orders the [[Autobot]]s to launch a full-scale assault. As the Autobots invade the fortress, [[Deathsaurus (Victory)|Deathsaurus]] attacks Star Saber.

Inside, the Autobots make short work of the [[Dinoforce]] but are caught off-guard by one of [[Leozack]]'s traps. Smugly, Leozack and the [[Breastforce]] observe the battle.

Outside, Deathsaurus has Star Saber right where he wants him and prepares to cut his lifelong foe in half. Suddenly, the Fortress fires its death ray directly at Deathsaurus, blasting him square in the back.

At the control center of the Fortress, it is revealed that Leozack fired the blast. He intends to kill both Star Saber and Deathsaurus at the same time, allowing him to become [[Emperor of Destruction]]. Deathsaurus has a thing or two to say about that and, with Star Saber's help, fires his gun at the control center. The blast surprises Leozack, giving Star Saber the chance to smash through the window and take him down with his Planetary Impulse Sword.

[[Image:Lyzack-manga.jpg|left|150px|thumb|This massage is going to have a very awkward "happy ending" in a minute.]]
Defeated, a sobbing and pathetic Leozack begs the Autobots not to destroy the Fortress. The Autobots are curious as to what he's hiding, imagining it to be pretty important. The injured, yet unusually friendly and forgiving Deathsaurus hobbles into the Fortress, greeting both Leozack and [[Solon Kitakaze (Victory)|Solon]]. Deathsaurus concedes defeat, announcing that there are those who need their help. He then opens a large door to reveal...

[[Image:MangaDinoforceBabies.jpg|right|150px|thumb|The middle one looks kinda like Blurr. Interesting...]]
The Decepticon civilians, all happy to see their family members coming back from battle. As Leozack is reunited with his sister, [[Lyzack]], and the Dinoforce greet their [[Baby Dinoforce|adorable children]], Deathsaurus' wife, [[Esmeral (Victory)|Esmeral]], approaches Star Saber. She explains that the top of the Space Fortress is where all the Decepticon civilians had been living while the factions were at war. Leozack claims that they'd been plundering energy in order to maintain the Fortress and keep their families alive. The Autobots sympathetically understand their situation, but the [[Victories]] tell them that they should not have taken energy at the expense of [[human]] lives.

[[Victory Leo]] and [[Patty Minakaze|Patty]] then announce that the fighting is over and all the [[Decepticon]]s are invited to live in peace on [[Victory (planet)|Victory]]. [[Jean Minakaze|Jean]] and Solon ask Star Saber and Deathsaurus to shake on it and the two formerly bitter enemies come together for a hearty handshake and a declaration of peace.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
* [[Star Saber (Victory)|Star Saber]] (1)
* [[Victory Leo]] (2)
* [[Landcross (Victory)|Landcross]] (3)
* [[Road Caesar]] (4)
* [[Galaxy Shuttle]] (5)
* [[Blacker]] (12)
* [[Laster]] (13)
* [[Braver]] (14)
* [[Wing (Victory)|Wing]] (15)
* [[Waver]] (16)
* [[Dash (Victory)|Dash]] (17)
* [[Tacker]] (18)
* [[Mach]] (19)
* [[Tackle]] (20)

|c2=
* [[Deathsaurus (Victory)|Deathsaurus]] (11)
* [[Gōryū]] (21)
* [[Kakuryū]] (22)
* [[Gairyū]] (23)
* [[Yokuryū]] (24)
* [[Rairyū]] (25)
* [[Doryū]] (26)
* [[Leozack]] (27)
* [[Hellbat]] (28)
* [[Guyhawk]] (29)
* [[Killbison]] (30)
* [[Drillhorn]] (31)
* [[Jallguar]] (32)
* [[Tigerbreast]] (33)
* [[Esmeral (Victory)|Esmeral]] (34)
* [[Lyzack]] (35)
* [[Baby Dinoforce]] (36)
* Misc. Decepticon civilians

|c3=
* [[Jean Minakaze]] (6)
* [[Solon Kitakaze (Victory)|Solon Kitakaze]] (7)
* [[Patty Minakaze]] (8)
* [[Cab]] (9)
* [[Shūta Gō]] (10)
}}

==Notes==
*In the [[Victory (cartoon)|''Victory'' cartoon]], the [[Planet-Destroying Fortress|Fortress]] was much different; being less of a colony and more of a [[Death Star]].

*So, [[Decepticon]] civilians. ''Yeah''. The presence of Decepticon civilians would seem to go against the origins of the faction as seen in "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4]]". There, it was established that the Decepticons were initially built by the [[Quintesson|Quintessons]] as warrior robots, hence their inherent need to kill everyone and everything. So Decepticon civilians, Decepticons that ''don't'' want to fight, would seem at odds with their origin. However, the [[Victory (manga)|''Victory'' manga]] is decidedly removed from the animated series continuity, so make of it what you will.

*Despite how crazy the sight of Transformer babies might be, it was established in "[[The Star of Friendship, Jean and Star Saber!]]" that, at least in ''this'' continuity, Transformers start out as children and grow up in a manner similar to [[human]]s.
* Seriously, this thing has the happiest ending EVER.

==External links==
*[http://www.tfarchive.com/comics/japanese/trans569.php ''Victory'' #10 in English]

[[Category:Victory issues]]

Unicron/toys

2011-07-15T20:51:21Z

174.96.255.90: /* Hard Hero */

{{suite}}

'''[[Unicron]]''' has managed to amass plenty of toys, many of them unproduced.

==Toys==
===Generation 1===
[[Image:G1toy-UnicronprotoHasbro.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Look out! The CBS logo is on a murderous rampage!]]
* '''Unicron''' (Hasbro)

:An unproduced toy for Unicron was to have been released in [[Generation 1]]. It was a blue and yellow robot about one foot tall and was able to transform into a planet. It was to have come with a voice chip and a "planet microphone" to allow owners to speak through the toy. It also would have had a gun that became a stand for the planet mode and a blue "shield" that unfolded and covered the yellow part of his chest in planet mode. It bears an uncanny physical resemblance to [[Orson Welles]]. This figure had a public "debut" of sorts at [[BotCon 1996]], where it was mistransformed, but later convention appearances would feature it accurately transformed.

[[Image:UnicronPatentShieldGun.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Peekaboo! I eat you!]]

: Though the [[prototype]] had the tallest robot mode at the time of its planned release, it was ultimately shorter than [[Fortress Maximus]].

{{-}}
{{canceledtoy}}
[[Image:G1toy-UnicronprotoTakara.jpg|right|thumb|300px|He's green with evil!]]
* '''Unicron''' (Takara)

: Takara was to release a toy similar to Hasbro's attempt, but it was green and yellow, possessing different [[paint operation]]s and molding. It also was to come with a base that set up a "planetary system" with Unicron and a moon culled from movie preproduction materials that did...something. So far, this version of the toy has been shown only through Takara print materials.

: The placement of yellow is identical to the early art of Unicron which labels him "[[:Image:Model-TheEntity.jpg|The Entity]]." Additionally, he appears to sport a Decepticon [[rubsign]]. Assuming the rubsign is the same size as every other one, Takara's version of Unicron is considerably smaller than Hasbro's.

{{-}}

{{canceledtoy}}

[[Image:TF2010toy-Unicron.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Orange you glad it's 2010?]]
*'''Unicron''' (Supreme, 2010)
**''Accessories'': 6 missiles, giant chest-missile

:A [[retool]] of Supreme Class ''Armada'' Unicron toy (see below), this Unicron is given a new head and an [[The Transformers: The Movie|animated film]]-inspired deco. He retains all of his original [[gimmick]]s, including electronics. His [[Mini-Con]] partner, [[Dead End (Armada)|Bug]], is still included.

: This set is only available in Japan as a [[Toy Hobby Market]] [[exclusive]], with orders being taken from [[June 1]]st through [[July 4]]th. The toy was released at the end of September 2010. Unicron is part of [[Takara]]'s ''[[Transformers 2010 (franchise)|Transformers 2010]]'' anniversary celebration, and he includes two "[[Robot Point|points]]" redeemable towards a talking stand for ''[[Masterpiece]]'' [[Hot Rod (G1)|Rodimus Convoy]].

: This Unicron utilizes parts from both versions of ''Armada'' Unicron, having wings from the initial release, but hinged shoulder plates with holes on the backs for pegs from the slightly retooled version.

{{-}}

===Beast Wars Neo===
[[Image:BWNeo-Unicron.jpg|right|300px|thumb|A robot with a hemisphere on his back.]]
* '''Unicron'''

: Takara tried again to produce a Unicron toy during ''[[Beast Wars Neo (franchise)|Beast Wars Neo]]'' (as the character figured prominently to the endings of both the cartoon and manga), only going as far as the resin prototype stage before canceling it. It was said to be around the size of [[Optimus Primal|"Optimal Optimus"]] and had several gimmicks, such as an opening robot mouth when the horns were squeezed, and a claw and a drill that were stored in the planet "shell" in robot mode. One hard copy was shown at the Tokyo Toy Fair. Fans attempted to lobby for an unassembled, unpainted, and likely one-color "garage kit" version of the toy, but this never came to be...probably because the cost per unit would have been several hundred dollars.

: Interestingly enough, neither the cartoon nor manga version of ''Neo'' Unicron looked like the toy.

{{-}}
{{canceledtoy}}

===Armada===
[[Image:Unicrontoyarmada.jpg|right|300px|thumb|And the fandom rejoiced (and complained).]]
*'''Unicron with Mini-Con Dead End''' (Supreme, 2003)
** ''Japanese ID number:'' '''MX-00'''
**''Accessories'': 6 missiles, giant chest-missile

: Unicron from the [[Armada (toyline)|''Armada'' toyline]] is an orange and transparent purple Supreme-size toy that transforms into a planet. It features many Mini-Con [[Powerlinx]] plugs on the planet's rings, and "chomping" jaws activated by moving the mandibles. The packed-in Mini-Con [[Dead End (Armada)|Dead End]] in moon-mode plugs into a specially shaped socket on Unicron's planet form, just above his gaping maw. Powerlinx plugs on his sides activate the triple spring-loaded missile launchers, which end up on his robot mode legs. In robot mode, he has hidden compartments for Mini-Cons in his robot-mode legs and abdomen. One Powerlinx plug on the back of the robot mode activates blinking eye lights and a cannon that bursts from the chest and shoots a missile. A button on the top of the head also activates the blinking eye lights. Pushing his right hand back slightly into the cuff causes it to light up.

:In total, the toy can hold up to 27 Mini-Cons in planet mode and 30 in robot mode—34 if you count the two conveniently shaped pegs on the back of his right hand and if a Mini-Con is stored in the compartment on each leg. 24 of the Powerlinx points are situated on his wings/planet ring.
:That's a lot of Mini-Cons!

: This toy is notable for being the first "modern" Transformers release in the main line at the $50-price point. Due to his success, other releases like ''Energon'' [[Omega Supreme (Energon)|Omega Supreme]] came into being.

: The [[Takara]] release of Unicron uses a lighter orange, slightly more transparent plastic, and different paint applications than the [[Hasbro]] version.

: The toy had a minor running change where a slot and tab were added to the shoulder and wing column, respectively, to keep the rings more firmly in place in planet mode. Early publicity photos and some catalog shots also show that the two nubs on either outside edge of the shoulders were originally full-fledged spikes, dulled down for safety.

: This mold was used to make the [[Unicron of Light|Mini-Con doppelganger of Unicron]].

::*[http://www.tfu.info/2003/Unicron/Unicron/unicron.htm ''More information on ''Armada'' Unicron at TFU.info'']

{{-}}

===Energon===
[[Image:Energon Unicron toy.jpg|right|300px|thumb|This is worth more to somebody outside of Japan if it was bought inside Japan.]]
*'''Unicron''' (Supreme, 2004)
**''Accessories'': 6 missiles, giant chest-missile

: Unicron's ''Armada'' toy was [[Redeco|redecoed]] for the [[Energon (toyline)|''Energon'' toyline]], sporting black and transparent orange, with "Energon damage" patterns, representing his shattered and damaged form. All of the gimmicks from the previous version are intact in this one. The color scheme itself is an homage to a [http://www.toyarchive.com/Transformers/Displays/JapanMovieUnicronInflat1.html Japanese-only inflatable store display]. That's right, $50 to look like a 20-year-old balloon from the other side of the world.

: Early shipments of Unicron in ''Energon'' packaging shipped with either the orange ''Armada'' Unicron or the black ''Energon'' Unicron inside, in seemingly equal amounts for a short while. Eventually, the orange version was phased out and black was the only shipping version.

::*[http://www.tfu.info/2004/Unicron/Unicron/unicron.htm ''More information on ''Energon'' Unicron at TFU.info'']

{{-}}
[[Image:Energontoy-McUnicron.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Unicron will make an unhappy meal of you.]]
*'''Unicron''' (Fast Food Premium, 2004)

: Available in one of two different European-market McDonald's Happy Meal promotions, this Unicron toy is based on ''Energon'' Unicron, being primarily black. It is very small, and the transformation consists of simply opening the planet mode to reveal the robot.

: When his Energon cube is clicked into position, the cube's power switch set to "on," and the toy's button depressed, his body lights up.

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2004/Unicron/McUnicron/unicron.htm More information on McDonald's Unicron at TFU.info]''

{{-}}

===Cybertron===
[[Image:Cybertron Unicron toy.jpg|right|300px|thumb|ZERG RUSH KEKEKEKEKEKEKEKE]]
*'''Unicron''' (Deluxe, 2006)
**''Accessories'': Missile, 4 spines (2 long, 2 short), Planet X Cyber Key

: Unicron in the [[Cybertron (toyline)|''Cybertron'' line]] is a Deluxe-class toy that transforms into a futuristic tank. In robot mode, he sports a battle-damaged appearance, with his head featuring a skull-like design mimicking the Unicron head that comes with Cybertron Primus. In both tank and robot modes, he features a main cannon with spring-loaded missile launcher, plus plugging a [[Cyber Planet Key]] into his back end opens up a port on his front (which bears a striking similarity to his planet maw) that reveals a (non-firing) triple-barreled cannon. His side-spikes in tank mode can be removed to become hand-weapons in robot mode.

: He includes a [[Planet X (Cybertron)|Planet X]]-style Cyber Planet Key, with the [[Cyber Key Codes|Key Code]] "'''dgt3'''" on the back. He is the first Unicron toy to be placed with the Decepticon faction for the purposes of marketing.

::*[http://www.tfu.info/2006/Unicron/Unicron/unicron.htm ''More information on ''Cybertron'' Unicron at TFU.info'']

{{-}}
[[Image:Unicronhead.jpg|right|150px|thumb|That worked a lot better for Fort Max.]]
*'''Cybertron Primus''' (Supreme, 2006)

: Certain shipments of ''Cybertron'''s Cybertron [[Primus]] toy had a pack-in Unicron head. The head is based on ''Armada'' Unicron's, with half of the face stripped away to reveal a robotic "skull". To provide the impression of locomotion, tentacles were added to the base of the head.

: The packaging for this variation of Primus was specifically changed with a callout for the Unicron head. This was originally supposed to be the first version of the Primus toy shipped, and only for a limited time, but both versions ended up shipping simultaneously, leading to some hunting to get the packed-in Uniskull.

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2006/Primus/Primus/primus.htm More information on Unicron's head (with Primus) at TFU.info]''

{{-}}

===Universe (2008)===
*'''Unicron''' (Supreme, 2008)
**''Accessories'': 6 missiles, giant chest-missile

:For ''[[Universe (2008 toyline)|Universe]]'', ''Armada'' Unicron was [[rebranding|rebranded]] with only very minimal color differences, even retaining the ''Armada'' release's product code. He was sold as a [[Toys"R"Us]] [[exclusive]]. As with all Unicron products produced by Hasbro since ''Cybertron'' Unicron, he is placed in the Decepticon faction. Once again, the on-box [[bio]] profile describes Unicron's nature as a [[multiversal singularity]].
{{-}}

===Transformers (2010)===
*'''Unicron''' (Supreme, 2011)
**''Accessories'': 6 missiles, giant chest-missile

:A redeco of TakaraTomy's 2010 Unicron release.
{{comingsoontoy}}

==Merchandise==
===Hard Hero===
[[Image:HHUnicron statue.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Weighs almost as much as the real thing]]
* '''Unicron''' (BotCon 2002)

:This statue of Unicron is a huge-ass cold-cast porcelain statue based upon the cartoon design of Unicron. It was originally a [[BotCon 2002]] [[exclusive]] before being released to the general public.
{{-}}

Seriously, it's friggen HUGE.

===Titanium Series===
[[Image:Titanium RM Unicron.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"Screw transforming. Watch me convert this 7-10 split."]]
*'''Unicron''' (3" Robot Master, 2006)
**''Accessories'': Decepticon stand

: Part of the very first wave of ''[[Titanium Series]]'' "Robot Masters" figurines, Unicron is a 3-inch-tall figurine made partially of [[die-cast]] metal, with movable arms. One hand holds what seems to be a moon (or he's going bowling).

::*[http://www.tfu.info/2006/Unicron/TitUnicron/unicron.htm ''More information on ''Titanium'' Unicron at TFU.info'']
{{-}}

===Art Asylum===
[[Image:AAUnicron statue.jpg|300px|thumb|Oh, I see how this works. You say, "Behind you!" and I turn around, and while I'm staring at nothing, you run away. Well, I'm not falling for it!]]
* '''Unicron Movie Statue''' (Diamond Select, 2007)

:This statue of Unicron stands 8 ½” tall and is limited to 1,986 pieces (as in 1986, the year the original animated ''[[The Transformers: The Movie|Transformers]]'' movie was released). It also features a smaller statue of Hot Rod standing upon the centerpiece holding the [[Autobot Matrix of Leadership]] aloft. Oddly enough, Hot Rod is in his toy colours.
{{-}}

===''Robot Heroes''===
[[Image:RH Prime vs Unicron.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Devourer of very small stones.]]
*'''Optimus Prime vs. Unicron''' (2007)

: Based on a cartoon-ified version of his ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'' model, Unicron's entry in the [[Robot Heroes]] line comes packed with a [[Autobot Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]]-brandishing [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]. His articulation consists solely of his shoulder joints.

==External links==
*[http://www.transformersontheshelf.com/UnicronPage Unicron (toy) History]
*[http://www.transformertoys.co.uk/content.php?/pages/transformers-reviews/gallery/766/micron+legend/Green+Unicron+%28Lucky+Draw%29.html Photo gallery and review of Green Lucky Draw Unicron]
*[http://www.transformertoys.co.uk/content.php?/transformers-gallery/merchandise/25/merchandise/Unicron+Japanese+Store+Display.html Inflatable Unicron store display gallery]

[[Category:Armada characters]]
[[Category:Beast Wars Neo characters]]
[[Category:Cybertron characters]]
[[Category:Cybertron Decepticons]]
[[Category:Toys "R" Us exclusives]]
[[Category:Energon characters]]
[[Category:Fast food exclusives]]
[[Category:Generation 1 characters]]
[[Category:Generation 1 Decepticons]]
[[Category:Planet X]]
[[Category:Robot Heroes]]
[[Category:Titanium Series]]
[[Category:Unicron]]
[[Category:Universe (2008)]]

Changing Gears

2011-06-29T15:27:54Z

174.96.255.90: /* Continuity errors */

{{episode
|series=G1toon
|ep=18
|series2=SRLFtoon
|ep2=12
|prev2=Autobot Spike
|next2=Traitor
|series3=''[[Generation 2 (cartoon)|The Transformers: Generation 2]]''
|ep3=27
|prev3=Roll for It
|next3=Attack of the Autobots
|image=ChangingGears Happy Gears.jpg
|caption=OMG! You guys! This is so awesome! Yay!
|title="Changing Gears"
|production code=#700-17
|airdate=[[September 23]], 1985
|written by=[[Larry Parr]]
|production company=[[Sunbow Productions]]
|continuity=[[Generation 1 cartoon continuity]]
}}

'''In a plot to drain the Sun for power, the Decepticons capture and alter the grumpy Autobot Gears.'''

:''Japanese title:'' ソーラーエネルギーを盗め! (''Solar Energy o Nusume!'', "Steal the Solar Energy!")
:''Italian title:'' '''Energia solare''' ("Solar energy")

==Synopsis==
[[Image:Changegearsskywarp.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Photograph taken immediately post-stair-pushing.]]
The [[Decepticon]]s attack [[human]]s working in a gold mine and take them prisoner. Just as [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]] is about to blast a human calling for help on a radio, [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] backhands him, saying that he wants the human to bring the [[Autobot]]s.

At the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]], [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] orders the Autobots to assemble at once, which they do with lots of hustle. The only exception is [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] who complains the whole way. Prime orders his troops to head out to the mine to engage their enemies.

When they arrive a battle ensues, but Megatron lets the miners get in the way. Unwilling to endanger humans, Prime orders the Autobots to hold their fire. Megatron uses this chance to get the drop on the Autobots, then takes Gears captive for purposes unknown and retreats.

[[Image:Changegearsinahole.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Team Rocket traps Gears in a hole in order to steal his Pikachu.]]

In [[Africa]], Megatron has Starscream zap Gears with the [[null-ray]], then takes out a special circuit from Gears's body. The Decepticon leader explains that this circuit is the final component he needs for his energy absorbing [[Solar Needle]], a solar collector which his Decepticons have constructed to harness energy from the heart of the [[Sun]]. With the circuit in place in the needle, the device activates and causes world-wide earthquakes. Unbeknownst to Megatron, the Solar Needle is flawed, causing a dangerous instability within the core of the Sun.

[[Image:Changegearstakeitout.jpg|left|200px|thumb|KALI MA! KALI MA!]]

The effect on Gears is profound as well. The removal of this component from Gears corrupts his personality, turning him from a surly grump into a happy-go-lucky, ultra-polite guy who'll do absolutely anything for anyone. This allows Megatron to manipulate and control him. Mentally, Gears still knows the Decepticons are evil and doesn't want to help them, but he's been rendered so "nice" that he can't refuse any request.

The Autobots blast through the jungle and start firing at the Solar Needle, but it's protected by a [[force field]]. Prime concocts a dangerous plan to circumvent the field by jumping through the hole at the top where the Sun's energy is coming through. [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] and [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] say it’s too dangerous, but [[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]] drives past them, makes the attempt and shatters the force field.

[[Image:Changegearsmegatrontriumphs.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"Let there be light!"]]

The 'Bots battle. Megatron gets the drop on Prime and orders the Autobots to surrender or he'll shoot their leader. Prime orders them to fight on, but the Autobots capitulate. Prime asks for one last request, which Megatron allows. The chief Autobot turns and asks Gears to do him a favor now. Gears obliges and shoots a component of the needle. Inspired by his change of heart, the Autobots fight back against the 'Cons, who retreat.

[[Image:Changinggearsautogroup.jpg|left|200px|thumb|"You heard Jeff Probst, now get off the island."]]

Prime orders Wheeljack and Ratchet to deactivate the device, but they argue over the correct solution. Out of time and with the Sun about to explode, Optimus just grabs at a wire inside the device and pulls. The needle shuts down and the Sun returns to normal.

Prime removes Gears's circuit card from the needle and hands it back to him, but [[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]] interrupts, saying that the rest of the Autobots like the new Gears over the old. Gears isn’t too happy about that, so Optimus returns the card and the surly, cranky hypochondriac is back. The Autobots roll on back to headquarters, leaving Gears to complain to himself.
{{-}}

==Featured Characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] (9)
*[[Hound (G1)|Hound]] (10)
*[[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]] (11)
*[[Gears (G1)|Gears]] (12)
*[[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] (13)
*[[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] (14)
*[[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] (15)
*[[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]] (16)
*[[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]] (17)
*[[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] (18)
*[[Bumblebee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Bumblebee]] (19)
*[[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]] (20)
*[[Huffer (G1)|Huffer]] (21)
*[[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]] (22)
*[[Bluestreak (G1)|Bluestreak]] (23)

|c2=
*[[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]] (2)
*[[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] (3)
*[[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]] (4)
*[[Soundwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Soundwave]] (5)
*[[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] (6)
*[[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] (7)
*[[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] (8)

|c3=
*Miners (1)
}}

==Quotes==
[[Image:ChangingGears Gears Bee acrobatics.jpg|thumb|250px|right|This act is illegal in 23 states and the District of Columbia.]]

'''Ironhide:''' "Action first, Gears; maintenance later." 
'''Gears:''' "Easy for you to say. Your pulleys don't squeak!" 
'''Bumblebee:''' "Your ''squeaking''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s not the problem—[''does a forward flip over Gears'']—it's your ''squawking!''"

"Go ding your diodes and get defunct Megatron. I’m not helping you do zilch."
:—Cranky, gutsy '''Gears'''

"Megatron is behind this. I’d bet my titanium torsion bars on it."
:—That's probably a safe bet, '''Optimus Prime'''

"I should be very angry at you Megatron. You ''are'' an evil son of a [[retrorat]], but for some reason, I just can't get too upset."
:—Cheery, nice '''Gears'''

"I should have destroyed you when I had the chance, but Megatron can't save you now!" 
"Heheheh, I really hate to disappoint you Starscream, but you better look behind you!" 
"Do you seriously expect me to fall for such a stupid trick?"
:—'''Starscream''' refuses to be distracted by '''Gears''' warning of an impending charge from Bumblebee.

"How can I help you, Megatron, heh heh, you rotten hunk of scrap?"
:—'''Gears''', piling on the flattery.

"What did you do to Gears, you monster? You turned him...''nice!''"
:—'''Ironhide''', at Gear's sudden change in personality.

"All right, now let's blast that Solar Needle and roll out." 
"I suppose you want me to do that." 
"Be my guest."
:—'''Optimus Prime''' and '''Gears''', grumpy once again.

==Notes==
===Animation or technical glitches===
* Missing Seeker insignia:
** Skywarp and Thundercracker are both missing their wing emblems as they dive to fire on the miners.
* The gold car ''explodes'' when it gets shot by a laser beam. Maybe what the miners really struck was TNT.
* Ravage is ''tiny'' when he tackles the trapped miner, not more than 4 feet long.
* Megatron's Decepticon symbol is a medium gray instead of purple when he bashes Starscream aside.
* Sunstreaker and Trailbreaker run past Gears twice in successive shots.
* The size and shape of the corridor that Gears is walking through changes radically between shots; it's much smaller when Ironhide chastises him. In the same shot, the corridor floor is sliding underneath both Autobots much faster than the pace of their walk.
* The shot of Prime transforming to roll out for the gold mine is recycled as the Autobots leave for Africa. This is not an error in and of itself; however, Cliffjumper being colored yellow is!
* Appearing/disappearing Autobots: Lots of Autobots come and go throughout the episode. The core Autobot cast is pretty consistent (Prime, Hound, Cliffjumper, Gears, Ratchet, Jazz, Wheeljack, Sunstreaker, Bumblebee, Ironhide and Trailbreaker; this is, for example, the group that gathers to look down on the Solar Needle, and again after the Decepticons retreat.) But several Autobots just show up for one or two shots, infrequently enough that it's not clear if they should have been shown or not:
** Mirage is seen driving away from Autobot Headquarters (twice due to recycled animation), dodging rocks the second time, and again jumping over the crevasse. He's never seen in robot mode.
** Bluestreak and Brawn show up for a single shot at the mine. Later, Bluestreak is seen at Autobot HQ dodging boulders.
** Huffer's distinctive profile can be seen at the end of the Autobot convoy as they roll out first time.
** Sideswipe can be seen in the Autobot convoy just before they start blasting the jungle, and very briefly as the Autobots charge toward the Solar Needle.
* Ratchet's vehicle mode is missing some red detailing as he rolls out behind Hound.
* Despite Prime's warnings about not endangering the humans, the three miners are almost completely out of the Autobots' line of fire. Additionally, the Autobots make no attempt to move ''themselves'' out of the way.
* Megatron's transformation sequence is about half over by the time the corresponding transformation noise begins.
* Megatron reaches behind him to pull out his secondary gun. Given the angle of the shot, he pretty much has to have pulled it out of his...ahem...exhaust port.
* The running light housings on Prime's chest are white instead of red as he order the Autobots to "look sharp". The same error repeats later, as he reacts to the falling boulders outside Autobot Headquarters.

* The animation doesn't really do such a great job of demonstrating that ''all'' the Autobots have been taken out of the fight, but that's about the only conclusion, since ''nobody'' makes any effort to combat the Decepticons after the "energized boulders" incident.
* The electrified cage holding Gears just vanishes after Starscream gives him the [[null ray]] treatment.
* After Bumblebee says "Solar flares!", a quick shot shows the sun with the Solar Needle beam streaking into it, along with a locust-like energy sound effect. If the noise is audible when we're looking at the beam, shouldn't it be heard pretty much all the time everywhere on Earth?
* In the frequently-recycled shot of the destabilizing sun, some of the solar flares are flying past the camera. Given that they have blue sky behind them, that would mean Earth just got vaporized! In the same shot, the Solar Needle's energy beam is nowhere in sight.
* The shot of Starscream, Megatron, and Gears gaping at the newly-activated Solar Needle is recycled after the first commercial break. The next shot has them all in different places and poses.
* Jazz and Sunstreaker's weapons can ''vaporize'' trees? Whoa.
* The gray portion of Gears's chest is abnormally large as he says "I love being a slave!"
* The chunk of earth that breaks loose, endangering Bumblebee, is nowhere in sight in the previous shot.
* Wheeljack gets the "wrong" transformation noise as he returns to car mode after saving Bumblebee from falling into the crevasse.
* Cliffjumper has the wrong voice as he says "Let's stop gabbin' and start blasting!" It sounds like Don Messick.
* Multiple Autobots fire on the Solar Needle, but only one laser beam is shown hitting or getting reflected.
* Ironhide's mouth isn't moving as he declares that "It's a reflective energy shield!" Prime is waving his arm like he should be the one speaking.
* Cliffjumper is shown flying toward the center of the Solar Needle, where he's supposed to be going, but the next shot has him hitting one of the peripheral energy beams instead. (As Cliffjumper flies off after the impact, Megatron appears to be standing there waiting to catch him!)
* The Autobots leap downwards into the Solar Needle's periphery, but it's not really clear where they're leaping ''from''.
* When Starscream says the line "Oh, no, you don't. Your circuit stays right here," the voice saying the line is Skywarp's. The subsequent lines make it clear that this was supposed to be Starscream.
* Starscream's gun barrel has no interior as he aims it at Gears; it's just solid, uniform gray.
* As Soundwave ejects Ravage to attack Bumblebee, Laserbeak's cassette mode is shown (due to the scene being recycled from the previous shot of Laserbeak ejecting.)
* Starscream's shoulder intakes are light gray instead of red when Megatron says that time is running out for Prime.
* Starscream's laser beams aren't quite properly animated to glow as he shoots at Gears repeatedly.
* Megatron's elbow is gray instead of red as he threatens to destroy the universe.
* The boulder that smashes the jungle floor after Megatron retreats appears to have just fallen out of the sky; there's no hill or cliff visible at all.
* Wheeljack's "ears" aren't flashing as he celebrates with the other Autobots, nor as he laughs with them at Gears's threat.
* Trailbreaker has a light gray fist as he and the others listen to Gears complain. It should either be a light gray gun-arm or a black fist.

===Continuity errors===
[[Image:ChangingGears Prime Sun being zapped.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Prime's standing outside Autobot HQ, and the bottom of that beam of energy is in Africa. Totally buying that.]]

* Would the miners really find an entire truckload of gold on their ''first strike''?
* "Energized those boulders"? Uh...really?
* Gears's personality is "modulated" by a circuit in his ''chest''?
* How can the sun be up in North America and Africa at the same time?
* The Autobots somehow '''drove''' from their base in the Western United States to the '''"geographic center of Africa"''' in '''"slightly less than 2 Earth hours"'''. After traveling through at least eight time zones, it appears to be roughly the '''same time of day''' as when the Autobots left their base.

[[Image:ChangingGears jungleclearing.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Seriously. No roots, stumps, stray rocks, or ''anything''.]]

* "Jazz! Sunstreaker! Laser us a road!" Prime apparently changes his mind on the flagrant destruction of flora some time between this episode and "[[Microbots]]", where he prevents Brawn from blasting a path through a South American jungle.
* Despite Ratchet's assertion that "no one could survive up there", Cliffjumper disrupts the energy shield with little more than a slight hangover to show for it.
** Also none of the Autobots shows much reaction to Cliffjumper's sacrifice. None of them even go to check on him. Of course Ratchet's false assertion likely convinced the Autobots that Cliffjumper was dead but still.
* Even with Prime disarmed, is Megatron pointing his cannon at Prime such a huge threat that the Autobots really have to surrender? He points that thing at Prime all the time!
* Gears produces two completely different guns from his arm: the one he pulls out when Prime is about to hit the pylon is round, while the one he pulls out to shoot the Solar Needle is square and has fins. In both cases, his fist slides out of his wrist ''holding the gun''. How does that even work??
* Does Gears ''really'' tip the odds that heavily in the Autobots' favor?
* What are these "battle stations" Megatron keeps ordering everyone to man? None of his troops do anything of the sort, probably because there are no "stations" anywhere in sight.
* Throughout the latter half of the episode, Optimus Prime and Megatron argue that the Solar Needle may/may not destroy the universe. While the Sun's exploding would obliterate our solar system, it couldn't destroy the universe in its entirety, unless the Solar Needle is some of the most advanced technology ever wielded by the Decepticons.

===Continuity notes===
* Gears's parts list: unlubed cable relays, squeaky pulleys (twice!), a cramped chronometer, a vibrating sequential camshaft, a trembling gyroscope, and besides that—
* Gears's special circuit board looks like an audio cassette tape. Whether it can [[Mini-Cassette|transform]] is not yet known.
* Gears uses the same hook-shaped welding tip that Brawn used to free Huffer, way back in "[[More than Meets the Eye, Part 2]]".
* Where does the trailer go?
** At the end of the episode, Optimus Prime's trailer just randomly drives itself out of the jungle and connects to his truck mode. Seriously, where does that thing go when he's in robot mode?
* Yes, yes, we know, [[Solar Needle]], [[star harvester]] in ''[[Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen]]'', blah blah, we ''promise'' you that ''IT IS NOT AN ACTUAL REFERENCE.''

===Trivia===
* This episode features a ''ton'' of recycled shots: the Autobots leaving HQ; Megatron aiming his cannon at Prime (complete with a pan over to the Autobots); the unstable sun; Megatron & co. gaping at the Solar Needle. Soundwave ejecting Laserbeak/Ravage is used at least four times, and the shot is copied almost line-for-line from "[[Transport to Oblivion]]". And of course, there's the ol' stock Optimus Prime transformation sequence.
[[Image:G1 ChangingGears Ratchet karate.jpg|thumb|right|250px|"Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind."]]
* Cameo locations: Pisa, [[Italy]]; Paris, [[France]]; [[New York City]] (or rather, Liberty Island, home of the [[Statue of Liberty]]).
* As the Autobots descend the cliffside to fight the Decepticons, Gears slides down on his butt, arms up in the air.
* When Megatron throws Optimus into the energy beam, Prime's [[ion blaster]] disintegrates (in a blink-and-you-miss-it bit of animation) and he remains weaponless for the rest of the episode. Wow, chalk one up for continuity.
* In another nice bit of continuity, the Solar Needle sphere that nearly crushes Wheeljack is still laying there broken when the Autobots prepare to blow up the Needle.
* Ratchet has the moves in this episode. First he Bruce-Lee-kicks Thundercracker. Then he kicks a boulder to knock a falling pylon in order to make it miss Wheeljack. While awesome, the latter move totally breaks the laws of physics.
* Man, the Decepticons really get their tails whipped in this episode, huh? First the Autobots capture nearly all of them, then they get beaten so bad that they just up and flee without even getting the order from Megatron.
* Trailbreaker ''is'' joking about not giving Gears back his circuit card, right? There's definitely not enough time for the Autobots actually to take that vote!

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;Laserdisc
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1994 — ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' — Convoy Set ([[TakaraTomy|Takara]]) — Japanese audio only. 
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1998 — ''The Transformers'' — Autobot Edition ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — Japanese audio only.
;DVD
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2001 — ''The Transformers'' — DVD Box 1 (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only. 
[[Image:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2002 — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 2 Part 1 ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]]) 
[[Image:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2002 — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 2 Part 1: Vol. 1 (Rhino Entertainment) 
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2003 — ''Transformers'' — Season 2 Part 1 ([[Metrodome]]) 
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2004 — ''Transformers'' — Bumper Collection Special (Metrodome) 
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2004 — ''Transformers'' — Collection 2: Series 2.1 ([[Madman Entertainment]]) 
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2006 — ''Transformers'' — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome) 
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2007 — ''The Transformers'' — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment) 
[[Image:Flag of Italy.png|20px|Italy]] 2008 — ''Transformers'' — Volume 03: Stagione Due Parte Prima ([[Medianetwork Communication]]) — English and Italian audio. 
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2009 — ''Transformers'' — Season Two: Part One (Metrodome) 
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2009 — ''The Transformers'' — Complete Collection: Decepticon Edition (Madman Entertainment) 
[[Image:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2009 — ''The Transformers'' — Season Two, Volume One: 25th Anniversary Edition ([[Shout! Factory]]) 
[[Image:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2009 — ''The Transformers'' — The Complete Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection (Shout! Factory)

==External links==
*[http://cybertronchronicle.freewebspace.com/cartoon-dossier/synopses/changing_gears.html Dossier at the Cybertron Chronicle]

[[Category:Generation 1 episodes]]
[[Category:Generation 2 episodes]]

Shell Game issue 1

2011-06-25T19:04:25Z

174.96.255.90: /* Notes */

{{apocrypha}}
{{Comicstory|
|seriesissue=[[Shell Game (Dreamwave)|''Transformers, Beast Wars: Shell Game'']] #1
|prev=Ain't No Rat
|next=
|title=
|image=ShellGame1a.jpg
|caption=The Maximals experience the effect of Dreamwave's bankruptcy on their universe.
|publisher=[[Dreamwave Productions]]
|date=
|coverdate=2005
|written by=[[Simon Furman]]
|continuity=[[Beast Wars cartoon continuity]]
}}

'''Magmatron initializes his plans to build an army to conquer Cybertron, and the Maximal Razorbeast must stop him. Sounds familiar!'''

==Synopsis==
[[Magmatron]] and his crew of [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]]s (including the undercover [[Razorbeast]]), set foot near the crashed ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]'' on [[Earth]]. Magmatron boasts that he will build an army with the abandoned [[Maximal]] [[protoform]]s, and assures that no interference occurs by having [[Drill Bit (BW)|Drill Bit]] sabotage the [[Autobot Shuttle Omega Delta|Autobot shuttle]] transporting [[Optimus Primal]]'s Maximals and [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] with a [[transwarp agitator]]. Having the authorities on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] mount a rescue mission won't do. Realizing [[Waspinator]] is absent, Magmatron sends [[Transquito]] to take care of him. Razorbeast is put in charge of the activation signal meant to convert the Maximal protoforms into new Predacon warriors. On the side, he tries to alert one of the Maximals on the Autobot shuttle.

On the shuttle, [[Rattrap]] awakes, having just experienced an [[Ain't No Rat|interesting dream]]. The other Maximals decide to rib him on the contents of his dream. Primal suddenly decides to recount the events of the [[Beast Wars (event)|Beast Wars]] to people who have already lived through it. The Maximals decide to take a well-deserved rest, but Rattrap seemingly begins to hallucinate the presence of unknown Maximals and being on Earth. The unknown Maximals take an angry tone with Rattrap, accusing him of abandoning them and promising that Rattrap would get to know them. Rattrap is still on the shuttle the whole time, and the other Maximals think he's losing his mind. As Rattrap is unceremoniously dumped in a [[CR chamber]], the [[transwarp]] portal the shuttle is entering suddenly beings to fluctuate.

On Earth, Magmatron thinks back to a meeting with the [[Tripredacus Council|Tri-Predacus Council]] about the [[transwarp wavefront]] hidden from the Maximals and their sending of an [[Ravage (G1)|agent]] to handle the "[[Megatron (BW)|renegade]]". After the meeting with the Council ended, Magmatron mocked the slow-moving triumvirate and received planetary scans from the agent. Razorback too flashes back, but this time to his meeting with [[Lio Convoy]], ordering him to go undercover in Magmatron's inner circle.

On the Autobot shuttle, the Maximals begin to make antagonistic moves against Rattrap. Rattrap, in an attempt to escape the Maximals, runs into hallucinations of the unknown Maximals, who plead with him to go back to Earth. On the exterior of the shuttle, the Transwarp fluctuations allow Megatron to begin breaking free of his [[magno-clamp]] bonds.

On Earth, the activation signal is sent, and protoforms all around the world are awakened. But as some reveal themselves to be Predacon, other reveal themselves to be still Maximals. Magmatron, realizing the cause, can only look on while Razorbeast runs for his life.

Rattrap, on the shuttle, causes a malfunction in the transwarp drive, sending the shuttle and its occupants back to Earth. Optimus Primal is understandably furious, but must cut his rant short when it's revealed that Megatron is now free!

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=[[Maximal]]s|c1=
* [[Razorbeast]] (4)
* [[Rattrap]] (7)
* [[Optimus Primal]] (8)
* [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] (9)
* [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] (10)
* [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachina]] (11)
* [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] (12)
* [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] (13)
* [[Tigatron]] (15)
* [[Optimus Minor]] (17)
* [[Wolfang (Maximal)|Wolfang]] (18)
* [[Bonecrusher (BW)|Bonecrusher]] (19)
* [[Lio Convoy]] (24)
* [[Polar Claw]] (28)

|h2=[[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]]s|c2=
*[[Magmatron]] (1)
*[[Drill Bit (BW)|Drill Bit]] (2)
*[[Manterror]] (2)
*[[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]] (3)
*[[Iguanus (BW)|Iguanus]] (5)
*[[Transquito]] (6)
*[[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] (14)
*[[Cicadacon]] (20)
*[[Ram Horn]] (21)
*[[Sea Clamp]] (22)
*[[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] (23)
*[[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] (25)
*[[Retrax]] (26)
*[[Snapper]] (27)

|h3=[[Autobot]]s|c3=
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] (16)

}}

==Notes==
*''Shell Game'' #1 was never released, as [[Dreamwave Productions]] declared bankruptcy before the issue was released.
* As may be obvious, the plot of this issue was recycled for [[IDW Publishing]]'s [[The Gathering issue 1|''The Gathering'' #1]]. The key differences are that the television show cast are very less involved in the plot of ''The Gathering'' and that ''The Gathering'' takes place during the cartoon instead of after.
*[[Simon Furman]]'s first draft script for ''Shell Game'' #1 was made available by the writer himself and is what the synopsis in this article is based on.
* Due to Dreamwave's bankruptcy the numerous plot points set up here are all left unanswered such as the fates of Waspinator and Razorbeast, Rattrap's visions, Magmatron's grand schemes, and how the Maximals got back to Cybertron.
===Covers (4)===
* '''Cover A:''' The Maximals from the end of the series; art by ?.
* '''Cover B:''' The Maximals from the first season; art by ?.
* '''Cover C:''' Megatron from the first season; art by ?.
* '''Cover RI:''' Gatefold wraparound battle cover; art by ?.

<gallery>
Image:ShellGame1a.jpg
Image:ShellGame1b.jpg
Image:ShellGame1c.jpg
Image:ShellGame1ri.jpg
</gallery>

==External links==
*[http://simonfurman.wordpress.com/2007/12/24/xmas-wrap/ XMAS (W)RAP! — Simon Furman makes the script for ''Shell Game'' #1 available.]

[[Category:Beast Wars issues]]
[[Category:Things that don't exist]]

Other Voices, Part 2

2011-06-25T18:49:39Z

174.96.255.90: /* Trivia */

{{episode
|series=BWtoon
|ep=26
|image=Other_Voices_2_Optimus_pod.jpg
|caption=[[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|Here we go again...]]
|title="Other Voices" Part 2
|production=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|airdate=[[April 1]], 1997
|written by=[[Larry DiTillio]]
|directed by=[[Ezekiel Norton]]
|animation studio=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|continuity=[[Beast Wars continuity]]
}}

'''As the alien machine begins destroying the planet's energon, Optimus devises a desperate plan to destroy the device.'''

:''French title:'' '''Les Voix d'Autre Monde - 2e partie''' ("The Voices from Another World - Part 2")
:''French-Canadian title:'' '''Les Voix 2''' ("The Voices 2")
:''Japanese title:'' 平和を守るために・・・ (''Heiwa o Mamoru Tame ni...'' "To Protect the Peace...")
:''Latin-American title:'' '''Otras Voces Primera Parte'''
:''Italian title:'' '''L'arrivo - Parte 2''' ("The arrival - Part Two")
:''Brazilian title:'' '''Outras Vozes Parte 2'''

==Synopsis==
[[Image:Other Voices 2 Tigatron Cheetor.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Beautiful things never turn out good.]]
Out on patrol, Cheetor and Tigatron stare in awe at "the light at the end of the world," as the alien machine continues powering up in space. Primal makes contact and orders them to return to base. Rattrap is pessimistic about their chances of survival, but Primal assures him that Rhinox will find a way for them to survive.

The alien bungalow finishes transferring power to the moon, and in a flash, the aliens depart: "Termination sequence engaged. Return to [[Nexus Zero]]."

Megatron and the Predacons observe this from their base. Confronted with a machine intended to destroy them, Megatron activates a special program and scans the Maximal base, locating the spiders and Inferno within.

Tarantulas is nearly finished converting a stored stasis pod into his escape ship. Blackarachnia observes that it's a little cramped for two... but, weapon drawn, she has no intention of sharing the ride. Inferno arrives just then, blasts her, and sets Tarantulas on fire, knocking him out. Back at the Predacon base, Megatron detects the aborted flow of data to the stasis pod ship and reacts with fury.

[[Image:Other Voices 2 Blackarachnia Inferno.jpg|right|200px|thumb|A girl that can handle a gun, awesome!]]
Inferno starts to examine Tarantulas's work, but is attacked by Blackarachnia, who eludes him with a display of gymnastics before blasting him with his own gun. Picking up Tarantulas's cyber-link goggles, she forms a link with the unconscious Tarantulas to obtain the data needed to finish the pod ship—but finds that staring into the abyss of the spider's mind means that it also stares back...

The Maximals arrive at base, alarmed to find the shields down. Inside, they find Rhinox and Dinobot cyber-webbed to the ceiling. Primal sends Rattrap and Airazor to bring in their unwelcome visitors.

Megatron observes the data flow resuming, just as the altered moon opens fire on the planet with a broad, blinding power ray. Primal charges the Maximal base's shields as the external temperature begins climbing and deduces that the aliens intend to ignite the energon deposits. Megatron notes that this will obliterate the entire planet, an incredibly ruthless strategy that he rather admires. He assures his panicked troops that Tarantulas will save them, albeit inadvertently.

[[Image:Other Voices 2 Optimus Blackarachnia.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Stasis pod or coffin? At episode's end no one's sure.]]
Blackarachnia finishes the pod ship, only to be discovered and held at gunpoint by Rattrap and Airazor. With Rhinox still out of commission, Primal is beginning to despair, when Rattrap summons him to the stasis hold. Primal is impressed by the ship and immediately orders Blackarachnia to change the command codes to respond to him. He intends to fly the ship up to the [[Planet Buster]] and detonate the transwarp cell to destroy it. With little alternative, Blackarachnia complies.

[[Image:Other Voices 2 Megatron Optimus.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Worst in-flight movie ever.]]
Soon all is ready, and Primal has poignant parting words with his worried crew before sealing the ship and launching it. Megatron scans the launch and notes with delight that Primal is flying the vessel. Primal soon reaches the Planet Buster, starts the ignition sequence, and gives the order to blow the hatch seals. But the hatch is sealed and locked! Megatron appears on his comm screen to gloat that he'd come up with the exact same plan—only in his version of events, the ship's pilot goes "up with the ship." As the timer counts down to zero, the Maximals frantically wait for Primal to make his escape. Primal pounds on the sealed hatch, to no avail. As the Maximals wonder what is going on, Blackarachnia tells them it's too late... in Tarantulas's voice.

The transwarp cell explodes, and high above the planet, the Planet Buster is annihilated... along with the pod ship and Optimus Primal.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=[[Maximal|Maximals]]
|c1=
*[[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] (1)
*[[Tigatron]] (2)
*[[Optimus Primal]] (3)
*[[Rattrap]] (4)
*[[Airazor (BW)|Airazor]] (5)
*[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] (cameo) (13)
*[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] (14)

|h2=[[Predacon (BW)|Predacons]]
|c2=
*[[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] (6)
*[[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] (7)
*[[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] (8)
*[[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] (9)
*[[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] (10)
*[[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] (11)
*[[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] (12)
}}

==Quotes==
"Sufferin' circuits. What could it be?" 
"The light at the end of the world."
:—'''Cheetor''' and '''Tigatron''', watching the Planet Buster power up

'''Airazor''': "Cheetor and Tigatron are coming." 
'''Rattrap''': "Oh, terrific. Now, we can all get reduced to hot-burning slag together." 
'''Optimus Primal''' and '''Airazor''': "Shut up, Rattrap!"

"That'll teach you to back-shoot a widow."
:—'''Blackarachnia''', after shooting Inferno at point-blank range

'''Megatron''': Brilliant! They're causing a chain reaction which will rip this planet to atoms and destroy all traces of them—simply to deal with us! Such sheer ruthlessness. Such disregard for sentient life! ...I rather like these aliens. 
'''Terrorsaur''': Like them?! They're trying to ''destroy'' us! 
'''Waspinator''': Waspinator not want to be destroyed! Waspinator has ''plans''! 
'''Scorponok''': Megatron will save us! 
'''Megatron''': I think not. I've reserved ''that'' task for Tarantulas.
:—The Predacons react to the Planet Buster.

'''Blackarachnia''': We—I did it! 
'''Airazor''': ''Hooray'' for you. 
[''Blackarachnia finds herself held at gunpoint.''] 
'''Blackarachnia''': Did you know we have a truce?

'''Primal''': Every one of these alien structure has been designed for a specific purpose, Rattrap. This one is busy, and I'm betting I can fly close enough to take it out. 
'''Rattrap''': With what? One of your famous "We can do it" speeches? 
'''Primal''': A transwarp explosion. 
''[Dramatic Pause]'' 
'''Blackarachnia''': Hahaha! You'll blow yourself to atoms! 
'''Primal''': If it saves this planet, it'll be worth it. If not, I'm no worse off.
:—An ape's gotta do what an ape's gotta do.

''[After the other Maximals have volunteered to pilot the stasis pod in Primal's place.]'' 
"Well, what about you, Rattrap?" 
"Hey, suicide ain't in my job description."
:—'''Optimus Primal''' and '''Rattrap'''

'''Primal:''' Cozy. 
'''Blackarachnia:''' Just like a coffin.
:—Encouraging words for anyone getting into a stasis pod.

'''Rattrap''': Just in case you don't come back...can I have your quarters? 
'''Primal''': No.
:—'''Rattrap''''s version of a final farewell.

"Do Maximals always talk such slop?" 
[''Airazor punches her out''] 
"My sentiments exactly."
:—'''Blackarachnia''' and '''Rattrap'''

"Oh, you [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|Optimuses]] do love to sacrifice yourselves, don't you? Well, fortunately, this time your foolishness will destroy you and your Maximals. The Beast Wars are over, Optimus. You lose."
:—'''Megatron'''

'''Primal''': MEGATROOOOOON!
:—KHAAAAAAAAN!

==Notes==
===Technical/animation glitches===
* When Blackarachnia grabs Inferno's gun, she clips into Inferno for a spit second.
* During Airazor and Rattrap's search for Blackarachnia, Airazor's gun floats in her hand when they jump into a hallway, and then gets "stuck" in her armpit as they walk towards the camera. Meawhile, her hands are posed grasping at nothing.
* As Optimus Primal lies back into the stasis pod, his shoulder pads are much smaller than they usually are. This was done to avoid clipping with the sides of the cramped stasis post model.
* When Megatron gloats to Optimus at the end of the episode, his hands seem to be switched, with his right arm ending in a normal hand instead of his beast-mode head. (It's easiest to see when Megatron is laughing triumphantly at the end of his speech.)

===Continuity errors===
* How exactly did anything organic survive the heating of the entire planet?
* When Blackarachia and Tarantulas attacked Dinobot in the previous episode, they caused him to fall through the glass of the elevator on the right hand side of the ''Axalon'''s command center (from Dinobot's perspective). In this episode, the smashed elevator glass has been switched to the other elevator on the other side of the room.
* The piece of cyber-webbing Airazor steps on when she exits the elevator was not present during the close up of Rattrap as he complained about the missing Rhinox and Dinobot.

===Transformers references===
*Megatron's line, "You Optimuses do enjoy sacrificing yourselves", is a reference to the [[Optimus Prime (G1)|original Optimus Prime]] and [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|his numerous deaths]].
*When Tigatron volunteers to pilot the stasis pod ship, he says, "I owe this world." This refers to his grief over what happened in "[[Law of the Jungle]]". It may also refer to his decision to destroy the [[Vok]]'s self-propelled-completely-peaceful-heavily-armed-[[Brigadoon|floating-island]]-paradise-of-death in "[[The Trigger, Part 2]]".

===Trivia===
* At the script stage, this episode had the subtitle "Termination Day".
* When Tarantulas angrily dismisses Blackarachnia while attempting to work on the stasis pod, he is voiced by [[Scott McNeil]] (doing an impression of [[Alec Willows]]'s Tarantulas) for two lines.
* This episode is the first of two where Inferno refers to Megatron by name rather than as "Royalty" or "my queen."
* A planned but never-produced Generation 1 cameo was planned for "Other Voices" Part 2. The intent was for Megatron to gloat to Primal while the latter was trapped in the stasis pod—by projecting an image of the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime, on Primal's viewscreen as Primal raced for the false moon and met his demise.<ref>[http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/msg/bc8e54e9165e0823?hl=en&&q=%22Optimus+Prime%22 Bob Forward interview on alt.toys.transformers]</ref>
*When you see the little parts of Primal flying towards the camera near the end of the episode, you can see Optimus's head fly at the screen very quickly with a distressed look on his face.
* In [[Madman Entertainment]]'s ''Beast Wars Season 1'' DVD set, on a commentary track for this episode with fan consultant [[Ben Yee]] and story editor [[Larry DiTillio]], fellow story editor [[Bob Forward]] popped in to explain the significance of the slang term "[[Slag (slang)|slag]]". He explained that he looked up on refineries as he figured that robots would be made of steel, and one of the waste byproducts of creating steel was an unusable detritus called slag, which he thought would be an appropriate swear word for robots to use.
* Why couldn't Optimus just blast his way out instead of pounding the hatch? Firing his weapons might have damaged himself, but at that point it was better than the alternative.
* If one listens closely, just as the pod is entering the false moon, you can actually hear the sound of Optimus' arm-cannon firing, and glass shattering. It appears that he attempted to do just that, but too late to actually escape.
* Inferno's got the moves in this episode! During his fight with Blackarachnia he pulls off all sorts of kung fu moves and even does a little Jet Li roundhouse kick. This still surprisingly dosen't keep her from blowing his head off though.

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;VHS
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1998 — ''Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers'' — To Protect the Peace... ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — Japanese audio only. 
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2001 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — The Beginning: Vol. 4 ([[Universal]])
;Laserdisc
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1998 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — Predacon Edition ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — English and Japanese audio.
;DVD
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2000 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — English and Japanese audio. 
[[Image:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2003 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — The Complete First Season ([[Rhino Entertainment|Rhinomation]]) 
[[Image:Flag of Canada.png|20px|Canada]] 2005 — ''Beast Wars'' — Classic Episodes: Volume 4 — The Predacons Advance! ([[Alliance Atlantis]]) — English and French audio. 
[[Image:Flag of Canada.png|20px|Canada]] 2005 — ''Beast Wars'' — The Complete First Season (Alliance Atlantis) — English and French audio. 
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2006 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — Season 1 ([[Madman Entertainment]]) 
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2009 — ''The Transformers: Beast Wars'' — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Beast Wars episodes]]

Other Voices, Part 1

2011-06-25T18:45:39Z

174.96.255.90: /* Notes */

{{episode
|series=BWtoon
|ep=25
|image=VokUnicronHead.jpg
|caption=''[[it|Another]]'' [[Grand Mal|floating]] [[Unicron|head!?]]
|title="Other Voices" Part 1
|production=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|airdate=[[March 31]], 1997
|written by=[[Larry DiTillio]] [[Bob Forward]]
|directed by=[[Colin Davies]]
|animation studio=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|continuity=[[Beast Wars continuity]]
}}

'''The plans of both Megatron and the mysterious aliens are coming to a head as one of the two moons transforms.'''

:''French title:'' '''Les Voix d'Autre Monde - 1re partie''' ("The Voices from Another World - Part 1")
:''French-Canadian title:'' '''Les Voix 1''' ("The Voices 1")
:''Japanese title:'' 恐怖の大王現る! (''Kyōfu no Daiō Arawareru!'', "The King of Terror Arrives!")
:''Latin-American title:'' '''Otras Voces Primera Parte'''
:''Italian title:'' '''L'arrivo - Parte 1''' ("The arrival - Part One")
:''Brazilian title:'' '''Outras Vozes Parte 1'''

==Synopsis==
[[Image:Other Voices 1 Blackarachnia Tarantulas.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Some women can't be trusted, especially spiders.]]
In a flash of light, a power anomaly emerges from a wormhole above the planet and descends to the surface. The aliens have arrived.

Rhinox detects the arrival and alerts Optimus, who hopes the truce is still holding. He flies off to meet Airazor and Rattrap at the landing site located in [[Grid Trion]].

Tarantulas is programming his stolen Transwarp cell, when Blackarachnia pays him another visit. She tells him she can get them inside the Maximal base to steal a stasis pod. Megatron monitors the entire discussion between the two spiders and sends Waspinator to the location the aliens are anticipated to arrive at.

Rattrap and Airazor reach the site, which is a large circular plaza of stone, pulsing with energy and containing a stable energon crystal. When Airazor tries to scan it, it zaps her, blasts Rattrap away, and engulfs the entire site inside an organic dome-like structure with Airazor inside

[[Image:Other Voices 1 Airazor bungalow.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The aliens don't like mimes in an invisible box.]]
Airazor awakens inside the "nutty alien bungalow", where a garbled alien voice speaks to her. She assures the aliens she means them no harm, but they have no such compunctions and painfully scan her until she converts to beast mode. After the scan ends, they are left with one word of information: ''"Cybertron"''.

Outside, Waspinator arrives to "secure the area", but Rattrap drives him off with a vigorous bout of fisticuffs.

Primal arrives and surveys the situation. Rattrap's efforts to use a laser to cut through the dome structure are ineffective. Megatron then arrives with Terrorsaur and Scorponok. He mocks Optimus for thinking that simple laser could get through the structure, commenting that the aliens can "create energon itself." He then has Scorponok fire a "toxic sting" that eats through the structure. Primal and Rattrap venture inside; Rattrap drags the semi-conscious Airazor out, while Primal stays to confront the aliens. A series of whip-like metal tentacles ensnare him and lift him up into an agonizing scanning grid.

Tarantulas and Blackarachnia have made their way to the Maximal base, where Blackarachnia activates a device that creates a small opening in the shields. The spiders move in, unaware that they are being followed by Inferno, who notes that they're up to no good and develops his own entry by digging a tunnel below ground.

Rattrap pulls Airazor out through Scorponok's opening just before it self-seals, to find himself facing Predacon guns. The truce is over.

[[Image:Other Voices 1 Primal bondage.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Primal usually has to pay for this treatment.]]
Primal's scan ends, and to address him, the aliens (having no form he could comprehend) take the form of a "figure of authority"—the head of Unicron. The aliens tell him that the Transformers have contaminated their experiment, which will be "sterilized". Primal pleads for a chance to fix the damage, and for the lives of the planet's native creatures, but the aliens are dismissive, citing greater dangers unknown to Primal. The conversation ends with the aliens activating a "termination sequence".

[[Image:Other Voices 1 Moon opening.jpg|right|200px|thumb|That can't be good...]]
The alien construct begins to pulse with building energy. The distraction proves enough for Rattrap and Airazor to overpower the Predacons. With renewed urgency, Primal breaks his bonds and flies right through the dome; the Maximals beat a hasty retreat—as the dome bursts open, spewing a directed geyser of energy into the sky. The energy activates hidden systems on [[Planet Buster|the second moon]], burning away its earthen surface to reveal an endless grid of weapon-like emplacements that being powering up. The moon itself begins to change its shape, and the alien energies cause the orbiting stasis pods to tumble out of orbit.

Rhinox observes all this at the Maximal base, taking measures to track what's happening even as the sensors begin to fritz out. Thus engaged, he doesn't see the spiders coming up behind him till it's too late. Dinobot is likewise gunned down in short order. Staring at Rhinox's displays, Blackarachnia wonders what they're looking at, to which Tarantulas replies: "The beginning... of the end."

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=[[Maximal|Maximals]]
|c1=
*[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] (1)
*[[Optimus Primal]] (2)
*[[Airazor (BW)|Airazor]] (7)
*[[Rattrap]] (8)
*[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] (12)

|h2=[[Predacon (BW)|Predacons]]
|c2=
*[[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] (3)
*[[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] (4)
*[[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] (5)
*[[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] (6)
*[[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] (9)
*[[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] (10)
*[[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] (11)
}}

==Quotes==
"Not fair! Waspinator always gets slag assignments." 
"May I remind Waspinator that the current ceasefire applies only in reference to Maximals." 
"gulp, Waspinator go."
:—'''Waspinator''' and '''Megatron''' discuss the fine print.

[''Rattrap has just brutalized Waspinator''] 
"I swear, I can't take you anywhere!" 
"Hey, e-heh, just keeping the peace."
:—'''Optimus Primal''' and '''Rattrap'''

"We can't leave Optimus in there!" 
"Hey, ours is not to reason why, but to blow dis joint before we die!"
:—'''Airazor''' and '''Rattrap'''

"Aah, would I could have that sound to lull me to sleep each night."
:—'''Megatron''' enjoying the soothing lullaby of Optimus Primal's agonized screams

"It is too late. You and your enemies have already contaminated the project. The harm has been done. That which does not become part of the one—shall become void." 
"No—wait! We can fix whatever damage was done." 
"We are not interested. The experiment will be sterilized." 
"You can't do that! There are living creatures here. You, with all your power—even you have no right!"
:—The '''Vok''' refuse to bargain with '''Optimus Primal'''

==Notes==
* This is the first of several episodes centered on the aliens, all with "Other V*"-styled titles: "Other Voices", "[[Other Visits (Part 1)|Other Visits]]", "[[Other Victories]]".
*Bob Forward has said this was originally meant to be a 4-parter but the plans were changed at the last minute—"Apparently anything more than a two-parter is too hard to schedule".<ref>[http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/msg/bc8e54e9165e0823?hl=en&&q=%22anything%20more%20than%20a%20two-parter%20is%20too%20hard%20to%20schedule%22 Interview with Bob Forward on alt.toys.transformers]</ref>
*After Waspinator is defeated by Rattrap, he has exactly the voice you'd expect from someone who's been [[Humanization|kicked in the nards]].
*"Scan complete, this is the specimen we analyzed before."—The Vok previously analyzed Optimus in "[[Chain of Command]]".
*The Vok's Unicron hologram is solely a visual reference, and is not meant to suggest any connection between the aliens and [[Unicron]].
*The Unicron hologram's statement "That which does not become part of the one—shall become void" may be a reference to Unicron's quote from [[Transformers Universe (Marvel comic)|Transformers Universe]]: "That which does not become a part of me shall become one with the great void." It might also be a twisted reference to [['Til all are one|a certain Autobot mantra]], which wouldn't be the first or last of such references.
*At the beginning of the episode, Tarantulas has a series of purple bars and a series of red bars on a computer screen. In [[Cybertronix]], they are labeled "bass" and "treble."
*While the Vok claim to have a form we can't comprehend and that "there is more danger than you know" if they don't destroy Earth, neither idea ever came up again.
* This is the last multi-parter to feature a "Next time on ''Beast Wars''" segment.
* Inferno is quite the close combat fighter. He even does a little Jet Li roundhouse kick during his fight with Blackarachnia.

===Trivia===
* The start of the audio commentary for this episode with fan consultant [[Ben Yee]] and story editor [[Larry DiTillio]] on the [[Madman Entertainment]] ''Beast Wars Season 1'' DVD is almost inaudible. As Larry DiTillio is trying to explain something, something happens that is very difficult to make out, with Ben Yee suggesting they start over.

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;VHS
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1998 — ''Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers'' — To Protect the Peace... ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — Japanese audio only. 
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2001 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — The Beginning: Vol. 4 ([[Universal]])
;Laserdisc
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1998 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — Predacon Edition ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — English and Japanese audio.
;DVD
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2000 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — English and Japanese audio. 
[[Image:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2003 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — The Complete First Season ([[Rhino Entertainment|Rhinomation]]) 
[[Image:Flag of Canada.png|20px|Canada]] 2005 — ''Beast Wars'' — Classic Episodes: Volume 4 — The Predacons Advance! ([[Alliance Atlantis]]) — English and French audio. 
[[Image:Flag of Canada.png|20px|Canada]] 2005 — ''Beast Wars'' — The Complete First Season (Alliance Atlantis) — English and French audio. 
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2006 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — Season 1 ([[Madman Entertainment]]) 
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2009 — ''The Transformers: Beast Wars'' — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Beast Wars episodes]]

Revenge of the Decepticons Part 2: Altered Carbon

2011-06-15T00:49:46Z

174.96.255.90: /* Notes */

{{Comicstory|
|seriesissue=''[[The Transformers (IDW)|The Transformers]]'' #15
|prev=Revenge of the Decepticons Part 1: The Demolished Man
|next=Revenge of the Decepticons Part 3: Woken Furies
|title="Revenge of the Decepticons Part 2: Altered Carbon"
|image=Transformers 15A.jpg
|caption=
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date=[[January 5]], [[2011]]
|coverdate=January 2011
|written by=[[Mike Costa]]
|art by=[[Don Figueroa]]
|colors by=[[Andrew Dalhouse]]
|letters by=[[Chris Mowry]]
|assistant editor=[[Carlos Guzman]]
|editor=[[Andy Schmidt]]
|continuity=[[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW continuity]]
|chronology=[[IDW timeline|Current era (2011)]]
}}
'''Megatron deploys his master plan while the Autobots deal with the loss of their allies.'''

==Synopsis==
{{issuestub}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] (10)*
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] (13)*
*[[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] (16)
*[[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]] (17)
*[[Bluestreak (G1)|Silverstreak]] (18)
*[[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] (20)
|c2=
*[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (3)*
*[[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] (4)*
*[[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] (5)*
*[[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] (6)*
*[[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] (7)*
*[[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] (8)*
*[[Frenzy (G1)|Frenzy]] (9)*
*[[Onslaught (G1)|Onslaught]] (14)*
*[[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]] (21)
|c3=
*[[Nina]] (1)
*[[Ben Simpson]] (2)
*[[Carlos Tuyuc]] (11)*
*[[Silent Bob]] (12)*
*[[Joe Gladki]] (15)*
*[[Schwalbe]] (19)
}}

<nowiki>*</nowiki> flashbacks

==Notes==
* The title of this issue likely refers to ''Altered Carbon,'' a 2002 science fiction novel by Richard K. Morgan. The theme of downloading one's consciousness into a new body is particularly relevant.
* On pages 14–15, Megatron's neural net allowed him to "reach out and touch someone". This phrase is likely a reference to a 1980s slogan from telephone company AT&T.
* The Megatron Guns come in assorted sizes, ranging from basic human to deluxe Transformer size.
* When Megatron uses his personal communicator, an aerial extends from his thumb and he speaks into his pinky finger in the same manner as the cartoon character Inspector Gadget.
* Shockwave is openly collaborating with Megatron, when in previous issues he was seen pursuing an agenda of his own (the Regenesis/Ore-13 project). Perhaps he's decided to bide his time and in the meantime act as if he's loyal. It wouldn't be the first time in fiction that Shockwave faked loyalty.

===Errors===
* Repeating the continuity error from last issue, Frenzy is once again shown working with Soundwave prior to the breakout at Skywatch, this time back on the Decepticons' asteroid base before they even returned to Earth. ''[[The Transformers: Bumblebee]]'' previously indicated Frenzy was left behind on Earth after ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'', and was captured by the Autobots for Skywatch.
* In the flashback to "[[Heart Like a Wheel]]", Megatron is shown shooting Hot Rod with his original [[fusion cannon]] arm instead of the new arm-weapon from the body he revealed in that issue. Likewise, the Matrix is shown being shot off Hot Rod, while in "Heart Like a Wheel", it was still on Hot Rod while he drifted through space.
* Last issue Megatron's dismembered head was shown with the remnants of a face, but in this issue his helmet was empty when it landed.

===Covers (3)===
* '''Cover A:''' Dramatic scene of [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]]; art by [[Don Figueroa]].
* '''Cover B:''' [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] and [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] argue while Megatron broods; art by [[Nick Roche]], colors by [[James Brown|J.Brown]].
* '''Cover RI:''' Concept drawing of [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]]; art by Don Figueroa.

<gallery>
Image:Transformers 15A.jpg|Megatron always did like purple.
Image:Transformers 15B.jpg|"I have a [[chin]] and you don't, ''so there!''"
Image:Transformers 15RI.jpg|"Hi, I'm not in this issue."
</gallery>

===Advertisements===
*''[[The Transformers (IDW)|The Transformers]]'' [[Revenge of the Decepticons Part 3: Woken Furies|#16]]
* [[IDWords]] article plugging ''[[Infestation (IDW)|Infestation]]'', ''True Blood'', ''Off Road'' and ''Amazing 3-D Comics''
* ''Skyrockets'' comic
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* ''[[Infestation (IDW)|Infestation]]'' comics (back cover)

[[Category:IDW Generation 1 issues]]

Heart Like a Wheel

2011-06-15T00:43:30Z

174.96.255.90: /* Notes */

{{Comicstory|
|seriesissue=''[[The Transformers (IDW)|The Transformers]]'' #13
|prev=International Incident Part 4: "All My Sins Remembered"
|next=Revenge of the Decepticons Part 1: The Demolished Man
|title="Heart Like a Wheel"
|image=Transformers 13B.jpg
|caption=
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date=[[November 10]], [[2010]]
|coverdate=November 2010
|written by=[[Mike Costa]]
|art by=[[Nick Roche]]
|colors by=[[James Brown|J. Brown]]
|letters by=[[Chris Mowry]]
|assistant editor=[[Carlos Guzman]]
|editor=[[Andy Schmidt]]
|continuity=[[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW continuity]]
|chronology=[[IDW timeline|Current era (2010)]]
}}
'''Rodimus goes after the Matrix and gets slagged.'''

==Synopsis==
[[Image:Ongoing Issue 13 - Megatron.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Megatron's back, now in new [[Megatron (Animated)#Toys|Shadow Blade]] flavor!]]

Still piloting the shuttle he stole from [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] for his getaway on [[Earth]], [[Hot Rod (G1)|Rodimus]] begins his daring assault on the [[Decepticon]]s' asteroid base. On the ground, [[Acid Storm]] notices the incoming [[Autobot]] craft. Too late to call it in, [[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]] makes the decision to blow it out of the sky, inadvertently destroying the Decepticon defense grid when the debris of Ultra Magnus's shuttle crashes into the base. [[Bombshell (G1)|Bombshell]] reports the incident to a withdrawn and disinterested [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]], who is still wearing the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]] around his neck. The Matrix catches Bombshell's eye, but when he reaches out for it, Starscream snaps at him and orders him away.

Back outside, Rodimus emerges from the [[osmium-alloy]] safe he hid in to survive the ship's destruction. Bombshell, Acid Storm and Shrapnel show up, looking for useful items to scavenge from the wreckage. Rodimus ambushes them and takes them out in short order, including using part of the safe as armor to block Bombshell's [[cerebro-shell]] attack. Thinking himself safe, Rodimus is then ambushed in turn by [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]]. Before Razorclaw can eviscerate him, Rodimus grabs the cerebro-shell and stuffs it down Razorclaw's throat, temporarily mind-controlling him.

Inside the base, Rodimus sends Razorclaw to attack Starscream. Starscream easily defeats the mind-weakened Razorclaw and then is confronted by Rodimus. Starscream is unimpressed, noting that his new position as Decepticon leader has led him to armor himself beyond anything Rodimus could damage him with. Without missing a beat, Rodimus shoots the Matrix instead, causing a discharge of energy which sends Starscream to the ground in a crumpled heap. Rodimus grabs the Matrix, feeling the pieces are falling into place for his destined escape...

...when he runs into a fully rebuilt [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]]. Rodimus holds up the Matrix threateningly, but Megatron blasts him through the torso, then blasts him into space with the Matrix. With Starscream having lost possession of the Matrix, Megatron orders [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] to gather the Decepticons, as they have work to do. Rodimus floats adrift in space, the Matrix still chained around his neck...
{{--}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod/"Rodimus Prime"]] (1)
|c2=
*[[Acid Storm]] (2)
*[[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]] (3)
*[[Bombshell (G1)|Bombshell]] (4)
*[[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] (5)
*[[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] (6)
*[[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]] (7)
*[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (8)
*[[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] (9)
|c3=
}}

==Notes==
* The issue is likely named after Linda Ronstadt's #1 hit 1974 album of the same name (or the Human League song, or the Steve Miller song, or the Black Sabbath song, or the 1983 movie, or the McGarrigle Sisters song, or...).
* Nick Roche uses [[Don Figueroa]]'s designs for Hot Rod and Magnus's ship, but adapts them to his own cartoonish style.
* For some reason, Razorclaw has been redesigned as his familiar mechanical lion alt-mode.
* Even though, according to ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'', the Matrix was one of Megatron's main motivations for starting the war, after he went to so much trouble to take it from Optimus Prime, it is now apparently just a "bauble" of Starscream's. Of course it's possible that his new "indestructible" body has really gone to his head and he just thinks that he dosen't need the Matrix now.
* Cover A mimics IDW's cover for "[[Matrix Quest!]]", itself naturally based on an iconic frame from ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''.
* Among the generic items contained in Ultra Magnus's weapons locker are a set of his shoulder missiles as well as the smokestack shotgun his ''Classics'' incarnation carries.

===Errors===
* The colorist consistently colors the half "hump" towards the top of the back of Acid Storm as a section of the cockpit canopy. It isn't.

===Covers (3)===
* '''Cover A:''' [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]], wearing the [[Matrix of Leadership]], throttles Hot Rod; art by [[Don Figueroa]], colors by [[James Brown|J.Brown]].
* '''Cover B:''' Hot Rod dives off a rock; art by [[Nick Roche]], colors by [[James Brown|J.Brown]].
* '''Cover RI:''' Concept drawing of [[Kup (G1)|Kup]]; art by Don Figueroa.

<gallery>
Image:Transformers 13A.jpg|This is [[:Image:TFTM-strangle.jpg|bad comedy]].
Image:Transformers 13B.jpg|Here I come to save the daaaayyyyyy!
Image:Transformers 13RI.jpg|He used to be [[Nicholas Fury|Nick Fury]], now he's Mr. Magoo.
</gallery>

===Advertisements===
*TBD

{{comicstub}}
[[Category:IDW Generation 1 issues]]

Scrapper (issue)

2011-06-15T00:32:08Z

174.96.255.90: /* Errors */

{{picsneeded|Interiors}}
{{Comicstory|
|seriesissue=''[[The Transformers (IDW)|The Transformers]]'' #8
|prev=The Transformers issue 7
|next=International Incident Part 1: "The Land Ironclads"
|title=
|image=Transformers 8-A.jpg
|caption=Yay, "Spotlight: Scrapper"! Wait, ''what the—?''
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date= [[June 9]], [[2010]]
|coverdate=June 2010
|written by=[[Mike Costa]]
|art by=[[Javier Saltares]]
|colors by=[[James Brown]]
|letters by= [[Chris Mowry]]
|editor=[[Carlos Guzman]]
|associate editor=[[Andy Schmidt]]
|continuity=[[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW continuity]]
|chronology=[[IDW timeline|Current era (2010)]]
}}
'''Spike Witwicky reflects on current events and attempts to come to terms with his position as a leader.'''

==Synopsis==
While working out, Commander [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike Witwicky]] reminisces about how he hates all machines, regardless of whether they make you stronger or more vulnerable. He recalls his childhood, most of which he spent outdoors, especially on camping trips with [[Sparkplug Witwicky|his father]], who taught him about responsibility and duty.

He wins a sparring match at [[Skywatch]] headquarters against his teammate [[Joe Henderson]], utilizing a practical and somewhat underhanded approach to fighting, rather than an artful one, although the aftermath shows that they have a friendly rivalry. Henderson then gets into a play-fight with another of his Skywatch teammates, [[Campologno]], in the mess hall, causing a window to be broken as he is tackled through it. Spike is less than impressed and orders Campologno to clean up the mess, reflecting that he hasn't yet got the hang of leadership.

Spike then enters into a video meeting with General Witwicky, General [[Allenby]], and the [[Joint Chiefs]]. General Allenby questions Spike over the circumstances surrounding [[Earthworks|Optimus Prime's "escape"]] and warns him that any further incidents could lead to his position being reviewed. Speaking in private at the end of the meeting, General Witwicky warns Spike that Allenby is ready to pounce on any indiscretion or error he makes, and to be wary, especially of his new [[Autobot]] allies.

Spike then enters into briefing with another Skywatch soldier, [[Sandra (G1)|Sandra]], regarding the latest intelligence on the positions of rogue [[Decepticon]]s on [[Earth]]. He leaves halfway through, ordering that Henderson be deferred to if anything should occur.

He drives to a seemingly deserted construction site. Entering it, he calls to the hidden [[Scrapper (G1)|Scrapper]] to give up the charade, and that he has come armed with low-tech weapons for a confrontation. He pours some acid on Scrapper, causing him to transform out of vehicle mode and attack Spike. During their fight, Spike tells Scrapper that he has no backup, and then sprays acid on his face, which stuns him long enough for Spike to use a crane to drop girders on him, impaling him and pinning him to the ground. Spike explains that he came with low-tech weapons and no backup so he could prove that he could take on a Cybertronian without the need for high-tech weaponry.

Scrapper then asks Spike to put suppressors on and says that he will go willingly into Skywatch custody. Spike recounts to Scrapper the memory of [[Tim Simmons]], whom Spike considers the bravest soldier he ever knew. He tells Scrapper that when [[All Hail Megatron issue 1|the Decepticons invaded New York]], Tim was involved in helping get the population out of the city center, but perished when [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] [[All Hail Megatron issue 2|collapsed the subway tunnels]]. Spike, having also seen the destruction caused by [[Menasor (G1)|Menasor]], wants to ensure a similar incident doesn't happen again by removing one of the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]] from the equation permanently. Despite Scrapper's feeble protest, Spike uses his gun against him, destroying his head with a single shot.

As Spike walks away, he again considers that he hates machines, especially the ones that take away your humanity and make you feel like a machine.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c2=
* [[Scrapper (G1)|Scrapper]] (8)
* [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] (10)
|c3=
* [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike Witwicky]] (1)
* [[Sparkplug Witwicky|Daniel Witwicky]] (2)
* Mrs. Witwicky (3)
* [[Joe Henderson]] (4)
* [[Campologno]] (5)
* [[Emily (G1)|Emily]] (6)
* [[Allenby|General Allenby]] (7)
* [[Tim Simmons]] (9)
}}

==Quotes==
"I've always hated machines. The ones that make you stronger. The ones that make you more vulnerable."
:—'''Spike Witwicky''' doing an impression of [[Carmine Fanzone|Captain Fanzone]].

"And green. Really. That has to be the ''stupidest'' color for a "disguise"..."
:—'''Spike Witwicky''' taunting Constructicon Scrapper.

"I wanted to show you that ''one'' of us can beat you. No lasers. None of your technology. Just a solution that can be made out of stuff anyone would have in their kitchen."
:—'''Spike Witwicky''' ruining all the fun by emasculating the entire Cybertronian race.

==Notes==
* This is the first issue of the ongoing series (or any previous series) to not feature any prominent Transformer robots. The story mainly focuses on Spike Witwicky, and a robot isn't even seen until page 17.
* During Spike's recollection of Tim Simmons, the flashback image of Devastator destroying the tunnels depicts Devastator with a much more monster-like appearance. While in the same pose and largely drawn the same otherwise, in the flashback, he has sharp teeth, a skull-like face and an evil grin, in contrast to his more conventional appearance during these events in [[All Hail Megatron issue 2|''All Hail Megatron'' #2]].
*On the IDW message boards, Guido Guidi said that starting with this issue, Spike's new haircut is official, meaning that every artist has to draw it this way from now on. Yes, this little change is apparently more important to the story than keeping the Transformers' designs consistent.<ref>[http://forum.idwpublishing.com/viewtopic.php?p=192762#192762 Quote from Guidi's original post, which was apparently deleted later.]</ref>

===Errors===
* Campologno's name is spelled "Campolongo". Then again, as the character is named after a real-life Campolongo, it's possible that it was the ''previous'' spelling that was the error...
* In the first panel that General Allenby appears in, he's drawn with only three stars on his collar, but general is a four-star rank. In subsequent panels, the stars just disappear and make way for a simple button instead.
* Spike, a military officer, is evidently able to abandon his post and pursue Decepticons single-handed as part of a personal vendetta and then brutally murder a wounded enemy who had surrendered, constituting a war crime. One would think this kind of behavior would be frowned upon in the notoriously rigid military structure most armies have, but apparently, having a dad for a general can be pretty useful.
* There is an art error during Spike's battle with Scrapper. As Spike is climbing the ladder, Scrapper's visor is drawn as extending down to his chin, like that of a [[Cyberjet]], whereas in the rest of the issue, he is drawn with his normal visor.

===Covers (3)===
* '''Cover A:''' Scrapper busting through a construction site; art by [[Don Figueroa]] and colors by [[James Brown]].
* '''Cover B:''' Scrapper reaching out towards Spike Witwicky through a construction site; art by [[Javier Saltares]] and colors by [[James Brown]].
* '''Cover RI:''' Concept art of Jazz; art by Don Figueroa.

<gallery>
Image: Transformers 8-A.jpg|Oh scrap!
Image: Transformers 8-B.jpg|We're all rooting for Scrapper here.
Image: Transformers 8-RI.jpg|Hasbro, get to making thi-nevermind, we're getting [[Jazz_(G1)/toys#Transformers_.282010.29|better]].
</gallery>

===Advertisements===
* [[The Transformers issue 9|''The Transformers'' #9]]
* ''Archie'' TPB
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* ''Love And Capes'' Moving to IDW
* ''Tribes: the Dog Years'' 4-page preview comic
* ''[[The Transformers (IDW)|Transformers, Volume 1: For All Mankind]]'' TPB
* ''Ghostbusters: Con-Volution'' comics (back cover)

==References==
<references />

{{DEFAULTSORT:Transformers issue 008}}
[[Category:IDW Generation 1 issues]]

Prime Directive issue 5

2011-06-14T01:00:10Z

174.96.255.90: /* Items of note */

{{Comicstory|
|seriesissue=[[Prime Directive|''The Transformers: ''Generation 1'']]
|prev=Prime Directive issue 4
|next=Prime Directive issue 6
|title=''The Transformers: ''Generation 1'' #5
|image=G1_Vol.1_Issue5_1.jpg
|caption=[[Eject]] poses for the cover of a Wheaties box.
|publisher=[[Dreamwave Productions]]
|date=[[September 11]], [[2002]]
|coverdate=August, 2002
|writer=[[Chris Sarracini]]
|penciler=[[Pat Lee]]
|backgrounds=[[Edwin Garcia]]
|inker=[[Rob Armstrong]], [[Erik Sander]]
|colorist=[[Ramil Sunga]], [[Gary Yeung]], [[Alan Wang]]
|letterer=[[Dreamer Design]]
|editor=[[Roger Lee]]
|continuity=[[Dreamwave Generation One continuity|Dreamwave continuity]]
|chronology=[[Dreamwave timeline|Modern era]]
}}

'''While the Autobots fight on two fronts, Spike learns a terrible secret and Hallo plans a final solution.'''

==Synopsis==
Spike Witwicky is under lock and key in the Pentagon due to General Hallo's orders. To his surprise, a note is slipped under the door: "3 O'CLOCK BE READY".

In the [[Northwest Territories]] the Autobots try to warn some hikers about the danger to the human race from the [[cyber-virus]], but the recent attacks by Decepticons have the humans running scared of all Transformers. Wheeljack explains that the blasters he designed will effectively destroy the virus, but that the devices are powered by the Autobots' own internal systems, which means the power depletion will weaken them.

As they start blasting away Jazz gets an emergency call for backup from Trailbreaker. The battle in [[San Francisco]] looks bleak after the loss of Superion. After Devastator stomps on Trailbreaker and smacks Sideswipe and Sunstreaker away he turns his attention to Optimus Prime. The Autobot leader transforms and makes a suicide run, leaps onto Devastator's chest and fires point-blank into the [[Combiner]]'s face. He falls back into the ocean as Prime, wasted by the effort, lifts himself onto shore...only to find Megatron waiting for him.

It's 2:59 and Spike is expecting Hallo to come and kill him. But the person who opens the door to his cell is someone he didn't expect.

Up north, the Autobots are still battling the virus and appear to be winning, but the power drain is making them so weak they have to speak in halting sentences. To make matters worse, an armored division of the [[Canada|Canadian]] military arrives and demands that they stand down.

In the Pentagon, [[Larry]] the janitor helps Spike escape and when the pair are concealed he hands over a file folder labeled "[[Project Lazarus|Lazarus Project]]". He explains that General Hallo and an engineer named [[Adam Rook]] tried to build their own transforming robots five years ago, but when their efforts failed they plotted to control the real Transformers. After the Decepticon defeat, Rook came up with a program to override and control the captured robots. Hallo didn't want to stop with just Decepticons. Larry reveals that Hallo planned and carried out the explosion of the ''[[Ark II]]'' to eliminate the Autobots as well. However, Hallo didn't expect Rook to turn traitor and disappear from the project along with the Decepticons that same day. Upon learning that his [[Sparkplug Witwicky|father]] was murdered, Spike declares Larry a coward, takes his keycard and leaves the janitor to stew in his conscience.

In San Francisco, the Autobots have been rounded up and disabled. Megatron is pointing out to a damaged and exhausted Optimus Prime all the failings of humans and how he pities the Autobots for protecting such a primitive race. Megatron tells Prime to say the word and they can end the war and remake Earth to Megatron's satisfaction.

Back at the Pentagon, the military is monitoring the Transformer battle. Hallo calls for the nuclear option. When his troops question the order he holds them off at gunpoint, enters his launch key and orders that the warhead coordinates be set to San Francisco.

[[Prime Directive issue 6|To be concluded...]]

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
* [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] (1)
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] (2)
* [[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]] (3)
* [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] (4)
* [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]] (5)
* [[Huffer (G1)|Huffer]] (6)
* [[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]] (7)
* [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]] (8)
* [[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]] (9)
* [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]] (11)
* [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]] (12)
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] (13)
* [[Air Raid (G1)|Air Raid]] (22)
* [[Skydive (G1 Aerialbot)|Skydive]] (23)
* [[Slingshot]] (24)
|c2=
* [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] (10)
* [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (14)
* [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] (18)
* [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] (19)
* [[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]] (20)
* [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] (21)
|c3=
* [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike Witwicky]] (15)
* [[Robert Hallo|General Hallo]] (16)
* [[Lazarus]] (17)
}}

==Errors==
[[Image:PrimeDirective5-extrawheels.jpg|right|thumb|300px|This art was so awesome they zoomed up on it across three panels.]]
* Red Alert's presence was later explained as being an art error.{{fact|When? Where?}}
* When Optimus Prime charges at Devastator, not only are his two rear axles ''reaaally'' far apart from each other in the panels that show him from the top, the front one being almost in the ''center'' of his cab mode... he even has an ''extra wheel'' in front of the "center" axle on his passenger's side! Seriously... ''how does this happen''?

==Quotes==
"Good show Prime. Impressive as always. The second greatest warrior I know."
:—'''Megatron'''

"The goodness you see in them...the virtues you praise...they don't exist! You fight for what you want them to be...never seeing them for what they really ''are''."
:—'''Megatron''' takes stock of humanity

==Items of note==
* After the [[Prime Directive issue 4|previous issue]] had lost to Dreamwave's own [[Dreamwave Armada issue 1|''Transformers: Armada'' #1]], this issue once again ranked second in Diamond Comic Distributors' sales charts, with 122,829 copies ordered for August 2002. The top spot was claimed by [[Marvel Comics|Marvel's]] ''[[Fantastic Four]]'' #60, which sold for a mere 9¢ as part of a publicity stunt, and therefore managed to have an extraordinary 705,109 (!) copies ordered.<ref name="diamondaugust">[http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/1658.html ICv2 reporting on Diamond's charts for August 2002]</ref> Despite this, like [[Prime Directive issue 1|issues 1]] [[Prime Directive issue 2|and 2]] before, this issue saw a second printing run due to high demand.
* The middle of the comic contains a two-page spread by [[James Raiz]] and [[Alan Wang]] with [[Kenny Li]] featuring ''[[Armada (franchise)|Armada]]'' Transformers.
* After the story, a letter by [[Adam Fortier]] apologizes for the delays in some of [[Dreamwave Productions]]' titles.
* On the same page is a 3-panel humorous strip with Optimus Prime finding that the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]] was "made in China".
* Megatron states that he hardly even remembers the reason for the war anymore. Though he seems to be speaking metaphorically, he's actually speaking quite literally. [[The War Within]] would later reveal that in one of their first battles, Optimus gave Megatron a sort of lobotomy that caused Megatron to forget his original reason for fighting the war. This will become a semi-major plot point in the Dreamwave continuity.
===Covers (3)===
{{picsneeded|Second printing cover}}
* '''Cover A:''' Blaster with cassettes by [[Pat Lee]]
* '''Cover B:''' Soundwave with cassettes by Pat Lee
* '''Alternate Cover:''' Devastator (front) Reflector vs Perceptor (back) by [[Guido Guidi]]

<gallery>
Image:G1 Vol.1 Issue5 1.jpg|
Image:G1 Vol.1 Issue5 2.jpg|
</gallery>

===Advertisements===
* [[Titan Books]] G1 reprints
* ''Gasaraki'' DVDs
* [[Prime Directive issue 6|''Prime Directive'' #6]] (Autobots and Menasor covers)
* [[The War Within issue 1|''The War Within'' #1]]
* ''Fate of the Blade'' #2
* ''Warlands'': #8
* ''Shidima'' #7
* [[Dreamwave Armada issue 3|''Armada'' #3]]
* ''Prime Directive'' #5 (again)
* ''Limbo City'' #1 (back interior cover)
* ''Arkanium'' #1 (back interior cover)
* [[Prime Directive|''Prime Directive'' TPB]] (back cover)

==Footnotes==
<references/>

[[Category:Dreamwave Generation 1 issues]]

All Hail Megatron issue 7

2011-06-14T00:48:59Z

174.96.255.90: /* Items of note */

{{Comicstory|
|seriesissue=''[[All Hail Megatron|The Transformers: All Hail Megatron]]'' #7
|prev=All Hail Megatron issue 6
|next=All Hail Megatron issue 8
|image=AHM-7cvrA.jpg
|caption=DO YOU THINK I LIKE HITTING YOU??? WELL, YOU'RE RIGHT- I DO!
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date=[[February 4]], [[2009]]
|coverdate=January 2009
|written by=[[Shane McCarthy]]
|art by=[[Guido Guidi]] & [[E. J. Su]]
|colors by=[[Josh Burcham]]
|letters by=[[Neil Uyetake]] & [[Chris Mowry]]
|edits by=[[Denton J. Tipton]]
|continuity=[[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW continuity]]
|chronology=[[IDW timeline|All Hail Megatron]]
}}
'''The truth behind the Autobots' downfall revealed!'''

== Synopsis ==
{{note|All passages in italics are flashbacks.}}
[[Image:AHM7 Swarm.jpg|left|thumb|Don't worry Homer. We just want to eat your skin, nothing else.]]
''"They're almost in," someone said as the Swarm tried to claw its way through a wall. Megatron, Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp walked down a hallway (the [[Seeker (body-type)|Seekers]] notably in their [[Wikipedia:F-22 Raptor|F-22 Raptor]] bodies), and Thundercracker commented on how there were nearly three thousand of them "out there," and that it "was gonna happen eventually." Defying Megatron's order for silence, he told Megatron that the Swarm was an obscene and twisted defilement of their own kind that should be killed as an act of mercy. Megatron only glared back at him before continuing to walk with Starscream, leaving the other two behind.''

''They approached Deluge standing in front of a laboratory door. Deluge giddily announced the success of their experiments, saying that their venture into the creation of deliberately tortured life-forms had produced a startlingly intelligent and malicious specimen at a one-in-a-thousand chance. Inside the lab, Bombshell sat on a med-table while two others lay prone. Megatron asked him his name, location, and purpose, to which he replied, "Bombshell," "[[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]," and "torment." This pleased Megatron, who said that there was someone he wanted him to meet.''

On present-day Cybertron, the [[Autobot]]s are on the move in vehicle mode. Kup sits on Roadbuster's hood while Perceptor keeps watch in the back. Kup asks Jazz to relate what happened "from the beginning."

''With Optimus Prime and Megatron on the same planet, the front lines had been redrawn into an escalated stalemate. Everyone was looking for a way to tip the balance, but the Decepticons were staying out of sight and no longer exhibiting their usual tactics of manipulation and [[Facsimile construct|facsimile]]-usage. Then the Autobots got a break: Mirage delivered news of an apparent power struggle between Megatron and Starscream that was verified by other sources. Thinking the [[Decepticon]] ranks had been split, the Autobots invested all of their forces in an attack on Starscream's location. They believed that they would outnumber the handful of Decepticons with Starscream, and they were impatient to get back into action.''

''But as they prepared for battle in a canyon, they were suddenly attacked from above. Megatron and Starscream (then in his [[Wikipedia:F-15 Eagle|F-15 Eagle]] body) stood together as the Decepticons, Constructicons, and three primary [[Insecticon (G1)|Insecticons]] swooped from the canyon edges onto their Autobot prey. The Autobots fought back courageously, but then the Decepticons played their trump card: Devastator. Unprepared for a "[[Combiner|gestalt]]," the Autobots fell and Megatron tore the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]] from Prime's chest.''

Kup cuts Jazz's story short with a call for a break. The Autobots stop and transform, spreading out into the ruined landscape. Kup says that he'll give the unseen Blurr and Drift time to scout around them before they move on. Jazz hopes that they'll make it to base without a sign of the Swarm, but Kup wonders if they're trying harder to outrun the Swarm or to outrun their own mistrust and tension. Inside a small building, Sideswipe tries to talk to Sunstreaker, but Sunstreaker wants to be left alone. Sideswipe says that they need to put their old rivalry behind them, and that's not the only thing. Sunstreaker asks what he's talking about, and Sideswipe tells him that he and Ironhide are just making things worse. He tries to sympathize with Sunstreaker over the pain of the [[Headmaster (technology)|Headmaster]] incident, but even that quickly turns into an accusation: The Autobots had managed to reverse the process that bonded Sunstreaker with [[Hunter O'Nion]], but Sunstreaker had turned his back on Hunter. As Sideswipe describes the way Sunstreaker had once been merged with the [[human]], Sunstreaker shouts back that the matter is completely irrelevant and that he never ''ever'' wants to hear about it again.

Meanwhile, Jazz continues his story...

''The Decepticons were gloating at them, laughing. Prime had been tortured to the point of hardly being able to stand up, and Devastator still loomed over them. But the ''coup de grâce'' to their morale was the Decepticons' announcement that the Autobots had been betrayed by one of their own. Prime bore the news particularly badly. The Autobots were taken to a wormhole device created by the Insecticons'' (Kup mentions that the Autobots were trying to build something like that too) ''and all the Autobots were to be dropped through to Cybertron, where the Swarm would feed upon them. Two Decepticons, Dirge and Deluge, went through first, and the Autobots followed. Last through was Optimus Prime, who summoned enough fight to sabotage the portal even as he was falling through. With the portal sealed and Prime lying nearly dead on the Cybertronian ground, the Autobots turned toward the two Decepticons who were suddenly trapped in hostile territory.''

Jazz explains that with no [[Energon (fuel)|energon]] or means of escape, the Autobots could only hide. Luckily, the storms had gotten considerably less severe than they used to be, merely causing constant pain instead of deactivation.

Ironhide notices Sunstreaker storming off and stops him. Ironhide asks him what's wrong, and Sunstreaker describes Sideswipe's attempt to talk to him. He relays Sideswipe's accusation that he and Ironhide are taking things too far regarding Mirage, dividing the group. This only enrages Ironhide, who fumes that he hasn't taken things far ''enough.'' He walks up to Mirage and grabs his arm, slamming him against a wall and punching his face. Sunstreaker tries to dissuade Ironhide ("The others will see"), but Ironhide ignores him and accuses Mirage of tearing the group apart. Mirage tells him he's not going to fight, but that suits Ironhide just fine, and he punches him again. Mirage says that he didn't betray the Autobots, that he just overheard Starscream talking. Ironhide says that that's awfully convenient, and Mirage retorts that overhearing information is his ''job.'' Ironhide accuses him of never having really been an Autobot. Mirage says that disagreeing with "certain elements" of the war doesn't constitute treason, but Ironhide declares that he doesn't deserve to wear the Autobot badge. In demonstration of the point, he beats Mirage's chest-sigil into unrecognizability, punches him in the face again, and kicks his head when he falls, all the while declaring that Prime is dying because of him.

By this time, other Autobots have arrived, but Ironhide simply stalks off as they look on in shocked silence.

== Featured characters ==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] (10)
*[[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]] (11)
*[[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] (12)
*[[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]] (13)
*[[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] (14)
*[[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] (15)
*[[Springer (G1)|Springer]] (16)
*[[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]] (17)
*[[Kup (G1)|Kup]] (18)
*[[Roadbuster (G1)|Roadbuster]] (19)
*[[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]] (20)
*[[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] (21)
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] (22)
*[[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]] (23)
*[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] (24)
*[[Hound (G1)|Hound]] (25)
*[[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]] (26)
*[[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] (27)
|c2=
*[[Insecticon swarm|The Swarm]] (1)
*[[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] (2)
*[[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]] (3)
*[[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] (4)
*[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (5)
*[[Deluge (G2)|Deluge]] (6)
*[[Bombshell (G1)|Bombshell]] (7)
*[[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]] (8)
*[[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]] (9)
*[[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] (28)
*[[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] (29)
*[[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]] (30)
*[[Frenzy (G1)|Frenzy]] (31)
*[[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] (32)
*[[Viewfinder]] (33)
*[[Dirge (G1)|Dirge]] (34)
*[[Scrapper (G1)|Scrapper]] (35)
*[[Hook (G1)|Hook]] (36)
*[[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] (37)
*[[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] (39)
*[[Spectro]] (41)
*[[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] (42)
*[[Spyglass]] (43)
|c3=
*[[Abraham Dante]] (38)
*[[Hunter O'Nion]] (40)
}}

{{Note|At one point Kup speaks to [[Blaster (G1)|Blaster]], who replies from off-panel but otherwise does not actually appear in this issue.}}

== Quotes ==
"He knows what he's doing." 
"That's what bothers me."
:—'''Skywarp''' and '''Thundercracker''' have read their own [[bio]]s.

"What is your name? 
''[pause]'' 
"Bombshell." 
"Do you know where you are?" 
''[pause]'' 
"Cybertron." 
"Why you were created? What is your purpose?" 
''[pause]'' 
"Torment." 
"Excellent."
:—'''Megatron''' and '''Bombshell''' play [[Wikipedia:The Dating Game|The Dating Game]].

"A portal, a wormhole... one-of-a-kind." 
"Our side's been trying to build—" 
"Exactly." 
"If Ultra Magnus knew—" 
"I ''know."''
:—'''Jazz''' and '''Kup''' need not mention, especially to the audience apparently, what [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] would do if he knew about this.

"I didn't sell us out! I overheard them talking—I'm a scout! I overheard Starscream—I don't know!" 
"Pretty convenient. You overhearin'." 
"I'm a scout, how is that—"
:—'''Mirage''' and '''Ironhide''', debating the merits of doing one's job.

== Errors ==
* Based on the dialogue, Thundercracker and Skywarp's colors might be swapped in the first panel of page 2.
* In the flashback sequences, Cliffjumper is missing the checkerboard patterns on his arms.
* The Insecticons are seen being created after ''[[Revelation (IDW)|Revelation]]'', in spite of Bombshell being with the Decepticons as far back as [[Spotlight: Blaster|just before Cybertron became uninhabitable]] and Kickback being around [[Megatron Origin issue 4|at the very beginning of the war]].

== Items of note ==
* E.J. Su drew the flashback sequences for this issue.
* On page 5, panel 1, a cracked lamppost is a [[homage]] to Soundwave's [[The Transformers (cartoon)|''Generation 1'' cartoon]] Cybertronian [[Alternate mode|alt mode]].
* Both the Autobots and Decepticons on Earth are seen to have bolstered their numbers considerably, post-''[[Revelation (IDW)|Revelation]].''
* Deluge is the only ''[[Generation 2 (franchise)|Generation 2]]'' character to appear in ''All Hail Megatron''. Some fans suspected that E.J. Su had drawn him into the scenes of his own accord, but Su confirmed that Deluge was specifically part of the script.<ref>[http://tfarchive.com/community/showpost.php?p=643920&postcount=12 Post by E.J. Su on TFArchive.com]</ref>
* It's unclear what happened to Dirge and Deluge, but since the Autobots only seem worried about the Swarm, they must have been either incapacitated or killed. The latter possibility would carry on the tradition of Dirge dying in pretty much every continuity he appears in. [[Shane McCarthy|''Someone'']] must be reading this wiki...
* This is the first issue of the series to attempt to rectify some of the continuity issues with [[Simon Furman]]'s work. Facsimiles are briefly mentioned, as is the environmental damage Cybertron suffered from [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]] (with a mention that Cybertron is slowly healing); Sunstreaker's tenure as a Headmaster is a major point; the bitter rivalry between him and Sideswipe is also mentioned and dealt with; and flashbacks include [[Abraham Dante]] and Hunter. The environmental issue is addressed rather clumsily, as the reader must accept that the storms had died down tremendously just in time for the Autobots to be stuck there, and that the Autobots had been walking around in pain all the while without mentioning it at ''all.'' The later mini-series [[The Transformers: Ironhide]] would retcon the environmental improvements as the work of Alpha Trion.
* Assuming that Bombshell is correct, the Decepticons had a working laboratory on Cybertron even earlier than the Autobots' arrival. So at what point, exactly, did Cybertron jump from being an instant deathtrap to merely having a disagreeable climate?
* The ambush plan relied upon Optimus Prime (as well as two [[Prowl (G1)|unit]] [[Hound (G1)|commanders]]) thinking it would be a good idea to send the entire Autobot force after a handful of Decepticons in an enclosed space with no back-up, then declining to [[Orbital jump|orbital-jump]] away when the battle went south. And yet the ambush ''worked!''
** [[All Hail Megatron issue 15|Issue 15's]] first story would imply this happened because Optimus let himself be talked into it by Ironhide, instead of following more cautious advice from the likes of Prowl.
* Prime's sacrifice is of dubious merit. All of the Autobots had already been transported, and the Decepticons were presumably going to close the portal after them anyway, as it was the Decepticons' stated intention to leave them to the Swarm. All Prime really did was ''guarantee'' that the Autobots had no way out. Even damaging the wormhole machine is a limited gain, since there's no reason the Decepticons can't rebuild it. Of course it's possible Prime knew they could rebuild it and simply thought he could slow down their efforts (which he technically does).

== Covers ==
*'''Cover A''': Ironhide accusing a fallen Mirage; art by [[Casey Coller]] and [[Joana Lafuente]].
*'''Cover B''': A fallen, shattered Optimus Prime; by [[Trevor Hutchison]].
*'''Cover RI''': Pencil sketch of Sideswipe by Guido Guidi.

<gallery>
Image:AHM-7cvrA.jpg|"DAMMIT, IT'S FIRRIB, MIRAGE!! PROWL'S JUST BEING HIMSELF!!"
Image:AHM-7cvrB.jpg|He failed the toy drop test.
Image:AHM-7cvrRI.jpg|"Another solo cover, and yet, no one bothers to color me."
</gallery>

== Advertisements ==
* [[All Hail Megatron issue 8|''All Hail Megatron'' #8]]
* ''[[G.I. Joe (franchise)|G.I. Joe]]'' comics
* ''[[The Reign of Starscream]]'' TPB
* ''Astounding Space Thrills: Argosy Smith and the Codex Reckoning''
* ''Angel: Smile Time''
* ''[[Maximum Dinobots]]'' series
* ''Ghost Whisperer: The Muse''
* ''Angora Napkin''
* ''Star Trek: Countdown''
* [[Defiance issue 1|''Transformers: Defiance'' #1]] (back cover)

==References==
<references />

{{DEFAULTSORT:All Hail Megatron 07}}
[[Category:IDW Generation 1 issues]]

The Ascending issue 3

2011-06-09T19:07:22Z

174.96.255.90: /* Items of note */

{{comicstory|seriesissue=[[The Ascending|''Transformers: Beast Wars: The Ascending'']] #3
|prev=The Ascending issue 2
|next=The Ascending issue 4
|image=BWAscending-03A.jpg
|caption=You can't spell "Rend" without "Blendtron".
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date=[[December 17]], [[2007]]
|coverdate=October 2007
|written by=[[Simon Furman]]
|art by=[[Don Figueroa]]
|colors by=[[Josh Burcham]]
|colors assist by=[[Mark Bristow]]
|letters by=[[Chris Mowry]]
|edits by=[[Andrew Steven Harris]]
|continuity=[[Beast Wars cartoon continuity]]
}}

'''Earth is attacked by the Blendtrons as Shokaract gets closer to ascension.'''

==Synopsis==
On [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], Big Convoy and his team have found [[Shokaract's tower|a massive tower]] with high levels of [[Angolmois]] energy inside. Shokaract, aware of their presence, prepares to go deal with them himself. The [[Blendtron]]s protest, saying that his power is not yet stabilized, but Shokaract is impatient and dismisses their concerns. Emerging through the wall, Shokaract tears Tasmania Kid in half and prepare to take on Big Convoy himself.

[[Image:Ascending 3 Shokaract crab.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Those with stupid names die first.]]

On [[Earth]], Razorbeast is attacking [[Maximal]] and [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] alike, mutated by Rartorata's Angolmois injection. Ravage tries to explain the situation to Lio Convoy, saying that the future of Cybertron depends on a truce between them.

On Cybertron, Big Convoy transforms into his [[Alternate mode|spider tank mode]] to get up close and personal with Shokaract. Shokaract easily tears through Cohrada and Survive, but tells Big Convoy what will happen: Cybertron will become an extension of his will, and Shokaract will become a god. With that, he destroys Big Convoy and goes on to devastate Cybertron. Magmatron, watching everything in chronal phase, knows what will really happen: Shokaract will destroy most of Cybertron, and the survivors will kill each other before [[Unicron]]'s resurrection.

On Earth, Lio Convoy agrees to a truce with Ravage's Predacons. The Maximals will deal with Razorbeast while the Predacons will take down Rartorata. As the Predacons down the Blendtron and extract some Angolmois from him, the Maximals manage to restrain Razorbeast. Lio tries to reason with him, and Razorbeast's personality manages to break through. Ravage says that they need to go now, but the other Blendtrons arrive. Razorbeast breaks through his binds and attacks—the Blendtrons. He urges the others to go, while he fights the Blendtrons himself. The most able of both forces go on Lio Convoy's transwarp cruiser, while the rest stay behind to help Razorbeast. Ravage says that they will need a scientist to make a retrovirus from the Angolmois that the Predacons extracted, and Lio Convoy happens to know one.

[[Image:Iwanttwo.JPG|right|150px|thumb|NO! I want two!]]
As before on Cybertron, Shokaract emerges from his tower and tears Tasmania Kid in half, but before he can do the same to Big Convoy, Lio Convoy's transwarp cruiser emerges, only to be shot down by Shokaract. Then, tears in space and time appear, announcing the coming of [[Herald of Shokaract|Shokaract's Heralds]], carrying enough Angolmois to ensure his rise to glory.

The Ascension has begun...
{{-}}

==Characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=[[Maximal]]s|c1=
* [[Big Convoy]] (1)
* [[Cohrada]] (2)
* [[Survive]] (3)
* [[Tasmania Kid]] (4)
* [[Bonecrusher (BW)|Bonecrusher]] (8)
* [[Razorbeast]] (10)
* [[Wolfang (Maximal)|Wolfang]] (11)
* [[Lio Convoy]] (13)
* [[Longrack (BWN)|Longrack]] (15)
* [[Apache]] (16)
* [[Break]] (17)
* [[Drill Nuts]] (18)
* [[Mach Kick]] (19)
* [[Stampy (BWN)|Stampy]] (21)
* [[B'Boom]] (29)
* [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] (30)
* [[Noctorro]] (31)
* [[Torca]] (32)
* [[Prowl II]] (34)
* [[K-9]] (35)
* [[Polar Claw]] (36)
* [[Air Hammer]] (37)
* [[Snarl (BW)|Snarl]] (38)
|h2=[[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]]s|c2=
* [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] (9)
* [[Terragator]] (14)
* [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]] (20)
* [[Iguanus (BW)|Iguanus]] (22)
* [[Injector]] (23)
* [[Insecticon (BW)|Insecticon]] (24)
* [[Scourge (BW)|Scourge]] (25)
* [[Transquito]] (26)
* [[Magmatron]] (27)
* [[Drill Bit (BW)|Drill Bit]] (33)
|c4=
* [[Drancron]] (5)
* [[Elephorca]] (6)
* [[Shokaract]] (7)
* [[Rartorata]] (12)
* [[Unicron]] (28)
* [[Antagony]] (39)
* [[Hardhead (BWN)|Hardhead]] (40)
* [[Starscream (BWII)|Hellscream]] (41)
* [[BB|Max-B]] (42)
* [[Thrust (BWII)|Thrustor]] (43)
}}

==Errors==
* When the Maximals are wrestling Razorbeast to the ground, Drill Bit is shown pegging stakes into the ground and complaining about their current lack of technology. This is more than likely supposed to actually be Drill Nuts, only mistakenly colored as Drill Bit.

==Items of note==
* Noctorro is a guy who gets around. He's seen helping bring supplies to bind the berserk Razorbeast to the ground and then on the very next page, he's also seen wrestling with Rartorata's stinger.
* On the middle panel and on the bottom left panel of the second to last page, a building and a bridge has inscribed on it "BYE" and "GOODBYE EVERYBODY — DON", a sorrowful goodbye from [[Don Figueroa]] as this was his last ''Transformers'' comic work for some time. He has since returned to pencil the [[BotCon 2008]] comic ''[[Shattered Glass]]'', [[Defiance issue 3|issue 3]] of ''[[Defiance|Transformers: Defiance]]'' and IDW's new ''[[The Transformers (IDW)|The Transformers]]'' ongoing comic series.
* The [[Cybertronix]] written on the first page of the issue identifies the various Maximals and their equipment, including calling a scanning device in Big Convoy's hand "Geiger". Written in a box in the lower left is the following: "Big Convoy is so freaking awesome. I love him. Yeah ... So cool. He kicks Shockaract's butt all over [unreadable] lol". This marks the first canonical use of lowercase Predacon letters.
* There's a bunch of little character moments in the fights against the Angolmois-infected Razorbeast and Rartorata.
** Grimlock complains about having to tie up Razorbeast's hind end.
** Drill Nuts is moaning about having to use wooden stakes.
** Transquito is mocking Injector and his resemblance to Rartorata.
** Transquito then tries to figure out how Air Hammer keeps hitting Rartorata without getting hurt.
** Polar Claw makes an agressive comment about wanting a piece of Rartorata earning him disapproving glances from K-9.

===Covers (4)===
{{picsneeded|alt covers RI A & RI B}}
* '''Cover A:''' The Blendtrons; art by [[Nick Roche]].
* '''Cover B:''' [[Lio Convoy]] and the [[Pack]]; art by [[Don Figueroa]].
* '''Cover RIA:''' B&W cover A
* '''Cover RIB:''' B&W cover B
<gallery>
Image:BWAscending-03A.jpg|Cabin boy, fetch me my brown pants!
Image:BWtheAscending3.jpg|Dual breadsticks of JUSTICE.
Image:Cover RI-A|
Image:Cover RI-B|
</gallery>

===Advertisements===
* [[The Ascending issue 4|''The Ascending'' #4]]
* CGC Grading, feat. Grimlock
* Transformers [[posters]]
* [[Transformers (2007)|Movie]] toys
* ''[[The Art of IDW's Transformers]]''
* ''[[Megatron Origin]]'' comic series
* ''[[Greatest Battles of Optimus Prime and Megatron]]''
* ''[[Spotlight (comics)|Spotlight]]''s for [[Spotlight: Blaster|Blaster]] and [[Spotlight: Arcee|Arcee]]
* ''Doctor Who'' comics (back cover)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ascending issue 3}}
[[Category:IDW Beast Wars issues]]

The Ascending issue 1

2011-06-09T18:58:51Z

174.96.255.90: /* Errors */

{{comicstory|seriesissue=[[The Ascending|''Transformers: Beast Wars: The Ascending'']] #1
|prev=The Gathering issue 4
|next=The Ascending issue 2
|image=The Ascending 1A.jpg
|caption=...Is Lio Convoy wielding breadsticks there?
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date=[[October 3]], [[2007]]
|coverdate=August 2007
|written by=[[Simon Furman]]
|art by=[[Don Figueroa]]
|colors by=[[Mark Bristow]]
|colors assist by=[[Andrew Elder]] & [[Jeong Joo Park]]
|letters by=[[Robbie Robbins]]
|edits by=[[Chris Ryall]], [[Dan Taylor]]
|continuity=[[Beast Wars cartoon continuity]]
}}

'''Behind the Beast Wars and between seconds, Razorbeast's Maximals fight Ravage's Decepticons.'''

==Synopsis==
[[Image:Ascending shokaract.jpg|left|180px|thumb|Beetlejuice—Beetlejuice—Beetlejuice!]]
Magmatron, shifted out of existence, monitors reality as a chronal ghost, able to access and witness all of time but interact with nothing. In his travels, two things stand out: the extinction of the [[Transformer|Transformers]], who destroy themselves in a feral rage, and the destruction of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] by a familiar form. He's seen it many times, but there is no way for him to stop it. But there may be a way he can influence others to stop it...

In prehistoric times on [[Earth]], Razorbeast, Prowl, and Wolfang consider their place on Earth, fighting Ravage, unsure if there's any chance of rescue.

Elsewhere, Grimlock gets into a battle with Retrax and Manterror, but the fight is just a diversion to draw Grimlock away from Razorbeast's [[Maximal]] base. Retrax detonates some explosives that signal the start to a large battle between the two armies.

While Torca kicks tons of ass outside, Ravage sneaks inside of the Maximal base to access the hardware that would allow himself to shift his place in time so that he might interact with Optimus Primal and Megatron's fight. Razorbeast stops Ravage and deduces from the desperation of the [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] attack that Primal is close to winning conclusively. While Ravage explains, confirming the news and his intentions, Snarl slips into position to blast Ravage away from Razorbeast. The two Maximals knock the Predacon leader out.

Magmatron, watching the universe move forward, brings his attention back to the transwarp signal sent by the Maximals to request help from Cybertron. Although he's unable to interact with the physical world, he uses his temporal presence to escort the transwarp radio message though space to arrive at it's intended destination. With his aid, the signal reaches Lio Convoy on Cybertron. The Prime decides to aid his agent on Earth.

In another location, the [[Blendtron]]s have unleashed [[Angolmois]] energy and Shokaract lives. But unknown to Shokaract, he is but a pawn to bring about the return of Unicron!

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=[[Maximal]]s|c1=
*[[Razorbeast]] (2)
*[[Prowl II]] (8)
*[[Wolfang (Maximal)|Wolfang]] (9)
*[[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] (10)
*[[Air Hammer]] (21)
*[[Bantor]] (22)
*[[Bonecrusher (BW)|Bonecrusher]] (23)
*[[Cybershark]] (24)
*[[Optimus Minor]] (25)
*[[Polar Claw]] (26)
*[[Snarl (BW)|Snarl]] (27)
*[[Stinkbomb]] (28)
*[[Torca]] (36)
*[[Optimus Primal]] (39)
*[[B'Boom]] (40)
*[[Ramulus]] (41)
*[[Apache]] (42)
*[[Longrack (BWN)|Longrack]] (43)
*[[Mach Kick]] (44)
*[[Stampy (BWN)|Stampy]] (45)
*[[Drill Nuts]] (46)
*[[Lio Convoy]] (47)
|h2=[[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]]s|c2=
*[[Magmatron]] (1)
*[[Guiledart]] (3)
*[[Halfshell]] (4)
*[[Killer Punch]] (5)
*[[Manterror]] (11)
*[[Retrax]] (12)
*[[Snapper]] (13)
*[[Buzz Saw]] (14)
*[[Buzzclaw (BW)|Buzzclaw]] (15)
*[[Injector]] (16)
*[[Jetstorm (BW)|Jetstorm]] (17)
*[[Lazorbeak]] (18)
*[[Scourge (BW)|Scourge]] (19)
*[[Sky Shadow (BW)|Sky Shadow]] (20)
*[[Drill Bit (BW)|Drill Bit]] (29)
*[[Iguanus (BW)|Iguanus]] (30)
*[[Insecticon (BW)|Insecticon]] (31)
*[[Manta Ray (BW)|Manta Ray]] (32)
*[[Powerpinch]] (33)
*[[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]] (34)
*[[Terragator]] (35)
*[[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] (37)
*[[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] (38)
|h4=[[Blendtron]]s|c4=
*[[Shokaract]] (6)
*[[Unicron]] (7)
*[[Drancron]] (48)
*[[Elephorca]] (49)
*[[Rartorata]] (50)
}}

==Errors==
* When Ravage is describing how Optimus Primal has captured Megatron, the image of Primal is lacking both his forearm/shoulder armor, and all four wings.
* Wolfang doesn't have his usual glowing green eyes and mouth this issue.
* At the start of "The Gathering" Lio Convoy told Razorbeast that if he was discovered he would be disavowed and left on his own as the mission was not sanctioned. Apparently he changed his mind or didn't realize that Razorbeast had been caught.

==Items of note==
* Razorbeast, Wolfang, and Prowl II's discussion about the current state of affairs and their overall destiny is fairly ironic, considering all three of them die by the end of the series.

===Covers (4)===
{{picsneeded|Real RI-A and RI-B covers}}
* '''Cover A:''' the left (Maximal) side of an image drawn by [[Don Figueroa]] and colored by [[Josh Burcham]]
* '''Cover B:''' the right (Predacon) side of the same images
* '''Cover RI A:''' Uncolored sketch cover by Magmatron watching [[Lio Convoy]] and Razorbeast by [[Nick Roche]]
* '''Cover RI B:''' Uncolored covers A and B combined into a single (wraparound) image
<gallery>
Image:The Ascending 1A.jpg|Da Good Guys
Image:The Ascending 1B.jpg|Da Bad Guys
Image:The Ascending 1C art.jpg|Colored version of art for cover RI A
Image:BWAscending 1 cover.jpg|Colored version of art for cover RI B
</gallery>

===Advertisements===
* [[The Ascending issue 2|''Beast Wars: The Ascending'' #2]]
* CGC Grading, feat. Grimlock
* Transformers posters
* [[Movie Prequel (2007)|Transformers movie prequel comic]]
* [[Movie (comics)|Transformers 2007 movie adaptation]]
* ''[[Megatron Origin]]'' comic series
* IDW trade paperbacks (''[[Infiltration]]'', ''[[Stormbringer (comics)|Stormbringer]]'', ''[[The Gathering]]'', ''[[Hearts of Steel]]'', ''[[War and Peace]]'', ''[[Generations (comic reprints)|Generations]]''
* ''[[Greatest Battles of Optimus Prime and Megatron]]''
* ''[[The Transformers Cover Gallery Book 2]]''
* ''Star Trek: Year Four''
* [[Devastation issue 1|''Devastation'' #1]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ascending issue 1}}
[[Category:IDW Beast Wars issues]]

The Ascending issue 1

2011-06-09T18:57:02Z

174.96.255.90: /* Errors */

{{comicstory|seriesissue=[[The Ascending|''Transformers: Beast Wars: The Ascending'']] #1
|prev=The Gathering issue 4
|next=The Ascending issue 2
|image=The Ascending 1A.jpg
|caption=...Is Lio Convoy wielding breadsticks there?
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date=[[October 3]], [[2007]]
|coverdate=August 2007
|written by=[[Simon Furman]]
|art by=[[Don Figueroa]]
|colors by=[[Mark Bristow]]
|colors assist by=[[Andrew Elder]] & [[Jeong Joo Park]]
|letters by=[[Robbie Robbins]]
|edits by=[[Chris Ryall]], [[Dan Taylor]]
|continuity=[[Beast Wars cartoon continuity]]
}}

'''Behind the Beast Wars and between seconds, Razorbeast's Maximals fight Ravage's Decepticons.'''

==Synopsis==
[[Image:Ascending shokaract.jpg|left|180px|thumb|Beetlejuice—Beetlejuice—Beetlejuice!]]
Magmatron, shifted out of existence, monitors reality as a chronal ghost, able to access and witness all of time but interact with nothing. In his travels, two things stand out: the extinction of the [[Transformer|Transformers]], who destroy themselves in a feral rage, and the destruction of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] by a familiar form. He's seen it many times, but there is no way for him to stop it. But there may be a way he can influence others to stop it...

In prehistoric times on [[Earth]], Razorbeast, Prowl, and Wolfang consider their place on Earth, fighting Ravage, unsure if there's any chance of rescue.

Elsewhere, Grimlock gets into a battle with Retrax and Manterror, but the fight is just a diversion to draw Grimlock away from Razorbeast's [[Maximal]] base. Retrax detonates some explosives that signal the start to a large battle between the two armies.

While Torca kicks tons of ass outside, Ravage sneaks inside of the Maximal base to access the hardware that would allow himself to shift his place in time so that he might interact with Optimus Primal and Megatron's fight. Razorbeast stops Ravage and deduces from the desperation of the [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] attack that Primal is close to winning conclusively. While Ravage explains, confirming the news and his intentions, Snarl slips into position to blast Ravage away from Razorbeast. The two Maximals knock the Predacon leader out.

Magmatron, watching the universe move forward, brings his attention back to the transwarp signal sent by the Maximals to request help from Cybertron. Although he's unable to interact with the physical world, he uses his temporal presence to escort the transwarp radio message though space to arrive at it's intended destination. With his aid, the signal reaches Lio Convoy on Cybertron. The Prime decides to aid his agent on Earth.

In another location, the [[Blendtron]]s have unleashed [[Angolmois]] energy and Shokaract lives. But unknown to Shokaract, he is but a pawn to bring about the return of Unicron!

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=[[Maximal]]s|c1=
*[[Razorbeast]] (2)
*[[Prowl II]] (8)
*[[Wolfang (Maximal)|Wolfang]] (9)
*[[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] (10)
*[[Air Hammer]] (21)
*[[Bantor]] (22)
*[[Bonecrusher (BW)|Bonecrusher]] (23)
*[[Cybershark]] (24)
*[[Optimus Minor]] (25)
*[[Polar Claw]] (26)
*[[Snarl (BW)|Snarl]] (27)
*[[Stinkbomb]] (28)
*[[Torca]] (36)
*[[Optimus Primal]] (39)
*[[B'Boom]] (40)
*[[Ramulus]] (41)
*[[Apache]] (42)
*[[Longrack (BWN)|Longrack]] (43)
*[[Mach Kick]] (44)
*[[Stampy (BWN)|Stampy]] (45)
*[[Drill Nuts]] (46)
*[[Lio Convoy]] (47)
|h2=[[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]]s|c2=
*[[Magmatron]] (1)
*[[Guiledart]] (3)
*[[Halfshell]] (4)
*[[Killer Punch]] (5)
*[[Manterror]] (11)
*[[Retrax]] (12)
*[[Snapper]] (13)
*[[Buzz Saw]] (14)
*[[Buzzclaw (BW)|Buzzclaw]] (15)
*[[Injector]] (16)
*[[Jetstorm (BW)|Jetstorm]] (17)
*[[Lazorbeak]] (18)
*[[Scourge (BW)|Scourge]] (19)
*[[Sky Shadow (BW)|Sky Shadow]] (20)
*[[Drill Bit (BW)|Drill Bit]] (29)
*[[Iguanus (BW)|Iguanus]] (30)
*[[Insecticon (BW)|Insecticon]] (31)
*[[Manta Ray (BW)|Manta Ray]] (32)
*[[Powerpinch]] (33)
*[[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]] (34)
*[[Terragator]] (35)
*[[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] (37)
*[[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] (38)
|h4=[[Blendtron]]s|c4=
*[[Shokaract]] (6)
*[[Unicron]] (7)
*[[Drancron]] (48)
*[[Elephorca]] (49)
*[[Rartorata]] (50)
}}

==Errors==
* When Ravage is describing how Optimus Primal has captured Megatron, the image of Primal is lacking both his forearm/shoulder armor, and all four wings.
* Wolfang doesn't have his usual glowing green eyes and mouth this issue.
* At the start of "The Gathering" Lio Convoy told Razorbeast that if he was discovered he would be disavowed and left on his own as the mission was not sanctioned. Apparently he changed his mind or didn't relize that Razorbeast had been caught.

==Items of note==
* Razorbeast, Wolfang, and Prowl II's discussion about the current state of affairs and their overall destiny is fairly ironic, considering all three of them die by the end of the series.

===Covers (4)===
{{picsneeded|Real RI-A and RI-B covers}}
* '''Cover A:''' the left (Maximal) side of an image drawn by [[Don Figueroa]] and colored by [[Josh Burcham]]
* '''Cover B:''' the right (Predacon) side of the same images
* '''Cover RI A:''' Uncolored sketch cover by Magmatron watching [[Lio Convoy]] and Razorbeast by [[Nick Roche]]
* '''Cover RI B:''' Uncolored covers A and B combined into a single (wraparound) image
<gallery>
Image:The Ascending 1A.jpg|Da Good Guys
Image:The Ascending 1B.jpg|Da Bad Guys
Image:The Ascending 1C art.jpg|Colored version of art for cover RI A
Image:BWAscending 1 cover.jpg|Colored version of art for cover RI B
</gallery>

===Advertisements===
* [[The Ascending issue 2|''Beast Wars: The Ascending'' #2]]
* CGC Grading, feat. Grimlock
* Transformers posters
* [[Movie Prequel (2007)|Transformers movie prequel comic]]
* [[Movie (comics)|Transformers 2007 movie adaptation]]
* ''[[Megatron Origin]]'' comic series
* IDW trade paperbacks (''[[Infiltration]]'', ''[[Stormbringer (comics)|Stormbringer]]'', ''[[The Gathering]]'', ''[[Hearts of Steel]]'', ''[[War and Peace]]'', ''[[Generations (comic reprints)|Generations]]''
* ''[[Greatest Battles of Optimus Prime and Megatron]]''
* ''[[The Transformers Cover Gallery Book 2]]''
* ''Star Trek: Year Four''
* [[Devastation issue 1|''Devastation'' #1]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ascending issue 1}}
[[Category:IDW Beast Wars issues]]

The Ascending issue 4

2011-06-09T18:53:00Z

174.96.255.90: /* Items of note */

{{comicstory|seriesissue=[[The Ascending|''Transformers: Beast Wars: The Ascending'']] #4
|prev=The Ascending issue 3
|image=BWAscending-04B.jpg
|caption=Hardhead likes the view, yes he does.
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date=[[January 9]], [[2008]]
|coverdate=November 2007
|written by=[[Simon Furman]]
|art by=[[Guido Guidi]]
|colors by=[[Josh Burcham]]
|colors assist by=[[Andrew Elder]], [[Liam Shalloo]] and [[Josh Perez]]
|letters by=[[Chris Mowry]]
|edits by=[[Andrew Steven Harris]]
|continuity=[[Beast Wars cartoon continuity]]
}}

'''Maximals and Predacons unite on two worlds to stop Shokaract and the rise of Unicron.'''

==Synopsis==
Under Shokaract's instruction, [[Herald of Shokaract|his Heralds]] distribute [[Angolmois]] capsules to the crazed masses of Cybertron, with the intention of using the chaos and negative feelings to power the [[Matrix of Conquest|Anti-Matrix]] in Shokaract's chest. Observing the chaos is Big Convoy, who meets Bump, a "specialist" sent by Lio Convoy. Soon afterward, Big Convoy and his soldiers meet the [[Pack]], along with immigrants from Earth, including Ravage. Ravage chronally displaces himself to consult the time-lost Magmatron. Meanwhile, Lio Convoy requests that Bump study the Angolmois and create a retrovirus to counteract it—enough of it for all of Cybertron. In the netherspace, Magamtron proposes to Ravage a plan: Bring Shokaract to him so that he may be shown the true purpose of his "Ascending". He suggests getting a Maximal to do the suicide mission of placing the [[chronal phase facilitator]] on Shokaract himself.

On Earth, the Angolmois-drunk Razorbeast continues to battle the [[Blendtron]]s. Refusing to let the Blendtrons destroy them all, the left-behind Predacon and Maximal forces unite to take down the gigantic and powerful attackers. Optimus Minor checks on Razorbeast; he is still rational, but the Angolmois threatens his sanity. He tells Optimus Minor that he knows what to do then.

On Cybertron, Ravage has filled in the others about Magmatron's plan. Prowl II and Snarl are tasked with attaching the facilitator onto Shokaract, while others attack him to distract him. In the following battle, many die by Shokaract's hand. Back on Earth, Elephorca is destroyed by Razorbeast and Drancron is kicked into Rartorata's stinger, annihilating the both of them. The only challenge left is Razorbeast, who has now lost his inhibitions. Optimus Minor pleads with Razorbeast to not force his hand.

The battle against Shokaract goes as planned; Snarl and Prowl approach Shokaract while invisible, allowing Snarl to use the facilitator to transport Shokaract into Magmatron's netherspace. Shokaract's Heralds, baffled by his disappearance, are distracted long enough for Ravage to throw a grenade their way, scattering them. Magmatron shows Shokaract his true propose: to be a vessel of [[Unicron]]. Aghast at this revelation, Shokaract rips the Anti-Matrix from his chest, committing "spectacular suicide". This causes a "timelash" that sets Magmatron back into normal space on Cybertron. He delivers the sad news—Razorbeast was euthanized.

Bump delivers the first batch of the anti-Angolmois retrovirus, but he needs a proper lab to mass-produce it. Observing the sorry state of Cybertron, Lio Convoy and Big Convoy hope that no threat comes up while they're focused on rebuilding.

Unfortunately, Megatron has [[Beast Machines (cartoon)|arrived]].

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=[[Maximal]]s|c1=
* [[Rockbuster]] (11)
* [[Santon]] (12)
* [[Scuba]] (13)
* [[Motorarm (BWII)|Motorarm]] (10)
* [[Tako Tank]] (14)
* [[Tonbot]] (15)
* [[Gimlet]] (16)
* [[Sharp Edge (BWN)|Sharp Edge]] (17)
* [[Bump]] (18)
* [[Big Convoy]] (19)
* [[Cohrada]] (20)
* [[Stampy (BWN)|Stampy]] (22)
* [[Survive]] (21)
* [[Apache]] (23)
* [[Break]] (24)
* [[Drill Nuts]] (25)
* [[Longrack (BWN)|Longrack]] (26)
* [[Lio Convoy]] (27)
* [[Razorbeast]] (31)
* [[Armordillo]] (34)
* [[Bantor]] (35)
* [[Claw Jaw]] (36)
* [[Cybershark]] (37)
* [[Optimus Minor]] (38)
* [[Ramulus]] (39)
* [[B'Boom]] (44)
* [[Stinkbomb]] (46)
* [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] (51)
* [[Prowl II]] (52)
* [[Snarl (BW)|Snarl]] (53)
* [[Air Hammer]] (54)
* [[Noctorro]] (56)
* [[Mach Kick]] (59)
* [[Torca]] (60)
* [[K-9]] (62)
* [[Wolfang (Maximal)|Wolfang]] (63)
* [[Bonecrusher (BW)|Bonecrusher]] (64)
* [[Polar Claw]] (66)
|h2=[[Predacon (BW)|Predacons]]|c2=
* [[Archadis]] (7)
* [[Autocrasher]] (8)
* [[Crazybolt]] (9)
* [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] (28)
* [[Magmatron]] (29)
* [[Retrax]] (40)
* [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]] (41)
* [[Terragator]] (42)
* [[Manterror]] (43)
* [[Jetstorm (BW)|Jetstorm]] (45)
* [[Buzzclaw (BW)|Buzzclaw]] (47)
* [[Drill Bit (BW)|Drill Bit]] (48)
* [[Powerpinch]] (49)
* [[Snapper]] (50)
* [[Injector]] (55)
* [[Scourge (BW)|Scourge]] (57)
* [[Transquito]] (58)
* [[Insecticon (BW)|Insecticon]] (61)
* [[Manta Ray (BW)|Manta Ray]] (65)
* [[Lazorbeak]] (67)
* [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] (69)
|c4=
* [[Shokaract]] (1)
* [[Starscream (BWII)|Hellscream]] (2)
* [[Antagony]] (3)
* [[BB|Max-B]] (4)
* [[Thrust (BWII)|Thrustor]] (5)
* [[Hardhead (BWN)|Hardhead]] (6)
* [[Elephorca]] (30)
* [[Drancron]] (32)
* [[Rartorata]] (33)
* [[Unicron]] (68)
}}

==Errors==
* Snapper is mistakenly colored as Armordillo in the first panel on page 9.
* Drill Nuts is mistakenly colored as Drill Bit in one scene as Shokaract's Heralds attack him and Polar Claw.

==Items of note==
* Guido Guidi was tasked with the art for this issue due to the departure of [[Don Figueroa]] from [[IDW Publishing]]. Don provided the art for a cover before he left, however.
* On page 13, in the panel below the one in which Shokaract says "It begins." the head and shoulder of movie Optimus Prime is clearly visible.
* Ramulus's line "Let us throw ourselves headlong into the fray!" somewhat parallels a line he spoke in "[[Primeval Dawn]]"—"Lead me to the fray!" As well, Shokaract's line "Heralds... attend me!" is a direct quote from his previous iteration in [[Terminus]].
* Optimus Minor's line "Better to burn out than to fade away" is a quote from the Neil Young song "My My Hey Hey" and was also made famous in the first Highlander film.
* Back when he wrote the ''[[Beast Machines (franchise)|Beast Machines]]'' section of ''[[Transformers: The Ultimate Guide]]'', Simon Furman noted that Megatron was able to escape his shackles on the Maximals' shuttle because it hit a "time disturbance." While there is nothing in the actual ''show'' that supports this notion, it is apparent that the "timelash" induced by Shokaract's suicide in this issue is the disturbance in question.
* Negative feedback on this issue from a IDW Forum poster caused the usually amiable Furman to snap "No please, don't hold back. I'm starting to understand why Don [Figueroa] quit." He later clarified he didn't mean Don had quit because of negative feedback, but "when you work long and bl**dy hard on something and the first comment you read is that one, it's enough to make a person think, 'why do I even bother'. Don quit for Don's reasons. I'm just saying it's stuff like that makes me think long and hard about the future, that's all." [http://forum.idwpublishing.com/viewtopic.php?t=3025].
* At the end of this issue the fates of many of the characters is left pretty ambiguis. There's no clear update as to whether or not the Transformers on prehistoric Earth were rescued, many Transformers are not seen again by the end of the issue leaving it unknown if they survived the final battle, and the series in general ends on a VERY big cliffhanger.

===Deaths===
In typical Furman fashion, many characters die in the battles against the Blendtrons and Shokaract. Those who die are:
*[[Noctorro]], [[Insecticon (BW)|Insecticon]], [[K-9]],and [[Wolfang (Maximal)|Wolfang]] by Shokaract's claw cannons.
*[[Elephorca]], by Razorbeast's mauling.
*[[Buzzclaw (BW)|Buzzclaw]] and an unidentified character, by Rartorata's vomit.
*Possibly [[Bantor]] and [[Manta Ray (BW)|Manta Ray]], being crushed by Drancron.
*[[Drancron]], [[Lazorbeak]], [[Rartorata]], and [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]] with Drancron being forced into Rartorata's stinger, causing an explosion that destroys all of them.
*[[Prowl II]], by a stray beam.
*[[Shokaract]], committing suicide by ripping the Anti-Matrix out of his chest.
*[[Razorbeast]], fatally shot by Optimus Minor.

===Covers (4)===
{{picsneeded|RI-B}}
* '''Cover A:''' Shokaract; art by [[Nick Roche]].
* '''Cover B:''' Shokaract and minions; art by [[Don Figueroa]].
* '''Cover RIA:''' Uncolored version of cover A
* '''Cover RIB:''' Uncolored version of cover B

<gallery>
Image:The Ascending 4A.jpg|
Image:BWAscending-04B.jpg|
Image:The Ascending 4RI-A.jpg|
Image:The Ascending 4RI-B.jpg|
</gallery>

===Advertisements===
* ''[[Spotlight (comics)|Spotlight]]''s for [[Spotlight: Blaster|Blaster]] and [[Spotlight: Arcee|Arcee]]
* CGC Grading, feat. Grimlock
* Transformers posters
* [[Transformers (2007)|Movie]] toys
* ''[[The Art of IDW's Transformers]]''
* ''[[Megatron Origin]]'' comic series
* ''[[Greatest Battles of Optimus Prime and Megatron]]''
* ''[[Classic Transformers Volume 1]]''
* ''Doctor Who'' comics (back cover)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ascending issue 4}}
[[Category:IDW Beast Wars issues]]

The Ascending issue 4

2011-06-09T18:52:15Z

174.96.255.90: /* Items of note */

{{comicstory|seriesissue=[[The Ascending|''Transformers: Beast Wars: The Ascending'']] #4
|prev=The Ascending issue 3
|image=BWAscending-04B.jpg
|caption=Hardhead likes the view, yes he does.
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date=[[January 9]], [[2008]]
|coverdate=November 2007
|written by=[[Simon Furman]]
|art by=[[Guido Guidi]]
|colors by=[[Josh Burcham]]
|colors assist by=[[Andrew Elder]], [[Liam Shalloo]] and [[Josh Perez]]
|letters by=[[Chris Mowry]]
|edits by=[[Andrew Steven Harris]]
|continuity=[[Beast Wars cartoon continuity]]
}}

'''Maximals and Predacons unite on two worlds to stop Shokaract and the rise of Unicron.'''

==Synopsis==
Under Shokaract's instruction, [[Herald of Shokaract|his Heralds]] distribute [[Angolmois]] capsules to the crazed masses of Cybertron, with the intention of using the chaos and negative feelings to power the [[Matrix of Conquest|Anti-Matrix]] in Shokaract's chest. Observing the chaos is Big Convoy, who meets Bump, a "specialist" sent by Lio Convoy. Soon afterward, Big Convoy and his soldiers meet the [[Pack]], along with immigrants from Earth, including Ravage. Ravage chronally displaces himself to consult the time-lost Magmatron. Meanwhile, Lio Convoy requests that Bump study the Angolmois and create a retrovirus to counteract it—enough of it for all of Cybertron. In the netherspace, Magamtron proposes to Ravage a plan: Bring Shokaract to him so that he may be shown the true purpose of his "Ascending". He suggests getting a Maximal to do the suicide mission of placing the [[chronal phase facilitator]] on Shokaract himself.

On Earth, the Angolmois-drunk Razorbeast continues to battle the [[Blendtron]]s. Refusing to let the Blendtrons destroy them all, the left-behind Predacon and Maximal forces unite to take down the gigantic and powerful attackers. Optimus Minor checks on Razorbeast; he is still rational, but the Angolmois threatens his sanity. He tells Optimus Minor that he knows what to do then.

On Cybertron, Ravage has filled in the others about Magmatron's plan. Prowl II and Snarl are tasked with attaching the facilitator onto Shokaract, while others attack him to distract him. In the following battle, many die by Shokaract's hand. Back on Earth, Elephorca is destroyed by Razorbeast and Drancron is kicked into Rartorata's stinger, annihilating the both of them. The only challenge left is Razorbeast, who has now lost his inhibitions. Optimus Minor pleads with Razorbeast to not force his hand.

The battle against Shokaract goes as planned; Snarl and Prowl approach Shokaract while invisible, allowing Snarl to use the facilitator to transport Shokaract into Magmatron's netherspace. Shokaract's Heralds, baffled by his disappearance, are distracted long enough for Ravage to throw a grenade their way, scattering them. Magmatron shows Shokaract his true propose: to be a vessel of [[Unicron]]. Aghast at this revelation, Shokaract rips the Anti-Matrix from his chest, committing "spectacular suicide". This causes a "timelash" that sets Magmatron back into normal space on Cybertron. He delivers the sad news—Razorbeast was euthanized.

Bump delivers the first batch of the anti-Angolmois retrovirus, but he needs a proper lab to mass-produce it. Observing the sorry state of Cybertron, Lio Convoy and Big Convoy hope that no threat comes up while they're focused on rebuilding.

Unfortunately, Megatron has [[Beast Machines (cartoon)|arrived]].

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=[[Maximal]]s|c1=
* [[Rockbuster]] (11)
* [[Santon]] (12)
* [[Scuba]] (13)
* [[Motorarm (BWII)|Motorarm]] (10)
* [[Tako Tank]] (14)
* [[Tonbot]] (15)
* [[Gimlet]] (16)
* [[Sharp Edge (BWN)|Sharp Edge]] (17)
* [[Bump]] (18)
* [[Big Convoy]] (19)
* [[Cohrada]] (20)
* [[Stampy (BWN)|Stampy]] (22)
* [[Survive]] (21)
* [[Apache]] (23)
* [[Break]] (24)
* [[Drill Nuts]] (25)
* [[Longrack (BWN)|Longrack]] (26)
* [[Lio Convoy]] (27)
* [[Razorbeast]] (31)
* [[Armordillo]] (34)
* [[Bantor]] (35)
* [[Claw Jaw]] (36)
* [[Cybershark]] (37)
* [[Optimus Minor]] (38)
* [[Ramulus]] (39)
* [[B'Boom]] (44)
* [[Stinkbomb]] (46)
* [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] (51)
* [[Prowl II]] (52)
* [[Snarl (BW)|Snarl]] (53)
* [[Air Hammer]] (54)
* [[Noctorro]] (56)
* [[Mach Kick]] (59)
* [[Torca]] (60)
* [[K-9]] (62)
* [[Wolfang (Maximal)|Wolfang]] (63)
* [[Bonecrusher (BW)|Bonecrusher]] (64)
* [[Polar Claw]] (66)
|h2=[[Predacon (BW)|Predacons]]|c2=
* [[Archadis]] (7)
* [[Autocrasher]] (8)
* [[Crazybolt]] (9)
* [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] (28)
* [[Magmatron]] (29)
* [[Retrax]] (40)
* [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]] (41)
* [[Terragator]] (42)
* [[Manterror]] (43)
* [[Jetstorm (BW)|Jetstorm]] (45)
* [[Buzzclaw (BW)|Buzzclaw]] (47)
* [[Drill Bit (BW)|Drill Bit]] (48)
* [[Powerpinch]] (49)
* [[Snapper]] (50)
* [[Injector]] (55)
* [[Scourge (BW)|Scourge]] (57)
* [[Transquito]] (58)
* [[Insecticon (BW)|Insecticon]] (61)
* [[Manta Ray (BW)|Manta Ray]] (65)
* [[Lazorbeak]] (67)
* [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] (69)
|c4=
* [[Shokaract]] (1)
* [[Starscream (BWII)|Hellscream]] (2)
* [[Antagony]] (3)
* [[BB|Max-B]] (4)
* [[Thrust (BWII)|Thrustor]] (5)
* [[Hardhead (BWN)|Hardhead]] (6)
* [[Elephorca]] (30)
* [[Drancron]] (32)
* [[Rartorata]] (33)
* [[Unicron]] (68)
}}

==Errors==
* Snapper is mistakenly colored as Armordillo in the first panel on page 9.
* Drill Nuts is mistakenly colored as Drill Bit in one scene as Shokaract's Heralds attack him and Polar Claw.

==Items of note==
* Guido Guidi was tasked with the art for this issue due to the departure of [[Don Figueroa]] from [[IDW Publishing]]. Don provided the art for a cover before he left, however.
* On page 13, in the panel below the one in which Shokaract says "It begins." the head and shoulder of movie Optimus Prime is clearly visible.
* Ramulus's line "Let us throw ourselves headlong into the fray!" somewhat parallels a line he spoke in "[[Primeval Dawn]]"—"Lead me to the fray!" As well, Shokaract's line "Heralds... attend me!" is a direct quote from his previous iteration in [[Terminus]].
* Optimus Minor's line "Better to burn out than to fade away" is a quote from the Neil Young song "My My Hey Hey" and was also made famous in the first Highlander film.
* Back when he wrote the ''[[Beast Machines (franchise)|Beast Machines]]'' section of ''[[Transformers: The Ultimate Guide]]'', Simon Furman noted that Megatron was able to escape his shackles on the Maximals' shuttle because it hit a "time disturbance." While there is nothing in the actual ''show'' that supports this notion, it is apparent that the "timelash" induced by Shokaract's suicide in this issue is the disturbance in question.
* Negative feedback on this issue from a IDW Forum poster caused the usually amiable Furman to snap "No please, don't hold back. I'm starting to understand why Don [Figueroa] quit." He later clarified he didn't mean Don had quit because of negative feedback, but "when you work long and bl**dy hard on something and the first comment you read is that one, it's enough to make a person think, 'why do I even bother'. Don quit for Don's reasons. I'm just saying it's stuff like that makes me think long and hard about the future, that's all." [http://forum.idwpublishing.com/viewtopic.php?t=3025].
* At the end of this issue the fates of many of the characters is left pretty ambiguis. There's no clear update as to whether or not the Transformers on prehistoric Earth were rescued, many Transformers are not seen again by the end of the issue leaving it unknown if they survived the final battle. and the series in general ends on a VERY big cliffhanger.

===Deaths===
In typical Furman fashion, many characters die in the battles against the Blendtrons and Shokaract. Those who die are:
*[[Noctorro]], [[Insecticon (BW)|Insecticon]], [[K-9]],and [[Wolfang (Maximal)|Wolfang]] by Shokaract's claw cannons.
*[[Elephorca]], by Razorbeast's mauling.
*[[Buzzclaw (BW)|Buzzclaw]] and an unidentified character, by Rartorata's vomit.
*Possibly [[Bantor]] and [[Manta Ray (BW)|Manta Ray]], being crushed by Drancron.
*[[Drancron]], [[Lazorbeak]], [[Rartorata]], and [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]] with Drancron being forced into Rartorata's stinger, causing an explosion that destroys all of them.
*[[Prowl II]], by a stray beam.
*[[Shokaract]], committing suicide by ripping the Anti-Matrix out of his chest.
*[[Razorbeast]], fatally shot by Optimus Minor.

===Covers (4)===
{{picsneeded|RI-B}}
* '''Cover A:''' Shokaract; art by [[Nick Roche]].
* '''Cover B:''' Shokaract and minions; art by [[Don Figueroa]].
* '''Cover RIA:''' Uncolored version of cover A
* '''Cover RIB:''' Uncolored version of cover B

<gallery>
Image:The Ascending 4A.jpg|
Image:BWAscending-04B.jpg|
Image:The Ascending 4RI-A.jpg|
Image:The Ascending 4RI-B.jpg|
</gallery>

===Advertisements===
* ''[[Spotlight (comics)|Spotlight]]''s for [[Spotlight: Blaster|Blaster]] and [[Spotlight: Arcee|Arcee]]
* CGC Grading, feat. Grimlock
* Transformers posters
* [[Transformers (2007)|Movie]] toys
* ''[[The Art of IDW's Transformers]]''
* ''[[Megatron Origin]]'' comic series
* ''[[Greatest Battles of Optimus Prime and Megatron]]''
* ''[[Classic Transformers Volume 1]]''
* ''Doctor Who'' comics (back cover)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ascending issue 4}}
[[Category:IDW Beast Wars issues]]

Home Soil

2011-06-09T17:36:48Z

174.96.255.90: /* Trivia */

{{episode
|series=BMtoon
|ep=19
|image=HomeSoil Maximal plant attack.jpg
|caption="''K-K-Kill meeee...''"
|title="Home Soil"
|production company=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|airdate=[[March 15]], 2000
|written by=[[Megeen McLaughlin|Meg McLaughlin]]
|directed by=[[Dennis Heaton]]
|animation studio=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|continuity=[[Beast Wars continuity]]
}}
'''A spaceship crash-lands on Cybertron, releasing a tentacled alien monster. The Maximals and Vehicons both rush to take control of the vessel's secrets.'''

:''French title:'' '''Terre Natale''' ("Native Land")
:''French-Canadian title:'' '''Provenance''' ("Source")
:''Japanese title:'' 植物の反乱 (''Shokubutsu no Hanran'', "The Plant's Rebellion")
:''Spanish title:'' '''Su Tierra Natal'''

==Synopsis==
[[Image:HomeSoil Silverbolt shipcrash.jpg|left|thumb|200px|My god, Bones. What have I done.]]
High above the planet of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], a mysterious spaceship and a cluster of asteroids prepare to make planetfall. But the automated space-cannons manage to destroy the asteroids and badly damage the ship, sending it plummeting towards the planet. Flying above the city streets, [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] sends word of the ship to base.

Underground, a worried [[Optimus Primal|Optimus]] examines the wilting [[technorganic]] trees and ponders their survival and the future of Cybertron should they die. [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] tries to console him, but to no avail. Suddenly, [[Rattrap]] bursts in, telling the [[Maximal]]s about the ship's crash. [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] has also found out about the arrival of the ship and orders [[Thrust (BM)|Thrust]] to destroy any survivors of the crash. Thrust obediently heads towards the site, turning this into a race against time.

[[Image:HomeSoil Maximals head towards crash.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Not running ''away'' from something for once.]]
As the Maximals head towards the crash site, Thrust and his troops whiz by them. Several of the drones peel from the squadron and about-face, turning to fight the Maximals. Transforming into robot mode, the Maximals make short work of the [[Vehicon (BM)|Vehicon]]s, but they have lost time. Primal splits them into three teams: He and Cheetor will travel on the surface, Rattrap and [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] will go underground, and [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] and [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] will take to the sky.

In the air, Nightscream and Silverbolt destroy a squadron of Aero-Drones, but Nightscream still treats newcomer Silverbolt rudely, even after the latter compliments their teamwork together.

In the sewers of Cybertron, Blackarachnia laments to Rattrap of Silverbolt's lack of affection, even after she freed him from his Jetstorm slave form and reformatted him into his present condor form. However, the conversation is cut short as two [[Vehicon Mole|mole drones]] burst in from the sides. Blackarachnia destroys one and Rattrap commandeers another, and the duo head towards the site much quicker.

On the surface, Cheetor and Primal are surrounded by a group of drones. The two flying Maximals arrive to help them, and together they destroy the drones.

Eventually, the Maximals arrive at the ship. Stepping inside, they discover that the walls are covered with plant matter. They are suddenly attacked by a tentacled plant beast, but when they fight it, it turns tail and heads underground, towards the Oracle and the technorganic orchard. Primal fears that the fast-growing seeds the alien leaves in its wake will contaminate and destroy the orchard.

[[Image:HomeSoil Optimus prebotanica.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Of course, if this Transformer is ''normally'' a ravenous psychotic, they'll now be more dangerous, but hey, who dares wins!]]
However, he has a plan: Tapping the power of the [[Oracle (BM)|Oracle]], he attempts to reformat the monster. Cheetor protests, seeing as only "Cybertronians" can be reformatted, but Primal goes ahead with his idea, and the alien is bathed in a white light. The organic components of the creature begin to merge with the technological, and a technorganic, sentient plant emerges. The creature explains that she too is of Cybertronian descent, and that several years ago, she and her crew embarked on a mission of exploration similar to the ''[[Axalon (BW)|Axalon]]'''s (except without all the [[Beast Wars (cartoon)|guns, violence and killing]]). Reaching a [[Regalis V|planet]] covered with aggressive, mobile plants (in other words, "talking trees"), she and her crew took the natives' forms to study them and avoid predation. The plant says that Megatron's attack had "shorted out" both her ship and her higher mental functions, so she was merely acting out of self-preservation.

But the plant-bot is cut short as a phalanx of Tank Drones attack, beginning to ravage the orchard. The newest member of the Maximals takes action, transforming into her robot mode. Shooting one drone with electrical energy, she uses a "chain-lightning" attack, with the energy leaping from one tank to the next, until the deadly circuit is completed and the drones are destroyed.

[[Image:HomeSoil Optimus botanica plant.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Do you still have that baggy I gave you?]]
Examining the poor state of the plants, the robot notes that different plants need different lighting, and she throws a bomb-like device onto the lights currently used. As the light changes, the technorganic plants flourish, and the new Maximal introduces herself as [[Botanica (BM)|Botanica]].

Above, Megatron (encompassed within the [[Grand Mal|big floating head]]) notes the newest arrival and transforms into a "spaceship mode", destroying the remains of Botanica's ship and the rampant plant growth around it. As Thrust gripes about the ever-increasing odds against him, Megatron declares that it is time to put an end to the Maximal "infestation" for good.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=[[Maximal]]s|c1=
*[[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] (1)
*[[Optimus Primal]] (2)
*[[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] (3)
*[[Rattrap]] (4)
*[[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] (5)
*[[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] (6)
*[[Botanica (BM)|Botanica]] (13)

|h2=[[Vehicon (BM)|Vehicons]]|c2=
*[[Thrust (BM)|Thrust]] (7)
*[[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] (8)
*[[Motorcycle Drone|Motorcycle Drones]] (9)
*[[Sonic Attack Jet|Sonic Attack Jets]] (10)
*[[Vehicon Mole|Mole Drones]] (11)
*[[Tank Drone|Tank Drones]] (12)

}}

==Quotes==
"Don't worry, legs, I know the drill."
:—'''Rattrap''', about to take out a mole drone.

"''Real'' fair. One of me, six of them." 
"''Seven''! ... now. As we remain static, the organics grow yet stronger. Clearly this infestation must be exterminated, once and for all."
:—'''Thrust''' groans about unfair odds, while '''Megatron''' makes with the foreshadowing.

==Notes==
* This is the only episode where Grand Mal Megatron transforms.
* The destruction of Botanica's ship in the last scene is reminiscent of [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]]'s destruction of [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]]'s [[starhopper]] in the last scene of "[[Deep Metal]]". In both cases, the writers were cleaning up a loose end, since giving the heroes access to a working spaceship would've derailed the story.

===Continuity errors===
*Primal doesn't suffer any weakness post-reformatting, as he did with Nightscream. {{storylink|Forbidden Fruit|Forbidden Fruit}}
*Like Nightscream, Botanica is able to transform to robot mode immediately after being reformatted. Then again, like Nightscream, she was reformatted by Optimus Primal directly, instead of the Oracle, which might be a deciding factor in the new transformation process.
*Rattrap usually transforms into robot mode in order to interface with computers. In this episode, he transforms ''out'' of robot mode to do it.
*It apparently doesn't occur to Optimus to use his jet boosters to reach the downed spacecraft first. Plus, even if they have to stay in Beast Mode, why do they stick together rather than sending Cheetor out on ahead? Or are they seriously suggesting that every Maximal has the same top speed? (This isn't the [[Code of Hero|first time]] this has happened.)
*Why does a Maximal shuttle look exactly like a four million year old Autobot shuttle, instead of, say, the Axalon, one of its contemptories? It also has a very inconsistent size. Botanica fills the exit door when she leaves the ship in the flashback, whereas Rattrap and the other Maximals were tiny against it when trying to break in.
*Apparently Botanica (or at least one of her crew) can change her alt-mode just from receiving information from a DNA scanner, without the need for a CR Chamber.
*So, er, what happened to Botanica's crew then?

===Transformers references===
* Nightscream wonders aloud if the new arrivals might "spread some sort of virus" while glaring at Silverbolt, a reference to the events of [[A Wolf in the Fold|last episode]].

===Real-world references===
* Nightscream and Silverbolt declare "Do not pass 'Go!' Do not collect $200!", a clear reference to the popular board game [[Monopoly]].
* Nightscream at one point refers to Silverbolt as "Typhoid Mary", a reference to both the previous episode and the infamous real-life carrier of the Typhoid virus.

===Trivia===
* The planet that Botanica and her crew were sent to explore is apparently Planet Jungle from Mainframe Entertainment's other toyline-based cartoon ''[[wikipedia:Shadow_Raiders|Shadow Raiders/War Planets]]''. Whether this is an intentional crossover or simply due to the recycling of backgrounds and animation models for budget reasons is unclear.
* For some reason, Blackarachnia checks herself out after Botanica gets reformatted. Jealous at no longer being the only girl, Legs? (She also has the most over-the-top look of shock on her face imaginable.)
* When Thrust's drones surround the Maximals Thrust extends one of his fingers and holds his hand up as if he's giving Optimus the finger. Optimus is not amused.

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;DVD
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2005 — ''Super Lifeform Transformers: Beast Wars Returns'' — Volume 5 ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Geneon Entertainment]]) — Japanese audio only. 
[[Image:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2006 — ''Beast Machines: Transformers'' — The Complete Series ([[Rhino Entertainment|Rhinomation]]) 
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2007 — ''Transformers: Beast Machines'' — Season Two: Volume One ([[Sony]]) 
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2007 — ''Transformers: Beast Machines'' — Complete Season Two (Sony) 
[[Image:Flag of France.png|20px|France]] 2009 — ''Transformers: Beast Machines'' — Intégrale Saison 2 (Sony) — French audio only.

[[Category:Beast Machines episodes]]

Possession

2011-04-25T01:41:54Z

174.96.255.90: /* Trivia */

{{episode
|series=BWtoon
|ep=21
|image=Starscream ghost BW.jpg
|caption="Look, I'm a ghost, okay? Quit being such a jerk."
|title="Possession"
|production company=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|airdate=[[February 3]], 1997
|packaged with=[[Waspinator (BW)#Beast Wars 10th Anniversary|Waspinator]], [[Megatron (BW)/toys#Beast Wars 10th Anniversary|Optimus Primal vs. Megatron]], [[Motorarm (BWII)#Beast Wars Telemocha Series|Motorarm]]
|written by=[[Ian Weir]]
|directed by=[[Owen Hurley]]
|animation studio=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|continuity=[[Beast Wars continuity]]
}}
'''Waspinator finds himself possessed by none other than the original Decepticon traitor, Starscream!'''

:''French title:'' '''Possession'''
:''French-Canadian title:'' '''Possession'''
:''Japanese title:'' 不死身のスタースクリーム (''Fujimi no Sutāsukurīmu'', "The Immortal Starscream")
:''Latin-American title:'' '''Posesión'''
:''Italian title:'' '''Il traditore''' ("The traitor")
:''Brazilian title:'' '''Possessão'''

==Synopsis==
[[Image:Possession Waspinator.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Abra used Hypnosis!]]
A violent storm rages, causing significant damage and knocking out power to both the [[Axalon (BW)|Maximal]] and [[Darksyde|Predacon bases]]. While the [[Maximals]] stash their extra ammo deeper in their ship's hold to prevent undue accidents, Waspinator attempts to get one of the Predacon base's computer consoles online...only to be greeted by a ghostly, shrill voice from it. A power surge hits the bug-bot soon afterwards, and when the other Preds begin to wonder what has happened to him, in he comes, announcing his return "at long last" in the same eerie voice.

The voice belongs to [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]], Air Commander of the [[Decepticon]] forces and [[second-in-command]] to the original [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]], whose [[spark]] had been tumbling through time and space for an unknown number of years before settling within Waspinator. As he puts it, he was destroyed defending [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] from the Chaos Bringer [[Unicron]], but his spark endured. As a show of his good faith, he pledges his loyalty to the Predacon Megatron, revealing vital information about the state of the Maximal base due to the storm, intelligence Megatron could use to plan a sneak attack. Intrigued by the idea, Megatron accepts Starscream into his ranks, but warns Scorponok in private to watch their new ally closely.

[[Image:Possession Megatron victorious.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"B-3" "BINGO!!!"]]
The next day, as the Maximals are making repairs to their base, they are suddenly attacked by the Preds, and Starscream's intel proves very useful in catching them off-guard. In the ensuing firefight, Dinobot is injured and the Decepticon Air Commander flies rings round Optimus, forcing the Maximals to abandon ship and regroup outside. Happy with their victory, Megatron puts Starscream in charge of holding the ''Axalon'', with Scorponok and Blackarachnia under his command, while the rest of the Preds return to their base, in case the Maximals decide to go for a sneak attack of their own. Once they're alone, though, Blackarachnia shows off her knack for history by correctly pointing out to Starscream that he was [[The Transformers: The Movie|murdered by Galvatron (the Unicron-reborn Megatron) after he betrayed the Decepticon commander]]. She's willing to keep this a secret, though, if she's let in on his real plans: to destabilize Megatron's control and rule both factions.

Deep in the forest, as the Maximals recover, Optimus voices his confusion and concern over Waspinator's new personality. He isn't entirely convinced Waspinator is possessed by the spark of Starscream, but as the [[Maximal Elders]] had long since sealed the Decepticon's records, they're not able to confirm or deny it, either. Fortunately, Dinobot's as much of a military history buff as Blackarachnia is, commenting on how ''Webster's Cybertronian Dictionary'' has pretty much replaced all definitions of "traitor" with Starscream's name. [[Wikipedia:Pinky and the Brain|Are you pondering what I'm pondering]], Optimus?

[[Image:Possession Starscream point.jpg|left|200px|thumb|I want YOU for Predacon Army]]
He is. Returning to the ''Axalon'', the Maximals call Starscream out to announce their surrender, citing the need to use the ship's CR Chamber to repair Dinobot's (now exaggerated) wounds. Feeling generous, the Decepticon Air Commander allows Optimus and Dinobot to come on board, but as predictably as night follows day, betrays them and strips Optimus of his weapons and locks him up in the hold as soon as he steps on deck. With their leader now his prisoner, Starscream orders the other Maximals to attack the Predacon base, over the token objections of Scorponok. They comply, and the trap is set.

[[Image:Possession Starscream gunpoint.jpg|right|200px|thumb|I'm azzz mad azzz hell, and I'm not going to take thizzz anymore!]]
Unbeknown to the Air Commander, he's been duped by the oldest trick in the book; by allowing himself to be betrayed, Optimus has put himself and Dinobot in the perfect position to retake their base, which they do in a dazzling display that forces Starscream to retreat back to Pred territory. Optimus pursues and manages to best the Decepticon in an aerial dogfight, leaving him grovelling at the Maximal's feet...until Blackarachnia shows up, prompting Starscream to plead for her aid, believing they can still complete their coup. No dice; this new generation is much less gullible than [[Autobot|their]] [[Decepticon|ancestors]], and Blackarachnia has skillfully pulled off a double-cross on the double-crosser, igniting a small energon cache underneath Starscream to "exorcise" the Decepticon's spark from Waspinator's body.

At the end of the day, Megatron gets done fixing the back-to-normal Waspinator as Blackarachnia explains her betrayal; if she hadn't done it, she maintains, she wouldn't have been able to sniff out Starscream's true motives. Megatron reluctantly accepts this excuse, but warns her that it still doesn't invoke confidence in her loyalties. Back at the ''Axalon'', the Maximals are finishing up repairs of their own...everyone but Cheetor, who's slacking off with a bout of stargazing, quipping "Twinkle, twinkle, little Starscream," as the camera pans up to beyond the planet's orbit, showing Starscream's spark screaming mech fluid-drenched vengeance on all within the Beast Wars as he drifts away into the void.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=[[Maximal]]s
|c1=
*[[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] (2)
*[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] (3)
*[[Optimus Primal]] (4)
*[[Rattrap]] (8)
*[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] (13)
*[[Airazor (BW)|Airazor]] (14)
*[[Tigatron]] (15)

|h2=[[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]]s
|c2=
*[[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] (5)
*[[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] (6)
*[[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] (7)
*[[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] (9)
*[[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] (10)
*[[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] (11)

|c4=
* [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] (1)
* [[Unicron]] (12)
}}

==Quotes==
"Quickly, damage report!" 
"Moderate. Waspinator in pain, but still functional." 
"Not you, imbecile, the computer!"
:—'''Waspinator''' mistakenly thinking '''Megatron''' cares.

"What is this? Program does not respond! Waspinator does not understand!" 
"I'll bet Waspinator seldom does! But try not to let it depress you, bug-face."
:—'''Waspinator''', about to be possessed by '''Starscream'''

"Allow me to present myself: Air Commander Starscream of the Decepticon Battle Fleet!!!"
:—'''Starscream''' speaking through Waspinator, making his grand return.

"Starscream, perhaps the centuries of weightlessness have taken a toll on your neurological circuitry."
:—'''Megatron''' seems to forget that free-floating sparks don't ''have'' circuitry.

''[to Optimus]'' "Good. Now, you reap the appropriate reward for your trust and good faith." ''[to Scorponok]'' "Disarm him, force him to transform, and then chain him in the hold or somewhere!"
:—'''Starscream'''

"You're nothin' but a schemin' snake in the grass!" 
"Ehh, flattery will get you flattened, vermin."
:—'''Rattrap''' and '''Starscream'''

"I'd say [[Wikipedia:Thing (comics)|it's tramplin' time!]]."
:—'''Rhinox''', free to open a can of kick-keister.

"Ohhhh... Waspinator has a headache in his whoooole body."
:—'''Waspinator''', as he's put back together yet again. Awwwww...

"Ugh! Starscream and Blackarachnia! I'll have both their treacherous hides! Yeeessss...I'll-I'll melt them down and use them for aluminum siding! Oh, yes, indeed!"
:—'''Megatron''' finally learning of Starscream's traitorous nature. Odd...

"Cheetor, planning to help with the clean-up?" 
"Eh, just checkin' for new constellations. Twinkle twinkle little Starscream."
:—'''Optimus Primal''' and '''Cheetor'''

"I'll be back! Even if it takes a thousand years, I'LL BE REVENGED ON YOU ALL!"
:—'''Starscream''', as he drifts through space

==Notes==
===Animation and/or technical glitches===
* When Megatron "checks up" on Waspinator, his dino head inexplicably switches from his right hand to his left hand.
* Unicron's "ring" is not connected to his body.
* When Starscream points to the unguarded side of the ''Axalon'', he seems to have a finger pointing on both sides of his hand, as though the animators were unsure of which hand he was using to point at the screen. (From the looks of the previous scenes, it should be his left hand.)
* When the Maximals come to "surrender", as Optimus talks to Starscream, his head is hideously deformed, with the sides stretched down to the base of his neck, and his head sitting far too high. Additionally his mouth doesn't move while he's speaking. ''Argh...''
* When Starscream/Waspinator is standing on top of the ''Axalon'' and instructing the Maximals to attack the Predacon base, his right foot clips straight through one of the autocannons. A few moments later when he blasts Scorponok, he's standing nowhere near the cannon.

===Continuity errors===
* Looking at the intro sequence with Starscream's spark, he clearly touches down somewhere in the southwest United States, apparently Arizona. The terrain and creatures in ''Beast Wars'' suggest that it takes place in Africa and the presence of the standing stones, though not necessarily Stonehenge, suggest Britain. On the other hand, it makes sense, since "[[The Agenda (Part III)]]" puts the ''Axalon'' and the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]] within commuting distance. It's not too wild to assume that it kept commuting for an unknown distance even after touching down either.

* While free-floating sparks are usually depicted as spheres, Starscream's spark has the twiddly bits which are usually only present to attach a spark to a protoform. Then again, it has been stated that Starscream's spark is not normal, so this may have been a conscious alteration?

* Megatron knew a great deal about Cybertronian history, yet apparently did not know the real nature of Starscream and his demise. However, Megatron might have been playing dumb to lure Starscream into being bolder with his actions. On the other hand, both the Predacon and Maximal Elders had a large portion of his records sealed ''due'' to his history. Then again, Megatron DID tell Scorponok to watch Starscream...

** On that same note, both Blackarachnia and Dinobot knew about Starscream, even though Primal stated that his records were sealed. It's possible that the records were sealed only to the Maximals (as Primal notes it was the Maximal Elders who sealed them), but given what we'll learn of te state of Maximal/Predacon relations on Cybertron and the Maximal Elders' dirty little secrets, that explanation is rather hard to believe.

* Despite being born from a Maximal Protoform, Blackarachnia refers to the Decepticons as "our" (the Predacons') ancestors.

* Starscream apparently imprisons Optimus in shackles that he can break out of in about five seconds flat. However, in the episode commentary on [[Madman Entertainment]]'s ''Beast Wars Season 1'' DVDs, story editor [[Bob Forward]] states that Primal originally had a very complex way of breaking free involving tools and the dexterity of his beast mode appendages, but the animators changed this to just him "busting out", possibly due to time and monetary constraints.

===Transformers references===
* Obviously, Starscream himself firmly ties ''Beast Wars'' to established Generation 1 history, though you could argue that Waspinator thinking he was [[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]] already did this.

* Starscream's spark—or "ghost", as it was then called—possesses several Decepticons (including [[Cyclonus (G1)|Cyclonus]], [[Scourge (G1)|Scourge]], [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]], and [[Trypticon (G1)|Trypticon]]) in the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 episodes]] "[[Starscream's Ghost]]" and "[[Ghost in the Machine]]". His actions [[Atari Hitotonari|don't stop]] [[Teletraan 15|there]].

* One of the Predacon insignias on the side of Waspinator's cranium changes into a Decepticon insignia while Starscream's spark is inhabiting his superstructure.

* And of course, Starscream's fate was from ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''.

* Starscream's head is white and his face is blue, making him resemble his appearance in [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|Marvel Comics]] instead of his [[The Transformers (cartoon)|cartoon]] [[character model]].

===Real-world references===
* [[Optimus Primal]] says "Hasta la vista, Starscream", paraphrasing a famous line from the film "[[wikia:c:terminator:Terminator 2: Judgment Day|Terminator 2: Judgment Day]]".

* As he flies away immediately after saying this, Optimus Primal is seen wearing a pair of sunglasses, aping (ahem) Arnold Schwarzenegger's trademark look from the movie.

* Rhinox's line "It's tramplin' time" could be an homage to "It's clobberin' time!", the catchphrase of the [[Thing]] of the [[Fantastic Four]].

===Trivia===
* [[Doug Parker]] performs both [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] (standing in for the late [[Chris Latta]]), and the very Starscreamy [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]]. In fact, Parker's Starscream is basically Terrosaur with a metallic distortion a la G1 Soundwave. Perhaps Starscream should have possessed Terrorsaur instead — of course, nobody would notice the difference.
* According to fan consultant [[Ben Yee]] and story editor Bob Forward on the Madman DVD commentary track, the original idea for this episode was to have the spark of an Autobot possess one of the characters. This idea was abandoned early on because a model of Starscream had already been made for "[[The Web]]". Besides, Starscream had the experience.
* Also according to Forward, the angles used for Waspinator (when he is possessed by Starscream) are much more "heroic" than normal (views from slightly below him, extreme closeups, etc.), to reflect Starscream's personality.
* Apart from the Decepticon insignia on his head, Waspinator's only physical change when possessed is the addition of a yellow stripe along the upper edges of his "mandibles", similar to their inner edges.
* Additionally, Yee provided all of the original Starscream's [[tech spec]] [[Bio|biographies]] to writer Ian Weir as a reference for Starscream's character and personality. Yee was pleased that Weir incorporated Starscream's original "[[Air Commander]]" [[function]] as the character's rank and title.
* After Blackarachnia convinces Starscream to take her as his protege as their walking away Starscream's hand is at her shoulder but then starts moving down towards her um... butt. Perv.

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;VHS
[[Image:Flag of Canada.png|20px|Canada]] 1998 — ''Beast Wars'' — Warning from Space ([[Alliance Atlantis|Alliance Video]]) 
[[Image:Flag of Canada.png|20px|Canada]] 1998 — ''Robots-Bêtes'' — Alert Dans L'Espace (Alliance Video) — French audio only. 
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1998 — ''Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers'' — Starscream's Invulnerability ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — Japanese audio only. 
[[Image:Flag of Canada.png|20px|Canada]] 1998 — ''Beast Wars'' / ''Robots-Bêtes'' Three pack (Alliance Video) — Available in English or French audio. 
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2001 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — The Beginning: Vol. 4 ([[Universal]])
;Laserdisc
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1998 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — Predacon Edition ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — English and Japanese audio.
;DVD
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2000 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — English and Japanese audio. 
[[Image:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2003 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — The Complete First Season ([[Rhino Entertainment|Rhinomation]]) 
[[Image:Flag of Canada.png|20px|Canada]] 2005 — ''Beast Wars'' — Classic Episodes: Volume 3 — The Battle Rages On! ([[Alliance Atlantis]]) — English and French audio. 
[[Image:Flag of Canada.png|20px|Canada]] 2005 — ''Beast Wars'' — The Complete First Season (Alliance Atlantis) — English and French audio. 
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2006 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — Season 1 ([[Madman Entertainment]]) 
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2009 — ''The Transformers: Beast Wars'' — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)

[[Category:Beast Wars episodes]]
[[Category:Beast Wars 10th Anniversary]]
[[category:Beast Wars Telemocha Series]]
[[Category:Pack-in material]]

On the Edge of Extinction!

2011-03-09T02:35:37Z

174.96.255.90: /* Items of note */

{{Comicstory|
|seriesissue=[[The_Transformers (Marvel comic)|''The Transformers'' (US)]] #75
|prev=The_Void! (US)
|next=Still_Life!
|seriesissue2=[[The_Transformers (Marvel comic)#Marvel UK|''The Transformers'' (UK)]] #319-322
|prev2=The_Void! (US)
|next2=Still_Life!
|title="On the Edge of Extinction!"
|image=MarvelUS-75.jpg
|caption=OM NOM NOM NOM NOM
|publisher=[[Marvel Comics]]
|date=December [[1990]]
|coverdate=February 1991
|writer=[[Simon Furman]]
|artist=[[Geoff Senior]]
|colorist=[[Nelson Yomtov|Nel Yomtov]]
|letterer=[[Rick Parker]]
|editor=[[Rob Tokar]]
|continuity=[[Marvel Comics continuity]]
}}
'''Unicron drops by for a light lunch.'''

==Synopsis==
With [[Unicron]] looming over the planet [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], the assembled [[Transformer|Transformers]] flee in a blind panic. The dark god rips into the planet's surface, sampling its metal (and Brainstorm) and declaring it "succulent".

Primus — still possessing the form of Emirate Xaaron — urges Prime and Scorponok to calm their warriors and unite them in battle against the Chaos-Bringer, but even the two leaders are overwhelmed by the sheer immensity of their foe. Primus himself initiates an attack on Unicron — but the dark god sees through what is essentially a ruse, and destroys Xaaron.

[[Image:OntheEdgeofExtinction-Primus.jpg|left|125px|thumb|"Eat me, and I'll shred the roof of your mouth!"]]
Galvatron blasts Unicron at full power; while it does virtually no damage, it does what Galvatron had hoped — inspires the Transformers to stand and fight. Soon a planet-wide battle is raging; many Transformers are killed in the fighting, most notably Scorponok, who makes a final stand to live up to his legacy as a [[Decepticon]] warrior. The [[Neo-Knights]] also attempt to engage, but their powers are no match for Unicron, and Circuit Breaker remains catatonic, despite G.B. Blackrock's attempts to revive her.

[[Image:Edgeofextinction-someonefight.jpg|right|200px|thumb|How do the physics of this even work??]]
Reinforcements arrive in the form of the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]], which is filled with [[Autobot|Autobots]] reactivated by the [[Nucleon]] retrieved by Grimlock. Grimlock has the ship sideswipe Unicron, damaging it and forcing them to abandon it in flight.

As Prime struggles to keep his [[Powermaster]] bond from coming apart, the tainted Creation Matrix suddenly arrives at Cybertron, with the possessed Thunderwing at its core. The Matrix confronts its old foe, Unicron. But with its virtuous nature stripped away, the Matrix no longer has any advantage over Unicron, who unleashes a power burst that tears Thunderwing limb from limb and devastates the surface of Cybertron. As the blast passes, Prime spots the Matrix.

[[Image:Circuitbreakervsunicron.jpg|left|125px|thumb|Consequence of the "Dine-and-Dash".]]
Tiring of the battle, Unicron reverts to his planet mode and prepares to devour Cybertron entirely. But as he begins, he is blasted by the revived Circuit Breaker, who pours every bit of her power at him in an insane rage. The distraction gives Prime enough time to reach the Matrix. His mind free from doubt, he reclaims it, purges it of darkness, and plunges it — and himself — into Unicron's maw. Overloaded with "terrible, wonderful life", Unicron explodes while the survivors on Cybertron's surface look on in awe.

Some while after the battle, Battletrap and Runabout are walking somewhere on Cybertron. Runabout goes to investigate some movement in the shadows. He is promptly snatched underground by a clawed hand and, as observed by a hidden Hi-Q, devoured.
{{-}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Optimus Prime]] (3)
* [[Cloudburst]] (8)
* [[Brainstorm]] (9)
* [[Nightbeat (G1)|Nightbeat]] (20)
* [[Siren]] (21)
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] (22)
* [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] (23)
* [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]] (24)
* [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] (27)
* [[Waverider]] (30)
* [[Joyride (Autobot)|Joyride]] (31)
* [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] (32)
* [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] (33)
* [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] (34)
|c2=
* [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] (1)
* [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] (4)
* [[Octopunch]] (5)
* [[Iguanus (G1)|Iguanus]] (7)
* [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] (10)
* [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] (11)
* [[Galvatron II]] (17)
* [[Dreadwind (G1)|Dreadwind]] (18)
* [[Darkwing]] (19)
* [[Finback]] (25)
* [[Misfire]] (26)
* [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] (28)
* [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] (29)
* [[Battletrap]] (37)
* [[Runabout]] (38)
|c3=
* [[Thunderpunch]] (12)
* [[Circuit Breaker]] (13)
* [[Dynamo]] (14)
* [[Rapture]] (15)
* [[G.B. Blackrock]] (16)
|h4=[[Nebulan]]s|c4=
* [[Hi-Q]] (36)
|c5=
* [[Primus]]/[[Xaaron]] (2)
* [[Unicron]] (6)
* [[Matrix of Leadership|Creation Matrix]]/[[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]] (35)
* A [[Demon]] (39)
}}

==Errors==
* There are, of course, the errors of [[scale]] typically associated with the supposedly planet-sized Unicron.

==Items of note==
* When Primus is killed when it inhabits Xaaron's body, it's ''Scorponok'' who screams out Xaaron's name in shock and Optimus who calls out for Primus (despite being an old comrade of Xaaron's).
* While Primus is outright said to be [[death|dead deadity dead]], the [[Primus#Fleer and DK|later retcon]] of the Primus/Unicron plan would say he isn't.
* Among hundreds, thousands, maybe millions of Transformers... Circuit Breaker's the only being on the planet who can manipulate electricity? [[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]] hadn't been seen in donkey's years and may have been [[Dark Star (issue)|long dead]], so this isn't as jarring as it could have been.
* Grimlock's (shown) reinforcements are the same cast as [[Earthforce]], more or less.
[[Image:Tastybrainstorm.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The in-between meals snack that won't ruin your appetite!]]
* Those apparently killed in this issue include Brainstorm, Xaaron, Cloudburst, Highbrow, Finback, Misfire, Hardhead, Bomb-Burst, Joyride, Waverider, Scorponok, Thunderwing, [[Mindwipe (G1)|Mindwipe]], and Runabout.
:It's "apparently" because Joyride and Mindwipe show up alive and well in ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]''. Quake, who was with Joyride and Waverider when they were blasted, is not shown getting hit — and is fine just a couple of issues later.
* The next issue's opening page would reveal several more deceased Transformers: [[Apeface]], [[Sureshot (G1)|Sureshot]], [[Hosehead]], and [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]] (who nevertheless appeared in ''Generation 2'' long enough to die again.) Prime's gruesome fate would be revealed as well, as he was still within Unicron during the explosion.
* Ironically many of the casualties here are Transformers who managed to survive the [[Underbase Saga]]. Even more ironic is the fact that they die just as the casualties of the Underbase Saga are revived and brought back into the story.
* Most of the surviving Transformers, including [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]], Prowl, Wheeljack, [[Blaster (G1)|Blaster]], [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] and Jazz show up in the [[Action Master]]s line. While most never transform after this issue, Prowl clearly retains his ability to do so.
* ''[[Transformers Universe (Marvel comic)|Transformers Universe]]'' profiles for [[Fangry]] and [[Squeezeplay]] are found after the main story.
*This was the last Dutch Generation 1 comic printed by [[Junior Press]].

===References===
* The grand battle with Unicron concludes a storyline that began way back in issue [[Yesterday's Heroes!|#60]].
* Grimlock's reinforcements were fueled with Nucleon in the previous issue.

===Covers===
<gallery>
Image:MarvelUS-75.jpg|'''US issue #75''' - Cybertron - with delicious crunchy filling!
Image:MarvelUK-319.JPG|'''UK issue #319''' - UK Cybertron - strawberry flavoured.
Image:MarvelUK-320.jpg|'''UK issue #320''' - I can hear the fangirls crying...
Image:MarvelUK-321.jpg|'''UK issue #321''' - "Wasn't me guv, it was that big orange guy with horns."
Image:MarvelUK-322.jpg|'''UK issue #322''' - Come on, how ''awesome'' is this?
</gallery>

* '''US issue #75 cover:''' Unicron devouring Cybertron by [[Geoff Senior]].
* '''UK issue #319 cover:''' recolored version of U.S. cover by [[Robin Bouttell]].
* '''UK issue #320 cover:''' Unicron destroying Xaaron by [[Staz|Stewart Johnson]].
* '''UK issue #321 cover:''' Optimus Prime and the defeated Scorponok by Stewart Johnson.
* '''UK issue #322 cover:''' Prime entering Unicron with the Matrix by Stewart Johnson.

===Advertisements===
* None yet identified.

[[Category:Marvel US issues]]
[[Category:Marvel UK issues]]

Death

2011-03-09T02:29:57Z

174.96.255.90: /* Spark transfer */

{{disambig2|the end of life|the Horseman of Unicron|Airazor (Armada)}}

[[Image:Battleofautobotcity.jpg|right|300px|thumb|And lo, the children did weep.]]

''Transformers'' is a children's franchise, but at its core, it's a story of war. This means that the '''death''' of major and minor characters sometimes figures into the fiction.

Given the ambiguous nature of [[Transformer]] physiology, there is very little consistency regarding what is fatal to a Transformer, even within a single storyline. Damage that one Transformer might shrug off can prove fatal to another, or even to the same character in a different story. Sometimes just a laser blast or two will do the trick. Other times, characters survive being melted, crushed into cubes, and even utterly disintegrated. It does not take a terribly cynical viewer to conclude that the threshold of survival is generally determined by the needs of the plot.

The out-of-universe reasons for a character's death can vary from plot development to the arrival of [[To sell toys|new toys]]. Conveniently enough for writers who are beholden to the whims of a toy company, the majority of Transformers characters are machines, which means that death isn't necessarily permanent. Across the various universes, characters that appear to have been killed have been known to pop up alive again at a later date, or go through some sort of resurrection.

{{quote|"How can you all be so cold and unfeeling? He died a hero!" "Don't you even have mechanical hearts?" "The humans don't understand! Our form of life is vastly different from theirs!"|[[Spider-Man]], [[Sparkplug Witwicky]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]|"[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

==In-fiction causes of death==
[[Image:DEATH.jpg|left|thumb|400px|[[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] is just as puzzled as the rest of us.]]

There is little consistency in what can kill a Transformer. Sometimes it takes just a shot. Other times, even totally annihilating a Transformer's body still doesn't do the trick. Even the most basic method of killing, which is to destroy or otherwise cause the loss of a Transformer's [[spark]], varies quite a bit in its details from story to story, character to character, and series to series.
{{--}}
===Weaponsfire===
{{quote|This was almost too easy, Starscream!|[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (like the fandom) is surprised to find how easily Autobots die, ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''}}

[[Image:Tftm1986a.jpg|right|200px|thumb|We're here aboard the Autobot shuttle, where we've secretly replaced Brawn's hyper-dense metal armor plating with styrene plastic. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference.]]

[[Image:TFTM UltraMagnus dies.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Prepare for your death today. Yer gonna die!!]]

[[Image:Magnusdeath.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ow! Hey! Cut it out, guys! That hurts!]]

[[Image:Blades1.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Sorry, nameless guy, your generic nature means you will never be miraculously resurrected.]]

Like humans, Transformers can be killed by damage caused by energy, projectile, and chemical weapons. Just how many shots it takes is widely variable, however.
* In the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]]:
** Many casualties of the [[Battle of Autobot City]] (and its run-up), including [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], were victims of energy weapons. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} This was quite a change from the cartoon's M.O., wherein the same characters routinely got shot and blasted all the time and shrugged it off, or at worst spent some time in the repair bay. Brawn and Prowl both went down after ''one shot''.
** [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] subsequently "dies" after being shot a few times by the [[Sweep]]s, exploding into pieces. He is soon revived by the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]], however. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Ultra Magnus dies ''again'', for real this time, after [[Sixshot]] shoots him a few times. {{storylink|Ultra Magnus Dies!!}}

* In the [[Marvel Comics continuity|Marvel comics]]:
** [[Impactor]] was cut down by a single head shot from [[Macabre]]. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
** Most deaths in the ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' book occurred from energy weapons, such as [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]], {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}} as well as numerous generics. {{storylink|War Without End!}} Quite a few victims exploded spectacularly after being shot, including [[Tantrum]] {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}}, [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]], [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] {{storylink|New Dawn}}, and [[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]]{{storylink|Escalation!}}.

* In the ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' cartoon:
** [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] dies after incurring severe damage from numerous [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] weapons. {{storylink|Code of Hero}} The apparent cause of his demise is his refusal to enter protective [[stasis lock]], as other characters have survived similar or worse levels of damage.
** [[Tigerhawk]] is disintegrated by the main cannon of the starship ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]''. The same cannon subsequently blasts [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] and [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]], apparently killing them, though their "death" may be permanent simply because there was nobody around to put them back together. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 2}}

* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] dies holding back the [[Hydra Cannon]], the damage causing him to [[:Image:Sshot-arm-39-4.jpg|crumble to dust]]. {{storylink|Crisis}}

* [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]] G1 comics: [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] is killed by an assassin's blast. {{storylink|The Age of Wrath issue 1}} He got better. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 3}}

* [[Movie continuity]]: [[Brawl (Movie)|Brawl]] and [[Blackout (Movie)|Blackout]] both died from weapons fire. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}

* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] gets his face blown off/in by [[Cyclonus (SG)|Cyclonus]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 4}}
{{--}}

* [[Universe (2003 comic)|Universe]]: [[Tankor (BM)|Tankor]] was shot and killed by [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] during the final battle of the [[Universe War]].

===Big explosions===
{{bigquote|They're going to blow us all to pieces! [[Guardian (Marvel)|Guardian]]'s booby-trapped - packed with enough explosives to level this whole mountain!|[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], "[[The Wrath of Grimlock!]]"}}

Transformers characters often assume that explosions are more lethal than they really are; characters survive explosions all the time. An explosion's messy nature makes a good "out" for a writer to fake a character's death. {{storylink|The Wrath of Grimlock!}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}} Nevertheless, a few characters have been permanently killed by explosions. (This list omits characters who exploded from within, like Ultra Magnus up above.)
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]] was the victim of an interdimensionally triggered explosion that destroyed his body. (In UK continuity, he survived as a raggedy, bodiless head.) {{storylink|The Bridge to Nowhere!}}
** In an alternate future, a wounded [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] died in the fiery explosion of a crashing shuttlecraft. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** [[Finback]] was presumably killed in the explosion of a huge gun battery. [[Misfire]] tried to warn him off, and may have been killed in the same explosion. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}

* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon:
** [[Optimus Primal]] was blown to bits -- terminally so -- by the [[transwarp]] explosion that destroyed the [[Planet Buster]]. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}
** [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]] was killed by the explosion that resulted from [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]]'s death (either his exploding spark, or the exploding energon shard that pierced it.) {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

* Several of the [[Beast Era]] [[Wrecker]]s ([[Sonar (BW)|Sonar]], [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]], the [[Deployer (BM)|Deployers]]) were destroyed when part of their ship exploded with them in it. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

* Energon: [[Bruticus Maximus (Energon)|Bruticus Maximus]] and Storm Jet were killed when Storm Jet caused a massive explosion that engulfed them both.

* ''Prime'': [[Makeshift (Prime)|Makeshift]] and the surrounding [[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicon]]s were blown up by a grenade attached by the Autobots.

===Impact trauma===
Falling off a cliff or mountainside or tall building is usually just as fatal to Transformers as it is to, say... Wile E. Coyote. Only on rare occasion does it result in death:
* ''[[Classics (2006)|Classics]]'' continuity: [[Hacksaw]] met his end by falling from a huge communications tower. {{storylink|The New World}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Doubledealer]] was shot, fell off a mountain and smashed to bits on impact. {{storylink|Spotlight: Doubledealer}}
* Movie continuity:
**[[Devastator (ROTF)|Devastator]] fell off the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] after losing his balance when his arm was shot off, and he shattered to pieces as he tumbled down. ''{{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}''
** [[Barricade (Movie)|Barricade]] was smashed to pieces and killed by being flung into a freeway column. {{storylink|Movie Adaptation Issue Number Four}}
* The [[Beast (G1)|Beast]] fell off a cliff and shattered. {{storylink|The Beast Within Part 2, Consequences}} At least, we hope that's where and how it ended.
* ''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)| Prime]]'': [[Skyquake (Prime)|Skyquake]] crash-landed after [[Bumblebee (Prime)|Bumblebee]] punched out vital components in his alternate mode, reducing his body to a partially transformed scrapheap.

===Crushing===
[[Image:Edgeofextinction-hardheadbombburst.jpg|thumb|right|175px|DO NOT WANT]]
[[Image:TFAni TransWarped LongArm Cliffjumper Cube.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Before time began, there was... THE CUBE.]]

Quite a few characters have been crushed into deactivation:
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]] was smashed between [[Unicron]]'s palms, while [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] met a similar fate when they were stepped on by Unicron. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] is apparently killed when a very large building collapses on top of him. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

* [[Unicron Trilogy]] cartoons:
** [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]] is killed when caught between two folding sections of Unicron's external armor. {{storylink|Union}}
** [[Shockblast]] is crushed by Unicron's hand on [[Blizzard Planet]]. {{storylink|The Power}}
** His brother [[Six Shot]] meets a similar fate, crushed under the heel of a super-sized Galvatron. {{storylink|Galvatron Terror}}

* IDW continuity:
** [[Roller]] was crushed when Megatron caused an avanlanche to fall on him.
** [[Ruckus (G1)|Ruckus]], [[Crankcase (G1)|Crankcase]], and [[Skullcruncher]] were all crushed by [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]].

* ''Animated'' cartoon: [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]] is (possibly) killed by a garbage compactor-like crushing device. (An "out" by writer [[Derrick J. Wyatt|Derrick Wyatt]] was intended to show his still-pulsing spark within his cubified remains, but this did not make it into the show, leaving his fate ambiguous at best.) {{storylink|TransWarped}}

===Melting===
[[Image:BW Scorponok Terrorsaur deaths.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Even having a new toy couldn't save Terrorsaur!]]

[[Image:Fallout title.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Primal's diet had gone horribly wrong.]]

They're made of metal; therefore, with enough heat or sufficiently acidic material, they can melt. This is one of the more fool-proof methods of killing a Transformer; few if any have survived it.
* In the G1 cartoon:
** An acid vat would apparently have been enough to destroy Optimus Prime. {{storylink|The Search for Alpha Trion}}
** Another acid vat was used to disintegrate living victims of Unicron. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comics:
** Victims of the Deception [[smelting pool]]s on Cybertron were reduced by intense heat into their base metals, including [[Scrounge (G1)|Scrounge]]. {{storylink|The Smelting Pool!}}
** It is possible that an acid bath from (naturally) [[Blot (G1)|Blot]] offlined [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] [[Makin' Tracks!|(for a while anyway)]]. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] was partially melted by Unicron's flame-breath and subsequently died. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The [[Cybertronian (faction)|Cybertronian Empire]] used some kind of acid to rather messily eradicate some of their Decepticon ancestors, including [[Stranglehold]]. {{storylink|New Dawn}}

* In the Beast Era cartoons:
** [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] and [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] were apparently melted to death after tumbling into a lava pit within the [[Darksyde|Predacon base]]. {{storylink|Aftermath}}
** Optimus Primal's body was seemingly melted into the floor after his climactic face-off with [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]. Considering how many god-like forces were unleashed and conflicting during the battle, his demise may be due to more than simple temperature-induced melting. {{storylink|Fallout}}

===Incineration===
{{bigquote|I saw the end! They died in a cosmic funeral pyre!|[[Shawn Berger]], "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2]]"}}

[[Image:Armada 52 - Prime hangon to Galvatron.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Galvatron died to save everyone and came back ''twice''—you lose, [[Jesus]]!]]

Plasma, energy fields, and stellar atmospheres can all utterly destroy a Transformer's body. Like being melted, being reduced to one's component molecules would seem to be a surefire way of getting killed, but quite a few characters seem able to survive the process as ghosts and/or disembodied sparks:
* Generation 1 cartoon: [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]'s spectacular death at the hands of [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] might be categorized as incineration. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* Quite a few characters met this fate in the Unicron Trilogy, but all survived it in some fashion:
** [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]]'s spark persisted within his burnt-out body when he was dropped into the exploding Unicron. {{storylink|Mortal Combat}} {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}
** [[Demolishor (Armada)|Demolishor]]'s body was obliterated by an expanding energon grid, but his spark survived the process and was placed in a new body. {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}}
** [[Inferno (Energon)|Inferno]] was destroyed when he threw himself into a star, but his spark was salvaged by the Autobots and, again, placed in a new body. {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
** And finally, Megatron (Galvatron, whatever) threw himself into Primus's new energon sun to prevent Unicron from possessing him, killing himself yet again. {{storylink|The Sun}} This death was so inconsequential that his subsequent resurrection wasn't even explained! {{storylink|Fallen (episode)|Fallen}}

===Consumption===
{{bigquote|...If we don't find the Matrix, some bad guy's gonna ''eat'' us! Right?|Longtooth, "[[Deadly Obsession]]"}}

[[Image:Wreckers Mutants.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The shocking death of the barely-seen guys with hardly any lines!]]
[[Image:Rocky mecannibal bartender marvel uk 240.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Cannibalism is hilarious, kids!]]

Quite a few critters in the multiverse are equipped to devour giant robots. Being eaten (and, presumably, digested) generally proves fatal:
* In the G1 cartoon:
** Various life forms were routinely devoured by the [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticon]]s on Quintessa. This included [[Kranix]], a mechanical life form, though not a Transformer. [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] and [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] would have suffered this fate as well, but fought their way free. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Quite a few Transformers found their way into Unicron's gullet, though many survived the experience. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comic:
** The [[Mecannibal]]s ate robots routinely, including quite a few Transformers during their sojourn on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} {{storylink|Out to Lunch!}} There is some indication that they could actually reconstitute their victims from their "recycled" parts, though this is never explicitly shown. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
** Unicron skewered [[Brainstorm]] and ate him. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The subsurface-dwelling [[demon]]s devoured [[Runabout]]. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The Swarm "devoured" innumerable Cybertronian troopers and a handful of older-generation Transformers as well, though this was through a molecular process almost akin to incineration. {{storylink|Swarm (issue)|Swarm}} {{storylink|Total War!}} {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* The Sharkticons killed two of the [[Mutant (BW)|Mutant]]s by gobbling them up. Or ripping them apart. Or both. We don't really know. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

===Disassembly===
[[Image:Jazz DyingAction.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"HERE'S what I think of your resemblance to your G1 counterpart!"]]

Taking a Transformer apart into its component parts can occasionally kill them:
* Marvel comics:
**[[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] met this fate in an alternate future, when Swoop used a machine to pull him apart into his component pieces. {{storylink|Another Time and Place}}
**A future version of Ultra Magnus may have been killed when a group of Decepticons mobbed him and ripped him up. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)}}
* Movie continuity:
**Being ripped in half killed [[Jazz (Movie)|Jazz]]. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}
**[[Ravage (ROTF)|Ravage]] was killed when Bumblebee ripped his spine out, tearing him apart.
* [[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]: [[Pyro]] was torn apart and killed while making a final stand against a mass of generic Decpticons.
*[[Prime (cartoon)|Prime cartoon]]: When fighting [[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]]'s zombie army, [[Ratchet (Prime)|Ratchet]] recommended dissection to [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus]] to"cut" them down to size. How this is more effective then just blasting the living slag out of them is still up for debate.

===Decapitation===
{{main|Decapitation}}

[[Image:Cyclonus death.jpg|thumb|right|150px| "CHUK!" is good, but I could really go for a "Shakkooosh" right about now.]]

Sometimes cutting a Transformer's head off is fatal. Sometimes!
* In the Marvel comics:
** The Megatron clone killed Cyclonus by ripping his head off. {{storylink|Dry Run!}}
** Several of the Wreckers were killed by having their heads ripped or blasted off, including Twin Twist and Topspin, respectively. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars}}
** [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] had his head cut off by a propeller fired by [[Leadfoot (G2)|Leadfoot]], presumably (given the ''Generation 2'' book's emphasis on body count) killing him. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** Characters frequently die by decapitation of some form: [[Bonecrusher (Movie)|Bonecrusher]], {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and [[Grindor (ROTF)|Grindor]]. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
** Decapitation was an inconvenience for [[Frenzy (Movie)|Frenzy]] the first time. The second time, when the blow actually destroyed most of his head, was fatal.

===Vivisection===
[[Image:VictoryUKAnnual.JPG|thumb|right|150px| Ahhhh, there we go...]]

{{bigquote|I have no desire to be carved up into Auto-sushi.|Tracks, "[[Make Tracks]]"}}

Getting chopped in half is pretty graphic for a kids' story, even one about robots, so it doesn't happen very often.
* Marvel comics: In a dream sequence, [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] slices [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] in half, killing him. {{storylink|Victory!}}
* Japanese G1 cartoon: [[Predaking]] gets sliced in half by Dai Atlas. The strike dissects what appears to be an organic brain in his head. {{storylink|Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!}}
* ''Beast Wars Metals'': Terrorsaur was killed by being sliced in half by Primal's mace. {{storylink|Raise the Curtain for Beast Wars Metals!!}}
* Movie continuity: [[Sideways (ROTF)|Sideways]] dies when [[Sideswipe (ROTF)|Sideswipe]] slices his car mode in two. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Destruction of brain===
{{bigquote|Next strike in the neural cluster, yes? Weakest spot on ''all'' Transformers...|[[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], "[[Fire on High!]]"}}

In the early days of the franchise, a Transformer's life force was sometimes understood to be entirely contained within their [[brain module]], most prominently in the Marvel comics. Destroying the brain would kill the Transformer. This premise was eventually passed over in favor of the more esoteric concept of [[spark]]s.
* In the Marvel comics:
** In an alternate future, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] is blasted by [[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], who kills him by extracting and crushing his brain module. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** The [[Throttlebot]]s ''avoid'' death by having their brain modules removed from their bodies shortly before their bodies are destroyed (by crushing). {{storylink|Toy Soldiers!}}
** [[Brawl (G1)|Brawl]] was apparentlly killed when Megatron crushed his head and, by extension, his brain. {{storylink|Gone But Not Forgotten!}} He got better.

===Destruction of spark===
{{bigquote|RAW energon! Right through your twisted spark!|Depth Charge to Rampage, "[[Nemesis Part 1]]"}}

[[Image:Skyfallwontbethereforit.jpg|thumb|right|200px|And then he hung Skyfall from his ceiling.]]

Getting stabbed right through the spark is almost always fatal:
* In ''Beast Wars'': The supposedly immortal Rampage was killed when Depth Charge pierced his spark with an energon blade. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}
* ''[[Transcendent Technomorph|TransTech]]'': [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] died when [[Alpha Trion (SG)|Alpha Trion]] rammed his sword right through his chest. {{storylink|Transcendent: Part 6}}
*Energon: [[Constructicon Maximus]] was killed when [[Storm Jet (Energon)|Storm Jet]] impaled and crushed his spark.
* ''Cybertron'': Galvatron died after being impaled with [[Rhisling]] by Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Unfinished}}
* Movie continuity: Optimus Prime died from a stab wound through the chest, quickly followed by a cannon blast through the spark chamber from Megatron's swordcannon weapon.[[The Fallen]] also met his end when Optimus punched through his chest and crushed his spark. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* ''Beast Machines'' continuity: [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] - already reduced to a spark within the matrix - ceased to be when Megatron annihilated his spark from existence. {{storylink|Singularity Ablyss}}
* [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|Titan's Movie comics]]: Transformers have forcefields shielding their sparks, which can be externalized to protect bodywork. Jazz loved doing this, leaving him far more vulnerable to death by destruction of spark than he would otherwise be. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 6|Lost in Space 4: Jazz}}

===Loss of spark===
{{bigquote|Warning. Further expenditure will result in permanent loss of spark. Stasis lock ''must'' commence.|[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]]'s internal computer, "[[Code of Hero]]"}}

Sometimes sparks can survive outside of a body; sometimes they cannot. In the Beast Era, there is some indication that a spark left outside a body will soon begin to return to the Matrix/AllSpark/another dimension.
* When Dinobot expires after his final battle, his Spark is seen exiting his body. The implication is that a sufficiently damaged body can no longer hold a spark within this dimension. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* ''Beast Machines'' subsequently showed living sparks existing outside of bodies on a regular basis. The sparkless bodies were simply considered shells, rather than "dead".
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Prowl dies when he intentionally relinquishes his own spark. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}
* Movie continuity: Jetfire rips out his own spark chamber to give Optimus a fighting chance. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Energy overload===
{{bigquote|We may need energon for power, but this is too much of a good thing.|[[Optimus Primal]], "[[Beast Wars (Part 1)]]"}}

[[Image:TFAnimated transformandrollout DEATH.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Death — the Optimus version of a power nap.]]
[[Image:Underbaseallmine.jpg|thumb|right|200px|He's got an Underbase in his underpants.]]

The average [[human]] needs a lot of [[water]] to survive. But too much water results in [[wikipedia:Water intoxication|a horrible death]]. Similarly, Transformers need energy to survive, but too much of it can be a very bad thing. Sometimes it's just plain old energy; other times it some special god-like force that does them in.
* In the Marvel comics:
** An [[Underbase]]-empowered Starscream slaughtered dozens of Transformers with energy blasts, {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}} which reportedly burned out millions of their microchips. {{storylink|Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?}} Some Transformers were seen to recover from these attacks, either via conventional repairs {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} or through the power of [[nucleon]]. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
** Starscream himself was killed when he absorbed all the energies of the Underbase. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] was apparently killed when struck by a blast of energy from the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]], though the physical effect was more like being hit by an especially powerful laser blast. {{storylink|All Fall Down (issue)}}

* ''Super-God Masterforce'' cartoon: [[Sixknight]] died from an overcharge of BlackZarak's Devil Power. {{storylink|Malevolent and Inhuman! The True Form of Devil Z}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runabout]] dies when one of the [[Reaper]]s zaps him full of energy, causing him to explode from within. {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* Movie continuity: [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] was killed when [[Sam Witwicky]] shoved the [[AllSpark]] into his chest. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)|Transformers}}
* ''Transformers Animated'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] got caught in an explosion of [[AllSpark]] energy that may have been sufficient to kill him, although he also fell off a very tall building immediately afterwards (Starscream was caught in the same explosion and survived, but was knocked offline for an unspecified period.)

===Energy depletion===
On rare occasion, Transformers can simply run out of energy completely and expire.
* Marvel comics: the ancient [[Overlord (rank)|Overlord]] died from a lack of energy. {{storylink|State Games}}
* Movie continuity: [[Jetfire (ROTF)|Jetfire]] explains that a lack of energon causes the Transformer equivalent of aging, such as rusting joints, mental confusion, and pieces falling apart, followed by an indefinite period of stasis that can only be reversed by an infusion of Allspark energy. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Suicide===
Sometimes a Transformers kills himself for some reason.
* Marvel comics
** Megatron seemingly killed himself using a [[space bridge]] though it was later revealed that he survived.
** Dirge and Nightbeat self destructed and destroyed themselves in a last ditch attempt to destroy the Swarm.
* Beast Wars
** [[Tigerhawk]] sacrificed himself by hurling himself in the way of a fusion cannon blast from the Nemesis.
* Energon: Galvatron, Starscream, and [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Mirage]] threw themselves into a sun and vaporized themselves. [[Cyclonus (Armada)|Snow Cat]] and Demolisher may have also done this.

==Non-fatal deactivation==
{{quote|"You mean he's still alive?!" "No! But neither is he what you would term 'dead'!"|[[Spider-Man]] and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], "[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

[[Image:Zombiesbackfromthedead.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Braiiiiiin mooooodulllllles....]]

For almost every single cause of death listed above, there's been one or more Transformers who have survived it, sometimes without so much as a period of unconsciousness.

In particular, "deactivation" is the Transformers equivalent of being in a coma. Numerous Transformers are seen to enter this state and eventually recover, such as the Autobots deactivated by Shockwave {{storylink|The Last Stand}}, who later were repaired. However, the line between death and deactivation is a blurry one. Sometimes the two words are used interchangeably, even in reference to characters who are later revived. Most of Starscream's Underbase victims were described as deactivated, and were sometimes lamented as "dead" while at other times were shown undergoing repairs. {{storylink|Back from the Dead}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}

"[[Stasis lock]]" would eventually give a more concrete name to the state of deactivation. The inert Transformers on the crashed Ark were retconned as being in stasis lock. Various ''Beast Wars'' characters would go into stasis lock to maintain their spark when their body had sustained too much damage from weaponsfire or energon absorption. ''Animated'' showed a crew of Autobots voluntarily entering protective stasis lock in anticipation of a crash landing.

Some of the quasi-fatal things which can cause a Transformer to "deactivate" include:

===Impact trauma===
Smashing into something usually knocks out a Transformer, but almost never actually kills them:
* The crew of the original Ark is deactivated when the ship crashes on Earth and lies inert for 4 million years {{storylink|More than Meets the Eye, Part 1}} {{storylink|The Transformers (issue)}}
* Marvel comics: [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] falls to his "death", but is patched together and talking again in short order. {{storylink|Prisoner of War!}}

===Decapitation===
[[Image:Sentinelprimeanimatedhumiliated.jpg|thumb|200px|In the movie continuity, this would've been fatal. In ''Animated'', it's just embarrassing.]]

{{bigquote|Anyone who can lop your head off in one blow is alright by me!|[[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] jokes about [[Cloudburst]]'s near-death experience, "[[Recipe for Disaster!]]"}}

Like we said before, decapitation is sometimes fatal... and other times it isn't.
* Marvel comic:
** Optimus Prime was able to survive as just a head when Shockwave separated it from his body in an effort to get the Creation Matrix. {{storylink|The New Order}}
**[[Cloudburst]] was abruptly decapitated by sword, but was just fine after some repairs. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
* G1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was disassembled into his component parts, but functioned just fine as nothing more than a head once [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] connected a few wires. {{storylink|City of Steel}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] survives having his head blasted or otherwise knocked off multiple times {{storylink|Spider's Game}} {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}} {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)}} {{storylink|Code of Hero}}, and even put it back on himself one time. He even accidently swapped heads with Megatron once. Megatron was not amused. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]] was just fine when one of the Reapers whacked his head off. (He didn't fare so well when another Reaper crushed his head with a boulder, however.) {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Decapitated victims of the ''Animated'' [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] rarely show any ill effects other than not having a body anymore. {{storylink|Headmaster (episode)|Headmaster}} {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}} {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

===Dismemberment===
Transformers get ripped to pieces all the time, and recover from it:
* Marvel comic: Scorponok tears [[Tantrum]] to pieces. [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] slices [[Horri-Bull]] in half at the waist. Both are seen alive later on. {{storylink|Cold War!}}
* Last Stand of the Wreckers: [[Guzzle]] is torn in half by [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] and is easily repaired.

===Spark removal===
{{bigquote|His spark can't exist outside a living body!|[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]], "[[Optimal Situation]]"}}

A Transformer's spark—their "soul", their living essence—can be removed from their body, or the body can be destroyed around them
* The destruction of Starscream's body, and his subsequent survival as a ghost, was eventually retconned to be his Spark enduring without a physical form. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Tigatron and Airazor's sparks spent quite some time wandering around behind Tigerhawk, before combining and entering his body. {{storylink|Other Victories}}

* In the ''Beast Machines'' cartoon:
** Megatron de-sparked most of Cybertron's population and stored their sparks in a big barrel. Most were restored to bodies eventually. {{storylink|Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}}
** Blackarachnia's spark wandered around bodiless for a time. {{storylink|Revelations Part III: Apocalypse}}
** Megatron himself, his spark in a depolarized state, wandered the surface of Cybertron without a body for a time. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}

The treatment of bodiless sparks in ''Beast Machines'' is seen by some fans as contradicting the canon established by ''Beast Wars'', particularly the quote above.

===Limbo===
Sometimes Transformers get shunted out of creation as we know it, and into various alternate, sub- and non-dimensions.
* Marvel comics:
** The [[Trans-Time Dimensional Portal]] crosses [[unspace]], "a bit of dimensional nothingness" where Ratchet and Megatron vanished and were believed dead. {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}
** Transformers mass-displaced by time travel wind up in a formless dimension known as [[Limbo]].
* IDW comics: Megatron severely damaged Optimus Prime in battle and planned on finishing him off by crushing his [[Laser core|spark core]]. Optimus Prime feigned death by downloading his "consciousness" into his [[Combat Deck|trailer section]], causing his [[Brain Center|robot mode]] to appear dead. In the time it took for Prime's consciousness to transfer to his trailer, he briefly entered [[infraspace|limbo]], the transitional infraspace between life and death. {{storylink|Escalation (IDW)|Escalation}}
*Generation 1 cartoon:
**Come on, we all know what REALLY happened to the likes of Seaspray and Tracks.

==Resuscitation==
Robots are machines. They can be switched off, taken apart, blown to bits, and put back together. Ergo, in many continuities and cases, "death" is not nearly as permanent a condition as it is for us fragile fleshy types.

===Reconstruction===
[[Image:PeoplePower-reprogrammed.jpg|thumb|right|250px| ]]

{{bigquote|I've done it! Optimus Prime lives!|A random Quintesson, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]"}}

* Generation 1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was simply ''repaired'' back to life by a Quintesson. Some fixing of this and that, a burst of power, and boom, suddenly he was alive again. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}}
* Marvel Comics: Optimus Prime's mind was encoded on a disk. After a new [[Powermaster]] body was constructed for him, the disk's contents were loaded into it, and Optimus Prime lived again. (One wonders why they couldn't make as many Optimus Primes as they pleased.) {{storylink|People Power!}}

===Spark transfer===
Transferring a Transformer's spark into a new body constitutes a form of resurrection, particularly if the Transformer's previous body was destroyed.
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Optimus Primal was restored to life when Rhinox managed to recall his spark from the Matrix, a special circumstance only enabled by a temporary window into transwarp space. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* "Beast Machines" various Vehicon generals were brought to life by placing other Transformer's sparks into them.
* ''Armada'' Smokescreen was shot through the chest at point blank range by the Requiem Blaster {{storylink|Sacrifice}} but his spark survived and was put into a new body. {{storylink|Regeneration}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Inferno and Demolishor both had their bodies ''atomized''; however, their sparks both survived, and were placed into new bodies. (The upshot of all of this is that it's nigh-impossible to kill a Unicron Trilogy Transformer, unless they do it themselves.) {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}} {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: The spark of a dying [[Yoketron]] was placed into a new protoform body by [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]; however, Yoketron consciously chose to let his life end, and expired anyway. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}}

==="Magical" substances===
* Marvel Comics: The miraculous healing properties of Nucleon brought many Autobots back to life, as well as a few Decepticons. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Megatron was revived by the all-encompassing power of energon, as was Unicron. {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}

===Primus and Primus-related powers===
{{bigquote|Where the Last Autobot is concerned, even death, it would appear, is an abstract concept!|Optimus Prime explains his latest revival, "[[End of the Road! (US)|End of the Road!]]"}}

Anything tied to the primordial life-force of the Transformers' god Primus tends to be a cure-all for death. This includes Primus himself, his various power-wielding avatars and servants, and the assorted Matrixes and Allsparks, all of which can deliver an infusion of the essence of life itself. In some continuities, this is parsed as a Transformer's spark being brought back out of the Allspark dimension.

[[Image:RageInHeaven-HeroPrime.jpg|thumb|right|150px|]]

* In the Marvel comics:
** The [[Last Autobot]] was granted the power of recreation by Primus, which he used to raise numerous fallen Autobots from the battlefield. {{storylink|End of the Road! (US)}}
** Optimus Prime was eager to find the lost Creation Matrix, stating that it would be able to restore many deactivated warriors to life. {{storylink|Bird of Prey!}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the [[Swarm (G2)|Swarm]] after it had ingested the energies and knowledge of the Matrix. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** The Allspark is shown repeatedly to be capable of restoring just about anything. Frenzy gets a whole new body from its power, {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and Megatron is restored to life by merely a fragment of it. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the Matrix of Leadership, an Allspark-related talisman. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

* ''Beast Machines'' cartoon: [[Optimus Primal]]'s body was destroyed, but the AllSpark granted him the choice of uniting with it or being reborn. He chose the latter, and ''poof'', just walked right out of the Oracle bubble in a brand new version of his previous body. {{storylink|Fallout}}
* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] was brought back to life by the power of the [[Mini-Con]]s after his body was disintegrated. {{storylink|Miracle}}
* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] was resurrected when he and his gestaltmates were combined together and reborn by Primus into [[Nexus Prime]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 5}} Nexus Prime then brought [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] back from the other side of the Allspark and infused him with some of Primus's power to become Galvatron. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 6}}

===Zombies===
* Dude, [[zombie]]s!

==Immortality==
===Immortal sparks===
Certain sparks have mutant qualities that allow them to, potentially, exist forever.
* Starscream survived his death at the hands of Galvatron; this was later explained as him having a "mutant indestructible spark". {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}} {{storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] was created as an attempt to duplicate Starscream's immortal spark. {{storylink|Bad Spark}} He was eventually killed by [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]], so the attempt may be seen as unsuccessful. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

===Other===
* [[Multiversal singularity|Multiversal singularities]] such as [[Unicron]] and [[The Fallen]] can be killed off in one dimension, only to still be alive and well in another (or many others), due to the varying properties of different dimensions (reverse-time, dimensions, for example are key to revival of the singularities).
* ''Animated'' [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] could not be killed so long as he retained his Allspark fragment embedded in his forehead.
* Denizens of the [[Dead Universe]] could essentially regenerate themselves out of nothing, no matter how much damage was inflicted on them.
* Thunderwing's Pretender shell seemed to make him near invincible. At the very lest able to withstand incredible amounts of salvo and not even flinch.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] can never completely die no matter what for some reason.

==Out-of-fiction causes of character death==
===Drama / character culmination===
At its best, character death can be a moving plot development, the fruition of an ongoing character arc.
* Suspecting that they would have to remove a character from the show, the writers of ''Beast Wars'' began planning for Dinobot's death several episodes ahead of time. Thus, when it came, it was the outcome of the character's own choices, flaws, and history, and played a crucial role in the show's plot. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* Sunstreaker's death in ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' is intended to follow a similar style of arc... only it's missing the whole choices, flaws and history thing. Oh well!
* Optimus Primal's death(s) in ''Beast Machines'' are likewise the outcome of his own choices and character. {{storylink|End of the Line}} {{storylink| Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}} His death in ''Beast Wars'', by contrast, was more a moment of dramatic pathos -- knowingly walking into danger, his enemy got the better of him. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}

===Consequences of war===
It's hard to take a war story seriously when nobody actually dies. The reality of war can be more readily portrayed when characters die. [[Generic]]s are particularly handy for this, allowing death to be shown while not removing primary characters (retail toys!) from the story. The results can range from high drama and pathos to numbingly pointless body counts.
* Impactor's death was used to drive home the threat of the Decepticons as well as the risks taken by the Autobots and their commanders. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
* The ''Generation 2'' book featured several deaths which drove home the realities of war. Most notably, Red Alert's destruction served to make Grimlock acutely aware of just how badly he'd screwed up. {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}}

===Increased threat===
An enemy that kills is an enemy to be taken seriously. Thus a writer will frequently throw in some preliminary deaths to point out how seriously the bad guy should be treated.
* The generic who dies at the beginning of "[[City of Fear!]]" serves to show the zombies as a true life-threatening menace.
* Likewise for Runabout's death at the hands of the demons ; {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}} knowing they can devour a Transformer makes the reader more concerned about the Dinobots' subsequent fate. {{storylink|Still Life!}}
* In "[[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]", [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] makes corpses in practically every scene he's in!

===Cast thinning===
Transformers stories are notorious for acquiring gigantic casts as they roll on; Generation 1 was particularly notorious for this because of its longevity. A simple way to make things more manageable was simply to kill off large numbers of characters in battle. Examples are rife in the fiction, especially the Marvel Comics.

* In the Marvel comics:
** The "[[Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars]]" storyline got rid of the [[Wrecker]]s and quite a few Decepticons as well.
** The [[Underbase Saga]] even more explicitly cleared out dozens of characters, leaving perhaps 2 dozen characters from each faction in the story.
** The battle with Unicron in "[[On the Edge of Extinction!]]" likewise got rid of a lot of older characters, leaving the story free to concentrate on more of a core cast (and associated newer toy characters.)
* [[Betrayal|Wreckers #2]] dealt with its oversized cast by killing off scads of characters right up front.

===Clear space for new toys===
{{main|To sell toys}}

Some fiction has an inherently limited capacity for characters. ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines'' are by far the most prominent examples; their CGI animation made character animation expensive and necessitated removing an old character before a new one could be brought in. But any medium can be susceptible to this toy-driven phenomena.
* The numerous casualties of "[[The Transformers: The Movie]]" were fairly explicitly removed from the story to make way for a wave of new toy/characters.
* Terrorsaur and Scorponok had to be removed -- quickly -- to make room for the two upcoming Fuzor characters, hence their sudden, blink-and-you-miss-it death in "[[Aftermath]]".
* Airazor and Tigatron were removed for similar reasons. When their plot was finally resolved, it was, surprise, via [[Tigerhawk|a new toy]]!

==Fleshling death==
In general, ''Transformers'' fiction is pretty squeamish about showing the deaths of Earth's organic creatures. But it's a war, and sometimes it does happen. The out-of-universe reasons generally fall into three categories: Consequences of War, Emotional Pathos, and BLOOD IZ KEWL.

The various cartoons tend to show organic death the least, as they are most clearly aimed at, and easily accessible by, children. Comics tend to be less reluctant to show the impact of the Transformers' war on innocent lives, though the death rate varies by series. Latter-day Generation 1 books especially revel in high body counts, because squishing stupid humans is killer and awesome and radical and hardcore. Even the occasional [[Satellite of Doom|children's storybook]] has been known to off mass quantities of the dumb fleshies.

===Animal death===
[[Image:MurderedPuppy02.jpg|right|150px|thumb|One dead dog]]

[[Image:Sparkwar3 Dead noble.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Two dead dogs]]

Cute little animals are almost always killed off for reasons of Emotional Pathos:
* A little girl's pet puppy named [[Pis]] barked at [[Wilder]] and was kicked so hard he died. {{storylink|Rage!! Little Devils with No Need for Rules}}
* The [[Murdered puppy]] was shot down by the Decepticons after running away from Megatron's experiments. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 8|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #8}}
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] once reminded [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] that [[The Fallen]] once shot down a ship full of [[Antilian bumble-puppy|Antilian bumble-puppies]]. (Decepticons have a thing for killing puppies.)
* The puppy-like [[Noble]] was shot at by [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] because of his hatred for organics {{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. III: The Siege}} and was later mourned by his "owner", [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}.
* A stray shot from [[Tigatron]] accidentally caused an avalanche which killed his friend [[Snowstalker]]. {{storylink|Law of the Jungle}}
* "[[Law of the Jungle]]" also portrays the deaths of four different forest animals (a bug is eaten by a frog, which is eaten by a snake, which is taken off to be eaten by a bird. Later, an orange tiger kills an antelope). This is a rare "Consequences of War" example.
* [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] also once ate an eagle, {{storylink|Power Surge}} while [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] ate a cute little rat {{storylink|Victory (episode)|Victory}}, and nearly ate an antelope as well. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* In order to save [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] had to fight a saber-toothed tiger off a cliff killing it. {{Storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] used [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel]]'s shield to knock a spikey rock onto a giant spider effectively killing it. She later used [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus]]' axe to kill some new born baby spiders. {{Storylink|Along Came a Spider}}
* Human villain [[Trophy White]] had a grisly display of stuffed and mounted animal heads. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}}

{{-}}
===Human death===
[[Image:Razorclawshootsahuman.jpg|right|thumb|150px|This didn't happen much.]]

* Marvel US: The [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|original Marvel book]] ignored or glossed over human casualties, which were rarely if ever shown; the panel at right, from [[Toy Soldiers!|US #37]], shows a ''very'' unusual instance of a human dying right in front of us. One of the few human(oid)s to die on-panel was [[Galen]], killed off to make way for [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]]. ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' was much more explicit about human death, as Bludgeon and later [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] attacked Earth for the purpose of inflicting casualties.
* Marvel UK: The UK-original stories were much less reluctant to show human death; within the first year or so, humans had died in Autobot-induced car wrecks and at the hands of mind-controlled Autobots.
* In every US-aired cartoon series, humans essentially ''never'' die. Even ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Transformers Animated]]'', which features the city of [[Detroit]] getting smashed by robot battles virtually every week, never once mentions humans getting killed.
* Contemporary toyline-based comics (''[[Armada (Dreamwave comic)|Armada]]'', ''[[Energon (comic)|Energon]]'') seem to follow a similar policy, avoiding mention of human death -- even when human cities are being directly attacked, as in "[[Multiplicity, Pt. 2]]".
* Japanese cartoons, by contrast, don't seem to mind showing human deaths (or [[Pis|dog deaths]], for that matter).
* The [[Dreamwave Generation One continuity|Dreamwave G1 comics]] really thought it was totally awesome and cool and radical to kill off those stupid humans. Thus, they start off with Megatron smushing some stupid humans. More smushing and killing and blowing up follows. DIE, dumb stubbies, DIE!
* [[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW comics]] managed to avoid this for a long time, showing human death only when it was particularly integral to the plot... then ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' came down the pike. DIE, stupid fleshies, DIE!
* The live-action [[movie continuity]] implies a great deal of human death. ''Revenge'' mentions a body count of over 9,000, and massive damage is done during the battle of [[Mission City]], though little of it is shown on screen. And of course, the first film begins with Blackout wiping out an entire military base. A handful of humans are killed directly on-screen, most notably [[Patrick Donnelly|Donnelly]].
* The alternate timeline arc in Titan's Movie comic featured big wars on Earth and lots of destruction, clearly ''insinuating'' human death while not being explicit. The exceptions were in [[Transformers Comic issue 10|issue 10]], where [[NATO]] is said to be suffering losses of 11,506 and the [[France|Palais Bourbon]] is blown up when people are still clearly inside. [[Sam Witwicky]], meanwhile, was stated to have died.
[[Image:Convoy-kablooie.jpg|right|thumb|150px|They'll, uh, be okay, maybe.]]
* Titan quite blatantly stated that the [[Free Men]] had caused great loss of life at an air base, a rare example of humans killing humans. In the same story, [[Robert Epps]] opened fire on militia men, which kinda implies he was killing them. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}} Similarly, [[Wheelie (ROTF)|Wheelie]] of all people was seen zapping humans at close range during a Decepticon attack; with no "oh it was a stun beam" handwave and the 'Cons not pulling punches, it sure seems like he's murdered 'em! {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.6|Outlaw Blues}}
* In ''[[Kiss Players (franchise)|Kiss Players]]'', several [[Kiss Player]]s were seen being devoured by Legions.
* In [[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|''Transformers: Prime'']] episode "[[Convoy (episode)|Convoy]]," a group of cars being driven by [[MECH|human terrorists]] crash and flip over each other and explode. Previously, [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus Prime]] had ordered his Autobots to engage only with non-lethal force.
{{-}}

==Characters who die a lot==
* [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|Optimus Prime]]
* [[Dirge (G1)]] — the unlucky guy who gets [[:Image:Dirge DeathSerpentor.jpg|killed]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathSwarm.jpg|off]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathTimelines.jpg|in]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathUnicron.jpg|many]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathArmada.jpg|continuities]]
* [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] — the unlucky guy who gets killed over and over in the same continuity, but doesn't seem to mind.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] — the unlucky guy from ''[[Beast Wars (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'' who gets sliced, diced, and fricasseed every other episode only to be fully functional in time to get [[Slag (slang)|slagged]] ''again''. But he never actually dies.
* [[Cy-Kill (disambiguation)|Cy-Kill]], a Go-Bots character transferred to many Transformers comics just to be killed off violently. For no other reason than the lolz of ending his toyline, his universe, and finally his life... repeatedly.
* [[Sentinel Prime (G1)]] — the unlucky [[Prime (rank)|Prime]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime lou.jpg|who]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime dw.jpg|must]] [[Megatron Origin issue 4|die]].
* [[Starscream (Animated)]] - the unlucky guy that constantly gets killed, decapitated, or maimed by others, only to be brought back to life.

==See also==
* [[Transformer funerary practices]]
* [[To sell toys]]

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Transformer anatomy]]

Death

2011-03-09T02:20:00Z

174.96.255.90: /* Disassembly */

{{disambig2|the end of life|the Horseman of Unicron|Airazor (Armada)}}

[[Image:Battleofautobotcity.jpg|right|300px|thumb|And lo, the children did weep.]]

''Transformers'' is a children's franchise, but at its core, it's a story of war. This means that the '''death''' of major and minor characters sometimes figures into the fiction.

Given the ambiguous nature of [[Transformer]] physiology, there is very little consistency regarding what is fatal to a Transformer, even within a single storyline. Damage that one Transformer might shrug off can prove fatal to another, or even to the same character in a different story. Sometimes just a laser blast or two will do the trick. Other times, characters survive being melted, crushed into cubes, and even utterly disintegrated. It does not take a terribly cynical viewer to conclude that the threshold of survival is generally determined by the needs of the plot.

The out-of-universe reasons for a character's death can vary from plot development to the arrival of [[To sell toys|new toys]]. Conveniently enough for writers who are beholden to the whims of a toy company, the majority of Transformers characters are machines, which means that death isn't necessarily permanent. Across the various universes, characters that appear to have been killed have been known to pop up alive again at a later date, or go through some sort of resurrection.

{{quote|"How can you all be so cold and unfeeling? He died a hero!" "Don't you even have mechanical hearts?" "The humans don't understand! Our form of life is vastly different from theirs!"|[[Spider-Man]], [[Sparkplug Witwicky]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]|"[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

==In-fiction causes of death==
[[Image:DEATH.jpg|left|thumb|400px|[[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] is just as puzzled as the rest of us.]]

There is little consistency in what can kill a Transformer. Sometimes it takes just a shot. Other times, even totally annihilating a Transformer's body still doesn't do the trick. Even the most basic method of killing, which is to destroy or otherwise cause the loss of a Transformer's [[spark]], varies quite a bit in its details from story to story, character to character, and series to series.
{{--}}
===Weaponsfire===
{{quote|This was almost too easy, Starscream!|[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (like the fandom) is surprised to find how easily Autobots die, ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''}}

[[Image:Tftm1986a.jpg|right|200px|thumb|We're here aboard the Autobot shuttle, where we've secretly replaced Brawn's hyper-dense metal armor plating with styrene plastic. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference.]]

[[Image:TFTM UltraMagnus dies.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Prepare for your death today. Yer gonna die!!]]

[[Image:Magnusdeath.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ow! Hey! Cut it out, guys! That hurts!]]

[[Image:Blades1.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Sorry, nameless guy, your generic nature means you will never be miraculously resurrected.]]

Like humans, Transformers can be killed by damage caused by energy, projectile, and chemical weapons. Just how many shots it takes is widely variable, however.
* In the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]]:
** Many casualties of the [[Battle of Autobot City]] (and its run-up), including [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], were victims of energy weapons. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} This was quite a change from the cartoon's M.O., wherein the same characters routinely got shot and blasted all the time and shrugged it off, or at worst spent some time in the repair bay. Brawn and Prowl both went down after ''one shot''.
** [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] subsequently "dies" after being shot a few times by the [[Sweep]]s, exploding into pieces. He is soon revived by the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]], however. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Ultra Magnus dies ''again'', for real this time, after [[Sixshot]] shoots him a few times. {{storylink|Ultra Magnus Dies!!}}

* In the [[Marvel Comics continuity|Marvel comics]]:
** [[Impactor]] was cut down by a single head shot from [[Macabre]]. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
** Most deaths in the ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' book occurred from energy weapons, such as [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]], {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}} as well as numerous generics. {{storylink|War Without End!}} Quite a few victims exploded spectacularly after being shot, including [[Tantrum]] {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}}, [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]], [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] {{storylink|New Dawn}}, and [[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]]{{storylink|Escalation!}}.

* In the ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' cartoon:
** [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] dies after incurring severe damage from numerous [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] weapons. {{storylink|Code of Hero}} The apparent cause of his demise is his refusal to enter protective [[stasis lock]], as other characters have survived similar or worse levels of damage.
** [[Tigerhawk]] is disintegrated by the main cannon of the starship ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]''. The same cannon subsequently blasts [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] and [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]], apparently killing them, though their "death" may be permanent simply because there was nobody around to put them back together. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 2}}

* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] dies holding back the [[Hydra Cannon]], the damage causing him to [[:Image:Sshot-arm-39-4.jpg|crumble to dust]]. {{storylink|Crisis}}

* [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]] G1 comics: [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] is killed by an assassin's blast. {{storylink|The Age of Wrath issue 1}} He got better. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 3}}

* [[Movie continuity]]: [[Brawl (Movie)|Brawl]] and [[Blackout (Movie)|Blackout]] both died from weapons fire. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}

* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] gets his face blown off/in by [[Cyclonus (SG)|Cyclonus]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 4}}
{{--}}

* [[Universe (2003 comic)|Universe]]: [[Tankor (BM)|Tankor]] was shot and killed by [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] during the final battle of the [[Universe War]].

===Big explosions===
{{bigquote|They're going to blow us all to pieces! [[Guardian (Marvel)|Guardian]]'s booby-trapped - packed with enough explosives to level this whole mountain!|[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], "[[The Wrath of Grimlock!]]"}}

Transformers characters often assume that explosions are more lethal than they really are; characters survive explosions all the time. An explosion's messy nature makes a good "out" for a writer to fake a character's death. {{storylink|The Wrath of Grimlock!}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}} Nevertheless, a few characters have been permanently killed by explosions. (This list omits characters who exploded from within, like Ultra Magnus up above.)
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]] was the victim of an interdimensionally triggered explosion that destroyed his body. (In UK continuity, he survived as a raggedy, bodiless head.) {{storylink|The Bridge to Nowhere!}}
** In an alternate future, a wounded [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] died in the fiery explosion of a crashing shuttlecraft. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** [[Finback]] was presumably killed in the explosion of a huge gun battery. [[Misfire]] tried to warn him off, and may have been killed in the same explosion. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}

* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon:
** [[Optimus Primal]] was blown to bits -- terminally so -- by the [[transwarp]] explosion that destroyed the [[Planet Buster]]. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}
** [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]] was killed by the explosion that resulted from [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]]'s death (either his exploding spark, or the exploding energon shard that pierced it.) {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

* Several of the [[Beast Era]] [[Wrecker]]s ([[Sonar (BW)|Sonar]], [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]], the [[Deployer (BM)|Deployers]]) were destroyed when part of their ship exploded with them in it. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

* Energon: [[Bruticus Maximus (Energon)|Bruticus Maximus]] and Storm Jet were killed when Storm Jet caused a massive explosion that engulfed them both.

* ''Prime'': [[Makeshift (Prime)|Makeshift]] and the surrounding [[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicon]]s were blown up by a grenade attached by the Autobots.

===Impact trauma===
Falling off a cliff or mountainside or tall building is usually just as fatal to Transformers as it is to, say... Wile E. Coyote. Only on rare occasion does it result in death:
* ''[[Classics (2006)|Classics]]'' continuity: [[Hacksaw]] met his end by falling from a huge communications tower. {{storylink|The New World}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Doubledealer]] was shot, fell off a mountain and smashed to bits on impact. {{storylink|Spotlight: Doubledealer}}
* Movie continuity:
**[[Devastator (ROTF)|Devastator]] fell off the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] after losing his balance when his arm was shot off, and he shattered to pieces as he tumbled down. ''{{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}''
** [[Barricade (Movie)|Barricade]] was smashed to pieces and killed by being flung into a freeway column. {{storylink|Movie Adaptation Issue Number Four}}
* The [[Beast (G1)|Beast]] fell off a cliff and shattered. {{storylink|The Beast Within Part 2, Consequences}} At least, we hope that's where and how it ended.
* ''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)| Prime]]'': [[Skyquake (Prime)|Skyquake]] crash-landed after [[Bumblebee (Prime)|Bumblebee]] punched out vital components in his alternate mode, reducing his body to a partially transformed scrapheap.

===Crushing===
[[Image:Edgeofextinction-hardheadbombburst.jpg|thumb|right|175px|DO NOT WANT]]
[[Image:TFAni TransWarped LongArm Cliffjumper Cube.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Before time began, there was... THE CUBE.]]

Quite a few characters have been crushed into deactivation:
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]] was smashed between [[Unicron]]'s palms, while [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] met a similar fate when they were stepped on by Unicron. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] is apparently killed when a very large building collapses on top of him. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

* [[Unicron Trilogy]] cartoons:
** [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]] is killed when caught between two folding sections of Unicron's external armor. {{storylink|Union}}
** [[Shockblast]] is crushed by Unicron's hand on [[Blizzard Planet]]. {{storylink|The Power}}
** His brother [[Six Shot]] meets a similar fate, crushed under the heel of a super-sized Galvatron. {{storylink|Galvatron Terror}}

* IDW continuity:
** [[Roller]] was crushed when Megatron caused an avanlanche to fall on him.
** [[Ruckus (G1)|Ruckus]], [[Crankcase (G1)|Crankcase]], and [[Skullcruncher]] were all crushed by [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]].

* ''Animated'' cartoon: [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]] is (possibly) killed by a garbage compactor-like crushing device. (An "out" by writer [[Derrick J. Wyatt|Derrick Wyatt]] was intended to show his still-pulsing spark within his cubified remains, but this did not make it into the show, leaving his fate ambiguous at best.) {{storylink|TransWarped}}

===Melting===
[[Image:BW Scorponok Terrorsaur deaths.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Even having a new toy couldn't save Terrorsaur!]]

[[Image:Fallout title.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Primal's diet had gone horribly wrong.]]

They're made of metal; therefore, with enough heat or sufficiently acidic material, they can melt. This is one of the more fool-proof methods of killing a Transformer; few if any have survived it.
* In the G1 cartoon:
** An acid vat would apparently have been enough to destroy Optimus Prime. {{storylink|The Search for Alpha Trion}}
** Another acid vat was used to disintegrate living victims of Unicron. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comics:
** Victims of the Deception [[smelting pool]]s on Cybertron were reduced by intense heat into their base metals, including [[Scrounge (G1)|Scrounge]]. {{storylink|The Smelting Pool!}}
** It is possible that an acid bath from (naturally) [[Blot (G1)|Blot]] offlined [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] [[Makin' Tracks!|(for a while anyway)]]. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] was partially melted by Unicron's flame-breath and subsequently died. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The [[Cybertronian (faction)|Cybertronian Empire]] used some kind of acid to rather messily eradicate some of their Decepticon ancestors, including [[Stranglehold]]. {{storylink|New Dawn}}

* In the Beast Era cartoons:
** [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] and [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] were apparently melted to death after tumbling into a lava pit within the [[Darksyde|Predacon base]]. {{storylink|Aftermath}}
** Optimus Primal's body was seemingly melted into the floor after his climactic face-off with [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]. Considering how many god-like forces were unleashed and conflicting during the battle, his demise may be due to more than simple temperature-induced melting. {{storylink|Fallout}}

===Incineration===
{{bigquote|I saw the end! They died in a cosmic funeral pyre!|[[Shawn Berger]], "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2]]"}}

[[Image:Armada 52 - Prime hangon to Galvatron.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Galvatron died to save everyone and came back ''twice''—you lose, [[Jesus]]!]]

Plasma, energy fields, and stellar atmospheres can all utterly destroy a Transformer's body. Like being melted, being reduced to one's component molecules would seem to be a surefire way of getting killed, but quite a few characters seem able to survive the process as ghosts and/or disembodied sparks:
* Generation 1 cartoon: [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]'s spectacular death at the hands of [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] might be categorized as incineration. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* Quite a few characters met this fate in the Unicron Trilogy, but all survived it in some fashion:
** [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]]'s spark persisted within his burnt-out body when he was dropped into the exploding Unicron. {{storylink|Mortal Combat}} {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}
** [[Demolishor (Armada)|Demolishor]]'s body was obliterated by an expanding energon grid, but his spark survived the process and was placed in a new body. {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}}
** [[Inferno (Energon)|Inferno]] was destroyed when he threw himself into a star, but his spark was salvaged by the Autobots and, again, placed in a new body. {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
** And finally, Megatron (Galvatron, whatever) threw himself into Primus's new energon sun to prevent Unicron from possessing him, killing himself yet again. {{storylink|The Sun}} This death was so inconsequential that his subsequent resurrection wasn't even explained! {{storylink|Fallen (episode)|Fallen}}

===Consumption===
{{bigquote|...If we don't find the Matrix, some bad guy's gonna ''eat'' us! Right?|Longtooth, "[[Deadly Obsession]]"}}

[[Image:Wreckers Mutants.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The shocking death of the barely-seen guys with hardly any lines!]]
[[Image:Rocky mecannibal bartender marvel uk 240.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Cannibalism is hilarious, kids!]]

Quite a few critters in the multiverse are equipped to devour giant robots. Being eaten (and, presumably, digested) generally proves fatal:
* In the G1 cartoon:
** Various life forms were routinely devoured by the [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticon]]s on Quintessa. This included [[Kranix]], a mechanical life form, though not a Transformer. [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] and [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] would have suffered this fate as well, but fought their way free. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Quite a few Transformers found their way into Unicron's gullet, though many survived the experience. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comic:
** The [[Mecannibal]]s ate robots routinely, including quite a few Transformers during their sojourn on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} {{storylink|Out to Lunch!}} There is some indication that they could actually reconstitute their victims from their "recycled" parts, though this is never explicitly shown. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
** Unicron skewered [[Brainstorm]] and ate him. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The subsurface-dwelling [[demon]]s devoured [[Runabout]]. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The Swarm "devoured" innumerable Cybertronian troopers and a handful of older-generation Transformers as well, though this was through a molecular process almost akin to incineration. {{storylink|Swarm (issue)|Swarm}} {{storylink|Total War!}} {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* The Sharkticons killed two of the [[Mutant (BW)|Mutant]]s by gobbling them up. Or ripping them apart. Or both. We don't really know. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

===Disassembly===
[[Image:Jazz DyingAction.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"HERE'S what I think of your resemblance to your G1 counterpart!"]]

Taking a Transformer apart into its component parts can occasionally kill them:
* Marvel comics:
**[[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] met this fate in an alternate future, when Swoop used a machine to pull him apart into his component pieces. {{storylink|Another Time and Place}}
**A future version of Ultra Magnus may have been killed when a group of Decepticons mobbed him and ripped him up. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)}}
* Movie continuity:
**Being ripped in half killed [[Jazz (Movie)|Jazz]]. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}
**[[Ravage (ROTF)|Ravage]] was killed when Bumblebee ripped his spine out, tearing him apart.
* [[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]: [[Pyro]] was torn apart and killed while making a final stand against a mass of generic Decpticons.
*[[Prime (cartoon)|Prime cartoon]]: When fighting [[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]]'s zombie army, [[Ratchet (Prime)|Ratchet]] recommended dissection to [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus]] to"cut" them down to size. How this is more effective then just blasting the living slag out of them is still up for debate.

===Decapitation===
{{main|Decapitation}}

[[Image:Cyclonus death.jpg|thumb|right|150px| "CHUK!" is good, but I could really go for a "Shakkooosh" right about now.]]

Sometimes cutting a Transformer's head off is fatal. Sometimes!
* In the Marvel comics:
** The Megatron clone killed Cyclonus by ripping his head off. {{storylink|Dry Run!}}
** Several of the Wreckers were killed by having their heads ripped or blasted off, including Twin Twist and Topspin, respectively. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars}}
** [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] had his head cut off by a propeller fired by [[Leadfoot (G2)|Leadfoot]], presumably (given the ''Generation 2'' book's emphasis on body count) killing him. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** Characters frequently die by decapitation of some form: [[Bonecrusher (Movie)|Bonecrusher]], {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and [[Grindor (ROTF)|Grindor]]. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
** Decapitation was an inconvenience for [[Frenzy (Movie)|Frenzy]] the first time. The second time, when the blow actually destroyed most of his head, was fatal.

===Vivisection===
[[Image:VictoryUKAnnual.JPG|thumb|right|150px| Ahhhh, there we go...]]

{{bigquote|I have no desire to be carved up into Auto-sushi.|Tracks, "[[Make Tracks]]"}}

Getting chopped in half is pretty graphic for a kids' story, even one about robots, so it doesn't happen very often.
* Marvel comics: In a dream sequence, [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] slices [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] in half, killing him. {{storylink|Victory!}}
* Japanese G1 cartoon: [[Predaking]] gets sliced in half by Dai Atlas. The strike dissects what appears to be an organic brain in his head. {{storylink|Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!}}
* ''Beast Wars Metals'': Terrorsaur was killed by being sliced in half by Primal's mace. {{storylink|Raise the Curtain for Beast Wars Metals!!}}
* Movie continuity: [[Sideways (ROTF)|Sideways]] dies when [[Sideswipe (ROTF)|Sideswipe]] slices his car mode in two. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Destruction of brain===
{{bigquote|Next strike in the neural cluster, yes? Weakest spot on ''all'' Transformers...|[[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], "[[Fire on High!]]"}}

In the early days of the franchise, a Transformer's life force was sometimes understood to be entirely contained within their [[brain module]], most prominently in the Marvel comics. Destroying the brain would kill the Transformer. This premise was eventually passed over in favor of the more esoteric concept of [[spark]]s.
* In the Marvel comics:
** In an alternate future, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] is blasted by [[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], who kills him by extracting and crushing his brain module. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** The [[Throttlebot]]s ''avoid'' death by having their brain modules removed from their bodies shortly before their bodies are destroyed (by crushing). {{storylink|Toy Soldiers!}}
** [[Brawl (G1)|Brawl]] was apparentlly killed when Megatron crushed his head and, by extension, his brain. {{storylink|Gone But Not Forgotten!}} He got better.

===Destruction of spark===
{{bigquote|RAW energon! Right through your twisted spark!|Depth Charge to Rampage, "[[Nemesis Part 1]]"}}

[[Image:Skyfallwontbethereforit.jpg|thumb|right|200px|And then he hung Skyfall from his ceiling.]]

Getting stabbed right through the spark is almost always fatal:
* In ''Beast Wars'': The supposedly immortal Rampage was killed when Depth Charge pierced his spark with an energon blade. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}
* ''[[Transcendent Technomorph|TransTech]]'': [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] died when [[Alpha Trion (SG)|Alpha Trion]] rammed his sword right through his chest. {{storylink|Transcendent: Part 6}}
*Energon: [[Constructicon Maximus]] was killed when [[Storm Jet (Energon)|Storm Jet]] impaled and crushed his spark.
* ''Cybertron'': Galvatron died after being impaled with [[Rhisling]] by Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Unfinished}}
* Movie continuity: Optimus Prime died from a stab wound through the chest, quickly followed by a cannon blast through the spark chamber from Megatron's swordcannon weapon.[[The Fallen]] also met his end when Optimus punched through his chest and crushed his spark. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* ''Beast Machines'' continuity: [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] - already reduced to a spark within the matrix - ceased to be when Megatron annihilated his spark from existence. {{storylink|Singularity Ablyss}}
* [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|Titan's Movie comics]]: Transformers have forcefields shielding their sparks, which can be externalized to protect bodywork. Jazz loved doing this, leaving him far more vulnerable to death by destruction of spark than he would otherwise be. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 6|Lost in Space 4: Jazz}}

===Loss of spark===
{{bigquote|Warning. Further expenditure will result in permanent loss of spark. Stasis lock ''must'' commence.|[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]]'s internal computer, "[[Code of Hero]]"}}

Sometimes sparks can survive outside of a body; sometimes they cannot. In the Beast Era, there is some indication that a spark left outside a body will soon begin to return to the Matrix/AllSpark/another dimension.
* When Dinobot expires after his final battle, his Spark is seen exiting his body. The implication is that a sufficiently damaged body can no longer hold a spark within this dimension. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* ''Beast Machines'' subsequently showed living sparks existing outside of bodies on a regular basis. The sparkless bodies were simply considered shells, rather than "dead".
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Prowl dies when he intentionally relinquishes his own spark. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}
* Movie continuity: Jetfire rips out his own spark chamber to give Optimus a fighting chance. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Energy overload===
{{bigquote|We may need energon for power, but this is too much of a good thing.|[[Optimus Primal]], "[[Beast Wars (Part 1)]]"}}

[[Image:TFAnimated transformandrollout DEATH.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Death — the Optimus version of a power nap.]]
[[Image:Underbaseallmine.jpg|thumb|right|200px|He's got an Underbase in his underpants.]]

The average [[human]] needs a lot of [[water]] to survive. But too much water results in [[wikipedia:Water intoxication|a horrible death]]. Similarly, Transformers need energy to survive, but too much of it can be a very bad thing. Sometimes it's just plain old energy; other times it some special god-like force that does them in.
* In the Marvel comics:
** An [[Underbase]]-empowered Starscream slaughtered dozens of Transformers with energy blasts, {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}} which reportedly burned out millions of their microchips. {{storylink|Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?}} Some Transformers were seen to recover from these attacks, either via conventional repairs {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} or through the power of [[nucleon]]. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
** Starscream himself was killed when he absorbed all the energies of the Underbase. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] was apparently killed when struck by a blast of energy from the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]], though the physical effect was more like being hit by an especially powerful laser blast. {{storylink|All Fall Down (issue)}}

* ''Super-God Masterforce'' cartoon: [[Sixknight]] died from an overcharge of BlackZarak's Devil Power. {{storylink|Malevolent and Inhuman! The True Form of Devil Z}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runabout]] dies when one of the [[Reaper]]s zaps him full of energy, causing him to explode from within. {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* Movie continuity: [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] was killed when [[Sam Witwicky]] shoved the [[AllSpark]] into his chest. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)|Transformers}}
* ''Transformers Animated'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] got caught in an explosion of [[AllSpark]] energy that may have been sufficient to kill him, although he also fell off a very tall building immediately afterwards (Starscream was caught in the same explosion and survived, but was knocked offline for an unspecified period.)

===Energy depletion===
On rare occasion, Transformers can simply run out of energy completely and expire.
* Marvel comics: the ancient [[Overlord (rank)|Overlord]] died from a lack of energy. {{storylink|State Games}}
* Movie continuity: [[Jetfire (ROTF)|Jetfire]] explains that a lack of energon causes the Transformer equivalent of aging, such as rusting joints, mental confusion, and pieces falling apart, followed by an indefinite period of stasis that can only be reversed by an infusion of Allspark energy. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Suicide===
Sometimes a Transformers kills himself for some reason.
* Marvel comics
** Megatron seemingly killed himself using a [[space bridge]] though it was later revealed that he survived.
** Dirge and Nightbeat self destructed and destroyed themselves in a last ditch attempt to destroy the Swarm.
* Beast Wars
** [[Tigerhawk]] sacrificed himself by hurling himself in the way of a fusion cannon blast from the Nemesis.
* Energon: Galvatron, Starscream, and [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Mirage]] threw themselves into a sun and vaporized themselves. [[Cyclonus (Armada)|Snow Cat]] and Demolisher may have also done this.

==Non-fatal deactivation==
{{quote|"You mean he's still alive?!" "No! But neither is he what you would term 'dead'!"|[[Spider-Man]] and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], "[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

[[Image:Zombiesbackfromthedead.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Braiiiiiin mooooodulllllles....]]

For almost every single cause of death listed above, there's been one or more Transformers who have survived it, sometimes without so much as a period of unconsciousness.

In particular, "deactivation" is the Transformers equivalent of being in a coma. Numerous Transformers are seen to enter this state and eventually recover, such as the Autobots deactivated by Shockwave {{storylink|The Last Stand}}, who later were repaired. However, the line between death and deactivation is a blurry one. Sometimes the two words are used interchangeably, even in reference to characters who are later revived. Most of Starscream's Underbase victims were described as deactivated, and were sometimes lamented as "dead" while at other times were shown undergoing repairs. {{storylink|Back from the Dead}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}

"[[Stasis lock]]" would eventually give a more concrete name to the state of deactivation. The inert Transformers on the crashed Ark were retconned as being in stasis lock. Various ''Beast Wars'' characters would go into stasis lock to maintain their spark when their body had sustained too much damage from weaponsfire or energon absorption. ''Animated'' showed a crew of Autobots voluntarily entering protective stasis lock in anticipation of a crash landing.

Some of the quasi-fatal things which can cause a Transformer to "deactivate" include:

===Impact trauma===
Smashing into something usually knocks out a Transformer, but almost never actually kills them:
* The crew of the original Ark is deactivated when the ship crashes on Earth and lies inert for 4 million years {{storylink|More than Meets the Eye, Part 1}} {{storylink|The Transformers (issue)}}
* Marvel comics: [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] falls to his "death", but is patched together and talking again in short order. {{storylink|Prisoner of War!}}

===Decapitation===
[[Image:Sentinelprimeanimatedhumiliated.jpg|thumb|200px|In the movie continuity, this would've been fatal. In ''Animated'', it's just embarrassing.]]

{{bigquote|Anyone who can lop your head off in one blow is alright by me!|[[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] jokes about [[Cloudburst]]'s near-death experience, "[[Recipe for Disaster!]]"}}

Like we said before, decapitation is sometimes fatal... and other times it isn't.
* Marvel comic:
** Optimus Prime was able to survive as just a head when Shockwave separated it from his body in an effort to get the Creation Matrix. {{storylink|The New Order}}
**[[Cloudburst]] was abruptly decapitated by sword, but was just fine after some repairs. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
* G1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was disassembled into his component parts, but functioned just fine as nothing more than a head once [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] connected a few wires. {{storylink|City of Steel}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] survives having his head blasted or otherwise knocked off multiple times {{storylink|Spider's Game}} {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}} {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)}} {{storylink|Code of Hero}}, and even put it back on himself one time. He even accidently swapped heads with Megatron once. Megatron was not amused. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]] was just fine when one of the Reapers whacked his head off. (He didn't fare so well when another Reaper crushed his head with a boulder, however.) {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Decapitated victims of the ''Animated'' [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] rarely show any ill effects other than not having a body anymore. {{storylink|Headmaster (episode)|Headmaster}} {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}} {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

===Dismemberment===
Transformers get ripped to pieces all the time, and recover from it:
* Marvel comic: Scorponok tears [[Tantrum]] to pieces. [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] slices [[Horri-Bull]] in half at the waist. Both are seen alive later on. {{storylink|Cold War!}}
* Last Stand of the Wreckers: [[Guzzle]] is torn in half by [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] and is easily repaired.

===Spark removal===
{{bigquote|His spark can't exist outside a living body!|[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]], "[[Optimal Situation]]"}}

A Transformer's spark—their "soul", their living essence—can be removed from their body, or the body can be destroyed around them
* The destruction of Starscream's body, and his subsequent survival as a ghost, was eventually retconned to be his Spark enduring without a physical form. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Tigatron and Airazor's sparks spent quite some time wandering around behind Tigerhawk, before combining and entering his body. {{storylink|Other Victories}}

* In the ''Beast Machines'' cartoon:
** Megatron de-sparked most of Cybertron's population and stored their sparks in a big barrel. Most were restored to bodies eventually. {{storylink|Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}}
** Blackarachnia's spark wandered around bodiless for a time. {{storylink|Revelations Part III: Apocalypse}}
** Megatron himself, his spark in a depolarized state, wandered the surface of Cybertron without a body for a time. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}

The treatment of bodiless sparks in ''Beast Machines'' is seen by some fans as contradicting the canon established by ''Beast Wars'', particularly the quote above.

===Limbo===
Sometimes Transformers get shunted out of creation as we know it, and into various alternate, sub- and non-dimensions.
* Marvel comics:
** The [[Trans-Time Dimensional Portal]] crosses [[unspace]], "a bit of dimensional nothingness" where Ratchet and Megatron vanished and were believed dead. {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}
** Transformers mass-displaced by time travel wind up in a formless dimension known as [[Limbo]].
* IDW comics: Megatron severely damaged Optimus Prime in battle and planned on finishing him off by crushing his [[Laser core|spark core]]. Optimus Prime feigned death by downloading his "consciousness" into his [[Combat Deck|trailer section]], causing his [[Brain Center|robot mode]] to appear dead. In the time it took for Prime's consciousness to transfer to his trailer, he briefly entered [[infraspace|limbo]], the transitional infraspace between life and death. {{storylink|Escalation (IDW)|Escalation}}
*Generation 1 cartoon:
**Come on, we all know what REALLY happened to the likes of Seaspray and Tracks.

==Resuscitation==
Robots are machines. They can be switched off, taken apart, blown to bits, and put back together. Ergo, in many continuities and cases, "death" is not nearly as permanent a condition as it is for us fragile fleshy types.

===Reconstruction===
[[Image:PeoplePower-reprogrammed.jpg|thumb|right|250px| ]]

{{bigquote|I've done it! Optimus Prime lives!|A random Quintesson, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]"}}

* Generation 1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was simply ''repaired'' back to life by a Quintesson. Some fixing of this and that, a burst of power, and boom, suddenly he was alive again. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}}
* Marvel Comics: Optimus Prime's mind was encoded on a disk. After a new [[Powermaster]] body was constructed for him, the disk's contents were loaded into it, and Optimus Prime lived again. (One wonders why they couldn't make as many Optimus Primes as they pleased.) {{storylink|People Power!}}

===Spark transfer===
Transferring a Transformer's spark into a new body constitutes a form of resurrection, particularly if the Transformer's previous body was destroyed.
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Optimus Primal was restored to life when Rhinox managed to recall his spark from the Matrix, a special circumstance only enabled by a temporary window into transwarp space. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* ''Armada'' Smokescreen was shot through the chest at point blank range by the Requiem Blaster {{storylink|Sacrifice}} but his spark survived and was put into a new body. {{storylink|Regeneration}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Inferno and Demolishor both had their bodies ''atomized''; however, their sparks both survived, and were placed into new bodies. (The upshot of all of this is that it's nigh-impossible to kill a Unicron Trilogy Transformer, unless they do it themselves.) {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}} {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: The spark of a dying [[Yoketron]] was placed into a new protoform body by [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]; however, Yoketron consciously chose to let his life end, and expired anyway. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}}

==="Magical" substances===
* Marvel Comics: The miraculous healing properties of Nucleon brought many Autobots back to life, as well as a few Decepticons. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Megatron was revived by the all-encompassing power of energon, as was Unicron. {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}

===Primus and Primus-related powers===
{{bigquote|Where the Last Autobot is concerned, even death, it would appear, is an abstract concept!|Optimus Prime explains his latest revival, "[[End of the Road! (US)|End of the Road!]]"}}

Anything tied to the primordial life-force of the Transformers' god Primus tends to be a cure-all for death. This includes Primus himself, his various power-wielding avatars and servants, and the assorted Matrixes and Allsparks, all of which can deliver an infusion of the essence of life itself. In some continuities, this is parsed as a Transformer's spark being brought back out of the Allspark dimension.

[[Image:RageInHeaven-HeroPrime.jpg|thumb|right|150px|]]

* In the Marvel comics:
** The [[Last Autobot]] was granted the power of recreation by Primus, which he used to raise numerous fallen Autobots from the battlefield. {{storylink|End of the Road! (US)}}
** Optimus Prime was eager to find the lost Creation Matrix, stating that it would be able to restore many deactivated warriors to life. {{storylink|Bird of Prey!}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the [[Swarm (G2)|Swarm]] after it had ingested the energies and knowledge of the Matrix. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** The Allspark is shown repeatedly to be capable of restoring just about anything. Frenzy gets a whole new body from its power, {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and Megatron is restored to life by merely a fragment of it. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the Matrix of Leadership, an Allspark-related talisman. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

* ''Beast Machines'' cartoon: [[Optimus Primal]]'s body was destroyed, but the AllSpark granted him the choice of uniting with it or being reborn. He chose the latter, and ''poof'', just walked right out of the Oracle bubble in a brand new version of his previous body. {{storylink|Fallout}}
* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] was brought back to life by the power of the [[Mini-Con]]s after his body was disintegrated. {{storylink|Miracle}}
* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] was resurrected when he and his gestaltmates were combined together and reborn by Primus into [[Nexus Prime]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 5}} Nexus Prime then brought [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] back from the other side of the Allspark and infused him with some of Primus's power to become Galvatron. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 6}}

===Zombies===
* Dude, [[zombie]]s!

==Immortality==
===Immortal sparks===
Certain sparks have mutant qualities that allow them to, potentially, exist forever.
* Starscream survived his death at the hands of Galvatron; this was later explained as him having a "mutant indestructible spark". {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}} {{storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] was created as an attempt to duplicate Starscream's immortal spark. {{storylink|Bad Spark}} He was eventually killed by [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]], so the attempt may be seen as unsuccessful. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

===Other===
* [[Multiversal singularity|Multiversal singularities]] such as [[Unicron]] and [[The Fallen]] can be killed off in one dimension, only to still be alive and well in another (or many others), due to the varying properties of different dimensions (reverse-time, dimensions, for example are key to revival of the singularities).
* ''Animated'' [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] could not be killed so long as he retained his Allspark fragment embedded in his forehead.
* Denizens of the [[Dead Universe]] could essentially regenerate themselves out of nothing, no matter how much damage was inflicted on them.
* Thunderwing's Pretender shell seemed to make him near invincible. At the very lest able to withstand incredible amounts of salvo and not even flinch.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] can never completely die no matter what for some reason.

==Out-of-fiction causes of character death==
===Drama / character culmination===
At its best, character death can be a moving plot development, the fruition of an ongoing character arc.
* Suspecting that they would have to remove a character from the show, the writers of ''Beast Wars'' began planning for Dinobot's death several episodes ahead of time. Thus, when it came, it was the outcome of the character's own choices, flaws, and history, and played a crucial role in the show's plot. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* Sunstreaker's death in ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' is intended to follow a similar style of arc... only it's missing the whole choices, flaws and history thing. Oh well!
* Optimus Primal's death(s) in ''Beast Machines'' are likewise the outcome of his own choices and character. {{storylink|End of the Line}} {{storylink| Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}} His death in ''Beast Wars'', by contrast, was more a moment of dramatic pathos -- knowingly walking into danger, his enemy got the better of him. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}

===Consequences of war===
It's hard to take a war story seriously when nobody actually dies. The reality of war can be more readily portrayed when characters die. [[Generic]]s are particularly handy for this, allowing death to be shown while not removing primary characters (retail toys!) from the story. The results can range from high drama and pathos to numbingly pointless body counts.
* Impactor's death was used to drive home the threat of the Decepticons as well as the risks taken by the Autobots and their commanders. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
* The ''Generation 2'' book featured several deaths which drove home the realities of war. Most notably, Red Alert's destruction served to make Grimlock acutely aware of just how badly he'd screwed up. {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}}

===Increased threat===
An enemy that kills is an enemy to be taken seriously. Thus a writer will frequently throw in some preliminary deaths to point out how seriously the bad guy should be treated.
* The generic who dies at the beginning of "[[City of Fear!]]" serves to show the zombies as a true life-threatening menace.
* Likewise for Runabout's death at the hands of the demons ; {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}} knowing they can devour a Transformer makes the reader more concerned about the Dinobots' subsequent fate. {{storylink|Still Life!}}
* In "[[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]", [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] makes corpses in practically every scene he's in!

===Cast thinning===
Transformers stories are notorious for acquiring gigantic casts as they roll on; Generation 1 was particularly notorious for this because of its longevity. A simple way to make things more manageable was simply to kill off large numbers of characters in battle. Examples are rife in the fiction, especially the Marvel Comics.

* In the Marvel comics:
** The "[[Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars]]" storyline got rid of the [[Wrecker]]s and quite a few Decepticons as well.
** The [[Underbase Saga]] even more explicitly cleared out dozens of characters, leaving perhaps 2 dozen characters from each faction in the story.
** The battle with Unicron in "[[On the Edge of Extinction!]]" likewise got rid of a lot of older characters, leaving the story free to concentrate on more of a core cast (and associated newer toy characters.)
* [[Betrayal|Wreckers #2]] dealt with its oversized cast by killing off scads of characters right up front.

===Clear space for new toys===
{{main|To sell toys}}

Some fiction has an inherently limited capacity for characters. ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines'' are by far the most prominent examples; their CGI animation made character animation expensive and necessitated removing an old character before a new one could be brought in. But any medium can be susceptible to this toy-driven phenomena.
* The numerous casualties of "[[The Transformers: The Movie]]" were fairly explicitly removed from the story to make way for a wave of new toy/characters.
* Terrorsaur and Scorponok had to be removed -- quickly -- to make room for the two upcoming Fuzor characters, hence their sudden, blink-and-you-miss-it death in "[[Aftermath]]".
* Airazor and Tigatron were removed for similar reasons. When their plot was finally resolved, it was, surprise, via [[Tigerhawk|a new toy]]!

==Fleshling death==
In general, ''Transformers'' fiction is pretty squeamish about showing the deaths of Earth's organic creatures. But it's a war, and sometimes it does happen. The out-of-universe reasons generally fall into three categories: Consequences of War, Emotional Pathos, and BLOOD IZ KEWL.

The various cartoons tend to show organic death the least, as they are most clearly aimed at, and easily accessible by, children. Comics tend to be less reluctant to show the impact of the Transformers' war on innocent lives, though the death rate varies by series. Latter-day Generation 1 books especially revel in high body counts, because squishing stupid humans is killer and awesome and radical and hardcore. Even the occasional [[Satellite of Doom|children's storybook]] has been known to off mass quantities of the dumb fleshies.

===Animal death===
[[Image:MurderedPuppy02.jpg|right|150px|thumb|One dead dog]]

[[Image:Sparkwar3 Dead noble.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Two dead dogs]]

Cute little animals are almost always killed off for reasons of Emotional Pathos:
* A little girl's pet puppy named [[Pis]] barked at [[Wilder]] and was kicked so hard he died. {{storylink|Rage!! Little Devils with No Need for Rules}}
* The [[Murdered puppy]] was shot down by the Decepticons after running away from Megatron's experiments. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 8|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #8}}
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] once reminded [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] that [[The Fallen]] once shot down a ship full of [[Antilian bumble-puppy|Antilian bumble-puppies]]. (Decepticons have a thing for killing puppies.)
* The puppy-like [[Noble]] was shot at by [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] because of his hatred for organics {{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. III: The Siege}} and was later mourned by his "owner", [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}.
* A stray shot from [[Tigatron]] accidentally caused an avalanche which killed his friend [[Snowstalker]]. {{storylink|Law of the Jungle}}
* "[[Law of the Jungle]]" also portrays the deaths of four different forest animals (a bug is eaten by a frog, which is eaten by a snake, which is taken off to be eaten by a bird. Later, an orange tiger kills an antelope). This is a rare "Consequences of War" example.
* [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] also once ate an eagle, {{storylink|Power Surge}} while [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] ate a cute little rat {{storylink|Victory (episode)|Victory}}, and nearly ate an antelope as well. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* In order to save [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] had to fight a saber-toothed tiger off a cliff killing it. {{Storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] used [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel]]'s shield to knock a spikey rock onto a giant spider effectively killing it. She later used [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus]]' axe to kill some new born baby spiders. {{Storylink|Along Came a Spider}}
* Human villain [[Trophy White]] had a grisly display of stuffed and mounted animal heads. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}}

{{-}}
===Human death===
[[Image:Razorclawshootsahuman.jpg|right|thumb|150px|This didn't happen much.]]

* Marvel US: The [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|original Marvel book]] ignored or glossed over human casualties, which were rarely if ever shown; the panel at right, from [[Toy Soldiers!|US #37]], shows a ''very'' unusual instance of a human dying right in front of us. One of the few human(oid)s to die on-panel was [[Galen]], killed off to make way for [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]]. ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' was much more explicit about human death, as Bludgeon and later [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] attacked Earth for the purpose of inflicting casualties.
* Marvel UK: The UK-original stories were much less reluctant to show human death; within the first year or so, humans had died in Autobot-induced car wrecks and at the hands of mind-controlled Autobots.
* In every US-aired cartoon series, humans essentially ''never'' die. Even ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Transformers Animated]]'', which features the city of [[Detroit]] getting smashed by robot battles virtually every week, never once mentions humans getting killed.
* Contemporary toyline-based comics (''[[Armada (Dreamwave comic)|Armada]]'', ''[[Energon (comic)|Energon]]'') seem to follow a similar policy, avoiding mention of human death -- even when human cities are being directly attacked, as in "[[Multiplicity, Pt. 2]]".
* Japanese cartoons, by contrast, don't seem to mind showing human deaths (or [[Pis|dog deaths]], for that matter).
* The [[Dreamwave Generation One continuity|Dreamwave G1 comics]] really thought it was totally awesome and cool and radical to kill off those stupid humans. Thus, they start off with Megatron smushing some stupid humans. More smushing and killing and blowing up follows. DIE, dumb stubbies, DIE!
* [[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW comics]] managed to avoid this for a long time, showing human death only when it was particularly integral to the plot... then ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' came down the pike. DIE, stupid fleshies, DIE!
* The live-action [[movie continuity]] implies a great deal of human death. ''Revenge'' mentions a body count of over 9,000, and massive damage is done during the battle of [[Mission City]], though little of it is shown on screen. And of course, the first film begins with Blackout wiping out an entire military base. A handful of humans are killed directly on-screen, most notably [[Patrick Donnelly|Donnelly]].
* The alternate timeline arc in Titan's Movie comic featured big wars on Earth and lots of destruction, clearly ''insinuating'' human death while not being explicit. The exceptions were in [[Transformers Comic issue 10|issue 10]], where [[NATO]] is said to be suffering losses of 11,506 and the [[France|Palais Bourbon]] is blown up when people are still clearly inside. [[Sam Witwicky]], meanwhile, was stated to have died.
[[Image:Convoy-kablooie.jpg|right|thumb|150px|They'll, uh, be okay, maybe.]]
* Titan quite blatantly stated that the [[Free Men]] had caused great loss of life at an air base, a rare example of humans killing humans. In the same story, [[Robert Epps]] opened fire on militia men, which kinda implies he was killing them. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}} Similarly, [[Wheelie (ROTF)|Wheelie]] of all people was seen zapping humans at close range during a Decepticon attack; with no "oh it was a stun beam" handwave and the 'Cons not pulling punches, it sure seems like he's murdered 'em! {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.6|Outlaw Blues}}
* In ''[[Kiss Players (franchise)|Kiss Players]]'', several [[Kiss Player]]s were seen being devoured by Legions.
* In [[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|''Transformers: Prime'']] episode "[[Convoy (episode)|Convoy]]," a group of cars being driven by [[MECH|human terrorists]] crash and flip over each other and explode. Previously, [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus Prime]] had ordered his Autobots to engage only with non-lethal force.
{{-}}

==Characters who die a lot==
* [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|Optimus Prime]]
* [[Dirge (G1)]] — the unlucky guy who gets [[:Image:Dirge DeathSerpentor.jpg|killed]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathSwarm.jpg|off]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathTimelines.jpg|in]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathUnicron.jpg|many]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathArmada.jpg|continuities]]
* [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] — the unlucky guy who gets killed over and over in the same continuity, but doesn't seem to mind.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] — the unlucky guy from ''[[Beast Wars (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'' who gets sliced, diced, and fricasseed every other episode only to be fully functional in time to get [[Slag (slang)|slagged]] ''again''. But he never actually dies.
* [[Cy-Kill (disambiguation)|Cy-Kill]], a Go-Bots character transferred to many Transformers comics just to be killed off violently. For no other reason than the lolz of ending his toyline, his universe, and finally his life... repeatedly.
* [[Sentinel Prime (G1)]] — the unlucky [[Prime (rank)|Prime]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime lou.jpg|who]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime dw.jpg|must]] [[Megatron Origin issue 4|die]].
* [[Starscream (Animated)]] - the unlucky guy that constantly gets killed, decapitated, or maimed by others, only to be brought back to life.

==See also==
* [[Transformer funerary practices]]
* [[To sell toys]]

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Transformer anatomy]]

Death

2011-03-09T02:17:02Z

174.96.255.90: /* Disassembly */

{{disambig2|the end of life|the Horseman of Unicron|Airazor (Armada)}}

[[Image:Battleofautobotcity.jpg|right|300px|thumb|And lo, the children did weep.]]

''Transformers'' is a children's franchise, but at its core, it's a story of war. This means that the '''death''' of major and minor characters sometimes figures into the fiction.

Given the ambiguous nature of [[Transformer]] physiology, there is very little consistency regarding what is fatal to a Transformer, even within a single storyline. Damage that one Transformer might shrug off can prove fatal to another, or even to the same character in a different story. Sometimes just a laser blast or two will do the trick. Other times, characters survive being melted, crushed into cubes, and even utterly disintegrated. It does not take a terribly cynical viewer to conclude that the threshold of survival is generally determined by the needs of the plot.

The out-of-universe reasons for a character's death can vary from plot development to the arrival of [[To sell toys|new toys]]. Conveniently enough for writers who are beholden to the whims of a toy company, the majority of Transformers characters are machines, which means that death isn't necessarily permanent. Across the various universes, characters that appear to have been killed have been known to pop up alive again at a later date, or go through some sort of resurrection.

{{quote|"How can you all be so cold and unfeeling? He died a hero!" "Don't you even have mechanical hearts?" "The humans don't understand! Our form of life is vastly different from theirs!"|[[Spider-Man]], [[Sparkplug Witwicky]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]|"[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

==In-fiction causes of death==
[[Image:DEATH.jpg|left|thumb|400px|[[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] is just as puzzled as the rest of us.]]

There is little consistency in what can kill a Transformer. Sometimes it takes just a shot. Other times, even totally annihilating a Transformer's body still doesn't do the trick. Even the most basic method of killing, which is to destroy or otherwise cause the loss of a Transformer's [[spark]], varies quite a bit in its details from story to story, character to character, and series to series.
{{--}}
===Weaponsfire===
{{quote|This was almost too easy, Starscream!|[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (like the fandom) is surprised to find how easily Autobots die, ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''}}

[[Image:Tftm1986a.jpg|right|200px|thumb|We're here aboard the Autobot shuttle, where we've secretly replaced Brawn's hyper-dense metal armor plating with styrene plastic. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference.]]

[[Image:TFTM UltraMagnus dies.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Prepare for your death today. Yer gonna die!!]]

[[Image:Magnusdeath.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ow! Hey! Cut it out, guys! That hurts!]]

[[Image:Blades1.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Sorry, nameless guy, your generic nature means you will never be miraculously resurrected.]]

Like humans, Transformers can be killed by damage caused by energy, projectile, and chemical weapons. Just how many shots it takes is widely variable, however.
* In the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]]:
** Many casualties of the [[Battle of Autobot City]] (and its run-up), including [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], were victims of energy weapons. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} This was quite a change from the cartoon's M.O., wherein the same characters routinely got shot and blasted all the time and shrugged it off, or at worst spent some time in the repair bay. Brawn and Prowl both went down after ''one shot''.
** [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] subsequently "dies" after being shot a few times by the [[Sweep]]s, exploding into pieces. He is soon revived by the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]], however. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Ultra Magnus dies ''again'', for real this time, after [[Sixshot]] shoots him a few times. {{storylink|Ultra Magnus Dies!!}}

* In the [[Marvel Comics continuity|Marvel comics]]:
** [[Impactor]] was cut down by a single head shot from [[Macabre]]. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
** Most deaths in the ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' book occurred from energy weapons, such as [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]], {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}} as well as numerous generics. {{storylink|War Without End!}} Quite a few victims exploded spectacularly after being shot, including [[Tantrum]] {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}}, [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]], [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] {{storylink|New Dawn}}, and [[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]]{{storylink|Escalation!}}.

* In the ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' cartoon:
** [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] dies after incurring severe damage from numerous [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] weapons. {{storylink|Code of Hero}} The apparent cause of his demise is his refusal to enter protective [[stasis lock]], as other characters have survived similar or worse levels of damage.
** [[Tigerhawk]] is disintegrated by the main cannon of the starship ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]''. The same cannon subsequently blasts [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] and [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]], apparently killing them, though their "death" may be permanent simply because there was nobody around to put them back together. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 2}}

* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] dies holding back the [[Hydra Cannon]], the damage causing him to [[:Image:Sshot-arm-39-4.jpg|crumble to dust]]. {{storylink|Crisis}}

* [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]] G1 comics: [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] is killed by an assassin's blast. {{storylink|The Age of Wrath issue 1}} He got better. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 3}}

* [[Movie continuity]]: [[Brawl (Movie)|Brawl]] and [[Blackout (Movie)|Blackout]] both died from weapons fire. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}

* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] gets his face blown off/in by [[Cyclonus (SG)|Cyclonus]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 4}}
{{--}}

* [[Universe (2003 comic)|Universe]]: [[Tankor (BM)|Tankor]] was shot and killed by [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] during the final battle of the [[Universe War]].

===Big explosions===
{{bigquote|They're going to blow us all to pieces! [[Guardian (Marvel)|Guardian]]'s booby-trapped - packed with enough explosives to level this whole mountain!|[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], "[[The Wrath of Grimlock!]]"}}

Transformers characters often assume that explosions are more lethal than they really are; characters survive explosions all the time. An explosion's messy nature makes a good "out" for a writer to fake a character's death. {{storylink|The Wrath of Grimlock!}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}} Nevertheless, a few characters have been permanently killed by explosions. (This list omits characters who exploded from within, like Ultra Magnus up above.)
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]] was the victim of an interdimensionally triggered explosion that destroyed his body. (In UK continuity, he survived as a raggedy, bodiless head.) {{storylink|The Bridge to Nowhere!}}
** In an alternate future, a wounded [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] died in the fiery explosion of a crashing shuttlecraft. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** [[Finback]] was presumably killed in the explosion of a huge gun battery. [[Misfire]] tried to warn him off, and may have been killed in the same explosion. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}

* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon:
** [[Optimus Primal]] was blown to bits -- terminally so -- by the [[transwarp]] explosion that destroyed the [[Planet Buster]]. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}
** [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]] was killed by the explosion that resulted from [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]]'s death (either his exploding spark, or the exploding energon shard that pierced it.) {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

* Several of the [[Beast Era]] [[Wrecker]]s ([[Sonar (BW)|Sonar]], [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]], the [[Deployer (BM)|Deployers]]) were destroyed when part of their ship exploded with them in it. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

* Energon: [[Bruticus Maximus (Energon)|Bruticus Maximus]] and Storm Jet were killed when Storm Jet caused a massive explosion that engulfed them both.

* ''Prime'': [[Makeshift (Prime)|Makeshift]] and the surrounding [[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicon]]s were blown up by a grenade attached by the Autobots.

===Impact trauma===
Falling off a cliff or mountainside or tall building is usually just as fatal to Transformers as it is to, say... Wile E. Coyote. Only on rare occasion does it result in death:
* ''[[Classics (2006)|Classics]]'' continuity: [[Hacksaw]] met his end by falling from a huge communications tower. {{storylink|The New World}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Doubledealer]] was shot, fell off a mountain and smashed to bits on impact. {{storylink|Spotlight: Doubledealer}}
* Movie continuity:
**[[Devastator (ROTF)|Devastator]] fell off the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] after losing his balance when his arm was shot off, and he shattered to pieces as he tumbled down. ''{{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}''
** [[Barricade (Movie)|Barricade]] was smashed to pieces and killed by being flung into a freeway column. {{storylink|Movie Adaptation Issue Number Four}}
* The [[Beast (G1)|Beast]] fell off a cliff and shattered. {{storylink|The Beast Within Part 2, Consequences}} At least, we hope that's where and how it ended.
* ''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)| Prime]]'': [[Skyquake (Prime)|Skyquake]] crash-landed after [[Bumblebee (Prime)|Bumblebee]] punched out vital components in his alternate mode, reducing his body to a partially transformed scrapheap.

===Crushing===
[[Image:Edgeofextinction-hardheadbombburst.jpg|thumb|right|175px|DO NOT WANT]]
[[Image:TFAni TransWarped LongArm Cliffjumper Cube.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Before time began, there was... THE CUBE.]]

Quite a few characters have been crushed into deactivation:
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]] was smashed between [[Unicron]]'s palms, while [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] met a similar fate when they were stepped on by Unicron. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] is apparently killed when a very large building collapses on top of him. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

* [[Unicron Trilogy]] cartoons:
** [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]] is killed when caught between two folding sections of Unicron's external armor. {{storylink|Union}}
** [[Shockblast]] is crushed by Unicron's hand on [[Blizzard Planet]]. {{storylink|The Power}}
** His brother [[Six Shot]] meets a similar fate, crushed under the heel of a super-sized Galvatron. {{storylink|Galvatron Terror}}

* IDW continuity:
** [[Roller]] was crushed when Megatron caused an avanlanche to fall on him.
** [[Ruckus (G1)|Ruckus]], [[Crankcase (G1)|Crankcase]], and [[Skullcruncher]] were all crushed by [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]].

* ''Animated'' cartoon: [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]] is (possibly) killed by a garbage compactor-like crushing device. (An "out" by writer [[Derrick J. Wyatt|Derrick Wyatt]] was intended to show his still-pulsing spark within his cubified remains, but this did not make it into the show, leaving his fate ambiguous at best.) {{storylink|TransWarped}}

===Melting===
[[Image:BW Scorponok Terrorsaur deaths.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Even having a new toy couldn't save Terrorsaur!]]

[[Image:Fallout title.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Primal's diet had gone horribly wrong.]]

They're made of metal; therefore, with enough heat or sufficiently acidic material, they can melt. This is one of the more fool-proof methods of killing a Transformer; few if any have survived it.
* In the G1 cartoon:
** An acid vat would apparently have been enough to destroy Optimus Prime. {{storylink|The Search for Alpha Trion}}
** Another acid vat was used to disintegrate living victims of Unicron. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comics:
** Victims of the Deception [[smelting pool]]s on Cybertron were reduced by intense heat into their base metals, including [[Scrounge (G1)|Scrounge]]. {{storylink|The Smelting Pool!}}
** It is possible that an acid bath from (naturally) [[Blot (G1)|Blot]] offlined [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] [[Makin' Tracks!|(for a while anyway)]]. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] was partially melted by Unicron's flame-breath and subsequently died. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The [[Cybertronian (faction)|Cybertronian Empire]] used some kind of acid to rather messily eradicate some of their Decepticon ancestors, including [[Stranglehold]]. {{storylink|New Dawn}}

* In the Beast Era cartoons:
** [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] and [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] were apparently melted to death after tumbling into a lava pit within the [[Darksyde|Predacon base]]. {{storylink|Aftermath}}
** Optimus Primal's body was seemingly melted into the floor after his climactic face-off with [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]. Considering how many god-like forces were unleashed and conflicting during the battle, his demise may be due to more than simple temperature-induced melting. {{storylink|Fallout}}

===Incineration===
{{bigquote|I saw the end! They died in a cosmic funeral pyre!|[[Shawn Berger]], "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2]]"}}

[[Image:Armada 52 - Prime hangon to Galvatron.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Galvatron died to save everyone and came back ''twice''—you lose, [[Jesus]]!]]

Plasma, energy fields, and stellar atmospheres can all utterly destroy a Transformer's body. Like being melted, being reduced to one's component molecules would seem to be a surefire way of getting killed, but quite a few characters seem able to survive the process as ghosts and/or disembodied sparks:
* Generation 1 cartoon: [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]'s spectacular death at the hands of [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] might be categorized as incineration. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* Quite a few characters met this fate in the Unicron Trilogy, but all survived it in some fashion:
** [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]]'s spark persisted within his burnt-out body when he was dropped into the exploding Unicron. {{storylink|Mortal Combat}} {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}
** [[Demolishor (Armada)|Demolishor]]'s body was obliterated by an expanding energon grid, but his spark survived the process and was placed in a new body. {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}}
** [[Inferno (Energon)|Inferno]] was destroyed when he threw himself into a star, but his spark was salvaged by the Autobots and, again, placed in a new body. {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
** And finally, Megatron (Galvatron, whatever) threw himself into Primus's new energon sun to prevent Unicron from possessing him, killing himself yet again. {{storylink|The Sun}} This death was so inconsequential that his subsequent resurrection wasn't even explained! {{storylink|Fallen (episode)|Fallen}}

===Consumption===
{{bigquote|...If we don't find the Matrix, some bad guy's gonna ''eat'' us! Right?|Longtooth, "[[Deadly Obsession]]"}}

[[Image:Wreckers Mutants.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The shocking death of the barely-seen guys with hardly any lines!]]
[[Image:Rocky mecannibal bartender marvel uk 240.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Cannibalism is hilarious, kids!]]

Quite a few critters in the multiverse are equipped to devour giant robots. Being eaten (and, presumably, digested) generally proves fatal:
* In the G1 cartoon:
** Various life forms were routinely devoured by the [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticon]]s on Quintessa. This included [[Kranix]], a mechanical life form, though not a Transformer. [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] and [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] would have suffered this fate as well, but fought their way free. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Quite a few Transformers found their way into Unicron's gullet, though many survived the experience. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comic:
** The [[Mecannibal]]s ate robots routinely, including quite a few Transformers during their sojourn on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} {{storylink|Out to Lunch!}} There is some indication that they could actually reconstitute their victims from their "recycled" parts, though this is never explicitly shown. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
** Unicron skewered [[Brainstorm]] and ate him. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The subsurface-dwelling [[demon]]s devoured [[Runabout]]. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The Swarm "devoured" innumerable Cybertronian troopers and a handful of older-generation Transformers as well, though this was through a molecular process almost akin to incineration. {{storylink|Swarm (issue)|Swarm}} {{storylink|Total War!}} {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* The Sharkticons killed two of the [[Mutant (BW)|Mutant]]s by gobbling them up. Or ripping them apart. Or both. We don't really know. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

===Disassembly===
[[Image:Jazz DyingAction.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"HERE'S what I think of your resemblance to your G1 counterpart!"]]

Taking a Transformer apart into its component parts can occasionally kill them:
* Marvel comics:
**[[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] met this fate in an alternate future, when Swoop used a machine to pull him apart into his component pieces. {{storylink|Another Time and Place}}
**A future version of Ultra Magnus may have been killed when a group of Decepticons mobbed and him and ripped him up. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)}}
* Movie continuity:
**Being ripped in half killed [[Jazz (Movie)|Jazz]]. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}
**[[Ravage (ROTF)|Ravage]] was killed when Bumblebee ripped his spine out, tearing him apart.
* [[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]: [[Pyro]] was torn apart and killed while making a final stand against a mass of generic Decpticons.
*[[Prime (cartoon)|Prime cartoon]]: When fighting [[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]]'s zombie army, [[Ratchet (Prime)|Ratchet]] recommended dissection to [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus]] to"cut" them down to size. How this is more effective then just blasting the living slag out of them is still up for debate.

===Decapitation===
{{main|Decapitation}}

[[Image:Cyclonus death.jpg|thumb|right|150px| "CHUK!" is good, but I could really go for a "Shakkooosh" right about now.]]

Sometimes cutting a Transformer's head off is fatal. Sometimes!
* In the Marvel comics:
** The Megatron clone killed Cyclonus by ripping his head off. {{storylink|Dry Run!}}
** Several of the Wreckers were killed by having their heads ripped or blasted off, including Twin Twist and Topspin, respectively. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars}}
** [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] had his head cut off by a propeller fired by [[Leadfoot (G2)|Leadfoot]], presumably (given the ''Generation 2'' book's emphasis on body count) killing him. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** Characters frequently die by decapitation of some form: [[Bonecrusher (Movie)|Bonecrusher]], {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and [[Grindor (ROTF)|Grindor]]. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
** Decapitation was an inconvenience for [[Frenzy (Movie)|Frenzy]] the first time. The second time, when the blow actually destroyed most of his head, was fatal.

===Vivisection===
[[Image:VictoryUKAnnual.JPG|thumb|right|150px| Ahhhh, there we go...]]

{{bigquote|I have no desire to be carved up into Auto-sushi.|Tracks, "[[Make Tracks]]"}}

Getting chopped in half is pretty graphic for a kids' story, even one about robots, so it doesn't happen very often.
* Marvel comics: In a dream sequence, [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] slices [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] in half, killing him. {{storylink|Victory!}}
* Japanese G1 cartoon: [[Predaking]] gets sliced in half by Dai Atlas. The strike dissects what appears to be an organic brain in his head. {{storylink|Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!}}
* ''Beast Wars Metals'': Terrorsaur was killed by being sliced in half by Primal's mace. {{storylink|Raise the Curtain for Beast Wars Metals!!}}
* Movie continuity: [[Sideways (ROTF)|Sideways]] dies when [[Sideswipe (ROTF)|Sideswipe]] slices his car mode in two. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Destruction of brain===
{{bigquote|Next strike in the neural cluster, yes? Weakest spot on ''all'' Transformers...|[[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], "[[Fire on High!]]"}}

In the early days of the franchise, a Transformer's life force was sometimes understood to be entirely contained within their [[brain module]], most prominently in the Marvel comics. Destroying the brain would kill the Transformer. This premise was eventually passed over in favor of the more esoteric concept of [[spark]]s.
* In the Marvel comics:
** In an alternate future, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] is blasted by [[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], who kills him by extracting and crushing his brain module. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** The [[Throttlebot]]s ''avoid'' death by having their brain modules removed from their bodies shortly before their bodies are destroyed (by crushing). {{storylink|Toy Soldiers!}}
** [[Brawl (G1)|Brawl]] was apparentlly killed when Megatron crushed his head and, by extension, his brain. {{storylink|Gone But Not Forgotten!}} He got better.

===Destruction of spark===
{{bigquote|RAW energon! Right through your twisted spark!|Depth Charge to Rampage, "[[Nemesis Part 1]]"}}

[[Image:Skyfallwontbethereforit.jpg|thumb|right|200px|And then he hung Skyfall from his ceiling.]]

Getting stabbed right through the spark is almost always fatal:
* In ''Beast Wars'': The supposedly immortal Rampage was killed when Depth Charge pierced his spark with an energon blade. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}
* ''[[Transcendent Technomorph|TransTech]]'': [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] died when [[Alpha Trion (SG)|Alpha Trion]] rammed his sword right through his chest. {{storylink|Transcendent: Part 6}}
*Energon: [[Constructicon Maximus]] was killed when [[Storm Jet (Energon)|Storm Jet]] impaled and crushed his spark.
* ''Cybertron'': Galvatron died after being impaled with [[Rhisling]] by Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Unfinished}}
* Movie continuity: Optimus Prime died from a stab wound through the chest, quickly followed by a cannon blast through the spark chamber from Megatron's swordcannon weapon.[[The Fallen]] also met his end when Optimus punched through his chest and crushed his spark. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* ''Beast Machines'' continuity: [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] - already reduced to a spark within the matrix - ceased to be when Megatron annihilated his spark from existence. {{storylink|Singularity Ablyss}}
* [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|Titan's Movie comics]]: Transformers have forcefields shielding their sparks, which can be externalized to protect bodywork. Jazz loved doing this, leaving him far more vulnerable to death by destruction of spark than he would otherwise be. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 6|Lost in Space 4: Jazz}}

===Loss of spark===
{{bigquote|Warning. Further expenditure will result in permanent loss of spark. Stasis lock ''must'' commence.|[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]]'s internal computer, "[[Code of Hero]]"}}

Sometimes sparks can survive outside of a body; sometimes they cannot. In the Beast Era, there is some indication that a spark left outside a body will soon begin to return to the Matrix/AllSpark/another dimension.
* When Dinobot expires after his final battle, his Spark is seen exiting his body. The implication is that a sufficiently damaged body can no longer hold a spark within this dimension. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* ''Beast Machines'' subsequently showed living sparks existing outside of bodies on a regular basis. The sparkless bodies were simply considered shells, rather than "dead".
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Prowl dies when he intentionally relinquishes his own spark. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}
* Movie continuity: Jetfire rips out his own spark chamber to give Optimus a fighting chance. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Energy overload===
{{bigquote|We may need energon for power, but this is too much of a good thing.|[[Optimus Primal]], "[[Beast Wars (Part 1)]]"}}

[[Image:TFAnimated transformandrollout DEATH.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Death — the Optimus version of a power nap.]]
[[Image:Underbaseallmine.jpg|thumb|right|200px|He's got an Underbase in his underpants.]]

The average [[human]] needs a lot of [[water]] to survive. But too much water results in [[wikipedia:Water intoxication|a horrible death]]. Similarly, Transformers need energy to survive, but too much of it can be a very bad thing. Sometimes it's just plain old energy; other times it some special god-like force that does them in.
* In the Marvel comics:
** An [[Underbase]]-empowered Starscream slaughtered dozens of Transformers with energy blasts, {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}} which reportedly burned out millions of their microchips. {{storylink|Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?}} Some Transformers were seen to recover from these attacks, either via conventional repairs {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} or through the power of [[nucleon]]. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
** Starscream himself was killed when he absorbed all the energies of the Underbase. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] was apparently killed when struck by a blast of energy from the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]], though the physical effect was more like being hit by an especially powerful laser blast. {{storylink|All Fall Down (issue)}}

* ''Super-God Masterforce'' cartoon: [[Sixknight]] died from an overcharge of BlackZarak's Devil Power. {{storylink|Malevolent and Inhuman! The True Form of Devil Z}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runabout]] dies when one of the [[Reaper]]s zaps him full of energy, causing him to explode from within. {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* Movie continuity: [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] was killed when [[Sam Witwicky]] shoved the [[AllSpark]] into his chest. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)|Transformers}}
* ''Transformers Animated'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] got caught in an explosion of [[AllSpark]] energy that may have been sufficient to kill him, although he also fell off a very tall building immediately afterwards (Starscream was caught in the same explosion and survived, but was knocked offline for an unspecified period.)

===Energy depletion===
On rare occasion, Transformers can simply run out of energy completely and expire.
* Marvel comics: the ancient [[Overlord (rank)|Overlord]] died from a lack of energy. {{storylink|State Games}}
* Movie continuity: [[Jetfire (ROTF)|Jetfire]] explains that a lack of energon causes the Transformer equivalent of aging, such as rusting joints, mental confusion, and pieces falling apart, followed by an indefinite period of stasis that can only be reversed by an infusion of Allspark energy. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Suicide===
Sometimes a Transformers kills himself for some reason.
* Marvel comics
** Megatron seemingly killed himself using a [[space bridge]] though it was later revealed that he survived.
** Dirge and Nightbeat self destructed and destroyed themselves in a last ditch attempt to destroy the Swarm.
* Beast Wars
** [[Tigerhawk]] sacrificed himself by hurling himself in the way of a fusion cannon blast from the Nemesis.
* Energon: Galvatron, Starscream, and [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Mirage]] threw themselves into a sun and vaporized themselves. [[Cyclonus (Armada)|Snow Cat]] and Demolisher may have also done this.

==Non-fatal deactivation==
{{quote|"You mean he's still alive?!" "No! But neither is he what you would term 'dead'!"|[[Spider-Man]] and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], "[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

[[Image:Zombiesbackfromthedead.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Braiiiiiin mooooodulllllles....]]

For almost every single cause of death listed above, there's been one or more Transformers who have survived it, sometimes without so much as a period of unconsciousness.

In particular, "deactivation" is the Transformers equivalent of being in a coma. Numerous Transformers are seen to enter this state and eventually recover, such as the Autobots deactivated by Shockwave {{storylink|The Last Stand}}, who later were repaired. However, the line between death and deactivation is a blurry one. Sometimes the two words are used interchangeably, even in reference to characters who are later revived. Most of Starscream's Underbase victims were described as deactivated, and were sometimes lamented as "dead" while at other times were shown undergoing repairs. {{storylink|Back from the Dead}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}

"[[Stasis lock]]" would eventually give a more concrete name to the state of deactivation. The inert Transformers on the crashed Ark were retconned as being in stasis lock. Various ''Beast Wars'' characters would go into stasis lock to maintain their spark when their body had sustained too much damage from weaponsfire or energon absorption. ''Animated'' showed a crew of Autobots voluntarily entering protective stasis lock in anticipation of a crash landing.

Some of the quasi-fatal things which can cause a Transformer to "deactivate" include:

===Impact trauma===
Smashing into something usually knocks out a Transformer, but almost never actually kills them:
* The crew of the original Ark is deactivated when the ship crashes on Earth and lies inert for 4 million years {{storylink|More than Meets the Eye, Part 1}} {{storylink|The Transformers (issue)}}
* Marvel comics: [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] falls to his "death", but is patched together and talking again in short order. {{storylink|Prisoner of War!}}

===Decapitation===
[[Image:Sentinelprimeanimatedhumiliated.jpg|thumb|200px|In the movie continuity, this would've been fatal. In ''Animated'', it's just embarrassing.]]

{{bigquote|Anyone who can lop your head off in one blow is alright by me!|[[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] jokes about [[Cloudburst]]'s near-death experience, "[[Recipe for Disaster!]]"}}

Like we said before, decapitation is sometimes fatal... and other times it isn't.
* Marvel comic:
** Optimus Prime was able to survive as just a head when Shockwave separated it from his body in an effort to get the Creation Matrix. {{storylink|The New Order}}
**[[Cloudburst]] was abruptly decapitated by sword, but was just fine after some repairs. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
* G1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was disassembled into his component parts, but functioned just fine as nothing more than a head once [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] connected a few wires. {{storylink|City of Steel}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] survives having his head blasted or otherwise knocked off multiple times {{storylink|Spider's Game}} {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}} {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)}} {{storylink|Code of Hero}}, and even put it back on himself one time. He even accidently swapped heads with Megatron once. Megatron was not amused. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]] was just fine when one of the Reapers whacked his head off. (He didn't fare so well when another Reaper crushed his head with a boulder, however.) {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Decapitated victims of the ''Animated'' [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] rarely show any ill effects other than not having a body anymore. {{storylink|Headmaster (episode)|Headmaster}} {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}} {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

===Dismemberment===
Transformers get ripped to pieces all the time, and recover from it:
* Marvel comic: Scorponok tears [[Tantrum]] to pieces. [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] slices [[Horri-Bull]] in half at the waist. Both are seen alive later on. {{storylink|Cold War!}}
* Last Stand of the Wreckers: [[Guzzle]] is torn in half by [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] and is easily repaired.

===Spark removal===
{{bigquote|His spark can't exist outside a living body!|[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]], "[[Optimal Situation]]"}}

A Transformer's spark—their "soul", their living essence—can be removed from their body, or the body can be destroyed around them
* The destruction of Starscream's body, and his subsequent survival as a ghost, was eventually retconned to be his Spark enduring without a physical form. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Tigatron and Airazor's sparks spent quite some time wandering around behind Tigerhawk, before combining and entering his body. {{storylink|Other Victories}}

* In the ''Beast Machines'' cartoon:
** Megatron de-sparked most of Cybertron's population and stored their sparks in a big barrel. Most were restored to bodies eventually. {{storylink|Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}}
** Blackarachnia's spark wandered around bodiless for a time. {{storylink|Revelations Part III: Apocalypse}}
** Megatron himself, his spark in a depolarized state, wandered the surface of Cybertron without a body for a time. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}

The treatment of bodiless sparks in ''Beast Machines'' is seen by some fans as contradicting the canon established by ''Beast Wars'', particularly the quote above.

===Limbo===
Sometimes Transformers get shunted out of creation as we know it, and into various alternate, sub- and non-dimensions.
* Marvel comics:
** The [[Trans-Time Dimensional Portal]] crosses [[unspace]], "a bit of dimensional nothingness" where Ratchet and Megatron vanished and were believed dead. {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}
** Transformers mass-displaced by time travel wind up in a formless dimension known as [[Limbo]].
* IDW comics: Megatron severely damaged Optimus Prime in battle and planned on finishing him off by crushing his [[Laser core|spark core]]. Optimus Prime feigned death by downloading his "consciousness" into his [[Combat Deck|trailer section]], causing his [[Brain Center|robot mode]] to appear dead. In the time it took for Prime's consciousness to transfer to his trailer, he briefly entered [[infraspace|limbo]], the transitional infraspace between life and death. {{storylink|Escalation (IDW)|Escalation}}
*Generation 1 cartoon:
**Come on, we all know what REALLY happened to the likes of Seaspray and Tracks.

==Resuscitation==
Robots are machines. They can be switched off, taken apart, blown to bits, and put back together. Ergo, in many continuities and cases, "death" is not nearly as permanent a condition as it is for us fragile fleshy types.

===Reconstruction===
[[Image:PeoplePower-reprogrammed.jpg|thumb|right|250px| ]]

{{bigquote|I've done it! Optimus Prime lives!|A random Quintesson, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]"}}

* Generation 1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was simply ''repaired'' back to life by a Quintesson. Some fixing of this and that, a burst of power, and boom, suddenly he was alive again. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}}
* Marvel Comics: Optimus Prime's mind was encoded on a disk. After a new [[Powermaster]] body was constructed for him, the disk's contents were loaded into it, and Optimus Prime lived again. (One wonders why they couldn't make as many Optimus Primes as they pleased.) {{storylink|People Power!}}

===Spark transfer===
Transferring a Transformer's spark into a new body constitutes a form of resurrection, particularly if the Transformer's previous body was destroyed.
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Optimus Primal was restored to life when Rhinox managed to recall his spark from the Matrix, a special circumstance only enabled by a temporary window into transwarp space. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* ''Armada'' Smokescreen was shot through the chest at point blank range by the Requiem Blaster {{storylink|Sacrifice}} but his spark survived and was put into a new body. {{storylink|Regeneration}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Inferno and Demolishor both had their bodies ''atomized''; however, their sparks both survived, and were placed into new bodies. (The upshot of all of this is that it's nigh-impossible to kill a Unicron Trilogy Transformer, unless they do it themselves.) {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}} {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: The spark of a dying [[Yoketron]] was placed into a new protoform body by [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]; however, Yoketron consciously chose to let his life end, and expired anyway. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}}

==="Magical" substances===
* Marvel Comics: The miraculous healing properties of Nucleon brought many Autobots back to life, as well as a few Decepticons. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Megatron was revived by the all-encompassing power of energon, as was Unicron. {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}

===Primus and Primus-related powers===
{{bigquote|Where the Last Autobot is concerned, even death, it would appear, is an abstract concept!|Optimus Prime explains his latest revival, "[[End of the Road! (US)|End of the Road!]]"}}

Anything tied to the primordial life-force of the Transformers' god Primus tends to be a cure-all for death. This includes Primus himself, his various power-wielding avatars and servants, and the assorted Matrixes and Allsparks, all of which can deliver an infusion of the essence of life itself. In some continuities, this is parsed as a Transformer's spark being brought back out of the Allspark dimension.

[[Image:RageInHeaven-HeroPrime.jpg|thumb|right|150px|]]

* In the Marvel comics:
** The [[Last Autobot]] was granted the power of recreation by Primus, which he used to raise numerous fallen Autobots from the battlefield. {{storylink|End of the Road! (US)}}
** Optimus Prime was eager to find the lost Creation Matrix, stating that it would be able to restore many deactivated warriors to life. {{storylink|Bird of Prey!}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the [[Swarm (G2)|Swarm]] after it had ingested the energies and knowledge of the Matrix. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** The Allspark is shown repeatedly to be capable of restoring just about anything. Frenzy gets a whole new body from its power, {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and Megatron is restored to life by merely a fragment of it. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the Matrix of Leadership, an Allspark-related talisman. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

* ''Beast Machines'' cartoon: [[Optimus Primal]]'s body was destroyed, but the AllSpark granted him the choice of uniting with it or being reborn. He chose the latter, and ''poof'', just walked right out of the Oracle bubble in a brand new version of his previous body. {{storylink|Fallout}}
* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] was brought back to life by the power of the [[Mini-Con]]s after his body was disintegrated. {{storylink|Miracle}}
* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] was resurrected when he and his gestaltmates were combined together and reborn by Primus into [[Nexus Prime]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 5}} Nexus Prime then brought [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] back from the other side of the Allspark and infused him with some of Primus's power to become Galvatron. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 6}}

===Zombies===
* Dude, [[zombie]]s!

==Immortality==
===Immortal sparks===
Certain sparks have mutant qualities that allow them to, potentially, exist forever.
* Starscream survived his death at the hands of Galvatron; this was later explained as him having a "mutant indestructible spark". {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}} {{storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] was created as an attempt to duplicate Starscream's immortal spark. {{storylink|Bad Spark}} He was eventually killed by [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]], so the attempt may be seen as unsuccessful. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

===Other===
* [[Multiversal singularity|Multiversal singularities]] such as [[Unicron]] and [[The Fallen]] can be killed off in one dimension, only to still be alive and well in another (or many others), due to the varying properties of different dimensions (reverse-time, dimensions, for example are key to revival of the singularities).
* ''Animated'' [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] could not be killed so long as he retained his Allspark fragment embedded in his forehead.
* Denizens of the [[Dead Universe]] could essentially regenerate themselves out of nothing, no matter how much damage was inflicted on them.
* Thunderwing's Pretender shell seemed to make him near invincible. At the very lest able to withstand incredible amounts of salvo and not even flinch.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] can never completely die no matter what for some reason.

==Out-of-fiction causes of character death==
===Drama / character culmination===
At its best, character death can be a moving plot development, the fruition of an ongoing character arc.
* Suspecting that they would have to remove a character from the show, the writers of ''Beast Wars'' began planning for Dinobot's death several episodes ahead of time. Thus, when it came, it was the outcome of the character's own choices, flaws, and history, and played a crucial role in the show's plot. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* Sunstreaker's death in ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' is intended to follow a similar style of arc... only it's missing the whole choices, flaws and history thing. Oh well!
* Optimus Primal's death(s) in ''Beast Machines'' are likewise the outcome of his own choices and character. {{storylink|End of the Line}} {{storylink| Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}} His death in ''Beast Wars'', by contrast, was more a moment of dramatic pathos -- knowingly walking into danger, his enemy got the better of him. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}

===Consequences of war===
It's hard to take a war story seriously when nobody actually dies. The reality of war can be more readily portrayed when characters die. [[Generic]]s are particularly handy for this, allowing death to be shown while not removing primary characters (retail toys!) from the story. The results can range from high drama and pathos to numbingly pointless body counts.
* Impactor's death was used to drive home the threat of the Decepticons as well as the risks taken by the Autobots and their commanders. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
* The ''Generation 2'' book featured several deaths which drove home the realities of war. Most notably, Red Alert's destruction served to make Grimlock acutely aware of just how badly he'd screwed up. {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}}

===Increased threat===
An enemy that kills is an enemy to be taken seriously. Thus a writer will frequently throw in some preliminary deaths to point out how seriously the bad guy should be treated.
* The generic who dies at the beginning of "[[City of Fear!]]" serves to show the zombies as a true life-threatening menace.
* Likewise for Runabout's death at the hands of the demons ; {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}} knowing they can devour a Transformer makes the reader more concerned about the Dinobots' subsequent fate. {{storylink|Still Life!}}
* In "[[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]", [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] makes corpses in practically every scene he's in!

===Cast thinning===
Transformers stories are notorious for acquiring gigantic casts as they roll on; Generation 1 was particularly notorious for this because of its longevity. A simple way to make things more manageable was simply to kill off large numbers of characters in battle. Examples are rife in the fiction, especially the Marvel Comics.

* In the Marvel comics:
** The "[[Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars]]" storyline got rid of the [[Wrecker]]s and quite a few Decepticons as well.
** The [[Underbase Saga]] even more explicitly cleared out dozens of characters, leaving perhaps 2 dozen characters from each faction in the story.
** The battle with Unicron in "[[On the Edge of Extinction!]]" likewise got rid of a lot of older characters, leaving the story free to concentrate on more of a core cast (and associated newer toy characters.)
* [[Betrayal|Wreckers #2]] dealt with its oversized cast by killing off scads of characters right up front.

===Clear space for new toys===
{{main|To sell toys}}

Some fiction has an inherently limited capacity for characters. ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines'' are by far the most prominent examples; their CGI animation made character animation expensive and necessitated removing an old character before a new one could be brought in. But any medium can be susceptible to this toy-driven phenomena.
* The numerous casualties of "[[The Transformers: The Movie]]" were fairly explicitly removed from the story to make way for a wave of new toy/characters.
* Terrorsaur and Scorponok had to be removed -- quickly -- to make room for the two upcoming Fuzor characters, hence their sudden, blink-and-you-miss-it death in "[[Aftermath]]".
* Airazor and Tigatron were removed for similar reasons. When their plot was finally resolved, it was, surprise, via [[Tigerhawk|a new toy]]!

==Fleshling death==
In general, ''Transformers'' fiction is pretty squeamish about showing the deaths of Earth's organic creatures. But it's a war, and sometimes it does happen. The out-of-universe reasons generally fall into three categories: Consequences of War, Emotional Pathos, and BLOOD IZ KEWL.

The various cartoons tend to show organic death the least, as they are most clearly aimed at, and easily accessible by, children. Comics tend to be less reluctant to show the impact of the Transformers' war on innocent lives, though the death rate varies by series. Latter-day Generation 1 books especially revel in high body counts, because squishing stupid humans is killer and awesome and radical and hardcore. Even the occasional [[Satellite of Doom|children's storybook]] has been known to off mass quantities of the dumb fleshies.

===Animal death===
[[Image:MurderedPuppy02.jpg|right|150px|thumb|One dead dog]]

[[Image:Sparkwar3 Dead noble.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Two dead dogs]]

Cute little animals are almost always killed off for reasons of Emotional Pathos:
* A little girl's pet puppy named [[Pis]] barked at [[Wilder]] and was kicked so hard he died. {{storylink|Rage!! Little Devils with No Need for Rules}}
* The [[Murdered puppy]] was shot down by the Decepticons after running away from Megatron's experiments. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 8|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #8}}
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] once reminded [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] that [[The Fallen]] once shot down a ship full of [[Antilian bumble-puppy|Antilian bumble-puppies]]. (Decepticons have a thing for killing puppies.)
* The puppy-like [[Noble]] was shot at by [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] because of his hatred for organics {{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. III: The Siege}} and was later mourned by his "owner", [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}.
* A stray shot from [[Tigatron]] accidentally caused an avalanche which killed his friend [[Snowstalker]]. {{storylink|Law of the Jungle}}
* "[[Law of the Jungle]]" also portrays the deaths of four different forest animals (a bug is eaten by a frog, which is eaten by a snake, which is taken off to be eaten by a bird. Later, an orange tiger kills an antelope). This is a rare "Consequences of War" example.
* [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] also once ate an eagle, {{storylink|Power Surge}} while [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] ate a cute little rat {{storylink|Victory (episode)|Victory}}, and nearly ate an antelope as well. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* In order to save [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] had to fight a saber-toothed tiger off a cliff killing it. {{Storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] used [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel]]'s shield to knock a spikey rock onto a giant spider effectively killing it. She later used [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus]]' axe to kill some new born baby spiders. {{Storylink|Along Came a Spider}}
* Human villain [[Trophy White]] had a grisly display of stuffed and mounted animal heads. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}}

{{-}}
===Human death===
[[Image:Razorclawshootsahuman.jpg|right|thumb|150px|This didn't happen much.]]

* Marvel US: The [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|original Marvel book]] ignored or glossed over human casualties, which were rarely if ever shown; the panel at right, from [[Toy Soldiers!|US #37]], shows a ''very'' unusual instance of a human dying right in front of us. One of the few human(oid)s to die on-panel was [[Galen]], killed off to make way for [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]]. ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' was much more explicit about human death, as Bludgeon and later [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] attacked Earth for the purpose of inflicting casualties.
* Marvel UK: The UK-original stories were much less reluctant to show human death; within the first year or so, humans had died in Autobot-induced car wrecks and at the hands of mind-controlled Autobots.
* In every US-aired cartoon series, humans essentially ''never'' die. Even ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Transformers Animated]]'', which features the city of [[Detroit]] getting smashed by robot battles virtually every week, never once mentions humans getting killed.
* Contemporary toyline-based comics (''[[Armada (Dreamwave comic)|Armada]]'', ''[[Energon (comic)|Energon]]'') seem to follow a similar policy, avoiding mention of human death -- even when human cities are being directly attacked, as in "[[Multiplicity, Pt. 2]]".
* Japanese cartoons, by contrast, don't seem to mind showing human deaths (or [[Pis|dog deaths]], for that matter).
* The [[Dreamwave Generation One continuity|Dreamwave G1 comics]] really thought it was totally awesome and cool and radical to kill off those stupid humans. Thus, they start off with Megatron smushing some stupid humans. More smushing and killing and blowing up follows. DIE, dumb stubbies, DIE!
* [[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW comics]] managed to avoid this for a long time, showing human death only when it was particularly integral to the plot... then ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' came down the pike. DIE, stupid fleshies, DIE!
* The live-action [[movie continuity]] implies a great deal of human death. ''Revenge'' mentions a body count of over 9,000, and massive damage is done during the battle of [[Mission City]], though little of it is shown on screen. And of course, the first film begins with Blackout wiping out an entire military base. A handful of humans are killed directly on-screen, most notably [[Patrick Donnelly|Donnelly]].
* The alternate timeline arc in Titan's Movie comic featured big wars on Earth and lots of destruction, clearly ''insinuating'' human death while not being explicit. The exceptions were in [[Transformers Comic issue 10|issue 10]], where [[NATO]] is said to be suffering losses of 11,506 and the [[France|Palais Bourbon]] is blown up when people are still clearly inside. [[Sam Witwicky]], meanwhile, was stated to have died.
[[Image:Convoy-kablooie.jpg|right|thumb|150px|They'll, uh, be okay, maybe.]]
* Titan quite blatantly stated that the [[Free Men]] had caused great loss of life at an air base, a rare example of humans killing humans. In the same story, [[Robert Epps]] opened fire on militia men, which kinda implies he was killing them. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}} Similarly, [[Wheelie (ROTF)|Wheelie]] of all people was seen zapping humans at close range during a Decepticon attack; with no "oh it was a stun beam" handwave and the 'Cons not pulling punches, it sure seems like he's murdered 'em! {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.6|Outlaw Blues}}
* In ''[[Kiss Players (franchise)|Kiss Players]]'', several [[Kiss Player]]s were seen being devoured by Legions.
* In [[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|''Transformers: Prime'']] episode "[[Convoy (episode)|Convoy]]," a group of cars being driven by [[MECH|human terrorists]] crash and flip over each other and explode. Previously, [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus Prime]] had ordered his Autobots to engage only with non-lethal force.
{{-}}

==Characters who die a lot==
* [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|Optimus Prime]]
* [[Dirge (G1)]] — the unlucky guy who gets [[:Image:Dirge DeathSerpentor.jpg|killed]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathSwarm.jpg|off]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathTimelines.jpg|in]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathUnicron.jpg|many]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathArmada.jpg|continuities]]
* [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] — the unlucky guy who gets killed over and over in the same continuity, but doesn't seem to mind.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] — the unlucky guy from ''[[Beast Wars (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'' who gets sliced, diced, and fricasseed every other episode only to be fully functional in time to get [[Slag (slang)|slagged]] ''again''. But he never actually dies.
* [[Cy-Kill (disambiguation)|Cy-Kill]], a Go-Bots character transferred to many Transformers comics just to be killed off violently. For no other reason than the lolz of ending his toyline, his universe, and finally his life... repeatedly.
* [[Sentinel Prime (G1)]] — the unlucky [[Prime (rank)|Prime]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime lou.jpg|who]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime dw.jpg|must]] [[Megatron Origin issue 4|die]].
* [[Starscream (Animated)]] - the unlucky guy that constantly gets killed, decapitated, or maimed by others, only to be brought back to life.

==See also==
* [[Transformer funerary practices]]
* [[To sell toys]]

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Transformer anatomy]]

Death

2011-03-05T23:13:02Z

174.96.255.90: /* Impact trauma */

{{disambig2|the end of life|the Horseman of Unicron|Airazor (Armada)}}

[[Image:Battleofautobotcity.jpg|right|300px|thumb|And lo, the children did weep.]]

''Transformers'' is a children's franchise, but at its core, it's a story of war. This means that the '''death''' of major and minor characters sometimes figures into the fiction.

Given the ambiguous nature of [[Transformer]] physiology, there is very little consistency regarding what is fatal to a Transformer, even within a single storyline. Damage that one Transformer might shrug off can prove fatal to another, or even to the same character in a different story. Sometimes just a laser blast or two will do the trick. Other times, characters survive being melted, crushed into cubes, and even utterly disintegrated. It does not take a terribly cynical viewer to conclude that the threshold of survival is generally determined by the needs of the plot.

The out-of-universe reasons for a character's death can vary from plot development to the arrival of [[To sell toys|new toys]]. Conveniently enough for writers who are beholden to the whims of a toy company, the majority of Transformers characters are machines, which means that death isn't necessarily permanent. Across the various universes, characters that appear to have been killed have been known to pop up alive again at a later date, or go through some sort of resurrection.

{{quote|"How can you all be so cold and unfeeling? He died a hero!" "Don't you even have mechanical hearts?" "The humans don't understand! Our form of life is vastly different from theirs!"|[[Spider-Man]], [[Sparkplug Witwicky]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]|"[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

==In-fiction causes of death==
[[Image:DEATH.jpg|left|thumb|400px|[[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] is just as puzzled as the rest of us.]]

There is little consistency in what can kill a Transformer. Sometimes it takes just a shot. Other times, even totally annihilating a Transformer's body still doesn't do the trick. Even the most basic method of killing, which is to destroy or otherwise cause the loss of a Transformer's [[spark]], varies quite a bit in its details from story to story, character to character, and series to series.
{{--}}
===Weaponsfire===
{{quote|This was almost too easy, Starscream!|[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (like the fandom) is surprised to find how easily Autobots die, ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''}}

[[Image:Tftm1986a.jpg|right|200px|thumb|We're here aboard the Autobot shuttle, where we've secretly replaced Brawn's hyper-dense metal armor plating with styrene plastic. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference.]]

[[Image:TFTM UltraMagnus dies.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Prepare for your death today. Yer gonna die!!]]

[[Image:Magnusdeath.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ow! Hey! Cut it out, guys! That hurts!]]

[[Image:Blades1.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Sorry, nameless guy, your generic nature means you will never be miraculously resurrected.]]

Like humans, Transformers can be killed by damage caused by energy, projectile, and chemical weapons. Just how many shots it takes is widely variable, however.
* In the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]]:
** Many casualties of the [[Battle of Autobot City]] (and its run-up), including [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], were victims of energy weapons. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} This was quite a change from the cartoon's M.O., wherein the same characters routinely got shot and blasted all the time and shrugged it off, or at worst spent some time in the repair bay. Brawn and Prowl both went down after ''one shot''.
** [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] subsequently "dies" after being shot a few times by the [[Sweep]]s, exploding into pieces. He is soon revived by the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]], however. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Ultra Magnus dies ''again'', for real this time, after [[Sixshot]] shoots him a few times. {{storylink|Ultra Magnus Dies!!}}

* In the [[Marvel Comics continuity|Marvel comics]]:
** [[Impactor]] was cut down by a single head shot from [[Macabre]]. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
** Most deaths in the ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' book occurred from energy weapons, such as [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]], {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}} as well as numerous generics. {{storylink|War Without End!}} Quite a few victims exploded spectacularly after being shot, including [[Tantrum]] {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}}, [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]], [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] {{storylink|New Dawn}}, and [[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]]{{storylink|Escalation!}}.

* In the ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' cartoon:
** [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] dies after incurring severe damage from numerous [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] weapons. {{storylink|Code of Hero}} The apparent cause of his demise is his refusal to enter protective [[stasis lock]], as other characters have survived similar or worse levels of damage.
** [[Tigerhawk]] is disintegrated by the main cannon of the starship ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]''. The same cannon subsequently blasts [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] and [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]], apparently killing them, though their "death" may be permanent simply because there was nobody around to put them back together. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 2}}

* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] dies holding back the [[Hydra Cannon]], the damage causing him to [[:Image:Sshot-arm-39-4.jpg|crumble to dust]]. {{storylink|Crisis}}

* [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]] G1 comics: [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] is killed by an assassin's blast. {{storylink|The Age of Wrath issue 1}} He got better. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 3}}

* [[Movie continuity]]: [[Brawl (Movie)|Brawl]] and [[Blackout (Movie)|Blackout]] both died from weapons fire. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}

* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] gets his face blown off/in by [[Cyclonus (SG)|Cyclonus]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 4}}
{{--}}

* [[Universe (2003 comic)|Universe]]: [[Tankor (BM)|Tankor]] was shot and killed by [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] during the final battle of the [[Universe War]].

===Big explosions===
{{bigquote|They're going to blow us all to pieces! [[Guardian (Marvel)|Guardian]]'s booby-trapped - packed with enough explosives to level this whole mountain!|[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], "[[The Wrath of Grimlock!]]"}}

Transformers characters often assume that explosions are more lethal than they really are; characters survive explosions all the time. An explosion's messy nature makes a good "out" for a writer to fake a character's death. {{storylink|The Wrath of Grimlock!}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}} Nevertheless, a few characters have been permanently killed by explosions. (This list omits characters who exploded from within, like Ultra Magnus up above.)
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]] was the victim of an interdimensionally triggered explosion that destroyed his body. (In UK continuity, he survived as a raggedy, bodiless head.) {{storylink|The Bridge to Nowhere!}}
** In an alternate future, a wounded [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] died in the fiery explosion of a crashing shuttlecraft. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** [[Finback]] was presumably killed in the explosion of a huge gun battery. [[Misfire]] tried to warn him off, and may have been killed in the same explosion. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}

* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon:
** [[Optimus Primal]] was blown to bits -- terminally so -- by the [[transwarp]] explosion that destroyed the [[Planet Buster]]. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}
** [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]] was killed by the explosion that resulted from [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]]'s death (either his exploding spark, or the exploding energon shard that pierced it.) {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

* Several of the [[Beast Era]] [[Wrecker]]s ([[Sonar (BW)|Sonar]], [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]], the [[Deployer (BM)|Deployers]]) were destroyed when part of their ship exploded with them in it. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

* Energon: [[Bruticus Maximus (Energon)|Bruticus Maximus]] and Storm Jet were killed when Storm Jet caused a massive explosion that engulfed them both.

* ''Prime'': [[Makeshift (Prime)|Makeshift]] and the surrounding [[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicon]]s were blown up by a grenade attached by the Autobots.

===Impact trauma===
Falling off a cliff or mountainside or tall building is usually just as fatal to Transformers as it is to, say... Wile E. Coyote. Only on rare occasion does it result in death:
* ''[[Classics (2006)|Classics]]'' continuity: [[Hacksaw]] met his end by falling from a huge communications tower. {{storylink|The New World}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Doubledealer]] was shot, fell off a mountain and smashed to bits on impact. {{storylink|Spotlight: Doubledealer}}
* Movie continuity:
**[[Devastator (ROTF)|Devastator]] fell off the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] after losing his balance when his arm was shot off, and he shattered to pieces as he tumbled down. ''{{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}''
** Though he didn't really fall off of anything, [[Barricade (Movie)|Barricade]] was smashed to pieces and killed by being flung into a freeway colum so in a way this could count as impact trauma. {{storylink|Movie Adaptation Issue Number Four}}
* The [[Beast (G1)|Beast]] fell off a cliff and shattered. {{storylink|The Beast Within Part 2, Consequences}} At least, we hope that's where and how it ended.
* ''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)| Prime]]'': [[Skyquake (Prime)|Skyquake]] crash lands after [[Bumblebee (Prime)|Bumblebee]] punches out vital components in his alternate mode, reducing his body to a partially-transformed scrapheap.

===Crushing===
[[Image:Edgeofextinction-hardheadbombburst.jpg|thumb|right|175px|DO NOT WANT]]
[[Image:TFAni TransWarped LongArm Cliffjumper Cube.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Before time began, there was... THE CUBE.]]

Quite a few characters have been crushed into deactivation:
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]] was smashed between [[Unicron]]'s palms, while [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] met a similar fate when they were stepped on by Unicron. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] is apparently killed when a very large building collapses on top of him. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

* [[Unicron Trilogy]] cartoons:
** [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]] is killed when caught between two folding sections of Unicron's external armor. {{storylink|Union}}
** [[Shockblast]] is crushed by Unicron's hand on [[Blizzard Planet]]. {{storylink|The Power}}
** His brother [[Six Shot]] meets a similar fate, crushed under the heel of a super-sized Galvatron. {{storylink|Galvatron Terror}}

* IDW continuity:
** [[Roller]] was crushed when Megatron caused an avanlanche to fall on him.
** [[Ruckus (G1)|Ruckus]], [[Crankcase (G1)|Crankcase]], and [[Skullcruncher]] were all crushed by [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]].

* ''Animated'' cartoon: [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]] is (possibly) killed by a garbage compactor-like crushing device. (An "out" by writer [[Derrick J. Wyatt|Derrick Wyatt]] was intended to show his still-pulsing spark within his cubified remains, but this did not make it into the show, leaving his fate ambiguous at best.) {{storylink|TransWarped}}

===Melting===
[[Image:BW Scorponok Terrorsaur deaths.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Even having a new toy couldn't save Terrorsaur!]]

[[Image:Fallout title.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Primal's diet had gone horribly wrong.]]

They're made of metal; therefore, with enough heat or sufficiently acidic material, they can melt. This is one of the more fool-proof methods of killing a Transformer; few if any have survived it.
* In the G1 cartoon:
** An acid vat would apparently have been enough to destroy Optimus Prime. {{storylink|The Search for Alpha Trion}}
** Another acid vat was used to disintegrate living victims of Unicron. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comics:
** Victims of the Deception [[smelting pool]]s on Cybertron were reduced by intense heat into their base metals, including [[Scrounge (G1)|Scrounge]]. {{storylink|The Smelting Pool!}}
** It is possible that an acid bath from (naturally) [[Blot (G1)|Blot]] offlined [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] [[Makin' Tracks!|(for a while anyway)]]. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] was partially melted by Unicron's flame-breath and subsequently died. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The [[Cybertronian (faction)|Cybertronian Empire]] used some kind of acid to rather messily eradicate some of their Decepticon ancestors, including [[Stranglehold]]. {{storylink|New Dawn}}

* In the Beast Era cartoons:
** [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] and [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] were apparently melted to death after tumbling into a lava pit within the [[Darksyde|Predacon base]]. {{storylink|Aftermath}}
** Optimus Primal's body was seemingly melted into the floor after his climactic face-off with [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]. Considering how many god-like forces were unleashed and conflicting during the battle, his demise may be due to more than simple temperature-induced melting. {{storylink|Fallout}}

===Incineration===
{{bigquote|I saw the end! They died in a cosmic funeral pyre!|[[Shawn Berger]], "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2]]"}}

[[Image:Armada 52 - Prime hangon to Galvatron.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Galvatron died to save everyone and came back ''twice''—you lose, [[Jesus]]!]]

Plasma, energy fields, and stellar atmospheres can all utterly destroy a Transformer's body. Like being melted, being reduced to one's component molecules would seem to be a surefire way of getting killed, but quite a few characters seem able to survive the process as ghosts and/or disembodied sparks:
* Generation 1 cartoon: [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]'s spectacular death at the hands of [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] might be categorized as incineration. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* Quite a few characters met this fate in the Unicron Trilogy, but all survived it in some fashion:
** [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]]'s spark persisted within his burnt-out body when he was dropped into the exploding Unicron. {{storylink|Mortal Combat}} {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}
** [[Demolishor (Armada)|Demolishor]]'s body was obliterated by an expanding energon grid, but his spark survived the process and was placed in a new body. {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}}
** [[Inferno (Energon)|Inferno]] was destroyed when he threw himself into a star, but his spark was salvaged by the Autobots and, again, placed in a new body. {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
** And finally, Megatron (Galvatron, whatever) threw himself into Primus's new energon sun to prevent Unicron from possessing him, killing himself yet again. {{storylink|The Sun}} This death was so inconsequential that his subsequent resurrection wasn't even explained! {{storylink|Fallen (episode)|Fallen}}

===Consumption===
{{bigquote|...If we don't find the Matrix, some bad guy's gonna ''eat'' us! Right?|Longtooth, "[[Deadly Obsession]]"}}

[[Image:Wreckers Mutants.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The shocking death of the barely-seen guys with hardly any lines!]]
[[Image:Rocky mecannibal bartender marvel uk 240.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Cannibalism is hilarious, kids!]]

Quite a few critters in the multiverse are equipped to devour giant robots. Being eaten (and, presumably, digested) generally proves fatal:
* In the G1 cartoon:
** Various life forms were routinely devoured by the [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticon]]s on Quintessa. This included [[Kranix]], a mechanical life form, though not a Transformer. [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] and [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] would have suffered this fate as well, but fought their way free. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Quite a few Transformers found their way into Unicron's gullet, though many survived the experience. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comic:
** The [[Mecannibal]]s ate robots routinely, including quite a few Transformers during their sojourn on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} {{storylink|Out to Lunch!}} There is some indication that they could actually reconstitute their victims from their "recycled" parts, though this is never explicitly shown. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
** Unicron skewered [[Brainstorm]] and ate him. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The subsurface-dwelling [[demon]]s devoured [[Runabout]]. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The Swarm "devoured" innumerable Cybertronian troopers and a handful of older-generation Transformers as well, though this was through a molecular process almost akin to incineration. {{storylink|Swarm (issue)|Swarm}} {{storylink|Total War!}} {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* The Sharkticons killed two of the [[Mutant (BW)|Mutant]]s by gobbling them up. Or ripping them apart. Or both. We don't really know. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

===Disassembly===
[[Image:Jazz DyingAction.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"HERE'S what I think of your resemblance to your G1 counterpart!"]]

Taking a Transformer apart into its component parts can occasionally kill them:
* Marvel comics: [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] met this fate in an alternate future, when Swoop used a machine to pull him apart into his component pieces. {{storylink|Another Time and Place}}
* Movie continuity:
**Being ripped in half killed [[Jazz (Movie)|Jazz]]. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}
**[[Ravage (ROTF)|Ravage]] was killed when Bumblebee ripped his spine out, tearing him apart.
* [[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]: [[Pyro]] was torn apart and killed while making a final stand against a mass of generic Decpticons.
*[[Prime (cartoon)|Prime cartoon]]: When fighting [[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]]'s zombie army, [[Ratchet (Prime)|Ratchet]] recommended dissection to [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus]] to"cut" them down to size. How this is more effective then just blasting the living slag out of them is still up for debate.

===Decapitation===
{{main|Decapitation}}

[[Image:Cyclonus death.jpg|thumb|right|150px| "CHUK!" is good, but I could really go for a "Shakkooosh" right about now.]]

Sometimes cutting a Transformer's head off is fatal. Sometimes!
* In the Marvel comics:
** The Megatron clone killed Cyclonus by ripping his head off. {{storylink|Dry Run!}}
** Several of the Wreckers were killed by having their heads ripped or blasted off, including Twin Twist and Topspin, respectively. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars}}
** [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] had his head cut off by a propeller fired by [[Leadfoot (G2)|Leadfoot]], presumably (given the ''Generation 2'' book's emphasis on body count) killing him. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** Characters frequently die by decapitation of some form: [[Bonecrusher (Movie)|Bonecrusher]], {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and [[Grindor (ROTF)|Grindor]]. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
** Decapitation was an inconvenience for [[Frenzy (Movie)|Frenzy]] the first time. The second time, when the blow actually destroyed most of his head, was fatal.

===Vivisection===
[[Image:VictoryUKAnnual.JPG|thumb|right|150px| Ahhhh, there we go...]]

{{bigquote|I have no desire to be carved up into Auto-sushi.|Tracks, "[[Make Tracks]]"}}

Getting chopped in half is pretty graphic for a kids' story, even one about robots, so it doesn't happen very often.
* Marvel comics: In a dream sequence, [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] slices [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] in half, killing him. {{storylink|Victory!}}
* Japanese G1 cartoon: [[Predaking]] gets sliced in half by Dai Atlas. The strike dissects what appears to be an organic brain in his head. {{storylink|Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!}}
* ''Beast Wars Metals'': Terrorsaur was killed by being sliced in half by Primal's mace. {{storylink|Raise the Curtain for Beast Wars Metals!!}}
* Movie continuity: [[Sideways (ROTF)|Sideways]] dies when [[Sideswipe (ROTF)|Sideswipe]] slices his car mode in two. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Destruction of brain===
{{bigquote|Next strike in the neural cluster, yes? Weakest spot on ''all'' Transformers...|[[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], "[[Fire on High!]]"}}

In the early days of the franchise, a Transformer's life force was sometimes understood to be entirely contained within their [[brain module]], most prominently in the Marvel comics. Destroying the brain would kill the Transformer. This premise was eventually passed over in favor of the more esoteric concept of [[spark]]s.
* In the Marvel comics:
** In an alternate future, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] is blasted by [[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], who kills him by extracting and crushing his brain module. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** The [[Throttlebot]]s ''avoid'' death by having their brain modules removed from their bodies shortly before their bodies are destroyed (by crushing). {{storylink|Toy Soldiers!}}
** [[Brawl (G1)|Brawl]] was apparentlly killed when Megatron crushed his head and by extension, his brain. {{storylink|Gone But Not Forgotten!}} He got better.

===Destruction of spark===
{{bigquote|RAW energon! Right through your twisted spark!|Depth Charge to Rampage, "[[Nemesis Part 1]]"}}

[[Image:Skyfallwontbethereforit.jpg|thumb|right|200px|And then he hung Skyfall from his ceiling.]]

Getting stabbed right through the spark is almost always fatal:
* In ''Beast Wars'': The supposedly immortal Rampage was killed when Depth Charge pierced his spark with an energon blade. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}
* ''[[Transcendent Technomorph|TransTech]]'': [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] died when [[Alpha Trion (SG)|Alpha Trion]] rammed his sword right through his chest. {{storylink|Transcendent: Part 6}}
*Energon: [[Constructicon Maximus]] was killed when [[Storm Jet (Energon)|Storm Jet]] impaled and crushed his spark.
* ''Cybertron'': Galvatron died after being impaled with [[Rhisling]] by Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Unfinished}}
* Movie continuity: Optimus Prime died from a stab wound through the chest, quickly followed by a cannon blast through the spark chamber from Megatron's swordcannon weapon.[[The Fallen]] also met his end when Optimus punched through his chest and crushed his spark. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* ''Beast Machines'' continuity: [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] - already reduced to a spark within the matrix - ceased to be when Megatron annihilated his spark from existence. {{storylink|Singularity Ablyss}}
* [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|Titan's Movie comics]]: Transformers have forcefields shielding their sparks, which can be externalized to protect bodywork. Jazz loved doing this, leaving him far more vulnerable to death by destruction of spark than he would otherwise be. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 6|Lost in Space 4: Jazz}}

===Loss of spark===
{{bigquote|Warning. Further expenditure will result in permanent loss of spark. Stasis lock ''must'' commence.|[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]]'s internal computer, "[[Code of Hero]]"}}

Sometimes sparks can survive outside of a body; sometimes they cannot. In the Beast Era, there is some indication that a spark left outside a body will soon begin to return to the Matrix/AllSpark/another dimension.
* When Dinobot expires after his final battle, his Spark is seen exiting his body. The implication is that a sufficiently damaged body can no longer hold a spark within this dimension. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* ''Beast Machines'' subsequently showed living sparks existing outside of bodies on a regular basis. The sparkless bodies were simply considered shells, rather than "dead".
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Prowl dies when he intentionally relinquishes his own spark. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}
* Movie continuity: Jetfire rips out his own spark chamber to give Optimus a fighting chance. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Energy overload===
{{bigquote|We may need energon for power, but this is too much of a good thing.|[[Optimus Primal]], "[[Beast Wars (Part 1)]]"}}

[[Image:TFAnimated transformandrollout DEATH.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Death — the Optimus version of a power nap.]]
[[Image:Underbaseallmine.jpg|thumb|right|200px|He's got an Underbase in his underpants.]]

The average [[human]] needs a lot of [[water]] to survive. But too much water results in [[wikipedia:Water intoxication|a horrible death]]. Similarly, Transformers need energy to survive, but too much of it can be a very bad thing. Sometimes it's just plain old energy; other times it some special god-like force that does them in.
* In the Marvel comics:
** An [[Underbase]]-empowered Starscream slaughtered dozens of Transformers with energy blasts, {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}} which reportedly burned out millions of their microchips. {{storylink|Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?}} Some Transformers were seen to recover from these attacks, either via conventional repairs {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} or through the power of [[nucleon]]. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
** Starscream himself was killed when he absorbed all the energies of the Underbase. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] was apparently killed when struck by a blast of energy from the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]], though the physical effect was more like being hit by an especially powerful laser blast. {{storylink|All Fall Down (issue)}}

* ''Super-God Masterforce'' cartoon: [[Sixknight]] died from an overcharge of BlackZarak's Devil Power. {{storylink|Malevolent and Inhuman! The True Form of Devil Z}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runabout]] dies when one of the [[Reaper]]s zaps him full of energy, causing him to explode from within. {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* Movie continuity: [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] was killed when [[Sam Witwicky]] shoved the [[AllSpark]] into his chest. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)|Transformers}}
* ''Transformers Animated'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] got caught in an explosion of [[AllSpark]] energy that may have been sufficient to kill him, although he also fell off a very tall building immediately afterwards (Starscream was caught in the same explosion and survived, but was knocked offline for an unspecified period.)

===Energy depletion===
On rare occasion, Transformers can simply run out of energy completely and expire.
* Marvel comics: the ancient [[Overlord (rank)|Overlord]] died from a lack of energy. {{storylink|State Games}}
* Movie continuity: [[Jetfire (ROTF)|Jetfire]] explains that a lack of energon causes the Transformer equivalent of aging, such as rusting joints, mental confusion, and pieces falling apart, followed by an indefinite period of stasis that can only be reversed by an infusion of Allspark energy. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Suicide===
Sometimes a Transformers kills himself for some reason.
* Marvel comics
** Megatron seemingly killed himself using a [[space bridge]] though it was later revealed that he survived.
** Dirge and Nightbeat self destructed and destroyed themselves in a last ditch attempt to destroy the Swarm.
* Beast Wars
** [[Tigerhawk]] sacrificed himself by hurling himself in the way of a fusion cannon blast from the Nemesis.
* Energon: Galvatron, Starscream, and [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Mirage]] threw themselves into a sun and vaporized themselves. [[Snow Cat (Energon)|Snow Cat]] and Demolisher may have also done this.

==Non-fatal deactivation==
{{quote|"You mean he's still alive?!" "No! But neither is he what you would term 'dead'!"|[[Spider-Man]] and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], "[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

[[Image:Zombiesbackfromthedead.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Braiiiiiin mooooodulllllles....]]

For almost every single cause of death listed above, there's been one or more Transformers who have survived it, sometimes without so much as a period of unconsciousness.

In particular, "deactivation" is the Transformers equivalent of being in a coma. Numerous Transformers are seen to enter this state and eventually recover, such as the Autobots deactivated by Shockwave {{storylink|The Last Stand}}, who later were repaired. However, the line between death and deactivation is a blurry one. Sometimes the two words are used interchangeably, even in reference to characters who are later revived. Most of Starscream's Underbase victims were described as deactivated, and were sometimes lamented as "dead" while at other times were shown undergoing repairs. {{storylink|Back from the Dead}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}

"[[Stasis lock]]" would eventually give a more concrete name to the state of deactivation. The inert Transformers on the crashed Ark were retconned as being in stasis lock. Various ''Beast Wars'' characters would go into stasis lock to maintain their spark when their body had sustained too much damage from weaponsfire or energon absorption. ''Animated'' showed a crew of Autobots voluntarily entering protective stasis lock in anticipation of a crash landing.

Some of the quasi-fatal things which can cause a Transformer to "deactivate" include:

===Impact trauma===
Smashing into something usually knocks out a Transformer, but almost never actually kills them:
* The crew of the original Ark is deactivated when the ship crashes on Earth and lies inert for 4 million years {{storylink|More than Meets the Eye, Part 1}} {{storylink|The Transformers (issue)}}
* Marvel comics: [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] falls to his "death", but is patched together and talking again in short order. {{storylink|Prisoner of War!}}

===Decapitation===
[[Image:Sentinelprimeanimatedhumiliated.jpg|thumb|200px|In the movie continuity, this would've been fatal. In ''Animated'', it's just embarrassing.]]

{{bigquote|Anyone who can lop your head off in one blow is alright by me!|[[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] jokes about [[Cloudburst]]'s near-death experience, "[[Recipe for Disaster!]]"}}

Like we said before, decapitation is sometimes fatal... and other times it isn't.
* Marvel comic:
** Optimus Prime was able to survive as just a head when Shockwave separated it from his body in an effort to get the Creation Matrix. {{storylink|The New Order}}
**[[Cloudburst]] was abruptly decapitated by sword, but was just fine after some repairs. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
* G1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was disassembled into his component parts, but functioned just fine as nothing more than a head once [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] connected a few wires. {{storylink|City of Steel}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] survives having his head blasted or otherwise knocked off multiple times {{storylink|Spider's Game}} {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}} {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)}} {{storylink|Code of Hero}}, and even put it back on himself one time. He even accidently swapped heads with Megatron once. Megatron was not amused. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]] was just fine when one of the Reapers whacked his head off. (He didn't fare so well when another Reaper crushed his head with a boulder, however.) {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Decapitated victims of the ''Animated'' [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] rarely show any ill effects other than not having a body anymore. {{storylink|Headmaster (episode)|Headmaster}} {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}} {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

===Dismemberment===
Transformers get ripped to pieces all the time, and recover from it:
* Marvel comic: Scorponok tears [[Tantrum]] to pieces. [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] slices [[Horri-Bull]] in half at the waist. Both are seen alive later on. {{storylink|Cold War!}}
* Last Stand of the Wreckers: [[Guzzle]] is torn in half by [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] and is easily repaired.

===Spark removal===
{{bigquote|His spark can't exist outside a living body!|[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]], "[[Optimal Situation]]"}}

A Transformer's spark—their "soul", their living essence—can be removed from their body, or the body can be destroyed around them
* The destruction of Starscream's body, and his subsequent survival as a ghost, was eventually retconned to be his Spark enduring without a physical form. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Tigatron and Airazor's sparks spent quite some time wandering around behind Tigerhawk, before combining and entering his body. {{storylink|Other Victories}}

* In the ''Beast Machines'' cartoon:
** Megatron de-sparked most of Cybertron's population and stored their sparks in a big barrel. Most were restored to bodies eventually. {{storylink|Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}}
** Blackarachnia's spark wandered around bodiless for a time. {{storylink|Revelations Part III: Apocalypse}}
** Megatron himself, his spark in a depolarized state, wandered the surface of Cybertron without a body for a time. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}

The treatment of bodiless sparks in ''Beast Machines'' is seen by some fans as contradicting the canon established by ''Beast Wars'', particularly the quote above.

===Limbo===
Sometimes Transformers get shunted out of creation as we know it, and into various alternate, sub- and non-dimensions.
* Marvel comics:
** The [[Trans-Time Dimensional Portal]] crosses [[unspace]], "a bit of dimensional nothingness" where Ratchet and Megatron vanished and were believed dead. {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}
** Transformers mass-displaced by time travel wind up in a formless dimension known as [[Limbo]].
* IDW comics: Megatron severely damaged Optimus Prime in battle and planned on finishing him off by crushing his [[Laser core|spark core]]. Optimus Prime feigned death by downloading his "consciousness" into his [[Combat Deck|trailer section]], causing his [[Brain Center|robot mode]] to appear dead. In the time it took for Prime's consciousness to transfer to his trailer, he briefly entered [[infraspace|limbo]], the transitional infraspace between life and death. {{storylink|Escalation (IDW)|Escalation}}
*Generation 1 cartoon:
**Come on, we all know what REALLY happened to the likes of Seaspray and Tracks.

==Resuscitation==
Robots are machines. They can be switched off, taken apart, blown to bits, and put back together. Ergo, in many continuities and cases, "death" is not nearly as permanent a condition as it is for us fragile fleshy types.

===Reconstruction===
[[Image:PeoplePower-reprogrammed.jpg|thumb|right|250px| ]]

{{bigquote|I've done it! Optimus Prime lives!|A random Quintesson, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]"}}

* Generation 1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was simply ''repaired'' back to life by a Quintesson. Some fixing of this and that, a burst of power, and boom, suddenly he was alive again. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}}
* Marvel Comics: Optimus Prime's mind was encoded on a disk. After a new [[Powermaster]] body was constructed for him, the disk's contents were loaded into it, and Optimus Prime lived again. (One wonders why they couldn't make as many Optimus Primes as they pleased.) {{storylink|People Power!}}

===Spark transfer===
Transferring a Transformer's spark into a new body constitutes a form of resurrection, particularly if the Transformer's previous body was destroyed.
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Optimus Primal was restored to life when Rhinox managed to recall his spark from the Matrix, a special circumstance only enabled by a temporary window into transwarp space. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* ''Armada'' Smokescreen was shot through the chest at point blank range by the Requiem Blaster {{storylink|Sacrifice}} but his spark survived and was put into a new body. {{storylink|Regeneration}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Inferno and Demolishor both had their bodies ''atomized''; however, their sparks both survived, and were placed into new bodies. (The upshot of all of this is that it's nigh-impossible to kill a Unicron Trilogy Transformer, unless they do it themselves.) {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}} {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: The spark of a dying [[Yoketron]] was placed into a new protoform body by [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]; however, Yoketron consciously chose to let his life end, and expired anyway. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}}

==="Magical" substances===
* Marvel Comics: The miraculous healing properties of Nucleon brought many Autobots back to life, as well as a few Decepticons. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Megatron was revived by the all-encompassing power of energon, as was Unicron. {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}

===Primus and Primus-related powers===
{{bigquote|Where the Last Autobot is concerned, even death, it would appear, is an abstract concept!|Optimus Prime explains his latest revival, "[[End of the Road! (US)|End of the Road!]]"}}

Anything tied to the primordial life-force of the Transformers' god Primus tends to be a cure-all for death. This includes Primus himself, his various power-wielding avatars and servants, and the assorted Matrixes and Allsparks, all of which can deliver an infusion of the essence of life itself. In some continuities, this is parsed as a Transformer's spark being brought back out of the Allspark dimension.

[[Image:RageInHeaven-HeroPrime.jpg|thumb|right|150px|]]

* In the Marvel comics:
** The [[Last Autobot]] was granted the power of recreation by Primus, which he used to raise numerous fallen Autobots from the battlefield. {{storylink|End of the Road! (US)}}
** Optimus Prime was eager to find the lost Creation Matrix, stating that it would be able to restore many deactivated warriors to life. {{storylink|Bird of Prey!}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the [[Swarm (G2)|Swarm]] after it had ingested the energies and knowledge of the Matrix. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** The Allspark is shown repeatedly to be capable of restoring just about anything. Frenzy gets a whole new body from its power, {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and Megatron is restored to life by merely a fragment of it. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the Matrix of Leadership, an Allspark-related talisman. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

* ''Beast Machines'' cartoon: [[Optimus Primal]]'s body was destroyed, but the AllSpark granted him the choice of uniting with it or being reborn. He chose the latter, and ''poof'', just walked right out of the Oracle bubble in a brand new version of his previous body. {{storylink|Fallout}}
* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] was brought back to life by the power of the [[Mini-Con]]s after his body was disintegrated. {{storylink|Miracle}}
* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] was resurrected when he and his gestaltmates were combined together and reborn by Primus into [[Nexus Prime]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 5}} Nexus Prime then brought [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] back from the other side of the Allspark and infused him with some of Primus's power to become Galvatron. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 6}}

===Zombies===
* Dude, [[zombie]]s!

==Immortality==
===Immortal sparks===
Certain sparks have mutant qualities that allow them to, potentially, exist forever.
* Starscream survived his death at the hands of Galvatron; this was later explained as him having a "mutant indestructible spark". {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}} {{storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] was created as an attempt to duplicate Starscream's immortal spark. {{storylink|Bad Spark}} He was eventually killed by [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]], so the attempt may be seen as unsuccessful. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

===Other===
* [[Multiversal singularity|Multiversal singularities]] such as [[Unicron]] and [[The Fallen]] can be killed off in one dimension, only to still be alive and well in another (or many others), due to the varying properties of different dimensions (reverse-time, dimensions, for example are key to revival of the singularities).
* ''Animated'' [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] could not be killed so long as he retained his Allspark fragment embedded in his forehead.
* Denizens of the [[Dead Universe]] could essentially regenerate themselves out of nothing, no matter how much damage was inflicted on them.
* Thunderwing's Pretender shell seemed to make him near invincible. At the very lest able to withstand incredible amounts of salvo and not even flinch.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] can never completely die no matter what for some reason.

==Out-of-fiction causes of character death==
===Drama / character culmination===
At its best, character death can be a moving plot development, the fruition of an ongoing character arc.
* Suspecting that they would have to remove a character from the show, the writers of ''Beast Wars'' began planning for Dinobot's death several episodes ahead of time. Thus, when it came, it was the outcome of the character's own choices, flaws, and history, and played a crucial role in the show's plot. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* Sunstreaker's death in ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' is intended to follow a similar style of arc... only it's missing the whole choices, flaws and history thing. Oh well!
* Optimus Primal's death(s) in ''Beast Machines'' are likewise the outcome of his own choices and character. {{storylink|End of the Line}} {{storylink| Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}} His death in ''Beast Wars'', by contrast, was more a moment of dramatic pathos -- knowingly walking into danger, his enemy got the better of him. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}

===Consequences of war===
It's hard to take a war story seriously when nobody actually dies. The reality of war can be more readily portrayed when characters die. [[Generic]]s are particularly handy for this, allowing death to be shown while not removing primary characters (retail toys!) from the story. The results can range from high drama and pathos to numbingly pointless body counts.
* Impactor's death was used to drive home the threat of the Decepticons as well as the risks taken by the Autobots and their commanders. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
* The ''Generation 2'' book featured several deaths which drove home the realities of war. Most notably, Red Alert's destruction served to make Grimlock acutely aware of just how badly he'd screwed up. {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}}

===Increased threat===
An enemy that kills is an enemy to be taken seriously. Thus a writer will frequently throw in some preliminary deaths to point out how seriously the bad guy should be treated.
* The generic who dies at the beginning of "[[City of Fear!]]" serves to show the zombies as a true life-threatening menace.
* Likewise for Runabout's death at the hands of the demons ; {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}} knowing they can devour a Transformer makes the reader more concerned about the Dinobots' subsequent fate. {{storylink|Still Life!}}
* In "[[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]", [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] makes corpses in practically every scene he's in!

===Cast thinning===
Transformers stories are notorious for acquiring gigantic casts as they roll on; Generation 1 was particularly notorious for this because of its longevity. A simple way to make things more manageable was simply to kill off large numbers of characters in battle. Examples are rife in the fiction, especially the Marvel Comics.

* In the Marvel comics:
** The "[[Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars]]" storyline got rid of the [[Wrecker]]s and quite a few Decepticons as well.
** The [[Underbase Saga]] even more explicitly cleared out dozens of characters, leaving perhaps 2 dozen characters from each faction in the story.
** The battle with Unicron in "[[On the Edge of Extinction!]]" likewise got rid of a lot of older characters, leaving the story free to concentrate on more of a core cast (and associated newer toy characters.)
* [[Betrayal|Wreckers #2]] dealt with its oversized cast by killing off scads of characters right up front.

===Clear space for new toys===
{{main|To sell toys}}

Some fiction has an inherently limited capacity for characters. ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines'' are by far the most prominent examples; their CGI animation made character animation expensive and necessitated removing an old character before a new one could be brought in. But any medium can be susceptible to this toy-driven phenomena.
* The numerous casualties of "[[The Transformers: The Movie]]" were fairly explicitly removed from the story to make way for a wave of new toy/characters.
* Terrorsaur and Scorponok had to be removed -- quickly -- to make room for the two upcoming Fuzor characters, hence their sudden, blink-and-you-miss-it death in "[[Aftermath]]".
* Airazor and Tigatron were removed for similar reasons. When their plot was finally resolved, it was, surprise, via [[Tigerhawk|a new toy]]!

==Fleshling death==
In general, ''Transformers'' fiction is pretty squeamish about showing the deaths of Earth's organic creatures. But it's a war, and sometimes it does happen. The out-of-universe reasons generally fall into three categories: Consequences of War, Emotional Pathos, and BLOOD IZ KEWL.

The various cartoons tend to show organic death the least, as they are most clearly aimed at, and easily accessible by, children. Comics tend to be less reluctant to show the impact of the Transformers' war on innocent lives, though the death rate varies by series. Latter-day Generation 1 books especially revel in high body counts, because squishing stupid humans is killer and awesome and radical and hardcore. Even the occasional [[Satellite of Doom|children's storybook]] has been known to off mass quantities of the dumb fleshies.

===Animal death===
[[Image:MurderedPuppy02.jpg|right|150px|thumb|One dead dog]]

[[Image:Sparkwar3 Dead noble.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Two dead dogs]]

Cute little animals are almost always killed off for reasons of Emotional Pathos:
* A little girl's pet puppy named [[Pis]] barked at [[Wilder]] and was kicked so hard he died. {{storylink|Rage!! Little Devils with No Need for Rules}}
* The [[Murdered puppy]] was shot down by the Decepticons after running away from Megatron's experiments. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 8|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #8}}
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] once reminded [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] that [[The Fallen]] once shot down a ship full of [[Antilian bumble-puppy|Antilian bumble-puppies]]. (Decepticons have a thing for killing puppies.)
* The puppy-like [[Noble]] was shot at by [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] because of his hatred for organics {{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. III: The Siege}} and was later mourned by his "owner", [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}.
* A stray shot from [[Tigatron]] accidentally caused an avalanche which killed his friend [[Snowstalker]]. {{storylink|Law of the Jungle}}
* "[[Law of the Jungle]]" also portrays the deaths of four different forest animals (a bug is eaten by a frog, which is eaten by a snake, which is taken off to be eaten by a bird. Later, an orange tiger kills an antelope). This is a rare "Consequences of War" example.
* [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] also once ate an eagle, {{storylink|Power Surge}} while [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] ate a cute little rat {{storylink|Victory (episode)|Victory}}, and nearly ate an antelope as well. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* In order to save [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] had to fight a saber-toothed tiger off a cliff killing it. {{Storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] used [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel]]'s shield to knock a spikey rock onto a giant spider effectively killing it. She later used [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus]]' axe to kill some new born baby spiders. {{Storylink|Along Came a Spider}}
* Human villain [[Trophy White]] had a grisly display of stuffed and mounted animal heads. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}}

{{-}}
===Human death===
[[Image:Razorclawshootsahuman.jpg|right|thumb|250px|This didn't happen much.]]

* Marvel US: The [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|original Marvel book]] ignored or glossed over human casualties, which were rarely if ever shown; the panel at right, from [[Toy Soldiers!|US #37]], shows a ''very'' unusual instance of a human dying right in front of us. One of the few human(oid)s to die on-panel was [[Galen]], killed off to make way for [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]]. ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' was much more explicit about human death, as Bludgeon and later [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] attacked Earth for the purpose of inflicting casualties.
* Marvel UK: The UK-original stories were much less reluctant to show human death; within the first year or so, humans had died in Autobot-induced car wrecks and at the hands of mind-controlled Autobots.
* In every US-aired cartoon series, humans essentially ''never'' die. Even ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Transformers Animated]]'', which features the city of [[Detroit]] getting smashed by robot battles virtually every week, never once mentions humans getting killed.
* Contemporary toyline-based comics (''[[Armada (Dreamwave comic)|Armada]]'', ''[[Energon (comic)|Energon]]'') seem to follow a similar policy, avoiding mention of human death -- even when human cities are being directly attacked, as in "[[Multiplicity, Pt. 2]]".
* Japanese cartoons, by contrast, don't seem to mind showing human deaths (or [[Pis|dog deaths]], for that matter).
* The [[Dreamwave Generation One continuity|Dreamwave G1 comics]] really thought it was totally awesome and cool and radical to kill off those stupid humans. Thus, they start off with Megatron smushing some stupid humans. More smushing and killing and blowing up follows. DIE, dumb stubbies, DIE!
* [[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW comics]] managed to avoid this for a long time, showing human death only when it was particularly integral to the plot... then ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' came down the pike. DIE, stupid fleshies, DIE!
* The live-action [[movie continuity]] implies a great deal of human death. ''Revenge'' mentions a body count of over 9,000, and massive damage is done during the battle of [[Mission City]], though little of it is shown on screen. And of course, the first film begins with Blackout wiping out an entire military base. A handful of humans are killed directly on-screen, most notably [[Patrick Donnelly|Donnelly]].
* The alternate timeline arc in Titan's Movie comic featured big wars on Earth and lots of destruction, clearly ''insinuating'' human death while not being explicit. The exceptions were in [[Transformers Comic issue 10|issue 10]], where [[NATO]] is said to be suffering losses of 11,506 and the [[France|Palais Bourbon]] is blown up when people are still clearly inside. [[Sam Witwicky]], meanwhile, was stated to have died.
* Titan quite blatantly stated that the [[Free Men]] had caused great loss of life at an air base, a rare example of humans killing humans. In the same story, [[Robert Epps]] opened fire on militia men, which kinda implies he was killing them. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}} Similarly, [[Wheelie (ROTF)|Wheelie]] of all people was seen zapping humans at close range during a Decepticon attack; with no "oh it was a stun beam" handwave and the 'Cons not pulling punches, it sure seems like he's murdered 'em! {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.6|Outlaw Blues}}
* In ''[[Kiss Players (franchise)|Kiss Players]]'', several [[Kiss Player]]s were seen being devoured by Legions.

==Characters who die a lot==
* [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|Optimus Prime]]
* [[Dirge (G1)]] — the unlucky guy who gets [[:Image:Dirge DeathSerpentor.jpg|killed]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathSwarm.jpg|off]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathTimelines.jpg|in]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathUnicron.jpg|many]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathArmada.jpg|continuities]]
* [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] — the unlucky guy who gets killed over and over in the same continuity, but doesn't seem to mind.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] — the unlucky guy from ''[[Beast Wars (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'' who gets sliced, diced, and fricasseed every other episode only to be fully functional in time to get [[Slag (slang)|slagged]] ''again''. But he never actually dies.
* [[Cy-Kill (disambiguation)|Cy-Kill]], a Go-Bots character transferred to many Transformers comics just to be killed off violently. For no other reason than the lolz of ending his toyline, his universe, and finally his life... repeatedly.
* [[Sentinel Prime (G1)]] — the unlucky [[Prime (rank)|Prime]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime lou.jpg|who]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime dw.jpg|must]] [[Megatron Origin issue 4|die]].
* [[Starscream (Animated)]] - the unlucky guy that constantly gets killed, decapitated, or maimed by others, only to be brought back to life.

==See also==
* [[Transformer funerary practices]]
* [[To sell toys]]

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Transformer anatomy]]

Death

2011-03-05T23:12:30Z

174.96.255.90: /* Impact trauma */

{{disambig2|the end of life|the Horseman of Unicron|Airazor (Armada)}}

[[Image:Battleofautobotcity.jpg|right|300px|thumb|And lo, the children did weep.]]

''Transformers'' is a children's franchise, but at its core, it's a story of war. This means that the '''death''' of major and minor characters sometimes figures into the fiction.

Given the ambiguous nature of [[Transformer]] physiology, there is very little consistency regarding what is fatal to a Transformer, even within a single storyline. Damage that one Transformer might shrug off can prove fatal to another, or even to the same character in a different story. Sometimes just a laser blast or two will do the trick. Other times, characters survive being melted, crushed into cubes, and even utterly disintegrated. It does not take a terribly cynical viewer to conclude that the threshold of survival is generally determined by the needs of the plot.

The out-of-universe reasons for a character's death can vary from plot development to the arrival of [[To sell toys|new toys]]. Conveniently enough for writers who are beholden to the whims of a toy company, the majority of Transformers characters are machines, which means that death isn't necessarily permanent. Across the various universes, characters that appear to have been killed have been known to pop up alive again at a later date, or go through some sort of resurrection.

{{quote|"How can you all be so cold and unfeeling? He died a hero!" "Don't you even have mechanical hearts?" "The humans don't understand! Our form of life is vastly different from theirs!"|[[Spider-Man]], [[Sparkplug Witwicky]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]|"[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

==In-fiction causes of death==
[[Image:DEATH.jpg|left|thumb|400px|[[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] is just as puzzled as the rest of us.]]

There is little consistency in what can kill a Transformer. Sometimes it takes just a shot. Other times, even totally annihilating a Transformer's body still doesn't do the trick. Even the most basic method of killing, which is to destroy or otherwise cause the loss of a Transformer's [[spark]], varies quite a bit in its details from story to story, character to character, and series to series.
{{--}}
===Weaponsfire===
{{quote|This was almost too easy, Starscream!|[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (like the fandom) is surprised to find how easily Autobots die, ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''}}

[[Image:Tftm1986a.jpg|right|200px|thumb|We're here aboard the Autobot shuttle, where we've secretly replaced Brawn's hyper-dense metal armor plating with styrene plastic. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference.]]

[[Image:TFTM UltraMagnus dies.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Prepare for your death today. Yer gonna die!!]]

[[Image:Magnusdeath.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ow! Hey! Cut it out, guys! That hurts!]]

[[Image:Blades1.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Sorry, nameless guy, your generic nature means you will never be miraculously resurrected.]]

Like humans, Transformers can be killed by damage caused by energy, projectile, and chemical weapons. Just how many shots it takes is widely variable, however.
* In the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]]:
** Many casualties of the [[Battle of Autobot City]] (and its run-up), including [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], were victims of energy weapons. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} This was quite a change from the cartoon's M.O., wherein the same characters routinely got shot and blasted all the time and shrugged it off, or at worst spent some time in the repair bay. Brawn and Prowl both went down after ''one shot''.
** [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] subsequently "dies" after being shot a few times by the [[Sweep]]s, exploding into pieces. He is soon revived by the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]], however. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Ultra Magnus dies ''again'', for real this time, after [[Sixshot]] shoots him a few times. {{storylink|Ultra Magnus Dies!!}}

* In the [[Marvel Comics continuity|Marvel comics]]:
** [[Impactor]] was cut down by a single head shot from [[Macabre]]. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
** Most deaths in the ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' book occurred from energy weapons, such as [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]], {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}} as well as numerous generics. {{storylink|War Without End!}} Quite a few victims exploded spectacularly after being shot, including [[Tantrum]] {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}}, [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]], [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] {{storylink|New Dawn}}, and [[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]]{{storylink|Escalation!}}.

* In the ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' cartoon:
** [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] dies after incurring severe damage from numerous [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] weapons. {{storylink|Code of Hero}} The apparent cause of his demise is his refusal to enter protective [[stasis lock]], as other characters have survived similar or worse levels of damage.
** [[Tigerhawk]] is disintegrated by the main cannon of the starship ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]''. The same cannon subsequently blasts [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] and [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]], apparently killing them, though their "death" may be permanent simply because there was nobody around to put them back together. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 2}}

* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] dies holding back the [[Hydra Cannon]], the damage causing him to [[:Image:Sshot-arm-39-4.jpg|crumble to dust]]. {{storylink|Crisis}}

* [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]] G1 comics: [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] is killed by an assassin's blast. {{storylink|The Age of Wrath issue 1}} He got better. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 3}}

* [[Movie continuity]]: [[Brawl (Movie)|Brawl]] and [[Blackout (Movie)|Blackout]] both died from weapons fire. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}

* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] gets his face blown off/in by [[Cyclonus (SG)|Cyclonus]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 4}}
{{--}}

* [[Universe (2003 comic)|Universe]]: [[Tankor (BM)|Tankor]] was shot and killed by [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] during the final battle of the [[Universe War]].

===Big explosions===
{{bigquote|They're going to blow us all to pieces! [[Guardian (Marvel)|Guardian]]'s booby-trapped - packed with enough explosives to level this whole mountain!|[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], "[[The Wrath of Grimlock!]]"}}

Transformers characters often assume that explosions are more lethal than they really are; characters survive explosions all the time. An explosion's messy nature makes a good "out" for a writer to fake a character's death. {{storylink|The Wrath of Grimlock!}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}} Nevertheless, a few characters have been permanently killed by explosions. (This list omits characters who exploded from within, like Ultra Magnus up above.)
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]] was the victim of an interdimensionally triggered explosion that destroyed his body. (In UK continuity, he survived as a raggedy, bodiless head.) {{storylink|The Bridge to Nowhere!}}
** In an alternate future, a wounded [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] died in the fiery explosion of a crashing shuttlecraft. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** [[Finback]] was presumably killed in the explosion of a huge gun battery. [[Misfire]] tried to warn him off, and may have been killed in the same explosion. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}

* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon:
** [[Optimus Primal]] was blown to bits -- terminally so -- by the [[transwarp]] explosion that destroyed the [[Planet Buster]]. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}
** [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]] was killed by the explosion that resulted from [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]]'s death (either his exploding spark, or the exploding energon shard that pierced it.) {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

* Several of the [[Beast Era]] [[Wrecker]]s ([[Sonar (BW)|Sonar]], [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]], the [[Deployer (BM)|Deployers]]) were destroyed when part of their ship exploded with them in it. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

* Energon: [[Bruticus Maximus (Energon)|Bruticus Maximus]] and Storm Jet were killed when Storm Jet caused a massive explosion that engulfed them both.

* ''Prime'': [[Makeshift (Prime)|Makeshift]] and the surrounding [[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicon]]s were blown up by a grenade attached by the Autobots.

===Impact trauma===
Falling off a cliff or mountainside or tall building is usually just as fatal to Transformers as it is to, say... Wile E. Coyote. Only on rare occasion does it result in death:
* ''[[Classics (2006)|Classics]]'' continuity: [[Hacksaw]] met his end by falling from a huge communications tower. {{storylink|The New World}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Doubledealer]] was shot, fell off a mountain and smashed to bits on impact. {{storylink|Spotlight: Doubledealer}}
* Movie continuity:
**[[Devastator (ROTF)|Devastator]] fell off the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] after losing his balance when his arm was shot off, and he shattered to pieces as he tumbled down. ''{{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}''
** Though he didn't really fall off of anything, [[Barricade (Movie)|Barricade]] was smashed to pieces and killed by being flung into a freeway colum so in a way this could count as impact trauma. {{storylink|Movie Adaption Issue Number Four}}
* The [[Beast (G1)|Beast]] fell off a cliff and shattered. {{storylink|The Beast Within Part 2, Consequences}} At least, we hope that's where and how it ended.
* ''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)| Prime]]'': [[Skyquake (Prime)|Skyquake]] crash lands after [[Bumblebee (Prime)|Bumblebee]] punches out vital components in his alternate mode, reducing his body to a partially-transformed scrapheap.

===Crushing===
[[Image:Edgeofextinction-hardheadbombburst.jpg|thumb|right|175px|DO NOT WANT]]
[[Image:TFAni TransWarped LongArm Cliffjumper Cube.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Before time began, there was... THE CUBE.]]

Quite a few characters have been crushed into deactivation:
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]] was smashed between [[Unicron]]'s palms, while [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] met a similar fate when they were stepped on by Unicron. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] is apparently killed when a very large building collapses on top of him. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

* [[Unicron Trilogy]] cartoons:
** [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]] is killed when caught between two folding sections of Unicron's external armor. {{storylink|Union}}
** [[Shockblast]] is crushed by Unicron's hand on [[Blizzard Planet]]. {{storylink|The Power}}
** His brother [[Six Shot]] meets a similar fate, crushed under the heel of a super-sized Galvatron. {{storylink|Galvatron Terror}}

* IDW continuity:
** [[Roller]] was crushed when Megatron caused an avanlanche to fall on him.
** [[Ruckus (G1)|Ruckus]], [[Crankcase (G1)|Crankcase]], and [[Skullcruncher]] were all crushed by [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]].

* ''Animated'' cartoon: [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]] is (possibly) killed by a garbage compactor-like crushing device. (An "out" by writer [[Derrick J. Wyatt|Derrick Wyatt]] was intended to show his still-pulsing spark within his cubified remains, but this did not make it into the show, leaving his fate ambiguous at best.) {{storylink|TransWarped}}

===Melting===
[[Image:BW Scorponok Terrorsaur deaths.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Even having a new toy couldn't save Terrorsaur!]]

[[Image:Fallout title.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Primal's diet had gone horribly wrong.]]

They're made of metal; therefore, with enough heat or sufficiently acidic material, they can melt. This is one of the more fool-proof methods of killing a Transformer; few if any have survived it.
* In the G1 cartoon:
** An acid vat would apparently have been enough to destroy Optimus Prime. {{storylink|The Search for Alpha Trion}}
** Another acid vat was used to disintegrate living victims of Unicron. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comics:
** Victims of the Deception [[smelting pool]]s on Cybertron were reduced by intense heat into their base metals, including [[Scrounge (G1)|Scrounge]]. {{storylink|The Smelting Pool!}}
** It is possible that an acid bath from (naturally) [[Blot (G1)|Blot]] offlined [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] [[Makin' Tracks!|(for a while anyway)]]. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] was partially melted by Unicron's flame-breath and subsequently died. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The [[Cybertronian (faction)|Cybertronian Empire]] used some kind of acid to rather messily eradicate some of their Decepticon ancestors, including [[Stranglehold]]. {{storylink|New Dawn}}

* In the Beast Era cartoons:
** [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] and [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] were apparently melted to death after tumbling into a lava pit within the [[Darksyde|Predacon base]]. {{storylink|Aftermath}}
** Optimus Primal's body was seemingly melted into the floor after his climactic face-off with [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]. Considering how many god-like forces were unleashed and conflicting during the battle, his demise may be due to more than simple temperature-induced melting. {{storylink|Fallout}}

===Incineration===
{{bigquote|I saw the end! They died in a cosmic funeral pyre!|[[Shawn Berger]], "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2]]"}}

[[Image:Armada 52 - Prime hangon to Galvatron.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Galvatron died to save everyone and came back ''twice''—you lose, [[Jesus]]!]]

Plasma, energy fields, and stellar atmospheres can all utterly destroy a Transformer's body. Like being melted, being reduced to one's component molecules would seem to be a surefire way of getting killed, but quite a few characters seem able to survive the process as ghosts and/or disembodied sparks:
* Generation 1 cartoon: [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]'s spectacular death at the hands of [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] might be categorized as incineration. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* Quite a few characters met this fate in the Unicron Trilogy, but all survived it in some fashion:
** [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]]'s spark persisted within his burnt-out body when he was dropped into the exploding Unicron. {{storylink|Mortal Combat}} {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}
** [[Demolishor (Armada)|Demolishor]]'s body was obliterated by an expanding energon grid, but his spark survived the process and was placed in a new body. {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}}
** [[Inferno (Energon)|Inferno]] was destroyed when he threw himself into a star, but his spark was salvaged by the Autobots and, again, placed in a new body. {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
** And finally, Megatron (Galvatron, whatever) threw himself into Primus's new energon sun to prevent Unicron from possessing him, killing himself yet again. {{storylink|The Sun}} This death was so inconsequential that his subsequent resurrection wasn't even explained! {{storylink|Fallen (episode)|Fallen}}

===Consumption===
{{bigquote|...If we don't find the Matrix, some bad guy's gonna ''eat'' us! Right?|Longtooth, "[[Deadly Obsession]]"}}

[[Image:Wreckers Mutants.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The shocking death of the barely-seen guys with hardly any lines!]]
[[Image:Rocky mecannibal bartender marvel uk 240.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Cannibalism is hilarious, kids!]]

Quite a few critters in the multiverse are equipped to devour giant robots. Being eaten (and, presumably, digested) generally proves fatal:
* In the G1 cartoon:
** Various life forms were routinely devoured by the [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticon]]s on Quintessa. This included [[Kranix]], a mechanical life form, though not a Transformer. [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] and [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] would have suffered this fate as well, but fought their way free. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Quite a few Transformers found their way into Unicron's gullet, though many survived the experience. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comic:
** The [[Mecannibal]]s ate robots routinely, including quite a few Transformers during their sojourn on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} {{storylink|Out to Lunch!}} There is some indication that they could actually reconstitute their victims from their "recycled" parts, though this is never explicitly shown. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
** Unicron skewered [[Brainstorm]] and ate him. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The subsurface-dwelling [[demon]]s devoured [[Runabout]]. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The Swarm "devoured" innumerable Cybertronian troopers and a handful of older-generation Transformers as well, though this was through a molecular process almost akin to incineration. {{storylink|Swarm (issue)|Swarm}} {{storylink|Total War!}} {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* The Sharkticons killed two of the [[Mutant (BW)|Mutant]]s by gobbling them up. Or ripping them apart. Or both. We don't really know. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

===Disassembly===
[[Image:Jazz DyingAction.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"HERE'S what I think of your resemblance to your G1 counterpart!"]]

Taking a Transformer apart into its component parts can occasionally kill them:
* Marvel comics: [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] met this fate in an alternate future, when Swoop used a machine to pull him apart into his component pieces. {{storylink|Another Time and Place}}
* Movie continuity:
**Being ripped in half killed [[Jazz (Movie)|Jazz]]. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}
**[[Ravage (ROTF)|Ravage]] was killed when Bumblebee ripped his spine out, tearing him apart.
* [[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]: [[Pyro]] was torn apart and killed while making a final stand against a mass of generic Decpticons.
*[[Prime (cartoon)|Prime cartoon]]: When fighting [[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]]'s zombie army, [[Ratchet (Prime)|Ratchet]] recommended dissection to [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus]] to"cut" them down to size. How this is more effective then just blasting the living slag out of them is still up for debate.

===Decapitation===
{{main|Decapitation}}

[[Image:Cyclonus death.jpg|thumb|right|150px| "CHUK!" is good, but I could really go for a "Shakkooosh" right about now.]]

Sometimes cutting a Transformer's head off is fatal. Sometimes!
* In the Marvel comics:
** The Megatron clone killed Cyclonus by ripping his head off. {{storylink|Dry Run!}}
** Several of the Wreckers were killed by having their heads ripped or blasted off, including Twin Twist and Topspin, respectively. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars}}
** [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] had his head cut off by a propeller fired by [[Leadfoot (G2)|Leadfoot]], presumably (given the ''Generation 2'' book's emphasis on body count) killing him. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** Characters frequently die by decapitation of some form: [[Bonecrusher (Movie)|Bonecrusher]], {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and [[Grindor (ROTF)|Grindor]]. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
** Decapitation was an inconvenience for [[Frenzy (Movie)|Frenzy]] the first time. The second time, when the blow actually destroyed most of his head, was fatal.

===Vivisection===
[[Image:VictoryUKAnnual.JPG|thumb|right|150px| Ahhhh, there we go...]]

{{bigquote|I have no desire to be carved up into Auto-sushi.|Tracks, "[[Make Tracks]]"}}

Getting chopped in half is pretty graphic for a kids' story, even one about robots, so it doesn't happen very often.
* Marvel comics: In a dream sequence, [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] slices [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] in half, killing him. {{storylink|Victory!}}
* Japanese G1 cartoon: [[Predaking]] gets sliced in half by Dai Atlas. The strike dissects what appears to be an organic brain in his head. {{storylink|Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!}}
* ''Beast Wars Metals'': Terrorsaur was killed by being sliced in half by Primal's mace. {{storylink|Raise the Curtain for Beast Wars Metals!!}}
* Movie continuity: [[Sideways (ROTF)|Sideways]] dies when [[Sideswipe (ROTF)|Sideswipe]] slices his car mode in two. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Destruction of brain===
{{bigquote|Next strike in the neural cluster, yes? Weakest spot on ''all'' Transformers...|[[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], "[[Fire on High!]]"}}

In the early days of the franchise, a Transformer's life force was sometimes understood to be entirely contained within their [[brain module]], most prominently in the Marvel comics. Destroying the brain would kill the Transformer. This premise was eventually passed over in favor of the more esoteric concept of [[spark]]s.
* In the Marvel comics:
** In an alternate future, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] is blasted by [[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], who kills him by extracting and crushing his brain module. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** The [[Throttlebot]]s ''avoid'' death by having their brain modules removed from their bodies shortly before their bodies are destroyed (by crushing). {{storylink|Toy Soldiers!}}
** [[Brawl (G1)|Brawl]] was apparentlly killed when Megatron crushed his head and by extension, his brain. {{storylink|Gone But Not Forgotten!}} He got better.

===Destruction of spark===
{{bigquote|RAW energon! Right through your twisted spark!|Depth Charge to Rampage, "[[Nemesis Part 1]]"}}

[[Image:Skyfallwontbethereforit.jpg|thumb|right|200px|And then he hung Skyfall from his ceiling.]]

Getting stabbed right through the spark is almost always fatal:
* In ''Beast Wars'': The supposedly immortal Rampage was killed when Depth Charge pierced his spark with an energon blade. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}
* ''[[Transcendent Technomorph|TransTech]]'': [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] died when [[Alpha Trion (SG)|Alpha Trion]] rammed his sword right through his chest. {{storylink|Transcendent: Part 6}}
*Energon: [[Constructicon Maximus]] was killed when [[Storm Jet (Energon)|Storm Jet]] impaled and crushed his spark.
* ''Cybertron'': Galvatron died after being impaled with [[Rhisling]] by Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Unfinished}}
* Movie continuity: Optimus Prime died from a stab wound through the chest, quickly followed by a cannon blast through the spark chamber from Megatron's swordcannon weapon.[[The Fallen]] also met his end when Optimus punched through his chest and crushed his spark. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* ''Beast Machines'' continuity: [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] - already reduced to a spark within the matrix - ceased to be when Megatron annihilated his spark from existence. {{storylink|Singularity Ablyss}}
* [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|Titan's Movie comics]]: Transformers have forcefields shielding their sparks, which can be externalized to protect bodywork. Jazz loved doing this, leaving him far more vulnerable to death by destruction of spark than he would otherwise be. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 6|Lost in Space 4: Jazz}}

===Loss of spark===
{{bigquote|Warning. Further expenditure will result in permanent loss of spark. Stasis lock ''must'' commence.|[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]]'s internal computer, "[[Code of Hero]]"}}

Sometimes sparks can survive outside of a body; sometimes they cannot. In the Beast Era, there is some indication that a spark left outside a body will soon begin to return to the Matrix/AllSpark/another dimension.
* When Dinobot expires after his final battle, his Spark is seen exiting his body. The implication is that a sufficiently damaged body can no longer hold a spark within this dimension. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* ''Beast Machines'' subsequently showed living sparks existing outside of bodies on a regular basis. The sparkless bodies were simply considered shells, rather than "dead".
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Prowl dies when he intentionally relinquishes his own spark. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}
* Movie continuity: Jetfire rips out his own spark chamber to give Optimus a fighting chance. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Energy overload===
{{bigquote|We may need energon for power, but this is too much of a good thing.|[[Optimus Primal]], "[[Beast Wars (Part 1)]]"}}

[[Image:TFAnimated transformandrollout DEATH.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Death — the Optimus version of a power nap.]]
[[Image:Underbaseallmine.jpg|thumb|right|200px|He's got an Underbase in his underpants.]]

The average [[human]] needs a lot of [[water]] to survive. But too much water results in [[wikipedia:Water intoxication|a horrible death]]. Similarly, Transformers need energy to survive, but too much of it can be a very bad thing. Sometimes it's just plain old energy; other times it some special god-like force that does them in.
* In the Marvel comics:
** An [[Underbase]]-empowered Starscream slaughtered dozens of Transformers with energy blasts, {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}} which reportedly burned out millions of their microchips. {{storylink|Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?}} Some Transformers were seen to recover from these attacks, either via conventional repairs {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} or through the power of [[nucleon]]. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
** Starscream himself was killed when he absorbed all the energies of the Underbase. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] was apparently killed when struck by a blast of energy from the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]], though the physical effect was more like being hit by an especially powerful laser blast. {{storylink|All Fall Down (issue)}}

* ''Super-God Masterforce'' cartoon: [[Sixknight]] died from an overcharge of BlackZarak's Devil Power. {{storylink|Malevolent and Inhuman! The True Form of Devil Z}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runabout]] dies when one of the [[Reaper]]s zaps him full of energy, causing him to explode from within. {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* Movie continuity: [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] was killed when [[Sam Witwicky]] shoved the [[AllSpark]] into his chest. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)|Transformers}}
* ''Transformers Animated'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] got caught in an explosion of [[AllSpark]] energy that may have been sufficient to kill him, although he also fell off a very tall building immediately afterwards (Starscream was caught in the same explosion and survived, but was knocked offline for an unspecified period.)

===Energy depletion===
On rare occasion, Transformers can simply run out of energy completely and expire.
* Marvel comics: the ancient [[Overlord (rank)|Overlord]] died from a lack of energy. {{storylink|State Games}}
* Movie continuity: [[Jetfire (ROTF)|Jetfire]] explains that a lack of energon causes the Transformer equivalent of aging, such as rusting joints, mental confusion, and pieces falling apart, followed by an indefinite period of stasis that can only be reversed by an infusion of Allspark energy. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Suicide===
Sometimes a Transformers kills himself for some reason.
* Marvel comics
** Megatron seemingly killed himself using a [[space bridge]] though it was later revealed that he survived.
** Dirge and Nightbeat self destructed and destroyed themselves in a last ditch attempt to destroy the Swarm.
* Beast Wars
** [[Tigerhawk]] sacrificed himself by hurling himself in the way of a fusion cannon blast from the Nemesis.
* Energon: Galvatron, Starscream, and [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Mirage]] threw themselves into a sun and vaporized themselves. [[Snow Cat (Energon)|Snow Cat]] and Demolisher may have also done this.

==Non-fatal deactivation==
{{quote|"You mean he's still alive?!" "No! But neither is he what you would term 'dead'!"|[[Spider-Man]] and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], "[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

[[Image:Zombiesbackfromthedead.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Braiiiiiin mooooodulllllles....]]

For almost every single cause of death listed above, there's been one or more Transformers who have survived it, sometimes without so much as a period of unconsciousness.

In particular, "deactivation" is the Transformers equivalent of being in a coma. Numerous Transformers are seen to enter this state and eventually recover, such as the Autobots deactivated by Shockwave {{storylink|The Last Stand}}, who later were repaired. However, the line between death and deactivation is a blurry one. Sometimes the two words are used interchangeably, even in reference to characters who are later revived. Most of Starscream's Underbase victims were described as deactivated, and were sometimes lamented as "dead" while at other times were shown undergoing repairs. {{storylink|Back from the Dead}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}

"[[Stasis lock]]" would eventually give a more concrete name to the state of deactivation. The inert Transformers on the crashed Ark were retconned as being in stasis lock. Various ''Beast Wars'' characters would go into stasis lock to maintain their spark when their body had sustained too much damage from weaponsfire or energon absorption. ''Animated'' showed a crew of Autobots voluntarily entering protective stasis lock in anticipation of a crash landing.

Some of the quasi-fatal things which can cause a Transformer to "deactivate" include:

===Impact trauma===
Smashing into something usually knocks out a Transformer, but almost never actually kills them:
* The crew of the original Ark is deactivated when the ship crashes on Earth and lies inert for 4 million years {{storylink|More than Meets the Eye, Part 1}} {{storylink|The Transformers (issue)}}
* Marvel comics: [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] falls to his "death", but is patched together and talking again in short order. {{storylink|Prisoner of War!}}

===Decapitation===
[[Image:Sentinelprimeanimatedhumiliated.jpg|thumb|200px|In the movie continuity, this would've been fatal. In ''Animated'', it's just embarrassing.]]

{{bigquote|Anyone who can lop your head off in one blow is alright by me!|[[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] jokes about [[Cloudburst]]'s near-death experience, "[[Recipe for Disaster!]]"}}

Like we said before, decapitation is sometimes fatal... and other times it isn't.
* Marvel comic:
** Optimus Prime was able to survive as just a head when Shockwave separated it from his body in an effort to get the Creation Matrix. {{storylink|The New Order}}
**[[Cloudburst]] was abruptly decapitated by sword, but was just fine after some repairs. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
* G1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was disassembled into his component parts, but functioned just fine as nothing more than a head once [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] connected a few wires. {{storylink|City of Steel}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] survives having his head blasted or otherwise knocked off multiple times {{storylink|Spider's Game}} {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}} {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)}} {{storylink|Code of Hero}}, and even put it back on himself one time. He even accidently swapped heads with Megatron once. Megatron was not amused. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]] was just fine when one of the Reapers whacked his head off. (He didn't fare so well when another Reaper crushed his head with a boulder, however.) {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Decapitated victims of the ''Animated'' [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] rarely show any ill effects other than not having a body anymore. {{storylink|Headmaster (episode)|Headmaster}} {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}} {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

===Dismemberment===
Transformers get ripped to pieces all the time, and recover from it:
* Marvel comic: Scorponok tears [[Tantrum]] to pieces. [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] slices [[Horri-Bull]] in half at the waist. Both are seen alive later on. {{storylink|Cold War!}}
* Last Stand of the Wreckers: [[Guzzle]] is torn in half by [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] and is easily repaired.

===Spark removal===
{{bigquote|His spark can't exist outside a living body!|[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]], "[[Optimal Situation]]"}}

A Transformer's spark—their "soul", their living essence—can be removed from their body, or the body can be destroyed around them
* The destruction of Starscream's body, and his subsequent survival as a ghost, was eventually retconned to be his Spark enduring without a physical form. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Tigatron and Airazor's sparks spent quite some time wandering around behind Tigerhawk, before combining and entering his body. {{storylink|Other Victories}}

* In the ''Beast Machines'' cartoon:
** Megatron de-sparked most of Cybertron's population and stored their sparks in a big barrel. Most were restored to bodies eventually. {{storylink|Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}}
** Blackarachnia's spark wandered around bodiless for a time. {{storylink|Revelations Part III: Apocalypse}}
** Megatron himself, his spark in a depolarized state, wandered the surface of Cybertron without a body for a time. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}

The treatment of bodiless sparks in ''Beast Machines'' is seen by some fans as contradicting the canon established by ''Beast Wars'', particularly the quote above.

===Limbo===
Sometimes Transformers get shunted out of creation as we know it, and into various alternate, sub- and non-dimensions.
* Marvel comics:
** The [[Trans-Time Dimensional Portal]] crosses [[unspace]], "a bit of dimensional nothingness" where Ratchet and Megatron vanished and were believed dead. {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}
** Transformers mass-displaced by time travel wind up in a formless dimension known as [[Limbo]].
* IDW comics: Megatron severely damaged Optimus Prime in battle and planned on finishing him off by crushing his [[Laser core|spark core]]. Optimus Prime feigned death by downloading his "consciousness" into his [[Combat Deck|trailer section]], causing his [[Brain Center|robot mode]] to appear dead. In the time it took for Prime's consciousness to transfer to his trailer, he briefly entered [[infraspace|limbo]], the transitional infraspace between life and death. {{storylink|Escalation (IDW)|Escalation}}
*Generation 1 cartoon:
**Come on, we all know what REALLY happened to the likes of Seaspray and Tracks.

==Resuscitation==
Robots are machines. They can be switched off, taken apart, blown to bits, and put back together. Ergo, in many continuities and cases, "death" is not nearly as permanent a condition as it is for us fragile fleshy types.

===Reconstruction===
[[Image:PeoplePower-reprogrammed.jpg|thumb|right|250px| ]]

{{bigquote|I've done it! Optimus Prime lives!|A random Quintesson, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]"}}

* Generation 1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was simply ''repaired'' back to life by a Quintesson. Some fixing of this and that, a burst of power, and boom, suddenly he was alive again. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}}
* Marvel Comics: Optimus Prime's mind was encoded on a disk. After a new [[Powermaster]] body was constructed for him, the disk's contents were loaded into it, and Optimus Prime lived again. (One wonders why they couldn't make as many Optimus Primes as they pleased.) {{storylink|People Power!}}

===Spark transfer===
Transferring a Transformer's spark into a new body constitutes a form of resurrection, particularly if the Transformer's previous body was destroyed.
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Optimus Primal was restored to life when Rhinox managed to recall his spark from the Matrix, a special circumstance only enabled by a temporary window into transwarp space. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* ''Armada'' Smokescreen was shot through the chest at point blank range by the Requiem Blaster {{storylink|Sacrifice}} but his spark survived and was put into a new body. {{storylink|Regeneration}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Inferno and Demolishor both had their bodies ''atomized''; however, their sparks both survived, and were placed into new bodies. (The upshot of all of this is that it's nigh-impossible to kill a Unicron Trilogy Transformer, unless they do it themselves.) {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}} {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: The spark of a dying [[Yoketron]] was placed into a new protoform body by [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]; however, Yoketron consciously chose to let his life end, and expired anyway. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}}

==="Magical" substances===
* Marvel Comics: The miraculous healing properties of Nucleon brought many Autobots back to life, as well as a few Decepticons. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Megatron was revived by the all-encompassing power of energon, as was Unicron. {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}

===Primus and Primus-related powers===
{{bigquote|Where the Last Autobot is concerned, even death, it would appear, is an abstract concept!|Optimus Prime explains his latest revival, "[[End of the Road! (US)|End of the Road!]]"}}

Anything tied to the primordial life-force of the Transformers' god Primus tends to be a cure-all for death. This includes Primus himself, his various power-wielding avatars and servants, and the assorted Matrixes and Allsparks, all of which can deliver an infusion of the essence of life itself. In some continuities, this is parsed as a Transformer's spark being brought back out of the Allspark dimension.

[[Image:RageInHeaven-HeroPrime.jpg|thumb|right|150px|]]

* In the Marvel comics:
** The [[Last Autobot]] was granted the power of recreation by Primus, which he used to raise numerous fallen Autobots from the battlefield. {{storylink|End of the Road! (US)}}
** Optimus Prime was eager to find the lost Creation Matrix, stating that it would be able to restore many deactivated warriors to life. {{storylink|Bird of Prey!}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the [[Swarm (G2)|Swarm]] after it had ingested the energies and knowledge of the Matrix. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** The Allspark is shown repeatedly to be capable of restoring just about anything. Frenzy gets a whole new body from its power, {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and Megatron is restored to life by merely a fragment of it. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the Matrix of Leadership, an Allspark-related talisman. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

* ''Beast Machines'' cartoon: [[Optimus Primal]]'s body was destroyed, but the AllSpark granted him the choice of uniting with it or being reborn. He chose the latter, and ''poof'', just walked right out of the Oracle bubble in a brand new version of his previous body. {{storylink|Fallout}}
* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] was brought back to life by the power of the [[Mini-Con]]s after his body was disintegrated. {{storylink|Miracle}}
* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] was resurrected when he and his gestaltmates were combined together and reborn by Primus into [[Nexus Prime]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 5}} Nexus Prime then brought [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] back from the other side of the Allspark and infused him with some of Primus's power to become Galvatron. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 6}}

===Zombies===
* Dude, [[zombie]]s!

==Immortality==
===Immortal sparks===
Certain sparks have mutant qualities that allow them to, potentially, exist forever.
* Starscream survived his death at the hands of Galvatron; this was later explained as him having a "mutant indestructible spark". {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}} {{storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] was created as an attempt to duplicate Starscream's immortal spark. {{storylink|Bad Spark}} He was eventually killed by [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]], so the attempt may be seen as unsuccessful. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

===Other===
* [[Multiversal singularity|Multiversal singularities]] such as [[Unicron]] and [[The Fallen]] can be killed off in one dimension, only to still be alive and well in another (or many others), due to the varying properties of different dimensions (reverse-time, dimensions, for example are key to revival of the singularities).
* ''Animated'' [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] could not be killed so long as he retained his Allspark fragment embedded in his forehead.
* Denizens of the [[Dead Universe]] could essentially regenerate themselves out of nothing, no matter how much damage was inflicted on them.
* Thunderwing's Pretender shell seemed to make him near invincible. At the very lest able to withstand incredible amounts of salvo and not even flinch.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] can never completely die no matter what for some reason.

==Out-of-fiction causes of character death==
===Drama / character culmination===
At its best, character death can be a moving plot development, the fruition of an ongoing character arc.
* Suspecting that they would have to remove a character from the show, the writers of ''Beast Wars'' began planning for Dinobot's death several episodes ahead of time. Thus, when it came, it was the outcome of the character's own choices, flaws, and history, and played a crucial role in the show's plot. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* Sunstreaker's death in ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' is intended to follow a similar style of arc... only it's missing the whole choices, flaws and history thing. Oh well!
* Optimus Primal's death(s) in ''Beast Machines'' are likewise the outcome of his own choices and character. {{storylink|End of the Line}} {{storylink| Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}} His death in ''Beast Wars'', by contrast, was more a moment of dramatic pathos -- knowingly walking into danger, his enemy got the better of him. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}

===Consequences of war===
It's hard to take a war story seriously when nobody actually dies. The reality of war can be more readily portrayed when characters die. [[Generic]]s are particularly handy for this, allowing death to be shown while not removing primary characters (retail toys!) from the story. The results can range from high drama and pathos to numbingly pointless body counts.
* Impactor's death was used to drive home the threat of the Decepticons as well as the risks taken by the Autobots and their commanders. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
* The ''Generation 2'' book featured several deaths which drove home the realities of war. Most notably, Red Alert's destruction served to make Grimlock acutely aware of just how badly he'd screwed up. {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}}

===Increased threat===
An enemy that kills is an enemy to be taken seriously. Thus a writer will frequently throw in some preliminary deaths to point out how seriously the bad guy should be treated.
* The generic who dies at the beginning of "[[City of Fear!]]" serves to show the zombies as a true life-threatening menace.
* Likewise for Runabout's death at the hands of the demons ; {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}} knowing they can devour a Transformer makes the reader more concerned about the Dinobots' subsequent fate. {{storylink|Still Life!}}
* In "[[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]", [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] makes corpses in practically every scene he's in!

===Cast thinning===
Transformers stories are notorious for acquiring gigantic casts as they roll on; Generation 1 was particularly notorious for this because of its longevity. A simple way to make things more manageable was simply to kill off large numbers of characters in battle. Examples are rife in the fiction, especially the Marvel Comics.

* In the Marvel comics:
** The "[[Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars]]" storyline got rid of the [[Wrecker]]s and quite a few Decepticons as well.
** The [[Underbase Saga]] even more explicitly cleared out dozens of characters, leaving perhaps 2 dozen characters from each faction in the story.
** The battle with Unicron in "[[On the Edge of Extinction!]]" likewise got rid of a lot of older characters, leaving the story free to concentrate on more of a core cast (and associated newer toy characters.)
* [[Betrayal|Wreckers #2]] dealt with its oversized cast by killing off scads of characters right up front.

===Clear space for new toys===
{{main|To sell toys}}

Some fiction has an inherently limited capacity for characters. ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines'' are by far the most prominent examples; their CGI animation made character animation expensive and necessitated removing an old character before a new one could be brought in. But any medium can be susceptible to this toy-driven phenomena.
* The numerous casualties of "[[The Transformers: The Movie]]" were fairly explicitly removed from the story to make way for a wave of new toy/characters.
* Terrorsaur and Scorponok had to be removed -- quickly -- to make room for the two upcoming Fuzor characters, hence their sudden, blink-and-you-miss-it death in "[[Aftermath]]".
* Airazor and Tigatron were removed for similar reasons. When their plot was finally resolved, it was, surprise, via [[Tigerhawk|a new toy]]!

==Fleshling death==
In general, ''Transformers'' fiction is pretty squeamish about showing the deaths of Earth's organic creatures. But it's a war, and sometimes it does happen. The out-of-universe reasons generally fall into three categories: Consequences of War, Emotional Pathos, and BLOOD IZ KEWL.

The various cartoons tend to show organic death the least, as they are most clearly aimed at, and easily accessible by, children. Comics tend to be less reluctant to show the impact of the Transformers' war on innocent lives, though the death rate varies by series. Latter-day Generation 1 books especially revel in high body counts, because squishing stupid humans is killer and awesome and radical and hardcore. Even the occasional [[Satellite of Doom|children's storybook]] has been known to off mass quantities of the dumb fleshies.

===Animal death===
[[Image:MurderedPuppy02.jpg|right|150px|thumb|One dead dog]]

[[Image:Sparkwar3 Dead noble.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Two dead dogs]]

Cute little animals are almost always killed off for reasons of Emotional Pathos:
* A little girl's pet puppy named [[Pis]] barked at [[Wilder]] and was kicked so hard he died. {{storylink|Rage!! Little Devils with No Need for Rules}}
* The [[Murdered puppy]] was shot down by the Decepticons after running away from Megatron's experiments. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 8|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #8}}
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] once reminded [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] that [[The Fallen]] once shot down a ship full of [[Antilian bumble-puppy|Antilian bumble-puppies]]. (Decepticons have a thing for killing puppies.)
* The puppy-like [[Noble]] was shot at by [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] because of his hatred for organics {{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. III: The Siege}} and was later mourned by his "owner", [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}.
* A stray shot from [[Tigatron]] accidentally caused an avalanche which killed his friend [[Snowstalker]]. {{storylink|Law of the Jungle}}
* "[[Law of the Jungle]]" also portrays the deaths of four different forest animals (a bug is eaten by a frog, which is eaten by a snake, which is taken off to be eaten by a bird. Later, an orange tiger kills an antelope). This is a rare "Consequences of War" example.
* [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] also once ate an eagle, {{storylink|Power Surge}} while [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] ate a cute little rat {{storylink|Victory (episode)|Victory}}, and nearly ate an antelope as well. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* In order to save [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] had to fight a saber-toothed tiger off a cliff killing it. {{Storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] used [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel]]'s shield to knock a spikey rock onto a giant spider effectively killing it. She later used [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus]]' axe to kill some new born baby spiders. {{Storylink|Along Came a Spider}}
* Human villain [[Trophy White]] had a grisly display of stuffed and mounted animal heads. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}}

{{-}}
===Human death===
[[Image:Razorclawshootsahuman.jpg|right|thumb|250px|This didn't happen much.]]

* Marvel US: The [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|original Marvel book]] ignored or glossed over human casualties, which were rarely if ever shown; the panel at right, from [[Toy Soldiers!|US #37]], shows a ''very'' unusual instance of a human dying right in front of us. One of the few human(oid)s to die on-panel was [[Galen]], killed off to make way for [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]]. ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' was much more explicit about human death, as Bludgeon and later [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] attacked Earth for the purpose of inflicting casualties.
* Marvel UK: The UK-original stories were much less reluctant to show human death; within the first year or so, humans had died in Autobot-induced car wrecks and at the hands of mind-controlled Autobots.
* In every US-aired cartoon series, humans essentially ''never'' die. Even ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Transformers Animated]]'', which features the city of [[Detroit]] getting smashed by robot battles virtually every week, never once mentions humans getting killed.
* Contemporary toyline-based comics (''[[Armada (Dreamwave comic)|Armada]]'', ''[[Energon (comic)|Energon]]'') seem to follow a similar policy, avoiding mention of human death -- even when human cities are being directly attacked, as in "[[Multiplicity, Pt. 2]]".
* Japanese cartoons, by contrast, don't seem to mind showing human deaths (or [[Pis|dog deaths]], for that matter).
* The [[Dreamwave Generation One continuity|Dreamwave G1 comics]] really thought it was totally awesome and cool and radical to kill off those stupid humans. Thus, they start off with Megatron smushing some stupid humans. More smushing and killing and blowing up follows. DIE, dumb stubbies, DIE!
* [[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW comics]] managed to avoid this for a long time, showing human death only when it was particularly integral to the plot... then ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' came down the pike. DIE, stupid fleshies, DIE!
* The live-action [[movie continuity]] implies a great deal of human death. ''Revenge'' mentions a body count of over 9,000, and massive damage is done during the battle of [[Mission City]], though little of it is shown on screen. And of course, the first film begins with Blackout wiping out an entire military base. A handful of humans are killed directly on-screen, most notably [[Patrick Donnelly|Donnelly]].
* The alternate timeline arc in Titan's Movie comic featured big wars on Earth and lots of destruction, clearly ''insinuating'' human death while not being explicit. The exceptions were in [[Transformers Comic issue 10|issue 10]], where [[NATO]] is said to be suffering losses of 11,506 and the [[France|Palais Bourbon]] is blown up when people are still clearly inside. [[Sam Witwicky]], meanwhile, was stated to have died.
* Titan quite blatantly stated that the [[Free Men]] had caused great loss of life at an air base, a rare example of humans killing humans. In the same story, [[Robert Epps]] opened fire on militia men, which kinda implies he was killing them. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}} Similarly, [[Wheelie (ROTF)|Wheelie]] of all people was seen zapping humans at close range during a Decepticon attack; with no "oh it was a stun beam" handwave and the 'Cons not pulling punches, it sure seems like he's murdered 'em! {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.6|Outlaw Blues}}
* In ''[[Kiss Players (franchise)|Kiss Players]]'', several [[Kiss Player]]s were seen being devoured by Legions.

==Characters who die a lot==
* [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|Optimus Prime]]
* [[Dirge (G1)]] — the unlucky guy who gets [[:Image:Dirge DeathSerpentor.jpg|killed]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathSwarm.jpg|off]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathTimelines.jpg|in]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathUnicron.jpg|many]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathArmada.jpg|continuities]]
* [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] — the unlucky guy who gets killed over and over in the same continuity, but doesn't seem to mind.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] — the unlucky guy from ''[[Beast Wars (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'' who gets sliced, diced, and fricasseed every other episode only to be fully functional in time to get [[Slag (slang)|slagged]] ''again''. But he never actually dies.
* [[Cy-Kill (disambiguation)|Cy-Kill]], a Go-Bots character transferred to many Transformers comics just to be killed off violently. For no other reason than the lolz of ending his toyline, his universe, and finally his life... repeatedly.
* [[Sentinel Prime (G1)]] — the unlucky [[Prime (rank)|Prime]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime lou.jpg|who]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime dw.jpg|must]] [[Megatron Origin issue 4|die]].
* [[Starscream (Animated)]] - the unlucky guy that constantly gets killed, decapitated, or maimed by others, only to be brought back to life.

==See also==
* [[Transformer funerary practices]]
* [[To sell toys]]

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Transformer anatomy]]

Death

2011-03-05T23:11:31Z

174.96.255.90: /* Impact trauma */

{{disambig2|the end of life|the Horseman of Unicron|Airazor (Armada)}}

[[Image:Battleofautobotcity.jpg|right|300px|thumb|And lo, the children did weep.]]

''Transformers'' is a children's franchise, but at its core, it's a story of war. This means that the '''death''' of major and minor characters sometimes figures into the fiction.

Given the ambiguous nature of [[Transformer]] physiology, there is very little consistency regarding what is fatal to a Transformer, even within a single storyline. Damage that one Transformer might shrug off can prove fatal to another, or even to the same character in a different story. Sometimes just a laser blast or two will do the trick. Other times, characters survive being melted, crushed into cubes, and even utterly disintegrated. It does not take a terribly cynical viewer to conclude that the threshold of survival is generally determined by the needs of the plot.

The out-of-universe reasons for a character's death can vary from plot development to the arrival of [[To sell toys|new toys]]. Conveniently enough for writers who are beholden to the whims of a toy company, the majority of Transformers characters are machines, which means that death isn't necessarily permanent. Across the various universes, characters that appear to have been killed have been known to pop up alive again at a later date, or go through some sort of resurrection.

{{quote|"How can you all be so cold and unfeeling? He died a hero!" "Don't you even have mechanical hearts?" "The humans don't understand! Our form of life is vastly different from theirs!"|[[Spider-Man]], [[Sparkplug Witwicky]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]|"[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

==In-fiction causes of death==
[[Image:DEATH.jpg|left|thumb|400px|[[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] is just as puzzled as the rest of us.]]

There is little consistency in what can kill a Transformer. Sometimes it takes just a shot. Other times, even totally annihilating a Transformer's body still doesn't do the trick. Even the most basic method of killing, which is to destroy or otherwise cause the loss of a Transformer's [[spark]], varies quite a bit in its details from story to story, character to character, and series to series.
{{--}}
===Weaponsfire===
{{quote|This was almost too easy, Starscream!|[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (like the fandom) is surprised to find how easily Autobots die, ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''}}

[[Image:Tftm1986a.jpg|right|200px|thumb|We're here aboard the Autobot shuttle, where we've secretly replaced Brawn's hyper-dense metal armor plating with styrene plastic. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference.]]

[[Image:TFTM UltraMagnus dies.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Prepare for your death today. Yer gonna die!!]]

[[Image:Magnusdeath.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ow! Hey! Cut it out, guys! That hurts!]]

[[Image:Blades1.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Sorry, nameless guy, your generic nature means you will never be miraculously resurrected.]]

Like humans, Transformers can be killed by damage caused by energy, projectile, and chemical weapons. Just how many shots it takes is widely variable, however.
* In the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]]:
** Many casualties of the [[Battle of Autobot City]] (and its run-up), including [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], were victims of energy weapons. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} This was quite a change from the cartoon's M.O., wherein the same characters routinely got shot and blasted all the time and shrugged it off, or at worst spent some time in the repair bay. Brawn and Prowl both went down after ''one shot''.
** [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] subsequently "dies" after being shot a few times by the [[Sweep]]s, exploding into pieces. He is soon revived by the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]], however. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Ultra Magnus dies ''again'', for real this time, after [[Sixshot]] shoots him a few times. {{storylink|Ultra Magnus Dies!!}}

* In the [[Marvel Comics continuity|Marvel comics]]:
** [[Impactor]] was cut down by a single head shot from [[Macabre]]. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
** Most deaths in the ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' book occurred from energy weapons, such as [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]], {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}} as well as numerous generics. {{storylink|War Without End!}} Quite a few victims exploded spectacularly after being shot, including [[Tantrum]] {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}}, [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]], [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] {{storylink|New Dawn}}, and [[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]]{{storylink|Escalation!}}.

* In the ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' cartoon:
** [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] dies after incurring severe damage from numerous [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] weapons. {{storylink|Code of Hero}} The apparent cause of his demise is his refusal to enter protective [[stasis lock]], as other characters have survived similar or worse levels of damage.
** [[Tigerhawk]] is disintegrated by the main cannon of the starship ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]''. The same cannon subsequently blasts [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] and [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]], apparently killing them, though their "death" may be permanent simply because there was nobody around to put them back together. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 2}}

* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] dies holding back the [[Hydra Cannon]], the damage causing him to [[:Image:Sshot-arm-39-4.jpg|crumble to dust]]. {{storylink|Crisis}}

* [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]] G1 comics: [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] is killed by an assassin's blast. {{storylink|The Age of Wrath issue 1}} He got better. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 3}}

* [[Movie continuity]]: [[Brawl (Movie)|Brawl]] and [[Blackout (Movie)|Blackout]] both died from weapons fire. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}

* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] gets his face blown off/in by [[Cyclonus (SG)|Cyclonus]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 4}}
{{--}}

* [[Universe (2003 comic)|Universe]]: [[Tankor (BM)|Tankor]] was shot and killed by [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] during the final battle of the [[Universe War]].

===Big explosions===
{{bigquote|They're going to blow us all to pieces! [[Guardian (Marvel)|Guardian]]'s booby-trapped - packed with enough explosives to level this whole mountain!|[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], "[[The Wrath of Grimlock!]]"}}

Transformers characters often assume that explosions are more lethal than they really are; characters survive explosions all the time. An explosion's messy nature makes a good "out" for a writer to fake a character's death. {{storylink|The Wrath of Grimlock!}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}} Nevertheless, a few characters have been permanently killed by explosions. (This list omits characters who exploded from within, like Ultra Magnus up above.)
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]] was the victim of an interdimensionally triggered explosion that destroyed his body. (In UK continuity, he survived as a raggedy, bodiless head.) {{storylink|The Bridge to Nowhere!}}
** In an alternate future, a wounded [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] died in the fiery explosion of a crashing shuttlecraft. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** [[Finback]] was presumably killed in the explosion of a huge gun battery. [[Misfire]] tried to warn him off, and may have been killed in the same explosion. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}

* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon:
** [[Optimus Primal]] was blown to bits -- terminally so -- by the [[transwarp]] explosion that destroyed the [[Planet Buster]]. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}
** [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]] was killed by the explosion that resulted from [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]]'s death (either his exploding spark, or the exploding energon shard that pierced it.) {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

* Several of the [[Beast Era]] [[Wrecker]]s ([[Sonar (BW)|Sonar]], [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]], the [[Deployer (BM)|Deployers]]) were destroyed when part of their ship exploded with them in it. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

* Energon: [[Bruticus Maximus (Energon)|Bruticus Maximus]] and Storm Jet were killed when Storm Jet caused a massive explosion that engulfed them both.

* ''Prime'': [[Makeshift (Prime)|Makeshift]] and the surrounding [[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicon]]s were blown up by a grenade attached by the Autobots.

===Impact trauma===
Falling off a cliff or mountainside or tall building is usually just as fatal to Transformers as it is to, say... Wile E. Coyote. Only on rare occasion does it result in death:
* ''[[Classics (2006)|Classics]]'' continuity: [[Hacksaw]] met his end by falling from a huge communications tower. {{storylink|The New World}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Doubledealer]] was shot, fell off a mountain and smashed to bits on impact. {{storylink|Spotlight: Doubledealer}}
* Movie continuity:
**[[Devastator (ROTF)|Devastator]] fell off the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] after losing his balance when his arm was shot off, and he shattered to pieces as he tumbled down. ''{{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}''
** Though he didn't really fall off of anything, [[Barricade (Movie)|Barricade]] was smashed to pieces and killed by being flung into a freeway colum so in a way this could count as impact trauma. {{Movie Adaption Issue Number Four}}
* The [[Beast (G1)|Beast]] fell off a cliff and shattered. {{storylink|The Beast Within Part 2, Consequences}} At least, we hope that's where and how it ended.
* ''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)| Prime]]'': [[Skyquake (Prime)|Skyquake]] crash lands after [[Bumblebee (Prime)|Bumblebee]] punches out vital components in his alternate mode, reducing his body to a partially-transformed scrapheap.

===Crushing===
[[Image:Edgeofextinction-hardheadbombburst.jpg|thumb|right|175px|DO NOT WANT]]
[[Image:TFAni TransWarped LongArm Cliffjumper Cube.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Before time began, there was... THE CUBE.]]

Quite a few characters have been crushed into deactivation:
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]] was smashed between [[Unicron]]'s palms, while [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] met a similar fate when they were stepped on by Unicron. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] is apparently killed when a very large building collapses on top of him. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

* [[Unicron Trilogy]] cartoons:
** [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]] is killed when caught between two folding sections of Unicron's external armor. {{storylink|Union}}
** [[Shockblast]] is crushed by Unicron's hand on [[Blizzard Planet]]. {{storylink|The Power}}
** His brother [[Six Shot]] meets a similar fate, crushed under the heel of a super-sized Galvatron. {{storylink|Galvatron Terror}}

* IDW continuity:
** [[Roller]] was crushed when Megatron caused an avanlanche to fall on him.
** [[Ruckus (G1)|Ruckus]], [[Crankcase (G1)|Crankcase]], and [[Skullcruncher]] were all crushed by [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]].

* ''Animated'' cartoon: [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]] is (possibly) killed by a garbage compactor-like crushing device. (An "out" by writer [[Derrick J. Wyatt|Derrick Wyatt]] was intended to show his still-pulsing spark within his cubified remains, but this did not make it into the show, leaving his fate ambiguous at best.) {{storylink|TransWarped}}

===Melting===
[[Image:BW Scorponok Terrorsaur deaths.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Even having a new toy couldn't save Terrorsaur!]]

[[Image:Fallout title.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Primal's diet had gone horribly wrong.]]

They're made of metal; therefore, with enough heat or sufficiently acidic material, they can melt. This is one of the more fool-proof methods of killing a Transformer; few if any have survived it.
* In the G1 cartoon:
** An acid vat would apparently have been enough to destroy Optimus Prime. {{storylink|The Search for Alpha Trion}}
** Another acid vat was used to disintegrate living victims of Unicron. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comics:
** Victims of the Deception [[smelting pool]]s on Cybertron were reduced by intense heat into their base metals, including [[Scrounge (G1)|Scrounge]]. {{storylink|The Smelting Pool!}}
** It is possible that an acid bath from (naturally) [[Blot (G1)|Blot]] offlined [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] [[Makin' Tracks!|(for a while anyway)]]. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] was partially melted by Unicron's flame-breath and subsequently died. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The [[Cybertronian (faction)|Cybertronian Empire]] used some kind of acid to rather messily eradicate some of their Decepticon ancestors, including [[Stranglehold]]. {{storylink|New Dawn}}

* In the Beast Era cartoons:
** [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] and [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] were apparently melted to death after tumbling into a lava pit within the [[Darksyde|Predacon base]]. {{storylink|Aftermath}}
** Optimus Primal's body was seemingly melted into the floor after his climactic face-off with [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]. Considering how many god-like forces were unleashed and conflicting during the battle, his demise may be due to more than simple temperature-induced melting. {{storylink|Fallout}}

===Incineration===
{{bigquote|I saw the end! They died in a cosmic funeral pyre!|[[Shawn Berger]], "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2]]"}}

[[Image:Armada 52 - Prime hangon to Galvatron.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Galvatron died to save everyone and came back ''twice''—you lose, [[Jesus]]!]]

Plasma, energy fields, and stellar atmospheres can all utterly destroy a Transformer's body. Like being melted, being reduced to one's component molecules would seem to be a surefire way of getting killed, but quite a few characters seem able to survive the process as ghosts and/or disembodied sparks:
* Generation 1 cartoon: [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]'s spectacular death at the hands of [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] might be categorized as incineration. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* Quite a few characters met this fate in the Unicron Trilogy, but all survived it in some fashion:
** [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]]'s spark persisted within his burnt-out body when he was dropped into the exploding Unicron. {{storylink|Mortal Combat}} {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}
** [[Demolishor (Armada)|Demolishor]]'s body was obliterated by an expanding energon grid, but his spark survived the process and was placed in a new body. {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}}
** [[Inferno (Energon)|Inferno]] was destroyed when he threw himself into a star, but his spark was salvaged by the Autobots and, again, placed in a new body. {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
** And finally, Megatron (Galvatron, whatever) threw himself into Primus's new energon sun to prevent Unicron from possessing him, killing himself yet again. {{storylink|The Sun}} This death was so inconsequential that his subsequent resurrection wasn't even explained! {{storylink|Fallen (episode)|Fallen}}

===Consumption===
{{bigquote|...If we don't find the Matrix, some bad guy's gonna ''eat'' us! Right?|Longtooth, "[[Deadly Obsession]]"}}

[[Image:Wreckers Mutants.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The shocking death of the barely-seen guys with hardly any lines!]]
[[Image:Rocky mecannibal bartender marvel uk 240.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Cannibalism is hilarious, kids!]]

Quite a few critters in the multiverse are equipped to devour giant robots. Being eaten (and, presumably, digested) generally proves fatal:
* In the G1 cartoon:
** Various life forms were routinely devoured by the [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticon]]s on Quintessa. This included [[Kranix]], a mechanical life form, though not a Transformer. [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] and [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] would have suffered this fate as well, but fought their way free. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Quite a few Transformers found their way into Unicron's gullet, though many survived the experience. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comic:
** The [[Mecannibal]]s ate robots routinely, including quite a few Transformers during their sojourn on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} {{storylink|Out to Lunch!}} There is some indication that they could actually reconstitute their victims from their "recycled" parts, though this is never explicitly shown. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
** Unicron skewered [[Brainstorm]] and ate him. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The subsurface-dwelling [[demon]]s devoured [[Runabout]]. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The Swarm "devoured" innumerable Cybertronian troopers and a handful of older-generation Transformers as well, though this was through a molecular process almost akin to incineration. {{storylink|Swarm (issue)|Swarm}} {{storylink|Total War!}} {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* The Sharkticons killed two of the [[Mutant (BW)|Mutant]]s by gobbling them up. Or ripping them apart. Or both. We don't really know. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

===Disassembly===
[[Image:Jazz DyingAction.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"HERE'S what I think of your resemblance to your G1 counterpart!"]]

Taking a Transformer apart into its component parts can occasionally kill them:
* Marvel comics: [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] met this fate in an alternate future, when Swoop used a machine to pull him apart into his component pieces. {{storylink|Another Time and Place}}
* Movie continuity:
**Being ripped in half killed [[Jazz (Movie)|Jazz]]. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}
**[[Ravage (ROTF)|Ravage]] was killed when Bumblebee ripped his spine out, tearing him apart.
* [[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]: [[Pyro]] was torn apart and killed while making a final stand against a mass of generic Decpticons.
*[[Prime (cartoon)|Prime cartoon]]: When fighting [[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]]'s zombie army, [[Ratchet (Prime)|Ratchet]] recommended dissection to [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus]] to"cut" them down to size. How this is more effective then just blasting the living slag out of them is still up for debate.

===Decapitation===
{{main|Decapitation}}

[[Image:Cyclonus death.jpg|thumb|right|150px| "CHUK!" is good, but I could really go for a "Shakkooosh" right about now.]]

Sometimes cutting a Transformer's head off is fatal. Sometimes!
* In the Marvel comics:
** The Megatron clone killed Cyclonus by ripping his head off. {{storylink|Dry Run!}}
** Several of the Wreckers were killed by having their heads ripped or blasted off, including Twin Twist and Topspin, respectively. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars}}
** [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] had his head cut off by a propeller fired by [[Leadfoot (G2)|Leadfoot]], presumably (given the ''Generation 2'' book's emphasis on body count) killing him. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** Characters frequently die by decapitation of some form: [[Bonecrusher (Movie)|Bonecrusher]], {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and [[Grindor (ROTF)|Grindor]]. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
** Decapitation was an inconvenience for [[Frenzy (Movie)|Frenzy]] the first time. The second time, when the blow actually destroyed most of his head, was fatal.

===Vivisection===
[[Image:VictoryUKAnnual.JPG|thumb|right|150px| Ahhhh, there we go...]]

{{bigquote|I have no desire to be carved up into Auto-sushi.|Tracks, "[[Make Tracks]]"}}

Getting chopped in half is pretty graphic for a kids' story, even one about robots, so it doesn't happen very often.
* Marvel comics: In a dream sequence, [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] slices [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] in half, killing him. {{storylink|Victory!}}
* Japanese G1 cartoon: [[Predaking]] gets sliced in half by Dai Atlas. The strike dissects what appears to be an organic brain in his head. {{storylink|Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!}}
* ''Beast Wars Metals'': Terrorsaur was killed by being sliced in half by Primal's mace. {{storylink|Raise the Curtain for Beast Wars Metals!!}}
* Movie continuity: [[Sideways (ROTF)|Sideways]] dies when [[Sideswipe (ROTF)|Sideswipe]] slices his car mode in two. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Destruction of brain===
{{bigquote|Next strike in the neural cluster, yes? Weakest spot on ''all'' Transformers...|[[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], "[[Fire on High!]]"}}

In the early days of the franchise, a Transformer's life force was sometimes understood to be entirely contained within their [[brain module]], most prominently in the Marvel comics. Destroying the brain would kill the Transformer. This premise was eventually passed over in favor of the more esoteric concept of [[spark]]s.
* In the Marvel comics:
** In an alternate future, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] is blasted by [[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], who kills him by extracting and crushing his brain module. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** The [[Throttlebot]]s ''avoid'' death by having their brain modules removed from their bodies shortly before their bodies are destroyed (by crushing). {{storylink|Toy Soldiers!}}
** [[Brawl (G1)|Brawl]] was apparentlly killed when Megatron crushed his head and by extension, his brain. {{storylink|Gone But Not Forgotten!}} He got better.

===Destruction of spark===
{{bigquote|RAW energon! Right through your twisted spark!|Depth Charge to Rampage, "[[Nemesis Part 1]]"}}

[[Image:Skyfallwontbethereforit.jpg|thumb|right|200px|And then he hung Skyfall from his ceiling.]]

Getting stabbed right through the spark is almost always fatal:
* In ''Beast Wars'': The supposedly immortal Rampage was killed when Depth Charge pierced his spark with an energon blade. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}
* ''[[Transcendent Technomorph|TransTech]]'': [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] died when [[Alpha Trion (SG)|Alpha Trion]] rammed his sword right through his chest. {{storylink|Transcendent: Part 6}}
*Energon: [[Constructicon Maximus]] was killed when [[Storm Jet (Energon)|Storm Jet]] impaled and crushed his spark.
* ''Cybertron'': Galvatron died after being impaled with [[Rhisling]] by Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Unfinished}}
* Movie continuity: Optimus Prime died from a stab wound through the chest, quickly followed by a cannon blast through the spark chamber from Megatron's swordcannon weapon.[[The Fallen]] also met his end when Optimus punched through his chest and crushed his spark. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* ''Beast Machines'' continuity: [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] - already reduced to a spark within the matrix - ceased to be when Megatron annihilated his spark from existence. {{storylink|Singularity Ablyss}}
* [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|Titan's Movie comics]]: Transformers have forcefields shielding their sparks, which can be externalized to protect bodywork. Jazz loved doing this, leaving him far more vulnerable to death by destruction of spark than he would otherwise be. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 6|Lost in Space 4: Jazz}}

===Loss of spark===
{{bigquote|Warning. Further expenditure will result in permanent loss of spark. Stasis lock ''must'' commence.|[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]]'s internal computer, "[[Code of Hero]]"}}

Sometimes sparks can survive outside of a body; sometimes they cannot. In the Beast Era, there is some indication that a spark left outside a body will soon begin to return to the Matrix/AllSpark/another dimension.
* When Dinobot expires after his final battle, his Spark is seen exiting his body. The implication is that a sufficiently damaged body can no longer hold a spark within this dimension. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* ''Beast Machines'' subsequently showed living sparks existing outside of bodies on a regular basis. The sparkless bodies were simply considered shells, rather than "dead".
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Prowl dies when he intentionally relinquishes his own spark. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}
* Movie continuity: Jetfire rips out his own spark chamber to give Optimus a fighting chance. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Energy overload===
{{bigquote|We may need energon for power, but this is too much of a good thing.|[[Optimus Primal]], "[[Beast Wars (Part 1)]]"}}

[[Image:TFAnimated transformandrollout DEATH.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Death — the Optimus version of a power nap.]]
[[Image:Underbaseallmine.jpg|thumb|right|200px|He's got an Underbase in his underpants.]]

The average [[human]] needs a lot of [[water]] to survive. But too much water results in [[wikipedia:Water intoxication|a horrible death]]. Similarly, Transformers need energy to survive, but too much of it can be a very bad thing. Sometimes it's just plain old energy; other times it some special god-like force that does them in.
* In the Marvel comics:
** An [[Underbase]]-empowered Starscream slaughtered dozens of Transformers with energy blasts, {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}} which reportedly burned out millions of their microchips. {{storylink|Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?}} Some Transformers were seen to recover from these attacks, either via conventional repairs {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} or through the power of [[nucleon]]. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
** Starscream himself was killed when he absorbed all the energies of the Underbase. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] was apparently killed when struck by a blast of energy from the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]], though the physical effect was more like being hit by an especially powerful laser blast. {{storylink|All Fall Down (issue)}}

* ''Super-God Masterforce'' cartoon: [[Sixknight]] died from an overcharge of BlackZarak's Devil Power. {{storylink|Malevolent and Inhuman! The True Form of Devil Z}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runabout]] dies when one of the [[Reaper]]s zaps him full of energy, causing him to explode from within. {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* Movie continuity: [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] was killed when [[Sam Witwicky]] shoved the [[AllSpark]] into his chest. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)|Transformers}}
* ''Transformers Animated'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] got caught in an explosion of [[AllSpark]] energy that may have been sufficient to kill him, although he also fell off a very tall building immediately afterwards (Starscream was caught in the same explosion and survived, but was knocked offline for an unspecified period.)

===Energy depletion===
On rare occasion, Transformers can simply run out of energy completely and expire.
* Marvel comics: the ancient [[Overlord (rank)|Overlord]] died from a lack of energy. {{storylink|State Games}}
* Movie continuity: [[Jetfire (ROTF)|Jetfire]] explains that a lack of energon causes the Transformer equivalent of aging, such as rusting joints, mental confusion, and pieces falling apart, followed by an indefinite period of stasis that can only be reversed by an infusion of Allspark energy. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Suicide===
Sometimes a Transformers kills himself for some reason.
* Marvel comics
** Megatron seemingly killed himself using a [[space bridge]] though it was later revealed that he survived.
** Dirge and Nightbeat self destructed and destroyed themselves in a last ditch attempt to destroy the Swarm.
* Beast Wars
** [[Tigerhawk]] sacrificed himself by hurling himself in the way of a fusion cannon blast from the Nemesis.
* Energon: Galvatron, Starscream, and [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Mirage]] threw themselves into a sun and vaporized themselves. [[Snow Cat (Energon)|Snow Cat]] and Demolisher may have also done this.

==Non-fatal deactivation==
{{quote|"You mean he's still alive?!" "No! But neither is he what you would term 'dead'!"|[[Spider-Man]] and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], "[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

[[Image:Zombiesbackfromthedead.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Braiiiiiin mooooodulllllles....]]

For almost every single cause of death listed above, there's been one or more Transformers who have survived it, sometimes without so much as a period of unconsciousness.

In particular, "deactivation" is the Transformers equivalent of being in a coma. Numerous Transformers are seen to enter this state and eventually recover, such as the Autobots deactivated by Shockwave {{storylink|The Last Stand}}, who later were repaired. However, the line between death and deactivation is a blurry one. Sometimes the two words are used interchangeably, even in reference to characters who are later revived. Most of Starscream's Underbase victims were described as deactivated, and were sometimes lamented as "dead" while at other times were shown undergoing repairs. {{storylink|Back from the Dead}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}

"[[Stasis lock]]" would eventually give a more concrete name to the state of deactivation. The inert Transformers on the crashed Ark were retconned as being in stasis lock. Various ''Beast Wars'' characters would go into stasis lock to maintain their spark when their body had sustained too much damage from weaponsfire or energon absorption. ''Animated'' showed a crew of Autobots voluntarily entering protective stasis lock in anticipation of a crash landing.

Some of the quasi-fatal things which can cause a Transformer to "deactivate" include:

===Impact trauma===
Smashing into something usually knocks out a Transformer, but almost never actually kills them:
* The crew of the original Ark is deactivated when the ship crashes on Earth and lies inert for 4 million years {{storylink|More than Meets the Eye, Part 1}} {{storylink|The Transformers (issue)}}
* Marvel comics: [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] falls to his "death", but is patched together and talking again in short order. {{storylink|Prisoner of War!}}

===Decapitation===
[[Image:Sentinelprimeanimatedhumiliated.jpg|thumb|200px|In the movie continuity, this would've been fatal. In ''Animated'', it's just embarrassing.]]

{{bigquote|Anyone who can lop your head off in one blow is alright by me!|[[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] jokes about [[Cloudburst]]'s near-death experience, "[[Recipe for Disaster!]]"}}

Like we said before, decapitation is sometimes fatal... and other times it isn't.
* Marvel comic:
** Optimus Prime was able to survive as just a head when Shockwave separated it from his body in an effort to get the Creation Matrix. {{storylink|The New Order}}
**[[Cloudburst]] was abruptly decapitated by sword, but was just fine after some repairs. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
* G1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was disassembled into his component parts, but functioned just fine as nothing more than a head once [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] connected a few wires. {{storylink|City of Steel}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] survives having his head blasted or otherwise knocked off multiple times {{storylink|Spider's Game}} {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}} {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)}} {{storylink|Code of Hero}}, and even put it back on himself one time. He even accidently swapped heads with Megatron once. Megatron was not amused. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]] was just fine when one of the Reapers whacked his head off. (He didn't fare so well when another Reaper crushed his head with a boulder, however.) {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Decapitated victims of the ''Animated'' [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] rarely show any ill effects other than not having a body anymore. {{storylink|Headmaster (episode)|Headmaster}} {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}} {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

===Dismemberment===
Transformers get ripped to pieces all the time, and recover from it:
* Marvel comic: Scorponok tears [[Tantrum]] to pieces. [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] slices [[Horri-Bull]] in half at the waist. Both are seen alive later on. {{storylink|Cold War!}}
* Last Stand of the Wreckers: [[Guzzle]] is torn in half by [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] and is easily repaired.

===Spark removal===
{{bigquote|His spark can't exist outside a living body!|[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]], "[[Optimal Situation]]"}}

A Transformer's spark—their "soul", their living essence—can be removed from their body, or the body can be destroyed around them
* The destruction of Starscream's body, and his subsequent survival as a ghost, was eventually retconned to be his Spark enduring without a physical form. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Tigatron and Airazor's sparks spent quite some time wandering around behind Tigerhawk, before combining and entering his body. {{storylink|Other Victories}}

* In the ''Beast Machines'' cartoon:
** Megatron de-sparked most of Cybertron's population and stored their sparks in a big barrel. Most were restored to bodies eventually. {{storylink|Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}}
** Blackarachnia's spark wandered around bodiless for a time. {{storylink|Revelations Part III: Apocalypse}}
** Megatron himself, his spark in a depolarized state, wandered the surface of Cybertron without a body for a time. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}

The treatment of bodiless sparks in ''Beast Machines'' is seen by some fans as contradicting the canon established by ''Beast Wars'', particularly the quote above.

===Limbo===
Sometimes Transformers get shunted out of creation as we know it, and into various alternate, sub- and non-dimensions.
* Marvel comics:
** The [[Trans-Time Dimensional Portal]] crosses [[unspace]], "a bit of dimensional nothingness" where Ratchet and Megatron vanished and were believed dead. {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}
** Transformers mass-displaced by time travel wind up in a formless dimension known as [[Limbo]].
* IDW comics: Megatron severely damaged Optimus Prime in battle and planned on finishing him off by crushing his [[Laser core|spark core]]. Optimus Prime feigned death by downloading his "consciousness" into his [[Combat Deck|trailer section]], causing his [[Brain Center|robot mode]] to appear dead. In the time it took for Prime's consciousness to transfer to his trailer, he briefly entered [[infraspace|limbo]], the transitional infraspace between life and death. {{storylink|Escalation (IDW)|Escalation}}
*Generation 1 cartoon:
**Come on, we all know what REALLY happened to the likes of Seaspray and Tracks.

==Resuscitation==
Robots are machines. They can be switched off, taken apart, blown to bits, and put back together. Ergo, in many continuities and cases, "death" is not nearly as permanent a condition as it is for us fragile fleshy types.

===Reconstruction===
[[Image:PeoplePower-reprogrammed.jpg|thumb|right|250px| ]]

{{bigquote|I've done it! Optimus Prime lives!|A random Quintesson, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]"}}

* Generation 1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was simply ''repaired'' back to life by a Quintesson. Some fixing of this and that, a burst of power, and boom, suddenly he was alive again. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}}
* Marvel Comics: Optimus Prime's mind was encoded on a disk. After a new [[Powermaster]] body was constructed for him, the disk's contents were loaded into it, and Optimus Prime lived again. (One wonders why they couldn't make as many Optimus Primes as they pleased.) {{storylink|People Power!}}

===Spark transfer===
Transferring a Transformer's spark into a new body constitutes a form of resurrection, particularly if the Transformer's previous body was destroyed.
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Optimus Primal was restored to life when Rhinox managed to recall his spark from the Matrix, a special circumstance only enabled by a temporary window into transwarp space. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* ''Armada'' Smokescreen was shot through the chest at point blank range by the Requiem Blaster {{storylink|Sacrifice}} but his spark survived and was put into a new body. {{storylink|Regeneration}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Inferno and Demolishor both had their bodies ''atomized''; however, their sparks both survived, and were placed into new bodies. (The upshot of all of this is that it's nigh-impossible to kill a Unicron Trilogy Transformer, unless they do it themselves.) {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}} {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: The spark of a dying [[Yoketron]] was placed into a new protoform body by [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]; however, Yoketron consciously chose to let his life end, and expired anyway. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}}

==="Magical" substances===
* Marvel Comics: The miraculous healing properties of Nucleon brought many Autobots back to life, as well as a few Decepticons. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Megatron was revived by the all-encompassing power of energon, as was Unicron. {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}

===Primus and Primus-related powers===
{{bigquote|Where the Last Autobot is concerned, even death, it would appear, is an abstract concept!|Optimus Prime explains his latest revival, "[[End of the Road! (US)|End of the Road!]]"}}

Anything tied to the primordial life-force of the Transformers' god Primus tends to be a cure-all for death. This includes Primus himself, his various power-wielding avatars and servants, and the assorted Matrixes and Allsparks, all of which can deliver an infusion of the essence of life itself. In some continuities, this is parsed as a Transformer's spark being brought back out of the Allspark dimension.

[[Image:RageInHeaven-HeroPrime.jpg|thumb|right|150px|]]

* In the Marvel comics:
** The [[Last Autobot]] was granted the power of recreation by Primus, which he used to raise numerous fallen Autobots from the battlefield. {{storylink|End of the Road! (US)}}
** Optimus Prime was eager to find the lost Creation Matrix, stating that it would be able to restore many deactivated warriors to life. {{storylink|Bird of Prey!}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the [[Swarm (G2)|Swarm]] after it had ingested the energies and knowledge of the Matrix. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** The Allspark is shown repeatedly to be capable of restoring just about anything. Frenzy gets a whole new body from its power, {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and Megatron is restored to life by merely a fragment of it. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the Matrix of Leadership, an Allspark-related talisman. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

* ''Beast Machines'' cartoon: [[Optimus Primal]]'s body was destroyed, but the AllSpark granted him the choice of uniting with it or being reborn. He chose the latter, and ''poof'', just walked right out of the Oracle bubble in a brand new version of his previous body. {{storylink|Fallout}}
* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] was brought back to life by the power of the [[Mini-Con]]s after his body was disintegrated. {{storylink|Miracle}}
* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] was resurrected when he and his gestaltmates were combined together and reborn by Primus into [[Nexus Prime]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 5}} Nexus Prime then brought [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] back from the other side of the Allspark and infused him with some of Primus's power to become Galvatron. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 6}}

===Zombies===
* Dude, [[zombie]]s!

==Immortality==
===Immortal sparks===
Certain sparks have mutant qualities that allow them to, potentially, exist forever.
* Starscream survived his death at the hands of Galvatron; this was later explained as him having a "mutant indestructible spark". {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}} {{storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] was created as an attempt to duplicate Starscream's immortal spark. {{storylink|Bad Spark}} He was eventually killed by [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]], so the attempt may be seen as unsuccessful. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

===Other===
* [[Multiversal singularity|Multiversal singularities]] such as [[Unicron]] and [[The Fallen]] can be killed off in one dimension, only to still be alive and well in another (or many others), due to the varying properties of different dimensions (reverse-time, dimensions, for example are key to revival of the singularities).
* ''Animated'' [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] could not be killed so long as he retained his Allspark fragment embedded in his forehead.
* Denizens of the [[Dead Universe]] could essentially regenerate themselves out of nothing, no matter how much damage was inflicted on them.
* Thunderwing's Pretender shell seemed to make him near invincible. At the very lest able to withstand incredible amounts of salvo and not even flinch.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] can never completely die no matter what for some reason.

==Out-of-fiction causes of character death==
===Drama / character culmination===
At its best, character death can be a moving plot development, the fruition of an ongoing character arc.
* Suspecting that they would have to remove a character from the show, the writers of ''Beast Wars'' began planning for Dinobot's death several episodes ahead of time. Thus, when it came, it was the outcome of the character's own choices, flaws, and history, and played a crucial role in the show's plot. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* Sunstreaker's death in ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' is intended to follow a similar style of arc... only it's missing the whole choices, flaws and history thing. Oh well!
* Optimus Primal's death(s) in ''Beast Machines'' are likewise the outcome of his own choices and character. {{storylink|End of the Line}} {{storylink| Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}} His death in ''Beast Wars'', by contrast, was more a moment of dramatic pathos -- knowingly walking into danger, his enemy got the better of him. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}

===Consequences of war===
It's hard to take a war story seriously when nobody actually dies. The reality of war can be more readily portrayed when characters die. [[Generic]]s are particularly handy for this, allowing death to be shown while not removing primary characters (retail toys!) from the story. The results can range from high drama and pathos to numbingly pointless body counts.
* Impactor's death was used to drive home the threat of the Decepticons as well as the risks taken by the Autobots and their commanders. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
* The ''Generation 2'' book featured several deaths which drove home the realities of war. Most notably, Red Alert's destruction served to make Grimlock acutely aware of just how badly he'd screwed up. {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}}

===Increased threat===
An enemy that kills is an enemy to be taken seriously. Thus a writer will frequently throw in some preliminary deaths to point out how seriously the bad guy should be treated.
* The generic who dies at the beginning of "[[City of Fear!]]" serves to show the zombies as a true life-threatening menace.
* Likewise for Runabout's death at the hands of the demons ; {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}} knowing they can devour a Transformer makes the reader more concerned about the Dinobots' subsequent fate. {{storylink|Still Life!}}
* In "[[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]", [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] makes corpses in practically every scene he's in!

===Cast thinning===
Transformers stories are notorious for acquiring gigantic casts as they roll on; Generation 1 was particularly notorious for this because of its longevity. A simple way to make things more manageable was simply to kill off large numbers of characters in battle. Examples are rife in the fiction, especially the Marvel Comics.

* In the Marvel comics:
** The "[[Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars]]" storyline got rid of the [[Wrecker]]s and quite a few Decepticons as well.
** The [[Underbase Saga]] even more explicitly cleared out dozens of characters, leaving perhaps 2 dozen characters from each faction in the story.
** The battle with Unicron in "[[On the Edge of Extinction!]]" likewise got rid of a lot of older characters, leaving the story free to concentrate on more of a core cast (and associated newer toy characters.)
* [[Betrayal|Wreckers #2]] dealt with its oversized cast by killing off scads of characters right up front.

===Clear space for new toys===
{{main|To sell toys}}

Some fiction has an inherently limited capacity for characters. ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines'' are by far the most prominent examples; their CGI animation made character animation expensive and necessitated removing an old character before a new one could be brought in. But any medium can be susceptible to this toy-driven phenomena.
* The numerous casualties of "[[The Transformers: The Movie]]" were fairly explicitly removed from the story to make way for a wave of new toy/characters.
* Terrorsaur and Scorponok had to be removed -- quickly -- to make room for the two upcoming Fuzor characters, hence their sudden, blink-and-you-miss-it death in "[[Aftermath]]".
* Airazor and Tigatron were removed for similar reasons. When their plot was finally resolved, it was, surprise, via [[Tigerhawk|a new toy]]!

==Fleshling death==
In general, ''Transformers'' fiction is pretty squeamish about showing the deaths of Earth's organic creatures. But it's a war, and sometimes it does happen. The out-of-universe reasons generally fall into three categories: Consequences of War, Emotional Pathos, and BLOOD IZ KEWL.

The various cartoons tend to show organic death the least, as they are most clearly aimed at, and easily accessible by, children. Comics tend to be less reluctant to show the impact of the Transformers' war on innocent lives, though the death rate varies by series. Latter-day Generation 1 books especially revel in high body counts, because squishing stupid humans is killer and awesome and radical and hardcore. Even the occasional [[Satellite of Doom|children's storybook]] has been known to off mass quantities of the dumb fleshies.

===Animal death===
[[Image:MurderedPuppy02.jpg|right|150px|thumb|One dead dog]]

[[Image:Sparkwar3 Dead noble.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Two dead dogs]]

Cute little animals are almost always killed off for reasons of Emotional Pathos:
* A little girl's pet puppy named [[Pis]] barked at [[Wilder]] and was kicked so hard he died. {{storylink|Rage!! Little Devils with No Need for Rules}}
* The [[Murdered puppy]] was shot down by the Decepticons after running away from Megatron's experiments. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 8|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #8}}
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] once reminded [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] that [[The Fallen]] once shot down a ship full of [[Antilian bumble-puppy|Antilian bumble-puppies]]. (Decepticons have a thing for killing puppies.)
* The puppy-like [[Noble]] was shot at by [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] because of his hatred for organics {{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. III: The Siege}} and was later mourned by his "owner", [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}.
* A stray shot from [[Tigatron]] accidentally caused an avalanche which killed his friend [[Snowstalker]]. {{storylink|Law of the Jungle}}
* "[[Law of the Jungle]]" also portrays the deaths of four different forest animals (a bug is eaten by a frog, which is eaten by a snake, which is taken off to be eaten by a bird. Later, an orange tiger kills an antelope). This is a rare "Consequences of War" example.
* [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] also once ate an eagle, {{storylink|Power Surge}} while [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] ate a cute little rat {{storylink|Victory (episode)|Victory}}, and nearly ate an antelope as well. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* In order to save [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] had to fight a saber-toothed tiger off a cliff killing it. {{Storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] used [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel]]'s shield to knock a spikey rock onto a giant spider effectively killing it. She later used [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus]]' axe to kill some new born baby spiders. {{Storylink|Along Came a Spider}}
* Human villain [[Trophy White]] had a grisly display of stuffed and mounted animal heads. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}}

{{-}}
===Human death===
[[Image:Razorclawshootsahuman.jpg|right|thumb|250px|This didn't happen much.]]

* Marvel US: The [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|original Marvel book]] ignored or glossed over human casualties, which were rarely if ever shown; the panel at right, from [[Toy Soldiers!|US #37]], shows a ''very'' unusual instance of a human dying right in front of us. One of the few human(oid)s to die on-panel was [[Galen]], killed off to make way for [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]]. ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' was much more explicit about human death, as Bludgeon and later [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] attacked Earth for the purpose of inflicting casualties.
* Marvel UK: The UK-original stories were much less reluctant to show human death; within the first year or so, humans had died in Autobot-induced car wrecks and at the hands of mind-controlled Autobots.
* In every US-aired cartoon series, humans essentially ''never'' die. Even ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Transformers Animated]]'', which features the city of [[Detroit]] getting smashed by robot battles virtually every week, never once mentions humans getting killed.
* Contemporary toyline-based comics (''[[Armada (Dreamwave comic)|Armada]]'', ''[[Energon (comic)|Energon]]'') seem to follow a similar policy, avoiding mention of human death -- even when human cities are being directly attacked, as in "[[Multiplicity, Pt. 2]]".
* Japanese cartoons, by contrast, don't seem to mind showing human deaths (or [[Pis|dog deaths]], for that matter).
* The [[Dreamwave Generation One continuity|Dreamwave G1 comics]] really thought it was totally awesome and cool and radical to kill off those stupid humans. Thus, they start off with Megatron smushing some stupid humans. More smushing and killing and blowing up follows. DIE, dumb stubbies, DIE!
* [[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW comics]] managed to avoid this for a long time, showing human death only when it was particularly integral to the plot... then ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' came down the pike. DIE, stupid fleshies, DIE!
* The live-action [[movie continuity]] implies a great deal of human death. ''Revenge'' mentions a body count of over 9,000, and massive damage is done during the battle of [[Mission City]], though little of it is shown on screen. And of course, the first film begins with Blackout wiping out an entire military base. A handful of humans are killed directly on-screen, most notably [[Patrick Donnelly|Donnelly]].
* The alternate timeline arc in Titan's Movie comic featured big wars on Earth and lots of destruction, clearly ''insinuating'' human death while not being explicit. The exceptions were in [[Transformers Comic issue 10|issue 10]], where [[NATO]] is said to be suffering losses of 11,506 and the [[France|Palais Bourbon]] is blown up when people are still clearly inside. [[Sam Witwicky]], meanwhile, was stated to have died.
* Titan quite blatantly stated that the [[Free Men]] had caused great loss of life at an air base, a rare example of humans killing humans. In the same story, [[Robert Epps]] opened fire on militia men, which kinda implies he was killing them. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}} Similarly, [[Wheelie (ROTF)|Wheelie]] of all people was seen zapping humans at close range during a Decepticon attack; with no "oh it was a stun beam" handwave and the 'Cons not pulling punches, it sure seems like he's murdered 'em! {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.6|Outlaw Blues}}
* In ''[[Kiss Players (franchise)|Kiss Players]]'', several [[Kiss Player]]s were seen being devoured by Legions.

==Characters who die a lot==
* [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|Optimus Prime]]
* [[Dirge (G1)]] — the unlucky guy who gets [[:Image:Dirge DeathSerpentor.jpg|killed]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathSwarm.jpg|off]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathTimelines.jpg|in]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathUnicron.jpg|many]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathArmada.jpg|continuities]]
* [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] — the unlucky guy who gets killed over and over in the same continuity, but doesn't seem to mind.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] — the unlucky guy from ''[[Beast Wars (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'' who gets sliced, diced, and fricasseed every other episode only to be fully functional in time to get [[Slag (slang)|slagged]] ''again''. But he never actually dies.
* [[Cy-Kill (disambiguation)|Cy-Kill]], a Go-Bots character transferred to many Transformers comics just to be killed off violently. For no other reason than the lolz of ending his toyline, his universe, and finally his life... repeatedly.
* [[Sentinel Prime (G1)]] — the unlucky [[Prime (rank)|Prime]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime lou.jpg|who]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime dw.jpg|must]] [[Megatron Origin issue 4|die]].
* [[Starscream (Animated)]] - the unlucky guy that constantly gets killed, decapitated, or maimed by others, only to be brought back to life.

==See also==
* [[Transformer funerary practices]]
* [[To sell toys]]

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Transformer anatomy]]

Death

2011-03-05T23:00:22Z

174.96.255.90: /* Disassembly */

{{disambig2|the end of life|the Horseman of Unicron|Airazor (Armada)}}

[[Image:Battleofautobotcity.jpg|right|300px|thumb|And lo, the children did weep.]]

''Transformers'' is a children's franchise, but at its core, it's a story of war. This means that the '''death''' of major and minor characters sometimes figures into the fiction.

Given the ambiguous nature of [[Transformer]] physiology, there is very little consistency regarding what is fatal to a Transformer, even within a single storyline. Damage that one Transformer might shrug off can prove fatal to another, or even to the same character in a different story. Sometimes just a laser blast or two will do the trick. Other times, characters survive being melted, crushed into cubes, and even utterly disintegrated. It does not take a terribly cynical viewer to conclude that the threshold of survival is generally determined by the needs of the plot.

The out-of-universe reasons for a character's death can vary from plot development to the arrival of [[To sell toys|new toys]]. Conveniently enough for writers who are beholden to the whims of a toy company, the majority of Transformers characters are machines, which means that death isn't necessarily permanent. Across the various universes, characters that appear to have been killed have been known to pop up alive again at a later date, or go through some sort of resurrection.

{{quote|"How can you all be so cold and unfeeling? He died a hero!" "Don't you even have mechanical hearts?" "The humans don't understand! Our form of life is vastly different from theirs!"|[[Spider-Man]], [[Sparkplug Witwicky]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]|"[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

==In-fiction causes of death==
[[Image:DEATH.jpg|left|thumb|400px|[[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] is just as puzzled as the rest of us.]]

There is little consistency in what can kill a Transformer. Sometimes it takes just a shot. Other times, even totally annihilating a Transformer's body still doesn't do the trick. Even the most basic method of killing, which is to destroy or otherwise cause the loss of a Transformer's [[spark]], varies quite a bit in its details from story to story, character to character, and series to series.
{{--}}
===Weaponsfire===
{{quote|This was almost too easy, Starscream!|[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (like the fandom) is surprised to find how easily Autobots die, ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''}}

[[Image:Tftm1986a.jpg|right|200px|thumb|We're here aboard the Autobot shuttle, where we've secretly replaced Brawn's hyper-dense metal armor plating with styrene plastic. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference.]]

[[Image:TFTM UltraMagnus dies.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Prepare for your death today. Yer gonna die!!]]

[[Image:Magnusdeath.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ow! Hey! Cut it out, guys! That hurts!]]

[[Image:Blades1.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Sorry, nameless guy, your generic nature means you will never be miraculously resurrected.]]

Like humans, Transformers can be killed by damage caused by energy, projectile, and chemical weapons. Just how many shots it takes is widely variable, however.
* In the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]]:
** Many casualties of the [[Battle of Autobot City]] (and its run-up), including [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], were victims of energy weapons. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} This was quite a change from the cartoon's M.O., wherein the same characters routinely got shot and blasted all the time and shrugged it off, or at worst spent some time in the repair bay. Brawn and Prowl both went down after ''one shot''.
** [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] subsequently "dies" after being shot a few times by the [[Sweep]]s, exploding into pieces. He is soon revived by the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]], however. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Ultra Magnus dies ''again'', for real this time, after [[Sixshot]] shoots him a few times. {{storylink|Ultra Magnus Dies!!}}

* In the [[Marvel Comics continuity|Marvel comics]]:
** [[Impactor]] was cut down by a single head shot from [[Macabre]]. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
** Most deaths in the ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' book occurred from energy weapons, such as [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]], {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}} as well as numerous generics. {{storylink|War Without End!}} Quite a few victims exploded spectacularly after being shot, including [[Tantrum]] {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}}, [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]], [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] {{storylink|New Dawn}}, and [[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]]{{storylink|Escalation!}}.

* In the ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' cartoon:
** [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] dies after incurring severe damage from numerous [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] weapons. {{storylink|Code of Hero}} The apparent cause of his demise is his refusal to enter protective [[stasis lock]], as other characters have survived similar or worse levels of damage.
** [[Tigerhawk]] is disintegrated by the main cannon of the starship ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]''. The same cannon subsequently blasts [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] and [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]], apparently killing them, though their "death" may be permanent simply because there was nobody around to put them back together. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 2}}

* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] dies holding back the [[Hydra Cannon]], the damage causing him to [[:Image:Sshot-arm-39-4.jpg|crumble to dust]]. {{storylink|Crisis}}

* [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]] G1 comics: [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] is killed by an assassin's blast. {{storylink|The Age of Wrath issue 1}} He got better. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 3}}

* [[Movie continuity]]: [[Brawl (Movie)|Brawl]] and [[Blackout (Movie)|Blackout]] both died from weapons fire. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}

* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] gets his face blown off/in by [[Cyclonus (SG)|Cyclonus]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 4}}
{{--}}

* [[Universe (2003 comic)|Universe]]: [[Tankor (BM)|Tankor]] was shot and killed by [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] during the final battle of the [[Universe War]].

===Big explosions===
{{bigquote|They're going to blow us all to pieces! [[Guardian (Marvel)|Guardian]]'s booby-trapped - packed with enough explosives to level this whole mountain!|[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], "[[The Wrath of Grimlock!]]"}}

Transformers characters often assume that explosions are more lethal than they really are; characters survive explosions all the time. An explosion's messy nature makes a good "out" for a writer to fake a character's death. {{storylink|The Wrath of Grimlock!}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}} Nevertheless, a few characters have been permanently killed by explosions. (This list omits characters who exploded from within, like Ultra Magnus up above.)
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]] was the victim of an interdimensionally triggered explosion that destroyed his body. (In UK continuity, he survived as a raggedy, bodiless head.) {{storylink|The Bridge to Nowhere!}}
** In an alternate future, a wounded [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] died in the fiery explosion of a crashing shuttlecraft. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** [[Finback]] was presumably killed in the explosion of a huge gun battery. [[Misfire]] tried to warn him off, and may have been killed in the same explosion. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}

* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon:
** [[Optimus Primal]] was blown to bits -- terminally so -- by the [[transwarp]] explosion that destroyed the [[Planet Buster]]. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}
** [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]] was killed by the explosion that resulted from [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]]'s death (either his exploding spark, or the exploding energon shard that pierced it.) {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

* Several of the [[Beast Era]] [[Wrecker]]s ([[Sonar (BW)|Sonar]], [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]], the [[Deployer (BM)|Deployers]]) were destroyed when part of their ship exploded with them in it. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

* Energon: [[Bruticus Maximus (Energon)|Bruticus Maximus]] and Storm Jet were killed when Storm Jet caused a massive explosion that engulfed them both.

===Impact trauma===
Falling off a cliff or mountainside or tall building is usually just as fatal to Transformers as it is to, say... Wile E. Coyote. Only on rare occasion does it result in death:
* ''[[Classics (2006)|Classics]]'' continuity: [[Hacksaw]] met his end by falling from a huge communications tower. {{storylink|The New World}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Doubledealer]] was shot, fell off a mountain and smashed to bits on impact. {{storylink|Spotlight: Doubledealer}}
* Movie continuity: [[Devastator (ROTF)|Devastator]] fell off the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] after losing his balance when his arm was shot off, and he shattered to pieces as he tumbled down. ''{{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}''
* The [[Beast (G1)|Beast]] fell off a cliff and shattered. {{storylink|The Beast Within Part 2, Consequences}} At least, we hope that's where and how it ended.

===Crushing===
[[Image:Edgeofextinction-hardheadbombburst.jpg|thumb|right|175px|DO NOT WANT]]
[[Image:TFAni TransWarped LongArm Cliffjumper Cube.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Before time began, there was... THE CUBE.]]

Quite a few characters have been crushed into deactivation:
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]] was smashed between [[Unicron]]'s palms, while [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] met a similar fate when they were stepped on by Unicron. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] is apparently killed when a very large building collapses on top of him. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

* [[Unicron Trilogy]] cartoons:
** [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]] is killed when caught between two folding sections of Unicron's external armor. {{storylink|Union}}
** [[Shockblast]] is crushed by Unicron's hand on [[Blizzard Planet]]. {{storylink|The Power}}
** His brother [[Six Shot]] meets a similar fate, crushed under the heel of a super-sized Galvatron. {{storylink|Galvatron Terror}}

* IDW continuity:
** [[Roller]] was crushed when Megatron caused an avanlanche to fall on him.
** [[Ruckus (G1)|Ruckus]], [[Crankcase (G1)|Crankcase]], and [[Skullcruncher]] were all crushed by [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]].

* ''Animated'' cartoon: [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]] is (possibly) killed by a garbage compactor-like crushing device. (An "out" by writer [[Derrick J. Wyatt|Derrick Wyatt]] was intended to show his still-pulsing spark within his cubified remains, but this did not make it into the show, leaving his fate ambiguous at best.) {{storylink|TransWarped}}

===Melting===
[[Image:BW Scorponok Terrorsaur deaths.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Even having a new toy couldn't save Terrorsaur!]]

[[Image:Fallout title.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Primal's diet had gone horribly wrong.]]

They're made of metal; therefore, with enough heat or sufficiently acidic material, they can melt. This is one of the more fool-proof methods of killing a Transformer; few if any have survived it.
* In the G1 cartoon:
** An acid vat would apparently have been enough to destroy Optimus Prime. {{storylink|The Search for Alpha Trion}}
** Another acid vat was used to disintegrate living victims of Unicron. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comics:
** Victims of the Deception [[smelting pool]]s on Cybertron were reduced by intense heat into their base metals, including [[Scrounge (G1)|Scrounge]]. {{storylink|The Smelting Pool!}}
** It is possible that an acid bath from (naturally) [[Blot (G1)|Blot]] offlined [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] [[Makin' Tracks!|(for a while anyway)]]. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] was partially melted by Unicron's flame-breath and subsequently died. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The [[Cybertronian (faction)|Cybertronian Empire]] used some kind of acid to rather messily eradicate some of their Decepticon ancestors, including [[Stranglehold]]. {{storylink|New Dawn}}

* In the Beast Era cartoons:
** [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] and [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] were apparently melted to death after tumbling into a lava pit within the [[Darksyde|Predacon base]]. {{storylink|Aftermath}}
** Optimus Primal's body was seemingly melted into the floor after his climactic face-off with [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]. Considering how many god-like forces were unleashed and conflicting during the battle, his demise may be due to more than simple temperature-induced melting. {{storylink|Fallout}}

===Incineration===
{{bigquote|I saw the end! They died in a cosmic funeral pyre!|[[Shawn Berger]], "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2]]"}}

[[Image:Armada 52 - Prime hangon to Galvatron.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Galvatron died to save everyone and came back ''twice''—you lose, [[Jesus]]!]]

Plasma, energy fields, and stellar atmospheres can all utterly destroy a Transformer's body. Like being melted, being reduced to one's component molecules would seem to be a surefire way of getting killed, but quite a few characters seem able to survive the process as ghosts and/or disembodied sparks:
* Generation 1 cartoon: [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]'s spectacular death at the hands of [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] might be categorized as incineration. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* Quite a few characters met this fate in the Unicron Trilogy, but all survived it in some fashion:
** [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]]'s spark persisted within his burnt-out body when he was dropped into the exploding Unicron. {{storylink|Mortal Combat}} {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}
** [[Demolishor (Armada)|Demolishor]]'s body was obliterated by an expanding energon grid, but his spark survived the process and was placed in a new body. {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}}
** [[Inferno (Energon)|Inferno]] was destroyed when he threw himself into a star, but his spark was salvaged by the Autobots and, again, placed in a new body. {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
** And finally, Megatron (Galvatron, whatever) threw himself into Primus's new energon sun to prevent Unicron from possessing him, killing himself yet again. {{storylink|The Sun}} This death was so inconsequential that his subsequent resurrection wasn't even explained! {{storylink|Fallen (episode)|Fallen}}

===Consumption===
{{bigquote|...If we don't find the Matrix, some bad guy's gonna ''eat'' us! Right?|Longtooth, "[[Deadly Obsession]]"}}

[[Image:Wreckers Mutants.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The shocking death of the barely-seen guys with hardly any lines!]]
[[Image:Rocky mecannibal bartender marvel uk 240.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Cannibalism is hilarious, kids!]]

Quite a few critters in the multiverse are equipped to devour giant robots. Being eaten (and, presumably, digested) generally proves fatal:
* In the G1 cartoon:
** Various life forms were routinely devoured by the [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticon]]s on Quintessa. This included [[Kranix]], a mechanical life form, though not a Transformer. [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] and [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] would have suffered this fate as well, but fought their way free. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Quite a few Transformers found their way into Unicron's gullet, though many survived the experience. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comic:
** The [[Mecannibal]]s ate robots routinely, including quite a few Transformers during their sojourn on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} {{storylink|Out to Lunch!}} There is some indication that they could actually reconstitute their victims from their "recycled" parts, though this is never explicitly shown. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
** Unicron skewered [[Brainstorm]] and ate him. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The subsurface-dwelling [[demon]]s devoured [[Runabout]]. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The Swarm "devoured" innumerable Cybertronian troopers and a handful of older-generation Transformers as well, though this was through a molecular process almost akin to incineration. {{storylink|Swarm (issue)|Swarm}} {{storylink|Total War!}} {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* The Sharkticons killed two of the [[Mutant (BW)|Mutant]]s by gobbling them up. Or ripping them apart. Or both. We don't really know. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

===Disassembly===
[[Image:Jazz DyingAction.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"HERE'S what I think of your resemblance to your G1 counterpart!"]]

Taking a Transformer apart into its component parts can occasionally kill them:
* Marvel comics: [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] met this fate in an alternate future, when Swoop used a machine to pull him apart into his component pieces. {{storylink|Another Time and Place}}
* Movie continuity:
**Being ripped in half killed [[Jazz (Movie)|Jazz]]. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}
**[[Ravage (ROTF)|Ravage]] was killed when Bumblebee ripped his spine out, tearing him apart.
* [[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]: [[Pyro]] was torn apart and killed while making a final stand against a mass of generic Decpticons.
*[[Prime (cartoon)|Prime cartoon]]: When fighting [[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]]'s zombie army, [[Ratchet (Prime)|Ratchet]] recommended dissection to [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus]] to"cut" them down to size. How this is more effective then just blasting the living slag out of them is still up for debate.

===Decapitation===
{{main|Decapitation}}

[[Image:Cyclonus death.jpg|thumb|right|150px| "CHUK!" is good, but I could really go for a "Shakkooosh" right about now.]]

Sometimes cutting a Transformer's head off is fatal. Sometimes!
* In the Marvel comics:
** The Megatron clone killed Cyclonus by ripping his head off. {{storylink|Dry Run!}}
** Several of the Wreckers were killed by having their heads ripped or blasted off, including Twin Twist and Topspin, respectively. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars}}
** [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] had his head cut off by a propeller fired by [[Leadfoot (G2)|Leadfoot]], presumably (given the ''Generation 2'' book's emphasis on body count) killing him. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** Characters frequently die by decapitation of some form: [[Bonecrusher (Movie)|Bonecrusher]], {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and [[Grindor (ROTF)|Grindor]]. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
** Decapitation was an inconvenience for [[Frenzy (Movie)|Frenzy]] the first time. The second time, when the blow actually destroyed most of his head, was fatal.

===Vivisection===
[[Image:VictoryUKAnnual.JPG|thumb|right|150px| Ahhhh, there we go...]]

{{bigquote|I have no desire to be carved up into Auto-sushi.|Tracks, "[[Make Tracks]]"}}

Getting chopped in half is pretty graphic for a kids' story, even one about robots, so it doesn't happen very often.
* Marvel comics: In a dream sequence, [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] slices [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] in half, killing him. {{storylink|Victory!}}
* Japanese G1 cartoon: [[Predaking]] gets sliced in half by Dai Atlas. The strike dissects what appears to be an organic brain in his head. {{storylink|Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!}}
* ''Beast Wars Metals'': Terrorsaur was killed by being sliced in half by Primal's mace. {{storylink|Raise the Curtain for Beast Wars Metals!!}}
* Movie continuity: [[Sideways (ROTF)|Sideways]] dies when [[Sideswipe (ROTF)|Sideswipe]] slices his car mode in two. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Destruction of brain===
{{bigquote|Next strike in the neural cluster, yes? Weakest spot on ''all'' Transformers...|[[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], "[[Fire on High!]]"}}

In the early days of the franchise, a Transformer's life force was sometimes understood to be entirely contained within their [[brain module]], most prominently in the Marvel comics. Destroying the brain would kill the Transformer. This premise was eventually passed over in favor of the more esoteric concept of [[spark]]s.
* In the Marvel comics:
** In an alternate future, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] is blasted by [[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], who kills him by extracting and crushing his brain module. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** The [[Throttlebot]]s ''avoid'' death by having their brain modules removed from their bodies shortly before their bodies are destroyed (by crushing). {{storylink|Toy Soldiers!}}
** [[Brawl (G1)|Brawl]] was apparentlly killed when Megatron crushed his head and by extension, his brain. {{storylink|Gone But Not Forgotten!}} He got better.

===Destruction of spark===
{{bigquote|RAW energon! Right through your twisted spark!|Depth Charge to Rampage, "[[Nemesis Part 1]]"}}

[[Image:Skyfallwontbethereforit.jpg|thumb|right|200px|And then he hung Skyfall from his ceiling.]]

Getting stabbed right through the spark is almost always fatal:
* In ''Beast Wars'': The supposedly immortal Rampage was killed when Depth Charge pierced his spark with an energon blade. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}
* ''[[Transcendent Technomorph|TransTech]]'': [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] died when [[Alpha Trion (SG)|Alpha Trion]] rammed his sword right through his chest. {{storylink|Transcendent: Part 6}}
*Energon: [[Constructicon Maximus]] was killed when [[Storm Jet (Energon)|Storm Jet]] impaled and crushed his spark.
* ''Cybertron'': Galvatron died after being impaled with [[Rhisling]] by Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Unfinished}}
* Movie continuity: Optimus Prime died from a stab wound through the chest, quickly followed by a cannon blast through the spark chamber from Megatron's swordcannon weapon.[[The Fallen]] also met his end when Optimus punched through his chest and crushed his spark. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* ''Beast Machines'' continuity: [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] - already reduced to a spark within the matrix - ceased to be when Megatron annihilated his spark from existence. {{storylink|Singularity Ablyss}}
* [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|Titan's Movie comics]]: Transformers have forcefields shielding their sparks, which can be externalized to protect bodywork. Jazz loved doing this, leaving him far more vulnerable to death by destruction of spark than he would otherwise be. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 6|Lost in Space 4: Jazz}}

===Loss of spark===
{{bigquote|Warning. Further expenditure will result in permanent loss of spark. Stasis lock ''must'' commence.|[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]]'s internal computer, "[[Code of Hero]]"}}

Sometimes sparks can survive outside of a body; sometimes they cannot. In the Beast Era, there is some indication that a spark left outside a body will soon begin to return to the Matrix/AllSpark/another dimension.
* When Dinobot expires after his final battle, his Spark is seen exiting his body. The implication is that a sufficiently damaged body can no longer hold a spark within this dimension. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* ''Beast Machines'' subsequently showed living sparks existing outside of bodies on a regular basis. The sparkless bodies were simply considered shells, rather than "dead".
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Prowl dies when he intentionally relinquishes his own spark. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}
* Movie continuity: Jetfire rips out his own spark chamber to give Optimus a fighting chance. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Energy overload===
{{bigquote|We may need energon for power, but this is too much of a good thing.|[[Optimus Primal]], "[[Beast Wars (Part 1)]]"}}

[[Image:TFAnimated transformandrollout DEATH.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Death — the Optimus version of a power nap.]]
[[Image:Underbaseallmine.jpg|thumb|right|200px|He's got an Underbase in his underpants.]]

The average [[human]] needs a lot of [[water]] to survive. But too much water results in [[wikipedia:Water intoxication|a horrible death]]. Similarly, Transformers need energy to survive, but too much of it can be a very bad thing. Sometimes it's just plain old energy; other times it some special god-like force that does them in.
* In the Marvel comics:
** An [[Underbase]]-empowered Starscream slaughtered dozens of Transformers with energy blasts, {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}} which reportedly burned out millions of their microchips. {{storylink|Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?}} Some Transformers were seen to recover from these attacks, either via conventional repairs {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} or through the power of [[nucleon]]. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
** Starscream himself was killed when he absorbed all the energies of the Underbase. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] was apparently killed when struck by a blast of energy from the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]], though the physical effect was more like being hit by an especially powerful laser blast. {{storylink|All Fall Down (issue)}}

* ''Super-God Masterforce'' cartoon: [[Sixknight]] died from an overcharge of BlackZarak's Devil Power. {{storylink|Malevolent and Inhuman! The True Form of Devil Z}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runabout]] dies when one of the [[Reaper]]s zaps him full of energy, causing him to explode from within. {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* Movie continuity: [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] was killed when [[Sam Witwicky]] shoved the [[AllSpark]] into his chest. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)|Transformers}}
* ''Transformers Animated'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] got caught in an explosion of [[AllSpark]] energy that may have been sufficient to kill him, although he also fell off a very tall building immediately afterwards (Starscream was caught in the same explosion and survived, but was knocked offline for an unspecified period.)

===Energy depletion===
On rare occasion, Transformers can simply run out of energy completely and expire.
* Marvel comics: the ancient [[Overlord (rank)|Overlord]] died from a lack of energy. {{storylink|State Games}}
* Movie continuity: [[Jetfire (ROTF)|Jetfire]] explains that a lack of energon causes the Transformer equivalent of aging, such as rusting joints, mental confusion, and pieces falling apart, followed by an indefinite period of stasis that can only be reversed by an infusion of Allspark energy. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Suicide===
Sometimes a Transformers kills himself for some reason.
* Marvel comics
** Megatron seemingly killed himself using a [[space bridge]] though it was later revealed that he survived.
** Dirge and Nightbeat self destructed and destroyed themselves in a last ditch attempt to destroy the Swarm.
* Beast Wars
** [[Tigerhawk]] sacrificed himself by hurling himself in the way of a fusion cannon blast from the Nemesis.
* Energon: Galvatron, Starscream, and [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Mirage]] threw themselves into a sun and vaporized themselves. [[Snow Cat (Energon)|Snow Cat]] and Demolisher may have also done this.

==Non-fatal deactivation==
{{quote|"You mean he's still alive?!" "No! But neither is he what you would term 'dead'!"|[[Spider-Man]] and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], "[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

[[Image:Zombiesbackfromthedead.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Braiiiiiin mooooodulllllles....]]

For almost every single cause of death listed above, there's been one or more Transformers who have survived it, sometimes without so much as a period of unconsciousness.

In particular, "deactivation" is the Transformers equivalent of being in a coma. Numerous Transformers are seen to enter this state and eventually recover, such as the Autobots deactivated by Shockwave {{storylink|The Last Stand}}, who later were repaired. However, the line between death and deactivation is a blurry one. Sometimes the two words are used interchangeably, even in reference to characters who are later revived. Most of Starscream's Underbase victims were described as deactivated, and were sometimes lamented as "dead" while at other times were shown undergoing repairs. {{storylink|Back from the Dead}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}

"[[Stasis lock]]" would eventually give a more concrete name to the state of deactivation. The inert Transformers on the crashed Ark were retconned as being in stasis lock. Various ''Beast Wars'' characters would go into stasis lock to maintain their spark when their body had sustained too much damage from weaponsfire or energon absorption. ''Animated'' showed a crew of Autobots voluntarily entering protective stasis lock in anticipation of a crash landing.

Some of the quasi-fatal things which can cause a Transformer to "deactivate" include:

===Impact trauma===
Smashing into something usually knocks out a Transformer, but almost never actually kills them:
* The crew of the original Ark is deactivated when the ship crashes on Earth and lies inert for 4 million years {{storylink|More than Meets the Eye, Part 1}} {{storylink|The Transformers (issue)}}
* Marvel comics: [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] falls to his "death", but is patched together and talking again in short order. {{storylink|Prisoner of War!}}

===Decapitation===
[[Image:Sentinelprimeanimatedhumiliated.jpg|thumb|200px|In the movie continuity, this would've been fatal. In ''Animated'', it's just embarrassing.]]

{{bigquote|Anyone who can lop your head off in one blow is alright by me!|[[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] jokes about [[Cloudburst]]'s near-death experience, "[[Recipe for Disaster!]]"}}

Like we said before, decapitation is sometimes fatal... and other times it isn't.
* Marvel comic:
** Optimus Prime was able to survive as just a head when Shockwave separated it from his body in an effort to get the Creation Matrix. {{storylink|The New Order}}
**[[Cloudburst]] was abruptly decapitated by sword, but was just fine after some repairs. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
* G1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was disassembled into his component parts, but functioned just fine as nothing more than a head once [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] connected a few wires. {{storylink|City of Steel}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] survives having his head blasted or otherwise knocked off multiple times {{storylink|Spider's Game}} {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}} {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)}} {{storylink|Code of Hero}}, and even put it back on himself one time. He even accidently swapped heads with Megatron once. Megatron was not amused. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]] was just fine when one of the Reapers whacked his head off. (He didn't fare so well when another Reaper crushed his head with a boulder, however.) {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Decapitated victims of the ''Animated'' [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] rarely show any ill effects other than not having a body anymore. {{storylink|Headmaster (episode)|Headmaster}} {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}} {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

===Dismemberment===
Transformers get ripped to pieces all the time, and recover from it:
* Marvel comic: Scorponok tears [[Tantrum]] to pieces. [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] slices [[Horri-Bull]] in half at the waist. Both are seen alive later on. {{storylink|Cold War!}}
* Last Stand of the Wreckers: [[Guzzle]] is torn in half by [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] and is easily repaired.

===Spark removal===
{{bigquote|His spark can't exist outside a living body!|[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]], "[[Optimal Situation]]"}}

A Transformer's spark—their "soul", their living essence—can be removed from their body, or the body can be destroyed around them
* The destruction of Starscream's body, and his subsequent survival as a ghost, was eventually retconned to be his Spark enduring without a physical form. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Tigatron and Airazor's sparks spent quite some time wandering around behind Tigerhawk, before combining and entering his body. {{storylink|Other Victories}}

* In the ''Beast Machines'' cartoon:
** Megatron de-sparked most of Cybertron's population and stored their sparks in a big barrel. Most were restored to bodies eventually. {{storylink|Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}}
** Blackarachnia's spark wandered around bodiless for a time. {{storylink|Revelations Part III: Apocalypse}}
** Megatron himself, his spark in a depolarized state, wandered the surface of Cybertron without a body for a time. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}

The treatment of bodiless sparks in ''Beast Machines'' is seen by some fans as contradicting the canon established by ''Beast Wars'', particularly the quote above.

===Limbo===
Sometimes Transformers get shunted out of creation as we know it, and into various alternate, sub- and non-dimensions.
* Marvel comics:
** The [[Trans-Time Dimensional Portal]] crosses [[unspace]], "a bit of dimensional nothingness" where Ratchet and Megatron vanished and were believed dead. {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}
** Transformers mass-displaced by time travel wind up in a formless dimension known as [[Limbo]].
* IDW comics: Megatron severely damaged Optimus Prime in battle and planned on finishing him off by crushing his [[Laser core|spark core]]. Optimus Prime feigned death by downloading his "consciousness" into his [[Combat Deck|trailer section]], causing his [[Brain Center|robot mode]] to appear dead. In the time it took for Prime's consciousness to transfer to his trailer, he briefly entered [[infraspace|limbo]], the transitional infraspace between life and death. {{storylink|Escalation (IDW)|Escalation}}
*Generation 1 cartoon:
**Come on, we all know what REALLY happened to the likes of Seaspray and Tracks.

==Resuscitation==
Robots are machines. They can be switched off, taken apart, blown to bits, and put back together. Ergo, in many continuities and cases, "death" is not nearly as permanent a condition as it is for us fragile fleshy types.

===Reconstruction===
[[Image:PeoplePower-reprogrammed.jpg|thumb|right|250px| ]]

{{bigquote|I've done it! Optimus Prime lives!|A random Quintesson, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]"}}

* Generation 1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was simply ''repaired'' back to life by a Quintesson. Some fixing of this and that, a burst of power, and boom, suddenly he was alive again. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}}
* Marvel Comics: Optimus Prime's mind was encoded on a disk. After a new [[Powermaster]] body was constructed for him, the disk's contents were loaded into it, and Optimus Prime lived again. (One wonders why they couldn't make as many Optimus Primes as they pleased.) {{storylink|People Power!}}

===Spark transfer===
Transferring a Transformer's spark into a new body constitutes a form of resurrection, particularly if the Transformer's previous body was destroyed.
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Optimus Primal was restored to life when Rhinox managed to recall his spark from the Matrix, a special circumstance only enabled by a temporary window into transwarp space. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* ''Armada'' Smokescreen was shot through the chest at point blank range by the Requiem Blaster {{storylink|Sacrifice}} but his spark survived and was put into a new body. {{storylink|Regeneration}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Inferno and Demolishor both had their bodies ''atomized''; however, their sparks both survived, and were placed into new bodies. (The upshot of all of this is that it's nigh-impossible to kill a Unicron Trilogy Transformer, unless they do it themselves.) {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}} {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: The spark of a dying [[Yoketron]] was placed into a new protoform body by [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]; however, Yoketron consciously chose to let his life end, and expired anyway. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}}

==="Magical" substances===
* Marvel Comics: The miraculous healing properties of Nucleon brought many Autobots back to life, as well as a few Decepticons. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Megatron was revived by the all-encompassing power of energon, as was Unicron. {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}

===Primus and Primus-related powers===
{{bigquote|Where the Last Autobot is concerned, even death, it would appear, is an abstract concept!|Optimus Prime explains his latest revival, "[[End of the Road! (US)|End of the Road!]]"}}

Anything tied to the primordial life-force of the Transformers' god Primus tends to be a cure-all for death. This includes Primus himself, his various power-wielding avatars and servants, and the assorted Matrixes and Allsparks, all of which can deliver an infusion of the essence of life itself. In some continuities, this is parsed as a Transformer's spark being brought back out of the Allspark dimension.

[[Image:RageInHeaven-HeroPrime.jpg|thumb|right|150px|]]

* In the Marvel comics:
** The [[Last Autobot]] was granted the power of recreation by Primus, which he used to raise numerous fallen Autobots from the battlefield. {{storylink|End of the Road! (US)}}
** Optimus Prime was eager to find the lost Creation Matrix, stating that it would be able to restore many deactivated warriors to life. {{storylink|Bird of Prey!}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the [[Swarm (G2)|Swarm]] after it had ingested the energies and knowledge of the Matrix. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** The Allspark is shown repeatedly to be capable of restoring just about anything. Frenzy gets a whole new body from its power, {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and Megatron is restored to life by merely a fragment of it. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the Matrix of Leadership, an Allspark-related talisman. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

* ''Beast Machines'' cartoon: [[Optimus Primal]]'s body was destroyed, but the AllSpark granted him the choice of uniting with it or being reborn. He chose the latter, and ''poof'', just walked right out of the Oracle bubble in a brand new version of his previous body. {{storylink|Fallout}}
* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] was brought back to life by the power of the [[Mini-Con]]s after his body was disintegrated. {{storylink|Miracle}}
* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] was resurrected when he and his gestaltmates were combined together and reborn by Primus into [[Nexus Prime]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 5}} Nexus Prime then brought [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] back from the other side of the Allspark and infused him with some of Primus's power to become Galvatron. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 6}}

===Zombies===
* Dude, [[zombie]]s!

==Immortality==
===Immortal sparks===
Certain sparks have mutant qualities that allow them to, potentially, exist forever.
* Starscream survived his death at the hands of Galvatron; this was later explained as him having a "mutant indestructible spark". {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}} {{storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] was created as an attempt to duplicate Starscream's immortal spark. {{storylink|Bad Spark}} He was eventually killed by [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]], so the attempt may be seen as unsuccessful. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

===Other===
* [[Multiversal singularity|Multiversal singularities]] such as [[Unicron]] and [[The Fallen]] can be killed off in one dimension, only to still be alive and well in another (or many others), due to the varying properties of different dimensions (reverse-time, dimensions, for example are key to revival of the singularities).
* ''Animated'' [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] could not be killed so long as he retained his Allspark fragment embedded in his forehead.
* Denizens of the [[Dead Universe]] could essentially regenerate themselves out of nothing, no matter how much damage was inflicted on them.
* Thunderwing's Pretender shell seemed to make him near invincible. At the very lest able to withstand incredible amounts of salvo and not even flinch.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] can never completely die no matter what for some reason.

==Out-of-fiction causes of character death==
===Drama / character culmination===
At its best, character death can be a moving plot development, the fruition of an ongoing character arc.
* Suspecting that they would have to remove a character from the show, the writers of ''Beast Wars'' began planning for Dinobot's death several episodes ahead of time. Thus, when it came, it was the outcome of the character's own choices, flaws, and history, and played a crucial role in the show's plot. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* Sunstreaker's death in ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' is intended to follow a similar style of arc... only it's missing the whole choices, flaws and history thing. Oh well!
* Optimus Primal's death(s) in ''Beast Machines'' are likewise the outcome of his own choices and character. {{storylink|End of the Line}} {{storylink| Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}} His death in ''Beast Wars'', by contrast, was more a moment of dramatic pathos -- knowingly walking into danger, his enemy got the better of him. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}

===Consequences of war===
It's hard to take a war story seriously when nobody actually dies. The reality of war can be more readily portrayed when characters die. [[Generic]]s are particularly handy for this, allowing death to be shown while not removing primary characters (retail toys!) from the story. The results can range from high drama and pathos to numbingly pointless body counts.
* Impactor's death was used to drive home the threat of the Decepticons as well as the risks taken by the Autobots and their commanders. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
* The ''Generation 2'' book featured several deaths which drove home the realities of war. Most notably, Red Alert's destruction served to make Grimlock acutely aware of just how badly he'd screwed up. {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}}

===Increased threat===
An enemy that kills is an enemy to be taken seriously. Thus a writer will frequently throw in some preliminary deaths to point out how seriously the bad guy should be treated.
* The generic who dies at the beginning of "[[City of Fear!]]" serves to show the zombies as a true life-threatening menace.
* Likewise for Runabout's death at the hands of the demons ; {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}} knowing they can devour a Transformer makes the reader more concerned about the Dinobots' subsequent fate. {{storylink|Still Life!}}
* In "[[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]", [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] makes corpses in practically every scene he's in!

===Cast thinning===
Transformers stories are notorious for acquiring gigantic casts as they roll on; Generation 1 was particularly notorious for this because of its longevity. A simple way to make things more manageable was simply to kill off large numbers of characters in battle. Examples are rife in the fiction, especially the Marvel Comics.

* In the Marvel comics:
** The "[[Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars]]" storyline got rid of the [[Wrecker]]s and quite a few Decepticons as well.
** The [[Underbase Saga]] even more explicitly cleared out dozens of characters, leaving perhaps 2 dozen characters from each faction in the story.
** The battle with Unicron in "[[On the Edge of Extinction!]]" likewise got rid of a lot of older characters, leaving the story free to concentrate on more of a core cast (and associated newer toy characters.)
* [[Betrayal|Wreckers #2]] dealt with its oversized cast by killing off scads of characters right up front.

===Clear space for new toys===
{{main|To sell toys}}

Some fiction has an inherently limited capacity for characters. ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines'' are by far the most prominent examples; their CGI animation made character animation expensive and necessitated removing an old character before a new one could be brought in. But any medium can be susceptible to this toy-driven phenomena.
* The numerous casualties of "[[The Transformers: The Movie]]" were fairly explicitly removed from the story to make way for a wave of new toy/characters.
* Terrorsaur and Scorponok had to be removed -- quickly -- to make room for the two upcoming Fuzor characters, hence their sudden, blink-and-you-miss-it death in "[[Aftermath]]".
* Airazor and Tigatron were removed for similar reasons. When their plot was finally resolved, it was, surprise, via [[Tigerhawk|a new toy]]!

==Fleshling death==
In general, ''Transformers'' fiction is pretty squeamish about showing the deaths of Earth's organic creatures. But it's a war, and sometimes it does happen. The out-of-universe reasons generally fall into three categories: Consequences of War, Emotional Pathos, and BLOOD IZ KEWL.

The various cartoons tend to show organic death the least, as they are most clearly aimed at, and easily accessible by, children. Comics tend to be less reluctant to show the impact of the Transformers' war on innocent lives, though the death rate varies by series. Latter-day Generation 1 books especially revel in high body counts, because squishing stupid humans is killer and awesome and radical and hardcore. Even the occasional [[Satellite of Doom|children's storybook]] has been known to off mass quantities of the dumb fleshies.

===Animal death===
[[Image:MurderedPuppy02.jpg|right|150px|thumb|One dead dog]]

[[Image:Sparkwar3 Dead noble.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Two dead dogs]]

Cute little animals are almost always killed off for reasons of Emotional Pathos:
* A little girl's pet puppy named [[Pis]] barked at [[Wilder]] and was kicked so hard he died. {{storylink|Rage!! Little Devils with No Need for Rules}}
* The [[Murdered puppy]] was shot down by the Decepticons after running away from Megatron's experiments. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 8|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #8}}
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] once reminded [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] that [[The Fallen]] once shot down a ship full of [[Antilian bumble-puppy|Antilian bumble-puppies]]. (Decepticons have a thing for killing puppies.)
* The puppy-like [[Noble]] was shot at by [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] because of his hatred for organics {{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. III: The Siege}} and was later mourned by his "owner", [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}.
* A stray shot from [[Tigatron]] accidentally caused an avalanche which killed his friend [[Snowstalker]]. {{storylink|Law of the Jungle}}
* "[[Law of the Jungle]]" also portrays the deaths of four different forest animals (a bug is eaten by a frog, which is eaten by a snake, which is taken off to be eaten by a bird. Later, an orange tiger kills an antelope). This is a rare "Consequences of War" example.
* [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] also once ate an eagle, {{storylink|Power Surge}} while [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] ate a cute little rat {{storylink|Victory (episode)|Victory}}, and nearly ate an antelope as well. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* In order to save [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] had to fight a saber-toothed tiger off a cliff killing it. {{Storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] used [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel]]'s shield to knock a spikey rock onto a giant spider effectively killing it. She later used [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus]]' axe to kill some new born baby spiders. {{Storylink|Along Came a Spider}}
* Human villain [[Trophy White]] had a grisly display of stuffed and mounted animal heads. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}}

{{-}}
===Human death===
[[Image:Razorclawshootsahuman.jpg|right|thumb|250px|This didn't happen much.]]

* Marvel US: The [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|original Marvel book]] ignored or glossed over human casualties, which were rarely if ever shown; the panel at right, from [[Toy Soldiers!|US #37]], shows a ''very'' unusual instance of a human dying right in front of us. One of the few human(oid)s to die on-panel was [[Galen]], killed off to make way for [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]]. ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' was much more explicit about human death, as Bludgeon and later [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] attacked Earth for the purpose of inflicting casualties.
* Marvel UK: The UK-original stories were much less reluctant to show human death; within the first year or so, humans had died in Autobot-induced car wrecks and at the hands of mind-controlled Autobots.
* In every US-aired cartoon series, humans essentially ''never'' die. Even ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Transformers Animated]]'', which features the city of [[Detroit]] getting smashed by robot battles virtually every week, never once mentions humans getting killed.
* Contemporary toyline-based comics (''[[Armada (Dreamwave comic)|Armada]]'', ''[[Energon (comic)|Energon]]'') seem to follow a similar policy, avoiding mention of human death -- even when human cities are being directly attacked, as in "[[Multiplicity, Pt. 2]]".
* Japanese cartoons, by contrast, don't seem to mind showing human deaths (or [[Pis|dog deaths]], for that matter).
* The [[Dreamwave Generation One continuity|Dreamwave G1 comics]] really thought it was totally awesome and cool and radical to kill off those stupid humans. Thus, they start off with Megatron smushing some stupid humans. More smushing and killing and blowing up follows. DIE, dumb stubbies, DIE!
* [[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW comics]] managed to avoid this for a long time, showing human death only when it was particularly integral to the plot... then ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' came down the pike. DIE, stupid fleshies, DIE!
* The live-action [[movie continuity]] implies a great deal of human death. ''Revenge'' mentions a body count of over 9,000, and massive damage is done during the battle of [[Mission City]], though little of it is shown on screen. And of course, the first film begins with Blackout wiping out an entire military base. A handful of humans are killed directly on-screen, most notably [[Patrick Donnelly|Donnelly]].
* The alternate timeline arc in Titan's Movie comic featured big wars on Earth and lots of destruction, clearly ''insinuating'' human death while not being explicit. The exceptions were in [[Transformers Comic issue 10|issue 10]], where [[NATO]] is said to be suffering losses of 11,506 and the [[France|Palais Bourbon]] is blown up when people are still clearly inside. [[Sam Witwicky]], meanwhile, was stated to have died.
* Titan quite blatantly stated that the [[Free Men]] had caused great loss of life at an air base, a rare example of humans killing humans. In the same story, [[Robert Epps]] opened fire on militia men, which kinda implies he was killing them. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}} Similarly, [[Wheelie (ROTF)|Wheelie]] of all people was seen zapping humans at close range during a Decepticon attack; with no "oh it was a stun beam" handwave and the 'Cons not pulling punches, it sure seems like he's murdered 'em! {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.6|Outlaw Blues}}
* In ''[[Kiss Players (franchise)|Kiss Players]]'', several [[Kiss Player]]s were seen being devoured by Legions.

==Characters who die a lot==
* [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|Optimus Prime]]
* [[Dirge (G1)]] — the unlucky guy who gets [[:Image:Dirge DeathSerpentor.jpg|killed]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathSwarm.jpg|off]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathTimelines.jpg|in]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathUnicron.jpg|many]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathArmada.jpg|continuities]]
* [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] — the unlucky guy who gets killed over and over in the same continuity, but doesn't seem to mind.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] — the unlucky guy from ''[[Beast Wars (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'' who gets sliced, diced, and fricasseed every other episode only to be fully functional in time to get [[Slag (slang)|slagged]] ''again''. But he never actually dies.
* [[Cy-Kill (disambiguation)|Cy-Kill]], a Go-Bots character transferred to many Transformers comics just to be killed off violently. For no other reason than the lolz of ending his toyline, his universe, and finally his life... repeatedly.
* [[Sentinel Prime (G1)]] — the unlucky [[Prime (rank)|Prime]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime lou.jpg|who]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime dw.jpg|must]] [[Megatron Origin issue 4|die]].
* [[Starscream (Animated)]] - the unlucky guy that constantly gets killed, decapitated, or maimed by others, only to be brought back to life.

==See also==
* [[Transformer funerary practices]]
* [[To sell toys]]

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Transformer anatomy]]

Death

2011-03-05T22:53:38Z

174.96.255.90: /* Destruction of brain */

{{disambig2|the end of life|the Horseman of Unicron|Airazor (Armada)}}

[[Image:Battleofautobotcity.jpg|right|300px|thumb|And lo, the children did weep.]]

''Transformers'' is a children's franchise, but at its core, it's a story of war. This means that the '''death''' of major and minor characters sometimes figures into the fiction.

Given the ambiguous nature of [[Transformer]] physiology, there is very little consistency regarding what is fatal to a Transformer, even within a single storyline. Damage that one Transformer might shrug off can prove fatal to another, or even to the same character in a different story. Sometimes just a laser blast or two will do the trick. Other times, characters survive being melted, crushed into cubes, and even utterly disintegrated. It does not take a terribly cynical viewer to conclude that the threshold of survival is generally determined by the needs of the plot.

The out-of-universe reasons for a character's death can vary from plot development to the arrival of [[To sell toys|new toys]]. Conveniently enough for writers who are beholden to the whims of a toy company, the majority of Transformers characters are machines, which means that death isn't necessarily permanent. Across the various universes, characters that appear to have been killed have been known to pop up alive again at a later date, or go through some sort of resurrection.

{{quote|"How can you all be so cold and unfeeling? He died a hero!" "Don't you even have mechanical hearts?" "The humans don't understand! Our form of life is vastly different from theirs!"|[[Spider-Man]], [[Sparkplug Witwicky]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]|"[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

==In-fiction causes of death==
[[Image:DEATH.jpg|left|thumb|400px|[[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] is just as puzzled as the rest of us.]]

There is little consistency in what can kill a Transformer. Sometimes it takes just a shot. Other times, even totally annihilating a Transformer's body still doesn't do the trick. Even the most basic method of killing, which is to destroy or otherwise cause the loss of a Transformer's [[spark]], varies quite a bit in its details from story to story, character to character, and series to series.
{{--}}
===Weaponsfire===
{{quote|This was almost too easy, Starscream!|[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (like the fandom) is surprised to find how easily Autobots die, ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''}}

[[Image:Tftm1986a.jpg|right|200px|thumb|We're here aboard the Autobot shuttle, where we've secretly replaced Brawn's hyper-dense metal armor plating with styrene plastic. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference.]]

[[Image:TFTM UltraMagnus dies.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Prepare for your death today. Yer gonna die!!]]

[[Image:Magnusdeath.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ow! Hey! Cut it out, guys! That hurts!]]

[[Image:Blades1.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Sorry, nameless guy, your generic nature means you will never be miraculously resurrected.]]

Like humans, Transformers can be killed by damage caused by energy, projectile, and chemical weapons. Just how many shots it takes is widely variable, however.
* In the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]]:
** Many casualties of the [[Battle of Autobot City]] (and its run-up), including [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], were victims of energy weapons. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} This was quite a change from the cartoon's M.O., wherein the same characters routinely got shot and blasted all the time and shrugged it off, or at worst spent some time in the repair bay. Brawn and Prowl both went down after ''one shot''.
** [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] subsequently "dies" after being shot a few times by the [[Sweep]]s, exploding into pieces. He is soon revived by the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]], however. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Ultra Magnus dies ''again'', for real this time, after [[Sixshot]] shoots him a few times. {{storylink|Ultra Magnus Dies!!}}

* In the [[Marvel Comics continuity|Marvel comics]]:
** [[Impactor]] was cut down by a single head shot from [[Macabre]]. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
** Most deaths in the ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' book occurred from energy weapons, such as [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]], {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}} as well as numerous generics. {{storylink|War Without End!}} Quite a few victims exploded spectacularly after being shot, including [[Tantrum]] {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}}, [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]], [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] {{storylink|New Dawn}}, and [[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]]{{storylink|Escalation!}}.

* In the ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' cartoon:
** [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] dies after incurring severe damage from numerous [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] weapons. {{storylink|Code of Hero}} The apparent cause of his demise is his refusal to enter protective [[stasis lock]], as other characters have survived similar or worse levels of damage.
** [[Tigerhawk]] is disintegrated by the main cannon of the starship ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]''. The same cannon subsequently blasts [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] and [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]], apparently killing them, though their "death" may be permanent simply because there was nobody around to put them back together. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 2}}

* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] dies holding back the [[Hydra Cannon]], the damage causing him to [[:Image:Sshot-arm-39-4.jpg|crumble to dust]]. {{storylink|Crisis}}

* [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]] G1 comics: [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] is killed by an assassin's blast. {{storylink|The Age of Wrath issue 1}} He got better. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 3}}

* [[Movie continuity]]: [[Brawl (Movie)|Brawl]] and [[Blackout (Movie)|Blackout]] both died from weapons fire. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}

* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] gets his face blown off/in by [[Cyclonus (SG)|Cyclonus]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 4}}
{{--}}

* [[Universe (2003 comic)|Universe]]: [[Tankor (BM)|Tankor]] was shot and killed by [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] during the final battle of the [[Universe War]].

===Big explosions===
{{bigquote|They're going to blow us all to pieces! [[Guardian (Marvel)|Guardian]]'s booby-trapped - packed with enough explosives to level this whole mountain!|[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], "[[The Wrath of Grimlock!]]"}}

Transformers characters often assume that explosions are more lethal than they really are; characters survive explosions all the time. An explosion's messy nature makes a good "out" for a writer to fake a character's death. {{storylink|The Wrath of Grimlock!}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}} Nevertheless, a few characters have been permanently killed by explosions. (This list omits characters who exploded from within, like Ultra Magnus up above.)
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]] was the victim of an interdimensionally triggered explosion that destroyed his body. (In UK continuity, he survived as a raggedy, bodiless head.) {{storylink|The Bridge to Nowhere!}}
** In an alternate future, a wounded [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] died in the fiery explosion of a crashing shuttlecraft. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** [[Finback]] was presumably killed in the explosion of a huge gun battery. [[Misfire]] tried to warn him off, and may have been killed in the same explosion. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}

* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon:
** [[Optimus Primal]] was blown to bits -- terminally so -- by the [[transwarp]] explosion that destroyed the [[Planet Buster]]. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}
** [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]] was killed by the explosion that resulted from [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]]'s death (either his exploding spark, or the exploding energon shard that pierced it.) {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

* Several of the [[Beast Era]] [[Wrecker]]s ([[Sonar (BW)|Sonar]], [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]], the [[Deployer (BM)|Deployers]]) were destroyed when part of their ship exploded with them in it. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

* Energon: [[Bruticus Maximus (Energon)|Bruticus Maximus]] and Storm Jet were killed when Storm Jet caused a massive explosion that engulfed them both.

===Impact trauma===
Falling off a cliff or mountainside or tall building is usually just as fatal to Transformers as it is to, say... Wile E. Coyote. Only on rare occasion does it result in death:
* ''[[Classics (2006)|Classics]]'' continuity: [[Hacksaw]] met his end by falling from a huge communications tower. {{storylink|The New World}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Doubledealer]] was shot, fell off a mountain and smashed to bits on impact. {{storylink|Spotlight: Doubledealer}}
* Movie continuity: [[Devastator (ROTF)|Devastator]] fell off the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] after losing his balance when his arm was shot off, and he shattered to pieces as he tumbled down. ''{{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}''
* The [[Beast (G1)|Beast]] fell off a cliff and shattered. {{storylink|The Beast Within Part 2, Consequences}} At least, we hope that's where and how it ended.

===Crushing===
[[Image:Edgeofextinction-hardheadbombburst.jpg|thumb|right|175px|DO NOT WANT]]
[[Image:TFAni TransWarped LongArm Cliffjumper Cube.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Before time began, there was... THE CUBE.]]

Quite a few characters have been crushed into deactivation:
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]] was smashed between [[Unicron]]'s palms, while [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] met a similar fate when they were stepped on by Unicron. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] is apparently killed when a very large building collapses on top of him. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

* [[Unicron Trilogy]] cartoons:
** [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]] is killed when caught between two folding sections of Unicron's external armor. {{storylink|Union}}
** [[Shockblast]] is crushed by Unicron's hand on [[Blizzard Planet]]. {{storylink|The Power}}
** His brother [[Six Shot]] meets a similar fate, crushed under the heel of a super-sized Galvatron. {{storylink|Galvatron Terror}}

* IDW continuity:
** [[Roller]] was crushed when Megatron caused an avanlanche to fall on him.
** [[Ruckus (G1)|Ruckus]], [[Crankcase (G1)|Crankcase]], and [[Skullcruncher]] were all crushed by [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]].

* ''Animated'' cartoon: [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]] is (possibly) killed by a garbage compactor-like crushing device. (An "out" by writer [[Derrick J. Wyatt|Derrick Wyatt]] was intended to show his still-pulsing spark within his cubified remains, but this did not make it into the show, leaving his fate ambiguous at best.) {{storylink|TransWarped}}

===Melting===
[[Image:BW Scorponok Terrorsaur deaths.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Even having a new toy couldn't save Terrorsaur!]]

[[Image:Fallout title.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Primal's diet had gone horribly wrong.]]

They're made of metal; therefore, with enough heat or sufficiently acidic material, they can melt. This is one of the more fool-proof methods of killing a Transformer; few if any have survived it.
* In the G1 cartoon:
** An acid vat would apparently have been enough to destroy Optimus Prime. {{storylink|The Search for Alpha Trion}}
** Another acid vat was used to disintegrate living victims of Unicron. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comics:
** Victims of the Deception [[smelting pool]]s on Cybertron were reduced by intense heat into their base metals, including [[Scrounge (G1)|Scrounge]]. {{storylink|The Smelting Pool!}}
** It is possible that an acid bath from (naturally) [[Blot (G1)|Blot]] offlined [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] [[Makin' Tracks!|(for a while anyway)]]. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] was partially melted by Unicron's flame-breath and subsequently died. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The [[Cybertronian (faction)|Cybertronian Empire]] used some kind of acid to rather messily eradicate some of their Decepticon ancestors, including [[Stranglehold]]. {{storylink|New Dawn}}

* In the Beast Era cartoons:
** [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] and [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] were apparently melted to death after tumbling into a lava pit within the [[Darksyde|Predacon base]]. {{storylink|Aftermath}}
** Optimus Primal's body was seemingly melted into the floor after his climactic face-off with [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]. Considering how many god-like forces were unleashed and conflicting during the battle, his demise may be due to more than simple temperature-induced melting. {{storylink|Fallout}}

===Incineration===
{{bigquote|I saw the end! They died in a cosmic funeral pyre!|[[Shawn Berger]], "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2]]"}}

[[Image:Armada 52 - Prime hangon to Galvatron.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Galvatron died to save everyone and came back ''twice''—you lose, [[Jesus]]!]]

Plasma, energy fields, and stellar atmospheres can all utterly destroy a Transformer's body. Like being melted, being reduced to one's component molecules would seem to be a surefire way of getting killed, but quite a few characters seem able to survive the process as ghosts and/or disembodied sparks:
* Generation 1 cartoon: [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]'s spectacular death at the hands of [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] might be categorized as incineration. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* Quite a few characters met this fate in the Unicron Trilogy, but all survived it in some fashion:
** [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]]'s spark persisted within his burnt-out body when he was dropped into the exploding Unicron. {{storylink|Mortal Combat}} {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}
** [[Demolishor (Armada)|Demolishor]]'s body was obliterated by an expanding energon grid, but his spark survived the process and was placed in a new body. {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}}
** [[Inferno (Energon)|Inferno]] was destroyed when he threw himself into a star, but his spark was salvaged by the Autobots and, again, placed in a new body. {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
** And finally, Megatron (Galvatron, whatever) threw himself into Primus's new energon sun to prevent Unicron from possessing him, killing himself yet again. {{storylink|The Sun}} This death was so inconsequential that his subsequent resurrection wasn't even explained! {{storylink|Fallen (episode)|Fallen}}

===Consumption===
{{bigquote|...If we don't find the Matrix, some bad guy's gonna ''eat'' us! Right?|Longtooth, "[[Deadly Obsession]]"}}

[[Image:Wreckers Mutants.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The shocking death of the barely-seen guys with hardly any lines!]]
[[Image:Rocky mecannibal bartender marvel uk 240.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Cannibalism is hilarious, kids!]]

Quite a few critters in the multiverse are equipped to devour giant robots. Being eaten (and, presumably, digested) generally proves fatal:
* In the G1 cartoon:
** Various life forms were routinely devoured by the [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticon]]s on Quintessa. This included [[Kranix]], a mechanical life form, though not a Transformer. [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] and [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] would have suffered this fate as well, but fought their way free. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Quite a few Transformers found their way into Unicron's gullet, though many survived the experience. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comic:
** The [[Mecannibal]]s ate robots routinely, including quite a few Transformers during their sojourn on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} {{storylink|Out to Lunch!}} There is some indication that they could actually reconstitute their victims from their "recycled" parts, though this is never explicitly shown. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
** Unicron skewered [[Brainstorm]] and ate him. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The subsurface-dwelling [[demon]]s devoured [[Runabout]]. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The Swarm "devoured" innumerable Cybertronian troopers and a handful of older-generation Transformers as well, though this was through a molecular process almost akin to incineration. {{storylink|Swarm (issue)|Swarm}} {{storylink|Total War!}} {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* The Sharkticons killed two of the [[Mutant (BW)|Mutant]]s by gobbling them up. Or ripping them apart. Or both. We don't really know. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

===Disassembly===
[[Image:Jazz DyingAction.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"HERE'S what I think of your resemblance to your G1 counterpart!"]]

Taking a Transformer apart into its component parts can occasionally kill them:
* Marvel comics: [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] met this fate in an alternate future, when Swoop used a machine to pull him apart into his component pieces. {{storylink|Another Time and Place}}
* Movie continuity: Being ripped in half killed [[Jazz (Movie)|Jazz]]. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}
* [[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]: [[Pyro]] was torn apart and killed while making a final stand against a mass of generic Decpticons.
*[[Prime (cartoon)|Prime cartoon]]: When fighting [[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]]'s zombie army, [[Ratchet (Prime)|Ratchet]] recommended dissection to [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus]] to"cut" them down to size. How this is more effective then just blasting the living slag out of them is still up for debate.

===Decapitation===
{{main|Decapitation}}

[[Image:Cyclonus death.jpg|thumb|right|150px| "CHUK!" is good, but I could really go for a "Shakkooosh" right about now.]]

Sometimes cutting a Transformer's head off is fatal. Sometimes!
* In the Marvel comics:
** The Megatron clone killed Cyclonus by ripping his head off. {{storylink|Dry Run!}}
** Several of the Wreckers were killed by having their heads ripped or blasted off, including Twin Twist and Topspin, respectively. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars}}
** [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] had his head cut off by a propeller fired by [[Leadfoot (G2)|Leadfoot]], presumably (given the ''Generation 2'' book's emphasis on body count) killing him. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** Characters frequently die by decapitation of some form: [[Bonecrusher (Movie)|Bonecrusher]], {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and [[Grindor (ROTF)|Grindor]]. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
** Decapitation was an inconvenience for [[Frenzy (Movie)|Frenzy]] the first time. The second time, when the blow actually destroyed most of his head, was fatal.

===Vivisection===
[[Image:VictoryUKAnnual.JPG|thumb|right|150px| Ahhhh, there we go...]]

{{bigquote|I have no desire to be carved up into Auto-sushi.|Tracks, "[[Make Tracks]]"}}

Getting chopped in half is pretty graphic for a kids' story, even one about robots, so it doesn't happen very often.
* Marvel comics: In a dream sequence, [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] slices [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] in half, killing him. {{storylink|Victory!}}
* Japanese G1 cartoon: [[Predaking]] gets sliced in half by Dai Atlas. The strike dissects what appears to be an organic brain in his head. {{storylink|Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!}}
* ''Beast Wars Metals'': Terrorsaur was killed by being sliced in half by Primal's mace. {{storylink|Raise the Curtain for Beast Wars Metals!!}}
* Movie continuity: [[Sideways (ROTF)|Sideways]] dies when [[Sideswipe (ROTF)|Sideswipe]] slices his car mode in two. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Destruction of brain===
{{bigquote|Next strike in the neural cluster, yes? Weakest spot on ''all'' Transformers...|[[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], "[[Fire on High!]]"}}

In the early days of the franchise, a Transformer's life force was sometimes understood to be entirely contained within their [[brain module]], most prominently in the Marvel comics. Destroying the brain would kill the Transformer. This premise was eventually passed over in favor of the more esoteric concept of [[spark]]s.
* In the Marvel comics:
** In an alternate future, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] is blasted by [[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], who kills him by extracting and crushing his brain module. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** The [[Throttlebot]]s ''avoid'' death by having their brain modules removed from their bodies shortly before their bodies are destroyed (by crushing). {{storylink|Toy Soldiers!}}
** [[Brawl (G1)|Brawl]] was apparentlly killed when Megatron crushed his head and by extension, his brain. {{storylink|Gone But Not Forgotten!}} He got better.

===Destruction of spark===
{{bigquote|RAW energon! Right through your twisted spark!|Depth Charge to Rampage, "[[Nemesis Part 1]]"}}

[[Image:Skyfallwontbethereforit.jpg|thumb|right|200px|And then he hung Skyfall from his ceiling.]]

Getting stabbed right through the spark is almost always fatal:
* In ''Beast Wars'': The supposedly immortal Rampage was killed when Depth Charge pierced his spark with an energon blade. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}
* ''[[Transcendent Technomorph|TransTech]]'': [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] died when [[Alpha Trion (SG)|Alpha Trion]] rammed his sword right through his chest. {{storylink|Transcendent: Part 6}}
*Energon: [[Constructicon Maximus]] was killed when [[Storm Jet (Energon)|Storm Jet]] impaled and crushed his spark.
* ''Cybertron'': Galvatron died after being impaled with [[Rhisling]] by Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Unfinished}}
* Movie continuity: Optimus Prime died from a stab wound through the chest, quickly followed by a cannon blast through the spark chamber from Megatron's swordcannon weapon.[[The Fallen]] also met his end when Optimus punched through his chest and crushed his spark. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* ''Beast Machines'' continuity: [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] - already reduced to a spark within the matrix - ceased to be when Megatron annihilated his spark from existence. {{storylink|Singularity Ablyss}}
* [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|Titan's Movie comics]]: Transformers have forcefields shielding their sparks, which can be externalized to protect bodywork. Jazz loved doing this, leaving him far more vulnerable to death by destruction of spark than he would otherwise be. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 6|Lost in Space 4: Jazz}}

===Loss of spark===
{{bigquote|Warning. Further expenditure will result in permanent loss of spark. Stasis lock ''must'' commence.|[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]]'s internal computer, "[[Code of Hero]]"}}

Sometimes sparks can survive outside of a body; sometimes they cannot. In the Beast Era, there is some indication that a spark left outside a body will soon begin to return to the Matrix/AllSpark/another dimension.
* When Dinobot expires after his final battle, his Spark is seen exiting his body. The implication is that a sufficiently damaged body can no longer hold a spark within this dimension. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* ''Beast Machines'' subsequently showed living sparks existing outside of bodies on a regular basis. The sparkless bodies were simply considered shells, rather than "dead".
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Prowl dies when he intentionally relinquishes his own spark. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}
* Movie continuity: Jetfire rips out his own spark chamber to give Optimus a fighting chance. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Energy overload===
{{bigquote|We may need energon for power, but this is too much of a good thing.|[[Optimus Primal]], "[[Beast Wars (Part 1)]]"}}

[[Image:TFAnimated transformandrollout DEATH.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Death — the Optimus version of a power nap.]]
[[Image:Underbaseallmine.jpg|thumb|right|200px|He's got an Underbase in his underpants.]]

The average [[human]] needs a lot of [[water]] to survive. But too much water results in [[wikipedia:Water intoxication|a horrible death]]. Similarly, Transformers need energy to survive, but too much of it can be a very bad thing. Sometimes it's just plain old energy; other times it some special god-like force that does them in.
* In the Marvel comics:
** An [[Underbase]]-empowered Starscream slaughtered dozens of Transformers with energy blasts, {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}} which reportedly burned out millions of their microchips. {{storylink|Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?}} Some Transformers were seen to recover from these attacks, either via conventional repairs {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} or through the power of [[nucleon]]. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
** Starscream himself was killed when he absorbed all the energies of the Underbase. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] was apparently killed when struck by a blast of energy from the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]], though the physical effect was more like being hit by an especially powerful laser blast. {{storylink|All Fall Down (issue)}}

* ''Super-God Masterforce'' cartoon: [[Sixknight]] died from an overcharge of BlackZarak's Devil Power. {{storylink|Malevolent and Inhuman! The True Form of Devil Z}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runabout]] dies when one of the [[Reaper]]s zaps him full of energy, causing him to explode from within. {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* Movie continuity: [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] was killed when [[Sam Witwicky]] shoved the [[AllSpark]] into his chest. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)|Transformers}}
* ''Transformers Animated'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] got caught in an explosion of [[AllSpark]] energy that may have been sufficient to kill him, although he also fell off a very tall building immediately afterwards (Starscream was caught in the same explosion and survived, but was knocked offline for an unspecified period.)

===Energy depletion===
On rare occasion, Transformers can simply run out of energy completely and expire.
* Marvel comics: the ancient [[Overlord (rank)|Overlord]] died from a lack of energy. {{storylink|State Games}}
* Movie continuity: [[Jetfire (ROTF)|Jetfire]] explains that a lack of energon causes the Transformer equivalent of aging, such as rusting joints, mental confusion, and pieces falling apart, followed by an indefinite period of stasis that can only be reversed by an infusion of Allspark energy. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Suicide===
Sometimes a Transformers kills himself for some reason.
* Marvel comics
** Megatron seemingly killed himself using a [[space bridge]] though it was later revealed that he survived.
** Dirge and Nightbeat self destructed and destroyed themselves in a last ditch attempt to destroy the Swarm.
* Beast Wars
** [[Tigerhawk]] sacrificed himself by hurling himself in the way of a fusion cannon blast from the Nemesis.
* Energon: Galvatron, Starscream, and [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Mirage]] threw themselves into a sun and vaporized themselves. [[Snow Cat (Energon)|Snow Cat]] and Demolisher may have also done this.

==Non-fatal deactivation==
{{quote|"You mean he's still alive?!" "No! But neither is he what you would term 'dead'!"|[[Spider-Man]] and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], "[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

[[Image:Zombiesbackfromthedead.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Braiiiiiin mooooodulllllles....]]

For almost every single cause of death listed above, there's been one or more Transformers who have survived it, sometimes without so much as a period of unconsciousness.

In particular, "deactivation" is the Transformers equivalent of being in a coma. Numerous Transformers are seen to enter this state and eventually recover, such as the Autobots deactivated by Shockwave {{storylink|The Last Stand}}, who later were repaired. However, the line between death and deactivation is a blurry one. Sometimes the two words are used interchangeably, even in reference to characters who are later revived. Most of Starscream's Underbase victims were described as deactivated, and were sometimes lamented as "dead" while at other times were shown undergoing repairs. {{storylink|Back from the Dead}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}

"[[Stasis lock]]" would eventually give a more concrete name to the state of deactivation. The inert Transformers on the crashed Ark were retconned as being in stasis lock. Various ''Beast Wars'' characters would go into stasis lock to maintain their spark when their body had sustained too much damage from weaponsfire or energon absorption. ''Animated'' showed a crew of Autobots voluntarily entering protective stasis lock in anticipation of a crash landing.

Some of the quasi-fatal things which can cause a Transformer to "deactivate" include:

===Impact trauma===
Smashing into something usually knocks out a Transformer, but almost never actually kills them:
* The crew of the original Ark is deactivated when the ship crashes on Earth and lies inert for 4 million years {{storylink|More than Meets the Eye, Part 1}} {{storylink|The Transformers (issue)}}
* Marvel comics: [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] falls to his "death", but is patched together and talking again in short order. {{storylink|Prisoner of War!}}

===Decapitation===
[[Image:Sentinelprimeanimatedhumiliated.jpg|thumb|200px|In the movie continuity, this would've been fatal. In ''Animated'', it's just embarrassing.]]

{{bigquote|Anyone who can lop your head off in one blow is alright by me!|[[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] jokes about [[Cloudburst]]'s near-death experience, "[[Recipe for Disaster!]]"}}

Like we said before, decapitation is sometimes fatal... and other times it isn't.
* Marvel comic:
** Optimus Prime was able to survive as just a head when Shockwave separated it from his body in an effort to get the Creation Matrix. {{storylink|The New Order}}
**[[Cloudburst]] was abruptly decapitated by sword, but was just fine after some repairs. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
* G1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was disassembled into his component parts, but functioned just fine as nothing more than a head once [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] connected a few wires. {{storylink|City of Steel}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] survives having his head blasted or otherwise knocked off multiple times {{storylink|Spider's Game}} {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}} {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)}} {{storylink|Code of Hero}}, and even put it back on himself one time. He even accidently swapped heads with Megatron once. Megatron was not amused. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]] was just fine when one of the Reapers whacked his head off. (He didn't fare so well when another Reaper crushed his head with a boulder, however.) {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Decapitated victims of the ''Animated'' [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] rarely show any ill effects other than not having a body anymore. {{storylink|Headmaster (episode)|Headmaster}} {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}} {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

===Dismemberment===
Transformers get ripped to pieces all the time, and recover from it:
* Marvel comic: Scorponok tears [[Tantrum]] to pieces. [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] slices [[Horri-Bull]] in half at the waist. Both are seen alive later on. {{storylink|Cold War!}}
* Last Stand of the Wreckers: [[Guzzle]] is torn in half by [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] and is easily repaired.

===Spark removal===
{{bigquote|His spark can't exist outside a living body!|[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]], "[[Optimal Situation]]"}}

A Transformer's spark—their "soul", their living essence—can be removed from their body, or the body can be destroyed around them
* The destruction of Starscream's body, and his subsequent survival as a ghost, was eventually retconned to be his Spark enduring without a physical form. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Tigatron and Airazor's sparks spent quite some time wandering around behind Tigerhawk, before combining and entering his body. {{storylink|Other Victories}}

* In the ''Beast Machines'' cartoon:
** Megatron de-sparked most of Cybertron's population and stored their sparks in a big barrel. Most were restored to bodies eventually. {{storylink|Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}}
** Blackarachnia's spark wandered around bodiless for a time. {{storylink|Revelations Part III: Apocalypse}}
** Megatron himself, his spark in a depolarized state, wandered the surface of Cybertron without a body for a time. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}

The treatment of bodiless sparks in ''Beast Machines'' is seen by some fans as contradicting the canon established by ''Beast Wars'', particularly the quote above.

===Limbo===
Sometimes Transformers get shunted out of creation as we know it, and into various alternate, sub- and non-dimensions.
* Marvel comics:
** The [[Trans-Time Dimensional Portal]] crosses [[unspace]], "a bit of dimensional nothingness" where Ratchet and Megatron vanished and were believed dead. {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}
** Transformers mass-displaced by time travel wind up in a formless dimension known as [[Limbo]].
* IDW comics: Megatron severely damaged Optimus Prime in battle and planned on finishing him off by crushing his [[Laser core|spark core]]. Optimus Prime feigned death by downloading his "consciousness" into his [[Combat Deck|trailer section]], causing his [[Brain Center|robot mode]] to appear dead. In the time it took for Prime's consciousness to transfer to his trailer, he briefly entered [[infraspace|limbo]], the transitional infraspace between life and death. {{storylink|Escalation (IDW)|Escalation}}
*Generation 1 cartoon:
**Come on, we all know what REALLY happened to the likes of Seaspray and Tracks.

==Resuscitation==
Robots are machines. They can be switched off, taken apart, blown to bits, and put back together. Ergo, in many continuities and cases, "death" is not nearly as permanent a condition as it is for us fragile fleshy types.

===Reconstruction===
[[Image:PeoplePower-reprogrammed.jpg|thumb|right|250px| ]]

{{bigquote|I've done it! Optimus Prime lives!|A random Quintesson, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]"}}

* Generation 1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was simply ''repaired'' back to life by a Quintesson. Some fixing of this and that, a burst of power, and boom, suddenly he was alive again. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}}
* Marvel Comics: Optimus Prime's mind was encoded on a disk. After a new [[Powermaster]] body was constructed for him, the disk's contents were loaded into it, and Optimus Prime lived again. (One wonders why they couldn't make as many Optimus Primes as they pleased.) {{storylink|People Power!}}

===Spark transfer===
Transferring a Transformer's spark into a new body constitutes a form of resurrection, particularly if the Transformer's previous body was destroyed.
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Optimus Primal was restored to life when Rhinox managed to recall his spark from the Matrix, a special circumstance only enabled by a temporary window into transwarp space. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* ''Armada'' Smokescreen was shot through the chest at point blank range by the Requiem Blaster {{storylink|Sacrifice}} but his spark survived and was put into a new body. {{storylink|Regeneration}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Inferno and Demolishor both had their bodies ''atomized''; however, their sparks both survived, and were placed into new bodies. (The upshot of all of this is that it's nigh-impossible to kill a Unicron Trilogy Transformer, unless they do it themselves.) {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}} {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: The spark of a dying [[Yoketron]] was placed into a new protoform body by [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]; however, Yoketron consciously chose to let his life end, and expired anyway. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}}

==="Magical" substances===
* Marvel Comics: The miraculous healing properties of Nucleon brought many Autobots back to life, as well as a few Decepticons. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Megatron was revived by the all-encompassing power of energon, as was Unicron. {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}

===Primus and Primus-related powers===
{{bigquote|Where the Last Autobot is concerned, even death, it would appear, is an abstract concept!|Optimus Prime explains his latest revival, "[[End of the Road! (US)|End of the Road!]]"}}

Anything tied to the primordial life-force of the Transformers' god Primus tends to be a cure-all for death. This includes Primus himself, his various power-wielding avatars and servants, and the assorted Matrixes and Allsparks, all of which can deliver an infusion of the essence of life itself. In some continuities, this is parsed as a Transformer's spark being brought back out of the Allspark dimension.

[[Image:RageInHeaven-HeroPrime.jpg|thumb|right|150px|]]

* In the Marvel comics:
** The [[Last Autobot]] was granted the power of recreation by Primus, which he used to raise numerous fallen Autobots from the battlefield. {{storylink|End of the Road! (US)}}
** Optimus Prime was eager to find the lost Creation Matrix, stating that it would be able to restore many deactivated warriors to life. {{storylink|Bird of Prey!}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the [[Swarm (G2)|Swarm]] after it had ingested the energies and knowledge of the Matrix. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** The Allspark is shown repeatedly to be capable of restoring just about anything. Frenzy gets a whole new body from its power, {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and Megatron is restored to life by merely a fragment of it. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the Matrix of Leadership, an Allspark-related talisman. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

* ''Beast Machines'' cartoon: [[Optimus Primal]]'s body was destroyed, but the AllSpark granted him the choice of uniting with it or being reborn. He chose the latter, and ''poof'', just walked right out of the Oracle bubble in a brand new version of his previous body. {{storylink|Fallout}}
* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] was brought back to life by the power of the [[Mini-Con]]s after his body was disintegrated. {{storylink|Miracle}}
* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] was resurrected when he and his gestaltmates were combined together and reborn by Primus into [[Nexus Prime]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 5}} Nexus Prime then brought [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] back from the other side of the Allspark and infused him with some of Primus's power to become Galvatron. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 6}}

===Zombies===
* Dude, [[zombie]]s!

==Immortality==
===Immortal sparks===
Certain sparks have mutant qualities that allow them to, potentially, exist forever.
* Starscream survived his death at the hands of Galvatron; this was later explained as him having a "mutant indestructible spark". {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}} {{storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] was created as an attempt to duplicate Starscream's immortal spark. {{storylink|Bad Spark}} He was eventually killed by [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]], so the attempt may be seen as unsuccessful. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

===Other===
* [[Multiversal singularity|Multiversal singularities]] such as [[Unicron]] and [[The Fallen]] can be killed off in one dimension, only to still be alive and well in another (or many others), due to the varying properties of different dimensions (reverse-time, dimensions, for example are key to revival of the singularities).
* ''Animated'' [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] could not be killed so long as he retained his Allspark fragment embedded in his forehead.
* Denizens of the [[Dead Universe]] could essentially regenerate themselves out of nothing, no matter how much damage was inflicted on them.
* Thunderwing's Pretender shell seemed to make him near invincible. At the very lest able to withstand incredible amounts of salvo and not even flinch.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] can never completely die no matter what for some reason.

==Out-of-fiction causes of character death==
===Drama / character culmination===
At its best, character death can be a moving plot development, the fruition of an ongoing character arc.
* Suspecting that they would have to remove a character from the show, the writers of ''Beast Wars'' began planning for Dinobot's death several episodes ahead of time. Thus, when it came, it was the outcome of the character's own choices, flaws, and history, and played a crucial role in the show's plot. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* Sunstreaker's death in ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' is intended to follow a similar style of arc... only it's missing the whole choices, flaws and history thing. Oh well!
* Optimus Primal's death(s) in ''Beast Machines'' are likewise the outcome of his own choices and character. {{storylink|End of the Line}} {{storylink| Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}} His death in ''Beast Wars'', by contrast, was more a moment of dramatic pathos -- knowingly walking into danger, his enemy got the better of him. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}

===Consequences of war===
It's hard to take a war story seriously when nobody actually dies. The reality of war can be more readily portrayed when characters die. [[Generic]]s are particularly handy for this, allowing death to be shown while not removing primary characters (retail toys!) from the story. The results can range from high drama and pathos to numbingly pointless body counts.
* Impactor's death was used to drive home the threat of the Decepticons as well as the risks taken by the Autobots and their commanders. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
* The ''Generation 2'' book featured several deaths which drove home the realities of war. Most notably, Red Alert's destruction served to make Grimlock acutely aware of just how badly he'd screwed up. {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}}

===Increased threat===
An enemy that kills is an enemy to be taken seriously. Thus a writer will frequently throw in some preliminary deaths to point out how seriously the bad guy should be treated.
* The generic who dies at the beginning of "[[City of Fear!]]" serves to show the zombies as a true life-threatening menace.
* Likewise for Runabout's death at the hands of the demons ; {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}} knowing they can devour a Transformer makes the reader more concerned about the Dinobots' subsequent fate. {{storylink|Still Life!}}
* In "[[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]", [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] makes corpses in practically every scene he's in!

===Cast thinning===
Transformers stories are notorious for acquiring gigantic casts as they roll on; Generation 1 was particularly notorious for this because of its longevity. A simple way to make things more manageable was simply to kill off large numbers of characters in battle. Examples are rife in the fiction, especially the Marvel Comics.

* In the Marvel comics:
** The "[[Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars]]" storyline got rid of the [[Wrecker]]s and quite a few Decepticons as well.
** The [[Underbase Saga]] even more explicitly cleared out dozens of characters, leaving perhaps 2 dozen characters from each faction in the story.
** The battle with Unicron in "[[On the Edge of Extinction!]]" likewise got rid of a lot of older characters, leaving the story free to concentrate on more of a core cast (and associated newer toy characters.)
* [[Betrayal|Wreckers #2]] dealt with its oversized cast by killing off scads of characters right up front.

===Clear space for new toys===
{{main|To sell toys}}

Some fiction has an inherently limited capacity for characters. ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines'' are by far the most prominent examples; their CGI animation made character animation expensive and necessitated removing an old character before a new one could be brought in. But any medium can be susceptible to this toy-driven phenomena.
* The numerous casualties of "[[The Transformers: The Movie]]" were fairly explicitly removed from the story to make way for a wave of new toy/characters.
* Terrorsaur and Scorponok had to be removed -- quickly -- to make room for the two upcoming Fuzor characters, hence their sudden, blink-and-you-miss-it death in "[[Aftermath]]".
* Airazor and Tigatron were removed for similar reasons. When their plot was finally resolved, it was, surprise, via [[Tigerhawk|a new toy]]!

==Fleshling death==
In general, ''Transformers'' fiction is pretty squeamish about showing the deaths of Earth's organic creatures. But it's a war, and sometimes it does happen. The out-of-universe reasons generally fall into three categories: Consequences of War, Emotional Pathos, and BLOOD IZ KEWL.

The various cartoons tend to show organic death the least, as they are most clearly aimed at, and easily accessible by, children. Comics tend to be less reluctant to show the impact of the Transformers' war on innocent lives, though the death rate varies by series. Latter-day Generation 1 books especially revel in high body counts, because squishing stupid humans is killer and awesome and radical and hardcore. Even the occasional [[Satellite of Doom|children's storybook]] has been known to off mass quantities of the dumb fleshies.

===Animal death===
[[Image:MurderedPuppy02.jpg|right|150px|thumb|One dead dog]]

[[Image:Sparkwar3 Dead noble.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Two dead dogs]]

Cute little animals are almost always killed off for reasons of Emotional Pathos:
* A little girl's pet puppy named [[Pis]] barked at [[Wilder]] and was kicked so hard he died. {{storylink|Rage!! Little Devils with No Need for Rules}}
* The [[Murdered puppy]] was shot down by the Decepticons after running away from Megatron's experiments. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 8|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #8}}
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] once reminded [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] that [[The Fallen]] once shot down a ship full of [[Antilian bumble-puppy|Antilian bumble-puppies]]. (Decepticons have a thing for killing puppies.)
* The puppy-like [[Noble]] was shot at by [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] because of his hatred for organics {{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. III: The Siege}} and was later mourned by his "owner", [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}.
* A stray shot from [[Tigatron]] accidentally caused an avalanche which killed his friend [[Snowstalker]]. {{storylink|Law of the Jungle}}
* "[[Law of the Jungle]]" also portrays the deaths of four different forest animals (a bug is eaten by a frog, which is eaten by a snake, which is taken off to be eaten by a bird. Later, an orange tiger kills an antelope). This is a rare "Consequences of War" example.
* [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] also once ate an eagle, {{storylink|Power Surge}} while [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] ate a cute little rat {{storylink|Victory (episode)|Victory}}, and nearly ate an antelope as well. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* In order to save [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] had to fight a saber-toothed tiger off a cliff killing it. {{Storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] used [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel]]'s shield to knock a spikey rock onto a giant spider effectively killing it. She later used [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus]]' axe to kill some new born baby spiders. {{Storylink|Along Came a Spider}}
* Human villain [[Trophy White]] had a grisly display of stuffed and mounted animal heads. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}}

{{-}}
===Human death===
[[Image:Razorclawshootsahuman.jpg|right|thumb|250px|This didn't happen much.]]

* Marvel US: The [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|original Marvel book]] ignored or glossed over human casualties, which were rarely if ever shown; the panel at right, from [[Toy Soldiers!|US #37]], shows a ''very'' unusual instance of a human dying right in front of us. One of the few human(oid)s to die on-panel was [[Galen]], killed off to make way for [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]]. ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' was much more explicit about human death, as Bludgeon and later [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] attacked Earth for the purpose of inflicting casualties.
* Marvel UK: The UK-original stories were much less reluctant to show human death; within the first year or so, humans had died in Autobot-induced car wrecks and at the hands of mind-controlled Autobots.
* In every US-aired cartoon series, humans essentially ''never'' die. Even ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Transformers Animated]]'', which features the city of [[Detroit]] getting smashed by robot battles virtually every week, never once mentions humans getting killed.
* Contemporary toyline-based comics (''[[Armada (Dreamwave comic)|Armada]]'', ''[[Energon (comic)|Energon]]'') seem to follow a similar policy, avoiding mention of human death -- even when human cities are being directly attacked, as in "[[Multiplicity, Pt. 2]]".
* Japanese cartoons, by contrast, don't seem to mind showing human deaths (or [[Pis|dog deaths]], for that matter).
* The [[Dreamwave Generation One continuity|Dreamwave G1 comics]] really thought it was totally awesome and cool and radical to kill off those stupid humans. Thus, they start off with Megatron smushing some stupid humans. More smushing and killing and blowing up follows. DIE, dumb stubbies, DIE!
* [[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW comics]] managed to avoid this for a long time, showing human death only when it was particularly integral to the plot... then ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' came down the pike. DIE, stupid fleshies, DIE!
* The live-action [[movie continuity]] implies a great deal of human death. ''Revenge'' mentions a body count of over 9,000, and massive damage is done during the battle of [[Mission City]], though little of it is shown on screen. And of course, the first film begins with Blackout wiping out an entire military base. A handful of humans are killed directly on-screen, most notably [[Patrick Donnelly|Donnelly]].
* The alternate timeline arc in Titan's Movie comic featured big wars on Earth and lots of destruction, clearly ''insinuating'' human death while not being explicit. The exceptions were in [[Transformers Comic issue 10|issue 10]], where [[NATO]] is said to be suffering losses of 11,506 and the [[France|Palais Bourbon]] is blown up when people are still clearly inside. [[Sam Witwicky]], meanwhile, was stated to have died.
* Titan quite blatantly stated that the [[Free Men]] had caused great loss of life at an air base, a rare example of humans killing humans. In the same story, [[Robert Epps]] opened fire on militia men, which kinda implies he was killing them. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}} Similarly, [[Wheelie (ROTF)|Wheelie]] of all people was seen zapping humans at close range during a Decepticon attack; with no "oh it was a stun beam" handwave and the 'Cons not pulling punches, it sure seems like he's murdered 'em! {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.6|Outlaw Blues}}
* In ''[[Kiss Players (franchise)|Kiss Players]]'', several [[Kiss Player]]s were seen being devoured by Legions.

==Characters who die a lot==
* [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|Optimus Prime]]
* [[Dirge (G1)]] — the unlucky guy who gets [[:Image:Dirge DeathSerpentor.jpg|killed]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathSwarm.jpg|off]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathTimelines.jpg|in]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathUnicron.jpg|many]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathArmada.jpg|continuities]]
* [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] — the unlucky guy who gets killed over and over in the same continuity, but doesn't seem to mind.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] — the unlucky guy from ''[[Beast Wars (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'' who gets sliced, diced, and fricasseed every other episode only to be fully functional in time to get [[Slag (slang)|slagged]] ''again''. But he never actually dies.
* [[Cy-Kill (disambiguation)|Cy-Kill]], a Go-Bots character transferred to many Transformers comics just to be killed off violently. For no other reason than the lolz of ending his toyline, his universe, and finally his life... repeatedly.
* [[Sentinel Prime (G1)]] — the unlucky [[Prime (rank)|Prime]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime lou.jpg|who]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime dw.jpg|must]] [[Megatron Origin issue 4|die]].
* [[Starscream (Animated)]] - the unlucky guy that constantly gets killed, decapitated, or maimed by others, only to be brought back to life.

==See also==
* [[Transformer funerary practices]]
* [[To sell toys]]

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Transformer anatomy]]

All Hail Megatron issue 12

2011-02-14T22:54:06Z

174.96.255.90: /* Notes */

{{Comicstory|
|seriesissue=''[[All Hail Megatron|The Transformers: All Hail Megatron]]'' #12
|prev=All Hail Megatron issue 11
|next=All Hail Megatron issue 13
|image=All Hail Megatron 12a.jpg
|caption=Unlike issue 1, this ''sorta'' happened.
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date=[[June 24]], [[2009]]
|coverdate=June 2009
|written by=[[Shane McCarthy]]
|art by=[[Guido Guidi]]
|colors by=[[James Brown]] and [[Josh Burcham]]
|letters by=[[Chris Mowry]]
|edits by=[[Andy Schmidt]] and [[Denton J. Tipton]]
|continuity=[[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW continuity]]
|chronology=[[IDW timeline|All Hail Megatron]]
}}

'''There's a nuclear bomb coming to blow up a city as Prime and Megatron trade blows and viewpoints, and somebody has to fly up and stop it! [[Prime Directive issue 6|Haven't we been here before?]]'''

==Synopsis==
In [[New York City]], the [[Autobot]]s and [[Decepticon]]s continue to battle. [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]] swats [[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]] with a broken street light, wanting to avenge [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]]'s death. Suddenly, [[Bombshell (G1)|Bombshell]] surprises him and reveals that he was the one responsible for Sunstreaker's actions by toying with the mind of his former [[Headmaster (technology)|Headmaster]] partner, [[Hunter O'Nion]]. Before Bombshell can kill Sideswipe, though, [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] punches him in the face. However, he, too, gets taken by surprise by [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]]. Skywarp is incredulous about Kup's presence, since he had heard that [[Spotlight: Kup|Kup had gone crazy]]. Kup, insulted by Skywarp's "scrap heap" joke, fires at his chest, and falls near the [[Statue of Liberty]], where [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]] and [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] struggle. Devastator claims that nothing can stop him, but Omega proves otherwise by blasting straight through his chest (along with Lady Liberty), and Devastator falls into the ocean.

At Central Park, [[Sparkplug Witwicky]], [[Colonel Hawke]], and the remaining army troops fire at [[Dropshot (Universe)|Dropshot]], but without success. Sparkplug orders Hawke to leave, with the [[European Union]] plane (secretly the Decepticon [[Octane|Tankor]]) heading its way to drop the nuke at the city. Hawke protests, but Sparkplug persists, saying that he might lose his son, and that he doesn't want any of his men to join him. Meanwhile, [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]] and his "team" make it to the rooftop of a building and stay low, witnessing two of the large robots begin their duel. Armed with the secret weapon [[All Hail Megatron issue 9|he stole]], Spike decides to target the silver one. [[Bridge]] asks Spike if the other one is on their side, and Spike replies that he hopes so, considering how big it is.

[[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] and [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] continue to grapple, Megatron relentlessly questioning Prime on why he cares about the [[human]]s after they've tortured an Autobot and put plans in motion to kill millions of their own people in a nuclear strike against the Transformers. Prime retorts that it's not only about protecting the humans; it's about also about the difference between himself and Megatron – what makes one a Decepticon and one an Autobot.

In [[Central Park]], Sparkplug fires a bazooka at Dropshot, who briefly staggers. Enraged and hurt, Dropshot declares that after having been stuck spying on the humans for so long, there's nothing that can stop him from tearing them all apart now. But in a silent, ironic counterpoint, Kup emerges from the water behind him.

Meanwhile, Prime and Megatron continue to exchange blows, but Megatron gets the upper hand by head-butting Prime and throwing him into a building. Megatron stands over Prime and tells him he respects him for his contined struggle. Nevertheless, Megatron orders Tankor to proceed with the bombing, and Tankor, shedding his European Union disguise, obliges. Bridge tells Spike to shoot fast, but Spike can only wait for it to charge up. Megatron orders the Decepticons to leave, but Blitzwing bemoans the loss of the [[space bridge]] and the city. Megatron replies that the Decepticons have other planets, and starting again is a price worth paying for the death of the Autobots alongside the humans. Bridge warns Spike that the Decepticons are about to flee, and Spike at last pulls the trigger.

Just as Megatron is telling Prime that he's going to take the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]] with him, the blast from Spike's gun hits him square in the face. Seizing the opportunity, Prime grabs Megatron's [[fusion cannon]] off the ground and smashes it ''hard'' against Megatron's head. Megatron, crackling with electricity, falls to the ground, defeated and broken. The Autobots begin to celebrate, but as Optimus advances towards Megatron, a voice stops him; it's [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]! Optimus asks him what he's doing, and Starscream replies that he is fulfilling his role as a [[Seeker (body-type)|Seeker]] by "protecting the leader of the Decepticon Empire." Prime tells Starscream that this isn't like him; he could leave Megatron and assume leadership of the Decepticons himself. But Starscream, repeating what Megatron [[All Hail Megatron issue 11|had told him]], says that leadership must be taken, not magically given by chance, which Prime would never understand.

Optimus asks Starscream if he's running, to which he replies that he's merely done playing. He claims the Decepticons outnumber the Autobots across the galaxy, the Autobot army is in tatters, and the Decepticons are victorious. Prolonging the battle would gain them nothing, and the Autobots wouldn't waste their time pursuing them when there's a nuclear bomb on the way. As the Decepticons lift off, the Autobots ponder how to stop the bomb. They realize that someone needs to fly up to it, and they're shocked to hear Thundercracker volunteer.

Thundercracker declares that none of the Autobots can fly in robot mode, and when Optimus brings up Omega Supreme, Thundercracker dismisses him as lacking the necessary finesse. Ironhide asks why a Decepticon would help, and Thundercracker explains that there is no honor in the bomb. Drift, a former Decepticon, tries to welcome Thundercracker into the Autobot ranks, but Thundercracker swats his offered hand aside, refusing to speak to a traitor. Thundercracker says that the humans were unworthy adversaries, that the Decepticons are creatures of combat, not slaughter, and that all of their actions on Earth have been dishonorable. With that, Thundercracker takes off and grabs the nuclear weapon as it falls, then flies it into space and fires at it, detonating it safely.

[[image:AHM12 Betrayer.jpg|thumb|left|200px|No one gets character development in ''All Hail Megatron'' and lives to tell about it!]]
The Autobots finally celebrate their victory, and Hound introduces Prime to the mystery sniper, Spike Witwicky. Prime praises Spike's remarkable skills, but Spike passes the credit to his "remarkable weapon." In Central Park, Sparkplug and Kup have a chat about outer space and Kup's "[[cigar]]" while sitting on the fallen body of Dropshot. Meanwhile, Thundercracker is en route to join the Decepticons when Skywarp teleports behind him and accuses him of betrayal. Thundercracker tries to tell Skywarp that Megatron had lost his way, but the furious Skywarp shoots him point-blank in the face.

Optimus Prime tells Spike that his people are free, but they must rebuild and recover. He says that the humans will need leaders like Spike and his comrades, heroes they can turn to in desperate times. The Autobots had traveled from their homeworld of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] to free the humans from the Decepticons' tyranny, and Prime offers whatever help he and the Autobots can give. Spike, while professing appreciation, says that he doesn't think humanity is going to accept them, given that the Transformers had brought their own war to Earth. As Spike declares the impossibility of a "union" between humans and Autobots, Sideswipe puts deed to word in Bombshell's lab: Stricken with horror at the sight of Hunter O'Nion's ravaged physical state, Sideswipe turns off the machines supporting his tortured life.
{{--}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe ]] (1)
*[[Kup (G1)|Kup]] (4)
*[[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]] (6)
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] (15)
*[[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] (21)
*[[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] (22)
*[[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] (23)
*[[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]] (29)
*[[Drift (G1)|Drift]] (30)
*[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] (31)
*[[Roadbuster]] (32)
*[[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] (33)
*[[Hound (G1)|Hound]] (34)
|c2=
*[[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]] (2)
*[[Bombshell (G1)|Bombshell]] (3)
*[[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] (5)
*[[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] (7)
*[[Dropshot (Universe)|Dropshot]] (8)
*[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (16)
*[[Octane|Tankor]] (17)
*[[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] (18)
*[[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] (19)
*[[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]] (20)
*[[Spectro]] (?) (24)
*[[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] (25)
*[[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]] (26)
*[[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]] (27)
*[[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] (28)
|c3=
*[[Sparkplug Witwicky|Daniel "Sparkplug" Witwicky]] (9)
*[[Colonel Hawke]] (10)
*[[Bridge]] (11)
*[[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike Witwicky]] (12)
*[[Sarah]] (13)
*[[Charles (G1)|Charles]] (14)
*[[Hunter O'Nion]] (35)
}}

== Quotes ==
"Word is you went ''crazy.'' Figured you'd be in the ''scrap heap'' by now, Kup."
:—'''Skywarp''' read "[[Spotlight: Kup]]" just like the rest of us.

"No! You will ''not'' defeat Devastator! You are ''nothing!''" 
"Wrong. I am ''Omega Supreme!''"
:—'''Devastator''' and '''Omega Supreme's''' final exchange, wherein Omega continues to push his Transformer equivalent of "I'm Batman."

"Leadership of the Decepticons must be ''taken,'' Prime. Not ''magically'' offered up by ''chance.'' Something your kind will ''never'' understand."
:—'''Starscream''' disses the Matrix while also stealing it.

"Brother. I'm glad you have seen the way, your choice is—" 
"Do not ''speak'' to me. I'm no ''traitor'' to my ''kind.''"
:—'''Drift''' gets no love from '''Thundercracker''', either.

"So what's with the [[cigar]]?" 
"What's a 'cigar'?"
:—'''Sparkplug''' and '''Kup''' talk about Kup's "sparkplug," appropriately enough.

==Notes==
* While it has been obliquely hinted at [[Spotlight: Drift|before]], Kup's brush with insanity is finally acknowledged directly, though not in a way that actually ''addresses'' the disconnect.
* Omega Supreme barely held his own against [[Monstructor (G1)|Monstructor]], the first IDWverse [[combiner]] in "[[Spotlight: Optimus Prime]]". However, in this issue, he easily defeats Devastator, who barely puts up much of a fight. This could indicate that perfecting [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]]'s gestalt technology had the drawback of a weaker gestalt. Another possibility is that Omega was improperly energized during his fight with Monstructor, but had time to recharge himself to maximum capacity before leaving his asteroid to respond to [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]]'s distress call.
* The Statue of Liberty has been the site of [[Cosmic Rust (episode)|battle]] and [[Decepticon Graffiti!|defacement]] in the [[Transformers brand|''Transformers'']] [[continuity|multiverse]], but this is the first time it's been massively damaged — and certainly never before by an Autobot. Even in [[Galvatron II|Galvatron]]'s [[Rhythms of Darkness!|dystopian future]], it looked fine from a distance. ''Damn,'' Omega.
* [[Octane]], like his ''[[Universe (2008 toyline)|Universe]]'' toy, now goes by the name of Tankor. Poor guy.
* It was [[All Hail Megatron issue 9|previously established]] that Spike's weapon was reverse-engineered from [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]]'s gun-arm. Its use in felling Megatron is therefore loaded with thematic significance, given the intense rivalry between the two Decepticon leaders in [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|previous]] [[Dreamwave Generation One continuity|comic series]].
* ''All Hail Megatron'' has relied heavily on characters' original [[bio]]s for their portrayals: [[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]]'s questionable loyalty, Sunstreaker's cold-bloodedness, Skywarp's simple-minded reliance upon Megatron, etc. But Thundercracker's "betrayal" has less to do with his original bio (which establishes him as unsure of the Decepticon cause but able to be convinced by his fellows) than it does his ''[[Machine Wars]]'' bio (which describes his sense of the Decepticon cause as actually stronger than his loyalty to any individual).
* Meanwhile, Skywarp's devotion to Megatron and execution of Thundercracker, while consistent with his bio, is surprising within this continuity, since he has gone against Megatron on several occasions: He was among those who went rogue in the initial [[infiltration]] operation, he met secretly with [[Ramjet (G1)|Ramjet]] and humored his treacherous plans, and he kept mum while Astrotrain and Blitzwing covertly revived Starscream in response to Megatron employing the unpredictably dangerous [[Sixshot]].
* Sideswipe's choice to pull the plug on Hunter is rather unilateral (though, assuming "[[Hail and Farewell]]" is fully non[[canon]]ical and Hunter has no surviving relatives, Sideswipe ''could'' qualify as his next of kin), not to mention callous, especially given his [[All Hail Megatron issue 9|earlier harangue]] about the "sanctity of life, ''all'' life". Perhaps more significantly, Hunter's death poignantly manifests McCarthy's rejection of [[Simon Furman]]'s intent. Furman had introduced the world of the [[Transformer]]s through Hunter's eyes, put him through the initial paces of an [[Wikipedia:Monomyth|archetypal heroic journey]], and forecasted his future adventures in the aforementioned [[Transformers: Mosaic|Mosaic]] story. But McCarthy's tale cuts that mythic development short and negates Hunter's anticipated future, using him instead as a plot device and emotional endnote. Thereby proving that [http://oneshallstand.com/articles/shane-mccarthy.html he really does respect everything Simon Furman has ever done and wouldn't piss all over his work.]
* This issue was released on the same day as the American release of ''[[Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen]]''.
* The [[Decepticomments]] section describes the ''Coda'' issues and provides art from some of the covers.
* Thundercracker often had a sullen look on his face throughout the series in moments of Decepticon villiany so we would all be visually forewarned of his fading belief in the Decepticon cause.

===Errors===
* In the description of the ''Coda'' issues, #16 has [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]]'s story as a second "Story 1" rather than "Story 2". Also, Guido Guidi is misspelled as "Guido Guido". Ok, we ''get'' it, he's [[Italy|Italian]]!
* When Prime talks to Spike on page 21, he's probably supposed to start with "Your people are free," not "Our people".

==Covers (3)==
* '''Cover A:''' A "reverse" of issue 1's cover, with Prime holding an waving American flag and Megatron's fusion cannon; art by [[Casey Coller]] with colors by [[Joana Lafuente]].
* '''Cover B:''' Prime vs Megatron; art and colors by [[Trevor Hutchison]].
* '''Apocalypse Comics Exclusive Cover:''' Homage to ''Amazing Spider-Man'' #50, with Megatron in place of Spidey; art by Casey Coller with colors by Joana Lafuente.
<gallery>
Image:All Hail Megatron 12a.jpg|America loves Prime like France loves Jerry Lewis.
Image:All Hail Megatron 12b.jpg|All Hail Prime!
Image:All Hail Megatron 12ri.jpg|Who are you then, [[Frank Welker]]?
</gallery>

==Advertisements==
* [[All Hail Megatron issue 13|''All Hail Megatron'' #13]]
* Transformers TPBs
* ''Astro Boy The Movie Official Movie Prequel''
* ''[[G.I. Joe (franchise)|G.I. Joe]]'' TPBs
* ''[[The Arrival]]'' TPB
* Dynamic Forces exclusive variants
* ''Comic Books 101''
* ''[[Revenge of the Fallen (comic series)|Revenge of the Fallen]]'' (back cover)

[[Category:IDW Generation 1 issues]]

File:Optimusprimaluniverseend.jpg

2011-01-29T20:23:34Z

174.96.255.90:

Optimus Primal and the Children of Primus escape as Unicron disappears below them, as seen in the Cybertron fan club comic "Revelations, Part 2." Pencils by [[Dan Khanna]]. Colors by [[Rob Ruffolo]].

{{comicinterior}}

Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 1

2011-01-29T20:09:59Z

174.96.255.90: /* Items of note */

{{Comicstory|
|seriesissue=''[[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]'' #1
|prev=Dead Men's Boots
|next=Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 2
|image=TF-LSOTW1_cvr_a.jpg
|caption=We peed a little.
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date=[[January 27]], [[2010]]
|coverdate=January 2010
|story=[[Nick Roche]] & [[James Roberts]]
|script=Nick Roche
|pencils=Nick Roche
|inks=Nick Roche & [[John Wycough]]
|colors=[[Josh Burcham]]
|letters=[[Neil Uyetake]]
|editor=[[Andy Schmidt]]
|associate editor=[[Denton J. Tipton]]
|continuity=[[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW continuity]]
|chronology=[[IDW timeline|Current era (2010)]]
}}
'''When Overlord turns Garrus-9 into his personal playground, it's time to call in the suicide mission specialists.'''
==Synopsis==

[[Image:LastStandoftheWreckers1-newrecruits.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Yay, we get to join the team where everybody dies!]]

Three years ago, at Garrus-9 penitentiary, Fortress Maximus and his subordinate Kick-Off deal with a massive Decepticon assault on the prison. Kick-Off smells an inside job, while Fortress Maximus replies that only he has the codes to the Garrus-9 doors - good thing too.

Decepticon general Skyquake intends to take the facility for Megatron, but is interrupted by the arrival of Overlord. All the Decepticons are in awe of him, terrified as well. Refusing Overlord's request for him to relinquish command, Skyquake is shot in the back; Overlord then leads the Decepticons in storming the prison and slaughtering its defenders. He offers the freed prisoners the entire planet as a source of entertainment, free from the narrow whims of Megatron. As a game, Overlord throws the battered body of Fortress Maximus to the mob, saying all they have to do is try not to kill him.

Eight months ago, Ironfist, Guzzle, Rotorstorm and Pyro are scolded by annoying the local reconstruction manager, Dipstick (talk about unfortunate names), for blowing up the fuel depot with their new guns. Guzzle says that's what Wreckers do. Ultra Magnus' ship arrives. Only Pyro farewells the manager Dipstick in a civil manner, but is blown off by Dipstick. The bots leave on Ultra Magnus' ship, becoming the newest Wreckers.

On board they are greeted by Verity Carlo, one of the humans who made first contact with the Autobots on Earth. They're dubious as to her being a Wrecker, but Springer walks in (with Twin Twist, Kup, Perceptor and Topspin) and informs them that none of them are, yet. The situation on Garrus-9 is explained; it's been overrun by the Cons, but any attempt by other Cons to get in has been blown out of orbit with extreme prejudice. The new Wreckers are there to investigate. Springer explains to the new guys the dangers of Wreckership; being a Wrecker means your first day could be your last.

Two years ago, the Garrus-9 Decepticons have started hunting Autobots as sport. A purple Con subdues the Autobot being hunted, but his cockiness catches him off guard and the Autobot leaps at his throat. Overlord kills the Autobot and then the purple Con, explaining to the others that any bot that careless was wasting his life and therefore wasting Overlord's time.

On Ultra Magnus's ship, Ironfist suffers a mysterious blackout, It's revealed he was a journalist who wrote extensive datalogs on the Wreckers, under the alias Fisitron - to the amazement of Twin Twist and Topspin. Wreckers old and new talk, while Springer notices Ironfist may be hiding something. Springer himself seems burdened by the danger of Wreckership, wondering if there's any point to forming these teams for the Wreckers, only to have them blown apart at a moment's notice. Kup remarks that Springer can't stop thinking about Impactor. Springer replies that it's hard but not impossible, walking off scowling. They're then interrupted by a call to the bridge.

One month earlier, Overlord watches as Kick-Off battles the Decepticon Borehole in gladiatorial combat; the Autobot viciously beats his opponent, kicking him down. Borehole pleads with Kick-Off reminding him he's an Autobot. Kick-Off replies that being an Autobot means nothing on Garrus-9. With that, he rips Borehole's head off. Overlord is pleased and invites Kick-Off into his quarters, where he says Kick-Off may choose his reward.

On Magnus' ship, they witness the battered hull of a Decepticon dropship, which detonates even as they watch. They prepare to fire as a single form flies from the explosion towards them, but Kup stops them as they recognize the damaged Cybertronian before them. To their shock and amazement, they realize it is ... IMPACTOR. He asks permission to come aboard...

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
* [[Kick-Off (G1)|Kick-Off]] (1)
* [[Hotrider|Turbofire]] (2)
* [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]] (3)
* [[Dipstick]] (8)
* [[Pyro]] (9)
* [[Guzzle (G1)|Guzzle]] (10)
* [[Ironfist]] (11)
* [[Rotorstorm]] (12)
* [[Twin Twist]] (14)
* [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] (15)
* [[Springer (G1)|Springer]] (16)
* [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]] (17)
* [[Topspin (G1)|Topspin]] (18)
* [[Spin-Out]] (20)
* [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] (24)
* [[Impactor]] (25)
|c2=
* [[Skyquake (G1)|Skyquake]] (4)
* [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] (5)
* [[Snare]] (6)
* [[Stalker (G1)|Stalker]] (7)
* [[Fearswoop (G1)|Fearswoop]] (19)
* [[Wingblazer]] (21)
* Wingblazer's partner (22)
* [[Borehole]] (23)
|c3=
* [[Verity Carlo]] (13)
}}

==Quotes==
"All of you are to remain here with ''me''. In return I will ''protect'' you. I will ''reward'' you. I will ''entertain'' you. Like ''this''... Let us play a ''game''. I will turn Fortress Maximus over to ''you''. All ''you'' have to do is try ''not'' to kill him." 
:—'''Overlord''' lets us know he's a leader that appreciates the need for recreation.

"We'll be seeing you, sir." 
"Hah! You '''think''' so? You're joining the '''Wreckers'''... what makes you think you're coming '''back?'''" 
:—'''Pyro''' hasn't read the Marvel UK material, but '''Dipstick''' sure has.

"Ultra Magnus has shrunk..." 
:—A confused '''Rotorstorm''' on Verity

"By the sacred spires! A '''human'''! '''Optimus Prime's''' data was '''right!''' They're so '''delicate''' and in need of our '''protection...'''" 
:—'''Pyro''' has strong maternal instincts.

"Please, '''Kick-Off'''... you're an Autobot!" 
"Know what that means in '''this''' place, Borehole? '''NOTHING.'''" 
:—As his head gets brutally separated from its body, '''Borehole''' learns just how depraved '''Kick-Off''' has become.

"All weapons are trained on them in case they try something '''<nowiki>'hilarious.'</nowiki>'''" 
:—'''Ultra Magnus''' rocks the sarcasm.

==Errors==
* On page 2, the handle bit on the top of Overlord's gun is missing.
* On page 14, on Ironfist's POV shot of the Wreckers checking on him, Topspin is colored with a black helmet and a red visor, apparently mistaken for [[Rotorstorm]] by colorist [[Josh Burcham]]. This error is corrected in the trade paperback.
* Between pages 15 and 16, Twin Twist and Topspin switch positions while talking to the new recruits.

==Items of note==
* This story comes [[Simon Furman|Furman]]-approved! [http://simonfurman.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/comics-candy-addendum/]
* The issue comes with an in-universe profile of Rotorstorm, written by Roberts.
* You might be wondering why Ironfist is drawn with that little scar on his head. Keep it in mind...
* We learn the Autobots have their ''own'' [[Autopedia|Transformers wiki]]!
* The [[Action Master]] Kick-Off declares that "alt modes are for wimps!"
* Pyro really ''has'' copied Prime's look, and #5 will [[Primus apotheosis|reveal why]].
* When the Wreckers meet Verity Roterstorm, Pyro, and Ironfist have confused looks on their faces but Guzzle looks like he's getting all happy in the pants. Ewwww.
===Transformers references===
* Verity now sports a small tattoo of a green alien head on the back of her right shoulder. This is in tribute to her departed friend [[Hunter O'Nion]], who throughout [[Infiltration]] wore a shirt with a similar green alien head on it.
* Ironfist brings up the "siege of T'Muk", a reference to [http://www.the-hub.co.uk/tmuk/ Transmasters UK] (TMUK for short, get it?), the fan club and circle of authors and artists that Roberts and Roche are longtime members of, and in which they originally rose to prominence.
* On page four, there are a pair of Autobots, one green and one orange, beheaded by Snare. These were colored by Josh Burcham in ''Revenge of the Fallen''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s [[Skids (ROTF)|Skids]] and [[Mudflap (ROTF)|Mudflap]]'s decos as an "homage", if you can call it that.<ref>http://forum.idwpublishing.com/viewtopic.php?p=166695#166695</ref>
* The Autobot captured by Wingblazer is named [[Spin-Out]] (so named in the script<ref>http://forum.idwpublishing.com/viewtopic.php?p=167537#167537</ref>), which was the working name of G1 [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]].

===Real-world references===
* While attempting to hail a Decepticon ship, Verity makes a reference to Uhura from ''[[wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]]''.
*Verity calls Rotorstorm "Hitman", a reference to professional wrestler Bret "Hitman" Hart, who is known for pink wrap-around sunglasses.
**Rotorstorm is the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be.
*Verity references an album title from the British band ''The Darkness'' with the words, "One way ticket to hell... and back."

===Covers (4)===
* '''Cover A:''' The Wreckers looking like they just blew something up; art by [[Nick Roche]] and colors by [[Josh Burcham]]. This cover art was reused for the TPB.
* '''Cover B:''' Perceptor, Kup, Springer, Twin Twist and Topspin in heroic poses; art and colors by [[Trevor Hutchison]].
* '''Cover RI:''' "Virgin" title-free edition of cover B.
* '''2nd Printing Cover:''' Impactor riding an explosion with a grin (art taken from last page of this issue), art by Nick Roche and colors by Josh Burcham.
<gallery>
Image:TF-LSOTW1_cvr_a.jpg|Naturally, Nick's Irish pride means he puts the green guy in the front.
Image:Last Stand of the Wreckers1B.jpg|The Magnificent <s>Seven</s>Five.
Image:Last Stand of the Wreckers1RI.jpg|"Title? We don't need no steenking title!"
Image:TF Wreckers01-cov2ND.jpg|"Woo, I'm back from the dead, skidplates!"
</gallery>

===Advertisements===
* [[Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 2|''The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers'' #2]]
* [[A Rude Awakening|''The Transformers'' #3]]
* ''[[G.I. Joe (franchise)|G.I. Joe]]: Operation Hiss''
* ''G.I. Joe: Cobra II''
* ''The Adventures of Digger and Friends''
* ''The Adventures of Simone and Ajax''
* ''Star Trek Captain's Log: Sulu''
* ''Star Trek Alien Spotlight: Cardassians''
* ''The Family Circus Library'', vol. 1
* ''Bringing Up Father''
* ''Little Adventures in Oz'', vol. 1 (back cover)

==References==
<references />

[[Category: IDW Generation 1 issues]]

All Hail Megatron issue 12

2011-01-29T20:00:10Z

174.96.255.90: /* Notes */

{{Comicstory|
|seriesissue=''[[All Hail Megatron|The Transformers: All Hail Megatron]]'' #12
|prev=All Hail Megatron issue 11
|next=All Hail Megatron issue 13
|image=All Hail Megatron 12a.jpg
|caption=Unlike issue 1, this ''sorta'' happened.
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date=[[June 24]], [[2009]]
|coverdate=June 2009
|written by=[[Shane McCarthy]]
|art by=[[Guido Guidi]]
|colors by=[[James Brown]] and [[Josh Burcham]]
|letters by=[[Chris Mowry]]
|edits by=[[Andy Schmidt]] and [[Denton J. Tipton]]
|continuity=[[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW continuity]]
|chronology=[[IDW timeline|All Hail Megatron]]
}}

'''There's a nuclear bomb coming to blow up a city as Prime and Megatron trade blows and viewpoints, and somebody has to fly up and stop it! [[Prime Directive issue 6|Haven't we been here before?]]'''

==Synopsis==
In [[New York City]], the [[Autobot]]s and [[Decepticon]]s continue to battle. [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]] swats [[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]] with a broken street light, wanting to avenge [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]]'s death. Suddenly, [[Bombshell (G1)|Bombshell]] surprises him and reveals that he was the one responsible for Sunstreaker's actions by toying with the mind of his former [[Headmaster (technology)|Headmaster]] partner, [[Hunter O'Nion]]. Before Bombshell can kill Sideswipe, though, [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] punches him in the face. However, he, too, gets taken by surprise by [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]]. Skywarp is incredulous about Kup's presence, since he had heard that [[Spotlight: Kup|Kup had gone crazy]]. Kup, insulted by Skywarp's "scrap heap" joke, fires at his chest, and falls near the [[Statue of Liberty]], where [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]] and [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] struggle. Devastator claims that nothing can stop him, but Omega proves otherwise by blasting straight through his chest (along with Lady Liberty), and Devastator falls into the ocean.

At Central Park, [[Sparkplug Witwicky]], [[Colonel Hawke]], and the remaining army troops fire at [[Dropshot (Universe)|Dropshot]], but without success. Sparkplug orders Hawke to leave, with the [[European Union]] plane (secretly the Decepticon [[Octane|Tankor]]) heading its way to drop the nuke at the city. Hawke protests, but Sparkplug persists, saying that he might lose his son, and that he doesn't want any of his men to join him. Meanwhile, [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]] and his "team" make it to the rooftop of a building and stay low, witnessing two of the large robots begin their duel. Armed with the secret weapon [[All Hail Megatron issue 9|he stole]], Spike decides to target the silver one. [[Bridge]] asks Spike if the other one is on their side, and Spike replies that he hopes so, considering how big it is.

[[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] and [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] continue to grapple, Megatron relentlessly questioning Prime on why he cares about the [[human]]s after they've tortured an Autobot and put plans in motion to kill millions of their own people in a nuclear strike against the Transformers. Prime retorts that it's not only about protecting the humans; it's about also about the difference between himself and Megatron – what makes one a Decepticon and one an Autobot.

In [[Central Park]], Sparkplug fires a bazooka at Dropshot, who briefly staggers. Enraged and hurt, Dropshot declares that after having been stuck spying on the humans for so long, there's nothing that can stop him from tearing them all apart now. But in a silent, ironic counterpoint, Kup emerges from the water behind him.

Meanwhile, Prime and Megatron continue to exchange blows, but Megatron gets the upper hand by head-butting Prime and throwing him into a building. Megatron stands over Prime and tells him he respects him for his contined struggle. Nevertheless, Megatron orders Tankor to proceed with the bombing, and Tankor, shedding his European Union disguise, obliges. Bridge tells Spike to shoot fast, but Spike can only wait for it to charge up. Megatron orders the Decepticons to leave, but Blitzwing bemoans the loss of the [[space bridge]] and the city. Megatron replies that the Decepticons have other planets, and starting again is a price worth paying for the death of the Autobots alongside the humans. Bridge warns Spike that the Decepticons are about to flee, and Spike at last pulls the trigger.

Just as Megatron is telling Prime that he's going to take the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]] with him, the blast from Spike's gun hits him square in the face. Seizing the opportunity, Prime grabs Megatron's [[fusion cannon]] off the ground and smashes it ''hard'' against Megatron's head. Megatron, crackling with electricity, falls to the ground, defeated and broken. The Autobots begin to celebrate, but as Optimus advances towards Megatron, a voice stops him; it's [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]! Optimus asks him what he's doing, and Starscream replies that he is fulfilling his role as a [[Seeker (body-type)|Seeker]] by "protecting the leader of the Decepticon Empire." Prime tells Starscream that this isn't like him; he could leave Megatron and assume leadership of the Decepticons himself. But Starscream, repeating what Megatron [[All Hail Megatron issue 11|had told him]], says that leadership must be taken, not magically given by chance, which Prime would never understand.

Optimus asks Starscream if he's running, to which he replies that he's merely done playing. He claims the Decepticons outnumber the Autobots across the galaxy, the Autobot army is in tatters, and the Decepticons are victorious. Prolonging the battle would gain them nothing, and the Autobots wouldn't waste their time pursuing them when there's a nuclear bomb on the way. As the Decepticons lift off, the Autobots ponder how to stop the bomb. They realize that someone needs to fly up to it, and they're shocked to hear Thundercracker volunteer.

Thundercracker declares that none of the Autobots can fly in robot mode, and when Optimus brings up Omega Supreme, Thundercracker dismisses him as lacking the necessary finesse. Ironhide asks why a Decepticon would help, and Thundercracker explains that there is no honor in the bomb. Drift, a former Decepticon, tries to welcome Thundercracker into the Autobot ranks, but Thundercracker swats his offered hand aside, refusing to speak to a traitor. Thundercracker says that the humans were unworthy adversaries, that the Decepticons are creatures of combat, not slaughter, and that all of their actions on Earth have been dishonorable. With that, Thundercracker takes off and grabs the nuclear weapon as it falls, then flies it into space and fires at it, detonating it safely.

[[image:AHM12 Betrayer.jpg|thumb|left|200px|No one gets character development in ''All Hail Megatron'' and lives to tell about it!]]
The Autobots finally celebrate their victory, and Hound introduces Prime to the mystery sniper, Spike Witwicky. Prime praises Spike's remarkable skills, but Spike passes the credit to his "remarkable weapon." In Central Park, Sparkplug and Kup have a chat about outer space and Kup's "[[cigar]]" while sitting on the fallen body of Dropshot. Meanwhile, Thundercracker is en route to join the Decepticons when Skywarp teleports behind him and accuses him of betrayal. Thundercracker tries to tell Skywarp that Megatron had lost his way, but the furious Skywarp shoots him point-blank in the face.

Optimus Prime tells Spike that his people are free, but they must rebuild and recover. He says that the humans will need leaders like Spike and his comrades, heroes they can turn to in desperate times. The Autobots had traveled from their homeworld of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] to free the humans from the Decepticons' tyranny, and Prime offers whatever help he and the Autobots can give. Spike, while professing appreciation, says that he doesn't think humanity is going to accept them, given that the Transformers had brought their own war to Earth. As Spike declares the impossibility of a "union" between humans and Autobots, Sideswipe puts deed to word in Bombshell's lab: Stricken with horror at the sight of Hunter O'Nion's ravaged physical state, Sideswipe turns off the machines supporting his tortured life.
{{--}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe ]] (1)
*[[Kup (G1)|Kup]] (4)
*[[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]] (6)
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] (15)
*[[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] (21)
*[[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] (22)
*[[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] (23)
*[[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]] (29)
*[[Drift (G1)|Drift]] (30)
*[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] (31)
*[[Roadbuster]] (32)
*[[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] (33)
*[[Hound (G1)|Hound]] (34)
|c2=
*[[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]] (2)
*[[Bombshell (G1)|Bombshell]] (3)
*[[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] (5)
*[[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] (7)
*[[Dropshot (Universe)|Dropshot]] (8)
*[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (16)
*[[Octane|Tankor]] (17)
*[[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] (18)
*[[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] (19)
*[[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]] (20)
*[[Spectro]] (?) (24)
*[[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] (25)
*[[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]] (26)
*[[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]] (27)
*[[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] (28)
|c3=
*[[Sparkplug Witwicky|Daniel "Sparkplug" Witwicky]] (9)
*[[Colonel Hawke]] (10)
*[[Bridge]] (11)
*[[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike Witwicky]] (12)
*[[Sarah]] (13)
*[[Charles (G1)|Charles]] (14)
*[[Hunter O'Nion]] (35)
}}

== Quotes ==
"Word is you went ''crazy.'' Figured you'd be in the ''scrap heap'' by now, Kup."
:—'''Skywarp''' read "[[Spotlight: Kup]]" just like the rest of us.

"No! You will ''not'' defeat Devastator! You are ''nothing!''" 
"Wrong. I am ''Omega Supreme!''"
:—'''Devastator''' and '''Omega Supreme's''' final exchange, wherein Omega continues to push his Transformer equivalent of "I'm Batman."

"Leadership of the Decepticons must be ''taken,'' Prime. Not ''magically'' offered up by ''chance.'' Something your kind will ''never'' understand."
:—'''Starscream''' disses the Matrix while also stealing it.

"Brother. I'm glad you have seen the way, your choice is—" 
"Do not ''speak'' to me. I'm no ''traitor'' to my ''kind.''"
:—'''Drift''' gets no love from '''Thundercracker''', either.

"So what's with the [[cigar]]?" 
"What's a 'cigar'?"
:—'''Sparkplug''' and '''Kup''' talk about Kup's "sparkplug," appropriately enough.

==Notes==
* While it has been obliquely hinted at [[Spotlight: Drift|before]], Kup's brush with insanity is finally acknowledged directly, though not in a way that actually ''addresses'' the disconnect.
* Omega Supreme barely held his own against [[Monstructor (G1)|Monstructor]], the first IDWverse [[combiner]] in "[[Spotlight: Optimus Prime]]". However, in this issue, he easily defeats Devastator, who barely puts up much of a fight. This could indicate that perfecting [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]]'s gestalt technology had the drawback of a weaker gestalt. Another possibility is that Omega was improperly energized during his fight with Monstructor, but had time to recharge himself to maximum capacity before leaving his asteroid to respond to [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]]'s distress call.
* The Statue of Liberty has been the site of [[Cosmic Rust (episode)|battle]] and [[Decepticon Graffiti!|defacement]] in the [[Transformers brand|''Transformers'']] [[continuity|multiverse]], but this is the first time it's been massively damaged — and certainly never before by an Autobot. Even in [[Galvatron II|Galvatron]]'s [[Rhythms of Darkness!|dystopian future]], it looked fine from a distance. ''Damn,'' Omega.
* [[Octane]], like his ''[[Universe (2008 toyline)|Universe]]'' toy, now goes by the name of Tankor. Poor guy.
* It was [[All Hail Megatron issue 9|previously established]] that Spike's weapon was reverse-engineered from [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]]'s gun-arm. Its use in felling Megatron is therefore loaded with thematic significance, given the intense rivalry between the two Decepticon leaders in [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|previous]] [[Dreamwave Generation One continuity|comic series]].
* ''All Hail Megatron'' has relied heavily on characters' original [[bio]]s for their portrayals: [[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]]'s questionable loyalty, Sunstreaker's cold-bloodedness, Skywarp's simple-minded reliance upon Megatron, etc. But Thundercracker's "betrayal" has less to do with his original bio (which establishes him as unsure of the Decepticon cause but able to be convinced by his fellows) than it does his ''[[Machine Wars]]'' bio (which describes his sense of the Decepticon cause as actually stronger than his loyalty to any individual).
* Meanwhile, Skywarp's devotion to Megatron and execution of Thundercracker, while consistent with his bio, is surprising within this continuity, since he has gone against Megatron on several occasions: He was among those who went rogue in the initial [[infiltration]] operation, he met secretly with [[Ramjet (G1)|Ramjet]] and humored his treacherous plans, and he kept mum while Astrotrain and Blitzwing covertly revived Starscream in response to Megatron employing the unpredictably dangerous [[Sixshot]]. It's possible that Skywarp simply felt betrayed himself since it was Thundercracker (a fellow Seeker and friend) who betrayed the Decepticons though it still seems unlikely that Skywarp would shoot Thundercracker in the face over it.
* Sideswipe's choice to pull the plug on Hunter is rather unilateral (though, assuming "[[Hail and Farewell]]" is fully non[[canon]]ical and Hunter has no surviving relatives, Sideswipe ''could'' qualify as his next of kin), not to mention callous, especially given his [[All Hail Megatron issue 9|earlier harangue]] about the "sanctity of life, ''all'' life". Perhaps more significantly, Hunter's death poignantly manifests McCarthy's rejection of [[Simon Furman]]'s intent. Furman had introduced the world of the [[Transformer]]s through Hunter's eyes, put him through the initial paces of an [[Wikipedia:Monomyth|archetypal heroic journey]], and forecasted his future adventures in the aforementioned [[Transformers: Mosaic|Mosaic]] story. But McCarthy's tale cuts that mythic development short and negates Hunter's anticipated future, using him instead as a plot device and emotional endnote. Thereby proving that [http://oneshallstand.com/articles/shane-mccarthy.html he really does respect everything Simon Furman has ever done and wouldn't piss all over his work.]
* This issue was released on the same day as the American release of ''[[Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen]]''.
* The [[Decepticomments]] section describes the ''Coda'' issues and provides art from some of the covers.

===Errors===
* In the description of the ''Coda'' issues, #16 has [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]]'s story as a second "Story 1" rather than "Story 2". Also, Guido Guidi is misspelled as "Guido Guido". Ok, we ''get'' it, he's [[Italy|Italian]]!
* When Prime talks to Spike on page 21, he's probably supposed to start with "Your people are free," not "Our people".

==Covers (3)==
* '''Cover A:''' A "reverse" of issue 1's cover, with Prime holding an waving American flag and Megatron's fusion cannon; art by [[Casey Coller]] with colors by [[Joana Lafuente]].
* '''Cover B:''' Prime vs Megatron; art and colors by [[Trevor Hutchison]].
* '''Apocalypse Comics Exclusive Cover:''' Homage to ''Amazing Spider-Man'' #50, with Megatron in place of Spidey; art by Casey Coller with colors by Joana Lafuente.
<gallery>
Image:All Hail Megatron 12a.jpg|America loves Prime like France loves Jerry Lewis.
Image:All Hail Megatron 12b.jpg|All Hail Prime!
Image:All Hail Megatron 12ri.jpg|Who are you then, [[Frank Welker]]?
</gallery>

==Advertisements==
* [[All Hail Megatron issue 13|''All Hail Megatron'' #13]]
* Transformers TPBs
* ''Astro Boy The Movie Official Movie Prequel''
* ''[[G.I. Joe (franchise)|G.I. Joe]]'' TPBs
* ''[[The Arrival]]'' TPB
* Dynamic Forces exclusive variants
* ''Comic Books 101''
* ''[[Revenge of the Fallen (comic series)|Revenge of the Fallen]]'' (back cover)

[[Category:IDW Generation 1 issues]]

Death

2011-01-28T02:03:07Z

174.96.255.90: /* Weaponsfire */

{{disambig2|the end of life|the Horseman of Unicron|Airazor (Armada)}}

[[Image:Battleofautobotcity.jpg|right|300px|thumb|And lo, the children did weep.]]

''Transformers'' is a children's franchise, but at its core, it's a story of war. This means that the '''death''' of major and minor characters sometimes figures into the fiction.

Given the ambiguous nature of [[Transformer]] physiology, there is very little consistency regarding what is fatal to a Transformer, even within a single storyline. Damage that one Transformer might shrug off can prove fatal to another, or even to the same character in a different story. Sometimes just a laser blast or two will do the trick. Other times, characters survive being melted, crushed into cubes, and even utterly disintegrated. It does not take a terribly cynical viewer to conclude that the threshold of survival is generally determined by the needs of the plot.

The out-of-universe reasons for a character's death can vary from plot development to the arrival of [[To sell toys|new toys]]. Conveniently enough for writers who are beholden to the whims of a toy company, the majority of Transformers characters are machines, which means that death isn't necessarily permanent. Across the various universes, characters that appear to have been killed have been known to pop up alive again at a later date, or go through some sort of resurrection.

{{quote|"How can you all be so cold and unfeeling? He died a hero!" "Don't you even have mechanical hearts?" "The humans don't understand! Our form of life is vastly different from theirs!"|[[Spider-Man]], [[Sparkplug Witwicky]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]|"[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

==In-fiction causes of death==
[[Image:DEATH.jpg|left|thumb|400px|[[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] is just as puzzled as the rest of us.]]

There is little consistency in what can kill a Transformer. Sometimes it takes just a shot. Other times, even totally annihilating a Transformer's body still doesn't do the trick. Even the most basic method of killing, which is to destroy or otherwise cause the loss of a Transformer's [[spark]], varies quite a bit in its details from story to story, character to character, and series to series.
{{--}}
===Weaponsfire===
{{quote|This was almost too easy, Starscream!|[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (like the fandom) is surprised to find how easily Autobots die, ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''}}

[[Image:Tftm1986a.jpg|right|200px|thumb|We're here aboard the Autobot shuttle, where we've secretly replaced Brawn's hyper-dense metal armor plating with styrene plastic. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference.]]

[[Image:TFTM UltraMagnus dies.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Prepare for your death today. Yer gonna die!!]]

[[Image:Magnusdeath.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ow! Hey! Cut it out, guys! That hurts!]]

[[Image:Blades1.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Sorry, nameless guy, your generic nature means you will never be miraculously resurrected.]]

Like humans, Transformers can be killed by damage caused by energy, projectile, and chemical weapons. Just how many shots it takes is widely variable, however.
* In the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]]:
** Many casualties of the [[Battle of Autobot City]] (and its run-up), including [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], were victims of energy weapons. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} This was quite a change from the cartoon's M.O., wherein the same characters routinely got shot and blasted all the time and shrugged it off, or at worst spent some time in the repair bay. Brawn and Prowl both went down after ''one shot''.
** [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] subsequently "dies" after being shot a few times by the [[Sweep]]s, exploding into pieces. He is soon revived by the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]], however. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Ultra Magnus dies ''again'', for real this time, after [[Sixshot]] shoots him a few times. {{storylink|Ultra Magnus Dies!!}}

* In the [[Marvel Comics continuity|Marvel comics]]:
** [[Impactor]] was cut down by a single head shot from [[Macabre]]. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
** Most deaths in the ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' book occurred from energy weapons, such as [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]], {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}} as well as numerous generics. {{storylink|War Without End!}} Quite a few victims exploded spectacularly after being shot, including [[Tantrum]] {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}}, [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]], [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] {{storylink|New Dawn}}, and [[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]]{{storylink|Escalation!}}.

* In the ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' cartoon:
** [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] dies after incurring severe damage from numerous [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] weapons. {{storylink|Code of Hero}} The apparent cause of his demise is his refusal to enter protective [[stasis lock]], as other characters have survived similar or worse levels of damage.
** [[Tigerhawk]] is disintegrated by the main cannon of the starship ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]''. The same cannon subsequently blasts [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] and [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]], apparently killing them, though their "death" may be permanent simply because there was nobody around to put them back together. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 2}}

* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] dies holding back the [[Hydra Cannon]], the damage causing him to [[:Image:Sshot-arm-39-4.jpg|crumble to dust]]. {{storylink|Crisis}}

* [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]] G1 comics: [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] is killed by an assassin's blast. {{storylink|The Age of Wrath issue 1}} He got better. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 3}}

* [[Movie continuity]]: [[Brawl (Movie)|Brawl]] and [[Blackout (Movie)|Blackout]] both died from weapons fire. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}

* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] gets his face blown off/in by [[Cyclonus (SG)|Cyclonus]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 4}}
{{--}}

* [[Universe (2003 comic)|Universe]]: [[Tankor (BM)|Tankor]] was shot and killed by [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] during the final battle of the [[Universe War]].

===Big explosions===
{{bigquote|They're going to blow us all to pieces! [[Guardian (Marvel)|Guardian]]'s booby-trapped - packed with enough explosives to level this whole mountain!|[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], "[[The Wrath of Grimlock!]]"}}

Transformers characters often assume that explosions are more lethal than they really are; characters survive explosions all the time. An explosion's messy nature makes a good "out" for a writer to fake a character's death. {{storylink|The Wrath of Grimlock!}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}} Nevertheless, a few characters have been permanently killed by explosions. (This list omits characters who exploded from within, like Ultra Magnus up above.)
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]] was the victim of an interdimensionally triggered explosion that destroyed his body. (In UK continuity, he survived as a raggedy, bodiless head.) {{storylink|The Bridge to Nowhere!}}
** In an alternate future, a wounded [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] died in the fiery explosion of a crashing shuttlecraft. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** [[Finback]] was presumably killed in the explosion of a huge gun battery. [[Misfire]] tried to warn him off, and may have been killed in the same explosion. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}

* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon:
** [[Optimus Primal]] was blown to bits -- terminally so -- by the [[transwarp]] explosion that destroyed the [[Planet Buster]]. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}
** [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]] was killed by the explosion that resulted from [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]]'s death (either his exploding spark, or the exploding energon shard that pierced it.) {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

* Several of the [[Beast Era]] [[Wrecker]]s ([[Sonar (BW)|Sonar]], [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]], the [[Deployer (BM)|Deployers]]) were destroyed when part of their ship exploded with them in it. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

* Energon: [[Bruticus Maximus (Energon)|Bruticus Maximus]] and Storm Jet were killed when Storm Jet caused a massive explosion that engulfed them both.

===Impact trauma===
Falling off a cliff or mountainside or tall building is usually just as fatal to Transformers as it is to, say... Wile E. Coyote. Only on rare occasion does it result in death:
* ''[[Classics (2006)|Classics]]'' continuity: [[Hacksaw]] met his end by falling from a huge communications tower. {{storylink|The New World}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Doubledealer]] was shot, fell off a mountain and smashed to bits on impact. {{storylink|Spotlight: Doubledealer}}
* Movie continuity: [[Devastator (ROTF)|Devastator]] fell off the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] after losing his balance when his arm was shot off, and he shattered to pieces as he tumbled down. ''{{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}''
* The [[Beast (G1)|Beast]] fell off a cliff and shattered. {{storylink|The Beast Within Part 2, Consequences}} At least, we hope that's where and how it ended.

===Crushing===
[[Image:Edgeofextinction-hardheadbombburst.jpg|thumb|right|175px|DO NOT WANT]]
[[Image:TFAni TransWarped LongArm Cliffjumper Cube.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Before time began, there was... THE CUBE.]]

Quite a few characters have been crushed into deactivation:
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]] was smashed between [[Unicron]]'s palms, while [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] met a similar fate when they were stepped on by Unicron. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] is apparently killed when a very large building collapses on top of him. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

* [[Unicron Trilogy]] cartoons:
** [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]] is killed when caught between two folding sections of Unicron's external armor. {{storylink|Union}}
** [[Shockblast]] is crushed by Unicron's hand on [[Blizzard Planet]]. {{storylink|The Power}}
** His brother [[Six Shot]] meets a similar fate, crushed under the heel of a super-sized Galvatron. {{storylink|Galvatron Terror}}

* IDW continuity:
** [[Roller]] was crushed when Megatron caused an avanlanche to fall on him.
** [[Ruckus (G1)|Ruckus]], [[Crankcase (G1)|Crankcase]], and [[Skullcruncher]] were all crushed by [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]].

* ''Animated'' cartoon: [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]] is (possibly) killed by a garbage compactor-like crushing device. (An "out" by writer [[Derrick J. Wyatt|Derrick Wyatt]] was intended to show his still-pulsing spark within his cubified remains, but this did not make it into the show, leaving his fate ambiguous at best.) {{storylink|TransWarped}}

===Melting===
[[Image:BW Scorponok Terrorsaur deaths.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Even having a new toy couldn't save Terrorsaur!]]

[[Image:Fallout title.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Primal's diet had gone horribly wrong.]]

They're made of metal; therefore, with enough heat or sufficiently acidic material, they can melt. This is one of the more fool-proof methods of killing a Transformer; few if any have survived it.
* In the G1 cartoon:
** An acid vat would apparently have been enough to destroy Optimus Prime. {{storylink|The Search for Alpha Trion}}
** Another acid vat was used to disintegrate living victims of Unicron. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comics:
** Victims of the Deception [[smelting pool]]s on Cybertron were reduced by intense heat into their base metals, including [[Scrounge (G1)|Scrounge]]. {{storylink|The Smelting Pool!}}
** It is possible that an acid bath from (naturally) [[Blot (G1)|Blot]] offlined [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] [[Makin' Tracks!|(for a while anyway)]]. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] was partially melted by Unicron's flame-breath and subsequently died. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The [[Cybertronian (faction)|Cybertronian Empire]] used some kind of acid to rather messily eradicate some of their Decepticon ancestors, including [[Stranglehold]]. {{storylink|New Dawn}}

* In the Beast Era cartoons:
** [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] and [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] were apparently melted to death after tumbling into a lava pit within the [[Darksyde|Predacon base]]. {{storylink|Aftermath}}
** Optimus Primal's body was seemingly melted into the floor after his climactic face-off with [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]. Considering how many god-like forces were unleashed and conflicting during the battle, his demise may be due to more than simple temperature-induced melting. {{storylink|Fallout}}

===Incineration===
{{bigquote|I saw the end! They died in a cosmic funeral pyre!|[[Shawn Berger]], "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2]]"}}

[[Image:Armada 52 - Prime hangon to Galvatron.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Galvatron died to save everyone and came back ''twice''—you lose, [[Jesus]]!]]

Plasma, energy fields, and stellar atmospheres can all utterly destroy a Transformer's body. Like being melted, being reduced to one's component molecules would seem to be a surefire way of getting killed, but quite a few characters seem able to survive the process as ghosts and/or disembodied sparks:
* Generation 1 cartoon: [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]'s spectacular death at the hands of [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] might be categorized as incineration. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* Quite a few characters met this fate in the Unicron Trilogy, but all survived it in some fashion:
** [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]]'s spark persisted within his burnt-out body when he was dropped into the exploding Unicron. {{storylink|Mortal Combat}} {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}
** [[Demolishor (Armada)|Demolishor]]'s body was obliterated by an expanding energon grid, but his spark survived the process and was placed in a new body. {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}}
** [[Inferno (Energon)|Inferno]] was destroyed when he threw himself into a star, but his spark was salvaged by the Autobots and, again, placed in a new body. {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
** And finally, Megatron (Galvatron, whatever) threw himself into Primus's new energon sun to prevent Unicron from possessing him, killing himself yet again. {{storylink|The Sun}} This death was so inconsequential that his subsequent resurrection wasn't even explained! {{storylink|Fallen (episode)|Fallen}}

===Consumption===
{{bigquote|...If we don't find the Matrix, some bad guy's gonna ''eat'' us! Right?|Longtooth, "[[Deadly Obsession]]"}}

[[Image:Wreckers Mutants.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The shocking death of the barely-seen guys with hardly any lines!]]
[[Image:Rocky mecannibal bartender marvel uk 240.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Cannibalism is hilarious, kids!]]

Quite a few critters in the multiverse are equipped to devour giant robots. Being eaten (and, presumably, digested) generally proves fatal:
* In the G1 cartoon:
** Various life forms were routinely devoured by the [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticon]]s on Quintessa. This included [[Kranix]], a mechanical life form, though not a Transformer. [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] and [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] would have suffered this fate as well, but fought their way free. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Quite a few Transformers found their way into Unicron's gullet, though many survived the experience. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comic:
** The [[Mecannibal]]s ate robots routinely, including quite a few Transformers during their sojourn on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} {{storylink|Out to Lunch!}} There is some indication that they could actually reconstitute their victims from their "recycled" parts, though this is never explicitly shown. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
** Unicron skewered [[Brainstorm]] and ate him. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The subsurface-dwelling [[demon]]s devoured [[Runabout]]. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The Swarm "devoured" innumerable Cybertronian troopers and a handful of older-generation Transformers as well, though this was through a molecular process almost akin to incineration. {{storylink|Swarm (issue)|Swarm}} {{storylink|Total War!}} {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* The Sharkticons killed two of the [[Mutant (BW)|Mutant]]s by gobbling them up. Or ripping them apart. Or both. We don't really know. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

===Disassembly===
[[Image:Jazz DyingAction.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"HERE'S what I think of your resemblance to your G1 counterpart!"]]

Taking a Transformer apart into its component parts can occasionally kill them:
* Marvel comics: [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] met this fate in an alternate future, when Swoop used a machine to pull him apart into his component pieces. {{storylink|Another Time and Place}}
* Movie continuity: Being ripped in half killed [[Jazz (Movie)|Jazz]]. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}
* [[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]: [[Pyro]] was torn apart and killed while making a final stand against a mass of generic Decpticons.

===Decapitation===
{{main|Decapitation}}

[[Image:Cyclonus death.jpg|thumb|right|150px| "CHUK!" is good, but I could really go for a "Shakkooosh" right about now.]]

Sometimes cutting a Transformer's head off is fatal. Sometimes!
* In the Marvel comics:
** The Megatron clone killed Cyclonus by ripping his head off. {{storylink|Dry Run!}}
** Several of the Wreckers were killed by having their heads ripped or blasted off, including Twin Twist and Topspin, respectively. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars}}
** [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] had his head cut off by a propeller fired by [[Leadfoot (G2)|Leadfoot]], presumably (given the ''Generation 2'' book's emphasis on body count) killing him. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** Characters frequently die by decapitation of some form: [[Bonecrusher (Movie)|Bonecrusher]], {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and [[Grindor (ROTF)|Grindor]]. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
** Decapitation was an inconvenience for [[Frenzy (Movie)|Frenzy]] the first time. The second time, when the blow actually destroyed most of his head, was fatal.

===Vivisection===
[[Image:VictoryUKAnnual.JPG|thumb|right|150px| Ahhhh, there we go...]]

{{bigquote|I have no desire to be carved up into Auto-sushi.|Tracks, "[[Make Tracks]]"}}

Getting chopped in half is pretty graphic for a kids' story, even one about robots, so it doesn't happen very often.
* Marvel comics: In a dream sequence, [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] slices [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] in half, killing him. {{storylink|Victory!}}
* Japanese G1 cartoon: [[Predaking]] gets sliced in half by Dai Atlas. The strike dissects what appears to be an organic brain in his head. {{storylink|Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!}}
* ''Beast Wars Metals'': Terrorsaur was killed by being sliced in half by Primal's mace. {{storylink|Raise the Curtain for Beast Wars Metals!!}}
* Movie continuity: [[Sideways (ROTF)|Sideways]] dies when [[Sideswipe (ROTF)|Sideswipe]] slices his car mode in two. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Destruction of brain===
{{bigquote|Next strike in the neural cluster, yes? Weakest spot on ''all'' Transformers...|[[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], "[[Fire on High!]]"}}

In the early days of the franchise, a Transformer's life force was sometimes understood to be entirely contained within their [[brain module]], most prominently in the Marvel comics. Destroying the brain would kill the Transformer. This premise was eventually passed over in favor of the more esoteric concept of [[spark]]s.
* In the Marvel comics:
** In an alternate future, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] is blasted by [[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], who kills him by extracting and crushing his brain module. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** The [[Throttlebot]]s ''avoid'' death by having their brain modules removed from their bodies shortly before their bodies are destroyed (by crushing). {{storylink|Toy Soldiers!}}

===Destruction of spark===
{{bigquote|RAW energon! Right through your twisted spark!|Depth Charge to Rampage, "[[Nemesis Part 1]]"}}

[[Image:Skyfallwontbethereforit.jpg|thumb|right|200px|And then he hung Skyfall from his ceiling.]]

Getting stabbed right through the spark is almost always fatal:
* In ''Beast Wars'': The supposedly immortal Rampage was killed when Depth Charge pierced his spark with an energon blade. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}
* ''[[Transcendent Technomorph|TransTech]]'': [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] died when [[Alpha Trion (SG)|Alpha Trion]] rammed his sword right through his chest. {{storylink|Transcendent: Part 6}}
*Energon: [[Constructicon Maximus]] was killed when [[Storm Jet (Energon)|Storm Jet]] impaled and crushed his spark.
* ''Cybertron'': Galvatron died after being impaled with [[Rhisling]] by Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Unfinished}}
* Movie continuity: Optimus Prime died from a stab wound through the chest, quickly followed by a cannon blast through the spark chamber from Megatron's swordcannon weapon.[[The Fallen]] also met his end when Optimus punched through his chest and crushed his spark. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* ''Beast Machines'' continuity: [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] - already reduced to a spark within the matrix - ceased to be when Megatron annihilated his spark from existence. {{storylink|Singularity Ablyss}}
* [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|Titan's Movie comics]]: Transformers have forcefields shielding their sparks, which can be externalized to protect bodywork. Jazz loved doing this, leaving him far more vulnerable to death by destruction of spark than he would otherwise be. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 6|Lost in Space 4: Jazz}}

===Loss of spark===
{{bigquote|Warning. Further expenditure will result in permanent loss of spark. Stasis lock ''must'' commence.|[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]]'s internal computer, "[[Code of Hero]]"}}

Sometimes sparks can survive outside of a body; sometimes they cannot. In the Beast Era, there is some indication that a spark left outside a body will soon begin to return to the Matrix/AllSpark/another dimension.
* When Dinobot expires after his final battle, his Spark is seen exiting his body. The implication is that a sufficiently damaged body can no longer hold a spark within this dimension. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* ''Beast Machines'' subsequently showed living sparks existing outside of bodies on a regular basis. The sparkless bodies were simply considered shells, rather than "dead".
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Prowl dies when he intentionally relinquishes his own spark. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}
* Movie continuity: Jetfire rips out his own spark chamber to give Optimus a fighting chance. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Energy overload===
{{bigquote|We may need energon for power, but this is too much of a good thing.|[[Optimus Primal]], "[[Beast Wars (Part 1)]]"}}

[[Image:TFAnimated transformandrollout DEATH.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Death — the Optimus version of a power nap.]]
[[Image:Underbaseallmine.jpg|thumb|right|200px|He's got an Underbase in his underpants.]]

The average [[human]] needs a lot of [[water]] to survive. But too much water results in [[wikipedia:Water intoxication|a horrible death]]. Similarly, Transformers need energy to survive, but too much of it can be a very bad thing. Sometimes it's just plain old energy; other times it some special god-like force that does them in.
* In the Marvel comics:
** An [[Underbase]]-empowered Starscream slaughtered dozens of Transformers with energy blasts, {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}} which reportedly burned out millions of their microchips. {{storylink|Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?}} Some Transformers were seen to recover from these attacks, either via conventional repairs {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} or through the power of [[nucleon]]. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
** Starscream himself was killed when he absorbed all the energies of the Underbase. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] was apparently killed when struck by a blast of energy from the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]], though the physical effect was more like being hit by an especially powerful laser blast. {{storylink|All Fall Down (issue)}}

* ''Super-God Masterforce'' cartoon: [[Sixknight]] died from an overcharge of BlackZarak's Devil Power. {{storylink|Malevolent and Inhuman! The True Form of Devil Z}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runabout]] dies when one of the [[Reaper]]s zaps him full of energy, causing him to explode from within. {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* Movie continuity: [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] was killed when [[Sam Witwicky]] shoved the [[AllSpark]] into his chest. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)|Transformers}}
* ''Transformers Animated'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] got caught in an explosion of [[AllSpark]] energy that may have been sufficient to kill him, although he also fell off a very tall building immediately afterwards (Starscream was caught in the same explosion and survived, but was knocked offline for an unspecified period.)

===Energy depletion===
On rare occasion, Transformers can simply run out of energy completely and expire.
* Marvel comics: the ancient [[Overlord (rank)|Overlord]] died from a lack of energy. {{storylink|State Games}}
* Movie continuity: [[Jetfire (ROTF)|Jetfire]] explains that a lack of energon causes the Transformer equivalent of aging, such as rusting joints, mental confusion, and pieces falling apart, followed by an indefinite period of stasis that can only be reversed by an infusion of Allspark energy. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Suicide===
Sometimes a Transformers kills himself for some reason.
* Marvel comics
** Megatron seemingly killed himself using a [[space bridge]] though it was later revealed that he survived.
** Dirge and Nightbeat self destructed and destroyed themselves in a last ditch attempt to destroy the Swarm.
* Beast Wars
** [[Tigerhawk]] sacrificed himself by hurling himself in the way of a fusion cannon blast from the Nemesis.
* Energon: Galvatron, Starscream, and [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Mirage]] threw themselves into a sun and vaporized themselves. [[Snow Cat (Energon)|Snow Cat]] and Demolisher may have also done this.

==Non-fatal deactivation==
{{quote|"You mean he's still alive?!" "No! But neither is he what you would term 'dead'!"|[[Spider-Man]] and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], "[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

[[Image:Zombiesbackfromthedead.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Braiiiiiin mooooodulllllles....]]

For almost every single cause of death listed above, there's been one or more Transformers who have survived it, sometimes without so much as a period of unconsciousness.

In particular, "deactivation" is the Transformers equivalent of being in a coma. Numerous Transformers are seen to enter this state and eventually recover, such as the Autobots deactivated by Shockwave {{storylink|The Last Stand}}, who later were repaired. However, the line between death and deactivation is a blurry one. Sometimes the two words are used interchangeably, even in reference to characters who are later revived. Most of Starscream's Underbase victims were described as deactivated, and were sometimes lamented as "dead" while at other times were shown undergoing repairs. {{storylink|Back from the Dead}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}

"[[Stasis lock]]" would eventually give a more concrete name to the state of deactivation. The inert Transformers on the crashed Ark were retconned as being in stasis lock. Various ''Beast Wars'' characters would go into stasis lock to maintain their spark when their body had sustained too much damage from weaponsfire or energon absorption. ''Animated'' showed a crew of Autobots voluntarily entering protective stasis lock in anticipation of a crash landing.

Some of the quasi-fatal things which can cause a Transformer to "deactivate" include:

===Impact trauma===
Smashing into something usually knocks out a Transformer, but almost never actually kills them:
* The crew of the original Ark is deactivated when the ship crashes on Earth and lies inert for 4 million years {{storylink|More than Meets the Eye, Part 1}} {{storylink|The Transformers (issue)}}
* Marvel comics: [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] falls to his "death", but is patched together and talking again in short order. {{storylink|Prisoner of War!}}

===Decapitation===
[[Image:Sentinelprimeanimatedhumiliated.jpg|thumb|200px|In the movie continuity, this would've been fatal. In ''Animated'', it's just embarrassing.]]

{{bigquote|Anyone who can lop your head off in one blow is alright by me!|[[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] jokes about [[Cloudburst]]'s near-death experience, "[[Recipe for Disaster!]]"}}

Like we said before, decapitation is sometimes fatal... and other times it isn't.
* Marvel comic:
** Optimus Prime was able to survive as just a head when Shockwave separated it from his body in an effort to get the Creation Matrix. {{storylink|The New Order}}
**[[Cloudburst]] was abruptly decapitated by sword, but was just fine after some repairs. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
* G1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was disassembled into his component parts, but functioned just fine as nothing more than a head once [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] connected a few wires. {{storylink|City of Steel}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] survives having his head blasted or otherwise knocked off multiple times {{storylink|Spider's Game}} {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}} {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)}} {{storylink|Code of Hero}}, and even put it back on himself one time. He even accidently swapped heads with Megatron once. Megatron was not amused. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]] was just fine when one of the Reapers whacked his head off. (He didn't fare so well when another Reaper crushed his head with a boulder, however.) {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Decapitated victims of the ''Animated'' [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] rarely show any ill effects other than not having a body anymore. {{storylink|Headmaster (episode)|Headmaster}} {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}} {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

===Dismemberment===
Transformers get ripped to pieces all the time, and recover from it:
* Marvel comic: Scorponok tears [[Tantrum]] to pieces. [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] slices [[Horri-Bull]] in half at the waist. Both are seen alive later on. {{storylink|Cold War!}}
* Last Stand of the Wreckers: [[Guzzle]] is torn in half by [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] and is easily repaired.

===Spark removal===
{{bigquote|His spark can't exist outside a living body!|[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]], "[[Optimal Situation]]"}}

A Transformer's spark—their "soul", their living essence—can be removed from their body, or the body can be destroyed around them
* The destruction of Starscream's body, and his subsequent survival as a ghost, was eventually retconned to be his Spark enduring without a physical form. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Tigatron and Airazor's sparks spent quite some time wandering around behind Tigerhawk, before combining and entering his body. {{storylink|Other Victories}}

* In the ''Beast Machines'' cartoon:
** Megatron de-sparked most of Cybertron's population and stored their sparks in a big barrel. Most were restored to bodies eventually. {{storylink|Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}}
** Blackarachnia's spark wandered around bodiless for a time. {{storylink|Revelations Part III: Apocalypse}}
** Megatron himself, his spark in a depolarized state, wandered the surface of Cybertron without a body for a time. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}

The treatment of bodiless sparks in ''Beast Machines'' is seen by some fans as contradicting the canon established by ''Beast Wars'', particularly the quote above.

===Limbo===
Sometimes Transformers get shunted out of creation as we know it, and into various alternate, sub- and non-dimensions.
* Marvel comics:
** The [[Trans-Time Dimensional Portal]] crosses [[unspace]], "a bit of dimensional nothingness" where Ratchet and Megatron vanished and were believed dead. {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}
** Transformers mass-displaced by time travel wind up in a formless dimension known as [[Limbo]].
* IDW comics: Megatron severely damaged Optimus Prime in battle and planned on finishing him off by crushing his [[Laser core|spark core]]. Optimus Prime feigned death by downloading his "consciousness" into his [[Combat Deck|trailer section]], causing his [[Brain Center|robot mode]] to appear dead. In the time it took for Prime's consciousness to transfer to his trailer, he briefly entered [[infraspace|limbo]], the transitional infraspace between life and death. {{storylink|Escalation (IDW)|Escalation}}

==Resuscitation==
Robots are machines. They can be switched off, taken apart, blown to bits, and put back together. Ergo, in many continuities and cases, "death" is not nearly as permanent a condition as it is for us fragile fleshy types.

===Reconstruction===
[[Image:PeoplePower-reprogrammed.jpg|thumb|right|250px| ]]

{{bigquote|I've done it! Optimus Prime lives!|A random Quintesson, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]"}}

* Generation 1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was simply ''repaired'' back to life by a Quintesson. Some fixing of this and that, a burst of power, and boom, suddenly he was alive again. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}}
* Marvel Comics: Optimus Prime's mind was encoded on a disk. After a new [[Powermaster]] body was constructed for him, the disk's contents were loaded into it, and Optimus Prime lived again. (One wonders why they couldn't make as many Optimus Primes as they pleased.) {{storylink|People Power!}}

===Spark transfer===
Transferring a Transformer's spark into a new body constitutes a form of resurrection, particularly if the Transformer's previous body was destroyed.
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Optimus Primal was restored to life when Rhinox managed to recall his spark from the Matrix, a special circumstance only enabled by a temporary window into transwarp space. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* ''Armada'' Smokescreen was shot through the chest at point blank range by the Requiem Blaster {{storylink|Sacrifice}} but his spark survived and was put into a new body. {{storylink|Regeneration}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Inferno and Demolishor both had their bodies ''atomized''; however, their sparks both survived, and were placed into new bodies. (The upshot of all of this is that it's nigh-impossible to kill a Unicron Trilogy Transformer, unless they do it themselves.) {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}} {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: The spark of a dying [[Yoketron]] was placed into a new protoform body by [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]; however, Yoketron consciously chose to let his life end, and expired anyway. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}}

==="Magical" substances===
* Marvel Comics: The miraculous healing properties of Nucleon brought many Autobots back to life, as well as a few Decepticons. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Megatron was revived by the all-encompassing power of energon, as was Unicron. {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}

===Primus and Primus-related powers===
{{bigquote|Where the Last Autobot is concerned, even death, it would appear, is an abstract concept!|Optimus Prime explains his latest revival, "[[End of the Road! (US)|End of the Road!]]"}}

Anything tied to the primordial life-force of the Transformers' god Primus tends to be a cure-all for death. This includes Primus himself, his various power-wielding avatars and servants, and the assorted Matrixes and Allsparks, all of which can deliver an infusion of the essence of life itself. In some continuities, this is parsed as a Transformer's spark being brought back out of the Allspark dimension.

[[Image:RageInHeaven-HeroPrime.jpg|thumb|right|150px|]]

* In the Marvel comics:
** The [[Last Autobot]] was granted the power of recreation by Primus, which he used to raise numerous fallen Autobots from the battlefield. {{storylink|End of the Road! (US)}}
** Optimus Prime was eager to find the lost Creation Matrix, stating that it would be able to restore many deactivated warriors to life. {{storylink|Bird of Prey!}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the [[Swarm (G2)|Swarm]] after it had ingested the energies and knowledge of the Matrix. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** The Allspark is shown repeatedly to be capable of restoring just about anything. Frenzy gets a whole new body from its power, {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and Megatron is restored to life by merely a fragment of it. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the Matrix of Leadership, an Allspark-related talisman. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

* ''Beast Machines'' cartoon: [[Optimus Primal]]'s body was destroyed, but the AllSpark granted him the choice of uniting with it or being reborn. He chose the latter, and ''poof'', just walked right out of the Oracle bubble in a brand new version of his previous body. {{storylink|Fallout}}
* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] was brought back to life by the power of the [[Mini-Con]]s after his body was disintegrated. {{storylink|Miracle}}
* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] was resurrected when he and his gestaltmates were combined together and reborn by Primus into [[Nexus Prime]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 5}} Nexus Prime then brought [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] back from the other side of the Allspark and infused him with some of Primus's power to become Galvatron. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 6}}

===Zombies===
* Dude, [[zombie]]s!

==Immortality==
===Immortal sparks===
Certain sparks have mutant qualities that allow them to, potentially, exist forever.
* Starscream survived his death at the hands of Galvatron; this was later explained as him having a "mutant indestructible spark". {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}} {{storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] was created as an attempt to duplicate Starscream's immortal spark. {{storylink|Bad Spark}} He was eventually killed by [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]], so the attempt may be seen as unsuccessful. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

===Other===
* [[Multiversal singularity|Multiversal singularities]] such as [[Unicron]] and [[The Fallen]] can be killed off in one dimension, only to still be alive and well in another (or many others), due to the varying properties of different dimensions (reverse-time, dimensions, for example are key to revival of the singularities).
* ''Animated'' [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] could not be killed so long as he retained his Allspark fragment embedded in his forehead.
* Denizens of the [[Dead Universe]] could essentially regenerate themselves out of nothing, no matter how much damage was inflicted on them.
* Thunderwing's Pretender shell seemed to make him near invincible. At the very lest able to withstand incredible amounts of salvo and not even flinch.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] can never completely die no matter what for some reason.

==Out-of-fiction causes of character death==
===Drama / character culmination===
At its best, character death can be a moving plot development, the fruition of an ongoing character arc.
* Suspecting that they would have to remove a character from the show, the writers of ''Beast Wars'' began planning for Dinobot's death several episodes ahead of time. Thus, when it came, it was the outcome of the character's own choices, flaws, and history, and played a crucial role in the show's plot. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* Sunstreaker's death in ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' is intended to follow a similar style of arc... only it's missing the whole choices, flaws and history thing. Oh well!
* Optimus Primal's death(s) in ''Beast Machines'' are likewise the outcome of his own choices and character. {{storylink|End of the Line}} {{storylink| Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}} His death in ''Beast Wars'', by contrast, was more a moment of dramatic pathos -- knowingly walking into danger, his enemy got the better of him. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}

===Consequences of war===
It's hard to take a war story seriously when nobody actually dies. The reality of war can be more readily portrayed when characters die. [[Generic]]s are particularly handy for this, allowing death to be shown while not removing primary characters (retail toys!) from the story. The results can range from high drama and pathos to numbingly pointless body counts.
* Impactor's death was used to drive home the threat of the Decepticons as well as the risks taken by the Autobots and their commanders. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
* The ''Generation 2'' book featured several deaths which drove home the realities of war. Most notably, Red Alert's destruction served to make Grimlock acutely aware of just how badly he'd screwed up. {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}}

===Increased threat===
An enemy that kills is an enemy to be taken seriously. Thus a writer will frequently throw in some preliminary deaths to point out how seriously the bad guy should be treated.
* The generic who dies at the beginning of "[[City of Fear!]]" serves to show the zombies as a true life-threatening menace.
* Likewise for Runabout's death at the hands of the demons ; {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}} knowing they can devour a Transformer makes the reader more concerned about the Dinobots' subsequent fate. {{storylink|Still Life!}}
* In "[[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]", [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] makes corpses in practically every scene he's in!

===Cast thinning===
Transformers stories are notorious for acquiring gigantic casts as they roll on; Generation 1 was particularly notorious for this because of its longevity. A simple way to make things more manageable was simply to kill off large numbers of characters in battle. Examples are rife in the fiction, especially the Marvel Comics.

* In the Marvel comics:
** The "[[Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars]]" storyline got rid of the [[Wrecker]]s and quite a few Decepticons as well.
** The [[Underbase Saga]] even more explicitly cleared out dozens of characters, leaving perhaps 2 dozen characters from each faction in the story.
** The battle with Unicron in "[[On the Edge of Extinction!]]" likewise got rid of a lot of older characters, leaving the story free to concentrate on more of a core cast (and associated newer toy characters.)
* [[Betrayal|Wreckers #2]] dealt with its oversized cast by killing off scads of characters right up front.

===Clear space for new toys===
{{main|To sell toys}}

Some fiction has an inherently limited capacity for characters. ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines'' are by far the most prominent examples; their CGI animation made character animation expensive and necessitated removing an old character before a new one could be brought in. But any medium can be susceptible to this toy-driven phenomena.
* The numerous casualties of "[[The Transformers: The Movie]]" were fairly explicitly removed from the story to make way for a wave of new toy/characters.
* Terrorsaur and Scorponok had to be removed -- quickly -- to make room for the two upcoming Fuzor characters, hence their sudden, blink-and-you-miss-it death in "[[Aftermath]]".
* Airazor and Tigatron were removed for similar reasons. When their plot was finally resolved, it was, surprise, via [[Tigerhawk|a new toy]]!

==Fleshling death==
In general, ''Transformers'' fiction is pretty squeamish about showing the deaths of Earth's organic creatures. But it's a war, and sometimes it does happen. The out-of-universe reasons generally fall into three categories: Consequences of War, Emotional Pathos, and BLOOD IZ KEWL.

The various cartoons tend to show organic death the least, as they are most clearly aimed at, and easily accessible by, children. Comics tend to be less reluctant to show the impact of the Transformers' war on innocent lives, though the death rate varies by series. Latter-day Generation 1 books especially revel in high body counts, because squishing stupid humans is killer and awesome and radical and hardcore. Even the occasional [[Satellite of Doom|children's storybook]] has been known to off mass quantities of the dumb fleshies.

===Animal death===
[[Image:MurderedPuppy02.jpg|right|150px|thumb|One dead dog]]

[[Image:Sparkwar3 Dead noble.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Two dead dogs]]

Cute little animals are almost always killed off for reasons of Emotional Pathos:
* A little girl's pet puppy named [[Pis]] barked at [[Wilder]] and was kicked so hard he died. {{storylink|Rage!! Little Devils with No Need for Rules}}
* The [[Murdered puppy]] was shot down by the Decepticons after running away from Megatron's experiments. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 8|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #8}}
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] once reminded [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] that [[The Fallen]] once shot down a ship full of [[Antilian bumble-puppy|Antilian bumble-puppies]]. (Decepticons have a thing for killing puppies.)
* The puppy-like [[Noble]] was shot at by [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] because of his hatred for organics {{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. III: The Siege}} and was later mourned by his "owner", [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}.
* A stray shot from [[Tigatron]] accidentally caused an avalanche which killed his friend [[Snowstalker]]. {{storylink|Law of the Jungle}}
* "[[Law of the Jungle]]" also portrays the deaths of four different forest animals (a bug is eaten by a frog, which is eaten by a snake, which is taken off to be eaten by a bird. Later, an orange tiger kills an antelope). This is a rare "Consequences of War" example.
* [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] also once ate an eagle, {{storylink|Power Surge}} while [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] ate a cute little rat {{storylink|Victory (episode)|Victory}}, and nearly ate an antelope as well. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* In order to save [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] had to fight a saber-toothed tiger off a cliff killing it. {{Storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] used [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel]]'s shield to knock a spikey rock onto a giant spider effectively killing it. She later used [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus]]' axe to kill some new born baby spiders. {{Storylink|Along Came a Spider}}
* Human villain [[Trophy White]] had a grisly display of stuffed and mounted animal heads. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}}

{{-}}
===Human death===
[[Image:Razorclawshootsahuman.jpg|right|thumb|250px|This didn't happen much.]]

* Marvel US: The [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|original Marvel book]] ignored or glossed over human casualties, which were rarely if ever shown; the panel at right, from [[Toy Soldiers!|US #37]], shows a ''very'' unusual instance of a human dying right in front of us. One of the few human(oid)s to die on-panel was [[Galen]], killed off to make way for [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]]. ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' was much more explicit about human death, as Bludgeon and later [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] attacked Earth for the purpose of inflicting casualties.
* Marvel UK: The UK-original stories were much less reluctant to show human death; within the first year or so, humans had died in Autobot-induced car wrecks and at the hands of mind-controlled Autobots.
* In every US-aired cartoon series, humans essentially ''never'' die. Even ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Transformers Animated]]'', which features the city of [[Detroit]] getting smashed by robot battles virtually every week, never once mentions humans getting killed.
* Contemporary toyline-based comics (''[[Armada (Dreamwave comic)|Armada]]'', ''[[Energon (comic)|Energon]]'') seem to follow a similar policy, avoiding mention of human death -- even when human cities are being directly attacked, as in "[[Multiplicity, Pt. 2]]".
* Japanese cartoons, by contrast, don't seem to mind showing human deaths (or [[Pis|dog deaths]], for that matter).
* The [[Dreamwave Generation One continuity|Dreamwave G1 comics]] really thought it was totally awesome and cool and radical to kill off those stupid humans. Thus, they start off with Megatron smushing some stupid humans. More smushing and killing and blowing up follows. DIE, dumb stubbies, DIE!
* [[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW comics]] managed to avoid this for a long time, showing human death only when it was particularly integral to the plot... then ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' came down the pike. DIE, stupid fleshies, DIE!
* The live-action [[movie continuity]] implies a great deal of human death. ''Revenge'' mentions a body count of over 9,000, and massive damage is done during the battle of [[Mission City]], though little of it is shown on screen. And of course, the first film begins with Blackout wiping out an entire military base. A handful of humans are killed directly on-screen, most notably [[Patrick Donnelly|Donnelly]].
* The alternate timeline arc in Titan's Movie comic featured big wars on Earth and lots of destruction, clearly ''insinuating'' human death while not being explicit. The exceptions were in [[Transformers Comic issue 10|issue 10]], where [[NATO]] is said to be suffering losses of 11,506 and the [[France|Palais Bourbon]] is blown up when people are still clearly inside. [[Sam Witwicky]], meanwhile, was stated to have died.
* Titan quite blatantly stated that the [[Free Men]] had caused great loss of life at an air base, a rare example of humans killing humans. In the same story, [[Robert Epps]] opened fire on militia men, which kinda implies he was killing them. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}} Similarly, [[Wheelie (ROTF)|Wheelie]] of all people was seen zapping humans at close range during a Decepticon attack; with no "oh it was a stun beam" handwave and the 'Cons not pulling punches, it sure seems like he's murdered 'em! {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.6|Outlaw Blues}}
* In ''[[Kiss Players (franchise)|Kiss Players]]'', several [[Kiss Player]]s were seen being devoured by Legions.

==Characters who die a lot==
* [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|Optimus Prime]]
* [[Dirge (G1)]] — the unlucky guy who gets [[:Image:Dirge DeathSerpentor.jpg|killed]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathSwarm.jpg|off]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathTimelines.jpg|in]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathUnicron.jpg|many]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathArmada.jpg|continuities]]
* [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] — the unlucky guy who gets killed over and over in the same continuity, but doesn't seem to mind.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] — the unlucky guy from ''[[Beast Wars (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'' who gets sliced, diced, and fricasseed every other episode only to be fully functional in time to get [[Slag (slang)|slagged]] ''again''. But he never actually dies.
* [[Cy-Kill (disambiguation)|Cy-Kill]], a Go-Bots character transferred to many Transformers comics just to be killed off violently. For no other reason than the lolz of ending his toyline, his universe, and finally his life... repeatedly.
* [[Sentinel Prime (G1)]] — the unlucky [[Prime (rank)|Prime]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime lou.jpg|who]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime dw.jpg|must]] [[Megatron Origin issue 4|die]].
* [[Starscream (Animated)]] - the unlucky guy that constantly gets killed, decapitated, or maimed by others, only to be brought back to life.

==See also==
* [[Transformer funerary practices]]
* [[To sell toys]]

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Transformer anatomy]]

Obsidian (BM)

2011-01-28T01:41:55Z

174.96.255.90: /* Universe comic */

{{factions|vehicon|decepticon|unicron|autobot|predacon}}
{{disambig2|the Beast Machines Vehicon and the Universe Decepticon|the Robots in Disguise Decepticon|Obsidian (RID)}}
:''Obsidian is a [[Vehicon (BM)|Vehicon]] from the [[Beast Machines (franchise)|Beast Machines]] portion of the [[Generation 1 (franchise)|Generation 1]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:ObsidianDJart.jpg|right|300px|thumb|"I love the smell of napalm in the morning."]]
'''Obsidian''' and his consort [[Strika (BM)|Strika]] have fought for [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] in countless battles... and won them all. Though he is sophisticated and canny, able to concoct strategies with layers upon layers, his purpose is single-minded. He defends Cybertron.

There is some fine print. Whoever happens to be in charge, whether a benevolent or malevolent force, in his reasoning, ''is'' Cybertron. Once power changes hands, so does he. He is loyal only to the planet, and perhaps his consort Strika, not to any moral ideals. As his fellow [[Vehicon general]] [[Thrust (BM)|Thrust]] has remarked, "If you're loyal to everybody, can you really be loyal to anybody?"... a question that has given Obsidian pause.

While he was pretending to be dumber-even-than-[[Tankor (BM)|Tankor]], his [[activation code]] (and, indeed, his entire vocabulary) was "obliterate". He dropped the word when the ruse was over.

In an alternate universe, Obsidian was a former [[Autobot]] who rose to overthrow [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] and take over Cybertron, only to be abducted by [[Unicron]] to serve as his [[Minion of Unicron|Minion]].

{{note|Obsidian has been variously credited as a former [[Autobot]] or as a former [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]].<ref>While most other sources hint at or outright declare him having once been an Autobot, ''[[Transformers: The Ultimate Guide]]'' calls Obsidian "one of the most feared and deadly Predacon warrior-generals from Cybertron's past."</ref>}}

==Fiction==
===''Beast Wars'' cartoon continuity===
====Intimidation Game====
:''Voice actor:'' [[Paul Dobson]] (English)

The Tripredacus agent [[Flamewar]] was held prisoner and interrogated by a group of [[Autobot|Autobots]] and [[Maximal|Maximals]] which included Obsidian. However, it transpired that the questioning was merely a test of suitability by the [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] insurrectionist [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]], and the entity appearing to be Obsidian was in fact a disguised [[Buzz Saw]]. {{storylink|Intimidation Game}}

{{note|This story, if it is meant to be part of ''Beast Wars'' continuity, would be somewhere around the beginning of the [[Pax Cybertronia]]. However, it is tied directly to "[[Descent into Evil]]", which has been declared out-of-continuity by [[Pete Sinclair|one of its creators]]. Take that [[Authorial intent|as you will]].}}

====''Beast Machines'' cartoon====
:''Voice actor:'' [[Paul Dobson]] (English), [[Masaya Onosaka]] (Japanese), [[Dário de Castro]] (Brazil), [[Andreas Hosang]] (German)

[[Image:Sparkwar1-itsatrap.jpg|left|thumb|250px|]]

Tired of the Maximals using his world as a playground and getting fed up with Thrust's inability to handle them, Megatron selected two Sparks to be his new generals. When Thrust first saw Obsidian and Strika, he remarked "Very nice, boss. Very very nice." However, the feeling wasn't mutual, as Thrust discovered when he started to inform the new guys of their enemies—and was batted away by Obsidian, bouncing off the wall and sliding to a halt at his "feet".

[[Image:Sparkwar1-thrustthinkshestheboss.jpg|right|thumb|250px|"They are mere Mini-cons in Maximal armor!"]]

Obsidian was quick to act against the Maximals, ambushing [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] and [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] with Strika. Screaming "Obliterate!" repeatedly, he pursued Silverbolt but was tackled by [[Optimus Primal]], sending both crashing into the ground. When Optimus tried to reason with him, Obsidian merely fired at him and transformed, escaping into the city. He rendezvoused with Strika and let the Maximals into a trap, as hundred of drones modeled after the two generals surrounded them. Transforming to robot mode, Obsidian remarked "Although he took his name from a great leader, Optimus Primal never learned the first rule of warfare: NEVER underestimate your opponent." The Maximals were able to escape the trap, but found all of their escape routes blocked by drones, [[Rattrap]] surprised at the number of drones and Optimus realizing that it wasn't number but tactics; their new opponents were master strategists. Forced to barricade themselves inside the Counsel Citadel, Primal realized that they had been herded there, at which point Obsidian contacted him and offered the Maximals the chance to surrender themselves. Revealing who he and Strika were, Obsidian informed Optimus that "Megatron IS Cybertron. To defend one is to defend the other. And to betray Megatron is to invite death." Despite their advantage, Obsidian and Strika were unable to capture the Maximals due to [[Botanica (BM)|Botanica]]'s timely arrival, disrupting the drones' targeting systems and allowing the Maximals to escape. {{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. I: The Strike}}

[[Image:Obsidianbm.jpg|left|250px|thumb|Obsidian, LA Nails spokes-bot.]]

Obsidian's next major move was against [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]], [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] and Silverbolt. Sent to a shell yard by Megatron and told to wait for the Maximals (as Megatron had sent Optimus a flash about the Sparks and their possible locations, which of course was a trap), Obsidian attacked the trio, outgunning and outflanking them easily. However, a power core thrown by Cheetor was hit by a shot from one of Obsidian's drones even as he was desperately telling them to cease fire, causing a huge explosion that sent him and his drones flying away in a fiery shockwave. {{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. II: The Search}}

When Megatron began to enact his plan for the Sparks, Obsidian and Strika were stationed to watch over the ground and air around the BFH. While he didn't get to do much personally, Obsidian attempted to engage Savage/Noble in single combat, only to have one of his own drones smacked into him and then Strika thrown into him. Ouch. {{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. III: The Siege}}

After Megatron's seeming destruction, the generals were at a loss. Without a leader they had no purpose, and when Cheetor and Nightscream approached them with an offer to join the Maximals they accepted, much to Thrust's annoyance: he snarled at Obsidian that if he was loyal to ''everyone'', he was loyal to no one.. A possessed Jet Drone suddenly attacked both the generals and the Maximals, destroying the drones that were present. Obsidian and Strika did not join Cheetor and Nightscream in the fight against the Jet Drone (wusses). Later, Optimus welcomed the two to the group and sent them to patrol the inside of the [[Grand Mal]], where they unsuccessfully tried to stop Megatron's depolarized Spark from entering. After Megatron was re-polarized and bonded to a Diagnostic Drone, Obsidian and Strika seized him and made their escape, pledging their loyalty to evil once again. Obsidian admitted it was Thrust who had made him and Strika realise where their loyalties lay. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}

[[Image:Endgame2-floaters.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Hey, it's the sun! Holy crap.]]

The conflict came to a head when Megatron began an all-out attack on his former base, seeking to reclaim the Sparks. Obsidian fell victim to Rattrap's identity scrambler, destroying several of his own troops before realizing his mistake. He later returned to his main fleet that was attacking the BFH, but they were unable to penetrate the shields. That changed when Megatron found a device Rattrap used to send Botanica back to the surface—a shield harmonic device synchronized to the base's shields. Obsidian and Strika were then able to fire through the shields and destroy the base's drive units, sending it plummeting into the Citadel. {{storylink|Endgame Pt. I: The Downward Spiral}}

After repairing and placing his troops, Obsidian began a second attack on the Grand Mal with Strika and Thrust. Taking down the shields and defeating several Maximals, the trio were left with only Cheetor in their way. However, the Maximal led them into the engine room, where he brought the anti-gravity generators online and sent Obsidian and Strika into Cybertron's orbit. {{storylink|Endgame Pt. II: When Legends Fall}}

===''Universe: Featuring the Wreckers''===
Though marooned in orbit, Strika and Obsidian were otherwise undamaged and were able to serve Cybertron once more. When the [[Quintesson]]s invaded technorganic Cybertron one week after the [[Great Reformatting]], Obsidian rewired an orbiting monitoring station for combat, while Strika used its artillery to take down an impressive target. The Quintesson ship ''[[Paradigm]]'' was destroyed in low orbit over [[Polyhex]]. Strika and Obsidian turned their attentions to the planetary defense grid. Though they had faith in the Maximals below, as they ''had'' bested even ''them'', the two still served the lofty goal of protecting Cybertron from invaders. {{storylink|Wreckers: Finale Part II}}

===''Universe'' CD-ROM===
[[Image:UnivCDROM TractorBeam.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Whee.]]
On an alternate Cybertron, Obsidian fought alongside the [[Decepticon|Decepticons]] [[Tankor (BM)|Tankor]], [[Razorclaw (Universe)|Razorclaw]], [[Reptilion|Reptillion]] {{sic}}, and [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] against [[Optimus Primal]] and his Autobots. One of these battles—the most violent of that year—was interrupted by a mysterious ship that sucked those Decepticons up on beams of light and sped away. None of the combatants realized that it was taking its captives to Unicron for use in a massive army. {{storylink|Universe CD-ROM|Universe CD-ROM}}

{{note|This comic shows no signs of being intended to mesh with other ''Universe'' fiction. There are inconsistencies in many of its elements, but given that ''Universe'' is entirely ABOUT alternate dimensions, it could still be a side note to the [[Universe war|greater storyline]]. Obsidian is one of the [[Tankor (BM)|few]] [[Razorclaw (Universe)|characters]] who could conceivably be the same ones who show up in the main ''Universe'' comic, but it is up to the reader to decide if that's the case.}}

===''Universe'' comic===
[[Image:KnowthatIamRazorclaw.jpg|left|300px|thumb|A universe where I cannot spell "possibilities"!]]
In a parallel universe, the Predacon Megatron "decimated" Cybertron's population by capturing their [[Spark|sparks]], including the vaunted Autobot general Obsidian. (It is unknown whether this literally means he only got one-tenth of the Cybertronians.) When Megatron gave him a new, helicopter-based body, Obsidian hid his thirst for revenge behind a feigned loyalty. He conspired with the brute Tankor, eventually using the latter's raw strength to carry out Megatron's termination. The vain Obsidian, now an "ex-Autobot," supplanted the Predacon's rule with an iron-fisted tyranny of his own. With his enforcer Tankor at his side, he put down uprisings and held the planet in fear... until Unicron decided that such a mindset would serve his own purposes, and he pulled them out of their universe entirely.{{storylink|Escape (issue)|Obsidian's ''Universe'' profile}}

Unicron, his ruined form trapped between dimensions, sought to revitalize himself by pitting abducted [[Transformer|Transformers]] against each other within his own body, absorbing their [[energon radiation]] and, eventually, sparks. But Obsidian was spared this fate, instead overseeing the [[Cauldron|deathmatch arena]] along with Tankor, Razorclaw, Reptilion, and [[Striker]]. [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]], one of the intended victims, recognized Obsidian. Obsidian confirmed the familiarity, but noted that in his and Tankor's own timeline, Silverbolt had "[[Furmanism|died screaming]]". {{storylink|Abduction}} (Notably, by this time Obsidian's allegiance had fully switched to "Decepticon", {{storylink|Escape (issue)|Tankor's ''Universe'' profile}} though it's unclear if this was before or after his coming under the thrall of Unicron.)

[[Image:Optimusprimaluniverseend.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Dunk tank!]]
Two others from Silverbolt's party, [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]] and [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]], were scheduled for an immediate duel within the Cauldron, and Obsidian tossed them their weapons. Sideswipe tried to turn on his captor, but his punch was repelled by Reptilion's machinery. As Sideswipe was punished, Obsidian reassured them that over time, all "remaining veneer of civilisation" would be stripped from them. For all his boasting and accomplishments, though, Obsidian still did a pretty crappy job of keeping [[Optimus Primal]] from freeing Silverbolt and dozens of other captives. He was no where to be seen as Optimus Primal battled Razorclaw, and showed up to pursue the fleeing captives, along with the other generals, only after they had left the Cauldron.

However, [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] and [[Shadow Striker (Universe)|Shadow Striker]] opted to stay behind with the generals, as [[Unicron virus|Unicron's influence]] had corrupted them. Obsidian and Tankor escorted Blackarachnia to Unicron's core, where she was reunited with [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]]. {{storylink|Escape (issue)|Escape}}

{{note|[[3H Productions]] lost the license, and so this story was never finished as intended. However, a look into the end of ''Universe'' was shown in a comic published by the next licensee, [[Fun Publications]].}}

Much later, Optimus Primal waged one last desperate assault against Unicron, and his [[Children of Primus]] were able to defeat the [[Minions of Unicron]]. As Unicron himself seemed to dissolve below them, Obsidian and [[Nemesis Strika]] were left behind and were last seen falling to their deaths. {{storylink|Revelations Part 2}}

===''Transformers Legends'' anthology===
While Obsidian and Strika were agreeing to side with the Maximals, after Megatron's apparent death, Megatron's spark animated an [[Sonic Attack Jet|Aero drone]] body. Unimpressed with their duplicity, Megatron cut off their access to their drone armies and opened fire on them. {{storylink|Singularity Ablyss}}

==Toys==
===Beast Machines===
[[Image:BM Obsidian-Hasbrotoy.jpg|right|300px|thumb| Your farewell will be forever, brother!]]
* '''Obsidian''' (Basic, 2000)
**''Accessories'': 2 rotors

:A Basic-price point toy in the ''[[Beast Machines (toyline)|Beast Machines]]'' line, Obsidian transforms into a twin-rotor assault helicopter vaguely similar to an Osprey. His cockpit in helicopter mode is multi-jointed to allow it movement to look around, the Vehicons' toy aesthetic being "living vehicles". The cockpit's "eyes" further enhance the effect. The two rotor blades are pressure-launch projectiles. His nominal robot "flight" mode keeps his tail section together but curled up below him (as in the show), but the tail section can split up to form a pair of "normal" legs as well. His orange spark crystal is located on the robot mode's back.

:The same mold is used by ''[[Robots in Disguise (toyline)|Robots in Disguise]]'' [[Obsidian (RID)|Obsidian]]. A hand-painted mock-up of the mold was presented as a proposed [[Wrecker|Wreckers]] [[Rotorbolt (Universe)|Rotorbolt]] as a future [[BotCon]] exclusive, but was never produced.

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2000/Vehicon/Obsidian/obsidian.htm More information on Beast Machines Obsidian at TFU.info]''

{{-}}{{anchor|2pack}}
[[Image:BM-toy ObsidianQuickstrike2pack.jpg|right|thumb|200px| You lost the right to call me brother long ago!]]
*'''Obsidian''' / '''Quickstrike''' (2-pack, 2000)
**''Accessories'': 2 rotors

:Obsidian was also available in a two-pack with the [[Maximal]] [[Quickstrike (BM)|Quickstrike]]. Both toys are actually on their original individual cards, but packed within a thick cardboard backing with "Beast Machines 2 Pack" printed on it. It is currently unknown what venue this set came out at, though it is most likely a wholesale club release from [[Sam's Club]] or [[Costco]].

{{-}}

===Universe===
[[Image:Universe2003toy-TankorObsidian.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Oh, fine, everyone immediately recognize your old enemy Tankor, but does anyone think I'm the dashing Rotorbolt? No!]]
*'''Tankor & Obsidian''' (Ultra, 2003)
**''Accessories'': 2 rotors

: Part of the second wave of ''[[Universe (2003 toyline)|Universe]]'' Ultras, this [[redeco]] of the ''Beast Machines'' Obsidian toy was only available with his larger partner [[Tankor (BM)|Tankor]]. The toy features the "energon surge" paint deco most of the early ''Universe'' toys featured.

: This toy's coloration is not ''too'' far from the proposed colors for the unmade [[Wrecker]] [[Rotorbolt (Universe)|Rotorbolt]] (save the "energon surge" deco, of course). As such, many fans use him as a substitute for the haughty Predacon.

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2003/Decepticon/Obsidian/obsidian.htm More information on Universe Obsidian at TFU.info]''
{{-}}

===Beast Wars Returns===
[[Image:BM Obsidian-BWRtoy.jpg|right|250px|" Before..."|thumb|]]
*'''Vehicon Obsidian''' (Basic, 2005)
**''Japanese ID number:'' '''BR-14'''
**''Accessories:'' 2 rotors

:In 2005 the toy was [[redeco]]ed and released as part of the Japanese Toys 'R' Us [[exclusive]] ''[[Beast Machines (toyline)|Beast Wars Returns]]'' series, the Japanese version of ''Beast Machines''. Having been produced several years after the cartoon was, this version had a deco considerably more [[Show-accuracy|show-accurate]] than the original, but still not quite there, physical differences between the mold and show model regardless.
{{--}}

==Notes==
* At one point Obsidian was planned to have a deluxe toy that would be more [[Show accuracy|show-accurate]]. Sadly, this toy never made it past pre-production. (Rotorbolt was originally going to be a BotCon exclusive redeco of this mold, explaining why he was drawn to match Obsidian's show appearance in the Wreckers comics rather than the Basic toy.)

* Story editor [[Bob Skir]] wanted to depict Obsidian and Strika's return to Cybertron after the reformatting wave hit in the last episode, making them the only two purely mechanical beings remaining. They would refuse reformatting into techno-organic forms, seeing being in their normal bodies as punishment for their misguided actions. However, this never made it into the series.

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Beast Machines Autobots]]
[[Category:Beast Machines Predacons]]
[[Category:Beast Wars Autobots]]
[[Category:Minions of Unicron]]
[[Category:Rulers of Cybertron]]
[[Category:Turncoats]]
[[Category:Universe Decepticons]]
[[Category:Vehicons]]
[[Category:Strategists]]

Other Victories

2011-01-28T01:35:48Z

174.96.255.90: /* Trivia */

{{episode
|series=BWtoon
|ep=50
|image=OVic opening.JPG
|caption=Sure is nice in the lifeless void.
|title="Other Victories"
|production=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|airdate=[[May 5]], [[1999]]
|written by=[[Larry DiTillio]]
|directed by=[[William Lau]]
|animation studio=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|continuity=[[Beast Wars continuity]]
}}

'''The aliens send their powerful new emissary Tigerhawk to Earth to stop the continued disruption of the time stream.'''

:''French-Canadian title:'' '''La Victoire''' ("The Victory")
:''Japanese title:'' ただいまでござる (''Tadaima de Gozaru'', "I Hath Returned")
:''Latin-American title:'' '''Otras Victorias'''
:''Italian title:'' '''Un nuovo amico''' ("A new friend")
:''Brazilian name:'' '''Outras Vitórias'''

==Synopsis==
[[Image:OtherVictories BirthofTigerhawk.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Oh yeah, we still have these two guys.]]
Somewhere in the vast universe, two entities are discussing the experiment on [[Earth|"Nexus Earth"]]. Though the project was "sterilized", there remains a threat. The entities then reveal [[Tigatron]] and [[Airazor (BW)|Airazor]], then merge their bodies together, creating a new [[Transformer]]. The aliens inhabit the body and depart in a ball of energy, while two [[Spark|sparks]] follow.

[[Image:Judge Megatron.JPG|right|150px|thumb|Believe it or not, you may have better luck on [[Quintessa]].]]
At the [[Darksyde|Predacon base]], the [[Predacon (BW)|Predacons]] are holding a "trial" for [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]]. [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] is the "defense", [[Dinobot II|Dinobot]] and [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] are the jury, [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] is taking the minutes, and [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] is the judge, not to mention the fact that he's all dressed up for the occasion. Quickstrike begs for mercy, saying he doesn't know what [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]]'s intentions for destroying the [[Ark (G1)|''Ark'']] were, but offers to hunt him down for Megatron. Suddenly, the sensors detect an energy surge on a ballistic approach for the base. Tarantulas and [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] both detect the surge as well and recognize that it can only be one thing.

The aliens are back.

[[Image:OtherVictories clash.jpg|left|150px|thumb|Flying Tiger, Hidden Dragon]]
The Predacons' automated defenses are ineffective against the anomaly, and Megatron orders them to abandon the base. Making contact, the energy ball destroys the Predacon ship instantly. [[Optimus Primal]] heads for the base, fearing that the spark of [[Megatron (G1)|the original Megatron]] may have been destroyed, and sends [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] to assist.

From the ashes of the Predacon base, the alien Transformer appears and introduces himself as Tigerhawk, emissary of the [[Vok]]. He dispatches the other Predacons with ease, then sentences Megatron to death for his interference with the timestream. The two battle, but Tigerhawk is victorious. During the fight, Cheetor is incapacitated. As Tigerhawk prepares the killing blow, Optimus arrives. Tigerhawk greets him in a friendly manner, but asks him not to interfere. Optimus tries to explain Megatron's situation, but is entombed in the earth for his efforts. However, Tigerhawk is attacked by Tarantulas's [[Arachnoid|spider drones]], which allows Tarantulas to drag him to his lair. Meanwhile, an unconscious Cheetor dreams that he is visited by the sparks of Tigatron and Airazor, who fuse together before he is attacked by the two Vok seen in the beginning of the episode. He wakes up to see the fused spark, which guides him to the lair and the emissary.

[[Image:Tarantulas death.JPG|right|150px|thumb|The most hardcore death of ''Beast Wars''.]]
At the lair, Tigerhawk revives and claims to know Tarantulas. The mad scientist states that he intends to use Tigerhawk to destroy the [[Maximal|Maximals]] while he detonates the ''Ark''. He also reveals why he wants to destroy it: Tarantulas and the [[Tripredacus Council]] are not descendants of the [[Autobot|Autobots]] and the [[Decepticon|Decepticons]], but have "other origins". This would allow them to control [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] and conquer the universe. Cheetor jumps in around this time and looks on amazed at the scene. As Tarantulas activates the deprogramming device, the two Vok entities emerge from Tigerhawk's mouth and enter him. The device then shoots a bolt of energy at Tarantulas, which throws him into a nearby [[Energon crystal]]. The crystal detonates, destroying Tarantulas and the two aliens in a freakish yet totally hardcore manner. Cheetor manages to drag Tigerhawk out, but is knocked unconscious when the lair explodes.

Optimus locates Cheetor and Tigerhawk as the merged sparks of Tigatron and Airazor enter the emissary. Welcoming their old friends and new friend back, the Maximals depart for home…as Megatron watches on.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=[[Maximal|Maximals]]|c1=
*[[Airazor (BW)|Airazor]] (3)
*[[Tigatron]] (4)
*[[Tigerhawk]] (5)
*[[Rattrap]] (13)
*[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] (14)
*[[Optimus Primal]] (15)
*[[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] (16)
*[[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] (17)

|h2=[[Predacon (BW)|Predacons]]|c2=
*[[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] (6)
*[[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] (7)
*[[Dinobot II]] (8)
*[[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]] (9)
*[[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] (10)
*[[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] (11)
*[[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] (12)

|c4=*Magenta-eyed [[Vok]] (1)
*Yellow-eyed Vok (2)
}}

==Quotes==
"Ooooo, Waspinator ''like'' defense! A little ''more'' defense, and maybe Waspinator not get blown up all the time!" 
''gulp'' "Looks like this is my last round-up." 
"Aheh-ahem! Two-Head throw Megatron in lava pit. Megatron ''angry''. Think Two-Head a traitor. Want to ''slag'' Two-Head. Waspinator down with that!"
:—'''Waspinator''' "defends" '''Quickstrike'''

"I -- I plum don't know! But I do know this. That dang spider double-crossed ''both'' of us. I'd be happy to track him down for ya, a-and kick his keister!" 
"Ah hah hah. 'Dang spider'. I applaud your good intentions. But we are ''through'' being lenient with traitors!"
:—'''Quickstrike''' learns that '''Megatron''' is no longer [[Master Blaster|tolerant of treachery.]]

"Well, i-i-if it's not a comet, what is it?" 
"Somethin' I thought we'd never see again."
:—'''Rattrap''' and '''Rhinox''', monitoring Tigerhawk's approach toward prehistoric Earth

"Looks like the Beast Wars are over... FOR THE PREDS! Eheheh! Eheheh!" ''[looks for high-five]''
:—'''Rattrap''' after the Predacon base is destroyed.

"They're back... just like Tarantulas always said they'd be."
:—'''Blackarachnia'''

"I am Tigerhawk, emissary of the Vok. Your form's changed, but I know you, Megatron. The Vok charge you with the willful disruption of time and space. Surrender to me immediately. Violence will not be tolerated." 
[''chuckles''] "Megatrons do not surrender." [''transforms to robot mode''] "We conquer! Predacons, attack!"
:—'''Tigerhawk''' and '''Megatron'''

"This is my world now. YOU have no place in it!"
:—'''Megatron''' has a low opinion of squatters.

"Just when things were finally looking up... eheheh... we're all gonna die."
:—'''Rattrap''' after the situation has been explained to him.

"You're insane!" 
"So they say. Brrrrar!"
:—'''Tarantulas''' proves '''Tigerhawk''''s assertion

==Notes==
===Technical or animation errors===
*As the Predacons scramble for battle stations, Megatron's eyes are green instead of their usual purple.
*As the Predacons open fire on Tigerhawk, Dinobot II fires a green beam instead of a red one.
*When Tarantulas' [[arachnoid|arachnoids]] attack Tigerhawk, he is missing the green visor over his eyes when one latches onto his face.

===Continuity errors===
*Despite being described as having "different origins" than being Decepticon descendants, in "[[The Agenda (Part 1)|The Agenda]]", the Tripredacus Council specifically refer to the Decepticons as being their ancestors while talking ''in private to themselves''. Bit of a glaring [[Retcon|retcon]] there (We could be charitable and assume they meant the Decepticon-born [[Cybertronian (faction)|Cybertronian Empire]]).
*Considering at least some time has passed since the last episode, there's no logical explanation for why no one had bothered to explain to Rattrap that Megatron now had the original Megatron's spark and thus why he needed it explained to him in this episode. Nor has Rattrap been portrayed as anything but intelligent up until this point so that he'd need this explained to him a second time if we're to assume they did tell him and he just... forgot. This was likely only done to serve as exposition for the audience.

===Continuity notes===
* Cheetor has his last of four strange dreams in this episode, wherein Airazor and Tigatron appear to him and fuse together before his eyes. When he wakes up, he sees and follows the new joint spark over the landscape. He also sees the Vok in this dream before he sees them in real life, perhaps because Tigerhawk shows him or perhaps precognitive.
* Not only is this the first time that Airazor and Tigatron have appeared since being abducted in "[[Other Visits (Part 1)|Other Visits]]," it's the first time they've even been mentioned by other characters. Some friends the Maximals are.
* In the comics continuity, Tarantulas survives this encounter and really used it as a means to absorb the Vok. That makes the fact that this super genius character idiotically killed himself by repeatedly blasting his death ray machine thing until it turned around and killed him... a little easier to swallow.
* This is the last episode to show Tarantulas, The Vok, Tigatron, Airazor and the [[Darksyde]].
*The ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]'' is seen on Tarantulas's computer. It will have significance in the [[Nemesis Part 1|series]] [[Nemesis Part 2|finale]]. They also show he's got the warship ready to be activated, so its presence on his computer screen may (in-universe) mean he was about to use it himself...

===Real-world references===
[[Image:TarantulasVok SignOfTheCross.jpg|right|150px|thumb|"The power of [[Christmas]] compels you!"]]
* During Quickstrike's court-martial, Megatron wears a barrister's wig like those worn by British attorneys and judges. Inferno acts as stenographer (complete with typewriter).
* As the Vok approach Tarantulas, he attempts to ward them off by forming a [[Jesus|crucifix]] with his fingers, a sacred item often used to ward off [[Energy vampire|vampires]] in folklore.

===Trivia===
* This episode [[To sell toys|really wants you to buy a Tigerhawk toy]]. Can you tell?
* In a bit of classic irony, Tarantulas has been trying to destroy the Vok for most of the series and has been attempting to manipulate their creations towards his own plans. However when he actually faces the Vok themselves he utterly loses it and just starts shooting like a maniac out of fear.

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;VHS
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2000 — ''Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers: Metals'' — We Have Returned ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — Japanese audio only. 
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2000 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — Volume 4 ([[Universal]])
;DVD
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2000 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers: Metals'' — DVD Box 2 (Pioneer LDC) — English and Japanese audio. 
[[Image:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2004 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — The Complete Third Season ([[Rhino Entertainment|Rhinomation]]) 
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2006 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — Season 3 ([[Madman Entertainment]]) 
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2009 — ''The Transformers: Beast Wars'' — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)

[[Category:Beast Wars episodes]]

File:Devconjerkhole.jpg

2011-01-27T01:15:10Z

174.96.255.90:

[[Devcon]] finishes kicking some ass.
A panel from [[Departure]], Wreckers #1. Art by [[Dan Khanna]].

{{comicinterior}}

Death

2011-01-27T00:55:52Z

174.96.255.90: /* Destruction of spark */

{{disambig2|the end of life|the Horseman of Unicron|Airazor (Armada)}}

[[Image:Battleofautobotcity.jpg|right|300px|thumb|And lo, the children did weep.]]

''Transformers'' is a children's franchise, but at its core, it's a story of war. This means that the '''death''' of major and minor characters sometimes figures into the fiction.

Given the ambiguous nature of [[Transformer]] physiology, there is very little consistency regarding what is fatal to a Transformer, even within a single storyline. Damage that one Transformer might shrug off can prove fatal to another, or even to the same character in a different story. Sometimes just a laser blast or two will do the trick. Other times, characters survive being melted, crushed into cubes, and even utterly disintegrated. It does not take a terribly cynical viewer to conclude that the threshold of survival is generally determined by the needs of the plot.

The out-of-universe reasons for a character's death can vary from plot development to the arrival of [[To sell toys|new toys]]. Conveniently enough for writers who are beholden to the whims of a toy company, the majority of Transformers characters are machines, which means that death isn't necessarily permanent. Across the various universes, characters that appear to have been killed have been known to pop up alive again at a later date, or go through some sort of resurrection.

{{quote|"How can you all be so cold and unfeeling? He died a hero!" "Don't you even have mechanical hearts?" "The humans don't understand! Our form of life is vastly different from theirs!"|[[Spider-Man]], [[Sparkplug Witwicky]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]|"[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

==In-fiction causes of death==
[[Image:DEATH.jpg|left|thumb|400px|[[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] is just as puzzled as the rest of us.]]

There is little consistency in what can kill a Transformer. Sometimes it takes just a shot. Other times, even totally annihilating a Transformer's body still doesn't do the trick. Even the most basic method of killing, which is to destroy or otherwise cause the loss of a Transformer's [[spark]], varies quite a bit in its details from story to story, character to character, and series to series.
{{--}}
===Weaponsfire===
{{quote|This was almost too easy, Starscream!|[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (like the fandom) is surprised to find how easily Autobots die, ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''}}

[[Image:Tftm1986a.jpg|right|200px|thumb|We're here aboard the Autobot shuttle, where we've secretly replaced Brawn's hyper-dense metal armor plating with styrene plastic. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference.]]

[[Image:TFTM UltraMagnus dies.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Prepare for your death today. Yer gonna die!!]]

[[Image:Magnusdeath.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ow! Hey! Cut it out, guys! That hurts!]]

[[Image:Blades1.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Sorry, nameless guy, your generic nature means you will never be miraculously resurrected.]]

Like humans, Transformers can be killed by damage caused by energy, projectile, and chemical weapons. Just how many shots it takes is widely variable, however.
* In the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]]:
** Many casualties of the [[Battle of Autobot City]] (and its run-up), including [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], were victims of energy weapons. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} This was quite a change from the cartoon's M.O., wherein the same characters routinely got shot and blasted all the time and shrugged it off, or at worst spent some time in the repair bay. Brawn and Prowl both went down after ''one shot''.
** [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] subsequently "dies" after being shot a few times by the [[Sweep]]s, exploding into pieces. He is soon revived by the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]], however. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Ultra Magnus dies ''again'', for real this time, after [[Sixshot]] shoots him a few times. {{storylink|Ultra Magnus Dies!!}}

* In the [[Marvel Comics continuity|Marvel comics]]:
** [[Impactor]] was cut down by a single head shot from [[Macabre]]. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
** Most deaths in the ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' book occurred from energy weapons, such as [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]], {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}} as well as numerous generics. {{storylink|War Without End!}} Quite a few victims exploded spectacularly after being shot, including [[Tantrum]] {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}}, [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]], [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] {{storylink|New Dawn}}, and [[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]]{{storylink|Escalation!}}.

* In the ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' cartoon:
** [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] dies after incurring severe damage from numerous [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] weapons. {{storylink|Code of Hero}} The apparent cause of his demise is his refusal to enter protective [[stasis lock]], as other characters have survived similar or worse levels of damage.
** [[Tigerhawk]] is disintegrated by the main cannon of the starship ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]''. The same cannon subsequently blasts [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] and [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]], apparently killing them, though their "death" may be permanent simply because there was nobody around to put them back together. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 2}}

* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] dies holding back the [[Hydra Cannon]], the damage causing him to [[:Image:Sshot-arm-39-4.jpg|crumble to dust]]. {{storylink|Crisis}}

* [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]] G1 comics: [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] is killed by an assassin's blast. {{storylink|The Age of Wrath issue 1}} He got better. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 3}}

* [[Movie continuity]]: [[Brawl (Movie)|Brawl]] and [[Blackout (Movie)|Blackout]] both died from weapons fire. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}

* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] gets his face blown off/in by [[Cyclonus (SG)|Cyclonus]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 4}}
{{--}}
===Big explosions===
{{bigquote|They're going to blow us all to pieces! [[Guardian (Marvel)|Guardian]]'s booby-trapped - packed with enough explosives to level this whole mountain!|[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], "[[The Wrath of Grimlock!]]"}}

Transformers characters often assume that explosions are more lethal than they really are; characters survive explosions all the time. An explosion's messy nature makes a good "out" for a writer to fake a character's death. {{storylink|The Wrath of Grimlock!}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}} Nevertheless, a few characters have been permanently killed by explosions. (This list omits characters who exploded from within, like Ultra Magnus up above.)
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]] was the victim of an interdimensionally triggered explosion that destroyed his body. (In UK continuity, he survived as a raggedy, bodiless head.) {{storylink|The Bridge to Nowhere!}}
** In an alternate future, a wounded [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] died in the fiery explosion of a crashing shuttlecraft. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** [[Finback]] was presumably killed in the explosion of a huge gun battery. [[Misfire]] tried to warn him off, and may have been killed in the same explosion. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}

* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon:
** [[Optimus Primal]] was blown to bits -- terminally so -- by the [[transwarp]] explosion that destroyed the [[Planet Buster]]. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}
** [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]] was killed by the explosion that resulted from [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]]'s death (either his exploding spark, or the exploding energon shard that pierced it.) {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

* Several of the [[Beast Era]] [[Wrecker]]s ([[Sonar (BW)|Sonar]], [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]], the [[Deployer (BM)|Deployers]]) were destroyed when part of their ship exploded with them in it. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

* Energon: [[Bruticus Maximus (Energon)|Bruticus Maximus]] and Storm Jet were killed when Storm Jet caused a massive explosion that engulfed them both.

===Impact trauma===
Falling off a cliff or mountainside or tall building is usually just as fatal to Transformers as it is to, say... Wile E. Coyote. Only on rare occasion does it result in death:
* ''[[Classics (2006)|Classics]]'' continuity: [[Hacksaw]] met his end by falling from a huge communications tower. {{storylink|The New World}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Doubledealer]] was shot, fell off a mountain and smashed to bits on impact. {{storylink|Spotlight: Doubledealer}}
* Movie continuity: [[Devastator (ROTF)|Devastator]] fell off the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] after losing his balance when his arm was shot off, and he shattered to pieces as he tumbled down. ''{{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}''
* The [[Beast (G1)|Beast]] fell off a cliff and shattered. {{storylink|The Beast Within Part 2, Consequences}} At least, we hope that's where and how it ended.

===Crushing===
[[Image:Edgeofextinction-hardheadbombburst.jpg|thumb|right|175px|DO NOT WANT]]
[[Image:TFAni TransWarped LongArm Cliffjumper Cube.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Before time began, there was... THE CUBE.]]

Quite a few characters have been crushed into deactivation:
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]] was smashed between [[Unicron]]'s palms, while [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] met a similar fate when they were stepped on by Unicron. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] is apparently killed when a very large building collapses on top of him. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

* [[Unicron Trilogy]] cartoons:
** [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]] is killed when caught between two folding sections of Unicron's external armor. {{storylink|Union}}
** [[Shockblast]] is crushed by Unicron's hand on [[Blizzard Planet]]. {{storylink|The Power}}
** His brother [[Six Shot]] meets a similar fate, crushed under the heel of a super-sized Galvatron. {{storylink|Galvatron Terror}}

* IDW continuity:
** [[Roller]] was crushed when Megatron caused an avanlanche to fall on him.
** [[Ruckus (G1)|Ruckus]], [[Crankcase (G1)|Crankcase]], and [[Skullcruncher]] were all crushed by [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]].

* ''Animated'' cartoon: [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]] is (possibly) killed by a garbage compactor-like crushing device. (An "out" by writer [[Derrick J. Wyatt|Derrick Wyatt]] was intended to show his still-pulsing spark within his cubified remains, but this did not make it into the show, leaving his fate ambiguous at best.) {{storylink|TransWarped}}

===Melting===
[[Image:BW Scorponok Terrorsaur deaths.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Even having a new toy couldn't save Terrorsaur!]]

[[Image:Fallout title.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Primal's diet had gone horribly wrong.]]

They're made of metal; therefore, with enough heat or sufficiently acidic material, they can melt. This is one of the more fool-proof methods of killing a Transformer; few if any have survived it.
* In the G1 cartoon:
** An acid vat would apparently have been enough to destroy Optimus Prime. {{storylink|The Search for Alpha Trion}}
** Another acid vat was used to disintegrate living victims of Unicron. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comics:
** Victims of the Deception [[smelting pool]]s on Cybertron were reduced by intense heat into their base metals, including [[Scrounge (G1)|Scrounge]]. {{storylink|The Smelting Pool!}}
** It is possible that an acid bath from (naturally) [[Blot (G1)|Blot]] offlined [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] [[Makin' Tracks!|(for a while anyway)]]. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] was partially melted by Unicron's flame-breath and subsequently died. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The [[Cybertronian (faction)|Cybertronian Empire]] used some kind of acid to rather messily eradicate some of their Decepticon ancestors, including [[Stranglehold]]. {{storylink|New Dawn}}

* In the Beast Era cartoons:
** [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] and [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] were apparently melted to death after tumbling into a lava pit within the [[Darksyde|Predacon base]]. {{storylink|Aftermath}}
** Optimus Primal's body was seemingly melted into the floor after his climactic face-off with [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]. Considering how many god-like forces were unleashed and conflicting during the battle, his demise may be due to more than simple temperature-induced melting. {{storylink|Fallout}}

===Incineration===
{{bigquote|I saw the end! They died in a cosmic funeral pyre!|[[Shawn Berger]], "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2]]"}}

[[Image:Armada 52 - Prime hangon to Galvatron.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Galvatron died to save everyone and came back ''twice''—you lose, [[Jesus]]!]]

Plasma, energy fields, and stellar atmospheres can all utterly destroy a Transformer's body. Like being melted, being reduced to one's component molecules would seem to be a surefire way of getting killed, but quite a few characters seem able to survive the process as ghosts and/or disembodied sparks:
* Generation 1 cartoon: [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]'s spectacular death at the hands of [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] might be categorized as incineration. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* Quite a few characters met this fate in the Unicron Trilogy, but all survived it in some fashion:
** [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]]'s spark persisted within his burnt-out body when he was dropped into the exploding Unicron. {{storylink|Mortal Combat}} {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}
** [[Demolishor (Armada)|Demolishor]]'s body was obliterated by an expanding energon grid, but his spark survived the process and was placed in a new body. {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}}
** [[Inferno (Energon)|Inferno]] was destroyed when he threw himself into a star, but his spark was salvaged by the Autobots and, again, placed in a new body. {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
** And finally, Megatron (Galvatron, whatever) threw himself into Primus's new energon sun to prevent Unicron from possessing him, killing himself yet again. {{storylink|The Sun}} This death was so inconsequential that his subsequent resurrection wasn't even explained! {{storylink|Fallen (episode)|Fallen}}

===Consumption===
{{bigquote|...If we don't find the Matrix, some bad guy's gonna ''eat'' us! Right?|Longtooth, "[[Deadly Obsession]]"}}

[[Image:Wreckers Mutants.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The shocking death of the barely-seen guys with hardly any lines!]]
[[Image:Rocky mecannibal bartender marvel uk 240.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Cannibalism is hilarious, kids!]]

Quite a few critters in the multiverse are equipped to devour giant robots. Being eaten (and, presumably, digested) generally proves fatal:
* In the G1 cartoon:
** Various life forms were routinely devoured by the [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticon]]s on Quintessa. This included [[Kranix]], a mechanical life form, though not a Transformer. [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] and [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] would have suffered this fate as well, but fought their way free. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Quite a few Transformers found their way into Unicron's gullet, though many survived the experience. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comic:
** The [[Mecannibal]]s ate robots routinely, including quite a few Transformers during their sojourn on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} {{storylink|Out to Lunch!}} There is some indication that they could actually reconstitute their victims from their "recycled" parts, though this is never explicitly shown. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
** Unicron skewered [[Brainstorm]] and ate him. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The subsurface-dwelling [[demon]]s devoured [[Runabout]]. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The Swarm "devoured" innumerable Cybertronian troopers and a handful of older-generation Transformers as well, though this was through a molecular process almost akin to incineration. {{storylink|Swarm (issue)|Swarm}} {{storylink|Total War!}} {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* The Sharkticons killed two of the [[Mutant (BW)|Mutant]]s by gobbling them up. Or ripping them apart. Or both. We don't really know. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

===Disassembly===
[[Image:Jazz DyingAction.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"HERE'S what I think of your resemblance to your G1 counterpart!"]]

Taking a Transformer apart into its component parts can occasionally kill them:
* Marvel comics: [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] met this fate in an alternate future, when Swoop used a machine to pull him apart into his component pieces. {{storylink|Another Time and Place}}
* Movie continuity: Being ripped in half killed [[Jazz (Movie)|Jazz]]. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}
* [[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]: [[Pyro]] was torn apart and killed while making a final stand against a mass of generic Decpticons.

===Decapitation===
{{main|Decapitation}}

[[Image:Cyclonus death.jpg|thumb|right|150px| "CHUK!" is good, but I could really go for a "Shakkooosh" right about now.]]

Sometimes cutting a Transformer's head off is fatal. Sometimes!
* In the Marvel comics:
** The Megatron clone killed Cyclonus by ripping his head off. {{storylink|Dry Run!}}
** Several of the Wreckers were killed by having their heads ripped or blasted off, including Twin Twist and Topspin, respectively. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars}}
** [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] had his head cut off by a propeller fired by [[Leadfoot (G2)|Leadfoot]], presumably (given the ''Generation 2'' book's emphasis on body count) killing him. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** Characters frequently die by decapitation of some form: [[Bonecrusher (Movie)|Bonecrusher]], {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and [[Grindor (ROTF)|Grindor]]. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
** Decapitation was an inconvenience for [[Frenzy (Movie)|Frenzy]] the first time. The second time, when the blow actually destroyed most of his head, was fatal.

===Vivisection===
[[Image:VictoryUKAnnual.JPG|thumb|right|150px| Ahhhh, there we go...]]

{{bigquote|I have no desire to be carved up into Auto-sushi.|Tracks, "[[Make Tracks]]"}}

Getting chopped in half is pretty graphic for a kids' story, even one about robots, so it doesn't happen very often.
* Marvel comics: In a dream sequence, [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] slices [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] in half, killing him. {{storylink|Victory!}}
* Japanese G1 cartoon: [[Predaking]] gets sliced in half by Dai Atlas. The strike dissects what appears to be an organic brain in his head. {{storylink|Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!}}
* ''Beast Wars Metals'': Terrorsaur was killed by being sliced in half by Primal's mace. {{storylink|Raise the Curtain for Beast Wars Metals!!}}
* Movie continuity: [[Sideways (ROTF)|Sideways]] dies when [[Sideswipe (ROTF)|Sideswipe]] slices his car mode in two. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Destruction of brain===
{{bigquote|Next strike in the neural cluster, yes? Weakest spot on ''all'' Transformers...|[[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], "[[Fire on High!]]"}}

In the early days of the franchise, a Transformer's life force was sometimes understood to be entirely contained within their [[brain module]], most prominently in the Marvel comics. Destroying the brain would kill the Transformer. This premise was eventually passed over in favor of the more esoteric concept of [[spark]]s.
* In the Marvel comics:
** In an alternate future, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] is blasted by [[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], who kills him by extracting and crushing his brain module. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** The [[Throttlebot]]s ''avoid'' death by having their brain modules removed from their bodies shortly before their bodies are destroyed (by crushing). {{storylink|Toy Soldiers!}}

===Destruction of spark===
{{bigquote|RAW energon! Right through your twisted spark!|Depth Charge to Rampage, "[[Nemesis Part 1]]"}}

[[Image:Skyfallwontbethereforit.jpg|thumb|right|200px|And then he hung Skyfall from his ceiling.]]

Getting stabbed right through the spark is almost always fatal:
* In ''Beast Wars'': The supposedly immortal Rampage was killed when Depth Charge pierced his spark with an energon blade. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}
* ''[[Transcendent Technomorph|TransTech]]'': [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] died when [[Alpha Trion (SG)|Alpha Trion]] rammed his sword right through his chest. {{storylink|Transcendent: Part 6}}
*Energon: [[Constructicon Maximus]] was killed when [[Storm Jet (Energon)|Storm Jet]] impaled and crushed his spark.
* Dreamwave Continuity: [[Wreck Gar (G1)|Wreck Gar]] was impaled and seemingly killed by Megatron. However due to the resiliant nature of [[Junkions]] it is unlikely he is actually dead.
* ''Cybertron'': Galvatron died after being impaled with [[Rhisling]] by Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Unfinished}}
* Movie continuity: Optimus Prime died from a stab wound through the chest, quickly followed by a cannon blast through the spark chamber from Megatron's swordcannon weapon.[[The Fallen]] also met his end when Optimus punched through his chest and crushed his spark. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* ''Beast Machines'' continuity: [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] - already reduced to a spark within the matrix - ceased to be when Megatron annihilated his spark from existence. {{storylink|Singularity Ablyss}}
* [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|Titan's Movie comics]]: Transformers have forcefields shielding their sparks, which can be externalized to protect bodywork. Jazz loved doing this, leaving him far more vulnerable to death by destruction of spark than he would otherwise be. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 6|Lost in Space 4: Jazz}}

===Loss of spark===
{{bigquote|Warning. Further expenditure will result in permanent loss of spark. Stasis lock ''must'' commence.|[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]]'s internal computer, "[[Code of Hero]]"}}

Sometimes sparks can survive outside of a body; sometimes they cannot. In the Beast Era, there is some indication that a spark left outside a body will soon begin to return to the Matrix/AllSpark/another dimension.
* When Dinobot expires after his final battle, his Spark is seen exiting his body. The implication is that a sufficiently damaged body can no longer hold a spark within this dimension. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* ''Beast Machines'' subsequently showed living sparks existing outside of bodies on a regular basis. The sparkless bodies were simply considered shells, rather than "dead".
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Prowl dies when he intentionally relinquishes his own spark. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}
* Movie continuity: Jetfire rips out his own spark chamber to give Optimus a fighting chance. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Energy overload===
{{bigquote|We may need energon for power, but this is too much of a good thing.|[[Optimus Primal]], "[[Beast Wars (Part 1)]]"}}

[[Image:TFAnimated transformandrollout DEATH.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Death — the Optimus version of a power nap.]]
[[Image:Underbaseallmine.jpg|thumb|right|200px|He's got an Underbase in his underpants.]]

The average [[human]] needs a lot of [[water]] to survive. But too much water results in [[wikipedia:Water intoxication|a horrible death]]. Similarly, Transformers need energy to survive, but too much of it can be a very bad thing. Sometimes it's just plain old energy; other times it some special god-like force that does them in.
* In the Marvel comics:
** An [[Underbase]]-empowered Starscream slaughtered dozens of Transformers with energy blasts, {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}} which reportedly burned out millions of their microchips. {{storylink|Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?}} Some Transformers were seen to recover from these attacks, either via conventional repairs {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} or through the power of [[nucleon]]. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
** Starscream himself was killed when he absorbed all the energies of the Underbase. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] was apparently killed when struck by a blast of energy from the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]], though the physical effect was more like being hit by an especially powerful laser blast. {{storylink|All Fall Down (issue)}}

* ''Super-God Masterforce'' cartoon: [[Sixknight]] died from an overcharge of BlackZarak's Devil Power. {{storylink|Malevolent and Inhuman! The True Form of Devil Z}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runabout]] dies when one of the [[Reaper]]s zaps him full of energy, causing him to explode from within. {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* Movie continuity: [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] was killed when [[Sam Witwicky]] shoved the [[AllSpark]] into his chest. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)|Transformers}}
* ''Transformers Animated'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] got caught in an explosion of [[AllSpark]] energy that may have been sufficient to kill him, although he also fell off a very tall building immediately afterwards (Starscream was caught in the same explosion and survived, but was knocked offline for an unspecified period.)

===Energy depletion===
On rare occasion, Transformers can simply run out of energy completely and expire.
* Marvel comics: the ancient [[Overlord (rank)|Overlord]] died from a lack of energy. {{storylink|State Games}}
* Movie continuity: [[Jetfire (ROTF)|Jetfire]] explains that a lack of energon causes the Transformer equivalent of aging, such as rusting joints, mental confusion, and pieces falling apart, followed by an indefinite period of stasis that can only be reversed by an infusion of Allspark energy. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Suicide===
Sometimes a Transformers kills himself for some reason.
* Marvel comics
** Megatron seemingly killed himself using a [[space bridge]] though it was later revealed that he survived.
** Dirge and Nightbeat self destructed and destroyed themselves in a last ditch attempt to destroy the Swarm.
* Beast Wars
** [[Tigerhawk]] sacrificed himself by hurling himself in the way of a fusion cannon blast from the Nemesis.
* Energon: Galvatron, Starscream, and [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Mirage]] threw themselves into a sun and vaporized themselves. [[Snow Cat (Energon)|Snow Cat]] and Demolisher may have also done this.

==Non-fatal deactivation==
{{quote|"You mean he's still alive?!" "No! But neither is he what you would term 'dead'!"|[[Spider-Man]] and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], "[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

[[Image:Zombiesbackfromthedead.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Braiiiiiin mooooodulllllles....]]

For almost every single cause of death listed above, there's been one or more Transformers who have survived it, sometimes without so much as a period of unconsciousness.

In particular, "deactivation" is the Transformers equivalent of being in a coma. Numerous Transformers are seen to enter this state and eventually recover, such as the Autobots deactivated by Shockwave {{storylink|The Last Stand}}, who later were repaired. However, the line between death and deactivation is a blurry one. Sometimes the two words are used interchangeably, even in reference to characters who are later revived. Most of Starscream's Underbase victims were described as deactivated, and were sometimes lamented as "dead" while at other times were shown undergoing repairs. {{storylink|Back from the Dead}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}

"[[Stasis lock]]" would eventually give a more concrete name to the state of deactivation. The inert Transformers on the crashed Ark were retconned as being in stasis lock. Various ''Beast Wars'' characters would go into stasis lock to maintain their spark when their body had sustained too much damage from weaponsfire or energon absorption. ''Animated'' showed a crew of Autobots voluntarily entering protective stasis lock in anticipation of a crash landing.

Some of the quasi-fatal things which can cause a Transformer to "deactivate" include:

===Impact trauma===
Smashing into something usually knocks out a Transformer, but almost never actually kills them:
* The crew of the original Ark is deactivated when the ship crashes on Earth and lies inert for 4 million years {{storylink|More than Meets the Eye, Part 1}} {{storylink|The Transformers (issue)}}
* Marvel comics: [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] falls to his "death", but is patched together and talking again in short order. {{storylink|Prisoner of War!}}

===Decapitation===
[[Image:Sentinelprimeanimatedhumiliated.jpg|thumb|200px|In the movie continuity, this would've been fatal. In ''Animated'', it's just embarrassing.]]

{{bigquote|Anyone who can lop your head off in one blow is alright by me!|[[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] jokes about [[Cloudburst]]'s near-death experience, "[[Recipe for Disaster!]]"}}

Like we said before, decapitation is sometimes fatal... and other times it isn't.
* Marvel comic:
** Optimus Prime was able to survive as just a head when Shockwave separated it from his body in an effort to get the Creation Matrix. {{storylink|The New Order}}
**[[Cloudburst]] was abruptly decapitated by sword, but was just fine after some repairs. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
* G1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was disassembled into his component parts, but functioned just fine as nothing more than a head once [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] connected a few wires. {{storylink|City of Steel}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] survives having his head blasted or otherwise knocked off multiple times {{storylink|Spider's Game}} {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}} {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)}} {{storylink|Code of Hero}}, and even put it back on himself one time. He even accidently swapped heads with Megatron once. Megatron was not amused. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]] was just fine when one of the Reapers whacked his head off. (He didn't fare so well when another Reaper crushed his head with a boulder, however.) {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Decapitated victims of the ''Animated'' [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] rarely show any ill effects other than not having a body anymore. {{storylink|Headmaster (episode)|Headmaster}} {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}} {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

===Dismemberment===
Transformers get ripped to pieces all the time, and recover from it:
* Marvel comic: Scorponok tears [[Tantrum]] to pieces. [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] slices [[Horri-Bull]] in half at the waist. Both are seen alive later on. {{storylink|Cold War!}}
* Last Stand of the Wreckers: [[Guzzle]] is torn in half by [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] and is easily repaired.

===Spark removal===
{{bigquote|His spark can't exist outside a living body!|[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]], "[[Optimal Situation]]"}}

A Transformer's spark—their "soul", their living essence—can be removed from their body, or the body can be destroyed around them
* The destruction of Starscream's body, and his subsequent survival as a ghost, was eventually retconned to be his Spark enduring without a physical form. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Tigatron and Airazor's sparks spent quite some time wandering around behind Tigerhawk, before combining and entering his body. {{storylink|Other Victories}}

* In the ''Beast Machines'' cartoon:
** Megatron de-sparked most of Cybertron's population and stored their sparks in a big barrel. Most were restored to bodies eventually. {{storylink|Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}}
** Blackarachnia's spark wandered around bodiless for a time. {{storylink|Revelations Part III: Apocalypse}}
** Megatron himself, his spark in a depolarized state, wandered the surface of Cybertron without a body for a time. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}

The treatment of bodiless sparks in ''Beast Machines'' is seen by some fans as contradicting the canon established by ''Beast Wars'', particularly the quote above.

===Limbo===
Sometimes Transformers get shunted out of creation as we know it, and into various alternate, sub- and non-dimensions.
* Marvel comics:
** The [[Trans-Time Dimensional Portal]] crosses [[unspace]], "a bit of dimensional nothingness" where Ratchet and Megatron vanished and were believed dead. {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}
** Transformers mass-displaced by time travel wind up in a formless dimension known as [[Limbo]].
* IDW comics: Megatron severely damaged Optimus Prime in battle and planned on finishing him off by crushing his [[Laser core|spark core]]. Optimus Prime feigned death by downloading his "consciousness" into his [[Combat Deck|trailer section]], causing his [[Brain Center|robot mode]] to appear dead. In the time it took for Prime's consciousness to transfer to his trailer, he briefly entered [[infraspace|limbo]], the transitional infraspace between life and death. {{storylink|Escalation (IDW)|Escalation}}

==Resuscitation==
Robots are machines. They can be switched off, taken apart, blown to bits, and put back together. Ergo, in many continuities and cases, "death" is not nearly as permanent a condition as it is for us fragile fleshy types.

===Reconstruction===
[[Image:PeoplePower-reprogrammed.jpg|thumb|right|250px| ]]

{{bigquote|I've done it! Optimus Prime lives!|A random Quintesson, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]"}}

* Generation 1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was simply ''repaired'' back to life by a Quintesson. Some fixing of this and that, a burst of power, and boom, suddenly he was alive again. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}}
* Marvel Comics: Optimus Prime's mind was encoded on a disk. After a new [[Powermaster]] body was constructed for him, the disk's contents were loaded into it, and Optimus Prime lived again. (One wonders why they couldn't make as many Optimus Primes as they pleased.) {{storylink|People Power!}}

===Spark transfer===
Transferring a Transformer's spark into a new body constitutes a form of resurrection, particularly if the Transformer's previous body was destroyed.
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Optimus Primal was restored to life when Rhinox managed to recall his spark from the Matrix, a special circumstance only enabled by a temporary window into transwarp space. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* ''Armada'' Smokescreen was shot through the chest at point blank range by the Requiem Blaster {{storylink|Sacrifice}} but his spark survived and was put into a new body. {{storylink|Regeneration}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Inferno and Demolishor both had their bodies ''atomized''; however, their sparks both survived, and were placed into new bodies. (The upshot of all of this is that it's nigh-impossible to kill a Unicron Trilogy Transformer, unless they do it themselves.) {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}} {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: The spark of a dying [[Yoketron]] was placed into a new protoform body by [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]; however, Yoketron consciously chose to let his life end, and expired anyway. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}}

==="Magical" substances===
* Marvel Comics: The miraculous healing properties of Nucleon brought many Autobots back to life, as well as a few Decepticons. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Megatron was revived by the all-encompassing power of energon, as was Unicron. {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}

===Primus and Primus-related powers===
{{bigquote|Where the Last Autobot is concerned, even death, it would appear, is an abstract concept!|Optimus Prime explains his latest revival, "[[End of the Road! (US)|End of the Road!]]"}}

Anything tied to the primordial life-force of the Transformers' god Primus tends to be a cure-all for death. This includes Primus himself, his various power-wielding avatars and servants, and the assorted Matrixes and Allsparks, all of which can deliver an infusion of the essence of life itself. In some continuities, this is parsed as a Transformer's spark being brought back out of the Allspark dimension.

[[Image:RageInHeaven-HeroPrime.jpg|thumb|right|150px|]]

* In the Marvel comics:
** The [[Last Autobot]] was granted the power of recreation by Primus, which he used to raise numerous fallen Autobots from the battlefield. {{storylink|End of the Road! (US)}}
** Optimus Prime was eager to find the lost Creation Matrix, stating that it would be able to restore many deactivated warriors to life. {{storylink|Bird of Prey!}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the [[Swarm (G2)|Swarm]] after it had ingested the energies and knowledge of the Matrix. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** The Allspark is shown repeatedly to be capable of restoring just about anything. Frenzy gets a whole new body from its power, {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and Megatron is restored to life by merely a fragment of it. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the Matrix of Leadership, an Allspark-related talisman. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

* ''Beast Machines'' cartoon: [[Optimus Primal]]'s body was destroyed, but the AllSpark granted him the choice of uniting with it or being reborn. He chose the latter, and ''poof'', just walked right out of the Oracle bubble in a brand new version of his previous body. {{storylink|Fallout}}
* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] was brought back to life by the power of the [[Mini-Con]]s after his body was disintegrated. {{storylink|Miracle}}
* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] was resurrected when he and his gestaltmates were combined together and reborn by Primus into [[Nexus Prime]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 5}} Nexus Prime then brought [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] back from the other side of the Allspark and infused him with some of Primus's power to become Galvatron. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 6}}

===Zombies===
* Dude, [[zombie]]s!

==Immortality==
===Immortal sparks===
Certain sparks have mutant qualities that allow them to, potentially, exist forever.
* Starscream survived his death at the hands of Galvatron; this was later explained as him having a "mutant indestructible spark". {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}} {{storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] was created as an attempt to duplicate Starscream's immortal spark. {{storylink|Bad Spark}} He was eventually killed by [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]], so the attempt may be seen as unsuccessful. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

===Other===
* [[Multiversal singularity|Multiversal singularities]] such as [[Unicron]] and [[The Fallen]] can be killed off in one dimension, only to still be alive and well in another (or many others), due to the varying properties of different dimensions (reverse-time, dimensions, for example are key to revival of the singularities).
* ''Animated'' [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] could not be killed so long as he retained his Allspark fragment embedded in his forehead.
* Denizens of the [[Dead Universe]] could essentially regenerate themselves out of nothing, no matter how much damage was inflicted on them.
* Thunderwing's Pretender shell seemed to make him near invincible. At the very lest able to withstand incredible amounts of salvo and not even flinch.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] can never completely die no matter what for some reason.

==Out-of-fiction causes of character death==
===Drama / character culmination===
At its best, character death can be a moving plot development, the fruition of an ongoing character arc.
* Suspecting that they would have to remove a character from the show, the writers of ''Beast Wars'' began planning for Dinobot's death several episodes ahead of time. Thus, when it came, it was the outcome of the character's own choices, flaws, and history, and played a crucial role in the show's plot. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* Sunstreaker's death in ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' is intended to follow a similar style of arc... only it's missing the whole choices, flaws and history thing. Oh well!
* Optimus Primal's death(s) in ''Beast Machines'' are likewise the outcome of his own choices and character. {{storylink|End of the Line}} {{storylink| Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}} His death in ''Beast Wars'', by contrast, was more a moment of dramatic pathos -- knowingly walking into danger, his enemy got the better of him. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}

===Consequences of war===
It's hard to take a war story seriously when nobody actually dies. The reality of war can be more readily portrayed when characters die. [[Generic]]s are particularly handy for this, allowing death to be shown while not removing primary characters (retail toys!) from the story. The results can range from high drama and pathos to numbingly pointless body counts.
* Impactor's death was used to drive home the threat of the Decepticons as well as the risks taken by the Autobots and their commanders. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
* The ''Generation 2'' book featured several deaths which drove home the realities of war. Most notably, Red Alert's destruction served to make Grimlock acutely aware of just how badly he'd screwed up. {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}}

===Increased threat===
An enemy that kills is an enemy to be taken seriously. Thus a writer will frequently throw in some preliminary deaths to point out how seriously the bad guy should be treated.
* The generic who dies at the beginning of "[[City of Fear!]]" serves to show the zombies as a true life-threatening menace.
* Likewise for Runabout's death at the hands of the demons ; {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}} knowing they can devour a Transformer makes the reader more concerned about the Dinobots' subsequent fate. {{storylink|Still Life!}}
* In "[[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]", [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] makes corpses in practically every scene he's in!

===Cast thinning===
Transformers stories are notorious for acquiring gigantic casts as they roll on; Generation 1 was particularly notorious for this because of its longevity. A simple way to make things more manageable was simply to kill off large numbers of characters in battle. Examples are rife in the fiction, especially the Marvel Comics.

* In the Marvel comics:
** The "[[Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars]]" storyline got rid of the [[Wrecker]]s and quite a few Decepticons as well.
** The [[Underbase Saga]] even more explicitly cleared out dozens of characters, leaving perhaps 2 dozen characters from each faction in the story.
** The battle with Unicron in "[[On the Edge of Extinction!]]" likewise got rid of a lot of older characters, leaving the story free to concentrate on more of a core cast (and associated newer toy characters.)
* [[Betrayal|Wreckers #2]] dealt with its oversized cast by killing off scads of characters right up front.

===Clear space for new toys===
{{main|To sell toys}}

Some fiction has an inherently limited capacity for characters. ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines'' are by far the most prominent examples; their CGI animation made character animation expensive and necessitated removing an old character before a new one could be brought in. But any medium can be susceptible to this toy-driven phenomena.
* The numerous casualties of "[[The Transformers: The Movie]]" were fairly explicitly removed from the story to make way for a wave of new toy/characters.
* Terrorsaur and Scorponok had to be removed -- quickly -- to make room for the two upcoming Fuzor characters, hence their sudden, blink-and-you-miss-it death in "[[Aftermath]]".
* Airazor and Tigatron were removed for similar reasons. When their plot was finally resolved, it was, surprise, via [[Tigerhawk|a new toy]]!

==Fleshling death==
In general, ''Transformers'' fiction is pretty squeamish about showing the deaths of Earth's organic creatures. But it's a war, and sometimes it does happen. The out-of-universe reasons generally fall into three categories: Consequences of War, Emotional Pathos, and BLOOD IZ KEWL.

The various cartoons tend to show organic death the least, as they are most clearly aimed at, and easily accessible by, children. Comics tend to be less reluctant to show the impact of the Transformers' war on innocent lives, though the death rate varies by series. Latter-day Generation 1 books especially revel in high body counts, because squishing stupid humans is killer and awesome and radical and hardcore. Even the occasional [[Satellite of Doom|children's storybook]] has been known to off mass quantities of the dumb fleshies.

===Animal death===
[[Image:MurderedPuppy02.jpg|right|150px|thumb|One dead dog]]

[[Image:Sparkwar3 Dead noble.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Two dead dogs]]

Cute little animals are almost always killed off for reasons of Emotional Pathos:
* A little girl's pet puppy named [[Pis]] barked at [[Wilder]] and was kicked so hard he died. {{storylink|Rage!! Little Devils with No Need for Rules}}
* The [[Murdered puppy]] was shot down by the Decepticons after running away from Megatron's experiments. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 8|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #8}}
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] once reminded [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] that [[The Fallen]] once shot down a ship full of [[Antilian bumble-puppy|Antilian bumble-puppies]]. (Decepticons have a thing for killing puppies.)
* The puppy-like [[Noble]] was shot at by [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] because of his hatred for organics {{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. III: The Siege}} and was later mourned by his "owner", [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}.
* A stray shot from [[Tigatron]] accidentally caused an avalanche which killed his friend [[Snowstalker]]. {{storylink|Law of the Jungle}}
* "[[Law of the Jungle]]" also portrays the deaths of four different forest animals (a bug is eaten by a frog, which is eaten by a snake, which is taken off to be eaten by a bird. Later, an orange tiger kills an antelope). This is a rare "Consequences of War" example.
* [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] also once ate an eagle, {{storylink|Power Surge}} while [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] ate a cute little rat {{storylink|Victory (episode)|Victory}}, and nearly ate an antelope as well. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* In order to save [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] had to fight a saber-toothed tiger off a cliff killing it. {{Storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] used [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel]]'s shield to knock a spikey rock onto a giant spider effectively killing it. She later used [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus]]' axe to kill some new born baby spiders. {{Storylink|Along Came a Spider}}
* Human villain [[Trophy White]] had a grisly display of stuffed and mounted animal heads. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}}

{{-}}
===Human death===
[[Image:Razorclawshootsahuman.jpg|right|thumb|250px|This didn't happen much.]]

* Marvel US: The [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|original Marvel book]] ignored or glossed over human casualties, which were rarely if ever shown; the panel at right, from [[Toy Soldiers!|US #37]], shows a ''very'' unusual instance of a human dying right in front of us. One of the few human(oid)s to die on-panel was [[Galen]], killed off to make way for [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]]. ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' was much more explicit about human death, as Bludgeon and later [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] attacked Earth for the purpose of inflicting casualties.
* Marvel UK: The UK-original stories were much less reluctant to show human death; within the first year or so, humans had died in Autobot-induced car wrecks and at the hands of mind-controlled Autobots.
* In every US-aired cartoon series, humans essentially ''never'' die. Even ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Transformers Animated]]'', which features the city of [[Detroit]] getting smashed by robot battles virtually every week, never once mentions humans getting killed.
* Contemporary toyline-based comics (''[[Armada (Dreamwave comic)|Armada]]'', ''[[Energon (comic)|Energon]]'') seem to follow a similar policy, avoiding mention of human death -- even when human cities are being directly attacked, as in "[[Multiplicity, Pt. 2]]".
* Japanese cartoons, by contrast, don't seem to mind showing human deaths (or [[Pis|dog deaths]], for that matter).
* The [[Dreamwave Generation One continuity|Dreamwave G1 comics]] really thought it was totally awesome and cool and radical to kill off those stupid humans. Thus, they start off with Megatron smushing some stupid humans. More smushing and killing and blowing up follows. DIE, dumb stubbies, DIE!
* [[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW comics]] managed to avoid this for a long time, showing human death only when it was particularly integral to the plot... then ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' came down the pike. DIE, stupid fleshies, DIE!
* The live-action [[movie continuity]] implies a great deal of human death. ''Revenge'' mentions a body count of over 9,000, and massive damage is done during the battle of [[Mission City]], though little of it is shown on screen. And of course, the first film begins with Blackout wiping out an entire military base. A handful of humans are killed directly on-screen, most notably [[Patrick Donnelly|Donnelly]].
* The alternate timeline arc in Titan's Movie comic featured big wars on Earth and lots of destruction, clearly ''insinuating'' human death while not being explicit. The exceptions were in [[Transformers Comic issue 10|issue 10]], where [[NATO]] is said to be suffering losses of 11,506 and the [[France|Palais Bourbon]] is blown up when people are still clearly inside. [[Sam Witwicky]], meanwhile, was stated to have died.
* Titan quite blatantly stated that the [[Free Men]] had caused great loss of life at an air base, a rare example of humans killing humans. In the same story, [[Robert Epps]] opened fire on militia men, which kinda implies he was killing them. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}} Similarly, [[Wheelie (ROTF)|Wheelie]] of all people was seen zapping humans at close range during a Decepticon attack; with no "oh it was a stun beam" handwave and the 'Cons not pulling punches, it sure seems like he's murdered 'em! {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.6|Outlaw Blues}}
* In ''[[Kiss Players (franchise)|Kiss Players]]'', several [[Kiss Player]]s were seen being devoured by Legions.

==Characters who die a lot==
* [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|Optimus Prime]]
* [[Dirge (G1)]] — the unlucky guy who gets [[:Image:Dirge DeathSerpentor.jpg|killed]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathSwarm.jpg|off]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathTimelines.jpg|in]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathUnicron.jpg|many]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathArmada.jpg|continuities]]
* [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] — the unlucky guy who gets killed over and over in the same continuity, but doesn't seem to mind.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] — the unlucky guy from ''[[Beast Wars (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'' who gets sliced, diced, and fricasseed every other episode only to be fully functional in time to get [[Slag (slang)|slagged]] ''again''. But he never actually dies.
* [[Cy-Kill (disambiguation)|Cy-Kill]], a Go-Bots character transferred to many Transformers comics just to be killed off violently. For no other reason than the lolz of ending his toyline, his universe, and finally his life... repeatedly.
* [[Sentinel Prime (G1)]] — the unlucky [[Prime (rank)|Prime]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime lou.jpg|who]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime dw.jpg|must]] [[Megatron Origin issue 4|die]].
* [[Starscream (Animated)]] - the unlucky guy that constantly gets killed, decapitated, or maimed by others, only to be brought back to life.

==See also==
* [[Transformer funerary practices]]
* [[To sell toys]]

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Transformer anatomy]]

Sparkwar Pt. II: The Search

2011-01-25T00:24:43Z

174.96.255.90: /* Technical or animation errors */

{{episode
|series=BMtoon
|ep=21
|image=Sparkwar2 Optimus hologram primal.jpg
|caption="Wait, if you're Optimus Prime, why do you have a mouth?" "All the better to eat you with, my dear Primal"
|title="Sparkwar Pt. II: The Search"
|airdate=[[March 29]], 2000
|written by=[[Michael Reaves]]
|directed by=[[Gino Nichele]]
|production company=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|animation studio=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|continuty=[[Beast Wars continuity]]
}}

'''The Maximals continue their search for the missing sparks.'''

:''French title:'' '''La Guerre des Étincelles (Partie 2)''' ("The War of the Sparks (Part 2)")
:''French-Canadian title:'' '''Guerre des Étincelles p2: La Recherche''' ("War of the Sparks Pt.2: The Search")
:''Japanese title:'' '''虚像の導き''' (''Kyozō no Michibiki'', "The Illusion's Guidance")
:''Spanish title:'' '''Guerra de Chispas Parte 2: La Búsqueda'''

==Synopsis==
[[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]'s fascist planet is being patrolled by legions of the new drones as the [[Maximal]]s, in beast mode, make their way along the lower levels of the surface. They observe that Megatron is fortifying his position. [[Optimus Primal|Optimus]] has a jolting vision of the drifting [[Spark]]s, apparently the [[Oracle (BM)|Oracle]] contacting him about the Sparks, which have been moved.

Within the [[Grand Mal|big floating head]], Megatron speaks to his three generals, directing them to locations where the Maximals will be, and instructing them to capture Optimus alive.

[[Image:Sparkwar2 Rattrap generators.jpg|left|thumb|200px|"I nicked this out of Tony Stark's chest."]]
[[Rattrap]] introduces the team to his [[scrambled field generator]] devices, small disks intended to befuddle the Vehicons' sensors. Rattrap's not ''quite'' sure they'll work, but the team figures it's better than nothing. The group tries them out, changing to robot modes... then dives for cover as [[Obsidian (BM)|Obsidian]] passes by overhead. But the general doesn't notice them, instead moving to carry out his orders along with [[Strika (BM)|Strika]].

Optimus tells the group that his flashes were of familiar places, and splits them up into three teams to go investigate. Rattrap and [[Botanica (BM)|Botanica]] aren't too happy at being paired up, but the group deploys as ordered.

At the Maximal shell yard just outside processing plant #57, [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]], [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] and [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] move in. Silverbolt is not interested in taking orders from Cheetor, despite Blackarachnia's assurance that a ''lot'' has changed since they were parted. Obsidian, watching from concealment, prepares his strike force.

As Optimus and [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] walk below the surface, Nightscream finds a familiar claw slash in the wall. Nightscream wants to find [[Noble]], but Primal gently persuades him to take one job at a time. They run into a cave-in around the corner; Op's eyes flash with white light, and, glancing at a floor hatch, he says they're heading down...

Rattrap and Botanica arrive outside the Citadel, still squabbling. Rattrap detects a massive positronic residual charge, but inside they find piles and piles of Spark canisters... empty. They've arrived here too late. They depart, only to be ambushed by Strika. Botanica is chagrined that Rattrap's scramblers didn't work very long; they fall back.

Obsidian observes from high above as the Maximals explore the shell complex. Silverbolt and Cheetor argue over the latter's leadership capabilities, till Obsidian attacks. Surrounded, Silverbolt decides a berserker head-on attack is the only option.

[[Image:Sparkwar2 Maximals over iacon.jpg|right|thumb|200px|"The decaying ruins of Old New York... This place brings back a lot of memories-" "Keep 'em to yourself, Pops."]]
Optimus and Nightscream, meanwhile, have found a stunning ruin below the surface, a great city that was replaced after the [[Great War (G1)|Great War]] between the Autobots and the Decepticons, during the Great Upgrade: Iacon. The two apparently trigger a ghostly spector, a holographic tribute to the original [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]].

Rattrap and Botanica get out of robot mode to escape detection, and duck into a convenient building; Strika drives by without finding them. Rattrap taps his scrambler disk uncertainly, only to get snapped at by Botanica. But Rattrap's attention is suddenly distracted by the contents of the building they're in: holographic pleasure chips. He loads several of said chips into his backpack, then spots some sort of player for the chips just then. He plugs into it, becoming enthralled with a vision of a peaceful metallic world. Just then Strika enters and attacks.

At the shell plant, Silverbolt finally gets blasted back to the ground, and rebuked by Cheetor for his recklessness.

Optimus and Nightscream are about to move on, when the virtual Prime reaches down and scoops Optimus up, bringing him up to face level. From Nightscream's point of view, the hologram disappears, though Optimus continues to float in mid-air. Thrust arrives just then and attacks, but Optimus is seemingly in a trance.

[[Image:Sparkwar2 Rattrap holoenviron.jpg|left|thumb|200px|A wondrous robotic world and no civil war destroying everything? That's disgusting.]]
Rattrap is still lost in his fantasy world, till Botanica pulls the machine's plug. A blast scatters the Maximals as well as Rattrap's precious chips, which he scrambles to scoop up. He tells Botanica to keep Strika occupied.

As leader, Cheetor decides on a strategic advance to the rear.

Nightscream is dodging cycle drone shots, while Optimus talks with Optimus on some other plane. The Prime hologram tells him that the Oracle lies within him, and he has but to summon it. Primal does so, and is surrounded by a white, Oracle-style hoola-hoop. The hologram of Optimus Prime chuckles... then laughs... a laugh which quickly deepens into that of Megatron, whose face suddenly replaces the figure of Prime.

Strika is posed to deliver a killing blow to Botanica, when Rattrap notices that one of her feet is on the activation pad of the holo-player he was using earlier. He leaps, landing on her shoulders and plugging one of the chips into her head, ensnaring her with the same vision that he was having before. He's pretty pleased with himself; Botanica drags him off.

In the shell yard, Cheetor has a bit of inspiration. The Maximals use a discarded power core to defeat their tormentors, blowing it up in their faces.

Megatron gloats to Optimus; he used the Spark vision to have the Maximals sent off on fools' errands, so Optimus would access the Oracle for his benefit. Megatron has studied and mastered most of the Oracle's secrets, but there's still some pieces missing... till now. And a fast, forceful download commences.

[[Image:Sparkwar2 Megatron primal.jpg|right|thumb|200px|'''IGNORE THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN.''']]
Megatron gloats again; all the pieces are in place, and now he can complete his ultimate plan for the Sparks. The hologram fades away, and Optimus finds himself in the middle of Nightscream's cycle drone battle.

Nightscream, meanwhile, has been brought down by weight of numbers, when a bolt out of the blue hits his attackers. It's Savage, lumbering onto the scene and prompting the cycle drones into a frantic retreat. Savage morphs to Noble and jogs after them, out of sight. A second later the drones go flying through the air. Optimus recovers, and immediately orders Nightscream to follow him to a rendezvous with the others.

The Maximals are shocked that Megatron has the full power of the Oracle, but Primal tells him that he gave Megatron access to the Oracle on purpose. While Megatron was downloading it, Primal accessed information from ''him'' as well, and learned the location of the Sparks. They have but a short window of opportunity to act, to free the Sparks from the location where they're being held: within the big floating head.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=[[Maximal|Maximals]]|c1=
*[[Optimus Primal]] (3)
*[[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] (4)
*[[Botanica (BM)|Botanica]] (5)
*[[Rattrap]] (7)
*[[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] (8)
*[[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] (9)
*[[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] (10)

|h2=[[Vehicon (BM)|Vehicons]]|c2=
*[[Copter Drone|Copter Drones]] (1)
*[[Heavy Artillery Drone|Heavy Artillery Drones]] (2)
*[[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] (6)
*[[Thrust (BM)|Thrust]] (11)
*[[Obsidian (BM)|Obsidian]] (12)
*[[Strika (BM)|Strika]] (13)
*[[Motorcycle Drone|Motorcycle Drones]] (14)

|h5=Other|c5=
*[[Noble]] (15)

}}

==Quotes==
"No offense, kitten, but I don't take orders from children." 
"Silverbolt, a lot's happened since you've been gone." 
"Not that much."
:—'''Silverbolt''' isn't impressed with Cheetor, despite '''Blackarachnia''' sticking up for him.

"This calls for a strategic advance to the rear." 
"Meaning?" 
"RUN AWAY!"
:—'''Rattrap''' and '''Botanica''' encounter Strika.

"Looks like we've been spotted." [sarcastically] "Thank you very much, Rattrap."
:—'''Blackarachnia''' after being spotted by Obsidian.

"Ugh, everyone else gets a partner, I get a flea-ridden travel agent."
:—'''Botanica'''

==Notes==
===Technical or animation errors===
*The head of the Optimus Prime hologram sure looks like Primal's original Beast Wars head, doesn't it (curved antenna, etc)? Also, when it reaches down to pick up Primal, the Optimus Prime head has a mouth. It's gone by the next shot.
** This isn't an error per say as Mainframe had lost the model for Optimus Prime's head. This meant that they had to use a faceplated Optimus Primal head as a "good enough" replacement.

===Continuity Errors===
*Error

===Transformers References===
*While traveling through the sublevels of Cybertron, Optimus Primal and Nightscream stumble upon the ruins of [[Iacon (city-state)|Iacon]].
*After that, they encounter a hologram of [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]. It needed more [[Peter Cullen]].
*The hologram claimed to be Optimus Prime's "essence, stored here these many years after [[The Final Battle (disambiguation)|The Final Battle]]". Sure, it was a ruse by Megatron, but there had to be enough truth in it to attempt to fool Optimus Primal. It seems likely there was some sort of Final Battle, or a legend of a Final Battle in Beast Era lore, where it would be believable that Prime's essence would get stored away afterwards. The implication is also that Optimus Prime ''died'' in this battle.
*The Maximals stumble on the remains of more Transformers, reusing [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] and [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]]'s character models again.

===Real-World References===
* As the [[Grand Mal|Big Floating Head]] hovers into view, Rattrap mutters "Talk about yer bad moon risin'," in tribute to the classic Credence Clearwater Revival song.

===Other Notes===
* Isn't it odd that Silverbolt ''still'' calls Cheetor "kid" though he's still technically younger? Granted, absolutely everybody in the Beast Era save Nightscream treats Cheetor as a kid (and rightfully so), so perhaps Maximal aging is... complicated?

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;DVD
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2005 — ''Super Lifeform Transformers: Beast Wars Returns'' — Volume 6 ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Geneon Entertainment]]) — Japanese audio only. 
[[Image:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2006 — ''Beast Machines: Transformers'' — The Complete Series ([[Rhino Entertainment|Rhinomation]]) 
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2007 — ''Transformers: Beast Machines'' — Season Two: Volume One ([[Sony]]) 
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2007 — ''Transformers: Beast Machines'' — Complete Season Two (Sony) 
[[Image:Flag of France.png|20px|France]] 2009 — ''Transformers: Beast Machines'' — Intégrale Saison 2 (Sony) — French audio only.

[[Category:Beast Machines episodes]]

Death

2011-01-21T23:59:55Z

174.96.255.90: /* Other */

{{disambig2|the end of life|the Horseman of Unicron|Airazor (Armada)}}

[[Image:Battleofautobotcity.jpg|right|300px|thumb|And lo, the children did weep.]]

''Transformers'' is a children's franchise, but at its core, it's a story of war. This means that the '''death''' of major and minor characters sometimes figures into the fiction.

Given the ambiguous nature of [[Transformer]] physiology, there is very little consistency regarding what is fatal to a Transformer, even within a single storyline. Damage that one Transformer might shrug off can prove fatal to another, or even to the same character in a different story. Sometimes just a laser blast or two will do the trick. Other times, characters survive being melted, crushed into cubes, and even utterly disintegrated. It does not take a terribly cynical viewer to conclude that the threshold of survival is generally determined by the needs of the plot.

The out-of-universe reasons for a character's death can vary from plot development to the arrival of [[To sell toys|new toys]]. Conveniently enough for writers who are beholden to the whims of a toy company, the majority of Transformers characters are machines, which means that death isn't necessarily permanent. Across the various universes, characters that appear to have been killed have been known to pop up alive again at a later date, or go through some sort of resurrection.

{{quote|"How can you all be so cold and unfeeling? He died a hero!" "Don't you even have mechanical hearts?" "The humans don't understand! Our form of life is vastly different from theirs!"|[[Spider-Man]], [[Sparkplug Witwicky]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]|"[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

==In-fiction causes of death==
[[Image:DEATH.jpg|left|thumb|400px|[[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] is just as puzzled as the rest of us.]]

There is little consistency in what can kill a Transformer. Sometimes it takes just a shot. Other times, even totally annihilating a Transformer's body still doesn't do the trick. Even the most basic method of killing, which is to destroy or otherwise cause the loss of a Transformer's [[spark]], varies quite a bit in its details from story to story, character to character, and series to series.
{{--}}
===Weaponsfire===
{{quote|This was almost too easy, Starscream!|[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (like the fandom) is surprised to find how easily Autobots die, ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''}}

[[Image:Tftm1986a.jpg|right|200px|thumb|We're here aboard the Autobot shuttle, where we've secretly replaced Brawn's hyper-dense metal armor plating with styrene plastic. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference.]]

[[Image:TFTM UltraMagnus dies.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Prepare for your death today. Yer gonna die!!]]

[[Image:Magnusdeath.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ow! Hey! Cut it out, guys! That hurts!]]

[[Image:Blades1.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Sorry, nameless guy, your generic nature means you will never be miraculously resurrected.]]

Like humans, Transformers can be killed by damage caused by energy, projectile, and chemical weapons. Just how many shots it takes is widely variable, however.
* In the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]]:
** Many casualties of the [[Battle of Autobot City]] (and its run-up), including [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], were victims of energy weapons. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} This was quite a change from the cartoon's M.O., wherein the same characters routinely got shot and blasted all the time and shrugged it off, or at worst spent some time in the repair bay. Brawn and Prowl both went down after ''one shot''.
** [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] subsequently "dies" after being shot a few times by the [[Sweep]]s, exploding into pieces. He is soon revived by the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]], however. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Ultra Magnus dies ''again'', for real this time, after [[Sixshot]] shoots him a few times. {{storylink|Ultra Magnus Dies!!}}

* In the [[Marvel Comics continuity|Marvel comics]]:
** [[Impactor]] was cut down by a single head shot from [[Macabre]]. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
** Most deaths in the ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' book occurred from energy weapons, such as [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]], {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}} as well as numerous generics. {{storylink|War Without End!}} Quite a few victims exploded spectacularly after being shot, including [[Tantrum]] {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}}, [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]], [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] {{storylink|New Dawn}}, and [[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]]{{storylink|Escalation!}}.

* In the ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' cartoon:
** [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] dies after incurring severe damage from numerous [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] weapons. {{storylink|Code of Hero}} The apparent cause of his demise is his refusal to enter protective [[stasis lock]], as other characters have survived similar or worse levels of damage.
** [[Tigerhawk]] is disintegrated by the main cannon of the starship ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]''. The same cannon subsequently blasts [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] and [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]], apparently killing them, though their "death" may be permanent simply because there was nobody around to put them back together. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 2}}

* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] dies holding back the [[Hydra Cannon]], the damage causing him to [[:Image:Sshot-arm-39-4.jpg|crumble to dust]]. {{storylink|Crisis}}

* [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]] G1 comics: [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] is killed by an assassin's blast. {{storylink|The Age of Wrath issue 1}} He got better. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 3}}

* [[Movie continuity]]: [[Brawl (Movie)|Brawl]] and [[Blackout (Movie)|Blackout]] both died from weapons fire. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}

* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] gets his face blown off/in by [[Cyclonus (SG)|Cyclonus]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 4}}
{{--}}
===Big explosions===
{{bigquote|They're going to blow us all to pieces! [[Guardian (Marvel)|Guardian]]'s booby-trapped - packed with enough explosives to level this whole mountain!|[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], "[[The Wrath of Grimlock!]]"}}

Transformers characters often assume that explosions are more lethal than they really are; characters survive explosions all the time. An explosion's messy nature makes a good "out" for a writer to fake a character's death. {{storylink|The Wrath of Grimlock!}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}} Nevertheless, a few characters have been permanently killed by explosions. (This list omits characters who exploded from within, like Ultra Magnus up above.)
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]] was the victim of an interdimensionally triggered explosion that destroyed his body. (In UK continuity, he survived as a raggedy, bodiless head.) {{storylink|The Bridge to Nowhere!}}
** In an alternate future, a wounded [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] died in the fiery explosion of a crashing shuttlecraft. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** [[Finback]] was presumably killed in the explosion of a huge gun battery. [[Misfire]] tried to warn him off, and may have been killed in the same explosion. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}

* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon:
** [[Optimus Primal]] was blown to bits -- terminally so -- by the [[transwarp]] explosion that destroyed the [[Planet Buster]]. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}
** [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]] was killed by the explosion that resulted from [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]]'s death (either his exploding spark, or the exploding energon shard that pierced it.) {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

* Several of the [[Beast Era]] [[Wrecker]]s ([[Sonar (BW)|Sonar]], [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]], the [[Deployer (BM)|Deployers]]) were destroyed when part of their ship exploded with them in it. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

* Energon: [[Bruticus Maximus (Energon)|Bruticus Maximus]] and Storm Jet were killed when Storm Jet caused a massive explosion that engulfed them both.

===Impact trauma===
Falling off a cliff or mountainside or tall building is usually just as fatal to Transformers as it is to, say... Wile E. Coyote. Only on rare occasion does it result in death:
* ''[[Classics (2006)|Classics]]'' continuity: [[Hacksaw]] met his end by falling from a huge communications tower. {{storylink|The New World}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Doubledealer]] was shot, fell off a mountain and smashed to bits on impact. {{storylink|Spotlight: Doubledealer}}
* Movie continuity: [[Devastator (ROTF)|Devastator]] fell off the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] after losing his balance when his arm was shot off, and he shattered to pieces as he tumbled down. ''{{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}''
* The [[Beast (G1)|Beast]] fell off a cliff and shattered. {{storylink|The Beast Within Part 2, Consequences}} At least, we hope that's where and how it ended.

===Crushing===
[[Image:Edgeofextinction-hardheadbombburst.jpg|thumb|right|175px|DO NOT WANT]]
[[Image:TFAni TransWarped LongArm Cliffjumper Cube.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Before time began, there was... THE CUBE.]]

Quite a few characters have been crushed into deactivation:
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]] was smashed between [[Unicron]]'s palms, while [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] met a similar fate when they were stepped on by Unicron. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] is apparently killed when a very large building collapses on top of him. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

* [[Unicron Trilogy]] cartoons:
** [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]] is killed when caught between two folding sections of Unicron's external armor. {{storylink|Union}}
** [[Shockblast]] is crushed by Unicron's hand on [[Blizzard Planet]]. {{storylink|The Power}}
** His brother [[Six Shot]] meets a similar fate, crushed under the heel of a super-sized Galvatron. {{storylink|Galvatron Terror}}

* IDW continuity:
** [[Roller]] was crushed when Megatron caused an avanlanche to fall on him.
** [[Ruckus (G1)|Ruckus]], [[Crankcase (G1)|Crankcase]], and [[Skullcruncher]] were all crushed by [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]].

* ''Animated'' cartoon: [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]] is (possibly) killed by a garbage compactor-like crushing device. (An "out" by writer [[Derrick J. Wyatt|Derrick Wyatt]] was intended to show his still-pulsing spark within his cubified remains, but this did not make it into the show, leaving his fate ambiguous at best.) {{storylink|TransWarped}}

===Melting===
[[Image:BW Scorponok Terrorsaur deaths.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Even having a new toy couldn't save Terrorsaur!]]

[[Image:Fallout title.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Primal's diet had gone horribly wrong.]]

They're made of metal; therefore, with enough heat or sufficiently acidic material, they can melt. This is one of the more fool-proof methods of killing a Transformer; few if any have survived it.
* In the G1 cartoon:
** An acid vat would apparently have been enough to destroy Optimus Prime. {{storylink|The Search for Alpha Trion}}
** Another acid vat was used to disintegrate living victims of Unicron. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comics:
** Victims of the Deception [[smelting pool]]s on Cybertron were reduced by intense heat into their base metals, including [[Scrounge (G1)|Scrounge]]. {{storylink|The Smelting Pool!}}
** It is possible that an acid bath from (naturally) [[Blot (G1)|Blot]] offlined [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] [[Makin' Tracks!|(for a while anyway)]]. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] was partially melted by Unicron's flame-breath and subsequently died. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The [[Cybertronian (faction)|Cybertronian Empire]] used some kind of acid to rather messily eradicate some of their Decepticon ancestors, including [[Stranglehold]]. {{storylink|New Dawn}}

* In the Beast Era cartoons:
** [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] and [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] were apparently melted to death after tumbling into a lava pit within the [[Darksyde|Predacon base]]. {{storylink|Aftermath}}
** Optimus Primal's body was seemingly melted into the floor after his climactic face-off with [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]. Considering how many god-like forces were unleashed and conflicting during the battle, his demise may be due to more than simple temperature-induced melting. {{storylink|Fallout}}

===Incineration===
{{bigquote|I saw the end! They died in a cosmic funeral pyre!|[[Shawn Berger]], "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2]]"}}

[[Image:Armada 52 - Prime hangon to Galvatron.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Galvatron died to save everyone and came back ''twice''—you lose, [[Jesus]]!]]

Plasma, energy fields, and stellar atmospheres can all utterly destroy a Transformer's body. Like being melted, being reduced to one's component molecules would seem to be a surefire way of getting killed, but quite a few characters seem able to survive the process as ghosts and/or disembodied sparks:
* Generation 1 cartoon: [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]'s spectacular death at the hands of [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] might be categorized as incineration. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* Quite a few characters met this fate in the Unicron Trilogy, but all survived it in some fashion:
** [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]]'s spark persisted within his burnt-out body when he was dropped into the exploding Unicron. {{storylink|Mortal Combat}} {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}
** [[Demolishor (Armada)|Demolishor]]'s body was obliterated by an expanding energon grid, but his spark survived the process and was placed in a new body. {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}}
** [[Inferno (Energon)|Inferno]] was destroyed when he threw himself into a star, but his spark was salvaged by the Autobots and, again, placed in a new body. {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
** And finally, Megatron (Galvatron, whatever) threw himself into Primus's new energon sun to prevent Unicron from possessing him, killing himself yet again. {{storylink|The Sun}} This death was so inconsequential that his subsequent resurrection wasn't even explained! {{storylink|Fallen (episode)|Fallen}}

===Consumption===
{{bigquote|...If we don't find the Matrix, some bad guy's gonna ''eat'' us! Right?|Longtooth, "[[Deadly Obsession]]"}}

[[Image:Wreckers Mutants.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The shocking death of the barely-seen guys with hardly any lines!]]
[[Image:Rocky mecannibal bartender marvel uk 240.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Cannibalism is hilarious, kids!]]

Quite a few critters in the multiverse are equipped to devour giant robots. Being eaten (and, presumably, digested) generally proves fatal:
* In the G1 cartoon:
** Various life forms were routinely devoured by the [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticon]]s on Quintessa. This included [[Kranix]], a mechanical life form, though not a Transformer. [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] and [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] would have suffered this fate as well, but fought their way free. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Quite a few Transformers found their way into Unicron's gullet, though many survived the experience. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comic:
** The [[Mecannibal]]s ate robots routinely, including quite a few Transformers during their sojourn on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} {{storylink|Out to Lunch!}} There is some indication that they could actually reconstitute their victims from their "recycled" parts, though this is never explicitly shown. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
** Unicron skewered [[Brainstorm]] and ate him. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The subsurface-dwelling [[demon]]s devoured [[Runabout]]. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The Swarm "devoured" innumerable Cybertronian troopers and a handful of older-generation Transformers as well, though this was through a molecular process almost akin to incineration. {{storylink|Swarm (issue)|Swarm}} {{storylink|Total War!}} {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* The Sharkticons killed two of the [[Mutant (BW)|Mutant]]s by gobbling them up. Or ripping them apart. Or both. We don't really know. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

===Disassembly===
[[Image:Jazz DyingAction.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"HERE'S what I think of your resemblance to your G1 counterpart!"]]

Taking a Transformer apart into its component parts can occasionally kill them:
* Marvel comics: [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] met this fate in an alternate future, when Swoop used a machine to pull him apart into his component pieces. {{storylink|Another Time and Place}}
* Movie continuity: Being ripped in half killed [[Jazz (Movie)|Jazz]]. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}
* [[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]: [[Pyro]] was torn apart and killed while making a final stand against a mass of generic Decpticons.

===Decapitation===
{{main|Decapitation}}

[[Image:Cyclonus death.jpg|thumb|right|150px| "CHUK!" is good, but I could really go for a "Shakkooosh" right about now.]]

Sometimes cutting a Transformer's head off is fatal. Sometimes!
* In the Marvel comics:
** The Megatron clone killed Cyclonus by ripping his head off. {{storylink|Dry Run!}}
** Several of the Wreckers were killed by having their heads ripped or blasted off, including Twin Twist and Topspin, respectively. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars}}
** [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] had his head cut off by a propeller fired by [[Leadfoot (G2)|Leadfoot]], presumably (given the ''Generation 2'' book's emphasis on body count) killing him. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** Characters frequently die by decapitation of some form: [[Bonecrusher (Movie)|Bonecrusher]], {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and [[Grindor (ROTF)|Grindor]]. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
** Decapitation was an inconvenience for [[Frenzy (Movie)|Frenzy]] the first time. The second time, when the blow actually destroyed most of his head, was fatal.

===Vivisection===
[[Image:VictoryUKAnnual.JPG|thumb|right|150px| Ahhhh, there we go...]]

{{bigquote|I have no desire to be carved up into Auto-sushi.|Tracks, "[[Make Tracks]]"}}

Getting chopped in half is pretty graphic for a kids' story, even one about robots, so it doesn't happen very often.
* Marvel comics: In a dream sequence, [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] slices [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] in half, killing him. {{storylink|Victory!}}
* Japanese G1 cartoon: [[Predaking]] gets sliced in half by Dai Atlas. The strike dissects what appears to be an organic brain in his head. {{storylink|Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!}}
* ''Beast Wars Metals'': Terrorsaur was killed by being sliced in half by Primal's mace. {{storylink|Raise the Curtain for Beast Wars Metals!!}}
* Movie continuity: [[Sideways (ROTF)|Sideways]] dies when [[Sideswipe (ROTF)|Sideswipe]] slices his car mode in two. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Destruction of brain===
{{bigquote|Next strike in the neural cluster, yes? Weakest spot on ''all'' Transformers...|[[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], "[[Fire on High!]]"}}

In the early days of the franchise, a Transformer's life force was sometimes understood to be entirely contained within their [[brain module]], most prominently in the Marvel comics. Destroying the brain would kill the Transformer. This premise was eventually passed over in favor of the more esoteric concept of [[spark]]s.
* In the Marvel comics:
** In an alternate future, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] is blasted by [[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], who kills him by extracting and crushing his brain module. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** The [[Throttlebot]]s ''avoid'' death by having their brain modules removed from their bodies shortly before their bodies are destroyed (by crushing). {{storylink|Toy Soldiers!}}

===Destruction of spark===
{{bigquote|RAW energon! Right through your twisted spark!|Depth Charge to Rampage, "[[Nemesis Part 1]]"}}

[[Image:Skyfallwontbethereforit.jpg|thumb|right|200px|And then he hung Skyfall from his ceiling.]]

Getting stabbed right through the spark is almost always fatal:
* In ''Beast Wars'': The supposedly immortal Rampage was killed when Depth Charge pierced his spark with an energon blade. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}
* ''[[Transcendent Technomorph|TransTech]]'': [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] died when [[Alpha Trion (SG)|Alpha Trion]] rammed his sword right through his chest. {{storylink|Transcendent: Part 6}}
*Energon: [[Constructicon Maximus]] was killed when [[Storm Jet (Energon)|Storm Jet]] impaled and crushed his spark.
* ''Cybertron'': Galvatron died after being impaled with [[Rhisling]] by Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Unfinished}}
* Movie continuity: Optimus Prime died from a stab wound through the chest, quickly followed by a cannon blast through the spark chamber from Megatron's swordcannon weapon.[[The Fallen]] also met his end when Optimus punched through his chest and crushed his spark. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* ''Beast Machines'' continuity: [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] - already reduced to a spark within the matrix - ceased to be when Megatron annihilated his spark from existence. {{storylink|Singularity Ablyss}}
* [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|Titan's Movie comics]]: Transformers have forcefields shielding their sparks, which can be externalized to protect bodywork. Jazz loved doing this, leaving him far more vulnerable to death by destruction of spark than he would otherwise be. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 6|Lost in Space 4: Jazz}}

===Loss of spark===
{{bigquote|Warning. Further expenditure will result in permanent loss of spark. Stasis lock ''must'' commence.|[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]]'s internal computer, "[[Code of Hero]]"}}

Sometimes sparks can survive outside of a body; sometimes they cannot. In the Beast Era, there is some indication that a spark left outside a body will soon begin to return to the Matrix/AllSpark/another dimension.
* When Dinobot expires after his final battle, his Spark is seen exiting his body. The implication is that a sufficiently damaged body can no longer hold a spark within this dimension. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* ''Beast Machines'' subsequently showed living sparks existing outside of bodies on a regular basis. The sparkless bodies were simply considered shells, rather than "dead".
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Prowl dies when he intentionally relinquishes his own spark. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}
* Movie continuity: Jetfire rips out his own spark chamber to give Optimus a fighting chance. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Energy overload===
{{bigquote|We may need energon for power, but this is too much of a good thing.|[[Optimus Primal]], "[[Beast Wars (Part 1)]]"}}

[[Image:TFAnimated transformandrollout DEATH.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Death — the Optimus version of a power nap.]]
[[Image:Underbaseallmine.jpg|thumb|right|200px|He's got an Underbase in his underpants.]]

The average [[human]] needs a lot of [[water]] to survive. But too much water results in [[wikipedia:Water intoxication|a horrible death]]. Similarly, Transformers need energy to survive, but too much of it can be a very bad thing. Sometimes it's just plain old energy; other times it some special god-like force that does them in.
* In the Marvel comics:
** An [[Underbase]]-empowered Starscream slaughtered dozens of Transformers with energy blasts, {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}} which reportedly burned out millions of their microchips. {{storylink|Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?}} Some Transformers were seen to recover from these attacks, either via conventional repairs {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} or through the power of [[nucleon]]. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
** Starscream himself was killed when he absorbed all the energies of the Underbase. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] was apparently killed when struck by a blast of energy from the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]], though the physical effect was more like being hit by an especially powerful laser blast. {{storylink|All Fall Down (issue)}}

* ''Super-God Masterforce'' cartoon: [[Sixknight]] died from an overcharge of BlackZarak's Devil Power. {{storylink|Malevolent and Inhuman! The True Form of Devil Z}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runabout]] dies when one of the [[Reaper]]s zaps him full of energy, causing him to explode from within. {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* Movie continuity: [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] was killed when [[Sam Witwicky]] shoved the [[AllSpark]] into his chest. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)|Transformers}}
* ''Transformers Animated'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] got caught in an explosion of [[AllSpark]] energy that may have been sufficient to kill him, although he also fell off a very tall building immediately afterwards (Starscream was caught in the same explosion and survived, but was knocked offline for an unspecified period.)

===Energy depletion===
On rare occasion, Transformers can simply run out of energy completely and expire.
* Marvel comics: the ancient [[Overlord (rank)|Overlord]] died from a lack of energy. {{storylink|State Games}}
* Movie continuity: [[Jetfire (ROTF)|Jetfire]] explains that a lack of energon causes the Transformer equivalent of aging, such as rusting joints, mental confusion, and pieces falling apart, followed by an indefinite period of stasis that can only be reversed by an infusion of Allspark energy. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Suicide===
Sometimes a Transformers kills himself for some reason.
* Marvel comics
** Megatron seemingly killed himself using a [[space bridge]] though it was later revealed that he survived.
** Dirge and Nightbeat self destructed and destroyed themselves in a last ditch attempt to destroy the Swarm.
* Beast Wars
** [[Tigerhawk]] sacrificed himself by hurling himself in the way of a fusion cannon blast from the Nemesis.
* Energon: Galvatron, Starscream, and [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Mirage]] threw themselves into a sun and vaporized themselves. [[Snow Cat (Energon)|Snow Cat]] and Demolisher may have also done this.

==Non-fatal deactivation==
{{quote|"You mean he's still alive?!" "No! But neither is he what you would term 'dead'!"|[[Spider-Man]] and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], "[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

[[Image:Zombiesbackfromthedead.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Braiiiiiin mooooodulllllles....]]

For almost every single cause of death listed above, there's been one or more Transformers who have survived it, sometimes without so much as a period of unconsciousness.

In particular, "deactivation" is the Transformers equivalent of being in a coma. Numerous Transformers are seen to enter this state and eventually recover, such as the Autobots deactivated by Shockwave {{storylink|The Last Stand}}, who later were repaired. However, the line between death and deactivation is a blurry one. Sometimes the two words are used interchangeably, even in reference to characters who are later revived. Most of Starscream's Underbase victims were described as deactivated, and were sometimes lamented as "dead" while at other times were shown undergoing repairs. {{storylink|Back from the Dead}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}

"[[Stasis lock]]" would eventually give a more concrete name to the state of deactivation. The inert Transformers on the crashed Ark were retconned as being in stasis lock. Various ''Beast Wars'' characters would go into stasis lock to maintain their spark when their body had sustained too much damage from weaponsfire or energon absorption. ''Animated'' showed a crew of Autobots voluntarily entering protective stasis lock in anticipation of a crash landing.

Some of the quasi-fatal things which can cause a Transformer to "deactivate" include:

===Impact trauma===
Smashing into something usually knocks out a Transformer, but almost never actually kills them:
* The crew of the original Ark is deactivated when the ship crashes on Earth and lies inert for 4 million years {{storylink|More than Meets the Eye, Part 1}} {{storylink|The Transformers (issue)}}
* Marvel comics: [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] falls to his "death", but is patched together and talking again in short order. {{storylink|Prisoner of War!}}

===Decapitation===
[[Image:Sentinelprimeanimatedhumiliated.jpg|thumb|200px|In the movie continuity, this would've been fatal. In ''Animated'', it's just embarrassing.]]

{{bigquote|Anyone who can lop your head off in one blow is alright by me!|[[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] jokes about [[Cloudburst]]'s near-death experience, "[[Recipe for Disaster!]]"}}

Like we said before, decapitation is sometimes fatal... and other times it isn't.
* Marvel comic:
** Optimus Prime was able to survive as just a head when Shockwave separated it from his body in an effort to get the Creation Matrix. {{storylink|The New Order}}
**[[Cloudburst]] was abruptly decapitated by sword, but was just fine after some repairs. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
* G1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was disassembled into his component parts, but functioned just fine as nothing more than a head once [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] connected a few wires. {{storylink|City of Steel}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] survives having his head blasted or otherwise knocked off multiple times {{storylink|Spider's Game}} {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}} {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)}} {{storylink|Code of Hero}}, and even put it back on himself one time. He even accidently swapped heads with Megatron once. Megatron was not amused. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]] was just fine when one of the Reapers whacked his head off. (He didn't fare so well when another Reaper crushed his head with a boulder, however.) {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Decapitated victims of the ''Animated'' [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] rarely show any ill effects other than not having a body anymore. {{storylink|Headmaster (episode)|Headmaster}} {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}} {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

===Dismemberment===
Transformers get ripped to pieces all the time, and recover from it:
* Marvel comic: Scorponok tears [[Tantrum]] to pieces. [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] slices [[Horri-Bull]] in half at the waist. Both are seen alive later on. {{storylink|Cold War!}}
* Last Stand of the Wreckers: [[Guzzle]] is torn in half by [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] and is easily repaired.

===Spark removal===
{{bigquote|His spark can't exist outside a living body!|[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]], "[[Optimal Situation]]"}}

A Transformer's spark—their "soul", their living essence—can be removed from their body, or the body can be destroyed around them
* The destruction of Starscream's body, and his subsequent survival as a ghost, was eventually retconned to be his Spark enduring without a physical form. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Tigatron and Airazor's sparks spent quite some time wandering around behind Tigerhawk, before combining and entering his body. {{storylink|Other Victories}}

* In the ''Beast Machines'' cartoon:
** Megatron de-sparked most of Cybertron's population and stored their sparks in a big barrel. Most were restored to bodies eventually. {{storylink|Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}}
** Blackarachnia's spark wandered around bodiless for a time. {{storylink|Revelations Part III: Apocalypse}}
** Megatron himself, his spark in a depolarized state, wandered the surface of Cybertron without a body for a time. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}

The treatment of bodiless sparks in ''Beast Machines'' is seen by some fans as contradicting the canon established by ''Beast Wars'', particularly the quote above.

===Limbo===
Sometimes Transformers get shunted out of creation as we know it, and into various alternate, sub- and non-dimensions.
* Marvel comics:
** The [[Trans-Time Dimensional Portal]] crosses [[unspace]], "a bit of dimensional nothingness" where Ratchet and Megatron vanished and were believed dead. {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}
** Transformers mass-displaced by time travel wind up in a formless dimension known as [[Limbo]].
* IDW comics: Megatron severely damaged Optimus Prime in battle and planned on finishing him off by crushing his [[Laser core|spark core]]. Optimus Prime feigned death by downloading his "consciousness" into his [[Combat Deck|trailer section]], causing his [[Brain Center|robot mode]] to appear dead. In the time it took for Prime's consciousness to transfer to his trailer, he briefly entered [[infraspace|limbo]], the transitional infraspace between life and death. {{storylink|Escalation (IDW)|Escalation}}

==Resuscitation==
Robots are machines. They can be switched off, taken apart, blown to bits, and put back together. Ergo, in many continuities and cases, "death" is not nearly as permanent a condition as it is for us fragile fleshy types.

===Reconstruction===
[[Image:PeoplePower-reprogrammed.jpg|thumb|right|250px| ]]

{{bigquote|I've done it! Optimus Prime lives!|A random Quintesson, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]"}}

* Generation 1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was simply ''repaired'' back to life by a Quintesson. Some fixing of this and that, a burst of power, and boom, suddenly he was alive again. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}}
* Marvel Comics: Optimus Prime's mind was encoded on a disk. After a new [[Powermaster]] body was constructed for him, the disk's contents were loaded into it, and Optimus Prime lived again. (One wonders why they couldn't make as many Optimus Primes as they pleased.) {{storylink|People Power!}}

===Spark transfer===
Transferring a Transformer's spark into a new body constitutes a form of resurrection, particularly if the Transformer's previous body was destroyed.
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Optimus Primal was restored to life when Rhinox managed to recall his spark from the Matrix, a special circumstance only enabled by a temporary window into transwarp space. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* ''Armada'' Smokescreen was shot through the chest at point blank range by the Requiem Blaster {{storylink|Sacrifice}} but his spark survived and was put into a new body. {{storylink|Regeneration}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Inferno and Demolishor both had their bodies ''atomized''; however, their sparks both survived, and were placed into new bodies. (The upshot of all of this is that it's nigh-impossible to kill a Unicron Trilogy Transformer, unless they do it themselves.) {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}} {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: The spark of a dying [[Yoketron]] was placed into a new protoform body by [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]; however, Yoketron consciously chose to let his life end, and expired anyway. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}}

==="Magical" substances===
* Marvel Comics: The miraculous healing properties of Nucleon brought many Autobots back to life, as well as a few Decepticons. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Megatron was revived by the all-encompassing power of energon, as was Unicron. {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}

===Primus and Primus-related powers===
{{bigquote|Where the Last Autobot is concerned, even death, it would appear, is an abstract concept!|Optimus Prime explains his latest revival, "[[End of the Road! (US)|End of the Road!]]"}}

Anything tied to the primordial life-force of the Transformers' god Primus tends to be a cure-all for death. This includes Primus himself, his various power-wielding avatars and servants, and the assorted Matrixes and Allsparks, all of which can deliver an infusion of the essence of life itself. In some continuities, this is parsed as a Transformer's spark being brought back out of the Allspark dimension.

[[Image:RageInHeaven-HeroPrime.jpg|thumb|right|150px|]]

* In the Marvel comics:
** The [[Last Autobot]] was granted the power of recreation by Primus, which he used to raise numerous fallen Autobots from the battlefield. {{storylink|End of the Road! (US)}}
** Optimus Prime was eager to find the lost Creation Matrix, stating that it would be able to restore many deactivated warriors to life. {{storylink|Bird of Prey!}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the [[Swarm (G2)|Swarm]] after it had ingested the energies and knowledge of the Matrix. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** The Allspark is shown repeatedly to be capable of restoring just about anything. Frenzy gets a whole new body from its power, {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and Megatron is restored to life by merely a fragment of it. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the Matrix of Leadership, an Allspark-related talisman. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

* ''Beast Machines'' cartoon: [[Optimus Primal]]'s body was destroyed, but the AllSpark granted him the choice of uniting with it or being reborn. He chose the latter, and ''poof'', just walked right out of the Oracle bubble in a brand new version of his previous body. {{storylink|Fallout}}
* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] was brought back to life by the power of the [[Mini-Con]]s after his body was disintegrated. {{storylink|Miracle}}
* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] was resurrected when he and his gestaltmates were combined together and reborn by Primus into [[Nexus Prime]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 5}} Nexus Prime then brought [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] back from the other side of the Allspark and infused him with some of Primus's power to become Galvatron. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 6}}

===Zombies===
* Dude, [[zombie]]s!

==Immortality==
===Immortal sparks===
Certain sparks have mutant qualities that allow them to, potentially, exist forever.
* Starscream survived his death at the hands of Galvatron; this was later explained as him having a "mutant indestructible spark". {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}} {{storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] was created as an attempt to duplicate Starscream's immortal spark. {{storylink|Bad Spark}} He was eventually killed by [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]], so the attempt may be seen as unsuccessful. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}
* In the IDW comics Thunderwing's Pretender shell made him invincable.

===Other===
* [[Multiversal singularity|Multiversal singularities]] such as [[Unicron]] and [[The Fallen]] can be killed off in one dimension, only to still be alive and well in another (or many others), due to the varying properties of different dimensions (reverse-time, dimensions, for example are key to revival of the singularities).
* ''Animated'' [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] could not be killed so long as he retained his Allspark fragment embedded in his forehead.
* Denizens of the [[Dead Universe]] could essentially regenerate themselves out of nothing, no matter how much damage was inflicted on them.
* Sixshot appears to be able to survive extreme injuries in the IDW continuity that would kill other Transformers, like being stepped on by Metroplex. This may be a side effect of the six-changer process.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] can never completely die no matter what for some reason.

==Out-of-fiction causes of character death==
===Drama / character culmination===
At its best, character death can be a moving plot development, the fruition of an ongoing character arc.
* Suspecting that they would have to remove a character from the show, the writers of ''Beast Wars'' began planning for Dinobot's death several episodes ahead of time. Thus, when it came, it was the outcome of the character's own choices, flaws, and history, and played a crucial role in the show's plot. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* Sunstreaker's death in ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' is intended to follow a similar style of arc... only it's missing the whole choices, flaws and history thing. Oh well!
* Optimus Primal's death(s) in ''Beast Machines'' are likewise the outcome of his own choices and character. {{storylink|End of the Line}} {{storylink| Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}} His death in ''Beast Wars'', by contrast, was more a moment of dramatic pathos -- knowingly walking into danger, his enemy got the better of him. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}

===Consequences of war===
It's hard to take a war story seriously when nobody actually dies. The reality of war can be more readily portrayed when characters die. [[Generic]]s are particularly handy for this, allowing death to be shown while not removing primary characters (retail toys!) from the story. The results can range from high drama and pathos to numbingly pointless body counts.
* Impactor's death was used to drive home the threat of the Decepticons as well as the risks taken by the Autobots and their commanders. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
* The ''Generation 2'' book featured several deaths which drove home the realities of war. Most notably, Red Alert's destruction served to make Grimlock acutely aware of just how badly he'd screwed up. {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}}

===Increased threat===
An enemy that kills is an enemy to be taken seriously. Thus a writer will frequently throw in some preliminary deaths to point out how seriously the bad guy should be treated.
* The generic who dies at the beginning of "[[City of Fear!]]" serves to show the zombies as a true life-threatening menace.
* Likewise for Runabout's death at the hands of the demons ; {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}} knowing they can devour a Transformer makes the reader more concerned about the Dinobots' subsequent fate. {{storylink|Still Life!}}
* In "[[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]", [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] makes corpses in practically every scene he's in!

===Cast thinning===
Transformers stories are notorious for acquiring gigantic casts as they roll on; Generation 1 was particularly notorious for this because of its longevity. A simple way to make things more manageable was simply to kill off large numbers of characters in battle. Examples are rife in the fiction, especially the Marvel Comics.

* In the Marvel comics:
** The "[[Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars]]" storyline got rid of the [[Wrecker]]s and quite a few Decepticons as well.
** The [[Underbase Saga]] even more explicitly cleared out dozens of characters, leaving perhaps 2 dozen characters from each faction in the story.
** The battle with Unicron in "[[On the Edge of Extinction!]]" likewise got rid of a lot of older characters, leaving the story free to concentrate on more of a core cast (and associated newer toy characters.)
* [[Betrayal|Wreckers #2]] dealt with its oversized cast by killing off scads of characters right up front.

===Clear space for new toys===
{{main|To sell toys}}

Some fiction has an inherently limited capacity for characters. ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines'' are by far the most prominent examples; their CGI animation made character animation expensive and necessitated removing an old character before a new one could be brought in. But any medium can be susceptible to this toy-driven phenomena.
* The numerous casualties of "[[The Transformers: The Movie]]" were fairly explicitly removed from the story to make way for a wave of new toy/characters.
* Terrorsaur and Scorponok had to be removed -- quickly -- to make room for the two upcoming Fuzor characters, hence their sudden, blink-and-you-miss-it death in "[[Aftermath]]".
* Airazor and Tigatron were removed for similar reasons. When their plot was finally resolved, it was, surprise, via [[Tigerhawk|a new toy]]!

==Fleshling death==
In general, ''Transformers'' fiction is pretty squeamish about showing the deaths of Earth's organic creatures. But it's a war, and sometimes it does happen. The out-of-universe reasons generally fall into three categories: Consequences of War, Emotional Pathos, and BLOOD IZ KEWL.

The various cartoons tend to show organic death the least, as they are most clearly aimed at, and easily accessible by, children. Comics tend to be less reluctant to show the impact of the Transformers' war on innocent lives, though the death rate varies by series. Latter-day Generation 1 books especially revel in high body counts, because squishing stupid humans is killer and awesome and radical and hardcore. Even the occasional [[Satellite of Doom|children's storybook]] has been known to off mass quantities of the dumb fleshies.

===Animal death===
[[Image:MurderedPuppy02.jpg|right|150px|thumb|One dead dog]]

[[Image:Sparkwar3 Dead noble.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Two dead dogs]]

Cute little animals are almost always killed off for reasons of Emotional Pathos:
* A little girl's pet puppy named [[Pis]] barked at [[Wilder]] and was kicked so hard he died. {{storylink|Rage!! Little Devils with No Need for Rules}}
* The [[Murdered puppy]] was shot down by the Decepticons after running away from Megatron's experiments. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 8|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #8}}
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] once reminded [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] that [[The Fallen]] once shot down a ship full of [[Antilian bumble-puppy|Antilian bumble-puppies]]. (Decepticons have a thing for killing puppies.)
* The puppy-like [[Noble]] was shot at by [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] because of his hatred for organics {{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. III: The Siege}} and was later mourned by his "owner", [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}.
* A stray shot from [[Tigatron]] accidentally caused an avalanche which killed his friend [[Snowstalker]]. {{storylink|Law of the Jungle}}
* "[[Law of the Jungle]]" also portrays the deaths of four different forest animals (a bug is eaten by a frog, which is eaten by a snake, which is taken off to be eaten by a bird. Later, an orange tiger kills an antelope). This is a rare "Consequences of War" example.
* [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] also once ate an eagle, {{storylink|Power Surge}} while [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] ate a cute little rat {{storylink|Victory (episode)|Victory}}, and nearly ate an antelope as well. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* In order to save [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] had to fight a saber-toothed tiger off a cliff killing it. {{Storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] used [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel]]'s shield to knock a spikey rock onto a giant spider effectively killing it. She later used [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus]]' axe to kill some new born baby spiders. {{Storylink|Along Came a Spider}}
* Human villain [[Trophy White]] had a grisly display of stuffed and mounted animal heads. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}}

{{-}}
===Human death===
[[Image:Razorclawshootsahuman.jpg|right|thumb|250px|This didn't happen much.]]

* Marvel US: The [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|original Marvel book]] ignored or glossed over human casualties, which were rarely if ever shown; the panel at right, from [[Toy Soldiers!|US #37]], shows a ''very'' unusual instance of a human dying right in front of us. One of the few human(oid)s to die on-panel was [[Galen]], killed off to make way for [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]]. ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' was much more explicit about human death, as Bludgeon and later [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] attacked Earth for the purpose of inflicting casualties.
* Marvel UK: The UK-original stories were much less reluctant to show human death; within the first year or so, humans had died in Autobot-induced car wrecks and at the hands of mind-controlled Autobots.
* In every US-aired cartoon series, humans essentially ''never'' die. Even ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Transformers Animated]]'', which features the city of [[Detroit]] getting smashed by robot battles virtually every week, never once mentions humans getting killed.
* Contemporary toyline-based comics (''[[Armada (Dreamwave comic)|Armada]]'', ''[[Energon (comic)|Energon]]'') seem to follow a similar policy, avoiding mention of human death -- even when human cities are being directly attacked, as in "[[Multiplicity, Pt. 2]]".
* Japanese cartoons, by contrast, don't seem to mind showing human deaths (or [[Pis|dog deaths]], for that matter).
* The [[Dreamwave Generation One continuity|Dreamwave G1 comics]] really thought it was totally awesome and cool and radical to kill off those stupid humans. Thus, they start off with Megatron smushing some stupid humans. More smushing and killing and blowing up follows. DIE, dumb stubbies, DIE!
* [[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW comics]] managed to avoid this for a long time, showing human death only when it was particularly integral to the plot... then ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' came down the pike. DIE, stupid fleshies, DIE!
* The live-action [[movie continuity]] implies a great deal of human death. ''Revenge'' mentions a body count of over 9,000, and massive damage is done during the battle of [[Mission City]], though little of it is shown on screen. And of course, the first film begins with Blackout wiping out an entire military base. A handful of humans are killed directly on-screen, most notably [[Patrick Donnelly|Donnelly]].
* The alternate timeline arc in Titan's Movie comic featured big wars on Earth and lots of destruction, clearly ''insinuating'' human death while not being explicit. The exceptions were in [[Transformers Comic issue 10|issue 10]], where [[NATO]] is said to be suffering losses of 11,506 and the [[France|Palais Bourbon]] is blown up when people are still clearly inside. [[Sam Witwicky]], meanwhile, was stated to have died.
* Titan quite blatantly stated that the [[Free Men]] had caused great loss of life at an air base, a rare example of humans killing humans. In the same story, [[Robert Epps]] opened fire on militia men, which kinda implies he was killing them. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}} Similarly, [[Wheelie (ROTF)|Wheelie]] of all people was seen zapping humans at close range during a Decepticon attack; with no "oh it was a stun beam" handwave and the 'Cons not pulling punches, it sure seems like he's murdered 'em! {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.6|Outlaw Blues}}
* In ''[[Kiss Players (franchise)|Kiss Players]]'', several [[Kiss Player]]s were seen being devoured by Legions.

==Characters who die a lot==
* [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|Optimus Prime]]
* [[Dirge (G1)]] — the unlucky guy who gets [[:Image:Dirge DeathSerpentor.jpg|killed]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathSwarm.jpg|off]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathTimelines.jpg|in]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathUnicron.jpg|many]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathArmada.jpg|continuities]]
* [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] — the unlucky guy who gets killed over and over in the same continuity, but doesn't seem to mind.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] — the unlucky guy from ''[[Beast Wars (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'' who gets sliced, diced, and fricasseed every other episode only to be fully functional in time to get [[Slag (slang)|slagged]] ''again''. But he never actually dies.
* [[Cy-Kill (disambiguation)|Cy-Kill]], a Go-Bots character transferred to many Transformers comics just to be killed off violently. For no other reason than the lolz of ending his toyline, his universe, and finally his life... repeatedly.
* [[Sentinel Prime (G1)]] — the unlucky [[Prime (rank)|Prime]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime lou.jpg|who]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime dw.jpg|must]] [[Megatron Origin issue 4|die]].
* [[Starscream (Animated)]] - the unlucky guy that constantly gets killed, decapitated, or maimed by others, only to be brought back to life.

==See also==
* [[Transformer funerary practices]]
* [[To sell toys]]

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Transformer anatomy]]

Death

2011-01-21T23:56:31Z

174.96.255.90: /* Immortal sparks */

{{disambig2|the end of life|the Horseman of Unicron|Airazor (Armada)}}

[[Image:Battleofautobotcity.jpg|right|300px|thumb|And lo, the children did weep.]]

''Transformers'' is a children's franchise, but at its core, it's a story of war. This means that the '''death''' of major and minor characters sometimes figures into the fiction.

Given the ambiguous nature of [[Transformer]] physiology, there is very little consistency regarding what is fatal to a Transformer, even within a single storyline. Damage that one Transformer might shrug off can prove fatal to another, or even to the same character in a different story. Sometimes just a laser blast or two will do the trick. Other times, characters survive being melted, crushed into cubes, and even utterly disintegrated. It does not take a terribly cynical viewer to conclude that the threshold of survival is generally determined by the needs of the plot.

The out-of-universe reasons for a character's death can vary from plot development to the arrival of [[To sell toys|new toys]]. Conveniently enough for writers who are beholden to the whims of a toy company, the majority of Transformers characters are machines, which means that death isn't necessarily permanent. Across the various universes, characters that appear to have been killed have been known to pop up alive again at a later date, or go through some sort of resurrection.

{{quote|"How can you all be so cold and unfeeling? He died a hero!" "Don't you even have mechanical hearts?" "The humans don't understand! Our form of life is vastly different from theirs!"|[[Spider-Man]], [[Sparkplug Witwicky]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]|"[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

==In-fiction causes of death==
[[Image:DEATH.jpg|left|thumb|400px|[[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] is just as puzzled as the rest of us.]]

There is little consistency in what can kill a Transformer. Sometimes it takes just a shot. Other times, even totally annihilating a Transformer's body still doesn't do the trick. Even the most basic method of killing, which is to destroy or otherwise cause the loss of a Transformer's [[spark]], varies quite a bit in its details from story to story, character to character, and series to series.
{{--}}
===Weaponsfire===
{{quote|This was almost too easy, Starscream!|[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (like the fandom) is surprised to find how easily Autobots die, ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''}}

[[Image:Tftm1986a.jpg|right|200px|thumb|We're here aboard the Autobot shuttle, where we've secretly replaced Brawn's hyper-dense metal armor plating with styrene plastic. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference.]]

[[Image:TFTM UltraMagnus dies.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Prepare for your death today. Yer gonna die!!]]

[[Image:Magnusdeath.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ow! Hey! Cut it out, guys! That hurts!]]

[[Image:Blades1.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Sorry, nameless guy, your generic nature means you will never be miraculously resurrected.]]

Like humans, Transformers can be killed by damage caused by energy, projectile, and chemical weapons. Just how many shots it takes is widely variable, however.
* In the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]]:
** Many casualties of the [[Battle of Autobot City]] (and its run-up), including [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], were victims of energy weapons. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} This was quite a change from the cartoon's M.O., wherein the same characters routinely got shot and blasted all the time and shrugged it off, or at worst spent some time in the repair bay. Brawn and Prowl both went down after ''one shot''.
** [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] subsequently "dies" after being shot a few times by the [[Sweep]]s, exploding into pieces. He is soon revived by the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]], however. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Ultra Magnus dies ''again'', for real this time, after [[Sixshot]] shoots him a few times. {{storylink|Ultra Magnus Dies!!}}

* In the [[Marvel Comics continuity|Marvel comics]]:
** [[Impactor]] was cut down by a single head shot from [[Macabre]]. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
** Most deaths in the ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' book occurred from energy weapons, such as [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]], {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}} as well as numerous generics. {{storylink|War Without End!}} Quite a few victims exploded spectacularly after being shot, including [[Tantrum]] {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}}, [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]], [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] {{storylink|New Dawn}}, and [[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]]{{storylink|Escalation!}}.

* In the ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' cartoon:
** [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] dies after incurring severe damage from numerous [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] weapons. {{storylink|Code of Hero}} The apparent cause of his demise is his refusal to enter protective [[stasis lock]], as other characters have survived similar or worse levels of damage.
** [[Tigerhawk]] is disintegrated by the main cannon of the starship ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]''. The same cannon subsequently blasts [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] and [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]], apparently killing them, though their "death" may be permanent simply because there was nobody around to put them back together. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 2}}

* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] dies holding back the [[Hydra Cannon]], the damage causing him to [[:Image:Sshot-arm-39-4.jpg|crumble to dust]]. {{storylink|Crisis}}

* [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]] G1 comics: [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] is killed by an assassin's blast. {{storylink|The Age of Wrath issue 1}} He got better. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 3}}

* [[Movie continuity]]: [[Brawl (Movie)|Brawl]] and [[Blackout (Movie)|Blackout]] both died from weapons fire. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}

* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] gets his face blown off/in by [[Cyclonus (SG)|Cyclonus]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 4}}
{{--}}
===Big explosions===
{{bigquote|They're going to blow us all to pieces! [[Guardian (Marvel)|Guardian]]'s booby-trapped - packed with enough explosives to level this whole mountain!|[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], "[[The Wrath of Grimlock!]]"}}

Transformers characters often assume that explosions are more lethal than they really are; characters survive explosions all the time. An explosion's messy nature makes a good "out" for a writer to fake a character's death. {{storylink|The Wrath of Grimlock!}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}} Nevertheless, a few characters have been permanently killed by explosions. (This list omits characters who exploded from within, like Ultra Magnus up above.)
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]] was the victim of an interdimensionally triggered explosion that destroyed his body. (In UK continuity, he survived as a raggedy, bodiless head.) {{storylink|The Bridge to Nowhere!}}
** In an alternate future, a wounded [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] died in the fiery explosion of a crashing shuttlecraft. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** [[Finback]] was presumably killed in the explosion of a huge gun battery. [[Misfire]] tried to warn him off, and may have been killed in the same explosion. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}

* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon:
** [[Optimus Primal]] was blown to bits -- terminally so -- by the [[transwarp]] explosion that destroyed the [[Planet Buster]]. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}
** [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]] was killed by the explosion that resulted from [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]]'s death (either his exploding spark, or the exploding energon shard that pierced it.) {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

* Several of the [[Beast Era]] [[Wrecker]]s ([[Sonar (BW)|Sonar]], [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]], the [[Deployer (BM)|Deployers]]) were destroyed when part of their ship exploded with them in it. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

* Energon: [[Bruticus Maximus (Energon)|Bruticus Maximus]] and Storm Jet were killed when Storm Jet caused a massive explosion that engulfed them both.

===Impact trauma===
Falling off a cliff or mountainside or tall building is usually just as fatal to Transformers as it is to, say... Wile E. Coyote. Only on rare occasion does it result in death:
* ''[[Classics (2006)|Classics]]'' continuity: [[Hacksaw]] met his end by falling from a huge communications tower. {{storylink|The New World}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Doubledealer]] was shot, fell off a mountain and smashed to bits on impact. {{storylink|Spotlight: Doubledealer}}
* Movie continuity: [[Devastator (ROTF)|Devastator]] fell off the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] after losing his balance when his arm was shot off, and he shattered to pieces as he tumbled down. ''{{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}''
* The [[Beast (G1)|Beast]] fell off a cliff and shattered. {{storylink|The Beast Within Part 2, Consequences}} At least, we hope that's where and how it ended.

===Crushing===
[[Image:Edgeofextinction-hardheadbombburst.jpg|thumb|right|175px|DO NOT WANT]]
[[Image:TFAni TransWarped LongArm Cliffjumper Cube.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Before time began, there was... THE CUBE.]]

Quite a few characters have been crushed into deactivation:
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]] was smashed between [[Unicron]]'s palms, while [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] met a similar fate when they were stepped on by Unicron. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] is apparently killed when a very large building collapses on top of him. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

* [[Unicron Trilogy]] cartoons:
** [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]] is killed when caught between two folding sections of Unicron's external armor. {{storylink|Union}}
** [[Shockblast]] is crushed by Unicron's hand on [[Blizzard Planet]]. {{storylink|The Power}}
** His brother [[Six Shot]] meets a similar fate, crushed under the heel of a super-sized Galvatron. {{storylink|Galvatron Terror}}

* IDW continuity:
** [[Roller]] was crushed when Megatron caused an avanlanche to fall on him.
** [[Ruckus (G1)|Ruckus]], [[Crankcase (G1)|Crankcase]], and [[Skullcruncher]] were all crushed by [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]].

* ''Animated'' cartoon: [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]] is (possibly) killed by a garbage compactor-like crushing device. (An "out" by writer [[Derrick J. Wyatt|Derrick Wyatt]] was intended to show his still-pulsing spark within his cubified remains, but this did not make it into the show, leaving his fate ambiguous at best.) {{storylink|TransWarped}}

===Melting===
[[Image:BW Scorponok Terrorsaur deaths.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Even having a new toy couldn't save Terrorsaur!]]

[[Image:Fallout title.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Primal's diet had gone horribly wrong.]]

They're made of metal; therefore, with enough heat or sufficiently acidic material, they can melt. This is one of the more fool-proof methods of killing a Transformer; few if any have survived it.
* In the G1 cartoon:
** An acid vat would apparently have been enough to destroy Optimus Prime. {{storylink|The Search for Alpha Trion}}
** Another acid vat was used to disintegrate living victims of Unicron. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comics:
** Victims of the Deception [[smelting pool]]s on Cybertron were reduced by intense heat into their base metals, including [[Scrounge (G1)|Scrounge]]. {{storylink|The Smelting Pool!}}
** It is possible that an acid bath from (naturally) [[Blot (G1)|Blot]] offlined [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] [[Makin' Tracks!|(for a while anyway)]]. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] was partially melted by Unicron's flame-breath and subsequently died. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The [[Cybertronian (faction)|Cybertronian Empire]] used some kind of acid to rather messily eradicate some of their Decepticon ancestors, including [[Stranglehold]]. {{storylink|New Dawn}}

* In the Beast Era cartoons:
** [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] and [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] were apparently melted to death after tumbling into a lava pit within the [[Darksyde|Predacon base]]. {{storylink|Aftermath}}
** Optimus Primal's body was seemingly melted into the floor after his climactic face-off with [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]. Considering how many god-like forces were unleashed and conflicting during the battle, his demise may be due to more than simple temperature-induced melting. {{storylink|Fallout}}

===Incineration===
{{bigquote|I saw the end! They died in a cosmic funeral pyre!|[[Shawn Berger]], "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2]]"}}

[[Image:Armada 52 - Prime hangon to Galvatron.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Galvatron died to save everyone and came back ''twice''—you lose, [[Jesus]]!]]

Plasma, energy fields, and stellar atmospheres can all utterly destroy a Transformer's body. Like being melted, being reduced to one's component molecules would seem to be a surefire way of getting killed, but quite a few characters seem able to survive the process as ghosts and/or disembodied sparks:
* Generation 1 cartoon: [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]'s spectacular death at the hands of [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] might be categorized as incineration. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* Quite a few characters met this fate in the Unicron Trilogy, but all survived it in some fashion:
** [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]]'s spark persisted within his burnt-out body when he was dropped into the exploding Unicron. {{storylink|Mortal Combat}} {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}
** [[Demolishor (Armada)|Demolishor]]'s body was obliterated by an expanding energon grid, but his spark survived the process and was placed in a new body. {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}}
** [[Inferno (Energon)|Inferno]] was destroyed when he threw himself into a star, but his spark was salvaged by the Autobots and, again, placed in a new body. {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
** And finally, Megatron (Galvatron, whatever) threw himself into Primus's new energon sun to prevent Unicron from possessing him, killing himself yet again. {{storylink|The Sun}} This death was so inconsequential that his subsequent resurrection wasn't even explained! {{storylink|Fallen (episode)|Fallen}}

===Consumption===
{{bigquote|...If we don't find the Matrix, some bad guy's gonna ''eat'' us! Right?|Longtooth, "[[Deadly Obsession]]"}}

[[Image:Wreckers Mutants.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The shocking death of the barely-seen guys with hardly any lines!]]
[[Image:Rocky mecannibal bartender marvel uk 240.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Cannibalism is hilarious, kids!]]

Quite a few critters in the multiverse are equipped to devour giant robots. Being eaten (and, presumably, digested) generally proves fatal:
* In the G1 cartoon:
** Various life forms were routinely devoured by the [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticon]]s on Quintessa. This included [[Kranix]], a mechanical life form, though not a Transformer. [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] and [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] would have suffered this fate as well, but fought their way free. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Quite a few Transformers found their way into Unicron's gullet, though many survived the experience. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comic:
** The [[Mecannibal]]s ate robots routinely, including quite a few Transformers during their sojourn on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} {{storylink|Out to Lunch!}} There is some indication that they could actually reconstitute their victims from their "recycled" parts, though this is never explicitly shown. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
** Unicron skewered [[Brainstorm]] and ate him. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The subsurface-dwelling [[demon]]s devoured [[Runabout]]. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The Swarm "devoured" innumerable Cybertronian troopers and a handful of older-generation Transformers as well, though this was through a molecular process almost akin to incineration. {{storylink|Swarm (issue)|Swarm}} {{storylink|Total War!}} {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* The Sharkticons killed two of the [[Mutant (BW)|Mutant]]s by gobbling them up. Or ripping them apart. Or both. We don't really know. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

===Disassembly===
[[Image:Jazz DyingAction.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"HERE'S what I think of your resemblance to your G1 counterpart!"]]

Taking a Transformer apart into its component parts can occasionally kill them:
* Marvel comics: [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] met this fate in an alternate future, when Swoop used a machine to pull him apart into his component pieces. {{storylink|Another Time and Place}}
* Movie continuity: Being ripped in half killed [[Jazz (Movie)|Jazz]]. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}
* [[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]: [[Pyro]] was torn apart and killed while making a final stand against a mass of generic Decpticons.

===Decapitation===
{{main|Decapitation}}

[[Image:Cyclonus death.jpg|thumb|right|150px| "CHUK!" is good, but I could really go for a "Shakkooosh" right about now.]]

Sometimes cutting a Transformer's head off is fatal. Sometimes!
* In the Marvel comics:
** The Megatron clone killed Cyclonus by ripping his head off. {{storylink|Dry Run!}}
** Several of the Wreckers were killed by having their heads ripped or blasted off, including Twin Twist and Topspin, respectively. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars}}
** [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] had his head cut off by a propeller fired by [[Leadfoot (G2)|Leadfoot]], presumably (given the ''Generation 2'' book's emphasis on body count) killing him. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** Characters frequently die by decapitation of some form: [[Bonecrusher (Movie)|Bonecrusher]], {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and [[Grindor (ROTF)|Grindor]]. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
** Decapitation was an inconvenience for [[Frenzy (Movie)|Frenzy]] the first time. The second time, when the blow actually destroyed most of his head, was fatal.

===Vivisection===
[[Image:VictoryUKAnnual.JPG|thumb|right|150px| Ahhhh, there we go...]]

{{bigquote|I have no desire to be carved up into Auto-sushi.|Tracks, "[[Make Tracks]]"}}

Getting chopped in half is pretty graphic for a kids' story, even one about robots, so it doesn't happen very often.
* Marvel comics: In a dream sequence, [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] slices [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] in half, killing him. {{storylink|Victory!}}
* Japanese G1 cartoon: [[Predaking]] gets sliced in half by Dai Atlas. The strike dissects what appears to be an organic brain in his head. {{storylink|Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!}}
* ''Beast Wars Metals'': Terrorsaur was killed by being sliced in half by Primal's mace. {{storylink|Raise the Curtain for Beast Wars Metals!!}}
* Movie continuity: [[Sideways (ROTF)|Sideways]] dies when [[Sideswipe (ROTF)|Sideswipe]] slices his car mode in two. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Destruction of brain===
{{bigquote|Next strike in the neural cluster, yes? Weakest spot on ''all'' Transformers...|[[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], "[[Fire on High!]]"}}

In the early days of the franchise, a Transformer's life force was sometimes understood to be entirely contained within their [[brain module]], most prominently in the Marvel comics. Destroying the brain would kill the Transformer. This premise was eventually passed over in favor of the more esoteric concept of [[spark]]s.
* In the Marvel comics:
** In an alternate future, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] is blasted by [[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], who kills him by extracting and crushing his brain module. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** The [[Throttlebot]]s ''avoid'' death by having their brain modules removed from their bodies shortly before their bodies are destroyed (by crushing). {{storylink|Toy Soldiers!}}

===Destruction of spark===
{{bigquote|RAW energon! Right through your twisted spark!|Depth Charge to Rampage, "[[Nemesis Part 1]]"}}

[[Image:Skyfallwontbethereforit.jpg|thumb|right|200px|And then he hung Skyfall from his ceiling.]]

Getting stabbed right through the spark is almost always fatal:
* In ''Beast Wars'': The supposedly immortal Rampage was killed when Depth Charge pierced his spark with an energon blade. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}
* ''[[Transcendent Technomorph|TransTech]]'': [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] died when [[Alpha Trion (SG)|Alpha Trion]] rammed his sword right through his chest. {{storylink|Transcendent: Part 6}}
*Energon: [[Constructicon Maximus]] was killed when [[Storm Jet (Energon)|Storm Jet]] impaled and crushed his spark.
* ''Cybertron'': Galvatron died after being impaled with [[Rhisling]] by Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Unfinished}}
* Movie continuity: Optimus Prime died from a stab wound through the chest, quickly followed by a cannon blast through the spark chamber from Megatron's swordcannon weapon.[[The Fallen]] also met his end when Optimus punched through his chest and crushed his spark. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* ''Beast Machines'' continuity: [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] - already reduced to a spark within the matrix - ceased to be when Megatron annihilated his spark from existence. {{storylink|Singularity Ablyss}}
* [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|Titan's Movie comics]]: Transformers have forcefields shielding their sparks, which can be externalized to protect bodywork. Jazz loved doing this, leaving him far more vulnerable to death by destruction of spark than he would otherwise be. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 6|Lost in Space 4: Jazz}}

===Loss of spark===
{{bigquote|Warning. Further expenditure will result in permanent loss of spark. Stasis lock ''must'' commence.|[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]]'s internal computer, "[[Code of Hero]]"}}

Sometimes sparks can survive outside of a body; sometimes they cannot. In the Beast Era, there is some indication that a spark left outside a body will soon begin to return to the Matrix/AllSpark/another dimension.
* When Dinobot expires after his final battle, his Spark is seen exiting his body. The implication is that a sufficiently damaged body can no longer hold a spark within this dimension. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* ''Beast Machines'' subsequently showed living sparks existing outside of bodies on a regular basis. The sparkless bodies were simply considered shells, rather than "dead".
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Prowl dies when he intentionally relinquishes his own spark. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}
* Movie continuity: Jetfire rips out his own spark chamber to give Optimus a fighting chance. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Energy overload===
{{bigquote|We may need energon for power, but this is too much of a good thing.|[[Optimus Primal]], "[[Beast Wars (Part 1)]]"}}

[[Image:TFAnimated transformandrollout DEATH.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Death — the Optimus version of a power nap.]]
[[Image:Underbaseallmine.jpg|thumb|right|200px|He's got an Underbase in his underpants.]]

The average [[human]] needs a lot of [[water]] to survive. But too much water results in [[wikipedia:Water intoxication|a horrible death]]. Similarly, Transformers need energy to survive, but too much of it can be a very bad thing. Sometimes it's just plain old energy; other times it some special god-like force that does them in.
* In the Marvel comics:
** An [[Underbase]]-empowered Starscream slaughtered dozens of Transformers with energy blasts, {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}} which reportedly burned out millions of their microchips. {{storylink|Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?}} Some Transformers were seen to recover from these attacks, either via conventional repairs {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} or through the power of [[nucleon]]. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
** Starscream himself was killed when he absorbed all the energies of the Underbase. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] was apparently killed when struck by a blast of energy from the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]], though the physical effect was more like being hit by an especially powerful laser blast. {{storylink|All Fall Down (issue)}}

* ''Super-God Masterforce'' cartoon: [[Sixknight]] died from an overcharge of BlackZarak's Devil Power. {{storylink|Malevolent and Inhuman! The True Form of Devil Z}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runabout]] dies when one of the [[Reaper]]s zaps him full of energy, causing him to explode from within. {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* Movie continuity: [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] was killed when [[Sam Witwicky]] shoved the [[AllSpark]] into his chest. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)|Transformers}}
* ''Transformers Animated'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] got caught in an explosion of [[AllSpark]] energy that may have been sufficient to kill him, although he also fell off a very tall building immediately afterwards (Starscream was caught in the same explosion and survived, but was knocked offline for an unspecified period.)

===Energy depletion===
On rare occasion, Transformers can simply run out of energy completely and expire.
* Marvel comics: the ancient [[Overlord (rank)|Overlord]] died from a lack of energy. {{storylink|State Games}}
* Movie continuity: [[Jetfire (ROTF)|Jetfire]] explains that a lack of energon causes the Transformer equivalent of aging, such as rusting joints, mental confusion, and pieces falling apart, followed by an indefinite period of stasis that can only be reversed by an infusion of Allspark energy. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Suicide===
Sometimes a Transformers kills himself for some reason.
* Marvel comics
** Megatron seemingly killed himself using a [[space bridge]] though it was later revealed that he survived.
** Dirge and Nightbeat self destructed and destroyed themselves in a last ditch attempt to destroy the Swarm.
* Beast Wars
** [[Tigerhawk]] sacrificed himself by hurling himself in the way of a fusion cannon blast from the Nemesis.
* Energon: Galvatron, Starscream, and [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Mirage]] threw themselves into a sun and vaporized themselves. [[Snow Cat (Energon)|Snow Cat]] and Demolisher may have also done this.

==Non-fatal deactivation==
{{quote|"You mean he's still alive?!" "No! But neither is he what you would term 'dead'!"|[[Spider-Man]] and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], "[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

[[Image:Zombiesbackfromthedead.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Braiiiiiin mooooodulllllles....]]

For almost every single cause of death listed above, there's been one or more Transformers who have survived it, sometimes without so much as a period of unconsciousness.

In particular, "deactivation" is the Transformers equivalent of being in a coma. Numerous Transformers are seen to enter this state and eventually recover, such as the Autobots deactivated by Shockwave {{storylink|The Last Stand}}, who later were repaired. However, the line between death and deactivation is a blurry one. Sometimes the two words are used interchangeably, even in reference to characters who are later revived. Most of Starscream's Underbase victims were described as deactivated, and were sometimes lamented as "dead" while at other times were shown undergoing repairs. {{storylink|Back from the Dead}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}

"[[Stasis lock]]" would eventually give a more concrete name to the state of deactivation. The inert Transformers on the crashed Ark were retconned as being in stasis lock. Various ''Beast Wars'' characters would go into stasis lock to maintain their spark when their body had sustained too much damage from weaponsfire or energon absorption. ''Animated'' showed a crew of Autobots voluntarily entering protective stasis lock in anticipation of a crash landing.

Some of the quasi-fatal things which can cause a Transformer to "deactivate" include:

===Impact trauma===
Smashing into something usually knocks out a Transformer, but almost never actually kills them:
* The crew of the original Ark is deactivated when the ship crashes on Earth and lies inert for 4 million years {{storylink|More than Meets the Eye, Part 1}} {{storylink|The Transformers (issue)}}
* Marvel comics: [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] falls to his "death", but is patched together and talking again in short order. {{storylink|Prisoner of War!}}

===Decapitation===
[[Image:Sentinelprimeanimatedhumiliated.jpg|thumb|200px|In the movie continuity, this would've been fatal. In ''Animated'', it's just embarrassing.]]

{{bigquote|Anyone who can lop your head off in one blow is alright by me!|[[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] jokes about [[Cloudburst]]'s near-death experience, "[[Recipe for Disaster!]]"}}

Like we said before, decapitation is sometimes fatal... and other times it isn't.
* Marvel comic:
** Optimus Prime was able to survive as just a head when Shockwave separated it from his body in an effort to get the Creation Matrix. {{storylink|The New Order}}
**[[Cloudburst]] was abruptly decapitated by sword, but was just fine after some repairs. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
* G1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was disassembled into his component parts, but functioned just fine as nothing more than a head once [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] connected a few wires. {{storylink|City of Steel}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] survives having his head blasted or otherwise knocked off multiple times {{storylink|Spider's Game}} {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}} {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)}} {{storylink|Code of Hero}}, and even put it back on himself one time. He even accidently swapped heads with Megatron once. Megatron was not amused. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]] was just fine when one of the Reapers whacked his head off. (He didn't fare so well when another Reaper crushed his head with a boulder, however.) {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Decapitated victims of the ''Animated'' [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] rarely show any ill effects other than not having a body anymore. {{storylink|Headmaster (episode)|Headmaster}} {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}} {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

===Dismemberment===
Transformers get ripped to pieces all the time, and recover from it:
* Marvel comic: Scorponok tears [[Tantrum]] to pieces. [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] slices [[Horri-Bull]] in half at the waist. Both are seen alive later on. {{storylink|Cold War!}}
* Last Stand of the Wreckers: [[Guzzle]] is torn in half by [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] and is easily repaired.

===Spark removal===
{{bigquote|His spark can't exist outside a living body!|[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]], "[[Optimal Situation]]"}}

A Transformer's spark—their "soul", their living essence—can be removed from their body, or the body can be destroyed around them
* The destruction of Starscream's body, and his subsequent survival as a ghost, was eventually retconned to be his Spark enduring without a physical form. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Tigatron and Airazor's sparks spent quite some time wandering around behind Tigerhawk, before combining and entering his body. {{storylink|Other Victories}}

* In the ''Beast Machines'' cartoon:
** Megatron de-sparked most of Cybertron's population and stored their sparks in a big barrel. Most were restored to bodies eventually. {{storylink|Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}}
** Blackarachnia's spark wandered around bodiless for a time. {{storylink|Revelations Part III: Apocalypse}}
** Megatron himself, his spark in a depolarized state, wandered the surface of Cybertron without a body for a time. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}

The treatment of bodiless sparks in ''Beast Machines'' is seen by some fans as contradicting the canon established by ''Beast Wars'', particularly the quote above.

===Limbo===
Sometimes Transformers get shunted out of creation as we know it, and into various alternate, sub- and non-dimensions.
* Marvel comics:
** The [[Trans-Time Dimensional Portal]] crosses [[unspace]], "a bit of dimensional nothingness" where Ratchet and Megatron vanished and were believed dead. {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}
** Transformers mass-displaced by time travel wind up in a formless dimension known as [[Limbo]].
* IDW comics: Megatron severely damaged Optimus Prime in battle and planned on finishing him off by crushing his [[Laser core|spark core]]. Optimus Prime feigned death by downloading his "consciousness" into his [[Combat Deck|trailer section]], causing his [[Brain Center|robot mode]] to appear dead. In the time it took for Prime's consciousness to transfer to his trailer, he briefly entered [[infraspace|limbo]], the transitional infraspace between life and death. {{storylink|Escalation (IDW)|Escalation}}

==Resuscitation==
Robots are machines. They can be switched off, taken apart, blown to bits, and put back together. Ergo, in many continuities and cases, "death" is not nearly as permanent a condition as it is for us fragile fleshy types.

===Reconstruction===
[[Image:PeoplePower-reprogrammed.jpg|thumb|right|250px| ]]

{{bigquote|I've done it! Optimus Prime lives!|A random Quintesson, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]"}}

* Generation 1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was simply ''repaired'' back to life by a Quintesson. Some fixing of this and that, a burst of power, and boom, suddenly he was alive again. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}}
* Marvel Comics: Optimus Prime's mind was encoded on a disk. After a new [[Powermaster]] body was constructed for him, the disk's contents were loaded into it, and Optimus Prime lived again. (One wonders why they couldn't make as many Optimus Primes as they pleased.) {{storylink|People Power!}}

===Spark transfer===
Transferring a Transformer's spark into a new body constitutes a form of resurrection, particularly if the Transformer's previous body was destroyed.
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Optimus Primal was restored to life when Rhinox managed to recall his spark from the Matrix, a special circumstance only enabled by a temporary window into transwarp space. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* ''Armada'' Smokescreen was shot through the chest at point blank range by the Requiem Blaster {{storylink|Sacrifice}} but his spark survived and was put into a new body. {{storylink|Regeneration}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Inferno and Demolishor both had their bodies ''atomized''; however, their sparks both survived, and were placed into new bodies. (The upshot of all of this is that it's nigh-impossible to kill a Unicron Trilogy Transformer, unless they do it themselves.) {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}} {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: The spark of a dying [[Yoketron]] was placed into a new protoform body by [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]; however, Yoketron consciously chose to let his life end, and expired anyway. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}}

==="Magical" substances===
* Marvel Comics: The miraculous healing properties of Nucleon brought many Autobots back to life, as well as a few Decepticons. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Megatron was revived by the all-encompassing power of energon, as was Unicron. {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}

===Primus and Primus-related powers===
{{bigquote|Where the Last Autobot is concerned, even death, it would appear, is an abstract concept!|Optimus Prime explains his latest revival, "[[End of the Road! (US)|End of the Road!]]"}}

Anything tied to the primordial life-force of the Transformers' god Primus tends to be a cure-all for death. This includes Primus himself, his various power-wielding avatars and servants, and the assorted Matrixes and Allsparks, all of which can deliver an infusion of the essence of life itself. In some continuities, this is parsed as a Transformer's spark being brought back out of the Allspark dimension.

[[Image:RageInHeaven-HeroPrime.jpg|thumb|right|150px|]]

* In the Marvel comics:
** The [[Last Autobot]] was granted the power of recreation by Primus, which he used to raise numerous fallen Autobots from the battlefield. {{storylink|End of the Road! (US)}}
** Optimus Prime was eager to find the lost Creation Matrix, stating that it would be able to restore many deactivated warriors to life. {{storylink|Bird of Prey!}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the [[Swarm (G2)|Swarm]] after it had ingested the energies and knowledge of the Matrix. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** The Allspark is shown repeatedly to be capable of restoring just about anything. Frenzy gets a whole new body from its power, {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and Megatron is restored to life by merely a fragment of it. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the Matrix of Leadership, an Allspark-related talisman. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

* ''Beast Machines'' cartoon: [[Optimus Primal]]'s body was destroyed, but the AllSpark granted him the choice of uniting with it or being reborn. He chose the latter, and ''poof'', just walked right out of the Oracle bubble in a brand new version of his previous body. {{storylink|Fallout}}
* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] was brought back to life by the power of the [[Mini-Con]]s after his body was disintegrated. {{storylink|Miracle}}
* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] was resurrected when he and his gestaltmates were combined together and reborn by Primus into [[Nexus Prime]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 5}} Nexus Prime then brought [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] back from the other side of the Allspark and infused him with some of Primus's power to become Galvatron. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 6}}

===Zombies===
* Dude, [[zombie]]s!

==Immortality==
===Immortal sparks===
Certain sparks have mutant qualities that allow them to, potentially, exist forever.
* Starscream survived his death at the hands of Galvatron; this was later explained as him having a "mutant indestructible spark". {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}} {{storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] was created as an attempt to duplicate Starscream's immortal spark. {{storylink|Bad Spark}} He was eventually killed by [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]], so the attempt may be seen as unsuccessful. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}
* In the IDW comics Thunderwing's Pretender shell made him invincable.

===Other===
* [[Multiversal singularity|Multiversal singularities]] such as [[Unicron]] and [[The Fallen]] can be killed off in one dimension, only to still be alive and well in another (or many others), due to the varying properties of different dimensions (reverse-time, dimensions, for example are key to revival of the singularities).
* ''Animated'' [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] could not be killed so long as he retained his Allspark fragment embedded in his forehead.
* Denizens of the [[Dead Universe]] could essentially regenerate themselves out of nothing, no matter how much damage was inflicted on them.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] can never completely die no matter what for some reason.

==Out-of-fiction causes of character death==
===Drama / character culmination===
At its best, character death can be a moving plot development, the fruition of an ongoing character arc.
* Suspecting that they would have to remove a character from the show, the writers of ''Beast Wars'' began planning for Dinobot's death several episodes ahead of time. Thus, when it came, it was the outcome of the character's own choices, flaws, and history, and played a crucial role in the show's plot. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* Sunstreaker's death in ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' is intended to follow a similar style of arc... only it's missing the whole choices, flaws and history thing. Oh well!
* Optimus Primal's death(s) in ''Beast Machines'' are likewise the outcome of his own choices and character. {{storylink|End of the Line}} {{storylink| Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}} His death in ''Beast Wars'', by contrast, was more a moment of dramatic pathos -- knowingly walking into danger, his enemy got the better of him. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}

===Consequences of war===
It's hard to take a war story seriously when nobody actually dies. The reality of war can be more readily portrayed when characters die. [[Generic]]s are particularly handy for this, allowing death to be shown while not removing primary characters (retail toys!) from the story. The results can range from high drama and pathos to numbingly pointless body counts.
* Impactor's death was used to drive home the threat of the Decepticons as well as the risks taken by the Autobots and their commanders. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
* The ''Generation 2'' book featured several deaths which drove home the realities of war. Most notably, Red Alert's destruction served to make Grimlock acutely aware of just how badly he'd screwed up. {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}}

===Increased threat===
An enemy that kills is an enemy to be taken seriously. Thus a writer will frequently throw in some preliminary deaths to point out how seriously the bad guy should be treated.
* The generic who dies at the beginning of "[[City of Fear!]]" serves to show the zombies as a true life-threatening menace.
* Likewise for Runabout's death at the hands of the demons ; {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}} knowing they can devour a Transformer makes the reader more concerned about the Dinobots' subsequent fate. {{storylink|Still Life!}}
* In "[[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]", [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] makes corpses in practically every scene he's in!

===Cast thinning===
Transformers stories are notorious for acquiring gigantic casts as they roll on; Generation 1 was particularly notorious for this because of its longevity. A simple way to make things more manageable was simply to kill off large numbers of characters in battle. Examples are rife in the fiction, especially the Marvel Comics.

* In the Marvel comics:
** The "[[Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars]]" storyline got rid of the [[Wrecker]]s and quite a few Decepticons as well.
** The [[Underbase Saga]] even more explicitly cleared out dozens of characters, leaving perhaps 2 dozen characters from each faction in the story.
** The battle with Unicron in "[[On the Edge of Extinction!]]" likewise got rid of a lot of older characters, leaving the story free to concentrate on more of a core cast (and associated newer toy characters.)
* [[Betrayal|Wreckers #2]] dealt with its oversized cast by killing off scads of characters right up front.

===Clear space for new toys===
{{main|To sell toys}}

Some fiction has an inherently limited capacity for characters. ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines'' are by far the most prominent examples; their CGI animation made character animation expensive and necessitated removing an old character before a new one could be brought in. But any medium can be susceptible to this toy-driven phenomena.
* The numerous casualties of "[[The Transformers: The Movie]]" were fairly explicitly removed from the story to make way for a wave of new toy/characters.
* Terrorsaur and Scorponok had to be removed -- quickly -- to make room for the two upcoming Fuzor characters, hence their sudden, blink-and-you-miss-it death in "[[Aftermath]]".
* Airazor and Tigatron were removed for similar reasons. When their plot was finally resolved, it was, surprise, via [[Tigerhawk|a new toy]]!

==Fleshling death==
In general, ''Transformers'' fiction is pretty squeamish about showing the deaths of Earth's organic creatures. But it's a war, and sometimes it does happen. The out-of-universe reasons generally fall into three categories: Consequences of War, Emotional Pathos, and BLOOD IZ KEWL.

The various cartoons tend to show organic death the least, as they are most clearly aimed at, and easily accessible by, children. Comics tend to be less reluctant to show the impact of the Transformers' war on innocent lives, though the death rate varies by series. Latter-day Generation 1 books especially revel in high body counts, because squishing stupid humans is killer and awesome and radical and hardcore. Even the occasional [[Satellite of Doom|children's storybook]] has been known to off mass quantities of the dumb fleshies.

===Animal death===
[[Image:MurderedPuppy02.jpg|right|150px|thumb|One dead dog]]

[[Image:Sparkwar3 Dead noble.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Two dead dogs]]

Cute little animals are almost always killed off for reasons of Emotional Pathos:
* A little girl's pet puppy named [[Pis]] barked at [[Wilder]] and was kicked so hard he died. {{storylink|Rage!! Little Devils with No Need for Rules}}
* The [[Murdered puppy]] was shot down by the Decepticons after running away from Megatron's experiments. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 8|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #8}}
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] once reminded [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] that [[The Fallen]] once shot down a ship full of [[Antilian bumble-puppy|Antilian bumble-puppies]]. (Decepticons have a thing for killing puppies.)
* The puppy-like [[Noble]] was shot at by [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] because of his hatred for organics {{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. III: The Siege}} and was later mourned by his "owner", [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}.
* A stray shot from [[Tigatron]] accidentally caused an avalanche which killed his friend [[Snowstalker]]. {{storylink|Law of the Jungle}}
* "[[Law of the Jungle]]" also portrays the deaths of four different forest animals (a bug is eaten by a frog, which is eaten by a snake, which is taken off to be eaten by a bird. Later, an orange tiger kills an antelope). This is a rare "Consequences of War" example.
* [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] also once ate an eagle, {{storylink|Power Surge}} while [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] ate a cute little rat {{storylink|Victory (episode)|Victory}}, and nearly ate an antelope as well. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* In order to save [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] had to fight a saber-toothed tiger off a cliff killing it. {{Storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] used [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel]]'s shield to knock a spikey rock onto a giant spider effectively killing it. She later used [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus]]' axe to kill some new born baby spiders. {{Storylink|Along Came a Spider}}
* Human villain [[Trophy White]] had a grisly display of stuffed and mounted animal heads. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}}

{{-}}
===Human death===
[[Image:Razorclawshootsahuman.jpg|right|thumb|250px|This didn't happen much.]]

* Marvel US: The [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|original Marvel book]] ignored or glossed over human casualties, which were rarely if ever shown; the panel at right, from [[Toy Soldiers!|US #37]], shows a ''very'' unusual instance of a human dying right in front of us. One of the few human(oid)s to die on-panel was [[Galen]], killed off to make way for [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]]. ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' was much more explicit about human death, as Bludgeon and later [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] attacked Earth for the purpose of inflicting casualties.
* Marvel UK: The UK-original stories were much less reluctant to show human death; within the first year or so, humans had died in Autobot-induced car wrecks and at the hands of mind-controlled Autobots.
* In every US-aired cartoon series, humans essentially ''never'' die. Even ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Transformers Animated]]'', which features the city of [[Detroit]] getting smashed by robot battles virtually every week, never once mentions humans getting killed.
* Contemporary toyline-based comics (''[[Armada (Dreamwave comic)|Armada]]'', ''[[Energon (comic)|Energon]]'') seem to follow a similar policy, avoiding mention of human death -- even when human cities are being directly attacked, as in "[[Multiplicity, Pt. 2]]".
* Japanese cartoons, by contrast, don't seem to mind showing human deaths (or [[Pis|dog deaths]], for that matter).
* The [[Dreamwave Generation One continuity|Dreamwave G1 comics]] really thought it was totally awesome and cool and radical to kill off those stupid humans. Thus, they start off with Megatron smushing some stupid humans. More smushing and killing and blowing up follows. DIE, dumb stubbies, DIE!
* [[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW comics]] managed to avoid this for a long time, showing human death only when it was particularly integral to the plot... then ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' came down the pike. DIE, stupid fleshies, DIE!
* The live-action [[movie continuity]] implies a great deal of human death. ''Revenge'' mentions a body count of over 9,000, and massive damage is done during the battle of [[Mission City]], though little of it is shown on screen. And of course, the first film begins with Blackout wiping out an entire military base. A handful of humans are killed directly on-screen, most notably [[Patrick Donnelly|Donnelly]].
* The alternate timeline arc in Titan's Movie comic featured big wars on Earth and lots of destruction, clearly ''insinuating'' human death while not being explicit. The exceptions were in [[Transformers Comic issue 10|issue 10]], where [[NATO]] is said to be suffering losses of 11,506 and the [[France|Palais Bourbon]] is blown up when people are still clearly inside. [[Sam Witwicky]], meanwhile, was stated to have died.
* Titan quite blatantly stated that the [[Free Men]] had caused great loss of life at an air base, a rare example of humans killing humans. In the same story, [[Robert Epps]] opened fire on militia men, which kinda implies he was killing them. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}} Similarly, [[Wheelie (ROTF)|Wheelie]] of all people was seen zapping humans at close range during a Decepticon attack; with no "oh it was a stun beam" handwave and the 'Cons not pulling punches, it sure seems like he's murdered 'em! {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.6|Outlaw Blues}}
* In ''[[Kiss Players (franchise)|Kiss Players]]'', several [[Kiss Player]]s were seen being devoured by Legions.

==Characters who die a lot==
* [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|Optimus Prime]]
* [[Dirge (G1)]] — the unlucky guy who gets [[:Image:Dirge DeathSerpentor.jpg|killed]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathSwarm.jpg|off]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathTimelines.jpg|in]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathUnicron.jpg|many]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathArmada.jpg|continuities]]
* [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] — the unlucky guy who gets killed over and over in the same continuity, but doesn't seem to mind.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] — the unlucky guy from ''[[Beast Wars (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'' who gets sliced, diced, and fricasseed every other episode only to be fully functional in time to get [[Slag (slang)|slagged]] ''again''. But he never actually dies.
* [[Cy-Kill (disambiguation)|Cy-Kill]], a Go-Bots character transferred to many Transformers comics just to be killed off violently. For no other reason than the lolz of ending his toyline, his universe, and finally his life... repeatedly.
* [[Sentinel Prime (G1)]] — the unlucky [[Prime (rank)|Prime]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime lou.jpg|who]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime dw.jpg|must]] [[Megatron Origin issue 4|die]].
* [[Starscream (Animated)]] - the unlucky guy that constantly gets killed, decapitated, or maimed by others, only to be brought back to life.

==See also==
* [[Transformer funerary practices]]
* [[To sell toys]]

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Transformer anatomy]]

Death

2011-01-21T23:44:20Z

174.96.255.90: /* Crushing */

{{disambig2|the end of life|the Horseman of Unicron|Airazor (Armada)}}

[[Image:Battleofautobotcity.jpg|right|300px|thumb|And lo, the children did weep.]]

''Transformers'' is a children's franchise, but at its core, it's a story of war. This means that the '''death''' of major and minor characters sometimes figures into the fiction.

Given the ambiguous nature of [[Transformer]] physiology, there is very little consistency regarding what is fatal to a Transformer, even within a single storyline. Damage that one Transformer might shrug off can prove fatal to another, or even to the same character in a different story. Sometimes just a laser blast or two will do the trick. Other times, characters survive being melted, crushed into cubes, and even utterly disintegrated. It does not take a terribly cynical viewer to conclude that the threshold of survival is generally determined by the needs of the plot.

The out-of-universe reasons for a character's death can vary from plot development to the arrival of [[To sell toys|new toys]]. Conveniently enough for writers who are beholden to the whims of a toy company, the majority of Transformers characters are machines, which means that death isn't necessarily permanent. Across the various universes, characters that appear to have been killed have been known to pop up alive again at a later date, or go through some sort of resurrection.

{{quote|"How can you all be so cold and unfeeling? He died a hero!" "Don't you even have mechanical hearts?" "The humans don't understand! Our form of life is vastly different from theirs!"|[[Spider-Man]], [[Sparkplug Witwicky]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]|"[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

==In-fiction causes of death==
[[Image:DEATH.jpg|left|thumb|400px|[[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] is just as puzzled as the rest of us.]]

There is little consistency in what can kill a Transformer. Sometimes it takes just a shot. Other times, even totally annihilating a Transformer's body still doesn't do the trick. Even the most basic method of killing, which is to destroy or otherwise cause the loss of a Transformer's [[spark]], varies quite a bit in its details from story to story, character to character, and series to series.
{{--}}
===Weaponsfire===
{{quote|This was almost too easy, Starscream!|[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (like the fandom) is surprised to find how easily Autobots die, ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''}}

[[Image:Tftm1986a.jpg|right|200px|thumb|We're here aboard the Autobot shuttle, where we've secretly replaced Brawn's hyper-dense metal armor plating with styrene plastic. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference.]]

[[Image:TFTM UltraMagnus dies.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Prepare for your death today. Yer gonna die!!]]

[[Image:Magnusdeath.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ow! Hey! Cut it out, guys! That hurts!]]

[[Image:Blades1.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Sorry, nameless guy, your generic nature means you will never be miraculously resurrected.]]

Like humans, Transformers can be killed by damage caused by energy, projectile, and chemical weapons. Just how many shots it takes is widely variable, however.
* In the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]]:
** Many casualties of the [[Battle of Autobot City]] (and its run-up), including [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], were victims of energy weapons. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} This was quite a change from the cartoon's M.O., wherein the same characters routinely got shot and blasted all the time and shrugged it off, or at worst spent some time in the repair bay. Brawn and Prowl both went down after ''one shot''.
** [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] subsequently "dies" after being shot a few times by the [[Sweep]]s, exploding into pieces. He is soon revived by the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]], however. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Ultra Magnus dies ''again'', for real this time, after [[Sixshot]] shoots him a few times. {{storylink|Ultra Magnus Dies!!}}

* In the [[Marvel Comics continuity|Marvel comics]]:
** [[Impactor]] was cut down by a single head shot from [[Macabre]]. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
** Most deaths in the ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' book occurred from energy weapons, such as [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]], {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}} as well as numerous generics. {{storylink|War Without End!}} Quite a few victims exploded spectacularly after being shot, including [[Tantrum]] {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}}, [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]], [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] {{storylink|New Dawn}}, and [[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]]{{storylink|Escalation!}}.

* In the ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' cartoon:
** [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] dies after incurring severe damage from numerous [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] weapons. {{storylink|Code of Hero}} The apparent cause of his demise is his refusal to enter protective [[stasis lock]], as other characters have survived similar or worse levels of damage.
** [[Tigerhawk]] is disintegrated by the main cannon of the starship ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]''. The same cannon subsequently blasts [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] and [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]], apparently killing them, though their "death" may be permanent simply because there was nobody around to put them back together. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 2}}

* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] dies holding back the [[Hydra Cannon]], the damage causing him to [[:Image:Sshot-arm-39-4.jpg|crumble to dust]]. {{storylink|Crisis}}

* [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]] G1 comics: [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] is killed by an assassin's blast. {{storylink|The Age of Wrath issue 1}} He got better. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 3}}

* [[Movie continuity]]: [[Brawl (Movie)|Brawl]] and [[Blackout (Movie)|Blackout]] both died from weapons fire. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}

* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] gets his face blown off/in by [[Cyclonus (SG)|Cyclonus]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 4}}
{{--}}
===Big explosions===
{{bigquote|They're going to blow us all to pieces! [[Guardian (Marvel)|Guardian]]'s booby-trapped - packed with enough explosives to level this whole mountain!|[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], "[[The Wrath of Grimlock!]]"}}

Transformers characters often assume that explosions are more lethal than they really are; characters survive explosions all the time. An explosion's messy nature makes a good "out" for a writer to fake a character's death. {{storylink|The Wrath of Grimlock!}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}} Nevertheless, a few characters have been permanently killed by explosions. (This list omits characters who exploded from within, like Ultra Magnus up above.)
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]] was the victim of an interdimensionally triggered explosion that destroyed his body. (In UK continuity, he survived as a raggedy, bodiless head.) {{storylink|The Bridge to Nowhere!}}
** In an alternate future, a wounded [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] died in the fiery explosion of a crashing shuttlecraft. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** [[Finback]] was presumably killed in the explosion of a huge gun battery. [[Misfire]] tried to warn him off, and may have been killed in the same explosion. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}

* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon:
** [[Optimus Primal]] was blown to bits -- terminally so -- by the [[transwarp]] explosion that destroyed the [[Planet Buster]]. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}
** [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]] was killed by the explosion that resulted from [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]]'s death (either his exploding spark, or the exploding energon shard that pierced it.) {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

* Several of the [[Beast Era]] [[Wrecker]]s ([[Sonar (BW)|Sonar]], [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]], the [[Deployer (BM)|Deployers]]) were destroyed when part of their ship exploded with them in it. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

* Energon: [[Bruticus Maximus (Energon)|Bruticus Maximus]] and Storm Jet were killed when Storm Jet caused a massive explosion that engulfed them both.

===Impact trauma===
Falling off a cliff or mountainside or tall building is usually just as fatal to Transformers as it is to, say... Wile E. Coyote. Only on rare occasion does it result in death:
* ''[[Classics (2006)|Classics]]'' continuity: [[Hacksaw]] met his end by falling from a huge communications tower. {{storylink|The New World}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Doubledealer]] was shot, fell off a mountain and smashed to bits on impact. {{storylink|Spotlight: Doubledealer}}
* Movie continuity: [[Devastator (ROTF)|Devastator]] fell off the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] after losing his balance when his arm was shot off, and he shattered to pieces as he tumbled down. ''{{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}''
* The [[Beast (G1)|Beast]] fell off a cliff and shattered. {{storylink|The Beast Within Part 2, Consequences}} At least, we hope that's where and how it ended.

===Crushing===
[[Image:Edgeofextinction-hardheadbombburst.jpg|thumb|right|175px|DO NOT WANT]]
[[Image:TFAni TransWarped LongArm Cliffjumper Cube.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Before time began, there was... THE CUBE.]]

Quite a few characters have been crushed into deactivation:
* In the Marvel comics:
** [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]] was smashed between [[Unicron]]'s palms, while [[Bomb-Burst (G1)|Bomb-Burst]] and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] met a similar fate when they were stepped on by Unicron. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] is apparently killed when a very large building collapses on top of him. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

* [[Unicron Trilogy]] cartoons:
** [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]] is killed when caught between two folding sections of Unicron's external armor. {{storylink|Union}}
** [[Shockblast]] is crushed by Unicron's hand on [[Blizzard Planet]]. {{storylink|The Power}}
** His brother [[Six Shot]] meets a similar fate, crushed under the heel of a super-sized Galvatron. {{storylink|Galvatron Terror}}

* IDW continuity:
** [[Roller]] was crushed when Megatron caused an avanlanche to fall on him.
** [[Ruckus (G1)|Ruckus]], [[Crankcase (G1)|Crankcase]], and [[Skullcruncher]] were all crushed by [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]].

* ''Animated'' cartoon: [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]] is (possibly) killed by a garbage compactor-like crushing device. (An "out" by writer [[Derrick J. Wyatt|Derrick Wyatt]] was intended to show his still-pulsing spark within his cubified remains, but this did not make it into the show, leaving his fate ambiguous at best.) {{storylink|TransWarped}}

===Melting===
[[Image:BW Scorponok Terrorsaur deaths.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Even having a new toy couldn't save Terrorsaur!]]

[[Image:Fallout title.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Primal's diet had gone horribly wrong.]]

They're made of metal; therefore, with enough heat or sufficiently acidic material, they can melt. This is one of the more fool-proof methods of killing a Transformer; few if any have survived it.
* In the G1 cartoon:
** An acid vat would apparently have been enough to destroy Optimus Prime. {{storylink|The Search for Alpha Trion}}
** Another acid vat was used to disintegrate living victims of Unicron. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comics:
** Victims of the Deception [[smelting pool]]s on Cybertron were reduced by intense heat into their base metals, including [[Scrounge (G1)|Scrounge]]. {{storylink|The Smelting Pool!}}
** It is possible that an acid bath from (naturally) [[Blot (G1)|Blot]] offlined [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] [[Makin' Tracks!|(for a while anyway)]]. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] was partially melted by Unicron's flame-breath and subsequently died. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The [[Cybertronian (faction)|Cybertronian Empire]] used some kind of acid to rather messily eradicate some of their Decepticon ancestors, including [[Stranglehold]]. {{storylink|New Dawn}}

* In the Beast Era cartoons:
** [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] and [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] were apparently melted to death after tumbling into a lava pit within the [[Darksyde|Predacon base]]. {{storylink|Aftermath}}
** Optimus Primal's body was seemingly melted into the floor after his climactic face-off with [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]. Considering how many god-like forces were unleashed and conflicting during the battle, his demise may be due to more than simple temperature-induced melting. {{storylink|Fallout}}

===Incineration===
{{bigquote|I saw the end! They died in a cosmic funeral pyre!|[[Shawn Berger]], "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2]]"}}

[[Image:Armada 52 - Prime hangon to Galvatron.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Galvatron died to save everyone and came back ''twice''—you lose, [[Jesus]]!]]

Plasma, energy fields, and stellar atmospheres can all utterly destroy a Transformer's body. Like being melted, being reduced to one's component molecules would seem to be a surefire way of getting killed, but quite a few characters seem able to survive the process as ghosts and/or disembodied sparks:
* Generation 1 cartoon: [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]'s spectacular death at the hands of [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] might be categorized as incineration. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* Quite a few characters met this fate in the Unicron Trilogy, but all survived it in some fashion:
** [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]]'s spark persisted within his burnt-out body when he was dropped into the exploding Unicron. {{storylink|Mortal Combat}} {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}
** [[Demolishor (Armada)|Demolishor]]'s body was obliterated by an expanding energon grid, but his spark survived the process and was placed in a new body. {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}}
** [[Inferno (Energon)|Inferno]] was destroyed when he threw himself into a star, but his spark was salvaged by the Autobots and, again, placed in a new body. {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
** And finally, Megatron (Galvatron, whatever) threw himself into Primus's new energon sun to prevent Unicron from possessing him, killing himself yet again. {{storylink|The Sun}} This death was so inconsequential that his subsequent resurrection wasn't even explained! {{storylink|Fallen (episode)|Fallen}}

===Consumption===
{{bigquote|...If we don't find the Matrix, some bad guy's gonna ''eat'' us! Right?|Longtooth, "[[Deadly Obsession]]"}}

[[Image:Wreckers Mutants.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The shocking death of the barely-seen guys with hardly any lines!]]
[[Image:Rocky mecannibal bartender marvel uk 240.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Cannibalism is hilarious, kids!]]

Quite a few critters in the multiverse are equipped to devour giant robots. Being eaten (and, presumably, digested) generally proves fatal:
* In the G1 cartoon:
** Various life forms were routinely devoured by the [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticon]]s on Quintessa. This included [[Kranix]], a mechanical life form, though not a Transformer. [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] and [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] would have suffered this fate as well, but fought their way free. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
** Quite a few Transformers found their way into Unicron's gullet, though many survived the experience. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

* In the Marvel comic:
** The [[Mecannibal]]s ate robots routinely, including quite a few Transformers during their sojourn on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} {{storylink|Out to Lunch!}} There is some indication that they could actually reconstitute their victims from their "recycled" parts, though this is never explicitly shown. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
** Unicron skewered [[Brainstorm]] and ate him. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The subsurface-dwelling [[demon]]s devoured [[Runabout]]. {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}}
** The Swarm "devoured" innumerable Cybertronian troopers and a handful of older-generation Transformers as well, though this was through a molecular process almost akin to incineration. {{storylink|Swarm (issue)|Swarm}} {{storylink|Total War!}} {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* The Sharkticons killed two of the [[Mutant (BW)|Mutant]]s by gobbling them up. Or ripping them apart. Or both. We don't really know. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

===Disassembly===
[[Image:Jazz DyingAction.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"HERE'S what I think of your resemblance to your G1 counterpart!"]]

Taking a Transformer apart into its component parts can occasionally kill them:
* Marvel comics: [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] met this fate in an alternate future, when Swoop used a machine to pull him apart into his component pieces. {{storylink|Another Time and Place}}
* Movie continuity: Being ripped in half killed [[Jazz (Movie)|Jazz]]. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}}
* [[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]: [[Pyro]] was torn apart and killed while making a final stand against a mass of generic Decpticons.

===Decapitation===
{{main|Decapitation}}

[[Image:Cyclonus death.jpg|thumb|right|150px| "CHUK!" is good, but I could really go for a "Shakkooosh" right about now.]]

Sometimes cutting a Transformer's head off is fatal. Sometimes!
* In the Marvel comics:
** The Megatron clone killed Cyclonus by ripping his head off. {{storylink|Dry Run!}}
** Several of the Wreckers were killed by having their heads ripped or blasted off, including Twin Twist and Topspin, respectively. {{storylink|Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars}}
** [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] had his head cut off by a propeller fired by [[Leadfoot (G2)|Leadfoot]], presumably (given the ''Generation 2'' book's emphasis on body count) killing him. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** Characters frequently die by decapitation of some form: [[Bonecrusher (Movie)|Bonecrusher]], {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and [[Grindor (ROTF)|Grindor]]. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
** Decapitation was an inconvenience for [[Frenzy (Movie)|Frenzy]] the first time. The second time, when the blow actually destroyed most of his head, was fatal.

===Vivisection===
[[Image:VictoryUKAnnual.JPG|thumb|right|150px| Ahhhh, there we go...]]

{{bigquote|I have no desire to be carved up into Auto-sushi.|Tracks, "[[Make Tracks]]"}}

Getting chopped in half is pretty graphic for a kids' story, even one about robots, so it doesn't happen very often.
* Marvel comics: In a dream sequence, [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] slices [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] in half, killing him. {{storylink|Victory!}}
* Japanese G1 cartoon: [[Predaking]] gets sliced in half by Dai Atlas. The strike dissects what appears to be an organic brain in his head. {{storylink|Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!}}
* ''Beast Wars Metals'': Terrorsaur was killed by being sliced in half by Primal's mace. {{storylink|Raise the Curtain for Beast Wars Metals!!}}
* Movie continuity: [[Sideways (ROTF)|Sideways]] dies when [[Sideswipe (ROTF)|Sideswipe]] slices his car mode in two. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Destruction of brain===
{{bigquote|Next strike in the neural cluster, yes? Weakest spot on ''all'' Transformers...|[[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], "[[Fire on High!]]"}}

In the early days of the franchise, a Transformer's life force was sometimes understood to be entirely contained within their [[brain module]], most prominently in the Marvel comics. Destroying the brain would kill the Transformer. This premise was eventually passed over in favor of the more esoteric concept of [[spark]]s.
* In the Marvel comics:
** In an alternate future, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] is blasted by [[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], who kills him by extracting and crushing his brain module. {{storylink|The Legacy of Unicron!}}
** The [[Throttlebot]]s ''avoid'' death by having their brain modules removed from their bodies shortly before their bodies are destroyed (by crushing). {{storylink|Toy Soldiers!}}

===Destruction of spark===
{{bigquote|RAW energon! Right through your twisted spark!|Depth Charge to Rampage, "[[Nemesis Part 1]]"}}

[[Image:Skyfallwontbethereforit.jpg|thumb|right|200px|And then he hung Skyfall from his ceiling.]]

Getting stabbed right through the spark is almost always fatal:
* In ''Beast Wars'': The supposedly immortal Rampage was killed when Depth Charge pierced his spark with an energon blade. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}
* ''[[Transcendent Technomorph|TransTech]]'': [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] died when [[Alpha Trion (SG)|Alpha Trion]] rammed his sword right through his chest. {{storylink|Transcendent: Part 6}}
*Energon: [[Constructicon Maximus]] was killed when [[Storm Jet (Energon)|Storm Jet]] impaled and crushed his spark.
* ''Cybertron'': Galvatron died after being impaled with [[Rhisling]] by Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Unfinished}}
* Movie continuity: Optimus Prime died from a stab wound through the chest, quickly followed by a cannon blast through the spark chamber from Megatron's swordcannon weapon.[[The Fallen]] also met his end when Optimus punched through his chest and crushed his spark. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* ''Beast Machines'' continuity: [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] - already reduced to a spark within the matrix - ceased to be when Megatron annihilated his spark from existence. {{storylink|Singularity Ablyss}}
* [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|Titan's Movie comics]]: Transformers have forcefields shielding their sparks, which can be externalized to protect bodywork. Jazz loved doing this, leaving him far more vulnerable to death by destruction of spark than he would otherwise be. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 6|Lost in Space 4: Jazz}}

===Loss of spark===
{{bigquote|Warning. Further expenditure will result in permanent loss of spark. Stasis lock ''must'' commence.|[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]]'s internal computer, "[[Code of Hero]]"}}

Sometimes sparks can survive outside of a body; sometimes they cannot. In the Beast Era, there is some indication that a spark left outside a body will soon begin to return to the Matrix/AllSpark/another dimension.
* When Dinobot expires after his final battle, his Spark is seen exiting his body. The implication is that a sufficiently damaged body can no longer hold a spark within this dimension. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* ''Beast Machines'' subsequently showed living sparks existing outside of bodies on a regular basis. The sparkless bodies were simply considered shells, rather than "dead".
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Prowl dies when he intentionally relinquishes his own spark. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}
* Movie continuity: Jetfire rips out his own spark chamber to give Optimus a fighting chance. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Energy overload===
{{bigquote|We may need energon for power, but this is too much of a good thing.|[[Optimus Primal]], "[[Beast Wars (Part 1)]]"}}

[[Image:TFAnimated transformandrollout DEATH.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Death — the Optimus version of a power nap.]]
[[Image:Underbaseallmine.jpg|thumb|right|200px|He's got an Underbase in his underpants.]]

The average [[human]] needs a lot of [[water]] to survive. But too much water results in [[wikipedia:Water intoxication|a horrible death]]. Similarly, Transformers need energy to survive, but too much of it can be a very bad thing. Sometimes it's just plain old energy; other times it some special god-like force that does them in.
* In the Marvel comics:
** An [[Underbase]]-empowered Starscream slaughtered dozens of Transformers with energy blasts, {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}} which reportedly burned out millions of their microchips. {{storylink|Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?}} Some Transformers were seen to recover from these attacks, either via conventional repairs {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}} or through the power of [[nucleon]]. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
** Starscream himself was killed when he absorbed all the energies of the Underbase. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}
** [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] was apparently killed when struck by a blast of energy from the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]], though the physical effect was more like being hit by an especially powerful laser blast. {{storylink|All Fall Down (issue)}}

* ''Super-God Masterforce'' cartoon: [[Sixknight]] died from an overcharge of BlackZarak's Devil Power. {{storylink|Malevolent and Inhuman! The True Form of Devil Z}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runabout]] dies when one of the [[Reaper]]s zaps him full of energy, causing him to explode from within. {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* Movie continuity: [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] was killed when [[Sam Witwicky]] shoved the [[AllSpark]] into his chest. {{storylink|Transformers (2007)|Transformers}}
* ''Transformers Animated'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] got caught in an explosion of [[AllSpark]] energy that may have been sufficient to kill him, although he also fell off a very tall building immediately afterwards (Starscream was caught in the same explosion and survived, but was knocked offline for an unspecified period.)

===Energy depletion===
On rare occasion, Transformers can simply run out of energy completely and expire.
* Marvel comics: the ancient [[Overlord (rank)|Overlord]] died from a lack of energy. {{storylink|State Games}}
* Movie continuity: [[Jetfire (ROTF)|Jetfire]] explains that a lack of energon causes the Transformer equivalent of aging, such as rusting joints, mental confusion, and pieces falling apart, followed by an indefinite period of stasis that can only be reversed by an infusion of Allspark energy. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

===Suicide===
Sometimes a Transformers kills himself for some reason.
* Marvel comics
** Megatron seemingly killed himself using a [[space bridge]] though it was later revealed that he survived.
** Dirge and Nightbeat self destructed and destroyed themselves in a last ditch attempt to destroy the Swarm.
* Beast Wars
** [[Tigerhawk]] sacrificed himself by hurling himself in the way of a fusion cannon blast from the Nemesis.
* Energon: Galvatron, Starscream, and [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Mirage]] threw themselves into a sun and vaporized themselves. [[Snow Cat (Energon)|Snow Cat]] and Demolisher may have also done this.

==Non-fatal deactivation==
{{quote|"You mean he's still alive?!" "No! But neither is he what you would term 'dead'!"|[[Spider-Man]] and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], "[[Prisoner of War!]]"|noquote=true}}

[[Image:Zombiesbackfromthedead.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Braiiiiiin mooooodulllllles....]]

For almost every single cause of death listed above, there's been one or more Transformers who have survived it, sometimes without so much as a period of unconsciousness.

In particular, "deactivation" is the Transformers equivalent of being in a coma. Numerous Transformers are seen to enter this state and eventually recover, such as the Autobots deactivated by Shockwave {{storylink|The Last Stand}}, who later were repaired. However, the line between death and deactivation is a blurry one. Sometimes the two words are used interchangeably, even in reference to characters who are later revived. Most of Starscream's Underbase victims were described as deactivated, and were sometimes lamented as "dead" while at other times were shown undergoing repairs. {{storylink|Back from the Dead}} {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}

"[[Stasis lock]]" would eventually give a more concrete name to the state of deactivation. The inert Transformers on the crashed Ark were retconned as being in stasis lock. Various ''Beast Wars'' characters would go into stasis lock to maintain their spark when their body had sustained too much damage from weaponsfire or energon absorption. ''Animated'' showed a crew of Autobots voluntarily entering protective stasis lock in anticipation of a crash landing.

Some of the quasi-fatal things which can cause a Transformer to "deactivate" include:

===Impact trauma===
Smashing into something usually knocks out a Transformer, but almost never actually kills them:
* The crew of the original Ark is deactivated when the ship crashes on Earth and lies inert for 4 million years {{storylink|More than Meets the Eye, Part 1}} {{storylink|The Transformers (issue)}}
* Marvel comics: [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] falls to his "death", but is patched together and talking again in short order. {{storylink|Prisoner of War!}}

===Decapitation===
[[Image:Sentinelprimeanimatedhumiliated.jpg|thumb|200px|In the movie continuity, this would've been fatal. In ''Animated'', it's just embarrassing.]]

{{bigquote|Anyone who can lop your head off in one blow is alright by me!|[[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] jokes about [[Cloudburst]]'s near-death experience, "[[Recipe for Disaster!]]"}}

Like we said before, decapitation is sometimes fatal... and other times it isn't.
* Marvel comic:
** Optimus Prime was able to survive as just a head when Shockwave separated it from his body in an effort to get the Creation Matrix. {{storylink|The New Order}}
**[[Cloudburst]] was abruptly decapitated by sword, but was just fine after some repairs. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}}
* G1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was disassembled into his component parts, but functioned just fine as nothing more than a head once [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] connected a few wires. {{storylink|City of Steel}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] survives having his head blasted or otherwise knocked off multiple times {{storylink|Spider's Game}} {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}} {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)}} {{storylink|Code of Hero}}, and even put it back on himself one time. He even accidently swapped heads with Megatron once. Megatron was not amused. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* IDW G1 continuity: [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]] was just fine when one of the Reapers whacked his head off. (He didn't fare so well when another Reaper crushed his head with a boulder, however.) {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: Decapitated victims of the ''Animated'' [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] rarely show any ill effects other than not having a body anymore. {{storylink|Headmaster (episode)|Headmaster}} {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}} {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

===Dismemberment===
Transformers get ripped to pieces all the time, and recover from it:
* Marvel comic: Scorponok tears [[Tantrum]] to pieces. [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] slices [[Horri-Bull]] in half at the waist. Both are seen alive later on. {{storylink|Cold War!}}
* Last Stand of the Wreckers: [[Guzzle]] is torn in half by [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] and is easily repaired.

===Spark removal===
{{bigquote|His spark can't exist outside a living body!|[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]], "[[Optimal Situation]]"}}

A Transformer's spark—their "soul", their living essence—can be removed from their body, or the body can be destroyed around them
* The destruction of Starscream's body, and his subsequent survival as a ghost, was eventually retconned to be his Spark enduring without a physical form. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}}
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Tigatron and Airazor's sparks spent quite some time wandering around behind Tigerhawk, before combining and entering his body. {{storylink|Other Victories}}

* In the ''Beast Machines'' cartoon:
** Megatron de-sparked most of Cybertron's population and stored their sparks in a big barrel. Most were restored to bodies eventually. {{storylink|Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}}
** Blackarachnia's spark wandered around bodiless for a time. {{storylink|Revelations Part III: Apocalypse}}
** Megatron himself, his spark in a depolarized state, wandered the surface of Cybertron without a body for a time. {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}

The treatment of bodiless sparks in ''Beast Machines'' is seen by some fans as contradicting the canon established by ''Beast Wars'', particularly the quote above.

===Limbo===
Sometimes Transformers get shunted out of creation as we know it, and into various alternate, sub- and non-dimensions.
* Marvel comics:
** The [[Trans-Time Dimensional Portal]] crosses [[unspace]], "a bit of dimensional nothingness" where Ratchet and Megatron vanished and were believed dead. {{storylink|The Gathering Storm}}
** Transformers mass-displaced by time travel wind up in a formless dimension known as [[Limbo]].
* IDW comics: Megatron severely damaged Optimus Prime in battle and planned on finishing him off by crushing his [[Laser core|spark core]]. Optimus Prime feigned death by downloading his "consciousness" into his [[Combat Deck|trailer section]], causing his [[Brain Center|robot mode]] to appear dead. In the time it took for Prime's consciousness to transfer to his trailer, he briefly entered [[infraspace|limbo]], the transitional infraspace between life and death. {{storylink|Escalation (IDW)|Escalation}}

==Resuscitation==
Robots are machines. They can be switched off, taken apart, blown to bits, and put back together. Ergo, in many continuities and cases, "death" is not nearly as permanent a condition as it is for us fragile fleshy types.

===Reconstruction===
[[Image:PeoplePower-reprogrammed.jpg|thumb|right|250px| ]]

{{bigquote|I've done it! Optimus Prime lives!|A random Quintesson, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]"}}

* Generation 1 cartoon: Optimus Prime was simply ''repaired'' back to life by a Quintesson. Some fixing of this and that, a burst of power, and boom, suddenly he was alive again. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}}
* Marvel Comics: Optimus Prime's mind was encoded on a disk. After a new [[Powermaster]] body was constructed for him, the disk's contents were loaded into it, and Optimus Prime lived again. (One wonders why they couldn't make as many Optimus Primes as they pleased.) {{storylink|People Power!}}

===Spark transfer===
Transferring a Transformer's spark into a new body constitutes a form of resurrection, particularly if the Transformer's previous body was destroyed.
* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon: Optimus Primal was restored to life when Rhinox managed to recall his spark from the Matrix, a special circumstance only enabled by a temporary window into transwarp space. {{storylink|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)}}
* ''Armada'' Smokescreen was shot through the chest at point blank range by the Requiem Blaster {{storylink|Sacrifice}} but his spark survived and was put into a new body. {{storylink|Regeneration}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Inferno and Demolishor both had their bodies ''atomized''; however, their sparks both survived, and were placed into new bodies. (The upshot of all of this is that it's nigh-impossible to kill a Unicron Trilogy Transformer, unless they do it themselves.) {{storylink|Go for Unicron!}} {{storylink|Farewell Inferno}}
* ''Animated'' cartoon: The spark of a dying [[Yoketron]] was placed into a new protoform body by [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]; however, Yoketron consciously chose to let his life end, and expired anyway. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}}

==="Magical" substances===
* Marvel Comics: The miraculous healing properties of Nucleon brought many Autobots back to life, as well as a few Decepticons. {{storylink|The Void! (US)}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Megatron was revived by the all-encompassing power of energon, as was Unicron. {{storylink|Megatron Resurrected}}

===Primus and Primus-related powers===
{{bigquote|Where the Last Autobot is concerned, even death, it would appear, is an abstract concept!|Optimus Prime explains his latest revival, "[[End of the Road! (US)|End of the Road!]]"}}

Anything tied to the primordial life-force of the Transformers' god Primus tends to be a cure-all for death. This includes Primus himself, his various power-wielding avatars and servants, and the assorted Matrixes and Allsparks, all of which can deliver an infusion of the essence of life itself. In some continuities, this is parsed as a Transformer's spark being brought back out of the Allspark dimension.

[[Image:RageInHeaven-HeroPrime.jpg|thumb|right|150px|]]

* In the Marvel comics:
** The [[Last Autobot]] was granted the power of recreation by Primus, which he used to raise numerous fallen Autobots from the battlefield. {{storylink|End of the Road! (US)}}
** Optimus Prime was eager to find the lost Creation Matrix, stating that it would be able to restore many deactivated warriors to life. {{storylink|Bird of Prey!}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the [[Swarm (G2)|Swarm]] after it had ingested the energies and knowledge of the Matrix. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** The Allspark is shown repeatedly to be capable of restoring just about anything. Frenzy gets a whole new body from its power, {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} and Megatron is restored to life by merely a fragment of it. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)}}
** Optimus Prime was restored to life by the Matrix of Leadership, an Allspark-related talisman. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}

* ''Beast Machines'' cartoon: [[Optimus Primal]]'s body was destroyed, but the AllSpark granted him the choice of uniting with it or being reborn. He chose the latter, and ''poof'', just walked right out of the Oracle bubble in a brand new version of his previous body. {{storylink|Fallout}}
* ''Armada'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] was brought back to life by the power of the [[Mini-Con]]s after his body was disintegrated. {{storylink|Miracle}}
* "[[Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]]": [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] was resurrected when he and his gestaltmates were combined together and reborn by Primus into [[Nexus Prime]]. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 5}} Nexus Prime then brought [[Megatron (SG)|Megatron]] back from the other side of the Allspark and infused him with some of Primus's power to become Galvatron. {{storylink|Reunification: Part 6}}

===Zombies===
* Dude, [[zombie]]s!

==Immortality==
===Immortal sparks===
Certain sparks have mutant qualities that allow them to, potentially, exist forever.
* Starscream survived his death at the hands of Galvatron; this was later explained as him having a "mutant indestructible spark". {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} {{storylink|Possession}} {{storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] was created as an attempt to duplicate Starscream's immortal spark. {{storylink|Bad Spark}} He was eventually killed by [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]], so the attempt may be seen as unsuccessful. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 1}}

===Other===
* [[Multiversal singularity|Multiversal singularities]] such as [[Unicron]] and [[The Fallen]] can be killed off in one dimension, only to still be alive and well in another (or many others), due to the varying properties of different dimensions (reverse-time, dimensions, for example are key to revival of the singularities).
* ''Animated'' [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] could not be killed so long as he retained his Allspark fragment embedded in his forehead.
* Denizens of the [[Dead Universe]] could essentially regenerate themselves out of nothing, no matter how much damage was inflicted on them.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] can never completely die no matter what for some reason.

==Out-of-fiction causes of character death==
===Drama / character culmination===
At its best, character death can be a moving plot development, the fruition of an ongoing character arc.
* Suspecting that they would have to remove a character from the show, the writers of ''Beast Wars'' began planning for Dinobot's death several episodes ahead of time. Thus, when it came, it was the outcome of the character's own choices, flaws, and history, and played a crucial role in the show's plot. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* Sunstreaker's death in ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' is intended to follow a similar style of arc... only it's missing the whole choices, flaws and history thing. Oh well!
* Optimus Primal's death(s) in ''Beast Machines'' are likewise the outcome of his own choices and character. {{storylink|End of the Line}} {{storylink| Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future}} His death in ''Beast Wars'', by contrast, was more a moment of dramatic pathos -- knowingly walking into danger, his enemy got the better of him. {{storylink|Other Voices, Part 2}}

===Consequences of war===
It's hard to take a war story seriously when nobody actually dies. The reality of war can be more readily portrayed when characters die. [[Generic]]s are particularly handy for this, allowing death to be shown while not removing primary characters (retail toys!) from the story. The results can range from high drama and pathos to numbingly pointless body counts.
* Impactor's death was used to drive home the threat of the Decepticons as well as the risks taken by the Autobots and their commanders. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}
* The ''Generation 2'' book featured several deaths which drove home the realities of war. Most notably, Red Alert's destruction served to make Grimlock acutely aware of just how badly he'd screwed up. {{storylink|Devices and Desires! (Marvel)|Devices and Desires!}}

===Increased threat===
An enemy that kills is an enemy to be taken seriously. Thus a writer will frequently throw in some preliminary deaths to point out how seriously the bad guy should be treated.
* The generic who dies at the beginning of "[[City of Fear!]]" serves to show the zombies as a true life-threatening menace.
* Likewise for Runabout's death at the hands of the demons ; {{storylink|On the Edge of Extinction!}} knowing they can devour a Transformer makes the reader more concerned about the Dinobots' subsequent fate. {{storylink|Still Life!}}
* In "[[Last Stand of the Wreckers]]", [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] makes corpses in practically every scene he's in!

===Cast thinning===
Transformers stories are notorious for acquiring gigantic casts as they roll on; Generation 1 was particularly notorious for this because of its longevity. A simple way to make things more manageable was simply to kill off large numbers of characters in battle. Examples are rife in the fiction, especially the Marvel Comics.

* In the Marvel comics:
** The "[[Time Wars (issue)|Time Wars]]" storyline got rid of the [[Wrecker]]s and quite a few Decepticons as well.
** The [[Underbase Saga]] even more explicitly cleared out dozens of characters, leaving perhaps 2 dozen characters from each faction in the story.
** The battle with Unicron in "[[On the Edge of Extinction!]]" likewise got rid of a lot of older characters, leaving the story free to concentrate on more of a core cast (and associated newer toy characters.)
* [[Betrayal|Wreckers #2]] dealt with its oversized cast by killing off scads of characters right up front.

===Clear space for new toys===
{{main|To sell toys}}

Some fiction has an inherently limited capacity for characters. ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines'' are by far the most prominent examples; their CGI animation made character animation expensive and necessitated removing an old character before a new one could be brought in. But any medium can be susceptible to this toy-driven phenomena.
* The numerous casualties of "[[The Transformers: The Movie]]" were fairly explicitly removed from the story to make way for a wave of new toy/characters.
* Terrorsaur and Scorponok had to be removed -- quickly -- to make room for the two upcoming Fuzor characters, hence their sudden, blink-and-you-miss-it death in "[[Aftermath]]".
* Airazor and Tigatron were removed for similar reasons. When their plot was finally resolved, it was, surprise, via [[Tigerhawk|a new toy]]!

==Fleshling death==
In general, ''Transformers'' fiction is pretty squeamish about showing the deaths of Earth's organic creatures. But it's a war, and sometimes it does happen. The out-of-universe reasons generally fall into three categories: Consequences of War, Emotional Pathos, and BLOOD IZ KEWL.

The various cartoons tend to show organic death the least, as they are most clearly aimed at, and easily accessible by, children. Comics tend to be less reluctant to show the impact of the Transformers' war on innocent lives, though the death rate varies by series. Latter-day Generation 1 books especially revel in high body counts, because squishing stupid humans is killer and awesome and radical and hardcore. Even the occasional [[Satellite of Doom|children's storybook]] has been known to off mass quantities of the dumb fleshies.

===Animal death===
[[Image:MurderedPuppy02.jpg|right|150px|thumb|One dead dog]]

[[Image:Sparkwar3 Dead noble.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Two dead dogs]]

Cute little animals are almost always killed off for reasons of Emotional Pathos:
* A little girl's pet puppy named [[Pis]] barked at [[Wilder]] and was kicked so hard he died. {{storylink|Rage!! Little Devils with No Need for Rules}}
* The [[Murdered puppy]] was shot down by the Decepticons after running away from Megatron's experiments. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 8|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #8}}
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] once reminded [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] that [[The Fallen]] once shot down a ship full of [[Antilian bumble-puppy|Antilian bumble-puppies]]. (Decepticons have a thing for killing puppies.)
* The puppy-like [[Noble]] was shot at by [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] because of his hatred for organics {{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. III: The Siege}} and was later mourned by his "owner", [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] {{storylink|Spark of Darkness}}.
* A stray shot from [[Tigatron]] accidentally caused an avalanche which killed his friend [[Snowstalker]]. {{storylink|Law of the Jungle}}
* "[[Law of the Jungle]]" also portrays the deaths of four different forest animals (a bug is eaten by a frog, which is eaten by a snake, which is taken off to be eaten by a bird. Later, an orange tiger kills an antelope). This is a rare "Consequences of War" example.
* [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] also once ate an eagle, {{storylink|Power Surge}} while [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] ate a cute little rat {{storylink|Victory (episode)|Victory}}, and nearly ate an antelope as well. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}
* In order to save [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] had to fight a saber-toothed tiger off a cliff killing it. {{Storylink|Bad Spark}}
* [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] used [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel]]'s shield to knock a spikey rock onto a giant spider effectively killing it. She later used [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus]]' axe to kill some new born baby spiders. {{Storylink|Along Came a Spider}}
* Human villain [[Trophy White]] had a grisly display of stuffed and mounted animal heads. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}}

{{-}}
===Human death===
[[Image:Razorclawshootsahuman.jpg|right|thumb|250px|This didn't happen much.]]

* Marvel US: The [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|original Marvel book]] ignored or glossed over human casualties, which were rarely if ever shown; the panel at right, from [[Toy Soldiers!|US #37]], shows a ''very'' unusual instance of a human dying right in front of us. One of the few human(oid)s to die on-panel was [[Galen]], killed off to make way for [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]]. ''[[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 2]]'' was much more explicit about human death, as Bludgeon and later [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] attacked Earth for the purpose of inflicting casualties.
* Marvel UK: The UK-original stories were much less reluctant to show human death; within the first year or so, humans had died in Autobot-induced car wrecks and at the hands of mind-controlled Autobots.
* In every US-aired cartoon series, humans essentially ''never'' die. Even ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Transformers Animated]]'', which features the city of [[Detroit]] getting smashed by robot battles virtually every week, never once mentions humans getting killed.
* Contemporary toyline-based comics (''[[Armada (Dreamwave comic)|Armada]]'', ''[[Energon (comic)|Energon]]'') seem to follow a similar policy, avoiding mention of human death -- even when human cities are being directly attacked, as in "[[Multiplicity, Pt. 2]]".
* Japanese cartoons, by contrast, don't seem to mind showing human deaths (or [[Pis|dog deaths]], for that matter).
* The [[Dreamwave Generation One continuity|Dreamwave G1 comics]] really thought it was totally awesome and cool and radical to kill off those stupid humans. Thus, they start off with Megatron smushing some stupid humans. More smushing and killing and blowing up follows. DIE, dumb stubbies, DIE!
* [[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW comics]] managed to avoid this for a long time, showing human death only when it was particularly integral to the plot... then ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' came down the pike. DIE, stupid fleshies, DIE!
* The live-action [[movie continuity]] implies a great deal of human death. ''Revenge'' mentions a body count of over 9,000, and massive damage is done during the battle of [[Mission City]], though little of it is shown on screen. And of course, the first film begins with Blackout wiping out an entire military base. A handful of humans are killed directly on-screen, most notably [[Patrick Donnelly|Donnelly]].
* The alternate timeline arc in Titan's Movie comic featured big wars on Earth and lots of destruction, clearly ''insinuating'' human death while not being explicit. The exceptions were in [[Transformers Comic issue 10|issue 10]], where [[NATO]] is said to be suffering losses of 11,506 and the [[France|Palais Bourbon]] is blown up when people are still clearly inside. [[Sam Witwicky]], meanwhile, was stated to have died.
* Titan quite blatantly stated that the [[Free Men]] had caused great loss of life at an air base, a rare example of humans killing humans. In the same story, [[Robert Epps]] opened fire on militia men, which kinda implies he was killing them. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.10|Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime}} Similarly, [[Wheelie (ROTF)|Wheelie]] of all people was seen zapping humans at close range during a Decepticon attack; with no "oh it was a stun beam" handwave and the 'Cons not pulling punches, it sure seems like he's murdered 'em! {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 2.6|Outlaw Blues}}
* In ''[[Kiss Players (franchise)|Kiss Players]]'', several [[Kiss Player]]s were seen being devoured by Legions.

==Characters who die a lot==
* [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|Optimus Prime]]
* [[Dirge (G1)]] — the unlucky guy who gets [[:Image:Dirge DeathSerpentor.jpg|killed]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathSwarm.jpg|off]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathTimelines.jpg|in]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathUnicron.jpg|many]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathArmada.jpg|continuities]]
* [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] — the unlucky guy who gets killed over and over in the same continuity, but doesn't seem to mind.
* [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] — the unlucky guy from ''[[Beast Wars (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'' who gets sliced, diced, and fricasseed every other episode only to be fully functional in time to get [[Slag (slang)|slagged]] ''again''. But he never actually dies.
* [[Cy-Kill (disambiguation)|Cy-Kill]], a Go-Bots character transferred to many Transformers comics just to be killed off violently. For no other reason than the lolz of ending his toyline, his universe, and finally his life... repeatedly.
* [[Sentinel Prime (G1)]] — the unlucky [[Prime (rank)|Prime]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime lou.jpg|who]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime dw.jpg|must]] [[Megatron Origin issue 4|die]].
* [[Starscream (Animated)]] - the unlucky guy that constantly gets killed, decapitated, or maimed by others, only to be brought back to life.

==See also==
* [[Transformer funerary practices]]
* [[To sell toys]]

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Transformer anatomy]]