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Longarm (Cybertron)

2006-11-02T22:53:50Z

69.251.16.42:

{{disambig2|the Cybertron-series Giant Planet Mini-Con|the Armada-series Mini-Con|Longarm (Armada)}}

:''Longarm is a [[Mini-Con]] from the [[Cybertron (franchise)|Cybertron]] portion of the [[Unicron Trilogy]].''

'''Longarm''' is a member of the [[Giant Planet Mini-Con Team]], a gang of rebels whose main goal in life seems to be to cause trouble for the rest of the planet. He may be allied with the [[Decepticon]] forces on [[Gigantion]]. Of the three, he is the most impatient and unintelligent, though, unlike his teammates, he does have the skill, if not the patience, to handle at least some degree of construction work, and thus likely functions as the handman of the team.

==Toys==
===Cybertron===
*'''Giant Planet Mini-Con Team''' (Scout-class, 2006)

: Part of the final new-mold Scout set of the ''Cybertron'' line, Longarm transforms into a double-crane-truck with a claw-arm and shovel. He was only available with his teammates [[Deepdive]] and [[Overcast (Cybertron)|Overcast]]. Their packaging marks them as Decepticon-allied, though the toys do not have any [[faction symbols]] other than the sculpted Mini-Con sigil.

: This mold was also used to make [[Astro-Hook]].

[[Category: Cybertron characters]]
[[Category: Gigantion]]
[[Category: Mini-Cons]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

Transmetal

2006-09-23T03:53:13Z

69.251.16.42: /* Toys */

A '''Transmetal''' is a (generally) [[Vok]] related enhanced form of a [[Beast Wars]] era Transformer, featuring a "mutated superstructure".

==Transmetal physical characteristics==
In [[beast mode]], the Transmetals seemed almost, if not entirely, mechancial, much like the animal Transformers of the previous [[Generation 1]] franchise. However, as part of a partial "inversion", many of their [[robot mode]]s now bore organic elements, such as [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]]'s furry chest. Transmetals also typically featured a third "mobility" mode. While not full vehicular modes, these half-modes gave aspects of a vehicle to the existing beast forms. Examples include Rattrap as a wheeled rat and [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] as a jet-powered inline skating enthusiast.

===''Beast Wars'' animated series===
The Transmetals are created as a result of transformers being bathed in a [[quantum surge]] after the destruction of the [[Vok]] [[Planet Buster]]. All the Beast warriors who were not "born" from a [[protoform]] on Earh or sheilded in a [[CR Chamber]] were transformed. (Why those born from an Earth fallen protoform should be immune to the wave's effects is unknown.)

The affected characters were Megatron, [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]], Rattrap, and Cheetor. [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] and [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] were in the middle of their mutation when they fell into lava pits beneath the ''[[Darkside]]'' and perished. [[Optimus Primal (BW)|Optimus Primal]], [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]], and [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]] also eventually became Transmetals as a result of the surge.

Most Transmetals have additional weapons and seemingly enhanced power levels. They are are immune to many [[Vok]] weapons, and may even be immune to the effects of [[energon]] radiation. (This last point had little bearing on the plot, since most of the energon deposits on [[Earth]]'s surface had been destroyed by the Planet Buster cannon.)

Interestingly, the [[Fuzor]]s [[Silverbolt (BW) (Fuzor)|Silverbolt]] and [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]], like the Transmetals, were shown to be immune to Vok technology, implying perhaps that all post-quantum surge Beast Warriors possessed some Transmetal qualities.

===Toys===
In addition to the characters mentioned above, Transmetal toys were also produced for [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]], [[Airazor (BW)|Airazor]], [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]], [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]], and technically [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] (the [[Scavenger (BW)|Scavenger]] toy was initially intended to be his TM form, and was so in Japan.) None of these appeared on the show.

Scorponok, [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], and [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]], though also not Transmetal in the show, were given their own Transmetal toys as Happy Meal pack-ins from McDonalds. [[Claw Jaw]] and [[Spittor]] were repainted and sold as Transmetals in European markets with a video.

==Transmetal 2==
Near the end of the series, a new breed, known as '''Transmetal 2'''s appeared. These new forms blurred the line between the mechanical and the organic even further, with equal parts of both appearing in both modes in an asymmetrical patchwork like jumble. This often resulted in somewhat monstrous looking designs.

===''Beast Wars'' animated series===
Within the context of the television series the idea of a Transmetal 2 is somewhat vague. Only Cheetor, [[Dinobot II (BW)|Dinobot II]], and Blackarachnia are definitely meant to be Transmetals 2. Each of them was altered by an enigmatic piece of Vok technology known as the "[[Transmetal Driver]]" which appeared early in season three. The exact origin and nature of the Driver is unknown, although it was apparently found by Megatron at one of the Vok sites on Earth and likely altered to suit his own purposes.

Optimus Primal and Megatron also received new bodies in season three, in much the same fasion as each other, but only Megatron's toy was labelled a Transmetal 2. (Optimal Optimus was a normal Transmetal.) It is unclear whether, within the story of the cartoon, these bodies are meant to be similar to the bodies granted by the TM Driver. Both of their new bodies were the result of merging their [[spark]]s -- temporarilly -- with the sparks of their ''[[Generation 1]]''-era counterparts, [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] and [[Megatron (G1)|G1 Megatron]].

[[Tigerhawk (BW)|Tigerhawk]]'s toy is also labelled as Transmetal 2. His in-show origin involves both the fusing of two sparks -- those of [[Tigatron (BW)|Tigatron]] and [[Airazor (BW)|Airazor]] -- and Vok technology. (The two sparks in question were both Beast Era sparks. It is unclear whether sparks from different eras are fundamentally different, and whether this would make any difference when creating Transmetal 2s.)

The new forms for all of these characters -- whether produced by the Transmetal Driver or by spark fusion -- were portrayed as substantially more powerful than normal Transmetals.

===Toys===
According to their toy packages and bios, the Transmetals 2 were all the results of Megatron's cloning experiments. This roughly aligns with the begining of the cartoon story, as the first Transmetal 2 that Megatron attempted to create was his resurrected Dinobot clone. This cloning experiment angle also helps to explain the presence of [[Optimus Minor (BW)|Optimus Minor]].

Unlike Transmetals, most Transmetals 2 did not have a third mode. Only the largest TM2 toys -- Tigerhawk and Megatron -- were designed to have more than two modes, but Megatron's was never featured in the TV show and Tigerhawk's was dropped entirely even from the toy. Neither vehicle mode was especially well-implemented.

Early on in the release of TM2 toys, the packaging used a roman numeral "II", but a running change in the packaging was made to the arabic number "2".

== IDW ''Beast Wars'' comic ==

In the IDW Beast Wars comics, a new group of Predacons travel back to the Beast Wars era (early in Season 3, around the episode "Changing of the Guard") and activate the remainder of the [[stasis pod]]s ejected from the ''[[Axalon (BW)|Axalon]]''. The Transformers who emerge from these pods include normal beast-form Transformers, Transmetals, and Transmetals 2.

All the Beast Wars characters/toys not featured in the original cartoon (barring a few that traveled back with [[Magmatron (BW)|Magmatron]]) were given this same origin regardless of their "Transmetal" status. One possible explanation, though it is unsupported speculation, is that varied levels of shielding or protection in the stasis pods allowed different protoforms to mutate to different degrees when exposed to the quantum surge. However, it should be noted that among the cast of the TV series, it was the Transformers who had come from stasis pods on Earth prior to the wave that appeared to be totally immune to the effects of the surge.

[[Category:Subgroups]]
[[Category:Beast Wars]]
[[Category:Technology]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

Golden Disk (Voyager)

2006-09-23T03:33:13Z

69.251.16.42:

[[Image:Eg2-goldendisk.jpg|frame|right|250px|The gold disk placed upon the space probes Voyager 1 and 2 in 1977, containing a message of universal peace and shininess.]]

The '''Golden Disk''' is a recurring object throughout the Beast Wars series, beginning with the first episode, [[Beast Wars, Part 1]]. It plays a major role in the escalation of the conflict between the [[Maximal]]s and the [[Predacon (BW)|Predacons]], and lead to the death of a major character. It was destroyed in the episode [[Code of Hero]], but the Predacon leader, [[Megatron_(BW)|Megatron]] recovered one of the shards and used it in the episode [[The Agenda, Part 2]] to escape capture at the hands of a Cybertronian government agent.

==Major appearances by episode==
===Season One===
====[[Beast Wars, Part 1]]====
The Predacons steal the Golden Disk from the [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] archives. Megatron claims that the disk holds the location of a vast store of energon, with which the Predacon commander believes he can reignite the Great War against the Maximals.

===Season Two===
====[[Coming of the Fuzors, Part 1]]====
[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] breaks into the [[Darkside|Predacon base]] and steals the Golden Disk. He then climbs to a high peak where he pontificates to himself about the potential power the wielder of the Golden Disk could hold, and the potential danger that comes with it. He eventually decides that the most prudent thing to do is to hide the disk beneath a large rock.

====[[Maximal, No More]]====
Dinobot rejoins the Predacon ranks, and then, to prove his loyalty to Megatron, he leads Megatron to the location of the Golden Disk and presents it to him. Shortly afterwards, Dinobot defects to the Maximals once again, but Megatron escapes with the Golden Disk.

====[[Other Visits, Part 1]]/[[Code of Hero]]====
Dinobot notices that the pattern the Predacon's have been setting up their new jamming towers in matches the shape and layout of the symbols on the Golden Disk. Not long afterwards, Megatron does so, discovering through the images contained in the Disk that he has the power to alter the timeline. The Predacons attack the valley from which humanity's ancestors will emerge, but Dinobot launches a one-man berserker attack on the Preds, single-handedly defeating them and shattering the Golden Disk with his last bit of energy.

====[[The Agenda, Part 2]]====
Megatron is captured by Covert Agent Ravage for violations of the Pax Cybertronia, but reveals that he still possesses a lone fragment of the Golden Disk, which contains a message encoded by the original Megatron. He plays it for Ravage, convincing the former Decepticon to release and join forces with him.

==Origins==
===Within ''Beast Wars''===
Sometime within roughly a decade of when the Transformers aboard the [[Ark]] awoke in the eruption of [[Mount Saint Hilary]] (possibly earlier, possibly later) the humans of planet Earth launched a spacecraft to study the outer planets in their solar system. Attached to this spacecraft was a gold disk which contained information about Earth. The Decepticon leader, [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]], at some point encoded an additional message on the disk.

''(Megatron is shown writing to the disk in a mildly abstract sequence that makes it difficult to pin down. He may have intercepted the space probe in interplanetary space, or he may have done his work before the probe was launched.)''

Megatron's message was even more of a "message in a bottle" than the disk itself, although the complete message was never revealed. He orders any Decepticons who might, in the future, come across the message to use [[transwarp]] technology to achieve some particular end -- exactly what, however, is unrevealed because the disk was destroyed before the message was ever played on-camera. [[Megatron (BW)|BW Megatron]] plays only a surviving fragment of the message for [[Ravage]]. Presumably, the rest of the message indicates the location of the Ark and asks that future Decepticons use transwarp to travel through time and rewrite history, much as BW Megatron attempts to do.

At some point between G1 Megatron adding his message to the disk and the beginning of the ''Beast Wars'' series, the spacefract holding the disk -- or perhaps only the disk -- fell into the hands of the Transformers. BW Megatron is said to have stolen the disk from the Cybertron Archives, where it was seemingly considered a precious artifact, even though the general population of Maximals had no idea what it really was. The [[Maximal Elder]]s were presumably aware of the Disk's origin.

The nature of the connection between the Golden Disk and the mysteriously similar [[Alien Disk]] is completely unknown.

===The real Golden Disk===

The Golden Disk that appears in ''Beast Wars'' is based on a real object: In 1977, NASA launched two sparecraft called ''Voyager 1'' and ''Voyager 2'', which flew by our planetary system's four gas giants. (Jupiter and Saturn were visited by both craft, Uranus and Neptune only by ''Voyager 2''.) The ''Pioneer 10'' and ''11'' spacecraft which preceded them had carried copies of a plaque depicting human beings and showing the location of Earth with respect to several highly-visible pulsars. For the ''Voyager'' mission, a more sophisticated message was composed.

The "disk" consists of a cover or canister -- on which a set of pictograms are found -- and a phonograph record inside the canister. The record, titled "The Sounds of Earth", has a "data" portion and a sound portion. In the data portion are over a hundred encoded images including photographs of the Earth and its lifeforms, as well as drawings of human biology and reproduction. The audio portion includes sounds of natural environments on Earth, wildlife, human voices, and music. The pictograms on the record's cover explain how to play the disc and decode the images.

As portrayed in ''Beast Wars'', the Golden Disk seems to be an amalgam of the cover and the record itself. It appears to be at least a few centimeters thick and has the cover's pictograms on one side, but the record grooves and title "The Sounds of Earth" on the other. The indication is that the cover is one-sided, and we are seeing the record through the empty rear, as later episodes would present the disc in its real-life, thin, record form.

==External links==
*[http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/ NASA's web site on the continuing Voyager mission]
*[http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/goldenrec.html The message on the actual disks]

[[Category:Beast Wars]]
[[Category:MacGuffins]]
[[Category:Objects]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>