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Atlantis, Arise!

2009-10-27T23:16:40Z

76.71.209.28: /* Continuity errors */

{{episode
|series=G1toon
|ep=24
|series2=SRLFtoon
|ep2=16
|image=SubAtlantica Undersea.jpg
|caption=There's fire burning... underwater. Don't ask.
|title="Atlantis, Arise!"
|production code=#700-23
|airdate=[[October 3]], 1985
|written by=[[Douglas Booth]]
|production company=[[Sunbow Productions]]
|continuity=[[Generation 1 cartoon continuity]]
}}

'''The Decepticons ally with the undersea realm of Sub-Atlantica. But they may be more treacherous than Megatron expected.'''

:''Japanese title:'' アトランティス浮上! (''Atlantis Fujō!'', "Atlantis, Arise!")
:''German'' Generation 2 ''title:'' "'''Die Unterwasserstadt'''" ("The Underwater City")

==Synopsis==
[[Image:Atlantis Arise Sub-Atlanticans Decepticons.JPG|left|150px|thumb|And when you see Aquaman, tell him his superpower sucks.]]

[[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] summons [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] to the control room, saying that [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] and [[Buzzsaw (G1)|Buzzsaw]] have detected massive energy readings underwater. The Decepticons investigate and encounter the [[Sub-Atlantican]]s, a race who hope to conquer the surface world one day. Megatron negotiates a deal with [[Nergill]], King of Sub-Atlantica, offering Decepticon military technology in exchange for access to their [[geothermal]] storehouses. [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]] distrusts the Sub-Atlanticans, who communicate with each other telepathically.

[[Image:Atlantis Arise Autobots football.JPG|right|150px|thumb|R U READY 4 SUM FOOTBALL?]]

Near the [[Autobot]] [[Ark (G1)|base]], [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]], [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]], and [[Hound (G1)|Hound]] are playing a game of [[football]] with the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]]. [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] arrives before the Dinobots accidentally kill anyone, telling them there is a massive energy reading emanating from near the [[Victory (ship)|Decepticon base]]. [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] dispatches Bumblebee, [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], Hound, and Wheeljack to investigate, with Spike tagging along. The Decepticons and Sub-Atlanticans attack and take Wheeljack prisoner. After raising the city from the bottom of the ocean, the Decepticons and Sub-Atlanticans prepare to attack [[Washington, D.C.]] as a sign of their new alliance. Nergill communicates with his soldiers, telling Megatron that they will imprison Wheeljack in his dungeons. However, at Starscream's orders, Soundwave unscrambles the message and learns that Wheeljack is to be taken to their laboratory to develop weapons against the Autobots and Decepticons alike.

The Autobots head for Washington, hoping to stop the Decepticons and Sub-Atlanticans. Prime has Spike and Bumblebee head for Sub-Atlantica, hoping to rescue Wheeljack, while the Autobot leader takes the others to Washington. The Sub-Atlanticans raise a [[force field]] over Washington, trapping the Autobots inside. In Sub-Atlantica, Nergill has developed a [[magnetic dysfunction ray]] which will shut down [[Transformer|Transformers]]; he's tested it on Wheeljack, leaving him immobile. Starscream discovers this and is shot by Nergill, who learns that it is less effective on Decepticons. As Nergill leaves, Starscream attempts to drain power from Wheeljack, but Bumblebee and Spike stop arrive just in time to stop the Decepticon and restore Wheeljack.

[[Image:Atlantis Arise Megs Lincoln memorial.JPG|left|150px|thumb|Four score and seven million years ago, I founded a new nation...]]

Nergill strolls into Washington, with Wheeljack, Bumblebee and Spike sneaking in behind him. Nergill uses the disruptor to defeat Prime's team of Autobots, bringing the battle to an end. As the Sub-Atlanticans secure the Capitol building, his soldiers ask when to move against the Decepticons, but Nergill decides to wait a little while longer. Meanwhile, Megatron (sitting at the [[Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln Memorial]]) tells [[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]] that they will deal with the Sub-Atlanticans soon enough.

Wheeljack calls in the Dinobots, who manage to penetrate the force field and come to blows with the Decepticons. As Megatron and [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] grapple, Nergill is on the verge of shooting them both until Starscream arrives and bashes Nergill aside, declaring that he is now an enemy. Grimlock grabs the disruptor and destroys it, causing the Autobots to revive. The Decepticons and Sub-Atlanticans retreat back to their own city, with the Autobots in pursuit.

[[Image:SubAtlantica Asplode.jpg|right|150px|thumb|But the others chose to stay, sitting in their porches with their shotguns, and eventually evolved into mermaids. And they would sing and dance, and ring in the new...]]

Back at Sub-Atlantica, Megatron demands an answer to Starscream's treason charge against Nergill, but Nergill informs him that the Autobots are coming. They invade the city, and the Dinobots begin smashing everything in sight.

Nergill decides to destroy the city, hoping to destroy the Transformers as well. Spike, Wheeljack, and Bumblebee follow, hoping to stop Nergill, with [[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] and [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] in pursuit. The two [[Mini-Cassette|Mini-Cassettes]] realize Nergill's intentions, and Rumble tries to bury him in rubble, but it's not enough. Wheeljack likewise tries to stop the sub-aquatic king, but it's too late. Nergill throws a device into his energy containers, which starts a chain reaction that begins to destroy the city. The Decepticons retreat; Prime orders the Autobots to clear out, then rescues Wheeljack's team (and strangely finds Grimlock there as well). Prime and the others escape, watching from the nearby sea as the Sub-Atlanticans and their home disappear under the waves. Prime says they probably won't see Nergill again for a long time.

{{-}}

==Featured characters==
{{Featuredcharacters
|c1=
* [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] (10)
* [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] (11)
* [[Hound (G1)|Hound]] (12)
* [[Swoop (G1)|Swoop]] (13)
* [[Snarl (G1)|Snarl]] (14)
* [[Slag (G1)|Slag]] (15)
* [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] (16)
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] (17)
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] (18)
* [[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]] (19)
* [[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]] (20)
* [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]] (21)
* [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] (22)
* [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] (23)
* [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]] (25)
* [[Sludge (G1)|Sludge]] (26)

|c2=
* [[Buzzsaw (G1)|Buzzsaw]] (1)
* [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] (2)
* [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (3)
* [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] (4)
* [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]] (5)
* [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] (6)
* [[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]] (7)
* [[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] (27)
* [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] (28)

|c3=
*[[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike Witwicky]] (9)

|c4=
*[[Nergill]] (8)
*Sub-Atlantican General (24)
}}

==Quotes==
"Are you sure humans do this for fun?"
:—'''Hound''', after playing a game of football with the Dinobots

"No! That could ruin Wheeljack's function circuits!"
"So... what? Ruining Autobots is my life!"
:—'''Bumblebee''' and '''Starscream'''

"Autobots bite off more than they can chew, then send for Dinobots! Come, Snarl, Sludge. We go!"
:—'''Grimlock''', responding to the SOS call by Wheeljack. Apparently he does not want Slag or Swoop.

"Mmm, we are ''here''."
:—'''Grimlock''' is a master of subtle and astute observation

"Me Grimlock here again, Optimus Prime, to pull your diodes out of laser fire."
:—'''Grimlock''' is getting a little tired of rescuing Optimus Prime

"Okay, Grimlock. Time for you and the Dinobots to ''act'' prehistoric!"
:—'''Optimus Prime'''

"You don't frighten me, you mechanical throwbacks!" 
"Good, Megatron! We love stupid enemies!"
:—'''Grimlock''' has no grasp of irony.

==Notes==
===Animation or technical glitches===
* Someone mistook the strange glint of sunlight reflecting off of Buzzsaw for a laser beam, and inserted a Decepticon laser sound effect accordingly.
* Soundwave has some extra black shading around his eyeband as he reports to Megatron.
* As Megatron pontificates about "an underwater city of such size", a strangely-timed edit has the scene cut to an exterior shot of Decepticon Headquarters, as if ''that'' were supposed to be the underwater city in question. If it's meant to be an establishing shot, why isn't it at the beginning of the scene?
* The [[Decepticon Headquarters]] docking tower appears to be listing about 15 degrees or so as it emerges from the water, as if a stock view from one point-of-view angle was copied onto a new background drawn at a different point-of-view angle.
*When the Decepticons leave their base, Starscream's jet mode has a yellow underbelly. For an animation error, it's unusually appropriate!
* As he orders Soundwave to unscramble Nergill's message, Starscream's left pectoral is colored gray instead of red, and isn't really drawn in correctly, almost as if the animators intended his arm to be covering it during the scene.
* Considering how bright and well-lit everything is, Sub-Atlantica must be in about 25 feet of water.
* As Hound's camper roof unfolds, his turret gun clips right through it.
* Bumblebee appears to be using one of the Sub-Atlanticans' weapons as he fires at Starscream and company.
* During Wheeljack's "But nobody else is gonna follow you either" line, only the front side of his "ears" flash.
* Soundwave is drawn with a totally transparent tape door as Starscream has him unscramble Nergill's second message. It appears to be a deliberate choice to show the cassette mechanism within, but it conflicts with the usual white coloration of his chest panel.
* As Megatron makes his dramatic proclamation of Sub-Atlantica's destination, the bottom of Starscream's cockpit cowling is colored yellow instead of gray.
* Starscream is shown among the Decepticons leaving Sub-Atlantica to conquer D.C. The very next shot shows him lurking within the city as Nergill exposits to himself.
* As the Autobots drive toward Washington, Optimus mispronounces their foes' names as "Sub-[[Atlanta]]-cans".
* The "highway" that the Autobots use to drive to D.C. has an "exit" for the Chesapeake Bay that's more like a T-shaped intersection. Bumblebee somehow manages to negotiate it at full speed without flying out of control.
* The animation is very inconsistent as to whether the little red bulb on the Sub-Atlanticans' headwear is supposed to flash when they talk.
* The Dome Of Invulnerability guy is missing his telepathic waves as he refuses Megatron's order.
* Laser bolts bounce right off the Washington Monument without leaving so much as a burn mark. With weapons that ineffectual, it's no wonder nobody ever dies in this show!
* Laserbeak's attack on Hound is strangely truncated; Laserbeak fires non-glowing lasers, and then suddenly vanishes out of the shot.
* The shot that Hound fires at Laserbeak doesn't line up with his gun barrel.
* The electrical bolts enveloping Starscream right after Nergil blasts him are not animated to jigger for the first few seconds.
* The inside of Sludge's robot-mode mouth is white when he says "Alright!"
* When the Dinobots break through the force field, Starscream is among the group fighting them off, even though he is still lying inert within Sub-Atlantica at this point.
[[Image:Optimus prime doppelgaenger.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Prime uses [[budding]] to hold up the Washington Monument.]]

* Before Megatron bashes the Washington Monument, Prime and Prowl are standing there watching. After Megatron bashes the Monument, the shot returns to the same Prowl-and-Prime angle. But Prowl is gone, and the earlier artwork of Prime is still there watching as ''another'' Prime runs to catch the monument!
* The Autobots shown entering the city and attacking Megatron include Prime, Hound, Brawn, Prowl, Ironhide, and Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker and Ironhide disappear after the battle begins; only Hound, Brawn, Prowl and Prime are shown being disabled by Nergill and being revived later on. Ironhide finally shows up again after the battle is over; Ratchet and Trailbreaker appear out of nowhere as the Autobots roll out of D.C. During the Sub-Atlantica battle, Sideswipe appears (also out of nowhere), and Sunstreaker finally reappears.
* Slag's face is white instead of red as he exits Prime's trailer. In the next shot, his whole head is gray.
* A strangely angled shot, looking up from below the water, is supposed to show Prime, Wheeljack, Bumblebee and Grimlock swimming out of Sub-Atlantica. It's ''very'' easy to mistake it for a shot showing them flying through the air. They don't move any of their limbs, they move across the screen very rapidly, and the water itself is backlit by the sunset colored sky.
* Spike's declaration that "Nergill's gone!" doesn't mean much, since the animation never actually makes it clear that Wheeljack carried him out of Sub-Atlantica.
* What are Prime and the others standing on after they evacuate Sub-Atlantica? Even Spike is above water almost to his waist!

===Continuity errors===
* Megatron refers to Laserbeak and Buzzsaw as "vultures". They're supposed to be condors.
* If Nergill "communicates telepathically", as Soundwave claims, why is his mouth moving all the time?

[[Image:Spike SemiNude.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Then again, look at how ripped his pecs are. Maybe he really ''is'' a superhuman!]]
* Spike is obviously some sort of super human. He can survive in the "deepest part of the Atlantic ocean" wearing only a bathing suit and using a simple oxygen tank and goggles. Amazing that he isn't crushed under the weight of the ocean or frozen to death.
* Further evidence that Spike is no mere mortal: he can somehow speak clearly to the Autobots without removing the mouthpiece for his breathing apparatus from his mouth; hell, he can even perform this trick ''underwater''.
* How can Bumblebee calculate Sub-Atlantica's destination from watching it sail along the coast for like two seconds? It could be going anywhere!
* The "conquest" of Washington is incredibly half-hearted. The Decepticons and the squiddy guys run around in the street for a bit, scare some tourists, blow up a couple of cars, and put up a force field. About the only conquery thing they do is set up a giant vacuum tube computer in the capital building.
* The Sub-Atlanticans have to wear aquatic masks over their faces when they're on dry land. Yet they don't wear them inside their city, which appears to be just as water-free as the surface.
* The water-based Sub-Atlanticans don't think to create a force field that extends under the water?
* More an omission than an error, but it's never explained just what Starscream was trying to do to Wheeljack.
* Wheeljack says that they'd better warn Prime about the dysfunction ray... then proceeds to say something totally vague and uninformative ("There is great danger! Nergill must be stopped!")
* How many times do cartoons have to be told that it's not a ''force field'' if it ''shatters like glass''? (Does this mean that the streets of D.C. are now covered with piles of shattered force field bits?)
* Some "dome of ''invulnerability''". The Dinobots get through it in about five seconds flat.
* Starscream's third appearance in DC isn't an animation error; he's central to the plot! How did he get free of the dysfunction ray?!
* Who knew that destroying a gun could un-shoot the gun's prior victims? That's exactly what happens -- Grimlock destroys the dysfunction gun, and suddenly the Autobots are un-dysfunctionalized!
* Speaking of which, what the hell is a "magnetic ''dysfunction'' ray", anyway? While not completely nonsensical, the term "dysfunction" is normally used to describe impairments or abnormalities in sociology, psychiatry, and biology, not technology.

===District of Columbia errors===
* Despite the Autobots being near the Chesapeake Bay, the backgrounds show huge rocks and expanses of sand, as if they were in the desert.
* As Hound fights near the reflecting pool, there's lots of tall buildings behind him. D.C. doesn't really have many tall buildings, certainly not near the Mall.
* Both the plot and the animation seem to imply that DC sits on a major body of water. Or did Sub-Atlantica just sail right up the Potomac?
* The Lincoln Memorial is strangely [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]]-[[Scale|sized]]. Also, the statue part apparently just comes right off. Who knew?
* Somehow, the rotational forces involved in the Washington Monument's partial fall do not cause the masonry structure to snap like a dry twig.
* Apparently, damaged masonry structures like the Washington Monument can be ''melted'' back together. Who knew?

===Transformers references===
* In the Decepticon campaign of ''[[Transformers The Game]]'', [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] also takes the Lincoln Memorial throne as his own.
*Grimlock also grumbled about having to save the Autobots in "[[Day of the Machines]]". It'll finally come to a head in "[[Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 1]]".
* Hey, that shot of Soundwave ejecting Laserbeak during the DC battle sure looks familiar... why, it's copied from "[[Transport to Oblivion]]"! [[Changing Gears|Again!]]

===Real world references===
* As the obligatory "conquer Washington" episode (''G.I. Joe'' had one too), "Atlantis, Arise!" features several D.C. landmarks, including the Washington Monument, the White House (where the Decepticons first land), the US Capitol Building, and the Lincoln Memorial and its Reflecting Pool.

===Trivia===
[[Image:Atlantis Arise Hound roof.JPG|right|150px|thumb|Whoops! can't get my fancy cushions wet!]]
* This episode is one of a handful that begins with a (rather pointless) narrative voiceover from Victor Caroli.
* [[Hound (G1)|Hound]] has a folding sunroof. That is awesome. His toy did not. That is not awesome.
* Whose bright idea was it to introduce Transformers to the world of football, using five godless killing machines?
* Watch out for the hilarious irony of Starscream shouting "TRAITOR!" and stopping Nergill from shooting Megatron in the back.
* They have in fact seen the last of Nergill.

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

[[Category:Generation 1 episodes]]

Atlantis, Arise!

2009-10-27T23:16:14Z

76.71.209.28: /* Continuity errors */

{{episode
|series=G1toon
|ep=24
|series2=SRLFtoon
|ep2=16
|image=SubAtlantica Undersea.jpg
|caption=There's fire burning... underwater. Don't ask.
|title="Atlantis, Arise!"
|production code=#700-23
|airdate=[[October 3]], 1985
|written by=[[Douglas Booth]]
|production company=[[Sunbow Productions]]
|continuity=[[Generation 1 cartoon continuity]]
}}

'''The Decepticons ally with the undersea realm of Sub-Atlantica. But they may be more treacherous than Megatron expected.'''

:''Japanese title:'' アトランティス浮上! (''Atlantis Fujō!'', "Atlantis, Arise!")
:''German'' Generation 2 ''title:'' "'''Die Unterwasserstadt'''" ("The Underwater City")

==Synopsis==
[[Image:Atlantis Arise Sub-Atlanticans Decepticons.JPG|left|150px|thumb|And when you see Aquaman, tell him his superpower sucks.]]

[[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] summons [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] to the control room, saying that [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] and [[Buzzsaw (G1)|Buzzsaw]] have detected massive energy readings underwater. The Decepticons investigate and encounter the [[Sub-Atlantican]]s, a race who hope to conquer the surface world one day. Megatron negotiates a deal with [[Nergill]], King of Sub-Atlantica, offering Decepticon military technology in exchange for access to their [[geothermal]] storehouses. [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]] distrusts the Sub-Atlanticans, who communicate with each other telepathically.

[[Image:Atlantis Arise Autobots football.JPG|right|150px|thumb|R U READY 4 SUM FOOTBALL?]]

Near the [[Autobot]] [[Ark (G1)|base]], [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]], [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]], and [[Hound (G1)|Hound]] are playing a game of [[football]] with the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]]. [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] arrives before the Dinobots accidentally kill anyone, telling them there is a massive energy reading emanating from near the [[Victory (ship)|Decepticon base]]. [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] dispatches Bumblebee, [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], Hound, and Wheeljack to investigate, with Spike tagging along. The Decepticons and Sub-Atlanticans attack and take Wheeljack prisoner. After raising the city from the bottom of the ocean, the Decepticons and Sub-Atlanticans prepare to attack [[Washington, D.C.]] as a sign of their new alliance. Nergill communicates with his soldiers, telling Megatron that they will imprison Wheeljack in his dungeons. However, at Starscream's orders, Soundwave unscrambles the message and learns that Wheeljack is to be taken to their laboratory to develop weapons against the Autobots and Decepticons alike.

The Autobots head for Washington, hoping to stop the Decepticons and Sub-Atlanticans. Prime has Spike and Bumblebee head for Sub-Atlantica, hoping to rescue Wheeljack, while the Autobot leader takes the others to Washington. The Sub-Atlanticans raise a [[force field]] over Washington, trapping the Autobots inside. In Sub-Atlantica, Nergill has developed a [[magnetic dysfunction ray]] which will shut down [[Transformer|Transformers]]; he's tested it on Wheeljack, leaving him immobile. Starscream discovers this and is shot by Nergill, who learns that it is less effective on Decepticons. As Nergill leaves, Starscream attempts to drain power from Wheeljack, but Bumblebee and Spike stop arrive just in time to stop the Decepticon and restore Wheeljack.

[[Image:Atlantis Arise Megs Lincoln memorial.JPG|left|150px|thumb|Four score and seven million years ago, I founded a new nation...]]

Nergill strolls into Washington, with Wheeljack, Bumblebee and Spike sneaking in behind him. Nergill uses the disruptor to defeat Prime's team of Autobots, bringing the battle to an end. As the Sub-Atlanticans secure the Capitol building, his soldiers ask when to move against the Decepticons, but Nergill decides to wait a little while longer. Meanwhile, Megatron (sitting at the [[Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln Memorial]]) tells [[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]] that they will deal with the Sub-Atlanticans soon enough.

Wheeljack calls in the Dinobots, who manage to penetrate the force field and come to blows with the Decepticons. As Megatron and [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] grapple, Nergill is on the verge of shooting them both until Starscream arrives and bashes Nergill aside, declaring that he is now an enemy. Grimlock grabs the disruptor and destroys it, causing the Autobots to revive. The Decepticons and Sub-Atlanticans retreat back to their own city, with the Autobots in pursuit.

[[Image:SubAtlantica Asplode.jpg|right|150px|thumb|But the others chose to stay, sitting in their porches with their shotguns, and eventually evolved into mermaids. And they would sing and dance, and ring in the new...]]

Back at Sub-Atlantica, Megatron demands an answer to Starscream's treason charge against Nergill, but Nergill informs him that the Autobots are coming. They invade the city, and the Dinobots begin smashing everything in sight.

Nergill decides to destroy the city, hoping to destroy the Transformers as well. Spike, Wheeljack, and Bumblebee follow, hoping to stop Nergill, with [[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] and [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] in pursuit. The two [[Mini-Cassette|Mini-Cassettes]] realize Nergill's intentions, and Rumble tries to bury him in rubble, but it's not enough. Wheeljack likewise tries to stop the sub-aquatic king, but it's too late. Nergill throws a device into his energy containers, which starts a chain reaction that begins to destroy the city. The Decepticons retreat; Prime orders the Autobots to clear out, then rescues Wheeljack's team (and strangely finds Grimlock there as well). Prime and the others escape, watching from the nearby sea as the Sub-Atlanticans and their home disappear under the waves. Prime says they probably won't see Nergill again for a long time.

{{-}}

==Featured characters==
{{Featuredcharacters
|c1=
* [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] (10)
* [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] (11)
* [[Hound (G1)|Hound]] (12)
* [[Swoop (G1)|Swoop]] (13)
* [[Snarl (G1)|Snarl]] (14)
* [[Slag (G1)|Slag]] (15)
* [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] (16)
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] (17)
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] (18)
* [[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]] (19)
* [[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]] (20)
* [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]] (21)
* [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] (22)
* [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] (23)
* [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]] (25)
* [[Sludge (G1)|Sludge]] (26)

|c2=
* [[Buzzsaw (G1)|Buzzsaw]] (1)
* [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] (2)
* [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (3)
* [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] (4)
* [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]] (5)
* [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] (6)
* [[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]] (7)
* [[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] (27)
* [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] (28)

|c3=
*[[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike Witwicky]] (9)

|c4=
*[[Nergill]] (8)
*Sub-Atlantican General (24)
}}

==Quotes==
"Are you sure humans do this for fun?"
:—'''Hound''', after playing a game of football with the Dinobots

"No! That could ruin Wheeljack's function circuits!"
"So... what? Ruining Autobots is my life!"
:—'''Bumblebee''' and '''Starscream'''

"Autobots bite off more than they can chew, then send for Dinobots! Come, Snarl, Sludge. We go!"
:—'''Grimlock''', responding to the SOS call by Wheeljack. Apparently he does not want Slag or Swoop.

"Mmm, we are ''here''."
:—'''Grimlock''' is a master of subtle and astute observation

"Me Grimlock here again, Optimus Prime, to pull your diodes out of laser fire."
:—'''Grimlock''' is getting a little tired of rescuing Optimus Prime

"Okay, Grimlock. Time for you and the Dinobots to ''act'' prehistoric!"
:—'''Optimus Prime'''

"You don't frighten me, you mechanical throwbacks!" 
"Good, Megatron! We love stupid enemies!"
:—'''Grimlock''' has no grasp of irony.

==Notes==
===Animation or technical glitches===
* Someone mistook the strange glint of sunlight reflecting off of Buzzsaw for a laser beam, and inserted a Decepticon laser sound effect accordingly.
* Soundwave has some extra black shading around his eyeband as he reports to Megatron.
* As Megatron pontificates about "an underwater city of such size", a strangely-timed edit has the scene cut to an exterior shot of Decepticon Headquarters, as if ''that'' were supposed to be the underwater city in question. If it's meant to be an establishing shot, why isn't it at the beginning of the scene?
* The [[Decepticon Headquarters]] docking tower appears to be listing about 15 degrees or so as it emerges from the water, as if a stock view from one point-of-view angle was copied onto a new background drawn at a different point-of-view angle.
*When the Decepticons leave their base, Starscream's jet mode has a yellow underbelly. For an animation error, it's unusually appropriate!
* As he orders Soundwave to unscramble Nergill's message, Starscream's left pectoral is colored gray instead of red, and isn't really drawn in correctly, almost as if the animators intended his arm to be covering it during the scene.
* Considering how bright and well-lit everything is, Sub-Atlantica must be in about 25 feet of water.
* As Hound's camper roof unfolds, his turret gun clips right through it.
* Bumblebee appears to be using one of the Sub-Atlanticans' weapons as he fires at Starscream and company.
* During Wheeljack's "But nobody else is gonna follow you either" line, only the front side of his "ears" flash.
* Soundwave is drawn with a totally transparent tape door as Starscream has him unscramble Nergill's second message. It appears to be a deliberate choice to show the cassette mechanism within, but it conflicts with the usual white coloration of his chest panel.
* As Megatron makes his dramatic proclamation of Sub-Atlantica's destination, the bottom of Starscream's cockpit cowling is colored yellow instead of gray.
* Starscream is shown among the Decepticons leaving Sub-Atlantica to conquer D.C. The very next shot shows him lurking within the city as Nergill exposits to himself.
* As the Autobots drive toward Washington, Optimus mispronounces their foes' names as "Sub-[[Atlanta]]-cans".
* The "highway" that the Autobots use to drive to D.C. has an "exit" for the Chesapeake Bay that's more like a T-shaped intersection. Bumblebee somehow manages to negotiate it at full speed without flying out of control.
* The animation is very inconsistent as to whether the little red bulb on the Sub-Atlanticans' headwear is supposed to flash when they talk.
* The Dome Of Invulnerability guy is missing his telepathic waves as he refuses Megatron's order.
* Laser bolts bounce right off the Washington Monument without leaving so much as a burn mark. With weapons that ineffectual, it's no wonder nobody ever dies in this show!
* Laserbeak's attack on Hound is strangely truncated; Laserbeak fires non-glowing lasers, and then suddenly vanishes out of the shot.
* The shot that Hound fires at Laserbeak doesn't line up with his gun barrel.
* The electrical bolts enveloping Starscream right after Nergil blasts him are not animated to jigger for the first few seconds.
* The inside of Sludge's robot-mode mouth is white when he says "Alright!"
* When the Dinobots break through the force field, Starscream is among the group fighting them off, even though he is still lying inert within Sub-Atlantica at this point.
[[Image:Optimus prime doppelgaenger.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Prime uses [[budding]] to hold up the Washington Monument.]]

* Before Megatron bashes the Washington Monument, Prime and Prowl are standing there watching. After Megatron bashes the Monument, the shot returns to the same Prowl-and-Prime angle. But Prowl is gone, and the earlier artwork of Prime is still there watching as ''another'' Prime runs to catch the monument!
* The Autobots shown entering the city and attacking Megatron include Prime, Hound, Brawn, Prowl, Ironhide, and Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker and Ironhide disappear after the battle begins; only Hound, Brawn, Prowl and Prime are shown being disabled by Nergill and being revived later on. Ironhide finally shows up again after the battle is over; Ratchet and Trailbreaker appear out of nowhere as the Autobots roll out of D.C. During the Sub-Atlantica battle, Sideswipe appears (also out of nowhere), and Sunstreaker finally reappears.
* Slag's face is white instead of red as he exits Prime's trailer. In the next shot, his whole head is gray.
* A strangely angled shot, looking up from below the water, is supposed to show Prime, Wheeljack, Bumblebee and Grimlock swimming out of Sub-Atlantica. It's ''very'' easy to mistake it for a shot showing them flying through the air. They don't move any of their limbs, they move across the screen very rapidly, and the water itself is backlit by the sunset colored sky.
* Spike's declaration that "Nergill's gone!" doesn't mean much, since the animation never actually makes it clear that Wheeljack carried him out of Sub-Atlantica.
* What are Prime and the others standing on after they evacuate Sub-Atlantica? Even Spike is above water almost to his waist!

===Continuity errors===
* Megatron refers to Laserbeak and Buzzsaw as "vultures". They're supposed to be condors.
* If Nergill "communicates telepathically", as Soundwave claims, why is his mouth moving all the time?

[[Image:Spike SemiNude.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Then again, look at how ripped his pecs are. Maybe he really ''is'' a superhuman!]]
* Spike is obviously some sort of super human. He can survive in the "deepest part of the Atlantic ocean" wearing only a bathing suit and using a simple oxygen tank and goggles. Amazing that he isn't crushed under the weight of the ocean or frozen to death.
* Further evidence that Spike is no mere mortal: he can somehow speak clearly to the Autobots without removing the mouthpiece for his breathing apparatus from his mouth; hell, he can even perform this trick ''underwater''.
* How can Bumblebee calculate Sub-Atlantica's destination from watching it sail along the coast for like two seconds? It could be going anywhere!
* The "conquest" of Washington is incredibly half-hearted. The Decepticons and the squiddy guys run around in the street for a bit, scare some tourists, blow up a couple of cars, and put up a force field. About the only conquery thing they do is set up a giant vacuum tube computer in the capital building.
* The Sub-Atlanticans have to wear aquatic masks over their faces when they're on dry land. Yet they don't wear them inside their city, which appears to be just as water-free as the surface.
* The water-based Sub-Atlanticans don't think to create a force field that extends under the water?
* More an omission than an error, but it's never explained just what Starscream was trying to do to Wheeljack.
* Wheeljack says that they'd better warn Prime about the dysfunction ray... then proceeds to say something totally vague and uninformative ("There is great danger! Nergill must be stopped!")
* Speaking of which, what the hell is a "magnetic ''dysfunction'' ray", anyway? While not completely nonsensical, the term "dysfunction" is normally used to describe impairments or abnormalities in sociology, psychiatry, and biology, not technology.
* How many times do cartoons have to be told that it's not a ''force field'' if it ''shatters like glass''? (Does this mean that the streets of D.C. are now covered with piles of shattered force field bits?)
* Some "dome of ''invulnerability''". The Dinobots get through it in about five seconds flat.
* Starscream's third appearance in DC isn't an animation error; he's central to the plot! How did he get free of the dysfunction ray?!
* Who knew that destroying a gun could un-shoot the gun's prior victims? That's exactly what happens -- Grimlock destroys the dysfunction gun, and suddenly the Autobots are un-dysfunctionalized!

===District of Columbia errors===
* Despite the Autobots being near the Chesapeake Bay, the backgrounds show huge rocks and expanses of sand, as if they were in the desert.
* As Hound fights near the reflecting pool, there's lots of tall buildings behind him. D.C. doesn't really have many tall buildings, certainly not near the Mall.
* Both the plot and the animation seem to imply that DC sits on a major body of water. Or did Sub-Atlantica just sail right up the Potomac?
* The Lincoln Memorial is strangely [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]]-[[Scale|sized]]. Also, the statue part apparently just comes right off. Who knew?
* Somehow, the rotational forces involved in the Washington Monument's partial fall do not cause the masonry structure to snap like a dry twig.
* Apparently, damaged masonry structures like the Washington Monument can be ''melted'' back together. Who knew?

===Transformers references===
* In the Decepticon campaign of ''[[Transformers The Game]]'', [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] also takes the Lincoln Memorial throne as his own.
*Grimlock also grumbled about having to save the Autobots in "[[Day of the Machines]]". It'll finally come to a head in "[[Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 1]]".
* Hey, that shot of Soundwave ejecting Laserbeak during the DC battle sure looks familiar... why, it's copied from "[[Transport to Oblivion]]"! [[Changing Gears|Again!]]

===Real world references===
* As the obligatory "conquer Washington" episode (''G.I. Joe'' had one too), "Atlantis, Arise!" features several D.C. landmarks, including the Washington Monument, the White House (where the Decepticons first land), the US Capitol Building, and the Lincoln Memorial and its Reflecting Pool.

===Trivia===
[[Image:Atlantis Arise Hound roof.JPG|right|150px|thumb|Whoops! can't get my fancy cushions wet!]]
* This episode is one of a handful that begins with a (rather pointless) narrative voiceover from Victor Caroli.
* [[Hound (G1)|Hound]] has a folding sunroof. That is awesome. His toy did not. That is not awesome.
* Whose bright idea was it to introduce Transformers to the world of football, using five godless killing machines?
* Watch out for the hilarious irony of Starscream shouting "TRAITOR!" and stopping Nergill from shooting Megatron in the back.
* They have in fact seen the last of Nergill.

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

[[Category:Generation 1 episodes]]

Atlantis, Arise!

2009-10-27T23:15:22Z

76.71.209.28: /* Continuity errors */

{{episode
|series=G1toon
|ep=24
|series2=SRLFtoon
|ep2=16
|image=SubAtlantica Undersea.jpg
|caption=There's fire burning... underwater. Don't ask.
|title="Atlantis, Arise!"
|production code=#700-23
|airdate=[[October 3]], 1985
|written by=[[Douglas Booth]]
|production company=[[Sunbow Productions]]
|continuity=[[Generation 1 cartoon continuity]]
}}

'''The Decepticons ally with the undersea realm of Sub-Atlantica. But they may be more treacherous than Megatron expected.'''

:''Japanese title:'' アトランティス浮上! (''Atlantis Fujō!'', "Atlantis, Arise!")
:''German'' Generation 2 ''title:'' "'''Die Unterwasserstadt'''" ("The Underwater City")

==Synopsis==
[[Image:Atlantis Arise Sub-Atlanticans Decepticons.JPG|left|150px|thumb|And when you see Aquaman, tell him his superpower sucks.]]

[[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] summons [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] to the control room, saying that [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] and [[Buzzsaw (G1)|Buzzsaw]] have detected massive energy readings underwater. The Decepticons investigate and encounter the [[Sub-Atlantican]]s, a race who hope to conquer the surface world one day. Megatron negotiates a deal with [[Nergill]], King of Sub-Atlantica, offering Decepticon military technology in exchange for access to their [[geothermal]] storehouses. [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]] distrusts the Sub-Atlanticans, who communicate with each other telepathically.

[[Image:Atlantis Arise Autobots football.JPG|right|150px|thumb|R U READY 4 SUM FOOTBALL?]]

Near the [[Autobot]] [[Ark (G1)|base]], [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]], [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]], and [[Hound (G1)|Hound]] are playing a game of [[football]] with the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]]. [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] arrives before the Dinobots accidentally kill anyone, telling them there is a massive energy reading emanating from near the [[Victory (ship)|Decepticon base]]. [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] dispatches Bumblebee, [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], Hound, and Wheeljack to investigate, with Spike tagging along. The Decepticons and Sub-Atlanticans attack and take Wheeljack prisoner. After raising the city from the bottom of the ocean, the Decepticons and Sub-Atlanticans prepare to attack [[Washington, D.C.]] as a sign of their new alliance. Nergill communicates with his soldiers, telling Megatron that they will imprison Wheeljack in his dungeons. However, at Starscream's orders, Soundwave unscrambles the message and learns that Wheeljack is to be taken to their laboratory to develop weapons against the Autobots and Decepticons alike.

The Autobots head for Washington, hoping to stop the Decepticons and Sub-Atlanticans. Prime has Spike and Bumblebee head for Sub-Atlantica, hoping to rescue Wheeljack, while the Autobot leader takes the others to Washington. The Sub-Atlanticans raise a [[force field]] over Washington, trapping the Autobots inside. In Sub-Atlantica, Nergill has developed a [[magnetic dysfunction ray]] which will shut down [[Transformer|Transformers]]; he's tested it on Wheeljack, leaving him immobile. Starscream discovers this and is shot by Nergill, who learns that it is less effective on Decepticons. As Nergill leaves, Starscream attempts to drain power from Wheeljack, but Bumblebee and Spike stop arrive just in time to stop the Decepticon and restore Wheeljack.

[[Image:Atlantis Arise Megs Lincoln memorial.JPG|left|150px|thumb|Four score and seven million years ago, I founded a new nation...]]

Nergill strolls into Washington, with Wheeljack, Bumblebee and Spike sneaking in behind him. Nergill uses the disruptor to defeat Prime's team of Autobots, bringing the battle to an end. As the Sub-Atlanticans secure the Capitol building, his soldiers ask when to move against the Decepticons, but Nergill decides to wait a little while longer. Meanwhile, Megatron (sitting at the [[Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln Memorial]]) tells [[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]] that they will deal with the Sub-Atlanticans soon enough.

Wheeljack calls in the Dinobots, who manage to penetrate the force field and come to blows with the Decepticons. As Megatron and [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] grapple, Nergill is on the verge of shooting them both until Starscream arrives and bashes Nergill aside, declaring that he is now an enemy. Grimlock grabs the disruptor and destroys it, causing the Autobots to revive. The Decepticons and Sub-Atlanticans retreat back to their own city, with the Autobots in pursuit.

[[Image:SubAtlantica Asplode.jpg|right|150px|thumb|But the others chose to stay, sitting in their porches with their shotguns, and eventually evolved into mermaids. And they would sing and dance, and ring in the new...]]

Back at Sub-Atlantica, Megatron demands an answer to Starscream's treason charge against Nergill, but Nergill informs him that the Autobots are coming. They invade the city, and the Dinobots begin smashing everything in sight.

Nergill decides to destroy the city, hoping to destroy the Transformers as well. Spike, Wheeljack, and Bumblebee follow, hoping to stop Nergill, with [[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] and [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] in pursuit. The two [[Mini-Cassette|Mini-Cassettes]] realize Nergill's intentions, and Rumble tries to bury him in rubble, but it's not enough. Wheeljack likewise tries to stop the sub-aquatic king, but it's too late. Nergill throws a device into his energy containers, which starts a chain reaction that begins to destroy the city. The Decepticons retreat; Prime orders the Autobots to clear out, then rescues Wheeljack's team (and strangely finds Grimlock there as well). Prime and the others escape, watching from the nearby sea as the Sub-Atlanticans and their home disappear under the waves. Prime says they probably won't see Nergill again for a long time.

{{-}}

==Featured characters==
{{Featuredcharacters
|c1=
* [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] (10)
* [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] (11)
* [[Hound (G1)|Hound]] (12)
* [[Swoop (G1)|Swoop]] (13)
* [[Snarl (G1)|Snarl]] (14)
* [[Slag (G1)|Slag]] (15)
* [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] (16)
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] (17)
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] (18)
* [[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]] (19)
* [[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]] (20)
* [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]] (21)
* [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] (22)
* [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] (23)
* [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]] (25)
* [[Sludge (G1)|Sludge]] (26)

|c2=
* [[Buzzsaw (G1)|Buzzsaw]] (1)
* [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] (2)
* [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (3)
* [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] (4)
* [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]] (5)
* [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] (6)
* [[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]] (7)
* [[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] (27)
* [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] (28)

|c3=
*[[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike Witwicky]] (9)

|c4=
*[[Nergill]] (8)
*Sub-Atlantican General (24)
}}

==Quotes==
"Are you sure humans do this for fun?"
:—'''Hound''', after playing a game of football with the Dinobots

"No! That could ruin Wheeljack's function circuits!"
"So... what? Ruining Autobots is my life!"
:—'''Bumblebee''' and '''Starscream'''

"Autobots bite off more than they can chew, then send for Dinobots! Come, Snarl, Sludge. We go!"
:—'''Grimlock''', responding to the SOS call by Wheeljack. Apparently he does not want Slag or Swoop.

"Mmm, we are ''here''."
:—'''Grimlock''' is a master of subtle and astute observation

"Me Grimlock here again, Optimus Prime, to pull your diodes out of laser fire."
:—'''Grimlock''' is getting a little tired of rescuing Optimus Prime

"Okay, Grimlock. Time for you and the Dinobots to ''act'' prehistoric!"
:—'''Optimus Prime'''

"You don't frighten me, you mechanical throwbacks!" 
"Good, Megatron! We love stupid enemies!"
:—'''Grimlock''' has no grasp of irony.

==Notes==
===Animation or technical glitches===
* Someone mistook the strange glint of sunlight reflecting off of Buzzsaw for a laser beam, and inserted a Decepticon laser sound effect accordingly.
* Soundwave has some extra black shading around his eyeband as he reports to Megatron.
* As Megatron pontificates about "an underwater city of such size", a strangely-timed edit has the scene cut to an exterior shot of Decepticon Headquarters, as if ''that'' were supposed to be the underwater city in question. If it's meant to be an establishing shot, why isn't it at the beginning of the scene?
* The [[Decepticon Headquarters]] docking tower appears to be listing about 15 degrees or so as it emerges from the water, as if a stock view from one point-of-view angle was copied onto a new background drawn at a different point-of-view angle.
*When the Decepticons leave their base, Starscream's jet mode has a yellow underbelly. For an animation error, it's unusually appropriate!
* As he orders Soundwave to unscramble Nergill's message, Starscream's left pectoral is colored gray instead of red, and isn't really drawn in correctly, almost as if the animators intended his arm to be covering it during the scene.
* Considering how bright and well-lit everything is, Sub-Atlantica must be in about 25 feet of water.
* As Hound's camper roof unfolds, his turret gun clips right through it.
* Bumblebee appears to be using one of the Sub-Atlanticans' weapons as he fires at Starscream and company.
* During Wheeljack's "But nobody else is gonna follow you either" line, only the front side of his "ears" flash.
* Soundwave is drawn with a totally transparent tape door as Starscream has him unscramble Nergill's second message. It appears to be a deliberate choice to show the cassette mechanism within, but it conflicts with the usual white coloration of his chest panel.
* As Megatron makes his dramatic proclamation of Sub-Atlantica's destination, the bottom of Starscream's cockpit cowling is colored yellow instead of gray.
* Starscream is shown among the Decepticons leaving Sub-Atlantica to conquer D.C. The very next shot shows him lurking within the city as Nergill exposits to himself.
* As the Autobots drive toward Washington, Optimus mispronounces their foes' names as "Sub-[[Atlanta]]-cans".
* The "highway" that the Autobots use to drive to D.C. has an "exit" for the Chesapeake Bay that's more like a T-shaped intersection. Bumblebee somehow manages to negotiate it at full speed without flying out of control.
* The animation is very inconsistent as to whether the little red bulb on the Sub-Atlanticans' headwear is supposed to flash when they talk.
* The Dome Of Invulnerability guy is missing his telepathic waves as he refuses Megatron's order.
* Laser bolts bounce right off the Washington Monument without leaving so much as a burn mark. With weapons that ineffectual, it's no wonder nobody ever dies in this show!
* Laserbeak's attack on Hound is strangely truncated; Laserbeak fires non-glowing lasers, and then suddenly vanishes out of the shot.
* The shot that Hound fires at Laserbeak doesn't line up with his gun barrel.
* The electrical bolts enveloping Starscream right after Nergil blasts him are not animated to jigger for the first few seconds.
* The inside of Sludge's robot-mode mouth is white when he says "Alright!"
* When the Dinobots break through the force field, Starscream is among the group fighting them off, even though he is still lying inert within Sub-Atlantica at this point.
[[Image:Optimus prime doppelgaenger.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Prime uses [[budding]] to hold up the Washington Monument.]]

* Before Megatron bashes the Washington Monument, Prime and Prowl are standing there watching. After Megatron bashes the Monument, the shot returns to the same Prowl-and-Prime angle. But Prowl is gone, and the earlier artwork of Prime is still there watching as ''another'' Prime runs to catch the monument!
* The Autobots shown entering the city and attacking Megatron include Prime, Hound, Brawn, Prowl, Ironhide, and Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker and Ironhide disappear after the battle begins; only Hound, Brawn, Prowl and Prime are shown being disabled by Nergill and being revived later on. Ironhide finally shows up again after the battle is over; Ratchet and Trailbreaker appear out of nowhere as the Autobots roll out of D.C. During the Sub-Atlantica battle, Sideswipe appears (also out of nowhere), and Sunstreaker finally reappears.
* Slag's face is white instead of red as he exits Prime's trailer. In the next shot, his whole head is gray.
* A strangely angled shot, looking up from below the water, is supposed to show Prime, Wheeljack, Bumblebee and Grimlock swimming out of Sub-Atlantica. It's ''very'' easy to mistake it for a shot showing them flying through the air. They don't move any of their limbs, they move across the screen very rapidly, and the water itself is backlit by the sunset colored sky.
* Spike's declaration that "Nergill's gone!" doesn't mean much, since the animation never actually makes it clear that Wheeljack carried him out of Sub-Atlantica.
* What are Prime and the others standing on after they evacuate Sub-Atlantica? Even Spike is above water almost to his waist!

===Continuity errors===
* Megatron refers to Laserbeak and Buzzsaw as "vultures". They're supposed to be condors.
* If Nergill "communicates telepathically", as Soundwave claims, why is his mouth moving all the time?

[[Image:Spike SemiNude.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Then again, look at how ripped his pecs are. Maybe he really ''is'' a superhuman!]]
* Spike is obviously some sort of super human. He can survive in the "deepest part of the Atlantic ocean" wearing only a bathing suit and using a simple oxygen tank and goggles. Amazing that he isn't crushed under the weight of the ocean or frozen to death.
* Further evidence that Spike is no mere mortal: he can somehow speak clearly to the Autobots without removing the mouthpiece for his breathing apparatus from his mouth; hell, he can even perform this trick ''underwater''.
* How can Bumblebee calculate Sub-Atlantica's destination from watching it sail along the coast for like two seconds? It could be going anywhere!
* The "conquest" of Washington is incredibly half-hearted. The Decepticons and the squiddy guys run around in the street for a bit, scare some tourists, blow up a couple of cars, and put up a force field. About the only conquery thing they do is set up a giant vacuum tube computer in the capital building.
* The Sub-Atlanticans have to wear aquatic masks over their faces when they're on dry land. Yet they don't wear them inside their city, which appears to be just as water-free as the surface.
* The water-based Sub-Atlanticans don't think to create a force field that extends under the water?
* More an omission than an error, but it's never explained just what Starscream was trying to do to Wheeljack.
* Wheeljack says that they'd better warn Prime about the dysfunction ray... then proceeds to say something totally vague and uninformative ("There is great danger! Nergill must be stopped!")
* Speaking of which, what the hell is a "magnetic ''dysfunction'' ray", anyway? While not completely nonsensical, the term "dysfunction" is normally used to describe impairments or abnormalalities in sociology, psychiatry, and biology, not technology.
* How many times do cartoons have to be told that it's not a ''force field'' if it ''shatters like glass''? (Does this mean that the streets of D.C. are now covered with piles of shattered force field bits?)
* Some "dome of ''invulnerability''". The Dinobots get through it in about five seconds flat.
* Starscream's third appearance in DC isn't an animation error; he's central to the plot! How did he get free of the dysfunction ray?!
* Who knew that destroying a gun could un-shoot the gun's prior victims? That's exactly what happens -- Grimlock destroys the dysfunction gun, and suddenly the Autobots are un-dysfunctionalized!

===District of Columbia errors===
* Despite the Autobots being near the Chesapeake Bay, the backgrounds show huge rocks and expanses of sand, as if they were in the desert.
* As Hound fights near the reflecting pool, there's lots of tall buildings behind him. D.C. doesn't really have many tall buildings, certainly not near the Mall.
* Both the plot and the animation seem to imply that DC sits on a major body of water. Or did Sub-Atlantica just sail right up the Potomac?
* The Lincoln Memorial is strangely [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]]-[[Scale|sized]]. Also, the statue part apparently just comes right off. Who knew?
* Somehow, the rotational forces involved in the Washington Monument's partial fall do not cause the masonry structure to snap like a dry twig.
* Apparently, damaged masonry structures like the Washington Monument can be ''melted'' back together. Who knew?

===Transformers references===
* In the Decepticon campaign of ''[[Transformers The Game]]'', [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] also takes the Lincoln Memorial throne as his own.
*Grimlock also grumbled about having to save the Autobots in "[[Day of the Machines]]". It'll finally come to a head in "[[Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 1]]".
* Hey, that shot of Soundwave ejecting Laserbeak during the DC battle sure looks familiar... why, it's copied from "[[Transport to Oblivion]]"! [[Changing Gears|Again!]]

===Real world references===
* As the obligatory "conquer Washington" episode (''G.I. Joe'' had one too), "Atlantis, Arise!" features several D.C. landmarks, including the Washington Monument, the White House (where the Decepticons first land), the US Capitol Building, and the Lincoln Memorial and its Reflecting Pool.

===Trivia===
[[Image:Atlantis Arise Hound roof.JPG|right|150px|thumb|Whoops! can't get my fancy cushions wet!]]
* This episode is one of a handful that begins with a (rather pointless) narrative voiceover from Victor Caroli.
* [[Hound (G1)|Hound]] has a folding sunroof. That is awesome. His toy did not. That is not awesome.
* Whose bright idea was it to introduce Transformers to the world of football, using five godless killing machines?
* Watch out for the hilarious irony of Starscream shouting "TRAITOR!" and stopping Nergill from shooting Megatron in the back.
* They have in fact seen the last of Nergill.

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

[[Category:Generation 1 episodes]]

Death

2009-10-27T19:04:31Z

76.71.209.28: /* Reconstruction */

[[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!]]"}}

==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]]s, 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|Crisis}}

* [[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)}}

{{-}}

===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. {{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]] 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]]s) were destroyed when part of their ship exploded with them in it. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

===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:
* Timelines: [[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}}''

===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]], [[Bomb-Burst]], and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] all met this 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 (Energon)|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}}

* ''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!}}
** [[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. This death was so inconsequential that his subsequent resurrection wasn't even explained! {{storylink|The Sun}}

===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===
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)}}

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

[[Image:Cyclonus death.jpg|thumb|right|150px| ]]

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}}
** [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] died after having his head cut off by a propeller fired by [[Leadfoot]]. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** Characters frequently die by decapitation of some form: [[Bonecrusher (Movie)|Bonecrusher]], {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} [[Grindor (ROTF)|Grindor]], and [[The Fallen]]. {{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 only removed ''most'' of his head rather than all of it, was fatal.

===Vivisection===
[[Image:VictoryUKAnnual.JPG|thumb|right|150px|]]

{{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| ]]

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}}
* Timelines: [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] died when [[Alpha Trion (SG)|Alpha Trion]] rammed his sword right through his chest. {{storylink|Transcendent: Part 6}}
* 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. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* In ''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 externalised 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/All Spark/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'': Jetfire rips out his own spark in Revenge of The Fallen to give Optimus a fighting chance.

===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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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}} 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}}
** [[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)}}

* ''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 [[All Spark]] into his chest.
* ''Animated'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] got caught in an explosion of [[AllSpark (Animated)|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}}
* In the 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.

==Limbo==
IDW comics: Megatron severely damaged Optimus Prime in battle and planned on finishing him off by crushing his [[spark core]]. Optimus Prime feigned death by downloading his "consciousness" into his [[Combat Deck|trailer section]]. His [[Brain Center|robot mode]] then appeared dead to Megatron so he never actually went through the trouble of actually crushing Prime's spark core. 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}}

==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!]]"}}

[[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 are 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.
* 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!}}

===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.

==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| ]]

{{quote|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}} (In all fairness, though, he did warn Sky Lynx before the final step that failure was a possibility - "If this doesn't work, then Optimus Prime will never live again!" - implying that there are either limits to even Quintesson science or that an element of chance was involved.)
* 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)}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Inferno and Demolishor both had their bodies ''atomized''; however, their sparks both survived, and were placed into new bodies. (The upshot is that it's nigh-impossible to kill a Unicron Trilogy Transformer.) {{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===
{{quote|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.
* ''Beast Machines'' cartoon: [[Optimus Primal]]'s body was destroyed, but the All Spark 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|Miracle}}

===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]], 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).
* ''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.
* 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. 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.

===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.
* 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.
* 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.

===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; knowing they can devour a Transformer makes the reader more concerned about the Dinobots' subsequent fate.

===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]]" 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 necessiated 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 #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 ate a cute little rat {{storylink|Victory (episode)|Victory}}, and nearly ate an antelope as well. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}

* [[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 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.

==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''.
* [[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]].

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

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

Death

2009-10-27T19:03:34Z

76.71.209.28: /* Reconstruction */

[[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!]]"}}

==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]]s, 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|Crisis}}

* [[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)}}

{{-}}

===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. {{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]] 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]]s) were destroyed when part of their ship exploded with them in it. {{storylink|Betrayal}}

===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:
* Timelines: [[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}}''

===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]], [[Bomb-Burst]], and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] all met this 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 (Energon)|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}}

* ''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!}}
** [[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. This death was so inconsequential that his subsequent resurrection wasn't even explained! {{storylink|The Sun}}

===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===
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)}}

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

[[Image:Cyclonus death.jpg|thumb|right|150px| ]]

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}}
** [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] died after having his head cut off by a propeller fired by [[Leadfoot]]. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

* In the movie continuity:
** Characters frequently die by decapitation of some form: [[Bonecrusher (Movie)|Bonecrusher]], {{storylink|Transformers (2007)}} [[Grindor (ROTF)|Grindor]], and [[The Fallen]]. {{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 only removed ''most'' of his head rather than all of it, was fatal.

===Vivisection===
[[Image:VictoryUKAnnual.JPG|thumb|right|150px|]]

{{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| ]]

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}}
* Timelines: [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] died when [[Alpha Trion (SG)|Alpha Trion]] rammed his sword right through his chest. {{storylink|Transcendent: Part 6}}
* 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. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
* In ''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 externalised 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/All Spark/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'': Jetfire rips out his own spark in Revenge of The Fallen to give Optimus a fighting chance.

===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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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}} 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}}
** [[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)}}

* ''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 [[All Spark]] into his chest.
* ''Animated'' cartoon: [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] got caught in an explosion of [[AllSpark (Animated)|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}}
* In the 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.

==Limbo==
IDW comics: Megatron severely damaged Optimus Prime in battle and planned on finishing him off by crushing his [[spark core]]. Optimus Prime feigned death by downloading his "consciousness" into his [[Combat Deck|trailer section]]. His [[Brain Center|robot mode]] then appeared dead to Megatron so he never actually went through the trouble of actually crushing Prime's spark core. 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}}

==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!]]"}}

[[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 are 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.
* 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!}}

===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.

==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| ]]

{{quote|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}} (In all fairness, though, he did warn Sky Lynx before the final step that failure was a possibility - "If this doesn't work, then Optimus Prime will never live again!" - implying that there are limits to even Quintesson science.)
* 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)}}
* ''Energon'' cartoon: Inferno and Demolishor both had their bodies ''atomized''; however, their sparks both survived, and were placed into new bodies. (The upshot is that it's nigh-impossible to kill a Unicron Trilogy Transformer.) {{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===
{{quote|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.
* ''Beast Machines'' cartoon: [[Optimus Primal]]'s body was destroyed, but the All Spark 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|Miracle}}

===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]], 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).
* ''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.
* 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. 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.

===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.
* 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.
* 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.

===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; knowing they can devour a Transformer makes the reader more concerned about the Dinobots' subsequent fate.

===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]]" 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 necessiated 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 #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 ate a cute little rat {{storylink|Victory (episode)|Victory}}, and nearly ate an antelope as well. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}

* [[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 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.

==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''.
* [[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]].

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

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