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Swarm (G2)

2008-03-19T22:16:56Z

82.168.222.230:

{{disambig2|the cloudlike evil mass|issue #9 of the G2 comic|Swarm (comic issue)}}

[[Image:Swarmoptimus.jpg|thumb|right|This is why you shouldn't eat Jehovah's Witnesses.]]
'''The Swarm''' is a cloudlike black mass, accidentally created by a missuse of the form of Transformer reproduction called [[Reproduction|budding]], under the direction of the [[Liege Maximo]] and the [[Cybertronian|Cybertronian Empire]]. Though very different from [[Transformer]]s on the surface, its genetic material and cellular structure are identical to the Transformers, betraying its origin. It seeks out and destroys life, literally "eating" mechanical (But not, apparently, organic) living beings, in a fairly horrific fashion. The Swarm is hollow and blindly hungry for the soul/power/mission of [[Primus]] that it lacks, and so is drawn specifically to Transformers, though it will eat other forms of life in its blind attempts to complete itself.

==Fiction==
===Marvel Comics continuity===
[[Optimus_Prime_(G1)|Optimus Prime]] fed both himself and the [[Matrix_of_Leadership|Matrix]] to the the Swarm, filling it with Primus's vision, and hence turning it into a force for creation rather than mindless destruction. In an attempt to make amends, it recreated Prime in a new body, before departing. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}} This, however, is ''after'' the Swarm killed many worlds and many other Transformers. Great work, guys.

===3H comics continuity===
The [[Vok]] told [[Primal Prime]] that they were "tempered by the darkness of the Swarm" and "forged in the purity of the Matrix".{{storylink|Primeval Dawn}} This isn't very clear, as things go.

(Extra-canonical comments from the Beast Wars creators suggested that the Swarm eventually evolved into the alien race known as the [[Vok]]. The details of this were discussed but never formally decided upon and did not make it into the show. The [[3H]] fan club material was intended to solidify this connection, but does not go into very specific detail.)

{{stub}}
[[Category: Aliens]]
[[Category: Generation 2]]
[[Category: Vok]]<div id="wikia-credits"> From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</div>

Survival of the Fittest

2008-03-10T23:22:41Z

82.168.222.230: /* Continuity errors */

{{episodenav|animated|12|season=1|prev=Lost and Found (Animated episode)|next=Headmaster (episode)}}
'''Sari is kidnapped and the evidence points to the Dinobots. So Prowl and Bulkhead head to a mysterious island to investigate—with a highly suspicious Captain Fanzone on their tail.'''

{{picsneeded}}
==Synopsis==
[[Image:SwoopSari.JPG|right|thumb|200px|I will make you one of my children of the night.]]
Concerned for [[Sari Sumdac|Sari]]'s safety as possessor of the [[Sari Sumdac's key|All Spark Key]] and knowing they can't be around every minute to protect her, the [[Autobot]]s decide to give her self-defense lessons. She doesn't do so well, but undaunted, she continues to practice alone in her room that night. She then goes to bed, but a shadow passing by her window makes her curious enough to get up again. She opens the window and is confronted by the [[Dinobot (Animated)|Dinobot]] [[Swoop (Animated)|Swoop]]. Shortly afterward, [[Isaac Sumdac|her father]] stops by to deliver a bedtime snack and is shocked to find her missing.

He immediately contacts the police and the Autobots, and [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] orders everyone to [[Roll out|roll out]] immediately. Come morning, the police search Sari's room and question Doctor Sumdac. [[Captain Fanzone]] coordinates operations from the lobby of [[Sumdac Tower]], checking security video footage and struggling with the operation of his mobile phone. The Autobots arrive, and he asks if anything unusual happened yesterday. [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]] mentions her self-defense lessons, to which Fanzone raises some objection, noting that hanging around Autobots might just be, oh, dangerous for a little girl. Just then, Prime spots Swoop on the security footage replay. [[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]] doesn't think it's possible, but Prime notes they never did find out what happened to the escaped Dinobots. Behind him, Bulkhead and [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]] hold a quiet conversation about whether to tell Prime about their role in the Dinobots' escape, but decide to investigate the Dinobots' island themselves first. Fanzone notices them whispering, figures they must be discussing something relevant, and decides to follow this new lead on his own.

That night, Prowl and Bulkhead take a cargo ship out to the Dinobots' island, with Fanzone pursuing them in a police department mini-sub. By daylight, the Autobots arrive on the island and start exploring, with Fanzone coming ashore shortly afterward. Suddenly, Prowl spots tracks, indicating someone besides the Dinobots is on the island. As they arrive at the edge of the central crater, Bulkhead expresses second thoughts about setting the Dinobots free. What if someone were to find them there? Prowl deactivates his holographic generator and notes that currently won't be an issue, as the Dinobots appear to be gone.

From within his new headquarters, [[Prometheus Black|Meltdown]] observes the two visitors and sends the Dinobots, who are waiting behind him, to deal with the pair.

Back outside in the valley, an outraged Bulkhead growls that they should have melted down the Dinobots as Dr. Sumdac wanted, but Prowl insists the Dinobots are more than just machines, that they are truly alive and so had to be saved. Bulkhead counters by asking who's going to save Sari. The two then leave to explore the island further, with Fanzone pursuing close behind—well, as close behind as possible after dealing with various mishaps.

In Meltdown's control room, [[Colossus Rhodes]] offers to pound the Autobots to scrap, but Meltdown stays him. Sari figures they're both as good as arrested and taunts them until Rhodes bulks up and scares her into silence.

Outside, Bulkhead and Prowl discover Captain Fanzone sinking in quicksand and haul him out. Prowl asks why he's following them, but Fanzone counters by asking what they're doing on an abandoned island research facility in the middle of Lake Erie, and they fall silent.

Still watching the proceedings, Meltdown decides it's time to greet his guests personally and leaves Rhodes to guard Sari. Rhodes taunts Sari for a change, but Sari just asks to go to the toilet.

On the surface, Fanzone continues to question Bulkhead about the situation, wondering if there's something he's not being told. Bulkhead abruptly points out the Dinobots behind Fanzone as the possible missing piece of info. Prowl offers to deal with the Dinobots, as they trust him, but [[Grimlock (Animated)|Grimlock]] orders the Dinobots to attack. Prowl is confused, but Bulkhead figures it's pretty straightforward: The Dinobots kidnapped Sari and now want to destroy them. He also lets slip that he and Prowl helped the Dinobots escape. During the skirmish, Prowl notes acid burns on Swoop's leg plating and deduces that someone with the ability to burn the Dinobots is forcing them to act this way. The Autobots and Fanzone manage to make a run for it, only to find themselves in a dead-end canyon. When Meltdown confronts them, Prowl finally puts it all together, realizing that the villain is behind the Dinobots capturing Sari and attacking them. Meltdown gleefully monologues about finding an island with its own security system just when he needed a place for private experiments, and how Sari will now be his latest subject. An enraged Bulkhead charges, but Meltdown's acid blasts a painful hole in the Autobot's chest.

Prowl and Fanzone run to help him, but Meltdown touches a remote-control button and sends the pair plummeting through a trap door down into a steel-lined holding pen. There, he pits them against two of his less successful experiments in creating transforming humans, people capable of taking on any shape at will. He notes that the failures were a result of using adult test subjects, whereas a still-growing human should prove much more promising. And what better choice than the daughter of his arch-rival, Isaac Sumdac? He then leaves to administer his formula to Sari while his two mutants take care of Prowl and Fanzone.

Elsewhere in the base, Sari tricks Cyrus Rhodes into checking out the rest room toilet, then uses her key to flood water on him, shorting out the electrode/pistons that let him bulk up. When he turns to attack her, she trips him, then locks him in the bathroom and takes off. Somehow, she finds the controls to turn off the laser barrier keeping Prowl and Fanzone trapped in the holding pit. Freed just in time, they take off and quickly locate Sari. Informed of Bulkhead's predicament, she guides them out the way she was brought in. As they start down the hall, Fanzone spots a rack of spare protective suits for Meltdown and grabs one.

[[image:Dinobotsrobotmode.JPG|right|thumb|200px|"Your death will be swift."]]
Prowl gets the two humans past a closing steel door and outside, where Sari quickly uses her key to heal Bulkhead. Before they can celebrate, Meltdown shows up with the Dinobots. Sari launches into a flying kick which totally misses Meltdown, but serves as the distraction needed for Prowl to score a hit. Before a stunned Meltdown can recover, Fanzone tackles him and wraps him up in a spare protective suit he grabbed. Meltdown orders the Dinobots to attack, but Prowl points that that Meltdown has no power over them any more. In preparation for revenge, the Dinobots [[transformation|transform]] into robot mode, surprising the others. Prowl offers the panicking Meltdown a choice: going to prison or being left to the Dinobots' (lack of) mercies. Just then, Colossus Rhodes (whose electronics apparently dried out) and the two mutants burst out of the entrance into the underground facility, only to draw the Dinobots' attention to themselves. The mighty mechanical trio ignite their weapons and quickly trounce the three mutants.

That evening, Fanzone and the Autobots take Sari and the captive Meltdown and Rhodes back to Detroit. Fanzone calls Dr. Sumdac to give him the good news, and Bulkhead and Prowl wonder if they should admit about the Dinobots to Prime. Fanzone assures Prowl that as long as the Dinobots stay on the island and out of Detroit, he doesn't have a problem with them. Prowl thanks him for all his help, and the two acknowledge they make a decent team, despite their different physical compositions. Watching Sari try out another kick on Bulkhead, Fanzone expresses continuing doubts about teaching ninja moves to eight-year-olds. Prowl agrees, noting Sari can apparently take care of herself in her own unique fashion.

==Stats==

*'''Written by:''' [[Steven Granat]]
*'''Directed by:''' [[Irineo Maramba]] & [[Makoto Fuchigami]]
*'''Original airdate:''' March 8, 2008

===Featured characters===
(''Numbers indicate order of appearance.)''
{|border=5 cellpadding=5 cellspacing=5 align=center style="border:#800000"

! style="background:#FFEEEE" | [[Autobot]]s

! style="background:antiquewhite" | [[Human]]s
|-
| style="background:#FFEEEE" valign="top" |
*[[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]] (2)
*[[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]] (3)
*[[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]] (4)
*[[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] (5)
*[[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]] (6)
*[[Swoop (Animated)|Swoop]] (7)
*[[Snarl (Animated)|Snarl]] (10)
*[[Grimlock (Animated)|Grimlock]] (11)

| style="background:antiquewhite" valign="top" | '''Regulars'''
*[[Sari Sumdac]] (1)
*[[Isaac Sumdac]] (8)
*[[Captain Fanzone]] (9)
*[[Prometheus Black|Meltdown]] (12)
*[[Colossus Rhodes]] (13)

'''Guests'''

|}

==Quotes==

"This is why I hate machines!" 
"No need to be such a technophobe, Captain." 
"A technophobe is someone who ''fears'' technology. ''(Smashes cell phone)'' Does '''''this''' look like'' '''FEAR TO YOU?!'''" 
"Um...my mistake."
:—'''Captain Fanzone''' straightens out '''Prowl'''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s perceptions of him.

'''Fanzone:''' You're teaching an eight-year-old ''nerve blows''? 
'''Ratchet:''' You want her to pick it up in the street? 
'''Prowl:''' This is part of every protoform's elemental programming. 
'''Fanzone:''' Say what? 
'''Bulkhead:''' Yeah, it's not like we're having her fight [[Decepticon]]s. 
'''Prowl:''' Yet.
:—'''Captain Fanzone''' and the Autobots debate the finer points of child education.

"Wait a minute—roll that back." 
"Sure thing, dollface."
:—The '''Reception Bot''' gets sassy with '''Optimus'''.

"Help!" 
"That sounded like Captain Fanzone." 
"Y-Yeah, hey, I—I do a really good impression of myself '''screaming for help!'''"
:—Even in mortal danger, '''Captain Fanzone''' zings '''Prowl'''.

"Who better than the daughter of my arch-rival, the bane of my existence, the simpering fool who is unworthy to lick the mud off the heels of my platform shoes—booga-looga-looga-looz—Professor Isaac Sumdac?"
:—'''Meltdown''' gets down with his bad self while monologuing.

"Dibs on Lefty—I hate lawyers." 
:{{m-}}'''Captain Fanzone''' actually hates something besides machines.

"Meltdown not hurt Dinobots...Dinobots hurt Meltdown."
:{{m-}}'''Grimlock'''. Run far, run fast, Melty.

'''Fanzone''': "What the...?!" 
'''Sari''': "Whoa...!" 
'''Bulkhead''': "Uh, they couldn't do that before. Right?" 
:{{m-}}The gang learns that the Dinobots are [[Transformer|more than meets the eye]].

==Other notes==

===Animation errors===
* Fanzone ''presses buttons'' on a ''rotary-dial'' cell phone. Of course, he also manages to get touch-tone sounds from them, so perhaps the rotary dial is just simulated. Y'know, to make him feel more familiar with the device.

===Continuity errors===
* When Sari is kidnapped by Swoop, she's just wearing socks on her feet (having crawled out of bed). When she's imprisoned in Meltdown's lair, she has her boots on again.

* The passage of time between Sari's kidnapping and the arrival on the island is wonky. Isaac appears to arrive at Sari's room with a snack mere minutes after she's gone to bed not too late in the evening, but the police and Autobots show up once the sun has risen. The "search party" heads for the Dinobots' island that ''night''... and arrive in the daylight. Did nearly ''forty-eight hours'' really pass all this time, and Meltdown did nothing?

* Apparently, there's nothing wrong with cutting a cargo ship free of its moorings and sailing it out into the middle of Lake Erie without permission. (Prowl and Bulkhead must have convinced either the ship's captain or its computerized pilot system to make an unscheduled trip.)

* Why does Meltdown bother to send the Dinobots, then go to handle his guests himself several minutes later? Sure, it works out, but was it planned that way?

* Why does Prowl think that Sari can defend herself against the Decepticons by ''kicking'' them? (''It's called "[[Crystalocution]]"'').

===Transformers references===
[[Image:Meltdownexperiments.jpg|right|thumb|200px|They've got the power to surprise.]]

* Meltdown's genetically engineered minions (previous failed attempts at producing "human transformers") bear a striking resemblance to the ''[[Generation 1]]'' [[Pretender]]s [[Submarauder]]/[[Gilmer]] and [[Bomb-Burst]]/[[Blood]].

===Real-world references===
* Reference

===Miscellaneous trivia===
* This is the first episode in which Snarl and Swoop transform. They still haven't spoken, however.

* This is also the first episode in which Fanzone refers to any of the Autobots by name, suggesting he's getting used to them being more than machines.

* Bumblebee appears in this episode, but doesn't speak.

* Part of Grimlock's transformation is recycled animation from "[[Blast from the Past]]".

* Captain Fanzone's phone seems remarkably outdated compared to the mobile phone his subordinate is shown using; it's the size of a brick, has a permanently extended antenna and amazingly features a rotary dial (or at least a simulated one; he still punches touch tones on it) to ring in the numbers...and even then Fanzone can't figure out how to use it. The man was clearly born a century after his time and presumably would be more comfortable around gramophones and [[Hearts of Steel|steam locomotives]].

* Fanzone's dialog suggests that a volcanic island in the middle of Lake Erie is not as preposterous as it might seem, as the island was formerly a research facility of some shape or form.

*Bulkhead seems to be more then a match for all three Dinobots here, yet they make incredibly short work of the mutants and Colossus Rhodes. (Colossus had previously proven to be a decent enough challenge for Bulkhead, Prime, Prowl and Ratchet.) Maybe their sparks just weren't in it? Or they were holding back?

* Do we really want to know what that key slot was doing on the controls for a toilet?

* The two mutants are conspicuously absent in the final scene (Fanzone notes "got 'em both," indicating only two prisoners), so it appears they were either destroyed or left imprisoned on the island, subject to the Dinobots' whims. If so, this seems harsh, given the two were (presumably) innocent victims of Meltdown's experiments. If they're somehow being held on ship, not mentioning or showing them seems to be quite an oversight.

* Although most human villains in the series to date have been shown in a comedic light, Meltdown seems the odd man out with some rather disturbing, more adult-oriented themes. He attempts murder (of rival Isaac Sumdac); he experiments to create mutants, which constitutes crimes against Humanity; and he kidnaps a prepubescent girl for purposes of experimentation... but he darn sure can ''dance''.

* Speaking of adult themes, when the police learn that Sari is missing, they question the father and send divers into the river. ''HARSH.''

[[Category:Animated episodes]]<div id="wikia-credits"> From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</div>

Survival of the Fittest

2008-03-10T23:21:04Z

82.168.222.230: /* Continuity errors */

{{episodenav|animated|12|season=1|prev=Lost and Found (Animated episode)|next=Headmaster (episode)}}
'''Sari is kidnapped and the evidence points to the Dinobots. So Prowl and Bulkhead head to a mysterious island to investigate—with a highly suspicious Captain Fanzone on their tail.'''

{{picsneeded}}
==Synopsis==
[[Image:SwoopSari.JPG|right|thumb|200px|I will make you one of my children of the night.]]
Concerned for [[Sari Sumdac|Sari]]'s safety as possessor of the [[Sari Sumdac's key|All Spark Key]] and knowing they can't be around every minute to protect her, the [[Autobot]]s decide to give her self-defense lessons. She doesn't do so well, but undaunted, she continues to practice alone in her room that night. She then goes to bed, but a shadow passing by her window makes her curious enough to get up again. She opens the window and is confronted by the [[Dinobot (Animated)|Dinobot]] [[Swoop (Animated)|Swoop]]. Shortly afterward, [[Isaac Sumdac|her father]] stops by to deliver a bedtime snack and is shocked to find her missing.

He immediately contacts the police and the Autobots, and [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] orders everyone to [[Roll out|roll out]] immediately. Come morning, the police search Sari's room and question Doctor Sumdac. [[Captain Fanzone]] coordinates operations from the lobby of [[Sumdac Tower]], checking security video footage and struggling with the operation of his mobile phone. The Autobots arrive, and he asks if anything unusual happened yesterday. [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]] mentions her self-defense lessons, to which Fanzone raises some objection, noting that hanging around Autobots might just be, oh, dangerous for a little girl. Just then, Prime spots Swoop on the security footage replay. [[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]] doesn't think it's possible, but Prime notes they never did find out what happened to the escaped Dinobots. Behind him, Bulkhead and [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]] hold a quiet conversation about whether to tell Prime about their role in the Dinobots' escape, but decide to investigate the Dinobots' island themselves first. Fanzone notices them whispering, figures they must be discussing something relevant, and decides to follow this new lead on his own.

That night, Prowl and Bulkhead take a cargo ship out to the Dinobots' island, with Fanzone pursuing them in a police department mini-sub. By daylight, the Autobots arrive on the island and start exploring, with Fanzone coming ashore shortly afterward. Suddenly, Prowl spots tracks, indicating someone besides the Dinobots is on the island. As they arrive at the edge of the central crater, Bulkhead expresses second thoughts about setting the Dinobots free. What if someone were to find them there? Prowl deactivates his holographic generator and notes that currently won't be an issue, as the Dinobots appear to be gone.

From within his new headquarters, [[Prometheus Black|Meltdown]] observes the two visitors and sends the Dinobots, who are waiting behind him, to deal with the pair.

Back outside in the valley, an outraged Bulkhead growls that they should have melted down the Dinobots as Dr. Sumdac wanted, but Prowl insists the Dinobots are more than just machines, that they are truly alive and so had to be saved. Bulkhead counters by asking who's going to save Sari. The two then leave to explore the island further, with Fanzone pursuing close behind—well, as close behind as possible after dealing with various mishaps.

In Meltdown's control room, [[Colossus Rhodes]] offers to pound the Autobots to scrap, but Meltdown stays him. Sari figures they're both as good as arrested and taunts them until Rhodes bulks up and scares her into silence.

Outside, Bulkhead and Prowl discover Captain Fanzone sinking in quicksand and haul him out. Prowl asks why he's following them, but Fanzone counters by asking what they're doing on an abandoned island research facility in the middle of Lake Erie, and they fall silent.

Still watching the proceedings, Meltdown decides it's time to greet his guests personally and leaves Rhodes to guard Sari. Rhodes taunts Sari for a change, but Sari just asks to go to the toilet.

On the surface, Fanzone continues to question Bulkhead about the situation, wondering if there's something he's not being told. Bulkhead abruptly points out the Dinobots behind Fanzone as the possible missing piece of info. Prowl offers to deal with the Dinobots, as they trust him, but [[Grimlock (Animated)|Grimlock]] orders the Dinobots to attack. Prowl is confused, but Bulkhead figures it's pretty straightforward: The Dinobots kidnapped Sari and now want to destroy them. He also lets slip that he and Prowl helped the Dinobots escape. During the skirmish, Prowl notes acid burns on Swoop's leg plating and deduces that someone with the ability to burn the Dinobots is forcing them to act this way. The Autobots and Fanzone manage to make a run for it, only to find themselves in a dead-end canyon. When Meltdown confronts them, Prowl finally puts it all together, realizing that the villain is behind the Dinobots capturing Sari and attacking them. Meltdown gleefully monologues about finding an island with its own security system just when he needed a place for private experiments, and how Sari will now be his latest subject. An enraged Bulkhead charges, but Meltdown's acid blasts a painful hole in the Autobot's chest.

Prowl and Fanzone run to help him, but Meltdown touches a remote-control button and sends the pair plummeting through a trap door down into a steel-lined holding pen. There, he pits them against two of his less successful experiments in creating transforming humans, people capable of taking on any shape at will. He notes that the failures were a result of using adult test subjects, whereas a still-growing human should prove much more promising. And what better choice than the daughter of his arch-rival, Isaac Sumdac? He then leaves to administer his formula to Sari while his two mutants take care of Prowl and Fanzone.

Elsewhere in the base, Sari tricks Cyrus Rhodes into checking out the rest room toilet, then uses her key to flood water on him, shorting out the electrode/pistons that let him bulk up. When he turns to attack her, she trips him, then locks him in the bathroom and takes off. Somehow, she finds the controls to turn off the laser barrier keeping Prowl and Fanzone trapped in the holding pit. Freed just in time, they take off and quickly locate Sari. Informed of Bulkhead's predicament, she guides them out the way she was brought in. As they start down the hall, Fanzone spots a rack of spare protective suits for Meltdown and grabs one.

[[image:Dinobotsrobotmode.JPG|right|thumb|200px|"Your death will be swift."]]
Prowl gets the two humans past a closing steel door and outside, where Sari quickly uses her key to heal Bulkhead. Before they can celebrate, Meltdown shows up with the Dinobots. Sari launches into a flying kick which totally misses Meltdown, but serves as the distraction needed for Prowl to score a hit. Before a stunned Meltdown can recover, Fanzone tackles him and wraps him up in a spare protective suit he grabbed. Meltdown orders the Dinobots to attack, but Prowl points that that Meltdown has no power over them any more. In preparation for revenge, the Dinobots [[transformation|transform]] into robot mode, surprising the others. Prowl offers the panicking Meltdown a choice: going to prison or being left to the Dinobots' (lack of) mercies. Just then, Colossus Rhodes (whose electronics apparently dried out) and the two mutants burst out of the entrance into the underground facility, only to draw the Dinobots' attention to themselves. The mighty mechanical trio ignite their weapons and quickly trounce the three mutants.

That evening, Fanzone and the Autobots take Sari and the captive Meltdown and Rhodes back to Detroit. Fanzone calls Dr. Sumdac to give him the good news, and Bulkhead and Prowl wonder if they should admit about the Dinobots to Prime. Fanzone assures Prowl that as long as the Dinobots stay on the island and out of Detroit, he doesn't have a problem with them. Prowl thanks him for all his help, and the two acknowledge they make a decent team, despite their different physical compositions. Watching Sari try out another kick on Bulkhead, Fanzone expresses continuing doubts about teaching ninja moves to eight-year-olds. Prowl agrees, noting Sari can apparently take care of herself in her own unique fashion.

==Stats==

*'''Written by:''' [[Steven Granat]]
*'''Directed by:''' [[Irineo Maramba]] & [[Makoto Fuchigami]]
*'''Original airdate:''' March 8, 2008

===Featured characters===
(''Numbers indicate order of appearance.)''
{|border=5 cellpadding=5 cellspacing=5 align=center style="border:#800000"

! style="background:#FFEEEE" | [[Autobot]]s

! style="background:antiquewhite" | [[Human]]s
|-
| style="background:#FFEEEE" valign="top" |
*[[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]] (2)
*[[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]] (3)
*[[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]] (4)
*[[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] (5)
*[[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]] (6)
*[[Swoop (Animated)|Swoop]] (7)
*[[Snarl (Animated)|Snarl]] (10)
*[[Grimlock (Animated)|Grimlock]] (11)

| style="background:antiquewhite" valign="top" | '''Regulars'''
*[[Sari Sumdac]] (1)
*[[Isaac Sumdac]] (8)
*[[Captain Fanzone]] (9)
*[[Prometheus Black|Meltdown]] (12)
*[[Colossus Rhodes]] (13)

'''Guests'''

|}

==Quotes==

"This is why I hate machines!" 
"No need to be such a technophobe, Captain." 
"A technophobe is someone who ''fears'' technology. ''(Smashes cell phone)'' Does '''''this''' look like'' '''FEAR TO YOU?!'''" 
"Um...my mistake."
:—'''Captain Fanzone''' straightens out '''Prowl'''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s perceptions of him.

'''Fanzone:''' You're teaching an eight-year-old ''nerve blows''? 
'''Ratchet:''' You want her to pick it up in the street? 
'''Prowl:''' This is part of every protoform's elemental programming. 
'''Fanzone:''' Say what? 
'''Bulkhead:''' Yeah, it's not like we're having her fight [[Decepticon]]s. 
'''Prowl:''' Yet.
:—'''Captain Fanzone''' and the Autobots debate the finer points of child education.

"Wait a minute—roll that back." 
"Sure thing, dollface."
:—The '''Reception Bot''' gets sassy with '''Optimus'''.

"Help!" 
"That sounded like Captain Fanzone." 
"Y-Yeah, hey, I—I do a really good impression of myself '''screaming for help!'''"
:—Even in mortal danger, '''Captain Fanzone''' zings '''Prowl'''.

"Who better than the daughter of my arch-rival, the bane of my existence, the simpering fool who is unworthy to lick the mud off the heels of my platform shoes—booga-looga-looga-looz—Professor Isaac Sumdac?"
:—'''Meltdown''' gets down with his bad self while monologuing.

"Dibs on Lefty—I hate lawyers." 
:{{m-}}'''Captain Fanzone''' actually hates something besides machines.

"Meltdown not hurt Dinobots...Dinobots hurt Meltdown."
:{{m-}}'''Grimlock'''. Run far, run fast, Melty.

'''Fanzone''': "What the...?!" 
'''Sari''': "Whoa...!" 
'''Bulkhead''': "Uh, they couldn't do that before. Right?" 
:{{m-}}The gang learns that the Dinobots are [[Transformer|more than meets the eye]].

==Other notes==

===Animation errors===
* Fanzone ''presses buttons'' on a ''rotary-dial'' cell phone. Of course, he also manages to get touch-tone sounds from them, so perhaps the rotary dial is just simulated. Y'know, to make him feel more familiar with the device.

===Continuity errors===
* When Sari is kidnapped by Swoop, she's just wearing socks on her feet (having crawled out of bed). When she's imprisoned in Meltdown's lair, she has her boots on again.

* The passage of time between Sari's kidnapping and the arrival on the island is wonky. Isaac appears to arrive at Sari's room with a snack mere minutes after she's gone to bed not too late in the evening, but the police and Autobots show up once the sun has risen. The "search party" heads for the Dinobots' island that ''night''... and arrive in the daylight. Did nearly ''forty-eight hours'' really pass all this time, and Meltdown did nothing?

* Apparently, there's nothing wrong with cutting a cargo ship free of its moorings and sailing it out into the middle of Lake Erie without permission. (Prowl and Bulkhead must have convinced either the ship's captain or its computerized pilot system to make an unscheduled trip.)

* Why does Meltdown bother to send the Dinobots, then go to handle his guests himself several minutes later? Sure, it works out, but was it planned that way?

* Why does Prowl think that Sari can defend herself against the Decepticons by ''kicking'' them? (''It's called "Crystalocution"'').

===Transformers references===
[[Image:Meltdownexperiments.jpg|right|thumb|200px|They've got the power to surprise.]]

* Meltdown's genetically engineered minions (previous failed attempts at producing "human transformers") bear a striking resemblance to the ''[[Generation 1]]'' [[Pretender]]s [[Submarauder]]/[[Gilmer]] and [[Bomb-Burst]]/[[Blood]].

===Real-world references===
* Reference

===Miscellaneous trivia===
* This is the first episode in which Snarl and Swoop transform. They still haven't spoken, however.

* This is also the first episode in which Fanzone refers to any of the Autobots by name, suggesting he's getting used to them being more than machines.

* Bumblebee appears in this episode, but doesn't speak.

* Part of Grimlock's transformation is recycled animation from "[[Blast from the Past]]".

* Captain Fanzone's phone seems remarkably outdated compared to the mobile phone his subordinate is shown using; it's the size of a brick, has a permanently extended antenna and amazingly features a rotary dial (or at least a simulated one; he still punches touch tones on it) to ring in the numbers...and even then Fanzone can't figure out how to use it. The man was clearly born a century after his time and presumably would be more comfortable around gramophones and [[Hearts of Steel|steam locomotives]].

* Fanzone's dialog suggests that a volcanic island in the middle of Lake Erie is not as preposterous as it might seem, as the island was formerly a research facility of some shape or form.

*Bulkhead seems to be more then a match for all three Dinobots here, yet they make incredibly short work of the mutants and Colossus Rhodes. (Colossus had previously proven to be a decent enough challenge for Bulkhead, Prime, Prowl and Ratchet.) Maybe their sparks just weren't in it? Or they were holding back?

* Do we really want to know what that key slot was doing on the controls for a toilet?

* The two mutants are conspicuously absent in the final scene (Fanzone notes "got 'em both," indicating only two prisoners), so it appears they were either destroyed or left imprisoned on the island, subject to the Dinobots' whims. If so, this seems harsh, given the two were (presumably) innocent victims of Meltdown's experiments. If they're somehow being held on ship, not mentioning or showing them seems to be quite an oversight.

* Although most human villains in the series to date have been shown in a comedic light, Meltdown seems the odd man out with some rather disturbing, more adult-oriented themes. He attempts murder (of rival Isaac Sumdac); he experiments to create mutants, which constitutes crimes against Humanity; and he kidnaps a prepubescent girl for purposes of experimentation... but he darn sure can ''dance''.

* Speaking of adult themes, when the police learn that Sari is missing, they question the father and send divers into the river. ''HARSH.''

[[Category:Animated episodes]]<div id="wikia-credits"> From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</div>

Scale

2008-03-09T23:45:10Z

82.168.222.230: /* Real world scale */

[[Image:OptimusSnakeEyes.jpg|right|thumb|300px|And the truck's ''how'' big...?]]
'''Scale''' in ''Transformers'' is, not to put too fine a point on it, screwed.

Virtually no era, franchise, fiction, [[toy|toyline]] or other incarnation of ''Transformers'' has presented scale in a logical or believable fashion. (The only exceptions are the 1:24 toys for ''[[Alternators]]'' and ''[[Kiss Players (toyline)|Kiss Players]]'', but they [[Atari Hitotonari|have their own problems]].) Most fans agree that one must either ignore it or accept it, lest they be tempted to explain these problems and in the process fanwank themselves into oblivion.

However, the scale problems of ''Transformers'' still merit description.

==Scale within toylines==
===Toys out of scale with others in the same line===
The early [[Generation 1 (toyline)|Generation 1 toyline]], especially the pre-[[The Transformers: The Movie|movie]] lines, were repackaged and [[redeco]]ed toys from several different Japanese toylines. The crucial point is that the toylines were initially unrelated. The characters ''should'' be in scale to each other as they all have real-world altmodes that (should) pass for real vehicles. However, since ''[[Diaclone]]'' toys were not part of the same line as ''[[Microman]]'' toys, scale issues arose. ''Diaclone'' figures such as [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] and [[Hound (G1)|Hound]] are more-or-less in correct scale to each other, but many of the [[Mini Vehicle]]s from the ''New Microman'' line are clearly far too small by comparison. Even aside from their deformed penny-racer proportions, a [[Bumblebee (G1)|Volkswagen]] Microman toy is disproportionately tiny when compared to a [[Jazz (G1)|Porsche]] Diaclone toy. The disparity becomes even more obvious with [[minibot]]s such as [[Warpath]] (a tank) and [[Seaspray]] (a hovercraft) who should be many times their actual size.

[[Image:DiacloneScale.jpg|left|thumb|350px|That little guy — who comes from the same toyline as all those vehicles — is supposed to be a normal-sized human. Yeeeah.]]

Another glaring scale problem comes in the form of the [[Seeker]]s, who turn into F-15 Eagles which, in real life, are 63.8′ (19.4m) long. Correctly scaled, this would make their robot modes ''colossal'' compared to most Autobots. Similarly, the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicon]]s, despite also coming from the ''Diaclone'' line, are too small. Far worse is the other ''Diaclone'' combiner team, the [[Trainbot]]s, who have train engine altmodes, yet their toys are among the ''smallest'' of the ''Diaclone'' releases.

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===Toys out of scale within teams===
[[Image:DW devastator.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Them's some big-ass bulldozers an' suchlike. Or that's one ''teeny-weeny'' boat.]]
Even toys specifically designed to interact with each other suffer from this problem. The [[Combaticon]]s are wildly out of scale to each other — [[Blast Off]]'s space shuttle mode should dwarf [[Swindle (G1)|Swindle]], with the others somewhere in between. Instead, they're about the same size. Among the Constructicons, [[Long Haul (G1)|Long Haul]] is designed to look like a gigantic [[Wikipedia:Image:Liebherr_t282_1.jpg|"earth-mover" mining truck]].He should be able to carry all his teammates in his bed, with some crowding. Similarly, [[Silverbolt (G1)|Silverbolt]] (a Concorde jet) is dramatically undersized compared to his fighter-jet [[Aerialbot (G1)|Aerialbot]] teammates. These scale problems are necessary to avoid misproportioned gestalt forms.

===Same altmode, different sizes===
Other scale problems come from characters who transform into the same (or similar) altmodes but whose toys are different sizes. For example [[Air Raid (G1)|Air Raid]] transforms into an F-15 Eagle, but his toy is half the size of [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]'s. The same can be said for the Lamborghini Countach [[Breakdown]], who should be the same size as [[Sunstreaker]], not significantly smaller. These discrepancies are also seen in the other [[Scramble City]] combiners with Earth altmodes, whose toys are all smaller than similar earlier toys.

===Toys out of scale with themselves===
[[Triple Changer|Triple-Changers]] create a whole new set of problems. [[Octane]] transforms from a 60′ (20m) tanker truck into a 200′ (65m) jumbo jet. [[Broadside (G1)|Broadside]] transforms from an Earth jet into an entire ''aircraft carrier.''

Even a two-mode toy can have this problem. Twentieth Anniversary Optimus Prime has wheels which are pretty tiny for a Freightliner truck, while his rear hitch section is too thick. These out-of-proportion vehicle parts were necessary to give his robot mode [[show-accuracy|show-accurate]] proportions.

===Toys with roleplay altmodes===
The characters with roleplay altmodes such as Generation 1 [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]], [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]], [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]], or [[Laserbeak (Armada)|''Armada'' Laserbeak]] are scaled to be human-scale (well, kid-scale). Since the [[size changing]] seen in the fiction is not possible for real toys (at least, that's what [[Takara]] ''wants'' us to think), this human-scaling makes in some cases for inordinately large robot modes. E.g., [[Blaster]]'s toy, in robot mode, is taller than most other Transformers.

The opposite problem is seen with [[Megatron (G1) toys|Masterpiece Megatron]], whose robot mode is in scale with Masterpiece Optimus Prime. The result is that, while he may transform into a very accurately-proportioned handgun, it's much larger than the real thing.

===Fanciful altmodes===
Most post-[[The Transformers: The Movie|movie]] Generation 1 characters (for that matter, most post-Generation 1 lines) are difficult to accurately scale, as they generally transform into futuristic or Cybertonian vehicles whose size we don't really know. (Or, indeed, they don't transform into vehicles at all.) The scale of characters such as [[Hot Rod]] or [[Leobreaker]] is fairly arbitrary and can only be estimated by their relative size to other characters in the fiction (although most fiction is highly inconsistent in this regard, see below). Nevertheless, if one assumes that most vehicle altmodes are intended for human passengers, comparing toys such as [[Chromedome]] and [[Lightspeed (Technobot)|Lightspeed]] suggests the combiner scale problem continues.

===Big toys===
It goes without saying that the citybot and planetbot toys (Such as [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]] and [[Unicron]]) are not remotely to scale with normal Transformer toys. While they are indeed ''large'' toys, they're only two to five times bigger than typical Transformer toys, and thus transform into "cities" and "planets" about the (relative) size of a bungalow. The scale problems extend to the details. Some of the citybot toys have visible windows, which are too large for a city, suggesting instead a medium-sized building.

However, it's hard to begrudge Hasbro not offering us a [[Primus]] toy the size of an asteroid. Where would we keep it?

===An exception===
There has only been one notable exception to all of this scale weirdness in the toys: the ''[[Alternators]]'' toyline, where every toy is a 1:24-scale representation of a real car, and thus they are in perfect scale with each other. Unfortunately, for practical reasons this limits the choice of altmodes. A Blast Off (space shuttle) Alternator toy would be 5.1′ (1.6m) long, while a Broadside (aircraft carrier) Alternator toy would be over 40′ (12m).

== Scale within fictions ==
Scale issues abound within the fiction, especially the [[Generation 1 (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]]. A lot can be attributed to [[animation errors]], such as layering problems,[[:Image:Tinybluestreak.jpg|1]][[:Image:Huge_Ironhide_and_Small_Ratchet.jpg|2]][[:Image:CarnageMiniBlaster.jpg|3]] but some "errors" were deliberate choices, for a variety of reasons.

===Animated scale ≈ toy scale===
[[Image:TeenyCliff.jpg|left|thumb|Frighteningly toy-accurate.]]

Very broadly speaking, the Generation 1 cartoon depicts characters to the same relative scale as the toys (including problems discussed above) when depicting the characters in robot modes. Prime, Megatron and Soundwave are generally animated at the same height, Seekers and Autobot cars slightly shorter (though not as much as the toys are), and [[Minibot]]s smaller yet. However, this was ''far'' from consistent.
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===Comic scale ≠ toy scale ===
[[Image:OmegaSupremeintro.jpg|thumb|left|175px|No! Don't wash him in hot water! He'll . . .]]

[[Image:Omegasupreme-blasterandgrimlock.jpg|thumb|right|. . . too late.]]

The [[Generation 1 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 1 Marvel comic]] is notorious for changing the relative sizes of various characters. A single Transformer's size is rarely consistent between artists. For example, Rumble and Frenzy vary in height relative to Soundwave. A panel in the [[Time Wars]] shows [[Goldbug]], [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], [[Scattershot]], and [[Swoop (G1)|Swoop]] all the same height. [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]], titanic in his [[Command Performances|original appearance]], shrunk steadily in subsequent issues until he was not much taller than the average.

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===Variation for characterization===
[[Image:Prime has a huge head.jpg|thumb|left|150px|With 20th Anniversary Prime and Smallest Transformers Bumblebee, you can actually recreate this scene.]]

Some scale problems are for the sake of characterization. For example, Optimus Prime is routinely shown as thoroughly gargantuan, several stories in height, and capable of cradling humans in his palm. If he's the size of a real truck, Prime in robot mode should be 25′-30′ (8m-10m) tall, at best. He's drawn large because he's a leader character.

Conversely, [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] is sometimes shown only a few feet taller than an average human, while in reality he would be 10′-15′ (3m-5m) tall (the Marvel comic actually states he's 15' tall{{fact}}). He's drawn small because he's a human-friendly character, and a junior member of the Autobots.

Those pesky [[Seeker]]s remain a major scale problem; with plane altmodes they would be among the largest everyday Transformers and would ''tower'' over their Autobot adversaries, whereas the animation instead depicts characters such as [[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]] and [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] as about the same height. Though jets are much larger than cars, they're drawn the same height so the battles appear fair. (And also to make it easier to animate; blocking a shot where characters differ radically in height is difficult.)

In a related vein, [[B.O.T.|sometimes]] Transformers are able to enter human buildings, fitting through their doors and able to run up their staircases without crashing through. A cast that couldn't enter buildings would be grossly inconvenient for telling some stories, so the animators fudge things.

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===Intentionally strange scale===
[[Image:MarvelUS-01.jpg|thumb|150px|right|[[Wikipedia:White Rabbit (song)|One side makes you larger]], [[Wikipedia:Alice's Adventures in Wonderland|one side makes you small]]. (Op's been noshing on the first side too much.)]]
Sometimes artists draw a character at a different size intentionally. For example, on the cover of the [[The Transformers (comic issue)|first issue]] of [[Generation 1 (Marvel Comics)|Marvel Generation 1]], Optimus Prime is extremely huge, compared to the highway, bridge, and normal cars. ([[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] is bigger than usual, too.) This is purely for dramatic effect.

Another notable example is the splash screen for the "[http://www.takaratomy.co.jp/products/TF/bible/index.html World of the TRANSFORMERS]" website, which depicts [[Optimus Primal]] as the same size as [[Optimus Prime (G1)|G1 Optimus Prime]] and [[Optimus Prime (Movie)|Movie Optimus Prime]], directly contradicting the size difference seen in "[[Optimal Situation]]" and elsewhere.
[[Image:World_of_the_Transformers_ent.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Meet the Supreme class <strike>[[Trukk not munky|Munky]]</strike> Optimus Primal.]]
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===Transport characters===
[[Image:MakeHoistHuffer.jpg|left|thumb|Definitely ''not'' toy-accurate.]]

Transformers that act as transport for other Transformers will often dramatically change size relative to their compatriots between one shot and the next. These changes in scale are usually attributed to [[Size_changing#Implicit size changing|implicit size changing]] by that portion of the fanbase who like to find explanations for things. The other explanation is that the animators hoped the audience wouldn't notice. (''See the '''[[size changing]]''' article for more discussion of this topic.'')

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===Combiner characters===
[[Image:DreamwaveCover6.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Since when is a sedan nine stories tall?]]

[[Combiner]] characters are often depicted as far larger than the sum of their parts. Characters such as [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] and [[Menasor (G1)|Menasor]] are frequently shown as [[That big green, fire-snortin' lizard|Godzilla]]-sized. Given that their limbs are mere cars and construction vehicles, this is patently absurd. ([[Superion (G1)|Superion]], by contrast, ''would'' be building-sized, given that his torso is a 100-seat jetliner.)

Combiners are also often out-of-scale with other Transformers; a combiner with cars for legs and another car for its torso should be only twice as tall as a one-car Transformer, but they are routinely drawn as five to dozens of times taller than their comrades.

===Pretender characters===
The [[Pretender]]s had interesting scale issues. In the [[Generation 1 (Marvel Comics)|original comic]] the Pretenders appeared fairly literally as their toy counterparts; Transformer-sized robots inside Transformer-sized humanoid shells. The result was that the [[Autobot]] Pretenders (in their shells) were giant-sized humans. This successfully disguised them (for about five seconds, literally) from the Decepticons, and also hid their mechanical nature from aliens. However, it was utterly useless at fooling humans. Further, in [[Guess Who the Mecannibals are Having for Dinner?|one story]], the Pretender [[Cloudburst]] exited his shell, transformed into jet mode, and then his shell (and [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]]) boarded him as a passenger. The fact that his ''outer'' shell was now smaller than the ''inner'' robot was quietly ignored; one assumes the sort of size-changing mentioned under ''Transport characters,'' above, was involved.

In the U.S. toy commercials, Grimlock, Bumblebee, and Jazz in their new Pretender forms were small enough to fit in Powermaster Optimus Prime's hand. So, at least in that [[micro-continuity]], they were human-sized.

(The Japanese-only series ''[[Masterforce (cartoon)|Super-God Masterforce]]'' featured Pretenders who did not have outer shells but rather an ill-defined holistic transformation which explicitly involved size changing. A vaguely similar explanation appeared in [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave's]] ''[[More Than Meets The Eye]]'' encyclopedia.)

===Small Transformers===
[[Image:Powerglide Astoria Marygoaround.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Actually, [[Kiss Players|disturbing Slash fiction]] is probably more of a concern than scale issues.]]
The assorted toys produced over the decades to hit the lowest price point usually include "mini" or "micro" in their name, and usually are depicted as smaller than other Transformers in the fiction as well.

====Micromasters====
The [[Micromaster]]s are roughly human-sized in robot mode, and thus virtually all of them turn into Earth vehicles that are patently incapable of seating human passengers inside them. (The Marvel comic featured ''some'' of them implicitly size-changing to vehicles that could carry human passengers, but this was rare.)

[[Image:Hotrodpatrolcommercial.jpg|thumb|150px|left|Do you have change for four hot rods?]]
The Dreamwave miniseries ''[[Micromasters]]'' had an explanation, suggesting the Micromasters were Transformers scaled to fit a smaller race of humans. This is met with skepticism from fans, in part because it doesn't explain the scale problems ''within'' the line. All Micromasters are about the same height in robot-mode, but they transform into small cars, large trucks, planes, tanks, and other vehicles that should be vastly different sizes. The alleged "smaller race of humans" must vary in size quite a bit, and only the really teeny ones get to fly the planes . . .

To be fair, there is little indication in the fiction that the Micromasters were ''supposed'' to have consistent scale. They were explictly downsized Transformers, and the scale problems inherent to that resizing were tacitly part of the fiction. Their passenger compartments can thus be regarded as vestigial.

====Mini-Cons====
The [[Mini-Con]]s of the [[Unicron Trilogy]] are another race of small robots who stand approximately the same height as humans and, like the Micromasters before them, are clearly modeled to carry passengers. Really teeny passengers. (Notable exceptions are [[Grindor (Armada)|Grindor]] (in his original body), [[Sureshock]], and [[High Wire]], who become small one-man vehicles.) In this continuity, there's no sign of mini-passengers. The prevailing theory is that Mini-Cons scan normal vehicles and then resize them to fit, retaining now-useless passenger compartments. In the [[Cybertron (cartoon)|''Cybertron'' cartoon]], the [[Recon Mini-Con Team]] have slightly-larger-than-human robot modes, but their alternate modes are large enough for a single human passenger, implying either a little size-changing, or that their cockpits are kinda cramped.

===Big Transformers===
On the other end of the scale, the problems posed by really big Transformers lie in how they interact with normal-sized ones.

====Citybots====
[[Image:EarlyGalvatronTVMagazine1.jpg|right|300px|thumb|If you were ever ''this'' big in the cartoon, ''then'' we might call you a city.]]

The characters [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]], [[Trypticon]], [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]] and [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] have "city" altmodes (with Fort Max being supposedly the biggest of the four). However, a size at which they could house enough humans, ''let alone'' Transformers, to be reasonably defined as a "city", would suggest a robot-mode that'd make [[Hojoni|Godzilla]] look like a gecko. Suffice to say, they're rarely drawn that big. It doesn't help that these citybots have "small" robots forming vital components. Fortress Maximus and Scorponok both have "human-sized" beings forming their heads. (Fort Max has a [[Cerebros (G1)|middleman]] in there, but still.) [[Full-Tilt]], [[Six Gun]], and [[Slammer]] must logically be building-sized in robot-mode to be in-scale with Trypticon and Metroplex, but, again, are not drawn as such. Aside from the sole depiction of Metroplex in the Marvel UK story [[Space Pirates!|Space Pirates]], no fiction, not even the very large depiction in the ''[[Headmasters (cartoon)|Headmasters]]'' cartoon, even ''begins'' to approximate the logical size of a true "citybot". In reality, the grossly-undersized depictions of [[Unicron]] (see below) would be closer to the size of a transformed city. This is ironic, as in Season 3 of the Generation 1 cartoon Unicron requires the eyes of a citybot to replace his own. (Though, "realistically", his eyes should be the size of Texas.) Rare examples of a realistic citybot scale include some Japanese promotional art (e.g., at right).

The cartoon episode "[[Thief in the Night]]" makes a stab at explaining this via an establishing shot that shows Metroplex to be a small sub-section of the "actual" Autobot City, although this was not repeated. Overall, it seems that in Transformer terms, "city" is better read as "building".

Although little fiction to date has featured the Headmaster leaders as cities, in the Japanese cartoons they have been employed in their tertiary modes as starships capable of housing many normal-sized Transformers. Conversely, the Marvel Generation 1 comic depicted Fortress Maximus and Scorponok as merely "large-standard" characters, equal in height to Powermaster Optimus Prime and (in some UK issues) Rodimus Prime. (To be fair, Powermaster Prime was often drawn undersized in the comics).

====Planets and planetbots====
[[Image:Cybertronplanet.jpg|left|250px|thumb|If we're generous and assume Cybertron is only the size of Earth's moon, then the larger visible buildings are roughly the size of Massachusetts stood on end, and you could wedge ''France'' into that gash. (Which would probably improve both Cybertron and France.)]]

Scale when it comes to planets is so fraught it's painful. The problems of describing citybots as "cities" is a thousand times worse if [[Unicron]] is supposed to have a planet alternate mode, and [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] is in turn supposed to be of similar size. Though different stories have compared Cybertron/Primus and Unicron to drastically different real planets, the fact remains that they are ''planets'', and yet are shown in such insane scale to characters as to suggest they are the size of a ''very'' small moon (or [[Darth Vader|space station]]).

To start with, Cybertron was shown throughout Generation 1 with buildings visible from space. Although this was intended to show that the planet was technological in nature, it makes little sense, as the structures would have to be the size of small ''nations'' to be visible. If the buildings were in fact supposed to be skyscrapers (or even ''2000 A.D.'' style arcologies) sized for 30' (10m) robots, Cybertron would still be less than 100 miles (150km) across. By comparison, the rather [http://www.starwars.com/databank/location/coruscant/index.html Coruscant]-like shots of Cybertron in ''[[Beast Machines (cartoon)|Beast Machines]]'' may be less distinctive or "Cybertronian", but are ''far'' more believable.

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[[Image:UnicronEatsGalvyMmmm.jpg|right|thumb|Either [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvy]] is humungo, or [[Lithone]] is ''tiiinyyy!!!'']]

Unicron is a more extreme problem. Assuming no [[size changing]] occurs during his transformation, in robot mode he would be so massive that any shot featuring a recognizable ''part'' of his body, let alone the whole thing, would be on a scale such that no normal Transformer would even be visible. Scenes in the ''[[The Transformers: The Movie|Movie]]'' in which he directly interacts with normal Cybertronians are blatantly absurd (though totally phat-looking). Shots such as the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobot]]s fleeing his grasping hand, a starship penetrating his eye, or ''especially'' him picking up Galvatron between his fingers before swallowing him, break any concept of "planetary" scale. If Unicron is the size of a planet, his hands would be the size of continents. This would make Galvatron (in the image to the right) the size of Great Britain.

There is no explanation for any of this. Just go with it.

The depiction of Unicron's scale in ''[[Armada]]'' was (debatably) a slight improvement, in that physical interaction with normal beings was not attempted. He preferred instead to communicate with normal Transformers by possessing [[Sideways|one of them]]. Nevertheless, shots featuring [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]] and [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]] standing on his neck are still ''farcically'' out of scale.

===An exception: The 2007 ''Transformers'' movie===
[[Image:Moviescale1.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Scale is absolutely not an issue in the movie. Riiight.]]

The creators of the [[Transformers (2007)|live-action movie]] took great pains to avoid out-of-scale issues. (Well, greater than previous franchises.) This is sometimes reflected in the choice of vehicle or the design of their robot mode. E.g., [[Optimus Prime (Movie)|Optimus Prime]] is an extended-hood cab in order to have more mass to make a taller robot mode with. [[Starscream (Movie)|Starscream]]'s robot mode is nearly as wide as it is tall, with shorter, digitigrade legs, so the massive jet-former won't end up twice as tall as Optimus. In the case of [[Blackout (Movie)|Blackout]], his huge alternate mode simply results in a hulking, towering robot mode.

There are still minor scale issues to be found, though. For example, Optimus Prime can hold both [[Sam Witwicky|Sam]] and [[Mikaela Banes|Mikaela]] in one hand. Comparing this shot with when he picks up [[Archibald Witwicky]]'s glasses a few minutes later, it seems the glasses have lenses a foot (30cm) in diameter. This is a visual cheat so the glasses are visible to the audience. There's also debate about whether [[Frenzy (Movie)|Frenzy]]'s head could compact itself into a slim mobile phone. The movie-franchise toys, meanwhile, are only intermittently consistent (particularly since some of the secondary ones are redecos of toys from previous lines), though many of the wheeled vehicles are close to 1:35 scale.
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===Scale problems and size-changing===
Some fans interpret the many otherwise-unexplained scale issues above to all be the result of [[size changing]], but this is debatable. If virtually all characters use mass-shifting (or whatever) to gain or drop a few feet of height for no logical reason, the technology would be pointlessly mundane. There's also no known reason for (e.g.) the Seekers to choose to get ''shorter'' when going into battle. A to-scale Starscream in robot mode could kick Bumblebee around like a soccer ball. There's simply no positive evidence that size-changing is so widespread.

==Official Scale Guides ==
[[Image: tfcartoonscaleguideic1.jpg|left|thumb|Official Scale Guides]] Animators and comic book artists received official scale guides showing relative and (in some cases) absolute heights. Some of these were published in the character model guide ''[[Transformers:_The_Ark|Transformers: The Ark]].'' Though they were sometimes ignored, they still give insight into the official scale of characters in Generation 1. However, even here, there are problems. Devastator in the Season One scale guide was approximately 2.5 times the height of Optimus Prime, but by Season Two he was somewhat less than twice Prime's height.
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==Show scale vs. toy scale==
[[Image:Omegagrab.jpg|right|thumb|I know he's meant to be ''big'', but holy crap, dude!]]Some characters have great discrepancies between their cartoon scale and their toy scale. "Giant" characters such as [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]] are, even aside from any [[size changing]] for transport purposes, clearly not in the same scale in toy form as they are depicted on screen. [[Mini-Cassette|Cassette characters]] such as [[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]]'s toys are roughly the same height as most [[Minibot]]s, while in the show they are usually portrayed as human-sized.

[[Hot Rod|Rodimus Prime]] and [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] are usually shown to be of a fairly similar height (although Magnus is much bulkier), whereas there is a considerable difference between the size of their toys. By the same token, Rodimus is always depicted as being an equal stature to his opposing leader [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]], whereas the toy Galvatron is instead the same size as Magnus. Optimus Prime is also usually shown as only a head or so shorter than Magnus (if that), which gets very strange when you realise that a redco of Prime's toy forms but a small part of Magnus' robot mode.

[[Image:ShrinkingHeavy.jpg|left|thumb|I lost thirty tons, thanks to the Jump-Cut! Thank you, Jump-Cut!]]

[[Metroplex (Cybertron)|''Cybertron'' Metroplex]] and the other citizens of [[Gigantion]] are depicted as gargantuan in animation, whereas the toys are merely among the normal boxed size-classes. (Although, the Japanese ''[[Galaxy Force]]'' release, dubbed "Megalo Convoy", included an exclusive [[redeco]] of the [[Legends of Cybertron]] [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] to indicate the "correct" scale.) Within the animation, though, this causes problems with their Mini-Con partners, who are depicted as human-sized in robot mode by themselves, but when directly interacting with their larger partners, have their relative size in relation to the toy . . . meaning some temporarily gigantic Mini-Cons!

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== ''Beast Era'' scale ==
[[Image:RattrapLOVEScheetor.jpg|thumb|right|I'm tellin' ya, ''all'' da rats in Brooklyn are dis big!]]

In the [[Beast Era]], scale is not such a large issue, although it does crop up in less obvious ways.

===Real world scale===
Although the Beast Warriors are consistent day-to-day in their relative size to each other, their scale in relation to their real-world animal equivalents is more complex. While the bug characters such as [[Waspinator]] and [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] are obviously scaled-up, ''most'' of the characters are subtly not quite the right size.

[[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] and [[Tigatron]] are shown standing next to real members of their species, and they are both the same size as the animals in question. {{storylink|Beast Wars (Part 1)}} {{storylink|Law of the Jungle}} This makes them (and Cheetor in particular, since he's around more) the measuring sticks for the other characters. Therefore, [[Rattrap]] is a monstrously huge rat, the size of a large dog (indeed, the writers stated<ref>[http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/msg/8227a6ca84c0238d Bob Forward gives Rattrap's height from the show bible]</ref> that Season 1 Rattrap was 5' (1.5m) tall). [[Dinobot]] is considerably larger than a real velociraptor, closer in size to a ''[[Wikipedia: Utahraptor|Utahraptor]]''. [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] is a rather small rhinoceros, and [[Optimus Primal]] is a roughly normal gorilla. However, [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] is a tiny specimen of t-rex (Perhaps a Nanotyrannus [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotyrannus]? ).

In their interactions with adult [[protohuman]]s, the Transformer characters seem between twice and three times their height. Considering our ancestors really were smaller than modern humans, this is not extremely wrong, but it deserves noting.

=== Dawn of Future's Past scale===
After the Great Upgrade (see below), the Maximals posessed roughly human-size bodies, yet they still turned into vehicles (albeit "Cybertronic" ones). Because the toys of the characters are redecoes of other characters, oddities in scale crop up. [[Cheetor]]'s car mode still has seats, and most other characters feature a cockpit, a similar problem to the [[Micromaster]]s. (see above).

=== Scale relative to Generation 1 ===
[[Image:Beastwarriors scale.jpg|thumb|left|Beast Megatron's size vs. Optimus Prime in America... and Japan. I guess the Blasty Zone adds on a few tons to [[Beast Era]] characters.]]

Between the [[Great War]] and the Beast Era, the majority of the Cybertronian race considerably downgraded in size, apparently in the [[Maximal Upgrade]] Program. (A necessary premise of the show, as the Beast Warriors are supposed to transform into roughly-normal-sized animals, not vehicles.) When entering the ''[[Ark (G1)|Ark]]'', the Beast Warriors are quite small compared to the dormant Generation 1 characters, especially [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]. One can easily imagine them sitting inside the passenger compartments of the Generation 1 characters. When interacting with the Autobot technology of the ''Ark'' and the [[Autobot shuttle]], the Maximals are often dealing with equipment grossly oversized for them (standing on the chairs to reach the controls, turning knobs the size of their heads). The ''Ark'' also seems to feature some human-sized control panels, such as the computer in [[Master Blaster]]. Without any height booster, Blackarachnia can interface well with these controls.

On the other hand, ''[[Robot Masters]]'' depicted Generation 1 and ''Beast Wars'' characters like Optimus Prime and Optimus Primal as being exactly the same size. Lovely. It's possible that passage through the [[Blasty Zone]] may somehow [[Wikipedia:Boom tube#Later Additions to the Concept|account for this discrepancy]].

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=== Toy scale vs. cartoon scale ===
[[Image:Beastwarsmaxgroup.jpg|right|thumb|350px|Airazor picks the Ultra-class figure.]]

The Season 1 cast of ''Beast Wars'' were not designed with the same relative sizes as the toyline. The most noticeable problem is Optimus Primal, who has an Ultra toy (almost twice the size of the next-largest Maximal toys), while in the show he's shorter than both Dinobot and Rhinox. Further, Cheetor and Tigatron's toys use the same mold, but Tigatron is a head taller in the show (both because tigers are larger than cheetahs, and because Cheetor is "a kid").

From Season 2 onwards, new characters, and new bodies for old characters, became more consistent in size (and appearance) with their toys.

The ''[[Beast Machines (toyline)|Beast Machines]]''' toyline was ''far'' worse in size discrepancies with the cartoon. Of the Maximals featured in the show, the tallest character, [[Silverbolt (Fuzor)|Silverbolt]], is the ''shortest'' toy, while the diminutive [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] is a massive Ultra-class toy. And, sadly, the most show-accurate toy, Air Attack [[Optimus Primal]], is a ''ginormous'' Supreme figure, towering over the other toys. (Weirdly, the King Kong-like size of this toy became canon [[Prime_Spark|in one specific]] [[micro-continuity]].)

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==External links==
*[http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/msg/6db411e03e75a342?dmode=source Estimated "real-life" heights for several Transformers, derived from the size of their alt-modes, archived from alt.toys.transformers on groups.google.com]

==References==
<references/>

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[[Category: Biology]]
[[Category: Fandom]]
[[Category: Planets]]
[[Category: Technology]]
[[Category: Things that don't exist]]
[[Category: Toys]]<div id="wikia-credits"> From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</div>

Scale

2008-03-09T23:44:25Z

82.168.222.230: /* Real world scale */

[[Image:OptimusSnakeEyes.jpg|right|thumb|300px|And the truck's ''how'' big...?]]
'''Scale''' in ''Transformers'' is, not to put too fine a point on it, screwed.

Virtually no era, franchise, fiction, [[toy|toyline]] or other incarnation of ''Transformers'' has presented scale in a logical or believable fashion. (The only exceptions are the 1:24 toys for ''[[Alternators]]'' and ''[[Kiss Players (toyline)|Kiss Players]]'', but they [[Atari Hitotonari|have their own problems]].) Most fans agree that one must either ignore it or accept it, lest they be tempted to explain these problems and in the process fanwank themselves into oblivion.

However, the scale problems of ''Transformers'' still merit description.

==Scale within toylines==
===Toys out of scale with others in the same line===
The early [[Generation 1 (toyline)|Generation 1 toyline]], especially the pre-[[The Transformers: The Movie|movie]] lines, were repackaged and [[redeco]]ed toys from several different Japanese toylines. The crucial point is that the toylines were initially unrelated. The characters ''should'' be in scale to each other as they all have real-world altmodes that (should) pass for real vehicles. However, since ''[[Diaclone]]'' toys were not part of the same line as ''[[Microman]]'' toys, scale issues arose. ''Diaclone'' figures such as [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] and [[Hound (G1)|Hound]] are more-or-less in correct scale to each other, but many of the [[Mini Vehicle]]s from the ''New Microman'' line are clearly far too small by comparison. Even aside from their deformed penny-racer proportions, a [[Bumblebee (G1)|Volkswagen]] Microman toy is disproportionately tiny when compared to a [[Jazz (G1)|Porsche]] Diaclone toy. The disparity becomes even more obvious with [[minibot]]s such as [[Warpath]] (a tank) and [[Seaspray]] (a hovercraft) who should be many times their actual size.

[[Image:DiacloneScale.jpg|left|thumb|350px|That little guy — who comes from the same toyline as all those vehicles — is supposed to be a normal-sized human. Yeeeah.]]

Another glaring scale problem comes in the form of the [[Seeker]]s, who turn into F-15 Eagles which, in real life, are 63.8′ (19.4m) long. Correctly scaled, this would make their robot modes ''colossal'' compared to most Autobots. Similarly, the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicon]]s, despite also coming from the ''Diaclone'' line, are too small. Far worse is the other ''Diaclone'' combiner team, the [[Trainbot]]s, who have train engine altmodes, yet their toys are among the ''smallest'' of the ''Diaclone'' releases.

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===Toys out of scale within teams===
[[Image:DW devastator.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Them's some big-ass bulldozers an' suchlike. Or that's one ''teeny-weeny'' boat.]]
Even toys specifically designed to interact with each other suffer from this problem. The [[Combaticon]]s are wildly out of scale to each other — [[Blast Off]]'s space shuttle mode should dwarf [[Swindle (G1)|Swindle]], with the others somewhere in between. Instead, they're about the same size. Among the Constructicons, [[Long Haul (G1)|Long Haul]] is designed to look like a gigantic [[Wikipedia:Image:Liebherr_t282_1.jpg|"earth-mover" mining truck]].He should be able to carry all his teammates in his bed, with some crowding. Similarly, [[Silverbolt (G1)|Silverbolt]] (a Concorde jet) is dramatically undersized compared to his fighter-jet [[Aerialbot (G1)|Aerialbot]] teammates. These scale problems are necessary to avoid misproportioned gestalt forms.

===Same altmode, different sizes===
Other scale problems come from characters who transform into the same (or similar) altmodes but whose toys are different sizes. For example [[Air Raid (G1)|Air Raid]] transforms into an F-15 Eagle, but his toy is half the size of [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]'s. The same can be said for the Lamborghini Countach [[Breakdown]], who should be the same size as [[Sunstreaker]], not significantly smaller. These discrepancies are also seen in the other [[Scramble City]] combiners with Earth altmodes, whose toys are all smaller than similar earlier toys.

===Toys out of scale with themselves===
[[Triple Changer|Triple-Changers]] create a whole new set of problems. [[Octane]] transforms from a 60′ (20m) tanker truck into a 200′ (65m) jumbo jet. [[Broadside (G1)|Broadside]] transforms from an Earth jet into an entire ''aircraft carrier.''

Even a two-mode toy can have this problem. Twentieth Anniversary Optimus Prime has wheels which are pretty tiny for a Freightliner truck, while his rear hitch section is too thick. These out-of-proportion vehicle parts were necessary to give his robot mode [[show-accuracy|show-accurate]] proportions.

===Toys with roleplay altmodes===
The characters with roleplay altmodes such as Generation 1 [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]], [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]], [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]], or [[Laserbeak (Armada)|''Armada'' Laserbeak]] are scaled to be human-scale (well, kid-scale). Since the [[size changing]] seen in the fiction is not possible for real toys (at least, that's what [[Takara]] ''wants'' us to think), this human-scaling makes in some cases for inordinately large robot modes. E.g., [[Blaster]]'s toy, in robot mode, is taller than most other Transformers.

The opposite problem is seen with [[Megatron (G1) toys|Masterpiece Megatron]], whose robot mode is in scale with Masterpiece Optimus Prime. The result is that, while he may transform into a very accurately-proportioned handgun, it's much larger than the real thing.

===Fanciful altmodes===
Most post-[[The Transformers: The Movie|movie]] Generation 1 characters (for that matter, most post-Generation 1 lines) are difficult to accurately scale, as they generally transform into futuristic or Cybertonian vehicles whose size we don't really know. (Or, indeed, they don't transform into vehicles at all.) The scale of characters such as [[Hot Rod]] or [[Leobreaker]] is fairly arbitrary and can only be estimated by their relative size to other characters in the fiction (although most fiction is highly inconsistent in this regard, see below). Nevertheless, if one assumes that most vehicle altmodes are intended for human passengers, comparing toys such as [[Chromedome]] and [[Lightspeed (Technobot)|Lightspeed]] suggests the combiner scale problem continues.

===Big toys===
It goes without saying that the citybot and planetbot toys (Such as [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]] and [[Unicron]]) are not remotely to scale with normal Transformer toys. While they are indeed ''large'' toys, they're only two to five times bigger than typical Transformer toys, and thus transform into "cities" and "planets" about the (relative) size of a bungalow. The scale problems extend to the details. Some of the citybot toys have visible windows, which are too large for a city, suggesting instead a medium-sized building.

However, it's hard to begrudge Hasbro not offering us a [[Primus]] toy the size of an asteroid. Where would we keep it?

===An exception===
There has only been one notable exception to all of this scale weirdness in the toys: the ''[[Alternators]]'' toyline, where every toy is a 1:24-scale representation of a real car, and thus they are in perfect scale with each other. Unfortunately, for practical reasons this limits the choice of altmodes. A Blast Off (space shuttle) Alternator toy would be 5.1′ (1.6m) long, while a Broadside (aircraft carrier) Alternator toy would be over 40′ (12m).

== Scale within fictions ==
Scale issues abound within the fiction, especially the [[Generation 1 (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]]. A lot can be attributed to [[animation errors]], such as layering problems,[[:Image:Tinybluestreak.jpg|1]][[:Image:Huge_Ironhide_and_Small_Ratchet.jpg|2]][[:Image:CarnageMiniBlaster.jpg|3]] but some "errors" were deliberate choices, for a variety of reasons.

===Animated scale ≈ toy scale===
[[Image:TeenyCliff.jpg|left|thumb|Frighteningly toy-accurate.]]

Very broadly speaking, the Generation 1 cartoon depicts characters to the same relative scale as the toys (including problems discussed above) when depicting the characters in robot modes. Prime, Megatron and Soundwave are generally animated at the same height, Seekers and Autobot cars slightly shorter (though not as much as the toys are), and [[Minibot]]s smaller yet. However, this was ''far'' from consistent.
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===Comic scale ≠ toy scale ===
[[Image:OmegaSupremeintro.jpg|thumb|left|175px|No! Don't wash him in hot water! He'll . . .]]

[[Image:Omegasupreme-blasterandgrimlock.jpg|thumb|right|. . . too late.]]

The [[Generation 1 (Marvel Comics)|Generation 1 Marvel comic]] is notorious for changing the relative sizes of various characters. A single Transformer's size is rarely consistent between artists. For example, Rumble and Frenzy vary in height relative to Soundwave. A panel in the [[Time Wars]] shows [[Goldbug]], [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], [[Scattershot]], and [[Swoop (G1)|Swoop]] all the same height. [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]], titanic in his [[Command Performances|original appearance]], shrunk steadily in subsequent issues until he was not much taller than the average.

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===Variation for characterization===
[[Image:Prime has a huge head.jpg|thumb|left|150px|With 20th Anniversary Prime and Smallest Transformers Bumblebee, you can actually recreate this scene.]]

Some scale problems are for the sake of characterization. For example, Optimus Prime is routinely shown as thoroughly gargantuan, several stories in height, and capable of cradling humans in his palm. If he's the size of a real truck, Prime in robot mode should be 25′-30′ (8m-10m) tall, at best. He's drawn large because he's a leader character.

Conversely, [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] is sometimes shown only a few feet taller than an average human, while in reality he would be 10′-15′ (3m-5m) tall (the Marvel comic actually states he's 15' tall{{fact}}). He's drawn small because he's a human-friendly character, and a junior member of the Autobots.

Those pesky [[Seeker]]s remain a major scale problem; with plane altmodes they would be among the largest everyday Transformers and would ''tower'' over their Autobot adversaries, whereas the animation instead depicts characters such as [[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]] and [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] as about the same height. Though jets are much larger than cars, they're drawn the same height so the battles appear fair. (And also to make it easier to animate; blocking a shot where characters differ radically in height is difficult.)

In a related vein, [[B.O.T.|sometimes]] Transformers are able to enter human buildings, fitting through their doors and able to run up their staircases without crashing through. A cast that couldn't enter buildings would be grossly inconvenient for telling some stories, so the animators fudge things.

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===Intentionally strange scale===
[[Image:MarvelUS-01.jpg|thumb|150px|right|[[Wikipedia:White Rabbit (song)|One side makes you larger]], [[Wikipedia:Alice's Adventures in Wonderland|one side makes you small]]. (Op's been noshing on the first side too much.)]]
Sometimes artists draw a character at a different size intentionally. For example, on the cover of the [[The Transformers (comic issue)|first issue]] of [[Generation 1 (Marvel Comics)|Marvel Generation 1]], Optimus Prime is extremely huge, compared to the highway, bridge, and normal cars. ([[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] is bigger than usual, too.) This is purely for dramatic effect.

Another notable example is the splash screen for the "[http://www.takaratomy.co.jp/products/TF/bible/index.html World of the TRANSFORMERS]" website, which depicts [[Optimus Primal]] as the same size as [[Optimus Prime (G1)|G1 Optimus Prime]] and [[Optimus Prime (Movie)|Movie Optimus Prime]], directly contradicting the size difference seen in "[[Optimal Situation]]" and elsewhere.
[[Image:World_of_the_Transformers_ent.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Meet the Supreme class <strike>[[Trukk not munky|Munky]]</strike> Optimus Primal.]]
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===Transport characters===
[[Image:MakeHoistHuffer.jpg|left|thumb|Definitely ''not'' toy-accurate.]]

Transformers that act as transport for other Transformers will often dramatically change size relative to their compatriots between one shot and the next. These changes in scale are usually attributed to [[Size_changing#Implicit size changing|implicit size changing]] by that portion of the fanbase who like to find explanations for things. The other explanation is that the animators hoped the audience wouldn't notice. (''See the '''[[size changing]]''' article for more discussion of this topic.'')

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===Combiner characters===
[[Image:DreamwaveCover6.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Since when is a sedan nine stories tall?]]

[[Combiner]] characters are often depicted as far larger than the sum of their parts. Characters such as [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] and [[Menasor (G1)|Menasor]] are frequently shown as [[That big green, fire-snortin' lizard|Godzilla]]-sized. Given that their limbs are mere cars and construction vehicles, this is patently absurd. ([[Superion (G1)|Superion]], by contrast, ''would'' be building-sized, given that his torso is a 100-seat jetliner.)

Combiners are also often out-of-scale with other Transformers; a combiner with cars for legs and another car for its torso should be only twice as tall as a one-car Transformer, but they are routinely drawn as five to dozens of times taller than their comrades.

===Pretender characters===
The [[Pretender]]s had interesting scale issues. In the [[Generation 1 (Marvel Comics)|original comic]] the Pretenders appeared fairly literally as their toy counterparts; Transformer-sized robots inside Transformer-sized humanoid shells. The result was that the [[Autobot]] Pretenders (in their shells) were giant-sized humans. This successfully disguised them (for about five seconds, literally) from the Decepticons, and also hid their mechanical nature from aliens. However, it was utterly useless at fooling humans. Further, in [[Guess Who the Mecannibals are Having for Dinner?|one story]], the Pretender [[Cloudburst]] exited his shell, transformed into jet mode, and then his shell (and [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]]) boarded him as a passenger. The fact that his ''outer'' shell was now smaller than the ''inner'' robot was quietly ignored; one assumes the sort of size-changing mentioned under ''Transport characters,'' above, was involved.

In the U.S. toy commercials, Grimlock, Bumblebee, and Jazz in their new Pretender forms were small enough to fit in Powermaster Optimus Prime's hand. So, at least in that [[micro-continuity]], they were human-sized.

(The Japanese-only series ''[[Masterforce (cartoon)|Super-God Masterforce]]'' featured Pretenders who did not have outer shells but rather an ill-defined holistic transformation which explicitly involved size changing. A vaguely similar explanation appeared in [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave's]] ''[[More Than Meets The Eye]]'' encyclopedia.)

===Small Transformers===
[[Image:Powerglide Astoria Marygoaround.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Actually, [[Kiss Players|disturbing Slash fiction]] is probably more of a concern than scale issues.]]
The assorted toys produced over the decades to hit the lowest price point usually include "mini" or "micro" in their name, and usually are depicted as smaller than other Transformers in the fiction as well.

====Micromasters====
The [[Micromaster]]s are roughly human-sized in robot mode, and thus virtually all of them turn into Earth vehicles that are patently incapable of seating human passengers inside them. (The Marvel comic featured ''some'' of them implicitly size-changing to vehicles that could carry human passengers, but this was rare.)

[[Image:Hotrodpatrolcommercial.jpg|thumb|150px|left|Do you have change for four hot rods?]]
The Dreamwave miniseries ''[[Micromasters]]'' had an explanation, suggesting the Micromasters were Transformers scaled to fit a smaller race of humans. This is met with skepticism from fans, in part because it doesn't explain the scale problems ''within'' the line. All Micromasters are about the same height in robot-mode, but they transform into small cars, large trucks, planes, tanks, and other vehicles that should be vastly different sizes. The alleged "smaller race of humans" must vary in size quite a bit, and only the really teeny ones get to fly the planes . . .

To be fair, there is little indication in the fiction that the Micromasters were ''supposed'' to have consistent scale. They were explictly downsized Transformers, and the scale problems inherent to that resizing were tacitly part of the fiction. Their passenger compartments can thus be regarded as vestigial.

====Mini-Cons====
The [[Mini-Con]]s of the [[Unicron Trilogy]] are another race of small robots who stand approximately the same height as humans and, like the Micromasters before them, are clearly modeled to carry passengers. Really teeny passengers. (Notable exceptions are [[Grindor (Armada)|Grindor]] (in his original body), [[Sureshock]], and [[High Wire]], who become small one-man vehicles.) In this continuity, there's no sign of mini-passengers. The prevailing theory is that Mini-Cons scan normal vehicles and then resize them to fit, retaining now-useless passenger compartments. In the [[Cybertron (cartoon)|''Cybertron'' cartoon]], the [[Recon Mini-Con Team]] have slightly-larger-than-human robot modes, but their alternate modes are large enough for a single human passenger, implying either a little size-changing, or that their cockpits are kinda cramped.

===Big Transformers===
On the other end of the scale, the problems posed by really big Transformers lie in how they interact with normal-sized ones.

====Citybots====
[[Image:EarlyGalvatronTVMagazine1.jpg|right|300px|thumb|If you were ever ''this'' big in the cartoon, ''then'' we might call you a city.]]

The characters [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]], [[Trypticon]], [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]] and [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] have "city" altmodes (with Fort Max being supposedly the biggest of the four). However, a size at which they could house enough humans, ''let alone'' Transformers, to be reasonably defined as a "city", would suggest a robot-mode that'd make [[Hojoni|Godzilla]] look like a gecko. Suffice to say, they're rarely drawn that big. It doesn't help that these citybots have "small" robots forming vital components. Fortress Maximus and Scorponok both have "human-sized" beings forming their heads. (Fort Max has a [[Cerebros (G1)|middleman]] in there, but still.) [[Full-Tilt]], [[Six Gun]], and [[Slammer]] must logically be building-sized in robot-mode to be in-scale with Trypticon and Metroplex, but, again, are not drawn as such. Aside from the sole depiction of Metroplex in the Marvel UK story [[Space Pirates!|Space Pirates]], no fiction, not even the very large depiction in the ''[[Headmasters (cartoon)|Headmasters]]'' cartoon, even ''begins'' to approximate the logical size of a true "citybot". In reality, the grossly-undersized depictions of [[Unicron]] (see below) would be closer to the size of a transformed city. This is ironic, as in Season 3 of the Generation 1 cartoon Unicron requires the eyes of a citybot to replace his own. (Though, "realistically", his eyes should be the size of Texas.) Rare examples of a realistic citybot scale include some Japanese promotional art (e.g., at right).

The cartoon episode "[[Thief in the Night]]" makes a stab at explaining this via an establishing shot that shows Metroplex to be a small sub-section of the "actual" Autobot City, although this was not repeated. Overall, it seems that in Transformer terms, "city" is better read as "building".

Although little fiction to date has featured the Headmaster leaders as cities, in the Japanese cartoons they have been employed in their tertiary modes as starships capable of housing many normal-sized Transformers. Conversely, the Marvel Generation 1 comic depicted Fortress Maximus and Scorponok as merely "large-standard" characters, equal in height to Powermaster Optimus Prime and (in some UK issues) Rodimus Prime. (To be fair, Powermaster Prime was often drawn undersized in the comics).

====Planets and planetbots====
[[Image:Cybertronplanet.jpg|left|250px|thumb|If we're generous and assume Cybertron is only the size of Earth's moon, then the larger visible buildings are roughly the size of Massachusetts stood on end, and you could wedge ''France'' into that gash. (Which would probably improve both Cybertron and France.)]]

Scale when it comes to planets is so fraught it's painful. The problems of describing citybots as "cities" is a thousand times worse if [[Unicron]] is supposed to have a planet alternate mode, and [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] is in turn supposed to be of similar size. Though different stories have compared Cybertron/Primus and Unicron to drastically different real planets, the fact remains that they are ''planets'', and yet are shown in such insane scale to characters as to suggest they are the size of a ''very'' small moon (or [[Darth Vader|space station]]).

To start with, Cybertron was shown throughout Generation 1 with buildings visible from space. Although this was intended to show that the planet was technological in nature, it makes little sense, as the structures would have to be the size of small ''nations'' to be visible. If the buildings were in fact supposed to be skyscrapers (or even ''2000 A.D.'' style arcologies) sized for 30' (10m) robots, Cybertron would still be less than 100 miles (150km) across. By comparison, the rather [http://www.starwars.com/databank/location/coruscant/index.html Coruscant]-like shots of Cybertron in ''[[Beast Machines (cartoon)|Beast Machines]]'' may be less distinctive or "Cybertronian", but are ''far'' more believable.

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[[Image:UnicronEatsGalvyMmmm.jpg|right|thumb|Either [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvy]] is humungo, or [[Lithone]] is ''tiiinyyy!!!'']]

Unicron is a more extreme problem. Assuming no [[size changing]] occurs during his transformation, in robot mode he would be so massive that any shot featuring a recognizable ''part'' of his body, let alone the whole thing, would be on a scale such that no normal Transformer would even be visible. Scenes in the ''[[The Transformers: The Movie|Movie]]'' in which he directly interacts with normal Cybertronians are blatantly absurd (though totally phat-looking). Shots such as the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobot]]s fleeing his grasping hand, a starship penetrating his eye, or ''especially'' him picking up Galvatron between his fingers before swallowing him, break any concept of "planetary" scale. If Unicron is the size of a planet, his hands would be the size of continents. This would make Galvatron (in the image to the right) the size of Great Britain.

There is no explanation for any of this. Just go with it.

The depiction of Unicron's scale in ''[[Armada]]'' was (debatably) a slight improvement, in that physical interaction with normal beings was not attempted. He preferred instead to communicate with normal Transformers by possessing [[Sideways|one of them]]. Nevertheless, shots featuring [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]] and [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]] standing on his neck are still ''farcically'' out of scale.

===An exception: The 2007 ''Transformers'' movie===
[[Image:Moviescale1.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Scale is absolutely not an issue in the movie. Riiight.]]

The creators of the [[Transformers (2007)|live-action movie]] took great pains to avoid out-of-scale issues. (Well, greater than previous franchises.) This is sometimes reflected in the choice of vehicle or the design of their robot mode. E.g., [[Optimus Prime (Movie)|Optimus Prime]] is an extended-hood cab in order to have more mass to make a taller robot mode with. [[Starscream (Movie)|Starscream]]'s robot mode is nearly as wide as it is tall, with shorter, digitigrade legs, so the massive jet-former won't end up twice as tall as Optimus. In the case of [[Blackout (Movie)|Blackout]], his huge alternate mode simply results in a hulking, towering robot mode.

There are still minor scale issues to be found, though. For example, Optimus Prime can hold both [[Sam Witwicky|Sam]] and [[Mikaela Banes|Mikaela]] in one hand. Comparing this shot with when he picks up [[Archibald Witwicky]]'s glasses a few minutes later, it seems the glasses have lenses a foot (30cm) in diameter. This is a visual cheat so the glasses are visible to the audience. There's also debate about whether [[Frenzy (Movie)|Frenzy]]'s head could compact itself into a slim mobile phone. The movie-franchise toys, meanwhile, are only intermittently consistent (particularly since some of the secondary ones are redecos of toys from previous lines), though many of the wheeled vehicles are close to 1:35 scale.
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===Scale problems and size-changing===
Some fans interpret the many otherwise-unexplained scale issues above to all be the result of [[size changing]], but this is debatable. If virtually all characters use mass-shifting (or whatever) to gain or drop a few feet of height for no logical reason, the technology would be pointlessly mundane. There's also no known reason for (e.g.) the Seekers to choose to get ''shorter'' when going into battle. A to-scale Starscream in robot mode could kick Bumblebee around like a soccer ball. There's simply no positive evidence that size-changing is so widespread.

==Official Scale Guides ==
[[Image: tfcartoonscaleguideic1.jpg|left|thumb|Official Scale Guides]] Animators and comic book artists received official scale guides showing relative and (in some cases) absolute heights. Some of these were published in the character model guide ''[[Transformers:_The_Ark|Transformers: The Ark]].'' Though they were sometimes ignored, they still give insight into the official scale of characters in Generation 1. However, even here, there are problems. Devastator in the Season One scale guide was approximately 2.5 times the height of Optimus Prime, but by Season Two he was somewhat less than twice Prime's height.
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==Show scale vs. toy scale==
[[Image:Omegagrab.jpg|right|thumb|I know he's meant to be ''big'', but holy crap, dude!]]Some characters have great discrepancies between their cartoon scale and their toy scale. "Giant" characters such as [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]] are, even aside from any [[size changing]] for transport purposes, clearly not in the same scale in toy form as they are depicted on screen. [[Mini-Cassette|Cassette characters]] such as [[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]]'s toys are roughly the same height as most [[Minibot]]s, while in the show they are usually portrayed as human-sized.

[[Hot Rod|Rodimus Prime]] and [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] are usually shown to be of a fairly similar height (although Magnus is much bulkier), whereas there is a considerable difference between the size of their toys. By the same token, Rodimus is always depicted as being an equal stature to his opposing leader [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]], whereas the toy Galvatron is instead the same size as Magnus. Optimus Prime is also usually shown as only a head or so shorter than Magnus (if that), which gets very strange when you realise that a redco of Prime's toy forms but a small part of Magnus' robot mode.

[[Image:ShrinkingHeavy.jpg|left|thumb|I lost thirty tons, thanks to the Jump-Cut! Thank you, Jump-Cut!]]

[[Metroplex (Cybertron)|''Cybertron'' Metroplex]] and the other citizens of [[Gigantion]] are depicted as gargantuan in animation, whereas the toys are merely among the normal boxed size-classes. (Although, the Japanese ''[[Galaxy Force]]'' release, dubbed "Megalo Convoy", included an exclusive [[redeco]] of the [[Legends of Cybertron]] [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] to indicate the "correct" scale.) Within the animation, though, this causes problems with their Mini-Con partners, who are depicted as human-sized in robot mode by themselves, but when directly interacting with their larger partners, have their relative size in relation to the toy . . . meaning some temporarily gigantic Mini-Cons!

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== ''Beast Era'' scale ==
[[Image:RattrapLOVEScheetor.jpg|thumb|right|I'm tellin' ya, ''all'' da rats in Brooklyn are dis big!]]

In the [[Beast Era]], scale is not such a large issue, although it does crop up in less obvious ways.

===Real world scale===
Although the Beast Warriors are consistent day-to-day in their relative size to each other, their scale in relation to their real-world animal equivalents is more complex. While the bug characters such as [[Waspinator]] and [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] are obviously scaled-up, ''most'' of the characters are subtly not quite the right size.

[[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] and [[Tigatron]] are shown standing next to real members of their species, and they are both the same size as the animals in question. {{storylink|Beast Wars (Part 1)}} {{storylink|Law of the Jungle}} This makes them (and Cheetor in particular, since he's around more) the measuring sticks for the other characters. Therefore, [[Rattrap]] is a monstrously huge rat, the size of a large dog (indeed, the writers stated<ref>[http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/msg/8227a6ca84c0238d Bob Forward gives Rattrap's height from the show bible]</ref> that Season 1 Rattrap was 5' (1.5m) tall). [[Dinobot]] is considerably larger than a real velociraptor, closer in size to a ''[[Wikipedia: Utahraptor|Utahraptor]]''. [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] is a rather small rhinoceros, and [[Optimus Primal]] is a roughly normal gorilla. However, [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] is a tiny specimen of t-rex (Perhaps a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotyrannus]?.

In their interactions with adult [[protohuman]]s, the Transformer characters seem between twice and three times their height. Considering our ancestors really were smaller than modern humans, this is not extremely wrong, but it deserves noting.

=== Dawn of Future's Past scale===
After the Great Upgrade (see below), the Maximals posessed roughly human-size bodies, yet they still turned into vehicles (albeit "Cybertronic" ones). Because the toys of the characters are redecoes of other characters, oddities in scale crop up. [[Cheetor]]'s car mode still has seats, and most other characters feature a cockpit, a similar problem to the [[Micromaster]]s. (see above).

=== Scale relative to Generation 1 ===
[[Image:Beastwarriors scale.jpg|thumb|left|Beast Megatron's size vs. Optimus Prime in America... and Japan. I guess the Blasty Zone adds on a few tons to [[Beast Era]] characters.]]

Between the [[Great War]] and the Beast Era, the majority of the Cybertronian race considerably downgraded in size, apparently in the [[Maximal Upgrade]] Program. (A necessary premise of the show, as the Beast Warriors are supposed to transform into roughly-normal-sized animals, not vehicles.) When entering the ''[[Ark (G1)|Ark]]'', the Beast Warriors are quite small compared to the dormant Generation 1 characters, especially [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]. One can easily imagine them sitting inside the passenger compartments of the Generation 1 characters. When interacting with the Autobot technology of the ''Ark'' and the [[Autobot shuttle]], the Maximals are often dealing with equipment grossly oversized for them (standing on the chairs to reach the controls, turning knobs the size of their heads). The ''Ark'' also seems to feature some human-sized control panels, such as the computer in [[Master Blaster]]. Without any height booster, Blackarachnia can interface well with these controls.

On the other hand, ''[[Robot Masters]]'' depicted Generation 1 and ''Beast Wars'' characters like Optimus Prime and Optimus Primal as being exactly the same size. Lovely. It's possible that passage through the [[Blasty Zone]] may somehow [[Wikipedia:Boom tube#Later Additions to the Concept|account for this discrepancy]].

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=== Toy scale vs. cartoon scale ===
[[Image:Beastwarsmaxgroup.jpg|right|thumb|350px|Airazor picks the Ultra-class figure.]]

The Season 1 cast of ''Beast Wars'' were not designed with the same relative sizes as the toyline. The most noticeable problem is Optimus Primal, who has an Ultra toy (almost twice the size of the next-largest Maximal toys), while in the show he's shorter than both Dinobot and Rhinox. Further, Cheetor and Tigatron's toys use the same mold, but Tigatron is a head taller in the show (both because tigers are larger than cheetahs, and because Cheetor is "a kid").

From Season 2 onwards, new characters, and new bodies for old characters, became more consistent in size (and appearance) with their toys.

The ''[[Beast Machines (toyline)|Beast Machines]]''' toyline was ''far'' worse in size discrepancies with the cartoon. Of the Maximals featured in the show, the tallest character, [[Silverbolt (Fuzor)|Silverbolt]], is the ''shortest'' toy, while the diminutive [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] is a massive Ultra-class toy. And, sadly, the most show-accurate toy, Air Attack [[Optimus Primal]], is a ''ginormous'' Supreme figure, towering over the other toys. (Weirdly, the King Kong-like size of this toy became canon [[Prime_Spark|in one specific]] [[micro-continuity]].)

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==External links==
*[http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/msg/6db411e03e75a342?dmode=source Estimated "real-life" heights for several Transformers, derived from the size of their alt-modes, archived from alt.toys.transformers on groups.google.com]

==References==
<references/>

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