Lightpole
Lightpoles (aka lipoles) are flying, bat-like creatures, though they can furl their wings and walk. They live in smoldering craters on Jupiter's moon of Io. Their saliva is acidic and they eat metal. When threatened, they can transform into explosive missiles and fling themselves at predators.
Fiction
[edit]The Transformers cartoon
[edit]
Blurr and Wheelie crashed on Io while bringing Metroplex's transformation cog to Earth. As they awaited rescue, two glowing, acid-dripping lightpoles emerged from a crater with wings furled. One picked up a piece of metal and devoured it for a light snack. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 3
Shortly thereafter, a swarm of lightpoles attacked them. Without weapons, Blurr and Wheelie attempted to flee, though Wheelie wasn't fast enough to keep out of their talons. Marissa Faireborn arrived to rescue the pair. She landed and began to attack the swarm with a handgun. Once faced with energy weapons, some of the swarm transformed into suicidal missile mode and destroyed her ship, leaving the Autobots and human stranded. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4
After a brief respite, additional lightpoles continued to assault Blurr, Wheelie, and Marissa. Finally, Sky Lynx effortlessly rescued the trio from the creatures' ravenous clutches. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5
Animated cartoon
[edit]Starscream noted that Megatron was "a few lipoles short of a nest". The AllSpark Almanac
Notes
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- These creatures are only named on-screen once, by narrator Victor Caroli during the recap that plays at the start of "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5". Fans interpreted Caroli's reading of the name as the nonsense word "lipole", and that is how they were known for most of fandom history until the original script for "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5" surfaced, and revealed that the beasts are actually called "lightpoles". It's not immediately obvious from their appearance, but according to writer Flint Dille's original script for Part 3, which eventually came to light in 2022, they are so named because they are meant to resemble "multi-armed glowing tadpoles, apparently composed of volcanic lava."
- When they appear in Part 3, the lightpoles are shown to be land-based creatures, but in Part 4, they have suddenly become flying creatures with bat wings. This confusion is the result of a scene that was cut from the episode, in which the lightpoles are shown to be able to reshape their fluid, lava bodies, sprouting wings to pursue the two fleeing Autobots. The script further describes how this control over their molecules is what allows them to perform their explosive kamikaze "dive bomb" attacks, detailing how they were meant to change colour from yellow to orange to reflect their now-explosive properties. This was completely changed for the finished episode, which instead depicts the lightpoles as orange throughout their on-screen appearances, and shows them actually transforming from bats into bombs, complete with the transformation sound effect. This makes them seem mechanical, rather than organic, which makes Marissa calling them "bags of protoplasm" feel off.