Probat (species)
| This article is about the alien species. For their identically-named home planet, see Probat (planet){{#switch:{{#sub:Probat (planet)|-1}} | != | .= | ?= | .
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"bat man"
The bat-like aliens known as the Probat hail from the planet of the same name. Although they're a modest, unprepossessing species at first glance beyond the unusual fact that these aliens are functionally blind, the Probats have two factors that work in their favor: they are excellent echolocators, capable of maneuvering in the lightless caves and dark nights of their homeworld, and their unique digestive system turns food into a strange, highly-reactive "substance"... a substance that makes them of great interest to Cybertronians.
Fiction
[edit]2019 IDW continuity
[edit]
Probat legend claims that they were once flightless, cave-dwelling creatures, blind and unable to maneuver in the dark. However, the mysterious "substance" that they ingested from their prey and eventually excreted supposedly changed their bodies, granting them the power of flight and echolocation, and becoming adept nocturnal hunters. From this substance, the Probat built towering homespires, great communal roosts where Probat could nest together. Wannabee, Part 1
This all changed with the arrival of the Cybertronian race: the Transformers uplifted the Probat, established an energon refinery on their homeworld, and appointed Natalus as the foreman who would oversee the day-to-day operation of the refinery. The Probat developed a fondness for Bumblebee, who had helped to set up the refinery, and this eventually developed into a full-blown religion. Wannabee, Part 1 In time, Natalus would claim that the Cybertronians had told him that only he deserved the power of flight, and ordered that every other Probat would have their wings shorn. Wannabee, Part 2
Cybertron's Senate appointed Deathsaurus as the liaison to this new colony, and while the Probat continued to manufacture energon the old-fashioned way, they were unaware of the significance of their own guano, which, when exposed to flame, rapidly catalyzed into a highly-reactive energon crystal. Seeking to win over the Probat, Deathsaurus brought Cliffjumper to their planet, taking advantage of their inability to see color to pass off the red Autobot as Bumblebee. While socializing with his new admirers, Cliffjumper inadvertently learned the secret of the Probat's "substance," and hurried back to tell Deathsaurus... unaware that Deathsaurus had made his own play for power by killing Natalus after learning that the foreman had been deliberately skimming off Probat's monthly energon quota, stockpiling energon cubes for his people. On learning that the Probat could produce an infinite amount of Energon from Cliffjumper, Deathsaurus set off to conquer the world, using his fire-breathing beast mode to transmute entire cities into raw energon. Wannabee, Part 1
By revealing that Cliffjumper was an imposter and framing him for Natalus's murder, Deathsaurus thought that he would be able to keep Cliffjumper off his back, but was ultimately defeated by the little red Transformer. In the aftermath, Cliffjumper lied that Probat's energon had dried up, and there was no further purpose in keeping the refinery on the planet. With no more Cybertronians interfering with their development, the tattered wings of the Probat soon healed, restoring their powers of flight—although the Probat continued to honor Cliffjumper by erecting a gigantic statue in his honor in the middle of one of their cities. Wannabee, Part 2
Games
[edit]Transformers Roleplaying Game
[edit]The Probats were a mostly-peaceful race with the unique ability to excrete raw energon. Naturally blind, they navigated via echolocation. Decepticon Directive
Notes
[edit]- The concept of a species capable of converting food into energon through their digestive processes was previously explored via a pair of small aliens in Transformers in 3-D.