Activation code

Activation codes, also called access codes are the phrases Transformers say to transform from one mode to another.

Fiction

Beast Era

Beast Wars

Each faction used its own code to transform from beast mode to robot mode. Maximals used "{Robotname}, maximize!" (e.g., "Cheetor, maximize!"), while Predacons used "{Robotname}, terrorize!" (e.g., "Megatron, terrorize!") (Obviously, they put a great deal of thought into these words.) Beast Wars (Part 1)

On the occasions groups transformed all at once the variations "Maximals, maximize!" and "Predacons, terrorize!" were used (in one case "All units, maximize!" was used). For the transformation from robot to beast, Beast Era-Transformers sometimes used the phrase "Beast mode." However, none of these phrases were used universally and the "maximize"/"terrorize" codes were used on rare occasions for transforming out of robot mode, so exactly how strictly necessary they are is unclear. This is further muddled by instances of Maximals and Predacons transforming without so much as a single word. Changing an activation code from "maximize" to "terrorize" was relatively easy and could even be done to one Transformer by themselves or another under the right circumstances. Beast Wars (Part 2) Maximal, No More Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)

Beast Machines

After the Oracle reformatted Optimus Primal's team into technorganic bodies their old activation codes stopped working. (Not that it would have mattered anyway, especially since Megatron cooked up an extremely nasty virus which stripped Transformers of their transformation abilities anyway. Forbidden Fruit Revelations Part II: Descent) The Maximals now had to find an "emotional still point" to switch to robot mode. To help focus they used the phrase "I am transformed", but this was not strictly an activation code. The Reformatting The "I am transformed" phrase was used for the first season of Beast Machines but dropped for the second season.

Vehicon drones did not have activation codes. The initial Vehicon Generals each had a unique code:

• Tankor - "Tankor, pulverize!"
• Jetstorm - "Jetstorm, afterburn!"
• Thrust - "Thrust, overdrive!" and (on one occasion) "Thrust, accelerate!"

These codes were sometimes used to transform to vehicle mode, sometimes to robot mode and sometimes (particularly for Tankor) as just verbal tics unaccompanied by transformation.

The later Vehicon Generals Obsidian and Strika used "obliterate" and "terminate" as the entirety of their vocabulary when they were initially pretending to be 7 bits short of a byte but did not particularly use those words during transformation and essentially dropped them when the ruse was over.

Animated

Arcee was entrusted with a set of top-secret access codes said to be crucial to the war effort against the Decepticons by Cybertron Intelligence, but an encounter she and Ratchet had against Lockdown ended with Arcee's memory core wiped clean by Ratchet's disconnected EMP generator, erasing her identity and presumably the access codes as well. The Thrill of the Hunt Out of desperation, Ultra Magnus had Ratchet perform open-processor surgery on her to retrieve the codes, but this just triggered an automatic fail-safe which transferred them to Ratchet instead. It turned out the codes were needed to bring online Omega Supreme, the first of the Omega Sentinels created by Project Omega!

After Omega Supreme was deactivated following the Battle for Iacon, TransWarped his weapons systems technically still functioned but were locked up in the interests of conserving Energon. The verbal code that would have activated them was "Codename, Omega!" Transform and Roll Out A Bridge Too Close, Part II

When Megatron sought to bring the titanic ship-bot back online, he had his double-agent Shockwave abduct Arcee from Cybertron so the original codes could be extracted from her processor. This Is Why I Hate Machines Shockwave did get the codes, but when they were transferred to Lugnut they were found to be missing a special "security upgrade patch", which required Lugnut to be wired directly into Omega Supreme himself in order to control the clones Megatron had constructed beforehand. Eventually, Arcee was able to reboot the original Omega, which reactivated him once again. Endgame, Part I Endgame, Part II

Beast Wars: Uprising

PSP double-agent Wolfang's body could alter from his Maximal disguise to his natural Predacon form when he declared "terrorize". When he was infected with a virus by Resistance femme fatale Blackarachnia, he yelled out the phrase involuntarily. Trigger Warnings

Rescue Bots

Boulder and Doc Greene created a series of "energize" tools for the Rescue Bots stationed on Griffin Rock to use. Road Trip These required the use of the activation code "power up and energize!" as Blurr explained to Sideswipe. The Need for Speed

Transformers '84

During a confrontation with Skyfire in the early days of the war on Cybertron, Slag ordered his fellow Dynobots to transform with the battle cry "Traumatize!". Secrets & Lies #1

Rise of the Beasts

During their charge towards the Terrorcon army, Optimus Primal ordered Rhinox and Cheetor to transform, shouting "Maximize!". Rise of the Beasts

Japanese activation codes

Most of the Japanese Generation 1 Transformers franchises have had Transformers shouting "{Robotname}, Transform!" or just "Transform!" when they do so. There are also special phrases for members of specific subgroups:

• Headmasters and Headmaster Juniors used "Transform! Head On!" to change from altmode to robot mode.
• Headmasters (or at least the Autobot ones) also used "Transform! Dash!" to change into their altmodes.
• Targetmasters used the phrase "Target On!" to have their smaller partners change into gun form and attach to a larger robot's hand.
• Fortress Maximus had a special phrase for turning into his larger robot mode. He would sometimes first shout "Master Sword!" when pulling out his sword from its holding place (but he did not always shout this when releasing it). Then he would jump out of his ship and shout "Big Mode!" as his ship began to transform. He would then shout "Transform! Head On!" as he transformed himself and combined with his larger body as its head. Finally, he would (once again) shout "Master Sword!" as his sword materialized in his hand and finished the sequence with his stock footage pose.
• Both Grand Maximus and BlackZarak would say "Big Transform!" to change from space-faring altmode to robot mode and back.
• Pretenders would shout "Pretender!" to change out of their shells into robot form.
• Autobot Pretenders would yell "Suit On!" to change from their human forms into armored Suit Mode forms.
• Headmaster Juniors and Godmasters would cross their arms to connect their Master-Braces and yell "Masterforce!" to change into their robotic Suit Mode forms.
• Godmasters would yell "Transform! God On!" to change from altmode to robot mode.
• Ginrai had several special phrases for his transformations. Aside from the standard "Transform! God On!", he yelled "Double On! Super Ginrai!" to turn into the titular form, "Chōjin Gattai! God Ginrai!" to combine with Godbomber and turn into this form and "Bomber On!" to attach Godbomber's wings to himself so he could carry the rest of the drone. He also uses "Bomber Off!" to detach Godbomber from himself as God Ginrai, reverse the previous "Bomber On!" process and/or to change Godbomber into his own robot mode.
• Hydra and Buster shouted "Wing Cross!" to combine their jet modes into the "Darkwings" configuration.
• Sixknight had a phrase for each of his modes as part of his Rokuhenka technique. "Six Change Shot!" was used for his entire transformation into all six modes starting from robot mode. "Shot One!" is used for jet mode, "Shot Two!" is used for drill tank mode, "Shot Three!" is used for hovercraft mode, "Shot Four!" is used for gun mode, "Shot Five!" is used for beast mode and "Shot Six!" is used for returning to robot mode.
• Brainmasters use "Brain Set!" to convert their smaller robot forms into the faces of their regular forms.
• Saber used "Ride On!" to sit on his V-Star booster and attack with it. He also uses "Battle Up!" to combine with his V-Star ship to turn into his 'Star Saber' form, or if he already combined with it but doesn't have his 'Star Saber' head on he uses it to attach the head onto himself to fully become Star Saber. He would then combine with Victory Leo and both would shout "Gattai! Victory Saber!" to form either the vehicle or robot mode of Victory Saber.
• The Breastforce used "Breast Attack!" to launch their smaller Breast Animal partners to attack their foes, "Breast Change!" to change their partners into their weapon forms and "Breast On!" to reattach them to their chestplates.
  • For their combination into Liokaiser the Breastforce uttered "Roku-tai Gattai! Liokaiser!" in unison.
  • As a member of the Breastforce, Deathsaurus used the same phrases for his own Breast Animals. However, he also tended to shout "Breastar!" to deploy Eaglebreast after launching Tigerbreast with the more standard "Breast Attack!"
• The Dinoforce used "Trans-Out!" to get their robot modes out of Pretender Shells and "Gattai! Dinoking!" to combine into the one singular form.
• The Multiforce used "Multi-Out!" to split in half into their two smaller robot forms, "Multi-On!" to reconnect and "Gattai! Landcross!" to combine into that gestalt.

In Japanese Beast Wars fiction as well as Car Robots, Transformers have different activation codes depending on whether or not they turn into vehicles or animals. Those that transform into animals shout "Henshin!" (Japanese for "transform") while those who turn into vehicles scream "Transform!" in English.

English dubs of Japanese-original series retain the "Transform!" and "[Name], Transform!" calls and isolated incidences of it exist in American originals. For the 2001 Robots in Disguise cartoon Predacons, "Henshin" became the familiar "Terrorize." Also, although he regularly declared "Optimus Prime, super mode!" before the appropriate transformation, it may or may not have been a necessary activation code. Optimus Prime once said such calls were merely a way to get psyched up. City

Notes

• The meta-reason for the idea of activation codes is possibly that Optimus Primal can't well say "Transform and roll out" as most of the Maximals have no wheels upon which to roll.
• Combiners occasionally had something resembling an activation code. The team leader would generally call out "(team name), merge!" or "(team name), unite!" (e.g. Scrapper yelling "Constructicons, unite!" to form Devastator). Japanese combiners (such as King Poseidon, Landcross, Dinoking and Liokaiser) would normally be formed in this manner. Just as often combiners could simply fuse without any sort of verbal command. During their revenge-seeking assault on Cybertron the Combaticons merge while Swindle is talking. Bruticus even finishes Swindle's sentence. Of course, it could be simply a military command.