Fuzor

All they wanted was a stronger polymer.

A Fuzor is a Transformer whose alternate mode is a fusion of two or more distinct kinds of beasts. The condition can be brought on by a stasis pod malfunction, which can cause its DNA scanner to choose two native life forms simultaneously and combine them. Such malfunctions happened on prehistoric Earth, in the wake of the quantum surge caused by the destruction of the Vok Planet Buster.

Known Fuzors include:

• Air Hammer
• Beast Wars Bantor
• Prime Bantor
• Buzzclaw
• Darksteel
• Injector
• Magmatron
• Noctorro
• Quickstrike
• Silverbolt
• Sky Shadow
• Terragator
• Tigerhawk
• Torca

In addition, the Mutants were previously Fuzors who were affected by Megatron's anti-transformation virus:

• Icebird
• Poison Bite
• Razor Claw
• Soundwave

The earlier, Fuzor forms of these characters have never been seen.

Fiction

Beast Wars cartoon continuity

Beast Wars cartoon

The energies of the Planet Buster caused a multitude of orbiting stasis pods to crash to prehistoric Earth during the Beast Wars. Many of these pods were damaged in the process. Replication errors caused at least two such pods to produce Transformers with beast modes that were composed of two different animals mixed together: Silverbolt and Quickstrike.

Each of them had significant data track loss, and had personalities dominated by a single trait (Silverbolt had chivalry, while Quickstrike had cruelty). It is unclear whether these are common traits of Fuzors, or if the stasis pods experienced additional damage beyond the DNA scanners. Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)

These two might have been partially Transmetal; the attack of the Vok Metal Hunter incapacitated the normal Beast Warriors, but the Transmetals and Fuzors quickly recovered from it. Other Visits (Part 2)

Fire in the Dark

Ask Vector Prime

In one universe, Optimus Primal destroyed Tarantulas's shipload of Super Energon in orbit, triggering a Super Energon Transwarp Explosion which turned several Beast Warriors into Transmetals and damaged some stasis pods to create Fuzors. Ask Vector Prime, 13/8/2015

Legends anthology

One of these Fuzors, Silverbolt, was known as the heroic feathered wolf god to the Natiltec people of prehistoric Mexico. Fire in the Dark

Prime cartoon

At some point Ratchet modified Bantor from a Transformer that could transform into a mandrill into a mandrill/tiger Fuzor. Operation Bumblebee, Part 2

2005 IDW continuity

On the Titan colony of Eukaris, a civilization of beast mode Transformers evolved in isolation from Cybertron, with some of them developing chimeric beast forms. While merged with the mind of Metroplex, Windblade caught a glimpse of Injector and Air Hammer swimming in an ocean. Windblade vol. 1 #4

Beast Wars: Uprising

Leatherhide and Labrat, working for the Darksyders, produced the Fuzors and the Horrorcons, at least in part by reverse engineering a captured cyborg. Derailment

Toys

Beast Wars

But beware, more are coming!

• Fuzors (1998)

Basic Air Hammer Bantor Buzzclaw Noctorro Terragator Quickstrike

Deluxe Injector Silverbolt Sky Shadow Torca

Sold alongside Transmetals as part of 1998 Beast Wars product, the Fuzors were a set of Deluxe and Basic toys, all with the visual motif of transforming into beast modes that were the combination of two different animals. Individual toys had their own action gimmicks, such as firing missiles or spring-loaded motion.

In Japan, only Silverbolt and Quickstrike were released with modified decos as unbranded product for the Beast Wars Metals subline. The remaining Deluxe molds were used to create the Blentrons for the Beast Wars Neo phase of the Japanese Beast Wars toyline.

Notes

• In case it isn't clear, "Fuzor" is meant to be a '90s-style corruption of "fuser", meaning one who fuses. However, the name rhymes with "soar", not "sir".
• The Beast Wars cartoon gives no proper origin for "Fuzor" as an in-universe term. In "Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)", Megatron uses it to refer to Silverbolt as if the word already existed.
• Someone at Hasbro (or, rather, Kenner at the time) probably really liked the concept of mixing together wild animals to create new monstrous beasts; the same premise was used for their Jurassic Park: Chaos Effect subline, launched at the same time as the Fuzors were released, and advertised in the same toy catalogs.
• Hasbro reused the term "Fuzor" for its Zoids: Fuzors subline.
• Playing with the Deluxe Fuzor toys being redecoed into the Blentrons, the remaining Basic Fuzors (sans Bantor) were repurposed as additional Blentrons in "LG-EX Blue Big Convoy".

Foreign names

• Japanese: Fuzor (フューザー Fyūzā)