Humanization

Throughout the various Transformers canon, there have been several instances of Transformers with humanistic traits and having very human actions that possibly conflict with their status as mechanical robots. Many of these instances can be dismissed as stylistic choices by the artists or as gags not to be taken seriously.

Glandular, digestive, and respiratory

Sweating

• In issue twelve of the original Generation 1 comic, Rumble is seen leaking lubricant from his head during a stressful confrontation with Shockwave (as Shockwave points out), in a manner resembling sweating.
• Numerous times in the Marvel UK comic, Kup can be seen "sweating".
• Robots in Disguise and Armada featured Transformers displaying the traditional anime "sweat drop", a giant bead of liquid appearing at the side of the head to convey embarrassment or exasperation.
• Wing Saber sweatdrops upon seeing a particularly scary expression on Lori's face. Ambush
• Leozack sweatdrops oil when Landshark attacks him. Wings of Honor

Coughing

• In the G1 episode "Roll for It", when the Autobots emerge from the ruins of a demolished antimatter laboratory, they are coughing.
• Scrapper coughs when Smokescreen surrounds him with smoke.Triple Takeover
• Megatron coughs while infected with Cosmic Rust. Cosmic Rust
• In "Call of the Primitives", a fiery blast from Grimlock causes both the Terrorcons and Predacons to cough.
• In Beast Wars, Megatron begins to cough for no reason while making a triumphant speech. Much like Powerglide's "heart", this could be a one-shot joke. He also coughs while sleeping, and when amidst the smoky remains of an electrical fire.
• Cheetor fake-coughed in the episode "Sparkwar Pt. III: The Siege" of the Beast machines cartoon to draw Optimus Primal's attention to the matter of Noble.
• In the Robots in Disguise episode "Secret Weapon: D-5", Sky-Byte, Slapper, and Dark Scream all cough after inhaling smoke.
• In the Armada episode "Mortal Combat", right after Optimus Prime says "I wish I could accommodate you," he coughs silently.
• Optimus Prime visibly coughs after Sam Witwicky uses the Matrix of Leadership to restore him to life in Revenge of the Fallen, even expelling what appears to be dust.
• On Rock Bottom, Starscream coughs after escaping the collapsed mine. Ironically, Bulkhead later claims in the same episode that Autobots don't need to breathe.

Breathing

On Star Trek: The Next Generation, it was explained that the android Data's breathing served to cool his inner components, but mostly so that he doesn't appear unnatural to the humans he was designed to resemble. He also blinks for this reason. It could be argued that breathing serves the same "cooling" purpose in Transformers, as its possible for their internal systems to overheat with use, but this explanation is always going to smack of desperation.

• In an Energon episode, Jetfire instructs Ironhide that they have to synchronize their breathing before they can powerlink.
• At the climax of The Transformers: The Movie, Galvatron tries to strangle Hot Rod, complete with sounds of Hot Rod gagging and struggling to breathe. It's possible that Galvatron was trying to compress Hot Rod's neck until the Autobot's head popped off, but that isn't likely.
• Cheetor, calling for help as a python constricts him, says he can't breathe. Dark Voyage
• Bumblebee is shown to be breathing heavily after trying to chase down Blurr, even though he quips in a previous episode that not needing to breathe is useful for an Autobot. Velocity
  • Blurr did the same thing when he had completed running all the way back to Cybertron. TransWarped
• On the Nemesis, Megatron and Starscream's breath can be seen due to condensation in the cold ship. Revenge of the Fallen
• Kup breathes heavily as he runs in fear from Chaos and the slave mines on Dread. Chaos
• Megatron is visibly breathing while in stasis. Deus ex Machina
• "A Team Effort" confirms that Transformers require ventilation airways in their neck to prevent system overheating, as when Charger strangles Roadgrabber in a fit of rage.

Spitting

• Throughout his term on the Marvel UK comic letters page, Soundwave would regularly say "(Puttup)" after mentioning the Autobots or an Autobot's name to represent him spitting in disgust. This habit made an in-story appearance, with him spitting at Robot-Master despite his mouthplate. Second Generation!
• After Nightbeat escapes from the Decepticons's New Jersey base via a sewer, he spits as he complains about their poor choice of back door....All This and Civil War 2
• In the Beast Wars episode "Tangled Web", Quickstrike "spits" after reissuing his challenge to tangle with Silverbolt, despite the fact that, like Soundwave, he has no apparent mouth.
• In Revenge of the Fallen, Jetfire repeatedly spits while talking to Sam Witwicky and his companions. Optimus Prime also has to spit his mouth clean after being blasted across a forest by Megatron. Starscream spits twice: once at Sam while in the Broadwater Metal Works foundry, and again when he mentions Prime's name. Leadfoot also spits, albeit for no real reason, when addressing Sam and the humans outside of Chicago in Dark of the Moon.
• Galvatron II is seen spitting and drooling while explaining the situation.Out of Time! Both Megatron and Galvatron II are seen both spitting on each other. Gross!.Exodus!

Crying

Tissue: desired.

• A twinkle of light that may not literally be a tear, but is clearly intended to imply one, can be seen in Omega Supreme's eye at the end of "The Secret of Omega Supreme".
• When Optimus Prime dies in The Transformers: The Movie, Arcee is seen to dab at her eyes.
• Whirl told his colleagues he was about to "leak optical lubricant" when they wouldn't stop about giving up on Operation: Volcano. Target: 2006
• In "The Burden Hardest to Bear", Scourge has tears falling from his eyes, presumably in pain, during his monstrous disfigurement after he gains the power of the Matrix.
• There is a teardrop on young Star Saber's face after being beaten by Deathsaurus. The Star of Friendship, Jean and Star Saber!
• At the end of "Heroic! The Victory War", some Decepticons are crying over their defeat.
• As he mourns his dead friend Snowstalker and decides he can never fight again, Tigatron cries a single tear in beast mode.
• Megatron wiped a fake tear when Dinobot put on the heroic act. Code of Hero
• When pondering Silverbolt's fate in Beast Machines, Blackarachnia is shown to shed a single tear from one of her spider eyes. This may be due to her technoganic nature though. Revelations Part I: Discovery

Surf's up—and I'm talkin' up!

• Throughout Beast Wars II and Robots in Disguise, and occasionally in the Armada cartoon, several characters are seen crying in hyperbolic anime fashion.
• Tears can be seen welling up in Ironhide's eyes and falling to the ground in Energon as he mourns a fallen comrade.
• Ratchet told Brawn to "cry him a river". Night of the Combaticons
• Ratchet actually cries tears of defeat when outwitted by Megatron. Warrior School!
• Arcee cries over Bumblebee's death in The Art of War #5.
• In Transformers: Animated, Blackarachnia cries, though this "ability" could be part of her partially organic nature. Along Came a Spider
• Bumblebee cries after Sam Witwicky tells him cars are not allowed on campus, although he was exaggerating his sorrow and was likely deliberately leaking fluids to enhance the visual. Revenge of the Fallen
• Barricade was crying in the corner for not being in the War for Cybertron game. Ironhide had to talk to him. Again. Law and Disorder

Eating

Probably contains energon goodies in the shape of a happy face.

• There are references to Cybertronian food.
• Skullcruncher has been known to eat Autobots as well as humans and other organics, despite not needing to do so to survive. Other Decepticons are disgusted by this practice.
• There are Pepsi and pizza in the refrigerator in Pepsi Convoy's home.
• In Beast Wars, the Maximals and Predacons are shown to eat:
  • Tarantulas even displays something of a voracious appetite, eating rats and leaving webs to catch prey. At one point, he captures Cheetor and prepares to drain the Maximal's fluids, claiming that it is the act he prefers over the nourishment (which adds just another level of creepy to the already creepy Tarantulas). The Web
  • Rattrap eats apples. The Web
  • And garbage The Web
  • Terrorsaur eats a bird. Power Surge
  • Dinobot eats his clone. Optimus Primal remarks that he is "disgusting". Double Dinobot
  • While suffering from an Energon discharge virus, Rhinox eats wild beans to build up his power. This later ends disastrously for Megatron. The Low Road
• In Beast Machines, Optimus Primal wants to eat the underground tree's fruit; Cheetor protests that "we don't eat food, we process energon—PERIOD!", but is overruled. Forbidden Fruit
• According to Bumblebee, Megatron eats Autobot Protoforms for breakfast. But of course that could just be a rumour. Transform and Roll Out
• Brains is seen chewing on a screw, while Igor and the hatchlings are clearly shown to be ingesting minerals. Dark of the Moon (film)

Flatulence

• In the Beast Wars episode "The Low Road", Rhinox lets out an extreme amount of flatulence after consuming wild bean vines. This could be due to Maximals having organic parts in their makeup.
• In the Beast Wars episode "Bad Spark", Cheetor also lets out flatulence, blaming it on a large buildup of energy from his Transmetal body.
• Just go watch Revenge of the Fallen. Happens every five minutes. You can set a clock by it.
• One of the Mini-Constructicons "cuts one", causing the others to laugh and request someone to open a window in "Spotlight: Ramjet".

Urination

• Tasmania Kid urinates (in beast mode) to put out a fire.
• Bumblebee performs a similar action on Agent Simmons by popping off his automobile oil filter in robot mode. Optimus Prime claims that 'Bee is just leaking lubricants on him. Presumably, this action was inspired from witnessing a similar incident.
• Scoop apparently urinates himself in Do Over.
• In Beast Wars II, DJ is known for wetting himself whenever he drinks too much oil.
• Skywarp claims that he "sprung a leak" after freaking out about Starscream's goal to take on Megatron. A Bridge Too Close, Part I

Defecation

• Swoop defecates on Megatron in Robo-Capers from Marvel UK issue #87.

Blushing

• In the G1 episode "Sea Change", Seaspray has his whole face turn bright red, even before he jumps into the Well of Transformation and gets turned into a humanoid.
• Transformers Animated Bumblebee has also been shown to be able to blush in a few episodes. Home Is Where the Spark Is Autoboot Camp
• Transformers Cybertron Override blushes when speaking to Lori, which is an indication of the character's original male gender in Galaxy Force. Honor

Intoxication

• In the G1 cartoon episode "Microbots", the Decepticons behaving in a noticeably intoxicated fashion after consuming high-grade energon. Powerglide refers to this as "over-energizing".
• In the UK comic, the Wreckers frequent a "bar" on Cybertron called Maccadam's Old Oil House, where they consume high-grade energon, presumably for the purposes of getting intoxicated. Dreadwind and Darkwing pay a visit to this establishment in a later story, and get so hammered that they don't even notice Quickswitch fighting with some Mecannibals.
• In Beast Wars II, Galvatron gets "drunk" on numerous occasions.
• In the Beast Wars II manga, Lio Convoy gets drunk once and messes up Apache's room.Recover the Bonds Lost!
• The Constructicons in Animated, whose personalities are shout-outs to construction worker stereotypes, seem to drink oil the way humans drink beer. However, they never actually get drunk.
  • However, the Autobots did feel dizzy after a mini Soundwave spiked the oil nog. Human Error, Part I

Miscellaneous

File:Cigarchomping.jpg

Bet it's imported from Cubatron.

• Deathsaurus once gets a cold, causing him to cough and have a fever, in an issue of the Victory manga. The Star of Friendship, Jean and Star Saber!
• Star Saber got a bump on his head after being hit by Deathsaurus with a staff when they were young boys. The Star of Friendship, Jean and Star Saber!
• In All Hail Megatron, Kup chomps on a cy-gar. All Hail Megatron
• Transformers Animated Bumblebee has bandages wrapped around his middle after Sari is knocked out and the Autobots return to their base. TransWarped
• Transformers Animated Sentinel Prime wore a cast over his arm after being hit by a falling building. Autoboot Camp

Body parts

Mouths/teeth/tongues

• The Generation 1 cartoon series is the only major piece of fiction to not present Transformers as possessing teeth and/or tongues. The features appear in both the Marvel and Dreamwave comics, The Battlestars manga, the Beast Wars and Beast Machines animated series (where teeth would even be knocked out on occasion), the Robots in Disguise cartoon, and the Unicron Trilogy cartoons and comics.
• In an episode of Super-God Masterforce, Browning sticks his tongue out at Wilder and Bullhorn after they insult Cancer.
• In the live-action film series, the more human-like the robot, the more they are likely to have teeth. In the case of, say, Optimus Prime, his teeth are mechanical cubes overlaid on each other, while Megatron has bona fide fangs. Optimus spits out a piece of his shattered faceplate in the second film, which is intended to resemble a boxer spitting out a tooth after a brutal match. Revenge of the Fallen
• One of the most prevalent examples of this tradition is the Kiss Players manga, in which a Legion character is equipped with a distinctive prehensile (and phallic) tongue.

Eyeballs/eyelashes

Oh, my eyes!!

• Most Transformers have eyes. They see with them.
• In the episode "Auto Berserk", Optimus Prime's eyes are closed (apparently to shield them against the smoke) much like a human's when the Autobots stagger out of the fire and smoke of the Negavator's destruction.
• While dying from life force depletion, Elita One occasionally closes her eyes. The Search for Alpha Trion
• Arcee and Springer clench their eyes shut when their ship is grabbed by a claw. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1
• Cyclonus also closes his eyes when Galvatron is about to go through the Alya treatment and he cannot bear to watch. Webworld
• Lyzack sports some pretty heavy-duty eyelashes for her brief appearance in the Victory manga. So does Esmeral. Heroic! The Victory War
• In Spotlight: Hot Rod, Hot Rod is shown to have what appears to be blast shields for his optics when he passes out after landing. Dealer's optics are mostly covered by his eyelids, so he looks half-passed out. Per an email query to IDW, their response is that Transformers do not have eyelids, that it's just artistic license.
• The robots in the live-action film series have eyes designed to resemble cameras, enabling them to dilate and blink.
• Animated Swindle has eyelids. He also blinks frequently.
• The cyborg GoBots, as portrayed in the animated cartoon, do in fact possess eyelids (when the eyes aren't covered by a visor) and frequently blink. Some also have visible pupils.
• Most robots in Prime possess camera-like eyes similar to those seen in the live-action films, which dilate, contract, and blink in a highly human-like fashion. Notably, they also replicate the involuntary, back-and-forth movements of the human eye when idle.

• 
• 
  About 15 gallons of mascara for those things.
• 
  Hey, wake up!
• 
  Got munchies?

Obesity

Although Transformers come in all shapes and sizes anyway, some characters have particularly round appearances that suggest something equivalent to human obesity.

• In Grim Grams #94, Grimlock mentioned that Ultra Magnus weighs a little over 90 tons and "could stand to lose a little around the fuel storage system".
• Shockwave complained that the Decepticons had grown "fat and complacent" under Scorponok's rule. Surrender!
• Bulkhead is virtually as wide as he is tall and is depicted as extremely round, with very short, stubby legs. It gives him more than a passing resemblance to a heavily obese person, or at best one of those huge, flabby, off-season wrestlers.
• Much the same could be said of Omega Supreme. Being big-chassised is no excuse to let yourself go.
• Animated Ratchet has a prominent gut that resembles a human paunch. Although ordinarily this might be considered merely a feature of his transformation scheme (ala Trailbreaker), he is specifically designed to be a crotchety "old man" character, and in flashback sequences to his younger days in the Great War, he notably lacks said paunch.
• Gnaw. Well, all the Sharkticons, really, but seriously. It's kind of comically appropriate that the robots which do absolutely nothing but hang out and eat stuff all day are so roly-poly.
• Leadfoot has a set of metal plates that form the front of his Alt-mode forming a sort of "beer gut" on his abdomen.

Masculine characteristics

Facial hair

• Alpha Trion, Scourge, Unicron, and Wreck-Gar all sport "facial hair" in the G1 cartoon. In addition to that, Energon's Bulkhead, the films' Optimus (who has a goatee), Ratchet and Jetfire and Animated's Scrapper, Mixmaster, and the other Wreck-Gar all have varying amounts of facial hair. (The last of these was modeled after his voice actor's own, prior to his appearance's overhaul.) The Shattered Glass versions of Alpha Trion and Rodimus Prime also have "facial hair", probably as a homage to Evil Spock's appearance in Star Trek.
• Many characters in the live-action series have facial hair, like Jetfire,Sentinel and The Fallen.

Nuts, Bolts and Screws

Hit a Decepticon in it's voonerables, he said, and you've killed it.

• Gilmer got rammed in his crotch by Lightfoot, causing it to become red and Gilmer to clutch it, groaning he got "kicked in the balls". Lightfoot: A Dramatic Encounter
• Rattrap kicks Waspinator in the groin, causing apparent pain and giving him a high-pitched voice. Other Voices, Part 1
• Stampy once suggested a kick to the "unmentionables" as a workable battle tactic. The Ascending #3
• Heinrad has a set in tanuki mode. Since tanuki are known for their massive testicles, his equipment's existence actually makes sense.
• Flareup interpreted the word "key" in "keymaster" a little differently than Megatron intended. Bee in the City
• Devastator has a pair of dangling wrecking balls in a... very unfortunate place. Revenge of the Fallen
• Blenderbot has a... well... just look for yourself (NSFW?). Revenge of the Fallen

Feminine characteristics

I'd tap it like the fist of an angry god.

Breasts

Some female Transformers, such as Arcee and Elita One (not to mention the other Arcee and Elita-1) have a protruding chest area that bears no apparent relation to their alt mode kibble, but bears some vague resemblance to clothed human breasts, or a "monoboob", if you will. Some females even have two separate and even more distinctly rounded breast-like protuberances, particularly in their fictional depictions. Blackarachnia, Antagony and Beta all fall into this category. One, Thunderblast, even has visible nipples. (You're going to look, aren't you...?)

Lips

Though not female, Silverbolt's got sexy nice lips.

Another common feature to denote gender in female Transformers is distinctly fuller, plumper lips than is standard, such as Blackarachnia's in Beast Wars. Sometimes, however, they will additionally have red or otherwise different/darker coloration to their lips, with an evident similarity to human lipstick. Such paint-mouthed femmes include Blackarachnia in Beast Machines, her Animated cousin, and the G1 Female Autobots.

As far as males go, none of them have differently colored lips, but some do have noticeably thicker lips. Generation 1 Orion Pax, Silverbolt, Streetwise, Overlord and Shōki, for instance, have lips that can easily compete with the females', as does Animated Optimus Prime.

Hips

Dan Reed, you perv.

Alike to humans, many a female Transformer has a distinctly more curving hipstructure.

See also the Sexuality section below.

Questionable body parts

Not Astroboy, we swear!

• Nearly all Transformers seem to possess noses for no discernible functional reason, Beast Wars characters and movieverse Ratchet being exceptions. Movie Megatron also notes that he can smell Sam when the latter is trying to escape from him, and Ironhide remarks that he can "smell" Demolishor. This would seem to imply that movieverse Transformers have a form of olfactory systems. The idea of noses is somewhat 'fixed' in Transformers Animated and Transformers Prime by having the noses be a visible part of the robot's helmet as opposed to being part of their face.
• At the end of the G1 episode "The Girl Who Loved Powerglide", Powerglide is seen to have the LED outline of a cartoon heart within his chassis. This is somewhat nonsensical even within in the context of the show (the contents of Transformers chest cavities had been shown several times before), and is doubtless merely meant as a one-off sight gag.
• Although listed separately above, breasts and "nuts, bolts and screws" would also fit under this category quite well, seeing as there doesn't appear to be any use for them on Transformers, other than to show them off.

Brains

Predaking: All brawn AND brains!

• Predaking has an organic brain when he is sliced in half in the Zone cartoon.
• Unicron also has an organic brain in the G.I. Joe crossover, Black Horizon Part 2. Later handwaved by explaining that the particular Unicron in the crossover came from the universal stream Gargent 984.08 Alpha and had taken on an organic brain in a similar fashion as the native GoBots.
• Dark of the Moon's Sentinel Prime seemed to have something in his head resembling a brain after Optimus executed him.

Other biological functions

Sleep

• In the G1 comic, Trailbreaker plays a prank on Huffer while he is in "rest mode." Trailbreaker's Universe profile Ratchet falls asleep and dreams (or rather, has a nightmare), an experience Prime refers to as an "involuntary systems shutdown". Back from the Dead Kup later attempts to rouse a vision-struck Optimus Prime by urging him to "wake up"—then reminds himself that "we don't sleep!" The Power and the Glory When Donny Finkleberg remarks that unlike machines, humans need to rest, Skids informs him Transformers need to as well to conserve fuel. Skids also has an on/off button in his dashboard. Heavy Traffic!
• In the The Headmasters cartoon, Mindwipe is able to use a form of hypnotism on the Autobots, which can include lulling them to sleep.
• This ability is also shown by Hellbat in the Victory cartoon.
• In Beast Wars, it has been firmly established that (perhaps partially due to their organic components), all Transformers within the cartoon sleep. Some prime examples of this are:
  • Megatron has been shown to sleep in the command chair of the Darksyde, while his dino head mounted on the end of his arm stays awake, looks around, and smiles slyly. Wonder what it thinks about...
  • Cheetor has been shown asleep at many points, complete with (occasionally prophetic) dreams. In "Feral Scream Part 2", he also purrs when he's asleep. How cute!
  • In "Call of the Wild", the Maximals are kept awake for two days by the Predacons' non-stop attacks on their base, which exacerbate their beast instincts overriding their logic circuits.
• In Beast Wars II, Galvatron often nods off in a narcoleptic-like fashion.
• In the Beast Wars II manga, Lio Convoy sleeps and has a nightmare at one point.
• Armada Cyclonus is quite fond of catching forty winks when possible. Scavenger does the same on one occasion. Armada Megatron is also seen asleep twice in the episode "Rebellion".
• Animated Ratchet enters a form of sleep he calls a "stasis nap", during which he gets several parking tickets. Transform and Roll Out
• Also in Animated, when the Autobots feel tired after drinking an oil-nog (which Soundwave had spiked), they decide to go to sleep, pardon, to take a stasis nap. Optimus even yawns. Human Error, Part I

Aging

Some Transformers have been depicted as aging.

• 

  Alpha Trion has been depicted in three different eras: 11 million years in the past, 9 million years in the past, and the present day. Though his character model undergoes many changes, his facial hair changes seem to mimic human aging. In his (chronologically) earliest depiction, he has a small black mustache. In his second depiction, his mustache has turned white. By the modern era, he sports a long mustache and beard.

• The Overlord was so old that his body needed a regular energy supply to keep him functioning. State Games

Young and Innocent

• Xaaron couldn't transform anymore because he was old.

• In an issue of the Marvel UK G1 comics, Kup's systems are going to shut down because he is too old.

• Deathsaurus and Star Saber are depicted in flashbacks as "child" Transformers, complete with childlike temperaments. The Star of Friendship, Jean and Star Saber!

• Cohrada is depicted as "child" in his flashback in the issue "A Battle Fought Alone".

• Movieverse Jetfire has a cane and is rusting. Some parts even fall off him when he transforms! However, he states that the reason for his decrepit condition is not just that he is very, very old, but mainly due to the fact that his Energon supplies are very low.

• Side Burn claimed to have been a classic car when he was younger, and a tricycle when he was younger. While he was lying, his story was plausible enough for Slapper. On the other hand, Slapper is an idiot.

Sexuality

Sorry, Side Burn, I don't think Wedge rolls that way.

One of the most controversial aspects of Transformers is the idea of sexuality. While it is established in most continuities that Transformers do not reproduce sexually, most continuities nonetheless have distinctive male and female characters and sometimes drops a hint Transformers may engage in (recreational) sex.

The Generation 1 cartoon brought the first official female Transformers into the canon, including Elita One and Arcee. The characters are noticeably more feminine in design and some have clearly defined romantic relationships with male Transformers. In contrast, such relations between two individuals of the same gender are virtually unheard of.

See also

• Transformer anatomy
• Anatomic euphemism
• Relatives
• Clothing

External links

• Transformers #94 Letters Page on Transfans.co.uk