Mutant (BW)
| This article is about the robot mode-less faction. For the sub-Cybertron marauders, see Mutant (G1). |
The Mutants (also commonly referred to as Mutant Beasts) are a powerful group of beast warriors who've lost their robot modes, but are able to transform between two beast modes. Led by Icebird, the mutants seek to create a purely organic existence. The mutants don't belong to either faction, and will attack Predacons on sight, but they tolerate the Maximals as a necessary component of their goals.
Members are:
Origins
Megatron developed an anti-conversion virus, intended to prevent the infected host converting into robot mode, resulting in eventual shutdown. The Mutants were previously Fuzors, and the virus reacted in an unanticipated way with their physiognomy; it caused their conversion abilities to change, trapping their robot modes inside two different beast modes. The virus also bestowed 'potent extrasensory powers' upon the Mutants, with each member having unique abilities.
Fiction
Their toy package blurbs and character bios as well as the 3H Universe comics place the Mutants on Cybertron during the events of Beast Machines. (Their creation via Megatron's virus is a direct reference to the Beast Machines cartoon, as are mentions of the Oracle in their bios.) The IDW Beast Wars comics place them instead on prehistoric Earth during Beast Wars. It is unclear if this is a retcon or will be explained at a later date.
Toys
The four toys in this sub-group were originally designed for the ill-fated Animorphs toyline, and upon it's failure were slightly retooled and brought over to Transformers. They have a couple of common features. Each toy had a robot head hidden somewhere within its body, to indicate that their personas were still essentially sentient rather than bestial. Also, three of the four toys had flip-up panels underneath their Mutant insignia, which were lifted to reveal robotic components (to convey they were still essentially robots, although they lacked a 'robot' mode); for some reason Razor Claw lacked this feature.
