Grand Cybertronian Taxonomy
- The Grand Cybertron Taxonomy is a Funtionistic classification tool from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
Under Functionism, all Cybertronian life can be classified in one great system, known as the Grand Cybertronian Taxonomy, including the Transformers themselves. This classification determined the placement of Transformers on its hierarchy based on the user's altmode: those with common forms became the disposable class, who ranked low socially to the point that they were seen as expendable. Those with rarer and more specialized forms, such as proton microscopes, however, were given more opportunities and rights than those with a simpler alternate mode, such as memory sticks.
Fiction
IDW Generation 1 continuity
One of the first challenges to the Grand Cybertronian Taxonomy came from the noted philosopher, scholar and explorer Dominus Ambus, after forming a relationship with his memory stick Rewind. He developed a series of tests to prove that the so-called "disposable class" were as sentient as any other Cybertronians and used his influence to fight for disposables' rights. Before & After
Rung presented the Functionist Council with a unique problem: no-one, not even Rung himself, knew the purpose of his altmode. This threatened to undermine their entire philosophy and the Grand Cybertronian Taxonomy itself, so the psychiatrist was subjected to repeated and rigorous tests and in the meantime, to "reassure" other Cybertronians, he was forced to wear a false wheel on his back. Eventually, even the Functionists found themselves stumped as to what Rung's purpose could be and so the problem was neatly sidestepped by creating a new entry in the Grand Cybertronian Taxonomy specifically for Rung's altmode: they classified him as an "ornament". Little Victories
The Functionist Universe
Template:Notecmn When Brainstorm altered the timeline, he created a Cybertron where the Functionist Council had slowly but surely conquered the planet. The Taxonomy was updated every time the Council issued a "mass recall" (read: genocide) of a type of Transformer and Dominus Ambus was tasked to work out how all the "animals" fit. After Minimus Ambus returned from Luna 2, he discovered that the three most ubiquitous alternate modes were energon dispenser, short-range communicator, and data slug, mostly because pretty much every other alternate mode had been killed off. Among the more recent casualties were the Lunabots, who had been stricken from the Taxonomy after the Black Box Consortia took control of the moon, rendering them useless. The Custom-Made Now
| Functionist classes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
