Trans-scan
- A trans-scan is a Transformer biological process in the live action movie continuity family.
Trans-scanning is the biological process by which a Transformer's built-in sensors choose and examine a new alternate mode. The process of disguising themselves, camouflaging their robotic natures, is as ingrained and natural in Transformers as changing color is in chameleons. Immediately after arriving on a new world in its Transition form, a Transformer begins trans-scanning to choose and generate a new exostructure/disguise appropriate to both its size/body mass and its new locale.[1]
Transformers can trans-scan a new (appropriately massed) alternate form at will, and their inner protoform core will generate a new exostructure or alter an existing one to that new appearance almost instantaneously. Once a Transformer has shifted out of their Transition form and adopted a local alternate mode, however, it is unclear what level of flexibility they have in trans-scanning a new one. Bumblebee was able to affect the mostly-cosmetic change from 1977 Camaro to 2008 Camaro with ease, but whether he would have been capable of making the change to a wholly different form (say, an aircraft) is unclear. The Autobot and Decepticon Create-A-Bots, for instance, were able to switch between alt. mode as diverse as trucks and helicopters on the fly, but this was apparently the result of some form of enhancement (installed, in the case of the Autobot, by Wheeljack). Decepticon spy Frenzy possesses a similar ability, being equipped with a special "hyper-reactive" trans-scanning and reformatting processor, which allows him to scan and transform into anything at any given moment. This would seem to suggest that once a Transformer has selected an alternate mode, they can't take on an entirely new one under their own power, unless they're one of a certain number who possess the special ability to change their alt. mode at will.
