Functionism
Functionism is a belief system and social structure where a Cybertronian's role in society is defined by their alternate mode. Construction vehicles are required to engage in manual labor employment, for instance, while a proton microscope would be allowed to seek out intellectual pursuits. A generic but sturdy truck alt-mode, like Orion Pax, would be seen to have multiple potential uses and therefore open multiple doors in society for him. Originally envisioned by Nova Prime as an orderly alternative to the wars preceding his rulership, functionism apparently reached an apex during the reign of Nominus Prime.
Functionists often have a religious underlining to their beliefs, accepting that a forged alt-mode is the will of Adaptus, the Guiding Hand's god of forms and contemporary of Primus Lifegiver himself.
Functionism divides and classifies Cybertronians according to the Grand Cybertronian Taxonomy, which ranks individuals based on the ubiquity or rarity of their alternate modes. Under a practice known as ratioism, higher social standings are provided for those with less common forms, and vice versa. The most common alternate modes, such as memory sticks and laser pointers, were lumped together under the disposable class, who were harshly discriminated against. Beast transformers were treated only moderately better.
The specifics of functionism were determined by a Functionist Council, though by the present day both the Council and the social structure it upheld are long gone.
Fiction
2005 IDW continuity
The seeds of functionism were planted upon the conclusion of the First Cybertronian Civil War ten million years ago, when Prima's surviving lieutenant Nova Major ended the war and, with the blessing of the last of the Thirteen, Alpha Trion, took on the mantle of Prime to become sole leader of Cybertron. When Onyx Prime's surviving servant Rhinox pondered what would become of him and his beast-form brethren, Nova explained that he envisioned a unified Cybertronian society where everyone would be "in their place". Alpha Trion would later claim that this did not sound sinister at the time. The Crucible Functionism became prominent on Cybertron in the last six million years, after the disappearance of the first Ark. A Cybertronian's status was determined not only by the utility of their alt-mode, but also its scarcity. The more unique an alt-mode was, the higher a Cybertronian could climb in society, and vice versa. At one point, Cybertronians who transformed into memory sticks were so common, they were considered a "disposable class" and treated as little more than slaves. Before & After The only way out was to qualify for the intellectual class Post Hoc or perform a task of note such as finding a Point One Percenter spark Remembrance Day and be declared alt-mode exempt. Other classes included the scientific class who transformed into laboratory equipment, the manual classes consisting of miners, haulers, and the like, Post Hoc as well as management and administrative classes, who rated between them. Exactly what they turned into is unknown. Births, Deaths, and Interventions Outliers were persecuted under functionism due to not fitting in their neat categories, An Intimate Beheading as was Rung when no-one could work out what his alt-mode was actually for. Little Victories Cybertronians with non-humanoid robot modes were also looked down upon and treated as little more than beasts. Soundwaves
Under unknown circumstances, functionism became a less totalitarian philosophy during the reign of Nominus Prime. Chaos Theory Part 1 Functionist hardliners still existed, such as in the town of Petrex where complaining about one's alt-mode was punishable by prison. Elsewhere on Cybertron, though, it was acceptable to defy Adaptus and undergo full-body retrofitting to change alt-modes permanently... provided you had enough credits. For a more modest fee, Relinquishment Clinics offered "body tourism", using sparkswap technology to let Cybertronians temporarily try out a different alt-modes from a "donor". Post Hoc
Functionism labelled and categorized citizens by something beyond their control, and so it inevitably prompted a negative response. The Militant Monoform Movement, who rejected Adaptus and their transformation cogs, may have arisen as a direct response to the dictates of functionism. Chaos Theory Part 2 More famously, or perhaps infamously, Megatron and the Decepticons got started as members of the manual classes rejecting the functionist doctrine of the Senate that restricted their place in society. Megatron Origin
While the Senate made use of the functionist system, by the Decepticon's time they were not subordinate to the functionists and the Council. It's probably not a coincidence that when the Senate killed two Decepticons so they could 'solve' the murder, the killers were framed as pro-Functionists. Patternism Later, Orion Pax came to the mistaken but not unreasonable conclusion that the Senate was trying to exterminate an entire hot spot so it couldn't be used as evidence of divine functionism. All Our Parlous Yesterdays
In the present day, some Neo-Functionists were active on The Big Conversation, a Decepticon social networking site, where they trolled anyone who revealed details of their alt-mode. Nothing Will Ever Be the Same Again!
The Functionist Universe
In an alternate timeline, the Functionist Council had gone to war against the Senate A World Misplaced and conquered Cybertron: the intellectual class outlawed, disposable class unable to talk to their betters, Functionary enforcers on every corner, and obsolescence chips planted in everyone's head so that when their theoconomists agreed an alt-mode had no further use, the Council could issue a "mass recall". The laser pointers, the Lunabots, and the data slugs (the theoconomists ruled they had a purpose but they were a threat to the Council's rule) were among those exterminated. In this timeline it was still possible, at least in the past, to be declared alt-mode exempt The Custom-Made Now but bots such as Sweep were more likely to be declared "alt-mode exalted", and venerated for their actions - and told to get back to work. Predestination: An Expert's Guide
When Functionist Council member Six-of-Twelve began receiving mysterious "visions", he believed them to be the word of Primus. In preparation for a war he believed was coming, Six-of-Twelve began violating the core ideals of functionism, preparing for the conflict by transplanting the Sparks of Cybertronians into combat-ready bodies. This blasphemy compelled Nine-of-Twelve to defect and join the Anti-Vocationist League. A World Misplaced
Beast Wars: Uprising
Ser-Ket and Break regarded post-war Cybertronian society as quasi-functionist. Head Games Derailment
Spacewarp's Log
After encountering Galaxy Shuttle in Nexus 208.0 Epsilon, Spacewarp remarked to her viewers, "someone was named by a Functionist, know what I'm sayin'?" Spacewarp's Log (2), 2015/11/21
Notes
- The War for Cybertron Trilogy draws on ideas of Functionism for its version of the Decepticons' origin, with Megatron and Impactor both noting they were "predetermined" to toil away in the mines (and presumably other similar menial labour roles). However, this continuity does not appear to have the intricate Grand Cybertronian Taxonomy, and instead seems to merge these ideas with the more G1 cartoon-esque narrative of Autobots and Decepticons being two distinct races of Cybertronians, with the Autobots said to have occupied the higher class positions and the Decepticons the lower class ones. Siege episode 1 Siege episode 3
See also
| Functionist classes | |||
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