Tank Drone

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This article is about the Beast Machines Vehicon drones. For the Legends drones, see Tankor Drone{{#switch:{{#sub:Tankor Drone|-1}} != .= ?= .

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TAAANK!

Tank Drones are the brute force of Megatron's Vehicon forces. These deadly sparkless drones will destroy any Maximals in their path.

They were led by their general Tankor until his, ah, departure, and were led by whoever happened to be around thereafter.

Fiction

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Cartoon continuity

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Beast Machines cartoon

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Voice actor: N/A (English), Isshin Chiba, Nobutoshi Canna (Japanese){{#if: |, {{{2}}}}}
I never should have written all of those tank programs

Tank Drones were used by Megatron in his conquest of Cybertron. Forbidden Fruit

Tank Drones were the first type of Vehicons encountered by Optimus Primal's amnesiac group of Maximals. Several Tank Drones were used to deliver the Transformation virus that devolved and paralyzed several of Optimus Primal's crew. Among the paralyzed was Rhinox, whom the Tank Drones captured on the spot. Descent A group of the Tank Drones chased down Optimus as he made his to his underlings, one after the other. Throughout the chase, they displayed the impressive extent of their firepower, blasting everything in their path, including a titanium-reinforced train. Their lack of care for one another's safety soon became apparent to the Maximals, as even other drones were blasted to scrap in their efforts to destroy Optimus and his friends. The drones lost track of Optimus, Cheetor, and Rattrap when the trio escaped into Cybertron's underground. The Reformatting

The Maximals next encountered a squadron of Tank Drones when they attempted to breach the Council Citadel. The Tank Drones served as the citadel's outer defences. While Primal managed to enter the building, the drones chased the Maximals throughout the surrounding streets. The Maximals split up, forcing the drones to disperse their forces. They were led by the Maximals into elevated, narrow areas, where they were picked off one at a time. Though they eventually managed to heard the Maximals onto a rooftop, the Tank Drones began to malfunction when Primal was able to make Megatron lose his cool and transform into his beast mode. Master of the House

When the Maximals attempted to access the Cybertron Archives, they encountered the Tank Drones once more. Optimus and Cheetor took out several of them before one Tank Drone got a lucky shot in and knocked out Blackarachnia. As the Maximals fled, the drones rained wanton destruction onto nearby buildings while in pursuit. This backfired when a large piece of debris crumbled onto the drones and destroyed them. The drones were granted a leader shortly thereafter when Megatron bestowed Rhinox's spark upon a Tank Drone, creating Tankor. Fires of the Past

A squad of Tank Drones participated in an attack against Cheetor, Nightscream and Rattrap when the three Maximals infiltrated a Vehicon assembly factory. Though all of the active Tank Drones were destroyed by Cheetor, Rattrap accidently caused the factory's assembly line to power-up, causing a multitude of Tank Drones to be built and then run amuch. When all three Vehicon Generals were taken out, Megatron took direct control of the Tank Drones. But in the wake of a power-feedback, Megatron was rendered weak, and all of the Vehicon drones were rendered offline for half a solar cycle. The Weak Component

Tankor and his drones were put in charge of transferring cargo at a space port. Tankor kept on insisting that his drones work faster, no matter how fast they drones we already working. Cheetor and Rattrap interrupted the operation, and got Tankor's attention, by throwing an explosive his way. A few Tank drones accompanied Tankor in his retaliation against the Maximals. Cheetor tricked Tankor into blowing most of them up. Cheetor then distracted the remaining Tank Drones while Rattrap hacked into Tankor's brain. Rattrap then managed to shut down the drones while connected to Tankor. Descent After Cheetor and Rattrap failed to at first reawaken Rhinox from within Tankor, the Vehicon General called several Tank Drones to him in order to deal with the two Maximals. A whole bunch were smushed by a crane that Tankor toppled over. The rest of the Tank Drones were disabled by Nightscream. Apocalypse

After “Tankor” paid the Maximals a visit, and “overloaded” due to the power of the Key to Vector Sigma's power, several Tank Drones appeared to haul away their general's “body.” In truth, the Tankor the Maximals had witnessed “dying” was a double, part of an elaborate ruse Tankor had set up to fool both Optimus and Megatron. The Key Rattrap and Cheetor were snooping around in Megatron's central computer when a group of Tank Drones came upon them. Rattrap took them out with some of his new "seed grenades." Megatron then proceeded to uploade the code to the Key to Vector Sigma into all of his Tank Drones. As a precaution, Megatron also disconnected Tankor's link to the Tank Drones, despite the Vehicon General's apparent demise. In response to learning that the Maximals had uncovered the Plasma Energy Chamber, Megatron deployed all of the Tank Drones, having them gather before a device that could send the Key's energies planet-wide. Despite Aero Drones patrolling the area while the Tank Drones set up, the Maximals stormed them, and used seed grenades to disable several of them. The Tank Drones were given a new objective by Megatron: destroy the Maximals then and there. But when Optimus unleashed the power of the Plasma Energy Chamber, whatever Tank Drones remained reconvened, and unleashed the Key's power in response. End of the Line As the two conflicting energies clashed, the sum total of the Tank Drones were shorted out. Their idle forms could be seen littering the streets of Cybertropolis after Optimus siphoned away both the Plasma and Key energies into the Oracle. Fallout

Once Megatron retook control of Cybertron's system aboard his new body, the Grand Mal, he reactivated the Tank Drones. All of the Vehicons sprung back to life, and drove the Maximals back underground once again. Prometheus Unbound

When a spaceship crashing down signaled the possibility of more Transformers returning to Cybertron, Megatron sent out a squad of Tank Drones to slow down the Maximals’ effort of reaching the shipwreck. They proved less than effective in the absence of their general. After the ship's occupant, Botanica, was rescued and reformatted by the Maximals, Tank Drones followed the Maximals' signatures down to their technorganic orchard. The drones were all destroyed, thanks in most part to the new arrival. Home Soil

After the arrival of Strika and the Artillery Drones, the Tank Drones were put in reserve. They were mobilized once more when the Vehicons launched their final assault on the Maximals in the Grand Mal. Three Tank Drones were capable of penetrating the fortress, and made their way to the spark containment chamber within. Though opposed by Optimus Primal, the drones managed to make it all the way to their objective... before shutting down, and allowing Megatron in a new body to finish the job himself. When Legends Fall

3H comics

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During the Spark War, several of Tankor's Tank Drones were chasing Optimus Primal and Nightscream as they were escaping with the Deployers. Primal and Nightscream were rescued by Primal Prime and Ramulus, who trounced the Tank Drones. Later, Quake's drones and Blastcharge's drones accompanied their generals as they pursued the Wreckers to Arcee's hideaway. Quake ordered his drones to dispose of the wounded Fractyl, but an angry Arcee took them down. More of Quake and Blastcharge's drones were present among a larger force of Vehicons attempting to block off the ancient Autobot shuttle which the Wreckers intended to use to travel offworld. The Wreckers ultimately triumphed over all the Vehicons they confronted, general and drone alike. Departure

Beast Wars: Uprising

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Games

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Transformers Roleplaying Game

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Tank Drones were tough front-line fighters who made up the bulk of Megatron's Vehicon armies. Technorganic Secrets

Toys

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Beast Machines

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An army of one.
  • Tank Drone (Basic Class, 2001)
  • Accessories: Energy-blast missile
  • Known designers: Shogo Hasui (TakaraTomy)
The Tank Drone was released in the last wave of the Beast Machines toyline, as part of the "Battle for the Spark" subline. It transforms into a blue and grey Cybertronic four-tracked tank. Pressing the spark crystal on his cannon connects the gear-wheel system on the underside of his tank mode, and pushing him forward causes the cannon barrel to spin. This in turn triggers a spring-loaded "energy blast" missile.
It hews more closely to the animation model than the Tankor toy released the year before, which may be why it was redecoed as Tankor for the Japanese Beast Wars Returns line several years later, despite being the smallest of the Vehicon toys.
This mold was also used to make Universe Stockade.

Notes

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Foreign names

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  • Japanese: Tank Drone (タンクドローン Tanku Dorōn)
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