Transmuter (BW)

The Transmuter is a machine from the cartoon portion of the Beast Wars continuity family.

Megatron's plan to open a hair salon was mercifully short-lived.

The Transmuter is a device with a purpose not dissimilar to the Robo-Smasher — forcibly reprogram the subject. Oddly, rather than specifically programming them to be a Predacon, it toggles them from Maximal to Predacon or from Predacon to Maximal.

It also alters the subject's color scheme.

Fiction

Beast Wars cartoon

The Transmuter took Megatron mega-cycles to design. After a particularly humiliating defeat thanks to Rhinox, he had Tarantulas capture the Maximal to use as its first test subject. The machine worked perfectly, converting Rhinox into a Predacon. Unfortunately for those concerned, this gave him deviousness, cunning, and ambition, but none of the ever-so-vital loyalty. By the time Megatron realised his mistake, the former Maximal had taken out most of his troops.

As Rhinox stood gloating over the Predacon leader, Megatron managed to trigger the Transmuter once again, and the device converted Rhinox back into a Maximal. The rest of the Maximals chose this moment to attack, and in the ensuing battle, the Transmuter was destroyed by a stray shot. Dark Designs