Drone Unit (Movie)
Drones are a type of non-sparked transformer in the live-action film series
Drone Types
Scrapper type
Scrapper is the weakest of the drones, and ironically, the only one with melee weapons. His vehicle mode is a forkilft, and the forks turn into blades, which they use to bash Autobots or Decepticons. The Autobot type is red and has a faceplate and eyes, like all the drones. The Decepticon type is orange with a camera lens. They also have missile launchers built in their arms. They are also the smallest drones, small enough that, in order to kill them, Optimus must lean all the way down. They are slightly shorter than Jazz, and even he has little trouble defeating them.
Swindle type
Slightly taller than Scrapper and shorter than Dropkick, Swindle units transform into sports cars. They like to hang around Tranquility -- in the daytime they stay by themselves and hide in vehicle mode, waiting to ambush Bumblebee. In the middle of the night, they pair up, obviously because Optimus Prime would cut through one of them like sushi. In fact, he cuts through two of them like two pieces of sushi.
Their main weapon is their arm-mounted missile blaster, although their usual strategy is to pick up the nearest object (even their allies) and throw it at you. Like all drones, the Autobots have faces, the Decepticons have lenses. The Decepticon drones are crimson red, while the Autobots are bright green.
Dropkick type
The Dropkick drones are fairly powerfuld drones ---- stronger than Swindles, but less powerful that Class Beta Drones. Their usual attacks are tossing anything nearby at the Autobot (or Decepticon) they are fighting. They transform into pickups. Powerful as they are, the Dropkicks are easily defeated, especially by the likes of Optimus and Megatron. It isn't hard to knock them down, it is getting them to stay down that's hard.
Class Alpha type
The Class Alpha Drones are similar to their leader, Dreadwing, in many ways. Their main weapon is shooting fire out of their hands, which can be used to deadly effect. They are easily some of the most powerful units, and can easily defeat even Starscream. The Autobot versions are blue, and only appear to harass Starscream while he is in a military base. They transform into large jets.
Class Beta type
Class Beta drones are easily some of the most powerful of all drones. Their only attack is to charge straight at their enemies, ramming their shoulders into their enemy's gut and sending them flying.
They transform into SWAT Trucks, and are usually easy to spot in a crowd. Even Optimus cannot easily defeat them.
Longarm type
Longarms are slightly weaker than Payload drones, strong enough to defeat Bumblebee, Barricade, or Ironhide, but unable to stop Optimus or Megatron. In robot mode, they are slightly taller than Bumblebee or Ironhide, but much shorter than Optimus.
Mixmaster type
Mixmaster units could be even more powerful than Payload, if that is possible. They transform into cement mixers, and cannot be stopped once they start moving. The only way to defeat them is to throw something at them, pick them up, and toss them high into the sky.
Thundercracker type
We don't know much about the Thundercracker-type units, except for the fact that they only appear in a few issues of Titan Transformers. They appear to be modeled after the Movie Thundercracker toy. However, as Thundercracker has not appeared as a drone since then, it is possible that they only appear in the Titan alternate reality.
Toys
- Swindle (Deluxe, 2007)
- Dropkick (Deluxe, 2007)
- Payload (Deluxe, 2007)
- Dreadwing (Deluxe, 2007)
- Salvage (Deluxe, 2008)
- Thundercracker (Voyager, 2007)
Trivia
- Many of the drones do some stupid things during their existence. If fighting Bumblebee in the power plant, they tend to throw power generators, which proceeds to blow up everything -- including them.
- Some of the drones are references to other people. The Autobot Dropkicks are obviously Salvage, Scrappers kind of get a toy in the Revenge of the Fallen line as Dirt Boss, and the Autobot Dreadwings' blue color is used later in the Revenge of the Fallen Wii/PS2 games on the Autobot long-range warriors, which are essentialy blue Breakaways.
