Technorganic
Technorganic describes the melding of technological and biological components into a single entity, generally involving the power of the Oracle.
These fusions are far more involved and complete than any seen before, and merge the technological and organic components of the affected being down to the cellular level. A technorganic Transformer is no longer a purely technological robot, nor a purely organic life; they are "both -- and neither", in the words of technorganic guru Optimus Primal. Technorganic Cybertronians are a new and unique type of life, theoretically combining all the strengths of both robotic and organic life.
Technorganic biology
Technorganic transformers do not have on-board computers to handle secondary functions as previous Transformers did. Rather, those functions have either become conscious actions (such as transforming, addressed below) or are now autonomic, as breathing is in an organic life-form. They appear to be highly resistant to injury (not a single technorganic Maximal was shown to sustain visible damage throughout the course of Beast Machines) and have advanced internal healing abilities.
Technorganic Transformers still retain the ability to transform between two forms, but their transforming is not a mechanical shifting of moving parts, as with their robotic predecessors. It appears more like fluid shape-shifting, generally accompanied by a burst of bright energy.
Botanica is the exception to this rule; her transformation is accompanied by a rapidly generated circle of technorganic plants, which shrink back down to reveal her robot mode.
Because the process is so different, Transformers need to relearn how to transform once they find themselves in a technorganic body. Rather than triggering a preprogrammed sequence of motions, they have to achieve an internal, zen-like mental balance and will themselves into their other mode. Some use a mantra such as "I am transformed" to help until they get the hang of doing it on their own.
Powers and weaknesses
Techorganic Transformers are invisible to traditional scanners and sensors while in beast mode. They can still be seen, but seemingly no longer give off an "energy signature" like ordinary machines. However, when in their robot mode, they are as readily detectable as any other Transformer.
Additionally, the original technorganic Maximals seemed to possess powerful (almost super-powerful) combat abilities. It is unknown whether such abilities would be common to all technorganic Transformers, or if they were specially granted by the Oracle to help that band of Maximals achieve the Oracle's goal of a planet-wide reformatting.
The technorganics are not invulnerable. On one occasion, ingesting a seemingly organic fruit caused Primal and his team to mentally devolve into primitives. When the tree that generated this fruit was slashed by Cheetor, it shattered into fragments, as if it were a digital illusion, and the fruit's effect was immediately undone. Primal concludes that the fruit's organic nature was devolving their bodies, but the implications of the incident remain somewhat unclear. Forbidden Fruit
Another vulnerability comes from the Key to Vector Sigma, a device which converts organics into "techno-matter". When applied to the technorganic Maximals, it caused them to convert to a metalized state, resulting pain and hysteria; it could eventually have resulted in deactivation if its effects were not reverted. The Key
Technorganic Cybertron
Cybertron had long been a planet of metal upon metal, "technology" alone. According to Primal's interpretation of the Oracle, the returning Beast Warriors brought with them organic components of the planets they had visited, allowing the Oracle to begin the process of reformatting the planet to be technorganic. It revealed that Cybertron had an organic core, with deep sublevels comprised of soil and containing organic fossils, such as the one scanned by Nightscream.
At the end of the conflict, Cybertron was reformatted planet-wide, creating a new world, a mix of technorganic flora and fauna with vast, green cities. The exact details and secrets of this new Cybertron have yet to be revealed.
Just what the reformatting of Cybertron implies for Primus, whose body is Cybertron, is unknown.
Usage problems
Although Beast Machines consistently uses "technorganic" to describe its Oracle-blended characters, the term has occasionally been used by other sources to describe pre-Beast Machines characters.
IDW's Beast Wars Sourcebook makes frequent references to Beast Wars characters possessing "technorganic" features, such as "technorganic musculature". The Ultimate Guide refers both to Optimus Primal's beast mode and all Transmetals as "techno-organic" (with hyphen), evidently using a more loose definition of the term than did Beast Machines
It remains unclear just how organic the "organic" parts of pre-Beast Machines beast modes were. A major part of the entire premise of Beast Wars was that, in order to create their beast altmodes in the first place, the Cybertronians needed to scan and replicate the DNA of living or fossilized creatures. Instances of damage to beast mode tissue were sometimes shown to bleed Spider's Game, yet Cheetor states that "I don't have real blood -- just mech fluid" The Web. The Beast Warriors did need to breathe to sustain themselves Dark Voyage, and often consumed organic food as fuel Power Surge The Low Road Code of Hero Victory (Beast Wars episode) -- while Cheetor explicitly states that they no longer eat food in the Beast Machines period, instead powering up on Energon alone. Confusing the matter further, Primal then says in reply that "we used to" only consume Energon, which clearly is not the case. Forbidden Fruit
Looking outside the show, the Beast Wars writers have stated that, in animal form, the characters are "fully organic" [1], citing both "Dark Voyage" and "Call of the Wild" as examples.
But just how much the organic beast was integrated into the technological robot form is unknown; it is possible that the organic was simply a fleshy shell surrounding the robot within. Conversely, Megatron was able to create a sapient clone of Dinobot with simply "a spec of [his] DNA".
Transmetal and Transmetal 2 forms, with their visible blending of faux-organic and purely robotic parts, remain an enigma; their synthetic-organic nature was little explored, apart from Optimus Primal once showing interest in a bunch of bananas Feral Scream Part 2. Megatron loathed his Transmetal 2 form as "disgustingly organic", and his attempts to purge the organic portions ultimately created the purely organic Noble/Savage creature; also of note, Tarantulas continued to consume organic food after going Transmetal Code of Hero.
The term bio-mechanical crops up occasionally in bios and reference books; the term seems to be used synonymously with "technorganic" in reference to pre-Beast Machines beast warriors, rather than the more specific meaning from Beast Machines.
Continuity quibbles
- The Axalon was implied to be an ordinary exploration ship, with an ordinary mission: deploy new Transformers on a planet, have them pick up beast forms, explore, then return to Cybertron. If this is going on all the time, with lots of different exploration crews, why did the Oracle decide that Primal's crew was so specially needed to bring back organic elements?
- Nightscream scans organic elements, and acquires a beast form, without ever leaving Cybertron! So again, why did Primal's team need to go through the Beast Wars just to acquire beast modes?
Non-Beast Era usage
The terms "technorganic" and "biomechanical" have also been used to describe characters from other, non-Beast Era TF franchises, general characters based on redecoed Beast Wars toys such as Armada Cheetor. In the absence of a full backstory, however, the status of such purely mechanical or partly organic is debatable.
Of particular note is Armada's Predacon. His Dreamwave bio states that that he has experimented on himself with "biomechanical" technology to integrate organic tissue into his Cybertronian robotics, something that most other Transformers are said to find repulsive.
