Subspace storage pocket
"Editing mistake... in my favor!"
Subspace storage pockets (also known as "extra-dimensional" storage pockets) allow Transformers to store their personal paraphernalia in the interdimensional void of transwarp. Objects placed in transwarp are tethered to the material world by the Transformers' personal energy supply, each operating on its own frequency.
Fiction
Generation 1 cartoon continuity
The Transformers cartoon
Visible use of subspace storage pockets was rare, but not unheard of. Ravage's proton bombs disappeared in a flicker of purple light when he transformed to enter Teletraan I More than Meets the Eye, Part 2; Kickback's gun manifested in his hands in a purple flash during the Insecticons' first battles with the Autobots A Plague of Insecticons;
Cyclonus summoned his oxidating laser into his hand while confronting the Autobots in their mausoleum Dark Awakening; and Blurr once did the same to his electro-laser. 1986 commercial bumper
The glow-effect seen to accompany these displacements also appeared in a few other vanishingly rare instances that subspace can probably be attributed to: Jazz's forearm once glowed orange when he substituted his hand for his grappling hook More than Meets the Eye, Part 2 and Optimus Prime's trailer sported a pronounced golden glow in one instance when he called it to him, The Ultimate Doom, Part 2 perhaps indicating that its near-constant absence following Prime's many transformations to robot mode were the result of it being stored in Prime's subspace pocket. In one solitary instance, Soundwave shimmered with a white light as he grew back to full size, Transport to Oblivion suggesting that he and other size changing Transformers displaced their excess mass into their storage pockets when changing form.
Japanese cartoon continuity
Weaponry displacement gradually became a much more common sight in the years that followed 2011; Godmaster warrior Ginrai was often seen to summon up his cannons into his hands with a flash of light. The great users of this technique, though, were Star Saber, Deathsaurus and their warriors, who would regularly manifest their various weapons during battle. Their frequent use of the technique offered some more insight into its working, suggesting that a Transformer uses some of their personal energy supply in summoning a weapon, and in keeping it summoned: When Deathsaurus was poised to slay Star Saber with his Living-Metal-Destroying Cannon, the weapon fizzled out and de-materialized because he did not have the energy to spare. Attempting to summon his sword immediately afterward, Deathsaurus could only manifest the blade for a moment before it too faded out. Resurrection!? The Decepticon Fortress
Unicron Trilogy cartoon continuity
Blurr and Runamuck explicitly keep their Cyber Key in their extra-dimensional storage pocket to be retrieved as-needed. Force of Habit Presumably, all other users of Cyber Keys store theirs in similar fashion, explaining why they manifest out of thin air when required. Cybertron cartoon
TransTech
Scattorshot explained the function of subspace storage pockets and their relation to Transwarp space to Jackpot and Hubcap, who had trouble wrapping their heads around the concept. Gone Too Far
When his spark was hijacked and transferred into a "lowtech" body, Bulletbike had a subspace storage pocket in his left forearm. I, Lowtech
Animated cartoon
Swindle refers to his storage pocket as his "personal storage dimension", which he accesses by means of a drawer that opens from his chest. He makes particularly excessive use of it, storing the exceptionally large amounts of technology he has begged, borrowed, bought and/or stolen on his travels across the galaxy. It proved his downfall, however, when he hijacked the Autobot starship Steelhaven; by identifying unique transwarp frequency of his pocket, Sari Sumdac was able to use a space bridge to transport Optimus Prime through it, allowing the Autobot leader to reach the trouble craft by emerging from Swindle's chest. Decepticon Air
Notes
- The idea of subspace storage pockets originated as a fan-created concept that served as a communal explanation for where Transformers stored their weapons when they transformed, where size-changing characters' additional mass went, and where Optimus Prime's trailer regularly disappeared to. They were finally canonized by longtime fans Greg Sepelak and Trent Troop in the prose stories they wrote for the Transformers Collectors' Club, first receiving a mention in "Force of Habit" and later having their working explained in "Gone Too Far", which tied them in with transwarp technology.
