Beast Machine Hunters> The First Season Guide part 8

Last time on Beast Machine Hunters we took a tour of Beast Machines Cybertron. Based on a quick skim I think we’re on our last three installments of the season one guide before moving on to season 2 to see what’s different. Depending on what’s kept between writer guides that may be a short one.

This time we’re looking into deeper concepts of the Beast Wars/Machine world. We’re talking how technorganic transformation works, what technorganics are, the way this show tells time on Cybertron, and how the two shows differ from each other. Next time we go over the intended episodes and plans for season two and other details to follow. So far it’s been interesting to see what the intentions were versus what we (or at least I) thought were changes as well as what the final product changed. Now we get into the real worldbuilding, the minor details that make a world seem lived in, but without getting so detailed that it stops being fun. It begins with the new form of transformation.

ZEN AND THE ART OF TRANSFORMATION

For the reformatted, technorganic Maximals, Transformation is no longer an instantaneous process brought about by a simple command code. It is a learned discipline, much like a martial art. It requires concentration, inner calm and a mastery of one’s own Spark.

The “command code” (“maximize” for Maximals and “terrorize” for Predacons) was kind of unique to the Mainframe Entertainment shows…at least in the US. Japan loves their callouts for attacks and the like, and it was no different with transformations. The Autobots and Decepticons would call out “transform”, while by the Beast Wars show they used the Japanese version, “henshin”. I don’t know which they use or if they still use it for different transformations but I never understood the point. The Autobots and Decepticons didn’t need in-built computers to transform before. It was simply part of their bodies, activated through the transforming cog (as seen in season three with Metroplex and became an irreplaceable “organ” in Transformers Prime, which I also could complain about another time) that they kind of just manipulated, like flexing a muscle–or in this case a servo.

Once a Maximal achieves the required level of focus, he or she then exclaims “I am Transformed” to bring about the Transformation. The exclamation represents the culmination of the focusing, as opposed to a simple command code.

This makes a little more sense. Beast Machines treats technorganic transformation as something more spiritual (sparktual?) in nature than previous or later transformations. It’s not just a simple mechanical process.

Beast Mode acts as a sort of default mode for the Maximals. Robot Mode requires extreme concentration to maintain. When the Maximals are under heavy fire or otherwise unbalanced physically or emotionally, they will uncontrollably revert to Beast Mode. However, no exclamation is required when willingly reverting to Beast Mode.

As time goes on, each Maximal becomes more proficient at initiating and maintaining Robot Mode. But no one achieves perfection and they still can be rattled enough to revert to Beast Mode.

Again, makes sense given how this form of transformation works. Other powers, for example the Force from Star Wars, requires concentration to maintain, or in some cased to keep under control or even from happening. The Oracle tells them “to unleash the warrior within, tame the beast without”. By controlling the animal instincts the robot shines through…at least in theory.

Additionally, when Beast Mode Maximals become agitated, they will further revert to a Feral Beast Mode, in which their behavior becomes more fierce and animal-like and they lose the ability to communicate in anything other than the most primal growls and shrieks.

The only time we see them go “feral” is the fruit from the tree…which for some reason didn’t have the same effect on Nightscream. I could theorize as to why, but my point is this never happens. This does seem similar to the Beast Wars episode “Call Of The Wild” but not quite. In that episode the Maximals are forced to remain in beast mode due to the plot, but over time the beast programming starts to take them over. Tigatron has to convince them to delete the “programming block” that separates the “robot” and “animal” instincts and accept both forms. Such a block made sense when they turned into lifeless vehicles, but for a living creature, taking on their instincts without losing your own sounds like a good idea. Having them fight could be detrimental in the long run.

However, there doesn’t seem to be any beast instincts that come into play here outside of that instance with the tree. Even then they seemed to maintain their identities as sentients rather than devolving into mindless beast like in “Call Of The Wild”, and later episodes would see both sides use their animal instincts alongside their robot programming. It doesn’t feel the same here. It’s more like the “organic” versus the “techno” and the “organic” is the dominant form.

In Beast Mode the Maximals do not emit any electronic signature, so they cannot be tracked by Megatron or any Vehicon. However, once they Transform to Robot Mode, they can be easily tracked. Thus Robot Mode is best used sparingly while underground.

In addition, the Maximals will soon learn that Robot Mode helps heal any injuries they may have sustained in Beast Mode (It initiates any necessary micro-surgery and/or bio-feedback to aid the natural heeling process). Thus an injured Maximal will find himself in a true dilemma: Stay in Beast Mode and risk increasing your injuries or losing your life. Affect repairs in Robot Mode and risk being scanned by a Vehicon.

There is some precedent in Mainframe’s interpretation. In Beast Wars the beast forms protected them from the raw Energon around them, later unneeded when most of it stabilized or went boom. While CR Chambers were used for more serious injuries the Maximals and Predacons were shown to have self-repair systems that would restore them over time, like an organic being heals from a cut or other minor wound. (Some medical problems come from healing wrong somehow.) This may be a bi-product of the liquid metal “protoform” process Beast Era Cybertronians use.

That said, I would assume it would work the other way around from what’s stated here, that the BEAST mode offered “healing” (again, their spelling error) and the robot would be the injured one. You’d have the same drama, which the show never used, but now it would be “do I risk channeling my energies to combat over healing?” rather than trying to stay in robot mode to heal. This would match up with the Energon resistance used in Beast Wars beast modes.

The Vehicon Generals Transform via normal command codes. As a rule, we only have them use their individual command codes (“Jetstorm: Afterburn!”, “Thrust: Overdrive!”, “Tankorr: Pulverize!”) when Transforming from Robot to Vehicle Mode.

The Drones require no command code whatsoever. They merely Transform as either Megatron or their General commands or as their automatic defense systems would dictate.

It wasn’t long before the Generals stopped doing that, alongside the Maximals no longer need to say “I am transformed” to focus the transformation. I didn’t miss either. Since the only drone that talked was the Diagnostic Drone, and he didn’t transform, the part about the Drones not needing an activation code seems superfluous. Never mind that, though. It’s time to finally ask the question that should have been answered long before now…

I’M SORRY… “TECHNORGANIC”?

Technorganic is a term that applies to the fusion of the technical and the organic that the Oracle applied to reformat the Maximals. As a result, they appear neither as entirely organic in Beast Mode, nor entirely mechanical in Robot Mode.

What this means for the Maximals is that a lot of the old rules no longer apply. They are protected from the effects of Megatron’s Transformation-freezing virus and no longer in danger of going into Stasis Lock (the death-like freezing up of a Transformer’s body that if untreated can result in permanent shut-down). The process of Transformation is now as described above. They apparently no longer need to fuel up on Energon. They will discover that the Regeneration Chambers they used to affect repairs on their damaged bodies no longer work.

The CR Chambers (“CR” standing for Creation/Restoration, according to TF Wiki) never really showed up as far as I recall.

We have also seen that ingesting organic food such as fruit causes the reformatted Maximals to revert to Feral Beast Mode. The Maximals will eventually discover and learn to fuel up on technorganic fruit.

In addition, the Maximals’ technorganic bodies are a physical manifestation of their ultimate mission: to bring about a seamless balance of the technical and the organic on Cybertron — a mission they may actually accomplish by the end of Episode 26.

I’m not sure that “technorganic” is a balance between the two. “Fusion” was the right term, as it appears to have elements of both organic life and their previous machine existence. It’s somewhere in-between the two natures.

DOES ANYBODY REALLY
KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?

For those who wish to remain consistent with the Cybertronian units of time as used in the first BEAST WARS series, here are their approximate Earth equivalents:
1 Nano-Klik = 1/10 second
1 Klik = 1 second
1 Cycle = 1 minute
1 Mega-Cycle = 1 hour
1 Solar Cycle = 1 day
1 Deca-Cycle = 1 month
1 Stellar Cycle = 1 year

If memory serves, this is in keeping with how the terms were used in Beast Wars. After all, if they cut ties with Earth and only had minor culture bleed remaining, using Earth terms for days, months, and years doesn’t really work. Marvel Comics had their own time measurements as did the original show. (Sadly, “vorns” and “astroseconds” respectively  seem to have disappeared.) These do sound like time measurements machine life would come up with.

THIS AIN’T YOUR FATHER’S BEAST WARS

While TRANSFORMERS: BEAST MACHINES retains the characters and continuity of BEAST WARS, its tone departs from its predecessor’s in many significant ways.

Our series distinguishes itself by:
– A brand new setting.
– More sophisticated character and background designs.
– Much higher stakes.
– Pro-active rather than re-active heroes.
– A lead hero with flaws to overcome and demons to conquer.
– A lead villain with a point-of-view beyond pure evil and glorious conquest.
– Character-based, rather than technology-based stories.
– Character-based humor, rather than goofy slapstick.
– A new take on the hows and whys of Transformation.
– A spiritual/mythological bent that permeates every aspect of the storytelling.
– A greater sense of epic scale and the odds stacked against our heroes (i.e., rather than two fairly equally matched teams battling it out over a barren prehistoric landscape, it’s our guys versus seemingly endless armies of Drones on a planet rich with history).

There is nothing wrong with any of that, depending on your preference. It’s not really a “new” setting, just one that’s undergone a major change from what the characters are used to. In the original show, Cybertron always seemed like a dead world anyway, even in season three when they were trying to rebuild. We wouldn’t see a “living” Cybertron (Primus aside) until Transformers: Animated, and even that was in glimpses as the show took place on Earth. I do love when we get stories from a pre-war Cybertron, to see what their culture and society was like. After the war usually tends to be boring to me, with the exception of the Aligned continuity and Robots In Disguise and Rescue Bots Academy because Cybertron seems alive again and bots live their lives there. Basically the reconstruction is done and life has returned.

Next time on Beast Machine Hunters should be interesting. It’s the synopses for the then planned episodes of Transformers: Beast Machines. I’m curious to see what changes took place, since these aren’t suggestions like we’ve seen in other bibles. This is a continuous story and it should be fun to see how much of it they mapped out and how it connects to the show’s issues.