List of Transformers spacecraft

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This is a list of spacecraft appearing in the fictional Transformers storyline.

Ark

First seen in Generation 1, this is the flagship of the Autobots commanded by Optimus Prime.[1] The computer of the ship was called Teletraan I.[2] The Ark was later seen in the Transformers: Cybertron series as the combined form of 4 Autobot ships, and in Transformers: Timelines/Shattered Glass as the warship of the evil mirror-universe Optimus Prime, which was stolen by Rodimus to invade Earth.

Axalon

An exploration ship commanded by Optimus Primal in the Beast Wars series. This ship was used as the command base for the Maximals in the Beast Wars series for the first two seasons.[3] In 2006, Hasbro released a new toy of Optimus Primal, It included a Cyber Planet Key to activate a missile firing gimick on the surf board included with the figure, Also as an extra piece a small replica of the Axalon was included.[4]

Dark Side

The Dark Side
First appearance Beast Wars episode 1
Affiliation Predacons

In the Beast Wars television series, the Dark Side is the name of the Predacon transwarp ship stolen by renegade Predacon Megatron and his Predacon rebels.[5]

The only time the Predacon ship is named in the television series is in in the episode Equal Measures where Terrorsaur said to Cheetor "Welcome to the Darkside!" upon being discovered in the ship. Since then fans had adopted the name Darkside for the ship. The name was confirmed as official when the Beast Wars video game and DVD box set also referred to it as the Darkside.

However, in the Botcon 2006 exclusive toy box set, Dinobot was referred to as "Darksyde Dinobot" (in the same fashion that the included Maximals were called "Axalon Rhinox", "Axalon Cheetor", etc.). Pete Sinclair posted at the Allspark website that it was spelled that way to make certain they didn't run into any legal problems with George Lucas. This spelling was immediately rejected by fans and Hasbro and so very shortly afterwards IDW Publishing's Beast Wars Sourcebook in 2008 then changed the spelling to "The Dark Side".

The ship's computer was voiced by Elizabeth Carol Savenkoff.[6]

Crew

The original crew of the Dark Side included:

After the ship crashed the crew was joined by several former Maximal protoforms:

  • Blackarachnia - Maximal protoform turned into a Predacon with a shell program by Tarantulas.
  • Inferno - Maximal protoform turned into a Predacon with a shell program by Tarantulas.
  • Quickstrike - Maximal protoform whose violent nature and damaged datatracks resulted in him joining the Predacons of his own accord.
  • Rampage - Maximal serial killer forced to obey Megatron.
  • Transmetal II Dinobot - Clone of the original Dinobot created by Megatron from a blank protoform, Dinobot's raptor DNA and half of Rampage's spark essence.

History

When the rogue Predacon crew stole the Golden Disk, the Dark Side went into transwarp and ended up in prehistoric Earth, fighting the Maximal ship, Axalon. Both spacecraft shot each other down.

In the Season Three episode, Changing of the Guard, the Sentinel defense system was installed in the Dark Side after the Predacons stole it from a Maximal salvage mission. However, later in Season Three episode, Other Victories, the Dark Side was destroyed by the alien Vok when they sent Tigerhawk to stop Megatron.

A toy of the Dark Side was packaged in with the 2006 release of Megatron by Hasbro, though not named as such. It is simply called a Predacon ship.

Timelines

The origin of the Dark Side was expanded on in the Botcon Timelines story "Dawn of Futures Past". In this story, the Dark Side was a ship stolen from Cybertron by Waspinator and Terrorsaur. The two had a contest to decide the name of the ship. Terrorsaur won, and named the ship the Dark Side. Waspinator expressed disappointment that the name Buzzerbot was not chosen, as he thought it sounded better; a sentiment surprisingly shared even by Megatron.[7]

Longbow

Ship commanded by Rodimus in the Transformers: Timelines fiction.

Megastar

The Megastar is the Predacon starship and mobile command center. It is equipped with transwarp cells and also capable of moving underwater and underground; the versatile craft is constantly on the move to avoid detection by Autobots. The ship has a throne room for Megatron, living quarters for the crew, energon smelters, and special vats for converting other energy sources into energon. The ship's arsenal includes missiles and beam weapons, and it also has a shield that can reflect incoming beam weapons back at attackers. With this technology, the huge vessel is able to defeat even the hitherto-undefeated Omega Prime. The Megastar's most obvious physical characteristics are its two huge, humanoid arms, one of which ends in a five-fingered fist, the other in a two-pronged claw.

Animated series

The Megastar burned up most of its energy reaching Earth, and consequently the Predacons were forced to try to raid human energy sources while keeping the base on the move to avoid detection. While it was parked on the sea floor, the Predacons gathered up a large amount of torch-sized batteries which Megatron announced were useless. They stole the Plutonium Energy Generator and brought it back to the Megastar, only to find they'd been duped by the Autobots. They parked the Megastar on the undersea Black Pyramid, which they hoped to tap for energy, but had to abandon the site when the Autobots found them.

Doctor Onishi was held prisoner aboard the ship while the Predacons tried to extract information from him. The ship's computers decoded one of the doctor's floppy disks, sending the Predacons on another wild goose chase. Megatron could control his Mega-Laser Cannon from the ship, but was forced to steer away from the area when the Spy Changers destroyed the cannon, for fear the power they wielded could cause the ship to crash.

The Megastar's instruments picked up Dorie Dutton's news story about the Cave of the Dragon, inadvertently leading the Predacons to another dead end. They used the Megastar for transport around the United States of America after stealing some protoforms which they reformatted into Decepticons. Megatron subsequently monitored the Decepticons' work from the Megastar bridge as they tried unsuccessfully to destroy Sherman Dam. Having shot Movor into space, the Decepticons communicated with him using the ship's computer.

The Megastar computers were evidently also hooked in to the Internet, as Sky-Byte used them to discover he was a jellyfish via an online fish test. They parked the ship on Easter Island once and also in the Arctic. Their interrogation of Doctor Onishi finally saw paydirt in the form of the location of Fortress Maximus, but soon after, while the ship was parked near the pyramids, Sky-Byte removed Onishi from the ship as part of a plan and accidentally handed him back to the Autobots.

The ship was parked near some old ruins when Megatron decided to lead his forces in trying to obtain the Orb of Sigma. Megatron's disappearance resulted in Scourge taking command of the Megastar, briefly. After Megatron returned as Galvatron, he hid the ship in a deep sea trench while they tried to take control of Fortress Maximus. They used the ship's computer to review their past defeats in the hopes of learning something. An attempt to kidnap Koji Onishi instead resulted in Koji's friend Karl being taken aboard the Megastar.

During a heated battle, Galvatron expanded until he was able to graft his hand mode onto one of the Megastar's arms. Thus augmented, the ship was able to brawl Fortress Maximus into an apparent stalemate. However, Maximus's tremendous firepower was apparently enough to destroy the Megastar, and it was last seen bursting into flames and crashing and sinking beneath a lake.

Notes

  • Whenever it appears in an episode, the Megastar is always in a completely different location than its last appearance. The second episode of Robots in Disguise establishes that the ship requires stolen/converted energy in order to move. This implies that (despite all appearances to the contrary) the Predacons actually manage to steal a considerable amount of energy during their stint on Earth, albeit while off-screen.

Miranda II

The Miranda II is a spaceship in the Transformers: Energon cartoon series. It was designed by Dr. Brian Jones, the scientist in charge of the joint Earth/Cybertron energon project on the human side, and named after his wife, Miranda. The Miranda II bears both the Autobot symbol and the logo of the Earth Federation. The ship is equipped with its own energon grid, which acts as a defensive shield.

Nemesis

The Nemesis is a Decepticon spaceship in the fictional Transformers universe. It was built by Megatron as the flagship of his Decepticon space fleet, and was described by Optimus Primal as the most powerful Decepticon battleship ever. The ship was never named in the original series, only being given a name in the Beast Wars series finale.[8] Over three miles (5 km) long, the ship was equipped with an energon reactor, cutting and tractor beams, along with a staggering array of offensive and defensive weapons. It was powered by the energy maximizer named the Heart of Cybertron. Other amenities included a battle preparation room large enough for a combiner to completely form inside.[9]

Spanner

The ship commanded by Longrack in the story Force of Habit.

Steelhaven

The ship commanded by Fortress Maximus in the Marvel Transformers comics. Later used as the ship commanded by Sentinel Prime in Transformers Animated.

Twilight

A Decepticon spaceship appearing in the Generation 2 comics as Jhiaxus's flagship. The ship's shape resembles a scorpion.

Warworld

A Decepticon spaceship appearing in the Generation 2 comics as Bludgeon's and later Megatron's flagship. The ship is spherical in shape and bursting with weaponry.

Xantium

An Autobot spaceship appearing in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. It is described as having brought the second wave of Autobots to Earth. The Xantium is kept at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida where it is linked to a decommissioned space shuttle so the human military can have some control over it. It is tended to by the Wreckers under the command of Robert Epps. Optimus Prime and Ratchet use it to travel to the Moon to retrieve Sentinel Prime and five Space Bridge pillars from the remains of the Ark. When the Autobots are exiled from Earth, it is used to leave, but it is destroyed by Starscream before it can leave the atmosphere, apparently killing the Autobots. It is later revealed that the Autobots were in the first booster rocket to separate from the ship and faked their own deaths to catch the Decepticons off-guard.

Transformers who become spacecraft

As most Transformers can assume alternate forms, some have taken on the form of spaceships. These include:

A Decepticon who can take for form of a space shuttle.[10] Versions of Astrotrain have appeared in the Generation 1, Cybertron and Timelines/Shattered Glass stories.
An Autobot who can take the form of a flying saucer.[11]
A gigantic Autobot spaceship in the Generation 1, Headmaster, Masterforce and Robots in Disguise series.[12]
An Autobot who can take the form of a space shuttle in the Victory series.
An Autobot "Air Guardian" who takes the form of a large jet aircraft in Generation 1.
One of the Original thirteen Transformers, takes the form of an enormous spaceship.
Fortress Maximus's Decepticon rival in the Generation 1, Headmaster and Masterforce series.
A large Autobot who transports Micromasters in the Zone series.
An Autobot commander who turns from space shuttle to enormous mechanical bird and cat in Generation 1 and later seen in the Timelines/Shattered Glass series.[13]
An entire city who turn into a spaceworthy flying dinosaur in the Generation 1 series.

References

  1. "Transformers: an adult primer // Here's help understanding toy robots, the latest rage", Chicago Sun-Times; December 16, 1986; by Patricia Smith
  2. High on sci-fi. Star Tribune, March 2, 2007, by Salas, Randy A.
  3. http://www.gameshark.com/entertainment/reviews/2309/Beast-Machines-Transformers-DVD-Review.htm This 700 minute boxed set serves up the Beast Wars storyline in style.
  4. http://www.oafe.net/yo/tfbw_op.php
  5. The Transformers Beast Wars Sourcebook by Don Figueroa, Simon Furman, Ben Yee, Dan M. Khanna, Guido Guidi, Jake Isenberg, Marcelo Matere, Nick Roche, Rob Ruffolo and Simon Williams
  6. Encyclopedia of television shows, 1925 through 2007 by Vincent Terrace
  7. http://www.seibertron.com/comics/view.php?comic_id=848
  8. TV guide: TV on DVD 2006: The Ultimate Resource to Television
  9. Nemesis (Decepticon Miscellaneous, Transformers G1)
  10. Lee's Guide to Loose 1985 Transformers: The Decepticons. Lee's Toy Review magazine, issue #201, August 2009
  11. "Less Than Meets the Eye: The 12 Most Ridiculous Transformers of All Time". Wired Magazine. August 21, 2008. http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2008/08/less-than-meets/. Retrieved 2010-10-03. 
  12. Bellomo, Mark (2010). Totally Tubular '80s. Krause Publications. p. 110. ISBN 1-4402-1282-1. 
  13. Luke McKinney (June 25, 2009). "The 8 Shittiest Transformer Disguises". http://www.cracked.com/article_17400_the-8-shittiest-transformer-disguises.html. 
  • Furman, Simon (2004). Transformers: The Ultimate Guide. DK Publishing Inc.. p. 81. ISBN 1-4053-0461-8.