Transmutate (BW)

Transmutate is a Maximal from the Beast Wars portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

MU-tilate. MU-tant. Hm. I wonder. Oh well.

Confused, vulnerable, and staggeringly powerful, Transmutate (also Trans-Mutate) is often perceived as a threat, especially by those who don't want such a wildly unpredictable individual disrupting their social order or behind-the-scenes plotting. Incomplete by Transformer standards, and with an innocent and trusting nature that is both boon and handicap, Transmutate is at great risk from those who have exploitation on their minds—but if provoked is able to unleash a nearly unwithstandable sonic scream as a defense mechanism.

Fiction

Beast Wars cartoon

Voice actor: Susan Blu (English), Haruna Ikezawa (Japanese), Xu Lin (Chinese), Luca Bottale (Italian), Humberto Vélez (Latin-American Spanish)

Transmutate's stasis pod was one of many aboard the Axalon and at some point crashed from Earth orbit in seismically-unstable Grid Deltron. The heavily-damaged pod later became uncovered by the region's earthquakes and Transmutate explosively freed itself, revealing a warped and asymmetrical form that quickly provoked strong emotional reactions from those nearby: fascination from Rampage, disdain from Rattrap, compassion from Silverbolt, and greed from Inferno. Presented with the choice of Maximal or Predacon, it hesitated and when Inferno accidentally shot it, it unleashed its sonic scream. With the Maximals out of commission as a result and feeling he'd found a kindred spirit, Rampage lost no time in befriending Transmutate. Though Megatron failed to see the value in the mutant, deriding it as ugly and unable to transform and ordering it be destroyed, Rampage intended to prove the strange newcomer a worthy ally. He and Inferno persuaded it to act as bait for a trap for Silverbolt. When Transmutate was reluctant to finish off the Maximal, Inferno pushed the creature aside and was promptly blasted into the distance for his troubles.

Optimus Primal arrived and, defeating Rampage, persuaded Transmutate to return with him to the Axalon for a scan. The results were discouraging—Optimus felt that Transmutate was a danger to itself and everyone around it, and Rhinox suggested immediately putting it into stasis lock. Silverbolt was the only one to speak up angrily on its behalf. Walking through the base alone, Transmutate heard Rampage calling out to it, and opted to leave the Axalon to join him.

Silverbolt quickly found the pair and immediately came to blows with Rampage. Transmutate tried to get the two to stop, landing between them right as they each fired missiles. Transmutate blazed with power, trying to halt the missiles, but was shattered in the resulting explosion. Though Transmutate lingered conscious for long enough to bid goodbye to its friends, its spark extinguished and it died, leaving both Silverbolt and Rampage devastated. Transmutate

Beast Wars: Uprising

After the end of the Great War between the Autobots and the Decepticons, the Decepticon scientist Deluge, anticipating a future crisis where his species would once again require its best and brightest to step up to the task, began experimenting upon protoforms with the intent of artificially engineering a future generation of Cybertronians with unique Point One Percenter sparks. While most of his experiments ended in failure, his efforts eventually yielded two successes: the murderous, immortal Rampage, and a cheerful female Cybertronian who suffered from a disconnect in her processors that prevented her from properly interpreting emotions and social cues. The Inexorable March

For this condition, the cruel had given her the mocking nickname of "Trans-Mutate". Observing multiple instances of incompatible, contradictory information in the official history logs of Cybertron and concluding that it had been perpetrated deliberately, the innocent-minded Trans-Mutate brought her concerns to the authorities, who reacted not with a desire to see it corrected, as she had expected, but with an anger she could not understand—they, of course, were the ones responsible for adjusting the history logs for their own purposes. Trans-Mutate ended up allying with the mobster Cryotek, though she did not comprehend that he was a criminal: she sided with him because his account of history matched the facts she had gathered. When her usefulness to Cryotek ended, he discarded her, but she was rescued from the authorities by Botanica and fell in with Rattrap's freedom fighters, struggling to overthrow the masters who forced them to fight a continuous war. Though she understood that she had been wrong in trusting Cryotek, she could not understand why. Perception Transmutate's profile in Club magazine #55

During the group's raid on the Ferromax Detention Center to free Dynobot, Trans-Mutate found herself distracted by a voice emanating from a cell on the maximum security level: Rampage, a fellow Point One Percenter who sensed a kindred spirit in her, and who told her that he could feel the pain in her spark. The Maximals freed Dynobot, and before they left, Rampage promised Trans-Mutate that they would meet again. Prologue Unfortunately, Trans-Mutate was captured during the escape, tried, and sentenced to incarceration on Garrus-16. En route, however, the prison ship Claustrum suffered a hull breach, jettisoning her stasis pod, which crashed on dwarf planet LGC-8803. Taking the navicomp from the pod to supply advice, she explored and discovered a huge structure. A short time later, she was found by Rampage, who had also been imprisoned aboard the Claustrum. Perception When he turned out to be so low on energy he could barely stand, she connected him to the navicomp to give him power, and he filled her in on the concept of Point One Percenters. The pair soon realized that they were not alone, and came under attack from Bruton and Medusa. Despite putting up a fair battle, they were rendered unconscious and presented to Lord Imperious Delirious. Kindred

The Destructon leader provided the pair with energon and revealed that he had shot the Claustrum down in order to liberate them. Explaining the origins of himself and his friends, who were all "second-born intellects"—being created by other beings—that had rebelled against their creators, Delirious invited Trans-Mutate and Rampage to join their ranks. Trans-Mutate, however, spotted the inconsistencies in Lord Imperious Delirious's story and, having uncomfortable memories of Cryotek, insisted that she and Rampage would be leaving. When pressed, she pointed out that Delirious had to be lying, because there was no way he could have known about them being on board the ship; the Destructon leader confirmed her suspicions, explaining he had shot the ship down purely to salvage its tech, but insisted that "broken" 'bots like them belonged in his care. Rampage wavered, but Trans-Mutate firmly refuted the notion that she was "broken"—and Lord Imperious Delirious responded with his hallucinogenic Delirious Fire. Delirious

Trans-Mutate found herself floating in a fragmented space, unable to string together a thought, until Rampage was able to mentally contact her and persuade her to use her power to break them both free. They were immediately attacked by the Destructons, and Trans-Mutate sliced Medusa in two. The Destructons opted to leave Rampage and Trans-Mutate to be picked up by whomever answered the distress call Delirious had sent to Cybertron. Clarity

Indeed, the Cybertronian ship Dinosaur responded to LGC-8803 and an away team of enlisted Predacons got in a skirmish with the Destructons. Trans-Mutate found them and intervened, destroying Psychokhan by driving a grenade between plates in his armor. She and Rampage re-grouped with the Predacons and explained the circumstances. They fought to prevent Lord Imperious Delirious from escaping on the Predacons' shuttle. Imperious was seemingly defeated, but the Dinosaur came crashing down to the planet due to internal strife among the crew and Medusa's sabotage. Still, the ship survived landfall and unfolded into a new Cybertronian colony, dubbed Dinosaur City. Word of a rebellion against the Builders had reached the ship, and Rampage chose to join several other protoformers from the crew in returning to Cybertron to fight against tyranny. Trans-Mutate chose to remain at Dinosaur City, and had a tender good-bye with Rampage. Intersectionality

Trans-Mutate and Rampage remained in contact thanks to Dinosaur City's long tachyon array. Given time, Trans-Mutate looked into their origins and discovered the extent of the atrocities performed by their creator, Deluge, as he tried to create 0.1 percenters from protoformers. Her research helped guide Rampage to the hidden laboratory Deluge retained even after the Vehicon Apocalypse. Rampage executed their "father", and Trans-Mutate conceded it was necessary due to his crimes.

One decade later, she was still a resident of Dinosaur City when the Vok made themselves known. The Inexorable March

Legends World

Perched on Rampage, Transmutate watched as Ai attempted to arrest Tarantulas in Tera-Kura Co. Epiloge

Games

Transformers: Battle Tactics

Transmutate participated in battles against a variety of opponents, both Autobots and Decepticons. Sometimes there were many of her! She was an Epic character who was available in the December Daily Campaign and could be recruited by collecting 20 Alpha cores, 20 Beta cores, 20 Omega cores, and 10 cores of this character. Transformers: Battle Tactics

Toys

Beast Wars 10th Anniversary

Nobody wants me.—eBay buyers would disagree!

• Known designers: Marcelo Matere (packaging artist)

Eight years after the character's fictional debut, Trans-Mutate was given a toy release as part of the Beast Wars 10th Anniversary toyline, split into components included with the first six figures in the line as the Transformers franchise's first "Build a Figure" (and the next one would not come out until 2020!). Trans-Mutate's head came with Waspinator, the torso with Cheetor, the waist and right leg with Rhinox, the left leg with "Tarantulus", the right arm with Rattrap, and the left arm with Dinobot.

All six parts combine into a non-converting figure that stands about a head taller than the Beast Wars Deluxe Class molds with which its components were included. They have no action features and only limited articulation... but the simple fact that such a deliberately non-toyetic character featured in only one episode even got a toy is itself an extraordinary occurrence.

According to Ben Yee on Madman Entertainment's Beast Wars Season 2 DVD commentaries, Hasbro attempted to replicate Trans-Mutate's sonic scream attacks, first as a spring-loaded projectile, then as a static decoration, before finally abandoning the idea.

The plastic in Trans-Mutate's legs is very rubbery and prone to warping, leaving the toy unable to stand unsupported after a few years.

• More information on Trans-Mutate at TFU.info

Timelines

"Abed, she’s a program."
"People have said similar things about me."

• Trans-Mutate (Deluxe Class, 2014)
  • Accessories: Two arm blades/motorcycle panels

Timelines Trans-Mutate is a redeco of Prime: First Edition Arcee. She was an exclusive available for purchase by Transformers Collectors' Club members. Trans-Mutate transforms from a green and tan motorcycle to a robot and back. Arm blades stow in vehicle mode and can be plugged under Trans-Mutate's forearms in robot mode.

Timelines Trans-Mutate came in a large box that is meant to serve as shared giftset-style packaging with Timelines Rampage, though that figure is sold separately. The package art for this box is an homage to the poster of the 1985 sci-fi film Enemy Mine.

• More information on Timelines Trans-Mutate at TFU.info

Generations Selects

"Ms. Transmutate, I want to get off your wild ride!"
"Repeat your answer please."

• Transmutate (Deluxe Class, July 2021)
  • Series: War for Cybertron: Kingdom
  • ID number: WFC-GS25
  • Accessories: Tail-weapon

A Generations Selects add-on toy for Kingdom, Transmutate is a head retool and redeco of Paleotrex. She "transforms" into a skeletal Tyrannosaurus to robot and back via disassembly and reassembly. Her new head replaces the mask assembly with a show-accurate head and a mouth that can open enough to replicate her super-sonic scream.

As a redeco of a Fossilizer, Transmutate can split into weapons and armor compatible with the C.O.M.B.A.T. System for use by other War for Cybertron Trilogy figures (or any figure with 5 mm post compatibility). The Hasbro Pulse description mentions her disassembly function as a homage to her original build-a-figure toy.^[1] This functionality also allows her to take on an official, more show-accurate configuration, by switching her upper right arm and lower right arm. Her dino-mode tail-tip becomes a serrated sword/cudgel in robot mode and has a small tab that plugs in behind the right shoulder for weapon storage.

Of course, she can still form the two suggested configurations from Paleotrex. The first has her robot-mode lower body and forearms combined into a double-clawed backpack, with the dino-mode tail and pelvic assembly forming a massive battle-axe, her dino-mode head and neck an arm-mounted chompy-thing, her chestplate a shield, and her head becoming a hand-held weapon. The second has her lower body still as a backpack, but now acting as twin cannons, with the dino-mode feet plugging into the bottom of a figure's feet to be... uh, stilts, we guess, keeping the arm-mounted shield-chestplate, and combining the head, dino-skull, and tail-axe assembly into a monstrously huge battle sword.

Due to having tiny feet and a very oddly proportioned body in robot mode, the figure can be difficult to pose without it falling over, not helped by the fact that her "ankle" tilts are actually positioned just below her knees.

This mold was also used to make Skelivore, as well as Legacy Wreck N' Rule Collection Spindle.

Notes

• The script for “Transmutate” explicitly states that Transmutate possesses an “unstable spark”. ^[2] Although stage direction and narration from scripts are only pseudocanon, some fans have used this to extrapolate that Transmutate’s spark was as damaged as its body, perhaps explaining why the Maximals couldn't perform any kind of repairs.
• The episode script's cast listing section describes the character as thus: "TRANSMUTATE: a being with no beauty of form nor logic of shape, massive, made of unmatched parts: bits of Predacon, pieces of Maximal, chunks of Fuzor and Transmetal, heavy-duty weapons, and a face that vaguely indicates it is female." This wording lends some credence to the idea that Transmutate was originally a female Protoform. At least one early draft of the script consistently uses female pronouns; however, the final script and the episode as aired constantly refers to Transmutate only as "it". In 2014, an alternate universe version of Transmutate would be depicted as female by a Timelines toy and corresponding Club magazine story. In 2021, Transmutate's Generations Selects toy used female pronouns in the Hasbro Pulse online description.^[1]

Foreign names

• Japanese: Transmutate (トランスミューテイト Toransumyūteito)
• Italian: Convertor
• Mandarin: Biànyì Biàntǐ (China, 变异变体, "Transmutate")
• Portuguese: Transmutante
• Russian: Transmutatsiya (Трансмутация), Transmutant (Трансмутант)
• Spanish: Transmutante

References