The Scrapmetals are descended from the Insecticons according to their online code bio thing

I'm really hoping the next series has no connection to any other series at all. It gets really annoying when said character is a descendant of another and stuff.

He's both. As are some Beast Wars as well, beasts who act as vehicles smaller creatures can pilot. TM2 Megatron is a good example.

 

The Insecticons and Dinobots were originally designed to be animal like vehicles as well, but later the vehicle aspect was canned for The Transformers

Vehicle.

 

There are reallife vehicles like Scrapmetal in existence. Since we cannot create hybrids yet, it has to be purely artificial, therefore, it is a vehicle.

Add me to the vehicle side. :tflaugh

It all boils down to Vehicle. It has no Mouth and or facial features in alt mode. If they were still there original tiny size, I could see how the Transformers would refer to them being parasites.

Vehicle.

 

The G1 Dinobots and Insecticons never had true beast modes, their alt modes were robotic animals. And in the context of Diaclone, they were vehicles (piloted mecha). TM2 Megatron never had a pilot - the cockpit thing was meant to hold a figurine that was meant to represent his Spark, not a separately sentient pilot. Furthermore, the Transmetals and Transmetal 2s intermediate mode are described as transport vehicle modes. The TM and TM2s technically don't have true beast modes either, that's why BW Metals flopped in Japan -- aside from the shoddy dubbing, the Japanese fan community generally disliked the idea of Metals because they felt that it contradicted the spirit of "Beast" Wars. They accepted it in Car Robot because Car Robot had a distinctly different theme. This is why Beast Wars Neo fared better in Japan -- it went back to the original formula of true beast modes; with a couple of noted exceptions, the overall BW Neo line sported true beast modes rather than cybernetic or robotic animal modes. And the BW Neo moulds were pretty popular with Gaijin fans too, not only in terms of the number of Western fans importing these figures, but also the fact that Hasbro saw it fit to reuse certain BW Neo moulds during the Beast Machines, RiD and Universe eras, including a Hasbro reissue of Magmatron.

 

In G1 the Dinobots and Insecticons' alt modes were never referred to as "beasts." Even Huffer teased Ratchet and Wheeljack's attempt at giving the Dinobots "dinosaur" modes. G1 "beasties" are referred to as "Primitives" but never as 'beasts' or 'animals.' Ravage and Laserbeak aren't going to get confused for being a real condor and jaguar anytime soon.

 

The thing about Rumble (Scrapmetal) that makes him more vehicular like is not only the cockpit (which unlike Diaclone cockpits is extremely prominent), but the fact that the vehicle mode also carries a cannon. Rumble's vehicle mode is more like some animé spider tank (e.g.: 攻殻機動隊/G.i.t.S.) than any kind of arachnid. For one thing, arachnids have eight legs (insects have six) whereas Rumble's alt mode is quadrapedal.

 

Rumble's alt mode is a TANK mode. It uses legs instead of wheels, but it's still a tank. Just as his robot mode is clearly a robot despite the fact that it resembles a human. You don't call it a "man mode" now do you? ;)

someone gets inside the cockpit... it's a vehicle.

 

Decepticon Headmasters are animals with cockpits and pilots, but I would never call those vihicles.

 

Emerje

Can I just say it was a stupid toy, and that I knew it would cause this kind of problem?

 

The real question is, male or female?

Decepticon Headmasters are animals with cockpits and pilots, but I would never call those vihicles.

ve-hi-cle noun

1. a. A device or structure for transporting persons or things; a conveyance.

 

They're certainly not animals/beasts. An animal with a cockpit would be more like the Dino Riders.

 

The G1 beast modes were really vehicles or robots that bore a resemblance to animals or monsters. They were never organic enough to be true beast modes -- the only arguable exception to this case would be Pretenders (and even then only their shells) and the Firecons.

Decepticon Headmasters are animals with cockpits and pilots, but I would never call those vihicles.

ve-hi-cle noun

1. a. A device or structure for transporting persons or things; a conveyance.

 

They're certainly not animals/beasts. An animal with a cockpit would be more like the Dino Riders.

 

The G1 beast modes were really vehicles or robots that bore a resemblance to animals or monsters. They were never organic enough to be true beast modes -- the only arguable exception to this case would be Pretenders (and even then only their shells) and the Firecons.

 

Yeah, OK, you caught me with a misnomer. What I had meant was that I didn't see them as vehicles in the classical sense (cars, tanks, planes). But I don't see how Pretenders and Firecons (or even anything from Beast Wars) can be seen as an exception since they're still just robots that resemble animals. Chainclaw is a robot that looks like a bear, but not really a bear. Optimus Primal is a robot that looks like a gorilla, but not really a gorilla. Skullcruncher is a robot that looks like an alligator, but not really an alligator. Firecons don't even come close to being either animals or beasts since they aren't based on anything real, they're creatures which all robot animals qualify as.

 

Meh, the way I see it if I can say Bumblebee turns into a VW Beetle (which if you want to get this technical he doesn't, he turns into a vehicle that resembles a VW Beetle, but isn't actually a VW Beetle) then I can say Mindwipe turns into an animal even if he isn't really an animal.

 

Emerje