Canon

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

I read in the Beast Wars Guidebook that Waspinator became a transmetal after his and Starscreams sparks were merged which explains Waspinators jet mode.
Did this appear in any media?

Not outside of the Guidebook that I know of, and when Waspy has a flashback to his leaving Earth in BM he's pretty clearly his standard self.
I think he's a TM in the N64 game, but then that's yet another splinter timeline.

[Hursticon]

I think he's a TM in the N64 game, but then that's yet another splinter timeline.

Was in N64 was it? - I knew it was a Japanese exclusive game anyway.
It's a cool concept for how Waspinator gains his TM form, a real pity that Hasbro decided to keep him the way he was in the show but I suppose things may of turned out to be quite different subsequently.

[Verno]

Ooh! - Now, I like this.
So every recipient would essentially hand over their spark to the Matrix upon receiving it yeah? and hence the upgrade?

Correct.

There's only meant to be one Prime at a time, as far as I know, thus there is only one spark in the canister at a time, as a dying Prime (IE Optimus in TF:TM) hands the canister on as their spark rejoins the Allspark for good, and the new power up comes when a new Spark is 'chosen' by Primus (IE Hot Rod in TF:TM)

[Hursticon]

Correct.

There's only meant to be one Prime at a time, as far as I know, thus there is only one spark in the canister at a time, as a dying Prime (IE Optimus in TF:TM) hands the canister on as their spark rejoins the Allspark for good, and the new power up comes when a new Spark is 'chosen' by Primus (IE Hot Rod in TF:TM)

Excellent, that suits me quite dandily.

[Verno]

Thus Primal didn't get a full upgrade because he took the Matrix into his body, but there was already a Spark being housed in it - Prime's.

Also, the Matrix-canister become a vessel of knowledge of all the other Prime's that have come before and helps the Prime's that are to come.

[GoktimusPrime]

Transmetal Waspinator certainly existed in toy continuity. Too bad his vehicle mode isn't anywhere near as cool as it looks in pictures.

I always thought a "Prime" drew their power from the Allspark via the Matrix.

When Optimus Primal took the 'Matrix-shaped' object from Prime's chest in Optimal Situation, I believed he was taking the 'actual' Matrix into his body, as a Prime's spark is in essense already one with the Allspark inside the Matrix.

So basically, The Matrix is a Prime's Spark that is empowered by the Allspark and is housed in the double-handled canister we know and love.

Ooh! - Now, I like this.
So every recipient would essentially hand over their spark to the Matrix upon receiving it yeah? and hence the upgrade?

In short: no.

However this is where things kinda get messy. According to G1/G2 canon, the Matrix is either:
+ A collective font of knowledge, according to the G1 cartoon
+ A divine artifact forged from Primus' life essence, according to the Marvel Comics.

But what happened in Beast Wars was that Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio misunderstood the nature of the Matrix. Basically they watched Transformers The Movie and saw how Optimus Prime passed the Matrix to Ultra Magnus etc etc., but of course, TFTM itself doesn't explain what the Matrix is precisely. So Forward and DiTillio assumed that it was a receptacle to hold Optimus Prime's Spark - and thus that's how it was visually portrayed in Beast Wars. However Beast Wars itself never explicitly stated that the Matrix was a Spark receptacle... we just saw it become empty after Optimus Primal placed Optimus Prime's Spark into his body. The show itself never explicitly provided an explanation for this per se.

As Odie said before, the Forward and DiTillio were researching G1 and G2 while they were writing Beast Wars; so in this case they didn't understand the full nature of the Matrix because they were only looking at one canonical source. And remember that in those days, TFwiki didn't exist. It's pretty awesome that Forward and DiTillio even bothered to give up their own spare time to research G1 and G2 (and also consult with fans too) to try to make Beast Wars fit into previous TF canon - as cumbersome as it was (is) - rather than taking the easy way out and doing a continuity reboot (which is what most TF writers have been doing for the past decade (>_>)).

So if you look at Beast Wars in complete isolation (i.e. totally ignoring all other TF canon), then okay, the Matrix could be seen as a receptacle for a Prime's Spark. But when you look at it in the bigger picture and take in other TF canonical sources, then basically the answer is no. Especially since Primus has been retconned as a Multiversal Singularity too - I imagine that the Matrix across the multiverse may have been forged from Primus' life essence.

[Verno]

I'm sure, even you Gok, have to admit that a Spark held within a container, powered by the All-Spark (Ie, Primus himself) and is known as 'The Matrix' is a better notion than some mystical device held in the chest of a 'Prime'.

[Verno]

Transmetal Waspinator certainly existed in toy continuity. Too bad his vehicle mode isn't anywhere near as cool as it looks in pictures.

I'd love to know how far down the production line Transmetal Scorponok and Transmetal Tigatron got. I know there are pictures floating around on the net of what they would have been like, but they make me sad that we didn't get a whole line of 'produced' Transmetal moulds of the show characters.

[LordCyrusOmega]

Wasn't Transmetal Tigatron an exlusive? Sure I've seen him for sale somewhere.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Yup, Botcon exclusive. Unless Verno means some other TM Tigatron that got cancelled, which is quite possible.
TM Scorpy was a McDonald's toy IIRC.