Canon

[theheretic]

Oh and just to touch lightly (not like that!) on a subject;

Primus and the Quints - I took it that yes the Quintessons did create the Transformers. Probably chose cybertron in the first place as it may have resembled their home planet at the time they discovered it or may have been detected as a massive power source, hence why they were always so desperate to recover the planet. However it was Primus that gave them life, turned them into more than just machines, gave them their 'spark.' The Quints just provided the body's and gave them knowledge

[Verno]

Primus could have created the early Transformers as a species that had to grow and evolve on their own. He went to sleep, and then the Quints arrived and enslaved the early Transformers. They throw them off with an uprising and herald in the Golden Age of Cybertron.

The early Transformers may simply have been robotic. The Quints may have issued them with the power to Transform to do their slave work.

[GoktimusPrime]

Primus created Cybertron and the Transformers species, however it's possible that when the Quintessons took over Cybertron, they also enslaved the existing Cybertronian population and then overtook the manufacturing of new slaves (thus the new generations were made by Quintessons as per their specifications - military hardware and consumer goods).

A3 (Alpha Trion) was one of the original 13 Transformers created by Primus - thus he wasn't manufactured by Quintessons. However it's possible that he was enslaved by the Quintessons. Perhaps it is because of his non-Quintesson origins that he helped to lead the rebellion against the Quintesson slavers.

The early Transformers may simply have been robotic. The Quints may have issued them with the power to Transform to do their slave work.

The ability to transform was something that Primus instilled in the Original 13 -- mimicking Unicron's ability to change form. Having said that, it's possible that the Quintessons may have made modifications; e.g. introduction of drivers/pilot compartments. Transformers don't need pilot compartments, but perhaps it was for the benefit for the Quintessons' clientele.

[Verno]

Cool.

Ok, lets drag some more BM slander in here:

At what point did the original Transformers 'learn' to transform?

Stupid Beast Machines.

[theheretic]

LOL But I had to vent after watching that last episode of BM. I didn't mind the rest of BM except for it being a bit slow and not enough vehicons.

So what's the plan over-all plan with this discussion? Are you going to write/type something up as a story/history?

[Verno]

Cabbage-Tron is never a good way to end a series

I'm writing some Fanfic and just wanted to know what sort of boundaries one can work within, and how much those boundaries can be pushed before you're operating too far out of what is already 'canon'.

If you've got some spare time, read through the whole of this thread, the Vector Sigma / Transmetal Diver thread, as well as my Spotlight: Tarantulas stuff, which is my own random thinkings put together.

[Sky Shadow]

At what point did the original Transformers 'learn' to transform?

Somewhere between nine and four million years ago. In the Headmasters cartoon, transformation is something that has to be learned and is in fact difficult. There are definitely canonical instances where one side 'learned' to transform before the other. In Five Faces Of Darkness from the G1 cartoon it was stated that the Autobots developed transformation first: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac1Mw...ailpage#t=196s and then the Decepticons "learnt" afterwards, shortly before the rise of Megatron. In the Marvel Comics the Decepticons learned to transform first.

[Verno]

I'm sure they actually 'transformed' though, not 'got all shiny and morphed and grew new limbs randomly' ala BM.

[GoktimusPrime]

Beast Machines was Aaron Archer's baby, as was Transmetal 2s, which was Archer's first foray into Transformers. Now, keeping this in mind - go watch the 2007 Transformers movie DVD special features disc... and listen very carefully as Aaron Archer insists that "Transformers don't morph."

Yeah, I had to bite my tongue pretty hard when I first watched that.

[Sky Shadow]

I'm sure they actually 'transformed' though, not 'got all shiny and morphed and grew new limbs randomly' ala BM.

Maybe, but if they could grow entire new Transformers as they did in G2 I'm sure they could potentially evolve transformation as an adaptation.