Theories: who did Unicron turn into who?

[BigTransformerTrev]

Given all the hype about a 1986 Movie accurate Unicron toy being released, time to bring up an old and much discussed (and admittedly rehashed) discussion that’s been taking place over the past 33 years:

Everyone knows that Skywarp and Thundercracker got reformatted. And so did some Insecticons. And in return we got Cyclonus, Scourge & his huntsmen – the Sweeps. (For now we’ll put down ‘Armada’ as one of many animation errors, left over from when the original script called for Cyclonus to have clones of his own) So:

WHO DID UNICRON FORMAT INTO WHO?

The Seekers:

One get turned into a Cyclonus, one got turned into a Scourge/Sweep. So which is which?

*My theory
-Since a Seeker got transformed when Unicron was saying ‘Scourge’, I think the Seeker was turned into Scourge rather than a Sweep. And due to the colour scheme I’d say it was Thundercracker
-A Seeker got turned into a Cyclonus, though it was in the background rather than the foreground, so it’s possible it was transformed into the redundant ‘Armada’. I’d like to think however that Skywarp (again, colour scheme) got turned into Cyclonus.
Of course there is an argument that due to being a more honourable being, Thundercracker got turned into Cyclonus, but I tend to go with the colour scheme theory.

Insecticons or Clones? And who did they become?

Arguments abound about whether it was the original Insecticons or their clones that got reformatted by Unicron. Since they spoke (nay!) many think it was the actual Insecticons. Also Shrapnel had clone beams and a Shrapnel got turned into a Scourge/Sweeps, so it could have been the original.

*My theory
The Insecticon clones had always been shown to not continue to survive without the original three. So the fact that more Insections cropped up later in the movie and also several episode of season 3 makes me think it was clones that were thrown out. Also Bombshell cropped up in a book (I can’t remember which one – I think Paulbot has it) where he was mind-controlling Springer, much to the anger of Galvatron.
Also I think that since it was shown that there seemed to be an inexhaustible supply of Sweeps, and likewise Insecticon clones, it makes sense that the Sweeps were made of clones.

So to sum up I theorize:
*Skywarp became Cyclonus
*Thundercracker became Scourge
*Insecticon Clones became Sweeps
*The original Insecticons survived

So, who do you think got turned into who? What is your theory?

Extra Note: I can't believe I couldn't find a thread on here where this had been discussed before! It may well exist and I wasn't using the right search terms.

[DELTAprime]

My headcanon is Skywarp is Cyclonus and Thundercracker is Scourge. Insecticons with their cloning ability are the Armada and Sweeps.

[Sinnertwin]

From memory, according to the storyboards, Bombshell in the foreground is Cyclonus, while and unnamed Seeker is Scourge.
The very next scene throws the numbers out as there is one less Cyclonus clone for his Armada & one or two extra Sweeps.

Maybe they were all clones as they appear at Starscream's coronation anyway.

[Sinnertwin]

Here we are, plain as day, Bombshell being reformatted into Cyclonus while dead seekers float in the background

[Tha_Phantom]

Do we really have to do this again?

Okay, fine, here's my 2c.
If we look at the toy catalog from 1986, we see Scourge and Cyclonus along with Starscream and three Conehead seekers. No Thundercracker or Skywarp. Oh and Insecticons are still present too!
Now as we all know, the movie is really just an excuse to get rid of a bunch of old toys to make room for new ones, so to me it's clear that Skywarp and Thundercracker became Cyclonus and Scourge respectively.

Yes, if we watch the movie it looks clear that Bombshell becomes Cyclonus, but then again the movie also shows two red cassettes along with other animation errors. Plus, the whole second Cyclonus is the reason why we're discussing this, so clearly there's not much credibility as far as the animation is concerned.

[Trent]

Bombshell is Cyclonus.

I really don’t know what’s so offensive about this fact.

[SMHFConvoy]

I dunno, I just enjoy the movie as it is.

[BigTransformerTrev]

Do we really have to do this again?

Wat'choo talkin' bout' boy? Aint no one ever started no thread bout' this on OzF before. You be trippin fool!

[Sinnertwin]

Do we really have to do this again?

Okay, fine, here's my 2c.
If we look at the toy catalog from 1986, we see Scourge and Cyclonus along with Starscream and three Conehead seekers. No Thundercracker or Skywarp. Oh and Insecticons are still present too!
Now as we all know, the movie is really just an excuse to get rid of a bunch of old toys to make room for new ones, so to me it's clear that Skywarp and Thundercracker became Cyclonus and Scourge respectively.

Yes, if we watch the movie it looks clear that Bombshell becomes Cyclonus, but then again the movie also shows two red cassettes along with other animation errors. Plus, the whole second Cyclonus is the reason why we're discussing this, so clearly there's not much credibility as far as the animation is concerned.

It's there in the storyboard. He's even referred to by name. You cant get any clearer than that.

People can spin theories 26 ways to Sunday, but it's there in black and white.

[griffin]

I personally never accepted that a lowly Insecticon (or clone) would be turned into one of Galvatron's main henchmen... especially how intelligent they were in the UK comics... and always assumed it was one of the hundreds of animation errors in the 1986 movie, as it made more sense to me to have Thundercracker and Skywarp be the two main henchmen, and the Insecticons (clones) be the Sweeps and Armada clones. (not that the "armada of Cyclonus clones" ever reappeared after the attack on Autobot city, so were probably in the original script to make up a more significant fighting force of Decepticons when they returned to Autobot City - a bit like the seeker clones and Reflector clones in the first few episodes of the original cartoon just to make up numbers)
Before the storyboards surfaced in 2005 (Wally Burr was selling them at BotCon that year), it was one of those fan debates that had no end, between those who saw Bombshell on screen become Cyclonus, and those who believe it was just another animation error and it was meant to be Skywarp who was also black and purple.

I'd like to see the original script, to see if Ron Friedman actually had anyone specific become Scourge and Cyclonus, as storyboard scripting (the action described below each frame of the storyboard), doesn't say any specific Decepticon, but does name who each new Decepticon is called. I think the storyboard artist working off Ron's script, probably just picked random characters that were thrown out in the previous scene, not knowing if any were more significant than others. After all, this was originally written during the first year of Transformers, and the writer didn't really need to feature many of them in a significant way, as they would be off toy shelves by the time this movie would be out)

The IDW comic version of the 1986 movie (printed in 2006) did a lot of fixing of errors and inconsistencies, but stayed true to the animated movie by having Bombshell become Cyclonus. Then again... the actual animated scene with Cyclonus and his Armada being created at the same time doesn't necessarily mean that Cyclonus is the one at the front.