Here's 10 Unsolved Transformers Mysteries

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[@Williamcantrell99]

In my heart, I always want to think of Cyclonus as a reborn Skywarp, still eternally loyal to his master while gaining the power and intelligence to finally be his right hand man. It also makes me enjoy the fact that Cyclonus was there for Starscream’s death in the movie: the one loyal seeker who was betrayed by Starscream for standing with Megatron is there to punish his once-commander.

[@NerdyTransformed]

As a kid, I always assumed Slipstream was created just to make the "Don't Ask" joke about what part of Starscream's personality she came from. Like, they made a new fembot just for the joke.

[@greenbean325]

Maybe the simp side of starscream or maybe he's like one of those weirdo gamers

[@apex2000]

Maybe slipstream is just "everything else" the stuff not personified by the other clones.

[@autumbreeze1129]

@@apex2000 she *does* seem to have more range and thought than the other clones, so you may be on to something there

[@michaelmoss8163]

Slipstream was one part a nod to the G1 Transformers from Japan, where Starscream was voiced by a woman.

[@emerje0]

@@michaelmoss8163 This was my belief as well, there's a few dubs of the G1 cartoon that had Starscream as female.

[@darthwinsor]

For the catalogue seeker mystery, it's probably due to the fact that Catalogue's were the best place to buy products back in the day before the internet, and was for almost all of the 1900s. There were probably a lot of kids with a catalogue with the original 1984 range on it, saw the term seeker and thought "oh they're seekers, that's cool."

[@TubaJay448]

Probably doesn't hurt being a cool name. One that fits rather well for a jet character.

[@Valandar2]

THIS. As a preteen and teen in the 1980's, the Sears Wish Book was THE absolute Book Of Everything when Christmas came around. EVERYONE read them, whether they could afford anything or not.

[@Andulvar]

Wish Catalogs were some of the best places to look for Christmas presents.

[@donnietidwell965]

Hey the character cyclonus is always considered a seeker in games books ect so skywarp anyone

[@myoldhandlewasmadewheniwas9]

I personally say Skywarp is Cyclonus because Thundercracker is Scourge and the other insecticons are the sweeps so it makes sense that the troop builders evolve into the next troop builders

[@Zatyme94]

and it helps give an explanation for the somewhat inconsistent number of Sweeps as the Incestacons could clone themselves

[@larrychilders6599]

I always say that Skywarp was Cyclonus, but his armada was Bombshell, however since he couldn't duplicate and was shot down by Grimlock, they couldn't troop build

[@Williamcantrell99]

Another great mystery: why did the ever-loyal Soundwave let Starscream kick Megatron out of Astrotrain?

[@autumbreeze1129]

A very damn good point. That's seriously been bugging me too

[@joeblaster8770]

It was for the good of the Decepticons.

[@HiperPivociarz]

I vividly remember Rodimus Primal saying the mystery of Cyclonus was resolved, because the original writer said it was Skywarp. Which also makes sense, like, Bombshell and Thundercracker becoming partners after being reformatted? I dunno, Skywarp and Thundercracker being a duo after being reformatted makes more thematic sense.

[@lazarussolomon3541]

as a kid, I vividly remember that skywarp was Cyclonus, and Bombshell was Scourge. Like the gun on bombshell's head gun claw thing formed into Scourges gun head, and skywarps pieces morphing into Cyclonous's pieces

[@Xeno-The-Wanderer]

Animated went that route as well supposedly with its Cyclonus

[@hassanrao470]

I'm pretty sure most people think its bombshell but yeah skywarp makes way more sense

[@Xeno-The-Wanderer]

@@hassanrao470 I thought so as well since he turned into the jet Galvatron rode in which made me believe that he became Cyclonus

[@Sdzenon4641]

Prefer skywarp as cyclonus

[@MrNetWraith]

Personally, I resolve the G1 Constructicon origins like this: The original Constructicons were Autobot/Unaligned builders on Cybertron, until they were subverted by Megatron's Robo-Smasher. At some point during the Great War, they were heavily damaged, if not destroyed, and were left to rust, because Megatron was a wasteful bastard. After the Autobots and Decepticons were stranded on Earth, however, Megatron had the Constructicons rebuilt from their near-death state on Earth, because he judged their superior skills in actually building stuff to now be strategically useful. The shot of the Constructicons creating Megatron in Five Faces of Darkness wasn't real but Rodimus' own mind filling in blanks - somebody had to build Megatron in the first place, after all - because a) visions be trippy, and b) Rodimus wasn't thinking too clearly, which is only logical seeing as how he basically *induced a heart attack* to communicate with the Matrix in the first place.

[@TJ52359]

even if Rodimus wasn't Filling in the Blanks the Constructicons could be (or were) a Full Fledged 'Ethnic Group' so 'some Constructicons' did build Megatron (doesn't the scene feature 8? Constructicons where as the G1 Team/Devastator Combiners only number 6...) but they were not (all) THE Constructicons from the series... also who's to say how many base modes they have ... The multiple Seekers share a Vehicle mode... countless 'brothers' (Bluestreak/Smokescreen, Sunstreaker/Red Alert) as well.. and even when shown having a Cybertronian Vehicle Mode, their Robot Forms have their earth Mode 'accents' (Bee's feet still like like a VW Hood) so who's to say that Past Generation Constructicons didn't share models with the Combiner Team (or were expressly emulated by Megatron when he created them)

[@stephenquinn3447]

Or: the constructions DID make Megatron, but didn't intend for him to be evil, he make the choice on his own and decided to use his creators in his quest of power

[@bastardskelly9239]

I have a couple of theories on what Slipstream could be. 1. She's just a representation of Starscream's effeminate side. 2. She's Starscreams self-hate. Most of Slipstream's dialogue towards Starscream is some sort of insult. Why that would result in a female version of him? Who knows. 3. Maybe she's Starscream's rebellious/treacherous nature. That could explain why she's more independent and maybe why she's female.

[@lonerboy4951]

I always had the idea that she is the mysterious side of him and what better way to be mysterious than have a personality and be the opposite of Starscream that’s my theory anyway

[@Joseph_Drew_III]

I’ve always gone through door 3 for this one

[@R0-83-RT]

I had the idea she represents lust. This could explain the feminine appearance, but also somewhat aligns with her personality. After all she was the one who immediately rebelled against Starscream, similar to how Starscream himself constantly betrays Megatron. All of this stems from Starscream's lust for power.

[@OptimusPhillip]

Some clarification about Bumper. Like Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, Bumper's mold was originally part of the Takara Microchange toyline as a Choro Q Mazda Familia, so the mold existed and was previously used, and didn't just appear out of nowhere. Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that the mold was planned to receive an official Transformers release. In fact, the mold was actually released in Estela's Transformers line in Brazil, complete with unique box art and tech specs. How the toy managed to get sold on Cliffjumper cards despite not getting an official release is still a mystery, but with all the facts in mind, there is room for speculation. Also, this is kind of a nitpick, but the red Bumblebee and yellow Cliffjumper releases weren't errors, they were intentionally created to bulk out the early waves.

[@takanuinuva]

Megatron could have just lied when he said he made the Constructions. Yea he "made them" Made them into Decepticons that is

[@wakeangel2001]

heh, the Slipstream mystery, I remember back in the day I speculated that she might have represented Starscream's loyalty, since she was clearly disgusted by the original but still worked with him, and then she joined up with Megatron for a bit, and even tried to get the other seekers to work as a unit by explaining their foibles. But now I think she might have just been the only "successful" creation. Like, a protoform is supposed to be a base cybertronian that needs to be infused with a spark to become truly alive right? But if you can make a copy of an existing cybertronian by infusing one with their CNA or imprinting their program onto it, which is what Starscream did in both Animated AND Prime (Prime being the first show I ever heard the term "Seeker" spoken out loud btw.) But Slipstream actually has something in common with Sari Sumdak, who also turned out to be a protoform that acquired some human DNA when the scientist guy touched it creating a new individual with some of his traits. Slipstream had a balanced personality and was a complete person rather than just "Starscream with one stat dialed all the way up" so you could think of her as the ONE protoform that developed properly into an individual...holy crap she's Starscream's daughter...as for why she's female? Well, Sari was a girl too despite receiving a DNA contribution from a man, maybe it was just a girl protoform? Maybe the gender a protoform is going to be is decided before it gets its spark or whatever?

[@Joseph_Drew_III]

I personally think the opposite: That she’s his treachery, based on how secretive she can be and her planned splinter faction arc for the unproduced seqson 4.

[@Fluffkitscripts]

If you listen to her dialogue, she insults everyone in earshot and the only thing she seems to enjoy is causing pain. She embodies the part of starscream that likes hurting things, trashing anything weaker than him and snipping verbally at everything else.

[@clogs4956]

Hm, my eldest son watched the episode with me in hbis late teens, burst out laughing and said: well, I know what part of Starscream she is! To put it politely, Starscream was originally intended to be a 'female'.

[@Megamanlanprime]

I love that in the 35th anniversary movie they did some joke scenes about the Movie using the Studio Series and Kingdom figures. The last one was Scourge and the Sweeps actually debating over who Cyclonus is - Scourge says it’s clearly Skywarp while the Sweeps think it’s obviously Bombshell. It was fun

[@person14876]

Can you provide a link to this

[@Megamanlanprime]

@@person14876 maybe? Idk if they are on YT. It was in the theater when I saw it on the big screen We’d.

[@kerosoldier]

#1 was answered last week during the theatrical rerelease of the 86 movie. Rodimusprimal did a video on this last week. Cyclonus was skywarp.

[@Protosilver97]

Didn't some writer say that in a convention too?

[@kerosoldier]

@@Protosilver97 maybe

[@CarnoReviews]

I can't find the video

[@BoisegangGaming]

The Air razor deception sigil makes me think that one bored worker ran around screaming "deceptions forever!" And slapping a Faction insignia on her. That's my headcanon now.

[@yuwu585]

or maybe she's a real Decepticon. As in, a Cybertronian Minicon scanned the toy mold and Transformed into it

[@SlimSamari]

My Theory for Slipstream, She's probably Starscream's daughter because all of the other clones behave like Starscream with different pieces of his personality while Slipstream behaves more like an child who's embarrassed of their parent and wants to show how better they are. The don't ask part feels somewhat like "I can't believe we're related" or "I'm very disgusted that I came out of something like you". I would say she's from his feminine side who's conscious and wanted to escape his brain after watching years of his sad life.

[@o.8.p149]

I say he had multiple personalities and that was one

[@Telemachus2814]

In the video you asked if the Sears catalog was well known and popular enough to drive the term Seekers into the common lexicon for transformers. Yessir they were. This is Sears-Roebuck we're talking about, their catalogs were incredibly popular and spread world wide. Everyone knew them, and you could open a catalog anywhere in the world and place an order for these items. I don't know if you're familiar with MASH but there's an episode, "war for all seasons" I believe it was called wherein everyone was ordering things from these catalogs... that did indeed happen and they would ship these things out even to Korea. Sears has been around since the end of the 1800s so I 100% can believe this could happen. Is that why the term Seekers is so wide spread? Maybe, maybe not... but it is an absolutely plausible answer to the question.

[@riderlink95]

It warms my heart to see this massive push of videos. Of course it's always good to take a break, but the more casual videos have been both entertaining and informative! You were one of the first KZbinrs I ever followed (allll the way back when you did the DecaDriver! The pre-bucket days) and I could watch you non stop

[@ryugaknight]

Just for an idea for a list; Top 10 Animation errors. Could be a list on the ones that make you laugh or ones that just make you go “what?” Or both.

[@xxrocketshark216xx4]

"I haven't heard a name like that since the AOL days" probably isn't the compliment im taking it as lol Really stoked to see all these daily uploads, I've been following you since I was 15 (I'm 22 about to turn 23 now, does that make you feel old?) and I've been beyond delighted to see you upload this frequently

[@vustvaleo8068]

I think Animated Slipstream is a reference to G1 Starscream's ghost possessing a girl in Kiss Players.

[@autumbreeze1129]

I literally only know what you're referring to because it was mentioned in Starscream's character analysis in Death Battle's G1 Starscream vs G4 Rainbow Dash 😆

[@thwilts]

As someone who works in a plastics factory I will say this in the defense of Hasbro, misplacing molds is a lot easier than the public would think it is.

[@robstrunk817]

Also need to add, as a huge fan of Animated, I’m STILL waiting on a proper original mold Slipstream. I wish someone would give it to us. 3rd party or official. And not the Cyberverse with no knees or articulation either. Just a true Animated Slipstream.

[@kylethefan6062]

There's the legend's toy

[@iodaspark]

The TakTom LG retool of Gen Windblade is epitomic!

[@robstrunk817]

@@iodaspark It’s good for what it is. But still not her own mold% slipstream doesn’t look like Windblade so that repaint was lazy. Just give me a good voyager or deluxe mold that is her own with good articulation. I want an animated one, but I’m realistic and know that won’t happen. Just give us a good quality mold well articulated that’s just hers alone.

[@jeremyadkins9665]

I remember having that Ravage figure. I actually heard that the mold broke after it was used to make Botcon Transmetals Tigatron, hence why they weren't able to make any more. If the mold handn't been broken/lost, I heard it was going to be remade for the 10th anniversary line for Beast Wars.

[@KRBrickBot]

Kingdom Cyclonus "prepares a bomshell as past events warp your future."

[@violagreene4643]

I figure that originally the "Bumper" mold was supposed to be released as a regular part of the assortment, but it was cut because it was easier to pack 6 different figures in a case than 7. Since his mold was so similar to those of Bumblebee and Cliffjumper (especially similar to CJ), he was seen as more disposable. But a few may have been produced before the decision was made and they were just plunked onto cards to get them out the door and not waste them.

[@PartigradeCannon]

Re: Slipstream: My take is this: All the other Starscream clones are their personality trait at all times. Ramjet is always lying, Skywarp is always terrified, Sunstorm is always sucking up, Thundercracker is always boasting about how great he is. What personality trait does Slipstream demonstrate at all times? Contempt for Starscream. She is his self-loathing personified.

[@otaking3582]

Here's another mystery: Why is Bluestreak not actually blue? Yes, one of the Diaclone figures that Bluestreak got his mold from was cast in blue plastic, but that's not the one they used in the cartoon nor the American toy, so it's a case of Non-Indicative Name. It's like the writers wanted everyone to think that they were colorblind!

[@Zatyme94]

his name is from how much of a talker he's supposed to be Blue Streak can refer to a "consistent stream of words" after all

[@otaking3582]

@@Zatyme94 I've never heard anyone use the phrase in that context. The only other time I've heard "blue streak" is Sonic SatAM's theme song (and there it refers to the fact that Sonic is blue and moves really fast)

[@violagreene4643]

@@otaking3582 "Talk a blue streak" is a very common expression where I'm from.

[@otaking3582]

@@violagreene4643 Where _are_ you from? Because it's certainly not common in the US

[@violagreene4643]

@@otaking3582 You must not get around to much of the US, then. Because I am a born and raised North Carolinian. "Talk a blue streak" (or "talk up a blue streak") is something I've heard all my life. It may be more common in the South and with older people.

[@KristofferEk]

would the Constructicons be the most retconed origins of a group of transformers? and now we need a proper Cliffjumper repaint that's named bumper. Also arent there comics now that shows Cyclonus with Skywarp and Bombshell at this point?

[@LordProteus]

I like to think Slipstream was Starscreams rebelliousness, going so far as to not even want to be the same gender and being quick to take command when a power vacuum appears. Probably would have betrayed Starscream eventually if he didn't get his head cut off.

[@KRBrickBot]

"Does Slipstream represent the sorrow Starscream feels when reflecting on the plight of the Native Americans as both their land and buffalo were violently taken from them during westward expansion?"

[@imaclappedboy2804]

Yes.

[@RKStrikerJK5]

16:00 Am I the only person who never took the visuals in the flashback in 'Five Faces of Darkness' literally? I mean we've got a robot who gets dumped into a smelting pit and then another robot emerges from same smelting pit. Math equations blow up in an earlier vision, giant floating robot ghost heads. Hell, the Constructicons? Only three or four of them are recognizable characters out of eight. I've always taken it as metaphor/Rodimus filling in the blanks with his own experiences.

[@twilight_phantom2969]

If I remember correctly, I recall reading somewhere that the molds for Swoop and Sludge were lost by the time of G2. If I recall similar circumstances are the reason we've never had reissues of the dinobots.

[@EclipseWarlord]

That's what I remember hearing.

[@jeebus2313]

If there was ever a perfect example of how hilariously screwed the continuity of the G1 cartoon was, I'd say the entire Constructicon origin debacle is definitely up there.

[@PunchCounterpunch_Lizzy]

These fools do not realize that Cyclonus is actually Lifespark

[@Gaming_Nerd1993]

I know I'm stoking the fire on this one but I've come to accept Skywarp becoming Cyclonus due to the loyalty to Galvatron. Hardshell was to untrustworthy to be Cyclonus.

[@_GeneralMechanics_]

I still think a better question that goes without any answer to this day is "WHERE DID SNARL GO!?" He shows up for one brief moment of animation in the '86 movie but disappears before the Escape from Autobot City.

[@autumbreeze1129]

Was kinda hoping you'd mention the fact of Tripticon being the Nemesis ship in Transformers PRIME and how Megatron forced him permanently into that form, never to have free will ever again

[@Funnybones30]

My favourite tf mysteries: Why does armada wheeljack only have one wrist? How does galaxy force starscream's swords work? What happened to Sam? Where did the season 2 characters come from? How does cybertron fit into the ut? And my favourite, remember how they kept hinting that sideways was the same character in every universe? Did that lead to anything or did Hasbro just drop it?.

[@larrychilders6599]

Sam died to a tornado

[@Funnybones30]

@@larrychilders6599 I heard that one, but there's a greater conspiracy at play here.

[@diegodankquixote-wry3242]

@@Funnybones30 funpub did a pay off for the sideways stuff.

[@Funnybones30]

@@diegodankquixote-wry3242 I'm too young to remember funpub, what did it lead to?

[@robertespley248]

My personal mysteries...... In the comics, how did Optimus Primes consciousness fit on only one 3.5" floppy disc? Why didn't Prime use the matrix BEFORE the G1 movie ? Who did Dion get upgraded into? Why did no-one ever notice the entire back section of the Ark sticking out of the side of a mountain while the Autobots & Decepticons were deactivated?

[@samurexatlas7373]

15:39 I'm gonna throw it out there, self indulgence. I think Slipstream is Starscream loving himself.

[@LeifThomas]

The Airazor mystery doesn’t seem like that big a deal. In the Beast Wars days, they were still using rubsign stickers. Transmetal Airazor’s was on the robot mode’s back underneath where the alt mode tail folds down. There’s a square in the sculpt of that piece that frames the sticker. By the time Armada was around, they were no longer doing rubsigns, and they probably felt like they shouldn’t just leave an empty square in the middle of her back, so they replaced it with a Decepticon symbol. That explains why the insignia is there, but it doesn’t explain why it’s a Decepticon insignia 🤔

[@Ravenprime7]

On the back of the SS86 Scourge is a reformatted Thundercracker

[@kiemares2516]

I always passed off the constructicon origin thing as the G1 cartoon's writers' incompetence.

[@MICjordanTPR]

Sears really WAS that well-known and popular back then... I remember reading ALL those catalogues

[@robstrunk817]

I was an 80s (born early 70s) kid so I’ll just say, the Sears and JC Penny’s catalogs are equal to tfw2005 and you tube today. No surprise that’s where the term Seekers came from. Hope that helps.

[@thunderstudent]

Shenron: You who have gathered the seven dragon balls, I will grant you any three wishes within my power! Speak your desire so I may go. TF Fandom: We wish to know if Cyclones was Skywarp or Bombshell before being reformatted. Shenron: That is not within my power.

[@smutsmat]

I am really digging your work. And I just discovered you, I hope you keep making great videos

[@stevengerou7914]

If it came from a Sears then it may have been from Hasbro becase Habro and Sears in those days were working with a lot of comunication on anything Sears caried from Hasbro.

[@timprimetal5380]

RE: The Constructicons - Around on Cybertron, created Megatron but not out of malice. Maybe they were designing a super-soldier to defend Cybertron or something. Later on they were turned by Megatron. On earth, they are (re)built by Megatron, implying they were deactivated, maybe in storage, up until that point.

[@matthewelliott7294]

If I remember right, in that one scene from Five Faces of Darkness, there was actually EIGHT Constructicons when Megatron was created, and yet only SIX combined into Devastator in the original cartoon show. There's the real mystery right there.

[@saimaidar9417]

One of the missing Construticons has been retconned to be the Autobot Hauler in several media.

[@Midrealm_DM]

17:50 - What I've heard and generally accepted is that In Five Faces of Darkness the Constructicons (including Hauler and one other) were involved in building Megatron's body, probably before the war began. Six of them were later reprogrammed to join the Decepticons, as told by Omega Supreme. At some point these six were were defeated and destroyed.- however their personality cores were saved and brought with the Decepticons to Earth. Megatron referencing "the time we spent building them" refers only to building their bodies. This accounts for the perceived continuity errors in the animated series. =-=-= As far as the Marvel comics continuity, that has always been separate.

[@rorylumley4727]

I always thought slipstream was star screams self loathing.

[@ruvenzub]

For me Cyclones was always Skywarp, it just makes more sense to me that the purple jet was the purple jet

[@Vilgax00]

15:30 I think she repressents Starscreams self-loathing. "And look how that turned out!","Dont ask!","Any leader is an improvment over you!". She is beign female also supports this. Since she hates him that much. Compare to every other Starscream clones,she is the only one activelly roasts Starscream. And she thought Optimus was Starscream during his flying attempt. That was the only reason she attacked him.

[@Fluffkitscripts]

Slipstream is a joke about starscream having a “feminine side”, but I think there’s also a specific part of his personality she embodies. Everything she says is some form of insult to someone, and she actively seeks to cause pain. She’s starscream’s snarky, sadistic side. The tendency to hurt things verbally or physically.

[@SwedishSeacon]

Since you brought up about the molded Decepticon insignia of Airazor, I think only she and Rhinox had molded insignias because I have seen pictures of Terrorsaur, Cheetor and Predacon and...I can't find any molded insignias on them. can be wrong if anyone own those three and if they have one, do correct me on that. Another interesting fact that she was featured on the unreleased 31th issue of Energon, appearing on the Decepticon side where the characters are portrayed as chessman....which is odd considering she and the other three (not Predacon) were Heralds of Unicron at the time.

[@EddyBamber]

This feels like the golden age of this channel. The shackles are off.

[@SuperiorNova]

My head cannon is that Unicron took the intelligence of Bombshell and Loyalty of Skywarp to make Cyclonus

[@crsrdash-840b5]

When it comes to the Constructicons, there is one huge problem that nobody either noticed or realized: When Scrapper becomes Devatator's leg, his entire look changed to the point that he is unrecognizable. The animation is so far gone, it's a mystery. Then there is the head of Devastator and the cofustion of which parts came from Hook or Long Haul to form his waist, upper chest, and head portions.....oh boy!

[@Valandar2]

Even in the show, Starscream point blank asked, "So what part of me are you?" And she explicitly said, "You don't wanna know." As for the Constructicons, I like this: 1 ) They were made before Megatron, and built him. 2 ) Later they befriended Omega Supreme, and were kidnapped by Megs, and the whole fiasco there. 3 ) Numerous Decepticon personality matrices were onboard the Nemesis, and Megs had new bodies built for them in their initial appearance.

[@Starshine13131]

Cyclonus is Skywarp

[@annoyingoranger100]

I honestly am really happy that content like this is being put out by you. I remember being there since, I think Plastic Addict Hotshot? up until the massive wave of toku stuff, all of the decadriver misinformation included. I remember just binging a shit ton of your videos, up until, I’d like to say… Around the time you did the Random Review of the Shinkenger Red SHF? That’s the latest video I remember watching, until I dropped my interest of toys and quirky toy things entirely. So the pandemic starts to take a toll on me, and not before long, I am back in my fascination with the hobby. The first person I look up? TJOmega. Extremely Serendipitous that I end up finding you at basically a renaissance period. The content is greatly appreciated, and I’m looking forward to the time you start becoming free to review the Zi-O stuff and the ridewatches. Until then, I’m gonna catch up on your wave of videos, because I really do need the refresher on the state of Transformers today.

[@Roboshi2007]

I always thought the female starscream clone was his feminine side as some of the animated Starscreams have leaned into that, even giving primes high heels.

[@KamisamanoOtaku]

Just because I A) Like Insecticons B) Like Seekers C) Like Cyclonus and Scourge How about we just say the *real* Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Insecticons deserted during the Battle of Autobot City, leaving some badly damaged Insecti-Clones and Decepti-Clone Seekers who were *supposed* to die (covering their desertion) but then Unicron came along, and reformatted these decoys into Scourge and Cyclonus? Yes, this is my *head canon.* No, I do not mistake it for the actual canon. Given all the animation errors, though, it _almost_ works. XD. I mean, out of the five, isn't G1 Skywarp the only unquestionably loyal 'Con out of them? Insecti-Clones and Insecticons abandoning Megatron are intentional, G1 animation canon.

[@larrychilders6599]

I interpreted it as Cyclonus and his armada are both Skywarp and Bombshell, the Skywarp version is the one that survived the second attack on Autobot City, the Bombshell one is the one who got killed by Grimlock and the reformatted Insecticons had the cloning powers still, hence why you do not see any Cyclonus copies

[@Ranma_Leopard]

I've really enjoyed this. I can't wait to see more!

[@THANATOS-PRIME]

Loving these video topics TJ!

[@purpleYamask]

I like to think that Slipstream is just the cloning thing pulling an Eric Andre and going "BUT WHAT IF IT WAS *PURPLE* ?"

[@Grimlock316]

I think you underestimate how influential those catalogs were back in the day. Those were the only source of knowing what toys were coming out and what to show your parents when it came Christmas time

[@MegatronEnthusiast]

My concept on the G1 Constructicons: There is endless numbers of them, they’re just Cybertron’s general construction models. If there’s a heavy duty demolition job needed, any set of Constructicons can merge to form Devastator. I get the “endless amounts” part from one of the many continuity errors where there is 8 of them on-screen. The 6 we see in the cartoon got unlucky and were reprogrammed into Decepticons.

[@Mordenheim]

My personal theory on Slipstream from animated is that she was an alternate personality buried deep within Starscream's programming that was created as something for him to retreat behind when Megatron's abuse got too extreme.

[@fishpop]

One possible reasoning for the Constructicons is that they DID build Megatron but when they did; it was during the time when there were workers and soldiers as established in War Dawn. When they built him; he wasn't initially evil. Later on he brainwashed those that built him but at some point they were put into storage a la the Combaticons. This is why Megatron said he'd built the Constructicons as he'd built the new bodies for their sparks to inhabit.

[@roycephelps7444]

Okay I got a theory; in the very first episodes Megatron had a LARGE army of Seekers and photons on earth revived by Teletran-1. But after the SECOND crash his army was smaller till "new" decepticons started to appear, I think on Cybertron Megatron had his forces modified into Seekers and photons to rule the skies. The Constructicons were reformatted after their defeat/hunted by Omega Supreme (plus Devastator was a threat to early Megatron) but stranded on Earth Megatron started to reformat his troops into old or new bodies to boost his troops. The reason it took so long is 1: not many decepticon medics, 2: resources, Megatron was very busy. This also explains the "new" Autobots in later episodes, Megatron used the Ark's resources to revive his army leaving Optimus with very little to restore his troops but Ratchet and Wheeljack kept rebuilding their damaged friends. This explains the Minibot army. What you think?

[@Buff_Helpy]

Again I really love these lists dude!

[@ragemalachi]

I always thought that slipstream was starscreams self loathing, since she comes off as hating him

[@consof8724]

The thing about Red Bumblebee and yellow cliffjumper is that they are not factory errors, they are in fact the earliest recorded cases of running changes and variants in transformers, earlier than the rub symbols by one year

[@nicholas920us]

Never underestimate the power and prominence of the old retail catalogues... back in the day, the Sears, Service Merchandise, and Toys'R'us catalogues were pretty much the Bible for my fandom.

[@justinprime5205]

If you really think about it, Cyclonus doesn't really act like an insecticon.

[@jamescole7614]

The Constructicons are more complicated. When shown on cybertron there are 8 of them, since then number 7 has been retconed to be the Autobot Hauler. Hauler appears only in vehicle mode in the original The Transformers mini series that launched the G1 show, apparently he was supposed to be Hoist but the name had yet to be finalized. Eventually an Official Hauler G1 figure was released using Hoist's mold but colored the same green as the Constucticons, his Bio card states he was a member of the team who elected to not undergo the process to become a combine and was not brainwashed by Megatron so he joined the Autobots. He is also stated to have a personality quirk that he likes to recolor himself from time to time. The 8th member remains unknown. As to Bumper,his origin is due to the fact that the first wave of G1 Transformers included production runs of unpackaged Diaclone and Microman toys from Japan. In the Mircoman line there where 3 figures with similar molds, two of them went on to become Cliffjumper and Bumblebee, the 3 never got named. Additionally Microman released all 3 in Red, Yellow and Blue. So they where not production errors they where packaging errors, not every red car was a Cliffjumper not ever yellow car was a Bumblebee along with Bumper they came in both colors. and How ever more rare where Mexican G1 Bumblebee cards where the toy was the bumblebee mold in Blue. Why the Blue leftovers where all one mold and only released in Mexico who knows!

[@sangheiliwarrior86]

Oh shit, I remember that arcee triplet combiner stuff back from when I was a kid. Was never too interested though, as I thought their designs looked hideous. It's mad how ROTF devastator only recently got a large scale set in which the constructicons transform into both robot and vehicle modes, as well as combining.

[@HypercatZ]

Slipstream is clearly Starscream's inner Daria. Logical and cynical.

[@cooperbrown5597]

Personally, I think slipstream doesn't represent starscream's feminine side because (and I'm not throwing shade I consider myself an ally) being gay or transgender isn't a personality trait it's The way you feel/you are inside yes, however that doesn't really represent the core traits of somebody. I understood from years ago that slipstream was made to be a mystery but personally I feel she's starscreams nastiness. Not in a weird Tumblr way but being deceptive, bitter, sarcastic, etc. Is it really that hard to assume that starscream wouldn't make a female clone of himself. He's already attracted to her when she introduces herself not to mention each of source room is clones seem to be somewhat personalized in terms of paint job. Technically there are two sky warps and two sunstorms however each of those variants have their own separate color scheme. My theory actually kind of works considering love is canon within transformers animated and so is natural cybertronian gender as seen by the many female Autobots during the Cybertron scenes not to mention, optimus prime and elita had a thing, arcee Arcee an ratchet kind of have a thing going, and grimlock had a crush on blackarachnia. The only real hole I can think of is that starscream hasn't made any expression of love with the show other than being attracted to slipstream within that first gag however, no theory is perfect.

[@patgeta2678]

Cyclonus was Skywarp. My proof? Simple. The fact that multiple Sweeps are present during the movie and post movie episodes. If you go by the movie, 2 Insecticons become Sweeps, but you see more throughout the series, sometimes 4 or more. If you remember, the Insecticons had the ability to duplicate themselves, which explains why you seen so many Sweeps in the series at one time. Also, Galvatron often mentions how trusted Cyclonus is. Why would he have so much trust in a former Insecticon with all the trouble they caused Megatron? But, you know who he would trust? Skywarp. Why? Episode 1, season 1. When Teletran 1 starts reviving those aboard the ARC, it reformats and revives Skywarp, who then drags Megatron into the beam from Teletran in order to revive him. Skywarp DIDN'T have to revive Megs, but he chose to out of loyalty to his Leader. When you first see Megatron transform, he is used by, you guessed it, Skywarp. There's your proof of loyalty and trust. Oh, and about Bumper: He was already a mold used by Takara before there even was "Transformers". The figures, including Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, and Hubcap, were produced overseas, and sent to Hasbro to be carded. Somehow, by accident, the "Bumper" toy was included in with some of the shipments. No one at Hasbro noticed, apparently, so they wound up miscarded and sent out to stores.

[@crsrdash-840b5]

As for #10, I referred to them as the Trianglicons. They were a unique set of jets specially created for aerial combat. For over a decade, I never took the term Seekers seriously.

[@lyokomajor]

Storyboards for that scene came out not too long ago. They show Bombshell specifically becoming Cyclonus. So we have an answer. Some people just refuse to accept it. Hasbro isn't "not clarifying", they're trolling. Even the 3H Universe comics called out Cyclonus as Bombshell. Skywarp called him "a bug" when referencing the past.

[@Galvamel]

For the Constructicons I always assumed that they were originally on Cybertron and were Omega Supreme's friends but they weren't the Constructicons. The Constructicons were created when Megatron when he reprogrammed Omega's friends into being evil.

[@brettwood1351]

10- Don't underestimate those old Sears Catalogs. When I was a kid we just spent hours gazing at all the cool stuff we'd never actually get. 9- Yeah, remember that being so dissappointing when G2 came out. Maybe a problem with the Molds? 8- BW Silverbolt is a crime against all things Silverbolt, but especially BW Silverbolt. 7-Yeah, uh... Three messy designs, I guess the combination would have been too big a mess? 6- Maybe the Mold is in the same place as the Leopardon Suit from Toei's Spider-Man? 5-Didn't even know that was a mystery. I always just assumed they decided to put her in the Decepticons to fill them out some. 4- We got a great character out of her, so I don't care what she was suppossed to be. 3- Oh, this one. I'm gonna blame Time Travel. Yeah, that sounds good. 2- Oh yes, Bumblejumper. Wish I'd grabbed him when I was five. Eh, someone in the factory didn't realize they weren't suppossed to use that one too? 1- Cyclonus is Galvatron's loyal right hand man. That's all that really applies to his character for me.

[@scottpowers4728]

Bumper is an easy one : Early test mold at the factory gets mislabeled and put in production. Then the mistake is discovered or production is cancelled. The ones produced are then set aside for disposal or later use. The toys are then mistakenly grabbed by a worker and put onto the wrong cards. Quality control misses the mistake and rather then recalling shipment makes it out the door.

[@Synfang]

I don't know if this has been said in the comments already, but the theory about Slipstream that I always found the most convincing was she represented the secretive trait in Starscream, which was why nothing so blatantly stands out like how is near-instantly the case in the other clones. This, however, does little to nothing to explain her being female, and all I can say to that is to look at the foot designs of plenty of Starscreams before and after and notice it looks like he wears some kind of heels. :/

[@antonharmacinski276]

05:32 - Based on that little piece hanging off the front, I'm gonna guess that this is a Peter Gryphon. That there is his mating pose. He's peacocking. LOLOLOLOL

[@GothicDude-mu5qf]

I think some of that came from more of the Diaclone figures being added into the Transformers line, Marlboro Wheel Jack, and Black Tracks became Decepticons, and and the red repaint of the Tracks mold became a fem-bot named Road Rage, as well as Powered Convoy became Delta Magnus. Also, the yellow Side Swipe figure became Tiger Tracks.

[@stevenkusar3630]

I been a fan for a long time now since you started

[@yi_hou3092]

for the Constructicon Mystery, I think what Megatron meant by building the Constructicons means he built them new bodies, probably cause their ship wasn't enough to house a few more Decepticons during their pursuit or at some point during the war the Constructicons were heavily damaged and their Brain Module and Sparks were secured and kept in a safe place as for the Five Faces of Darkness, I assume these Constructicons aren't the same ones but rather a previous set of constructicons that had the same colour set like them since there was a Japanese Exclusive character of a G1 Autobot Constructicon and at the time Cybertron was very classist they probably put any constructicon in bright colours due to their importance in building structures and they were also responsible in building more cybertronians according to a specific need

[@k.m.sparks1190]

There is an orgin for the G1 constructions which has been cobbled together actually First they build Megatron not knowing that he would become evil, they later are reprogrammed by him and instead of being built on earth (this is filling the gaps with assumptions) they were rebuilt on earth. Of course this has it's own plot holes but all G1 has plot holes

[@GalvatronStudios]

I think Slipstream is the physical representation of Starscream being in love with himself because we all know Starscream is a coward and cares for no one but himself so Slipstream being a female version of him and representing love for himself makes sense

[@towzone]

The debate over who became Cyclonus is ridiculous. Just because someone likes Seekers more than Insecticons is no excuse to ignore the footage. And I can’t imagine there being multiple Bombshells around. (Sarcasm)

[@kirbyfanprime]

There's one mystery that keeps popping up over the years that most fans at this point (myself included) just kinda handwaved because that's how it is, but that doesn't make it less of a mystery: When Optimus transforms, where does trailer go? G1 was the worst for this; it'd just pull a Heathcliff and exit stage right until he went back to truck mode. PowerMaster, RiD '01 and Unicron Trilogy would occasionally show it as a battle platform or used for a super mode, but it would be gone in any other situation. Prime onwards just seemed to omit the trailer entirely, barring a cheeky reference or, in the case of RiD '15, it was actively part of his robot mode. Is this nitpicky? Yes, but that's what this fandom was built on.

[@lukasgemmill8084]

Was that Heathcliff remark a Walking Dead reference?

[@klsmns9152]

From what I know, the G1 Dinobot molds are all “lost” or in an unusable state. This may have been the case even back in the 90s for Swoop and Sludge’s molds, something I can seriously believe for Swoop as his G1 toy is super fragile.

[@GlitchanBlack]

Slipstream definitely looks G2 Ramjet-like upon retrospect. As for her personality, her characterization does drop subtle hints that's she's either the one who keeps the group in check or - like Faic Legion said - is based off of Starscream's treachery. Also, if you're talking about "molds that existed but no one noticed until years later", poor Skids exists. He got on toy shelfs during Christmas of '84, and very few people knew he existed until Quest for Survival aired on TV on November 5th, 1985.

[@egdiroh]

Dude so young, he doesn’t understand the sears calendar

[@VisserOne]

for the Animated Slipstream i always considered her as representing Starscream being full of himself/vanity. but that's me

[@autumbreeze1129]

Vanity would make sense