Transmutate

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Transmutate promo art from Hasbro.
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Transmutate promo art from Hasbro.

Transmutate is a fictional character who made a one time appearance on the Transformers series Beast Wars.

A Maximal created from a stasis pod that was so extensively damaged that it created her with permanent neurological and physical impairments and without a beast mode or any alternate form. Transmutate was inarticulate in speech or thought, and unable to transform, but deeply emotional and powerful; she was capable of flight and energy projection. Transmutate befriended both the Maximal Silverbolt, who sought to protect her, and the Predacon Rampage, who knew the pain of being labelled a "freak," and sought to form a sympathetic friendship with her. Megatron saw Transmutate as having no value as a combatant and initially wanted to destroy her. With Transmutate's immense physical powers but limited mental capacity, Optimus Primal viewed her as a threat and thought it best if she were shut down. This caused a moral divide between Optimus Primal and Silverbolt. Silverbolt and Rampage battled over custody of Transmutate. Unable to tolerate watching her friends fight, she sacrificed herself to protect Silverbolt and Rampage from each other, leaving Maximal and Predacon to mourn for her passing. Her episode served as an extremely powerful metaphor for euthanasia and is arguably one of the most morally provocative stories ever written for Transformers.

It is unknown why the Maximals could not remove her spark and put it in a blank protofrom like they had done with Optimus Primal. The Maximal Rhinox only says that her data tracks and higher reasoning circuits are damaged, not her spark.

Transmutate appeared only in the second season episode of the same name, although she was among the stasis pods ejected in the serie's pilot.

Transmutate could fly, seemingly had some enhanced senses and could emit a powerful sonic cry.

Transmutate was voiced by Susan Blu, the voice director of Beast Wars and the voice actor of Arcee in The Transformers: The Original Series.

In 2005-2006 Hasbro released six 10th anniversary painted Beast Wars figures, each of which contained a piece of Transmutate. They referred to it as "Trans-Mutate". The figures which included pieces of Transmutate were Cheetor, Dinobot, Rattrap, Rhinox, Tarantulas and Waspinator.