The Protectobots are a fictional emergency, search and rescue team of five Autobots in the Transformers toyline. They transform into civilian service and emergency vehicles and combine to form the combiner Defensor. Their Decepticon counterparts are the Combaticons.
Contents |
Defensor box art |
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Autobot | |
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Sub-group | Combiners, Protectobots |
Alternate Modes | Five robots |
Series | Transformers: Generation 1 Transformers: Generation 2 |
English voice actor | Chris Latta |
The five Protectobots are:[1]
Their combined mode of Defensor was one of the second generation of Transformers combiners (along with the Aerialbots, Stunticons, Combaticons, Technobots, Terrorcons, and Seacons).[2]
As such, they have the ability to merge to form a gestalt, with any of the 4 smaller members becoming any limb.
In the comic and cartoon mythoses, however, most gestalts have one default transformation. Defensor has one each in the American and Japanese versions.
Unlike the Aerialbots, Combaticons, or Stunticons, the Protectobots were the only combiner team from the pre-movie episodes that were not given an origin story. They first appeared in the episode "The Revenge of Bruticus," although they were not heavily featured and do not merge into Defensor until the episode "B.O.T", where they battled the Combaticons, with Defensor defeating the Combaticons' combined form of Bruticus. When Bruticus reappeared (having been rebuilt by Swindle after he sold his comrades' parts). Defensor engaged him again and was on the verge of losing when nearby humans used the robot B.O.T to force them to disengage.
Interestingly, they were the only group of Autobots to have a base away from the Ark, they resided in a converted building in a nearby city. Throughout the second and third season, the Protectobots were utilized mainly for assisting human civilians during battles or crisis caused by the war between the Autobots and Decepticons. However, they often were engaged in battle as well both on Cybertron and Earth, including a trip to Unicron's severed head to investigate its reactivation by the ghost of Starscream.
The Protectobot who made the biggest impact on the series was without a doubt their medic, First Aid. It was apparent that he took over the duties as chief medical officer for the Autobots after the death of Ratchet during the movie. This led to another prominent appearance for the Protectobots in the third season episode "The Ultimate Weapon", where First Aid's failure to stop Swindle from stealing Metroplex's transformation cog led to his resignation from the Autobots, leading the other four Protectobots to soldier on, even battling Menasor at one point as Defensor with only one arm. Eventually, after the Autobots stole back Metroplex's cog, Hot Spot convinced First Aid to return, as he was the only one who understood how to install it. He did so, allowing Metroplex to defeat Trypticon. After this the Protectobots were reunited as a team.
Rodimus Prime ordered the team, as Defensor, to be the rear guard as he led a team to retrieve the body of Optimus Prime, in the two part third season finale "The Return of Optimus Prime." Unfortunately, a trap had been sent, and Ultra Magnus and the Aerialbots were quickly infected by the Hate Plague. The Aerialbots, as Superion, engaged Defensor, and rather than waste energy in a futile battle with their comrades, the Protectobots withdrew, but with Superion in pursuit. Defensor attempted to evacuate a bridge in a nearby human city, desperately trying to keep some distance from Superion. They were unsuccessful, however, as Superion was successful at not only infecting Defensor but causing him to split, at which time the mad Protectobots quickly began to fight each other. They were cured along with everyone else when the resurrected Optimus Prime unleashed the power of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, ending the plague once and for all.
The Protectobots were last seen supporting Ultra Magnus in a last ditch effort to stop Galvatron in the fourth season. They failed and were gunned down. It is assumed that they were restored along with Ultra Magnus when the Golden Age of Cybertron was ushered in.
The Protectobots also appeared in the accompanying Transformers comic by Marvel, although they had a lesser role. They originally appeared in the UK Marvel Transformers comics in a very odd way - as part of a dream sequence. In previous stories, Optimus Prime had transferred part of the Matrix to Buster Witwicky. During a mission, Soundwave detected this and used one of Bombshell's cerebro-shells to tap into his mind. Buster's vision showed the future of the Transformer race - the combiners. The Protectobots and Aerialbots battled the Stunticons and Combaticons in their various combined modes with Shockwave and Prime looking on. This set the wheels in motion for more combiner teams on both sides.
The Protectobots made their first true appearance in issue 24 of the US Transformers comic, when they and Prime confronted Megatron and the Combaticons at a power plant. The two sides reached an agreement thanks to the human Ethan Zachary, where they would battle it out in the confines of a computer game. Prime and the Protectobots won due to their compassion towards the game's inhabitants, but Prime deemed that he had lost, as he had sacrificed some of them to stop a cheating Megatron, and self destructed. Shortly after, Hot Spot was considered important enough to be one of the Autobots who named Prime's successor.
When Blaster and Goldbug went rogue from the new Autobot regime under Grimlock, the Protectobots were dispatched to bring them in. However, when they reached the used car dealership where they had last been sighted, they encountered the Combaticons. The two teams battled, with the Combaticons only withdrawing after the arrival of Circuit Breaker and RAAT, who captured Goldbug and the Throttlebots. The two teams battled again in pursuit of Blaster, this time as Defensor and Bruticus, with the Decepticon combiner emerging victorious, although Blaster managed to take out the Combaticons.
The Protectobots appeared less after this, as more new characters were introduced. Although they were not seen to be killed by the Underbase powered Starscream, they did not appear again after issue 50. They did, however, reappear in the Transformers: Generation 2 comic. Hotspot was part of a team sent to Earth to combat a newly rebuilt Megatron before the events Generation 2. He and Slingshot were the only survivors. Later he self-destructed in order to avoid being captured by Cobra forces. Blades was a member of one of Grimlock's raiding parties (with a notably more callous outlook), while Groove appeared assisting the Aerialbots in a team exercise against Hot Rod and the Dinobots. It is unclear if they survived the final battle against Jhiaxus' forces and the Swarm.
In the Transformers Manga #5 Galvatron and his Decepticons attacked the Prime Energy Tower. Galvatron ordered the Decepticons to form Menasor, Devastator and Bruticus and attack. Rodimus Prime counted this move by ordering in Superion, Omega Supreme and Defensor. Galvatron then ordered in Predaking, knowing that Sky Lynx was elsewhere and couldn't counter them. Rodimus ordered the Omnibots to attack Predaking's legs. Tripping up the giant he fell into the other Decepticon giants, winning the day for the Autobots.[3]
The Protectobots were featured in Dreamwave's reimagining of the Generation 1 universe, during the second Transformers: The War Within series. Here, they appeared in their Cybertronian forms (essentially the Cybertronian equivalents of their Earthen forms) interfering in a battle between the Ultracons and Wreckers. When Ratbat unleashed his secret weapon - Devastator - the Protectobots, seeking to prevent an arms race as all factions tried to acquire combiner teams, engaged him as Defensor. Their battle devastated the area, with Defensor becoming more uncontrollable, and Wrecker leader Springer eventually convinced them to separate and defeat Devastator via sabotage. After this, the Protectobots decided not to combine again in case the same thing happened - but were attacked by the Fallen and his acolytes, who defeated them and abducted Hot Spot. Here they are not directly affiliated with the Autobots, but instead keep conflicts from escalating on their own. When the Fallen was killed by Primus himself, Hot Spot was freed.
They had few appearances again before Dreamwave's closure, but Defensor briefly appeared as a victim of Menasor's rampage in their second Generation One miniseries. In issue #2 of the third Generation One series, titled "Black Sunshine", the Protectobots were ordered by Prowl to inventigate the energy anomaly created by Sunstorm escaping Shockwave's abandoned secret lab. When they arrived they discovered the hole left in the roof by Sunstorm and the deactivated Battlechargers Runabout and Runamuck. Streetwise reported back to Prowl as First Aid repaired the Decepticons. They did not appear again.
Blades appeared in The Transformers: Megatron Origin as part of the pre-war response team under Sentinel Prime. True to his tech spec portrayal, he was the most vocal of the team in going after Megatron's gladiators. He was shown subduing Motormaster when the Response team moved against the newly founded Decepticons, and later fighting alongside Prime and Prowl when revolution broke out in Kaon. As he did not appear with the remnants of the response team when they found Prime's body, it is unclear if he survived the fighting or not. Whether or not the rest of the team will appear is unknown.
Universe Defensor |
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Autobot | |
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Japanese name | Sixturbo |
Sub-group | Combiners, Protectobots |
Alternate Modes | Six robots |
Series | Transformers: Generation 1 Transformers: Universe |
The Protectobots in Transformers: Universe were an American release of the Japanese Generation 1 Sixturbo team.[4]
The Protectobot name is used for a playable character in the 2009 Revenge of the Fallen video game by Activision. He looks like Streetwise and transforms into a police car.[6][7]
In the 2010 Transformers: Power Core Combiners toy line, the Autobot Stakeout leads a Protectobot team, which consists of vehicle drones. These drones can combine with Stakeout to become a larger robot by forming his limbs.[8]
The Protectobots and their combined form Defensor appears in the novel Transformers: Exodus.[9]