Editing Transformers (section)

==Cybertronian Races==
With a franchise over 30 years old, there is an abundance of material, so We'll try and summarize up what we can. With races, an individual Transformer can belong to multiple categories, like the character of SixShot (Six Changer and Beastformer), or the Predacon Special team (Beastformer and Combiner) from g1. In the fiction of the IDW comics, what alt mode one takes is basically their race in the Functionism Caste system. Drill tank guys belonged to the manual labor Caste, with bulldozers belonging to the Construction Caste. And In the G1 cartoon the Autobots and Deceptions were two races, one literally built for war and the other for peace. There is even more examples of TF races but this is already pretty long, just check out the tfwiki if you need more examples. 

''Humanoids''': The standard appearance for a Transformer in fiction, most of the guys above fit Into this category.  In some stories, the lack of a mouth, the presence of claw hands, or a monoeye can Indicate the individual has broken the law.  

*'''Primitives/Beastformers''': Transformers that have beast modes have had different origins and features from continuity to continuity. In the original g1 continuity many beast form Transformers all had the same origin, being batch built by their creator. Meanwhile In Beast wars, the Presence of beast forms was explained as a defense against the high levels of Energon present on the planet. Beast forms aren't all normal looking either. The Fuzors from Beast Wars had a signature look combining two animals together, resulting in shit like flying shark birds, scorpions with cobras for tails, dragonfly-winged lizards, croco-turtles or Wolf Eagles. After humanoids they're the most encountered in fiction, and they've been there since the beginning. 

*'''Combiners/Gestalts''': When a daddy TF and a Mommy tf love each other very much....these guys are the result of multiple Transformers (between 2-infinity) becoming one guy. The classic combiners from g1 were usually 5 guys all themed around a certain theme such as planes, Military (How TF a spaceship fits a military theme is anyone's guess) or racing. This power up carries with it some unfortunate side effects, akin to retardation, schizophrenia, or other forms of mental disease. In games or series this can translate to a weakness the enemies can exploit, usually via Taunts. The fewer parts in a Combiner can also help. 
** The smallest known combiner/gestalts are the "fuser" type Transformers, which consist of two Transformers who can merge into a single form together. Dreadwind and Darkwing, G1 Decepticon Powermaster jets who can fuse into a super-jet, are old-school examples, while the Unicron Trilogy had a number of characters (such as their verisons of Jetfire and Ironhide) that could combine with one robot forming an upper body and the other the legs. But TF:Animated's Jetfire & Jetstorm have them beat by fusing into a super-jet that can then become its own ultra-robot, Safeguard.
** The awkwardly-named '''Multi-Component Transformers''' are kind of a reverse of the Combiner, being a singular Cybertronic intelligence that can split into two (or sometimes more) independently functioning alternate modes. Sky Lynx, who can be either a shuttle, a mechanical dragon, or a robo-bird AND a robo-panther at the same time, is the most recognized old-school example of this branch, but the toyline had others, even a two-bot Decepticon miniteam called the Duocons who had this as their central gimmick.
**'''Headmaster and Targetmasters*''': This variation on combiners has smaller robots, or human(oid)s in what is essentially power armor, that transform into the larger robot's head or primary gun. Hey does this make Megatron a Targetmaster?
**'''Powermasters/Godmasters''': A variant of the Headmaster/Targetmaster, in this case the smaller guy turns into an engine, which not only can supercharge the performance of their bigger buddy, but also ''has'' to interlink with them before they can actually transform.

*'''Triple Changers+''': Triple changers are usually treated as special troops in fiction, having multiple forms suited to different tasks. The g1 triple changers usually had one land and one air based mode, but individuals like Broadside buck the trend entirely. Transforming Into an aircraft carrier, one has to question if it's in scale with his jet mode. Beyond triple changers there exists Six changers, who possess six modes! But Beyond two or three of them the rest are a stretch. You call that a tank? And then beyond that there's RID2001 galvatron who had around 11.

*'''Titans/Cityformers''': The biggest you can go before you reach planet scale, these guys are usually between the size of a couple city blocks to the size of Manhattan. If you needed a robot to wrestle a tarrasque, they would work handily. Notably, with the Titans Returns Series & Toyline, these guys became giant cities that fly through space, kind of like a smallish [[Eldar]] craftworld.

*'''Minicons''': These were introduced in ''Transformers: Armada'', and despite the mixed reception that series got, the toyline as a whole has embraced them wholeheartedly, using them normally or as Head- or Targetmaster partners. Minicons are similar to Powermasters in that they can power-up a bigger bot by attaching to it, but usually have actual vehicle alt-modes(albeit without the size-changing, so a Minicon who transforms into a truck will become a tiny three-foot-long truck) instead of simply turning into components. Some groups can combine into gestalt robots or even powerful weapons.