Protoforms
Protoforms are "basic frames" of a Cybertronian placed in stasis until a suitable form can be found. The term first appeared in episode one of Beast Wars in September 1996. It has reappeared in various Transformers media, including later cartoons, comics, film, and toylines. Protoforms were a major plot point in the Beast Wars cartoon, appearing in multiple episodes. In this series, protoforms are imbued with a spark (self-awareness, life essence) before being placed into a stasis pod. Stasis pods are delicate, and the slightest damage can erase the protoform's memories. The plot of the 2006 IDW Publications mini-series Beast Wars: The Gathering centers around the fate of the protoforms not recovered in the cartoon. At the conclusion of the series, all the protoforms are accounted for.
The Transformers cartoon airing after the conclusion of Beast Wars, Transformers: Robots in Disguise, featured protoforms in one episode. The Protoforms are the forms of Autobots before they scan a vehicle or animal. In this series, if a vehicle is scanned it becomes an Autobot, and if it scans an animal it will become a Predacon. In the episode "The Decepticons", a group of Autobot protoforms are stolen by Megatron, brought to a military base where they scan the vehicles there. Before they can complete their transformations into Autobots, Megatron curuopts them with his spark energy, turning them into Decepticons. In Scourge's case, scanning a tanker truck as well as Optimus Prime and the truck's human driver, was able to control Fortress Maximus later on. After their creation, they fight the Autobots and then retreat with Megatron. The Decepticons creation was not so well felt by the Predacons, as Megatron found them more effective, the two factions battled for Megatron's respect there after.
In the 2007 live-action film Transformers, Autobots en route to Earth change their alternate modes into structures called space travel pods by the movie creators in the additional material contained in disc 2 of the DVD release, and enter the planet's atmosphere in the same way as a meteor. Thereafter, the Cybertronians change to a humanoid shaped endoskeleton structure. Cybertronians in the protoform state will transform into a generic robot mode. Upon scanning a disguise, replication is completed within seconds, giving them their now-unique physical characteristics.
In the Transformers: Movie Prequel book, protoforms are the base forms for all Transformers on Cybertron, hence their skeletal look. All armor, weapons, sensors, transformation, etc. are integrated later. A Transformer can turn into a protoform as often as needed. The live-action film prototypes are shown to be extremely tough and durable, withstanding the atmospheric reentry and hard landing as they arrive on Earth, as said by the Transformers Movie Guide.
In the additional material of the DVD, director Michael Bay states that he wanted the Transformers to arrive to Earth in their protoform, calling them endoskeleton/underskin, to avoid logic contradictions found in the original Generation 1 animated series, such as some Autobot characters carrying pieces of human-created technology, like truck and car pieces, while they were on their homeplanet Cybertron, clearly an alien environment. Bay states that while that was done in the cartoon for the sake of easy animation, it wouldn't fit well in a movie he envisioned to be serious, and wouldn't help to make the film credible to audiences not familiar with the Transformers universe.
In the extra features of the DVD, Production designer Jeff Mann explains the technology of the Transformers machine replication is beyond human understanding. It is based on a nano-molecular process, explaining how Cybertronians in a protoform state are able to adopt the form of any machine or vehicle of the same mass. The second installment in the film series, Revenge of the Fallen, includes a scene with a hive of hatchlings, which are baby protoforms. In Dark of the Moon, they are seen as foot soilders holding guns with out any vehicle mode or transformation abilities.
Toy versions of Optimus Prime and Starscream as protoforms were released as part of the toyline for the first Transformers film. The Nintendo DS versions of the video games based on the two live-action Transformers movies have the player controlling a new character, first shown as a protoform. In the game based on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Optimus Prime uses this terminology. In Transformers: Animated, Optimus Prime states that, "Protoforms are the building blocks for all life on Cybertron", and they can assume a physical blank form when not in use. Protoform is also used as an insulted by Ratchet.
In Transformers: Exodus, the term "Proto-form" is often used. Unlike the regular use of the term Protoform, which is the same as previously described, Proto-Form is used to describe a Transformer's Robot Mode. Protoforms appear in the Transformers: Prime episode "Armada", in which the rouge Decepticon Starscream establishes the Harbinger as his new base of operations. He comes across a room with five protoforms. He researches how to create clones and turn the protoforms into clones of himself. They posessed the ability to transform with scanning a vehicles, presumably because Starscream already had a vehicle mode. Ironically, he had lost the ability to transform at the point in the series, so the clones fly to the Nemesis and attack Megatron without him. They are all killed by him, except two, one was killed by Bulkhead, the other got away when Airachnid's Insecticons attacked the ship and Megatron was distracted. The survivor returnes to base and attempted to terminate Starscream, Starscream being able to know what each clone's intentions are, shoots him and removes his T-cog to insert it into himself, but is to scared to and never ends up doing it. The dead Starscream clone's body is used to distract the Autobots in "Inside Job" so Starscream can steal the Omega Keys and rejoin the Decepticons. The protoforms resembled the Vehicons in Prime.
Read more about this topic: Spark (Transformers)