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Vehicon
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Vehicons are a faction in the fictional Transformers universes, appearing the animated series Beast Machines and Transformers: Prime. Their origins vary between continuities, but the name has always been applied to a faction of Drones, led by Megatron. Vehicon is also the name of a planet in Takara's Robot Masters line. Vehicon is inhabited by Transformers led by Reverse Convoy, a Transformer whose body was possessed by G1 Megatron. Beast Machines The Vehicons, as seen in the animated series Beast Machines, are non-sentient drones, controlled entirely by the will of Megatron or their respective general. The origins of the Vehicons came about when Megatron returned from the Beast Wars ahead of the Maximals and unleashed his transformation freezing virus, rendering the populace of Cybertron helpless to fight back as it sent them into stasis lock. As more Cybertronians fell to the virus, Megatron had their bodies melted down and used to create his ideal army - the Vehicons, a vehicle based army of sparkless drones with no organic elements, controlled totally by him, calling them, "the wave of the future". In time, nearly the entire population of Cybertron fell, leaving the Vehicons in control of a deserted Cybertron. Eventually, Megatron's erstwhile captors returned to Cybertron. The Vehicons assaulted them with canisters of the virus, capturing Rhinox and Silverbolt and reverting the rest from their Transmetal forms into their original beast modes. They were then reformatted by the Oracle into the thing Megatron hated most - partially organic beast modes. The Vehicons proved unable to stand against the newly powerful Maximals, and Megatron resorted to a new strategy - imbuing three Vehicon drones with the Sparks of Silverbolt, Rhinox and Waspinator, creating Jetstorm, Tankor and Thrust. They led the Vehicon forces against the Maximals with some success, but Megatron's insistence on using the Sparks of Rhinox and Silverbolt came back to haunt him. Tankor betrayed and tried to kill Megatron, and both were seemingly destroyed during an explosion in the Plasma Energy Chamber. After this, with Megatron's control severed, the Vehicons simply shut down. Megatron's return would mean a fresh campaign against the Maximals. During this time, Blackarachnia managed to turn Jetstorm back into Silverbolt, leaving Thrust's forces to be repeatedly overwhelmed. Megatron accordingly created two new generals - Obsidian and Strika, two of the greatest Cybertronian generals who ever lived. They quickly turned the tide against the Maximals with their tactical and strategic brilliance. However Megatron's fortess was soon destroyed once more, and the Vehicons again shut down. Megatron had in fact survived in the body of his Diagnostic Drone, and had his factories produce masses of new Vehicons for a final assault. In the final battle, all three Vehicon generals fell, the factories were destroyed and Megatron was finally destroyed in battle with his foe Optimus Primal. This last act reformatted Cybertron into a technorganic paradise, with the Vehicons being turned into the new bodies of the populace, their Sparks now free from Megatron's control. 3H Enterprises Although they did not appear in the show, three more types of drones were introduced in the toyline: the Mirage drones, who turned into race cars; the Scavenger drones, who transformed into Demolition Vehicles; and the Blastcharge drones, who turned into Six Wheeled Attack Vehicles. However, the drones' lack of Sparks or any kind of free will made them easy prey for the reformatted Maximals. The Transformers: Universe-Wreckers BotCon comic also featured several other types of Vehicons and their generals not seen in the TV show. To combat the rising threat of the various groups on Cybertron including the Mutants, Dinobots and Wreckers, Megatron created two other Vehicon Generals to deal with them Blastcharge and Quake (implied to be the original). These two were sent after the Wreckers, managing to kill Fractyl, but failing to stop the Wreckers' escape, They and another general, Spy Streak, took their drones (including Mirage drones, Scavenger drones and a third bomber type based on Spy Streak) to confront the Wreckers at the crash site of an old Autobot shuttle. All three were killed, and most of their forces wiped out. Several other Vehicons appeared as members of the Wreckers, having managed to retain their individuality. These included Cyclonus, Skywarp, Rotorbolt and Devcon. The original Mirage drone also appeared battling Apelinq, and being sucked into a wormhole. The Vehicon Spy Streak's bio presented him as single-minded in the pursuit of the Maximals. To this end he was a formidable aerial warrior and just as dangerous on the ground. Spy Streak appeared in the "Transformers: Universe Wreckers" comic as one of the Vehicon generals under the command of Megatron. Unlike his fellow generals Quake and Blastcharge his creation was not shown in the comic. He was sent along with a group of drones to assist Quake and Blastcharge in the destruction of Primal Prime's Wreckers as they tried to escape Cybertron in an old Autobot shuttle. At first the battle went well, as Spy Streak's drones took command of the sky - until the Wrecker backup arrived in the form of the former Decepticons Skywarp and Cyclonus, who wiped out his drones. Spy Streak was left trapped under some debris as the Autobot shuttle took off, and could only watch helplessly as a bomb left by Cyclonus detonated, presumably destroying him. The Beast Machines Basic Spy Streak toy, released in 1999, was repainted into the Transformers: Robots in Disguise Autobot Nightcruz and the Transformers: Universe Autobot Fireflight. Types of Vehicons There were six basic types of drone shown in the show: the Tank-Drones controlled by Tankor, Aero-Drones controlled by Jetstorm, Cycle-Drones controlled by Thrust, Assault-Drones controlled by Strika, Copter-Drones controlled by Obsidian, and the Mole-Drones controlled by Megatron. All types of drones (except the mole-drones) were commanded by a general who shared their basic structure, these Generals were created by Megatron when he realised the Maximals were defeating his forces due to their free will. To this end, he implanted Sparks in a set of drones, giving them free will and the autonomy to command their drones as they saw fit, creating Tankor, Jetstorm and Thrust. The Vehicon Generals were completely obedient to Megatron and were single minded in their pursuit of the Maximals. This is mostly due to Megatron erasing their memories of their past lives. It was only when they regained these memories that they became a wild card. Tankor, once he regained his memories of being Rhinox, betrayed Megatron and attempted to rule Cybertron himself, while Silverbolt became one of Megatron's bitterest opponents after being reformatted from Jetstorm. The third, Thrust (in reality carrying Waspinator's Spark), was happy to resuppress his Predacon memories and be a "cool biker-bot". By the second season, however, this was no longer a problem. The second generation Vehicon Generals, Obsidian and Strika, willingly joined Megatron, believing service to Cybertron at this point was service to Megatron. The Diagnostic Drone (known as Flying C or Fly in Japan and voiced by Christopher Gaze) was a minor character in the show, serving as an advisor to Megatron. This drone possessed an artificial intelligence, had no alternate mode, and was programmed to obey Megatron's every command. During its brief role in the series, it attempted several times to eradicate Megatron's organic side, with little success. Eventually, by studying the Maximal Nightscream, it did learn how to remove Megatron’s organic components; however before it could do so, it was reprogrammed by Tankor, who had regained his memories as the Maximal Rhinox, who ordered it to fail in its attempt to help Megatron. Tankor then used the Diagnostic Drone to obtain the Key to Vector Sigma and to send false visions through the Oracle to Optimus Primal. The Drone is later destroyed by Megatron, who was apparently aware of its traitorous activities the entire time. Having been destroyed in the first season and Megatron having removed his organic body from himself, there was no need for the Diagnostic Drone in the second season. However other Diagnostic Drones appeared for the first time, with much more limited intelligence, although still more intelligent then the average Vehicon Drone. Their function appeared to be maintenance and repair. But in second season, Megatron eventually becomes trapped in the body of one of these Drones. Several Diagnostic Drones build him his "Optimal" body and more of them are seen bringing the last of the Maximal sparks into the containment unit and repairing a console after Optimus Primal damages it. Transformers: Prime In Transformers: Prime, the Vehicons are "Decepticon Troopers", alongside the Insecticons, appearing with a somewhat similar appearance to previous incarnations of Soundwave. They are usually sent out first by Megatron to fight the Autobots before he sends out any other Decepticons. They are usually led by a "General" or bigger rank of Decepticon. However, unlike previous versions of Vehicon drones, these are not mindless, but seem to have separate personalities. There are two varieties of Vehicon seen in the show: those that transform into Earth muscle cars (often referred to as "Troopers") and those that become Cybertronian jet fighters (often referred to as "Flyers"), with the latter type more frequently seen. There is also a servant class Vehicon used for mineral labour such as mining for energon, referred to as "Decepticon Miners". They have a slight difference in physical appearance, but are also portrayed as having their own personalities. Animated series They initially debuted in the first episode, "Darkness Rising", where they were sent by Starscream to fight , who is heavily damaged in an energon explosion, however, the "Brutes" that appear in Transformers: War for Cybertron and its sequel Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, who are drones for both the Autobots and Decepticons, resemble Vehicons. It is possible that they might actually be them, as it is shown in the Prime series, several Vehicons participated in the Great War. The Vehicons do appear in the online game Transformers: Prime - Terrorcon Defense and in ', where tank and helicopter Vehicons are also shown to exist. In the season 2 episode "Armada", with Airachnid in stasis, the Insecticon are freed from her control and swear loyalty to Megatron. The Insecticons often join Vehicons on their missions, making them a larger and more powerful force against the Autobots. In "Darkest Hour", the finale of Season 2, an entire armada of elite Vehicons, (referred to as Seekers in "Scattered") led by Starscream are patterned in gray and white. They appear throughout season 3, alongside the original black and purple Vehicons. The Vehicons go unnamed in the show until the episode "Plus One", where Wheeljack refers to the drones as "Vehicon troopers", saying the best part about them is that they are easily distracted. Prior to that they were referred to as "Troops", or "Flyers", and were referred to as "Eradicons" on closed-captioning and on the Hubworld website. Throughout the series, different voice actors have voiced the Vehicons: Steven Blum, Peter Cullen, David Kaye, Josh Keaton, Daran Norris, Nolan North, Kevin Michael Richardson, David Sobolov, and Frank Welker. In Transformers: Prime, all Vehicons look similar in robot mode, but can have different vehicle modes. These include: muscle cars, Cybertronian jets, tanks, and helicopters. Vehicons are shown to have distinct personalities and visible emotions, unlike previous counterparts. They are further shown to be of different sizes with subtle variations in head shape depending on their class. Vehicon Miners are somewhat smaller than their trooper counterparts as seen in the episode "Stronger, Faster". Most Vehicons are black and purple in color scheme, but in "Darkest Hour", the finale of Season 2, an entire armada of elite Vehicons, (referred to as Seekers in "Scattered") led by Starscream are patterned in gray and white. Several Prime Vehicon toys were released. A Deluxe mold of Vehicon was released in 2011, with a Japanese version of this toy by Takara Tomy repainted in a metallic finish that same year. The Prime Robots in Disguise Revealers Deluxe Vehicon toy is a different Deluxe mold that is slimmer in profile than the First Edition release. In 2012, there was a new Cyberverse Legion mold of Vehicon available in stores. In Transformers: Robots in Disguise, some Vehicons appear with varying color schemes and are shown working for Glowstrike and Scorponok's group. The Vehicons in this series are collectively voiced by Jim Cummings and Fred Tatasciore. Books Vehicons appear in Transformers: Exiles and are said to appear in the upcoming novel Transformers: Retribution. 
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