Vehicons (also known as Eradicons) are a subspecies (or culture) of Cybertronian Soldiers from the planet Cybertron.
- "If they live, it is a terrible half-life. They make only war and death, and experience none of the pleasures that you or I may."
- ―Sunstorm
Biology[]
Anatomy[]
Vehicons share a similar biology to other Cybertronians except they transform into sports cars, fighter jets, motorcycles, helicopters, tanks, and trucks. They can appear in a large variety of colors including black, silver, blue, red, green, yellow, and purple.
Powers and abilities[]
Vehicons share many of the same abilities as other Cybertronians.
Packing lots of firepower, Vehicons both travel and attack en masse, relying on sheer numbers to overpower enemy forces. They possess alloy-plated armor that both protects them from and deflects many types of enemy artillery.
Vehicon drones can be controlled either directly by a commanding Cybertronian or by a single sapient Vehicon General sharing the same body-type as the drones in question.
In the event that a Vehicon General is lost, their drones can apparently be controlled by other generals.
Weaknesses[]
Vehicons share many of the same weaknesses as other Cybertronians.
Vehicons generally appear to suffer from particularly poor marksmanship.
Culture and society[]
The Vehicon insignia
- "The Children of Primus are a warrior race, the Covenant does not shy away from that, but the Vehicons represent war without conscience. They are not warriors, they are merely weapons."
- ―Sunstorm
Vehicons are generally used as a personal army for Decepticons and other Cybertronian desports. Thus, they are enemies of both the Autobots and the Maximals. If they are not terminated by an Autobot or Maximal, Vehicons can be used for experimentation or even simply recycled for parts by a superior officer. Despite being largely regarded as highly expendable cannon fodder, they appear to accept that danger is part of life. To a Vehicon, happiness is both loyalty to Megatron and a warm blaster cannon.[1]
The overwhelming majority of Vehicons are unliving drones with no innate sapience or spark, hence the need for Vehicon Generals and other commanders. There also exists a selection of sentient Vehicon troopers that are capable of speech, occasionally vocalizing with the voices of their generals. Vehicons who display particular talent are promoted to the rank of Vehicon General themselves, becoming soldiers considered above and beyond regular Vehicons.[2]
The Vehicons' primary motivation is the thought that someday they might make a name for themselves (literally) and rise to the upper ranks. Therefore, they have a tendency to follow orders blindly with great obedience. Though they often display no sense of self-preservation, various Vehicons drones have appeared to use emotive body language on rare occasions, ranging from shaking in apparent fear to even wordlessly pleading not to be shot.
Vehicons are not always happy about their duties, but they follow orders without question. Mostly because they are more afraid of their commanders than they are of whatever their enemies will do to them.[3]
History[]
Primax Cluster[]
The Vehicons were a legion of military Cybertronians that allowed Predacon leader "Beast" Megatron to conquer Cybertron and protect his one-robot empire from all threats, namely Optimus Primal's Maximals.
Uniend Cluster[]
Vehicons are foot soldiers in the Decepticon armies commanded by Megatron, though a silver variant of jet-type Vehicons have been commanded by Starscream.
Tyran Cluster[]
Vehicons are Decepticon enforcers disguised as vehicles used by the CIA black-ops taskforce known as Cemetery Wind.
Gallery[]
Generals[]
Troopers[]
Notes[]
- Beast Machines: Transformers series writer Bob Skir came up with the idea of reusing designs for the Vehicons as drones during the production of the show. Due to the expense of creating character designs, the first season could feature only five Maximals (Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Rattrap, Blackarachnia, and Nightscream) and four Vehicons (Megatron, Jetstorm, Tankor, and Thrust).
- This lineup raised concerns that the heroes outnumbered the villains, undercutting the threat. Bob's simple but elegant solution was to reuse the design of the three Vehicon minions ad infinitum.[4]
- Vehicons were among the first cast members of Transformers: Prime shown, appearing in a preview clip from the episode "Darkness Rising, Part 1" shown at San Diego Comic-Con 2010: two Vehicons walk under a bridge, and one shows its hand to the camera, before Bumblebee arrives to heroically beat up the two guys who are not doing anything.
- The Vehicons featured in Prime were not referred to as such until the episode "Plus One", only being referred to as "Decepticon Troopers" in the episodes prior to then.
- A single image on the Hub Network website and closed captions for episodes of Prime refer to the Decepticon trooper as "Eradicons". Though, they have always been referred to as Vehicons in Titan Magazine's Transformers: Prime comic.
- In the Prime cartoon, Vehicons appear to be sentient to an extent. Factors pointing to this include voting for Knock Out to be brought in for Megatron's repairs, questioning Starscream's leadership, insulting the Insecticons, and being affected by the spark extractor.
- At the Transformers: Prime panel from San Diego Comic-Con International 2013, an audience member asked if the Vehicons were meant to be drones or individuals. Apparently, the episode "Armada" was meant to suggest the Vehicons' being clones, "birthed" similarly to Starscream's clones, as evidenced by the Vehicons having faceplates similar to the "mono-eyed" Cybertronian protoforms found aboard the Harbinger.
- Vehicon body parts are available to use in the Hub website's Vector Sigma Bot Builder online game. Normally, you cannot configure a generic 'bot using all Vehicon parts, but you can see what one would look like at right through the magic of Photoshop.
- Although officially the Vehicons are not in the Transformers: Fall of Cybertron video game, many Decepticon foot soldiers look extremely similar to them. This can be seen in greater comparison when Optimus Prime finds decapitated Decepticon heads in Grimlock's locker.
- According to The Art of Prime, the Vehicons were not going to speak in the Prime cartoon. The decision to give Vehicons dialogue was made late in production, hence the lack of mouth.
- At BotCon 2012, concept art for a tank-type Vehicon and a helicopter-type Vehicon was released. They have so far been used in Transformers: Prime - The Game along with a truck-type Vehicon. They have not been used anywhere else yet, which is unfortunate because they are awesome.
- Whether by coincidence or not, the roster of Vehicon body-types featured in both the Prime cartoon and tie-in video game matches the same one of their Beast Machines predecessors.
- The car-type Vehicons are analogues to Thrust's Cycle Drones due to them transform into "light" ground vehicles.
- The jet-type Vehicons are thematically based on Jetstorm's Aero Drones, as they transform into fighter jets.
- The tank-type Vehicons are thematically based on Tankor's Tank Drones, as they transform into tanks.
- The helicopter-type Vehicons are thematically based on Obsidian's Copter Drones, as they transform into helicopters.
- The truck-type Vehicons are analogues to Strika's Artillery Drones due to them transforming into "heavy" ground vehicles.
- In the Prime episode "Scattered", the silver jet-type Vehicons have been referred to as "Seekers" by both Starscream and the episode's end credits. Whether the same applies for the normal-colored jet-type Vehicons has not been confirmed, though the end credits referred to one such Vehicon as a "Trooper" instead.
- Though the Vehicon toy included in the Platinum Edition "Breakout Battle" multi-pack is a redeco of the Deluxe Class Crankcase toy from the Transformers: Dark of the Moon toyline, its Chevrolet Suburban mode is decoed to represent the modified Cadillac Escalades used by Cemetery Wind in the film Transformers: Age of Extinction.
- Similarly, the Power Battlers Vehicon toy is based on the Local Motors Rally Fighters also used by Cemetery Wind in Age of Extinction.
- In the second season the 2015 Transformers: Robots in Disguise series, recolors of both the car and jet-type Vehicons from Prime appear. In this series, Vehicons are largely inhabitants of "Decepticon Island", a stronghold made from the crashed half of the Alchemor prison ship.
- The Prime Vehicon designs have also been used in Generation 1-inspired The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye comic series as generic members of the Titan Hunters, the Transformers: Windblade Holiday Special one-shot for a Badgeless officer, and the 2017 Transformers Annual one-shot for a pre-war civilian.