Autobots: Lets all be cars and trucks Deceptions:Lets all be flying things and military weapons Autobots: Crap...

How can the Autobots fly? First installment weirdness. “We don’t have a series bible to establish how we’re going to write this. We’ll just make sh*t up for season one, see what stick, retcon what doesn’t, and pretend it’s always been that way”.

C'mon, you guys. You know autobots can't fly. *Ironhide* *flying* *in* *the* *background* Nevermind.

Remember when the Autobots drove to Africa in two hours in the episode Changing Gears?

“Me grimlock kick butt!” This is why I love g1

2:28 daddy look a flying cassette recorder

G1 would not be the G1 we love without it`s animation and continuity errors. Yes :D

I see it as a combination of 3 things. 1. Continuity errors. 2. The ability to jump really far and then "gliding" or "falling with style". See The Hulk, Domesday, Buzz Lightyear, etc. 3. Some have built in rocket boosters or other similar systems that weren't visible in the cartoon. While not visible in the cartoon some had such systems included in the molding details of the toys, while others had them described in their bios.

I think at one point all transformers could fly but slowly it was seen as a waste of energy for robot mode. But the Decepticons kept it realizing the military applications and modified themselves for less energon consumption while flying. But in the pilot, the Autobots kinda remembered they could but realized afterward just how much they go through and with the limited medical supplies needed to fix that couldn't upgrade themselves.

I've always justified it, in my own mind, with the lack of energon. The decepticons constantly stole energon so therefore retaining their robot mode flight capabilities. The autobots played by the rules and took what resources the humans allowed them to have and suffered for it. This was how I also justified the easy deaths of the autobots in the movie. Their energon levels were so low that they couldn't compete and therefore died vs shielding off the blasts like on the cartoon. My way of making my favorite cartoon make sense.

what if they remade G1 and fixed all of the mistakes, I'd like that

8:18 ) SHAKE DEM HIPS

It's simple. They can fly. But it uses up vast amounts of energy. The Decepticons don't care about conservation or rationing energy. When they need more, the take more, by any means necessary. They are the villains because they are the takers. The autobots have different strategy for survival. They live on less. They are the sharers. They live a different way and draw those that are weaker to there ranks... which are probably larger, but not as powerful/wasteful. This fits in with the aerial bots time travel story, the five faces of darkness story, and that the concept that future transformers were smaller to conserve energy a la Beast Wars. Perhaps most bots don't have this flight ability, but it's up upgrade that comes with draw backs. Loss of intelligence, roid rage, power consumption needs that go into overdrive.

12:53 all blue optimus 12:57 did soundwave betray megatron 12:59 did shockwave create a cloning machine

does anyone else think its ironic that in Prime the only bot who can fly in robot mode is the only who turns into a truck. this was a fun vid dude

The answer to all the g1 mistakes... Production schedule

2:28 lol @ Soundwave flying off in his alternate mode

My theory is that when the Quintessons opened the time window in 'Forever is a Long Time Coming', there were changes to the timelines that remained permanent. So, the Autobots at one point were able to fly. But the time storm that took place thereafter, altered the reality and no one remembered they could fly. What can I say? Playing with time is like playing with a bomb.

I definitely think for G1 that they have to have rocket packs on in the pilot episodes. Just in general, imagine if most of the Autobots could never fly anywhere. It would put them at a severe disadvantage in stopping the Decepticons if they could never get anywhere that they could with flight. So, even though we don't see them don the packs, they had to have in the pilot episodes. From a real world perspective, I am sure because it was a pilot, they just didn't get all of the rules in place that they would later have, like Autobots can't, mostly, fly. One huge moment you missed (that I have to point out because it's so great) from G1 with an Autobot flying using a jet booster is of course from the movie: the amazing scene with Optimus Prime shooting up over the Deceptions out of his vehicle mode into robot mode and blasting them to bits to The Touch. Optimus clearly integrated a rocket booster into his design by that time. It's probably why Otimus Primal in Beast Wars has his, as a homage.

take a shot every time he says "fly"

Let's not forget the Autobot Tracks, who could fly in car mode.

I remember being bothered by this issue since I was a child watching Transformers. Thanks for clearing some stuff up.

(*Sees Megatron as a purple dinosaur wearing v-tol fans and rollerskates*) A reminder of how these cartoons came to be truly ridiculous...And that's why we love them.

Your videos are awesome. I have been a fan of generation 1 Transformers since 1984 When I was 9.

I always figured they used the rocket packs, but because they both take up energy and could be damaged, the Autobots used them sparingly, only saving them for when they need them.

Can you make a video about transformers' "super powers" ie: robot teleportation, invisibility, starscream's ghost, junkion's part swapping (probably easy), and others that mostly appears in G1?

" Welcome home, noble voyager!"😈😈😈

Lol, my favorite line is on here, when Megatron welcomes Starscream back to earth. welcome home, noble voyager!

Autobots, with some exceptions (particularly the later entries to the factions) have limited flight capability and cannot fly long distances at very high speeds because they were not initially designed for warfare like the Decepticons were.

Some people call it lazy 80's writing. Don't know if you remember me but I'm the one or one of many to suggest doing a video about this subject.

Good video. It's a cartoon from the 80s. Mistakes were made. It's all good. Still love my G1 since I was little.

That Autobot can't fly thing was so dang weird. And again that intro music is dope!

I have questioned this to since I was a child. Now that I am older I can say that when the first 3 episodes aired they just did not follow the story from the comic book. I guess the animators wanted to keep the idea of linking flight to vehicle mode but that didn't work either. As I got older I just chalked it up to the many mysterious inconsistencies of the world of Transformers lol

They must've had jets built within them. Ones with translucent fire. Unfortunately they would inevitably be damaged every now and then during battle.

8:17 You're telling me. Never in my wildest dreams did I picture THAT. By the way, great video. It clarifies some things. I was rather confused about them flying in G1.

Honestly, I’ve always been a sucker for the factions having diametrically opposes transformations (such as Autobots=cars/Decepticons=planes or Maximals=mammals, aquatic animals and birds/Predacons=reptiles, amphibians and bugs). So I prefer flight be a rare special ability for certain Autobots and the rest have emergency jet packs. I mean, that’s the whole reason we got the Stunticons and Aerialbots in season 2; so Decepticons can have a few cars and Autobots can have a few planes as a counterbalance.

Make sense that the seekers could fly in robot mode, because their thrusters are located on their feets, and their wings are located on their backs :v

A lot of love went into this video, and it is greatly appreciated. 'Till all are one'

I m waiting 30 years for this! Thnx, my friend!

Science Wheeljack joke

My thought is that in the first episodes when the autobots flyed, (sorry, I mean flew, well, anyway, as I was saying,) I think that they flew because they had built in rocketpacks, but then eventually, the rocketpacks got destroyed when fighting the decepticons, so they can't fly anymore. (Also, in the intro for season 1 of the G1 show, I think that at the end, the autobots are seen flying with their invisible rocketpacks!)

Only one that can be explained is Orion Pax since it looks like he had a boost jumping at Megatron. As for the Dinobots maybe it is just something Wheeljack and Ratchet built into them to have some fliers on the Autobot side. Same can be said for the Technobots since Grimlock built them he could of just gave the ability to fly. Maybe they just thought of it after the fact that they flew in the pilot episodes making them mostly not fly to separate the sides a little more. Trying to make you think of the Decepticons as fliers and most Autobots non-fliers.

I think autobots can fly only with rocket packs and to explain in the episodes that have them not wear visible rocket packs, it’s probably just the animators forgetting to animate them with packs. Great vid!

In space, they can probably fly without jetpacks by using reaction wheels they normally use for balance. And in the 3 part episode, their newly repaired bodies may have been given a temporary boost as whatever allowed their wheeless cybertronian modes to float over the ground began to fade and boosting power to this component allowed for some flight capabilities.

When I watched G1 as a kid in believed it was either autobots needed a jet pack or inbuilt thrusters to fly or that autobots could fly in robot mode like decepticons but chose not to because doing so is costly in some way like maybe due to pollution or being energy intensive. The early episodes of G1 I can write off as an animation mistake. G1 has loads of them.

I remember as a kid I always imagined that weird box on the back of Optimus being a jet pack that let him fly. I never came up with an excuse for the other bots though.

The initial episodes the autobots had jetpack but were much compact and had the ability to blend in with their robot form. Thats why you cant see it. but it takes alot of energon and need specific fuel like cybertronium which is rare and they had to manufacture earthlike jetpacks later in the season but not as reliable as their cybertron jetpacks. The decepticons all had built in reason why they need more energon compared to autobots. The technobots had evolved to same physiology as decepticons when they were created.

"Jets and everything else." What a great army.

It's a cartoon and I love the way it is 😄👍🏽 awesome video by the way.👍🏽

I LOVE your awesome videos! Best channel in youtube history!

you know a vid on transformers is gonna be good when it starts with an irl history lesson i'm partly serious

Great video! Very well put together!

The only way the Autobots can fly, is the power of liquid nitrogen.

Another of my college days round table discussions, we did manage to explain this one, to a degree. Can Autobots fly in robot mode? Yes and no. During the golden age of Cybertron, before Megatron met Orion Pax, a new kind of robot was being developed, one that could fly in robot mode. These were the Decepticons and they used this ability to outmaneuver Autobot forces, who at that time could not fly without a jet pack of some kind, whether integrated (like Sideswipe) or external (rocket packs). Our theory was that the Autobots, many of whom are scientists, attempted to replicate the flying ability of the Decepticons. They were able to do this, thus enabling the battles seen in the beginning episodes. However, they discovered that the process was extremely draining energy wise, so had to deactivate it to conserve energy. The Decepticons were created with the ability integrated into them, and had probably refined it over time to make it more efficient, but even in that case, they would always be hungry for more energon. The Autobots would forego robot flight mode to keep their energon cost down, remember there were a lot more Autobots than Decepticons, so that was a lot more individuals to support. The only Autobots who would be scene flying would be those that had special features that enabled them to do so. In the cases of the later Autobots and Decepticons, the Dinobots were much larger than standard Autobots, so probably had the system integrated into them so they could keep up with the faster vehicle forms of the standard Autobots. The Insecticons were designed with flying or gliding forms, so could do so in either form. For the Arielbots, who as far as I know are only scene flying in jet mode or as Superion, they were constructed in a hurry on Cybertron. Superion was given a flight ability by combining the powers of his components. There are scenes with Menasor and Bruticus flying, which makes sense as the Decepticons knew the advantage of flight and would build it into Combiners. As far as space flight goes, as far as I can remember, this is primarily only seen when they are traveling through space, not taking off from a planet which would cause problems with gravity and air friction. Still, its only a theory. Please let me know what you think.

As always very well researched articles, manuals, videos, comic books, etc. went into creating the video. As always RodimusPrimal, Mrs. RodimusPrimal, and RodimusPrimal Jr. doing a lot for us the fans to enjoy. Thanks alot and God bless.

I always went with the r2d2 explanation In the star wars prequels r2 had thrusters but after many strenuious battles with the rebellion, he lost the thrusters and was never able to get them replaced. I think the same goes with the autobots, they used to be flight capable but after fighting on earth, their thrusters wore down and they never got them replaced or repaired

Keep these videos coming man. Youre doing the Lord's work.

I really liked how the G1 comics handled flight, by far my favourite. Your solution for the G1 cartoon is simple, but effective! Does it open up the floodgates to explain away other seemingly contradictory elements of TF lore though?

Personally I just think that the intention was that they all could fly wen doing the pilot, but when it was turned into a series it was decided not to have the autobots fly. Just another thing the writers decided to try to make the factions seem different from each other. After that it’s just continuity errors.

Well, _More Than Meets the Eye_ is really where it starts. I think superheroes were just expected to be able to fly in that era, for fear of otherwise being kind of lame. In my mind, I had this kind of technological trade-off in mind where Decepticons could only function for a few hours before needing to sit in a charger, whereas Autobots had much better battery life - as long as they weren't flying around all the time...

7:24 Cheetor's transmetal cheetah mode always reminds me of G1 Ravage.

I ask you this question a year ago and you did it.😁

In the comics only those transformers who flying vehicle modes or "flight" as special ability could fly. In order to travel Megatron had to transform into gun and go inside one of the flying decepticons.

Thank you for finally addressing this!

Umm, anti-gravity stabilizers? Anti-gravitational fields? I'm not great at coming up with psudoscience terminology. I'm not Star Trek. 😂😂

Hey Rodimus! I might be showing my age, but back in the 80s on the Commodore 64, we had a Transformers game. The whole point was to obtain 4 Energon Cubes, and return them to the base to form the Autobot Insignia. Aside from the Gen 1 show where the Autobots were flying, this game also showed them flying which blew my mind at the time.

To paraphrase a great scientist; There aren’t always roads where they’re going? It’s plot expediency? It’s cool? Whatever way, great video :)

It's simple: a prototype anti-gravity device, worn by Optimus, and generating an antigrav field around that allows any Autobot within 800 feet to hover in the general direction that Optimus is heading. Such a shame the Wheeljack could never get it to work again after their first Earth adventure!

i noticed that you forgot the episode attack of the autobots when optimus prime and ratchet flew out of the crater that rumble had made

i'm gonna say it's just an animation error. pretend they had jetpacks

Decepticons: you can fly?! Autobots: no, jump good

I like how many people are doing mental acrobatics to explain why some robots could fly and other robots couldn’t in a 1980s cartoon series which was a glorified commercial to sell toys.

I say that the autobots can fly just because.

The reason is simple: plot convince. 👍🏻

My take on it: Autobots do have the ability to fly. However, they are predominantly known for not being able to do so due to their flight capabilities being highly draining on their personal energon supply. This is due to Decepticons having better flight tech as part of their cyber-biology than Autobots.

Once again, you cover the topics the true Transformer fans want to talk about. Thank you oh Primal one. p.s - great editing with the old clips here.

I was wondering when I was younger Could they ever fly and than I fought no they can't fly if they need jetpacks or need rockets like Sideswipe and Sunstreaker so for the Autobots they don't need to fly only those who need too. P.s no wonder why the animators can't handle animation error only to screw up on the show and becoming jokes on the internet.

6:02 what the heck? Spider-Man?

Hey rodimus you forgot to mention that prowl in the transformers animated series could fly with booster and later with a sidecar

Thanks for making this video!!

beast wars is the worst thing ever made.

possible answer is that, all transformers have the fly capability developed and built-in since the war on cybertron. The differences btw autobots and decepticons are the energy efficiency in flight mode and some other related capabilities (e.g., flight speed/distances, flight fights, etc). When the fly capable alternative modes are adopted, the internal engines route the energy through the flight modules by default while the non-fly capability alternative modes are selected, the engines skip the energy routines through out the flight modules by default. The transformers could push the energy routines through the flight modules which grants them temporarily flight capabilities.

Awesome video! Great job.

2:28 That's just awesome, Soundwave is a flying radio

You truly forgot about Trax he was a autobot that transformed into a Corvette but he had the ability to fly in car mode with built-in wings attached to his body.

I once remember hearing somewhere that Autobots can, in fact, fly but choose not to very often because it's incredibly fuel intensive. The Decepticons can afford it because they don't care about pillaging fuel whereas the Autobots are too benevolent for that and so only fly in extreme circumstances; thus, the pilot episodes can be explained away by the fact the Autobots are in unfamiliar territory and need to fly to get to places quickly, and Optimus asks Sideswipe for his rocket pack because he's either out of fuel or needs more power to catch up to the Decepticons, especially since he himself tries to dissuade Ironhide from puruist by saying, "they're faster than us in the air," or something like that. It may also explain the whole "Autobots can't fly" meme as a taunt at their inferior flying ability, unless I'm forgetting a time when an Autobot said it.

Autobots, transform and rise up!

6:06 long neck robot mode grimlock isn’t real, he can’t hurt yo- *long neck robot mode grimlock:*

Seeing soundwave fly in cassette mode made me laugh

Great discussion

I miss my beast wars inferno figure.

"they all can fly , they just decided not to", diamond bolt , G1 jetfire toy commercial

2:29 oh look, flying radio

Great TF content 👍

Great to see a new vid!

"How can autobots fly?" Lack of consistency, the lore one.

I could’ve sworn huffer in more than meets the eye at Sherman dam says “we can’t fly as fast as the decepticons”

A video overview of the various continuities and the shows/comics/games that fit in each one would be a cool video. Like a big map/flow chart of it all would be cool.

Mostly production skrew ups....but I can buy that newer Autobots could fly being newer models like the Dinobots and Techno bots which where built by a genius Grimlock. It would make sense to include that ability in new gen Autobots.

Megetaron: you can fly?! Optimus Prime: No, jump good.