Optimus's knuckle duster was an exception to this rule then

Well there’s a reason why Ironhide decided to ditch his arm cannons due to them being damaged during the battle of Egypt

Megatron made sense since he was frequently heavily damaged so it would make sense that his weapons would stop working after a while

And then there's lockdowns who's face turns into a giant gun

I love how in its core, the main purpose of every Transformer movies is that it's basically a feature length toy advertisement

I always thought of it as the integrated weapons were never as strong as a hand held. That the integrated weapon when off the energy of the robot while the hand held had its own power source and could be used long with more power without draining and transformers energon supply.

The only reason megatron has his shotgun was because prime used his fusion cannon against him in Egypt

Bumblebee said “Nah I’m good bro”

Technically in dotm still have the swords in his arms. Before changing sentinel the blade comes out of his arm and then he makes it into a sword. Also his guns and the axe comes out of his back

Prime had an energon sword in 4, bees cannon was integrated into his arm, hound is a conglomeration of firearms, & crosshairs has his smgs half holstered in his leg, in tf5 bee has his cannon, prime has hounds 4 barrel shortstop transform into his forearm, also primes arm dagger during the prime vs bee fight, megs cannon is his on his arm, nitro Zeus cannon on his arm, onslaught had his wierd pincer & a gun on/as his hand.

I liked the idea of optimus driving around with bigger weapons in his trailer. But I do like the integrated weapons

Megs got his arm canon arm mangled in Revenge of the Fallen. He also lost it shortly after when Prime basically sent him flying through a wall. Ironhide dropped his canons while running from the airstrike.

Yeah...except Bumblebee he kept his integrated arm canon in all of the movies

In the G1 of the Transformers It showed that on autobots (except jet fire and hound Military Jeep ) We're all civilian vehicles is While the decepticons mostly scanned Military vehicles( except for megatron and soundwave)

Lockdown "Puny, I'm equipped with Gun in my face"

Bumblebee just didnt get the memo lol

If you think about it. It's smart. If you have weapons that are part of your body you can be at a disadvantage. Like Megatron if ROTF. He blasted his face because of the integrated weapon and felt the pain when Optimus damaged him. He chose to switch to Shotgun because he could easily drop and swap the gun if absolutely needed. I think the automotive thought the same. Handheld weapons provide a better edge in combat and may help the transformer fight for longer periods

Actually all weapons can interchange from integrated to non integrated we see this in rotf with optimus and later on with optimus again we see it with megatron we see it with sideswipe etc they can choose

I noticed that even sideswipe in rotf had a integrated blaster, you can barely notice but in the desert attack scene he has integrated guns

I kind of missed when bayverse Optimus had the blades in his arm Edit: I really appreciate some of you guys for the information but someone in the comment section already told me he still has them but thank you tho

I always thought that Transformers having their weapons attached to their bodies was a genius idea, very creative and functional

Well it actually also fits the lore of bayverse transformers. In ROTF, ironhide dropped his attached guns to escape alongside sam and the others to be faster. Megatron got rid of the arm blaster because it made him severly weaker (check out theorymus' video on it) and as for optimus im not sure. He did keep his brass knuckles though

I always liked to assume that the Autobots took inspiration from the humans seeing them use handheld weapons and decided to do the same as they could conserve energon that way

Personally I think that Megatron's arm cannon on his arm was just too iconic the ditch.

I honestly kinda like the idea of them having hand held weapons. Sure i do love the intergrated weapons but when i 1st saw the seperate hand held weapons idk why but i immediately loved the concept 😅

What's funny is Optimus' ion blaster was a separate weapon in the first movie, which just appeared on his back so he could pull it and shoot Megatron and then disappeared forever afterward.

Bumble Bee always turns his hand into a cannon

Basically the writer says: I do whatever I want

I headcanoned the switch from intergrated weapons to bullets was by and large due to a lack of resources. Since the start of the franchise both sides have been struggling to fuel themselves as energon runs low, so it makes sense for them to switch from energy weapons to physical ammunition and melee weapons.

Oh my god thats so much less cool lmao

Ironhide lost his in Egypt, Optimus still had integrated swords he used at the end of DOTM, bumblebee still had his, sideswipe never had integrated guns but didn't have his blades, dino had his blades, the wreckers were all integrated as was ratchets. So I wasn't to sell more toys

They still use them, though

Hasbro: “Geniuses” at work

As much as i love integrated weaponry, the idea of optimus literally carrying an arsenal on his trailer is cool as fuck

Simple. Toys

energon depletion

I feel like it’s the autobots just adapting more and more to Earth and Humans, like for instance in the next film when Optimus gets his redesign he looks a lot more human than before

I loved Prime's arm blades and I was excited to see Optimus use an arm blade in Age of Extinction, but it quickly faded away when Galvatron one-tapped the weapon.

I'm still megaton doesn't transform into a gun .....

So what! In the G1 Transformers all they really used were hand held weapons. So how is this even shocking?

Okay, but the mental image of Megatron running around with a plain sawed-off is objectively funny.

I have that exact same toy back in my hometown, I remember being so excited that my family bought it for me and I had so much fun adding it to my ongoing toy battle plots. It was like the present characters gained a powerful new ally, those times were the best.

Is that a old vid ?

“Megatron has a shotgun” is the funniest phrase I’ve heard in a while and I don’t know why.

Here's some trivia. The original G1 concept art includes notes on how the common aesthetic was to look like metallic humanoids in medieval plate armor. Their faces have noses, they have lifelike 5-fingered hands, and even facial "hair". None had projectile weapons built into their bodies except Shockwave and its presumed his was a prosthetic replacement. The cartoon showed that they could sometimes transform their hands into tools and the 86 movie showed they could transform "hard light" melee weapons, but projectile handguns were almost always discrete equipment. Obviously there were exceptions like Starscream's permanently mounted null rays, but those were a part of his alt-mode. Megatron's scope cannon was an oddity resulting from the toy design which preceded the cartoon. Personally the whole "transforming armor on metal human bodies" aesthetic is more appealing to me because it does explain why they use discrete equipment like swords and blasters. If their body armor is discrete equipment, it makes some scenes less creepy like when Optimus assimilates Jetfire's parts. I don't think any of the cartoons have shown a transformer swapping their armor like clothing, but I imagine the comics have shown it at some point.

Transformers has ALWAYS existed for the sole purpose of selling toys. It’s one of the extremely few 80s cartoons made for such a purpose that managed to survive over the decades. Mostly due to popularity, but also because companies keep managing to create and sell new toys of them. Something few other shows achieved.

Same happened in the shows ,in Transformers prime all single transformers have guns and close range weapons in their bodys but in Transformers robots in disguise they are unarmed

“Yo do you wanna keep this concept that’s actually really cool?” “Nah let’s make more toys.”

transformers is nothing more than a 40 year old series of toy commercials and I LOVE IT

Movies: “drop the integrated weapons, we need new toy ideas…” FoC Toys: Weapon accessories that resemble integrated weapons

THE HONESTY LMFAOOOO

I actually have that exact toy you showed! You brought back some memories!

"Holy sh!t he's backin heat!"

The sound design on Megatron's fusion canon was so tech

I think that Megatron should have kept his Fusion cannon that's part of the whole character since the G1 series

The mech tech toys really bring back my childhood

That thumbnail looked INSANE

Next episode goes hard!!

Bumblebee always had weapons built in. They never stopped it completely.

The integrated arm weapons always felt more like they suited Decepticons and not Autobots. The Decepticons were all about war, and the Autobots were dragged into it.

Remember, transformers is one of those franchise that based on the toys, they introduce and kill character based on toys since the beginning 🤣

But Optimus' integrated sword showed up back in Age of Extinction when he stabbed galvetron through the chest and said "you have no soul"

You want mech tech? Gotcha Modular, iron guts.

I wish they kept doing both. The hand held weapons looked cool, and the built in was just cool and an throw back to the OG

It's probably a mix of living along side the way humans fight, g1 references, the growing loss of energon needed to use these integrated weapons in the first place

Lockdown’s and Cogman’s face cannon/heavy pistols: What are we? A rOaCh?

You jusy brought back a memory with the mechtech Optimus. I still have the gun

They could have kept the other n body weapons if they just make the weapons attachments as toys

No matter how good a character design is but if the marketing department can't find ways to make merch off it.. It'll still fail

My theory was always that when they first were seen as the threat after Chicago the Autobots decided to drop their integrated weapons to show that they are peaceful to humans but obv the government didn’t think so

Tbh, it does make their battles feel more tactical and cinematic in a way.

Arm gone = no weapon Weapon gone, use another one

Primes deliver lookin thing was always “hand-held” but was also an integrated thing chillin in his back.

The most Transformers thing they could have done honestly

Honestly, can’t really blame them. The “sell more toys” angle has sorta been the driving force behind the series (and its existence). Plus, the handheld weapons did look cool too!

Honestly I think a in lore explanation is that due to the right resources like the metal from cybertron that handheld human made weapons would be easier to replace if broken. As for megatron’s fusion canon I’s assume that would be the hardest thing for the scalpel bots to fix.

Honestly I like separated weapon more. It just feels more heavy and dangerous.

Megatron with a shotgun goes hard

Earth's rules I guess, if they want to remained here on Earth they have to make some changes, especially if it's related to their weapons.

ok, Megatron changed to a shortgun due to the fusion cannon being too heavy and getting destroyed in RoF. Ironhide changed to handhelds due to him ditching his arm cannons in Egypt in order to escape. And for Optimus, it's more so that his weapons are detachable, since he can still store his energon sword on his arm when he uses it to cut open the jet wing blaster

That decision made the best transformers of all time , the mighty and glorious king hound

Dude, honestly, I love the attached weapons a lot. I wish they kept them in the movies.

The action shots in the first Transformers movies are underrated.

Whenever it comes to transformers the answer is always toys

Atleast Bumblebee and Ratchet kept their integrated weapons throughout all the movies

Ironhide lost his fusion cannons in Egypt during the airstrike

They also know damn well that kids will lose the blaster and sword accessories and they're likely hoping these kids will get their parents to buy a whole new toy to replace them.

All the more reason to make more toys with arm cannon options like the 2014 deluxe concept camaro bumblebee

I could only guess it was either a) merchandising decision b) a nod to the G1 where they would use external weapons

Bee was the only one to have used intergrated plasma cannons in the first movie.

Dropped a fusion cannon for a big boomstick. Respect.

Optimus lost his sword against grindor in the forest battle since he threw it at his leg lmao

I mean at least bumblebee still has his arm canons throughout all the movies

Would make more sense if Megatron was able to attach and detatch weapons to his arm for that G1 vibe.

Transformers toys are the regular persons Rubik's Cube.

I think its also because they wanted them to be more closer to g1 because most of g1 Transformers used hand held weapons instead of integrated weapons

The idea of a giant bio-organic being from space using a giant shotgun is just fun and hilarious at the same time

My man forgot bumble bee using a arm cannon for the whole series like bruh. Also megatron in the finale movie did too. Like it wasnt dropped just changed around.

It's also cool to see them copy our weapons like they've been around us too long

Remember when Megatron was a blaster for Star Scream?