Class Beta drone unit
From Transformers Wiki
- Class Beta drone units are drones from the Transformers portion of the movie continuity family.
Often been used on Cybertron for manual labor, the Class Beta drone units were upgraded and refitted for combat when Megatron put them to use in the military under Dreadwing's leadership. Slightly stronger and more suited for ground-based combat than their Class Alpha counterparts, the Class Beta drones are capable of causing the most destruction in battle. There is certainly strength in numbers and when these drones are in a large group, they become nearly unstoppable.[1]
They also look physically similar to Payload.
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Fiction
IDW movie comics
Class Beta drones were deployed to battle Optimus Prime's team of Autobots at Simfur Temple where the Decepticons believed the AllSpark was being held. Defiance #4 After it turned out the Autobots had moved the AllSpark and fired it into space, Class Beta drones were part of the crew of Starscream's ship that pursued both the relic and Megatron to the Eshems Nebula. They were forced to turn back for repairs when the ship was damaged by an Autobot concussion chain. The Reign of Starscream #1
After Megatron was killed and the AllSpark destroyed during the battle of Mission City on Earth, Starscream returned to Mars. While he was recuperating, a team of Autobots attacked, and drones, including Class Betas, were activated to defend the ship. The Reign of Starscream #3
Class Beta drones were among those assigned to guard the Autobot slaves who were being forced to build the new Cube. They brutally punished Warpath when he saw to the exhausted Grindcore. Later, after the new AllSpark was completed, Payload arrived leading a team of drones carrying the massive generators required to drain the life force out of the Autobot prisoners and put it into the Cube. The Reign of Starscream #4
Flatline utilized both Class Alpha Drone units and Class Beta Drone units as security on his ship. He deployed them to stop his experiments from running wild, but they were unsuccessful. Tales of the Fallen #6
Titan movie comics
In a divergent timeline, the Decepticons succeeded at Mission City and conquered the United States. Payload units were used in the occupation of Earth. They had no personality or higher consciousness. Ironhide smashes them real good. Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 2
A team of snazzy red Payloads were used to guard the Savannah All Spark facility. Bonecrusher had them stand down so he could beat up the Autobots himself Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 3 and they got so bored they painted themselves blue again between issues. When they were allowed to battle, they almost overwhelmed the Autobot rebels but eventually failed to kill them or save the facility. Also, Bonecrusher smashed them real good simply cos they were in the way. Not the best boss on Earth... Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 5
Get out the way...
An army of Payloads made an assault on oil pipelines in Alaska as part of a major campaign. Dark Spark
An even bigger army of them stood around going "GRRRR" as part of a Decepticon group shot when the Decepticon Heartland prepared for war. Revolution Part 1 And an even bigger army than that served as the bulk of the invasion force when Starscream announced the re-conquest of the USA.
Unfortunately for Starscream, the Payloads under Hardtop were intercepted by Stockade and his crew, and Fracture reprogrammed the entire platoon to work for them. They became the first defected drones in a Decepticon Civil War, including some with different colouring schemes, Revolution Part 2 and soon all of them were under Stockade's command, since every one that wasn't had been slagged.
Following the sudden Autobot strike that saw every Decepticon exiled from Earth, the Payloads remained. The Autobots have now got the task of decommissioning all of these drones. Revolution Part 3
Games
Battle For the Allspark online game
Payload units of both sides have a strong defense, good attack, but poor speed. They are differentiated by little more than the make of their noggins; Autobot versions use a facemask-with-optics model, while Decepticons have a circular lens-face. Battle for the Allspark
Transformers: The Game (console)
- Voice actor: Keith Szarabajka (grunts only)
Payloads show up in Mission City to put the hurt on both Autobot and Decepticon alike. Their primary attack is an unstoppable running charge that can send even the likes of Optimus Prime and Megatron reeling. The only way to break them out of this attack is to nail them with a thrown object or melee attack when they briefly pause between charges.
Payloads also appear in the bonus Cybertron levels on both sides.
Aside from the aforementioned head differences, Decepticon Payloads are dark blue, while the Autobot versions are silver-white. Transformers The Game (console)
Transformers: Autobots/Decepticons
Payload's body frame has been shown in numerous forms: his Armored Truck mode, the Peace Van, the Moving Truck, the School Bus, the Ice Cream Truck, the Death Truck, the Funky Bus, the SWAT Van, and the Prison Bus. They all use the Decepticon lens head. Transformers Autobots/Decepticons
Toys
Transformers (2007)
- Payload (Deluxe, 2007)
- Japanese ID number: MD-17
- Payload transforms into a Bulldog II Armored Truck model based on the Decepticon-drone coloration and face type. In robot mode, his midsection has a large push-out grabber-claw that extends waaaaaaaaaaaaay far out. However, in order to do this, the claw-shaft sticks far out of his back in robot mode, making posing and display in narrow spaces difficult. It also makes him hard to balance.
- Several pieces on Payload tend to pop off easily: his brush guard, midriff-plate/claw-center, and even his upper shoulder/head assembly. The mold was later retooled to include larger pegs for the shoulder/head assembly and an added tab on the brushguard, to connect to the new slot in the claw plunger. While this was intended to give the pieces a better fit, it actually puts more pressure on the parts and causes them to pop off even more easily. The chest piece, however, fits fairly well on either version but is still easy to remove.
- Payload had a tendency to sit on shelves for weeks, with some examples of end displays filled completely with Payload figures. This has led to some fans affectionately renaming him as Pegload.
Notes
- Artist Ken Christiansen designed Payload (and the subsequent Class Beta drone units), along with the other new characters in the Transformers - The Game and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - The Game video games. The security company logos on his design and the toy, "Armored Security Systems", spell out "ASS". Christian says this was not intentional.
- The Class Beta drone units were named as such in the bonus material of the The Reign of Starscream trade paperback.
External links
- Payload concepts and final rendering on artist Ken Christiansen's blog.
