Mole Drones are drone vehicles from the Beast Machines cartoon portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Behold, the Underminer!

Mole Drones, or just Moles for short, are heavily armored machines, built for (surprise, surprise) digging. Not much is known about them. They seem unique among Megatron's Vehicon drones in that they show no evidence of transforming into robot modes. This is compounded by the fact that Megatron didn't see fit to create a Vehicon General for this group of drones despite the fact that the Maximals spent most of their time hiding from him underground.

Fiction

Beast Machines cartoon

Voice actor: N/A (English), Isshin Chiba (Japanese)

The Maximals first encountered a Mole Drone while Optimus instructed his troops on how to transform in their new technorganic bodies. Though the Mole caused Cheetor and Blackarachnia to lose their focus and revert to beast mode, Primal easily dispatched it with a single energy blast. Master of the House

In order to drill down to Cybertron’s organic core to cure Nightscream, afflicted at the time by the power of the Key to Vector Sigma, Optimus, Cheetor and Rattrap set out to commandeer one of Megatron’s Mole Drones. Though the drones attacked the Maximals on sight, Rattrap managed to interface with one of them, and all three Maximals escaped aboard it. Once the Maximals returned to their base camp however, Rattrap lost control of the Mole, and it was up to Optimus to force it into drilling down to the core. The Key

A Mole Drone tracked down the Maximals to the Plasma Energy Chamber’s location. It charged the group, only to be obliterated by the Energy Chamber’s power. End of the Line

When a spaceship's crash-landing signaled the possibility of more Transformers returning to Cybertron, Megatron sent out a couple of Moles to slow down the Maximals’ effort of reaching the shipwreck. One of the pair was disabled by Blackarachnia, while Rattrap took control of the second. This Mole was destroyed as well when Rattrap attempted to attack Thrust with it. Home Soil

While the Maximals were busy defending the Grand Mal and the sparks contained within, several Moles were sent down to the Oracle's chamber to destroy the technorganic orchard within it. Rattrap, Botanica and Nightscream headed down below the surface to stop them. Upon the Maximals' arrival, more of the Moles swarmed the underground chambers, using flamethrowers to not only destroy the nearby fossils and plantlife, but all traces of their genetic material. Though several of the Moles were destroyed by the Maximals, the Vehicons eventually overpowered their adversaries. When Legends Fall

Games

Transformers Roleplaying Game

Mole Drones were specialized Vehicons who hunted down and eliminated subterranean threats. Technorganic Secrets

Notes

Foreign names

• French: Robot Taupe ("Mole Robot")
• Japanese: Mogura Robo (モグラロボ, "Mole Robo")