Shell program
From Transformers Wiki
A shell program is a personality altering program that can be installed within a Transformer to change the way they act. A shell program can even compel a Transformer to behave in ways diametrically opposed to what they would do if it were not installed.
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Fiction
Beast Wars cartoon
Upon the landing of each stasis pod, the Maximals and Predacons would both rush to the scene in hopes of recruiting the protoform inside to their team. The protoforms were Maximals by default, but the Predacons were able to turn some by implanting shell programs before waking the protoform up. Blackarachnia and Inferno joined the Predacons through this scheme. (Rampage and Quickstrike joined without being reprogrammed.) Rhinox's brief stint as a Predacon was not explicitly explained, but may have also been the result of a shell program. Dark Designs
Eventually, despite her shell program, Blackarachnia decided to side with the Maximals. When hidden code in her shell program began to threaten her life, the Maximals attempted to remove it entirely, a procedure which was very dangerous for her. Rhinox then conducted a strange kind of virtual, videogame-style "search and destroy" mission within Blackarachnia to accomplish this. Sadly, a safeguard that Tarantulas included in the program terminated her before Rhinox could finish the removal. (She was then revived "magically" by the Transmetal driver.) Crossing the Rubicon
Beast Machines cartoon
Megatron utilized the sparks of Silverbolt, Waspinator, and Rhinox to power shell programs giving life to the original three Vehicon Generals.
Each of these programs seemed to have personalities the exact opposite of the spark (i.e. Thrust a dark, brooding type as opposed to Waspinator's wimpy personality, Tankor is a dumb brute as opposed to Rhinox's superior intelligence, and Jetstorm is a wise-cracking, cold-blooded, Joker-esque psychopath as opposed to Silverbolt's sincere chivalry). Obsidian and Strika, however, did not appear to be altered in this manner.
Ask Vector Prime
Megazarak was fond of using his Robo-Smasher to implant Predacon shell programs in Autobot combiners. Dominus Trannis and Devastator were among his victims. Ask Vector Prime
2021 Beast Wars comic
After breaking into the Axalon, Tarantulas hacked the ship's computers and attempted to upload a personality-altering shell program into the orbiting stasis pods in the hopes that he could initiate their landing protocols and raise an army of loyal slaves. Savage Landing Part 6 However, Rattrap interrupted the process with only a single stasis pod received a garbled version of the transmission. Upon making planetfall, Blackarachnia emerged from the pod. With the program taking time to fully activate, her still Maximal coded spark allowed her entry into the Axalon whereupon the shell program took full effect. Pod Part 1 Resuming Tarantulas' work, Blackarachnia uploaded her copy of the shell program into the orbiting stasis pods but only managed to reprogram 51% of them before Rhinox found her. Pod Part 2
