Under-3 is a Maximal from the Beast Wars portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Your vapid, shallow playthings will outlast even your frail and finite frame, achieving an immortality you can never know while remaining forever in a grave of civilization's pointless detritus. Please enjoy Arby's.

Under-3? (Lionhead? Unit-3?) Yeah, that bot has seen some serious slag, man, stuff that is definitely not appropriate for children. A gruff, bitter survivor of war's horrors, Under-3 even refuses to acknowledge his original name and past life, choosing instead to mutter grimly about how war changes you. Makes you hard. Makes you grow up too fast. Makes you leave the foolishness of youth behind and finally grasp the utter hatred that is the universe and what it inevitably does to you. There is no Under-3. There is only pain.

Fiction

Wings Universe

Under-3 was hanging out at the Galadria Space Bridge Outpost in the Delta Prysmos Sector when a pirate ship appeared overhead and dropped a bomb on him and several other passersby. Hoist the Flag

Recordicons

Under-3 and Lionhead had a musical act together. On one occasion they followed Tape-Filled Idiots in the lineup. Recordicons #25

Bot on the Street

Under-3 was asked if he'd like to change his alternate mode, but was happy with his current one. Bot on the Street

Beast Wars: Uprising

In Primax 209.0 Gamma, Lionhead was the headmaster of the Maximal Academy. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/05/23 Lionhead expelled Jawbreaker after the student executed a final prank upon him. Jawbreaker's profile in Club magazine #57 In the wake of the Vehicon Apocalypse, he was on the shortlist of "under three" bots being considered to take the deceased Lio Minor's place on the Maximal High Council, alongside Cheetor. He was eventually selected for the honor. Derailment

2006 IDW Beast Wars continuity

Cry about perceived damage done to your favorite stories about fictional robots as you purchase an extravagant plastic trinket assembled desperately by a half-starved third-world slave. There is no reward awaiting either of you after death. This cruel injustice is all there is and all there ever will be.

At the very end of the Great War, the third unit of Autobot warriors (which included Perceptor) was completely wiped out on the battlefield... save for one Autobot. Now naming himself Unit-3, since he was all that remained of Unit 3, he returned to the Nova Plenum to report the deaths of his fellow warriors to the Autobot High Council. He declined to tell them how it had happened, as he wasn't emotionally ready yet. He was, however, ready to be put back into battle so he could take down as many Decepticons as he could in cold revenge. However, the Council had other plans, preferring to use Unit-3's affinity for information gathering to maybe fill the role Perceptor had left vacant.

Shortly thereafter, he became a leg for Magnaboss as the Autobot combiner fought Predaking. Dawn of the Predacus

2021 IDW Beast Wars comic

Under-3 was a Maximal who worked at the Wheeljack Ministry of Science. Hardly a warrior, he fled when a group of Predacon separatists attacked the complex only to be tackled down by Terrorsaur. Though Dinobot attempted to spare Under-3, noting the lack of honor in killing a foe who would not fight back, Scorponok intervened and killed Under-3, leading his comrades to their objective. Savage Landing Part 1

Toys

Beast Wars

This is how children learn that happiness is a lie they tell themselves between failures.

• Under-3 (McDonald's Happy Meal toy, 1996)

Part of the first McDonald's Beast Wars promotion, Under-3 was, well, the toy developed for children less than three years of age. Hence his incredibly simple transformation and lack of small parts in any capacity. He transforms into a disembodied lion head.

This toy also serves as the model for the non-toy character Lionhead and an alternate body for Shattered Glass Ravage.

• More information on Under-3 at TFU.info

Combiner Wars

"Do you know what else kills lions? The relentless persistence of time and the pointless cruelty of life. You'll die the same way."

• Unit-3 (Deluxe Class, 2016)

• Accessories: Shotgun, double-barreled gun/fist/foot

Combiner Wars Unit-3 is a redeco of mass-retail Deluxe Class Protectobot Streetwise, transforming into a modified R35 Nissan GTR police car. He can also form either an arm or a leg for any standard-issue Combiner Wars-style gestalt or into one of Legends Godbomber's legs, though his "nominal" placement is as the right leg to Magnaboss.

Unit-3 was released as an at-show souvenir figure for BotCon 2016, limited to 1200 pieces. Remaining stock was later sold at the Transformers Collector's Club website, with Tigatron and the Magnaboss sticker sheet.

Ironically, his bag states that he is "not for children under 3 years".

• More information on Combiner Wars Unit-3 at TFU.info

Notes

• "Under-3" may seem like an odd name, but the text "Under-3" was printed on the baggy in the same location as the names of other McDonald's toys such as Beetle, Panther, etc.
• Under-3 is descended from an initial concept of a toy that transformed from Optimus Prime's head to his robot mode. Under-3 reached at least near his final design and deco still being identified as "Lion to Optimus Prime Under-3".^[1] The decision to turn the head into a lion's may have been influenced by a planned retool of Cheetor (then known as Prowl) into Optimus Prime with a lion alternate mode.
• Ben Yee specifically points out that he didn't include the "Lion Head Optimus Primal figure" in the Beast Wars Sourcebook, which is sad but mostly a relief, given he probably would not have been called "Under-3".
• A preliminary conception of the BotCon 2016 souvenir figure consisted of the Beast Wars II Lio Convoy mold being redecoed as "Undermine" before it was eventually changed into the Combiner Wars Streetwise mold as "Unit-3".^[2]

Foreign names

• Japanese: Lionhead (ライオンヘッド Raionheddo)^[3]

References