Tank Drone

Tank Drones areVehiconsfrom theBeast Machinesportion of theGeneration 1continuity family.

TAAANK!

Tank Dronesare the brute force ofMegatron's Vehicon forces. These deadlysparklessdrones will destroy anyMaximalsin their path.

They were led bytheir generalTankoruntil his, ah,departure,and were led by whoever happened to be around thereafter.

Fiction

Cartoon continuity

Beast Machinescartoon

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

I never should have written all of those tank programs

Tank Drones were used by Megatron in his conquest ofCybertron.Forbidden Fruit

Tank Drones were the first type of Vehicons encountered byOptimus Primal's amnesiac group of Maximals. Several Tank Drones were used to deliver theTransformation virusthat devolved and paralyzed several of Optimus Primal's crew. Among the paralyzed was Rhinox, whom the Tank Drones captured on the spot.DescentA group of the Tank Drones chased down Optimus as he made his to his underlings, one after the other. Throughout the chase, they displayed the impressive extent of their firepower, blasting everything in their path, including a titanium-reinforced train. Their lack of care for one another's safety soon became apparent to the Maximals, as even other drones were blasted to scrap in their efforts to destroy Optimus and his friends. The drones lost track of Optimus,Cheetor,andRattrapwhen the trio escaped into Cybertron's underground.The Reformatting

The Maximals next encountered a squadron of Tank Drones when they attempted to breach theCouncil Citadel.The Tank Drones served as the citadel's outer defences. While Primal managed to enter the building, the drones chased the Maximals throughout the surrounding streets. The Maximals split up, forcing the drones to disperse their forces. They were led by the Maximals into elevated, narrow areas, where they were picked off one at a time. Though they eventually managed to heard the Maximals onto a rooftop, the Tank Drones began to malfunction when Primal was able to make Megatron lose his cool and transform into his beast mode.Master of the House

When the Maximals attempted to access theCybertron Archives,they encountered the Tank Drones once more. Optimus and Cheetor took out several of them before one Tank Drone got a lucky shot in and knocked out Blackarachnia. As the Maximals fled, the drones rained wanton destruction onto nearby buildings while in pursuit. This backfired when a large piece of debris crumbled onto the drones and destroyed them. The drones were granted a leader shortly thereafter when Megatron bestowedRhinox's spark upon a Tank Drone, creating Tankor.Fires of the Past

A squad of Tank Drones participated in an attack against Cheetor, Nightscream and Rattrap when the three Maximals infiltrated a Vehicon assembly factory. Though all of the active Tank Drones were destroyed by Cheetor, Rattrap accidently caused the factory's assembly line to power-up, causing a multitude of Tank Drones to be built and then run amuch. When all threeVehicon Generalswere taken out, Megatron took direct control of the Tank Drones. But in the wake of a power-feedback, Megatron was rendered weak, and all of the Vehicon drones were rendered offline for half a solar cycle.The Weak Component

Tankor and his drones were put in charge of transferring cargo at a space port. Tankor kept on insisting that his drones work faster, no matter how fast they drones we already working. Cheetor and Rattrap interrupted the operation, and got Tankor's attention, by throwing an explosive his way. A few Tank drones accompanied Tankor in his retaliation against the Maximals. Cheetor tricked Tankor into blowing most of them up. Cheetor then distracted the remaining Tank Drones while Rattrap hacked into Tankor's brain. Rattrap then managed to shut down the drones while connected to Tankor.DescentAfter Cheetor and Rattrap failed to at first reawaken Rhinox from within Tankor, the Vehicon General called several Tank Drones to him in order to deal with the two Maximals. A whole bunch were smushed by a crane that Tankor toppled over. The rest of the Tank Drones were disabled by Nightscream.Apocalypse

After “Tankor” paid the Maximals a visit, and “overloaded” due to the power of the Key to Vector Sigma's power, several Tank Drones appeared to haul away their general's “body.” In truth, the Tankor the Maximals had witnessed “dying” was a double, part of an elaborate ruse Tankor had set up to fool both Optimus and Megatron.The KeyRattrap and Cheetor were snooping around in Megatron's central computer when a group of Tank Drones came upon them. Rattrap took them out with some of his new "seed grenades." Megatron then proceeded to uploade the code to the Key to Vector Sigma into all of his Tank Drones. As a precaution, Megatron also disconnected Tankor's link to the Tank Drones, despite the Vehicon General's apparent demise. In response to learning that the Maximals had uncovered thePlasma Energy Chamber,Megatron deployed all of the Tank Drones, having them gather before a device that could send the Key's energies planet-wide. Despite Aero Drones patrolling the area while the Tank Drones set up, the Maximals stormed them, and used seed grenades to disable several of them. The Tank Drones were given a new objective by Megatron: destroy the Maximals then and there. But when Optimus unleashed the power of the Plasma Energy Chamber, whatever Tank Drones remained reconvened, and unleashed the Key's power in response.End of the LineAs the two conflicting energies clashed, the sum total of the Tank Drones were shorted out. Their idle forms could be seen littering the streets of Cybertropolis after Optimus siphoned away both the Plasma and Key energies into the Oracle.Fallout

Once Megatron retook control of Cybertron's system aboard his new body, theGrand Mal,he reactivated the Tank Drones. All of the Vehicons sprung back to life, and drove the Maximals back underground once again.Prometheus Unbound

When a spaceship crashing down signaled the possibility of more Transformers returning to Cybertron, Megatron sent out a squad of Tank Drones to slow down the Maximals’ effort of reaching the shipwreck. They proved less than effective in the absence of their general. After the ship's occupant,Botanica,was rescued and reformatted by the Maximals, Tank Drones followed the Maximals' signatures down to their technorganic orchard. The drones were all destroyed, thanks in most part to the new arrival.Home Soil

After the arrival ofStrikaand theArtillery Drones,the Tank Drones were put in reserve. They were mobilized once more when the Vehicons launched their final assault on the Maximals in theGrand Mal.Three Tank Drones were capable of penetrating the fortress, and made their way to the spark containment chamber within. Though opposed by Optimus Primal, the drones managed to make it all the way to their objective... before shutting down, and allowing Megatron in a new body to finish the job himself.When Legends Fall

3H comics

During the Spark War, several of Tankor's Tank Drones were chasing Optimus Primal and Nightscream as they were escaping with theDeployers.Primal and Nightscream were rescued byPrimal PrimeandRamulus,who trounced the Tank Drones. Later,Quake's dronesandBlastcharge's dronesaccompanied their generals as they pursued the Wreckers toArcee's hideaway. Quake ordered his drones to dispose of the woundedFractyl,but an angry Arcee took them down. More of Quake and Blastcharge's drones were present among a larger force of Vehicons attempting to block off the ancient Autobot shuttle which theWreckersintended to use to travel offworld. The Wreckers ultimately triumphed over all the Vehicons they confronted, general and drone alike.Departure

Legends World

SomeTankor DronesaccompaniedTankoras he wreaked '80s-themed havoc inTokyo,but didn't do much other than sit in the background andgo "dana".Together with their leader, they were then blown sky high byRattrap.Bonus Edition Vol. 3They returned to stand behind Tankor when he introduced himself toThrustandJetstorm.I'm Tankor, dana!

After Tankor returned to being Rhinox, the Tankor Drones were salvaged by theJSDF.Major Clouderdeployed a number of the drones to defendTokyoagainstTrypticon,Decepticon Civil Warbut their firepower failed to even scratch the giant.Bonus Edition Vol. 43Clouder equipped Tankor Drones withrobotic insecticideto combatKickback's clone army, but chose not to deploy them after learning that some of the clones were innocent citizens. Once Kickback himself was neutralized, the drones instead carried infected citizens toRatchetto be cured.Bonus Edition Vol. 47Ultra Magnusborrowed some Tankor Drones to command when he set out to arrestSixshotandStar Saber.Bonus Edition Vol. 50A couple of drones defendedMayor MegatronwhenStarscreamattacked but he smashed them usingOctane's tanker mode.Bonus Edition Vol. 57

Beast Wars: Uprising

I want to tell you about the Transformers! This character article is astuband is missing information on theirfictional appearances.You can helpTransformers Wikibyexpanding it. Derailment

Toys

Beast Machines

An army of one.

• Tank Drone(Basic Class, 2001)

• Accessories:Energy-blast missile
• Known designers:Shogo Hasui(TakaraTomy)

The Tank Drone was released in the last wave of theBeast Machinestoyline, as part of the "Battle for the Spark"subline. It transforms into a blue and grey Cybertronic four-tracked tank. Pressing thespark crystalon his cannon connects the gear-wheel system on the underside of his tank mode, and pushing him forward causes the cannon barrel to spin. This in turn triggers a spring-loaded "energy blast" missile.

It hews more closely to the animation model than the Tankor toy released the year before, which may be why it wasredecoedasTankorfor the JapaneseBeast Wars Returnsline several years later, despite being the smallest of the Vehicon toys.

This mold was also used to makeUniverseStockade.

• More information on Tank Drone at TFU.info

Legends

• Tankor(Deluxe, 2014)

• ID number:LG03
• Release date:November 29,2014
• Accessories:Missile

LegendsTankor is a redeco ofGenerationsDeluxe ClassTankor,a more animation-accurate mold that transforms into his usual Cybertronian tank. In both robot mode and tank mode, he has a firing missile that is launched when the cannon barrel is pulled back. He is very similar to theGenerationsTankor, with some slight changes in hues and more silver paint, and his Vehicon symbol in on his shoulder armor rather than his right pectoral.

He comes with a leaflet featuring a character profile, tech specs, andBonus Edition Vol. 3of theLegendsmanga.

Notes

• In the Japanese dub of the series, the Tank Drones inherited the vocal tic of Tankor, chanting "DA-NA!" at all times.

Foreign names

• Japanese:Tank Drone(タンクドローンTanku Dorōn),Tankor Drone(Legends,タンカードローンTankā Doron)