Mini-Cassette
From Transformers Wiki
Mini-Cassettes (also known as Cassette Warriors, Infiltration Troopers, or simply Cassettes) are Transformers whose alternate mode is an audio cassette. They can fit into the chest compartments of Blaster or Soundwave (while the toys can fit into either, in fiction they stick to the communicator of their own faction).
Many of the characters have communication or espionage roles. Also, many of them are redecos.
Contents |
Teams
- Autobot cassettes
- Decepticon cassettes
Fiction
The Transformers cartoon
The Mini-Cassettes were largely subordinate to Soundwave and Blaster, and very loyal to them. They spent much of their time stored away in their chest waiting to be called out when the situation required it. The mini-cassettes with beast forms were treated like pets and generally did not speak.
Marvel The Transformers comics
Mini-cassettes were more autonomous and filled in regular positions in the ranks of the Autobots and Decepticons. They could all speak, but would sometimes go long periods without talking.
2019 IDW comics
Infiltration Troopers were a class of Cybertronian who transform into rectangular cartridges that can be stored and hidden within larger Transformers and released to quickly overwhelm and surround opponents. We Have Deceived You Whether they've always existed as a group of Cybertronians is unknown, but they served during both the Age of Expansion and during the War of the Threefold Spark. Infiltration troopers used to be standard Cybertronians who volunteered to change their forms. Ascenticon Senator Ratbat represented them in the Senate, his popularity among his fellow Infiltration Troopers the source of his successful elections. Starscream found them a potential risk. Wheeljack: Orbital Decay
Ratbat was asked by Senator Megatron to rally them behind his cause as his plans escalated. All Fall Down When Megatron made his move on the Senate, Clench stored and released a squad of infiltration troopers into the chamber to surround the Senators. We Have Deceived You
EarthSpark
The only known Mini-Cassette bots remaining are Frenzy, Laserbeak, and Ravage, who were all loyal followers of Soundwave before being conditionally released by Optimus Prime and Megatron. Bumblebee once recounted a story of an Energon-deprived Soundwave trying to eject a cassette and accidentally causing it to explode. It's not clear which cassette this was, or if they survived the incident.
Notes
- The toys of these figures are roughly 1:1 scale with the microcassettes they use for altmodes. The main picture in this article features a standard cassette, which is larger.
- The term Mini-Cassette is used in toy catalogs from 1985 onwards. It was common for cassette to be used elsewhere, such as toy instructions and fiction.
- In recent years, Hasbro has been pushing for different names for this subgroup, presumably because cassettes aren't part of modern-day technology anymore. The Soundwave reissue figure for the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con picks up the term "Deployer", after the Beast Machines subgroup, to describe his cassette cohorts. The term is also used for the subtitled Shout! Factory The Headmasters DVD release for the cassettes of both Blaster/Twincast and Soundwave/Soundblaster. The Transformers Hall of Fame bio for Soundwave, meanwhile, refers to his cohorts as Mini-Cons. As of War for Cybertron: Siege, they're sold as Micromasters in the toyline, and referred as "infiltration troopers" in the tie-in comics.
