Fixer Bug

That can't feel good.

Fixer Bugs (フィクサーバグ Fikusā Bagu) are hovering drone machines created by minions of Unicron. They are specially designed to hunt down "renegade" Mini-Cons (those who have developed souls and free will), whom they incapacitate with a pair of blasters. A Fixer Bug will then Powerlinx to its target, rewriting the Mini-Con's core program right down to its spark frame. This erases the Mini-Con's soul, cutting it off from the Linkage in the process. Also, the Mini-Con's body is dematerialized and imprisoned in a special storage panel. Once reactivated and released, the "new" Mini-Con will be a slave to Unicron, its personality almost invariably that of a cruel and aggressive hunter-warrior.

A less aggressive variant of the Fixer Bug is the Seeker Bug.

Fiction

Linkage

Fixer Bugs were first encountered by Redline, Flat-Out, and Servo shortly after their arrival on Earth. Although they were unsure of the origin of the machines, they could tell that the fixers meant nothing but trouble, and as such, they commandeered the car of Stella Holley in order to use it as an emergency weapon against the bugs. Considering her confusion over the matter, it would have been nice if they had asked first. Linkage Part 1

Top Gear employed a pair of Fixer Bugs in his capture of the Mini-Con who would come to be known as Tailslide. Linkage Part 2 A squad of Fixer Bugs backed up Top Gear and Midship when the two mini-cons ambushed Rollbar and Flat-Out. Linkage Part 3 During the Speed Chaser Team's assault on Stella, the Super Stunt Team, and Rollbar, there were several Fixer Bugs present to help capture the errant Mini-Cons, as well as to divide their attention by assaulting Stella. Linkage Part 4 Subsequently, the Stunt Team examined the wreckage of one of the Bugs to understand their ultimate purpose and their function, which made it clear that their attackers were in the direct service of Unicron. Linkage Part 5 While holding the remains of the Bug, Stella reflected that Falcia was plenty mean without the influence of a Fixer Bug. Linkage Part 6

Notes

• The "Bug" part of the name is likely a reference to the Mini-Con "Bug" drones, the Takara name for the Mini-Con planetoid that came with the Unicron toy.
• Given that many Transformers fans criticized the concept of Mini-Cons for being too similar to Pokémon, it was either an unfortunate coincidence or a wry acknowledgement when the artist who designed the Fixer Bug colored it like a Poké Ball.