Humanization

Throughout the various Transformers canon, there have been several instances of Transformers with humanistic traits and having very human actions that possibly conflict with their status as mechanical robots. Many of these instances can be dismissed as stylistic choices by the artists or as gags not to be taken seriously.

Coughing

 * In the G1 episode "Roll for It", when the Autobots emerge from the ruins of a demolished antimatter laboratory, they are coughing.

Triple Takeover

 * Scrapper coughs when Smokescreen surrounds him with smoke.

Cosmic Rust

 * Megatron coughs while infected with Cosmic Rust.

Breathing
On Star Trek: The Next Generation, it was explained that the android Data's breathing served to cool his inner components, but mostly so that he doesn't appear unnatural to the humans he was designed to resemble. He also blinks for this reason. It could be argued that breathing serves the same "cooling" purpose in Transformers, as its possible for their internal systems to overheat with use, but this explanation is always going to smack of desperation.

Crying



 * A twinkle of light that may not literally be a tear, but is clearly intended to imply one, can be seen in Omega Supreme's eye at the end of "The Secret of Omega Supreme".

Eating



 * There are references to Cybertronian food.

Blushing

 * In the G1 episode "Sea Change", Seaspray has his whole face turn bright red, even before he jumps into the Well of Transformation and gets turned into a humanoid.

Intoxication

 * In the G1 cartoon episode "Microbots", the Decepticons behaving in a noticeably intoxicated fashion after consuming high-grade energon. Powerglide refers to this as "over-energizing".
 * In the UK comic, the Wreckers frequent a "bar" on Cybertron called Maccadam's Old Oil House, where they consume high-grade energon, presumably for the purposes of getting intoxicated.

Mouths/teeth/tongues

 * The Generation 1 cartoon series is the only major piece of fiction to not present Transformers as possessing teeth and/or tongues.

Eyeballs/eyelashes



 * Most Transformers have eyes. They see with them.
 * In the episode "Auto Berserk", Optimus Prime's eyes are closed (apparently to shield them against the smoke) much like a human's when the Autobots stagger out of the fire and smoke of the Negavator's destruction.
 * The cyborg GoBots, as portrayed in the animated cartoon, do in fact possess eyelids (when the eyes aren't covered by a visor) and frequently blink. Some also have visible pupils.

The Search for Alpha Trion

 * While dying from life force depletion, Elita One occasionally closes her eyes.

Obesity
Although Transformers come in all shapes and sizes anyway, some characters have particularly round appearances that suggest something equivalent to human obesity.


 * Much the same could be said of Omega Supreme. Being big-chassised is no excuse to let yourself go.


 * Gnaw. Well, all the Sharkticons, really, but seriously. It's kind of comically appropriate that the robots which do absolutely nothing but hang out and eat stuff all day are so roly-poly.

Facial hair
The Shattered Glass versions of Alpha Trion and Rodimus Prime also have "facial hair", probably as a homage to Evil Spock's appearance in Star Trek.
 * Alpha Trion, Scourge, Unicron, and Wreck-Gar all sport "facial hair" in the G1 cartoon.

Breasts
Some female Transformers, such as Arcee and Elita One have a protruding chest area that bears no apparent relation to their alt mode kibble, but bears some vague resemblance to clothed human breasts, or a "monoboob", if you will. Some females even have two separate and even more distinctly rounded breast-like protuberances, particularly in their fictional depictions. Beta falls into this category.

Lips
Another common feature to denote gender in female Transformers is distinctly fuller, plumper lips than is standard, such as the Female Autobots.

As far as males go, none of them have differently colored lips, but some do have noticeably thicker lips. Generation 1 Orion Pax, Silverbolt, and Streetwise, for instance, have lips that can easily compete with the females'.

Hips
Alike to humans, many a female Transformer has a distinctly more curving hip structure.


 * ''See also the Sexuality section below.

Questionable body parts



 * Nearly all Transformers seem to possess noses for no discernible functional reason.
 * At the end of the G1 episode "The Girl Who Loved Powerglide", Powerglide is seen to have the LED outline of a cartoon heart within his chassis. This is somewhat nonsensical even within in the context of the show (the contents of Transformers chest cavities had been shown several times before), and is doubtless merely meant as a one-off sight gag.
 * Although listed separately above, breasts and "nuts, bolts and screws" would also fit under this category quite well, seeing as there doesn't appear to be any use for them on Transformers, other than to show them off.

Sleep

 * In the G1 comic, Trailbreaker plays a prank on Huffer while he is in "rest mode." Ratchet falls asleep and dreams (or rather, has a nightmare), an experience Prime refers to as an "involuntary systems shutdown".  Kup later attempts to rouse a vision-struck Optimus Prime by urging him to "wake up"—then reminds himself that "we don't sleep!"  When Donny Finkleberg remarks that unlike machines, humans need to rest, Skids informs him Transformers need to as well to conserve fuel. Skids also has an on/off button in his dashboard.
 * In the The Headmasters cartoon, Mindwipe is able to use a form of hypnotism on the Autobots, which can include lulling them to sleep. In the Omni Productions dub, Grimlock notes the strangeness of a robot feeling sleepy.
 * This ability is also shown by Hellbat in the Victory cartoon.
 * In Beast Wars, it has been firmly established that (perhaps partially due to their organic components), all Transformers within the cartoon sleep. Some prime examples of this are:
 * Megatron has been shown to sleep in the command chair of the Darksyde, while his dino head mounted on the end of his arm stays awake, looks around, and smiles slyly. Wonder what it thinks about...
 * Cheetor has been shown asleep at many points, complete with (occasionally prophetic) dreams. In "Feral Scream Part 2", he also purrs when he's asleep. How cute!
 * In "Call of the Wild", the Maximals are kept awake for two days by the Predacons' non-stop attacks on their base, which exacerbate their beast instincts overriding their logic circuits.
 * In Beast Wars II, Galvatron often nods off in a narcoleptic-like fashion.
 * In the Beast Wars II manga, Lio Convoy sleeps and has a nightmare at one point.
 * Armada Cyclonus is quite fond of catching forty winks when possible. Scavenger does the same on one occasion. Armada Megatron is also seen asleep twice in the episode "Rebellion".
 * Animated Ratchet enters a form of sleep he calls a "stasis nap", during which he gets several parking tickets.
 * Also in Animated, when the Autobots feel tired after drinking an oil-nog (which Soundwave had spiked), they decide to go to sleep, pardon, to take a stasis nap. Optimus even yawns.

Aging
Some Transformers have been depicted as aging.


 * [[Image:Alpha Trion through the epochs.jpg|right|250px|thumb|]]Alpha Trion has been depicted in three different eras: 11 million years in the past, 9 million years in the past, and the present day. Though his character model undergoes many changes, his facial hair changes seem to mimic human aging. In his (chronologically) earliest depiction, he has a small black mustache. In his second depiction, his mustache has turned white. By the modern era, he sports a long mustache and beard.


 * Xaaron couldn't transform anymore because he was old.

Sexuality
One of the most controversial aspects of Transformers is the idea of sexuality. While it is established in most continuities that Transformers do not reproduce sexually, most continuities nonetheless have distinctive male and female characters and sometimes drops a hint Transformers may engage in (recreational) sex.

The Generation 1 cartoon brought the first official female Transformers into the canon, including Elita One and Arcee. The characters are noticeably more feminine in design and some have clearly defined romantic relationships with male Transformers. In contrast, such relations between two individuals of the same gender are virtually unheard of.