Robo-Smasher


 * The Robo-Smasher is a machine created by Megatron.

The Robo-Smasher was a machine built by Megatron. It had the ability to permanently reprogram a Transformer as a Decepticon. This seemed to be a very fast operation, requiring only a few seconds of work once access to the victim's circuitry is achieved.

The Robo-Smasher was larger than an average Transformer and had six legs and five tentacles. The three central tentacles were tipped with a device which appeared to be some sort of laser scalpel or cyberforceps, and the side tentacles were tipped with spiked balls. The side tentacles are used to ensnare and immobilize a victim, and then the central tentacles cut open the Transformer to perform the reprogramming.

The Secret of Omega Supreme
The Robo-Smasher was in operation for an unknown length of time in the Golden Age of Cybertron. Optimus Prime claimed that the device was used to "swell the ranks of the Decepticons", which implies that a significant portion of the Decepticon forces at one time may have been "recruited" through its use. The only specific Transformers it is known to have converted are some unnamed dude and the Constructicons, the latter of whom Megatron also gifted with a combined mode in the process. Omega Supreme tried to reprogram them back to their old selves, and he appeared to have succeeded at first. But they would end up betraying him, using their new Devastator mode to pin him against a wall so the Robo-Smasher could grip his head. Omega destroyed the machine before it could finish its work, but the experience left him cold and notoriously taciturn, desiring only revenge upon the Constructicons.

It does not appear to have ever smashed anything.

Hauler
While the Robo-Smasher did a fine job on the Constructicons it caught, it missed at least one. Hauler, estranged from his brainwashed teammates, ended up joining the Autobots.

The Core

 * This would not be the Constructicons' only mental manipulation. Later on Earth, the Autobots were able to turn Devastator to their own side via dominator discs. It is not known how deep or long-running that change could have been, though; Megatron disabled the discs handily with his own "control switch."

Theme
On the MUX, reprogrammings are now unthemely. While the Robo-Smasher may have permanently altered the Constructicons' personalities, ultimately they stay with the Decepticons because they choose to. With the Robo-Smasher destroyed, the Decepticons no longer have a way to permanently alter the personality of an existing Transformer (otherwise, how do you explain Dead End?).