Suppressor (device) - Transformers Wiki

The name or term "Suppressor" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Suppressor (disambiguation).

Suppressors, also called inhibitors, are devices invented by Skywatch for use in their hunt for Transformers. When attached to one of the aliens, it shuts down their higher brain functions and traps them in their alternate mode, unable to move or speak.

Fiction

2005 IDW continuity

Skywatch used suppressors to capture any Autobot or Decepticon they found, including Prowl and Breakdown, though Wheeljack quickly reverse-engineered the technology and planned to upgrade the Autobots to be immune to it. ...For All Mankind Before he had a chance to do so, Optimus Prime surrendered himself to Skywatch and spent some time under the effects of a suppressor as a result. New Arrivals, Old Encounters Having left the main Autobot force, Hot Rod tasked Jetfire with also reverse-engineering the devices so that their own group could liberate Transformer captives from Skywatch. That same day, Beachcomber, Hoist, and Tracks fell victim to suppressors. A Rude Awakening

When Galvatron appeared on Earth, Skywatch and the Autobots (now allied) tried to stop him with suppressors. It took three of them to take him down, and even then he was fully aware and able to speak. The Transformers: Infestation #1 They also used suppressors on the Combaticons in North Korea, but they were somehow insulated against the devices' effects. Ranks of Bronze Skywatch scientist Schwalbe was involved in the creation of new and improved suppressors which were used to restrain Megatron... or rather, a gun shaped like him that didn't need restraining at all. Altered Carbon When the real Megatron showed up, Skywatch troops tried shooting suppressors at him to little effect. Woken Furies

Prowl and Streetwise used suppressors to capture Brawl, but someone had anticipated this and booby-trapped Brawl's body, causing the devices to go haywire and fuse with his neural net during interrogation. Only Forward