Botanica (Transformers)

Beast Machines
Botanica is a character from the Beast Machines animated television series (specifically only its second season). She is unique in that she is a female Maximal with an alternate plant form, a first in Transformer history. There was never a figure made for her in the franchise's entire run.

Animated series
Like Optimus Primal and his crew aboard the Axalon, Botanica was commissioned on the same extensive deep-space research mission funded by the Maximal Elders. Her ship monitored and landed on a planet populated by plant-based creatures. Thus, to survive and study the environment, the few members of the crew DNA-scanned plant modes, Botanica's form resembling a sort of wild orchid. When Botanica returned to Cybertron (in response to a false distress signal, implemented by Megatron, designed to lure any planetary inhabitants back to their doom), her ship was shot down by Cybertron's orbital defenses and she was instantly infected with Megatron's transformation virus. At first thought to be an alien life form by the Maximals, Optimus Primal realized Botanica was suffering from the virus and reformatted her into a technorganic body.

Botanica turned out to be a botanist. Botanica's vast knowledge and love of plant life was instrumental in maintaining the technorganic trees Optimus' team had been recently caring for. However, as with most die-hard scientists, her pacifist nature led to disputes with her fellow battle-hardened Maximals. Botanica was eventually coerced into action by the Oracle, and helped her comrades escape the newly-forged Obsidian and Strika.

As time passed and the tense battle wore on, Botanica and Rattrap developed an interesting love for each other, as they were mutually attracted to their differing personalities. During the final conflict, Botanica was drained of her spark (along with all the other Maximals) by Megatron, but later revived by the Oracle when both Megatron and Optimus reformatted Cybertron, adding her own feminine touch to the overall design, by making flowers all over Cybertron bloom.

Despite her key role in Beast Machines Botanica was not featured, or even mentioned, in the follow-up series Transformers: Universe and was not mentioned in the proposal for Transtech.

Fun Publications
Botanica, Rattrap and Nightscream appeared together in the story Wreckers: Finale Part II by the Transformers Collectors Club in 2007. During the invasion of Cybertron by the Quintessons they worked together and came across the Quintesson working with the Wreckers.

Transformers: Animated
On April Fools Day 2009, Derrick J. Wyatt posted an image on his blog of a lineup of characters, stating that some of them would be appearing in season three of Transformers: Animated, and some were merely April Fool's jokes. Among the characters featured was an Animated version of Botanica.