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Autoboot Camp

2009-09-05T23:23:48Z

190.59.61.172: /* Trivia */

{{episode|
|series=Anitoon
|ep=25
|image=Autobot Cadets.jpg
|caption=Class of 2008. The ENTIRE Class of 2008.
|title="Autoboot Camp"
|airdate=[[June 3]], 2008
|written by=[[Michael Ryan]]
|directed by=[[Ben Jones]] [[Christopher Berkeley]] [[Shunji Ōga|Shunji Oga]]
|animation studio=[[The Answer Studio]]
}}

'''On the trail of an escaped Autobot traitor, Bumblebee flashes back to a previous encounter with the traitor when he first met Bulkhead in Autobot Boot Camp.'''
:''German title:'' "'''Dr Spion-Bot'''" ("The Spy-Bot")
:''Polish title:'' "'''Maszeruj Autobocie"''' ("Run Autobot")

==Synopsis==
[[Image:TFA Autoboot Camp Wasp Salute.jpg|thumb|left|"Sayonara, suckerzzz."]]
Somewhere in space, an Autobot shuttle streaks through the solar night and crash-lands on an asteroid, where its lone occupant races off across the barren ground in vehicle mode. Hot on his trail is [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel Prime]], who chases him to a [[space bridge]] node on the asteroid. The green-armoured escapee triggers the space bridge with a blast from a familiar pair of stingers, and Sentinel loses his quarry as the portal explodes with light.

On Earth, [[Ultra Magnus (Animated)|Ultra Magnus]] reports the news of the escapee to the [[Autobot]]s. [[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]] immediately recognizes the criminal in question as [[Wasp]], a 'bot sharing his bodyform whom he met when during his [[Elite Guard]] training days.

[[Image:TFA Autoboot Camp Bee Sentinel.jpg|thumb|right|Living rooms of America, do you catch my drift? Do... you... dig?]]
In the [[Decepticon]]s' underground lair, [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]] contacts his double-agent on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] and congratulates him on orchestrating Wasp's breakout. The double-agent is concerned that they are speaking so freely on the subject, but Megatron assures him that nobody will be able to listen in on the broadcast. [[Isaac Sumdac|Professor Sumdac]] has other plans, though, as he secretly taps into the communication frequency and bounces it to the Autobots' base. Bumblebee and [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]] are on monitor duty at the time, and the message comes through exceedingly scrambled, but they are at least able to comprehend the existence of a double-agent. Naturally, Bumblebee immediately assumes it to be Wasp, and he decides to settle his old score, with Bulkhead tagging along. Bumblebee remembers how it all went down...

''Stellar cycles ago, on Cybertron, Bumblebee meets Bulkhead for the first time when they both attend boot camp to train under Sentinel Minor, alongside Wasp, super-durable [[Ironhide (Animated)|Ironhide]] and telescopic-limbed [[Shockwave (Animated)|Longarm]]. The two B's immediately earn Sentinel's ire{{m-}}Bumblebee for his impetuous bungling, and Bulkhead for his desire to be nothing more than a space bridge technician{{m-}}and the pair gets saddled with oil cleanup. Of course, Bumblebee begins goofing off, which results in a stack of oil drums collapsing on Sentinel, which results in Bumblebee being made to stand in the middle of the courtyard in the dead of night, holding up oil drums and repeatedly declaring himself a “worthless oil stain.”''

[[Image:AutobootCamp-Sentinelgetsowned(Secondtime).jpg|thumb|left|150px|Hardly a relaxing oil bath.]]
''After a while, though, Bumblebee calls it quits, but as he is walking by a warehouse, he spots a shadowy figure speaking into a communicator, with the voice of Megatron responding! After a moment's hesitation, Bumblebee pops his stingers and commands the spy-bot to show himself...but the figure has vanished. When Bumblebee turns to leave, however, he spots Wasp walking out of the warehouse.''

''Unsure of how to proceed, Bumblebee confides in Longarm, who encourages him to gather some evidence and present it to Sentinel. Bumblebee tries setting up a trap, planting a box with the Elite Guard symbol on it in the open, hoping Wasp will grab it...except Sentinel is the first to come upon it, and it explodes, covering him in paint. Next, Bumblebee tries a listening device, but accidentally winds up broadcasting Sentinel over the camp's loudspeakers as he jokes about Ultra Magnus being too old to hack the commander role. In traditional boot camp manner, Sentinel makes the whole team suffer for Bumblebee's mistakes, and Wasp and Ironhide take it out on the little 'bot by disconnecting his legs and stuffing him in a locker. Longarm comes to Bumblebee's rescue, and urges Bumblebee not to give in.''

[[Image:TFA Autoboot Camp Oh Slag.jpg|thumb|Optimus must be kicking himself for having missed this.]]
''But the bullying doesn't stop, as Wasp hits Bumblebee with a burst of “friendly fire” in a simulated combat training exercise. Of course, it's just a paint grenade, but when Bulkhead offers to help Bumblebee up, Bumblebee snaps and insults Bulkhead's lack of ambition before storming off. Turning a corner, Bumblebee yelps as he finds several auto-cannons pointed in his face, but then laughs as he remembers that they're only loaded with paint rounds for the simulated combat. Or rather, they ''were'', as the shadowy figure from the warehouse slinks by the cannons and switches them to active ammunition. As the cannons open fire on Bumblebee, Bulkhead speeds to his rescue and takes out the cannons by dropping a building on them with his wrecking ball...only for Sentinel to get squashed under it as well. Bumblebee encourages Bulkhead to scarper, rather than risk his career by owning up.''

Tracking the message Sumdac broadcast to them, Bumblebee and Bulkhead wander through the wilderness, reminiscing about the old days. When Bumblebee stumbles into a patch of quicksand, Bulkhead plucks him out, but the conflict between the pair from their boot camp days starts bubbling back to the surface, and Bulkhead leaves Bumblebee to the mission himself. Angrily stomping up a mountain, Bumblebee loses his footing and falls off a cliff, becoming buried in an avalanche.

[[Image:TFA Autoboot Camp Wasp Captured.jpg|thumb|left|Will go on to star in [[Wikipedia:The Count of Monte Cristo|''The Count of Monte Cristo'']].]]

''Longarm informs Bumblebee that Sentinel is about to conduct a surprise locker examination, meaning that it's his last chance to find evidence on Wasp before Sentinel can take credit for it himself. Using his extensible limbs to trip up Wasp, Longarm allows Bumblebee to "help him up" and finger his locker key in the process. As Bumblebee quickly opens Wasp's locker, Sentinel appears behind him, demanding to know what he's doing, only to be quickly silenced when Bumblebee presents him with a Decepticon communicator. Impressed with Bumblebee's work, Sentinel plans to recommend him for an Elite Guard position. After Wasp is carted off, screaming his innocence all the way, Sentinel brings up the matter of the building being dropped on him. Since nobody has owned up, he decides to kick out whoever he feels like—and he feels like Bulkhead. Before he can give Bulkster the boot, however, Bumblebee steps forward and claims responsibility, sheepishly asking if it will affect his Elite Guard position.''

[[Image:TFA_Shockwave_DoubleAgent.jpg|thumb|Sometimes, when you stare into the abyss, it stares right back.]]
''Some time later, Bumblebee and Bulkhead are on an asteroid, working on a space bridge node, as Bulkhead cheerfully announces "I have arrived!"''

Buried under the rockslide, Bumblebee reflects on his friendship with Bulkhead out loud, and about how he saved Bulkhead's career, even ''if'' his friend never dreamed big. But Bulkhead ''did'' dream big; as the bulky bot appears above Bumblebee and hauls him out from beneath the boulders, he announces that he dreamed of being Bumblebee's friend. Bumblebee thanks his big buddy, and the pair drive off...having only been mere feet from the secret entrance to the Decepticon base.

Out in space, it turns out that Wasp didn't escape to Earth at all, and that he is still on the asteroid, huddled up in a ball. His mind clearly broken, the insectoid 'bot buzzes and twitters to himself about how he will find Bumblebee and make him pay for ruining his life.

Back at the Autobot base, our heroes contact Cybertron to alert the Autobots there about Megatron's double-agent. As it turns out, Bumblebee's old boot camp buddy Longarm is now Longarm ''Prime'', head of Cybertronian Intelligence, and he promises to root out the traitor no matter what.

In the Decepticon base, Megatron communicates once again with his double-agent... Longarm Prime! But the deception is a dual-layered one, for Longarm is, in fact, the shape-shifting [[Shockwave (Animated)|Shockwave]]!

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Wasp]] (1)
*[[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel Prime]] (2)
*[[Ultra Magnus (Animated)|Ultra Magnus]] (3)
*[[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]] (4)
*[[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]] (5)
*[[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] (6)
*[[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]] (7)
*[[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]] (8)
*[[Ironhide (Animated)|Ironhide]] (11) (Flashback)
*[[Cliffjumper (Animated)|Cliffjumper]] (14) (Flashback)
|c2=
*[[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]] (9)
*[[Lugnut]] (13, voice only)
*[[Shockwave (Animated)|Longarm Prime/Shockwave]] (12)
|c3 =
*[[Isaac Sumdac]] (10)
}}

==Quotes==
"Hey there, little buddy. You mind scanning me next to these tall buildings? They'll never believe me back home." 
"Mhm. First time off the energon farm?" 
"How'd you know?"
:—'''Bulkhead''' and '''Bumblebee''', together for the first time.

'''Sentinel Minor''': Wipe that smile off your face, dullspark! 
'''Bulkhead''': Uh, I'm not smiling, sir! My jaw is just tempered that way, sir! 
'''Bumblebee''': Forget Mudflap's jaw, check out the asteroid-sized chin on Sarge! 
'''Sentinel Minor''': YOU GOT A COMMENT, FUNNY-BOT?! 
'''Bumblebee''': No, sir!
:—The future Sentinel Prime is a little sensitive about his chin. Maybe it's why he's such a jerk.

'''Sentinel Minor''': Now here's a bot who knows his place. You should try to be more like your friend here. 
'''Bumblebee''': He's not my friend, sir! 
'''Sentinel Minor''': WE'RE ALL FRIENDS HERE!
:—Mr. Personality does it again.

"You are nothing but a BUMBLER! From now on, your name is...BUMBLEBEE!"
:—And lo, a legend was born, thanks to '''Sentinel Minor'''

''[stands in the middle of an empty yard, holding up oil drums, reciting...]'' 
"I am a worthless oil stain. I am a worthless oil stain. I am a worthless oil stain...why am I even doing this?"
:—Sentinel Minor's punishment of '''Bumblebee''' could be considered "cruel and unusual".

"You would not '''believe''' the glitches the Commander's saddled me with this time. I'm starting to think that Ultra Magnus is a few circuits shy of a full processor, know what I mean? Oh, sure, he was The Bot back in the day, but now? Ultra Magnus is just a rusted-out, obsolete model sorely in need of an upgrade."
:—'''Sentinel Minor''' is a suck-up only to the boss's face. ''Quelle surprise''.

"But I'm innocent, I tell you! You're making a big mistake, all of you!" 
"Mute it, traitor!" 
''[Sentinel strips Wasp of his Autobot insignia]'' 
"I'll get you, Bumblebee, '''if it's the last thing I do'''!
:—'''Wasp''' proclaims his innocence as he's wheeled away in restraints, while '''Sentinel Minor''' acts much as ever.

"I couldn't leave you all alone out here like that. I should've, but I didn't."
:—'''Bulkhead''' is loyal, but not stupid.

"Bumblebot not hide from Wasp. Wasp swears he find Bumblebot. Wasp make Bumblebot pay for RUINING WASP'S LIFE!"
:—There lies a broken '''Wasp'''...

"Our long stellar cycles of planning will now come to fruition. I knew your size-altering power would allow you to blend in perfectly with the Autobots. Well done, my loyal servant...[[Shockwave (Animated)|Shockwave]]."
:—'''Megatron''' really knows how to introduce a major <s>plot point</s> Decepticon.

==Notes==
===Animation and technical errors===
* In the scene after Sentinel Prime rips off Wasp's insignia you can see him still wearing it.

===Continuity errors===
* Bumblebee's stingers are shown to be powerful enough to knock down a building; yet in prior episodes they were only useful for zapping debris and bouncing uselessly off Decepticon armor. The discrepancy is somewhat explained in "[[TransWarped]]" when Ratchet gives Bumblebee battle-grade stingers to boost his power. Maybe when he was demoted to space bridge duty, his stingers were downgraded.
* If Professor Sumdac can reroute a Decepticon message between Earth and Cybertron to the Autobots on Earth, why can't he call for help too?
* If Cybertronians live on a planet with no organic life-forms, how does Sentinel know that wasps and bumblebees exist?

===Transformers references===
* Sentinel's speech about his troops being "cogs in a machine" is very similar to Optimus's comment at the beginning of "[[Transform and Roll Out]]" (although Optimus gets the message across without the attitude); it may be a standard message from the Autobot Academy.
* Clearly, when Bumblebee and Bulkhead noted that Sentinel Prime didn't remember them back in "[[The Elite Guard]]", they were referring to their boot camp days.
* It was explained back in "The Elite Guard" that "Prime" was a rank, and this episode reveals that before attaining the rank, Sentinel was known as "Sentinel Minor". [[Optimus Minor|Sounds a little familiar]].
[[Image:A25 cliffjumper.jpg|thumb|right|"Traitors? Fancy that."]]
* In the final moments of the episode, the addled Wasp (who has spoken perfectly normally throughout the flashbacks) begins speaking in the buzzing, third-person style of ''[[Beast Wars]]'' [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]].

===Trivia===
* Marty Isenberg has revealed that the other boot-campers being [[repaint]] characters was an idea of [[Derrick J. Wyatt]]'s, that the inclusion of Shockwave was a late decision, and that originally ''Cliffjumper'' was going to be the falsely accused. [http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/interviews-27/tfw2005-interviews-transformers-animated-story-editor-marty-isenberg-165509/]

* Sentinel Prime has switched back to his Cybertronian alt-form, presumably since arriving back on Cybertron (since he still had his Earth form in "[[A Fistful of Energon]]"). Considering what he thought of Earth, it's not really a surprise that he'd want to change back as soon as possible. [[Ultra Magnus (Animated)|Ultra Magnus]] even muses over this in an entry in the [[AllSpark Almanac]], where he also explains that the only reason Sentinel is seen with his Earth mode later on is because he (Ultra Magnus) decided to keep his.

* This episode certainly explains a lot about Bumblebee's independent streak. His very first "team" effort was basically people being colossal jerks to him for no reason (well, except for Sentinel, really...drill sergeants are ''supposed'' to be like that) except for the big goofy country-bot...and standing up for said bot basically led to his dreams being crushed.

* On the other hand, if names get assigned by drill sergeants, you have to wonder exactly to what levels Optimus and [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] stooped in order to get those names...

* Lugnut is not shown, but is briefly heard saying "Megatron will speak to you now," when Megatron is contacted by Shockwave in the flashback, ten minutes into the episode.

* In this episode, when Sentinel gives Bumblebee his name, Bumblebee reacts as if he doesn't like it. However, in "[[Transform and Roll Out]]", when Bumblebee tells Sari his name and she responds, "I'm Sari," Bumblebee then says, "Oh, don't be. I like my name." Maybe he got over it?

*Bulkhead used to have a "hick" accent while in boot camp that he lost sometime after starting work on space bridges with Bumblebee and the others.

*What, exactly, was the point of Sentinel Prime keeping one arm in a bandage and sling? And for that matter, why do robots have slings?
**Most likely, for comedic effect, if nothing else.

*When commenting on Sentinel's chin, Bumblebee looks directly at the "camera", so to speak, making this one of the few occasions where animated ''Transformers'' media break the fourth wall.

==External links==
* [http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/video/dlink/index.html?episodeID=8a25c3921fc6a295011fc9a121850188 "Autoboot Camp" streaming video at Cartoon Network] (link functional until 3/03/10)

[[Category:Animated episodes]]

Dirge (Animated)

2009-09-05T22:07:45Z

190.59.61.172: /* Animated */

{{factions|decepticon}}
{| style="margin:0 1em; padding:.5em; background:#f7f8ff; border:thin solid #aaa;display:block;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"
|-
|''The name or term Dirge refers to more than one character or idea, all of which should be about him him him! For a list of other meanings, see [[Dirge (disambiguation)]].''
|}
:''Dirge strives to be so much more than a [[Decepticon]] from the [[Transformers Animated (franchise)|Transformers Animated]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:Animated Dirge Activators.jpg|right|300px|thumb|"Thing is, this week has been absolute heaven for me and I couldn't just stand by and let you take your stuff back. That's why I've taken everything and done a runner."]]

'''Dirge''' is a [[Starscream clone]], and like the other clones, represents an aspect of the [[Starscream (Animated)|original]]'s personality... in this case, his gluttony and greed. No altitude is high enough, no amount of fuel is sufficient, and no grab for power will ultimately satisfy him. He lives only for what he doesn't yet have.

This article is his and his alone. Stop reading it! You want an article to read? Get your own! On second thought, get your own, and then give it to him anyway.

==Toys==
===Animated===
*'''Dirge''' (Activator, 2009)

:Dirge transforms into a futuristic, forward-swept wing fighter jet based upon the [http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/s37/ Su-47 (S-37) Berkut Experimental Fighter] and the [http://www.new-un-spacy.com/macrossplus/yf-19.htm YF-19 "Alpha One"] from the series ''[[wikipedia:Macross_Plus|Macross Plus]]''. Like all Activators, he has a spring-loaded [[autotransformation]] from vehicle to robot mode. [[Activators]] [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] is a [[redeco]] of him, not the other way around! This mold is Dirge's! Nobody else's!

:This mold was also used to make [[Thundercracker (Animated)|Thundercracker]]. How dare he try to take what rightfully is ''not'' his!

: Part of the fifth wave of Activators along with [[Cliffjumper (Animated)|Cliffjumper]], both bots saw widespread release in European markets well before they made it to US stores in decent numbers, leading to a certain amount of fan-panic over their potential cancelation.

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2009/Decepticon/Dirge/dirge.htm More information on Dirge at TFU.info]''

==Trivia==

* Being a non-show character, Dirge is the only [[Starscream clone]] not to be discussed in the [[AllSpark Almanac]]. However, due to the events of the show, his very existence in canon itself is rather questionable.

[[Category:Animated characters]]
[[Category:Clones]]
[[Category:Decepticons]]
[[Category: Toy-only characters]]

Swindle (Animated)

2009-09-05T22:00:07Z

190.59.61.172: /* Notes */

{{faction|decepticon}}
{{disambig3|Swindle}}
:''Swindle is a [[Decepticon]] from the [[Transformers Animated (franchise)|Transformers Animated]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:Swindleanimated.jpg|right|300px|thumb|"Ladies and gentlebots, I'm going to show you the greatest upgrade ever made. The SwindleCo™ Blast-o-Matic™ can blast your enemies to julienne fries with all the precision and quality you've come to expect from a SwindleCo™ product. But wait, there's more!"]]

Quick, hide the silver! An entrepreneur with few equals, the smooth-talking '''Swindle''' is always ready to make a deal. Trading extensively with many alien races and loaded down with their respective technologies, his goods are highly useful to interstellar warlords, bounty hunters, and many, many others. Though nominally a Decepticon, he just views the Cybertronian civil war as yet another business opportunity, one which has kept him living posh for centuries and could be great for his bottom line again now that it's starting back up.

{{quote|Scruples? You'd sell your own motherboard to the highest bidder.|[[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]] scoffs at Swindle's spiel|"[[SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy]]"}}

==Fiction==
===''Animated'' cartoon===
{{note|Events from [[IDW Publishing]] comics are in italics.}}
:''Voice actor:'' [[Fred Willard]] (English), [[Dieter Memel]] (German)

''While [[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]] was negotiating with [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]], he was interrupted by [[Lugnut]], who was incensed that his comrade-in-arms would deal with bounty-hunting scum. Finding himself outgunned in this fight, Blitzwing was ''extremely'' lucky to find that Swindle had chosen that moment to pay a visit to the base on [[New Kaon]]. Providing the Triple Changer with enhanced weaponry (and a convenient payment plan), Swindle watched as the fight escalated. Each time, he was more than happy to provide each side with ever-increasing hardware, up to and including planetbuster weaponry. So much for New Kaon. Once the pair of Decepticons found out that Swindle was arming ''both'' of them, they took things up with customer service, leaving Swindle a fair bit worse for wear. But, he took it in stride. After all, the customer is always right.'' {{storylink|Everything Must Go}}

[[Image:Swindle and weapon.jpg|left|200px|thumb|"What would you say if I told you that you don't have to fight Autobots? You'd say I'm crazy, right? That I'm out of my head? Well that is exactly what I'm telling you about this amazing product from SwindleCo™!"]]

Swindle found out about the situation on [[Earth]] after a little business transaction with Lockdown. Upon his arrival, he made a deal with the newly formed [[Society of Ultimate Villainy]]: they'd steal components he needed, and he'd give them monetary compensation. He set the arrangement up anonymously, communicating with them through the radio in their new getaway vehicle, a present of sorts that he'd provided. When they had stolen the parts, he had them construct a generator. Sadly, the deal went sour when he asked [[Slo-Mo]] to hand over her AllSpark-powered timepiece. She refused, and he let them in on his little secret: He ''was'' the getaway vehicle.

[[Image:TFASwindlefullyarmed.jpg|right|150px|thumb|"That's not all, though! If you order right now, I am offering this exclusive accessory package, compliments of the good folks here at SwindleCo™!"]]

He dispatched most of the SUV and used his force field (acquired in a deal with a race known as the [[Vok]] from [[Nexus Zero]], nice folks) to protect himself from Slo-Mo's watch. He took it from her and contacted his old client [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]]. After a few pleasantries, he demonstrated the generator's ability to freeze everything mechanical in Detroit, including the [[Autobot|Autobots]]. Unfortunately, before the deal could go through, [[Bumblebee (Animated)|a shielded Autobot]] and the SUV burst in and managed to knock him over the side of the parking block on which he had stationed himself. While he managed to reacquire the watch, he was frozen in his vehicle mode when a blast ricocheted off of the Autobot's shield. He was last seen being towed by [[Captain Fanzone|the police]], who promised to strip apart the paralyzed Decepticon and sell his insides at a police auction. Bloody ''hell!'' ([[B.O.T. (episode)|The irony probably wasn't lost on him]].) {{storylink|SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy}}

Swindle was later "apprehended" by [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel Prime]]... in that Sentinel paid a fine to the Detroit police department and had the still-stuck-in-vehicle-mode Decepticon towed to the Autobot ship. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}} He and almost all of the Earth-based Decepticons were transported as prisoners back to [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. {{storylink|Predacons Rising}}

Since Swindle was mode-locked and offline, the Elite Guard simply parked him in their ship's brig, not taking care to secure him. This proved to be a mistake when an energy storm in space revived him. Swindle freed the other Decepticons, waiving the usual service charge as a sign of good faith to friends of his "best customer" Megatron. Swindle was able to use the numerous gadgets and weapons inside his own [[subspace|personal storage dimension]] to re-arm the Decepticons and defeat the Elite Guard--as well as accessorizing the [[Starscream clone]]s so he could [[conehead|finally tell them apart]]. His [[Sonic Jammer 3000]] got them through the Elite Guard's alarms and into the main bridge, plus handily incapacitated [[Jetfire (Animated)|Jetfire]] and [[Jetstorm (Animated)|Jetstorm]]. After [[Jazz (Animated)|Jazz]] and Sentinel fell, Swindle convinced [[Lugnut]] to spare their lives for now, as not only would the prisoners make good bargaining chips, but Elite Guard parts could make them enough credits on the black market to retire to a beach island on [[Nebulos]].

[[Image:TFAni Decepticon Air Swindle Optimus Hand.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Oh ''no''. Not ''again''.]]

Unfortunately for the Decepticons, Sentinel Prime had managed to get a [[Broken Lance|coded distress signal]] to Earth. The Earthbound Autobots were able to lock onto Swindle's private [[transwarp]] frequency and beam Optimus Prime right into Swindle's guts, giving them quite a surprise. Ordered by Lugnut to guard the prisoners while the rest chased after Optimus, Swindle instead took his time thoroughly looting the Elite Guard ship of as much valuable hardware as he could before making his getaway in an escape pod. {{storylink|Decepticon Air}}

{{quote|Guard the prisoners, or... loot the ship? It's a no-processor...er.|Swindle shows his true colors|"[[Decepticon Air]]"}}
{{--}}

==Travelogue==
{{quote|Now, at no extra charge, I'm willing to throw in these little items I picked up in a little excursion to the planet Dahros. By the way, if you should ever find yourself on Dahros, trust me, you do not want to visit the Northern hemisphere. The locals are surly, the service is lousy, and the energon is always watered down.|Swindle gives travel advice|"[[Everything Must Go]]"}}

Swindle travels extensively, to provide his customers spectacular bargains from the far corners of the universe. His trade route includes:

*[[Nexus Zero]], where the [[Vok]] manufacture superior force-field technology.
*The planet [[Andellor]], who make an excellent [[Anti-gravity gun|anti-gravity cannon]].
*[[Talos Four]], manufacturers of the [[triple crusher cannon]].
*The world of [[Torkulon]], source of the spectacular [[Torkulonian decompression pump|decompression pump]].
*The planet [[Darhos|Dahros]], which produces the amazing product that is [[glass gas]].
*[[Menonia]], source of the robotic panacea of "[[Menonian super glue|super glue]]".
*[[Quintessa]], where he picked up the fantastic [[Sonic Jammer 3000]] for a great price, as well as all the oil he could drink.
*[[Nebulos]], where the energon is exceptionally smooth, and one can retire to live the good life on a tropical island.
*[[Pz-Zazz]], where he visited the scenic fifth moon.
*[[Prysmos]], a future stop on his itinerary where he will trade with the [[Visionaries|Darkling Lords]].

He has also obtained, by unknown means:

*[[Omega bomb]]s, planet-busting weaponry presumably from the [[Quintesson]]s
*[[Nemesis Shield]]s to defend against said bombs, which are [[Mini-Con]] technology.

==Toys==
===Animated===
[[Image:SwindleDeluxe.jpg|right|300px|thumb|"Are you seeing this? Are you loving this? I'm so excited I could almost spring a leak."]]
*'''Swindle''' (Deluxe, 2008)
**''Accessories'': Large "[[Scatter blaster]]" gun, missile

: Part of the fifth wave of ''Animated'' Deluxes, Swindle transforms into an armored Humvee-styled vehicle with a roof-mounted cannon. This cannon mounts on his right arm in robot mode, and features a spring-loaded launching [[missile]]. The cannon also features an additional [[gimmick]]: when the missile is inserted into the cannon, the slits on the weapon change from a deep, clear purple (the same color used for the eyes, chest windows, upper arms and fingers) to a painted orange-red. He also features a flip-out Gatling gun in his midsection, as well as his twin over-shoulder double-blasters. The Gatling ''can'' be deployed in vehicle mode (and is even depicted on the cardback that way), but it rides so low that the front wheels won't touch the ground.

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2009/Decepticon/Swindle/swindle.htm More information on Swindle at TFU.info]''
{{--}}

==Notes==
* Swindle made his appearance because [[Derrick J. Wyatt]] lobbied ''hard'' for him to show up.<ref>[http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/interviews-27/tfw2005-interviews-transformers-animated-story-editor-marty-isenberg-165509/ Interview with story editor Marty Isenberg]</ref>

* Swindle's design is quite heavily influenced by his [[Swindle (G1)|Generation 1 namesake]]'s animation [[character model]], from the "squarehead" with large, purple optics to the windshield-chest with grill-stomach to the right-arm-mounted cannon which can be mounted on the back of his vehicle mode. As a result, Swindle is the first of only [[Wasp|two]] Decepticons to not have red eyes in Animated.

* Swindle is a double-homage, as he also features a chest cannon that is quite similar to his [[Swindle (Movie)|movie namesake]]'s.

* He also makes a reference to ''Binaltech'' Swindle, who possessed a force field because his body was meant to be [[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]]'s, but couldn't use it. This Swindle doesn't have that issue.

* He has a [[wikipedia:bolo tie|bolo tie]]. That's awesome.

* Swindle also possesses a chest compartment which is capable of storing many, many things, such as weapons, Seeker accessories, and even an [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|entire Autobot]]. Though, at first glance, this sounds virtually impossible, Swindle explains that he has a transwarp link to his own "personal storage dimension" within this compartment.

* Derrick J. Wyatt has noted that Swindle's mannerisms are based on [[wikipedia:Ron Popeil|Ron Popeil]]. In fact, in "Everything Must Go", Swindle even uses Ron's signature catch-phrase "Now, how much would you pay?", and in "Decepticon Air" he uses Ron's other catchphrase, "But wait, there's more!" (Coincidentally enough, [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] has done a song about Popeil...)

* Despite the two having never been seen together in the show, Swindle is apparently [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]]'s 'agent', by the latter's [[AllSpark Almanac|testimony.]]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Animated characters]]
[[Category:Decepticons]]
[[Category:Merchants]]

Swindle (Animated)

2009-09-05T21:59:29Z

190.59.61.172: /* Notes */

{{faction|decepticon}}
{{disambig3|Swindle}}
:''Swindle is a [[Decepticon]] from the [[Transformers Animated (franchise)|Transformers Animated]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:Swindleanimated.jpg|right|300px|thumb|"Ladies and gentlebots, I'm going to show you the greatest upgrade ever made. The SwindleCo™ Blast-o-Matic™ can blast your enemies to julienne fries with all the precision and quality you've come to expect from a SwindleCo™ product. But wait, there's more!"]]

Quick, hide the silver! An entrepreneur with few equals, the smooth-talking '''Swindle''' is always ready to make a deal. Trading extensively with many alien races and loaded down with their respective technologies, his goods are highly useful to interstellar warlords, bounty hunters, and many, many others. Though nominally a Decepticon, he just views the Cybertronian civil war as yet another business opportunity, one which has kept him living posh for centuries and could be great for his bottom line again now that it's starting back up.

{{quote|Scruples? You'd sell your own motherboard to the highest bidder.|[[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]] scoffs at Swindle's spiel|"[[SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy]]"}}

==Fiction==
===''Animated'' cartoon===
{{note|Events from [[IDW Publishing]] comics are in italics.}}
:''Voice actor:'' [[Fred Willard]] (English), [[Dieter Memel]] (German)

''While [[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]] was negotiating with [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]], he was interrupted by [[Lugnut]], who was incensed that his comrade-in-arms would deal with bounty-hunting scum. Finding himself outgunned in this fight, Blitzwing was ''extremely'' lucky to find that Swindle had chosen that moment to pay a visit to the base on [[New Kaon]]. Providing the Triple Changer with enhanced weaponry (and a convenient payment plan), Swindle watched as the fight escalated. Each time, he was more than happy to provide each side with ever-increasing hardware, up to and including planetbuster weaponry. So much for New Kaon. Once the pair of Decepticons found out that Swindle was arming ''both'' of them, they took things up with customer service, leaving Swindle a fair bit worse for wear. But, he took it in stride. After all, the customer is always right.'' {{storylink|Everything Must Go}}

[[Image:Swindle and weapon.jpg|left|200px|thumb|"What would you say if I told you that you don't have to fight Autobots? You'd say I'm crazy, right? That I'm out of my head? Well that is exactly what I'm telling you about this amazing product from SwindleCo™!"]]

Swindle found out about the situation on [[Earth]] after a little business transaction with Lockdown. Upon his arrival, he made a deal with the newly formed [[Society of Ultimate Villainy]]: they'd steal components he needed, and he'd give them monetary compensation. He set the arrangement up anonymously, communicating with them through the radio in their new getaway vehicle, a present of sorts that he'd provided. When they had stolen the parts, he had them construct a generator. Sadly, the deal went sour when he asked [[Slo-Mo]] to hand over her AllSpark-powered timepiece. She refused, and he let them in on his little secret: He ''was'' the getaway vehicle.

[[Image:TFASwindlefullyarmed.jpg|right|150px|thumb|"That's not all, though! If you order right now, I am offering this exclusive accessory package, compliments of the good folks here at SwindleCo™!"]]

He dispatched most of the SUV and used his force field (acquired in a deal with a race known as the [[Vok]] from [[Nexus Zero]], nice folks) to protect himself from Slo-Mo's watch. He took it from her and contacted his old client [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]]. After a few pleasantries, he demonstrated the generator's ability to freeze everything mechanical in Detroit, including the [[Autobot|Autobots]]. Unfortunately, before the deal could go through, [[Bumblebee (Animated)|a shielded Autobot]] and the SUV burst in and managed to knock him over the side of the parking block on which he had stationed himself. While he managed to reacquire the watch, he was frozen in his vehicle mode when a blast ricocheted off of the Autobot's shield. He was last seen being towed by [[Captain Fanzone|the police]], who promised to strip apart the paralyzed Decepticon and sell his insides at a police auction. Bloody ''hell!'' ([[B.O.T. (episode)|The irony probably wasn't lost on him]].) {{storylink|SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy}}

Swindle was later "apprehended" by [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel Prime]]... in that Sentinel paid a fine to the Detroit police department and had the still-stuck-in-vehicle-mode Decepticon towed to the Autobot ship. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}} He and almost all of the Earth-based Decepticons were transported as prisoners back to [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. {{storylink|Predacons Rising}}

Since Swindle was mode-locked and offline, the Elite Guard simply parked him in their ship's brig, not taking care to secure him. This proved to be a mistake when an energy storm in space revived him. Swindle freed the other Decepticons, waiving the usual service charge as a sign of good faith to friends of his "best customer" Megatron. Swindle was able to use the numerous gadgets and weapons inside his own [[subspace|personal storage dimension]] to re-arm the Decepticons and defeat the Elite Guard--as well as accessorizing the [[Starscream clone]]s so he could [[conehead|finally tell them apart]]. His [[Sonic Jammer 3000]] got them through the Elite Guard's alarms and into the main bridge, plus handily incapacitated [[Jetfire (Animated)|Jetfire]] and [[Jetstorm (Animated)|Jetstorm]]. After [[Jazz (Animated)|Jazz]] and Sentinel fell, Swindle convinced [[Lugnut]] to spare their lives for now, as not only would the prisoners make good bargaining chips, but Elite Guard parts could make them enough credits on the black market to retire to a beach island on [[Nebulos]].

[[Image:TFAni Decepticon Air Swindle Optimus Hand.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Oh ''no''. Not ''again''.]]

Unfortunately for the Decepticons, Sentinel Prime had managed to get a [[Broken Lance|coded distress signal]] to Earth. The Earthbound Autobots were able to lock onto Swindle's private [[transwarp]] frequency and beam Optimus Prime right into Swindle's guts, giving them quite a surprise. Ordered by Lugnut to guard the prisoners while the rest chased after Optimus, Swindle instead took his time thoroughly looting the Elite Guard ship of as much valuable hardware as he could before making his getaway in an escape pod. {{storylink|Decepticon Air}}

{{quote|Guard the prisoners, or... loot the ship? It's a no-processor...er.|Swindle shows his true colors|"[[Decepticon Air]]"}}
{{--}}

==Travelogue==
{{quote|Now, at no extra charge, I'm willing to throw in these little items I picked up in a little excursion to the planet Dahros. By the way, if you should ever find yourself on Dahros, trust me, you do not want to visit the Northern hemisphere. The locals are surly, the service is lousy, and the energon is always watered down.|Swindle gives travel advice|"[[Everything Must Go]]"}}

Swindle travels extensively, to provide his customers spectacular bargains from the far corners of the universe. His trade route includes:

*[[Nexus Zero]], where the [[Vok]] manufacture superior force-field technology.
*The planet [[Andellor]], who make an excellent [[Anti-gravity gun|anti-gravity cannon]].
*[[Talos Four]], manufacturers of the [[triple crusher cannon]].
*The world of [[Torkulon]], source of the spectacular [[Torkulonian decompression pump|decompression pump]].
*The planet [[Darhos|Dahros]], which produces the amazing product that is [[glass gas]].
*[[Menonia]], source of the robotic panacea of "[[Menonian super glue|super glue]]".
*[[Quintessa]], where he picked up the fantastic [[Sonic Jammer 3000]] for a great price, as well as all the oil he could drink.
*[[Nebulos]], where the energon is exceptionally smooth, and one can retire to live the good life on a tropical island.
*[[Pz-Zazz]], where he visited the scenic fifth moon.
*[[Prysmos]], a future stop on his itinerary where he will trade with the [[Visionaries|Darkling Lords]].

He has also obtained, by unknown means:

*[[Omega bomb]]s, planet-busting weaponry presumably from the [[Quintesson]]s
*[[Nemesis Shield]]s to defend against said bombs, which are [[Mini-Con]] technology.

==Toys==
===Animated===
[[Image:SwindleDeluxe.jpg|right|300px|thumb|"Are you seeing this? Are you loving this? I'm so excited I could almost spring a leak."]]
*'''Swindle''' (Deluxe, 2008)
**''Accessories'': Large "[[Scatter blaster]]" gun, missile

: Part of the fifth wave of ''Animated'' Deluxes, Swindle transforms into an armored Humvee-styled vehicle with a roof-mounted cannon. This cannon mounts on his right arm in robot mode, and features a spring-loaded launching [[missile]]. The cannon also features an additional [[gimmick]]: when the missile is inserted into the cannon, the slits on the weapon change from a deep, clear purple (the same color used for the eyes, chest windows, upper arms and fingers) to a painted orange-red. He also features a flip-out Gatling gun in his midsection, as well as his twin over-shoulder double-blasters. The Gatling ''can'' be deployed in vehicle mode (and is even depicted on the cardback that way), but it rides so low that the front wheels won't touch the ground.

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2009/Decepticon/Swindle/swindle.htm More information on Swindle at TFU.info]''
{{--}}

==Notes==
* Swindle made his appearance because [[Derrick J. Wyatt]] lobbied ''hard'' for him to show up.<ref>[http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/interviews-27/tfw2005-interviews-transformers-animated-story-editor-marty-isenberg-165509/ Interview with story editor Marty Isenberg]</ref>

* Swindle's design is quite heavily influenced by his [[Swindle (G1)|Generation 1 namesake]]'s animation [[character model]], from the "squarehead" with large, purple optics to the windshield-chest with grill-stomach to the right-arm-mounted cannon which can be mounted on the back of his vehicle mode. As a result, Swindle is the first of only [[Wasp|two]] Decepticons to not have red eyes in Animated.

* Swindle is a double-homage, as he also features a chest cannon that is quite similar to his [[Swindle (Movie)|movie namesake]]'s.

* He also makes a reference to ''Binaltech'' Swindle, who possessed a force field because his body was meant to be [[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]]'s, but couldn't use it. This Swindle doesn't have that issue.

* He has a [[wikipedia:bolo tie|bolo tie]]. That's awesome.

* Swindle also possesses a chest compartment which is capable of storing many, many things, such as weapons, Seeker accessories, and even an [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|entire Autobot]]. Though, at first glance, this sounds virtually impossible, Swindle explains that he has a transwarp link to his own "personal storage dimension" within this compartment.

* Derrick J. Wyatt has noted that Swindle's mannerisms are based on [[wikipedia:Ron Popeil|Ron Popeil]]. In fact, in "Everything Must Go", Swindle even uses Ron's signature catch-phrase "Now, how much would you pay?", and in "Decepticon Air" he uses Ron's other catchphrase, "But wait, there's more!" (Coincidentally enough, [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] has done a song about Popeil...)

* Despite the two having never been seen together in the show, Swindle is apparently[[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]]'s 'agent', by the latter's [[Allspark Almanac|testimony.]]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Animated characters]]
[[Category:Decepticons]]
[[Category:Merchants]]

Blitzwing (Animated)

2009-09-05T21:53:54Z

190.59.61.172: /* Notes */

{{factions|decepticon}}
{{disambig3|Blitzwing}}
:''Blitzwing is a [[Decepticon]] from the [[Transformers Animated (franchise)|Animated]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:AniBlitzwingPromoModel.jpg|right|250px|thumb|That's far enough, Dr. Jones.]]
'''Blitzwing''' not only has three modes (robot, jet, and tank), he also has three alternate personalities (an "icy" cold strategist, a short-tempered "hothead", and a total "random" nutcase) along with the faces rattling around in his head to go with them.<ref>Blitzwing's three personas are named "Icy", "Hothead" and "Random" on his [[Character model|model]] sheets.</ref> He's as liable to have a conversation with himself as he is to say a word to his fellow Decepticons. Pretty much the only thing that keeps him in line is that all three of his personalities are scared to death of [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]].

Blitzwing's "dominant", icy personality is represented by a long, blue face with a monocle and speaks with quiet disdain. His easily angered hothead personality has a wide, red face, is gap-toothed,and tends to react angrily with violent threats towards almost anyone. Finally, his random personality's face looks like nothing so much as a black jack-o'-lantern, and may toss out bad puns and jokes, children's nursery rhymes, or random non sequiturs, mostly followed by hysterical laughter. All three personalities speak with a pronounced German [[Accents|accent]] and apparently he has trouble flying in a straight line.

Blitzwing's armament varies depending upon which personality is dominant at the time. His calculating personality has an arsenal of ice weaponry, while the hothead predictably can turn up the heat. When his third personality is foremost, nearly anything can be dished out from either of his vehicle modes. Blitzwing's alt-mode is likewise usually dependent on which aspect is dominant at the time. His cold side uses the jet, his angry side uses the tank, and his insane side can use either. However it seems that if he changes personality while in his alt mode, that alt will change with him, and if that's a jet to tank change, he'll fall right out of the sky.

{{quote|Ze name iz Blitzwing, [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|insect]]—remember it! Cause it's ze last thing you're gonna hear before I—express my feelings in song!|Blitzwing switching personalities like we switch shoes|"[[Transform and Roll Out]]"}}

==Fiction==
===''Animated'' cartoon===
{{note|Events from [[IDW Publishing]] comic books are in italics.}}

:''Voice actor:'' [[Bumper Robinson]] (English), [[Rainer Doering]] (German)

[[Image:Animated blitzwing faces1.JPG|left|125px|thumb|"So Arnold, Dietrich, and Blot walk into a bar..."]]

Long after the [[Great War (Animated)|Great War]] ended and the Decepticon went into hiding, [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Blackarachnia]] experimented upon Blitzwing, rebuilding him into a Triple-Changer and giving him the fractured mind he is known for today. {{storylink|Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac|The AllSpark Almanac}}

Blitzwing was aboard the [[Nemesis (Animated)|''Nemesis'']] with the other Decepticons at the time of the [[AllSpark (Animated)|AllSpark]]'s re-discovery. He partially froze [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Blackarachnia]]'s arm, commenting on how her demeanor was as unpleasant as her organic beast mode. When Blackarachnia advised him to blow it out his actuator, Blitzwing angrily demanded that she refer to him by his proper name, or else he would...''express his feelings in song!'' His out-of-tune rendition of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" got all the Decepticons arguing until Megatron entered, prompting Blitzwing to fall silent with the rest.

When it became clear the ''Nemesis'' was going to crash into an exploding space bridge, Blitzwing fled in an escape pod. {{storylink|Transform and Roll Out}}

''After Megatron's disappearance, the Decepticons held a funeral at [[New Kaon]]. Blitzwing gave the eulogy, in which he vowed that they would destroy the [[Autobot]]s responsible for their leader's demise...and then paint mustaches on their faceplates. [[Lugnut]] was angry with the service, declaring that Megatron was alive and would return. When Blitzwing pointed out evidence to the contrary, Lugnut destroyed the statue of Megatron that Blitzwing had built. This angered Blitzwing, who'd spent six deca-cycles building it, and initiated an exchange of fire between him and Lugnut.'' {{storylink|Dispatches}}

Blitzwing placed a bounty on [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]], intending to punish him for destroying Megatron. Fifty stellar cycles later, the bounty hunter [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]] contacted Blitzwing, saying he had Prime. Blitzwing promised that Lockdown would receive payment once Blitzwing received Prime — then his random side asked if he could ''please, please please'' see Prime turn into a firetruck. {{storylink|The Thrill of the Hunt}} ''His conversation was cut short however, when an enraged Lugnut slammed his face into the monitor for daring to commune with the bounty hunter. The pair began scrapping, and things were only made worse when [[Swindle (Animated)|Swindle]] showed up, taking to opportunity to sell each of them a wide variety of weapons so they could pummel each other. It eventually culminated in him selling the pair of them doomsday weapons and unbreakable nemesis shields. Realizing they were being played, Lugs and Blitz put aside their anger, beat the holy hell out of Swindle and made friends again'' {{storylink|The Arrival issue 5#Everything Must Go|Everything Must Go}}

[[Image:LugnutBlitzwingNemesis.JPG|right|200px|thumb|"This was Megatron's ship!" "Oh, cool! Maybe my DVD collection's still in there."]]

Some time after this, Blitzwing and Lugnut followed a beacon to the [[Moon (moon)|Moon]] to find the wreckage of the ''Nemesis''. Noting that Starscream was bad at parking, Blitzwing also remembered that this quadrant was the last time they received an update from Lockdown. Concluding that the Autobots responsible for killing Megatron were nearby, the duo went to Earth. Landing at a construction site, the two had similar problems determining the dominant species on Earth as the Autobots did, mistaking Earth's automatons and machines for sentient beings. Lugnut's attempt to interrogate a crane ended up getting Blitzwing hit by the wrecking ball, which convinced the Decepticons to do a more time honored tactic—blow stuff up and hope it forces the Autobots to come out. It worked. During the battle with the Autobots, [[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]] and [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]] were hard pressed to avoid Blitzwing's energy blasts, but his freeze beam did get Bumblebee off his feet. When Lugnut demanded information on Megatron's location, the Autobots mentioned that he had "turned into a fireball somewhere over [[Cleveland (city)|Cleveland]]". Naturally, Lugnut was displeased, and he used his [[Punch of Kill Everything|super-punch]] to floor the Autobots—and bury himself and Blitzwing under the rubble. When Blitzwing unburied himself, he irritatedly reminded Lugnut of his oft-repeated request for a little warning before the punch.

Having observed the battle over a live feed, Megatron opted to radio Lugnut exclusively, leaving Blitzwing struggling to work out what exactly was going on. Blitzwing believed Lugnut was only listening to voices in his head, so Lugnut had to take him along forcibly. Uncertain of the number and strength of the Autobots' "reinforcements" (the Detroit Police Department), the pair scanned Earth vehicles for disguises so they could lay low. Icy Blitzwing wanted to scan a fighter jet, while Hothead wanted a tank. After a brief argument, Random suggested that they scan both. That evening, the two Decepticons followed the Autobots to [[Lake Erie]], where Blitzwing froze the lake. When the Autobots submerged, he followed them in tank form. Blitzwing was lured by the Autobots towards [[Teletran-1|their ship]] and blasted by one of its weapons systems. He and Lugnut were left fragmented but functional and floated to the surface, only to be met by [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]], who offered to repair them in exchange for a pledge of undying allegiance. {{storylink|Lost and Found (episode)|Lost and Found}}

[[Image:Megatron Rising 1 Ratchet Blitzwing Key.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Oooh, Autobot-cicles, fresh out of the freezer!]]
Apparently, they chose to serve under Starscream, but still were bickering with each other. When Lugnut began receiving internal transmissions from Megatron again, Starscream was confused, and Blitzwing explained that it was a "technical glitch" that happened. A lot. When Starscream learned that Lugnut thought he was talking to Megatron, he felt threatened and scanned Lugnut, detecting the signals. Starscream ordered both Lugnut and Blitzwing to find the [[AllSpark Key]] while he himself tracked the transmissions.

At the moment, the AllSpark Key was in the hands of [[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]]. Blitzwing used his ice guns to freeze Ratchet and rip off the arm that was carrying the Key. Afterward, they went to [[Sumdac Tower]] to find Megatron. In the process of greeting him, they revealed Megatron's true Decepticon nature to [[Isaac Sumdac|Prof. Sumdac]]. Blitzwing, now understanding what had been going on with Lugnut, inserted the Key into Megatron's head, restoring their true leader. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 1}}

[[Image:Megatron Rising 2 Blitzwing tank crash.jpg|right|200px|thumb|He's just as aerodynamic as the next tank.]]
As Megatron proceeded to beat up the Autobots, Blitzwing and Lugnut decided not to intervene and kept an eye on Professor Sumdac instead. When Megatron called his loyal troops to him, Blitzwing looked on as his leader made an example of Starscream. The Decepticons took to the air, locating and attacking the Autobots' ship as it travelled from the lake to the Tower, then from the Tower to [[Dinobot Island (Animated)|Dinobot Island]], where it was shot down. Blitzwing split off to tackle Prowl, Ratchet and Bumblebee, before being brought down by a combined EMP burst. As Blitzwing rolled around and shelled the Autobots, Prowl noticed that Blitzwing's personalities were connected to his alternate modes and powers. By this time, Blitzwing was back in the air, but Bumblebee taunted the Triple Changer enough that Hothead Blitzwing took over, transformed from jet to tank—and fell into the lake. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 2}}

[[Image:TFA Blitzwing Jet Altmode.jpg|left|200px|thumb|I'm gunning for you, Snoopy.]]
The Decepticons set up a base in a mine containing carbon deposits, which would block their energy signatures so they could recover from their encounter with the Autobots without detection. When Megatron announced his new plan to conquer [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], Blitzwing felt the plan was crazy, as neither he nor Lugnut had any idea how they would get there. He changed his mind when Megatron explained that they would build their own [[space bridge]] using the specs Megatron had downloaded from [[Teletran-1]] during one of the encounters with the Autobots. However, they would need the captured Prof. Sumdac to help them, as the specs were incomplete. {{storylink|The Elite Guard}}

After Isaac Sumdac developed a device that shielded their energy signatures from Autobot sensors, Blitzwing and Lugnut went to retrieve a tachyon transmitter from the [[Cybertron Elite Guard|Elite Guard's]] [[Steelhaven (Animated)|ship]]. When they presented it to Megatron, Starscream appeared, tried to kill Megatron—and was killed by Megatron. However, Starscream appeared to survive, and Blitzwing spent the rest of the evening dumping Starscream's body into the river. The next day, Blitzwing and Megatron responded to an AllSpark energy signature which turned out to be a trap laid by Starscream. Blitzwing and Megatron then pursued the traitor, offlining him again. {{storylink|Mission Accomplished}}

Blitzwing was later sent by Megatron to track down an All Spark fragment, with an oddly disappearing energy signature. He froze [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]] and much of the surrounding landscape, destroyed a bridge, [[Captain Fanzone|Captain Fanzone's]] [[Captain Fanzone's car|car]], and [[Master Disaster|Master Disaster's]] truck before Sari Sumdac managed to make him leave using Master Disaster's remote. {{storylink|Velocity}}

Blitzwing and Lugnut wound up stuck with the dirty work, collecting supplies for the construction of the space bridge. Foiled by the Autobots, they tried again the next day, hauling heavy trailers up a hill. Blitzwing's foot slipped, and he was nearly offlined by the trailer sending him careening towards a wall. Bracing for impact, his demise was interrupted by the intervention of [[Mixmaster (Animated)|Mixmaster]] and [[Scrapper (Animated)|Scrapper]]. Seeing a good opportunity in the brawny Constructibots, he tricked them into hauling the two trailers to the mine. Though Lugnut stated that Megatron would never stand for this, he reassured the huge Decepticon that the two newcomers would be offlined as soon as the work was done. True to his word, Blitzwing was about to have Lugnut dispatch the hapless bots when Megatron stepped in. He had bigger plans for them. {{storylink|Rise of the Constructicons}}

[[Image:TFA Sari no one home Blitzwing Ratchet hostage.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Verrry interesting...but shtupid.]]
When the [[Constructicon (Animated)|Constructicons]] resurfaced, Megatron dispatched Blitzwing to bring them back to the mine, giving him some oil to entice them, and instructing Blitzwing not to engage the Autobots. During his search, Blitzwing came across the Autobots. Although his Icy personality wanted to continue the search, his Hothead and Random personality decided to engage them. During the battle, Blitzwing utterly dominated the Autobots, and eventually took Ratchet hostage. At that point, Megatron ordered Blitzwing to disengage and resume his search. Finally locating the Constructicons, Blitzwing offered the two the oil barrels he was carrying, and led them back to base. {{storylink|Sari, No One's Home}}

Soon after the space bridge was near completion, the Autobots found the Decepticons' hideout and attempted to stop them. Blitzwing and Lugnut attacked the Autobots invading their underground base, but they ended up getting stasis cuffed by [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]]. {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part I}} Blitzwing was later retrieved by Scrapper and joined in on the attack on [[Omega Supreme (Animated)|Omega Supreme]]. His hothead side was unimpressed with the gargantuan Autobot, and he vowed to damage Omega Supreme so badly he'd need a GPS locator to help him find his still-attached exhaust port. Omega was equally unimpressed with the verbal posturing and headbutted Blitzwing to the horizon. {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

[[Image:FiveServosOfDoom-CapturedDecepticons.jpg|thumb|left|200px|"So, how often do you transform them for display?"]]
When [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel Prime]] hired [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]] to capture Decepticons for him, Blitzwing was one of the bounty hunter's early victims. He was subsequently locked up in the Elite Guard flagship alongside [[Sunstorm (Animated)|Sunstorm]] and Swindle, and had mouth clamps placed on each of his faces to keep him quiet.{{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}}

As the Elite Guard headed back to Cybertron with their prisoners, they navigated the ship through an energy storm in outer space, causing a stray bolt of energy to hit the ship and free Swindle, who had been left unrestrained. The greedy Decepticon immediately released Blitzwing and the others from their bonds and provided them with new weaponry. Led by Lugnut, the Decepticons defeated and captured the crew, only for Optimus Prime to transwarp into the ship and release them. The ensuing battle took place outside the ship, where Blitzwing froze Sentinel Prime and threatened to blast his head off if the other Autobots didn't surrender. The plan was a success, and the captured Autobots were led into their own decontamination unit to be frozen. (Blitzwing's crazy side also wanted them grinded up into snowcones.) However, this was the Autobots' plan all along, as [[Jazz (Animated)|Jazz]] had tampered with the freeze-gas pipes, causing Blitzing, Sunstorm and the [[Ramjet (Animated)|Liar Starscream]] to be frozen instead. The three Decepticons were subsequently recaptured and brought to Cybertron, where Sentinel Prime displayed them during his [[Magnus]]-promotion parade. {{storylink|Decepticon Air}}

==Toys==
===Animated===
[[Image:Ani blitz.JPG|right|250px|thumb|"WHY IS IT GETTING SO CROWDED IN HERE?!" "Oh, wait, it's me." ''"And me! AHAHAHAHAAA!!!"'']]
*'''Blitzwing''' (Voyager, 2008)
**''Accessories'': 2 "flame" missiles

: Blitzwing transforms into a futuristic "Mech-Warrior"ish-tank with two large, spring-loaded anti-aircraft-like guns, and a squat jet with tracks. His tank-cannons become the jet's thrusters. The robot mode has three faces, which can be switched around via a knob on the back of the head. Surprisingly against the [[For safety reasons|norm]], Blitzwing's pointy nosecone is molded from rigid plastic. Blitzwing has a pair of panels on his forearms which are spring-loaded to aid in transformation to vehicle mode.

: Sadly, his cannons cannot tilt forward over his shoulders when in robot mode. Though promotional photos showed the figure with a gold traditional Decepticon insignia, the final toy used the movie variant in the tampograph.

[[Image:Blitzwinganimatedtoyfaces.jpg|left|250px|thumb|So people who buy enough toys to display them in every mode have to buy five of this guy, right?]]
: Blitzwing also has a minor [[misassembly]] problem, in that his upper arms are swapped. This is the reason his wings cannot press down flush with the rest of the jet fuselage. This can be fixed by pulling off his arms, unscrewing the one screw visible on either forearm, then separating the upper arms and switching them. This makes for a much improved jet mode.
{{-}}{{anchor|McD}}

[[Image:TFAnimated_McDonalds_Blitzwing.jpg|right|200px|thumb|]]
*'''Blitzwing''' (McDonald's Happy Meal toys, 2009)

: A very simplified (but well painted!) version of Blitzwing that has abandoned his triple changer aspect for simplicity's sake. Although this toy sports Blitzwing's "icy" face, he transforms into "hothead's" tank mode.

{{--}}

==Notes==
* When developing the character who would become Blitzwing, [[Marty Isenberg]] originally envisioned a character who could change into anything. Obviously enough, that idea proved unworkable in toy terms, so art director [[Derrick J. Wyatt]] proposed using [[Sixshot]] for the role. When Hasbro deemed a [[Six Changer]] to be too expensive, the Triple Changer Blitzwing was finally settled upon instead.<ref name="artstory">http://www.cvcomics.com/artandstory/?p=242 Art & Story interview with Marty Isenberg]</ref> As fate would have it, Hasbro designer [[Eric Siebenaler]] had been itching to do a face-swapping Blitzwing since 2005. <ref>Blitzwing's long design history was detailed at [[BotCon 2008|BotCon 2008's]] Hasbro Design panel.</ref>
* His German accent was a last-minute improvisation by voice actor [[Bumper Robinson]], inspired by the character's name, that went on to influence his entire robot mode aesthetic; once Robinson had been cast in the role, Blitzwing was subsequently designed to "make him look really German"<ref name="artstory"/>, with his helmet an obvious nod to a World War II-era [[wikipedia:Stahlhelm|Stahlhelm]] helmet and goggles.
* Blitzwing's face-changing [[gimmick]] was in part inspired by [[wikipedia:Man-E-Faces|Man-E-Faces]] from ''Masters of the Universe.''<ref>According to [[Hasbro]] employees speaking at the 2007 Comic-ConInternational.</ref> He's not the first Transformers toy to feature multiple rotating faces; [[Alpha Quintesson]], inspired by the five-faced Generation 1 [[Quintesson]]s, holds that distinction.
* According to the Allspark Almanac, Blitzwing wasn't always the [[Triple Changer]] we know now him as today. His current state came about as a result of being rebuilt by [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Blackarachnia]] after the Great War, to increase his versatility. This process, however, also had the side effect of giving him three distinct personalities, something [[Springer (Animated)|hinted at earlier]] by [[Derrick Wyatt]].

==Footnotes==
<references />

==External links==
* [http://www.tfu.info/2008/Decepticon/Blitzwing/blitzwing.htm Blitzwing at TFU.info]

[[Category:Animated characters]]
[[Category:Decepticons]]
[[Category:Triple Changers]]

Blackarachnia (Animated)

2009-09-05T21:49:40Z

190.59.61.172: /* Notes */

{{disambig3|Blackarachnia}}
{{disambig3|Elita One}}
{{factions|autobot|decepticon}}
:''Blackarachnia is a [[Decepticon]] from the [[Transformers Animated]] [[continuity family]]. She was previously an [[Autobot]] known as '''Elita-1'''.

:[[Image:FinalAniBlackarachnia.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Welcome to [[wikipedia:Goth Talk|Goth Talk]]!]]

In another life, she was '''Elita-1''', an energetic, spunky Autobot Academy cadet. That was until a fateful trip to [[Archa Seven]], where [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|her]] [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|teammates]] abandoned her to a horde of alien spiders. Now calling herself '''Blackarachnia''', she hates her new body with a passion. Her loathing of her organic parts is slowly driving her insane, and she will do ''anything'' to get rid of it, no matter whom she has to crush in her path. Her mutation fueled a newfound hatred of the [[Autobot]] cause and a quest for revenge that led her to join [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]] in his war against them. However, she does not appear overly loyal to her leader.

In her mutant [[technorganic]] form, she makes use of her newfound '[[cyber venom]]' to paralyze her enemies, and combines this with her natural ability to download and mimic other [[Transformer]]s' traits and weaponry for a limited amount of time with a simple touch. Hope nobody told [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]].

{{quote|It'll be a long time before I ever trust another Autobot. Especially you, Optimus.|Blackarachnia|"[[Along Came a Spider]]"}}

==Fiction==
===''Animated'' cartoon===
{{note|Events from [[IDW Publishing]] comic books are in italics.}}
:''Voice actor:'' [[Cree Summer]] (English), [[Christin Marquitan]] (German)

[[Image:TFA Elita-1.JPG|left|175px|thumb|Girlfriend in a coma, I know, I know it's serious.]]

Blackarachnia was previously known as Elita-1. A thousand [[Units of time|stellar cycles]] ago Elita and her teammates were exploring [[Archa Seven]], looking for a Decepticon ship filled with [[Energon (fuel)|energon]]. They accidentally fell into a series of caves. They were ambushed by giant spiders and, when escaping the massive energon explosion caused by the battle, Elita ended up being left behind. When she tried using her ability to borrow powers from other beings, she was injected by the spiders' venom, turning her into the hideous freak she is now. Because of her new, semi-organic nature, her signal did not appear on Optimus's radar, leading him and Sentinel to believe that she had perished in the explosion. {{storylink|Along Came a Spider}}

When the [[AllSpark (Animated)|AllSpark]] was found by a group of Autobots, Blackarachnia was aboard the [[Nemesis (Animated)|''Nemesis'']] with the other Decepticons, annoyed at [[Lugnut]]'s emphatic, vocal loyalty to Megatron. She even suggested that Lugnut's speech of praise was hardwired into his mind. She also had conflict with [[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]], who touched a sore point by insulting her organic mode. Her retort to "blow it out your actuator, three-face" angered Blitzwing to the point that he... began to express his feelings in song. Later, at Megatron's orders, she scanned the Autobots' ship to determine the nature of their high-energy cargo. She confirmed the Autobots were carrying the AllSpark, or at least something just as powerful. When the Autobots escaped and it became clear the ''Nemesis'' was going to crash into an exploding space bridge, Blackarachnia fled in an escape pod. {{storylink|Transform and Roll Out}}

''Fifty stellar cycles later, while searching space for any trace of the AllSpark in the hope that she could use its power to purge herself of her organic mode, Blackarachnia stumbled across [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]], still operating out of the battered shell of the ''Nemesis''. Realizing that Starscream was searching for the AllSpark as well, Blackarachnia proposed an alliance, but Starscream proved uninterested in sharing power and promptly booted her out into space. Before being ejected, however, Blackarachnia was able to plant a homing device on Starscream, {{storylink|Dispatches}} and eventually tracked the beacon to [[Earth]]. At first setting down on Earth's [[Moon (moon)|moon]] to investigate the crashed hulk of the ''Nemesis'', Blackarachnia ran afoul of the bounty hunter [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]], who had been hired by Blitzwing to hunt down Optimus Prime. Not willing to risk the bounty hunter finding the AllSpark before her, Blackarachnia attempted to dissuade him from investigating Earth, but Lockdown didn't take kindly to her interference, and the pair wound up battling. During the fight, Blackarachnia used her download ability on Lockdown, knocking him out, but she was immediately overwhelmed by the sheer number of powers and modifications she wound up taking from him, and passed out herself. Blackarachnia was first to awake, however, and hid herself aboard Lockdown's [[Death's Head (Animated)|ship]], so that when the bounty hunter finally came to and headed for Earth, she was able to hitch a free ride to the planet. {{storylink|A Few Loose Strands}}'' At some unknown point in the future, Blackarachnia was interviewed by the trans-dimensional magazine ''[[Venus (magazine)|Venus]]'' and recounted this adventure for the publication's readers. {{storylink|Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac|The AllSpark Almanac}}

[[Image:Blackarach anim beast.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The Itchy Bitchy Spider crawled up the water spout...]]

After arriving on Earth, Blackarachnia stalked [[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]], [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]], and [[Sari Sumdac|Sari]] on [[Halloween]] night. Once she took out the boys, she attempted to sweet-talk Sari into handing over her [[AllSpark Key]], but Optimus Prime arrived to intervene. Using Bulkhead and Bumblebee's stolen powers to overcome Optimus, Blackarachnia captured Sari and web-swung her way to the top of a skyscraper, with Prime in hot pursuit. In the ensuing fight, Prime finally realized who Blackarachnia truly was. Exploiting the opening, Blackarachnia bound Prime in her web and seized Sari's key, activating its power in hopes of become fully mechanical. However, the energies unleashed caused any organic life in range, including Sari (and presumably any other [[Human|fleshy]]), to shrivel and sicken. It almost killed Blackarachnia, but Optimus Prime pulled the Key out, restoring the organics. Prime tried to reason with "Elita", asking her to come with them in the hopes of curing her, but Blackarachnia stabbed him, saying that it would be a long time before she trusted him again. After she knocked out Prime, she cried her four eyes out. {{storylink|Along Came a Spider}}

Later, she again kidnapped Sari, who was running away after having the AllSpark Key taken away from her. When she heard about the Key and how Sari felt totally mistrusted by the Autobots, Blackarachnia played on the girl's sympathies by saying she knew how Sari felt. Blackarachnia noted how she was not a Decepticon until after the Autobots turned their backs on her, and how the AllSpark's power was the only thing that could cure her current form. Despite being kidnapped again and nearly being killed by Blackarachnia's previous use of the Key, Sari appeared to start seeing eye to eye with her captor. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 1}}

[[Image:Megatron Rising Blackarachnia farewell.JPG|left|175px|thumb|Here's hoping her organic half can withstand impact.]]

At least, that was what she wanted Blackarachnia to believe. Leading her around in circles over the frozen [[Lake Erie]], Sari was finally forced to admit that the [[Autobot ship (Animated)|Autobots' ship]], which contained the AllSpark, was underwater. Blackarachnia's organic half couldn't survive the icy underwater; incensed, she prepared to kill Sari. [[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]] brought the ship up through the ice, and Sari bit Blackarachnia's hand, showing that her organic half couldn't withstand teeth, causing her to drop Sari and allow Ratchet to grab her and get in the ship. As Blackarachnia tried to force the door open, the vessel accelerated, and Blackarachnia was thrown off the ship. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 2}}

[[Image:TFA Black Friday ME GRIMLOCK IN LOVE.jpg|right|180px|thumb|Me Grimlock be kisser for you!]]

Washing ashore on [[Dinobot Island (Animated)|Dinobot Island]], Blackarachnia was taken in by the [[Dinobot (Animated)|Dinobots]], who gave her [[Meltdown (Animated)|Meltdown]]'s former base as a home. Using her charms, Blackarachnia was able to manipulate the Dinobots into doing anything she wanted. [[Grimlock (Animated)|Grimlock]] was particularly attached to her, and reminded the other Dinobots of this through violence. Going over Meltdown's notes, she realized that he would be able to remove the organic half from her body. She sent the Dinobots to release him from prison, causing the Autobots to come investigating. Blackarachnia then poisoned Bumblebee and [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]] with her venom, and used the "promise" of an anti-venom to blackmail Optimus into helping Grimlock find the [[genetic modifier]] Meltdown needed for the experiment. Unfortunately, Meltdown turned the tables on them when the modifier was his, planning on removing Blackarachnia's technological half and leaving him with an organic transformer. Optimus was able to stop Meltdown before he succeeded, but the modifier was damaged and Meltdown presumed killed. Needing escape, Blackarachnia urged Optimus to hold her, causing Grimlock to attack in jealousy, and Blackarachnia fled. However, it appears that Blackarachnia left the anti-venom needed to save Bumblebee and Prowl beside them. This gave Optimus hope that beneath all of Blackarachnia's anger and manipulation, there was still something left of Elita-1 in there. {{storylink|Black Friday (episode)|Black Friday}}

[[Image:TFA-PredaconsRising-SentinelBlackArachnia.jpg|thumb|left|[[Dark Designs (episode)|Better dead than Pred!]]]]
Still taking refuge in Meltdown's abandoned laboratory, Blackarachnia began experimenting with [[transwarp]] energy to create new techno-organic beings to experiment on in an attempt to purge her organic elements, the idea being if she could turn another techno-organic purely robotic, she could do the same to herself. Most of her early attempts proved fruitless, until [[Swoop (Animated)|Swoop]] was able to capture the perfect test subject: the renegade Autobot [[Wasp]]. Tempting him with both her feminine wiles and promises of power great enough to achieve revenge on the bots who betrayed him, she coaxed him into being experimented on, fittingly merging him with the DNA of a wasp.

[[Image:TFAni Predacons Rising Blackarachina sans Helmet.jpg|thumb|I'd hit it.]]

While Wasp was being turned techno-organic, her old friend Sentinel Prime stumbled upon the lab and was disgusted to find a robot with an organic mode. He was even more shocked when she revealed that they had a past: she was his old friend Elita-1. Disgusted by her mutation, Sentinel was willing to "put her out of her misery", and during a scuffle knocked Blackarachnia's helmet off, allowing him to see her true, partially organic face. After Wasp's transformation into Waspinator was complete, Blackarachnia revealed her plans to Sentinel and Optimus.

[[Image:PredaconsRising-WaspinatorBlackarachnia.jpg|thumb|left]]

Unfortunately, Waspinator was within earshot when she revealed what little regard she had for his life. Hurt by this betrayal, the now physically unstable Waspinator issued Blackarachnia an ultimatum: either fix him or be destroyed. She tried to escape, but once it was revealed that the transwarp energies responsible for his creation were going critical and about to cause a huge explosion, Blackarachnia surrounded herself and Waspinator in her webbing, shielding the Autobots from the explosion and seemingly leading to her final demise.

However, when she awoke, she was in a strange jungle, in front of a [[Maximal|group of organic creatures]] that looked rather surprised to see their new guests. {{storylink|Predacons Rising}}

===Titan Magazines===

Realising that the Autobots also win due to the power of teamwork, Blackarachnia decided to isolate one of them from the rest of the team. She stuck a tracer on Bumblebee so she could listen in on the crew and find out the best opportunity, while she roped Blitzwing and Lugnut into helping her. By the next day, when Bumblebee and Prowl were having a race at [[Crazy Coyote Canyon]], the Decepticons had set up a trap and were able to capture Prowl. To Blackarachnia's annoyance though, Bumblebee turned up and somehow her comrades failed to pursue him even ''with'' the tracer.

She commanded Lugnut to fire on the Autobots as they sped across the cave roof, realising too late this would cause a cave-in. To add insult to injury, she found the tracer couldn't track Bumblebee any more because it was stuck on Lugnut's butt... {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 25|The Race}}

==Toys==
===Animated===
[[Image:Blackarachniaanimateddeluxe.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Hideously mutated into this sexy, sexy figure.]]
*'''Blackarachnia''' (Deluxe, 2008)
**''Accessories'': Grapnel-hook

:Blackarachnia transforms into a mechanical spider with some organic aesthetic. Many of her pointier parts are [[For safety reasons|molded in softer plastic]] to keep unfortunate children from putting their eyes out. She comes with a [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/grapnel grapnel] hook accessory. This is spring-loaded, with a jointed claw at the end of it. Pressing a button causes it to retract along the string. It may be mounted under her abdomen in spider mode or on her back in robot mode, via two different sets of pegs. There is also a peg hole in each wrist, for [[Spider-Man|web-slinging]] action.

:The spider's head is mis-transformed in the package, making the first step of her instructions initially confusing. Furthermore, the pedipalps will easily come off if manipulated too much, and her transformation requires that they be turned around completely. Because of this, they will often fall off over, and over, and ''over''...

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2008/Decepticon/Blackarachnia/blackarachnia.htm More information on Blackarachnia at TFU.info]''

{{anchor|Prime2pack}}
*'''The Revenge of Blackarachnia''' (2-pack, 2008)
**''Accessories'': Grapnel-hook

: The Blackarachnia toy was released again in a Wal-Mart [[exclusive]] two-pack with the "Battle Damaged" [[Optimus Prime (Animated)#DVDpack|Optimus Prime from the a DVD 2-pack with Megatron]]. Both toys are identical to their original releases.

{{-}}

==Notes==
[[Image:AniBlackarachniaPromoModel.jpg|right|180px|thumb|Black belly is, like, so last season.]]
* A non-final [[character model]] for Blackarachnia was included in the initial ''Transformers Animated'' press kit from [[Cartoon Network]], was used briefly (in silhouette) for her first appearance in "[[Transform and Roll Out]]", and appears on the Deluxe figure's packaging. Though the toy shares the non-final model's spider-leg placement in robot mode, black belly, dark purple skin, and yellow Decepticon symbol, the rest of the toy adheres much more closely to the finished model.
*The initial ''Transformers Animated'' press kit from Cartoon Network also said that Blackarachnia's techno-organic state was caused by "an encounter with the [[AllSpark (Animated)|ALLSPARK]]" in the past. Given her actual in-show origin, either this was an early idea for the character, or the press release writer was misinformed.
* As Blackarachnia, what seemed to be her new head is actually a helmet that was lying around in the wrecked Decepticon warship where she had her accident. After seeing her without it in "[[Predacons Rising]]", you can see why she wore it.
* So far, Blackarachnia's the only major ''Transformers'' character not to have [[stock footage|a detailed on-screen transformation]].
* Blackarachnia can swing off of tall, unseen buildings, with webbing that shoots out of her hands. Wow, we've never seen that befo—[[Spider-Man|wait a minute...]]
* As Elita-1, her head seems to be based on the pony-tailed Ariel, the younger form of [[Elita One]], while her body's ornamentation homages Elita One herself.
* According to [[Derrick J. Wyatt]], Elita-1's [[alternate mode]] is a "Cybertronian car". [https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21975298&postID=2344351953813555694&isPopup=true]
* According to the [[Allspark Almanac]], Blackarachnia introduced the concept of [[Triple Changer|Triple-Changing]] to the Decepticon ranks, when she rebuilt [[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]] after the Great War.

[[Category:Animated characters]]
[[Category:Autobots]]
[[Category:Decepticons]]
[[Category:Female Transformers]]
[[Category:Turncoats]]