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Viewfinder

2012-02-21T04:24:51Z

71.255.170.243: /* Fiction */

{{factions|decepticon}}
:''Viewfinder is a [[Decepticon]] from the [[Generation 1 (franchise)|Generation 1]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:Viewfinder.gif|right|294px|thumb|Viewfinder studied at the Generation 2 Optimus Prime school of disguise.]]
'''Viewfinder''' is the sinister spymaster who leads the [[Reflector (G1)|Reflector]] trio. He's a master of observation - there's nothing he loves more than watching someone and dissecting their flaws. He doesn't just use his skills to advance the Decepticon cause, mind you; he's also an unrepentant blackmailer of his Decepticon comrades. His only problem is that he's [[Starscream (G1)|so smug and self-assured that he's incapable of recognizing his own flaws]].

==Fiction==
===Marvel Comics continuity===
{{main|Reflector (G1)#Marvel Comics continuity}}

===Generation 1 cartoon continuity===
{{main|Reflector (G1)#Generation 1 cartoon continuity}}

===Dreamwave comics continuity===
{{notekeepers}}
''Viewfinder was part of [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]]'s crew, active on Earth in the 1980s before the ''[[Ark II]]'' incident. After Megatron disappeared, [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] and the united Reflector trio refused to bow to Starscream's new regime in the human city of [[Las Vegas]]. They challenged Starscream to meet them at [[Hoover Dam]] and, once he arrived, Skywarp openly announced his intention to take the leadership of the Decepticons away from Starscream. In hiding at first, Viewfinder and Spectro flew out to join Skywarp and Spyglass in attacking Starscream once the gauntlet was cast down. After Starscream eliminated Skywarp and his partner, [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]], destroyed Spectro with a blast of concentrated sound, though, Viewfinder and Spyglass laid down arms and agreed to follow Starscream's command. {{storylink|Hardwired}} Their loyalty was quite temporary, however: Megatron returned to Earth several days later, and invited all Decepticons truly loyal to him to abandon Starscream's "New Centurion" empire. Viewfinder and Spyglass quickly accepted the offer, and left Las Vegas with Megatron and his loyalist faction. Along with Megatron's Decepticons, Viewfinder joined forces with the Autobots to battle the awe-inspiring aliens known as the [[Keeper (species)|Keepers]]. {{storylink|Annihilation}} After the aliens were supposedly dealt with, Megatron felt it was necessary to send a message to the American government, who had been interfering with Cybertronian matters far too much. He and the Decepticons therefore stormed up Constitution Avenue and wrecked the White House, while Megatron held the quivering and whimpering [[President of the United States|President]] menacingly in the palm of his hand. With Spectro fully repaired, Viewfinder and his partners were on hand to record the entire exchange, and then send it to the human news media to discredit the President. The human leader did not learn quickly, though, and immediately began making plans to lure the Autobots and Decepticons into an ambush in the Nevada desert. Megatron once again arranged for Viewfinder and his partners to record the American military making a blatant and unprovoked attack on the Transformers, and released the footage to the media to force the President to back off.''

''Why he didn't just order the President squished is a mystery for the ages. {{storylink|Fusion (novel)|Fusion}}''

Viewfinder was NOT part of Megatron's crew, but worked for [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] with his two partners, monitoring the planet and its inhabitants for him from a central mainframe. {{storylink|Brothers' Burden}} They were seemingly destroyed by [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] when he broke ranks with Shockwave's command structure. {{storylink|Countdown to Extinction (issue)|Countdown to Extinction}}

{{note|The above contradiction was briefly alluded to in the Fusion novel, as the Terran version of Reflector identified himself as the "true" Reflector, with the Cybertronian version being an "inferior copy." This echoes the body-duplication theme seen [[Reflector (G1)|elsewhere in the multiverse]]. Still, what happened to the so-called true Reflector after the Keepers Trilogy remains a mystery.}}

===IDW comics continuity===
[[Image:Spotlightwheelie viewfinder carlbruner.jpg|right|180px|thumb|They can cross the galaxy and shatter worlds, but safety glass is beyond the Decepticon's ken.]]
The Reflector trio were low rank-Decepticon hoodlums. When the Reflector trio's starship crashed into the remote planet [[LV-117]], Viewfinder was impaled by a shard of viewport, killing him. The [[Autobot]] [[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] later stumbled on his corpse, still sitting in his command chair and was chilled by the grisly sight of his unambiguously dead corpse. His companions Spectro and Spyglass would soon join him in death. {{storylink|Spotlight: Wheelie}}

In spite of their fate at LV-117, the three Reflector units reemerged on [[Earth]] around the year 2007. Viewfinder was among the leading ranks of a major ambush the Decepticons staged on Earth. The entire Reflector trio, speaking in chorus, celebrated afterward. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 7|All Hail Megatron #7}}

In [[New York City]], the trio observed as [[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] compulsively destroyed a Volkswagen Beetle, and observed in chorus that it was a pity it wasn't [[Bumblebee (G1)|the real thing]]. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 3|All Hail Megatron #3}} Some time later, Viewfinder sat moping by himself as [[Spectro]] and [[Spyglass]] had fun murdering humans elsewhere. Even when alone, he still repeated everything the other two components said. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 8|All Hail Megatron #8}} When the Decepticons were finally defeated, Viewfinder was among the troops who fled the planet aboard [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]]. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 13|Uneasy Lies the Head}}

{{-}}

==Toys==
===Generation 1===
[[Image:G1 Reflector toy.jpg|right|200px|thumb|We three kings of orient are...Left to right: Spectro, Viewfinder, Spyglass]]
* '''Reflector''' (Mail-away, 1986/1987; wide release in Japan, 1985)
**''Japanese ID number:'' '''21'''
**''Accessories:'' Spectro's "Shutter Gun", Viewfinder's "Lens Laser", Spyglass' "Optic Blaster", flash cube/missile launcher, 3 missiles, telephoto lens.

: Reflector was first sold in Japan in 1985 as an ordinary retail item. However, [[Hasbro]] delayed selling him in the US until 1986, and only then via mail-order from a [[The Autobots Have a Special Mission for:|direct-mail flyer promoting ''The Transformers: The Movie'']]''.'' (Oddly, this came just as the character was being fully phased out of the fiction.) The toy would be a common offering in [[Pack-in material|pack-in flyers]] from then on, at a cost of $10 and two [[Robot Point|Robot Points]].

: Reflector is composed of three distinct robots that combine to form a camera: Viewfinder as the central component with the lens, Spectro as the right-side component with the shutter button, and Spyglass as the left-side component with the flash. It includes a telephoto lens and old-style flashcube that doubles as a missile launcher, but of course, the Hasbro version has the spring-loaded mechanism neutered [[for safety reasons]].

{{-}}

==Merchandise==
===Decoy===
[[Image:ReflectorDecoy1.jpg|right|150px|thumb|"HI! I'M SUPPOSED TO BE CONSPICUOUS! AM I DOING IT RIGHT? HI!"]]
* '''Reflector''' (Decoy, 1986)

: Reflector was one of the many characters represented by a small plastic [[decoy]] included with certain Transformers for a brief time. The decoy is based on the cartoon design of Viewfinder. Most commonly, it was made with purple plastic, but a red rare version is known to exist and goes for a lot more on the secondary market.

{{--}}

==Notes==
===Foreign names===
*''Japanese:'' '''Viewfinder''' (ビューファインダー ''Byūfaindā'')

==External links==
* [http://www.tfu.info/1986/Decepticon/Viewfinder/viewfinder.htm Viewfinder at TFU.info]

[[Category:Combiners]]
[[Category:Decoys]]
[[Category:Generation 1 Decepticons]]
[[Category:Mail order exclusives]]
[[Category:Reconnaissance specialists]]

Spyglass

2012-02-21T04:23:52Z

71.255.170.243: /* Fiction */

{{factions|decepticon}}
[[Image:Spyglass.gif|right|200px|thumb|Comes with 35 millimeters of terror.]]
:''Spyglass is a [[Decepticon]] from the [[Generation 1 (franchise)|Generation 1]] [[continuity family]].''

'''Spyglass''' is Gallant to [[Spectro]]'s Goofus. He's an eager-beaver go-getter when it comes to espionage and surveillance. He's always on board with whatever sinister scheme [[Viewfinder]] cooks up for the [[Reflector (G1)|Reflector]] trio, even to the point where he'll cajole the uncooperative Spectro into playing along—making sure, of course, that Spectro doesn't know too much.

==Fiction==
===Marvel Comics continuity===
{{main|Reflector (G1)#Marvel Comics continuity}}

===Generation 1 cartoon continuity===
{{main|Reflector (G1)#Generation 1 cartoon continuity}}

===Dreamwave comics continuity===
{{notekeepers}}
''Spyglass was part of Megatron's crew, active on Earth in the 1980s before the ''[[Ark II]]'' incident. Although he had no great love for Megatron, Spyglass was not willing to mindlessly fall in line behind [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] once their leader vanished in [[Tokyo]], [[Japan]]. Making an alliance with [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]]—who hated Starscream and wanted to hold leadership of the Decepticons for himself until Megatron inevitably returned—Spyglass arranged to get Starscream's attention. Knowing that Starscream had recruited [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] to his cause and set up base in [[Las Vegas]], Spyglass and Skywarp made a stand at [[Hoover Dam]], deliberately bringing themselves inside Soundwave's scanning range yet refusing to answer his hails. Spyglass agreed to let Skywarp run the show, but the "negotiations" for Starscream's abdication quickly degenerated, and the fight was on. Spyglass's Reflector partners came out of hiding to join the battle, but Starscream and Soundwave quickly demolished Skywarp and Spectro, leaving them in deep [[stasis lock]]. With his loyalties being questioned at gunpoint, Spyglass wisely said, "What did Megatron ever do for me?" and knelt before Starscream in defeat. {{storylink|Hardwired}}''

''Spyglass and Viewfinder did not remain loyal to Starscream for long. When Megatron returned from space with the threat of the all-powerful [[Keeper (species)|Keepers]] at his heels, he was too badly damaged to forcibly retake the Decepticons from Starscream as he had in the past. Megatron still refused to serve his former Air Commander, however, and when he abandoned Starscream and Las Vegas to deal with the problem posed by the Keepers, Spyglass and several other Decepticons did the same. They were wise to do so, because almost immediately thereafter the Keepers confronted Starscream, stole his body to use as a host for their minds, and imprisoned the remaining Decepticons loyal to him. Spyglass and the other Decepticons joined forces with the Autobots in driving the Keepers off planet Earth. {{storylink|Annihilation}} With Megatron back in command, Spectro was restored to full functionality and the Reflector trio were reunited. They lent their recording abilities to several efforts by Megatron to blackmail the [[President of the United States]] into keeping his nose out of Decepticon business. {{storylink|Fusion (novel)|Fusion}}''

Spyglass was NOT part of Megatron's crew, but worked for [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] with his two partners, monitoring the planet and its inhabitants for him from a central mainframe. {{storylink|Brothers' Burden}} They were seemingly destroyed by [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] when he broke ranks with Shockwave's command structure. {{storylink|Countdown to Extinction (issue)|Countdown to Extinction}}

{{note|The above contradiction was briefly alluded to in the Fusion novel, as the Terran version of Reflector identified himself as the "true" Reflector, with the Cybertronian version being an "inferior copy." This echoes the body-duplication theme seen [[Reflector (G1)|elsewhere in the multiverse]]. Still, what happened to the so-called true Reflector after the Keepers Trilogy remains a mystery.}}
===IDW comics continuity===
At some point, the Reflector trio found themselves on a ship which crashed on [[LV-117]]. Viewfinder was killed in the crash when a large piece of the bridge's canopy shattered and impaled him through the chest. Spectro and Spyglass survived, and eventually they located [[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]], who had previously crashed on the same planet and had been building an escape vessel with a friendly alien. They managed to hijack the vessel shortly before it launched by threatening to kill Wheelie's friend, but the tiny Autobot removed the safety catch from his [[Energon (fuel)|energon]] converter before disembarking, causing it to violently explode shortly after take-off. {{storylink|Spotlight: Wheelie}}

Spyglass and Spectro were later seen, no worse for wear, aboard a Decepticon orbital outpost, terrified of walking down the same hallway as [[Sixshot]]. {{storylink|Spotlight: Sixshot}}

{{note|In Spotlight: Sixshot, Spyglass and Spectro appear in their toy based character models.}}

The Reflector trio, speaking in chorus, celebrated after a successful Decepticon ambush on Earth. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 7}}
[[Image:AHM3 Reflector Rumble.jpg|left|300px|thumb|Spyglass is probably the one with blue on him.]]
In [[New York City]], the trio observed as [[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] compulsively destroyed a Volkswagen Beetle, and observed in chorus that it was a pity it wasn't [[Bumblebee (G1)|the real thing]]. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 3}} During the Decepticons' stay in New York, Spyglass and Spectro entertained themselves by chasing down humans and offering to play games with them—games that inevitably led to the two robots breaking their playmates. This didn't discourage them too much, as they just attempted to put the humans back together again. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 8}}

Three years later, Spyglass was among the Decepticons left behind on Earth after Astrotrain took most of the others off world. After joining a few other abandoned 'cons, he helped retrieve and repair a heavily injured [[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]]. {{storylink|Seasons in Flight}} Led by [[Swindle (G1)|Swindle]], the rag-tag group attacked several Autobot deserters, but laid down their arms when they realized they could work together to get off Earth. {{storylink|New Arrivals, Old Encounters}}

{{-}}

==Toys==
===Generation 1===
[[Image:G1 Reflector toy.jpg|right|200px|thumb|We three kings of orient are...Left to right: Spectro, Viewfinder, Spyglass]]
* '''Reflector''' (Mail-away, 1986/1987; wide release in Japan, 1985)
**''Japanese ID number:'' '''21'''
**''Accessories:'' Spectro's "Shutter Gun", Viewfinder's "Lens Laser", Spyglass' "Optic Blaster", flash cube/missile launcher, 3 missiles, telephoto lens.
: Reflector was first sold in Japan in 1985 as an ordinary retail item. However, [[Hasbro]] delayed selling him in the US until 1986, and only then via mail-order from a [[The Autobots Have a Special Mission for:|direct-mail flyer promoting ''The Transformers: The Movie'']]''.'' (Oddly, this came just as the character was being fully phased out of the fiction.) The toy would be a common offering in [[Pack-in material|pack-in flyers]] from then on, at a cost of $10 and two [[Robot Point|Robot Points]].

: Reflector is composed of three distinct robots that combine to form a camera: Viewfinder as the central component with the lens, Spectro as the right-side component with the shutter button, and Spyglass as the left-side component with the flash. It includes a telephoto lens and old-style flashcube that doubles as a missile launcher, but of course, the Hasbro version has the spring-loaded mechanism neutered [[for safety reasons]].
::*''[http://www.tfu.info/1986/Decepticon/Spyglass/spyglass.htm More information on Spyglass at TFU.info]''
{{--}}

==Notes==
===Foreign names===
*''Japanese:'' '''Spyglass''' (スパイグラス ''Supaigurasu'')

[[Category:Combiners]]
[[Category:Generation 1 Decepticons]]
[[Category:Mail order exclusives]]
[[Category:Reconnaissance specialists]]

Spectro

2012-02-21T04:23:01Z

71.255.170.243: /* Fiction */

{{factions|decepticon}}
[[Image:Spectro.gif|right|200px|thumb|Smile! You're on carnage camera.]]
:''Spectro is a [[Decepticon]] from the [[Generation 1]] [[continuity family]].''

'''Spectro''' is not much of an independent thinker. He's effective when he's taking orders or working alongside [[Spyglass]] and [[Viewfinder]], the other two members of the [[Reflector (G1)|Reflector]] trio — but on his own, his limited intellect proves to be a liability. When something goes wrong, he's always the first to pass the buck and blame someone else, which has not earned him much regard in the [[optics]] of his comrades.

==Fiction==
===Marvel Comics continuity===
{{main|Reflector (G1)#Marvel Comics continuity}}

===Generation 1 cartoon continuity===
{{main|Reflector (G1)#Generation 1 cartoon continuity}}

===Dreamwave comics continuity===
{{notekeepers}}
''Spectro was part of Megatron's crew, active on Earth in the 1980's before the [[Ark II]] incident. When Megatron was snatched into space by the Keepers, Spectro refused to fall into line behind [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] as the new Decepticon commander. Spectro joined [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] and his fellow Reflector thirds in confronting Starscream at Hoover Dam, hoping to force Starscream into abdicating his throne. When Skywarp and Starscream drew on each other, Spectro flew into the battle, zapping at Starscream with a pair of null rifles. His assault was interrupted by a counter-attack from Starscream's second-in-command, [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]]...a very severe counter-attack. Laser-like sound beams battered Spectro's circuitry, destroying his fine motor control and sending him flying over the side of the dam, where he finally exploded into fiery debris. {{storylink|Hardwired}} Spectro was recovered and eventually reconstructed after Megatron returned to Earth, and joined his fellow Reflector-bots on several photo-blackmail missions to keep the American government out of the Decepticons' way. {{storylink|Fusion (novel)|Fusion}}''

Spectro was NOT part of Megatron's crew, but worked for [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] along with his two partners, monitoring the planet and its inhabitants for him from a central mainframe. {{storylink|Brothers' Burden}} They were seemingly destroyed by Starscream when he broke ranks with Shockwave's command structure. {{storylink|Countdown to Extinction (issue)|Countdown to Extinction}}

{{note|The above contradiction was briefly alluded to in the Fusion novel, as the Terran version of Reflector identified himself as the "true" Reflector, with the Cybertronian version being an "inferior copy." This echoes the body-duplication theme seen [[Reflector (G1)|elsewhere in the multiverse]]. Still, what happened to the so-called true Reflector after the Keepers Trilogy remains a mystery.}}

===IDW comics continuity===
At some point, the Reflector trio found themselves on a ship which crashed on [[LV-117]]. Viewfinder was killed in the crash when a large piece of the bridge's canopy shattered and impaled him through the chest. Spectro and Spyglass survived, and eventually they located [[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]], who had previously crashed on the same planet and had been building an escape vessel with a friendly alien. They managed to hijack the vessel shortly before it launched by threatening to kill Wheelie's friend, but the tiny Autobot removed the safety catch from his [[Energon (fuel)|energon]] converter before disembarking, causing it to violently explode shortly after take-off. {{storylink|Spotlight: Wheelie}}

Spyglass and Spectro were later seen, no worse for wear, aboard a Decepticon orbital outpost, terrified of walking down the same hallway as [[Sixshot]]. {{storylink|Spotlight: Sixshot}}

{{note|In Spotlight: Sixshot, Spyglass and Spectro appear in their toy based character models.}}

The Reflector trio, speaking in chorus, celebrated after a successful Decepticon ambush on Earth. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 7|All Hail Megatron #7}}

[[Image:AHM3 Reflector Rumble.jpg|left|300px|thumb|Spectro's probably the one with red stripes on his legs.]]In [[New York City]], the trio observed as [[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] compulsively destroyed a Volkswagen Beetle, and observed in chorus that it was a pity it wasn't [[Bumblebee (G1)|the real thing]]. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 3|All Hail Megatron #3}} During the invasion, Spectro and Spyglass entertained themselves by "playing" with humans trapped in the city, which sadly led to the little creatures coming apart. The two Decepticons weren't too discouraged, however—they could always try to put their toys back together again. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 8|All Hail Megatron #8}} Following the Decepticons' defeat, Spectro was among the Decepticons who fled Earth aboard [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]]. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 13|Uneasy Lies the Head}}

{{--}}

==Toys==
===Generation 1===
[[Image:G1 Reflector toy.jpg|right|200px|thumb|We three kings of orient are...Left to right: Spectro, Viewfinder, Spyglass]]
* '''Reflector''' (Mail-away, 1986/1987; wide release in Japan, 1985)
**''Japanese ID number:'' '''21'''
**''Accessories:'' Spectro's "Shutter Gun", Viewfinder's "Lens Laser", Spyglass' "Optic Blaster", flash cube/missile launcher, 3 missiles, telephoto lens.

: Reflector was first sold in Japan in 1985 as an ordinary retail item. However, [[Hasbro]] delayed selling him in the US until 1986, and only then via mail-order from a [[The Autobots Have a Special Mission for:|direct-mail flyer promoting ''The Transformers: The Movie'']]''.'' (Oddly, this came just as the character was being fully phased out of the fiction.) The toy would be a common offering in [[Pack-in material|pack-in flyers]] from then on, at a cost of $10 and two [[Robot Point|Robot Points]].

: Reflector is composed of three distinct robots that combine to form a camera: Viewfinder as the central component with the lens, Spectro as the right-side component with the shutter button, and Spyglass as the left-side component with the flash. It includes a telephoto lens and old-style flashcube that doubles as a missile launcher, but of course, the Hasbro version has the spring-loaded mechanism neutered [[for safety reasons]].

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/1986/Decepticon/Spectro/spectro.htm More information on Spectro at TFU.info]''

{{--}}

==Notes==
===Foreign names===
*''Japanese:'' '''Spectro''' (スペクトロ ''Supekutoro'')

[[Category:Combiners]]
[[Category: Generation 1 Decepticons]]
[[Category:Mail order exclusives]]
[[Category:Reconnaissance specialists]]