MediaWiki - User contributions [en]

A Fistful of Energon

2018-06-12T22:55:23Z

HussarZwei: /* Quotes */

{{episode|
|series=Anitoon
|series2=AniJapan
|ep=23
|ep2=21
|prev2=Velocity (episode)
|next2=SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy
|image=AFistfulofEnergon-StarscreamPurpleclone.jpg
|caption=Has the Allspark Power line ended yet? Is it safe for redecos to come out now?
|title="A Fistful of Energon"
|airdate=[[May 24]], [[2008]]
|written by=[[Andrew Robinson]]
|directed by=[[Irineo Maramba]] [[Matt Youngberg]] [[Makoto Fuchigami]]
|animation studio=[[Mook]]
|continuity=[[Animated cartoon continuity]]}}

'''Prowl goes off on his own to capture the fugitive Starscream, but finds some competition in the form of a Decepticon bounty hunter. '''

==Synopsis==
[[File:TFA Fistful Energon Starscream escape.JPG|thumb|left|"Okay, Starscream farted on us and escaped during our confusion. Let's never talk about this again." "Agreed."]]

As the [[Cybertron Elite Guard|Elite Guard]]'s ship proceeds on its journey, an explosion rocks the hull, and out flies [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]], declaring vengeance against [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]] once again.

On [[Dinobot Island (Animated)|Dinobot Island]], [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]] and [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]] are on the lookout for their feral friends in response to reports of some rampaging going on. Prowl has been sent along with [[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet's]] EMP generator and some [[stasis cuffs]], but doubts he will need them since the [[Dinobot (Animated)|Dinobots]] are such gentle spirits when left alone and he has always been able to reason with them. [[Grimlock (Animated)|Grimlock]] soon contradicts Prowl's perspective by charging into the clearing like an angry rhino. Prowl is still determined to take it easy on the big guy until Grimlock's jaws get dangerously close to a nest filled with adorable little baby birdies. Using an EMP blast, Prowl quickly incapacitates Grimlock.

[[File:AFistfulofEnergon-ProwlEMPGenerator.jpg|thumb|We can use my wrist thingy to track Bender's [[Personality component|brain]].]]

Prowl and Bulkhead are both surprised that it came to that, but Prowl rationalizes that he did what he had to do to save the little birds. At this point, he notices a thorn stuck in Grimlock's paw as the likely source of the Dinobot's extra aggression. With some advice from Ratchet over the comm, Prowl uses controlled bursts from the EMP to stabilize the affected area, and Bulkhead yanks out the spike. Grimlock sighs in relief, and everything is all better.

Before they can head home, however, [[Ultra Magnus (Animated)|Ultra Magnus]] contacts the [[Autobot]] base with a message that Starscream has escaped and was last seen headed back to Earth. They would have sent that message sooner, but it seems [[Mission Accomplished|their tachyon transmitter has gone missing]]. Megatron, who has been intercepting the message, takes a look at his own tachyon transmitter and sarcastically wonders where the Autobots' could have gone. He then wastes no time putting out a bounty on the escaped [[Decepticon]] traitor.

Back on the island, Prowl is feeling pretty tough after taking down the big, bad Grimlock all by himself and is already contemplating a similar hunt for Starscream. At the very least, while they're in the neighborhood, he and Bulkhead use [[Teletran-1]]'s sensitive scanners to locate Starscream's [[AllSpark]] fragment...on the [[Moon (moon)|Moon]]. Prowl believes they have everything they need to go after him right away, but Bulkhead reminds him that Starscream is a little out of their league if it's just the two of them. Prowl agrees, but as soon as Bulkhead is off the ship and his back is turned, Prowl takes off in the [[Omega Supreme (Animated)|ship]]'s [[emergency shuttle]] by himself and heads for the Moon.

Prowl tracks the AllSpark fragment to the remains of the Decepticon warship. Optimus and Ratchet try to warn him how crazy his plan is and order him to return, but Prowl disregards them with some unconvincing fake static and heads inside the ship. He believes the mission of apprehending Starscream is best suited to a single bot built for stealth. Then, as he's sneaking around, his target finds him first and asks him derisively whom he's seeking here. Way to use that stealth...

[[File:TFA Fistful Energon Prowl vs Lockdown.JPG|thumb|left|[[Prowl (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Prowls]] and their [[Grimlock (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|sexual tension]].]]

Before Starscream can fire his null ray, a well-placed [[shuriken]] disables it. The fight begins, and thanks to the EMP, Prowl manages to hold his own. Starscream eventually gets in a direct hit, but on a hologram. The real Prowl gets into position, and an EMP blast knocks out the Decepticon. As soon as the fugitive is stasis-cuffed, a newcomer walks up and offers to take the bounty off his hands. It's [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]]...wearing a poncho? He and Prowl start to fight over the prize. Meanwhile Starscream comes to and yells at them to stop fighting because (as he says) he is afraid of rusting well before anybody wins. Neither combatant appreciates Starscream's comments, and both yell back at him to shut up and to lie still. He follows their orders and keeps silent for some time. But soon the fighters notice that their "prize" is silent for a bit too long. Looking down, they discover that he has already released his stasis cuffs and escaped safely. Outside, Starscream (who is strangely brown-coloured) blasts Prowl's shuttle and flies off toward Earth. Lockdown decloaks [[Death's Head (Animated)|his own ship]] and takes pursuit, with Prowl hitching a ride on the hull.

Lockdown is finding it difficult to locate Starscream's Decepticon signal when Prowl ambushes him, deflecting a counter-attack with a shield mod borrowed from Lockdown's own display case. Once they're at a standstill, Prowl points out that he knows how to track Starscream's AllSpark fragment, but he'll need Lockdown's sensors to do it. Thus a partnership is created, and Lockdown offers his new friend a few more upgrades to make sure they get the job done right.

[[File:Samprowl.jpg|thumb|Okay, let's '''ignore''' the fact that Samurai and Ninja are polar opposites, and bask in the '''total''' awesomeness that is Samurai Prowl.]]

Lockdown's ship touches down in Detroit and disguises itself as a building again. Lockdown and Prowl transform and roll out, with Prowl enjoying the feel of his new samurai armor/sidecar. They track the signal to a highway where Starscream is cowering beneath a bridge. When they confront him, they notice that there's something wrong with him. He behaves considerably more cowardly than usual, and is painted considerably more purple. Prowl shows off his upgrades, flying circles around the fleeing Decepticon and eventually taking him down with an EMP blast. Lockdown is impressed. With the bounty secured, he contacts Megatron and arranges a meeting at an abandoned warehouse. Prowl is shocked to learn the two-faced bounty hunter he'd partnered with had been working for someone evil. When Starscream begs Lockdown not to hand over him to Megatron, Prowl tells him to calm himself and attempts to cross Lockdown. However, the tough bounty-hunter ''double''-crosses Prowl, tying him up with a bola, and drives off with his bounty in tow.

The other Autobots show up to untie their errant companion and chew him out, but Prowl is more interested in continuing pursuit of Starscream. The rest of the team follow, but point out that Prowl is starting to sound too much like Lockdown, as the mods are going to his head.

They almost catch up with Lockdown and the purple Starscream when they're stopped on the road by the arrival of ''another'' Starscream. This one sports a brown and off-white color scheme and rather a sly and manipulative personality. He attempts to negotiate a pact with the Autobots to work together and destroy Megatron, but Prowl turns down the offer and attacks. Using his new arsenal, he leads, disarms, and disables the brown Starscream. It's a cool but messy victory. Ratchet scolds Prowl for not just taking him out with a single EMP blast. Prowl attests that his way was more fun, but Ratchet points out all the collateral damage he caused, including a knocked down bird's nest with its eggs broken all over the sidewalk. On the contrary, Starscream praises Prowl's "fine and effective sudden attack" and even doubts if he is really an Autobot "from top to toe". Prowl feels awful upon realizing what he has done, but puts it aside. Chasing Lockdown is still more important for him.

[[File:TFA Fistful Energon Decepticons turbulence.JPG|thumb|left|"Augh, Primus! Even his CLONES' gas is rancid!"]]

Prowl sneaks into the warehouse where Lockdown had set up the meeting with Megatron, intending to prevent the Decepticon leader from dealing with Starscream. Megatron declares his intention to punish Starscream exemplarily. But before he has the chance, Prowl accidentally gives away his presence. Megatron orders Blitzwing and Lugnut to take "the Autobot offender" in charge, but the other Autobots burst in, bringing yet another Starscream. Before anyone can figure out which is the real one, the two Starscreams open their cockpits to reveal a pair of ticking time bombs. The real Starscream's voice announces that it was all part of his plan to take his enemies all out at once. Megatron isn't about to sit around and be blown up, though, so he shoots the skylight and calls for the Decepticons to transform and rise up. Lockdown escapes safely, though rewardless.

The blast will take out half the city, so Prowl uses his mods to weld the Starscreams together and jam their jets on so they rocket straight up into the atmosphere. The explosion doesn't harm the city (besides setting off a lot of car alarms) but does do a number on the fleeing Decepticons.

While Lockdown is escaping from the planet again, he contacts Prowl and offers a permanent partnership, since they're so much alike. Prowl turns down the offer, claiming it was fun while it lasted, but the super-charged bounty hunter life just wasn't his style. With all his upgrades shorted out or gone, Prowl detaches the one mod that got out without a scratch, Ratchet's EMP generator, and returns it to its rightful owner.

[[File:Lotta starscreams.jpg|thumb|Begun, the [[Clone Wars|Clone War]] has.]]

Later, Starscream sits within his new base aboard the wreckage of the [[Nemesis (Animated)|Decepticon warship]] and watches an announcement from Megatron stating that the bounty on the fugitive has been increased, but whoever captures him had better make sure it's the real deal. Starscream himself is furious that his trap failed, but it doesn't matter, as he has plenty more decoys where that came from...
{{--}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Jazz (Animated)|Jazz]] (1)
*[[Ultra Magnus (Animated)|Ultra Magnus]] (2)
*[[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel Prime]] (3)
*[[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]] (5)
*[[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]] (6)
*[[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]] (7)
*[[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] (8)
*[[Grimlock (Animated)|Grimlock]] (9)
*[[Snarl (Animated)|Snarl]] (10)
*[[Swoop (Animated)|Swoop]] (11)

|c2=
*[[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] (4)
*[[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]] (12)
*[[Lugnut (Animated)|Lugnut]] (13)
*[[Blitzwing (Animated)|Icy Blitzwing]] (14)<ref>Yes, it's true. Blitzwing went the entire episode without switching personalities.</ref>
*[[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]] (15)
*[[Clone number 2716057|Clone #2716057]] (16)
*[[Clone number 3370318|Clone #3370318]] (17)
}}

==Quotes==
''[Ratchet and Prime are communicating with Prowl and Bulkhead over the radio]'' 
'''Ratchet''': Prowl, any sign of the Dinobots? 
'''Prowl''': Negative, Ratchet. I'm starting to think those reports of rampages were nothing but exaggeration. 
'''Optimus''': We're not taking any chance, Prowl. That's why I had Ratchet lend you his EMP generator and those stasis cuffs. 
'''Prowl''': Still, I hardly think they're necessary. The Dinobots are territorial, but if left alone, they're perfectly happy. 
''[Grimlock roars, then runs out of the forest, charging the Autobots]'' 
'''Bulkhead''': He doesn't look too happy to me!
:—The Autobots are Dinobot hunting...and things are not going well.

"Me Grimlock...''better''."
:—'''Grimlock''' after Bulkhead removes the spike, but before he passes out.

"I'm afraid Sari and Bumblebee left on an important fact-finding mission this morning. To someplace called... 'Five Banners Roller Coaster Kingdom'."
:—'''Optimus Prime''' gets duped.

"Prowl, exactly what line of JUNK CODE is scrambling your software?!"
:—Prowl is in hot water with '''Ratchet'''.

"Personally, I've always found Bumblebee's fake static to be a lot more convincing."
:—'''Ratchet''' doesn't get duped.

'''Starscream''': You call this a fight? I'll rust before someone wins! And I'm in a vacuum! 
'''Prowl''' and '''Lockdown''': Will you keep quiet?!
:—Prowl and Lockdown tell Starscream where to stick it.

"No! No, please! Leave me alone!" 
"Maybe it's me, but that doesn't sound like the Starscream I know..."
:—His reaction to '''Coward Starscream'''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s plea for mercy leaves one wondering if '''Lockdown''' has ever met the real Screamer...

'''Sycophant Starscream''': Well, if it isn't my favorite band of plucky little Autobots. 
'''Optimus''': Autobots, prepare for battle! 
'''Sycophant Starscream''': Wait, you misunderstand. Noble Optimus Prime, wise Ratchet, stealthy Prowl and ''mighty''...eh... 
'''Bulkhead''': Bulkhead! 
'''Sycophant Starscream''': Ooh, that's too bad.
:—'''Starscream''' pulls a [[Transform and Roll Out#Quotes|Bumblebee]]

"Did you really think I would offer so little a challenge? I allowed you to capture these ''clones'' to fulfill my plan to eliminate you all! Especially you, MegaFOOL! Mwa-hah-ha-ha-ha! In moments you will be blown to bits, and I will become the Supreme Leader of ALL DECEPTICONS!"
:—Speaking through his clones, the real '''Starscream'''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s speech-making tendencies are undimmed, even if he now prefers to do it from a safe distance.

'''Megatron''': Attention all Decepticons. I, Megatron, am increasing the bounty on the traitor Starscream. Only this time, make sure you find the real Starscream. 
'''Starscream''': Curse you Megatron! What does it take to destroy you. Oh well, plenty more where they came from.
:—'''Starscream''' intercepting a transmission from '''Megatron'''.

==Notes==
===Animation or technical errors===
[[File:AFistfulofEnergon-Grimlockfootshard.jpg|thumb|So painful, resting in between my toes harmlessly!]]
* The large spike stuck in Grimlock's foot is nowhere to be seen in the full-body shots previous to Prowl discovering it.
* The dialogue suggests that the spike is jammed through Grimlock's foot, but the animation shows it merely stuck between his toes.
* When Lockdown first appears, his head is missing the design across his forehead.
* Just after mud-coloured Starscream tells the Autobots of his plan in joining forces, his mouth disappears.
* Ratchet's war wound disappears when he's telling Prowl to get rid of his mods, just after his showy (and destructive) capture of the red Starscream clone.
* After Lockdown's ship lands and he and Prowl transform, Lockdown's head is seen forming the engine block. In the next shot, his engine emerges from the hood, where his head previously formed it.
* Blitzwing's "missing wings" bit from "[[Mission Accomplished]]" returns when we first see him.

===Continuity errors===
* When Starscream tells them he'll rust, in a ''vacuum'', Lockdown and Prowl tell him to shut up, an action that should be impossible, given that sound cannot carry in space. In fact, during all the time spent in space, the characters interact with each other as if they were under atmospheric conditions - of course, they could have open commlinks to each other.
* Why doesn't anyone notice that the Starscreams are different colors? Sure, the coward's paint job isn't that noticeable, but wouldn't they notice that the other guy's orange?

===Transformers references===
* The Starscream clones are, of course, a reference to the [[Seeker (body-type)|Seekers]] of [[The Transformers (franchise)|Generation 1]], most notable for being [[Air Warrior|hordes of disposable Decepticons]] in "[[More than Meets the Eye (mini-series)|More than Meets the Eye]]" (and then kinda vanishing save for [[Rainmaker|rare appearances later]]).

===Continuity notes===
*It seems that since the [[Rise of the Constructicons|events of the last episode]] Bulkhead has grown a taste for oil, as he can be seen drinking it when he and Prowl are first on [[Dinobot Island (Animated)|Dinobot Island]].
*Starscream's cloning process will be revealed in "[[A Bridge Too Close, Part I]]", using pieces of his Allspark fragment to power them and explaining why they show up on the Allspark scanners in this episode. Exactly where he got the raw material for the clones won't be revealed until "[[Endgame, Part I]]", in which we're told they're made from the [[protoform]]s stolen back in "[[Five Servos of Doom]]".
*It's not the first time in ''Animated'' that an Autobot [[Nanosec (episode)|sacrifices a new upgrade to launch a bomb that could destroy Detroit into upper atmosphere]].

===Real-world references===
[[File:AFistfulofEnergon-Lockdowninponcho.jpg|thumb|Space banditos? Never heard of them.]]
*This episode contains numerous references to [[Wikipedia:A Fistful of Dollars|''A Fistful of Dollars'']], including the title, Lockdown wearing a poncho in his first appearance, and the Mexican standoff scene in the warehouse.
*''A Fistful of Dollars'' is, in turn, a Western adaptation of ''[[Wikipedia:Yojimbo (film)|Yojimbo]]'', which also accounts for Prowl's samurai armor.
*Grimlock's foot problem recalls "The Lion and the Mouse", an Aesop's fable about a mouse who befriends a lion by pulling a thorn out of his paw. Or the tale of the Christian Saint Jerome, whose life was saved by the lion he'd helped when he later encountered it in a Roman circus. Or the story of Androcles and the Lion...it's been done a lot.
*Five Banners Roller Coaster Kingdom is a reference to the [[Wikipedia:Six Flags|Six Flags]] chain of amusement parks and possibly [[Wikipedia:Magic Kingdom|Magic Kingdom]] as well.

===Trivia===
*This episode was first aired in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
*[[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]] and [[Sari Sumdac (Animated)|Sari]] are absent from this episode, with Optimus saying that they're on an "important fact-finding mission" (an amusement park). Therefore, we don't get to see if Sari's hair grew back since [[Rise of the Constructicons|last episode]].
*[[Lugnut (Animated)|Lugnut]] and [[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]], on the other hand, appear but say nothing, as do [[Jazz (Animated)|Jazz]] and even [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel Prime]]. Result!
*The clones seem to embody elements of Starscream's personality, the purple Starscream representing Starscream's cowardice and the reddish-brown Starscream representing Starscream's sycophantic, flattering nature.
*Both altered-color clones use Starscream's original colors as a base, but the sycophantic one runs towards "hotter" colors playing up the red and white (a little devilish, perhaps?), while the cowardly one has colors more on the "cold" end, leaning into purple and stony grey.
[[File:AFistfulofEnergon-Lockdownwithhelmet.jpg|thumb|I can't believe they ran out of voice-changer helmets!]]
*While you could be forgiven for assuming Prowl's armor was a Hasbro idea, it actually predates the toy. Hasbro decided to make a toy of it after watching the episode.<ref>http://community.livejournal.com/tf_animated/271043.html</ref>
*The other Autobots, and eventually Prowl as well, treat his upgrades as a bad thing. In the story, this makes sense because Lockdown acquires his trophies by hacking them off other Transformers, a practice the other characters had [[The Thrill of the Hunt|previously shown]] to find extremely distasteful (at best). Oddly, this goes against [[retool|everything Hasbro wants us to believe]].
*While Ratchet seems to be the moral compass of this episode, the day is only saved by Prowl's use of his upgrades.
*Apparently Starscream put a few extra zeros in when programming the timer on the clones. His plot might have worked if he hadn't given Megatron three minutes to run away.
*Exactly ''why'' does Lockdown wear a poncho? Apparently it's a handy dandy stealth device. That's right people, stealth poncho! No good ninja pretending to be Mexican should be without it.
*When the probe from ''Teletran-1'' deploys, there is a [[Star Trek]] communicator chirp clearly heard.
*This episode was adapted in comic book format using screen captures as half of "[[Transformers Animated Volume 10]]", with "[[Rise of the Constructicons]]" making up the other half. It was also adapted in book format as "[[Starscream Flies Again]]".

===Foreign localization===
'''French'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Les clones'''" ("The Clones")
:*''Original airdate:'' ???

'''German'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Der doppelte Starscream'''" ("Double Starscream")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[July 23|23 July]] [[2008]]

'''Italian'''
:*''Title:'' "'''La Potenza non è Tutto'''" ("Power is not Everything")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[February 28|28 February]] [[2009]]

'''Japanese'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Zōshoku-suru Teki'''" (増殖する敵, "Increasing Enemies")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[August 21|21 August]] [[2010]]
::* New stock footage of Starscream transforming and delivering the warning, with Prowl doing the intro.
::* The [[Otoboto family]] segment has all four members participating in a quiz contest, [[Hiroyuki Otoboto|Hiroyuki]] wondering where the announcer's voice is coming from in a no-fourth-wall moment. The first question asks what was the second half of the title to 2007 ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]''<nowiki>'</nowiki> sequel. They respond with "[[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge]]"—[[Megumi Otoboto|each]] [[Yūka Otoboto|family]] [[Tatsuya Otoboto|member]] writing the individual katakana "リベンジ" separately. The prize for the second question is the gold [[Lucky Draw figure|Lucky Draw]] Optimus figure, although it has nothing to do with Transformers—it's regarding 5-time Olympic judo medalist [[wikipedia:Ryoko Tani|Ryōko "Yawara-chan" Tani]].

'''Polish'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Garść Energonu'''" ("A Fistful of Energon")
:*''Original airdate:'' ???

==Home video releases==
;DVD
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2009 — ''Transformers Animated'' — Season Two ([[Transformers Animated (cartoon)/home video|Paramount]]) — English and Spanish audio. 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2009 — ''Transformers Animated'' — Volume Five: Fistful of Energon (Paramount) — English and German audio. 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2009 — ''Transformers Animated'' — Volume Five: Fistful of Energon (Paramount) — English and German audio. 
[[File:Flag of Germany.png|20px|Germany]] 2009 — ''Transformers Animated'' — Volume Fünf: Der Doppelte Starscream (Paramount) — English and German audio. 
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2011 — ''Transformers Animated'' — Vol. 6 (Paramount) — Japanese audio only. 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2014 — ''Transformers Animated'' — Season Two ([[Madman Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2014 — ''Transformers Animated'' — The Complete Series ([[Shout! Factory]])

==References==
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fistful of Energon}}
[[Category:Animated episodes]]

Sunstorm (Animated)

2018-05-20T04:21:28Z

HussarZwei: /* 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 Sunstorm refers to more than one character or idea, all of which are honorable and excellent. For a list of other meanings, feel free to see [[Sunstorm (disambiguation)]].''
|}

:''Sunstorm is honored to be a [[Decepticon]] from the mesmerizing [[Transformers Animated (franchise)|Transformers Animated]] [[continuity family]]''.

[[File:SycophantStarscreamABTCpt1.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.4|"You are a slimy, despicable, rat-hearted, green discharge of a 'Con, aren't you?"]]

'''Sunstorm''', the '''Sycophant Starscream''', is but a humble type of [[Starscream clone (Animated)|clone]], based on the [[Starscream (Animated)|original and most brilliant Starscream]], as well as his flattering, "suck-up" nature incarnate. He will offer his fawning platitudes to anyone within eyesight. All he asks is to offer his meager energy-absorption powers in the services of that amazing genius, Starscream, and he can also beg to please you by blinding your enemies with flashes of brilliant light. Needless to say, that amazing genius Starscream likes him a lot.

Though he would never compare his abilities to [[Skywarp (Animated)|other clones]], this overriding personality trait does not seem to affect his performance as a warrior too badly. He just heaps praise on his deserving victims for their efforts, even when he's somehow winning. He does, however, have a knack for talking when he should be shooting.
Of course, he's not nearly as awesome as [[you]], wonderful article reader. ''You're so cool!''

{{quote|Oh, great and mighty [[Autobot]]! It is an honor to merely bask in your majestic pre-''daaagh!''|—The Sycophant tries his shtick on an unimpressed [[Omega Supreme (Animated)|Omega Supreme]], "[[A Bridge Too Close, Part II]]"}}

==Wonderful fiction==
===The excellent ''Animated'' cartoon===
{{voiceactor|[[Tom Kenny]] (English), [[Jin Yamanoi]] (Japanese)|[[Alexander Kovriznyh]] (Russian), [[Stefan Staudinger]] (German), [[Daniele Demma]] (Italian), [[Alexis Quiroz]] (Latin American Spanish, seasons 1 and 2), [[Kari Tamminen]] (Finnish)}}

[[File:SycophantStarscreamCloseUp.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.1|My own wiki article? Oh, I am so humbled.]]

Sunstorm humbly succeeded the fabulous [[Clone number 2716057|Clone #2716057]] in Starscream's clone army. His suck-up nature was even more prominent, as he basically kissed the aft of everyone he came in contact with. {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part I}}

During the space bridge battle, Sunstorm freed the briefly captured but still majestic [[Ramjet (Animated)|Ramjet]] and just barely managed to get a pair of [[stasis cuffs]] on handsome [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]. He made sure to tell the Autobot how ''impressed'' he was with Prowl's use of the cuffs, so much so that he had to try the move out himself.

[[File:Sycophantscream-ABTF.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|All you caption writers are so awesome.]]

He quickly capitulated to the vastly superior Megatron as soon as the tenacious Starscream was beheaded, and even sucked up to mighty [[Omega Supreme (Animated)|Omega Supreme]]... before getting smashed into the dirt and blasted for it. What an honor! {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

When the [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|superbly idiotic Sentinel Prime]] made a deal with the [[Lockdown (Animated)|great Lockdown]] to capture the other Decepticons that remained on Earth in exchange for probably some fantastic upgrades, Sunstorm was one of the first three he captured, though Sentinel received the credit for it. Sunstorm was eager to tell the Autobots about how fantastic his capture was, but Sentinel Prime cut him off by clamping his mouth shut. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom|Five Servos of Doom}}

[[File:TFAni Decepticon Air BoxScream ConeScream.jpg|thumb|left|That Swindle certainly has excellent taste!]]Due to Sentinel's wonderful navigation skills, a jolt from a passing energy field reactivated [[Swindle (Animated)|Swindle]], who most generously proceeded to free Sunstorm and the other Decepticons. He joined in the battle against Sentinel, the newly arrived [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]], and the ace fliers [[Jetfire (Animated)|Jetfire]] and [[Jetstorm (Animated)|Jetstorm]], before the Autobots trapped him and the remaining Decepticons in a block of ice. How clever!

During the process, Swindle gave him a [[Sunstorm (G1)|familiar-looking]] helmet to help distinguish him from the Liar. Such generosity! {{storylink|Decepticon Air}}
{{-}}

===''The Cool'' comic (appropriately named)===
[[File:StarscreamCloneArmyAttack01.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1|A most appropriately named comic, if I must say so!]]

Sunstorm joined the rest of his talented cohorts in the [[Starscream clone (Animated)|Clone Army]] in battling their worthy adversaries, [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]] and [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] for the magnificent Decepticon [[space bridge]]. In fact, their adversaries were ''so'' worthy, the two sworn enemies had to join forces just to defend themselves from the Clone Army! {{storylink|The Cool Episode 7}}

When the better man, Megatron, handily defeated the clones, Sunstorm immediately agreed to follow his command to battle that more than worthy adversary, [[Omega Supreme (Animated)|Omega Supreme]]. Sunstorm and the clones were quickly vanquished by Omega's fabulous arm cannon. {{storylink|The Cool Episode 8}}
{{-}}

===Splendid toy bio===
Sunstorm is a raving madman bent on destruction, a living battery that can absorb any type of energy. ([[Sunstorm (G1)|Wait a minute...]]) Only honorable Autobot [[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]] has the knowledge to build a device that can stop him! {{storylink|#Toys|Sunstorm VS Autobot Ratchet}}
{{--}}

==Fantastic toys==
===Animated===
[[File:Ani-toy Sunstorm VoyH.jpg|upright=1.67|thumb|right|What a flattering color choice was chosen for me, if I may say so.]]
*'''Sunstorm VS Autobot Ratchet''' (multipack, 2009)
**''Accessories'': 2 missiles

: A Target-[[exclusive]] [[redeco]] of the amazing [[Starscream (Animated)#Voyager Class|Voyager-class Starscream]], Sunstorm transforms into a futuristic, forward-swept wing fighter jet based upon the beautiful [http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/s37/ Su-47 (S-37) Berkut Experimental Fighter] and the magnificent [http://macross2.net/m3/macrossplus/yf-19.htm YF-19 "Alpha One"] from the series ''[[Wikipedia:Macross Plus|Macross Plus]].'' This shape allows him to have his faction symbols right-side-up on his wings in [[robot mode]]; a smart design, indeed. He features a pair of spring-loaded missile launchers, available in both robot and [[alternate mode|jet mode]]s. His gauntlets also feature pop-out non-firing "blasters", deployed by pushing the missiles launchers towards his wrists.

: This mold was also used to make [[Skywarp (Animated)#Toys|Skywarp]] and [[Thundercracker (Animated)#Voyager|Thundercracker]], but the latter was canceled, which was probably a wise financial decision.

: Sunstorm comes with wise [[Activators]] [[Ratchet (Animated)#Activator|Ratchet]], who appears to be identical to his individual release.

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

{{-}}{{anchor|Japanese}}
[[File:TF-Animated-TA35-Sunstorm.jpg|upright=1.66|thumb|Chrome paint? For me? Why thank you, amazing people at Takara!]]
*'''Decepticon Sunstorm''' (Voyager, 2010)
**''Japanese ID number:'' '''TA-35'''
**''Accessories'': 2 missiles

: In Japan, Sunstorm was available all on his own. Like most Japanese ''Animated'' toys, he features some well-decorated metallic chrome detail and full-color Decepticon insignias. Sunstorm's chrome consists of shiny gold paint on his canopy and wings.

{{-}}{{anchor|ClearEZCollection}}
[[File:AnimatedLegendsSunstormClearOrange.jpg|thumb|upright=1.67| Ooh! Making me orange-flavored was an exquisite decision! I'm delicious!]]
*'''Sunstorm Clear Orange Version''' (EZ Collection, 2010)

: A redeco of [[Starscream (Animated)#Legends Class|Legends Starscream]] in translucent orange plastic (with some opaque orange parts).

: He was available from select Yamada Electronics stores in Japan, given away for free to customers who purchased ''Animated'' merchandise totaling at least 3,000 yen... '''or''' he was available from Amazon Japan with the purchase of ''Animated'' [[Ultra Magnus (Animated)#Toys|Ultra Magnus]]. The promotion for him began at both stores on [[July 24]].

:This mold was also used to make [[Starscream (Animated)#ClearPurple|Starscream Clear Purple Version]], [[Ramjet (Animated)#Toys|Ramjet Clear White Version]], [[Skywarp (Animated)#ClearEZCollection|Skywarp Clear Purple Version]], [[Thundercracker (Animated)#ClearEZCollection|Thundercracker Clear Blue Version]], and [[Starscream Clone Black Version]].
{{--}}

==Most useful and interesting notes==
* Though the beautiful [[Slipstream (Animated)|Slipstream]] refers to him as "a suck-up", according to fantastic character designer [[Derrick J. Wyatt|Derrick Wyatt]], his official model-sheet name is "Sycophant Starscream".

*[[Clone number 2716057|A previous sycophantic clone]] did not last as long as the humble Sunstorm. Such a pity!

* Sunstorm's set of colors are generously provided by the devout and formidable [[Generation 1 continuity family|Generation 1]] Sunstorm, from whom he also gets his name and every single aspect of his toy bio, brilliantly omitting every single sycophantic aspect of his personality.

* In "[[Decepticon Air]]", Sunstorm receives a boxy helmet reminiscent of a Generation 1 [[Seeker (body-type)|Seeker]], so selflessly donated by that cunning, shrewd devil of a business-bot, [[Swindle (Animated)|Swindle]].

===Beautiful names in foreign languages===
*''Japanese:'' '''Sunstorm''' (サンストーム ''Sansutōmu'')
*''Mandarin:'' '''Tàiyángfēng''' (太阳风, "Solar Wind")

[[Category:Starscream clones]]
[[Category:Target exclusives]]

Rewind (G1)

2018-04-28T06:11:55Z

HussarZwei: /* Angry Birds Transformers */

{{factions|autobot|protector}}
{{featured}}
{{disambig3.5|the heroic Autobot Mini-Cassette know-it-all|information on his evil counterpart, if you didn't know he had one|Rewind (SG)|Rewind}}
{{suite}}
:'' Did you know that Rewind is an [[Autobot]] [[Autobot Mini-Cassette|Mini-Cassette]] from the [[Generation 1 continuity family|Generation 1]] [[continuity family]]?''

[[File:G1 MadmansParadise Rewind inscriptions.jpg|upright=1.95|thumb|"Did you know that the names 'Rewind' and 'Eject' come from ACTUAL BUTTONS on a tape player? It's true, it's true!"]]
Did You Know that '''Rewind'''...

*Is the undisputed Autobot trivia master?
*Can store more data than even a [[floppy disk]], whether in [[robot mode]] or mighty microcassette mode?
*Isn't terribly selective with the data he stores, gathering up every tidbit of information he can find until it gives him a splitting electronic headache?
*Can unleash the light from his internal data storage matrix to become a blinding beacon?
*Would never lose on ''Jeopardy!'', but isn't always able to remember the useful things he knows until it's too late?
*Can tell you useful facts about [[New Jersey (Earth)|New Jersey]] ([[New Jersey (Ganzvort)|both of them]])?

(''[[The Transformers Universe]] bio. [[New York City|New York]]: [[Marvel Comics]], 1986.'')

{{quote|This all looks familiar! It's in my databanks someplace, but I can't quite...|Rewind|"[[Forever Is a Long Time Coming (episode)|Forever Is a Long Time Coming]]"}}

==Fiction==
===Generation 1 cartoon continuity===
====''The Transformers'' cartoon====
[[File:G1 ForeverIsALongTime Rewind dunno.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|"Hey, did you know that my toy has a red eye visor but Eject has an orange visor? Let me tell you more."]]
'''Did You Know that Rewind in the ''Transformers'' Cartoon...'''
*Was voiced by [[Townsend Coleman]] in the English language and [[Yoku Shioya]] in the Japanese language dub?
*Became one of [[Blaster (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Blaster's]] cassettes sometime between 1986 and 2005?
*Helped Blaster and [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]] defend the communications tower during the [[Battle of Autobot City]]?
*[[User:ItsWalky#Characters who have defeated Ravage|Successfully shot Ravage]] several times while doing so?
(''[[Ron Friedman]]. ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''. [[New York City|New York]]: [[Sunbow Productions]], 1986.'')
{{note|Rewind’s involvement in these events, or events mostly similar, were also chronicled in the comic mini-series “[[Transformers: The Animated Movie]].”}}

*Accompanied Blaster on a mission to investigate chronal energy signals emanating from an asteroid that had existed for 1,000,200,043 years and seven months?
*Travelled back in time to the [[Cybertronian Civil Wars|First Great Cybertronian War]]?
*Successfully fought against both [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticons]] and [[Dark Guardian]]s?
*Used his knowledge (after an initial false start) to recognize both the Guardians and the [[Quintesson]]s attempt to change history by stopping the Autobot slave rebellion?
*Spoke 17 lines of dialogue with 154 words during the accounting of these events?
(''[[Gerry Conway]] and [[Carla Conway]]. "[[Forever Is a Long Time Coming (episode)|Forever Is a Long Time Coming]]". New York: Sunbow Productions, 1986.'')

*Helped [[Steeljaw (G1)|Steeljaw]] track down a missing [[Daniel Witwicky (G1)|Daniel Witwicky]] by identifying what Steeljaw found to [[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]]?
*Can translate ancient Quintesson inscriptions?
*Identified that a long-hidden chamber near the capital central of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] was used for banishing criminals to a variety of alternate dimensions as punishment for their crimes?
*Successfully determined that Daniel was banished to [[Menonia]]?
*Participated in a Menonian battle against [[Mara-Al-Utha]], a Quintesson exiled for practicing [[magic]]?
(''[[Craig Rand]]. "[[Madman's Paradise]]". New York: Sunbow Productions, 1986.'')
{{-}}
{{charstubfiction|{{storylink|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5}}}}

====Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity====
=====''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' manga=====
'''Did You Know that Rewind in the ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' manga...'''
*Rode alongside Eject inside [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] to help expose Decepticons posing as Autobots?
*Fired his blaster at a pair of hooded-and-robed figures, who were revealed as the Decepticons [[Frenzy (G1)|Frenzy]] and [[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]]?
*Then beat the ever-loving snot out of the two small Decepticons with Eject's help?

(''[[Masumi Kaneda]]. "[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 7]]". [[Tokyo]]: [[Kodansha|Kodansha Ltd.]], 1986.'')

=====Controverse=====
'''Did You Know that Rewind in the "Controverse" guidebook manga...'''
*Remembered how to use the Quintessons' dimensional banishment portal?
*Assisted [[Hubcap (G1)|Hubcap]] in its use?
*Oversaw the Autobots when they dispatched [[Primacron]] to another universe using the portal?

(''[[Hirofumi Ichikawa]]. "[[Controverse]]". [[Tokyo]]: [[Hero-X|Million Publishing]], 2014.'')

=====''The Headmasters'' cartoon=====
'''Did You Know that Rewind in the ''Headmasters'' Cartoon...'''
[[File:HM4 Rewind rides Steeljaw.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|"Did you know my weight is easily within the load bearing capacity of a [[cybercat]]? I just found out myself!"]]
*Was voiced by [[Ken Yamaguchi]] in the Japanese language?
*Helped find [[Soundwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Soundwave]] and his cassettes while they were spying on Autobot forces in [[Autobot City (G1)|Autobot City]]?
*Joined the hunt to find the hidden [[Matrix of Leadership]]?
(''[[Toyohiro Ando]]. "[[The Mystery of Planet Master]]". Tokyo: [[Toei|Toei Animation Co., Ltd.]], 1987.'')

*Refused to go on missions because he was mourning Blaster's death?
*Was overjoyed when Blaster was resurrected as Twincast?
*Rode on Steeljaw as Twincast led them on a mission to stop the [[Madmachine]]?
(''Toyohiro Ando. "[[The Great Cassette Operation]]". Tokyo: Toei, 1987.'')

*Spied on the Decepticons as they planned to attack [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]?
(''[[Yoshihisa Araki]]. "[[Cybertron Is in Grave Danger, Part 1]]". Tokyo: Toei, 1987.'')

*Sneaked into the Decepticon base and spied on a conversation between Soundblaster and Sixshot about a meeting on [[Chaar]]?
*Accompanied Twincast to Chaar and took part in a fight with Soundblaster when they were spotted?
(''Toyohiro Ando. "[[Explosion on Mars!! MegaZarak Appears]]". Tokyo: Toei, 1987.'')

*Scouted planet [[Paradise]] with the rest of Twincast's cassettes?
(''Yoshihisa Araki. "[[Head Formation of Friendship]]". Tokyo: Toei, 1987.'')

*Helped comb Earth for information on the Decepticons' plans?
(''Yoshihisa Araki. "[[The Emperor of Destruction Vanishes on an Iceberg]]". Tokyo: Toei, 1987.'')

*Patrolled Earth with the other cassettes after the Decepticons abandoned the planet?
(''Yoshihisa Araki. "[[Miraculous Warriors, Targetmasters (Part 1)]]". Tokyo: Toei, 1987.'')

*Saved [[Chromedome (G1)|Chromedome]] and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] from [[Mindwipe (G1)|Mindwipe]] along with his fellow cassettes during the final battle to save Earth?
*Joined in the "Final Formation" to give [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]] enough power to destroy the Decepticons' [[Death Tower]]s?
(''Yoshihisa Araki. "[[The Final Showdown on Earth (Part 2)]]". Tokyo: Toei, 1988.'')

=====''Transformers Legends'' comic=====
'''Did You Know that Rewind in the ''Legends'' manga...'''

*Avoided a [[blackball]] infection by being in Twincast at the time?
*Helped rebuild Twincast and other victims into small Headmasters to save their lives?
(''[[Hayato Sakamoto]]. "[[Headmasters Chapter Prologue]]". Tokyo: [[TakaraTomy|Tomy Co., Ltd.]], 2016.'')

*Came with the bodiless Autobots to the [[Legends Universe]] in a quest for new [[transtector]]s?
(''Hayato Sakamoto. "[[Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 21]]". Tokyo: Tomy Co., Ltd., 2016.'')

*Was released from Twincast's service when he returned to being Blaster and told to seek his own happiness?
(''Hayato Sakamoto. "[[Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 27]]". Tokyo: Tomy Co., Ltd., 2016.'')

*Got a new body that transformed into a tablet?
*Took Blaster's advice to heart and set out to record all the world's information, starting with data on the [[Masterforce]] system?
*Manipulated [[Axalon Trading Company|Autobot Axalon Trading Company]] into mass-producing [[Master-Brace]]s so that the new Headmasters could gather transtector data for him?
*Had his plan backfire when the [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]] transtector attacked him, only to be saved when the braces stopped working?
*Recorded that the braces seemed to only work for [[human]] children, then teamed up with the detective [[Nightbeat (G1)|Nightbeat]] for further investigations?
(''Hayato Sakamoto. "[[Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 28]]". Tokyo: Tomy Co., Ltd., 2016.'')

*Was with Blaster when a brainwashed crowd attacked him for the [[Zodiac]]?
*Brought up data on two similar incidents and how they were solved, allowing Blaster to undo the brainwashing?
*Helped [[Laserbeak (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Laserbeak]] distract [[Devil Z]] when he attacked Blaster and Soundwave, allowing [[Ravage (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ravage]] to free [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] from Devil Z's control?
(''Hayato Sakamoto. "[[Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 36]]". Tokyo: Tomy Co., Ltd., 2016.'')

*Helped Nightbeat steal data on [[Godbomber]]?
*Was outraged to learn that Nightbeat was also working with Decepticons to steal Godbomber itself, but was forced to cooperate anyway?
*Got the information he had hired Nightbeat to find when [[Ginrai (human)|Ginrai]] explained to them the function of Master-Braces?
(''Hayato Sakamoto. "[[Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 42]]". Tokyo: Tomy Co., Ltd., 2017.'')

=====''Alternity''=====
'''Did You Know that Rewind in ''Alternity''...'''
*Became a member of the [[Protector]]s?
*Explained why [[Alternity]] [[Auto-avatar]]s were based on early 21st century vehicles?
(''[[Hirofumi Ichikawa]]. "[[Alternation]]". Tokyo: [[TakaraTomy|Tomy Co., Ltd.]], 2010.'')

====''Wings Universe''====
{{Wingsnote}}
'''Did You Know that Rewind, at the dawn of the [[Machine Wars (event)|Machine Wars]]...'''
*Relayed news to [[Override (G1)|Override]] and [[Hoist (G1)|Hoist]] that [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] had been attacked?
*Was relieved to find that Optimus wasn't dead (again), but rather in deep stasis?
*Informed his fellow Autobots that [[Obsidian (BM)|Obsidian]] had taken command of Cybertron's military?
(''[[Jesse Wittenrich]]. "[[Termination]]". Fort Worth, [[Texas]]: [[Fun Publications]], 2013.'')

====Ask Vector Prime====
'''Did You Know that Rewind, as recounted by Vector Prime...'''
*Had his home universe destabilized by [[Sideways (RID)|Sideways]] and [[gbwiki:Gong|Gong]]?
*Battled [[gbwiki:Re-Volt|Re-Volt]], [[gbwiki:Chaos|Chaos]], and [[gbwiki:Traitor|Traitor]] when the [[Renegade]]s tried to breach Autobot City?
(''[[Jim Sorenson]]. "[[Echoes and Fragments]]." "[[Ask Vector Prime]]." Facebook, 10 February 2016.'')

===Marvel ''The Transformers'' comics===
=====Marvel UK future timelines=====
[[File:Arcee rewind steeljaw.jpg|upright=1.4|thumb|"Did you know that due to Marvel's practice of using blue to represent black, I can be easily confused with Eject?"]]
'''Did You Know that Rewind in the Marvel Generation 1 Comics...'''
*Was released from Blaster's chest along with his fellow cassettes by [[Hot Rod/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Hot Rod]] and [[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]] to help even the odds after the other Autobots in Autobot City (including Blaster) were deactivated and crucified during a Quintesson attack on the city in 2008?
(''[[Simon Furman]]. "[[Space Pirates!]]". [[London]]: [[Marvel Comics|Marvel]] Entertainment International Ltd., 1988.'')

===''The Transformers 3-D''===
'''Did You Know that Rewind in the ''Transformers 3-D'' Comic...'''
*Was the historian of the Autobots?
*Was consulted by [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] after [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]] and [[Hot Rod/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Hot Rod]] retrieved a [[Logicon]] message tape that contained information on the [[Destructon]]s?
*Considered both the Destructons and the Logicons to be myths from a primitive past?
*Was subsequently asked by Optimus Prime to work out the coordinates to planet [[Metascan Alpha]], the apparent home of the Logicons?
*Noticed a spy in their midst and shot at him—but became confused by the spy seemingly being in two places at once? (It's because the Autobots were really facing [[Pounce]] and [[Wingspan]]!)
(''Williams, Fuget, Haxo, "Noodles" and Stephenson. "[[The War Against the Destructons, Chapter 1 of 3]]". El Cajon, California: [[Blackthorne Publishing]], 1988.'')

===Dreamwave ''Generation One'' continuity===
'''Did You Know that Rewind in the Dreamwave ''Generation 1'' Comics...'''
*Was a frequent partner of Blaster throughout the millennia, serving under him and Perceptor during the [[Age of Internment]]?
*Listened to [[Slamdance (G1)|Slamdance]]'s tale of how the latter narrowly escaped death at [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]'s hand?
{{note|Was meant to follow Blaster into Cybertron's underground to liberate enslaved Autobots, only for this story to go unpublished?}}
(''[[Simon Furman]]. ''[[Transformers: War Within: The Age of Wrath|The War Within: The Age of Wrath]]''. Markham, Ontario: [[Dreamwave Productions]], 2004.'')

*Was a part of Hot Rod and [[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]]'s resistance movement when the [[Unified Cybertronian Government]] was corrupted from within by [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]]?
(''[[James McDonough|Brad Mick]]. "[[Countdown to Extinction (issue)|Countdown to Extinction]]". Markham, Ontario: Dreamwave Productions, 2003.'')

===IDW Generation 1 continuity===
[[File:BeforeandAfter-Rewindisold.jpg|right|thumb|upright=2.2|"Did you know I am old, tiny, and looking for my mustachioed ex-husband?"]]
{{main|Rewind (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity}}
'''Did You Know that Rewind in the IDW Generation 1 Comics...'''
*Was too prominent a character to continue summarizing his story simply as trivia factoids?
(''[[James Roberts]]. ''[[The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye]]''. San Diego, California: [[IDW Publishing|Idea and Design Works, LLC]], 2012.'')
{{-}}

===''Titans Return'' marketing material===
[[File:TPotTM Rewind.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|left|]]
'''Did You Know that Rewind in "The Power of the Titan Masters" comic...'''
*Worked alongside Blaster and Stripes on the planet [[Caminus]]?
*Chased [[Skullcruncher (G1)|Skullsmasher]], [[Grax]], and [[Horri-Bull|Rot-Gut]] after the Decepticons stole some codes?
*Was forced to retreat when Skullsmasher deployed a cloud of armor-eating rust?
({{storylink|Titans Return: The Power of the Titan Masters}})

{{-}}

==Games==
===Transformers G1: Awakening===
[[File:Gluawakening rewind.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.85]]
'''Did You Know that Rewind in ''Transformers G1: Awakening''...'''
*Was among the Autobots who left [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] aboard the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]], and spent four million years in stasis after it was shot down over Earth by the Decepticons?
*Was forced to remain inside Blaster until enough energy could be gathered to repair Blaster sufficiently for them to return to combat?
*Eventually was able to return to combat, shortly before the Autobots returned to Cybertron to assault the Decepticon fortress in an attempt to free the enslaved Autobots there?
(''"[[Transformers G1: Awakening]]". [[San Francisco]]: [[Glu|Glu Mobile]], 2010.'')
{{--}}
===''Transformers Legends''===
'''Did You Know that Rewind in ''Transformers Legends''...'''
*Occasionally got headaches from data overload?
*Had [[Sundor|Sunder]] attempt to help relieve his headaches by playing loud music?
(''Rewind's bio, ''[[Transformers Legends (mobile game)|Transformers Legends]]''. San Francisco, [[Mobage]], 2013.'')
*Joined [[Blaster (G1)|Blaster]] in infiltrating a human science facility to try to safeguard the technology there from the Decepticons?
*Found that [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] had already wormed his way into the base?
(''"[[Espionage]]", ''[[Transformers Legends (mobile game)|Transformers Legends]]''. San Francisco, [[Mobage]], 2013.'')
{{-}}
===''Transformers: Battle Tactics''===
[[File:BattleTacticsRewind.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Did you know that I ''was'' one of the strongest Autobots in the game?]]
'''Did you know that Rewind:'''
*Participated in battles against a variety of opponents, both Autobots and Decepticons?
*Sometimes encountered other copies of himself?
*Was a Super Rare character?
*Could be recruited by collecting 250 units of Cybermetal, 75 units of Transmetal, and 10 Rewind Cores?

{{storylink|Transformers: Battle Tactics}}
{{-}}

===''Angry Birds Transformers''===
{{note|Do you know that Rewind appears as a wearable accessory in the game.}}
{{storylink|Angry Birds Transformers (mobile game)|Angry Birds Transformers}}
{{charstubgame|Who is he an accessory for? Does he do anything, game-play wise? How about adding to the note how much it costs?}}

===''Transformers: Earth Wars''===
'''Did you know that Rewind:'''
*Is - alongside [[Ramhorn_(G1)|Ramhorn]], Eject, and Steeljaw - one of four minions released by Blaster as the larger bot's special ability?

==Toys==
===Generation 1===
[[File:G1-toy Rewind.jpg|upright=1.66|thumb|"Did you know that the cassette-formers are at 1:1 scale for micro-cassettes? True fact."]]
*'''Rewind & Steeljaw''' (Cassette 2-pack, 1986/1987)
**'''Did You Know that the Cassette 2-Pack Rewind Toy...'''
***Has 2 "Adhesion Rifles" for accessories?
***Was released in [[Hasbro]]'s ''[[The Transformers (toyline)|Generation 1]]'' toyline?
***Transforms from a humanoid robot to a micro-cassette and vice-versa?
***Is designed to fit in [[Blaster (G1)#Generation 1|Blaster]]'s chest compartment (though he rattles around a little bit...)?
***Has two notable [[variant]]s, one with gold-[[Vacuum metallizing|chromed]] weapons, and the other, more common version with silver-chromed weapons?
***Has [[Sticker|foil decal]]s that give his "cassette side" its detailing (and cover the screws holding it together) in some versions, while other versions use [[tampograph]]s (a variant that also eliminates his [[rubsign]] indent)?
***May or may not have any correlation between the guns and detailing variations?
***Was [[redeco]]ed to make [[Eject (G1)#Generation 1|Eject]], [[Flip Sides (G1)|Flip Sides]], [[Rosanna (KP)|Rosanna]], and [[Solarbot#VSE|Solarbot]], as well as ''[[Transformers: Shattered Glass (toyline)|Shattered Glass]]'' [[Rewind (SG)|Rewind]]?
***Has 19 moving parts, including shoulder pads that are adjustable?
***Cannot hold his weapons in his fists, but has them mounted to the tape wheels inside his arms instead?
***Is held together with 6 screws, 2 metal bolts, and 11 plastic rivets?
***Came packaged with [[Steeljaw (G1)#Generation 1|Steeljaw]]?

:*''[http://tfu.info/1986/Autobot/Rewind/rewind.htm Did you know that you can find more information on G1 Rewind at TFU.info?]''
{{-}}

{{anchor|JapanG1}}
*'''Rewind''' (Cassettebot, 1986/1987)
**'''Did You Know that the 1986 Japanese Rewind Toy...'''
***Has the Japanese ID numbers '''C-67''' and '''C-118'''?
***Also has 2 "Adhesion Rifles" for accessories?
***Was released in [[TakaraTomy|Takara]]'s markets as part of their ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (toyline)|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010]]'' line?
***Is identical to the 2-pack version?
***Was only sold individually, with silver guns and sticker detailing?
{{-}}

===Encore===
[[File:G1toy encore cassettes1.jpg|upright=1.66|thumb|"Did you know that this new Autobot symbol on my torso also helps differentiate me from my original toy, in addition to being spiffy?"]]
*'''Great Cassette Operation''' (2009)
**'''Did You Know that this re-release of the Japanese Rewind Toy...'''
***Has the Japanese ID number '''15'''?
***Also has 2 "Adhesion Rifles" for accessories?
***Was only available in [[TakaraTomy]]'s ''[[Transformers Encore]]'' line of [[Generation 1 reissues|reissues]] in [[March 28]] of 2009?
***Also came packaged with [[Eject (G1)#Encore|Eject]], [[Ravage (G1)/toys#Encore|Ravage]], and [[Buzzsaw (G1)#Encore|Buzzsaw]]?
***Featured an Autobot symbol tampograph on his torso, which is new for this release?

{{-}}

===Timelines===
[[File:TCCSS2-Rewind.jpg|upright=1.66|thumb|"Did you know that I've been working out?"]]
*'''Rewind''' (Scout, 2014)
**'''Did You Know that this release of the Transformers Collectors' Club Subscription Service 2.0 toy...'''
***Has two rifles/cannons as accessories?
***Was released in the ''[[Transformers Timelines (toyline)|Transformers Timelines]]'' toyline via the [[Transformers Collectors' Club]]?
***Is a redeco of ''[[Transformers United|United]]'' [[Frenzy (G1)#United|Frenzy]]/[[Rumble (G1)#United|Rumble]], which wasn't released in America?
***Probably shouldn't have his wiki entry be written in this style since he has a newly-[[retool]]ed head based on [[Nick Roche]]'s design as seen in IDW's ''More Than Meets The Eye'' ongoing series, where he wasn't so much a trivia nut?
***Transforms from a humanoid robot to a "super space tank", just as Rewind joked about ''not'' transforming into in "[[Liars, A to D Part 1: How to Say Goodbye and Mean It]]"?
***Is able to mount his rifles/cannons on his tank turret or his [[robot mode]] forearms via [[C joint]] clips and bars?
***Has arms that can transform into spring-loaded pile-driver weapons?
***Was the fourth toy revealed for 2014's [[Transformers Figure Subscription Service]] series, and on Nick Roche's birthday ([[September 5]]th)?
***Was redecoed into ''[[Transformers Timelines (toyline)|Timelines]]'' [[Eject (G1)|Eject]]?

:*''[http://www.tfu.info/2014/Autobot/TFSSRewind/rewind.htm Did you know that you can find more information on ''Timelines'' Rewind at TFU.info?]''
{{2010RumbleMold}}
{{-}}

===Generations===
[[File:TR-toy Rewind.jpg|right|thumb|300px|"Did you know you suddenly don't really care for my ''Timelines'' toy anymore? It's true!"]]
*'''Autobot Rewind''' (Legends Class, 2016)
**'''Did You Know that this first wave ''[[Titans Return (toyline)|Titans Return]]'' toy...'''
***Has a 5mm rifle accessory?
***Transforms into three things: a robot based on Nick Roche's ''More than Meets the Eye'' design, another super space tank, and a "spy tablet" that fits inside [[Blaster (G1)/toys#TitansReturn|Leader Class Blaster]]?
***Has a [[Mini-Cassette]] background on his tablet-mode screen, referencing his original design?
***Has pegs on top of his tank mode that allow up to two Titan Master class figures to stand on him?
***Has a (non-working) headphone jack that accommodates real headphones like all the other "spy tablet" bots?
***Has a slot in his side in tablet mode that allows him to store his rifle?
***Was first revealed at [[New York Comic Con]] 2015?
***Has instructions on how to place the stickers forming the tablet mode's screen that are completely unneeded since the aforementioned stickers are factory-applied?
***Has his leg stickers easily prone to damage after some posing & transforming?
***Was retooled into [[Rumble (G1)/toys#TitansReturn|Rumble]]?
***Was an enormous [[shelfwarmer]] alongside fellow Legends Class Autobot [[Stripes#Generations|Stripes]]?
***Inspired the physical designs of the non-toy character [[Lug (IDW)|Lug]]?
***Would've been redecoed as [[Rosanna (KP)|Rosanna]] and [[Flip Sides (G1)|Flip Sides]] as a [[BotCon]] 2017 exclusive that never came to be?

:*''[http://tfu.info/2016/Autobot/TRRewind/rewind.htm Did you know that you can find more information on Titans Return Rewind at TFU.info?]''
{{-}}

===Legends===
*'''Rewind & Nightbeat''' (Two-pack, 2016-[[September 24|09-24]])
**'''Did You Know that this ''[[Transformers Legends (franchise)|Transformers Legends]]'' Rewind toy...'''
***Has the ID number '''LG28'''?
***Is a redeco of the Legends Class toy above?
***Is decoed to match his appearances in the cartoon, complete with separate eyes painted on his visor area?
***Is bundled with [[Nightbeat (G1)#Legends|Nightbeat]], who is redecoed from his ''Titans Return'' toy but does not include his jet/drill-tank vehicle?

{{-}}

==Notes==
*'''Did You Know that...'''
**For the original draft of ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'' and several revisions, there was going to be only one humanoid Autobot Mini-Cassette, who was going to be called [[Bolts]]?<ref>[http://boltax.blogspot.com/2010/12/heritaage-auctions-transformers-movie.html The TFTM script draft at Disciples of Boltax]?</ref><ref>[http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/transformers.html An early script for ''The Transformers: The Movie'' at dailyscript.com]?</ref>
**Between the original draft and actual product, Bolts's role was split in two? Bolts was supposed to fight [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]], which Rewind ended up doing in the movie ([[Blaster (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Blaster]] dealt the described kick though). Bolts's attitude and tussle with [[Frenzy (G1)|Frenzy]] went to [[Eject (G1)|Eject]]. During their initial ejection from Blaster however, both Rewind and Eject swap color schemes multiple times for the duration of the scene.

===Foreign names===
*'''Did You Know that...'''
**Rewind's Japanese name is '''Rewind''', which is written in katakana as リワインド, which in turn is transliterated into the Latin alphabet as ''Riwaindo''?
**Rewind's French name in Canada is '''Mémorax'''?
**Rewind's Mandarin name in Taiwan is '''Tào-tài''' (倒帶), which means "Rewind"?
**Rewind's Mandarin name in China is '''Fātiáo''' (发条), which means "Clockwork"?
**Rewind's Russian name is '''Reverse''', which is written in Cyrillic as Реверс, which is transliterated into the Latin alphabet as ''Revers''?

==References==
'''Did You Know that the information on this article is from...'''
{{reflist}}

==External links==
'''Did You Know that you can find out more about Rewind...'''
*From his [http://www.tfu.info/1986/Autobot/Rewind/rewind.htm page at TFU.info]?

[[Category:Alternity Autobots]]
[[Category:Generation 1 Autobots]]
[[Category:Legends Autobots]]
[[Category:Mini-Cassettes]]
[[Category:The Headmasters Autobots]]
[[Category:Timelines characters]]
[[Category:Titans Return]]
[[Category:Wings Universe Autobots]]

Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity

2018-04-18T12:49:01Z

HussarZwei: /* The Transformers cartoon */

{{factions|autobot|autobotg2|wreckers}}
{{suite}}
[[File:TVMGuideHotRodDaniel.jpg|thumb|upright=1.95|Without a sterile, informative caption we'd never know which individual pictured is Hot Rod.]]
Whether causing trouble as '''Hot Rod''' or leading the Autobots in the long, long war against the Decepticons as '''Rodimus Prime''', he certainly left an impression in the [[Generation 1 cartoon continuity]]!
{{TOCclear}}

==Madman ''The Transformers'' comic==
[[File:Madman comic HotRod sigh.jpg|left|upright=0.85|thumb|"You're gonna be the death of that guy, you know?"]]
In the year 2001, Hot Rod was on guard duty at the construction site of [[Autobot City (G1)|Autobot City]] on [[Earth]] while the main Autobot forces were evacuating from the Decepticon-conquered [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. As he was complaining about his boring assignment to [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike Witwicky]], the Decepticon [[Soundwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Soundwave]] struck, intent on stealing the [[Matrix of Leadership|Autobot Matrix of Leadership]] which Optimus Prime had secreted in a bunker at the building site. When he reclaimed the Matrix, Hot Rod received a vision of the future where he fought [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|a powerful Decepticon]]. After returning the Matrix to Optimus Prime, the Autobot leader considered that perhaps Hot Rod's destiny was greater than any of them realized. [[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]] thought differently, however. {{storylink|The Transformers (Madman)|The Transformers}}
{{--}}

==''The Transformers'' cartoon==
{{voiceactor|[[Judd Nelson]] (English, ''The Movie''), [[Ted Schwartz]] (English, ''[[#Notes|see Notes]]''), [[Dick Gautier]] (English), [[Hiroya Ishimaru]] (Japanese), [[Akimitsu Takase]] (Japanese, "The Rebirth")|[[Lei Changxi]] (Chinese), [[Daniel Gall]] (French, Movie), [[Hubert Gagnon]] (French Canadian, Season 3), [[Jorge García]] (Latin American Spanish), [[Stefano Mondini]] (Italian, Season 3), [[Christian Iansante]] (Italian, second movie dub), [[Thomas Rau]] (German), [[Franz Rudnick]] (German, as Hot Rod in "The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2"), [[Hans-Rainer Müller]] (German, as Hot Rod in "The Rebirth, Part 1"), [[Peter Musäus]] (German, as Hot Rod in "The Rebirth, Part 2 & 3"), [[Crock Krumbiegel]] (German, The Movie TV Dub and Generation 2 Series), [[Júlio Chaves]] (Brazilian Portuguese, "The Movie"), [[Affonso Amajones]] (Brazilian Portuguese, "The Movie" Fox Kids version)}}

[[File:HotRodFishing1.jpg|upright=1.4|thumb|"I'm tellin' you, Daniel, you HAD to [[Transformers: Kiss Players (franchise)|kiss]] me to activate my fishing rod. STOP crying! And uh, don't tell your dad, okay?"]]
In 2005, Hot Rod was one of the many Autobots based in the completed Autobot City. He was close friends with the young human [[Daniel Witwicky (G1)|Daniel Witwicky]] and seemed to have a reputation for being something of a troublemaker, judging from a few of Kup's comments to him at the time. While out fishing with Daniel one day, he consoled his young human friend over the absence of his father Spike (currently stationed on one of Cybertron's moon bases), then attempted to cheer him up by proposing that they head to [[Lookout Mountain]] to watch the arrival of an Autobot shuttle. This required smashing through a security cordon that Kup and some other Autobots were in the process of setting up, but Hot Rod's breach of security was soon to fade to irrelevance. Observing the shuttle through a viewing scope, Daniel was alarmed to spot a hole in the side, and the concerned Hot Rod used his built-in telescopic visor to discern the horrifying truth of the situation: the shuttle had been hijacked by Decepticons! Hot Rod opened fire on the stolen shuttle and exposed their ruse before [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] could enter the city, though he was nearly blasted by [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] for his troubles and had to be rescued by Kup. Hot Rod's action had given the rest of the Autobots time to begin transforming Autobot City and raising their defenses, but this in turn left Hot Rod trapped outside with Kup and Daniel, until the [[Insecticon (G1)|Insecticons]] helpfully chewed an opening into the city that the trio were able to use to gain access, swatting the pesky critters as they did so.

[[File:Tftm hotrod matrix.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.4|Dibs!]]
Fighting continued through the night, culminating with the arrival of a second shuttle commanded by [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]]. Prime engaged Megatron in a one-on-one battle, but at a pivotal moment, Hot Rod observed that Megatron was feigning defeat in an attempt to reach a fallen weapon. Hot Rod tackled Megatron, but proved no match for the Decepticon leader; Megatron seized him and used him as a human (well, robot) shield so that he could deliver the fatal blasts that mortally wounded Prime. Prime used the last of his strength to dispatch Megatron, but then collapsed; Hot Rod ran to his side, begging his fallen leader for forgiveness. On his deathbed, Optimus Prime passed the [[Matrix of Leadership]] to [[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]], reciting a prophecy that claimed an Autobot would use the Matrix to "light our darkest hour". When Prime's strength gave out and he dropped the talisman as he was handing it over, Hot Rod caught it before it fell to the floor, and it glowed brightly in his hands.

[[File:TFTM-HotRodcar.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|He's on the run from Barbie's garage.]]
After Prime's death, news reached Autobot City of a [[Unicron|monster planet]] that was advancing on Cybertron. Hot Rod had "this feeling" that the Matrix could stop the creature, but before any plans could be made, Autobot City came under Decepticon attack once again—by [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]]. The Autobots were able to flee into space aboard twin shuttles, and Hot Rod passed the time sparring with an [[auto-combatant]] before the Decepticons caught up to them. In the ensuing space battle, Hot Rod's shuttle was shot down by [[Cyclonus (G1)|Cyclonus]], and he, Kup and the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]] found themselves stranded on the planet [[Quintessa]]. Awakening underwater in one of Quintessa's oceans, in the clutches of some mechanical vines and beset by ferocious robotic fish, Hot Rod hacked his way to freedom with his buzzsaw-hand, then saved Kup from the grip of a huge metal squid-creature. Hot Rod took the damaged Kup to shore and pieced him back together, and the pair then set off to search for the Dinobots, only to wind up crossing paths with [[Allicon|more strange inhabitants]]. The [[universal greeting]] and [[energon goodie]]s only temporarily placated the creatures, who captured Hot Rod and Kup and brought them before their masters, the [[Quintesson]]s. They learned from another captive, [[Kranix (G1)|Kranix]], that the monster planet was known as "[[Unicron]]", then attempted to stage an escape when they were brought to trial and thrown to the [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticons]]. The pair gave a good account of themselves, but were hugely outmatched by the Sharkticon swarm and seemed doomed for certain, until the Dinobots and their new ally [[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] arrived to turn the tide. Wheelie provided the team with a Quintesson ship to leave the planet.

Hot Rod was just in time to stop the native Junkions and their leader [[Wreck-Gar (G1)|Wreck-Gar]] from destroying the rest of the Autobot City refugees with a timely—and successful— use of the universal greeting. Together, they all traveled to [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] to stop Unicron before he could eat more than just its moons.

[[File:RodimusPrimeMovie1.jpg|left|upright=1.4|thumb|"The murderer could be ''anyone''. It could be him, it could be her, or maybe, it could even be...'''''YOU!'''''"]]
Hot Rod crashed the Quintesson ship through Unicron's eye, and was separated from his comrades as they fell through his giant body. Alone, deep in the bowels of the chaos-bringer, he found himself facing Galvatron in a battle to the death over the Matrix of Leadership, which Galvatron had previously stolen. Overpowered by Galvatron, Hot Rod was throttled by the Decepticon and was moments from death, until he seized the Matrix that hung around Galvatron's neck. Filled with its power, Hot Rod proved to be the "Chosen One" of legend, and was transformed into "Rodimus Prime": an older, larger, and more powerful version of himself. After overpowering Galvatron and hurling him through Unicron's hide into the void of space, he opened the Matrix and destroyed Unicron from within. He managed to make his way to the other Autobots and led them in escaping Unicrons imploding form. Upon arriving on the reclaimed Cybertron, he announced the start of a new Golden Age to the assembled Autobots.{{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
{{note|Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime’s involvement in these events, or events mostly similar, were also chronicled in the comic mini-series “[[Transformers: The Animated Movie]],” the storybook “[[Transformers the Movie (Ladybird adaptation)|Transformers the Movie]]" and the "Special Edition The Transformers: The Movie extra page" of "[[Transformers: The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe]]."}}

Peace reigned on Cybertron for at least long enough to put up some of the more important buildings, and Rodimus Prime began to ease into his role as the new Autobot leader. He even opened the first [[Galactic Olympics]], although the event was disrupted by mysterious assailants who kidnapped Ultra Magnus, Kup and Spike Witwicky. In an attempt to discover if the Decepticons were responsible, Rodimus took [[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]] to spy on them, but the pair were discovered and attacked. {{storylink|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1}} The two Autobots were rescued by Arcee and [[Springer (G1)|Springer]], but Rodimus had been injured in the attack, and his spirit entered the Matrix. The experience revealed to him that the Quintessons were behind the kidnapping. With this knowledge, the Autobots rescued their fellows from Quintessa, just as the Quintessons destroyed the planet. {{storylink|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2}}

[[File:Ffod4 rodimus in matrix.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|"You must take your place in the circle of life."]]
The Autobots were flung through space, eventually crashing down on the planet [[Goo 8739B]]. After Springer's dismemberment at the hands of a giant machine, Rodimus faced the machine alone, clogging its intakes and causing it to crash. Their troubles weren't over, as the Quintesson-led Decepticon army soon showed up to renew hostilities. {{storylink|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 3}} Rescued by the Junkions, the Autobots were taken to Junk, where Rodimus short-circuited himself in order to consult the Matrix once again. The knowledge of [[Transformer]] history and their creation at the hands of the Quintessons was revealed to him, leading him to realise that Cybertron was in deadly danger. {{storylink|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4}}

Returning to Cybertron, Rodimus led the defence of the planet against Galvatron's strike force. It wasn't until [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]]'s warning that the true nature of the threat was revealed: a [[large switch|switch]] deep under the planet's surface which controlled the life force of every Transformer in existence. Although Rodimus headed off the contingent of Sharkticons who aimed to pull the switch, Galvatron himself pulled it, disabling all of the Transformers. Fortunately, Spike was on hand to turn them all back on again. After Galvatron was sent into retreat, Rodimus gave a speech to the Autobots about how they had won...for now. {{storylink|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5}}

[[File:Zombiesmatrixmakesmetoostrong.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.4|Crap, I hope this isn't a popularity contest!]]
Throughout 2006, Rodimus Prime's greatest achievements revolved around his predecessor, Optimus Prime. While fleeing from a Decepticon attack, Rodimus and several other Autobots took refuge in a massive [[Autobot Mausoleum]] and discovered that their former leader seemed to have returned to life. Perhaps a little too trusting of Optimus (and possibly eager to relieve himself of the burden of leadership), Rodimus quickly passed the Matrix back to Optimus and, much to his glee, reverted to Hot Rod. His happiness was short-lived, however, as Optimus was quickly revealed to be nothing more than a puppet of the Quintessons, sent to trick the Autobots into an ambush from which none of them would escape. With no other choice, Hot Rod was forced to do battle with Optimus Prime for the fate of the Autobots. Although their duel was clearly in the favor of the more powerful Optimus, Hot Rod was able to re-awaken the true spirit of his leader. Returning the Matrix to Rodimus, Optimus then piloted his ship into the heart of the ambush and sacrificed himself to save them all. {{storylink|Dark Awakening (episode)|Dark Awakening}}

Soon after Perceptor left on a standard research mission to a nearby asteroid belt, Rodimus Prime and the Autobots received a distress call from the survey group. They arrived to find the asteroid infested with Quintessons, but managed to drive off the tentacled freaks and their Sharkticon shock troops. Perceptor was near deactivation due to injuries, however, and the rest of the Autobots were nowhere to be seen. The Quintessons attempted to retake the asteroid but, after failing, were soon desperate enough to tell the truth: Their technology on the rock was a [[Time Window]], and leaving it open was risking the fates of all time and space. With the help of the Quintesson scientist and a [[Alpha Trion (G1)|mysterious stranger with a devilish moustache]], Rodimus Prime retrieved his lost Autobots and shut down the time window. {{storylink|Forever Is a Long Time Coming (episode)|Forever Is a Long Time Coming}}

[[File:Fightorflee Rodimus explosion.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|He just needs a cigarette.]]
The Autobots learned of a lost Cybertronian colony known as [[Paradron]] after one of its citizens, [[Sandstorm (G1)|Sandstorm]], arrived on Cybertron begging for help. It seemed that Galvatron and the Decepticons had seized control over the planet and its vast energon reserves. Rodimus Prime and the Autobots staged a tactical infiltration, but the escalation of violence between the two forces led to total devastation. Rodimus gave the pacifistic Autobots of Paradron his impassioned "Move it or lose it!" speech before hustling them off-world so that Ultra Magnus could blow up their home. As Sandstorm sat there mourning the loss of his world, Rodimus Prime gave him some solemn advice.
{{bigquote|Well, no need to get all mushy. Cybertron's a better place anyway—not so...perfect.|}}
{{storylink|Fight or Flee (episode)|Fight or Flee}}

Rodimus and the Autobots were stumped when someone carried off [[Fort Knox]] in the middle of the night. They detected [[Dinosaur transform static]] at the scene (seriously), found a small pile of [[energon cube]]s, and had just been informed by [[Teletraan II]] that Trypticon was still alive. It was a head-scratcher, all right. They eventually figured it out, though, and sieged the occupied nation of [[Socialist Democratic Federated Republic of Carbombya|Carbombya]] to chase the Decepticons away, then recovered Fort Knox and the other monuments Trypticon had stolen. {{storylink|Thief in the Night}}

[[File:StarscreamsGhost Rodimus waves goodbye.JPG|left|thumb|upright=1.4|[[AKOM]] liked to color my crotch like my windshield (as was [[#Notes|originally intended]]). AKOM did a loooot of episodes.]]
When the freelance agent named [[Octane]] was being kidnapped from Cybertron's surface by Cyclonus and the Sweeps, Rodimus Prime and the Autobots stormed out to save their associate. Things were more complicated than they looked, however, as when Rodimus confronted Cyclonus, the Decepticon lieutenant spoke with [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]]'s voice! For some reason, learning Starscream was involved made Rodimus willing to let the Decepticons go. Crazy as it sounds, though, it worked—Starscream and Octane managed to lure Galvatron into an Autobot ambush. Rodimus Prime gave a friendly wave to Starscream for a job well done as he departed. ''Zuh''? {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}}

While preparing for the first annual Cybertron peace conference, Rodimus Prime got together with [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike Witwicky]] to prepare a surprise party for Danny. They were interrupted by a [[Combaticon (G1)|Combaticon]] attack, as the Decepticons wanted to prevent the conference from occurring. The Combaticons were driven off, however, and only minor damage was done. {{storylink|Surprise Party}}

During a diplomatic function, Rodimus Prime was forced to play statesman and deal with Ambassador [[Ynara]] and the other delegates. Curiously, when Daniel Witwicky went missing and Rodimus had an excuse to duck out of the "festivities", he chose to delegate the search mission to Ultra Magnus and [[Blaster (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Blaster]]. Perhaps the normally action-hungry Rodimus Prime was actually becoming more accepting of his leadership duties. {{storylink|Madman's Paradise}}

[[File:NightmarePlanet Rodimus Daniel in bed.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Rodimus really needs to learn how to delegate.]]
When Daniel Witwicky began experiencing recurring nightmares, Rodimus never dreamed he would have to face those nightmares personally. The Quintessons' latest experiment was to turn the young boy's imagination against his Autobot friends. Danny's own subconscious fought against the Quintessons' manipulations, though, and helped the Autobots save themselves. After that experience, Rodimus Prime stayed by Danny's bedside until he conquered his fears and ended the nightmares. {{storylink|Nightmare Planet}}

Cybertron was put on high alert after [[Scourge (G1)|Scourge]] broke into Metroplex on Earth, stealing his eyes and blowing up a bomb in his brain. Rodimus and the Autobots were eventually able to suss out that Scourge was working with the ghost of Starscream, and they in turn were acquiring those eyes for Unicron. Rodimus put together a strike team and sent Ultra Magnus, Springer, [[Hot Spot (G1)|Hot Spot]] and [[Groove (G1)|Groove]] to Unicron to investigate, but they were repulsed by the Chaos-Bringer's defenses. Their second mission was more successful, detonating a series of explosives underneath Unicron once he came down to Cybertron, intent on connecting himself to the planet and turning it into his new body. After Unicron was successfully blasted back into orbit, Rodimus congratulated his men on a job well done. As a joke, he told Magnus and the others their next mission would be to return to the head of their Living Devil and retrieve his stolen eyes. That Roddy—he's hilarious. {{storylink|Ghost in the Machine (G1)|Ghost in the Machine}}

[[File:Quintessonjournal diplomacy.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.4|Rodimus Prime: diplomat.]]
Rodimus was dutifully overseeing some reconstruction work on Cybertron when [[Sky Lynx (G1)|Sky Lynx]] and [[Superion (G1)|Superion]] reported odd activity over the planet of Junk and among the Junkions themselves. He assembled a task force aboard [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]] to take a look firsthand. Blaster managed to neutralize the hypnotic signals influencing the Junkions, but the Autobots were unable to learn the cause of the whole situation. {{storylink|The Big Broadcast of 2006 (episode)|The Big Broadcast of 2006}}

At a galactic peace conference, Rodimus and Ultra Magnus attempted to end the centuries of war between the planets of [[Xetaxxis]] and [[Lanarq]]. They might as well have asked Galvatron, "Why you so ''crazy''?" Every attempt at straight talk and reasonable discourse broke out into a brawl, fist-fighting and eventually laser fire. The two worlds only reached an accord once Blaster and Sky Lynx arrived with a Quintesson journal, detailing how the entire war between the two planets was a "case study" in escalation manipulated by the Quintessons to sell bigger and better armaments to both sides. {{storylink|The Quintesson Journal}}

[[File:UltimateWeapon-Rodimuspoint.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|"I did your mom!"]]
Rodimus Prime began to struggle with the burden of leadership again during a skirmish in Europe, where the Decepticons were working in conjunction with human terrorists. The pacifistic [[First Aid (G1)|First Aid]] chose to leave the Autobots after his refusal to fight cost Metroplex his transforming cog, and Rodimus chided himself for not having the words to convince the medic to stay. He was also unsettled by Galvatron's crowing about a new "[[Ultimate Weapon]]" which would bring the Autobots to their knees. Regardless of his internal strife, Rodimus continued the fight. He came up with a plan in which Spike and Daniel Witwicky posed as part of the (evil?) human repair crews working on Trypticon and liberated the Decepticon city-bot's transforming cog just as the 'Cons had taken Metroplex's. Rodimus and Ultra Magnus had to fight off Galvatron and the [[Stunticon (G1)|Stunticon]] in order to stall for time so that the Witwickys could complete their mission. Fortunately, the Stunticons had been off <s>the shelves</s> the field for a while by this point, and so were utterly demolished by the two Autobots. Eventually, First Aid returned to the Autobots to finish repair work on the cog, and Rodimus ultimately called Galvatron's bluff and uncovered his "Ultimate Weapon" as the sham it was. These victories renewed Rodimus's confidence in his leadership abilities...until next time. {{storylink|The Ultimate Weapon}}

One day, Rodimus Prime orchestrated the insertion of a new [[power core]] on Cybertron, designed by Perceptor to give the Autobots limitless free energy. Unfortunately, Perceptor also installed an emergency level to jettison the power core into space in the statistically impossible scenario that they would ever need to do such a wild, crazy thing. Sure enough, mere hours later, the power core was floating through space with a [[Trans-Organic]] [[Dweller|monster]] of Lovecraftian proportions latched to the outside of it. Rule of thumb: Installing any form of self-destruct switch increases the likelihood of needing said switch a billion percent. Encasing it behind glass adds another billion. {{storylink|The Dweller in the Depths}}

[[File:OnlyHuman Rodimus Michelle breakfast.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.4|That's right. He stayed for ''breakfast''.]]
Rodimus Prime and the Autobots joined forces with the human police to help stop a domestic terrorist named [[Victor Drath]]. They grossly underestimated their opponent and were easily captured by Drath after he lured them to his residence with an anonymous phone call. Using some <s>[[Cobra]]</s> mysterious technology, Drath siphoned the consciousnesses of Rodimus, Ultra Magnus, Springer and Arcee out of their bodies, inadvertently casting them into synthetic human forms. While trying to get back into Drath's headquarters, Rodimus and Springer were separated. Drath's girlfriend [[Michelle]] was intrigued enough by Rodimus's human form that she hid him from Drath's men. At least until after coffee...THEN she handed him over to Drath. Rodimus managed to overpower Drath and his men, and the villain's scheme was undone. Perceptor managed to reverse the process and restore the Autobots to their true forms. With one regretful look cast towards Michelle as she was led away by the police, Rodimus Prime rolled for home with the other Autobots. {{storylink|Only Human}}

[[File:Grimlocksnewbrain hotrod vs hungrr.jpg|upright=1.4|thumb]]
At the unveiling of a new power generator, Rodimus Prime got frustrated at Grimlock's gross stupidity. Things only got worse when the Autobots discovered [[anti-electron]]s being beamed out of the power generator and needed to negotiate the tunnels beneath Cybertron to reach the generator core...and Grimlock broke their only map. Luckily for Rodimus's sanity, Grimlock spontaneously developed super-intelligence after biting through the cables connecting the anti-electrons to the power generator. The Autobots then went on a mission to Unicron's head to prevent the Decepticons from recovering any more anti-electrons to use against them, but once there, they came under attack by the particles again, and Rodimus was affected so badly that he actually briefly transformed him back into Hot Rod. The Autobots were nearly overwhelmed by the animalistic [[Terrorcon (G1)|Terrorcons]], but Grimlock constructed [[Computron (G1)|Computron]] and the [[Technobot (G1)|Technobots]] as a counter-force against the bestial Decepticons. Rodimus and the others drove off the remaining Decepticons and restabilized the power generator for Cybertron's use. {{storylink|Grimlock's New Brain}}

On Earth's [[Moon (moon)|Moon]], Rodimus Prime and the Autobots were engaged in trench warfare with the Decepticon for some vague but no doubt important reason. Rodimus demonstrated his keen tactical brilliance when the Decepticons attacked, suggesting the Autobots do the unexpected... and counter-attack. No, really—Galvatron seemed utterly amazed when they did that. However, the non-bestial Transformers on both sides were rendered lifeless when the energy-draining creature known as [[Tornedron]] attacked them while en route to Earth. When the threat was eliminated by Grimlock, Rodimus and the others came back to life without realising that anything had happened. {{storylink|Call of the Primitives}}

[[File:FaceNijika-Rodimustruck.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.4|Rodimus goes camping in style.]]
Rodimus and the Autobots arrived at the scene of a Quintesson quadrant lock as Galvatron was trying to claim it for himself. The Quintessons attempted to stop further investigation of the quadrant lock by casting the Transformers through a warp. Their encounter with the native [[Zamojin (species)|Zamojin]]s inside the lock was less than cordial, but the Autobots eventually managed to disable the quadrant lock and return starlight to the Zamojin people. {{storylink|The Face of the Nijika}}

[[File:BurdenHardest Hot Rod retrieves matrix.jpg|upright=1.4|thumb|"I sure hope Optimus Prime doesn't come back next week or something."]]
After a particularly strenuous series of Decepticon attacks on Japan, Rodimus Prime was in no mood to be chewed out by the Japanese government for "not helping enough". When [[Marissa Faireborn]] stopped by at just the wrong time with yet another problem, Rodimus blew her off and went racing on the back roads to let off some exhaust. Unfortunately, he was spotted by the Stunticons [[Dead End (G1)|Dead End]] and [[Wildrider (G1)|Wildrider]], who knocked him for a loop and (surprisingly) shook the Matrix of Leadership loose from his chest cavity. After the Stunticons made off with the Matrix, Rodimus woke up as Hot Rod. Shockingly to Springer and Ultra Magnus, Roddy was in no hurry to go after the thieves and recover the Matrix. His ''giri'' had become too burdensome, and Hot Rod was hardly interested in reclaiming the burden so soon. He returned to a dojo that had been upset by [[Bruticus (G1)|Bruticus]] during the earlier attacks and observed the sensei and his pupils. After finding his center again, Hot Rod returned to the city, where the huntsman known as Scourge had been misusing the Matrix as a source of raw power to destroy everything around him. After a brief fight, Hot Rod reclaimed the Matrix from Scourge and became Rodimus Prime once more, accepting his path in life. Oh, and Kup was nodding sagely on the sidelines the entire time. Apparently, that helped somehow. {{storylink|The Burden Hardest to Bear}}

[[File:HotRodReturnOfOptimusPrime1.jpg|left|upright=1.4|thumb|"I did his mom, too."]]

As it turned out, far from being destroyed, Optimus Prime had been retrieved by a team of human scientists who were hoping to use him (again) as a weapon against the Autobots—this time as the bearer of a malignant "[[Hate Plague]]" that would cause them to destroy one another. When he learned of this, Rodimus swiftly formed a rescue party and led them to retrieve Optimus's body so that their former leader could rest in peace. When all of the rest of the Autobots with him were exposed to the Hate Plague, only Rodimus was able to escape unharmed—and with the still-uninfected body of Optimus. Returning to Autobot City, Rodimus ordered [[Sky Lynx (G1)|Sky-Lynx]] to find a Quintesson to repair Optimus, then risked his life to shut down [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]] before the Plague could spread to the titanic Autobot. Attacked by Ultra Magnus and Wreck-Gar in the process, he succumbed to the plague and became infected with hate. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}} In order to stop the Plague, the resurrected Optimus had to defeat the crazed Rodimus and forcibly extract the Matrix from him, changing him back into Hot Rod once more. This time, as Optimus had decided to stick around, the change was a permanent one. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2}}

[[File:Rebirth3 hotrod spins.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Not shown: Firebolt expelling the contents of his stomach shortly afterward.]]
Even after losing his position as Autobot leader, Hot Rod was not the sort to rest on his laurels. In 2007, he was on Cybertron sharpening his skills in a race with Blurr through an obstacle course called "[[Maze|the Maze]]", and won the contest with a little help from Daniel. This provided Autobot scientist [[Brainstorm (G1)|Brainstorm]] with more fodder to wax lyrical on his theories about Transformer-human partnership, but his lecture was cut short by the sudden arrival on the planet of the full force of the Decepticon army, who were intent on opening the [[Plasma energy|Plasma Energy Chamber]]. Hot Rod and his team were able to steal the key to the chamber from the Decepticons, but not before the chamber was briefly opened, releasing a blast of energy that catapulted their shuttle across the galaxy. They crash-landed on the planet [[Nebulos]], where they were captured by a group of native rebels that mistook them for the mechanical servants of the planet's evil rulers, the [[Hive (G1)|Hive]]. The rebels changed their tune when a team of Decepticons attacked, having tracked the Autobots to the planet, but half the Autobots, including Hot Rod, were taken captive by the villains. {{storylink|The Rebirth, Part 1}} Hot Rod and his fellows stood up to the Decepticons' torture, and were soon rescued by their team-mates, who had [[binary bonding|bonded]] with the Nebulan rebels to become [[Headmaster (technology)|Headmasters]]. The Decepticons then teamed up with the Hive to create Headmasters of their own, and took the process further by creating [[Targetmaster (technology)|Targetmaster]]s as well. The Autobots copied the technology, and Hot Rod volunteered for the process, allowing his gun to be reconfigured into an exo-suit for the Nebulan sharpshooter Firebolt. {{storylink|The Rebirth, Part 2}} Hot Rod and Firebolt went on to aid in the defence of Cybertron as Galvatron attempted to use the Plasma Energy Chamber to destroy it. {{storylink|The Rebirth, Part 3}}

For [[Tommy Kennedy]]'s birthday, Rodimus Prime, among other Autobots, presented to the human boy a cake. {{Storylink|Surprise Party#Season 5|Season 5: Surprise Party}}

==Rodimus vs. Cyclonus==
[[File:RodimusVsCyclonus-lostyourbearings.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.66|Sure, his body looks off, but it's nothing compared to the shadow he casts.]]
After Hot Rod and company left Quintessa following the Battle of Autobot City, Wheelie helped track down the remains of Ultra Magnus's ship using its last known speed and trajectory. Kup surmised from the remaining wreckage that they had disengaged the nosecone and set down on the [[Junkion (planet)|Planet of Junk]] for repairs. Hot Rod's ship was then attacked by Cyclonus. Hot Rod, inspired by a flash of ancient knowledge during his brief contact with the Matrix during its passing to Ultra Magnus, invoked the [[Challenge of Aria-Bellum]] with Cyclonus. Cyclonus accepted, and the two faced off in the ship's anterior propulsion silo. Kup was surprised that Hot Rod managed to hold his own in battle, despite Cyclonus's overwhelming power. When Hot Rod began winning, the dishonorable Cyclonus fled.

In the meantime, Kup, fearing for Hot Rod's life, had radioed for help to distract Cyclonus. The gambit worked, and a short time later they were welcomed on the Planet of Junk by Wreck-Gar and Ultra Magnus's crew. {{storylink|Rodimus vs. Cyclonus}}
{{--}}

==Japanese cartoon continuity==
{{note|The events of the Generation 1 cartoon occur in Japanese animated continuity as described above, except without the events of "The Rebirth". Additionally, this continuity moves the events of 2006 forward to 2010 and inserts several additional events into the newly created intervening years.}}

===MC Axis comics===
[[File:Hot Rod MC Axis instruction comic.jpg|thumb|200px|right]]

Some [[Decepticon]]s attempted to kill Hot Rod by ambushing him. Completely undisturbed, Hot Rod responded by blowing them to pieces with his dual pistols. Shooting them up, he confusingly explained that his mind and body had been "transformed into tough", making him more than strong enough to defeat a gang of thugs. {{storylink|The Transformers (MC Axis manga)|The Transformers: Hot Rod}}

===Dark Hot Rod toy bio===
[[File:Black Rodimus "package art".jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.1]]

Using a [[clone synthesizer]], Megatron created an evil duplicate of Hot Rod known as [[Dark Hot Rod]]. This doppelganger believed himself to be the one true Hot Rod and began a campaign to destroy the original and seize the Matrix of Leadership from Optimus Prime. In a confrontation with Hot Rod in a crystal-lined cave, a burst of energy finally made Dark Hot Rod aware of the truth. Accepting that he was a copy, and to atone for his crimes, he joined the Autobots. {{storylink|Dark Hot Rod#Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers|Dark Hot Rod toy bio}}
{{--}}

===''The Battle of the Star Gate''===
In the mid-1990s, Hot Rod joined numerous Autobots led by Optimus Prime and Ironhide on an all-out assault on the ''[[Trigger]]'' orbital warp gate. They were able to defeat the behemoth (which had been possessed by the time-traveling ghost of Starscream), but at a tremendous cost. Most of the Autobots were severely injured and had to leave the Earth for an extended period. {{storylink|The Battle of the Star Gate}}

===Wars manga===
{{charstubfiction|{{storylink|Rodimus Wars}}}}

===''Story of Binaltech''===
In an alternate timeline where Optimus survived Cybertron's encounter with Unicron thanks to a temporally displaced Ravage, Hot Rod was shocked to hear that he would have become the Autobots' next leader, had the flow of time not been altered. After hearing so from Overdrive, who had investigated the other timeline with his dimensional powers, Hot Rod eyed the Matrix, now in Ultra Magnus's possession. Ultra Magnus told Hot Rod not to get any ideas. {{storylink|Binal Time}}

===''Kiss Players''===
{{voiceactor|[[Ryōtarō Okiayu]] (Japanese)}}

[[File:Kp3 toy accurate hotrod.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb]]
When Rodimus Prime hurled Galvatron into space at the conclusion of their battle within Unicron, he could not have predicted the tragic result of this action. Galvatron crash-landed on Earth, on top of [[Tokyo]], [[Japan]], devastating the city and sparking off a massive anti-Transformer movement spearheaded by the [[Earth Defense Command]]. Horrified by what his actions had wrought, Rodimus gave up the Matrix to Ultra Magnus and reverted to Hot Rod once more, seeking a way to redeem himself for his unintentional misdeeds. {{storylink|Transformers: Kiss Players (radio drama)|A Big Catch Tonight?!}}

[[File:Kissplay3 hot rod tentacled.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|There came a point during rehearsals that Hot Rod wondered if The Haunted Sunflower was the right role for him.]]
Hot Rod returned to Earth in the year 2006, by which stage the planet had been scoured clean of Transformers by the E.D.C. He was badly damaged by the [[anti-electron]] field that the E.D.C. had set up around the planet, and wound up falling out of the sky and crashing into the E.D.C.'s headquarters, plunging through its levels into the subterranean chamber known as the [[Genital System]]. His explosive arrival interrupted a grotesque experiment involving former E.D.C. operative [[Shaoshao Li]] and the severed heads of several [[Legion]] (monstrous creatures created when Galvatron's cells, scattered by his impact, fused with Earthly creatures and machines). {{storylink|Kiss Players issue 2|Kiss Players #2}} The Legion attacked Hot Rod and began to [[ParasiTech|fuse]] with him, but a [[kiss]] from Shaoshao—one of the E.D.C.'s [[Kiss Player]]s, also given fusing powers by Galvatron's cells—saved him, reformatting him into a Ford GT body. {{storylink|Kiss Players issue 3|Kiss Players #3}}

Together with Shaoshao, Hot Rod went on the run, battling the E.D.C. and the Legion, while working to expose the evil intentions behind of Shaoshao's former employers. {{storylink|Transformers: Kiss Players (radio drama)|Kiss Players radio drama #2}} Shaoshao, a longtime robot-hater, was not pleased about the partnership, disgusted by both the fact that she had to kiss Hot Rod {{storylink|Transformers: Kiss Players (radio drama)|Kiss Players radio drama #5}} and the Autobot's own smug self-confidence in his speed and sharpshooting skills. She insisted that he work hard on his martial arts training, but Rodimus preferred to simply use Shaoshao's own skills by fusing with her. {{storylink|Transformers: Kiss Players (radio drama)|Kiss Players radio drama #8}} As part of his training, he learned to wield his tonfa weapons as guns, and embarked on a long-distance drive as a test of endurance. {{storylink|Transformers: Kiss Players (radio drama)|Kiss Players radio drama #11}}

Drawn to the E.D.C. headquarters by a massive Legion attack on the facility, Hot Rod and Shaoshao were shocked to see Optimus Prime at the head of the Legion swarm! Given that Prime had died the previous year, Hot Rod assumed he was facing an imposter and attacked, unaware that this was actually the genuine article, who had been brought back to life by the Kiss Player powers of Shaoshao's old friend, [[Marissa Faireborn]]. The battle was broken up and the Legions turned away by the E.D.C.'s most powerful Kiss Player, [[Atari Hitotonari]], and Hot Rod and Shaoshao returned to their fugitive lifestyle. {{storylink|Kiss Players issue 3|Kiss Players #3}}

[[File:HotRodKP.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Flames on his arms and a naked girl in his tummy.]]
Despite being on the lam, Hot Rod still had time for a little fishing now and then, (even though Shaoshao hated the fishy stench he would invariably return covered in) {{storylink|Transformers: Kiss Players (radio drama)|Kiss Players radio drama #17}} and even built himself a fishing pole that could transform into a set of blasters, dubbed the "[[exhaust weaponry|Exhaust Rod]]". {{storylink|Transformers: Kiss Players (radio drama)|Kiss Players radio drama #20}} While Hot Rod was putting his new pole to use on a fishing trip to Tokyo Bay, he and Shaoshao were attacked by a mass of Legion and fused to fight back. It was during this latest fusion that Shaoshao glimpsed Hot Rod's memories and discovered that he was responsible for throwing Galvatron into space, and her fury caused the fusion to end quite violently. {{storylink|Transformers: Kiss Players (radio drama)|A Big Catch Tonight?!}} Despite Hot Rod's peace offering of new underwear (actually stolen from Marissa), {{storylink|Transformers: Kiss Players (radio drama)|Kiss Players radio drama #29}} Shaoshao concluded that she really didn't care about his guilt, and was just using him to win Marissa back from Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Transformers: Kiss Players (radio drama)|Kiss Players radio drama #26}}

[[File:KP002.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.1| [[Chris Ho|Kisses!]]]]
Investigating a large number of Legion that seemed to be converging on Tokyo, Hot Rod and Shaoshao spotted a dark-haired girl riding on the shoulder of one of the creatures. As they watched, she disappeared into the Legion, and they believed she may have been a Kiss Player, until Hot Rod realised that his scanners had not picked up any body heat from the girl. {{storylink|Transformers: Kiss Players (radio drama)|Kiss Players radio drama #32}} As if this haunting experience was not bad enough, Hot Rod then began to suffer from nightmares, filled with images of Megatron, caused by the Galvatron cells that the Legion had added to his system when they had tried to fuse with him. Shaoshao exploited the increase in Rodimus's violent tendencies that these nightmares caused by whispering in the Autobot's ear as he slept, telling him that he had to kill the impostor Optimus Prime so she could have Marissa back. {{storylink|Transformers: Kiss Players (radio drama)|Kiss Players radio drama #35}}

When Marissa and Prime led another army of Legions in another attack on the E.D.C. headquarters, Shaoshao and Hot Rod were again there to face them. The two Autobots were overcome by the destructive impulses of their Galvatron cells and began viciously fighting, but as they did so, Marissa and Shaoshao were able to settle their own differences and bring the battle to an end, vowing to discover the dark secret at the heart of the E.D.C. {{storylink|Transformers: Kiss Players (radio drama)|Kiss Players radio drama #37}} Together with Atari, the group ventured down into the Genital System, where they discovered a secret plot by E.D.C. commander [[Hitoshizuku Amaō]] to resurrect her dead daughter (the ghost girl Hot Rod and Shaoshao had seen) in Atari's body. Atari thwarted Amaō's fusion process, however, and instead caused all of the scattered Galvatron cells to be re-absorbed into the Decepticon leader's comatose body. Hot Rod destroyed the anti-electron field generator, and was then reverted to normal as his Galvatron cells were drawn out of him and reconstituted within Galvatron's body, which Atari then flung into space. {{storylink|Transformers: Kiss Players (radio drama)|You, I, and the Spinning Earth}}

Hot Rod went on his way, but did not take back the Matrix and leadership of the Autobots until the year 2010. It is unknown whether he ever discovered that the true instigators of the Tokyo incident were Unicron's minions, the [[Sparkbot]]s, who had altered Galvatron's trajectory. {{storylink|Generation 1 cartoon timeline (Japan)|Kiss Players timeline}}

{{--}}

===e-HOBBY comics (1)===
[[File:Black Rodimus Convoy comic.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1]]

Burdened by leadership and the shadow of his predecessor, Rodimus Prime let doubt creep into his mind. Unfortunately, the doubt didn't stay there—a [[clone synthesizer]] prepared by [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]] created a new duplicate body of Rodimus, and his negative emotions flowed into it to create a second whole personality. [[Black Rodimus Convoy|Black Rodimus]] emerged and caught his "creator" off-guard, stealing the power of the Matrix from his chest. Now back as Hot Rod, Rodimus was forced to fight to reclaim the mantle he never wanted to begin with. {{storylink|Destron Doppelgänger Black Rodimus Convoy}}
{{-}}

===''The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers''===
[[File:Ep14.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.1|He's so dreeeaaaaamyyyy.]]
Rodimus Prime faced numerous bizarre challenges in the year 2010, one of which involved Galvatron attempting to seize spaceships with his ''own'' spaceship that ate ''other'' spaceships. Rodimus infiltrated the toothy craft in order to plant a bomb to destroy it. Unfortunately, Galvatron trapped him inside and beat him senseless. Rodimus was about to give up when the spirit of Optimus Prime spoke to him through the Matrix, urging him to fight on. Rodimus snapped out of it and escaped through a hole created by Galvatron's cannon. Before leaving, though, he dropped the bomb off in Cyclonus' hands, detonating the ship. {{storylink|The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers issue 1|The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers #1}}

During another adventure, Rodimus and his troops were taken under siege by a horde of Megatron clones calling themselves the [[Megatron Corps]]. The Megatron Corps made short work of Rodimus, leaving him to wonder how he could defeat a whole horde of the baddie, when Optimus Prime could barely deal with ''one''. Rodimus eventually realized that Galvatron was secretly controlling the clones and singled him out. With Galvatron defeated, the Megatron Corps ceased to function. {{storylink|The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers issue 2|The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers #2}}

Not long after that, Galvatron attacked [[Autobot City (G1)|Autobot City]] on Earth with the power of [[Trypticon (G1)|Trypticon]]. Though Trypticon was defeated by [[Six-Gun]], of all Autobots, Rodimus did not arrive on the scene until after the battle had ended. Young blonde [[human]] girls squealed at his hunkiness, though. {{storylink|The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers issue 3|The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers #3}}

During another battle, he was forced to team with his nemesis, Galvatron, to defeat the all-powerful [[Guiltaur]]. Guiltaur was a creation built by the [[Quintesson]]s utilizing the powers of both Optimus Prime and Megatron. Together, Rodimus and Galvatron defeated their foe (who it turned out was being controlled by the ghost of [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]]) and called off the truce. {{storylink|The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers issue 4|The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers #4}}

After that, Rodimus led the Autobots to the planet [[Feminia]] to protect its [[Prime Energy Tower]] from Galvatron and the Decepticons. The Autobots proved ineffectual against the might of [[Predaking (G1)|Predaking]]... at least until the [[Omnibot (G1)|Omnibots]] showed up to win the day. {{storylink|The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers issue 5|The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers #5}}
{{-}}

===''Macrocosmic Seekers''===
[[File:United Expanded Story 5.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4]]
On [[Christmas|Christmas Eve]], 2010, Rodimus Prime was attending a party thrown by Daniel Witwicky when he received a transmission from the Junkion [[Scrapheap (G1)|Scrapheap]] about a mysterious "treasure" he had found on [[Junkion (planet)|Junkion]]. Sneaking out of the party with Kup, Rodimus headed for Junkion, where he discovered that Scrapheap's find was a piece of Optimus Prime's armor, shorn off in some ages-old battle, which had made its way to the Junk planet as all refuse does; valueless scrap to anyone else, but a precious reminder and a Christmas present like no other for the young Autobot leader. {{storylink|A Gift from the Planet of Scrap}} Unfortunately, Rodimus's communications with Scrapheap had been monitored by the Decepticons, and Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge then arrived to steal the "treasure", unaware of what it actually was. {{storylink|Unending Battle}} During the battle, Galvatron captured Kup and demanded the treasure in exchange for his life; Rodimus Prime was perfectly willing to comply, but before he could, the entire group was suddenly abducted by the mysterious alien known as the [[Seeker (United)|Seeker]]. {{storylink|A Treasure Lost}}

[[File:United Expanded Story 6.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.4]]
Interested in studying the personalised, accelerated evolutions Rodimus and the three Decepticons had undergone in their lifetimes, the Seeker sealed them in capsules and used his powers to wind time back to the moment of their recreations: Rodimus was transformed back into Hot Rod, his body perpetually shimmering with the blue light of the Matrix, from the moment when he opened it and was transformed into Rodimus Prime. {{storylink|Eternal Moment}} Freed by Scrapheap, Rodimus and the youthful Junkion liberated the Decepticons, {{storylink|Time to Move}} who then set about destroying large portions of the Seeker's ship, eroding the alien's consciousness along with it. Throughout the firefight, Hot Rod protected Kup with a new power his Seeker-induced transformation had given him: the ability to project a forcefield from his buzzsaw. {{storylink|Those Who Resist}} With the Seeker destroyed, Hot Rod determined to end the fighting by handing the treasure over to Galvatron, who left in a rage when he discovered the whole fight had been over a piece of worthless metal. Even as he departed, however, Hot Rod held on to his morals and refused to shoot him in the back; amused, Galvatron refrained from any parting attacks also. {{storylink|A Treasure's True Worth}}

[[File:United Expanded Story 9.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4]]
To cure the wounds [[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]] had sustained in the fight, Scrapheap used an energy siphon recovered from the Seeker's ship to drain off the Matrix energy from Hot Rod's body and use it to heal the old Autobot. In the process, Hot Rod's own consciousness drifted into the Matrix, where he spoke once again with the ancient Autobots within, and finally asked them why he was chosen as the next leader when Ultra Magnus had seemed a more appropriate choice. The Autobots responded that while it was true that Magnus could well have been a leader of Optimus Prime's caliber, Optimus Prime had never succeeded in ending the war. It was only through innovation, through Hot Rod and the choices he could make, the actions he could perform, the things Optimus or Magnus could ''not'' do, that change could be brought about. With this realization, Hot Rod began to return to consciousness, but not before he heard Optimus Prime tell him that he would always be with him, regardless of what the future held. {{storylink|Journey to the Future}} Reawakening, Hot Rod found he was Rodimus Prime once more, and congratulated Scrapheap on his quick thinking with an offer to join the Autobots, which Scrapheap happily accepted. {{storylink|Macrocosmic Seekers (issue)|Macrocosmic Seekers}}
{{-}}

===Controverse===
Hot Rod attended the trial of [[Primacron]] held by the Galactic Courts. Though at first furious that a [[Adveraros|Quintesson]] was presiding over the tribunal, when the judge acquitted Primacron and ordered him sent to [[Doruka III]] for his protection, Hot Rod found the ruling to be surprisingly sensible. That is, until he was informed that the Quintessons likely planned on harvesting the scientist's brain on the asylum planet. The courtroom erupted into chaos as both Autobots and Decepticons made a grab for Primacron, and Hot Rod helped control the panicked crowd while others saw to Primacron's safety. {{storylink|Controverse}}

===''The Great Transformer War''===
[[File:Greattfwar rodimus.jpg|left|thumb|265px| Find out tonight on WWE: TRANSFORMERS!]]
After the [[Protectobot (G1)|Protectobot]]s rescued the scientist Doctor [[Dalton]] from the clutches of the Decepticons, Rodimus met with him to discuss upgrading the [[Technobot (G1)|Technobots]]. {{storylink|The Great Transformer War issue 1|The Great Transformer War #1}}

Rodimus then watched on in horror as the [[Terrorcon (G1)|Terrorcon]]s made short work of the upgraded Technobots and nearly turned them into Decepticons with [[Cohesive Control Liquid]]. [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]] managed to save the Technobots and send the Decepticons into retreat, swearing vengeance. {{storylink|The Great Transformer War issue 2|The Great Transformer War #2}}

Early in [[2011]], after having given up the Matrix of Leadership and reverted to Hot Rod, he accompanied the newly resurrected Optimus Prime in a space battle against Galvatron and the Decepticons. The Decepticons fled, and though Hot Rod wished to pursue them, Optimus ordered him the return to base, as the entire battle seemed fishy. Indeed, it was all a distraction so that Galvatron could begin his ultimate invasion of Cybertron. {{storylink|The Great Transformer War issue 3|The Great Transformer War #3}}
{{-}}

===''The Headmasters'' cartoon===
{{voiceactor|[[Hiroya Ishimaru]] (Japanese)|[[John Culkin]] (English, Omni Productions dub), [[Chen Daqian]] (Chinese)}}
[[File:MysteryofPlanetMaster-HotRod.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.66|"And ''you'' better stay close to ''me!''"]]
One year after the Hate Plague affair and the resurrection of Optimus Prime, Hot Rod maintained a high-level position among the Autobots as well as a new sense of duty and responsibility. Hot Rod was stationed on [[Athenia]] when the Decepticons, bolstered with the addition of new Headmaster warriors, attacked Cybertron in an attempt to take control of [[Vector Sigma]], which had become destabilized as a result of the Matrix's energy being released. {{storylink|Four Warriors Come out of the Sky}}

When a group of Autobot Headmasters arrived to help, Optimus Prime broke off from the battle and ventured into Cybertron's depths, hoping to find a way to stabilize Vector Sigma. This, however, would require the sacrifice of his own life if attempted without the Matrix, which was hidden somewhere on Earth, recharging. {{storylink|The Mystery of Planet Master}} Hot Rod and the Autobot Headmasters searched the Matrix out and returned to Cybertron with it, where the spirit of [[Alpha Trion (G1)|Alpha Trion]] recharged its empty shell, transforming Hot Rod back into Rodimus Prime. Optimus and Rodimus defeated the Decepticons together, but Optimus still wound up sacrificing himself to stabilize Vector Sigma, leaving Rodimus Prime in command of the Autobots once again. {{storylink|Birth of the Fantastic Double Prime}}

[[File:DoubleConvoy1.jpg|225px|thumb|"Race ya to the Matrix!" "Yer on!"]]
Rodimus Prime chose to oversee Autobot operations largely from Athenia, leaving Earth as Ultra Magnus and Metroplex's jurisdiction, and maintaining a relatively minor presence on Cybertron itself. One of his actions as returning leader was to oversee the resurrection of [[Blaster (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Blaster]], who gave his life during the recent search for the Matrix. He had [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress]] employ [[Master (planet)|Master]] technology to revive the communications expert in a new body as Twincast. {{storylink|The Great Cassette Operation}} After Fortress and the Headmasters ran into trouble on the planet [[Beast (planet)|Beast]], Rodimus Prime brought the [[Trainbot]]s and [[Monsterbot]]s with him as reinforcements to foil Galvatron's plans. {{storylink|Rebellion on Planet Beast}} He also oversaw the Autobots' efforts to defeat a [[Metamorphose|metal-warping meteorite]], and encouraged Daniel to be courageous enough to help the Autobots against the metal-sensitive menace. {{storylink|Approach of the Demon Meteorite}}

One day, Rodimus Prime accompanied Ultra Magnus to an energy research laboratory, where a new power source had supposedly been discovered. Upon arrival, however, they discovered the research team had been killed and no new power source existed. Reviewing the tape announcing the discovery, Rodimus realized the broadcasting scientist was actually under the control of [[Mindwipe (G1)|Mindwipe]], and the whole trip was to get him out of the way so that Scorponok could set a trap for the Headmasters on [[Praum]]. Taking the Trainbots, Rodimus Prime arrived on Praum in time to help the Headmasters chase off Galvatron and their evil counterparts. {{storylink|The Four-Million-Year-Old Veil of Mystery}} Rodimus Prime soon supervised the Autobots during a series of terrorist threats around the globe. He allowed [[Shouki]] and the Trainbots to take first crack at the robot threatening their homeland of Japan. {{storylink|Terror! The Six Shadows}}

[[File:Hm10 fortress appointed commander.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.66|"Don't worry, all you have to do to be a better leader than me is to ''not get the planet blown up.''"]]
When Vector Sigma created a new kind of super-metal known as [[Cybertonuron]], Rodimus Prime realized it would be a tempting target for the Decepticons. Sure enough, Galvatron soon launched an all-out attack on Cybertron to capture Vector Sigma and the Cybertonuron. Rodimus assembled a massive counterstrike force to transport to Cybertron, but Fortress cautioned that the whole ordeal thus far might be a trap. Rodimus recognized the possibility, but stated the idea of Galvatron controlling the Cybertonuron was too dangerous to risk. Rodimus Prime traveled to Cybertron himself aboard the [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Battleship Maximus]], and engaged Galvatron in hand-to-hand combat. Tragically, Rodimus was soundly defeated by his old foe, and would have been helplessly executed by Galvatron if [[Soundwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Soundblaster]] hadn't insisted on giving his leader an office memo Right. That. Minute. TPS reports wait for no 'bot. {{storylink|Cybertron Is in Grave Danger, Part 1}} As the fighting continued to escalate, [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] decided it was too dangerous to risk the Autobots keeping control of the Cybertonuron. He had Mindwipe and the Headmasters plant a series of bombs at Cybertron core, resulting in a massive planetary explosion, leaving Cybertron a burnt-out husk. Deciding that his time was over, and that newer, younger Transformers should take over, Rodimus passed leadership of the Autobots to [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress]], and departed for space with Kup and [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]] to search for a new planet that the Transformers could make their own. Arcee asked if she could go, too, but Rodimus instructed her to stay behind to look after Daniel and Wheelie. {{storylink|Cybertron Is in Grave Danger, Part 2}}
{{-}}

===''The Headmasters'' manga===
[[File:RodimusHeadmasterManga08.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4]]
With Optimus Prime dead yet again, Hot Rod returned to being Rodimus Prime and erected a [[Optimus Prime memorial|statue]] of his fallen commander on Cybertron. During the dedication, the Decepticons were spotted approaching the planet. Rodimus dispatched the [[Headmasters of Justice]] to deal with the threat. {{storylink|The Headmasters issue 1|The Headmasters #1}}

Later, the Decepticons made a second attempt to seize planet [[Beast (planet)|Beast]] while the Autobot [[Beastformer]] leader, [[White Leo]], was away. Rodimus Prime sent the Headmasters of Justice to Beast in order to drive back the invading Decepticons. {{storylink|Great Decisive Battle of Planet Beast!}}

During his journey through space in search of a replacement homeworld for the Autobots, Rodimus faced many dangers and hardships, but was supported by the wisdom of the Matrix and the energy of the Earth that now coursed within it. Learning a new admiration for the human race and the planet Earth, he returned to Earth in the wake of the defeat of Scorponok, and reunited with the Autobots. {{storylink|The Headmasters issue 8|The Headmasters #8}}
{{-}}

===''Super-God Masterforce'' cartoon===
Archive footage of Rodimus Prime and many other Autobots engaging the Decepticons in a space battle was used to educate the [[Headmaster Junior]]s on the history of the Transformer conflict. {{storylink|Birth! Headmaster Jrs}}

===''United EX''===
Rodimus Prime trained a young Autobot codenamed [[Rapido|Racemaster]], teaching him a lesson he himself had learned during the whole Ultimate Weapon business: that the strongest weapon is a sharp mind. In honor of his teacher, Racemaster wore a red and yellow paint job with flames on his hood. {{storylink|Weapons of a New Generation}}

===''Transformers Legends'' comic===
[[File:TFLegends19 micro transformers and rodimus.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.75]]
In the years following his departure from command, Rodimus reverted to his Hot Rod identity and adopted a new [[Micromaster]] body, becoming leader of the Micromasters. He led his people to a new planet, which they named [[Micro]], and founded a new Micromaster civilization. {{storylink|Transformers 2015 Tailgate/G1 Micron Chapter|Tailgate/G1 Micron Chapter}} He invited Blurr to join him, but Blurr couldn't bring himself to become a Micromaster and left Hot Rod's side. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 25|Bonus Edition Vol. 25}} Kup also left him after being traumatized by a Sharkticon they encountered while settling Micro. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 46|Bonus Edition Vol. 46}}

In [[2021]], Hot Rod left Micro and joined his old partner Shaoshao Li on a [[Galactic Peace Alliance]] mission to recover the [[Targetmaster (technology)|Targetmasters]] lost in the [[Legends World]]. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 45|Bonus Edition Vol. 45}} He converted from Micromaster to [[Headmaster (technology)|Headmaster]] in order to blend in with the many Headmasters living in that dimension, though he lacked a [[transtector]] of his own. {{storylink|Targetmaster Chapter Prologue}} Ever optimistic, he figured things would work themselves out and went fishing, and was soon proven right when he fished up a Sharkticon that led them to Scourge's Sweeps, who were in possession of [[Blowpipe (G1)|Blowpipe]]. With some help from Grimlock, Hot Rod and Shaoshao captured the Sweeps and were offered jobs by the local police as thanks. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 44|Bonus Edition Vol. 44}} Granted a transtector by the police force, Hot Rod used it to confront Scourge, who was using Blowpipe to clone himself and cause trouble. Scourge responded by creating evil clones of Hot Rod as well, but he defeated the villains using Shaoshao's own Targetmaster mode and successfully captured Blowpipe. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 45|Bonus Edition Vol. 45}}

Hot Rod and Shaoshao recaptured Blowpipe after he was stolen away by [[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]], {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 47|Bonus Edition Vol. 47}} but couldn't contain the Targetmaster for long because of his [[plasma energy]] emissions. Hot Rod sought the help of the only person immune to Blowpipe's powers, his partner [[Triggerhappy (G1)|Triggerhappy]], and reluctantly inducted him into the police force after he succeeded. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 49|Bonus Edition Vol. 49}} The duo next investigated [[Misfire (G1)|Misfire]], discovering that his partner [[Aimless (G1)|Aimless]] had developed the power to manipulate time. Misfire caught them snooping and tried to use this power against Hot Rod, but failed thanks to his poor aim and instead hit Shaoshao, reverting her age. Hot Rod promptly defeated him, captured Aimless and had him fix Shaoshao, though not before Misfire blasted Hot Rod by accident and temporarily transformed him back into Rodimus Prime. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 52|Bonus Edition Vol. 52}}

When Blurr came to the police looking to report the missing [[White Lune]], Hot Rod recognized his speech pattern and was overjoyed to be reunited with his old pal. The search led to another happy reunion when they ran into Kup, and together the trio used their respective Targetmaster partners to save White Lune from the Sweeps. {{storylink|TF Legends Late Xmas Present Chapter|Late Xmas Present Chapter}} Hot Rod was then among [[Slugslinger (G1)|Slugslinger]]'s victims when he attacked all Transformers using [[anti-electron]]s. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 55|Bonus Edition Vol. 55}} {{storylink|Slugslinger's Ambition}} and huddled behind [[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]]'s force field when the mutant Autobot Targetmasters went on a rampage. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 62|Bonus Edition Vol. 62}} Following another attack on the city, he cheered when [[Topspin (G1)|Topspin]] used the [[Zodiac]] to repair the damage. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 66|Bonus Edition Vol. 66}} Hot Rod and Shaoshao later interrogated the captive [[Devil Z]], but could do little to stop him from breaking out of jail once he was done talking. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. EX (Grand Maximus)|Bonus Edition Vol. EX}}

Sometime in the [[2030]]s, a past-his-prime Springer found himself in the Legends World. Upon arriving, he regaled the locals with stories of his adventures with Rodimus Prime (whom he egotistically characterized as an inconsequential background character). {{storylink|LG19 Sprung Prologue}}
{{-}}

===''The Battlestars'' toyline===
Micromaster Hot Rod returned to Optimus Prime's side when Prime was resurrected as [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity#The Battlestars story pages and comic|Star Convoy]], taking up residence in Star Convoy's chest and boosting his Supreme Commander's power.

===''Regeneration One''===
[[File:RG1 93 rodimii.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.4|Micromaster Hot Rod is the micro one]]
An alternate timeline's [[Hot Rod (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Hot Rod]] travelled to the [[Primus]] chamber at the centre of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] with the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]], where he had a vision of all the various Hot Rods and Rodimuses across the [[multiverse]], including a Micromaster Hot Rod. {{storylink|Destiny, Part Three}} After the alternate Hot Rod got hold of the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]] and became Rodimus Prime he used the [[Covenant of Primus]] to infiltrate [[Zero Space]] and confront the Dark Matrix creature, which summoned three versions of [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Optimus Prime]] to defend itself. Rodimus Prime then likewise sent ripples throughout the multiverse, bringing forth multiple versions of himself to battle the Dark Matrix creature. Having loosened its control over Optimus, the other Hot Rods allowed Rodimus Prime to seal the multiversal breach with the [[Sword of Primus]]. {{storylink|The War to End All Wars, Part 5}}
{{-}}

===''15 Go! Go!''===
[[File:Hotrod-micro.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|left|Well, at least this girl has clothes on.]]
While Star Convoy was occupied battling the reborn Megatron, Hot Rod was busy on Earth dealing with the threat posed by [[Transwarp]] wormwholes that had randomly begun appearing around the planet. During his efforts, he came upon the human computer [[Teletraan 15]], who had traveled forward in time on an information-gathering mission, and saved her from a [[Novaroid]]. Having been familiar with Hot Rod in the past, 15 was a little surprised to see him in a Micromaster form, but he brushed off her comments and accused her of being responsible for the Transwarp disturbances. The appearance of a huge wormwhole overhead, however, prompted Hot Rod to set his concerns aside, transform to [[alternate mode|vehicle mode]] and carry 15 away to safety. {{storylink|Hot Rod Volume}}

Before they got very far, Star Convoy appeared and requested Hot Rod's assistance, telling him that Megatron was fusing with [[Dark Nova]]. Hot Rod said his farewells to 15, preparing to depart with his leader, {{storylink|Star Convoy Volume}} but before he could leave, he was suddenly struck by an immense blast from the wormhole overhead. The shadowy form of [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]] descended from the rip in the sky, and 15 leaped in front of Hot Rod to protect him, but was rewarded for her heroism by having her right arm torn off by the insane Decepticon. {{storylink|Galvatron Volume}} Rescued by [[Safety]] and [[Fly-Up]] of the [[Guard City]] team, the last thing Teletraan 15 saw before passing out was Galvatron throttling Hot Rod. {{storylink|Galvatron Volume 2}} The outcome of the battle and the fate of Hot Rod were left unknown, but he had obviously left his mark on 15, whose severed arm was replaced with a convertible buzz-saw blade, just like Hot Rod's own. {{storylink|Galvatron Volume 3}}

Their time-traveling next brought them to the year 2010. There, the [[Kiss Players (singing group)|Kiss Players]] (unknowingly being manipulated by the evil [[Sparkabot]]s) invisibly approached Rodimus Prime while he was opening the Galactic Games. They took a fragment of the Allspark from him and continued on their time-spanning adventure. {{storylink|Sparkbots Volume 1}}
{{-}}

===e-HOBBY comics (2)===
When a [[Socialist Democratic Federated Republic of Carbombya|Carbombyan]] freighter was attacked by strange bio-engineered monsters, Hot Rod was among the Autobots assembled by Optimus Prime to investigate. {{storylink|MP-1B Cybertron Commander / Convoy Black Ver.}} They eventually discovered that the monsters were created by the Decepticons in an undersea lab. When the creatures took [[Daniel Witwicky (G1)|Black Convoy]] hostage, Hot Rod joined a team to rescue him. {{storylink|MP-3G Destron Air Commander / Starscream Ghost Ver.}}

==''Wings Universe''==
[[File:WingsOfHonor-HotRod.jpg|thumb|upright]]
In the year [[2009]], Hot Rod, Kup, and the Dinobots experienced ''déja vu'' all over again when a horde of Decepticons attacked their shuttle. Cyclonus, Scourge, and 35 of his Sweeps chased them into a nebula where the Autobots lay low to finish repairs. When the boarding party finally found them, Kup's experience helped Hot Rod and the others drive off their attackers. {{Storylink|Wings of Honor}}

At some point, Hot Rod took the name Rodimus Major and joined the [[Wrecker]]s. He died and the ''[[Rodimus Major]]'' was later named in his honor. {{storylink|Tornado - Decepticon Saboteur|Apelinq's personal logs}}

Unaware that Rodimus had passed on, the pirate captain [[Cannonball (G1)|Cannonball]] imagined that the Autobot would bear witness to his plundering of Cybertron. Since Cybertron had become a techno-organic planet by 2984, the plundering part didn't happen either. {{storylink|Hoist the Flag}}
{{--}}

==Ask Vector Prime==
In a universe where [[Primax]] and [[Gargent]] realities were merged on the eve of [[The Transformers: The Movie|events of cosmic significance]], Hot Rod was enjoying a relaxing day fishing with [[gbwiki:Nick Burns|Nick Burns]] when they discovered at the last minute that [[Cy-Kill (GoBots)|Cy-Kill]] was about to unleash an ambush on Autobot City. He fired on the compromised Command Center, briefly battled [[gbwiki:Destroyer|Destroyer]] and [[gbwiki:Fly Trap|Fly Trap]] and made for the safety of the city with Kup.

After the battle, he, Kup, and the Dinobots fled the advance of Galvatron and his minions, [[Fracture (Movie)|Fracture]] and [[Deadlift]] only to have his Command Center shot down over [[Antares 3|Antares III]]. He battled the Master Renegade's Monster GoBot forces with the help of the [[gbwiki:RoGun|RoGuns]], commandeering his ship to make his way to [[gbwiki:Major Mo|Major Mo]] and the other Autobots and [[Guardian (GoBots)|Guardians]] stranded on [[Quartex (planet)|Quartex]]. They made an alliance with some friendly [[Rock Lord]]s there and beat back an attack by hostile Rock Lords.

The Autobots, Guardians, RoGuns, and Rock Lords made their way to Cybertron, where they battled Unicron. Hot Rod found himself battling with Galvatron. He found himself unable to open the Guardian Matrix of Leadership, until [[Vector Prime]] fixed reality and restored the Matrix to its normal state. He opened the Matrix, evolved into Rodimus Prime, defeated Galvatron, and prepared to usher in a new era of Autobot hegemony. {{storylink|Echoes and Fragments}}

==''Timelines''==
In [[Primax 1086.01 Alpha]], Optimus Prime's corpse was vaporized in a Quintesson plot. Perhaps because Optimus's essence was more firmly integrated into the Matrix of Leadership, Scourge defeated Hot Rod and retained possession of the Matrix. {{storylink|Rook - Axiom Nexus News: Investigative Journalist|Rook - Axiom Nexus News, 2016/02/07}}

==''Deviations''==
In an alternate universe, Kup tackled Hot Rod to the ground to prevent him from interfering with Optimus's battle against Megatron. As a result, the Autobot leader gained the upper hand and executed his longtime foe. In the aftermath, Hot Rod got chewed out by Ultra Magnus for his thoughts on the Decepticon retreat, and then got smacked by Kup for criticizing the Matrix of Leadership. Optimus assigned Hot Rod to Magnus's ship as the Autobots made preparations to evacuate, a decision which didn't please either of the Autobots.

En route to Moonbase Two, Hot Rod began experiencing strange dreams of Optimus dying. Magnus overheard his comments to Daniel and interpreted these visions as a sign of treachery. Before he could act the convoy came under attack by Megascream, the newly upgraded form of Starscream. Hot Rod suggested that they reverse the engines so that the Decepticons would overshoot them, although Perceptor shot down his idea. Hot Rod went ahead and did it anyway after an explosion took Perceptor out of commission. The plan failed and their engines burnt out, pushing their ships into a remote sector. Magnus ordered Hot Rod and Daniel into the last escape pod, which took them down onto the planet Junk shortly before the ship exploded.

Hot Rod moped around for a while, feeling responsible for the deaths of his friends, before Daniel reminded him of his earlier words about the Matrix. Shortly afterwards, Optimus found the two of them, and before long they had returned to Moonbase Two, just in time to prevent Unicron's final attack on the planet. When Optimus Prime headed out to confront Megascream, Hot Rod–still feeling the call of the Matrix–stowed away on Prime's shuttle. He broke cover and intervened in the fight after Megascream–now a monstrous combiner–crushed Prime and tried to seize the Matrix for himself. Slipping a [[teleport disc]] onto his leader, Hot Rod spirited Prime back to safety and then, with the last of his strength, opened the Matrix, destroying Megascream, Unicron, and himself.

In the aftermath, Optimus Prime commended Rodimus Prime, who had joined Alpha Trion and the other heroes of Cybertron in the Matrix. {{storylink|Transformers: Deviations|Deviations}}

==Notes==
[[File:RodimusPrime-earlymodel.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4]]
*Like the rest of the 1986 movie's original characters, Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime had early designs by [[Floro Dery]] which the toys were based on, and then final models were drawn from the toys. Both designs had revised heads that made it into the ''[[The Transformers Universe|Transformers Universe]]'' profile books and subsequent Marvel comic book appearances.
**Rodimus Prime's early model appears to carry the trailer of the truck on his back, plus additional [[kibble]] on the back of his forearms. If only there were art of the back of this design. We'd plotz.
**Both Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime's character models suggest that the windshield and roof of their respective vehicles form the pelvic area, including little side windows on their hips. The animation studio [[AKOM]] even colored his crotch like his windshield. Unsurprisingly, this has never been duplicated on any toy, although the Masterpiece version makes a nod to it with a transparent groin plate with indentations underneath denoting two seats and a steering wheel.
**Meanwhile, both sets of wheels are on Hot Rod's arms in his character model, as they are intended to span the entire length of the vehicle. His wristcuffs are intended to become the vehicle's taillights. This also has never been duplicated on any toy.
**Much of Hot Rod's early model seemed to form the basis of Rodimus Prime's finished model. (Though given that nearly everybody else from the movie had a totally redrawn finished model, we wouldn't be surprised if there's a more-final-er model out there.)
**According to earliest materials (also the source of the earliest Hot Rod head seen in this section's first image), Rodimus Prime's original name was '''Hot Rodimus'''.
[[File:Hotrodrodimuscharactermodels.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4]]
*Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime look very similar in fiction, but there are ways to distinguish them by sight.
**Rodimus Prime's character model has extra lines on his face that go from the bottom of his nose and connect to another line forming a triangle shape. Hot Rod's cheeks are more clear and youthful.
**Despite their toys being the same color of red, the cartoon series rendered Hot Rod as magenta, and Rodimus a dark shade of burgundy (the movie, however, made Rodimus the same color as Hot Rod). In addition to repeatedly getting the two character models mixed up, sometimes the animation would depict one model colored as the other.
**The Japanese ''[[Transformers: The Headmasters (cartoon)|Headmasters]]'' cartoon, in addition to featuring the coloration differences of the Generation 1 cartoon, also added some extra lines around the perimeter of Rodimus's eyes to further distinguish him from Hot Rod. These odd-looking lines appeared only intermittently, thankfully so—they made Rodimus look like he was wearing robo-mascara. The ''Headmasters'' Rodimus Prime character model also moved the wheel kibble from the back of the arms to the front, to better approximate their position on the toy.
*In ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'', Hot Rod does not transform the same way twice.
*Voice actor Ted Schwartz was originally cast to succeed Judd Nelson as the voice of Rodimus Prime for the third season of the animated series, but was subsequently replaced by [[Dick Gautier]]. Before his replacement, however, Schwartz recorded Rodimus's lines for several episodes (most likely all five parts of "[[Five Faces of Darkness]]"), and although Gautier re-recorded the dialogue, technical oversight led to some of Schwartz's readings making it into the finished episodes. He can be heard delivering all of Rodimus's lines in the recap for [[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1|part 1]] that plays at the beginning of [[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2|part 2]], and speaking one line during the scene on [[Goo 8739B]] in [[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 3|part 3]].
*At [[BotCon 2002]], Dick Gautier "confirmed", jokingly, that Rodimus Prime is gay.

[[Category:Autobot leaders]]
[[Category:Convoys]]
[[Category:Generation 1 cartoon Autobots]]
[[Category:Headmasters]]
[[Category:Kiss Players Autobots]]
[[Category:Legends Autobots]]
[[Category:Matrix bearers]]
[[Category:Micromasters]]
[[Category:Primes]]
[[Category:Regeneration One Autobots]]
[[Category:Return of Convoy Autobots]]
[[Category:Rulers of Cybertron]]
[[Category:Targetmasters]]
[[Category:The Headmasters Autobots]]
[[Category:United Autobots]]
[[Category:Wings Universe Autobots]]
[[Category:Wreckers]]

The Transformers: The Movie

2018-03-05T01:27:06Z

HussarZwei: /* Quotes */

{{disambig3|Transformers: The Movie}}
{{episode|
|seriess=[[The Transformers (cartoon)|The Transformers]]
|prev=B.O.T. (episode)
|next=Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1
|seriess2=[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers (franchise)|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers]]
|prev2=Scramble City: Mobilization
|next2=Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1
|title=''The Transformers: The Movie''
|image=Transformersanimatedfilmposter.jpg
|caption=A long time ago in a galaxy far far away....
|production code=
|production company=[[Sunbow Productions]]
|writer=[[Ron Friedman]]
|directed by=[[Nelson Shin]]
|animation studio=[[Toei]]
|release date=[[August 8]], [[1986]]
|continuity=[[Generation 1 cartoon continuity]]
}}
{{quote|Conceived in the epic tradition of ''[[Star Wars (film)|Star Wars]]''...|[[Victor Caroli]] ain't just whistling Dixie|[[The Transformers: The Movie promo|''The Transformers: The Movie'' promo]]}}

'''''The Transformers: The Movie''''' is an animated feature film based on the original Transformers toyline. It was released in the United States on Friday, August 8, 1986.

The film's storyline follows the same continuity as the ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)|Transformers]]'' cartoon. It introduces a [[Scale|planet-sized Transformer]] called [[Unicron/Generation 1|Unicron]] who eats other planets, and is approaching [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. As part of their continuing wars, the [[Autobot]]s and [[Decepticon]]s have a [[Battle of Autobot City|fierce battle]] on [[Earth]] which sees both [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] and [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] mortally wounded. Prime passes the [[Matrix of Leadership]] to [[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]] and dies, and Megatron is transformed by Unicron into [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]]. [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]] (briefly) assumes leadership of the Decepticons, but is killed when Galvatron arrives at Cybertron. Galvatron then chases the surviving Autobots on Earth across space, splitting them up and taking the Matrix. The Autobots find their way back to each other, and follow Galvatron to Cybertron just as Unicron transforms into [[robot mode]] and begins to eat their world. Travelling inside Unicron, [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Hot Rod]] recovers the Matrix, transforms into Rodimus Prime, and uses the Matrix to destroy Unicron.

Often referred to by fans simply as "the movie" or "TFTM", the movie was a step up in almost every area from the television series, with a more sophisticated plot, more serious treatment of war and violence, a hugely ambitious scope and a greatly increased animation budget with well-known celebrities providing voice work. For these reasons the film remains very popular with children of the 1980s.

The film opens with characters who had been featured in the first two years of the toyline and associated media (cartoons, comic books, etc.), but quickly introduces new characters and kills many of the old ones to make room. Of particular note, Optimus Prime and Starscream are both destroyed during the course of the film.

{{quote|The Japanese have funded a full-length animated cartoon about the doings of these toys, which is all bad outer-space stuff. I play a planet. I menace somebody called Something-or-other. Then I'm destroyed. My plan to destroy Whoever-it-is is thwarted and I tear myself apart on the screen.|Orson Welles<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=KlqsYy512WIC&source=gbs_navlinks_s "Orson Welles: A Biography"] page 522</ref>}}

==Synopsis==
[[File:TFTM Unicron Lithone.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|That's no moon.]]
[[Unicron/Generation 1|A mechanical planet]] travels through the depths of space, attacking [[Lithone (planet)|a metal planet]] which has [[Lithone (species)|robotic inhabitants]]. Robots, vehicles, buildings, and even large chunks of rock are sucked off the surface and devoured by the monstrous planet.

It is the year [[2005]], and the [[Decepticon]]s are now in control of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. The [[Autobot]]s are preparing to launch an assault to retake the planet from hidden bases on two of Cybertron's moons. The Autobots launch a [[Autobot shuttle|shuttle]] to pick up a final shipment of [[energon]] from [[Earth]] before they strike.

[[File:Tftm1986a.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Commander, tear this ship apart until you've found those plans. And bring me the passengers; I want them alive!]]
Plans for the attack are overheard by [[Laserbeak (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Laserbeak]], who reports back to [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]]. The Decepticons attack the Autobot shuttle en route to Earth, wiping out its crew (including [[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]], [[Prowl (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Prowl]], [[Ratchet (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ratchet]] and [[Brawn (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Brawn]]). Using the Autobots' own shuttle, the Decepticons are able to get very close to the Autobots' base on Earth, [[Autobot City (G1)|Autobot City]], before they are detected, and begin a devastating surprise attack on the unprepared city.

During the battle at Autobot City, both [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] and Megatron suffer mortal injuries, and a number of others are also killed. Eventually the Decepticons retreat, but the damage suffered by the Autobots is severe.

{{note|For an extensive synopsis of the battle, see [[Battle of Autobot City]].}}

[[File:Tftm1986b.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.]]
Shortly after the battle, Prime lies on his deathbed. He passes the reins of leadership to [[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]] and gives him the [[Matrix of Leadership]]. (Though [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Hot Rod]] actually touches the Matrix before Magnus does.) Prime relates a prophecy: "One day, an Autobot shall rise from our ranks, and use the power of the Matrix to light our [[darkest hour]]." He then gives the oath, "[['Til all are one]]", and [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|dies]]. This sequence of events is observed remotely by Unicron, the monstrous planet, who appears unusually concerned by the survival of the Matrix.

The Decepticons are making their escape aboard [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]], but are too heavy for him to get them all home under his own power. After putting the matter to a fair vote, the Decepticons decide to throw their injured members off the ship to better the chance of survival for the rest. One of the most severely injured Decepticons is Megatron. [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]] tosses him out and claims leadership of the Decepticon army.

Megatron and the other adrift Decepticons then encounter Unicron in interstellar space. Unicron offers to rebuild Megatron and his minions in exchange for their service. Megatron agrees, and is [[Reformatting|reformatted]] into [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]]. The other Decepticons are turned into [[Cyclonus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Cyclonus]], [[Scourge (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Scourge]], and the [[Sweep (G1)|Sweeps]]. Unicron provides them with a [[Revenge (G1)|ship]], and sends them to kill Ultra Magnus and destroy the Matrix, stating that the Matrix is the only thing which can stand in his way.

[[File:Tftm1986c.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed.]]
Galvatron first stops at Cybertron to take his revenge by killing Starscream and reclaiming leadership of the Decepticons. Almost immediately afterwards, Unicron arrives in Cybertron's vicinity and devours at least two moons—both of the Autobots' moon bases are destroyed. Under coercion by Unicron, Galvatron finally heads to Earth to kill Ultra Magnus, but Magnus and the other surviving Autobots flee in a pair of shuttles. Eventually Galvatron manages to cause one shuttle to crash on yet another metal planet ([[Quintessa (planet)|Quintessa]]), and detonates the other with a volley of missiles. However, the Autobots in the second shuttle escape unnoticed by separating the front portion of their shuttle just before impact.

The Autobots in the crashed shuttle, Hot Rod, [[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]], and the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]], find themselves separated and in a hostile environment. Hot Rod and Kup are captured by a squad of [[Allicon]]s and taken before a [[Quintesson]] [[Quintesson#Judges|judge]] and his court. While being held there, they learn the name and nature of Unicron from [[Kranix (G1)|Kranix]], a survivor of the planet destroyed in the opening of the film, which he calls [[Lithone (planet)|Lithone]]. Meanwhile, the Dinobots encounter and befriend a young, wild Autobot named [[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] who has been living alone on Quintessa. Together, they crash the trial just as Hot Rod and Kup are fighting losing odds against the Quintessons' [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticons]]. The tide is turned, and the Autobots commandeer a [[Quintesson Cruiser]].

[[File:Tftm1986d.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|What an incredible smell you've discovered!]]
The other group of Autobots has landed on the planet [[Junkion (planet)|Junkion]] to make repairs, but are attacked yet again by Galvatron, who was tipped off to their survival by Unicron. During the battle, Ultra Magnus tries to open the Matrix to use its power, but is unable to do so, and instead is killed. Galvatron absconds with the Matrix, taking it away to Unicron. The remaining Autobots—[[Perceptor (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Perceptor]], [[Blurr (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Blurr]], [[Springer (G1)|Springer]], [[Arcee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Arcee]], and [[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike]]'s son [[Daniel Witwicky (G1)|Daniel]]—are then ambushed by [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]], the eponymous natives of Junkion, who are also giant transforming robots. This battle is cut short, however, by the arrival of Hot Rod's group in their Quintesson ship. After exchanging the [[universal greeting]] they all make friends, and the Junkions restore Ultra Magnus to life. Together, the whole group travels to Cybertron to try to recover the Matrix and destroy Unicron.

[[File:TFTM Unicron smashes cybertron.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Rebel base in range. You may fire when ready.]]
Galvatron attempts to open the Matrix to use its power against Unicron, but is also unable to get it open. Unicron, not pleased with this attempted treachery, shocks Galvatron by transforming from a planet into a [[Scale|planet-sized robot]]. Unicron plucks Galvatron off his chest and swallows him, Matrix and all, and then begins attacking Cybertron itself. [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] scrambles the Decepticon forces to defend the planet, but they are ineffective against so large an enemy. Shortly the Autobots arrive from Junkion, and fly the Quintesson ship straight through Unicron's eye. This impact destroys the ship, and the Autobots fall out inside Unicron. Hot Rod, separated from the others, eventually runs into Galvatron. During their fight, Hot Rod gets his hands on the Matrix and hears Optimus's voice speak the words, "Arise, Rodimus Prime." Hot Rod grows in stature, adopts a much sterner demeanor, and quickly dispatches Galvatron by tossing him through Unicron's hull out into space. He then opens the Matrix, which fills Unicron with light and begins destroying him.

[[File:Tftm1986e.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Use the Force, Luke.]]
In the meantime, the other Autobots inside Unicron have located some of their comrades from the moon bases who had been presumed dead, including [[Bumblebee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Bumblebee]] and Daniel's father, Spike. The Autobots, including Rodimus, escape through Unicron's remaining eye just as he begins to fall apart and explode. The scene then immediately shifts to the surface of Cybertron, where—for unclear reasons—the Autobots seem to be in charge again. Rodimus predicts an era of peace and prosperity, and the film closes with a shot of Unicron's severed head still floating in orbit around Cybertron.

[['Til all are one]].
{{--}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] ([[Peter Cullen]])
*[[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime]] ([[Judd Nelson]])
*[[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]] ([[Robert Stack]])
*[[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]] ([[Lionel Stander]])
*[[Springer (G1)|Springer]] ([[Neil Ross]])
*[[Arcee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Arcee]] ([[Susan Blu]])
*[[Blurr (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Blurr]] ([[John Moschitta]])
*[[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]] ([[Gregg Berger]])
*[[Perceptor (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Perceptor]] ([[Paul Eiding]])
*[[Blaster (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Blaster]] ([[Buster Jones]])
*[[Swoop (G1)|Swoop]] ([[Michael Bell]])
*[[Slag (G1)|Slag]] ([[Neil Ross]])
*[[Sludge (G1)|Sludge]]
*[[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] ([[Frank Welker]])
*[[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]] ([[Peter Cullen]])
*[[Prowl (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Prowl]] ([[Michael Bell]])<ref group="fc" name="crednolines">Credited and appeared, but had no speaking lines.</ref>
*[[Jazz (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Jazz]] ([[Scatman Crothers]])
*[[Bumblebee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Bumblebee]] ([[Dan Gilvezan]])
*[[Cliffjumper (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Cliffjumper]] ([[Casey Kasem]])
*[[Brawn (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Brawn]] ([[Corey Burton]])
*[[Gears (G1)|Gears]] ([[Don Messick]])<ref group="fc" name="creduncertain">Credited, but may or may not have appeared.</ref>
*[[Auto-combatant]] ([[Frank Welker]])
*[[Eject (G1)|Eject]]
*[[Rewind (G1)|Rewind]]
*[[Steeljaw (G1)|Steeljaw]]
*[[Ramhorn (G1)|Ramhorn]]
*[[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]]
*[[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]]
*[[Ratchet (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ratchet]]
*[[Snarl (G1)|Snarl]]
*[[Grapple (G1)|Grapple]]
*[[Huffer (G1)|Huffer]]
*[[Hound (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Hound]]
*[[Sunstreaker (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Sunstreaker]]
*[[Bluestreak (G1)|Bluestreak]]
*[[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]]<ref group="fc" name="crednoapp">Credited, but did not appear.</ref> ([[Walker Edmiston]])
|c2=
*[[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] ([[Frank Welker]])
*[[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]] ([[Leonard Nimoy]])
*[[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]] ([[Chris Latta]])
*[[Cyclonus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Cyclonus]] ([[Roger C. Carmel]])
*[[Scourge (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Scourge]] ([[Stan Jones]])
*[[Soundwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Soundwave]] ([[Frank Welker]])
*[[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] ([[Arthur Burghardt]])
*[[Scrapper (G1)|Scrapper]] ([[Michael Bell]])
*[[Bonecrusher (G1)|Bonecrusher]] ([[Neil Ross]])
*[[Hook (G1)|Hook]] ([[Neil Ross]])
*[[Scavenger (G1)|Scavenger]] ([[Don Messick]])<ref group="fc" name="appearnocredit">Appeared and had speaking lines, but not credited.</ref>
*[[Mixmaster (G1)|Mixmaster]]
*[[Long Haul (G1)|Long Haul]]
*[[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]] ([[Hal Rayle]])
*[[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]] ([[Clive Revill]])
*[[Bombshell (G1)|Bombshell]]
*[[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]] ([[Jack Angel]])
*[[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] ([[Corey Burton]])
*[[Dirge (G1)|Dirge]] ([[Bud Davis]])<ref group="fc" name="crednolines"/>
*[[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] ([[Ed Gilbert]])
*[[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] ([[Frank Welker]])
*[[Frenzy (G1)|Frenzy]] ([[Frank Welker]])
*[[Laserbeak (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Laserbeak]] ([[Frank Welker]])
*[[Ravage (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ravage]] ([[Frank Welker]])
*[[Ratbat (G1)|Ratbat]] ([[Frank Welker]])
*[[Thrust (G1)|Thrust]]
*[[Ramjet (G1)|Ramjet]]
*[[Skywarp (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Skywarp]]
*[[Thundercracker (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Thundercracker]]
*[[Reflector (G1)|Reflector]]
*[[Sweep (G1)|Sweeps]]
*[[Cyclonus's Armada]]
|h3=[[Junkion (species)|Junkions]]|c3=
*[[Wreck-Gar (G1)|Wreck-Gar]] ([[Eric Idle]])
*[[Scrapheap (G1)|Scrapheap]] ([[Michael Bell|Bell]] and/or [[Frank Welker|Welker]])
*[[Rubbish]] ([[Michael Bell|Bell]] and/or [[Frank Welker|Welker]])
*[[Re-Cycle]] ([[Michael Bell|Bell]] and/or [[Frank Welker|Welker]])
*[[Trashbin]] ([[Michael Bell|Bell]] and/or [[Frank Welker|Welker]])
*[[Junkyard (G1)|Junkyard]] ([[Michael Bell|Bell]] and/or [[Frank Welker|Welker]])
*[[HAZMAT]] ([[Michael Bell|Bell]] and/or [[Frank Welker|Welker]])
*[[Ashtray]] ([[Michael Bell|Bell]] and/or [[Frank Welker|Welker]])
*[[Wasteoid Gamma]] ([[Michael Bell|Bell]] and/or [[Frank Welker|Welker]])
*[[Greasestain]] ([[Michael Bell|Bell]] and/or [[Frank Welker|Welker]])
|h4=Others|c4=
'''[[Human]]s'''
*[[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike Witwicky]] ([[Corey Burton]])
*[[Daniel Witwicky (G1)|Daniel Witwicky]] ([[David Mendenhall]])

'''[[Lithone (species)|Lithones]]'''
*[[Kranix (G1)|Kranix]] ([[Norman Alden|Norm Alden]])
*[[Arblus]] ([[Norman Alden|Norm Alden]])

'''[[Quintesson]]s'''
*[[Quintesson]] leader ([[Roger C. Carmel]])
*[[Quintesson#Judges|Quintesson judge]] ([[Regis Cordic|Rege Cordic]])
*[[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticons]]
*[[Allicon]]s

'''Other'''
*[[Unicron/Generation 1|Unicron]] ([[Orson Welles]])
*Unnamed Red Alien (in Tribunal Quintessa)
|nonumbering=true
}}
<references group="fc"/>

==Quotes==
"Such heroic nonsense."
:—'''Megatron''' coldly finishes off Ironhide. The 'Cons always get the best lines.

"I've got better things to do tonight than die!"
:—'''Springer''', telling it like it is.

"One shall stand. One shall fall."
:—'''Optimus Prime''' uttering the most quoted line of the Movie. An ass kicker cometh.

"Why throw your life away so recklessly?" 
"That's a question you should ask yourself, Megatron." 
:—'''Megatron''' and '''Optimus Prime''', about to engage in one last battle to the death.

"You, who are without mercy, now plead for it? I thought you were made of '''''sterner stuff'''''."
:—'''Optimus Prime''''s trash talk is actually [http://www.enotes.com/shakespeare-quotes/sterner-stuff a lot cooler than it sounds].

"I would have waited an eternity for this! It's over, Prime." 
"'''''NEVER!'''''"
:—'''Megatron''' is about to learn that a wounded '''Optimus Prime''' has enough strength left for one good hit.

"Until that day...'til all are one..."
:—'''Optimus Prime''''s final words.

"Oh, how it ''pains'' me to do this." 
"Wait! I still function!" 
"Wanna ''bet''?"
:—'''Starscream''' fights back the tears as he throws '''Megatron''' out of Astrotrain.

"STARSCREEEEEAM!!!!"
:—'''Megatron''' realizes that Starscream is not a con.

"I have summoned you here for a purpose." 
"Nobody summons Megatron!" 
"Then it pleases me to be the first."
:—'''Unicron''' shows '''Megatron''' who's the boss.

"Who disrupts my coronation?" 
"Coronation, Starscream? This is bad comedy." 
"Megatron? Is that you?" 
"Here's a hint!"
:—'''Galvatron''' drops "hints" for '''Starscream''' like others drop anvils.

"What did he say his name was?" 
"Galvatron!" 
"Long live Galvatron! Galvatron!"
:—'''Rumble''' clamors for '''Galvatron''' and the cronies follow suit.

"Did we ''have'' to let them detonate three quarters of the ship?" 
"Seeing as how they would have detonated ''four'' quarters, I think it was a good choice."
:—'''Arcee''' and '''Springer''', debating the launch of their emergency shuttle.

"For a time... I considered ''sparing'' your wretched little planet Cybertron. But now... you shall witness... its ''dismemberment''!"
:—'''Unicron''' really needs to work on his anger management skills...

"Let this mark the end of the Cybertronian Wars as we march forward into a new era of peace and happiness! 'Til all are one!" 
:—'''Rodimus Prime''' announces the end of the [[Great War (G1)|Great War]]...yeah, right.

==Season 5==
When ''The Movie'' was broadcast in [[The Transformers (cartoon)#Season 5|the fifth season]] of ''The Transformers'', it was broken into 5 parts (designated "Days") and given new bookending segments with original story material.

===Day One===
[[File:TommyPrimeSeason5BumperMovie.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|You just watch yourself. We're wanted men. I have the death sentence on twelve systems.]]
[[Tommy Kennedy|Tommy]] meets up with [[Powermaster]] [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] in the barren wasteland and Prime is concerned with the black eye and many bruises Tommy is sporting. Tommy explains that some "big guys" at school tried to rough him up (and by all visual evidence, succeeded). Tommy asks Prime if he'd ever faced any "big guys" in his many adventures and Prime decides to tell him about the time he faced the "biggest guy" of them all, [[Unicron/Generation 1|Unicron]]...

Optimus leaves off at the point during the [[Battle of Autobot City]] when Megatron broke their defenses to let the slaughter begin. Optimus gruesomely teases his own death scene to a very confused and concerned Tommy, but reassures him that until he can be revived as a Powermaster, the Matrix must be passed on to someone else who is worthy. Tommy wants to hear all about it, but Optimus doesn't have the time. Apparently, he needs to meet up with [[Joyride (G1)|Joyride]] and help him [[Space bridge technician|repair]] the [[Space bridge]]. Tommy asks if he can tag along and Optimus tells him that if he can lift one of their two-ton screwdrivers, he can even help. They summarily blast off into space.
{{-}}

===Day Two===
[[File:PrimeExplodingMemoryChip.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.1|I've lost R2!]]
Tommy and Optimus meet up in the barren wasteland, though Prime isn't sure what Tommy wants. Tommy reminds him that he promised to tell him more about Unicron and Prime concedes that he's been having trouble with his memory chip, lately. Tommy tells him all about the Battle of Autobot City, but none if it rings a bell for Optimus. Prime asks Tommy to open up an access panel in the back of his head and check the circuit. Tommy repairs the circuit, jogging Prime's memory...

Prime leaves off at the point where [[Jazz (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Jazz]] and [[Cliffjumper (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Cliffjumper]] are eaten by Unicron. Tommy demands to hear more of the story, but Prime's memory chip explodes and smoke pours from the side of his head. All he sees are brief flashes of the further adventures of [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Hot Rod]] and the rest. The furthest he can see, though, is the "death" of [[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]] when his shuttle is blown up by [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]]. Tommy expresses discontent, citing that the Autobots are "too cool to die". Prime says he knows there's more to the story, but with his faulty memory chip, he can't access the details. Tommy insists they get his chip fixed and so they blast off into space to do just that.
{{-}}

===Day Three===
[[File:TommyKennedyTraumatized.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|I can't even see. How am I supposed to fight?]]
Tommy finishes the repairs on Prime's memory chip, much to Prime's relief. Tommy asks Prime to test it out by continuing his story about the battle against Unicron. Prime indulges Tommy's request...

Prime leaves off at the point where [[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]] and Hot Rod are taken to the [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticon]] pits and watch as the survivors of [[Lithone (planet)|Lithone]] are executed. Tommy begs Prime to stop, claiming that the story thus far is too intense and depressing for him to handle. Prime asks if he wants to hear about how Kup and Hot Rod are fed to the Sharkticons, how the Autobots are menaced by "aliens made of junk" or how Ultra Magnus is blown to pieces by [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]]. Tommy suddenly changes his mind and demands to hear all the gory, macabre details. Prime sets Tommy back down in the barren wasteland and promises to return soon to transform his day into an adventure. He then blasts off into space.
{{-}}

===Day Four===
[[File:PrimeTommyStopMotion.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.1|If there's a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet it's farthest from.]]
Tommy and Optimus meet up once again in the barren wasteland. Tommy asks why Prime is so late for their appointment and Prime confesses that [[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]] took a wrong turn on the way over. Prime wishes he hadn't let the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobot]] fly the shuttle. Tommy asks if Prime has enough time to tell him more of the story and Prime assures him there's time enough...

Prime leaves off at the point where the Autobots team up with the [[Junkion (species)|Junkion]]s to battle Unicron. Tommy is incredulous, wondering what a bunch of aliens made of junk could possibly contribute to the battle against Unicron. Prime informs him that great adversities often bring out the best in people, citing Hot Rod as an example. Tommy begs to hear how the story ends, but Prime says that he must first take Grimlock to have his "brain circuits" upgraded. Setting Tommy down, Prime promises to be back soon to transform his day into an adventure. Then he blasts off into space.
{{-}}

===Day Five===
[[File:StanBushTheTouchMusicVideoRecordLabelNotes.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|He made a fair move. Screaming about it won't help you.]]
Meeting again in the barren wasteland, Optimus asks Tommy if he's ready to hear the end of the story. Contrary to all the enthusiasm Tommy has shown during past storytimes, the human child laments that he's forgotten most of the tale thus far (offering the flimsy excuse that his lack of an electronic brain makes remembering so many details impossible). Prime gives him "a quick rundown" (that takes ''four minutes'') and then proceeds to finish the epic yarn...

Prime finishes the story with the destruction of Unicron, the ascension of Rodimus Prime and the exile of the Decepticons. Prime asks Tommy if he's satisfied, but Tommy just has more questions. Like what was up with the [[Quintesson]]s? Did they drop Grimlock on his head when he was a kid? And how did they ever bring Prime back to life? Prime tells Tommy to slow down. He has to attend an interstellar peace conference, but until he returns, he leaves Tommy with... [[The Touch|THE TOUCH!!!]]
{{-}}

==Animation errors==
*When Unicron is approaching Lithone at the start of the movie, at the line "Look, it's Unicron!", a [[Animation error#Sizing errors|cel stacking error]] results in Unicron's ring appearing in front of a building arch, [[Distribution|making Unicron look very tiny]] in that shot. In the next shot, it is clear that Unicron is several times larger than the entire planet of Lithone.
*The inside of one of the Lithonian ships being devoured by Unicron is visible for a couple of frames. The pilot of the ship appears to be Kranix, even though he apparently screams out Kranix's name, and Kranix appears later in the Quintesson prison.
*When Optimus Prime asks Jazz to report security status, it shows both Jazz and Cliffjumper. Cliffjumper is seen twiddling knobs above the actual drawn computer, as if a section was supposed to be present.
*Coloring errors:
**When the closeup of Cliffjumper doing his countdown is shown, his shoulders are blue (like his windows) instead of red.
**Scavenger's head is white instead of black as he ducks from Prowl's shot aboard the shuttle.
**Blaster's forehead is red instead of white after his "look out and shout!" line, and again after he returns to [[robot mode]].
**In the big lineup of firing Decepticons in Autobot City, Soundwave's cheek guards are blue instead of white.
**When Blaster asks Perceptor "What's shakin'?", a Dirge-colored Seeker flies by the window. However, it appears to be the standard Starscream/Thundercracker/Skywarp design, instead of having Dirge's unique wings.
**As Devastator lays into the walls, Shrapnel is white where he should be black.
**Megatron's pelvis is white instead of black as he gives the "let the slaughter begin!" order.
**When the Dinobots jump out of Optimus Prime's Shuttle, the shuttle is colored like the first shuttle, which Megatron boarded, instead of red-highlighted scheme of Prime's shuttle.
**When Prime says "No matter the cost", the shuttle is painted completely orange, when the front should have red and white highlights.
**When Prime drives up behind the Decepticons, Blitzwing's helmet is purple instead of yellow. Prime's trailer is missing its Autobot symbol as well.
**The gun Megatron uses to fatally injure Optimus is blue and white for most of the shots it is seen in, but when Megatron screams "Fall! FALL!" while shooting Prime again, it is black.
**Prime's antennae are white as he tries to stand after knocking Megatron off the ledge.
**Starscream's whole nosecone, rather than just the canopy, is yellow as he looms over the fallen Megatron.
**As Starscream prepares to toss Megatron out the door, Soundwave's eyes are painted white like his mask rather than red. (Maybe he was sleeping, his excuse for not stopping Starsceam)
**Starscream's cockpit shell nearest his head is colored like a canopy rather than grey, as he nominates himself for leadership. Man, even the A-list animation team couldn't keep this straight.
**When dragging Arcee into the shuttle and two shots later when flying into space Magnus's Shuttle has Blue highlights instead of Red.
**After Springer runs past him, Perceptor's gun changes from red to white for a few frames.
**When Cyclonus is strafing what appears via editing to be Hot Rod's shuttle, it has red highlights instead of blue.
**When Hot Rod's ship is being watched by Galvatron trailing smoke it has red highlights instead of blue.
**In the shot after Magnus announces that he cannot deal with that now, his ship has blue highlights instead of red.
**Shrapnel's lower legs are white when he lands on Junk, instead of black. Must be a side effect of being dead.
**When Hot Rod tells the Junkions the universal greeting, the Autobot insignia on his chest is coloured black.
**After transforming, Unicron has all-white hands (instead of white with gold knuckles) and a white, rectangular chin (instead of the double-triangular chin with a goatee) he has later.
**As the Autobots fly through space after exiting Unicron's eye, Rodimus is painted in Ultra Magnus' colors (inverted).
*When the Decepticons blow a hole through the Autobot shuttle to get in, it is a clean break. However, Megatron is still shown ripping through random ship components to get in.
*When the Decepticons are killing the Autobot shuttle crew, there is one of the common Starscream/Skywarp/Thundercracker miscolors. Megatron transforms into gun mode and Starscream catches him, killing Brawn. When they cut back to the Decepticons, Starscream is in front of the Constructicons without Megatron and is firing one of his arm rifles (this probably should have been Skywarp or Thundercracker). When they cut back to the Decepticons for the third time, Starscream has Megatron again and is finishing off the rest of the Autobots. In the shot of Starscream firing his own lasers, his wings are red instead of gray. Later when Hot Rod zooms in on the hole in the shuttle, the Seeker he sees is Thundercracker, but as he fires, the one standing in that spot falling on his face, is colored as Starscream.
*Per his standard cartoon appearance, Ratchet should have a [[Red Cross]] symbol on each shoulder. When he turns in his seat as Brawn is shot down, we can see one on his right shoulder, but when he stands to return fire on the Decepticons, the right shoulder's cross has vanished, and he's only got one on his left shoulder. Then, when he falls, the cross is missing from ''both'' shoulders.
*When the Decepticons fly to the shuttle's controls:
**All of the Autobots have changed positions from when they fell—Brawn is now on his back, for example, while Prowl is now face-down.
**Ironhide's chest is completely intact, despite having a bunch of holes blown in it.
**Prowl, who turned gray as he fell (evidently dead before he even hit the floor) seems to be back in his normal colors.
*The reflections of Hot Rod and Daniel in the lake rarely line up with where they should be.
*When Hot Rod catches a fish, it is barely the size of his finger. When he releases it, it's [[Scale|suddenly huge]].
*Hot Rod has at least two totally different transformation schemes during the course of the film.
*When Kup and several Autobots at the roadblock react to Hot Rod's attack on the hijacked Autobot shuttle, Bluestreak is represented by Prowl's [[Character model|animation model]], in Bluestreak's grey and black colous.
*Sunstreaker appears with Kup's group on Earth as they observe Hot Rod firing on Ironhide's shuttle. Sunstreaker later appears as Optimus Prime's co-pilot when they arrive on Earth with the Dinobots, and is seen disembarking the shuttle along with Optimus Prime and Hound.
[[File:ShockwaveBattleAutobotcity.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|We've picked up a new group of signals... enemy fighters heading your way.]]
*In a wide aerial shot of the city under attack, a Reflector flies by in Ironhide's color scheme. Shockwave also makes his only appearance in the battle; considering both his role as Cybertron's guardian and his absence from any other scenes during the battle, his presence is probably an animation error. Rumble also flies past, despite being inside Soundwave at this point.
*A laser blast that should be behind Blaster is instead layered in front of him as he acknowledges Perceptor's orders.
[[File:TFTMRumbleFrenzytwored.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[FIRRIB|What]] about that [[R2-D2|blue one]]? We'll take that one.]]
*When [[Soundwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Soundwave]] sends out his cassette troops, [[FIRRIB|Rumble is the same color as Frenzy]].
*Blaster first ejects what looks like Eject, who stays blue up until he gets to the edge of the screen. He then turns black like Rewind. Then Blaster ejects another blue cassette, which after about a second turns black. This one gets through half his transformation colored black, then turns blue for a split second then turns black again. Then, when the cassettes are fighting each other, Eject runs in from the left and jumps over Perceptor. And then he runs in from the left ''again'' to shoot Ravage.
*As Springer runs up to the launcher, Wheeljack's body is visible, but he's in the red, white and blue color scheme of Smokescreen - who, in the storyboards of this sequence, was intended to be the one lying there dead.
*While Springer and Arcee are trying to move the launcher into place, Springer's face is the same color as his helmet.
*During Devastator's combination sequence in Autobot City, his chest plate, portions of his pelvis, his forearms, and Bonecrusher's treads are all green. The chestplate and pelvis should be purple, as should Bonecrusher's treads (they're ''normally'' green when Bonecrusher is separate, but they turn purple when he combines), and his forearms should be black.
*For almost the entirety of his screen time during the battle in Autobot City, the "jet engine" on top of Devastator's chest plate is misinterpreted as a trapezoidal block. The only time it appears in its proper shape is when he high-kicks Grimlock. It appears as it should during the scuffle on Astrotrain.
*While Perceptor and Grapple are shooting, Swoop's lower half runs by in the foreground, long before the rest of him gets there.
*Prime's dramatic transformation sequence far outlasts the transformation sound that's supposed to go with it. It's also the wrong sound (ascending pitch) for his robot-to-vehicle transformation. His trailer is also missing the Autobot logo, which reappears for the rest of the scene.
*Prime is missing the transformation sound as he blasts back to robot mode.
*The gun Megatron fires uses the same sound effect as his fusion cannon.
*When Optimus Prime takes the Matrix out of his chest to give to Ultra Magnus, the animators forgot to remove the cel of the Matrix inside his chest, as it's still in there even as he's holding it in his hands. Since it's not supposed to be there, the luminous effect for the Matrix's core is missing from the duplicate in his chest, creating a visual trick that makes it look like Optimus might just have removed the core itself. (The [[Matrix of Leadership#Universe|''Universe'' comic]] would later use this error as a springboard to reconcile the visuals of Optimus's chest interior with their depiction in ''[[Beast Wars: Transformers (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]''.)
*When Ultra Magnus accepts the Matrix, he's seen inserting it into his chest twice, or at best readjusting its "fit".
*As the other Decepticons prepare to push him out, Bombshell's chest is rendered as a shapeless gray mass, rather than with its yellow canopy.
*The voice that says, "Brothers! Don't!" is nowhere close to the voices of any of the five Decepticons shown getting thrown out of Astrotrain.
*When Megatron says "Nobody summons Megatron" his chest emblem is coloured grey like his chest. It looks like it should have been painted as a darker shade of purple, as it's the shadowed section. But was painted grey instead.
[[File:TFTMStarscreamCoronationErrors.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4| *''trumpet fanfare''*]]
*Even after the [[Battle of Autobot City]], characters who are supposedly dead continue to appear in crowd shots and battles. Shrapnel's role in the fight on [[Junkion (planet)|Junk]] is the most noticeable (and he was called for by name in the original script), but Thundercracker, Skywarp and Kickback can all be seen at Starscream's coronation. The two jets are later seen again, flying into Unicron's mouth.
*In the establishing shot of Starscream's coronation, the there are only five Constructicons (Bonecrusher had better things to do tonight) and they are miscolored as purple and white rather than their usual purple and green color scheme.
*Hook has two eyes instead of his normal visor as he looks around in confusion during the trumpet scene.
*An early establishing shot clearly shows Cybertron with two and ''only'' two moons in low orbit. Yet a third moon is visible right after Unicron finishes eating the two Autobot bases.
*When Galvatron introduces himself to the Coronation party, Soundwave's chest window is drawn far too small.
*When Cyclonus is strafing the Autobot shuttle in space, he briefly flies offscreen, and during that time his laser blasts come from a point that in no way matches his flight path.
*During the wide shot of the Autobots in the crashed ship on Junk, Blurr's entire head is white. Also so is Daniels head, which is drawn as an indistinct incomplete circle.
*Arcee's arm moves to behind Daniel being lifting off.
*Daniel's lips don't purse when he whistles.
*Wreck-Gar's mouth doesn't move at all during his first lines, despite the camera pushing in all close on his face.
*The pistol Ultra Magnus fires uses the same sound effect as Optimus Prime's rifle.
*During the Junkion chase scene, Trashbin attacks Arcee. When she fights him off his motorcycle, his model is switched for Junkyard's when he falls down. And his head then flickers between colours when mounting Junkyard.
*When Grimlock gets kissed, his eyes are round instead of triangular.(Probably intentional expression)
*As Hot Rod falls off one of Unicron's inner spikes, his lower body isn't drawn in. It looks like it should be blocked by our view of the spike, but is layered above it instead.
*Hot Rod's missing his Autobot symbol as he regains his footing inside Unicron.
*As the Dinobots fly around Unicron, both his eyes are intact. (The left one had at this point been shattered.)
*The third smelting victim (who looks a lot like another Bumblebee) doesn't fall from the conveyor belt; he simply vanishes.

== Continuity errors ==
[[File:G1TFTM Snarl cameo.JPG|thumb|upright=1.4|He used to bulls-eye womp-rats in his T16 back home.]]

*The Dinobot [[Snarl (G1)|Snarl]] is mysteriously absent from almost the entire movie, even though the Dinobots as a group are featured prominently. Copies of the script which have come into fans' hands repeatedly list the Dinobots, but never make mention of Snarl by name. In fact, at one point the script refers to "the four Dinobots". Despite this, Snarl does appear in three very brief shots—in which at least one other Dinobot (Swoop in one, Sludge in another) is entirely absent. Hmm.
** On the other hand, the original production ''storyboards'' for the scene where Snarl first appears in the movie only mentions "the Dinobots", not a specific amount of them. Additionally, Snarl also seems to have been in the scene with Kup telling the Dinobots a story in at least ''one'' version of the film; the Japanese trailer for the movie has finished footage of this scene...but it's very different from the one in the film; the Dinobots are all in their robot modes, and Snarl is present in the scene instead of Slag. It's completely unknown why Snarl's appearance in this scene was cut.
*Also curiously absent are the 1985 Autobot cars and Mini-Vehicles, such as Inferno, Smokescreen, Cosmos, Warpath, etc. It would seem that these characters were available at the time of the movie:
**Perceptor and Blaster both debuted at the same time in the cartoon as the 1985 cars, and both play prominent roles in the movie.
**Grapple is [[:File:BattleAutobotCity.jpg|seen ''very'' briefly]] during the battle for Autobot City.
**The 1985 Decepticons (Astrotrain, Dirge, etc.) appear in the film.
**[[:File:TFTM-SideswipeRedAlertTracks.jpg|Tracks]], [[:File:TFTM-RedAlertDown.jpg|Red Alert]] and Smokescreen (who was supposed to be the corpse in place of Wheeljack next to Windcharger) all appeared in storyboards but not the finished film.
*Devastator is treated as ''the'' ultimate threat, while in the cartoon, his role (and apparent power) was already being [[Starscream's Brigade|severely diminished]], presumably because several other combiners had been introduced. In story terms, the absence of these newer combiners, not to mention the mighty Omega Supreme, is inexplicable. In real-life terms, those characters didn't exist when the film commenced production. (The ''[[Transformers: The Animated Movie]]'' adaptation shows Omega Supreme, Superion and Defensor guarding the Ark against an attack by Bruticus and Menasor, attempting to [[retcon]] the problem away.)
[[File:Cyclonus armada tftf.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|We'll be safe enough once we make the jump into lightspeed.]]
*The existence of Cybertron's moons is contentious ''at best''.
**On the one hand, in numerous close and distant shots of the planet throughout the first two seasons, not a single moon was seen. Ever. Even after it got knocked out of Earth's orbit.
**On the other hand, Megatron ''does'' refer to Cybertron as "land of the metal moon" (note the singular) during "[[Microbots]]", suggesting otherwise. The fact that he was overenergized at the time and lost consciousness in mid-sentence - just before he ''might'' have specified a plural number of moons, (in)conveniently enough - makes it unclear just how much credence we should lend this statement.
**The movie promptly introduces two (possibly three) moons over the planet. In continuity terms, they must either have highly elliptical orbits with periapsides (points in their orbits that bring them closest to the planet) that just happened to coincide with the timeframe of the movie or they were constructed sometime after 1986.
*During the Battle of Autobot City, Starscream gets his leg caught. He shoots downward and gets away while screaming "My foot!", but it's his shin that's smoking while his foot looks fine. Later he kicks Megatron with the same foot. Shouldn't that hurt, according to him?
*So Ultra Magnus just happens to have a ready-made Matrix chamber installed in his chest cavity? Is this standard issue for all Autobots?
*The cartoon had already established that Astrotrain increases his size when he transforms to shuttle mode, being large enough to carry a pair of Decepticons in his cockpit. However, within the movie itself, his size is [[scale|noticeably inconsistent]]: When he leaves Autobot City, he's just large enough for the Decepticon army to cram themselves in; later, he's so huge that the Constructicons can quite comfortably form Devastator inside him.
*Speaking of Astrotrain, his entire body flips over when he transforms from train to space shuttle to escape from Autobot City. While ''we'' applaud the [[Show-accuracy|toy-accuracy]], the Decepticons inside probably didn't.
*Soundwave is loyal enough to pick up a wounded Megatron and save him, but when Starscream goes to throw Megatron out, Soundwave doesn't try to intervene. He even tries to steal the leadership once Megatron is gone. The "loyalty" attribute that has pertained so strongly to Soundwave seems to be alienated from the character in this scene.
*The number of minions created by Unicron changes throughout the film, with more Sweeps appearing as the story progresses. A second Cyclonus ("Cyclonus, the warrior, and [[Cyclonus's Armada|his armada]]") is shown being created but disappears shortly thereafter. At least ''seven'' new characters are shown at one point, created from only ''six'' Decepticons thrown from the shuttle.
*How can the Constructicons blow on those trumpets? Only [[Hook (G1)|three]] [[Bonecrusher (G1)|of]] [[Mixmaster (G1)|them]] have mouths.
[[File:SSBQ.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|"I've been looking forward to this for a long time." "Yes, I bet you have."]]
*[[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]] is capable of reducing [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]] to ashes with a single shot from his cannon mode. Though in later episodes Galvatron is shown blowing up even small ''[[Thrull|planets]]'' and being able to take down [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]] with one shot from his cannon, his extraordinary killing power seems to be gone—like when he scores a direct hit in cannon mode on Ultra Magnus in "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5]]" and Magnus isn't especially hurt at all, or how a similar blast against Scourge in "[[The Burden Hardest to Bear]]" only leaves the latter temporarily incapacitated. [[Marvel Comics]] bios explain this by suggesting that Galvatron had nearly limitless power through Unicron... but then again, Galvatron himself claims to be "more powerful than ever" after Unicron is dead in "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2]]". [[To sell toys|Who knows.]]
*Why didn't the Autobots notice Unicron until he was within devouring distance of Cybertron's moons? Why doesn't Shockwave, who is ''on Cybertron,'' react until after Unicron has eaten these moons, transformed into a giant robot, and ''smashed his hand into the planet's surface?''
*Despite running out of energon goodies on Quintessa, Hot Rod has at least one to offer to the Junkions.
*Daniel, who was just learning how to use his exo-suit, had to knock down the acid cover inside Unicron to save his loved ones. Why couldn't the more experienced Spike do the same with his suit from above? He had both of his arms free and a clear shot at the cover.
*It's not clear how Rodimus Prime (carrying two humans) and the other Autobots survived their jump out of Unicron's eye and their plunge towards the surface of Cybertron.
*It's also unclear just how the dozen or so Autobots (and one shipload of Junkions) managed to retake the whole planet of Cybertron. Did Unicron really wipe out ''that'' many Decepticons?
* Unicron's invincibility is extremely inconsistent; Moments before becoming Galvatron, Megatron creates visible damage to Unicron's horns simply by attempting to hold into something. Later, he doesn't suffer even a dent when one of Cybertron's moons is detonated in his mouth. Near the end, the dinobots are capable of punching their way through his "skin", and Rodimus Prime just casually throws Galvatron into space through Unicron's side. Even without the Matrix, the small group of Autobots did pretty well against him.

===Not necessarily errors===
*Fans have noted throughout the years that Astrotrain, in his flight through zero-gravity space, should not have needed to "jettison some weight" in the literal sense. However, since the ejected Decepticons quickly fall behind Astrotrain instead of floating alongside him, he must still have been accelerating and thus would have needed to burn a greater amount of fuel in order to push a larger payload. Perhaps he should have said "jettison some ''mass''", but then again, just being a spaceship doesn't make him a rocket scientist.
*The Dinobots spend the majority of the film in Dino Mode, a practice that would eventually carry into season 3 of the cartoon. Swoop is the only one to spend extended amounts of time in robot mode, due to the anatomical issues of walking in a flight-based mode. However, there are some instances where they're briefly shown in robot mode for blink-and-you-miss-it moments, for no reason whatsoever.
*Starscream is shown just inside Astrotrain's cargo bay when he commands him to take off, but in the next shot (Astrotrain's door closing as his rocket engines ignite), Starscream is nowhere to be seen. It's possible that he walked further in, but he should still be at least partially visible.

==Continuity notes==
*The Movie has had a huge effect in shaping the mythos. Among the elements and characters which would reappear in many other iterations of Transformers are:
**The notion that Cybertron has moons
**The Matrix as a physical object, rather than the computer program previously depicted in the Marvel Comics. Even the Marvel Comics would eventually shoehorn this one in.
**Autobot City
**Unicron
**The notion of Megatron becoming Galvatron
**And it killed off Optimus Prime before it was cool!
*Cybertron's appearance in the post-titles establishing shot shows some major changes to the planet since our last look at it in Season 2. Many of the same buildings from the cartoon's stock image of the planet are there, but the giant pit near the planet's equator is mostly covered over, and the shredded portion of its southern hemisphere has been completely rebuilt.
*Gadgets and powers:
**Springer deploys a small flip-out twin laser from his wrist during the Autobot City battle.
**Arcee and Hot Rod both activate a long-distance scanner of some sort by lowering a red visor from under their helmets over their eyes.
**Hot Rod uses a saw blade that extends from his retracted wrist.
**Blurr has the same kind of hooked welding tip used by various Autobots as far back as "[[More than Meets the Eye, Part 2]]".
**Arcee unleashes a nasty barbed post from her fender to fend off a Junkion.
**Grimlock shows the never-before seen ability to [[GoBots|shoot lasers from his fists]].
*'''[[The Revenge of Bruticus|< <]]''' What makes Starscream the leader? Megatron's <s>dead</s> almost dead!

==Real-world references and Easter eggs==
[[File:TFTMUnicronSkyscrapers.jpg|thumb|I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.]]
*When the inside of Unicron is shown after he devours Lithone, the "blinking energy" effect of Unicron's innards shows, for a split second, what appear to be several images of post-apocalyptic buildings. These images look to be recycled background paintings from ''{{w|Fist of the North Star (1986 film)|Fist of the North Star}}'', a film [[Toei Animation|Toei]] had animated the same year. Regardless of animation efficiency/corner-cutting, the flashing images of ruined civilizations are eerily appropriate for Unicron.
*Optimus Prime instructs Cliffjumper to "commence countdown" much like Cliffjumper's voice actor, [[Casey Kasem]] hosting ''American Top 40''.
*When Sludge gets haymakered by Devastator, his eyes pop out of their sockets in ''{{w|Looney Tunes}}'' fashion.
*Kup's storytelling sequence aboard the shuttle is drawn from the novel ''{{w|Of Mice and Men}}'', complete with Grimlock in the Lenny role asking Kup to "tell Grimlock about petrorabbits again".
*The Junkions speak almost entirely in pop culture quotes and pastiches. Littered among the generic phrases like "operators are standing by!", "Film at eleven" and "eliminate even the toughest stains" are more specific references, such as:
**"Don't look behind door #2, Monty!" - a reference to the game show ''[[Let's Make a Deal]]'' and its host, [[Monty]] Hall.
**"Ger-ronny-doo-ron-ron-ronny-mo!" - both the famous "{{w|Geronimo (exclamation)|Geronimo!}}" war cry, and the 1963 hit "{{w|Da Doo Ron Ron}}".
**"You check in, but you don't check out" - a parody of the tagline for {{w|Roach Motel (insect trap)|Roach Motel}} insect traps.
**"Happy motoring!" - the slogan of gas company [[Esso]].
[[File:Tftm rosencrantz-and-guildenstern.jpg|thumb|Easy? You call that ''easy!?'']]
*The Quintesson jail cell includes robot debris ''strongly'' resembling [[:File:Tftm rosencrantz-and-guildenstern.jpg#parts|several mobile suits]] from 1985 Japanese animation ''{{w|Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam}}''.
*''[[Star Wars (film)|Star Wars]]'' sound effects (yes, even the high-budget Movie uses them):
**The ''[[Millennium Falcon]]'' engine burst noise is used extensively throughout the film, over and over and over, almost any time a Decepticon takes flight.

**[[Luke Skywalker]]'s deactivating [[lightsaber]] is used as the sound of the Quintesson ship's ramp extending.
**Clashing lightsabers are used as Unicron fires eye-blasts at the attacking Transformers.

**An igniting lightsaber is used as Rodimus opens the Matrix.
*The ''[[Star Trek]]'' sliding door sound is used as Wreck-Gar pulls out his <s>iPhone</s> mini-TV.
*The sound used for the communicators on ''Star Trek'' is used when Daniel activates his blaster to save Spike

==Adaptations==
*[[Transformers: The Movie (Marvel comic)|A comic adaptation of the movie]] was published by [[Marvel Comics]] in 1986, concurrently with the movie's theater run. It was based off a non-finalized version of the script, and differs in many details from the final film. Additionally, most of the major character models (and possibly their unedited original character write-ups) appear in issue #4 of the ''[[The Transformers Universe|Transformers Universe]]'' series.
*[[Transformers the Movie (Ladybird adaptation)|A storybook adaptation]] was released in the UK by [[Ladybird Books]].
*A four-part adaptation was released in 2006/2007 by [[IDW Publishing]], as part of the film's 20th anniversary celebration. It was titled ''[[Transformers: The Animated Movie]]'' to differentiate it from the [[Michael Bay]] [[Transformers (film)|live-action film]]. Unlike its predecessor, it adheres rigidly to the script and plot of the finished movie.

==Soundtrack==
{{main|The Transformers: The Movie - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack}}

==Promotions==
*Early in the movie's production, a [[The Transformers: The Movie promo|promotional trailer]] was made to sell the project to potential investors.
*The movie was advertised on related 1986 toy packages via the [[Decipher the Decepticon]] Sweepstakes, which included a pack-in poster and contest.
*The movie was heavily advertised directly by TV [[commercial]]s, and tail-end segments on Transformer toy ads. Portions of its story were also retold in altered fashion by animation segments of commercials for the movie character toys, such as a spot showing Springer doing battle with Wreck-Gar.

==In the comic continuity==
The [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|Marvel UK comic]] made extensive use of the Movie as the basis for a series of stories involving the Transformers in the future. However, there are several differences between the events seen on screen and those referenced in the comic:

*The comic always dates the movie to [[2006]], following the date given in a treatment that was all [[Simon Furman]] had when he wrote "[[Target: 2006]]".
*In "Target: 2006", [[Cyclonus (G1)|Cyclonus]] states that he was previously "[[Life Spark]]".
*The Matrix is always called the "Creation Matrix" in the comic, a name that predates the "Matrix of Leadership" but which is now used for the same physical object.
*[[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]] and [[Wheeljack (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Wheeljack]] both survive the events, both later appearing in "[[Space Pirates!]]" (set in [[2008]]).

In addition, [[Shockwave (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Shockwave]] definitely survives the attack by Unicron.

The US comic almost completely ignored the events of the Movie, though later in the run an alternative future is briefly shown in "[[Rhythms of Darkness!]]" and "[[A Savage Circle]]". In this timeline at least some of the events of the Movie took place such as the creation of [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] from [[Megatron (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Megatron]], which is dated to 2005, though [[Prowl (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Prowl]]'s death was overlooked. [[Prowl II|Wouldn't be the first time. Or the last.]]
*The US version of the future story "[[The Big Broadcast of 2006 (issue)|The Big Broadcast of 2006]]" implicitly has the events of the movie as part of its backstory. However, since the rest of the US series ignored the movie, this issue's place in the continuity is questionable.

==Edits==
Several English-language versions of the film exist, with the following differences in content from the American theatrical run:

*In some versions (notably the European version) the opening credits are replaced with a scrolling text ("''Star Wars'' style") which provides backstory.
*In some versions (notably the European version) the film ends with [[Victor Caroli|a narrator]] reassuring the audience that Optimus Prime will return.
*Instances of swearing in the film (there are two) were edited out; sometimes one, sometimes both. Those instances are: Spike yelling, "Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?" after the self-destructing Moon Base 2 fails to scratch Unicron, and Ultra Magnus growling, "Open, damn it, open!" while trying to open the Matrix to fend off Galvatron and the Sweeps on Junkion. The United Kingdom cinema version had the swearing included but, when it was released on VHS in the United Kingdom, Spike's line was cut ("damn" not being considered especially offensive in the UK). However it has been restored on all United Kingdom DVD releases.
*In some early FHE video releases, the shot of the Matrix falling out of Optimus Prime's hand and being caught by Hot Rod is edited so that it appears that Ultra Magnus simply takes the Matrix from Prime. Why this was done is not known, and the replay of the Hot Rod catch on Unicron's monitors was left intact.
*The original FHE video release of the film painted out all instances of Megatron's green-colored "bleeding" from the end of the battle of Autobot City up to his meeting with Unicron.
*Instead of DEG, the {{w|Rank Organisation|Rank Film}} "{{w|Gongman}}" appears before the British release of the film, as Rank were the United Kingdom distributors.

None of these edits significantly affect the story. They should not be confused with various other sequences which were changed before the film's final release:

*Originally, Ultra Magnus's "death sequence" on Junkion called for him to be lassoed and drawn and quartered by the Sweeps' energy beams, but this was deemed too graphic for audiences, hence the less disturbing "shot to death" sequence seen instead. There is evidence that the original sequence had been fully animated when the decision was made, however; the Sweeps still kept their solid energy lassos when they fire upon Magnus, and Magnus is seen visibly straining against what appears to be said lassos (edited out and replaced with laser fire) before exploding. This also explains why the Junkions only have to put his limbs back on to repair him.
*A number of other sequences were illustrated as [[storyboard]]s but dropped, presumably without ever being animated. Among them were:
**A short scene showing Ironhide piloting the Autobot shuttle through ''huge chunks of ice'' from the tail of a passing comet, explaining how the Decepticons caught them unawares. In response to a reprimand by Prowl who prickishly disapproves of Ironhide's piloting shenanigans, Ironhide exclaims, "I can sure as shootin' dodge a couple of ice chunks". When the Autobots are suddenly jolted by the Decepticon strike force as Megatron and his troops attempt to enter the shuttle, Ironhide tells the others on board, "That was no ice chunk...". Heroic nonsense ensues...
**An extended sequence with Hot Rod and Daniel outside the city.
**A sequence of Mirage blasting Bombshell and being fired on by Megatron.
**The Autobots finally bringing down Devastator with a barrage of missiles (and the Constructicons subsequently shooting Red Alert in the back).
**The Decepticons dogpiling Optimus Prime, explaining why he seems to be standing up just before his fight with Megatron, and no longer holding his rifle. According to storyboards, Prime gets bum-rushed by Blitzwing (who causes Prime to drop his gun), Starscream, Astrotrain, and Skywarp. While it is not clear how Prime defeated the first four hand-to-hand combatants, Dirge is later shown attempting one final sneak attack (and gets his can handed back to him) as Prime is talking to Megatron before the two leaders' final fight.
**Trailbreaker is shown dead among the wreckage of Autobot City as the Decepticons begin their retreat.
:Some of these concepts were in earlier versions of the script, and hence made it into the comic adaptation.
*Rumors have occasionally circulated in the fandom of additional animated footage that was dropped from the film, such as ultra-violent battle scenes. No evidence has ever surfaced to back these claims; the only known edits of any storyline or character importance are those listed in this section.
:{{see|Misconceptions and urban legends about Transformers#The Transformers: The Movie|Urban legends about ''The Transformers: The Movie''}}

==Reception and box office==
{{quote|''The Transformers'', in which Orson Welles plays a planet, is pure headache material. Target audience of cartoon-watchers also will probably find the film unintelligible, noisy and unoriginal. Boxoffice prospects are dismal.|2=[http://books.google.com/books?id=DHNZAAAAMAAJ&q=Hasbro+Transformers&dq=Hasbro+Transformers&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=1&as_miny_is=1983&as_maxm_is=12&as_maxy_is=2005&num=50&as_brr=0&cd=69 Variety's Film Reviews 1985-1986, Volume 19]}}

{{quote|Obnoxious animated feature about the title good guys, who defend the universe against an evil planet (which has a voice of its own... provided by Orson Welles.) That deafening rock score certainly doesn't help. Little more than a feature-length toy commercial.|Leonard Maltin, ''1987 Movie & Video Guide''}}

{{quote|While all this action may captivate young children, the animation is not spectacular enough to dazzle adults, and the Transformers have few truly human elements to lure parents along, even when their voices are supplied by well-known actors. |2=[http://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/09/movies/screen-transformers-animation-for-children.html The New York Times]}}

{{quote|Transformers -- The Movie, a feature-length animated film inspired by the syndicated TV cartoon series inspired by the Hasbro toy imported from Japan, is utterly uninspired entertainment. |2=[http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=DM&p_theme=dm&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0ED3CE8EA8D40CCA&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM The Dallas Morning News]}}

{{quote|If you can swallow, without gagging, a large measure of sentimental and offensive religiosity - lines like "Do not grieve. Soon I will be one with the Matrix," whispered by a failing hunk of Autobot metal - then you have a better than even chance of leaving the theatre on your own two feet. |2=[http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=01kiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=W6gFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2445,1286000&dq=transformers&hl=en The Montreal Gazette]}}

{{quote|Everything is poorly drawn and - when it's in focus - one dimensional. It is terribly hard to separate the robots from the backgrounds, and there is no easy way to tell the good guys from the bad guys. In an earlier movie based on the same sort of robot toys - "Go-Bots: The Battle of the Rock Lords" - the good guys were either white or colorful and the bad guys were dreary, and they had distinct personalities. Not this movie; everyone looks and sounds alike, except one pink robot who is a female good guy. Her tin voluptuousness makes her stand out. |2=[http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kw4wAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OgMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6957,6334152&dq=transformers&hl=en The Toledo Blade]}}

{{quote|Even with an all-star cast doing the voice overs... and a rock music score, this is still nothing more than a ripoff of a successful toy line. |2=[http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AYckAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dtsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4192,1494652&dq=transformers&hl=en The Palm Beach Post]}}

{{quote|The great animated villains, like the Wicked Queen in Disney's "Snow White," had motivations as compelling as any live-action character. Unicron apparently destroys entire worlds because it has nothing else to do. |2=[http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/57996397.html?dids=57996397:57996397&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+8%2C+1986&author=CHARLES+SOLOMON&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&edition=&startpage=8&desc=%60THE+TRANSFORMERS%27%3A+STRETCHING+A+POINT The LA Times]}}

{{quote|A surprisingly dark, emotional, and almost excessively cynical experience for Transformers fans.|2=[http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/transformers_the_the_movie/ Rotten Tomatoes]}}

''The Transformers: The Movie'' was almost universally panned by professional critics upon its release.

Well-known film critic and animation enthusiast, Leonard Maltin, gave it a rating below 1 1/2 stars in his ''1987 Movie & Video Guide'', regarding it as a "bomb", then proceeded to write an unflattering blurb denouncing the film as a "feature-length toy commercial".

Caryn James of the ''New York Times'' admitted in the [[August 9]], 1986, edition of the paper that the film was intended for young children, pointing out that the kids in the audience were having a grand ole time with the ''Transformer'' toys and comics they brought with them to the theater, but derided the film as having little to no appeal to adults.

''Variety's Film Reviews 1985-1986, Volume 19 '' was far less even-handed in their review, claiming the film had no appeal to adults ''or'' children. They predicted the film would perform poorly in the box office (and were correct, in that regard).

Carrie Rickey of the ''Dallas Morning News'' chided the film in the [[August 13]], 1986, issue of the paper, describing it as "essentially a cartoon ''Star Wars'' about robots from a toybox galaxy far, far away". She then went on to say that the film "never takes off" and derided it as "uninspired".

Janice Kennedy of the ''Montreal Gazette'' verbally disemboweled the film in the [[August 23]], 1986, edition of the paper, criticizing it as overly commercial, profane, loud, violent, humorless, heavy-handed in its religious messages and chaulk-full of gratuitous celebrity voice-overs. Her only compliment: "But ''The Transformers: The Movie'' does have at least one good thing going for it, a howlingly appropriate song by [["Weird Al" Yankovic]]. It's title? ''Dare to be Stupid''." ''Ouch''.

Nanciann Cherry in the August 13, 1986, edition of the ''Toledo Blade'' claimed the robots in the movie had little personality and faded into the background. She even went on to say that ''Challenge of the GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords'' was a superior film! Her review was filled with inaccuracies, however, citing characters such as "Unicon" and claiming that the destruction of Cybertron's moons by "Unicon" is what caused the Autobots to travel to Autobot City, at which point Megatron attacked. To be fair, she readily admits, "About 20 minutes into the film, I gave up on the plot and tried to count all the ideas that were stolen from other sources. Now that kept me busy." So she wasn't really paying attention, anyway.

Kathryn Buxton in the [[August 22]], 1986, edition of the ''Palm Beach Post'' gave the film a whopping ''one'' star, calling it "a ripoff of a successful toyline", whatever ''that'' means. In the same article, she also gave David Cronenberg's ''[[Fly|The Fly]]'' one star, just for reference.

In the August 8, 1986, edition of the ''LA Times'', critic Charles Solomon made clear his dislike for the film centered primarily on the fact that none of the characters had interesting or believable motivation. He stated, "Not even the best actor can create a character out of nothing. Not one of the robots has a reason for doing what he does." Solomon then pointed to Unicron specifically as an example of the lack of deep, multi-dimensional motivations in the characters.

Over time, however, the movie has acquired something of a cult following beyond the core base of [[fandom|Transformers fans]], particularly among children of the 80s. It is sometimes screened as a midnight movie at colleges. Online, it is not hard to find amateur reviews lauding everything about it as utterly awesome, from the premise to the soundtrack, and dismissing more critical views out of hand. ''The Transformers: The Movie'' currently holds a 55% "rotten" rating based on 22 professional reviews at online review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.<ref>http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/transformers_the_the_movie/</ref>

===Box office===

To date, the budget of the film has not been disclosed—at least, not in any place the [[fandom]] has found. According to most box office tracking sites,<ref>http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=transformers.htm</ref><ref>http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1986/0TRTM.php</ref> ''The Transformers: The Movie'' made $5,849,647 in domestic (e.g., United States) theaters. Comparing this with other animated films of 1986, the results are not particularly charitable; while it did better financially than ''[[GoBots|GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords]]''<ref>http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=gobots.htm</ref> ($1,338,264) and ''Heathcliff: The Movie''<ref>http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=heathcliff.htm</ref> ($2,610,686), it performed worse than the 1986 ''[[My Little Pony]]'' movie<ref>http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=mylittlepony.htm</ref> ($5,958,456) and the '''second''' ''Care Bears'' movie<ref>http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=carebearsmovie2.htm</ref> ($8,540,346). Bringing up ''The Great Mouse Detective''<ref>http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=greatmousedetective.htm</ref> ($25,336,794) and ''An American Tail''<ref>http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=americantail.htm</ref> ($47,483,002) would really just be overkill.

==Significance in Transfandom==
''The Transformers: The Movie'' remains one of the most important elements of the entire Transformers brand, both within the fiction and from the perspective of the brand's popularity and "mindshare".

Fictionally, it established several story concepts that have been used repeatedly in the years since 1986, some of which—such as Unicron and the Matrix—are now central to the entire Transformers mythos. The movie is also the centerpiece of the most well-known Transformers continuity: the Generation 1 animated universe. The ''Transformers'' cartoon is split into "pre-movie" and "post-movie" sections which feature different characters and settings, and even somewhat different visual styles. (Most pre-movie episodes were animated by the studio [[Toei]], while most post-movie episodes were animated by [[AKOM]].)

On a practical note, it was widely available on videotape, and remained so long after the ''The Transformers'' cartoon had gone off the air. Only a [[Family Home Entertainment|handful of series episodes]] were available on video, making ''The Transformers: The Movie'' the logical choice for someone looking to pick up a ''Transformers'' cartoon; this made it far more well-known among fans than any particular cartoon episode.

To an entire generation of young fans, the movie was the most visually spectacular and narratively epic ''Transformers'' experience of their entire youth. Events such as the death of Optimus Prime are widely reported to have reduced many kids to tears. It is hardly a surprise that these emotional experiences embedded themselves deeply in many fans' memories.

Latter-day ''Transformers'' stories have made uncountable references to the movie, lifting or borrowing elements of its [[Minus One|dialogue]], [[The Transformers: Autocracy|fight sequences]], [[A Flash Forward|subplots]], [[Heavy Is the Head|details]], [[Less Than Zero|settings]] and more, as writers have discovered that a shout-out to the movie is a quick and easy way to win cheers from [[GEEWUN|some segments]] of [[Fandom|their audience]]. Even Hasbro and Takara themselves have gotten in on the act, producing a variety of toys based on the minutia of the film: [[Starscream (Armada)#Cybertron|Starscream's crown]], [[Galvatron (G1)/toys#United|Galvatron's creation]], the awakening of [[Hot Rod (G1)/toys#Masterpiece|Rodimus Prime]], and more. The fandom, for their part, pores over new ''Transformers'' fiction, often latching on to even the most tangential of details as a [[The Search for Alpha Trion#Quotes|"reference"]] to the movie, [[The Burden Hardest to Bear|coincidental or not]]. Call-outs, real or perceived, were once a rare treat - but now are so common that many fans are more likely to groan than cheer whenever some version of Optimus Prime declares that "[[One Shall Fall|One shall stand...]]" or a damaged character states that "[[Unfinished|I still function]]" or a vengeful blast is preceded by "[[The Illusion of Control|Here's a hint]]" or yet another Soundwave says yet another variation of "[[Human Error, Part II|Soundwave superior]]".

In 2016, thirty years after the release of the film, [[Optimus Prime (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Optimus Prime]] gave us perhaps one of the most meta comeback lines in franchise history. When [[Galvatron (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Galvatron]] declares that "one shall stand, two shall fall", Optimus simply punches him in the face with a flat "No cliches, Galvatron", voicing once and for all just how sick we've gotten of '86 quotes. {{storylink|All Hail Optimus Part 6: No Fair Fights|No Fair Fights}}

{{quote|...wait, I only just noticed something. Did they actually manage to go the entire episode without quoting the 86 movie?|[http://www.allspark.com/forums/topic/94625-episode-65-beast-hunters-episode-13/page-4#entry2360303 Allspark poster Unit Eleven]}}

==Criticisms==
[[File:TFTM Ratchet dies.jpg|left|thumb|Only [[Stormtrooper (SW)|Imperial Stormtroopers]] are so precise.]]
All this is not all to say that the movie is a "masterpiece", exactly. The film met with extremely harsh critical reviews on its release, and some of those criticisms still ring true today.

The film displays an arguably cynical attitude towards itself as [[To sell toys|a vehicle for advertising toys]], especially in the way beloved characters are killed—sometimes gratuitously—for sake of justifying the story's focus on a new group of toys. (Note that with the exception of Laserbeak and possibly Buzzsaw the poster at the top of this article features ''only'' new characters.)

Further, the two primary plot devices—[[Unicron/Generation 1|Unicron]] and the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]]—have no prior establishment in the fiction. Unicron is given no backstory ([[Call of the Primitives|until season 3]]) or justification; he simply exists, is very dangerous, and is afraid of the Matrix, all for no adequately explained reason. The introduction of the Matrix itself is a heavy [[retcon]]. The story asks the audience to accept that this cosmically powerful artifact has been in Prime's possession all along (even though an X-ray of Optimus Prime's innards in the second season episode "[[A Prime Problem]]" shows absolutely no signs of said Matrix), but has somehow never been relevant before. In fact, this lack of prior establishment is what led [[Simon Furman]] to develop the divinity backstory of Unicron and [[Primus]] in the UK comics run.

[[File:Megatronlightsaber.jpg|thumb|Your powers are weak, old man!]]
The movie bears many similarities to ''[[Star Wars (film)|Star Wars]]'': There are several character-parallels ([[Springer (G1)|Springer]] is a [[Han Solo]]-type and [[Arcee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Arcee]] even has Princess Leia's hairdo!), the primary threat is similar (it's the [[Death Star]]... [[Unicron/Generation 1|but it transforms!]]), and both feature a climactic battle where the [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|young hero]] hears the voice of his [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|dead, wise mentor]] one last time before saving the day.

To be a bit more fair to ''The Transformers: The Movie'', however, most of these similarities are either superficial (Arcee's Leia-hair; Megatron's "lightsaber" he briefly uses in his duel against Optimus Prime) or can be seen as elements common to thousands of years worth of epic storytelling through human history, not just common to ''Star Wars''. As a simple example, the phenomenon of two charismatic leaders dealing each other mortal injuries in battle hearkens back to some versions of the "King Arthur" myth; in their final battle, [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Arthur]] and his arch-enemy [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Sir Mordred]] deal one another lethal injuries and both apparently expire—though Arthur according to the legend will [[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1|return]] when [[Cybertron (planet)|England's]] need [[Darkest hour|is greatest]].
{{--}}

==Formatting==
[[File:Tftm widescreenesque.jpg|upright=1.66|thumb|The "widescreen" picture (left) actually ''cuts off'' the top and bottom of the fullscreen picture (right). Your eyes can deceive you; don't trust them.]]
Although it was billed in some advertisements before its theatrical release as being "widescreen", the movie was in fact animated in a 4:3 (fullscreen) aspect ratio. For its theatrical screenings, the film was matted down in the projector by the projectionist to a 16:9 aspect ratio (widescreen), chopping the top and bottom off the picture, but all video transfers of the movie were done without mattes, meaning that there was actually more picture visible in the fullscreen video and DVD releases than there would have been in theaters. Across 2006 and 2007, new editions of the DVD of the film were released by Sony BMG and [[Metrodome]] which applied the mattes in order to replicate the original theatrical presentation of the film for the first time in home entertainment. Some fans, however, didn't realize that the film wasn't actually ''animated'' in widescreen, and, hearing that the DVD was to be in widescreen, expected to see the fullscreen image with additional footage at the sides, causing them to complain that the top and bottom were cut off, thereby totally missing the point.
{{--}}

==International versions==
{{main|The Transformers: The Movie/dubs}}

==Commercial releases==
[[File:TFTM LaserDisc cover.jpg|thumb|The cover image from the original Japanese home media release of the movie.]]
*The movie was originally released in North America on VHS and Beta on [[September 17]]th, 1987<ref>http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1964&dat=19870911&id=YhAuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Ls8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=3198,2881581</ref> by [[Family Home Entertainment]], minus Spike's swear. Not long after, it was released in the UK by [[Video Gems]]. This version featured the opening text crawl and closing narration inherent to the UK version of the film. In Australia, the film was released on video by RCA/Columbia Pictures/Hoyts. In Japan, Hillcrane released a {{w|LaserDisc}} version alongside a VHS copy, both sporting a gorgeous painted cover that decorated many a fan's desktop back in the day.
*The movie was released spottily in the '90s, beginning with a budget VHS by Avid Home Entertainment in 1991. [[Malofilm]] released a VHS in Canada in 1995, notable for being the first home entertainment version to include Spike's swear. In 1998, Japanese company Pioneer produced another pair of LaserDisc and VHS releases. In 1999, things kicked off when American company [[Rhino Entertainment|Kid Rhino]] secured the Transformers license and released the film on VHS once again.
*The 21st century's flirtation with ''The Transformers: The Movie'' started with a UK budget VHS release of that country's version by [[Sony|Sony Wonder]], distributed by [[Maverick Entertainment]]. A Japanese company called CatCo followed this up with a VideoCD, and Malofilm—now Seville—were the first to release a DVD version of the film, though it was just a dump of their VHS version.
*In November 2000, ''The Transformers: The Movie'' got its first, full professional DVD release from Kid Rhino. This edition, labelled a "Special Collector's Edition", is the first to feature remastered video and audio, and several special features, including storyboards and an interview with [[Vince DiCola]]. Rhino concurrently released this version on VHS, sans extras.
*In 2001 in the UK, Sony Wonder released their own much-delayed DVD version of the film. It was the UK version of the film, but included Spike's swear. However, the release was burdened by badly interlaced video, though it notably included the [[Omni Productions]] dub version of the ''[[Transformers: The Headmasters (cartoon)|Headmasters]]'' episode "[[Four Warriors Come out of the Sky]]" as an extra. This version (including the ''Headmasters'' episode) was simultaneously released on VHS.
*The movie was released on DVD in Australia in 2003 by [[Madman Entertainment]], using the same video as the Maverick version, but distinguished by some nifty new cover art by [[Don Figueroa]], and special features not seen on other editions, such as ''[[Stan Bush|The Touch]]'' music video and 80s TV spots.
[[File:Tftm uk covers.jpg|thumb|The UK poster art (left) has been the most common DVD and VHS cover in its home country, but the Ultimate Edition featured new art by Andy Wildman (right).]]
*After acquiring the license to release ''Transformers'' DVDs in the UK, [[Metrodome]] focused on completing their run of series box sets before turning their attention to the movie properly, releasing only a cheap budget DVD of the UK version through Prism Leisure with no extras, and a UMD of the same version.
*In 2005, Metrodome released ''Transformers: The Movie - Reconstructed'', a new version of the film designed to expose as much of the animated picture as possible. This, however, only resulted in exposing the rough, unfinished edges of the animation, and an overly pale remaster was compounded by excessive interlacing due to an unnecessary NTSC to PAL transfer. This, coupled with a 5.1 remix from [[Magno Sound & Video]], featuring the same extra sound effects that they added to Rhino's season box sets, made this release both controversial and disappointing to many. This was the first time that the US version of the movie was released in the UK, and the first to feature the US poster art as a cover (although a Silverscreen store exclusive version of the disc included a reversible cover with the UK poster art as well). Extras include trailers, TV spots, the character biographies from the Madman release, and a subtitled version of "[[Four Warriors Come out of the Sky]]".
[[File:Tftm sony covers.jpg|thumb|Sony's covers, by Don Figueroa.]]
*For the movie's 20th anniversary in 2006, new license holder [[Sony|Sony BMG]] released a two-disc special edition of the film, featuring both a high-quality widescreen remaster and the original fullscreen version, audio commentaries from crew and fans, several new featurettes interviewing those involved in the movie's production, storyboards, TV spots, American and Japanese commercials and more. Most notably, this version included the first Western release of "[[Scramble City: Mobilization]]", albeit silent and unsubtitled, featuring only audio commentary. Also very notable is that this version includes an actual deleted scene from the animated film as an extra, though it is more of interest as a curiosity than anything it actually contains, being an approximately 2-second-long aerial view of the Autobots running towards the critically damaged Optimus Prime. This release featured two covers by Don Figueroa: one is of the '84-'85 cast that appear in the movie, and one is of the movie's new characters, available either as a lenticular hologram that switches between the two, or as a reversible sleeve with the images printed on either side.
[[File:Tftm madman covers.jpg|thumb|Madman's 2003 DVD cover (left), and their 2007 Special Edition cover (right).]]
*Delayed a bit to coincide with the hype for the 2007 [[Transformers (film)|live-action movie]], Metrodome also released a two-disc "Ultimate Edition" with a different widescreen master. Like "Reconstructed", this version used the US edition of the film, but this time, the UK version was also included, in fullscreen, on the second disc. Extras include TV spots, commercials, the Madman biographies, storyboards, commentary, "Scramble City" (with audio and subtitles), featurettes with [[Flint Dille]] and [[Peter Cullen]], and more. The double-disc edition was sold in a steel case featuring new art by [[Andrew Wildman]], with the UK poster art adorning the standard case inside. Various store exclusives were available, including postcards from Play.Com, a reversible cover with the US poster art from HMV, art cards from Virgin Megastore and [[posters]] from Woolworths and [[Toys"R"Us]]. It was also available in an extra-less single-disc version. This version was premiered at the Mid Ulster Film Festival in Ireland which was the only cinema showing of the remastered version of the film to date.
*The film was released in Full HD 1080p on Blu-ray in the UK in October 2007. The Blu-ray is not region-locked, so it will play anywhere in the world. It features a 2.0 soundtrack, 5.1 Dolby Digital track, and a full bitrate DTS 5.1 track. The master used was the same used by Sony for their US DVD. Sadly, there are no extras on the DVD. The version of the film on the Blu-ray is the US one, complete with curse words.
*Madman produced their two-disc special edition through some collaboration with Metrodome, and consequently it features much of the same content, with additional extras taking the form of The Touch music video and a bonus episode of ''[[Beast Wars: Transformers (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]''. This release again features cover artwork by Don Figueroa, specifically the cover of [[IDW Publishing|IDW]]'s ''[[Transformers: The Animated Movie]]'' adaptation.
*For the film's 30th Anniversary, and after being out of print in the US for 10 years, the film was rereleased on Region 1 DVD and given its first Region A Blu-ray release on [[September 13]], [[2016]] by [[Shout! Factory]]. Both versions are sourced from a brand-new 4K transfer which underwent extensive color-correction and remastering, and a Steelbook packaging variant of the Blu-ray was also made available.<ref>[https://www.shoutfactory.com/film/action-adventure/the-transformers-the-movie-limited-edition-30th-anniversary-steelbook The Transformers: The Movie Limited Edition 30th Anniversary Steelbook]</ref> The Steelbook Blu-ray was released in the UK by [[Manga Entertainment]] as a limited edition on December 12th, 2016, followed by a standard edition release a year later.

==Television broadcasts==
Following a segmented, five-part broadcast during [[The Transformers (cartoon)#Season 5|the fifth season of ''The Transformers'']], the complete feature film was aired on American television in 1989 via Fox stations. Air dates and times were June 17 at Noon, July 30 at 11 A.M. and September 2 at 10 A.M. Of course, this was the language-edited video release from Family Home Entertainment.

The movie was aired on [[Hub Network|The Hub]] on February 18, 2012, following [[Orion Pax, Part 1|the Season 2 premiere]] of ''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|Transformers: Prime]]'' on what was called "Transformers Mega Saturday". Uniquely, this version combined the European opening narration with the US scrawl-free opening credits, muted the two swear words (rendering the lines as "It isn't even dented! ...What do we do now?!" and "Open... ''Open!''"), used the European closing narration at the end, and sped up the scroll of the end credits to cut it down for time, ending the lyrics of the [[theme song]] around the beginning of its second verse ("Strong enough to break the bravest heart..."). Subsequent re-airings on The Hub aired this version of the movie.

The American television airing of the feature film adds one extra sound effect, and it has never been heard in any other release. During the scene when Arcee is racing to jump aboard the departing Autobot shuttle, there is a distinctive sound effect when she jumps. In all other releases there is no sound effect.

A July 4, 2014 Hub broadcast of the movie markets it as ''Transformers: The Animated Movie'', distinguishing it from that computer animation/live action [[Transformers (film)|hybrid film]] with the similar title made two decades and one year later.

==Notes==
*According to [[Buzz Dixon]], Hasbro's decision to kill off Optimus Prime was actually an attempt to maintain some brand-storytelling parity with ''[[G.I. Joe (franchise)|G.I. Joe]]'', as Dixon had just convinced them to allow the death of [[Duke (G.I. Joe)|Duke]] in ''{{w|G.I. Joe: The Movie}}'' and both films were in production at the same time.<ref>http://www.joeheadquarters.com/interviews_dixon.shtml</ref>

*This film was the last professional performance by [[Orson Welles]], who died only a month later. According to production materials shown at [[BotCon 2000]] by Tim Finn, the voice recording sessions for ''The Transformers: The Movie'' were done on [[September 10]] and [[September 11|11]] of 1985. Welles died on [[October 10]] of that same year. It has often been speculated that Unicron's last line ("Destiny… you cannot destroy my destiny!") was recorded by another actor—possibly [[Leonard Nimoy|Nimoy]]—because it sounds different than the other lines. This speculation has been quashed by statements by Transformers voice director [[Wally Burr]].<ref>http://cybertronchronicle.freewebspace.com/60-astrominutes/wally-burr/wally-burr-3.html</ref>
[[File:Windcharger wheeljack otp.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Uncle Owen! Aunt Beru!!]]

*With the exception of Starscream and possibly Shockwave, only the Autobots suffered fatalities in the movie. All of the other "dead" Decepticons from the Autobot City battle were rebuilt into Galvatron's new troops, and although more Decepticons were shown taking heavy damage and suffering huge casualties while fighting Unicron, their identities and their final condition are uncertain. Additionally, both Starscream and Unicron survived in the post-movie series in some form or another. Shockwave's death in the finished film is highly uncertain, although in the script it is fairly strongly implied. He does make some miscolored appearances in crowd shots in later cartoon episodes, but these are probably examples of the fairly common animation errors in those episodes.

*Somewhat ironically, though only three of the original eighteen Autobots - [[Jazz (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Jazz]], [[Cliffjumper (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Cliffjumper]], and [[Bumblebee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Bumblebee]] - are definitively shown to have survived the movie, two would quite literally never be heard from again: [[Scatman Crothers]] passed away (though this didn't stop Jazz from making any number of background cameos) while Casey Kasem [[Casey Kasem#Notes|quit the show early in the third season]]. Fate's finger is fickle indeed.

*[[:File:TFTM-MaybeBeachcomber.jpg|A robot resembling Beachcomber]] appears alongside Spike and the Autobots inside Unicron seconds before Daniel blasts the acid cover. Whether this was actually meant to be Beachcomber or just coincidental coloring is unknown, but regardless, Beachcomber shows up alive and well in "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5]]".

==External links==
*[http://cybertronchronicle.freewebspace.com/cartoon-dossier/movie/movie.html ''The Transformers: The Movie'' Dossier at The Cybertron Chronicle]
*[http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=transformers.htm ''The Transformers: The Movie'''s box office domestic gross.]
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20080426020409/http://www.tftm.net/ ''The Transformers: The Movie'' "Unofficial Fansite", an extremely thorough site about the movie]
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20110718075138/http://www.wombatking.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=4 ''The Transformers: The Movie'' deleted storyboards] (archive link)
*[http://zobovor.tripod.com/transformers_the_movie_bloopers.html The Transformers: The Movie Bloopers]

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Transformers: The Movie}}

[[Category:The Transformers episodes]]
[[Category:Generation 1 media]]
[[Category:MSTF]]
[[Category:Real world films]]

Rumble (G1)

2018-01-04T17:45:35Z

HussarZwei: /* Generation 1 cartoon continuity */

{{factions|decepticon|decepticong2|unicron|cobra}}
{{disambig3|Rumble}}
{{suite}}
:''Rumble is a [[Decepticon]] [[Decepticon Mini-Cassette|Mini-Cassette]] from the [[Generation 1 continuity family|Generation 1]] [[continuity family]].''
[[File:RumbleMissingInAction.jpg|upright=1.55|thumb|Ready to shake, break, rattle and QUAKE!]]
'''Rumble''' is your basic street punk: small, but always acting tough as a cover. He's not exactly the most subtle of [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]]'s [[Mini-Cassette|spies]], but what he lacks in discretion, he makes up for by being the brawler of the group. He talks tough because he ''is'' tough. Quick-tempered and of a generally mean disposition, he follows [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] eagerly, as the Decepticon leader lets him indulge in destruction. Rumble has a tendency to toss out a taunting rhyme at his enemies and is, according to [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], a "jerk" (or at other times, a "sawed-off nerd").

As the Decepticon demolitions expert, Rumble loves nothing more than to break things apart. His arms can transform into powerful piledrivers that, when pounded against the ground, can cause earthquakes, usually with fissures. He can be easily overpowered in a one-on-one match, though the real challenge is actually getting to him first. Even if you do, you usually need to get through his [[Relatives|brother]] [[Frenzy (G1)|Frenzy]] either before or after you get Rumble.

{{quote|If on Decepticon turf you happen to tumble, look out, robot, 'cause here comes Rumble!|Rumble, thinking he's funny|"[[S.O.S. Dinobots]]"}}

==Fiction==
===Marvel Comics continuity===
====Marvel ''The Transformers'' comics====
{{noteukonly}}
[[File:PowerPlay Rummmble.JPG|left|upright=1.4|thumb|That's my name, don't wear it out.]]
Millions of years ago on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], Rumble was among [[Megatron (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Megatron]]'s elite warriors in the Decepticon ranks. {{storylink|The Transformers (issue)|The Transformers}} After attending a meeting where Shockwave explained to the Decepticon rank and file how they would overcome their enemies, {{storylink|Warrior School!}} Rumble participated in the Decepticons' attempt to overpower the crew of the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]]. He ended up plunging down to the planet Earth below with all the other Transformers on board the Autobot vessel. They remained dormant and inactive until 1984, when the volcano their ship was nestled under erupted, bringing the Ark's sensors back online, and the Cybertronians with it. {{storylink|The Transformers (issue)|The Transformers}} Megatron and the Decepticons immediately began plans to loot the planet's rich sources of energy. Rumble's ability to generate low-frequency groundwaves was instrumental in shaking loose equipment from the [[Harrison Nuclear Power Plant]], giving the Decepticons the raw materials necessary for the construction of their [[Fortress Sinister]]. {{storylink|Power Play!}} After securing a human fuel specialist, it was Rumble who provided [[Sparkplug Witwicky]] with a sample of Cybertronian fuel for analysis, simply by popping off his hand and pumping fuel from his wrist socket. Eww. As the Autobots confronted the Decepticons at their newly fortified base, Rumble came out to greet them. He used his earthquakes to knock [[Huffer (G1)|Huffer]] and [[Cliffjumper (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Cliffjumper]] off-balance, but [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]] just barreled his way through the tremors and decked the junk-punk with one punch. After dealing with the Autobot pugilist, [[Frenzy (G1)|Frenzy]] scooped up his brother and brought him back into the base for repairs, but they were assaulted by [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] and his [[Spider-Man|arachnid partner]]. {{storylink|Prisoner of War!}}

''Rumble was actually in favor of Decepticon democracy at one point, grumbling that [[Starscream (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Starscream]] "deserved a vote" during one of the Air Commander's infamous arguments with Megatron. He was, however, smart enough not to grumble too loudly.'' {{storylink|The Enemy Within!}} ''Starscream later got his way, and the Decepticons staged an attack on the Ark. Rumble tried to pit himself against the Autobot warrior named [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]], but found himself severely outmatched by the Autobot's piledriver punch.'' {{storylink|Raiders of the Last Ark}}

''On another of the Decepticons' outings, Rumble was tasked with generating seismic activity underwater, so that a [[Sherman Dam|nearby dam]] would be flooded, generating the power necessary to produce a crude fuel for the Decepticons. As he performed his part, Rumble was confronted by [[Hound (G1)|Hound]], but easily bested him and sent him flying out of the river's waters. Upon the completion of their plot, the Decepticons fled.'' {{storylink|Decepticon Dam-Busters!}}

[[File:PrimeTime Rumble sweat.JPG|upright=1.1|thumb|If only I hadn't forgotten to take my Insulin this morning...]]
Heavily damaged due to earlier battles, Rumble sat out the next Decepticon offensive against the Ark, {{storylink|The Last Stand}} and was not reactivated until after Decepticon leadership had shifted from Megatron to the returning [[Shockwave (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Shockwave]]. Thanks to their new commander, the Decepticons had secured the Ark and all of the Autobots were believed incapacitated. Despite all these victories, Rumble failed miserably at guarding the Ark, letting one [[Buster Witwicky (G1)|Buster Witwicky]] sneak by him and abscond with the [[Matrix of Leadership|Creation Matrix]]. It turned out Rumble's optical circuitry was too low-res to pick up on humans in his peripheral. {{storylink|The New Order}} After getting him to help secure an off-shore oil rig he had forcefully taken from industrialist [[G.B. Blackrock]], {{storylink|The Worse of Two Evils!}} Shockwave discovered that something was amiss. He actually had to run Rumble's memories through a computer-enhanced refinement process to uncover who had infiltrated the Ark during his absence. Needless to say, Shockwave was NOT happy when he found out. {{storylink|Brainstorm!}} Waiting for his punishment, Rumble actually began developing moisture and condensation on his face-plate in anticipation. Fortunately for Rumble, his only punishment was to guard their human slaves at the [[Blackrock Aerospace Assembly Plant Number One]]. Unfortunately for Rumble, he was no better at watching multiple humans than he was at watching one—the humans revolted when [[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]] turned on Shockwave, and Rumble was unable to stop them from escaping the plant. {{storylink|Prime Time!}}

''Either Rumble or Frenzy participated in a petty attack on a human settlement. The Decepticons' personality were strangely inverted upon being hit by an energy blast, and they all became big softies, apologizing profusely as they cleaned up the mess they had made. Once the blast's effects wore off, the Decepticons swore revenge for what they assumed to be an Autobot trick, and tracked the beam's origin to England. Though Starscream found the device responsible, a human invention called the "[[Purnel's Auto-Reverse Defence|PARD]]," it was destroyed before he could take off with it.'' {{storylink|To a Power Unknown!}}

[[File:CommandPerformances RumbleFrenzy explode.JPG|left|upright=0.8|thumb|Ow.]]
''Shockwave's defeat left the Decepticons leaderless for a time, and Rumble next served under Soundwave. Soundwave's first offensive against their enemies had Rumble accompany his commander to a secluded area, where Ravage lured Bumblebee out to their small strike force. Together, they brutalized the scout, and held him as bait to draw out Optimus Prime. Rumble was then posted up as part of a gauntlet, meant to weaken Prime as he approached. Though Rumble inflicted some damage onto Prime with his pile-drivers, the Autobot leader feigned defeat in order to have Rumble drop his guard, and then clobbered him unconscious.'' {{storylink|Crisis of Command!}} Eventually, Megatron and Shockwave reached an accord, agreeing to work together as co-leaders of the Decepticons. {{storylink|Command Performances!}} ''Rumble was sent out to the town of [[Greater Portland]] in a mission of utmost importance by Megatron. When [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]], then on a scouting mission, came across him, Rumble accosted the Autobot and forced him into a dirty back-alley. Though Tracks managed to temporarilly blind Rumble with his black-beam gun, Rumble struck at his opponent's vital circuits, and left him crippled before resuming the task he had been sent out to accomplish.'' {{storylink|Missing in Action}} Rumble didn't last long into the new co-led Decepticon regime, however. Almost as soon as the Decepticons officially relocated to a coal mine in Wyoming, Megatron led Rumble and several of his fellow soldiers in an attack on the Ark. Having been alerted by Shockwave to an all-out Autobot assault on the mine, Megatron concluded that the Ark and its secrets would be relatively unguarded, and ripe for the picking. Well, Megatron was wrong... on an epic scale. Rumble and the Decepticons were treated to the first battle field test of the Autobots' new defense base: [[Omega Supreme (G1)|OMEGA SUPREME]]. Rumble was blown to pieces by Omega Supreme's plasma cannon, along with Starscream, [[Thundercracker (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Thundercracker]], [[Skywarp (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Skywarp]], [[Buzzsaw (G1)|Buzzsaw]], and Frenzy. Only Megatron and [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] managed to limp away from the battle at all. {{storylink|Command Performances!}}

''When Starscream awoke from his life support machine on the Ark, he saw that Frenzy and Thundercracker were close to regaining consciousness, but that Rumble, Skywarp, and Buzzsaw were far from rehabilitated.'' {{storylink|Target: 2006}}

Rumble remained a prisoner of the Autobots for years, his disassembled component parts resting in the Ark's detention facility until the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]] raided the spaceship during a battle on the [[Moon (moon)|moon]]. {{storylink|Totaled!}} Although he was presumably reconstructed along with his fellow Decepticons, Rumble was still virtually never seen again.
{{-}}

=====Movie future timeline=====
In the far-flung future of [[2005]], the Decepticons besiege [[Autobot City (G1)|Autobot City]]. Rumble was among the invading force, and witnessed Megatron being beaten down to near-death by Optimus when the two faction leaders met in a fateful duel. With their leader incapacitated, the Decepticons boarded Astrotrain and retreated from the battlefield. {{storylink|The Planet-Eater!}}

=====Earthforce=====
{{earthforcefiction}}
Rumble, along with his fellow cassette [[Ravage (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Ravage]], chose to serve under Shockwave and Starscream when the Decepticon factions split on Earth, fighting on the opposite side from Soundwave. He was present at the [[Enclave]], joining in the massive melee initiated by the Autobots, {{storylink|The Bad Guy's Ball!}} and was later seen on Starscream's observation duty monitors. {{storylink|Bugged!}} After the two factions reunited, Rumble nestled back into his old space inside Soundwave's chest. He joined a massive Decepticon offensive against the Autobot [[Earthbase]], their goal to kill some Autobots, while also distracting them as [[Starscream (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Starscream]] looted a human oil tanker in the [[Gulf of Mexico]]. Both goals proved fruitless, and the Decepticons were driven off. {{storylink|Divide and Conquer!}}

{{note|Because Earthforce was printed in black-and-white, it's possible some of his above appearances were actually Frenzy. However, only one FIBRIR bodytype was ever seen at a time, Rumble was identified by name in one issue, and Frenzy was never named, so for simplicity's sake we are assuming only Rumble was present in Earthforce.}}

====Marvel ''Generation 2'' comic====
[[File:FrenzyRumbleRepair-G2.jpg|120px|thumb|Rumble also goes by that handle on Team Fortress 2.]]
Like most Decepticons, Rumble fell under [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]]'s command following the restoration of Cybertron, disappearing into deep space for a period of time. When Megatron returned to depose Bludgeon and retake leadership, Rumble and Frenzy immediately fell into place at his side, and went to work reviving and rebuilding [[Darkwing (G1)|Darkwing]], who had not followed the brothers' example and had been all but destroyed by Megatron as a result. {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness|Tales of Earth Part Three}} Rumble was later present for Megatron's throttling of [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Optimus Prime]] and the capture of the [[Matrix of Leadership|Creation Matrix]]'s energies from his chest. When the other Autobots arrived, Rumble used his piledrivers to toss [[Hot Rod (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Hot Rod]] for a loop. But finding themselves outnumbered and unable to call for additional back-up due to a signal jam, the Decepticons retreat rather than risk losing their means of bringing a [[Bludgeon's new army|new Decepticon army]] to life. {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}} Later, after the Decepticons joined forces with the Autobots, Rumble accompanied his leader to the planet [[Ethos]], and was seen mopping up the [[Cybertronian (faction)|Cybertronian]] [[Ethos raiding party|resistance]] after the Cons saved the Autobots' tailpipes. {{storylink|Escalation!}}

When [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] unleashed his full battalion against his ancestors, Rumble was manning the [[Warworld]]'s bridge alongside Soundwave and Frenzy. {{storylink|Total War!}} Both of his fellow bridge officers apparently jettisoned to safety before Starscream took full command of the Warworld, and so Rumble may have done so as well. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}
{{-}}

====''Recordicons''====
{{noteclassics}}
Rumble and [[Frenzy (G1)|Frenzy]] were startled to be approached by the mysterious [[Ratbat (SG)|Batbot]] who was seeking [[Ratbat (G1)|Ratbat]]. Rumble pointed out that Ratbat was dead, killed by [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] who himself was also dead. {{storylink|Recordicons#Recordicons #11|''Recordicons'' #11}}

===Generation 1 cartoon continuity===
{{note|An infamous production error during the making of the cartoon resulted in Rumble and Frenzy's [[FIRRIB|color schemes being switched]]. Thus, in the original Generation 1 cartoon, Rumble is blue and purple.}}
====''The Transformers'' cartoon====
{{voiceactor|[[Frank Welker]] (English), [[Ken Shiroyama]] (Japanese), [[Katsumi Suzuki]] (Japanese, "Attack of the Autobots" and "Day of the Machines" only), [[Ken Yamaguchi]] (Japanese, ''The Movie'') (see note below regarding Japanese cartoon)|[[Lin Dongfu]] (Chinese), [[Roberto Alexander]] (Latin American), [[Ulrich Bernsdorff]] (German, Season 1), [[Bernd Simon]] (German, Season 2), [[Gerd Wiedenhofen]] (German, The Movie TV Dub & Generation 2 Dub of ''More than Meets the Eye, Part 1''), [[Willy Schäfer]] (German, Generation 2 Dub of ''Auto-Berserk'' & ''Atlantis, Arise!''), [[Tonio von der Meden]] (German, Generation 2 Dub of ''Roll For It'')}}

[[File:Mtmte1 rumble robotmode.jpg|left|thumb|And, thus, an entire generation was confused...]]
Four million years ago, Rumble was a member of the original Decepticon raiding party that boarded the [[Ark (G1)|Autobots' spacecraft]], which then crashed into prehistoric Earth, knocking all the Transformers aboard offline. When they were reawakened in 1984 by a volcanic eruption, Rumble was reformatted by [[Teletraan I]] into an audio cassette that fit snugly into [[Soundwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Soundwave]]'s chest compartment. As soon as the Decepticons had withdrawn from the crashed hulk of the Autobots' ship, Soundwave deployed Rumble to help [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]] gather materials for construction of a temporary headquarters. Casually brushing off Starscream's constant complaints about [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]]'s leadership abilities, Rumble put his piledrivers to work reducing a power plant to scrap to provide the needed building materials.

[[File:Mtmte3 rumble vs hound.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Let's get ready to MEEEEE!]]
With their temporary base in place and plans for a [[Victory (G1)|new space cruiser]] ready, the Decepticons began gathering energy from Earth's many available sources. They began with an attack on an offshore oil rig, during which Rumble menaced human worker [[Sparkplug Witwicky]], and shoved the man's son, [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]], into the ocean when he tried to attack the small Decepticon.{{storylink|More than Meets the Eye, Part 1}} Soon after, exploiting information stolen from Teletraan I, the Decepticons had Rumble cause a tidal wave that would push the power output of the hydroelectric plant at [[Sherman Dam]] to its maximum capacity. Rumble was caught in the act by the Autobot [[Hound (G1)|Hound]], but in spite of his diminutive size, Rumble came out on top in the underwater battle, burying Hound under a pile of rocks. {{storylink|More than Meets the Eye, Part 2}} Rumble and Hound had a rematch during the battle to prevent the Decepticons escaping Earth in their finished cruiser, but this time, Rumble didn't fare so well. The battle was soon called off so the Decepticons could board their ship, but Autobot spy [[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]] also snuck aboard and sabotaged the craft in mid-flight. As it plummeted back to Earth, Rumble began freaking out, fearing the impact would destroy them. Luckily for the little guy, he was wrong. {{storylink|More than Meets the Eye, Part 3}}

[[File:Rumble.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.2|I thought it was supposed to be red or blue, Why AM I PURPLE?!?!]]
When next seen, Rumble was guarding the Decepticons' [[space bridge]] with [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] as they awaited the return of Megatron from [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. Once Megatron had emerged from the bridge, Rumble joined him in attacked the laboratory of [[Alcazar|Doctor Alcazar]] and stood guard outside, warning the Autobots to keep their distance as Megatron worked to create [[antimatter]] with the lab's facilities. Although Hound and Mirage were able to sneak by Rumble using their hologram and invisibility powers, the Autobots were unable to stop Megatron completing his experiment, and Rumble took part in his leader's subsequent attack on [[Ark (G1)|Autobot Headquarters]]. Megatron's plan was foiled when the Autobots used a remote control device to take over [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]]'s body, causing him to fire the antimatter-powered Megatron at Rumble. {{storylink|Roll for It}}

[[File:Fireinthesky rumble avalanche.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The Trans-break-dance!]]
Rumble was helping Starscream and [[Reflector (G1)|Reflector]] load [[energon cube]]s for transport through the space bridge when a team of Autobots arrived with the intention of using the bridge themselves. Rumble tried to open a crevasse beneath [[Bumblebee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Bumblebee]], but the Decepticons were then ordered by Megatron to let the Autobots use the bridge. While they were absent, Megatron staged an attack on Autobot Headquarters, during which Rumble rumbled with [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] and [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]]. {{storylink|Divide and Conquer}} Rumble was later instrumental in the Decepticons' plan to tap the heat energy of the [[Earth's core]], as he smashed through the polar ice to help locate the crystal shaft they needed. In the process, he also uncovered the frozen body of [[Jetfire (G1)|Skyfire]]. {{storylink|Fire in the Sky}}

[[File:Sosdinos rumble broken piledrivers.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.2|Rumble never understood what is "''break''dance"… till now.]]
When the Decepticons attacked the [[Great Falls]] hydroelectric power plant, Rumble helped Megatron dispatch the counter-attacking Autobots with an unusual tactic: using the planet's equipment, Megatron channeled the seismic energy of tremors created by Rumble to boost the power of his [[fusion cannon]], and blasted all the Autobots into the river. When the Autobots' newest members, the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]], arrived to save their comrades, Rumble pitted his piledrivers against [[Sludge (G1)|Sludge]], who came out on top by creating a quake so powerful it broke Rumble's piledrivers off! {{storylink|S.O.S. Dinobots}} Then, after helping Megatron steal steel in [[Peru]], {{storylink|Fire on the Mountain (episode)|Fire on the Mountain}} Rumble lent a hand making energon cubes from the energy of a mysterious [[Meteorini Chipperoni|meteorite]]. {{storylink|War of the Dinobots}}

[[File:Tud2 rumble and slave.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Alright! I'll say it! FIRRIB! FIRRIB!]]
Brashly striding through the open front door of Autobot Headquarters, Rumble set about causing tremors throughout the Autobots' base to distract the heroic robots while Laserbeak kidnapped Sparkplug Witwicky right out from under their noses. {{storylink|The Ultimate Doom, Part 1}} Rumble then served as something of a "lab assistant" to the Decepticons' new human ally, [[Doctor Arkeville]], as he turned Sparkplug and many other captured humans into mind-controlled slaves with his [[hypno-chip]]s. Rumble took a perverse enjoyment in watching the human slaves suffer, yanking one through an electric field {{storylink|The Ultimate Doom, Part 2}} and tripping one unfortunate up while he was trying to do his allotted job. Rumble monitored the tidal waves created by Cybertron's gravity for Megatron, then joined in the final battle on a tropical island, where he tried once again to open a crevasse beneath Bumblebee, but got knocked into it himself. {{storylink|The Ultimate Doom, Part 3}} After Cybertron was moved back out Earth's orbit, the Decepticons set about repairing the damage the planet's gravity had caused to their [[Decepticon Headquarters (G1 Earth)|undersea headquarters]]. When Skywarp started bossing around Rumble and his brother [[Frenzy (G1)|Frenzy]], the two tiny terrors double-teamed Skywarp and brought him to the ground, and would have kept on fighting if Megatron had to not arrived to knock them into line. The battle-ready Rumble then accompanied Megatron to Doctor Arkeville's laboratory, where they were forced to team up with the Autobots to save the planet from his overloading [[Exponential Generator]]. {{storylink|Countdown to Extinction (episode)|Countdown to Extinction}}

[[File:G1 cartoon Rumble piledrivers.JPG|left|thumb|upright=1.2]]
Rumble was next spotted gathering energon cubes at a shipyard in [[Bali]], {{storylink|A Plague of Insecticons}} after which he joined the other Decepticons in contributing his [[power chip rectifier]] to a machine that would transfer all their special abilities to Megatron. With these additional powers, Megatron challenged [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] to one-on-one combat, using Rumble's quake-generating abilities to open a chasm into which Prime tumbled. When the Decepticons' duplicity was revealed, they were all sent falling into a river of lava, Rumble included. {{storylink|Heavy Metal War}}

Rumble was standing by as Megatron schemed to take control of "Autobot Spike," {{storylink|Autobot Spike}} then participated in the Decepticons invasion of [[New York City]], where he joined Soundwave and Frenzy in attacking a team of Autobots in [[Central Park]]. {{storylink|City of Steel (episode)|City of Steel}} Rumble and the other cassettes later staged another attack on Autobot Headquarters, in order to distract the Autobots while Megatron and Starscream snuck inside to sabotage their [[recharging chamber]]s. Rumble tussled with Optimus Prime and [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], sending the two Autobots falling into one of his crevasses, only to have them come bounding out and clobber him when he peered over the edge to observe their fate. {{storylink|Attack of the Autobots (episode)|Attack of the Autobots}}

[[File:Immobilizer rumble with remote.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2]]
Rumble helped defend the installation the Decepticons were used to experiment with [[electro-cell]]s, {{storylink|Traitor (episode)}} after which he was put in charge of controlling the stolen Autobot invention, the [[Wheeljack Instant Immobilizer|Immobilizer]], {{storylink|The Immobilizer}} and was briefly glimpsed in battle in the ghost town the Decepticons were used as a staging base. {{storylink|The Autobot Run}}

When the Decepticons allied themselves with the inhabitants of the underwater city of [[Sub-Atlantica]], Soundwave observed the Autobot infiltrators Bumblebee, Spike and [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] pursuing the Sub-Atlantican king [[Nergill]] into the city's depths. Unable to follow due to his size, Soundwave sent Rumble and Ravage after them, but once they had tracked them down, Rumble was shocked to discover that the insane Nergill was planning to blow up Sub-Atlantica and everyone on it. Rumble tried to stop Nergill by activating his piledrivers and collapsing the chamber, but the mad fish-king dug his way out of the rubble and destroyed his city. {{storylink|Atlantis, Arise!}}

[[File:Autoberserk rumble in negavator.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Headmaster (Animated)|"Yes! I am soooo 1337!"]]]]
Rumble helped in the Decepticon plan to take over a fleet of oil tankers by firing [[Remote Control Circuit Linker|circuit linker cards]] at the ships that put them under the control of the super computer [[TORQ III]]. When a team of Autobots arrived to investigate, they were captured, and Rumble and Ravage served as their jailers until Spike engineered their escape by pinning the two cassettes to the wall with an electromagnet. {{storylink|Day of the Machines}} Rumble later put his piledrivers into action to help steal the human-built robot [[Nightbird (G1)|Nightbird]] {{storylink|Enter the Nightbird}} and helped the Decepticons defend a crevice of [[korlonium crystal]]s from Autobot incursion. {{storylink|A Prime Problem}}

Together with Soundwave and his other cassettes, Rumble attacked the testing site for the Autobots' new weapon, the [[Negavator]]. While Frenzy kept Optimus Prime busy, Rumble was able to get inside the cockpit of the Negavator itself, but before he could turn its power on Prime, [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] blasted the machine and shorted out the controls. Their mission foiled, the Decepticons fled, but as a parting gesture, Rumble launched a missile that demolished the control bunker and injured [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]]. The Decepticons made another play for the Negavator only a short time later, this time trying to bury the Autobots under an avalanche caused by Rumble, but enjoyed a similar lack of success. {{storylink|Auto Berserk}}

[[File:Masterplan2 rumble boogie.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Great Primus, but we already USED a breakdancing joke!]]
While searching the jungles of [[South America]] for the ruins of their [[Nemesis (G1)|old starship]], Rumble started bickering with Starscream, and was highly amused when the air commander was caught in the coils of a giant snake. When their quest ended in success, Rumble indulged in a bout of celebratory over-energizing with his fellow Decepticons that evening. {{storylink|Microbots}}

When the Decepticons fooled the population of Earth into believing the Autobots were villains and they were the true heroes, Rumble kept up appearances by attending a disco with Soundwave and the other cassettes, and genuinely quite enjoying himself. With the Autobots exiled to space, the Decepticons' ruse came to an end, and Rumble was made a slave-master in the work camp that the conquered [[Central City (Earth)|Central City]] was turned into a slave camp. When [[Chip Chase]] tried to escape, Spike covered his flight by shoving a cart of energon cubes into Rumble, who was, in turn, sent crashing into a generator and was electrocuted. Although Chip was soon recaptured, it was not long before the Autobots returned to Earth to clear their names and send the Decepticons packing. {{storylink|Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2}}

[[File:Raiderrumblejoust.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.2]]
Rumble was among the Decepticons who began malfunctioning due to the deterioration of his [[cybertonium]], causing him to uncontrollably deploy his piledrivers and start pummelling Megatron's leg. {{storylink|Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 1}} Once repaired, Rumble participated in a Decepticon mission to [[United Kingdom|Great Britain]], where he, Starscream, Ravage and [[Ramjet (G1)|Ramjet]] all found themselves cast back in time to the Middle Ages by the mysterious, magical [[Dragon Mound]]. Falling in with local ne'er-do-well [[Wigend of Blackthorne]], the energy-deprived Decepticons took part in a local jousting tournament as Wigend's representatives, in order to win ownership of the land owned by his rival, [[Aetheling the Red]], as the first step towards conquering the planet. Armed with a [[lance]] and shield and riding atop Ramjet, Rumble jousted with Sir Aetheling himself, but was defeated, prompting Starscream to discard chivalry and kidnap Aetheling's daughter [[Nimue]]. [[File:Raiderrumblepoo.jpg|thumb|Before [[Michael Bay]], before even [[The Low Road]], we had this.]] To repel the inevitable rescue attempt, Starscream had the Decepticons gather the ingredients necessary to make [[Dragon's Bane|gunpowder]]; Rumble got the unenviable job of gathering the "potassium nitrate" he required. Eventually, the Decepticons were defeated by [[Hoist (G1)|Hoist]] and [[Warpath (G1)|Warpath]], who had followed them back through time, and the wizard [[Beorht]], and were returned to their rightful era. {{storylink|A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court (episode)|A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court}}

Rumble was among the Decepticons who temporarily gained the power of an [[electrum]] coating, {{storylink|The Golden Lagoon (episode)|The Golden Lagoon}} worked in the [[New Jersey (Earth)|New Jersey]] Pine Barrens to create an army of robot car warrior {{storylink|Make Tracks}} and was caught up in the menace of the [[Morphobot]]s. {{storylink|Quest for Survival}}

[[File:G1-Cartoon-SeaChange-Rumble-Tree.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.66|Grandmother <s>Willow</s> Rumble.]]
Accompanying Megatron to the world of the [[Tlalakan]]s to quash a rebellion among the inhabitants, Rumble wound up falling into their [[Well of Transformation]], which caused his body to warp and change. Not understanding what was happening to him, Rumble begged the native girl [[Alana]] to help him, and she informed him that he needed to think of a tree in order to survive. Rumble complied... and promptly turned into one! Stuck in this immobile form on the shores of the well, Rumble was left out of the following battle until an explosion knocked him back into its waters and he returned to normal. {{storylink|Sea Change}}

Rumble was dispatched to Cybertron with Starscream and Ramjet to locate the headquarters of the [[Female Autobots]], and used his piledrivers to collapse the base on Starscream's orders. {{storylink|The Search for Alpha Trion}} A little later, Rumble helped Soundwave prepare the [[psycho-probe]] to scan the mind of [[Astoria Carlton-Ritz]], but the heiress's ability to jinx machines around her just meant that the unfortunate duo wound up being electrocuted by the device. {{storylink|The Girl Who Loved Powerglide}} Then, when the Decepticons invaded a movie lot to recover footage that a crew had taken of [[Dirge (G1)|Dirge]] carrying a secret cargo, Rumble mistook some animatronic dinosaurs for the Dinobots and blasted them to bits. {{storylink|Hoist Goes Hollywood (episode)|Hoist Goes Hollywood}}

[[File:KeytoVectorSigmaPt1 stealing DragStrip.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Sadly, not an unlockable racer in Super Mario Kart.]]
Seeking to challenge the Autobots' rule of the roads, Megatron charged Rumble with stealing an assortment of cars and trucks that he could rebuild as Decepticons. His small size worked in his favor, and Rumble invaded a Formula 1 race track, hijacked some bank robbers' getaway car and terrorized a trucker named [[Possum Brown]] to get the vehicles Megatron required. Impressed by the rebuilt cards "stunt-driving", Rumble inspired Megatron to name his new creations the [[Stunticon (G1)|Stunticons]]. Rumble subsequently accompanied Megatron to Cybertron to bestow life to the Stunticons using the mega-computer [[Vector Sigma]], although Rumble found the unassuming spherical form of the computer a bit underwhelming. {{storylink|The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 1}} The Decepticons then returned to Earth, and Rumble helped set up equipment to analyze the [[Key to Vector Sigma]]'s power. {{storylink|The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 2}}

Rumble travelled to [[Galata Valley]] with Megatron and Soundwave to help search for the [[Pearl of Bahoudin]], {{storylink|Trans-Europe Express}} following which he went on a significantly greater journey, voyaging to the planet [[Antilla]] with Megatron, Starscream and [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]]. The deserted planet creeped Rumble out, and he was happy when they left, with a new "[[Lightning Bug]]" heat ray weapon into the bargain. They also came away with the dreaded [[Cosmic Rust (disease)|Cosmic Rust]] plague, and Rumble accompanied Megatron as he used the Lightning Bug to spread the disease through Autobot Headquarters. {{storylink|Cosmic Rust (episode)|Cosmic Rust}} For his final recorded adventures in the 20th century, Rumble battled Starscream's [[Combaticon (G1)|Combaticons]], {{storylink|Starscream's Brigade}} and helped operate Megatron's [[Giant Purple Griffin|new fortress]], activating its flight systems and turning its weapons on [[Superion (G1)|Superion]]. {{storylink|Aerial Assault}}

[[File:Rumblevsperceptor.jpg|upright=1.2|thumb|left|Alright, open wide...]]
Over the course of the next twenty years, the Decepticons succeeded in conquering all of Cybertron and forcing the Autobots to relocate to bases on two of the planet's moons, and to their new home of [[Autobot City (G1)|Autobot City]] on Earth. In 2005, when the Decepticons staged a [[Battle of Autobot City|major assault against Autobot City]], Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage and [[Ratbat (G1)|Ratbat]] were deployed by Soundwave to disable a communications tower that [[Blaster (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Blaster]] was using to broadcast a message to Optimus Prime at [[Moonbase One]]. After doing so, Rumble proceeded to smash his way into the tower with his piledrivers, and he and his fellow cassettes then piled on [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]]. Blaster then unleashed his own cassettes on them, and Rumble wound up grappling with [[Steeljaw (G1)|Steeljaw]]. Unfortunately for the Decepticons, Rumble and his fellow cassettes had not acted quickly enough, and Blaster's distress call had indeed reached Optimus Prime, who soon arrived on Earth and defeated Megatron in battle. With the fall of their leader, the Decepticons retreated aboard Astrotrain, with Rumble carrying Megatron's fusion cannon while Soundwave carried Megatron himself. Once the Decepticons were on their way, it became necessary to jettison excess weight so that Astrotrain could make it to Cybertron, and Megatron was one of those ejected, prompting an argument over who should replace him as leader. When [[Hook (G1)|Hook]] called Soundwave "an uncharismatic bore", Soundwave ejected his cassettes to fight for his honor, and Rumble took particular umbrage at the insult. The Constructicons formed Devastator to teach them a lesson, but Rumble and Frenzy caused him to separate by shaking Astrotrain with their piledrivers. In the end, Starscream won out, and Rumble was present for his coronation...and subsequent disintegration by a powerful new Decepticon who appeared during the ceremony. Impressed by this show of force, Rumble asked what his name was so that the Decepticons could all cheer for him, and the newcomer announced he was [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]]. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}
{{note|Rumble’s involvement in these events, or events mostly similar, were also chronicled in the comic mini-series “[[Transformers: The Animated Movie]]” and the storybook “[[Transformers the Movie (Ladybird adaptation)|Transformers the Movie]]."}}

[[File:Ffod1 cons on chaar.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Wait, I renewed my contract for a third season just to do this? That bites.]]
Galvatron's leadership did not start well, as the Decepticons were all subsequently forced off Cybertron by the Autobots following the defeat of the planet-eating [[Unicron]]. Badly damaged and low on energy, they retreated to the burnt-out planet of [[Chaar]], but even this great fall didn't dampen Rumble's spirits, as he was heard loudly advocating both "pulverowderizing" and "powderulverizing" the Autobots. [[Onslaught (G1)|Onslaught]] credited Rumble's enthusiasm, but pointed out they could hardly carry out his plan when they barely had enough energy to just stay alive. {{storylink|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1}} When Autobot leader [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Rodimus Prime]] was found spying on the Decepticons with [[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]], and Rumble joined the other Decepticons in mauling them before they were rescued by their Autobot comrades. {{storylink|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2}}

Rumble was last seen a short while later, consuming the much-needed energon brought to Chaar by the [[Quintesson]]s and voting in favor of accepting the aliens' offer of an alliance. {{storylink|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 3}}
{{-}}

====Japanese cartoon continuity====
{{note|The events of the Generation 1 cartoon occur in Japanese continuity as detailed above, save for one major difference: the Japanese dub of the cartoon fixes the production error that switched [[FIRRIB|Rumble and Frenzy's color schemes]] by switching the characters' names! Thus, it is the red Rumble who barely appears, and the blue Frenzy, voiced by Ken Shiroyama, who shows up frequently and experiences all the events related above. Japanese continuity proceeds to insert many new storylines and events in, around, before and after the events of the Generation 1 cartoon, as covered below. In the name of consistency with the American cartoon, this article considers the blue robot in these events to be Rumble.}}

=====''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' manga=====
[[File:Superrobotlifemanga rumble and frenzy.jpg|left|upright=0.85|thumb|There, we didn't color them! Problem solved!]]
In the late 1980s, working with Soundwave and his fellow Cassettes, Rumble attacked Bumblebee and the Autobot's human friend [[Kenji]] during their patrol of [[Tokyo]]. [[Powerglide (G1)|Powerglide]] swooped in to take Kenji to safety, and Bumblebee easily eluded the inept Rumble long enough to execute a [[Bumble Kick]]! against Soundwave. With his chest-port damaged, Soundwave was unable to hide Rumble and the other Cassettes when [[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]] and [[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]] arrived to back up Bumblebee. They ended up just bouncing off Soundwave's chest in cassette mode. Cliffjumper grabbed them and began tearing out their magnetic tape which, if you think about it, seems kinda horrific. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 2|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #2}}

Rumble eventually recovered. In another scheme, the Decepticons tried to frame the Autobots for attacking Earth by giving the [[Stunticon (G1)|Stunticons]] fake sigils and sending them on a mayhem spree. Dressed in snazzy robes to hide their identities, Rumble and Frenzy then began fanning the flames by preaching openly against the Autobots in human cities. Their cover was blown, however, when [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] and [[Hot Spot (G1)|Hot Spot]] washed the fake insignia off the Decepticons. Rumble and Frenzy were zapped by [[Eject (G1)|Eject]] and [[Rewind (G1)|Rewind]], revealing their identities as well. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 7|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #7}}

=====''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' story pages=====
Rumble was one of the Decepticons who attacked New York City early in their conflict with the Autobots on Earth. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers (story page)#Part 1|Broadcasting on TV! Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers}}

=====Full Throttle Scramble Power!=====
When [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]] arrived to bust up the Decepticons' plan to terrorize the world with their [[Omega Whip]] cannon, Rumble (or Frenzy) was among the robots shown being scattered by the shockwaves created by the landing of the titantic Autobot. {{storylink|Full Throttle Scramble Power!}}

=====''The Battle of the Star Gate''=====
[[File:Stargatebattles rumble and frenzy.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4]]
In the late 1990s, Starscream forged a clandestine alliance with the [[Prime Minister of Japan]], promising that the country would be safe from attack by the Decepticons if they were allowed to freely and harmlessly collect energy within its borders, in secret from the rest of the world. Naturally, however, Starscream had no intention of actually honoring this agreement, and sent Rumble and Frenzy to the bottom of the sub-oceanic [[Pacific Ring of Fire|Japan Trench]], where they used their piledrivers to stimulate the tectonic plates of the trench and cause small earthquakes throughout Japan. As Starscream predicted, the quakes supplied massive amounts of energy for the Decepticons to gather, but were perceived as natural occurrences by the populace. Megatron was not impressed by the scheme, however, suspecting the Autobots would soon realize the truth... and he was, of course, completely right. When Optimus Prime and a team of Autobots arrived to investigate and caught the Decepticons in the act, Megatron had Rumble and Frenzy kick things into overdrive, causing a catastrophic quake that devastated Tokyo and covered the Decepticons' escape. The quake was so powerful that it actually threatened to sink the entire island of Japan, but before that could come to pass, Hound confronted Rumble and Frenzy and overpowered them by confusing them with his holograms. {{storylink|Activation}}
{{-}}

=====Controverse=====
At the trial of [[Primacron]], Rumble and the Decepticons crashed the proceedings after the verdict was rendered. Rumble went piledriver-to-piledriver against [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]], but was ultimately beaten by the larger Cybertronian. {{storylink|Controverse}}

=====''The Headmasters'' cartoon=====
{{voiceactor|[[Hirohiko Kakegawa]] (Japanese)|[[Roberto Alexander]] (Latin American)}}

[[File:Hm ep4 twincast vs tapes.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.66]]

In the year 2011, when [[Soundwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Soundwave]] was destroyed in battle with Blaster, Rumble and all the other cassettes gathered on [[Chaar]] to watch as the Decepticon [[Headmaster (technology)|Headmaster]] leader [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] used the super-technology of the planet [[Master (planet)|Master]] to resurrect their master as Soundblaster. The cassette team then helped to defend Soundblaster when he was focused on using a sonic control to remotely direct the actions of the Decepticons' new [[Madmachine]], but Blaster—now reborn as Twincast—was able to get past them and stop his rival. {{storylink|The Great Cassette Operation}}

Alongside Ravage, Ratbat and [[Buzzsaw (G1)|Buzzsaw]], Rumble was able to sneak into the lower levels of the Autobot-controlled Cybertron, and enter Vector Sigma's chamber, where he observed that the computer was in the process of developing a new alloy named [[cybertonuron]]. {{storylink|Cybertron Is in Grave Danger, Part 1}}

{{note|Prepare for a headache on this one. The robot who enters Vector Sigma's chamber is the blue robot, hence, we're calling him Rumble here. However, in Japan, being blue means he should be Frenzy...but the credits of the episode ''actually list him as Rumble''. So whether or not the credits are wrong and this is Frenzy who we're calling Rumble, or if the coloring is wrong and he should be Rumble who we'd normally call Frenzy, is, at this point, genuinely impossible to tell. So we're calling a duck a duck!}}

[[File:Hm ep15 rumble or frenzy.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Maybe he's just a miscolored [[Enemy (G1)|Enemy]].]]
Some time later, either Rumble or Frenzy was dispatched by Soundblaster to deal with Blaster's cassettes when the Autobot communicator came to Chaar to spy on the unveiling of Scorponok's [[transtector]]. {{storylink|Explosion on Mars!! MegaZarak Appears}}

{{note|We can't tell if it's Rumble or Frenzy because... well, dude, look at the picture.}}

The arrival of Scorponok's new information officer, [[Punch (G1)|Counterpunch]], put Soundblaster in a bad mood, as he had the ability to dredge up Autobot info that even Soundblaster and his expert team of spies could not. They had no idea, of course, that this was because Counterpunch was actually the undercover Autobot double agent Punch, but nonetheless, Rumble and the other tapes consoled their boss and promised to try harder. {{storylink|Return of the Immortal Emperor}}

While on the planets of [[Twin Star]], Soundblaster deployed Rumble and Frenzy to search for the energy supposedly hidden somewhere on the planet. {{storylink|Battle for Defense of the False Planet}} Some time later, Rumble and the rest of Soundblaster's cassettes were seen standing guard outside the subterranean cavern on Master in which Scorponok was constructing his [[Zarak Shield]]. {{storylink|Operation: Destroy the Decepticons}}

=====''The Headmasters'' manga=====
When the Decepticons were finally forced off Earth, Soundblaster and his cassettes stayed behind on the planet to gather information. After a run-in with [[Chromedome (G1)|Chromedome]], Soundblaster was hurled over the horizon by the Autobot Headmaster's "Master Chrome Hurricane-Throw to the End of Hell" attack. Rumble and Frenzy attempted to wake their boss up as [[Sixshot]] approached, warning him that he was going to get in trouble. {{storylink|The Headmasters issue 8|The Headmasters #8}}

=====''Transformers Legends'' comic=====
In [[2021]], Rumble accompanied Soundblaster to the [[Legends World|Legends Universe]] and partied at his boss's new [[Dancitron]]. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 36|Bonus Edition Vol. 36}}

====Rodimus vs. Cyclonus====
Rumble was among the Decepticons attacking [[Autobot City (G1)|Autobot City]]. During the assault, he used his arm cannons against [[Grapple (G1)|Grapple]]. {{storylink|Rodimus vs. Cyclonus}}

====Ask Vector Prime====
In an unstable [[Iocus]] reality engineered by the machinations of [[Sideways (RID)|Sideways]] and [[gbwiki:Gong|Gong]], Rumble was replaced by [[Clutch (GoBots)|Clutch]] during the events of the [[Unicron War]]. Thus when Galvatron killed [[Zero]], it was Clutch who nervously asked [[Warpath (GoBots)|Warpath]] what the new arrival called himself. {{storylink|Echoes and Fragments}}

====''Deviations''====
In a universe where Optimus Prime killed Megatron during the Battle of Autobot City, Rumble retreated alongside Soundwave back to the safety of Astrotrain. {{storylink|Transformers: Deviations|Deviations}}

===Deadly Paradise===
Rumble was stationed on [[Carob Island]], where the Decepticons had set up a mining an construction operation. Using a rare ore from the island, the Decepticons were building duplicate Autobots loyal only to Megatron. Rumble was in charge of overlooking the force cages within the Decepticons' island base, capturing any Autobots who made it past Megatron's megamaze and into their core facility. He captured a squad of Autobots, but when Prowl taunted him about his size, Rumble lost his temper and used his earthquake-inducing abilities in retaliation. All he managed to do is incapacitate the other Decepticons in the room, which allowed Prowl to destroy the force-cage module, and free the captured Autobots. {{storylink|Deadly Paradise}}

===The Special Teams===
Rumble was summoned by Megatron to raid a power plant of its energy, after it had been evacuated of its human occupants due to the danger of landslides in the area. He proved himself to be rather impatient, urging Megatron to attack the [[Pullen Power Plant]] when the entirety of the Decepticon forces had yet to meet at the designated area. {{storylink|The Special Teams}}

===Marvel Storybooks continuity===
When the Autobots invaded the Decepticons' headquarters in order to stop Megatron's latest world-conquering scheme, Rumble created one of his signature Earthquakes to thwart them. He was immediately blasted by Sunstreaker in response. {{storylink|Battle for Earth}}

[[File:Rumbleearthquake-ASW.jpeg|thumb|upright=1.1|left]]
After the Decepticons had captured a group of Autobots, they demanded the Autobots' surrender for their continued well-being. Rumble was amongst the Decepticons present when the evil robots discovered a statue of Devastator on their doorstep, presented as a peace offering from the Autobots. Though the Decepticons initially cheered, they were surprised to find themselves in the middle of an ambush when the Autobots burst forth from within the statue. Rumble attempted to use his earthquake-inducing abilities in the battle that followed, but this backfired. Numerous Decepticons were swallowed up by a fissure created by Rumble's tremor. Now outnumbered, the Decepticons ultimately were defeated by the Autobots. {{storylink|The Autobots' Secret Weapon}}
{{-}}

===Marvel coloring books===
Rumble was in attendance at the Decepticons' latest meeting in their war room, where Megatron explained to his troops his plot to finance a new Decepticon army by pillaging sunken treasures from Alaskan waters. As part of the plan, Rumble and Soundwave disguised themselves as a cassette and cassette player respectively on the sea floor. Fooled into thinking he could grab these items for his friend Buster, Bumblebee was lured to the Decepticons' position and taken prisoner. Later, the Autobots rescued Bumblebee from the Decepticons, who lost the fight when Rumble attempted to create an Earthquake, only for it to backfire and swallow the Decepticons instead of the Autobots. {{storylink|Search for Treasure Under the Sea}}

Megatron having recently built a prison, Rumble and the other Decepticons were sent out to capture the Autobots. Rumble happened upon Optimus and Gears and buried them both in a landslide. Other Decepticons then took care of bringing the Autobots to Megatron's prison. The Autobots eventually broke out, however, and Rumble was held within one of Trailbreaker's forcefields as the heroic robots made their escape. {{storylink|Bumblebee to the Rescue!}}

Rumble was one of the Decepticons who attempted to harm Sparkplug and Buster Witwicky, only to be thwarted by the Decepticons. {{storylink|The Deadly Fuel Shortage}}

Rumble was one of the Decepticons posted within their stronghold to defend their [[molecular transfer device]] against the Autobots. When a small group of Autobots infiltrated the Decepticon base, Rumble attempted to use his earthquake-inducing abilities to stop them, only to be blasted by Optimus Prime's combat deck. He and the rest of the Decepticons were defeated when Bumblebee managed to turn the Decepticons' fuel-stealing device against them. Rumble stumbled off into the wilderness afterwards. {{storylink|Summertime Coloring Book}}

{{charstubfiction|{{storylink|A Message From Outer Space}}}}

Megatron must have held Rumble (or Frenzy) in high esteem, as the Decepticon leader fantasized about him helping lead an army of Decepticons. {{storylink|Forest Rescue Mission}}

Together with Thundercracker, Ravage, and Soundwave, Rumble constructed a dastardly trap for Autobots. A rest stop that was in truth a car-compactor in disguise! The group successfully crushed Gears with their trap, only for Mirage, Ratchet and Sideswipe to arrive on-scene immediately afterward. In an attempt to fight back, Rumble used his earthquake-inducing abilities. He only managed in creating a hole in which both he and Soundwave fell in. Way to go Rumble. {{storylink|The Autobot Smasher!}}

{{charstubfiction|{{storylink|The Big Book of Coloring Fun}}}}

Rumble (or Frenzy) accompanied Galvatron on a mission to [[Oil Valley]], to steal some of the fuel being dug up there. When they spotted Hot Rod and Daniel in the area, the Decepticons gave chase. Rumble/Frenzy and the rest of the Decepticons were driven away when Autobot reinforcements arrived, and had to leave without having procured any oil. {{storylink|Battle at Oil Valley}}

When the Decepticons learned that the Autobots had long ago lost a large shipment of Energon cubes at the Ark's original crash site, Galvatron ordered them to head to Mt. St. Hillary to uncover it. There, Rumble fought the Autobots over possession of it. He uncovered the crate containing the Energon while fighting Sludge with his earthquake-inducing abilities. The brawl ended when Starscream scarfed down all of the Energon, and proceeded to pick a fight with Galvatron. {{storylink|The Lost Treasure of Cybertron}}

===Ladybird Books continuity===
[[File:LaserbeaksFury Rumble.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.1]]
When the Decepticons discovered that the Autobots had built a mysterious device, [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] believed it to be a weapon and enlisted Rumble to help him destroy it. The pair found the device not doing much of anything, and delayed destroying it while they examined it further. This merely gave time for the other Decepticons to catch up with them, however, they soon discovered what the device was for when it emitted a pulse of electricity that caused them all to malfunction, and they had to retreat. {{storylink|Autobots' Lightning Strike}}

Starscream's first instinct when Megatron called the Decepticons to an experimental solar plant was to have Rumble gather the others and hold an impromptu mutiny against their leader. This didn't last long, and Rumble and the others were put to work using the solar plant to gather energy, until the Autobots arrived and put a stop to it by having [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike Witwicky]] sabotage the machinery. {{storylink|Megatron's Fight for Power}}

As the Decepticons' space cruiser neared completion, they tested the ion-drive in an old abandoned tunnel. Unfortunately, the Autobots got wind of their activities and attacked, resulting in the destruction of the drive and the collapsing of the tunnel on the hapless Decepticons. {{storylink|Autobots Fight Back}} During a battle over a windmill, Megatron became convinced that it was an Autobot superweapon that the Decepticons needed to capture. Unfortunately, Soundwave's idea to deploy Rumble backfired — Rumble's seismic attack resulted in the windmill falling over on top of them. {{storylink|Laserbeak's Fury}}

===Listen 'n Play audiobooks continuity===
As part of Megatron's plan to abduct humans and random them to the US government for fuel, Rumble was assigned the task of guarding the humans who were being kept in an abandoned warehouse. Unfortunately for him, the Autobots found the warehouse, and with Rumble's transmissions jammed so he couldn't call for help, they swiftly overwhelmed him. With a hole in his fuel tank, Rumble was out of the action when Starscream's squad later arrived. {{storylink|Sun Raid (Listen 'n Play)}}

===Big Looker storybooks continuity===
Rumble was part of the ambush party that boarded the Ark during the Cretaceous period, which led to Optimus Prime crashing his ship in a volcano and shutting everyone on board offline. The Decepticons then raided a nearby nuclear power to gain the additional power necessary to destroy the Autobots. The Decepticons and the Autobots battled afterwards, but with the Decepticons running low on fuel once more, the evil robots were forced to retreat. {{storylink|Battle for Cybertron}}

Rumble was one of the Decepticons who sabotaged the Autobots’ chance at winning a cross-country car rally. During Hound’s segment of the race, Rumble used his earthquake-creating abilities to destroy a bridge that was on Hound’s route. He then congratulated himself and scampered off. {{storylink|The Great Car Rally}}

Rumble was present when Megatron threatened his troops into coming up with a battle plan for him. {{storylink|Insecticon Attack!}}

Galvatron wanted to seize a robot car from a car show, in the hopes that its circuitry could help him create an army of robot slaves. Instead of attacking the car show populated by human civilians, Galvatron ordered Rumble to play with the fuse box and create a blackout so that they could sneak around without being noticed. This brilliant plan was still somehow overcome by the Autobots. {{storylink|Car Show Blow Up}}

===The Battle for Planet Earth===
{{voiceactor|[[Peter Marinker]] (English)}}
{{quote|Excellent thinking, Chief! You are right as usual!|Rumble|"[[Terror of Mount Sheelah]]"}}
Rumble was part of a team of Decepticons who tracked the Autobots to [[South America]] and battled atop [[Mount Sheelah]] until an eruption trapped the Decepticons in lava. {{storylink|Terror of Mount Sheelah}} After the Decepticons kidnapped a bunch of humans for use as slave labor, Rumble was happily shouting orders at them when [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] scouted the base. {{storylink|Bumblebee to the Rescue (G1)|Bumblebee to the Rescue}} He was also part of the Decepticon forces who went to invade [[Stanley Lake]] dam, and even threw the [[senior engineer]] in the lake. He and the other Decepticons were defeated by the Autobots using the dam itself. {{storylink|Menace at the Dam}} Rumble was also among the top-ranked Decepticons consulted by [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] in an attempt to work out a way to defeat the Autobots, leading to an affair that ended with the destruction of the Decepticon base. {{storylink|Espionage!!!!!}}

====Renegade Rhetoric====
{{charstubfiction|{{storylink|Transformers: Renegade Rhetoric|Renegade Rhetoric (2)}}}}

===Highway Clash===
{{notemultipath}}
[[File:Highway Clash Megatron and Rumble.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1]]
When Megatron learned about the existence of a cargo of microchips that could bestow sentience onto robots, he brought Rumble along on the mission to steal them. From a secret underground lair, the two Decepticons planned out their assault, only to be opposed by Optimus Prime and Prowl who were secretly guarding the shipment. Whether or not the Decepticons succeeded in acquiring the chips depended on the decisions that [[you]] made! {{storylink|Highway Clash}}
{{-}}

===Find Your Fate Junior===
{{notemultipath}}
====Dinobots Strike Back====
In two different endings, Rumble stood with his fellow Decepticons atop [[Mount Lomas]], ready to defend their heretofore secret base from Autobots who'd just learned that it housed equipment for converting black coral into a superfuel. In one of these paths, Megatron challenged Optimus Prime to a duel which quickly backfired, prompting the ever-loyal Rumble to assist his leader by causing an earthquake. Naturally, Rumble's 'help' split the mountain in half, destroying everything the Decepticons had accomplished over the past week or so. ''Operation Black Coral'' was renamed ''Operation Earthquake Mistake'' in Rumble's honor.

The Autobots also won in the other path where Rumble was present, though apparently not due to him helping or otherwise doing anything of note. {{storylink|Dinobots Strike Back}}

====Attack of the Insecticons====
Either Rumble or Frenzy were present, yet mostly uninvolved, in a number of possible adventures revolving around the Sun-Pak, a device invented by the Autobots' human ally Sparkplug. {{storylink|Attack of the Insecticons}}

====Earthquake====
Rumble was an integral part of Megatron's latest plot, as were his earthquake-generating abilities. He thus would occasionally step outside the Decepticons newest secret base to practice. Unfortunately for Rumble, one of his practice sessions were spied upon by Beachcomber, who not only deduced that the Decepticons were up to something, but discovered the Decepticons' base when Rumble activated its hidden doors' mechanism.

In one possible sequence of events, Beachcomber attempted to enter the Decepticons' base through the main entrance, alongside Windcharger and Powerglide. Although the Decepticons were able to crush Windcharger, an entire Decepticon swarm was taken out, along with their fortress, when Beachcomber tricked Rumble into creating an earthquake.

If the Decepticons’ plot proceeded further, Rumble was stationed at Center City, awaiting the arrival of the Destruction Beam generated from the Decepticons’ fortress. The Destruction Beam would create a fault line near Center City, which Rumble would then exploit with his abilities to level the entire area. Whether or not Rumble succeeded depended on which choices the Autobots made. {{storylink|Earthquake (book)|Earthquake}}

===Minion of Unicron===
====The Official Transformers: Generation 2 Annual====
Rumble would always opt to be on the front-line of the advancing Decepticon army. On Cybertron, he wielded powerful sound waves as weapons, which he used to reduce entire buildings to rubble. After being reformatted into a new body on Earth, he took up using his pile-driver arms to much the same effect. {{storylink|The Official Transformers: Generation 2 Annual|Rumble's ''The Official Transformers: Generation 2 Annual'' profile}}

When a report from [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] came in, alerting the Decepticons that [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] and a couple of his soldiers were traveling towards [[Brazil]], Rumble stood in attendance as Megatron planned out an ambush against them. {{storylink|The Dinobots!}}

====''Universe'' bio====
Rumble became even more anti-social after the death of his brother, Frenzy, in the [[Swarm (G2)|Swarm]] war, and was eventually abducted by [[Unicron]] to join his [[Minion of Unicron (Universe)|Minions of Unicron]] in the battle against the [[Child of Primus|Children of Primus]]. {{storylink|#Universe (2003)|BotCon 2006 Rumble bio}}

{{note|This bio was not ''entirely'' official for years. It comes from the [[BotCon 2006]] customization class, but it was apparently never vetted by Hasbro (much like [[Nightracer (G2)|Nightracer]]'s). Almost a decade later, the Facebook version of [[Ask Vector Prime]] would canonize it.}}

====Ask Vector Prime====
[[Vector Prime]] noted that the Rumble of [[Primax 094.0 Gamma]] perhaps took comfort in the fact that the individual most responsible for Frenzy's death, [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]], was abducted and reformatted by Unicron as well. {{storylink|Ask Vector Prime#Facebook|Ask Vector Prime, 2015/08/30}}

===Dreamwave ''Generation One'' continuity===
{{notekeepers}}
Rumble, under his commanding officer Soundwave, was one of the earliest recruits Megatron made for his Decepticon faction millions of years ago. He helped guard Cybertron's giant planetary engines during Megatron's attempt to transform the planet into a space-faring juggernaut, but was defeated by a group of Autobots jointly led by Optimus Prime and Grimlock. The engines were destroyed, and the plot foiled. {{storylink|The War Within issue 6|The War Within #6}}

Rumble and his brother Frenzy remained loyal to the primary Decepticon faction under Shockwave's command during the [[Dark Ages]], and reintegrated as themselves into the Decepticon hierarchy after Megatron returned from [[Quintessa (planet)|Quintessa]] with his new [[Air Warrior|Aerospace Extermination Squadron]]. Assigned to guard Shockwave's lab alongside Frenzy, the pair were counting up Autobot casualties when one of the lab's machines suddenly exploded. They managed to convince Shockwave that it wasn't their fault, but as they went back to their counting game, another machine similarly blew up. {{storylink|The Age of Wrath Pt.3}}

Four million years ago, Rumble was part of the crew of the ''Nemesis'' which crashed to Earth alongside the Autobots and the Ark. He was revived in 1984 along with the other Transformers for roughly a decade of renewed warfare, before the Autobots ultimately defeated the Decepticons and rendered them inoperative. Their triumphant return to Cybertron aboard the [[Ark II]] was sabotaged, however, and the Transformers were all believed destroyed in the resulting explosion. Instead, many of them were recovered by the mercenary named [[Lazarus]], who made efforts to reprogram the Cybertronians into weapons for his disposal. Megatron managed to override Lazarus's control, though, and freed his fellow Decepticons. {{storylink|Prime Directive}}

{{note|In [[Prime Directive issue 2|''Prime Directive'' #2]], the blue robot with the Rumble/Frenzy bodyform was among those under the control of Lazarus who attacked the [[Smitco Oil Refinery]], and was seen using Rumble's characteristic piledrivers. It was generally assumed by readers at the time that this was intended to be Rumble in his cartoon color scheme (and indeed, he probably ''was'' scripted and drawn as Rumble) but subsequent Dreamwave fiction established that in this world, as in most others, Rumble is the red one. So whether this is Frenzy using piledrivers or an incorrectly-colored Rumble is up to the reader to decide.}}

''Rumble stayed out of Decepticon politics during the [[Keeper (species)|Keepers]]' interaction with the Transformers on Earth. He chose to work with Starscream in [[Las Vegas]] after Megatron's disappearance, and even remained in Vegas after Megatron returned and splintered the Decepticon army. {{storylink|Transformers: Annihilation|Annihilation}}''

When [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] arrived from Cybertron, he managed to defeat Megatron and assume control of the Decepticons in the name of the greater Unified Cybertronian government. Rumble and Frenzy were placed in charge of guarding the deactivated Megatron on the flight back to Cybertron, but were tossed aside by Starscream so that he could jettison Megatron into space. {{storylink|New World Order}} Later, Shockwave commissioned them to create a distraction that would keep [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] from fully realizing his plans, by unleashing the crazed [[Stunticon (G1)|Stunticons]] from a [[Detention Banks|detention facility]]. Once again, Starscream intervened on their mission, retrieving five additional prisoners, the [[Combaticon (G1)|Combaticons]], for his own purposes. {{storylink|Cold War (issue)|Cold War}}

As Shockwave's government began to collapse around him, Starscream convinced his comrades from Earth to follow him back to that planet and raid it for energon. Starscream had Rumble and Frenzy haul the Combaticons, still in stasis, aboard a shuttle... but as they prepared for take-off, they found none of its systems were responding. They had accidentally boarded [[Sky Lynx (G1)|Sky Lynx]], who took off on his own volition, the Decepticons trapped within him. {{storylink|Revelation (War and Peace)|Revelation}} But the Decepticons managed to hack Sky Lynx's systems, and made their way to Earth. {{storylink|Black Sunshine}} Rumble was part of Starscream's initial salvo against the ''Ark'', a decoy to be deliberately taken prisoner in order to draw out the remaining Autobots where the newly reformatted [[Combaticon (G1)|Combaticons]] could get at them in their combined form. {{storylink|Night of the Combaticons}} All of the captive Decepticons were freed, only for the group to come under attack from [[Sunstorm (G1)|Sunstorm]], a crazed but powerful clone of Starscream. Using his "divine light," the clone shut down all of the Decepticons save his template. Rumble was left behind to be recaptured by the Autobots as Starscream fled from his double. {{storylink|Black Sunshine}} After the Autobots were forced into a deal with Starscream due Sunstorm's threat, Rumble and the other Decepticon captives were released, but charged to only 50% power. At this point, Soundwave took steps to reunite the Decepticons with their true leader, Megatron. While Soundwave set up communications, Rumble and Frenzy passed the time by taking potshots at fish through the Decepticon base's underwater entry-point. Their fun-time was interrupted by the return of Starscream. Frenzy sent Rumble off to stall the seeker while he warned Soundwave of his approach. Unfortunately, Rumble stumbled his words after seeing how badly damaged Starscream was, and the annoyed 'bot shoved him out of his way. Soundwave was barely able to hide a communique with Megatron before Starscream burst into the room. {{storylink|Infestation (Dreamwave)|Infestation}}

Shortly thereafter, Megatron and the [[Predacon (G1)|Predacons]] arrived on Earth and overthrew Starscream's command, a change in management which Rumble, Frenzy, and Soundwave all welcomed with open arms. {{storylink|The Route of All Evil}}

===''G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers''===
[[File:DDJvTF4-DestroZartan.jpg|left|upright=0.85|thumb]]
Rumble was one of the many Transformers recovered from the crashed [[Ark (G1)|Ark]] by [[Cobra]]. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 1|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #1}} He was repaired and retrofitted by [[Doctor Mindbender]], who proudly displayed him, Soundwave, and his fellow Mini-Cassettes to [[Destro]]. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 2|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #2}} Rumble was released by Soundwave, along with [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]], [[Frenzy (G1)|Frenzy]], [[Ratbat (G1)|Ratbat]], and [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]], during an attack on the [[SPS Research Facility|SPS Center]]. Rumble evaded the first wave of [[G.I. Joe (team)|G.I. Joe]] defenders and used his piledrivers to damage the target building. Scaling the building, he menaced [[Flash (G.I. Joe)|Flash]] and [[Sci-Fi]] until [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] punched his lights out and then threw a missile at him. He was then captured by G.I. Joe. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 3|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #3}}

Apparently having escaped somehow, Rumble was later seen back on [[Cobra Island]] when [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] undid Cobra's reprogramming of the Transformers. He happily chased some of his former captors, Destro and [[Zartan]], across the island until the [[Baroness]] stepped on him with a [[S.N.A.K.E.]] {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 4|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #4}}

Two years later, Rumble was back on Cybertron under the command of [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]]. When [[Teletran 3]] malfunctioned, sending Transformers of both factions throughout Earth's timeline, Shockwave had his troops encircle the super-computer. Ultra Magnus kept it safe within a force-field, forcing Rumble and the others to wait around until his power supply ran out. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II issue 2|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II #2}}
{{-}}

===''Transformers/G.I. Joe''===
[[File:Optimus against Rumble-Wolves.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1]]
Rumble was among the Decepticons who were accidentally awakened by [[Cobra]] in the late 1930s. Together, the Decepticons and Cobra conquered the [[Fera Islands]], but came under attack from the Autobots and [[G.I. Joe (team)|G.I. Joe]]. Rumble was among the soldiers sent to defend the [[Terrordrome]], using his small stature to disguise himself as a human trooper. After making his way close to the enemy, he used his piledrivers to crack open the ground and bury the Autobot tanks. {{storylink|Trial by Fire}} While Rumble was busy taunting [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] for being friends with "meat", [[Scarlett]] jumped above him using [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] and destroyed him by tossing a hand grenade in his face. {{storylink|Wolves}}

===''Transformers Legends'' anthology===
Rumble was hanging out with Megatron when Soundwave stopped by with the news that Starscream was apparently getting cozy with the Autobots. Megatron sent Rumble to gather up the Decepticons in the base for an attack to retrieve their wayward comrade, however, the attack party was later repelled by the Autobots. {{storylink|Redemption Center}}

===''The Beast Within''===
Either Frenzy or Rumble participated in a savage Decepticon offensive against the Decepticons. He was defeated by Grimlock.

Then, either Rumble or Frenzy was one of the first victims to fall to [[Beast (G1)|The Beast]], the Dinobots’ monstrous combined form. {{storylink|The Beast Within}}

===''Lil Formers''===
After ejecting out the rest of his minions, Soundwave attempted to deploy Rumble for an upcoming fight, only for Rumble to refuse the order; now that he had all the leg room he could want inside of Soundwave's chest, he didn’t want to give it up. {{storylink|Lil Formers}}

===''Universe'' cartoon===
Either Frenzy or Rumble was present during the early days of the Autobot/Decepticon war. He fought side-by-side with a green Decepticon.

Either Rumble or Frenzy later participated in a battle alongside Thrust and Soundwave during the early days of the Autobot/Decepticon war. {{storylink|Action Blast 1}}

===IDW Generation 1 continuity===
{{note|IDW's comics have been inconsistent regarding the colors of Rumble and Frenzy. By and large, Rumble is depicted as red and black in most books, but ''[[The Transformers: Autocracy|Autocracy]]'' and the [[The Transformers (IDW)|2009-2011 ongoing series]] colored him blue, while ''[[The Transformers: Robots in Disguise]]'' has colored them '''both''' ways.}}
{{ongoing}}
[[File:MegOrigin 1 FrenzyandRumble captured.jpg‎|upright=1.66|left|thumb|"Agian"? Wow, they even ''speak'' illiterate.]]
Millions of years ago, Rumble and Frenzy worked as "industrial equipment" at [[Mining Outpost C-12]], until the [[Senate]] shut down the site in favor of automating the work involved. Once a furious [[Megatron (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Megatron]] kicked off a riot, Rumble and Frenzy joined in the fighting and were soon taken prisoner, destined for [[Penal Facility H-3]]. They managed to break free aboard [[Longshot (G1)|their prison transport]], however, and took control of it with Megatron's help. {{storylink|Megatron Origin issue 1|Megatron Origin #1}} The renegade miners then fled to [[Kaon (polity)|Kaon]], where they got lost in the underground fighting tournaments that ran rampant throughout that city-state. As time passed, Megatron rose high in the ranks of the gladiators, eventually taking control of the games themselves. While accompanying him to a meeting with Soundwave, sent by Senator [[Ratbat (G1)|Ratbat]] to help foster the public unrest Megatron was fomenting, Rumble and Frenzy helped capture and restrain the spying [[Bumper (G1)|Bumper]] and [[Fastback (G1)|Fastback]] . {{storylink|Megatron Origin issue 2|Megatron Origin #2}}

[[File:Iron Age Rumble goes for the optics.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.6]]
As Megatron's passions turned from arena combat to outright insurrection, Rumble and Frenzy became part of his growing Decepticon movement. When Megatron crafted his plan for infiltrating and destroying the Senate, Rumble and his brother underwent alterations so that they could hide inside Soundwave's chest compartment, although neither of them were particularly enthusiastic about it. {{storylink|Megatron Origin issue 3|Megatron Origin #3}} This allowed Soundwave to smuggle them into the Senate facilities, where they aided in annihilating the Senators, freeing arrested gladiators and stealing weapons from the armory. At the climax of the uprising, Rumble bore witness as Megatron personally beat down and humiliated the leader of the Senate's security, [[Sentinel Prime (G1)|Sentinel Prime]]. {{storylink|Megatron Origin issue 4|Megatron Origin #4}}

As the uprising led to outright civil war, Rumble accompanied Soundwave on a mission to spy on [[Zeta Prime]]. After being discovered and forced to escape, Soundwave released Rumble to deal with [[Prowl (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Prowl]] and [[Ironhide (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Ironhide]], which he did by collapsing the [[Neurospan Bridge]] with his piledrivers, burying the two pursuers in rubble. {{storylink|The Hunt for Soundwave}} Four million years ago, Rumble assisted Soundwave in defending an energon convoy from the Autobots. While fighting [[Optimus Prime (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Optimus Prime]], Soundwave ejected Rumble for ''Operation: Go For the Eyes!!!'', but Ironhide intervened and knocked the junk-punk for a loop. {{storylink|The Iron Age}}

{{note|Although he wasn't explicitly depicted, it's possible Rumble was inside Soundwave when the latter traveled to Earth in 1984, and thus was trapped inside the mode-locked communications officer for over 20 years from ''[[Spotlight: Soundwave]]'' until ''[[The Transformers: Maximum Dinobots|Maximum Dinobots]]''.}}

[[File:AHM9 Rumble piledrivers.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.5]]
In modern times, Rumble was active on Earth where he helped defeat the local Autobot forces and exile them to Cybertron. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 7|All Hail Megatron #7}} After this, he was involved in the Decepticon full-frontal offensive on the planet, and the conquest of [[New York City]]. After the siege was over, however, the lack of organized resistance left Rumble with little to do. He and [[Reflector (G1)|Reflector]] took to the streets, blowing up stray abandoned vehicles that happened to remind him of [[Bumblebee (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|certain people]]. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 3|All Hail Megatron #3}}

While on a patrol in New York City, he ran afoul of [[Spike Witwicky (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Cmdr. Spike Witwicky]] and three other survivors. Rumble went after Spike and nearly succeeded in knocking him off his motorcycle, but one of the survivors, [[Charles (G1)|Charles]], seeking revenge for his son's death at the hands of Rumble, fired off a shot from a rocket launcher that hit Rumble point blank in the face, downing him instantly. Sensing something wrong, Soundwave found Rumble, picked up his damaged body, and went into a rage in which he lost control of his communications-blocking effect. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 9|All Hail Megatron #9}} He was apparently repaired and sided with Starscream during his coup. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 10|All Hail Megatron #10}} When the Autobots returned from their exile, Rumble fought against them alongside [[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]] and [[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]]. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 11|All Hail Megatron #11}} However, Megatron was defeated, and the Decepticons were forced to flee the planet aboard [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]]. Along with Soundwave and the other cassettes, Rumble spent the trip looking after the severely injured Megatron. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 13|Uneasy Lies the Head}}

[[File:All His Engines Rumble vs Kickback.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1]]
Two years later, Starscream's newfound leadership had only led to the Decepticons hiding on some distant, desolate asteroid, where energy was rare and violence was common. Rumble was seen fighting with Kickback over an unknown argument. {{storylink|All His Engines}} He later assisted Soundwave and [[Shockwave (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Shockwave]] as they restored Megatron and used his old body to make Rumble-scaled replicas of his gun mode. {{storylink|Revenge of the Decepticons Part 2: Altered Carbon|Altered Carbon}} With Megatron back on-line, Rumble and the others were quickly whipped back into shape and readied to battle once again. {{storylink|Spotlight: Megatron}} [[File:Demolished Man Purple Rumble.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|left]] Four months later, Rumble returned to Earth and attacked a [[Skywatch]] base alongside Soundwave and Frenzy, freeing several Decepticons held in Skywatch custody. {{storylink|Revenge of the Decepticons Part 1: The Demolished Man|The Demolished Man}} Later at the Decepticon base, he was amongst those who prepared to watch a fight between Optimus Prime and Megatron, and was presumably caught in the blast when Prime ended the fight early by having a satellite dropped on the base. {{storylink|Revenge of the Decepticons Part 5: Enemy Mine|Enemy Mine}}

Once the war finally ended, Rumble was amongst the Decepticons in Autobot captivity on Cybertron. {{storylink|The Autonomy Lesson (issue)|The Autonomy Lesson}} {{storylink|The World & Everything in It}} He joined a Cybertronian crowd recruited by Starscream to pressure Prowl into revealing one of his secret discoveries below ground on Cybertron. Once they finally got down there, they witnessed a [[Titan (IDW)|Titan]] declare that Starscream was the Cybertronian destined to unite their whole race. He and the other Cybertronians celebrated afterward with Starscream. {{storylink|Primus: All Good Things|All Good Things}} His support was but a ruse, however, as he and the other cassettes were already planning for Megatron's return alongside Soundwave and Shockwave. When the time came, they used their mind-controlled minion Prowl to stage their own deaths so they could hide away and finish their plans in secrecy, though Prowl's catspaw [[Arcee (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Arcee]] did it in the most violent way possible: slicing off Rumble's arms, stomping him in the face, and blowing up their base. {{storylink|The End of the Beginning of the World}} Relocated to the [[Black Room]], Rumble was upgraded into a new body with a tank [[alternate mode]] {{storylink|The Verge}} and took to the streets as the Decepticons put their plans into motion. {{storylink|Plan for Everything}} During the battle over the city, he used his piledrivers to knock out [[Sideswipe (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Sideswipe]] and was ready to take his revenge on Arcee as well, but instead got himself punched in the face by Ironhide and burned to a crisp by [[Slag (G1)|Slag]]. After the battle was over, all Autobots and Decepticons who would not renounce their factions were banished into the wilderness, including Rumble. {{storylink|Heavy Is the Head}}

In the wilderness, Soundwave attempted to rally the Decepticons around him and hunt down the Shockwave for deserting them during the battle, but the other Decepticons had lost their faith in the cause and refused. [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] and [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]] outright attacked Soundwave and fought him over leadership, causing Rumble and the other cassettes to come to his aid. {{storylink|Shockpoint}} In the end, they were the only ones to follow Soundwave to Shockwave's base at [[Crystal City]], where they fought Shockwave and his minion, [[Dreadwing (G2)|Dreadwing]]. However, because of the presence of Shockwave's regenerative [[Ore-14]], neither side was able to harm one another, and Rumble and the others soon retreated. {{storylink|Soundwaves (issue)|Soundwaves}} After returning with the other Decepticons in tow, they were caught in a wave of death emitted from Shockwave's [[Necrotitan]]. Rumble's initial confusion about what happened turned to horror when he found that Frenzy was among the injured. {{storylink|Into the Abyss: Dark Cybertron Chapter 4|Into the Abyss}} He participated in the joint Autobot-Decepticon assault on Shockwave's location, only to have to flee with an injured Ravage in his arm when Shockwave sicced the Necrotitan on them. {{storylink|Finest Hour: Dark Cybertron Chapter 5|Finest Hour}} The defeated group fled back to Iacon even as the Titan advanced on the city. {{storylink|No Exit: Dark Cybertron Chapter 6|No Exit}} Once the Necrotitan had been brought down, Rumble and the other cassettes took a break to recover in Iacon, {{storylink|The Becoming: Dark Cybertron Chapter 10|The Becoming}} only to be thrown back into the fray when Shockwave's [[Ammonite]] allies invaded Cybertron. {{storylink|Black Planet: Dark Cybertron Chapter 11|Black Planet}} Once Shockwave was defeated, Rumble stood by Soundwave as he realized Megatron had changed sides and become an Autobot. {{storylink|...And the Damage Done: Dark Cybertron Finale|...And the Damage Done}}

Together with [[Galvatron (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Galvatron]], Soundwave took control of the lost and confused Decepticons and led them back to Earth, where they negotiated with [[Earth Defense Command]] to build [[Sanctuary Station]], a place for them to live in peace. {{storylink|Earthfall Chapter 4: Full Fathom Five|Full Fathom Five}} Rumble didn't much care for Galvatron's yammering about how he'd once united Cybertron millions of years ago, but immediately regretted mouthing off when his implication that Galvatron had a "[[Nova Prime|boss]]" enraged the ancient warrior who slammed him into a wall by the throat. {{storylink|Earthfall Chapter 3: The Mind Bomb|The Mind Bomb}} As part of their deal with the EDC, the Decepticons later attacked Optimus Prime's Autobots, with Rumble and Frenzy using their special powers to fight [[Kup (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Kup]]. {{storylink|Earthfall Part 2: Detonation Boulevard|Detonation Boulevard}} They clashed with the Autobots again on [[Marshall Islands|Bikini Atoll]] in a battle that ended with the crippling of their [[Nemesis (G1)|starship]]. {{storylink|Earthfall Chapter 5: I Dream of Wires|I Dream of Wires}}

Rumble was playing a card game with some of his fellow Decepticons when Galvatron gave them the opportunity to go with him and find, torture, and kill Spike Witwicky. Rumble was all too eager to come along. {{storylink|Onyx Interface Part One: Signals, Calls, and Marches|Signals, Calls, and Marches}} When Prowl and the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]] were the first to find Witwicky and his ally, [[Jimmy Pink]], both Rumble and Frenzy waited nearby in their new motorcycle alt-modes for the pair to try to use them as their escape tickets. Avoiding their pursuers, the pair brought their human riders straight into Galvatron's waiting arms, where Rumble expressed his disgust at having a human sit on him. {{storylink|Onyx Interface Part Two: Vs.|Vs.}} Rumble joined in fighting the Constructicons when they arrived on the scene, even despite his admiration for their choice of battle cry. Soon after, Rumble listened to the captive Jimmy Pink as he tried to explain to the Decepticons on how to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and thought that he understood, but had no idea what a movie was. {{storylink|Onyx Interface Part Three: ONoffON|ONoffON}} When [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] assaulted [[Onyx]]'s facility in [[Wanmu]], Rumble tried hammering the ground to bring the giant down, but was soon knocked away, much to his disappointment. While Arcee tried to talk Devastator down, Rumble had reservations about staying to fight the combiner, but Galvatron believed they had nothing more to fear. He turned out to be right, as Devastator separated back into his components. Rumble, Frenzy, and [[Ayana Jones]] then brought the re-captured Spike and Jimmy to Galvatron and [[Marissa Faireborn]]. {{storylink|The Onyx Interface Conclusion: The Obliterati|The Obliterati}}

Upon finding out that several Autobots were landing on Earth again, Rumble rushed to report the news to Soundwave and Galvatron. {{storylink|The Nothing Man}} After the ''[[Ark-7]]'', full of Decepticons, crashed in [[Shanghai]], Rumble was among those there to greet them. {{storylink|Conquerors Part 4: Perihelion|Perihelion}} He took part in the ensuing battle against Optimus Prime's forces, {{storylink|All Hail Optimus Part 1: Once Upon a Time on Earth|Once Upon a Time on Earth}} and was among the many Decepticons who fled Earth aboard the ''[[Peace Without Tyranny]]''. During the trip to Sanctuary Station, Rumble and Frenzy explained to newcomer [[Swift (G1)|Swift]] about how Optimus was not a true Prime at all. {{storylink|New Worlds Order}} With Soundwave and Prime now in an alliance, Rumble was present as they planned their attack on the underwater ''Nemesis'' in an attempt to take Galvatron down once and for all. {{storylink|All Hail Optimus Part 4: It's Beginning To And Back Again|It's Beginning To And Back Again}} When the tide of this battle turned in Galvatron's favor with his small [[Seeker clone|army]] [[Galvatronus (Generations)|of]] [[Sky Reign|combiners]] wailing on [[Superion (G1)|Superion]], Rumble and Frenzy agreed to wait until the clash was over rather than follow Arcee into the battle. In the aftermath of the fight, the two congratulated each other on a job well done. {{storylink|All Hail Optimus Part 5: As Above...So Below|As Above...So Below}}

{{charstubfiction|{{storylink|White Light}} {{storylink|White Heat}} {{storylink|New Cybertron Part 3: Behind My Bleeding Back|Behind My Bleeding Back}} {{storylink|New Cybertron Part 4: Dance Among the Shadows|Dance Among the Shadows}} {{storylink|New Cybertron End: Feel Safe Without Regrets|Feel Safe Without Regrets}}}}

===''United''===
Rumble was part of a squad of Decepticons that waited in ambush for the Autobots on the planet Nebulos. Hidden away in inner-space, the Decepticons took the small Autobot unit by surprise. Rumble and Frenzy attempted to bar [[Ricochet (Headmasters)|Ricochet]]'s way, only to be taken out by a single shot from the Autobot. {{storylink|The Fierce Fighting on Planet Nebulos}}

===''Transformers vs. G.I. Joe''===
Rumble was aboard Soundwave when he, Shockwave and Starscream traveled from Cybertron to Earth to demand the humans surrender to Megatron. Rumble, Laserbeak and Ravage met with the representative of their [[G.I. Joe (team)|G.I. Joe]] welcomers, [[Hawk (G.I. Joe)|Hawk]], who made it clear that Earth had no intent of surrendering. This led to a battle which culminated with the Decepticons' defeat. As Rumble and Laserbeak made their escape from the battleground, they were snatched up by a [[Cobra]] airship, and offered sanctuary by the [[Baroness|Serpentress]]. {{storylink|I Saw Three Ships}}

Now part of the Decepticobra alliance, Rumble came across [[Duke (G.I. Joe)|Duke]] skulking about within [[Decepticobropolis]]. He restrained the Joe and informed him that he planned on taking revenge for Soundwave's recent demise. But as Rumble spoke, Duke stuffed a bomb inside his mouth. The explosive killed Rumble, and Duke made good on his escape. {{storylink|Form Follows Function}}
{{charstubfiction|{{storylink|Black Cybertron}} {{storylink|The War Never Ends}}}}

===''Transformers: All Spark''===
{{charstubfiction|{{storylink|Revenge (All Spark)|Revenge}} {{storylink|Conclusion}}}}

===Ask Vector Prime===
In [[Primax 096.0 Beta]], Rumble was a [[Go-Bot (G2)|Go-Bot]] and clashed with [[Greasepit (G2)|Greasepit]] during the Battle for [[Sherman Dam]]. {{storylink|Ask Vector Prime#Facebook|Ask Vector Prime, 2015/09/06}}

===''Titans Return'' marketing material===
[[File:TPotTM Rumble.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|right|]]
Bolstered by the [[Titan Master|Titan Masters]], Rumble accompanied Soundwave as the Decepticons orchestrated an all-out Decepticon attack on Cybertron, which was soon routed by [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]]. {{storylink|Titans Return: The Power of the Titan Masters}}
{{-}}

==Commercial appearances==
*Rumble found a sweet-looking radio lying around, and decided to bring it back to Decepticon headquarters and show it off to [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]]. Soundwave realized immediately that the radio was, in fact, the Autobot [[Blaster (G1)|Blaster]] in disguise and sent out [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] and [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] to deal with the intruder. {{storylink|Commercial/Generation 1#Blaster|Blaster commercial}}
*Soundwave, Rumble, and Frenzy had a dance-off against Blaster, [[Cosmos (G1)|Cosmos]], and [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]]. {{storylink|Blaster VS Soundwave 2013}}

==Games==
===Adventure Game: Defeat the Decepticons===
When Optimus embarked on his mission to rescue the Autobots' [[Mini Vehicle|Minicar]] troops from the Decepticons, Rumble could hinder Optimus's progress, causing Prime to go in a section of the labyrinth-like Decepticon base he had not intended to venture in. {{storylink|Adventure Game: Defeat the Decepticons|Adventure Game: Defeat the Decepticons packaging blurb and game}}

===''The Transformers'' (Commodore 64)===
{{charstubgame}}
{{storylink|The Transformers (Commodore 64)|The Transformers}}

===''Transformers G1: Awakening''===
[[File:Gluawakening rumble.jpg|left|thumb|upright=0.85]]
Rumble worked as a prison guard following the capture of the Autobots, but was unable to prevent [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] and [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] from escaping. When the Autobots escaped to Earth, Rumble followed and unwisely picked a fight with [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]]. Even with the help of the [[Seeker (body-type)|Seekers]], this didn't go well for Rumble. He was equally as useless when the Autobots assaulted the main Decepticon fortress on Cybertron. {{storylink|Transformers G1: Awakening}}
{{--}}

===''Transformers Legends''===
Rumble rallied with [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] when the latter became Decepticon leader in Megatron's absence. The Autobots soon had the Decepticons defeated and Starscream's plan thwarted. {{storylink|Countdown to Extinction (Legends)|Countdown to Extinction}} Rumble was among a group of Decepticons who accidentally time travelled back to the sixth century and ended up having to battle some similarly displaced Autobots using medieval technology. They lost, and returned to the present as prisoners of the Autobots. {{storylink|A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court (Legends)|A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court}}

Rumble was among those who supported [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]'s bid for leadership. {{storylink|The Coronation of Starscream}}

At some point, Rumble fought in a battle alongside [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]], [[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]] and [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]]. {{storylink|Fan Favorite}}

===''Transformers: Devastation''===
{{voiceactor|[[Scott Whyte]]}}
Rumble aided Soundwave in his battles with the Autobots. {{storylink|Transformers: Devastation}}

===''Angry Birds Transformers''===
{{note|Rumble appears as a wearable accessory in the game.}}
{{storylink|Angry Birds Transformers (mobile game)|Angry Birds Transformers}}
{{charstubgame|Does he do anything, game-play wise? How about adding to the note how much it costs?}}

==Toys==
{{main|Rumble (G1)/toys}}

==Notes==
*On the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|original ''The Transformers'' cartoon]], Rumble was represented with the colors of [[Frenzy (G1)|Frenzy's]] toy—that is, dark and medium blue, rather than black and red (and vice-versa). This led to some confusion (and later, controversy) amongst fans. (See [[FIRRIB]].)
*The Rumble/Frenzy head design was used as the basis for the head of [[Freezon]], the Decepticon [[Tyco]] [[Electric Racing Set]] car.

===Foreign names===
*''Japanese:'' '''Rumble''' (ランブル ''Ranburu'')
*''Czech:'' '''Rváč'''
*''French:'' '''Trompeur''' (Canada)
*''Cantonese:'' '''Lui-Heung''' (雷響)
*''Hebrew:'' '''Raád''' (רעד, "Tremble")
*''Hungarian:'' '''Görgető''' ("Trundler")
*''Italian:'' '''Tremot'''
*''Mandarin:'' '''Rambo''' (Taiwan, 蘭波, ''Lánbō''), '''Hōnglónglóng''' (China, 轰隆隆, "Rumble" onomatopoeia)
*''Portuguese:'' '''Trovão''' (Portugal comics, "Thunder"), '''Estrondo''' (Brazil comics, "Bang")
*''Russian:'' '''Gromila''' (Громила "Thug")
*''Ukrainian:'' '''Gurkotilo''' (Гуркотило, "Rumbler")

[[Category:Attacktix]]
[[Category:Dreamwave Generation 1 Decepticons]]
[[Category:Generation 1 Decepticons]]
[[Category:Generation 2 Decepticons]]
[[Category:IDW Generation 1 Decepticons]]
[[Category:Ladybird Books Decepticons]]
[[Category:Mini-Cassettes]]
[[Category:Minions of Unicron]]
[[Category:The Headmasters Decepticons]]
[[Category:United Decepticons]]
[[Category:Universe Decepticons]]