Springarm

Springarm is a Transformer from the 2005 IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

The built-in hemorrhoid cushion really helps with those long nights in front of the dispatcher.

Springarm is the archetypal good oppressor. An officer of the Rodion Police, he's polite to prisoners, efficient, and does a good job. Unfortunately, the system he's part of has people who... don't do quite a good job, much to his quiet horror. He has great respect for his captain, Orion Pax.

He's a religious guy who tries to channel the wisdom of the Matrix of Leadership when he's feeling conflicted, and even has a tattoo of the artifact on his left cheek.

Springarm is the brother of Wheelarch, another Rodion Police officer, and Valve.

Fiction

2005 IDW continuity

Springarm was the initial interrogator of the prisoner Megatron, arrested for two assaults. He efficiently went through the preliminary questions, including the archaic one of whether Megatron was "forged or constructed cold"; when questioned that Cybertron was meant to be beyond apartheid, Springarm said to ignore the question. He was still partly into it when Whirl took over.

Captain Orion Pax found out Megatron wasn't responsible for the crime and had Springarm go release him. To Springarm's horror, Whirl was beating Megatron half to death and told the younger officer to turn around and say he didn't see anything, until he learnt the prisoner was free to go. After taking him to Orion, Springarm escorted the prisoner out and gave him his confiscated political datatrack back. He was the first to hear Megatron say the "tron" part wasn't from electronic but from neutron, as in the bomb, but the significance passed him by... Chaos Theory #1

Later, Springarm was returning from a fruitless patrol with Wheelarch when they talked about their captain, whom Springarm praised for being able to make a difference and change lives. Just as he had said that, the two noticed the reason why they hadn't spotted any crime that day: Orion Pax had already taken in all the criminals himself. The captain later had a chat with Springarm, telling him that he had been mulling over the contents of Megatron's datatrack, which had talked about a corrupt senate. Springarm suggested that he try to channel the wisdom of the Matrix, but felt a bit awkward when Pax responded that he didn't believe in stuff like that.

When Orion Pax came back from another patrol, he found Springarm and Wheelarch dead, murdered by Kroma and two other senate goons who were "rescuing" Whirl from the punishment he had been given for beating a prisoner. Though he was decapitated and his head placed tauntingly in his captain's trophy case, Springarm's transformation cog was still working, allowing Pax to regrettably use his dead body as a vehicle in the fight against his killers. Chaos Theory #2

A long, long time later, following a series of extraordinary events, Team Rodimus awoke to find themselves in what appeared to be the Afterspark. As Drift, Brainstorm, Nautica, and Nightbeat discussed their situation, Roller surprised them by riding up on none other than Springarm. Explaining to the others that Springarm had died back in Rodion, Roller then turned to him, apologising for being on secondment in Tesk and not being there to protect him and Wheelarch. Springarm assured Roller that he forgave him and the two rode off again. Metastasis

Notes

• Springarm sports the same type of head as Prowl and Bluestreak, and the same body-type as Wheelarch.
• His alternate mode is a Cybertronian motorcycle. James Roberts has said that Transformers with that alternate mode were pushed into the police force in pre-war, functionist Cybertron; beside Wheelarch, we see two more policebots with this body-type in "Stet".

Foreign names

• Japanese: Springarm (スプリングアーム Supuringuāmu)

External links

• Springarm design on Alex Milne's DeviantArt