Blastcharge (BM)

This article is about the Beast Machines Vehicon. For the Cybertron Decepticon-allied Mini-Con, see Blastcharge (Cybertron).

Blastcharge is a Vehicon from the Beast Machines portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

"Truckery keeps the ritz sharp."

Blastcharge is big, strong and dumb. Really dumb. Regardless, of all the Vehicon Generals, his strength is second only to Tankor, so while he may be dumb, he's huge and has big missiles. Which he sometimes uses as cudgels. Aheh.

You can occasionally find him parroting Megatron. Blastcharge figures that if Megatron's a genius, then he must say genius things, and so if Blastcharge says those same things, then maybe Blastcharge will be a genius too?

Remember, dumb. But an "A" for effort.

Fiction

3H comics

Blastcharge can't actually count to ten, but he thinks it sounds cool.

With the emergence of the Wreckers, Mutants, and Dinobots on Vehicon-controlled Cybertron, Megatron needed more generals to counter the insurgents. From his vast collection he picked the sparks of Blastcharge and Quake, who served Megatron's namesake well, and put them in new Vehicon bodies and gave them new drones to command.

Blastcharge and Quake were sent first underground, to track down a group of Wreckers. The Vehicon Generals tracked the Wreckers to the underground lair of Arcee. They missed the main group, but Fractyl was still there. The trip wasn't a complete waste—Blastcharge was able to fit a little target practice into his busy schedule, blowing a large hole in Fractyl's chest with a long-range plasma ultrarocket from a few feet away.

Megatron had sent Spy Streak and a sizable legion consisting of Stealth Drones, "chase-model drones", Demolition Drones, Blastcharge's drones, and Quake's drones, to guard an old Autobot shuttle from the Wreckers, who wished to use it to get offworld. Blastcharge and Quake arrived late to the battle, as the tide was already turning in the Vehicons' favor. They should have stayed home. Quake was vaporized by the Vok-empowered Tigatron, and as Blastcharge ranted impotently at the departing shuttle, Fractyl showed up in his shiny new body to pay Blastcharge back, slicing him neatly in half right down the middle. Departure

TransTech

Do you like my chest better up or down?

Blastcharge was a member of the Axiom Nexus Security Administration. He was part of the group investigating the discovery of Comet's body. He may have been part of the security unit that confronted General Demolishor in the Heap. Withered Hope

Some time later, Blastcharge (or Sir Please Stop Thumping Me Across The Alleyway, as he is sometimes known) was performing a regular street patrol when he crossed some nut defragging in the streets. This 'bot claimed he was Bulletbike, 37th richest of all the TransTech population. Blastcharge let him ramble for a little bit, but eventually just pointed him towards the Widow's Cafe Cybertronian to sleep it off, and went on with his patrol. I, Lowtech

Wings Universe

During the Machine Wars, Autobot General Strika was given an army of drones which were built to match her physical specifications. One of these drones, Blastcharge, was given a Spark so that he could lead the drone army while she was otherwise occupied, but his severely limited intelligence keeps him from being a worthy leadership replacement. Blastcharge is so easily manipulated it's probably just a matter of time before the Decepticons lure him away to their team. BotCon 2013 customization class profile At some point, Strika's drones gathered before her to await their orders, with Blastcharge leading at the front of the group. Interlude...

Ask Vector Prime

One version of Blastcharge hailed from Primax 603.0 Gamma. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/09/28

Toys

Beast Machines

Michelin Man.

• Blastcharge (Deluxe, 2000)

• Accessories: 3 long-range plasma ultrarockets
• Known designers: Yuichiro Hira (TakaraTomy)

Part of the third wave of Beast Machines deluxes, Blastcharge is a tan, red, and silver Cybertronic six-wheeled armored vehicle with a rotating and elevating turret. This turret stores three missiles, but only the middle missile can be fired with the spring-loaded mechanism. His other spring-loaded gimmick is that the front portion of his vehicle mode can spring forward and turn independently of the rear portion. The missiles can also be used as clubs. His spark crystal is hidden inside his front grille.

• More info on Beast Machines Blastcharge at TFU.info

Universe (2003)

"No, I'm the freakin' Smart Patrol."

• Blastcharge (Deluxe, 2005)

• Accessories: 3 long-range plasma ultrarockets

Part of the ninth and final wave of Universe mass-release deluxes (and the only new toy in the assortment), Blastcharge is a redeco of his Beast Machines toy in black, silver, and purple. This version of Blastcharge does not have a spark crystal in its grill for some reason.

• More info on Universe Blastcharge at TFU.info

Timelines

(Painted)

(Unpainted)

• Blastcharge Strika Drone (Customization class toy, 2013)

• Accessories: Missile

Timelines "Blastcharge Strika Drone" is a retool of Generations Warpath, transforming into a four-treaded combat tank of almost certainly made-up model. Its robot mode head uses the Timelines Strika mold newly-developed for the BotCon 2013 toy set. A spring-loaded missile launcher is placed on its right shoulder, and rods in its legs and arms are compatible with c-joint accessories. In tank mode, its turret can rotate and the barrel can elevate.

Created for BotCon 2013, fans were given two options to acquire this toy; the first involved attending the Customization Class on either Wednesday or Thursday, though this was limited to roughly 120 attendees. Each figure came unassembled and unpainted, resulting in an average of 4-7 hours spent sanding, polishing, and painting. On the downside, no enamel was available at the class to help seal each figure's paint job, nor was there a guide (beyond one quick hand-painted model) as to where the paints should be applied for anyone who wanted their figure to be as authentic to their original namesake as possible. For those who could not (or did not want to) attend the class, a number of unpainted figures were available for purchase throughout the weekend at the Collectors' Club store, though without the extra "flag" stickers available in the class.

This mold was also used to make Timelines Treadshot and served as the basis of the non-toy Beast Wars: Uprising incarnation of Bazooka.

• More information on Timelines Blastcharge at TFU.info

Notes

• Blastcharge had the preliminary name of Blastrax.
• In Bob Skir and Marty Isenberg's season 2 arc notes, the "Vehicon badgirl" character that would become Strika is described as transforming into a "segmented Humvee" that uses turret weaponry. This description is strikingly reminiscent of Blastcharge's vehicle mode, perhaps indicating that Strika shares a design lineage with him. Notably, Strika was the only on-screen Vehicon General to not correspond with a toy in the first year of the Beast Machines toyline, with her first figure, based directly on her final animation model, not appearing until the line's second-year Battle for the Spark refresh.
• Character art on the package of Universe Blastcharge shows his chest gun lowered flat against his abdomen. He is depicted like this in "Withered Hope" as well. The toy can't do that, however.