Payload (Movie)

The name or term "Payload" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Payload (disambiguation).

Payload is a Decepticon, and sometimes Constructicon, from the movie continuity family.

SWAT? Maybe more like SMITE.

Transforming into an exceptionally fast and powerful armored truck, Payload is the one the Decepticons rely on to procure the money and energy they need to function on Earth. Whatever they need, wherever they need it, in their quest for the AllSpark it's Payload's job to get it to them, even if he has to smash right through Autobot lines to do it. What can he say? It's the one job he has.

Though his allies would want him to choose between smashing through Autobot warriors or impressing his superiors delivering a heavy load of supplies in record-timing, Payload would prefer to do both because that option makes him the happiest. Other Decepticons would find his job boring and tedious compared to open fighting. Luckily, Payload not only understands how crucial his role is, he thoroughly enjoys it since it earns him praise for being a reliable soldier.

Payload shares a body-type with the Class Beta drone units used by both the Autobot and Decepticon armies as heavily-armored, brutal melee fighters.

Fiction

IDW movie comics

When Megatron first began his push for domination, Payload was one of the many Cybertronians who listened to Megatron as he rallied his soldiers to push back and slaughter alien invaders. Defiance #2

Payload was one of the Decepticons who took part in the Battle of Tyger Pax on Cybertron. He was also with Swindle during the interrogation of the surviving Autobot defenders. Movie Prequel #1

"Keg coming through!"

Payload remained back on Cybertron, under the command of Dreadwing. When Starscream returned with the knowledge to build a new All Spark, Class Beta drones were among those assigned to guard the Autobot slaves who were being forced to build the new Cube. They brutally punished Warpath when he saw to the exhausted Grindcore. Later, after the new All Spark was completed, Payload arrived leading a team of drones carrying the massive generators required to drain the life force out of the Autobot prisoners and put it into the Cube. He dissed Dreadwing's drone army for not being much help to them. The Reign of Starscream #3 The Reign of Starscream #4

Unfortunately for Starscream, the Cube didn't work, and Dreadwing's forces betrayed him. During the battle between Starscream's loyalists, Arcee's Autobots and Dreadwing's traitors, Payload grappled with Stockade, who eventually got the better of him. Outmatched, Payload decided to flee, with Stockade chasing after him. His fate is unknown. The Reign of Starscream #5

Transformers: Beginnings

Transformers: Beginnings is a condensed, flash-animated retelling of the IDW Movie Prequel that is detailed above this section.

Transformers: Beginnings

The Veiled Threat

The events of The Veiled Threat take place during IDW Publishing's Alliance comic.

Payload came to Earth in response to Starscream's signal, sent out after Megatron's death. When Starscream recruited the Human Accessory Force, he joined in a battle to capture a dam construction site in Zambia. He was skeptical of Starscream's claim that Megatron was truly dead, but accepted Macerator's word that the recordings of the event clearly showed Megatron being killed. Once the Autobots had come to investigate the Decepticon activity, Payload, Macerator and Dropkick lured them into the Zambezi River to fight. Though Payload managed to keep Ironhide distracted as they neared Victoria Falls, two humans, Kaminari Ishihara and Petr Andronov interfered with the fight using strange hi-tech guns, and Payload was forced to retreat.

The three Decepticons proceeded to Kariba Dam, where Payload descended into the gorge and started blasting away at the bottom of the dam, with the intention of rupturing it. When the Autobots caught up with them, Ratchet started attempting to repair the dam, and Payload began firing at him instead. He inflicted heavy damage on Ratchet, however the humans released the floodgates on the dam. Unable to withstand the raging torrent, Payload was swept away. Optimus Prime later spoke of tracking down and terminating the Decepticon, but it's unclear if this was done. The Veiled Threat

Toy bios

You can't tell from the picture, but he's having a giggle fit right now.

During one of his transits, Payload found Ratchet getting in his way. The Constructicon Warrior was amused that Ratchet would think he could stop him. However, Jolt was also present in the area. The younger Autobot messed with Payload long enough to tame him with his stunning electro-whips, allowing him and Ratchet to go in and take him down. Payload (Voyager) Electrostatic Jolt

Games

Battle for the Allspark

Payload's original body was used as the basis for a chassis available to players as their combatant for the Battle for the Allspark game. Units using this body came in two variations. Autobot-aligned units had a helmet and facemask that vaguely resembled Optimus Prime, while the Decepticon-aligned units had the single-lens design seen in other film-related media.

Payload units of both sides have a strong defense, good attack, but poor speed. Battle for the Allspark

Transformers The Game

Payloads show up in Mission City to put the hurt on both Autobot and Decepticon alike. Their primary attack is an unstoppable running charge that can send even the likes of Optimus and Megatron reeling. The only way to break them out of this attack is to nail them with a thrown object or melee attack when they briefly pause between charges.

Payloads also appear in the bonus Cybertron levels on both sides.

Aside from the head design differences, the Decepticon versions are dark blue, while the Autobot versions are silver-white. Transformers The Game (console)

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark (3DS)

Payload appears in the Rise of the Dark Spark game for Nintendo 3DS as a support unit. Equipping him allows all Earth Mercenaries to have their Endurance states increased by 1.

Rise of the Dark Spark

Toys

Transformers (2007)

Easily detachable parts? "Battle Damage!"
Really long back plunger? "Accessible Action Feature!" Shelfwarming? "Easy and Affordable Army-Building!"

• Payload (Deluxe Class, 2007)

• Takara ID number: MD-17
• Known designers: Eric Siebenaler (Hasbro), Takio Ejima (TakaraTomy), Joe Kyde (deco artist)

Part of the fifth wave of Transformers Deluxe figures, Payload transforms into an unlicensed approximation of a Bulldog II Armored Truck. His robot mode is based on the mono-eyed Decepticon version of the armored truck drones seen in Transformers The Game.

In robot mode, his main gimmick is a large spring-guided capture claw that extends several inches out of his stomach. However, when the claw-shaft is retracted, it sticks equally far out of his lower back. His head features light-piping for his lens-face.

Several pieces on Payload tend to pop off easily: his brush guard, midriff-plate/claw-center, and even his upper shoulder/head assembly. The mold was later retooled to include larger pegs for the shoulder/head assembly and an added tab on the brush-guard, to connect to the new slot in the claw plunger. While this was intended to give the pieces a better fit, it actually puts more pressure on the parts and causes them to pop off even more easily. The chest piece, however, fits fairly well on either version, but is still easy to remove.

Payload had a tendency to sit on shelves for weeks, with some examples of end displays filled completely with Payload figures. This has led to some fans affectionately renaming him Pegload.

The mold was later retooled into Movie Advanced Series Dispensor. This toy can also be repurposed as the Class Beta drone units.

• More information on Payload at TFU.info

Transformers (2010)

• Payload (EZ Collection, 2010)

Released in "Vol.5" of TakaraTomy's EZ Collection (not the fifth wave of product, the fifth iteration of the cross-franchise line), sold under the Autobot Alliance banner, Payload is a yellow-and-gray redeco of the non-combining Legends class Long Haul from Hasbro's 2010 Transformers toyline, transforming into a yellow dump truck.

Takara's stock photos of Payload made it seem like his plastic was more of an orange color, but the actual toy is positively yellow.

This toy can also be repurposed as the generic Constructicon Warriors from the Revenge of the Fallen game.

He'll easily pop your parts off.

• Payload (Voyager Class, 2010)

• Known designers: Andrew Scribner (deco artist)

Part of the first wave of 2010's Transformers toyline, Payload is a redeco of the Revenge of the Fallen Voyager-class Long Haul, transforming into a genericized "earth mover" dump truck with a functional truck bed. In robot mode, he has three "Mech Alive" gimmicks: turning his head also turns a cog in his chest, bending his elbows moves some pistons, and finally, moving his feet also moves the "springs" connected to them inwards. Only the piston gimmick is advertised on the packaging. Meanwhile, each forearm houses a spring-loaded, flip-out axe.

Payload has a mild variant, where the purple paint on his head and chest can be very dark and flat or extremely deep and shiny. The latter version seems to be the harder to find, although exact quantities of each are unknown.

Much like the above toy, this figure can be repurposed as the Constructicon Warriors.

• More information on Payload at TFU.info

Merchandise

3D Battle-Card Game

• Payload (3D Battle Card, 2007)

• Card number:

In the 3D Battle-Card Game, the Payload is on the Decepticon side. Pieces punched out from two different cards can be assembled to form a SWAT truck or a robot, while a third double-sided card gives its stats and attacks for each mode. He uses the same piece layout as Ratchet, though his lens-head peeking up over the back end of his vehicle mode looks less doofy than Ratchet's does. This layout was later also used for Trailbreaker. Payload's card art was done by Lucio Parrillo.

Notes

• Artist Ken Christiansen designed Payload (and the subsequent Class Beta drone units), along with the other new characters in the Transformers - The Game and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - The Game video games. The security company logos on his design and the toy, "Armored Security Systems", spells out "ASS". Christiansen says this was not intentional.
• A variant of Payload, crudely textured with a shoddily compressed Pepsi livery, can be found in the internal files for Transformers The Game. It was most likely cut early in development.
• Payload's altmode as a Decepticon anti-aircraft tank in The Veiled Threat gives him a form similar to that of the unreleased Gunbarrel toy, who appeared unnamed in the Transformers: Alliance comic at the same time. Whether they were meant to be the same character is unknown.
• Revenge of the Fallen Payload is based on the generic Constructicon Warrior drones from the Revenge of the Fallen video games, who were yellow recolours of Long Haul, and Hasbro would explicitly identify him as a member of this group March 2010 Q&A session. However, his packaging bio heavily implies he is also the same character as the original 2007 movie Payload, describing him as having the same function—an armored vehicle responsible for transporting essential Decepticon supplies—and giving him the same Tech Spec numbers.
• The stock photography for both EZ Collection Skipjack and Payload depict them in shades that hew closer to orange than the yellow they came out in. Whether this was an artifact of the photographic process or an intentional plastic color-change is uncertain.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Payload (ペイロード Peirōdo)

External links

• Payload concepts and final rendering on artist Ken Christiansen's blog.
• 3D Battle Card Game at Wizards of the Coast