Dirge (BW)

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

Dirge is a Predacon Combatron from the Beast Wars II of the Generation 1 continuity family.

"Ehehehehe! You see? You never quite know what he's going to do! He's so spontaneous."

Dirge (ダージ Dāji) is almost inseparable from his partner and best friend, Thrust. Together, the pair form a Manzai comedy duo; Dirge is the straight man, quick with a biting insult. He's also a Cybertronian gourmet, known for his talent of giving high-energy fuels higher potency and better flavor. Oil is one of his favorite substances to work with, and he is known for his very intense brews.

Dirge was later mutated into the Cyborg Beast Dirgegun (ダージガン Dājigan) by Angolmois Energy, receiving a significant boost to his offensive capabilities in the process.

Fiction

Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

Beast Wars II cartoon

Voice actor: Eiji Takemoto (Japanese)

Dirge and his partner Thrust were among the elite Combatron jets serving with Galvatron's Predacons aboard the Galvaburg II. They arrived on Gaia in search of the mysterious Angolmois Energy source. As the Predacons began harvesting the Angolmois Energy, they captured a group of Maximals from the Yukikaze in a paralyzing field. Dirge and his cohorts began firing upon their trapped prey, until Lio Convoy arrived and freed his troops. The New Forces Arrive! The Predacons located a Mother Computer from the lost civilizations of Gaia, and began downloading combat modes from the computer's records. Galvatron overloaded his circuits assuming the most powerful modes in history, leading his brother Megastorm to assume command of the Predacons. Megastorm dispatched the Combatrons to find and capture the white lion who freed the Maximals, unaware at the time that it was Lio Convoy in beast mode. Dirge and Thrust hassled their rival duo, Starscream and BB, until the more intelligent (...on average) Predacons trapped them in a smokescreen and sent Dirge and Thrust crashing into a cliff. White Lion, Run!

After Lio Convoy humiliated him, Megastorm ordered Dirge and Thrust to hunt down the Maximal commander and report his location so Megastorm could get his revenge. The pair didn't take kindly to Megastorm's commanding attitude, and stopped to have a grumble about it, whereupon the rage-aholic Maximal Bighorn showed up, desperately looking for a fight, and charged the duo. He misjudged the angle, though, and crashed into the wall next to the Predacons instead. As the bemused Dirge and Thrust tried to figure out what this guy's problem was, they were buried in a rockslide started by the ambitious Starscream's missile barrage, since he wanted the accolades of finding Lio Convoy first. Bighorn's Rage

Dirge and Thrust hated the idea of reporting to Starscream, and only begrudgingly went along with his latest scheme to set up an underwater lake trap for the Maximals. Basically Starscream's stooges until his plan played out, Dirge and Thrust were quietly thrilled when the Maximals escaped their death-traps and foiled Starscream and BB's plot. The Lake Trap

Dirge and Thrust congratulated Megastorm on his latest plot to flood Gaia with automated fortress drones, far too many for the mere six Maximals to destroy. When they told him how grateful Galvatron would be for his work after the emperor awoke, however, Megastorm grew angry and stomped off. It was left to Starscream to explain to the duo how Megastorm had ambitions of his own beyond serving Galvatron dutifully. Galvatron Revived

Dirge and Thrust were overseeing the Autorollers in the construction of another energy fortress in the Southern Continent when they were attacked by the Insectrons, Bigmos and Tonbot. The duo were ridiculously outmatched, and fled back to Megastorm with their tails between their legs. Starscream laughed at their ineptitude, and promised Megastorm to work smarter and not harder by turning the Insectrons against the Maximals, letting their enemies eliminate each other. Miffed by Starscream's attitude, Dirge and Thrust followed him and BB, only to get caught in one of the bug-zapper nets Starscream set up for the Insectrons. Unable to even fathom how stupid these two were, Starscream just left them hanging in the net.

Cyber-waltz lesson with Thrust

The comedy duo eventually extracted themselves, and spotted Starscream and BB conversing with the Insectrons, whom they had trapped in a net and then freed in order to trick the Insectrons into believing the Maximals were responsible. When Dirge and Thrust were spotted zeroing in, Starscream and BB took the opportunity to ingratiate themselves with the Insectrons even further. Poor, poor Dirge and Thrust were shot down by BB, suffering further humiliations to help Starscream's scheme. The Insect Corps Arrive Still, Starscream successfully managed to turn several Insectrons against the Maximals. When he reported his success, Megastorm sent Dirge and Thrust to back him up. Once the Predacons arrived, the Maximals were nearly depleted of energy after their battle, and offered little resistance. Only when Lio Convoy and the other Maximals arrived, fresh and fully-energized, were the Predacons driven off. Friend or Foe? The Insect Robos

Dirge and Thrust were on the bridge of the Galvaburg II, watching Starscream's plan to get the Insectrons wasted on super-strong oil unfold. No one noticed Galvatron awaken from his coma and dig into the spiked oil, until all the Combatrons had to flee from their drunken emperor. The Strongest Tag Team? After the Combatrons' several failures to eliminate the Insectrons, the Autorollers stepped forward to take the assignment. Starscream was worried the Autorollers would succeed and outshine his accomplishments. Dirge and Thrust, who had no accomplishments to speak of, said to let the Autorollers have their shot. Autorollers Roll Out!

Dirge and Thrust were out on patrol when the Autorollers brought their captives Tasmania Kid and Scissor Boy back to the Galvaburg II. Megastorm tried to call the Combatrons back to help him when the Maximals and Insectrons arrived to protect their friends, but they arrived too late and Megastorm had to move the ship to escape their enemies' onslaught. Danger! Scissor Boy When Galvatron returned, gorging himself on Angolmois Energy and running amok in dragon mode, Dirge and Thrust needed Megastorm to very slowly explain to them why this was a bad thing. Galvatron Rampages As Megastorm ordered a massive attack on the South Continent, Dirge, Thrust and the Combatrons fought against the Maximals and Insectrons once more. Predacon General Offensive!

Dirge and Thrust were ordered to find and defeat the new giant warrior, Tripledacus. Unfortunately for their search, they had no idea the warrior was a combiner, and passed over confronting his component parts, the Jointron brothers, because they weren't the mission. The Combined Giant, Tripledacus

While supervising one of the Autorollers' construction projects, Dirge and Thrust spotted a beam of energy that revealed the location of the Maximal base. Seeing an opportunity to one-up Starscream, they conscripted Autostinger and Autocrasher to track the source of the signal. Finding a Maximal recon ship, Dirge and Thrust boarded it and found the Jointrons squabbling with the Maximals. Taking them hostage at gunpoint, the comedy duo warned their foes the Autorollers were outside pointing missiles at the fuel tanks in case they acted up. Unfortunately for Dirge and Thrust, once they had their captives, they didn't know what to do with them, especially after Gimlet smashed the radio so they couldn't call in to the Galvaburg II. They ordered Diver to fix the radio, but then were swept up in salsa fever as the cheerful Jointrons threw an oil party while being held captive. By the time Lio Convoy and the other Maximals arrived and disabled the Autorollers outside, Dirge and Thrust were too wasted to fight back. They were now the Jointrons' prisoners. Luckily, the bizarre trio were soon distracted by their own antics, letting Dirge and Thrust inch out of the ship and fly away home. The Festive Jointrons

Starscream soon had another brilliant plan, so naturally Dirge and Thrust ended up doing grunt work. The comedy duo worked a smoke machine to trick the Maximals into thinking another fortress powered by Angolmois Energy was in production on the East Continent. The bait allowed Starscream and BB to test out a new bacteria bomb that sapped its victims' energy and rendered them unable to transform. It seemed remarkably effective against the Jointrons until Lio Convoy taught them the secret of friendship and sharing their energies to counter the bacteria. Tripledacus was then formed to demonstrate the Jointrons' displeasure towards Starscream. Dirge and Thrust somewhat sensibly chose not to get involved by that point. A Fearsome Combination Plan?

The Predacons' next plan involved capturing the Jointrons alive to study their combination abilities. Dirge and Thrust managed to net up DJ and Gimlet during the fray, and flew off to deliver them to the Galvaburg II. Bighorn and Diver followed behind them, though, and Bighorn's Buffalo Missile blasted them out of the air, freeing the captives and leaving Dirge and Thrust out of luck. Who Is the Leader!?

When the Autorollers discovered a Copy Machine in the ruins of Gaia, the Predacons learned it could create exact clones of anyone, except mono-chromatic in color. And super-evil. After observing a battle between BB and the Copy BB, Galvatron ordered the clone destroyed. Dirge and Thrust needed two guesses, but eventually pointed their guns at the correct BB and destroyed the clone. The Black Lio Convoy

Artemis and Moon once had a debate over who was the strongest of the Transformers, and convinced Lio Convoy and Galvatron to compare their troops. Dirge and Thrust were considered among the weakest, but Galvatron still though them superior to Lio Convoy's weakest troops, Tasmania Kid and Diver. Who Is the Strongest Warrior!?

As Megastorm became more distrusting of the ambitious Starscream, he attempted to raise the standing of Dirge and Thrust in their stead. Despite Starscream's complaints, the comedy duo were given a surveillance assignment by Megastorm to evaluate the Space Pirate Seacons when they arrived on Gaia. The Tentacular Scuba

Megastorm hired the Seacons to take out the Maximals for them, but did a poor job of negotiating and accidentally gave away ALL the Predacons' Angolmois Energy if the Seacons were successful. Dirge and Thrust helped Megastorm construct a series of transmitters to lure the Maximals into separate battles with the Seacons, while secretly making the transmitters into bombs as well, hoping to steal the victories from the pirates. The comedy duo panicked when Lio Convoy snuck up on them at the last transmitter site, however, and dropped the trigger mechanism. This caused the bombs to go off in a premature and karmic fashion, somehow blowing up just in time to damage Megastorm at each site before blasting him to the next one. Megastorm's Reckoning

Dirge and Thrust were present on the bridge of the Galvaburg II when Galvatron sent Starscream to conduct further negotiations with the Seacons. Face the Setting Sun When Lio Convoy and God Neptune were in a fight to the death, Dirge and Thrust intervened to prevent the other Maximals from racing to Convoy's side. The Final Battle

Dirge and Thrust watched on as Starscream conducted an operation to save Galvatron from the injuries he suffered fighting against Magnaboss. Megastorm Reborn As Megastorm evolved into Gigastorm, Dirge and Thrust quickly declared their loyalty to him when Galvatron was once again bedridden with injuries. They arrived long before Starscream and BB to help Gigastorm escape a Maximal trap. The New Weapon, Tako Tank

In a discussion on the nature of light versus darkness, Galvatron recalled Dirge and Thrust's involvement in the Seacons' escapades. The Artificial Planet Nemesis

Dirge and Thrust battled the Tako Tank at an Angolmois Energy trap Galvatron set for the Maximals. Gigastorm's Treachery They finally outdid Starscream by capturing him and BB on film talking about how they tried to kill Megastorm when he was transformed into Gigastorm. They showed this footage to Gigastorm, who devised a plan to rid himself of Starscream. The End of Starscream

Unfortunately, Gigastorm's plan only ended up making Starscream and BB more powerful than ever as Cyborg Beasts. Dirge and Thrust started feeling inadequate, and needed to redeem their image and standing in the Predacons. They settled on the idea of eliminating Lio Convoy to show their prowess, but proved woefully incapable. Their plan to kidnap Lio Junior as a hostage to draw out Lio Convoy led to a painful encounter with Magnaboss, and attacking Lio Convoy directly went just as well.

Gigastorm finally took pity on his loyal minions, and brought them into his alternate mode where he fed his own Angolmois Energy through tubes into Dirge and Thrust, triggering their reformatting. They emerged as Dirgegun and Thrustor full of confidence and new power. Dirgegun discovered the power of his "Blast Leader" attack, an ultrasonic wave with a disruptive, paralyzing effect on his opponents. Unfortunately, the omnidirectional sound waves were crippling for Thrustor too, affecting their battle strategy. They made several successful attacks on the Maximals before fighting Lio Convoy to a stand still. Lio Convoy survived only thanks to the intervention of Lio Junior. The Lio Convoy Assassination Plot

The Naked Gun? Let's hope not

When a mysterious teleport gate crashed on Gaia, Galvatron sent the Cyborg Beasts out to secure the site. Dirgegun and his comrades attacked Tasmania Kid and the Magnaboss team to gain control of the gate and its command key. Although they secured the gate itself and seriously injured Kid, Lio Junior escaped with the key. Galvatron later tricked Lio Junior into turning over the key to him, taking the cub prisoner as well. When he escaped, Dirgegun and Thrustor chased their prisoner down before he reunited with Santon and Skywarp to form Magnaboss. They managed to injured Magnaboss, but were ultimately driven off. Lio Convoy in Imminent Danger!

As the artificial planet Nemesis zeroed in on Gaia, the Maximals stepped up their counter-attacks, and the Predacon response increased as well. Dirgegun and Thrustor were sent out to stop the Maximals from freezing the volatile corrupted Angolmois Energy drawn out by Nemesis's presence. The Great Angolmois Freezing Tactic Later, they targeted the Niagara Cannon the Maximals intended to use to obliterate Nemesis before it reached Gaia (although the Cyborg Beasts' target turned out to be a decoy). Knock Out Nemesis

Whatever additional power and ego the Cyborg Beasts got from their exposure to the Angolmois Energy seemed to fade, for Dirgegun and Thrustor were soon being overwhelmed defending Autoroller fortresses from raids by Lio Junior. Lio Junior's Revolt!? When the Maximals fought to stop an ancient Gaian defense mechanism from destroying the planet, Gigastorm was heedless of the danger and ordered the Cyborg Beasts to attack the Maximals anyway. Galvatron arrived and called his little brother a fool, pulling back their troops so the Maximals could save them all. The Crisis of Planet Gaia

When the Maximals prepared to depart Gaia on a spaceship, they leaked the location of their base to Dirgegun and Thrustor to divert Predacon attention away from their true launch site. Dirgegun and Thrustor were thrilled with their awesome detective skills, and thought Hellscream's suspicion over their sudden competence was just sour grapes. Naturally, they were horribly, horribly wrong. Fly Out! Planet Gaia Dirgegun later watched as Galvatron dispatched the Seacons to attack the Maximals in space before they reached Nemesis. Revenge of the Space Pirates

On Nemesis, the Predacons shot down the Maximal ship and boarded the wreckage, only to find the Maximals weren't present. They barely escaped the pre-rigged self-destruct mechanism. Dirgegun and the Cyborg Beasts confronted the Maximals as Lio Convoy tried to shut down Nemesis at its Angolmois Energy core. Breaking into Nemesis When Galvatron emerged from the core, he told the assembled Maximals and Predacons that Lio Convoy and Lio Junior had been consumed by the Angolmois Energy he unleashed. Dirgegun and the Predacons cheered the death of Lio Convoy, but Galvatron bid them to be silent, mourning the loss of a valiant foe. Legend! The Green Warrior To everyone's surprise, Lio Convoy and Lio Junior emerged as the legendary Green Lion, powerful enough to drain all of Gigastorm's Angolmois Energy from him. When Galvatron left to reignite the sabotaged core, Dirgegun and the Beasts continued the fight against the remaining Maximals, despite the threat of Nemesis exploding at any moment. They eventually wised up, and the Cyborg Beasts got together and lugged the lumbering Gigastorm off of Nemesis before it exploded. Farewell! Lio Convoy

The Maximal Brainwashing Operation

While out on patrol, Dirge and Thrust wandered near the Maximals' base and were shot down by a barrage of missiles. When Lio Convoy approached the two downed Predacons, Dirge and Thrust expressed confusion as to why the Maximals were attacking them... The shock to their systems had somehow turned the pair into Maximals!

Later, Dirge and Thrust helped the Maximals fight back against their former teammates when the Predacons launched an assault on the Yukikaze. Among the enemy ranks were Diver and Tasmania Kid, brainwashed into joining the Predacons by Starscream. When Starscream saw Dirge and Thrust fighting against alongside the Maximals, he became infuriated that Lio Convoy had "stolen his idea," and had BB shoot the pair out of the sky. The battlefield was then rocked by a powerful blast courtesy of Megastorm, badly injuring the Predacon forces. The Predacons retreated, with BB hauling the unconscious Dirge and Thrust along. The Maximal Brainwashing Operation

Beast Wars Neo cartoon

After the defeat of Unicron, Dirgegun returned to Cybertron. There, he watched a tussle between Big Convoy and Magmatron. Graduation Ceremony!!

Beast Wars II comic

Dirge joined Galvatron and his Predacons on Gaia in their quest for Angolmois Energy. After Galvatron absorbed some Angolmois Energy and fell into a deep sleep, Megastorm hooked up the Predacon leader to the machinery of the Galvatron Dekazura Tank to power it, and enlisted Dirge and his other fellow Predacons into piloting the vehicle against the Maximals. Dirge was at the wheel when Thrust began bothering him, and the former told the latter to concentrate on his job: looking over the juggernaut's radar screen. Thrust spoke up again, and Dirge once more told him to be quiet... prompting Thrust to hold up a cue-card to tell him that the Maximals were already approaching. The two Predacons then started bickering over the whole situation, but Megastorm was unperturbed by the Maximals' counter-offensive. The Predacons' vehicle was lured into a nearby river in the course of battle, where Dirge informed Megastorm that they were being attacked from bellow: the aquatic Maximals had taken advantage of the vehicle's more vulnerable underside, and planted bombs on it to sink the tank. Lio Convoy soon after managed to penetrate into the tank's control room, resulting in the tank's self-destruct mechanism being activated. The Predacons were all blown away in the resulting explosion. Demolish the Superdreadnought Tank!

Theft of the Golden Disk

Voice actor: Frank Todaro (English)

Dirge worked for the crime lord Cryotek and was part of the team he sent out to steal information about the whereabouts of the Golden Disk from the Cybertropolis Maximal Data Archive. While Megatron and Dinobot handled the filth, Dirge took the stolen data to Cryotek. Unfortunately for him, Megatron had switched the data with a Maximal tracking device, causing Dirge and his boss to be arrested for the theft while Megatron and his allies got clean away... Theft of the Golden Disk

2006 IDW Beast Wars continuity

Dawn of the Predacus

Dirge was exposed to Angolmois Energy by Gigastorm, which evolved the Predacon into the Cyber Beast Dirgegun. Beast Wars Sourcebook #1

During one of Magmatron's astral journeys, Dirgegun was seen being throttled by Saberback. The Ascending #1

Precursor World

A Warrior of the Seven Lights resembling Dirge was a member of the Blue Order of the Primus Vanguard. He and his comrades followed their commander Blue Big Convoy into battle when a duel between dimension-tossed future warriors Ultra Megatron and Star Convoy threatened the Blue Planet and its people. Super Megatron comic 2

Toys

Beast Wars

Like the Blue Angels of comedy... one wrong move and they all crash.

• Dirge (Basic, 1998)

• ID number: D-14
• Release date: March ??, 1998
• Accessories: "Dirge Gun" rifle & barrel
• Known designers: Takio Ejima (TakaraTomy), Masakatsu Saito (concept artist)

Part of the first wave of Beast Wars II products in the Japanese Beast Wars toyline, Dirge is a redeco of the Machine Wars Basic Class Skywarp/Thundercracker toy, transforming from a Dassault Rafale fighter jet to robot mode with a single-step, spring-loaded transformation. The two halves of his "Dirge Gun" rifle store in his lower legs in jet mode. Dirge's color scheme is largely carried over from a proposed Generation 2 Thundercracker toy.

Unfortunately, Dirge suffers from a minor misassembly where the armature connected to the sliding gear mechanism is flipped, forcing his cockpit slightly outward in robot mode.

This toy was repurposed as a new body for Generation 1 Dirge in the Collectors' Club magazine comic arc Beast Wars Shattered Glass.

• More information on Dirge at TFU.info

Generation 2 mold: Thundercracker
Hasbro: Generation 2 Thundercracker (canceled) Machine Wars Skywarp Thundercracker Robots in Disguise (2001) Skyfire Fun Publications: Timelines Darksyde Waspinator Takara: Beast Wars D-14 Dirge Robotmasters RM-06 Wingstun

• Land Horizon Showdown: Tasmania Kid VS Dirge (VS pack, 1998)

• ID number: VS-14
• Release date: March ??, 1998
• Accessories: "Dirge Gun" rifle & barrel

Dirge was also available in the "Land Horizon Showdown" (地平線の対決 chiheisen no taiketsu) two-pack with Tasmania Kid, also released in the first wave of Beast Wars II toys.

Both toys are identical to their individual releases.

Fullmetal Waspinator

• Dirgegun (Deluxe, 1998)

• ID number: D-25
• Release date: November ??, 1998
• Accessories: "Needle Launcher", 2 "Needle Missiles"
• Known designers: Hisashi Yuki (TakaraTomy), Masakatsu Saito (concept artist)

Sold in the tenth wave of Beast Wars II products, "Dirgegun" is an extensive retooling of the original Beast Wars Deluxe Class Waspinator mold, transforming into a cyborg bee and has a Predacon energon chip in the center of his chest.

In robot mode, his stinger can be removed to become his hand-held "Needle Launcher"; a spring-loaded missile launcher that fires his "Needle Missiles" that store under each wing. The Needle Missiles can also be used in his "Needle Shot" launcher mounted on his beast mode back. This launcher can also be swung forward for robot-mode use if you rotate the inner chest assembly (and therefore his robot head) downward.

Additionally—due to the wings being on ball joints—one can also rotate his wings down to have his VTOL turbine details facing forward to recreate his "Blast Leader" attack.

This toy was retooled further to make Thrustinator. The original tooling was also used to make Beast Wars Buzz Saw.

• More information on Dirgegun at TFU.info

Beast Wars mold: Waspinator
Version 1: Hasbro: Beast Wars Waspinator Buzz Saw Waspinator (Fox Kids) Beast Wars 10th Anniversary Waspinator Takara: Beast Wars D-3 Waspeeter D-9 Buzz Saw Beast Wars Telemocha Series TM-04 Waspeeter Version 2: Takara: Beast Wars D-25 Dirgegun Fun Publications: Timelines Thrustinator

Merchandise

Seal Retsuden

• Darge #047 (sticker, 1998)
• Darge #048 (sticker, 1998)
• Darge #077 (sticker, 1998)

As part of their larger Seal Retsuden offering, Amada produced the Beast Wars II: Super Lifeform Transformers Seal Retsuden set of 102 stickers. Of these, two normal ones (#047 and #048) and one metal one (#077) concern Dirge.

• Seal Retsuden Dirge (Darge) bio translation

Hikuzohkun PP Card

• Darge #11 (card, 1998)
• Darge #27 (card, 1998)
• Destron #30 (card, 1998)
• Tasmania Kid VS Darge #35 (card, 1998)
• Destron #S3 (card, 1998)

Amada produced a Beast Wars II: Super Lifeform Transformers Hikuzohkun PP Card set of 42 cards. Of these, two are dedicated to Dirge (#11 and #27), one is a Predacon groupshot (#30), one is a vs. card of Dirge and Tasmania Kid (#35), and Dirge is mostly depicted in the upper right corner of the prism card tableau (#S3).

• Hikuzohkun PP Card Dirge (Darge) bio translation

Notes

• Dirge's Seal Retsuden stickers and Hikuzohkun PP Cards Romanize his name as "Darge". Needless to say, nobody takes this seriously.
• Much like the rest of the new cast introduced from "Enter Lio Junior" onwards, Dirgegun received a completely original character model by Takashi Yamamoto for "Lio Convoy in Imminent Danger!", whereas his cartoon character model was designed by one of three other model artists. In Dirgegun's case, he notably features his "Needle Launcher" stinger weapon attached to the end of his, well... stinger in robot mode, rather than having the open, toy-accurate gap that his cartoon model has.
• In "Theft of the Golden Disk", Dirge plays the part of Peter Lorre, with vocal stylings to match. Like Cosmos, this only worked so well.

Gallery

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  Packaging art
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  Prescan character model