Blackout (Armada)

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

Blackout is a Decepticon-allied Mini-Con from the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

Blackout is a free spirit to his core and doesn't believe in doing anything that compromises who he is inside. The only reason this independent streak doesn't get him in major trouble with his Decepticon masters is that "who he is inside" craves action more than anything else, and the 'Cons provide that in spades. Still, even with the opportunity to bust some heads, he's not sold on the Decepticon agenda and is not shy about saying so, no matter the punishment. This spirited tendency towards dissent and free thought often puts him at odds with his frequent partner, the loyal lackey Demolishor. The two spend a lot of time in arguments to convince each other of their respective viewpoints.

Blackout is powerful and heavily armored for a Mini-Con, and possesses a powerful sensor array to aid in target acquisition.

“	Sometimes your inner voice is your best leader.	”
—Blackout's bio quote.

Fiction

Cartoon continuity

Armada cartoon

Blackout was one of the first two Mini-Con storage panels the Decepticons retrieved from the Earth's surface. A small cache of panels was unearthed in battle, and Cyclonus managed to swipe two of them before the Autobots could get ahold of them. He kept one Mini-Con for himself and gave the other to Megatron. This was Blackout's panel and, after witnessing Starscream and Demolishor fighting over being his right-hand man, Megatron decided to reward Blackout to Demolishor. This was apparently to antagonize Starscream and turn his ambition towards collecting more Mini-Cons. Base

When the Decepticons were hunting Mini-Cons in the forest, Demolishor programmed Blackout to act as their personal locator, and he tracked down the latest Mini-Con storage panel for Demolishor and Megatron to the exact tree it was hidden in. Jungle On another mission in the desert, Blackout attended to Demolishor while his Bulk partner was in vehicle mode, operating his cannons to ward off any intruders in the Mini-Con hunt. Palace

During a Mini-Con search in the cramped confines of a city subway system, Blackout and the other Decepticon Mini-Cons were dispatched to comb the catacombs more quickly than their Bulk counterparts could manage. Underground Later, Blackout was briefly teamed with Cyclonus and Crumplezone to locate the Autobots' hidden base in the area pinpointed by Sonar. Swoop He also helped Demolishor stand guard over the Decepticon dig site near a big city. Blackout seemed to briefly react to Sideways' presence before the Autobots arrived on the scene. Gale

While searching for a Mini-Con panel in the foggy English countryside, Blackout located the panel at the same time as Laserbeak, and radioed in to Demolishor with his results. Conspiracy Blackout's scanning abilities were used by Demolishor again to locate Downshift when the Decepticons were attempting to complete the Skyboom Shield. Reinforcement

In their first battle alongside Tidal Wave, Demolishor assembled the Decepticons' military Mini-Cons (Crumplezone, Leader-1, Blackout and Inferno) into a ground warfare squad to confront the enemy. As he led them into combat, the Mini-Cons kept the Autobots busy on the ground while Tidal Wave and Thrust dealt with the aerial Jet Optimus. Desperate

Sometime later, Blackout magically appeared over a nameless planet where the Autobots and Decepticons were fighting with Nemesis Prime. He and several other Mini-Cons used their combined power to repair the damage the Cybertronians had suffered before vanishing as quickly as they came. Puppet

In a new coloration, Blackout accompanied Demolishor onto Unicron's surface. He began recording data on the entity, but fell into a crevasse during Unicron's transformation. Later he was found by Hot Shot and Side Swipe. Hot Shot then returned him to Demolishor. Alliance The data supposedly recorded by Blackout was used to determine Unicron had a weak spot in his neck. Union

Kiss Players Position

When he was separated from Demolishor on Unicron's surface, Blackout had a surprising encounter with a human girl who suddenly materialized in front of him. The girl was Atari Hitotonari, a member of the time-traveling group known as the Kiss Players, who had inadvertently become separated and scattered across the multiverse in the course of their adventures. Blackout formed a mental link with Atari that allowed her to understand his beepings and boopings, requesting her help in finding Demolishor, but Atari's Sparkbot partner Star Dust professed that there was nothing they could do. Before any more discussion could be had on the matter, Atari was spirited away by the power of Primus and returned to her home dimension. Kiss Players radio drama #48

Ten years later, in the midst of the Transformers' war for energon, Blackout encountered another of the Kiss Players, Marissa Faireborn, who had been deposited in this time period after she was separated from her comrades. By this point in time, Blackout had become separated from Demolishor after the larger bot's death, and Marissa sympathized, having recently suffered the loss of her own partner, Optimus Prime. Just before Primus's power enveloped Marissa and took her back to her own world, she told Blackout that their partners lived on in their hearts. Kiss Players radio drama #49

Dreamwave Armada comic

When the Decepticons started kidnapping Mini-Cons, Blackout helped prepare a forceshield around his hometown of village C52. Unfortunately, his efforts were for naught, and he and the rest of the villagers were captured by the Decepticons. Armada #1 He was used by Demolishor during the initial attack on Cyber City, Armada #2 though another account placed him as one of the evacuees on board the ship used by most Mini-Cons to escape the war. Armada Free Comic Book Day

A million years later, Blackout was taken to Earth when the Decepticons started hunting down the Mini-Cons who escaped from Cybertron. Megatron forcibly Powerlinxed him and several other Mini-Cons to his body during a battle with the Autobots, but was still driven into a retreat. Armada #5 Blackout and the other Decepticon Mini-Cons later snuck out of their base and traveled to a monolith that was sending out a beacon for all the Mini-Cons on Earth. Upon arrival, they entered the structure, which took off into space. Armada #8 Armada #10 The Mini-Cons were all taken to a moonbase built by Dualor so that they could all live in peace. It didn't last. Armada #9

At some point, Blackout was recaptured by the Decepticons, but he was soon released to assist in the battle against Unicron. After returning to Cybertron, he joined the other Mini-Cons at the Loop, where they channeled their energies into the Mini-Con Matrix to fire a huge blast which crippled Unicron. The End

Panini Armada comic

Blackout was present at the Decepticons' Silver Ridge base when a few Autobot-allied Mini-Cons broke in and tried to save them. He didn't seem to resist like the other Decepticon-allied Mini-Cons, but he didn't end up escaping either. Into the Lions' Den! After the Decepticons relocated to the moon, their new base came under attack from Cyclonus, who was under the control of the Destruction Mini-Con Team. Blackout power-linked with Demolishor, who joined the battle against his possessed comrade. Dawn of Destruction!

Reader's Digest Armada novels

During a Decepticon attack on the Autobots' base, one of Megatron's stray shots caused a rock slide. This rock slide unearthed four Mini-Con panels, one of which contained the Mini-Con that would come to be known as "Blackout." Cyclonus snatched it and another panel out of the grasp of the humans Rad and Alexis as the Decepticons retreated from the battlefield. Back at the Decepticons' base on the Moon, Megatron gave Demolishor gave one of the dormant Mini-Cons to Demolishor to ensure that Starscream would not get it, so as to keep the Decepticon second-in-command's power in check. Demolishor activated the panel, causing the robot within to bond with him mentally. Demolishor then named his Mini-Con, and vowed to use his power to defeat the Autobots. Race for the Mini-Con Robots

Mini Mayhem!

In a celebration of the Transformers brand, Blackout showed up as one of the Mini-Con representatives for the "Unicron Trilogy" era of the franchise. Mini Mayhem!

Legends comic

"Powerlinx" Blackout appeared as an example of a Mini-Con during an explanation on what the little robots were. Bonus Edition Vol. EX

Toys

Armada

He kinda looks like Guardminder, don't ya think?

• Demolishor w/ Blackout (Super-Con, 2002/2003)
  • Takara ID number: MD-03
  • Takara release date: December 28, 2002

Available only with his "Bulk" partner Demolishor, Blackout transforms into a six-wheeled APC/anti-aircraft vehicle of probably-made-up model. As a Mini-con, he has a "Powerlinx" socket on his vehicle-mode underside (which ends up on his robot-mode chest) which allows him to attach to any toy with a "Powerlinx" style 5 mm post; some toys have special Powerlinx posts that activate/unlock gimmicks when a Mini-Con is attached.

Blackout also has unique interactive gimmicks with Demolishor. In vehicle mode, he can be plugged into the gap between Demolishor's vehicle mode treads, and launched via spring-loaded trigger. Demolishor's vehicle mode is also specially designed with a seat in the rear that robot mode Blackout can use to "pilot" the Decepticon; Blackout's arm-guns can even loosely "plug in" to the screw-holes on the back of Demolishor's turret. Neat!

The Takara version of Blackout has a slightly different deco, using a "richer" sandy-tan color than the Hasbro version's pale-sand.

This toy was repurposed as Beast Wars: Uprising Search.

• More information on Blackout at TFU.info

• Ironhide & Land Military Micron (Multi-pack, 2003)
  • Takara ID number: MS-03
  • Takara release date: December 28, 2002

In Japan, "Ironhide" and "Search" were also available in a multi-pack with the Land Military Mini-Con Team. All of the toys in this set are identical to their original releases.

When are we gonna start bustin' Autobutts?

• Powerlinx Demolishor w/ Powerlinx Blackout (Super-Con, 2003)
  • Takara ID number: MD-10
  • Takara release date: September ??, 2003

Part of the final wave of Hasbro Armada Super-Cons, "Powerlinx" Demolishor and Blackout were redecoed into a primarily off-white color scheme with burgundy accents.

The Takara Legend of the Microns "Ironhide Super Mode" and "Spark Search" are once lightly tweaked to look more cartoony, in darker, more primary shades and in more matte paints and plastic.

According to Aaron Archer, this set was originally intended to be colored like Sixshot, because Demolishor's gun-hands reminded him of Sixshot (we don't get it either—maybe he meant Six-Gun?), but the red color scheme was decided upon and used in the animated series first, so the toy had to follow suit. Reflecting the late nature of this change, his packaging depicts a normal-colored Demolishor toy, as the colors had not been decided upon by the time cardback photography was required.

This toy was repurposed as Beast Wars: Uprising Black Out.

• More information on Powerlinx Blackout at TFU.info

Built to Rule!

• Demolishor (Built to Rule!, 2003)

The Built to Rule! version of Demolishor also came with the pieces needed to assemble Blackout. Brick-Blackout "transforms" from...a brick to a slightly more oblong brick.

• More information on Built to Rule! Blackout at TFU.info

• Night Attack Demolishor (Built to Rule!, 2003)

When The Built to Rule! Demolishor kit was redecoed into "Night Attack" colors, so was Blackout. Yay!

• More information on Night Attack Blackout at TFU.info

Energon

It's been great being part of the team!

• Demolishor w/ Blackout (Deluxe, 2003/2004)
  • Takara ID number: SD-02
  • Takara release date: December 25, 2003

Originally released as part of the initial assortment of Takara Super Link toys, Demolishor and Blackout were recolored into a rather Constructicon-like light-green-and-purple deco.

This version was released much later in the US, with no changes other than packaging, late in the Energon line as a KB Toys stores exclusive, alongside the Super Link redeco of Cyclonus. Near as can be told, there are no notable differences between the Takara and Hasbro releases aside from packaging.

• More information on Energon Blackout at TFU.info

Notes

• According to Aaron Archer, the original plan for "Powerlinx" Demolishor/Blackout's deco was a homage to Generation 1 Sixshot. However, We've created their own scheme and implemented it, nixing that.

We was robbed!

• Though the original Demolishor toy was redecoed and released as part of the Cybertron line, Blackout was excised from the package, just as the Mini-Cons were from the other Armada redecos/retools in the line. According to Aaron Archer at BotCon 2006, the decision to do so was made in order to keep the focus on Cyber Keys for non-Gigantion, non-Vector Prime toys. (And that the cost of "wasted" plastic—which can be recycled—was insignificant compared to the costs of painting and assembling the Mini-Con.) As seen in Demolishor's Cyber Key Code online file, though, a new deco for Blackout was developed.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Search (サーチ Sāchi), Spark Search (Powerlinx, スパークサーチ Supāku Sāchi)
• Hungarian: Sötét ("Dark")
• Korean: Search (서치 Seochi)