Blaster (G1)

Blaster is an Autobot in the Generation 1 continuity family. In Japan he is later rebuilt as Twincast.

"What it is, big mama? My mama no raise no dummies. I dug her rap!"

Blaster loves all Earth music, especially good, hard, LOUD rock 'n' roll. A powerful fighter who tends to make his presence known, you can find him at the forefront of any situation in which he's involved.

(Note: Blaster's personality varied significantly between the comic and cartoon, see entries below for details.)

French-Canadian name: Tempo

Italian name: Radiorobot (Blaster, original series dub), Audiobot (Blaster, Headmasters dub), Digital (Twincast)

Japanese names: Broadcast / Twincast / Broadblast

Malay-English dub name: Billy (Blaster), Blaster (Twincast)

Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

Generation 1

(Note: Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.)

More than likely, he'll kill you. Yeah, you. You know who you are.

Blaster was a rather grim, brooding, rebellious loner and one of the best kickass fighters the Autobots had. He had a bit of a problem with authority and hated Decepticons with a passion due to the death of his former partner Scrounge. Originally part of Perceptor's Autobot resistance cell on Cybertron, he often disagreed with his superior's orders.

Shortly after Scrounge was killed, Blaster took part in an assault on Darkmount, where he engaged and seemingly destroyed the Decepticon commander Straxus, before using the Space Bridge to flee to Earth. The Bridge to Nowhere!

Upon arriving on Earth, Blaster was among the Autobots deactivated and disassembled by Circuit Breaker and RAAT. Heavy Traffic

He was later released and joined the other Earthbound Autobots at the Ark shortly before Optimus Prime's death. Blaster was one of the Autobots who voted for Grimlock to be the new Autobot leader, though he soon came to regret this decision. King of the Hill!

Blaster developed a reluctant friendship with Goldbug, whose more naturally upbeat personality provided the Boy Wonder to his Batman. After an encounter with the Mechanic, Blaster and Goldbug went AWOL from Grimlock's command, having grown tired of his aggressive orders and increasing mental instabilities. Mechanical Difficulties!

For this disobedience (and their failure to capture the Mechanic), Grimlock branded Blaster and Goldbug traitors and sent the Protectobots to hunt them down. They eventually captured Blaster, but after he saved their lives from the Combaticons, they realized Grimlock's orders were purely vengeful and let him go. Used Autobots Child's Play

"BLASTER, BE OUR LEADER, PLEAAAASE???"

Blaster finally returned to the Ark, where his fellow Autobots begged him to take over as leader. However, he was forced to surrender to his former commander when Grimlock threatened the safety of several Earth children. Spacehikers!

Imprisoned by Grimlock, Blaster was strapped to a Variable Voltage Harness as punishment for his desertion and disobedience. However, when Fortress Maximus and his Autobots arrived and Grimlock challenged him to a duel, Blaster took Fort Max's place. Their duel was interrupted by a Decepticon attack. When Blaster pointed out that their feud had put all Autobots in danger, Grimlock agreed to call their duel a draw and declared a truce with Blaster as they fended off the Decepticons side by side. Totaled!

While Blaster and Buster Witwicky's girlfriend Jessie failed to rescue the young boy from the Decepticon's island resort/base, they proved instrumental in discovering the upcoming arrival of the legendary Transformers database, the Underbase. Club Con! Like many other Transformers, Blaster was killed fighting the Underbase-powered Starscream, shot dead atop the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. Dark Star

Blaster was later among the first Autobots resurrected by Grimlock with Nucleon. He took part in and survived the battle with Unicron. On the Edge of Extinction!

Blaster was one of the few Autobots present to survive the initial Decepticon ambush on Klo. End of the Road!

In the future of 2008, Blaster was present at Autobot City when the Quintessons attacked. He was deactivated in the battle that followed and his body strung up from the battlements. Space Pirates

Animated continuity

Voice Actor: Buster Jones (US), Keiichi Nanba (Japan)

Blaster was a fun-loving, hip and happening robot. Loud and energetic, he was happy to share his choice of rockin' tunes with anyone, whether they really wanted to hear them or not.

Blaster appeared out of nowhere one day during Wheeljack's demonstration of the modifications he'd made to the Dinobots to improve their sense of balance and coordination, and to that end, Blaster was requested to play something "nice". For some reason, Blaster had trouble tuning into a station until Grimlock (obviously tired of this scene's padding) blasted fire at Blaster's controls, allowing the Autobot boombox to tune into the local Rock and Big Band Music Fusion station. Ironhide, Trailbreaker and Sidewipe showed their appreciation for the fine selection of elevator music by jerkily dancing around and claiming their audio sensors were being fried. Blaster continued to enthrall Grimlock until Slag and Sludge bumped into their leader and totally freaked him out. Dinobot Island, Part 1

His loud music often got him into trouble, especially when he jammed emergency frequencies with bad '80s hair metal. Blaster and Cosmos eventually converted a deserted Decepticon headquarters on Earth's moon into an Autobot base, though they were never shown using it. (It's possible the base they built was later used by Marissa Faireborn of the EDC.)

Blaster had a rivalry with the Decepticon tape deck, Soundwave. The two clashed frequently, though they were most often shown to be evenly matched. In 2005, when the Decepticons ransacked Autobot City, Soundwave attempted to jam Blaster's distress signal to Optimus Prime with his Cassette forces. Blaster countered with his own Cassette army, and the itty bitty guys 'rassled.

In 2006, Blaster was stationed most frequently at Autobot City on Earth. However, at one point in Transformer history best left forgotten, he traveled with the Autobots to another planet where he translated opera into English. Carnage in C Minor

Scramble City OVA

Blaster was finally gifted with some Cassette forces of his own to counter Soundwave's. Steeljaw and Ramhorn took on Ratbat but couldn't protect the secrets of Metroplex.

Teletraan Go! Go! comics

"Don't be cryin'—here's a lion!"

As Teletraan 15 lay recuperating from her Galvatron-inflicted injuries, a voice came from a nearby boombox, remarking that the song in her heart sounded lonely.

Transforming into his towering robot mode, Blaster told 15 that a princess like her deserved a more cheerful song. After listening to her problems, he advised her not to worry about what she ought to do and suggested that she concentrate on doing what she loved best. He told her that as individuals, sentient beings are notes, and that together, they become music.

He handed her a small cassette tape and told her that whenever she was depressed, she should listen to music. She thanked him as he left.

Despite Blaster's good intentions, the tape turned out to be full of depressing music. It also turned out to be Steeljaw. Teletraan Go! Go!

Kiss Players

Blaster hand-picked Rosanna to join his cassette team, feeling that she was the only Autobot who properly understood his love of music.

He was later appointed by Ultra Magnus as the Producer of the Kiss Players singing group, of which Rosanna became a founding member. Kiss Players

Headmasters cartoon

Blaster's rivalry with Soundwave increased dramatically by the year 2011. At one point, when Hot Rod was searching Earth for the Matrix, he was ambushed by Soundwave. Blaster took on Soundwave alone, urging Rodimus to leave without him. Soundwave and Blaster then prepared for their final duel. The result was a tie, sorta—they both died.

Later, all the Autobots were content to leave Blaster as a corpse until Daniel and Blaster's cassette forces whined enough to have their pal resurrected. Rodimus then brought Blaster back online as the yellow and blue repaint Twincast. Coincidentally, the Decepticons reanimated Soundwave as the black-as-coal Soundblaster. The two arch-enemies then renewed their struggle.

After his revival, he also served as the Autobots' karaoke machine.

Japanese Generation 2 story pages

There's so much I don't understand about this image.

After Optimus Prime and Megatron forged the Cybertron Alliance, Twincast returned to his original form as Blaster for reasons unknown.

(The artwork by Hidetsugu Yoshioka for the single story page Blaster appeared in features all the characters in their Action Master bodies, implying Blaster may have become an Action Master as well.)

Dreamwave comics

Blaster and his partner Perceptor were co-leaders of an Autobot faction millions of years ago on Cybertron. While this faction may or may not have existed in the Dark Ages before Ultra Magnus unified the Autobots under his command, they were the only known resistance to Megatron's tyrannical rule during the Age of Internment that followed.

In modern times, Blaster allied himself with Hot Rod and Kup's underground resistance, opposing the new tyrannical rule of Shockwave.

Blaster seems to have a "thing" against tyrannical rules.

At one point, he remarked that he couldn't wait to go to Earth. Ironically, Dreamwave's bankruptcy meant he never got to go. Poor Blaster.

Toys

Generation 1

• Blaster (Autobot, 1985/1986/2006)

Japanese ID number: 38, TFC-21

Originally a Microchange "Radi-Casse Robo" ("radio-cassette", you see), Blaster transforms into a "ghetto blaster" boombox. Pressing the "eject" button pops open his tape door, which can store a single microcassette Transformer.

Some releases of Blaster still retain the battery-cover back from the Microchange release (see Trivia).

Blaster was re-released in 2006 as part of the "Transformers Collection" "bookbox" series, packaged with Steeljaw.

• Twincast (Autobot, 1987/2006)

Japanese ID number: C-116

The first Blaster toy was redecoed and had its tape-door retooled in order to accommodate two cassettes at once. The clear-plastic part of the door was also changed to clear-red, so when certain cassettes were placed inside, the "secret plans" decals on them would reveal the "weak point" of either Fortress Maximus or Scorponok, much like using the tech-specs decoders. He came with Steeljaw, who was given one of these new decals.

In 2006, Twincast was reissued as an e-Hobby exclusive, this time packaged with the new character Flip Sides.

• Blaster w/ Flight Pack (Action Master, 1990)

A non-transforming action figure, Action Master Blaster (not to be confused with the "Action Master Blasters" price-point) is compatible with any other Action Master vehicle or accessory. His design is based largely on his cartoon model, with elements from the toy added (like his visor). He came with the "Flight Pack" accessory, which converts from a winged jetpack to a massive "electro-scrambler" cannon.

Binaltech Asterisk

• Broadblast meets Lumina (Binaltech, 2005)

Japanese ID number: BTA03

A redeco of Alternators Skids, "Broadblast" transforms into a 1:24 scale Toyota bB, aka the Scion xB. He has working doors, hood, and trunk, plus his engine becomes a non-firing weapon. He also comes with an extra decal sheet, which includes signs for "TBN" which possibly stands for "Transformers Broadcast Network" or some such; there is Japanese text on the labels as well, but it's really tiny and hard to make out.

He came with a PVC-plastic figurine of the human newsgirl Lumina Hoshi.

Attacktix

• Blaster

Trivia

• The pre-Transformers version of Blaster was actually a functioning AM radio. The Microchange release of the toy came with a microcassette-sized radio that plugged in to Radi-Casse Robo, which had internal wiring that allowed the radio to play through the speakers in its legs. The big hole in his Electro-Scrambler rifle is an earphone storage space, while the cord can be wrapped around the gun and the plug connects to the hole in the gun's stock. Despite popular belief, the compartment in the back of some Blaster toys was not a remnant of a battery compartment, but was actually storage for one of the transforming microcassettes, since a plug kept them from fitting in the cassette door. The battery compartment was actually in one of his legs.

• According to Grimlock on a Letters Page, Blaster's visor is retractable. He uses it to shield his especially delicate optical sensors from sunlight.

• The packaging for Twincast's e-Hobby reissue was the same generic Decepticon-scheme box used to package Magnificus. However, since Flip Sides is technically a Decepticon, it...sorta works.

• According to Blaster himself on the UK letters page, he has two siblings: Toaster and Karmen.

• According to the G1 Production Bible, Blaster's preliminary name was Blastbox.

External links

• Blaster on tfu.info

From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki, a Wikia wiki.