Nightbird (G1)

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

Nightbird is a human-built robot and sometimes a Decepticon from the Generation 1 continuity family.

"Dude? A giant robot ninja?"
"No dude, a giant robot ninja chick!"
"Duuuude!"

Nightbird is a giant female ninja robot built to "benefit mankind".

Yeah, those nunchucks are really gonna be benefiting their way through society.

Fiction

Generation 1 cartoon continuity

The Transformers cartoon

Nightbird was a robotic ninja warrior created by Doctor Fujiyama the Famous Scientist, ostensibly to show how advanced Human technology had become. The Decepticons stole Nightbird, and Bombshell implanted her with an enhanced brain chip which turned the drone-like Nightbird into a true butt-kicking machine. Nightbird broke into the Ark and stole the Autobots' World Energy Chip, which contained the locations of a variety of energy sources, energy sources that the Decepticons would most assuredly use for conquest!

The Autobots were, at first, hampered by their promise to Doctor Fujiyama not to damage or destroy the ninja robot, and found themselves flustered in botched attempts to capture her. Eventually, however, they used an electro mesh prison which drained Nightbird's power reserves and allowed the Autobots to capture her without serious damage.

Doctor Fujiyama placed Nightbird into cold storage, but apparently did not see fit to fully deactivate her, as she seemed aware of her plight and gave an angry glare as she was stored away. Not that we've ever seen her again. Enter the Nightbird

Transformers Legends comic

In one of the Legends Universe's Tigatron's dreams, Nightbird was among the evil female Transformers (and related robots, evidently) who sought to kidnap him and fought the heroic female Transformers guarding him. Arcee was in Nightbird's line of sight shortly before the dream ended due to Tigatron waking up. Bonus Edition Vol. 11 Alpha Trion later saw Nightbird, Blackarachnia, and Slipstream in a vision of things to come. Bonus Edition Vol. 14

Having gotten his mitts on Nightbird again, Megatron brought her with him to the Legends Universe, where he presented her to the public as a Tera-Kura Co. ninja maid robot under the name Nightbird Shadow. To prevent her from causing any problems, he equipped her a clumsiness function that customers found adorable, leading to Tera-Kura mass-producing and selling Nightbird clones for profit. The clones then immediately went out of control and started rampaging through Tokyo, something Megatron credited to their inherently evil Decepticon souls, but were stopped in their tracks by their own clumsiness. The local Megatron prepared for a mass recall, but the customers of the Nightbirds protested that the clones' little "mischievous streak" was just charming, and they remained on the market. Bonus Edition Vol. 15

During Halloween, Megatron had Nightbird Shadow go trick-or-treating for energy alongside Blackarachnia and Slipstream. Dressed up as a ghost, she and the others knocked on Tigatron's door before getting accosted by Arcee , Chromia and Windblade, who were defeated by Blackarachnia. Bonus Edition Vol. 17

3H comics

Bombshell would be so proud.

In 2025 or so, Fujiyama, apparently having learned nothing, built an entire army of Nightbird drones. When they went on a rampage, Arcee, Daniel Witwicky, and Wheelie came to the doctor's aid. Though they were rather outnumbered, the group held off the drones long enough for Hot Spot to arrive with help and an evacuation shuttle. This was only just too late for Wheelie, who found his back slashed open by a Nightbird drone, disabling him from getting to the shuttle. Loyal to his friend, Daniel stayed with him as the others fled. When he could no longer fight off the drones, he detonated an explosive to destroy them, killing himself and Wheelie in the process. Departure

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

Then, would those be male ninja robots?

A science fiction movie, Enter the Nightbird, featured Nightbird kicking shiny metal robo-ass. Infestation

Games

Transformers Legends

At her unveiling by Doctor Fujiyama, Nightbird was stolen by the Decepticons and reprogrammed by Hardshell to serve them. She was sent on a mission to Autobot HQ, where she stole the World Energy Chip and successfully escaped into the desert, however Jazz and Brawn gave chase, and despite the best efforts of the Decepticons, she was recovered along with the chip. The Autobots returned her to Doctor Fujiyama, who put her in stasis. Enter the Nightbird

Toys

Kre-O

For further information, see: Nightbird (Kre-O)

Legends

File:LegendsNightbirdShadow.jpg

She's everything someone always wanted.

• Nightbird Shadow (10–24–2015)
  • ID number: LG15
  • Accessories: Two guns, two swords, two sais

Legends Nightbird Shadow is a retool of Generations Arcee featuring a new head and chest, and adding a pair of sais to her arsenal. Both the sais and the swords are cast in translucent yellow plastic.

Notes

• Nightbird's gadgets to benefit humanity include: nunchaku (unused), a pair of sai daggers (also unused), a wrist-mounted grappling hook, magnetic feet (they also work on rocks!), fist-replacing sawblades, some kind of spin/make bright light/disappear gimmick, an endless supply of hip-stored energized shuriken, a beam saber, another unused weapon the hilt of which is visible on her "backpack", a glowing magnetic tractor beam, and stereo speaker-nullifying metal donuts. Additionally, she vanishes after jumping over a cliff edge, leading Mirage to wonder if she has the power of invisibility.
• The Nightbirds in The Wreckers comic have four different accent colors, the same colors as the bandanas of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• Nightbird was featured among the Decepticon forces on the Dreamwave 20th Anniversary Lithograph.
• A screencap of Nightbird was used to represent the Nightracer in the comic story "A Flash Forward, Part 2" since her head was a close fit and the art style matched the images of other Decepticons next to her. According to Pete Sinclair and Jesse Wittenrich, the image wasn't supposed to be recognizable as Nightbird once it was obscured by Sky-Byte, but either Sky-Byte didn't cover her up in a way that would obscure her enough, or maybe we're just that good. She's not intended to be the same character as Nightbird.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Nightbird (ナイトバード Naitobādo)
• Italian: Ninja
• Mandarin: Yèyīng (China, 夜莺, "Nightingale")
• Russian: Golubka (Голубка, "Dove")