Nightbeat (G1)

This article is a featured article, and considered to be one of the most informative on this wiki.

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

Nightbeat is an Autobot Headmaster from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Nightbeat in: "The Mystery of the Jaunty Irish Jig!"

Nightbeat, a self-declared detective, loves mystery, suspense, and conspiracy. When Nightbeat is on the trail for clues, nothing else matters. This monomania has famously gotten him into trouble over his head more times than he can count, yet in the face of adversity, he remains cool, confident, and even irreverent. He has insulted creatures many times his size and committed huge faux-pas to uncover the truth. It is not so much that Nightbeat is brave, but more that, when the thrill of the hunt has him, he will not be denied.

Nightbeat has a Headmaster partner, Muzzle, whom he gets along amazingly well with. The two seem to have been of one mind even before they were binary bonded.

Occasionally he is an ancient Titan Master.

“	For me, it's all about the details. Look closely at something and it'll make sense. If it doesn't, look closer.	”
—Nightbeat, "Omega's Conundrum"

Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

Marvel The Transformers comics

Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.

"Nightbeat, I thought 'Truth is revealed in the smallest detail' is what you always say."
"...Shut up, Siren."

Shortly after being made a Headmaster and joining Optimus Prime's crew on Earth, Nightbeat learned of a mysterious robot corpse which had seemingly washed up on the California shoreline. He decided to investigate, bringing along Siren to serve as his personal "Watson". At the scene of the crime, they found a pair of Transformers hovering over the body, and who quickly burned rubber once they spotted the Autobots. Sending Siren off to chase them down, Nightbeat pulled out the giant retractable magnifying glass in his sleeve and went to work collecting evidence from the body.

Finding a serial brand from a Decepticon prison on the body, and identifying a signature Decepticon blaster as the murder weapon, Nightbeat concluded that a lone, well-armed Decepticon was hunting down escaped Autobot prisoners. Siren returned at that moment, correcting Nightbeat's analysis by informing him the prisoners weren't escapees, but deliberately let loose as prey to be hunted down. His source? The surviving prisoner, Hosehead, and the lone, well-armed Decepticon named Thunderwing who was right on their tails. Thinking quickly, Nightbeat had his Nebulan partner Muzzle binary-bond with the dead Autobot in order to partially reactivate his motor functions. Caught off-guard by his prey supposedly coming back to life right in front of him, Thunderwing left himself wide open when Muzzle disengaged and Nightbeat blew up the Autobot's fuel core at close enough range to send Thunderwing packing into the waves to dose the flames. Hosehead then returned to the Ark with Nightbeat and Siren. The Big Shutdown!

Get your head out of 1984, Prime!

Optimus Prime was confiding in Nightbeat his desire to find a way to restore the warriors who were destroyed during the Underbase Saga when they received a distress signal from the Earth's surface. Nightbeat assembled a combat team that included Landmine, Siren, Hosehead, Getaway, and himself, and under Optimus Prime's command, they rushed to Earth to help their fallen comrades. There they found the Deathbringer, who had come to cleanse the planet of life. Ironically, Deathbringer was powered by the energies of the Creation Matrix, the very thing Prime had desired earlier to restore his fallen warriors! And it must be destroyed to save Earth! While the rest of the combat team were getting slaughtered by Deathbringer, Nightbeat pulled away and consulted via comlink Waverider on the Ark. Through Waverider's information digging, Nightbeat learned that Deathbringers are mechanoids who are designed to give death painlessly to the terminally ill. Though this particular Deathbringer's purpose had been twisted, Nightbeat used its own programming against it. Nightbeat told the Deathbringer that its own body was diseased, and it should destroy itself. It did, leaving Nightbeat and Prime a hollow victory with questions about the true essence of the Matrix. Deathbringer

Later, Thunderwing emerged from the ocean, intent on destroying Nightbeat, Hosehead, and Siren, the Autobots who had defeated him earlier. Rage! To this end, he led his troops on a suicidal attack on the Ark. Though Thunderwing and his troops were forced to retreat, when he returned to Cybertron he was named Decepticon leader for his single-minded ruthlessness. Assault on the Ark!

But what does he think about waterboarding?

During the Matrix Quest, Nightbeat led Hosehead and Siren on a search of the planet Pz-Zazz for any sign of the Matrix. Pz-Zazz was on file as a vibrant, lush world; in reality it was a cesspool, festering with mob violence and untamed decadence. While questioning the wrong sort of people, the Autobots were caught in the middle of a crossfire between B'hgdad's men and Gutt's boys. One alien on the street fared worse than they did, passing on a mysterious bird statue to Siren before dying in his arms. Despite Nightbeat's keen interest in the clear film noir plot developing around them, Siren and Hosehead convinced him to put the bird aside and continue searching for the Matrix.

At the next bar they were canvassing, the Autobots were confronted by the delightful Miss Fatale. Fatale informed them of a legendary Font of Life which had once lit a nearby mountaintop. The sick and weak would pilgrimage to the mountain in order to touch a "sacred idol" and heal their wounds. She offered to lead them to the temple on the mountain in exchange for the bird, which she claimed was her property. Suspicious, Nightbeat sent Hosehead and Siren ahead to the mountain with Fatale while he retrieved the bird from where they had stashed it. Confronted by B'hgdad and his men, Nightbeat only managed to escape after chipping off a piece of the bird's outer enamel, revealing the radiant life-source within. Briefly considering keeping the bird as a replacement for the Matrix, to help heal all his comrades aboard the Ark, Nightbeat quickly rejected the idea and returned the bird to its rightful place on the mountain's altar, releasing waves of pure light and hope to revitalize Pz-Zazz and its people.

Then he got shot in the back. No good deed goes unpunished. Bird of Prey!

Thunderwing and his Mayhem Attack Squad had gotten wind of Autobot parties searching this one area of the galaxy, and his curiosity was piqued. Hooking Nightbeat and the others up to his torturous Mind Leech device, Thunderwing extracted all he needed to know about the Matrix Quest and the possible planets on the search list. Kings of the Wild Frontier. The Autobot trio remained captives on board the Decepticon ship until Thunderwing backhanded his minion Ruckus into some equipment. Deadly Obsession This caused a short circuit which, unknown to the Decepticons, freed Nightbeat and his team. Dark Creation Learning that Thunderwing had successfully found the Matrix in their absence and was planning to sneak aboard the Ark in a stolen Autobot shuttle, Nightbeat and pals stowed away on the shuttle in the hopes of disrupting the Decepticons' schemes somehow.

Stop writing our captions for us, Nightbeat.

The situation was worse than they thought. The Matrix was corrupted from a series of unstable hosts, and now had an evil sentience that had overwhelmed Thunderwing and made him a puppet to its will. With the combined forces of the Ark unable to best the Thunderwing / Matrix combo, Nightbeat devised a desperate plan. As Siren triggered the shuttle's self-destruct sequence, Nightbeat fired the ship's grappling harpoon straight through Thunderwing's chest and shut off the docking clamps, just as Hosehead turned off the artificial gravity in the hangar bay. The result was the shuttle being sucked out into the black void, taking Thunderwing and the Matrix along with it before exploding. Thunderwing was last seen hurtling through space, still harpooned to a piece of flaming debris. All Fall Down

And a second gunman! On the grassy knoll!

Optimus Prime next gave Nightbeat an investigational assignment to look into the disappearance and supposed death of Ratchet and Megatron in a massive explosion on Cybertron some months back. After review witness statements and making a few leaps of deductive logic, Nightbeat reached the hypothesis that Ratchet may have been cast into a dimensional portal they knew had been active at the time of the explosion, and then been caught between space as the explosion destroyed the delicate portal mechanism. To test his theory, Nightbeat arranged for an inter-dimensional probe to search for and retrieve Ratchet's spark signature in unspace, assuming it was anywhere to be found. Eye of the Storm

It was. Ratchet reappeared on the Ark fused at a molecular level to Megatron. This wasn't a "pure, strong, and fast" fusion; it was a horrific blending of two mechanoids, both in constant and indescribable agony. Prime managed to subdue the creature, and Autobot medic Fixit took steps to separate the pair, who were then placed in stasis chambers. The Pri¢e of Life! During the aftermath, Optimus Prime surrendered his forces, including Nightbeat, to Scorponok's Decepticons on Earth, hoping to use his desperate action to unite both factions against Unicron. This alliance was about to form when the entire Decepticon base imploded in on itself due to an attack from Shockwave's small team of rival Decepticon forces. Surrender! Nightbeat survived this initial strike, and along with Optimus Prime and the other Autobots, emerged and tried to keep the new Decepticon Civil War from spreading beyond the area. Optimus charged himself and Nightbeat with keeping Scorponok specifically out of Manhattan. ...All This and Civil War 2 However, when G.B. Blackrock's team of robot-fighting mutants, the Neo-Knights arrived, Nightbeat was the first to fall at the hands of the psychotic Circuit Breaker. As the fighting neared its end, and the alliance began to form again, Primus teleported the Earth-bound Transformers to Cybertron; Nightbeat's antenna was in contact with the Neo-Knight's helicopter, accidentally bringing them to Cybertron as well! Out of Time!

Oh no! Muzzle!

Once on Cybertron, Nightbeat, able to stand up again, watched as Primus spoke through Emirate Xaaron, telling "his children" of their origin and their charge to defeat Unicron. The Void! Once Unicron arrived, the alliance was put to the test, and Nightbeat was among several Autobots who utilized sky-sleds in their attacks on the Dark God. Nightbeat survived this cataclysmic battle. On the Edge of Extinction!

Nightbeat was seen nailing both an Autobot and Decepticon logo on the wall of their fragile alliance's headquarters Still Life! and joined the Autobots in their delayed evacuation of Cybertron. As they headed for Klo, he urged Prowl to cool down and save his bring-a-prick for the Decepticons. The Last Autobot? Unfortunately, the Decepticons were aware of the Autobots' surprise attack, and all but five Autobots were destroyed. Snapdragon kicked a head away from Nightbeat's remains. End of the Road!

It can be assumed that Nightbeat was revived along with the other casualties by the Last Autobot.

Another Time & Place

The "Another Time & Place" text story was meant to be a conclusion to the Marvel continuity, but its events were ignored by Generation 2. It was later labeled a "dead end" splinter timeline.

When the Decepticons took control of the Nucleon on Hydrus Four, Nightbeat joined a commando unit of Autobots to infiltrate their position. Their first obstacle was Fangry, but luck was on their side. The Decepticon tracker was looking to kill something, and bent waaaaay over the water trying to skewer a fish. Nightbeat just had to give him a tiny nudge, and Fangry fell over into the waiting arms of the Autobots hidden in the murky water. Another Time & Place

Transformers Comic-Magazin

Nightbeat was present when Powermaster Optimus Prime led the Autobots against the joint Decepticon leaders Shockwave and Megatron, who had tried to hijack the oil reserves of Alaska. Nightbeat was hit by a laser, causing him to transform into vehicle mode. The Autobots drove off the Decepticons, but not before Quickmix shot a minibot because he turned off his targeting computer. Optimus then sat his troops down and explained to them the differences between Autobots and Decepticons. Attack at Dawn

Recordings of of the attack on Alaska, along with Optimus Prime reviewing Nightbeat's characteristics to Bumblebee, were used in a wayward simulation experienced by Goldbug. Memories of Bumblebee

Nightbeat was among the Autobots who fought to safeguard the nuclear arms at Nevada Alpha. Save Nevada Alpha

Marvel Generation 2 comic

We hate you, Furman, forever.

Nightbeat worked on a computer console as Optimus Prime and Megatron observed some data on the Swarm. When Jhiaxus's Cybertronian army attacked the base, Nightbeat's console exploded, sending him flying across the room. Swarm

He later appeared among the Autobot forces just long enough to sacrifice himself futilely against the Swarm, self-destructing alongside Dirge. Moments later, Megatron showed up with the rheanimum that could have saved him. A Rage in Heaven!

Classics

Classics continues from the Marvel US series, and does not include the UK stories or any subsequently published stories.

Detective by trade, but moonlights as a babysitter.

When the war ended with the Decepticons' defeat on Klo, Nightbeat initially accepted Grimlock's offer to search the galaxy for Bludgeon and his scattered troops. However, Nightbeat soon tired of this mission and left. He and his former binary bonded partner Muzzle were put back on track when Optimus hired them as his personal investigative agents, but they quickly found themselves stifled by military authority, and struck out on their own. Classics Muzzle profile They teamed up with Siren and his partner Quig, and afterwards picked up Lug from Nebulos Classics Lug profile The group was afterwards joined by a new human recruit, Minerva. Sludge and Slag became part of the gang when the two intoxicated Dinobots burst in on one of their sting operations. Classics Slag profile Together, they formed a detective agency and began scouring the galaxy for mysteries to solve. At Fight's End Cheap Shots

You'd lose the ears, too, if you hung out with Siren.

Nightbeat's crew once had to set their ship down on the planet Azure for repairs crash their ship into the only repair bay on Azure equipped to repair their ship, and they were stranded there for the interim. After a barroom brawl, Nightbeat found that he was a person of interest to a potential client, a sentient ship named Amory. Amory required the services of Nightbeat and his team in finding her pilot, Phyrion. However, the entire arrangement was a setup put together by the Decepticons Ruckus and Needlenose, who had assembled an alleged "new Mayhem Attack Squad" by promising payment to Octopunch and Stranglehold for their assistance. Ruckus wasn't very smart, however, and had brought his hostage with him. The Decepticons were brutalized and Phyrion was returned to Amory. Regretting her involvement, Amory paid the Autobots for her services, plus she chipped in for a new head for Nightbeat, as his was damaged during the battle.

Despite their short run-in with good luck, Nightbeat and his crew were still stranded on Azure without a working ship. In the meantime, surely someone was in need of a detective... Cheap Shots

Regeneration One

"I'm afraid we're not going to get much help from the Batcomputer, Robin. It can't go back to prehistoric times."

When "Primus" set Hot Rod adrift in Zero Space he witnessed a series of events that could spell the end of Cybertron including Nightbeat and Optimus Prime battling the Dark Matrix-infected Deathbringer. Less Than Zero After becoming Rodimus Prime, he formed Nightbeat and Bumblebee into the "Zero Unit", a group tasked with finding the cause of the Zero Effect around.

Working out of Ops-Command HQ, the Zero Unit decided that out of the four disparate strands of the Zero Effect, their time would be best spent investigating the missing Senator Jhiaxus, realising that as a prominent Cybertronian he would most likely have had offworld dealings. They sent bulk pulsewaves to any mech civilisations that might have encountered him asking for information but received nothing back in reply until they launched a probe... and suddenly Jhiaxus's entire fleet materialised in the skies above Cybertron! The War to End All Wars, Part 1

Rodimus returned to the Presidium to consult with Nightbeat, Bumblebee and Perceptor. They cautioned against making any aggressive moves, instead advising the Autobot leader to meet with Jhiaxus at the Eugenesis Plaza where he could be covered by snipers nearby. The Zero Unit monitored the situation as Prime took the Cybertronian leader to Nova Point to continue their conversation in "private", moving in along with Jetfire the moment diplomacy went out of the window and Jhiaxus turned violent. Nightbeat directed First Aid to attend to the casualties while he, Blurr and Huffer dug out their leader. Appraising Prime of the situation, he noted that the Zero Unit had managed to capture a large amount of data during the Cybertronians' visit and had perhaps come up with a way to hurt them, convincing Rodimus to take the fight to the enemy. The War to End All Wars, Part 2

"To the Beat-Mobile!!"
"You mean your Chevy?"
"...Yes."

Along with Ultra Magnus, Kup, Hound and Bumblebee, Nightbeat landed at area 59, subdivision 17.4, branch 5: Z-9-#J-4 of the Hub Network and using telemetry from the probe they had launched and structural analysis of the Hub itself, he postulated that striking a key link of the superstructure—with the warhead yields synchronised with the local frequency harmonics—would cause a chain reaction, destroying the whole network. While the Autobot ships Lancer One and Lancer Two launched the warheads successfully, Jhiaxus had anticipated this entire strategy and taken steps to protect the Hub. He then sent his troops to retaliate against the invading Autobot forces, forcing Rodimus Prime to surrender. The War to End All Wars, Part 3

Locked up in the Corral and forced to watch their comrades being arbitrarily executed, Nightbeat and the rest of the Autobots were eventually freed when Rodimus Prime took advantage of the distraction afforded by the Starscream/Underbase and Shockwave/Ark hybrids. The War to End All Wars, Part 4

Upon their return to Cybertron they found that it was a ghost planet, populated by energy-draining shadow-leeches that Nightbeat quickly surmised were deadly to the touch after they sucked the lives out of Hosehead and Slingshot. As Rodimus Prime headed into Zero Space to confront the leeches' Dark Matrix master, the rest of the Autobots secured the Star Chamber where Nightbeat deduced that the situations unfolding on Earth and Nebulos were also part of the Dark Matrix's plan and dispatched teams of Autobots via space bridge to deal with them. The War to End All Wars, Part 5

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

War Within Nightbeat transforms into Roger Clemens.

One of the few remaining Autobots battling the Decepticons during the Age of Internment, Nightbeat was leader of a strike team consisting of Hosehead, Siren, Slapdash, Joyride, and Getaway. They were tasked with acquiring a member of the Aerospace Extermination Squadron for Perceptor to study and, hopefully, find some sort of defense against. Using Getaway as a decoy with the rest of the team hiding under a null-field cloak, they managed to lure three of them into a trap at Nova Cronum. The Age of Wrath Pt.2 After the first two drones were destroyed, the third simply shut itself down. As Nightbeat discussed the best course of action with Blaster, he approached it with an inhibitor claw - only for it to suddenly reactivate and slam Nightbeat against a wall, temporarily knocking him out of commission. Nightbeat revived shortly afterwards but was helpless to stop the rampaging drone, which was eventually put down by Getaway. The Age of Wrath Pt.3

Due to Dreamwave's closure, the War Within series ended prematurely. Years later, Simon Furman released the unpublished scripts to the final three issues: Nightbeat and Getaway brought the inert drone to Perceptor, who discovered upon analyzing it that it was powered by cyberstatic energy. The Age of Wrath Pt.4 When Optimus finally returned to Cybertron, Nightbeat and Perceptor brought him up to date with their current situation. Under his leadership, the Autobots were able to overthrow Megatron and thwart a Quintesson invasion. The Age of Wrath Pt.6

IDW Generation 1 continuity

This section covers fiction that is ongoing. It will be added to as the story progresses. If it isn't current, you can help by updating it.

Quark finds out that his role of Dr. Watson has been recast for Hardhead.

Nightbeat of YussThe Not Knowing was constructed cold. He was in fact the first of the first wave of constructed cold Cybertronian brought online. Twenty Plus One Four million years ago, Nightbeat was a hostage negotiator with an interest in political news. He disapproved of the Clampdown and watched the early Decepticon movement with interest. Nightbeat was sharing a drink outside of Maccadam's New Oil House with his friend Quark when they discovered the body of Senator Sherma hanging from the underside of the Interstate Bridge. Post Hoc

Years later, Nightbeat was assigned by Zeta Prime to work a hostage exchange with Orion Pax and Alpha Trion. The whole thing turned out to be a trap set by Bludgeon to capture Alpha Trion. Nightbeat and the others managed to get away while Orion Pax covered their escape. Omega's Conundrum

After the war officially began, Nightbeat was part of the 113th Battalion and took part in a massive battle against Black Shadow. Rules of Disengagement

Some time after Metroplex's departure from Cybertron, Nightbeat, Bumblebee, and Jetfire were in space pursuing Bludgeon's ship from a distance, trying to put a stop to them despite being outnumbered and outmatched. When Bludgeon found a remote asteroid with a small civilization of Urtuskians and his troops attacked the outpost, the Autobots intervened to save as many lives as they could. Nightbeat was left on the asteroid's surface while Jetfire took care of the Decepticons' shuttle, and Bumblebee pursued Thundercracker down a tunnel. Though tired after having been through a long day, Nightbeat warded off the Decepticons until they broke off their attack. With their ship destroyed, Nightbeat and the others found themselves stuck on the planetoid for an unspecified amount of time. Thankfully, this was another of those "Bumblebee makes a friend" stories, as Nightbeat put it, and so they had hospitable hosts until they were rescued. The Hunting Party

Decades ago, Flame was tried by Aequitas for several crimes as Prowl, Chief Justice Tyrest, Xaaron, Nightbeat, and others watched in disgust and/or intrigue. They decided that the records of the trials would be sealed until the final verdict would be reached, for fear of the damage the information about the trials would do to Autobot morale and potential for Decepticon propaganda usage. last Stand of the Wreckers #5 Nightbeat also participated in the infamous Magnus Inquiry in Room 113 of the Kimia Facility, where High Command investigated allegations that "Gideon's Glue", the substance which brought such devastation on Flame's original troop on Babu Yar, had been created originally by an Autobot. The investigation was ultimately inconclusive, and no formal charges were filed. Bullets

At some point Nightbeat was talking with Rewind, who recorded what he said. The Gloaming

Nightbeat, star of CSI: Kalis.

Nightbeat, passing the time by trying to answer the mystery of the first Ark, went to meet with a mechanoid trader named Krakon, only to find him dead by unknown means. Nightbeat followed the clues that the late Krakon (and his killers) left behind and was lured into an apparent trap on Gorlam Prime. He found a strange dimensional portal deep beneath the world, but got captured by an unknown villain before he could tell anyone. They put something in his head, erased his memory, and then sent him back out into space. Shortly thereafter he was contacted by Optimus Prime and ordered to head for Earth. Spotlight: Nightbeat

Nightbeat was one of the many bots surprised to hear of Blaster's miraculous return. Spotlight: Blaster

Aboard Ark-32, Nightbeat arrived in Earth orbit with Hot Rod and Hardhead in tow just as Optimus Prime and his troops were confronting Megatron head-on in the breakaway Soviet state of Brasnya. Escalation #3 While his two rather over-eager companions headed to the surface, Nightbeat remained aboard the ship and provided intel for the Autobots below. Escalation #4

Planetside, Hot Rod succeeded in carrying out his primary mission, the capture of the Decepticons' facsimile avatar. Anxious to re-join the battle, he requested Nightbeat to send him through a double orbital bounce—transporting him up to the ship just long enough to drop off his captive, then returning to the planet. Nightbeat was rather bemused at the thought of the thrill-seeking Hot Rod abandoning a combat zone, but complied. At that instant, though, Skywarp and Thundercracker arrived and attacked Hot Rod. Nightbeat reported back to Prowl that Hot Rod was in a CR chamber, and the facsimile—injured by flak—had expired. Escalation #6

I can bluff my way through anything, he thought, even Pictionary.

After Sunstreaker's disappearance, Nightbeat began investigating the sequence of events that led to his capture. Examining the SM-40 Notepad stolen by Verity Carlo, he discovered a homing device that had allowed Sunstreaker's unknown assailants to discover the underwater location of Ark-19. Nightbeat ordered Bumblebee on a scouting mission along the shores of Lake Michigan, where Bumblebee discovered a great deal of advanced surveillance equipment. Deducing that Ark-19’s location was compromised, Nightbeat advised Optimus and Prowl to move the ship immediately. Nightbeat handled navigation chores as the ship lifted off. Unfortunately, the Decepticon Sixshot attacked shortly thereafter, sending Ark-19 plummeting to Earth. Devastation #1

Per Optimus Prime's order, Nightbeat transferred the damaged ship's data to Ark-32, then moved with the other Autobots to the ship's cargo bay shortly before it crashed into the Gulf of Mexico and self-destructed. Devastation #2

Nightbeat and the others survived, however Devastation #3 and while the other Autobots battled Sixshot, Nightbeat attempted to activate the orbital bounce abilities of the Ark-32. After a few Autobot injuries, Nightbeat was able to beam them up to the ship, along with Jimmy Pink and Verity Carlo, who nearly died during the bounce. Optimus Prime stayed behind to battle Sixshot alone, but once Sixshot left the battle, Nightbeat also evacuated Prime seconds before an air strike by the U.S. military. Devastation #4

Afterward, Nightbeat studied the telemetry Hound's unit sent on Leadfoot's death. Devastation #5 After examining the data, Nightbeat observed that it was as though a virus of unlife had attacked and destroyed every living cyber-cell in Leadfoot simultaneously, in a fraction of a nano-klik. While it was something he had never encountered before, he couldn't shake the nagging feeling that he had forgotten something important, as if his memory had been tampered with. Seeking inspiration to jog his memory, he went down to the hangar of Ark 32 where his personal ship was stored. Devastation #6

Watson had finally had enough of Holmes' lip.

He soon found out that he logged a message about his trip to Gorlam Prime, which he had no recollection of. He asked Hardhead to help him with his investigation. Spotlight: Cyclonus

Discovering a large part of his memory missing, a worried Nightbeat realised someone may have tampered with him and asked Hardhead to accompany him to Gorlam Prime, with orders to terminate Nightbeat if he turned. Upon arrival, they found the entire planet frozen. Nightbeat theorised that the planet was evolving somehow, from organic to techno-organic... to something like Cybertronians. His musings were interrupted by a force of small Transformers. As Hardhead held them off, Nightbeat found some kind of tunnels leading down to a strange cavern. There, losing control of himself, he turned his gun on Hardhead and Jhiaxus revealed himself to be in control of the Autobot. After providing some background on their plans, Jhiaxus, as Nightbeat, shot Hardhead in the head. However, he had not counted on Hardhead's resilience, and the Autobot escaped to the strange pool that served as a portal between the living and Dead universes. Jhiaxus attempted to persuade Hardhead into accepting a quick death over pointless resistance, but as he did so, Hardhead suddenly shot Nightbeat. As the Autobot died, Jhiaxus screamed, revealing to Nemesis Prime that their agent was gone. Nemesis considered that he was now forced to take Nightbeat's mission as his own: Find and kill Optimus Prime. Spotlight: Hardhead

However, thanks to the Dead Universe, Nightbeat wasn't as dead as he seemed. Kept alive by it's properties, he was dragged into the other universe, unbeknownst to Hardhead or anyone else, included the fabled Necrobot. But his brush with death left Nightbeat feeling that there was no Afterspark, no life after death. The Not Knowing

Probably sounds like Benedict Cumberbatch.

Nightbeat would eventually reappear 7 years later, following Orion Pax's group when they entered the Dead Universe. Black Metal He later appeared to the group after Cyclonus started to leak strange fluids from his face. Into the Abyss He then proceeded to convince them of his reliability by recounting the circumstances of his death. He then performed a cold-reading of Cyclonus and reassured him that his friend would recover, he finally started to lead the group to the contraction point of the Dead Universe.

All of this turned out to be a ruse on Nova Prime's part to lure the team into a trap with Nightbeat still being a sleeper agent. Finest Hour He was then left by Nova to protect the containment field that Pax's team were trapped in, he was briefly broken out of Nova's control by the contents of Rodimus' palm just before Nova Prime arrived. No Exit He was then ordered to take the group to a separate cell where he explained that Nova was planning to use their sparks to strengthen the space bridge at the center of the Dead Universe.

He was broken out of Nova's control by Rodimus asking him to ask him the solve the mystery of what was in his palm and then he set them free from the cell. The Dead Are Not Enough He then led the team through the Sweep horde to the chamber holding Kup and was there when Nova Prime arrived. Burning Bright He helped the others keep the Sweeps busy while Orion Pax fought Nova Prime and reclaimed the title of Optimus Prime. Finis Temporis

However, the team still had more problems as the Dead Universe was rapidly contracting around them and the Gorlam Prime portal was nowhere to be found. Nightbeat found a miniscule tear in the fabric of the universe which the group used to send a transmission through to Wheelie. The Becoming The group escaped the Dead Universe in time to save Ultra Magnus from Bludgeon, via Brainstorm's chest. Black Planet Unfortunately Nightbeat, Cyclonus and Kup started to collapse due to the destruction of the Dead Universe. He later explained to Rodimus how the group managed to escape the Dead Universe: by creating a Space Bridge from Nova Prime's corpse. He also explained to Brainstorm on why he had a space bridge in his chest, he was later interested in how Rodimus had gotten the Lost Light. ...And the Damage Done

Nightbeat's door is too cool for the silent K.

Nightbeat later joined the crew of the Lost Light. Before Megatron's trial took place Nightbeat exposed Swerve's "crew auditions" as fake due to the fact that Ultra Magnus would never allow them to be advertised as "Crewditions". He was also present at Megatron's trial on Luna-2. Six months later, Nightbeat was with Skids when he tried to get Chromedome to leave his hab suite (number 208) and was instead intrigued by the number 8 being missing from the door. Toward Peace Chromedome approached the detective to investigate a sudden change in the content of Rewind's message, Nightbeat was quick to blame the change on the mnemosurgeon's grief (as the message had returned to its normal content) but quickly changed his mind when he saw Rewind himself standing in the doorway to the room. On the way back to Nightbeat's quarters the detective explained that he had seen a data ghost of Rewind due to the little 'bot's function as an archivist but Nightbeat was shocked to find that the walls of his quarters had disappeared! Words Hang in the Air As part of "Team Rodimus" Nightbeat was called in to investigate the dead body of a duplicate Rodimus. When Rodimus came to the conclusion that hacking off his right arm was the best way to proceed, Nightbeat stopped him. He reasoned that the body was not Rodimus' future self due to the Crisis Vote missing from his right hand. However, Rodimus revealed he had removed the results from his hand due to a talk with Ratchet, only to be ignored as the wall in the room disappeared.

When the entire ship began disintegrating Nightbeat and twenty other bots crammed into the new Rodpod. Predestination: A Beginner's Guide Rodimus then put out an order that everyone was to regroup at Ofsted XVII. Crosscut then suddenly disappeared followed by Gears, Blaster, Huffer, Chromedome, Hound and Highbrow. Ravage then made his presence known and was knocked out by Megatron. Nightbeat dedicated himself to finding a pattern linking those who had been taken. Inspired by Cyclonus, he put forward the theory that those who were taken were all Forged. The theory seemed to be accepted by the M.T.O.s (Made to Order Soldiers) present only for Ratchet to point out several in the room where Forged and a few taken were constructed cold. Ultra Magnus eventually made contact with the Rodpod via holomatter and informed them everyone else had disappeared on the Leading Light only for he himself to disappear mid-sentence. Nightbeat then requested all the information on the crew trying to find the common denominator. It was only when Riptide revealed that he was not on board the Lost Light when it first launched did Nightbeat make the connection. Everyone who disappeared was part of the original crew. Megatron was not amused and scolded him for failing to save anyone. Nightbeat, rattled, tried (badly) to suggest that it still counted that he'd worked it out.

"Oh yeah? Then what is THIS?"

Shortly after the Rodpod arrived at Ofsted XVII and found a bisected Lost Light Twenty Plus One Boarding the ship, the Autobots released Ravage to use his tracking ability. Ravage eventually found a dead Ultra Magnus or rather Minimus Ambus stripped of his armour. Skids identified that Magnus had been killed by a Fusion cannon and Megatron and Ravage were locked up the Autobots at Megatron's request. Nightbeat and Nautica made their way to the engines to try and stop the leakage of quantum foam. The two began to discuss the strangeness of recent events and began to bond in the process, Nautica eventually came across Brainstorm's briefcase. Opening it they found nothing-failing to notice local space-time warping around them. Eventually they came to stairs leading to a lower deck, despite them being on the lowest deck. There they found Overlord's headless corpse, Nightbeat realized who had attacked the ship and when he called his crew mates they all realized that the Decepticon Justice Division had attacked the ship. Nautica, however, refused to leave until they had searched the entire ship for survivors with Megatron arguing there would not be any. Ravage however soon detected Rewind hiding in the Magnus Armor slaughterhouse Nightbeat's being alive, combined with a female Nautica and an Autobot Megatron proved too much for the alternate Rewind who began whimpering and offered a data slug to Nightbeat to explain what happened. While he analyzed it Nautica realized that the Lost Light undergone a quantum duplication at launch creating an exact copy, just as valid as the original. Nightbeat confirmed this saying the Rodimus they found in the coffin was from this ship and died during the Sparkeater fiasco. Drift interred him and someone (according to Rewind deliberately) deactivated Overlord's cell luring the D.J.D. to the ship. Nautica proposed deactivating the engines as the foam would destroy Ofsted XVII and theoretically restore their ship. Rewind offered to deactivate one of the quantum drums but would need someone of equal size to deactivate the other. The Autobots went to find the Mass-displacement gun that their Brainstorm invented hoping the alternate one had also built one, in order to shrink someone down to help Rewind. While there Nightbeat and Nautica theorized that the alternate Rewind and his altered message appeared on their ship due to cross-contamination. They concluded that their ship disappeared because of how close it got to the alternate one, the paradox being too massive to ignore. Nightbeat then made the startling discovery that Brainstorm had a Decepticon insignia painted in his faceplate and that made their Brianstorm a spy! When they could not find the gun, Megatron offered to shrink himself down and help Rewind. The drums were deactivated and the Autobots blasted off in Rodpod with the alternate Rewind in tow. Nightbeat and Nautica theorized over how Rewind survived the quantum erasure with Nightbeat joking it was the "Power of Love". Nautica then asked him to explain how he managed to hold onto the alternate Brainstorm's briefcase. The Road Not Taken

It turned out the briefcase was actually part of an intricate time-travel machine. Nightbeat immediately went to work studying it, until Perceptor borrowed it.The Custom-Made Now}}

A few days later, the Lost Light set down on Scarvix. While wandering the ship, Nightbeat nearly got hit by Tailgate joyriding about on a hoverboard. Shortly thereafter he was present at Brainstorm's hearing at the hands of the Lost Light Internal Legal Affairs Committee. Our Steps Will Always Rhyme

When Rodimus summoned the entire ship's crew to make the momentous announcement that they'd actually accomplished something, Nightbeat and Nautica were some of the last to actually arrive, something Nightbeat felt was cool. It turned out Thunderclash was dying, and the entire crew had been invited to his pre-wake on the Vis Vitalis. Once there, Nightbeat was one of the four people present who didn't dance at all. Eventually, feeling judged by everyone else, he decided to borrow Nautica's wrench and go off for a snoop, brushing off Nautica's attempt to introduce him to her Amica Endura Firestar. He soon stumbled upon Getaway having a lie-down, and tried to fake concern at him. This was interrupted by a manic Ravage running past, babbling about "them" being "everywhere". Following him into the morgue, Nightbeat wasn't interested in the bodies contained within, until he looked over Getaway's corpse and found it was covered in ticks, which were also suddenly on Getaway too. Almost immediately, the two found themselves surrounded by strange shambling creatures. The Sensuous Frame

Sadly, the creatures did not appreciate Nightbeat determining how they'd managed to remain hidden, and attacked him. Fortunately, Ravage appeared to drive them off, and at Getaway's suggestion they fled the morgue, though not before Nightbeat took a moment to study Photon's corpse. The three soon met up with everyone else who'd ran into the creatures at the same time. Nightbeat began examining everyone, and found the creatures had already gotten to Skids, though he was confused as to why they seemed drawn to some people and not others. It was thanks to Firestar pointing out those people all had charismatic traits that finally clued Nightbeat in on what they were: personality ticks, something he'd always dismissed as a myth, but he worked it out from Firestar was burning a black diamond, which only came from the planet the idea originated on.

He had an idea to kill the creatures, summoning the most charismatic people he knew of to kill them, but before he could implement it, the ticks attacked again. As the motley crew fought the ticks, they suddenly perished at the arrival of Rodimus and Megatron, baffling Nightbeat, since he hadn't had a chance to summon them. Turned out some other bunch of people had already come up with the idea and done it themselves. Afterward, Nightbeat attended an Earth Dance party at Swerve's, where he contributed to the dancing by tapping his foot. The Frail Gaze

When Swerve disappeared suddenly and was found half-dead, it was Nightbeat that worked out how the bartender had been using a holomatter avatar to appear in public for him while he wasted away. Everyone went on a massive rescue effort on the hologram planet of "Swearth" in human avatars, with Nightbeat working with Rodimus, Nautica, and Megatron. While there, he rebuked Megatron for commenting that humans were fragile, believing the man was calling them weak. The One Where They Go to Earth It turned out the cause of Swerve's ailment was an old injury, inflicted during an encounter with the D.J.D. many years ago. When Velocity examined the wound, she found a message from Agent 113, which included the location of the Necrobot's homeworld. Naturally, the investigative Nightbeat leapt at the chance to "explain" that, and joined the expedition. When the ship landed, Nightbeat spotted the Necrobot at the front door of the vast structure he lived in, only to get the door slammed in his face. This did not deter Nightbeat, who made it clear he wouldn't leave until he got answers.

So the Necrobot opened the door and ushered him in. As they walked and talked, surprised to find the Necrobot (or Censere) could talk, and was old. Old enough to remember the first war. Nightbeat expressed profound disappointment that the Necrobot wasn't in fact magic, that he was just a "phony" using technology to track death, rather than what Nightbeat wanted: Proof of life after death, proof he hadn't gotten after his headshot back on Gorlam Prime, which was causing him a severe amount of distress. However, Censere countered that just because there wasn't proof of the Allspark didn't mean there wasn't either. Then Nightbeat asked why the Necrobot had let him in. It turned out it was because Nightbeat's unusual manner of death had made him a mystery, one of the disappeared. Learning of the list of the disappeared, Nightbeat examined it, and found the name of Dominus Ambus, something he showed to a depressed Rewind. Later, as the crew prepared to leave, Nightbeat asked whether Censere would've saved him, had he been able to. When he was told he wouldn't, Nightbeat suggested that maybe the ancient 'bot should try saving those still living in the future. The Not Knowing

Titans Return marketing material

An ancient Titan Master as well as a skilled Detective, Nightbeat helped crew the massive Titan robots as they explored the Universe near the dawn of time. His special spark gifts that he carried out to the friendly worlds they met and is able to share with any robot he joins with are enhanced tracking abilities. Upon returning in modern times he joined up with the Autobots.

Commercial appearances

Feel the beat of the rhythm of the Nightbeat.

While being driven by Muzzle on the surface of an unidentified planet (with Siren and Hosehead at his side), Nightbeat transformed into robot mode. Shortly thereafter, three Decepticon Headmasters burst through a wall, and Nightbeat engaged Horri-Bull in battle. Small Headmasters Commercial

This is the only time that Nightbeat's character model was animated. His "shades", like the eyes on his toy, would have been black, though they glow blue as Muzzle connects.

Games

Transformers Legends

Early in the war, Nightbeat, Orion Pax and Alpha Trion escorted the Decepticon prisonners Rack'n'Ruin towards a prisoner exchange. After encountering Slicers and fending them off, the group met with Bludgeon, only to be ambushed by the Decepticons. In the confusion, Alpha Trion was captured, only to be later rescued by the combined efforts of Nightbeat and Orion. Orion's Gambit

Nightbeat teamed up with Blaster and Prowl to investigate when a suspicious pattern emerged in a string of Decepticon victories. They eventually uncovered Soundwave's infiltration and sent the Decepticon and his tapes packing. Covert Operations

Nightbeat and Windblade were dispatched from the Lost Light to explore a distant planet. There they met a group of Decepticons, and joined forces with them to battle their mutual foes, the Ammonites. Though several Ammonite attacks were thwarted by the alliance, soon differing opinions caused infighting in the group. Eventually, both the Ammonites and the Decepticons were defeated, and the two Autobots returned to their spaceship. Into the Abyss

Transformers: Battle Tactics

His objective here is to find out what is the purpose of these battles.

Nightbeat participated in battles against a variety of opponents, both Autobots and Decepticons. Sometimes there were many of him! He was an Rare character that could be recruited by collecting 75 units of Cybermetal, 35 units of Transmetal, and 20 soldier cores. Transformers: Battle Tactics

Toys

Generation 1

Too cool for Playskool.

• Nightbeat with Muzzle (Headmaster, 1988)
  • Accessories: "Muzzle" Headmaster driver, seat/helmet, "Plasma Blaster" rifle, right and left "Photon Pistols"

Nightbeat transforms into a blue and yellow Porsche 959. The roof is hinged and can be opened to reveal an interior that his Headmaster unit, Muzzle, can sit inside of. His head guns can be stored just above the headlights while his rifle can be plugged onto the roof.

In robot mode, like all Headmaster toys, Nightbeat has a flip-down panel on his chest which covers a spring-loaded mini-Tech-Spec-meter which gives readings for Speed, Strength and Intelligence. The tumblers are activated when Muzzle (or any other Headmaster unit) is plugged into his neck socket. Muzzle has Nightbeat's face plainly visible on his back because, as a smaller Headmaster toy, he lacks the flip down panel that covers the face, featured on larger Headmasters. As another consequence of being a smaller Headmaster, his chest cavity was apparently too small for 3 individual tumblers. As a result, all Headmaster heads inserted will display Nightbeat's pre-molded (and painted) Speed, Strength, and Intelligence readings (7, 5, 8) on one large sliding plate.

He shares a mold with the Japanese Super-God Masterforce Headmaster Junior, Minerva, who also got a mail-order exclusive version in Nightbeat's colors.

• More information on Nightbeat at TFU.info
• Nightbeat's patent on Google.

Timelines

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your...

• Nightbeat (Deluxe, 2008)
  • Accessories: Missile launcher, missile, radar

This redeco/retool of Energon Hot Shot is one of two 2008 Fun Publications Fan Club exclusives. The new head is based on the character model's head (by which we mean Siren's with some nods to the toy-Nightbeat's, see Notes below), but is missing its "ears" thanks to clearance and production timing issues. Nightbeat comes with a clear-plastic spring-loaded missile launcher. He can also form the top or bottom half of a combined robot with any other "Powerlinx"-style 2-bot combiner toy. Though the toy is compatible with the energon stars from its parent toyline, its spark crystal lacks the internal chroming characteristic of earlier uses of the mold.

Nightbeat was originally announced to be available by BotCon 2008 in April, but after multiple delays, preorders finally went up months later on August 27, 2008, with a release date of "within four weeks" of September 30, 2008.

The retooled version of this mold was used to create Shattered Glass Nightbeat at BotCon 2008's customization class.

• More information on Timelines Nightbeat at TFU.info
• Promotional YouTube video for Timelines Nightbeat, featuring lots of spinny-spinny

Generations

Why is he not a retool of Jazz? That's a mystery for you to find out.

• Nightbeat (Deluxe, 2014)
  • Series / Number: 02 / #020
  • Accessories: 2 blasters

Part of the tenth wave of 2012-onwards Generations Deluxe Class toys, Thrilling 30 Nightbeat is a retool of Thrilling 30 Deluxe Class Bumblebee with a new head. He comes with two blasters which peg via 5mm post into his hands, forearms, and rear vehicle sides, and can also combine into a large weapon. The new head is designed to feature light-piping, but is painted over on both the front and back in red, thus rendering the gimmick useless. Some units have shins that are glued into place so that they no longer move laterally during transformation.

One of these is not like the others.

He comes packaged with a copy of "Finis Temporis: Dark Cybertron Chapter 9", in which Nightbeat appears in the background of a single panel.

Evidence indicates that a different sculpt was originally intended to be redecoed into Nightbeat for this release: In January 2014, Japanese online retailer Red Mercury listed preorders for the wave containing Nightbeat, Windblade, and Jhiaxus, making this the first official confirmation of Nightbeat and Jhiaxus. The images used for Nightbeat depicted a retool of 2010 Transformers Reveal the Shield Special Ops Jazz with a new head sculpt and spotlight accessories. In addition, the package art for the Nightbeat toy itself, i.e. the cover of the included IDW comic, also depicts him in the 2010 Jazz body, suggesting that the decision to use the Bumblebee sculpt instead was made at a very late point in the development process.

Nightbeat was redecoed into Generations Goshooter, and the mold was separately retooled into Timelines Carzap.

• More information on Generations Nightbeat at TFU.info

Nightbeat in "The Mystery of the Disappearing Bodies!"

• Nightbeat (Titan Master, 2016)
  • Accessories: jet/drill-tank

Part of the first wave of individually-packed Generations Titans Return Titan Masters, Nightbeat transforms from robot to a head based on the original Nightbeat toy's. (Yes! Not Siren's!) In this mode, Nightbeat can serve as the head of any Titans Return Deluxe, Voyager, or Leader Class figure. He also features ports in his feet that allow him to peg onto a wide variety of Titans Return figures. Between the promotional render and the final product, the plastic color of Nightbeat's shins was changed from yellow to blue.

Nightbeat is packaged with a small vehicle that can transform into three modes: a jet for Nightbeat to ride, a drill-tank formed by combining with Nightbeat, and a 5mm weapon for larger figures.

A redeco of his vehicle was packaged with Legends Chromedome.

Legends

• Rewind & Nightbeat (August 2016)
  • ID number: LG28

Nightbeat (you're reading that right) is a redeco of his Titans Return figure to better match the deco of the fullsized 1988 figure.

Notes

Top row: toy Nightbeat, toy Siren. Bottom row: comic Siren, comic Nightbeat.

• In Nightbeat's toy packaging photography, Muzzle's legs are blue instead of the final black, and the flame stickers on Nightbeat's doors are different. This early flame design made it into Nightbeat's Universe profile art and, as a result, into some Marvel Comics stories.
• For their character models, the face/Nebulan and helmet/seat pieces of Nightbeat and Siren were inexplicably switched. (It is difficult to tell for sure, but they may have kept the correct antennae/guns judging by the basic shapes involved.) This switch gave comic book Nightbeat the "shades" he's remembered for, as well as the crest on his forehead, while comic book Siren ended up with his trademark combined brow/nosepiece. How or why this switch happened, and in what stage of development it occurred, is unknown.
• He was depicted with his own toy's head (for the first time) in Dreamwave's Transformers: War Within: The Age of Wrath. Nightbeat's appearances in IDW's Transformers comics retain the Siren face design, but inside the Nightbeat helmet. In Fun Publications' "Cheap Shots", his appearance is based on his new toy, whose head is based on Siren's face and helmet.

Where'd he get that extra boob?

• Another Nightbeat visual oddity is the large difference between the design of his toy's chest and of the character model's chest. While the toy's chest is an asymmetrical shape with one "boob" and a "tummy grill" not unlike Optimus Prime's, the character model gives him a concave octagon which symmetrically houses two hollow boxes. Where did this design come from, and why is it the only thing on his character model, other than the swapped head, that departs from his toy design?
• Due to his asymmetrical chest details, Nightbeat's original package art is noticeably flipped horizontally, putting his "boob" on the left instead of the right. Dreamwave's More than Meets the Eye profile art of him, seen at the top of this page, seems to have been based on the boxart's flip, as well as IDW's material for a long time. In Devastation #6, IDW's Nightbeat chest is symmetrical, mirroring the half of his chest with the "boob," giving him an approximation of the made-up Marvel Comics/character model chest — but in "Spotlight: Hardhead", it's back to the asymmetrical design again.
• Nightbeat has worn the trenchcoat and fedora on occasion. Sometimes the artist remembers he has very tall shoulders under there, sometimes not.
• In the (hilariously bad) dub of Super-God Masterforce, Minerva is called "Nightbeat."
• At BotCon 1997, Simon Furman was asked why he killed Nightbeat in Generation 2. He said:

“

I don't have a good answer for you... It was too easy to say, I'll kill off all the incidental characters, all the ones I don't like. It sort of added to the bigger picture by ... some of the favorites got it in the neck as well... It's like, say Rattrap or something died, it's like.. Who cares? I do like Beast Wars as well... it was too easy to just knock off 'B' characters...

”

Suffice to say, Furman wasn't very familiar with Beast Wars at the time.

• A "dinner mystery theatre" starring Nightbeat was planned for OTFCC 2004, with Optimus Prime as the murder victim. Instead, the Transformer theme was shelved and attendees were subjected to DEATH BY CHOCOLATE.
• Quite bizarrely, the Chinese and Korean release of the original toy had a sticker depicting Shūta Gō put on the box; conversely, Minerva was on the box for Siren. Don't believe us? Here's your proof.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Nightbeat (ナイトビート, Naitobīto)
• French: Veilleur (Canada, "Watcher")
• Hungarian: Éjvadász ("Night Hunter")

External links

• 1988 Headmasters commercial starring Nightbeat, on Youtube
• Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About NIGHTBEAT