Lightspeed (G1 Technobot): Difference between revisions
| Line 151: | Line 151: | ||
**''Accessories'': Weapons (combine to form a larger gun for Computron), Technobot weapons/extremities | **''Accessories'': Weapons (combine to form a larger gun for Computron), Technobot weapons/extremities | ||
:Takara's iteration of Lightspeed is a retool of the [[Wheeljack (G1)/toys#CombinerWars|Wheeljack]] version of the [[Breakdown (G1)#Generations|Breakdown]] mold featuring a new head and guns. His head is more rounded while his deco features sections of maroon, while staying roughly similar | :Takara's iteration of Lightspeed is a retool of the [[Wheeljack (G1)/toys#CombinerWars|Wheeljack]] version of the [[Breakdown (G1)#Generations|Breakdown]] mold featuring a new head and guns. His head is more rounded while his deco features sections of maroon, while staying roughly similar to the original cartoon. | ||
:Like the other Technobots, the packaging and instructions assign Lightspeed the "wrong" Hand/Foot/Gun. The "correct" HFG has unique tooling left over from [[Sunstreaker_(G1)/toys#Generations|Sunstreaker]] that lets it attach differently in robot and vehicle modes. | :Like the other Technobots, the packaging and instructions assign Lightspeed the "wrong" Hand/Foot/Gun. The "correct" HFG has unique tooling left over from [[Sunstreaker_(G1)/toys#Generations|Sunstreaker]] that lets it attach differently in robot and vehicle modes. | ||
Revision as of 00:01, 26 January 2017
| The name or term "Lightspeed" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Lightspeed (disambiguation). |
- Lightspeed is an Autobot Technobot from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Looking in from the outside, you'd think Lightspeed had it all: He's highly intelligent, strong, fast, and considered dashingly good-looking by Transformers standards. And if any of that mattered to him at all, he'd be golden. Sadly, Lightspeed aches down to the core of his being for something more. His heart yearns to escape the bonds of gravity and fly free. Dreams of soaring between the stars and exploring the vast mysteries of space consume him, making him feel slow, trapped, and dissatisfied with what others would see as a charmed existence. Lightspeed would gladly pursue his dream of being rebuilt as an interstellar spacecraft if the Autobots' situation wasn't so grim. As it is, he knows the necessary resources are more valuable elsewhere and so puts his energy into winning the war and making his dream a possibility. His dreams tend to distract him from his current function as a data processor.
Lightspeed is allergic to energon (and most other fuels to a lesser extent) and must take a special lead sulfide additive when fueling or he experiences severe engine knocking and a bad rust rash.
He can also combine with his fellow Technobots to form Computron.
Sometimes he is known as Lightsteed.
Fiction
Marvel Comics continuity
Marvel The Transformers comics
Lightspeed and his fellow Technobots were part of Fortress Maximus's crew on the Steelhaven. When Fortress Maximus decided to leave the war on Cybertron and head to Nebulos, Lightspeed and the other Technobots agreed to follow him on his quest for peace. Ring of Hate! However, the Decepticons followed the Autobots to Nebulos and brought the war with them.
In the Nebulos resort city of Splendora, Lightspeed and the Technobots fought Abominus as the combined Computron. Though Abominus was defeated and routed, Splendora lay in ruins. Love and Steel! Lightspeed and Nosecone were badly injured during a Decepticon raid. The incident helped galvanize Fortress Maximus's decision over whether or not the Autobots should leave the planet behind. The Final Conflict Both factions ultimately left Nebulos for Earth. Brothers in Armor!! Lightspeed and the rest of the crew of the Steelhaven met up with the main Autobot force aboard the Ark on Earth's moon to watch Grimlock battle Fortress Maximus's champion Blaster for overall leadership of the Autobots. Totaled!
After Starscream was mutated by his short exposure to the Underbase, he obliterated all of the Technobots, including Lightspeed, in Buenos Aires. Dark Star
Marvel UK future timelines
In the year 2510, Lightspeed and the Technobots had apparently fallen into a close alliance with Ultra Magnus. When Rodimus Prime announced the last Decepticon was dead and the war was therefore over, the Technobots attended the meeting at Magnus's side. Unfortunately, so did a Decepticon deep-cover operative named Triton. When Rodimus Prime decided to step down as Autobot leader and named Springer as his intended replacement, Triton saw his chance for treachery. He jumped into the conversation, saying Ultra Magnus was a far better choice to carry the Matrix—he had done so in the past and was more of a statesman than a warrior like Springer, and so better suited to lead in peacetime. Lightspeed quickly responded to Triton's logic, and the room divided between Technobots and Wreckers. After Scattershot killed the Wrecker named Roadbuster and Sandstorm killed Triton in turn, war tragically broke out again on Cybertron. Peace
Regeneration One
Lightspeed led an excavation team to find the chamber of Primus. By the time Hot Rod joined them, a team of Demons had found the team and were excavating their innards; it didn't look good for Lightspeed! Natural Selection, Part Two
Generation 1 cartoon continuity
The Transformers cartoon
- Voice actor: Danny Mann (English), Takurō Kitagawa (Japanese), Bernd Simon (German)
Lightspeed was created along with the other Technobots by Grimlock when the latter gained super intelligence. Viewing Afterburner's excited mannerisms, he advised Afterburner to "mellow out". Good luck with that, Lightspeed. Grimlock's New Brain
Lightspeed was at Autobot City a few weeks later when an alert came in that Strafe and Scattershot were in trouble. Lightspeed cooly led Afterburner and Nosecone in a cross-fire strategy that drove off their attacker, the Terrorcon Hun-Gurr. He later accompanied Scattershot, Strafe and the free trader Dirk Manus in search of a Quintesson base on Titan, waxing poetical along the way about the chance to explore space and see the planets and moons up close.
Then Abominus blasted him out of the sky.
The trio of Technobots crashed to the surface of Titan and came under attack by Sharkticons. Lightspeed had Strafe blast down some vines to ensnare their attackers, buying time for the damaged group to flee. The timely arrival of Nosecone, Afterburner and Marissa Fairborne finally ended the attack for good. Led by trader Manus to the Quintesson base, the group were taken captive by Manus en route. When Fairborne urged them to do something, Lightspeed indignantly replied that they were: they were thinking! For all the good it did them. Manus vaporized the group with the Recreator weapon... then reformed them, having healed their injuries. The Technobots defeated the Terrorcons and drove off the Quints. Back on Earth, Lightspeed reported to Fairborne that the credits they'd confiscated from the Quintessons were gone, evidently stolen by Manus. Lightspeed and Fairborne shared a good laugh once Fairborne revealed that they were nothing more than mimic dust. Money Is Everything
In 2007, Lightspeed and the Technobots arrived at Mark Morgan's laboratory to stop the Terrorcons from stealing Morgan's heat-and-radiation-resistant alloy. Unfortunately the subsequent battle between Computron and Abominus caused much damage to Morgan's lab, injuring his daughter and leading to the Hate Plague crisis. The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1
Shortly after Optimus Prime's return, Lightspeed was briefly involved with the battle for Autobot City that inadvertently led to the discovery of Nebulos. Lightspeed was hypnotized by Mindwipe into backing over a cliff, and he shook his head dazedly after he hit the ground. The Rebirth, Part 1 Later on, Lightspeed was among the Autobots who celebrated the return of Cybertron's Golden Age. The Rebirth, Part 3
The Great Transformer War
Lightspeed and his Technobot comrades were under construction at Metroplex when the Autobots sought the aid of Doctor Dalton in improving their abilities. The Great Transformer War #1 Dalton heavily upgraded the Technobots' weaponry, allowing the combined Computron to easily outmatch the Decepticon combiner, Abominus. As the Decepticon motto goes, however: When in doubt, cheat. Galvatron outfitted the Terrorcons with "control liquid", a substance that enabled them to assume control over Computron. Dalton arranged for Spike Witwicky to use a special exosuit to approach Computron safely and administer an antidote. The Great Transformer War #2
The Headmasters cartoon
- Voice actor: Masashi Ebara (Japanese)
In 2011, Galvatron staged a major attack on Cybertron. Lightspeed and the Technobots joined the Dinobots on the front lines of defense. Four Warriors Come out of the Sky As Hot Rod began his search for the Matrix of Leadership on Earth, Ultra Magnus gathered Lightspeed and the Technobots to prevent the Decepticons from hampering his quest. When Hot Rod finally located the Matrix, Galvatron confronted him with the Decepticon Headmasters and Terrorcons, but the Technobots arrived to help even the odds. Scattershot ordered them to form Computron, and the mighty giant occupied the Decepticons so that Hot Rod could make a break for the space bridge. Birth of the Fantastic Double Prime
Later, Galvatron launched Metamorphose, a metal-twisting meteorite, and the Aerialbots were its first victims. Lightspeed and the Technobots were sent out to recover their damaged comrades for repairs, but they were intercepted by the Terrorcons. The fighting escalated with new arrivals on both sides, as the Decepticons tried to keep their foes occupied until the meteorite reached Athenia, destroying the Autobots completely. The Battleship Maximus eventually arrived to carry the Headmasters into space to confront the meteorite, and so Lightspeed and the Technobots formed Computron and covered their retreat. Approach of the Demon Meteorite
When a giant carnivorous plant took root in San Francisco, Ultra Magnus sent Lightspeed and the Technobots to deal with the incident. The plant proved to be extraordinarily resilient, however, and it was also guarded by the Decepticons. The Technobots were distracted by combat with the Stunticons, first as individuals and later combined as Computron and Menasor. Head On!! Fortress Maximus After the Trainbots ran into trouble on Mars, Lightspeed and his team were on the way to help when Sixshot and Trypticon intervened. The Earthbound Decepticons succeeded in occupying the Technobots so that they couldn't make it to Mars. Explosion on Mars!! Maximus Is in Danger
Lightspeed and the Technobots were part of a strike team that flew to the moon to disrupt Scorponok's gathering of Decepticons. They immediately formed Computron upon entering the battle. Return of the Immortal Emperor Lightspeed's regiment later helped load the Trainbots with energon supplies for the destitute planet Sandra. They were attacked by the greedy Decepticons and fought back both as the mighty Computron and as individuals, using the Trainbots' large vehicle modes as a shield. SOS from Planet Sandra
When Fortress was choosing his team to chase after Scorponok and the Decepticons through space, Lightspeed was one of the Autobots tapped for service. Daniel Faces His Biggest Crisis Ever!! During this extended mission, Lightspeed and the Technobots formed Computron to battle Predaking on the planet Paradise. Head Formation of Friendship
After returning to Earth, Lightspeed and the Technobots reassociated with Ultra Magnus at Autobot City on Earth. They were sent to Miami to counter a Decepticon attack, and battled Abominus as Computron. Unfortunately, the attack was a ruse to draw them away from Autobot City, and they were unable to stop Sixshot's assassination of Ultra Magnus. Ultra Magnus Dies!! The Decepticon attacks continued even after Magnus's death, as Sixshot launched five separate strikes at once around the world. Lightspeed and the Technobots were dispatched as Computron to one of the many battle sites. The Emperor of Destruction Vanishes on an Iceberg When the Decepticons seemingly abandoned Earth, Lightspeed and the Technobots assisted Spike in rebuilding the planet after the enemy's departure. On one occasion, they located Sixshot's old command base. By combining into Computron, the Technobots helped Defensor and Raiden obliterate the base, wiping out all trace of the Decepticons' presence. Miraculous Warriors, Targetmasters (Part 1)
As part of Computron, Lightspeed participated in the Autobots final battle with Scorponok's Decepticons at the North Pole. He lent his energies to the Headmasters' Head Formation to revitalize Fortress Maximus at the critical moment. The Final Showdown on Earth (Part 2)
Unite Warriors
Having learned that Father's Day was a thing, the Technobots prepared a surprise party for their own "father", Grimlock. When Grimlock arrived, Lightspeed tried to give him his present only to be interrupted by Strafe spraying energon champagne everywhere. Surprise Father's Day Party!!
Transformers in 3-D
Lightspeed discovered evidence of a new energon source on an asteroid near Cybertron. He and Ultra Magnus arranged for a team of Autobots to investigate. Lightspeed uncovered an energon trail which led straight to an innocent-looking creature, apparently a native to the asteroid. He brought the creature back to Fortress Maximus for study to uncover its energon-generating abilities. Ultra Magnus cautioned Lightspeed not to get so caught up in his experiments that he forgot it was a living thing he was studying. Blurr played with the creature while the Autobots set up a habitat for it. Lightspeed eventually discovered the creature expelled pure energon as a waste product!
Before this discovery could be explored much further, however, Lightspeed and the Autobots spotted Ratbat and realized the Decepticons were also on the asteroid. A chase ensued, and soon the Autobot and Decepticon forces were engaged in a brutal battle. As the fighting continued, no one noticed the creature teleport itself to safety. It seemed the creature was actually a remarkably intelligent being, who studied the Transformers in order to gather data for the Quintessons.
Probably for the best. Lightspeed didn't look like he really needed any more energon goodies before bed. The Test
IDW Generation 1 continuity
Lightspeed suffered from a unique variation of phantom limb syndrome—he believed himself to be the lost leg of a giant combiner robot, and as a result refused to go indoors. He used to see the psychiatrist Rung about this little personal quirk. Bullets
Lightspeed, like the rest of the Technobots, was a crew man aboard the Autobot Science and Survey vessel Calabi-Yau. His specialty was a little ambiguous, and though he obviously had some pride in his ability to traverse ground in rough conditions, the low-gravity of Cybertron's surface made it tough going even for him. Iguanus impaled him just as he was about to get off the burned-out planet. Stormbringer #1
Lightspeed survived the techno-cannibalization being performed by Bludgeon's cultists and helped uncover the key to defeating the revenant Thunderwing. Stormbringer #2 Spotlight: Hardhead Afterwards, he reported not even the most basic molecular activity was present in Thunderwing. Stormbringer #4
Later, Lightspeed helped take the Monstructor Six into custody, after their fight with Omega Supreme. Spotlight: Optimus Prime He and the rest of the science team failed to keep their prisoners in custody when they were attacked by the Combaticons. Spotlight: Arcee
Lightspeed and the Technobots reverse engineered the polydermal grafting process that Bludgeon had used on himself, and delivered the shells to Cloudburst and company. Spotlight: Doubledealer Spotlight: Sideswipe
Lightspeed and Afterburner were later stationed on Kimia Facility just in time for it to be attacked by Cyclonus and the Sweeps, who slaughtered most of the Autobots there. However Lightspeed and Afterburner managed to survive and hid out with only a few blasters and some experimental weapons tech to defend himself. Realising that Kimia was being used to attack Cybertron, the two decided that there was only one way to stop it, and destroyed the facility from within. Numbers
Commercial appearances
- Faced with the might of Scorponok, Lightspeed and his fellow Technobots dodged the huge Decepticons' claws and merged into Computron to fight back, but they were quickly bowled over when Scorponok hurled a mountain at them. Technobots and Scorponok commercial
- Lightspeed, Afterburner, and Nosecone worked together to project a forcefield to halt a boulder pitched towards them by Rippersnapper. The Technobots then stood their ground to stave off an attack from the rest of the Terrorcons against Fortress Maximus. Technobots and Terrorcons commercial
Games
Transformers Legends
The Technobots were ambushed outside Autobot City by the Terrorcons, who feared they would combine into Computron. The Decepticon team overwhelmed them, gaining entry to the city itself. Circuit Breaker The Technobots came to Dirk Manus's aid when his ship was attacked by the Terrorcons. Though they managed to repel the first attack, the Terrorcons eventually overcame them, however after the Quintessons doublecrossed Manus, he used the Recreator to repair the Autobot team so they could defeat the Quintessons. Money Is Everything
Transformers: Battle Tactics
Lightspeed participated in battles against a variety of opponents, both Autobots and Decepticons. Sometimes there were many of him! He was a rare character who could be recruited by collecting 160 units of Cybermetal and 95 units of Transmetal. Transformers: Battle Tactics
Transformers: Frontiers
Toys
Generation 1
- Lightspeed (Technobot, 1987)
- Team ID number: TK4
- Japanese ID number: C-89
- Accessories: "Light-Burst Gun", 2 "Infra-Red Missile Launchers"
- Lighstpeed transforms into a sleek Cybertronic car. He comes with a small handgun and a pair of missiles that attach to his car mode side panels. Being a Scramble City-style combiner, he can form an arm or leg to any combination of compatible toys, but his nominal placement is as the right leg of Computron. When used in his usual configuration, he faces backwards, as his feet have don't give enough clearance to attach Computron's footplate properly if facing forward. He and Nosecone are two of the very few Scramble City limbs to face backwards in their leg modes.
- There is a mold variant to Lightspeed. Initial releases had an indent for the rubsign on Lightspeed's hood/feet. Later-run releases filled in the indent, as rubsigns were phased out in 1988 (owing mostly to the deaths of most competitors in the reconfigurable robots toy arena).
- Computron (Multi-pack, 1987)
- Japanese ID number: C-91
- All five Technobots were also made available in a complete gift set. The gift set versions are identical to their individual releases.
Generations
- Computron (Box Set, 2016)
- Accessories: Scattershot's Rifle, Shield, Afterbreaker's two rifles, Lightsteed's gun, Nosecone's drill-gun, Computron Hands/feet, Cybaxx Targetmaster
- Combiner Wars Lightsteed (renamed for trademark reasons) is a redeco of Combiner Wars Streetwise, transforming from an R35 Nissan GTR police car to a robot and back. Lightsteed can form either an arm or a leg for any combiner within the Combiner Wars or Unite Warriors subline, but is supposed to combine with his Technobot comrades to form Computron.
| Combiner Wars mold: Dead End | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Version 1:
Version 2:
Version 3:
| ||
Unite Warriors
- Computicon (2016-08-27)
- Japanese ID Number: UW-08
- Accessories: Weapons (combine to form a larger gun for Computron), Technobot weapons/extremities
- Takara's iteration of Lightspeed is a retool of the Wheeljack version of the Breakdown mold featuring a new head and guns. His head is more rounded while his deco features sections of maroon, while staying roughly similar to the original cartoon.
- Like the other Technobots, the packaging and instructions assign Lightspeed the "wrong" Hand/Foot/Gun. The "correct" HFG has unique tooling left over from Sunstreaker that lets it attach differently in robot and vehicle modes.
| Combiner Wars mold: Breakdown | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Version 1:
Version 2:
Version 3:
| ||
Notes
- The rear view of Lightspeed's animation model misses the folding spoiler section completely, instead making his back a copy of his front, complete with windshield.
Foreign names
- Japanese: Lightspeed (ライトスピード Raitosupīdo)
- French: Luméclair (Canada)
- Italian: Starbot
- Mandarin: Guāng Sù (光速, "Light Speed")
- Russian: Svetovik (Световик, "Lighter")
