Blades (G1)

Blades is an Autobot and a Protectobot from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Profile art that actually captures the essence of a character. Madness!

Blades will never be the Autobot poster child. He's a dirty, underhanded street brawler at heart and proud of it. The fact that his alternate mode and function as air support can keep him at a distance from combat infuriates him. Blades would rather use his rotors to gut a Decepticon from antenna to tailpipe than to fly. When he fights, he wants to feel his enemies' fuel spraying across his steel skin. Blades does his job and does it darn well, but if there's a way to get his hands dirty in the process, you can bet your processor he'll find it.

Blades combines with his fellow Protectobots to form Defensor.

Japanese name: Graze (グレイズ, gu-re-i-zu)

French-Canadian name: Hélicopto

Italian name: Rasor

Fiction

Cartoon continuity

Voice actor: Frank Welker (US), Ken Shiroyama (Japan)

A more kid friendly bad boy.

When the Insecticons attacked an inhabited city on Earth, Optimus Prime called upon the Protectobots to evacuate the civilians caught in the crossfire. Later, as Earth's orbit was diverted to the Sun by the Combaticons, while Inferno and Red Alert fought the flames, Blades saved civilians trapped by the fires. Soon afterwards he was spraying his limited supply of coolant onto the flames, but was concerned that he was running out and couldn't cool down the whole planet. The Revenge of Bruticus

Blades, as part of Defensor, totally blew up Bruticus. Afterwards, he was with the Protectobots when they arrived ostensibly to save some window-washers from a burning skyscraper. Blades actually blew the workers from their dangling platform. Fortunately, Streetwise managed to catch them below. Later still, Blades and the other Protectobots were ordered to help defend Autobot Headquarters from a Decepticon attack. They merged into Defensor and activated his useless force field, which almost immediately deactivated, allowing the Decepticons to blast Defensor back into his component parts. B.O.T.

Blades is to First Aid as Twins are to Ratchet.

In the year 2006, the Autobots were asked to help the Dutch authorities deal with French rebels. After dispersing the human aggressors, Blades was shot down by Galvatron. First Aid took him back to Metroplex for repairs. While Blades recuperated, the Combaticon Swindle broke into the city and managed to steal Metroplex's transformation cog, and First Aid left the Autobots when he failed to stop the theft. Unfortunately, just as First Aid left, the Autobots were called upon to deal with a rampaging Trypticon. Hot Spot ordered the remaining Protectobots to combine into Defensor even without First Aid, and they successfully saved a train full of civilians. After First Aid returned to the Autobots, Blades ferried him into Metroplex while the giant Autobot was battling Trypticon, enabling the medic to realign the replacement cog properly, which in turn allowed Metroplex to triumph. The Ultimate Weapon

It might have been just desserts if the whole planet hadn't gotten the same treatment two seconds later.

Blades was one of the first three (along with Wheelie and Slingshot) to be drained by the energy leech, Tornedron. The whole of Cybertron was likewise sucked dry moments later, though all were restored when Grimlock saved the day. Call of the Primitives

Later in 2006, the Protectobots arrived at the aftermath of the battle between the Technobots and Terrorcons at Mark Morgan's laboratory. They transported the injured Jessica Morgan to County General Hospital and watched over her as the doctors restored her ability to walk with an exo-skeletal structure, enraging the robo-phobic senior Morgan. This had negative consequences. What a jerkface. The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1

Marvel Comics continuity

Generation 1

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

Blades and the other Protectobots were created on Earth by Wheeljack and the Autobots after they stole a recording of Devastator's combiner transformation sequence and modified it (and after Optimus Prime and Buster Witwicky shared a Matrix-induced vision of the future with the Special Teams in it).

"Blades! Who's the best Autobot leader?" "Well, Optimus Prime was kinda oka—"

Shortly after the Protectobots were given life by the Matrix, Optimus and Wheeljack learned of a cerebro-shell implanted in Prime which had allowed Megatron to tap into the Matrix and eavesdrop on their conversations. Reversing the signal, the Autobots learned of a Decepticon plot to steal the energy-converting hydrothermocline. Taking the Protectobots with him for the mission, Optimus moved to intervene on Megatron and his Combaticons' plans.

At the industrial site, a human named Ethan Zachary broke a stand-off between the two forces by suggesting they battle for the hydrothermocline in a virtual game program he had created, so that nothing of value to either side would be damaged in the melee. With their consent, Zachary uploaded Optimus, Megatron, and the two Special Teams into his computer game environment called Multi-World. Blades was teamed with Groove, and they maneuvered through an area called the Cloud-Steppes, where cities floated on clouds and absurdly long walkways were supported underneath them. The Combaticon flyers cut loose one of the walkways, sending the ground-bound Groove and a group of Cloud-Steppers flailing and falling. Against his better judgement, Blades caught the falling humanoids instead of saving his teammate. This proved to be a good idea, as the Cloud-Steppers unleashed their patented cloud-in-a-knapsack trick to blind the Combaticons until Groove shot them down. Afterdeath!

When Grimlock took control of the Autobots, Blades began to muse on deserting like Goldbug and Blaster. While on a mission in London, his bad mood was made worse by being attacked by Action Force, and he came close to killing the humans before realizing this was against the Autobot code. He then ended up assisting Action Force, Grimlock and Centurion against a rampaging Megatron. Ancient Relics!

Marvel UK future timelines

In 2008, the Decepticons made a severe attack on Autobot controlled territory on Cybertron. Blades was part of a series of special units unleashed on the attackers in the war zone. The Legacy of Unicron! Later, he was briefly seen on a series of monitors being observed by the Quintesson General Ghyrik, part of a crew of Autobots Rodimus Prime had brought to Earth to reclaim the occupied Autobot City. Space Pirates!

Generation 2

This is pretty much what he's all about: shooting the crap out of guys who claim they're unarmed.

Some years later, Blades was working with a team of Autobot "firestormers" under Grimlock's command, when they first discovered the Liege Maximo's Cybertronian empire.

During one of their raids, Hound hesitated to shoot a Decepticon who said he was weaponless. Blades blasted the Decepticon, who was in fact reaching for a weapon, and berated Hound for being "soft". War Without End! Then he tore an Imperial Decepticon's cable out with his teeth on an unnamed planet in the K'tord Nebula. Yikes. Primal Fear

He was later seen among a crew recruited by Grimlock to destroy the Cybertronian flagship Twilight. Devices and Desires!

That mission ended in failure, but Blades survived the subsequent escape and joined another Grimlock-led team sent to Earth to back up Optimus Prime, who had gone in solo against Megatron. Rumble damaged his rotors, forcing him to land, which mostly just served to piss him off even more. The Gathering Darkness

Dreamwave comics continuity

Blades, you're shooting at the artist!

Blades stuck with his team after the official status downgrade of the special teams. Though officially neutral, the team deployed to counter the threat of Devastator in the Tagan Heights. Blades and the unit joined into Defensor, and attempted to grapple with Devastator hand-to-hand. When it became evident that the two titans were simply causing more damage, the Protectobots split up to deal with Devastator through more subtle means. It was Blades who got the most dangerous assignment of distracting Devastator while his team disabled the rampaging Ultracon with teamwork.

Some while later, the Chaos Trinity invaded the Protectobot base. Blades was quick to draw arms, but was defeated by Bludgeon. The War Within: The Dark Ages

In the present era, the Protectobots served the united Cybertronian government under Shockwave and Ultra Magnus. The Protectobots appeared in their combined form battling Menasor when he escaped the detention facility Passive Aggression, and later joined the revolution alongside the other Autobots against Shockwave and his Guardian robots. Revelation After the fall of Shockwave, Blades and the Protectobots uncovered the Battlechargers at one of his hidden laboratories. They had been critically damaged when the Starscream clone known as Sunstorm escaped. Black Sunshine

IDW comics continuity

Blades wants your lunch money. NOW.

Hundreds of thousands of years ago on Cybertron, before the war with the Decepticons, Blades was part of an Autobot security force in the city of Kaon. His squad was tasked with hunting down the renegade operators of gladiatorial contests in the degenerate slum areas of Cybertron, particularly the brutal fighter who would come to be known as Megatron. Megatron Origin issue 2

When Megatron and many other prisoners escaped, Blades was part of the field team attempting to bring them back under control. He was seen having difficulty contacting other units, as Sentinel Prime made the decision to bring out his Apex armor. Megatron Origin issue 4

Shortly after coming to Earth, Optimus Prime was getting updates from the various unit commanders and officers out in the universe while aboard the Ark-19. One report about an infiltration unit going to ground again came from an unidentified talking head that may have been Blades.

Toys

Generation 1

No, not the vampire hunter.

• Blades (Protectobot, 1986)
• Team ID number: P3
• Japanese ID number: C-72
• Accessories: "Photon Pistol", left & right "twin launchers"

Blades transforms to a rescue helicopter resembling a Bell UH-1V Iroquois. He also comes with a pair of side-mounted (non-firing) cannons. He is a "Scramble City"-style combiner limb, who can form the arm or leg of any such combiner—though he normally forms Defensor's right arm. His fists are unusual in that their post holes are on the side rather than the top, an oddity he shares with Groove and First Aid. A hook-shaped handle on his gun allows him to hold it normally... in his right hand only, though.

This mold was also used to make Fly-Up.

• Defensor (Gift set, 1986)
• Japanese ID number: C-76
• Accessories: "Photon Pistol", left & right "twin launchers"

All five Protectobots were made available in many markets as a complete gift-set as well as on individual cards/boxes.

Generation 2

Can't have me!

• Blades (Unreleased)
• Team ID number: P5
• Accessories: "Photon Pistol", left & right "twin launchers"

A Generation 2 redeco of Blades in blue and black S.W.A.T.-style deco, as well as the rest of the Protectobots and the Stunticons, never made it past the stage of production samples. These toys are among the most exceedingly rare Transformers ever made; only roughly a half-dozen samples of each piece are known to exist.

Your bargaining posture is highly dubious. Proceed on your way to oblivion. This item has been canceled, with no current plans for release.

Universe (2008)

Classic Series

He'll kick your ass until he's not blue in the face.

• Autobot Blades (Voyager Class, 2008)
• Accessories: 2 missiles, Cyber Planet Key

A redeco of Cybertron Evac, Blades transforms into a Eurocopter Dauphin rescue helicopter. His rotor blades spin using a geared push-button, which becomes a spinning-blade weapon mounted on his robot mode's left arm. He has an adjustable tow-hook on a string, which retracts with the push of a button: this gimmick ends up on his right robot-mode arm. Inserting a Cyber Planet Key into his back end (backpack in robot mode) swings around a pair of spring-loaded missile launchers.

Joe Kyde originally did a deco sheet (based on a real Coast Guard color scheme for the Dauphin) for an Evac redeco in the Movie toyline. However, this was replaced in the toyline by Movie Evac, a remold of Blackout. Bill Rawley later utilized the unused deco sheet as the starting point for Universe Blades, which is why the color layout isn't accurate to Blades's classic appearance.

This mold was also used to make Universe Springer.

• Aerial Rivals (Multi-pack, 2008)
• Accessories: Rotor blade

This redeco of the Legends of Cybertron version of Evac —a small, simpler sub-basic-class version of the Voyager toy without any gimmickry— actually sports a similar, yet notably different deco than the Voyager version of the toy/character. Blades was only available in a Target-exclusive five-pack with Legends-class versions of Air Raid, Skydive, Ramjet and Thrust.

This mold was also used to make the Classics Legend Whirl.

External links

• Blades at TFU.info
• Blades's Universe profile at NTFA.net
• Gallery of unreleased MOSC Generation 2 Blades