Chip Chase

Chip is a human from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Mein Führer, I can valk!

Chip Chase is Spike Witwicky's best friend and a staunch ally to the Autobots. Despite their high level of technology, the Autobots will often consult Chip, benefitting from his genius-level IQ and skills in computer programming and electronics, in addition to several other fields of science. He will often be found hanging out with distinguished scientists and academics, as well as developing new technology with Wheeljack for use in the fight against the Decepticons. For Chip, the fact he's confined to a wheelchair is barely an impediment.

No one's ever really disabled so long as he has courage.Chip Chase, "Divide and Conquer"

Fiction

Cartoon continuity

Generation 1 cartoon

Voice actor: Michael Horton (English), Keiichi Nanba (Japanese)

In 1984, the internet was only used by nerds to complain about how terrible Transformers was.[1]

Chip Chase came to the attention of the Autobots as a friend of Spike Witwicky and the whiz behind Dr. Alcazar's antimatter formula project. He, Spike and Bumblebee paid a visit to Alcazar's desert laboratory, to pick up a disk which would allow Chip's home computer to interface with the more powerful computer at the lab. On the way home, they were alerted to an imminent Decepticon attack, and Chip rushed inside to alert Dr. Alcazar by computer. The warning allowed Alcazar to upload the antimatter formula to Chip's PC. Meanwhile, Prowl's battle computer had been disabled during a battle, and he contacted Chip's computer in search of help. Chip was able to help him chase off the Decepticons.

Holy crap, man.

Unfortunately the Decepticons had traced the formula to Chip's computer. He memorised the formula and tore up the floppy disk containing it. The Decepticons proceeded to kidnap him, and Soundwave plucked the formula from his mind anyway. As the Decepticons began manufacturing antimatter, Chip was rescued by Spike, Bumblebee, Hound and Mirage. The Decepticons turned up at Autobot Headquarters, with Megatron transforming into a powerful antimatter gun, however Chip was able to attach Wheeljack's remote control device to Skywarp, turning the Decepticons' own weapon against them. Sunstreaker pronounced Chip a hero. Roll for It

Chip was attempting to help a weapons factory increase their productivity when the Decepticon Seekers attacked it. He was able to transmit a distress signal to the Autobots, and Optimus Prime swiftly arrived to take on the three Decepticons. Chip warned him of a heat-seeking missile, seemingly before it did anything to indicate it was heat seeking. Weird. A stray blast hit the computer, but Chip's life was saved by Optimus shielding him from the resulting explosion. Prime was badly damaged, necessessiting a trip to Wheeljack's lab on Cybertron to colelct a vital component. Chip used Teletraan I to predict the next location of the Decepticon space bridge, and tagged along on the mission on the basis that they needed a computer genius to get through the lock the Decepticons had placed on the door of the lab. They quickly gained entrance to the lab and located the necessary part Optimus needed, however a group of Seekers created acid rain, which Chip was strangely immune to. He was able to rally the Autobots, encouraging them to overcome their vulnerability to the acid rain. They rushed the Cosmotron back to Optimus, arriving in time to save his life. Divide and Conquer

Last one night at an observatory, Chip spotted a strange meteor headed for Earth and alerted the Autobots, accompanying them to the location he had calculated the meteor would touch down. Spike suggested that they dub it Meteorini Chiparoni in his honor. After the meteor became a meteorite, Optimus obtained a sample and they returned to headquarters. Wheeljack's analysis of the meteorite fragment revealed it was highly unstable, send Optimus on a mission back to the crash site. Meanwhile the Autobots set about building two more Dinobots based on Chip's suggestions of a stegosaurus and a pteranodon. Snarl and Swoop were completed in time to fly to Optimus Prime's aid, the other three Dinobots having been turned against him by Megatron. Chip and the others arrived to find Grimlock and Optimus already making up. War of the Dinobots

Chip was present when Megatron challenged Optimus to a duel, and accompanied the Autobots to watch the fight, musing to Ironhide that it reminded him of ancient Roman gladatorial combat. Despite all their cheering, and much to Chip's disbelief, Optimus was soundly defeated. However when they got back to HQ, Chip was able to use Teletraan I to analyse Optimus's damaged parts, and determine that Megatron had cheated, rendering the result of the contest void under Cybertronian law. Heavy Metal War

After watching a Formula 1 race with Spike, Chip came up with the idea of the Autobots holding a race for charity. The pair took the idea to Optimus Prime, and the race was soon set up. Megatron used the opportunity to test his new Transfixatron on the Autobots, and the two boys were forced to make their escape in Bumblebee. Returning to HQ, Chip consulted Teletraan I, revealing the nature of Megatron's new invention, and Wheeljack and Ratchet were able to construct a grenade to reverse the effects of the device. They headed out to where the Autobots had been taken and immediately engaged the Decepticons. Spike passed the grenade to Chip (somewhat surprisingly able to stand up in his wheelchair to catch it) who managed to get close enough to throw it into the Autobots' midst before Ravage intercepted him. The Autobot forces regained the ability to transform and battled the Decepticons into a retreat. Ratchet bemoaned the resulting repair work he was going to have to do, much to Spike and Chip's amusement. The Autobot Run

Chip and Wheeljack developed the dominator discs, intended to bring Devastator under Autobot control. Once the discs were placed on the Constructicons and they formed Devastator, Chip activated the discs and the combiner promptly turned on the other Decepticons. Chip was overjoyed at the success of their invention, however the next time they faced the Decepticons, Megatron was able to use an electronic disruptor to override the dominator discs. Wheeljack and Chip worked frantically to get the now-wild Devastator back under their control, as the Decepticons' giant drill neared the centre of the Earth, but it was only with the addition of Megatron's disruptor that they were able to succeed. Although Devastator stopped the drill, he was firmly a Decepticon again. Chip was greatly disappointed, but Optimus told him to hang on to his dreams. The Core

Perplexed at the appearance of strange time warps, the Autobots consulted Chip Chase, who was able to use Teletraan I to locate two more warps. With Perceptor and Beachcomber's help, he soon traced the source of the temporal disturbances to Dinobot Island. Dinobot Island, Part 2

When the Mayor of Central City organised Autobot Day, Chip turned out with Spike and Sparkplug to join the cheering crowd. They reacted with disbelief when a recording produced by Shawn Berger appeared to incriminate the Autobots in stealing energy, and joined in solidarity with their friends, even as the rest of the crowd turned hostile. Optimus and the others were put on trial. Chip attempted unsuccessfully to stall things while Spike looked for evidence to prove the Autobots' innocence, however he and Sparkplug were soon forced to give their farewells, as the Autobots were launched into space aboard a rocket. Megatron's Master Plan, Part 1 With mounting disbelief and horror, Chip and Sparkplug witnessed Decepticon Day, though Chip still held out hope that Spike would find some evidence to exonerate the Autobots. Naturally it wasn't long before the other shoe dropped, and Megatron proclaimed himself ruler of Earth.

Chip was put to work with the rest of the humans at a power station, however he quickly came up with a plan. During a diversion engineered by Spike, Chip stowed away on a truck which passed near Autobot Headquarters. There he consulted Teletraan I, only to discover that the Autobot ship had hurtled into the Sun and exploded. Before he could check up on Cosmos, Thrust burst through the ceiling and blasted the computer. Chip furiously turned on the Decepticon, who simply laughed and took him back to the power station. A despondent Chip returned to work, however his trip had inadvertently benefited the Autobots — with Teletraan I's control over Cosmos's guidance systems severed, they were able to return to Earth to confront the Decepticons. Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2

When a group of Autobots, including Optimus Prime, disappeared through a space bridge to unknown coordinates, Chip tried unsuccessfully to use Teletraan I to locate them. Child's Play

Japanese cartoon continuity

Scramble City

Chip can't stand (ha ha) to face the badly-drawn Carly.

Chip can be seen alongside Spike, Sparkplug and Carly, helping to construct Autobot City. Scramble City

Binaltech

When Prowl's Laser Core was lost to subspace in a GT Transfer accident (a technology he himself helped to create), Chip Chase volunteered to sacrifice his very own soul in order to breathe life into the now-lifeless Prowl-2, stating "Twenty years ago, we met thanks to an online message from you. Your battle computer was down, and in its place, I—" Roll for It while something flashed in the back of his mind: "Your intelligence and personality are already in this frame. In which case..." With the help of Ratchet and Wheeljack, Chip's consciousness was transported into Prowl's frame. The new entity created in this fusion is virtually indistinguishable from Prowl's old persona, thanks to copies of the original Prowl's memory more and Datatrax, while a separate neurocomputer handles Chip's thought processes. Meanwhile, Chip's real body is stored in stasis in an EDC medical facility.

At least one continuity had this new spark used for Prowl II, which makes no sense, since Binaltech is separate from Beast Wars.

Notes

• The idea for Chip's character grew out of very early plans for the series, which involved two human allies for the Autobots named "Eddie Fairchild" and "Matt Conroy". Eddie was the prototypical version of Spike, but when the Matt character was conceived as an "elder brother figure" for Eddie, the idea to make the younger boy handicapped, and hence more dependent on the Autobots, was briefly considered. Evidently, this idea went in a slightly different direction and wound up inspiring Chip. [2]
• In "Roll for It", Chip has a remarkably advanced (or at least ridiculously expensive) desktop computer for 1984. It contains, among other things, a 16 Million color monitor (Chip's view of the Decepticons was no different than Prowl's), a microphone, dial-up networking, speakers, and a sound card that could interpret Prowl's speech. Maybe he's friends with Ethan Zachary.
• Also in "Roll for It", Chip has no less than four pennants displayed on his wall: "PIERCE" (probably referring to Franklin Pierce University), "USC", "CSUN" and "YAL", commonly assumed to be a reference to Yale University.
• Chip and Carly never appeared in the same episode during the entire US run. Coincidence!? Shocking dual identity!? (Or maybe the two of them just can't stand to be in the same room for whatever reason...) The only time they're both seen on screen is near the beginning of "Scramble City". Blink twice and you'll miss 'em.
• Although last seen in "Scramble City" and being absent through the entirety of the series' third season, the producers of the Japanese-exclusive Headmasters apparently had plans to include an adult version of Chip in the series' first episode. A character design of an adult Chip can be seen in the Transformers Generations reference book and The Ark II Japanese character models book.
• He may easily be the most advanced human who ever lived.
• In the Movie console game, there is a fast food place called Chip Chase's. The restaurant's logo features Chip's grinning mug. Wonder if the TV ads are as scary as the ones featuring the Burger King.