Rad White

Rad is a human from the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

...and I want to tell you about the Traaaaaaaaaaansformers!

Bradley "Rad" White is your typical kid who's the son of brilliant scientists. He likes to ride his bike, he likes to explore caves, he likes to grab excitedly at radioactive things—wait, what?

Basically, Rad has a natural, insatiable curiosity about all things. Unfortunately, this curiosity goes unchecked when he's hanging out with his best friend Carlos, so it takes the watchful eye of the intelligent-but-much-more-reserved Alexis to keep them both out of trouble. His parents hope that some day Rad can channel this curiosity more productively.

Fiction

Cartoon continuity

Armada cartoon

Voice actor: Kirby Morrow (English), Masataka Nakai, Akiko Toda (young) (Japanese), Christian Jernbro (Swedish), Vincent Barazzoni (French)

Hail Skroob!

One day, Rad and Carlos went exploring into the caverns deep beneath the local observatory. Inside, they found the curious remains of a clearly artificial construction, seemingly far in advance of human technology. Against the advice of Carlos, Rad was drawn towards a glowing, green, pentagonal artifact half-buried in the rubble. When he touched it, the entire structure began to shake, suddenly springing to life as thousands of computers lit up the walls.

At home, Alexis felt the tremors and used her computer to pinpoint the epicenter of the apparent earthquake as the mountain caverns that Rad and Carlos were exploring. Similarly, the scientists and researchers at the observatory were baffled by the sudden movement of the Earth. As Rad and Carlos made their escape with the artifact, a bright light engulfed the chamber they were in, simultaneously shutting down all electronic equipment in Lincoln, as well as emitting three distinctly coloured distress signal beams into the sky.

One beam, green, reached an |ancient starship wreck on the dark side of the Moon, causing it to fire hundreds of smaller beams of green light at the Earth. The two remaining signal beams, coloured red and purple, continued deep into space until they reached a cold, distant, metal world.

Little did Rad know that he had unwittingly set in motion the next destructive phase in the great Transformers war, an endless battle of rage and hatred between the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons. Thanks a lot, kid. First Encounter

Energon cartoon

Voice actor: Kirby Morrow (English), Masataka Nakai (Japanese), Christian Jernbro (Swedish), Vincent Barazzoni (French)

Rad, you dirty dog.

By 2020, Rad had been shipped off to Cybertron and was working as an assistant to Dr. Brian Jones, presumably because he wouldn't shut up about the Transformers. Cybertron City

Much to Dr. Jones's chagrin, his daughter appeared to have a thing for Rad.

Eww...

Cybertron cartoon

Every girl's crazy about a sharp-dressed Rad.

In 2030, Rad, Carlos, and Alexis were still alive. They were present at the launching of the four ancient colony ships as they began the second attempt at a galaxy-spanning Space Bridge network.

Rad looked pretty damn dapper in a suit. Beginning

Dreamwave comics continuity

Armada comic

Rad was the one to activate the crashed Mini-Con vessel, bringing to life its crew and alerting the Autobots and the Decepticons to Earth. Armada #3 After being saved, Rad, Carlos, and Alexis, having bonded with the Mini-Cons, wanted to help, but Optimus Prime stated that they shouldn't be involved. Armada #6

Much later, Rad was made a prisoner of the Mini-Con Destruction Team, held captive on their moonbase and strapped to a bomb. Armada #9 He was saved in time, of course, Armada #11 then again told by Optimus Prime to stay clear of harm's way as the Autobots departed to confront Unicron.

Energon comic

Ten years later, after Kicker Jones and Alexis were captured by Terrorcons, and taken to Scorponok, the Autobots mounted a rescue effort. Rad snatched Alexis from the jaws of danger as the Autobots and Terrorcons battled before using his hovercraft to blow up the energon collection rigs. What Lies Beneath, Part Three

Rad later whined a lot about Alexis being worldly and active as a peace activist. She tried to say a tender goodbye, but he brushed her off and upset her. An attack from Battle Ravage caused a series of explosions that seem to eliminate Alexis, upsetting Rad. Multiplicity Alexis turned out to be alive, and he embraced her before urging her to get into his jeep to escape the destruction. Multiplicity, Pt. 2

Dreamwave folded before... you know... Barry White?

Panini Armada comics

... this just takes all the fun out of irony.

After accidentally dropping down a hole one day, Rad found the remains of a spaceship hidden underground. He brought Carlos with him to explore it, but ended up bumping into some machinery and reawakening the Mini-Con High Wire. After leaving the caves and meeting with Alexis, the kids tried to communicate with High Wire, only to come under attack from Megatron. They were saved by Optimus Prime, and High Wire grabbed Rad and his friends and took them to the other Mini-Cons. First Encounter! When he heard that the Mini-Cons weren't getting involved with the Autobot-Decepticon war again, Rad became angry—Optimus Prime was getting his aft handed to him by Megatron, and they were just going to abandon him? Rad decided to take matters into his own hands and confronted Megatron, offering to take him to the Mini-Con ship in exchange for sparing Optimus Prime. However, Megatron wasn't big on deals, and merely threatened to kill Rad if he didn't show him the ship right away. He ended up being saved by High Wire and the other Mini-Cons, who had changed their minds upon witnessing his feat of bravery. After Megatron had been chased off, Optimus Prime also complimented Rad on his courage, even if it hadn't been the smartest move. Friends and Foes!

Rad and his friends quickly befriended the Street Action Mini-Con Team and had a great time racing in the desert on them. Their fun and games ended when Optimus Prime ordered both humans and Mini-Cons to go get the locator log from the wrecked Mini-Con ship. When they found the log, they were attacked Demolishor, who incapacitated the Street Action Team. Quickly improvising a plan, Rad grabbed the locator log and hid it in an unstable part of the caves. When Demolishor followed, he accidentally caused it to explode, and was buried in the ensuing rockfall. Deep Trouble! Some time later, Rad was learning chemistry at school when the troublesome twosome Billy and Fred messed up his experiment behind his back. Not only did this get him into trouble with the teacher, but he also noticed that High Wire was sneaking around on the school grounds. Rad decided to bolt, and found that Carlos and Alexis had had similar problems with their Mini-Con friends trying to adapt to life on Earth. He didn't really mind the Mini-Cons' little mistakes, and promised to guide them personally. Just a Memory!

When the Autobots decided to send the Mini-Cons back to their home planet, Rad said he refused to let it "end like this", but didn't actually do anything about it. When Megatron arrived to put a stop to it, Rad tried to trick him that the Mini-Cons were already gone, so he might as well leave too. When Megatron made it clear he wouldn't leave Earth just because some five or six Mini-Cons went home, the plan was canceled and the Mini-Cons remained on Earth. No Way Back! Some time later, Rad caught wind of Sparkplug's plan to save the Mini-Cons held in the Decepticon headquarters. He thought it was a stupid plan, and convinced the Autobots to send a shuttle to stop him. Into the Lions' Den!

During another race around the desert, Rad and his friends were interrupted by Starscream, who would very much like to capture the Street Action Team. High Wire threw Rad off of him and told him to get help. When Rad expressed doubt that the Street Action Team could stand up to Starscream, the three Mini-Cons proved him wrong by combining into Perceptor. In the aftermath of the battle, an impressed Rad was hi-fiving with High Wire when they were suddenly approached by a man named Amos Hume. The Two-Edged Sword Amos explained that he had been given a message by a Mini-Con long ago, which Rad didn't find too hard to believe. After introducing Amos to the other Mini-Cons, the kids and Autobots used the message he had received to locate and rescue the Land Military Mini-Con Team. Sale of the Century!

Legends anthology

One Halloween, the kids attempted to explain the holiday to their three Mini-Cons, and ended up taking them Trick-or-Treating. Rad explained they could t.p. the houses of people who didn't give them candy. Something Robotic This Way Comes

Associated characters

Their workplace is no Ruby Crystal Mines of Burma, but it'll do.

Even they don't want to hear about the Transformers.

• • In the Dreamwave comic, Rad's unnamed parents, Mr. and Mrs. White (Dr. and Dr.?), work at the Cosmoscope Research Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.

• • In the animated series, they looked totally different.

Notes

• According to the now-defunct TV Tokyo Micron Legend website, Rad was 12 years old at the start of Armada. The page also stated that he enjoyed outdoor sports, and implied that Optimus Prime gave him Laserbeak as a personal possession.

• The Transformers Armada Official Guidebook backs up that Rad was 12 years old at the start of Armada, and that he enjoyed outdoor sports, specifically on his BMX bike.

• Rad's catchphrase "I'm here to tell you about the Transformers!" (sometimes varies as "I want to tell you about...) is from his introductory narration during the main titles sequence of the earlier episodes of Armada. Needless to say, this became rather repetitive after twenty or so episodes.

• Rad has the unfortunate penchant of saying '"Wicked Sweet!", usually when something impresses him greatly. It is quite possible that by 2010 this will be an acceptable form of slang. Alternately, perhaps Rad was from Boston originally.