Squawkbox

Squawkbox is a Decepticon Mini-Cassette combiner from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Many high schools will send you home if you show up wearing a skirt this short.

Squawkbox—the combined form of the Decepticons Beastbox and Squawktalk—is a passionate musician. He loves playing with sound, using the combined powers of his components. Listening to, creating, and manipulating sound is his life. The results of his compositions have been called "unnervingly cacophonous", but his Decepticon commanders came up with a way to put them to good use.

Squawkbox has been assigned the function of "Battlefield Dissonance" and set free to distract and disorient the Autobots with his latest works. Squawkbox is thrilled to have both a captive audience and access to all the terrible sounds of a battlefield for future use. Unfortunately for him, his work can prove just as detrimental to his teammates as his opponents if he's not careful, and at that point it's anyone's guess as to which side will be the first to try and shut him up via photon blaster.

Fiction

IDW comics continuity

At the beginning of the Autobot-Decepticon conflict, Squawkbox and a number of Soundwave's other minions watched Starscream massacre the Kaon Council. Megatron Origin #4

Much later, and much to Squawkbox's discomfort, Sixshot asked him to locate the missing Terrorcons. Squawkbox fearfully complied and directed Sixshot to the planet Mumu-Obscura to find his comrades. Spotlight: Sixshot

Squawkbox eventually ended up on Earth, where he was captured by Bumblebee's Autobot squad and handed over to Skywatch. The Hanging Sword

Hearts of Steel

Telegraphic Communication. Hh.

Squawkbox served as Starscream's communications officer while Megatron was in stasis lock. When Starscream learned the Autobots were active, he ordered Squawkbox to alert the other Decepticon forces by telegraph. All Squawkbox utters is "Yes, Starscream!" Hearts of Steel #3

Madman The Transformers comic

That's Squawkbox to the upper left. And also to the lower right.

In the year 2001, Squawktalk and Beastbox accompanied Soundwave and several other Decepticon mini-cassettes to spy on the construction site of Autobot City on Earth. The team recorded a secret meeting between Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus where the two Autobot leaders discussed hiding the Matrix of Leadership in a bunker on the building site. Once the majority of the Autobots had left for Cybertron, Soundwave deployed Squawktalk, Beastbox, Ratbat, Slugfest and Overkill to begin excavation. Squawktalk combined with Beastbox into Squawkbox and successfully dug up the Matrix, but was then run over by the Autobot Hot Rod. The Transformers

Toys

Generation 1

File:G1 Squawkbox toy.jpg

I want a girl with a short skirt and a lonnnngggg ... railgun.

• Squawktalk & Beastbox (Mini-Cassette 2-pack, 1988)

The Decepticon cassettes Squawktalk and Beastbox were packaged together, and combined to form the humanoid robot Squawkbox. Though they had separate bios, the combined form lacked one. They were the last Decepticon cassettes ever released in the United States, years after Soundwave himself stopped being available.

In Japan, Squawkbox was only available as a mail-away exclusive during Super-God Masterforce. He cost 980 yen and 2 Robot Points.

• More information on Squawkbox at TFU.info

Notes

• Squawkbox got his first ever official profile/bio in the Dreamwave More Than Meets The Eye guide, 15 years after the toy was released.

• In the IDW continuity, Squawkbox exists before combiner technology has become available to either faction. This means that either Squawkbox is the core being and he's later split into Squawktalk and Beastbox or um... some dumb stubby screwed up.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Squawkbox (スクォークボックス Sukōkubokkusu)