Quake (G1)

This article is about the Generation 1 Decepticon. For his heroic alternate-universe counterpart, see Quake (SG).

Quake is a Decepticon from the Generation 1 continuity family, and a Vehicon in its Beast Machines portion.

Is killed a lot, but never dies.

Quake is a berserker. When he enters a battlefield, he will not rest until anything and everything within sight is in smoldering ruins, including his own comrades. It will often take cries of protest from fellow Decepticons to "point the other way, you idiot!" to remind him to pick his targets more selectively. This, he claims, is just part of one of his unconventional "battle techniques."

Quake can become so caught up in the battle frenzy that his systems can overheat and shut him down. His endurance is second-to-none, however, and he has pulled through even the most seemingly final of defeats.

His Targetmaster partners are Tiptop and Heater.

Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

Generation 1

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

Quake was one of the Triumverate's gladiators on Cybertron before and took a full fusion canon blast from Megatron before the latter had the Triumverate killed and assumed control of their territory. The Fall and Rise of the Decepticon Empire He briefly went to Earth, where a fight between him and Joyride badly injured a human. Dreadwing Down! }} He was later sent by Decepticon High Command to Earth alongside Ruckus, Cindersaur, Crankcase and Sparkstalker to bring back Thunderwing after his failed bid for Con leadership. Thunderwing was unwilling to return, though, and when he punched out Ruckus, Quake made the mistake of shooting at him, for which he was grabbed by the barrel and used as a club to beat up the others. Rage! Afterwards, Thunderwing had his new team make a suicide attack on the Ark, but thankfully Ruckus convinced him that a good leader knows when to retreat. Assault on the Ark!

On Cybertron, Quake became part of the Transformer race's united defense against Unicron. The Void! When the Chaos-Bringer arrived, Quake attacked Unicron's foot alongside the Autobots Joyride and Waverider. Their combined firepower was enough to make Unicron go "Ouch", but a devastating optic beam scattered the attackers. On the Edge of Extinction! Despite the blast, Quake survived Unicron's assault and was present when Optimus Prime expired after the war was over. Still Life! He also attended the summit meeting between the Autobots and Decepticons, as the two factions tried to maintain peace. Like many Decepticons, though, Quake had trouble with the concept. Getting along with Autobots like Wheeljack was tough enough, but he also treated their human "comrades" like so much luggage (though, to be fair, they were boxed up in a crate). Exodus!

Few Decepticons had to have been happier than Quake when their new leader, Bludgeon, ended the alliance, stranding the Autobots on Cybertron while the Decepticons went marauding on the planet Klo. Quake relished in the devastation the Decepticons caused on that world. The Last Autobot? When the Autobots eventually arrived, they were ambushed and beaten almost to the last man. Quake joined a 'Con patrol hunting down the last five Autobots left alive, during which time he blasted Blaster from behind. As he was not seen afterwards (yet Blaster is—nice shot there, Quake), he probably didn't fare too well against Grimlock and the other ambushed Autobots. End of the Road!

Transformers Comic-Magazin

Template:TransformersComicMagazin Quake was present when Megatron made peaceful gestures to Humanity in New York City; and the Decepticons gave a "statue" of Snaptrap as a gift to the city. Unsurprisingly, once Humanity was off-guard, the Decepticons struck, and the Autobots barely stopped them. Transformers in Action: The Troy Principle

Another Time and Place

Quake was among the Decepticon warriors who attacked Hydrus Four with Bludgeon, assuming control of the Nucleon production facility in the hopes of reviving Megatron. They captured the Dinobots easily enough, but a full Autobot task force soon followed, and the Decepticons were overwhelmed and defeated. Another Time and Place

There is a scene in the text where Optimus Prime supposedly blasts Battletrap in his tank mode. Battletrap doesn't have a tank mode, and for once Quake isn't blown up anywhere else in the story, so odds are it was meant to be him.

Generation 2

"No, no, hit the ones with the red faces painted on them! The purple faces are your friends!"

Miraculously alive and well, Quake was serving on the bridge of the new Warworld Bludgeon had constructed for raiding other ships in space and stocking up on resources. Primal Fear! He was also part of the raiding party which landed on Earth, and enjoyed spreading chaos and destruction among the humans. Devices and Desires! During a Cybertronian attack on the Warworld, Quake was destroyed. Again. New Dawn

3H comics

Rule 193 of villainy: Don't taunt the tiny kitty.

With the emergence of the Wreckers, Mutants, and Dinobots on Vehicon-controlled Cybertron, Megatron needed more generals to counter the insurgents. He picked the sparks of Quake and Blastcharge, who served Megatron's namesake well, and put them in new Vehicon bodies and gave them experimental drones to command.

Quake and Blastcharge followed Primal Prime's group to the lair of the recluse spider Arcee, but got there too late to catch up with the main force. Blastcharge shot Fractyl, who had stayed behind to talk to Arcee. Quake rumbled that the Predacon was only worth five points for being "a half-pint loser" rather than the ten Blastcharge claimed, leaving two drones to clean up the mess as they went to hunt down the other Wreckers.

The two arrived at the Wrecker's destination, a shuttle hangar, right in the middle of a battle between the small force and a horde of drones led by Spy Streak. Quake was not impressed with many of the Maximals' small size, and chose to taunt the relatively tiny Tigatron. This was a mistake. Tigatron opened his chest, and with the awesome elemental powers of the Vok, Quake was destroyed. (Anybody else sensing a trend here?) Departure

Dreamwave comics continuity

The ensuing battle would be a lot easier if Quake had a rail gun.

Quake became a member of Ratbat's faction of Ultracons during the Dark Ages. He was present at the near-signing of the tri-faction peace treaty, and engaged the Predacons in battle alongside many other Autobots and Decepticons after the bombing. The Age of Wrath

IDW comics continuity

Quake forgets sometimes that he can turn into a tank.

Quake served with Headstrong's ground troops on-board the Decepticon starship Thanatos, under the overall command of Razorclaw. They joined the Autobot Wreckers in confronting Thunderwing on Cybertron. Stormbringer #4

After the fall of Megatron, what remained of the Decepticon hierarchy retreated to a burnt-out husk of a planet. Quake and Razorclaw were among the nearly 100 Decepticons present, possibly having arrived with the rest of the crew of the Thanatos. As the mood in the camp descended into cannibalistic survivalism, Quake turned against the Decepticon leaders and attempted to assassinate Starscream. His efforts failed thanks to the "cerebro-shell" unit Bombshell constructed, which neutralized the brawler long enough for Starscream to finish him off. All His Engines

Toys

Generation 1

File:G1Quake.jpg

Ready to shake, rattle and—oh wait, never mind.

• Quake (Targetmaster, 1988)
  • Accessories: "Tiptop" & "Heater" Targetmaster guns, cannon

Quake transforms into a Leopard 2 Main Battle Tank equipped with a plasma cannon. Unlike the other "double" Targetmasters, Quake has a third non-Nebulan weapon; his removable turret cannon, which can be replaced in vehicle mode by any smaller Targetmaster partner. He comes with the Nebulans Tiptop and Heater.

• More information on Quake at TFU.info

Notes

• Vehicon Quake's body is Tankor's toy form in Quake's colors. A toy of this was never produced, and seemingly not even proposed as a convention exclusive, though it would be moderately easy to personally paint one. Quake had tank drones that looked exactly like Tankor's Mega-size toy, colors and all. (In the Wreckers comics, Tankor's Tank Drones were drawn to look like their CGI model from the television series, which was visually distinct.)

• The Blitzwing card from the 3D Battle-Card Game "Energon Wars" expansion is clearly designed to be Quake.

• The repaint of the Blight/Kickback tank mold for the ROTF/Universe release called Blast-Off oddly shares a similar alt mode and similar colors with Quake, though this is probably just coincidence.

Foreign names

• French: Séisme (Canada)
• Hungarian: Rengés

External links

• Quake's Universe profile at NFTA.net