Sandstorm (G1)

The name or term "Sandstorm" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Sandstorm (disambiguation).

Sandstorm is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family.

DEEP HURTING

Sandstorm gets bored easily, and has a very hard time concentrating on humdrum tasks. He craves excitement, and since the Transformers apparently don't have the X-Games (though they do have skateboarding apes), he goes in for fighting the Decepticons. The ever-present threat of deactivation or maiming doesn't frighten him, but he does fear that the war might end any chance for him to enjoy life. For Sandstorm, war may not be heaven, but it's a hell of an adventure.

Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

Generation 1

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

"Think how great a first impression we'd make if I shot him in the crotch!"

Sandstorm was one of three Triple Changers recruited by Emirate Xaaron to back up the Wreckers in Operation: Volcano, replacing Ultra Magnus after he went missing. In order to make a good first impression on Impactor, their new commander, Sandstorm and his buddies beat the titanium-coated stuffing out of him, thus proving that they'd fit right in with the Wreckers. Target: 2006

As a member of the Heroic Wreckers, Sandstorm's resume includes beating up Autobot leader Optimus Prime, ...The Harder They Die! beating up Autobot scientist Flame and destroying his life's work, Meltdown! NOT beating up Galvatron and letting him escape unmolested on Earth, Wrecking Havoc and routinely scaring humans and destroying entire towns. Wrecking Havoc Cold Comfort and Joy! In an alternate future, he murdered an unarmed fellow Autobot, starting a new Cybertronian Civil War between the Wreckers and the Technobots. Peace He was also in the immediate vicinity when his leader Impactor died, and did nothing to stop it. Twice.

Eh...hrm. Let's spruce up the old resume a bit, shall we?

As a member of the Heroic Wreckers, Sandstorm's resume includes capturing a potential spy who looked like Optimus Prime, ...The Harder They Die! stopping an evil genius and his army of zombies from destroying the world, Meltdown! sacrificing personal glory to save his leader Springer from the Decepticon Targetmasters, Wrecking Havoc and routinely interacting with the locals while assigned to Earth. Cold Comfort and Joy! In an alternate future, he was personally responsible for destroying the last living Decepticon in the universe. Peace He also respected Impactor a great deal, in life and in death.

Ah. Much better. Meanwhile...

Aren't you with the Wreckers? In space?

Oppressed under Grimlock's tyrannical rule, Sandstorm and several others on board the Ark pleaded for Blaster to usurp Grimlock as leader of the Autobots. No one knows how Sandstorm got there. Spacehikers!

After being assigned to Earth duty and reporting to Cybertron about Galvatron amassing resources, Sandstorm joined a joint task force of Wreckers and Mayhems in confronting the evil Decepticon from the future. They were strong. They were numerous. They were annihilated. Galvatron's particle cannon ended up obliterating Sandstorm while the task force was in full retreat after losing more than half their members. Time Wars

Regeneration One

Sandstorm: Topspin, I know Twin Twist was on the Ark with me in issue 36, but I don't know what happened to him after that!
Topspin: Ok, I just-wait, you guys were in Marvel US?!

In 2012, twenty-one years after the apparent end of the Great War and reoccupation of Cybertron, Sandstorm and the other Wreckers joined Kup in going AWOL to investigate the "loose ends" of the conflict on other planets such as Earth and Nebulos.

Unfortunately, they only made it as far as a devastated Earth before they were apparently blown out of the sky by Megatron. Loose Ends, Part 1 The Wreckers escaped their ship in shuttles that took them to Earth's surface, where they decided to lay low while Rack'n'Ruin checked on Broadside and Topspin, as they had suffered damage during the battle. After, Sandstorm tried to draw off most of Megatron's zombie army with Leadfoot and Roadbuster while Kup tried to send a distress signal to Cybertron. Loose Ends, Part 2 Upon returning to the other Wreckers, he found them being threatened by a super-powered human calling himself Circuit Smasher. Topspin recognized the human as Spike Witwicky, a former ally of the Autobots, and Spike grudgingly took the to Argus Base where they met G.B. Blackrock. Sandstorm attended a meeting with Blackrock, Circuit Smasher, and Springer to form a plan to take down Megatron. During their meeting, they recieved a message from Megatron, informing them that he had Kup captive, and had infected him with Scraplets! Loose Ends, Part 3 Sandstorm, Springer and Whirl split off from the other Wreckers, so they could try to save Kup, and, in the process, create a distraction so the other Wreckers could deactivate the Ark. They fought hard, but were quickly taken down by Megatron's forces. Loose Ends, Part 4

Generation 1 cartoon continuity

The Transformers cartoon

Voice actor: Jerry Houser (English), Yoku Shioya (Japanese), Héctor Vieyra (Latin American), Bernd Simon (German, Fight or Flee), Imo Heite (German, Starscreams Ghost), Frank Röth (German, Generation 2 Dub)

Autobot Creamsicle

Sandstorm is a native of Paradron. His Autobot ancestors fled Cybertron during what he called the Fourth Great War and ventured through a strange vortex, where they discovered a habitable world. There, they founded an energon-rich, democratic colony dedicated to non-violence.

But this came to an end when Cyclonus and Scourge stumbled through the vortex and crashed on Paradron. They had no idea where they were, but they knew it was a land ripe for the picking. They literally pushed the welcoming Paradronians around, then alerted Galvatron to the planet's existence. Sandstorm tried to rally his fellows against the two Decepticons, but no one wanted to fight. And he was proven terribly right in the middle of a speech, when Cyclonus abruptly shot him as Galvatron's invasion force descended from the sky.

Sandstorm was jailed, and the Decepticons forced the Paradronians into labor, building weapons. However, Sandstorm escaped rather easily and took an old shuttle back through the vortex. He put out a distress call and was found by the Cybertronian Autobots, whom he convinced to mount a counterstrike against Galvatron.

Technically you're not supposed to be here either, but at least we can say the episodes were just out of order.

The Autobots infiltrated Paradron and took guerrilla action. They freed a group of Paradronians, and though the pacifists were still wary of Sandstorm's pleas to fight, they did finally take up arms. Despite this victory, though, the Decepticons still presented a daunting battle. Sandstorm gave little objection to Rodimus Prime's order to detonate the planet's energon core, destroying the world to keep it out of Galvatron's hands. In fact, he seemed downright happy to get some use out of the planetary escape pods. The Paradronians departed thusly while Sandstorm and Ultra Magnus planted a bomb on what Magnus called the most beautiful thing in the entire galaxy.

When it detonated five minutes later, Sandstorm and the Paradronians stood alongside the Autobots and watched their homeworld's destruction. "It's as beautiful in death as it was in life," Sandstorm eulogized simply. Rodimus openly mocked him and told him Cybertron was better. Fight or Flee

"Like the rest of my people, I deplore violins. Why that stopped us from fighting you guys, I have no idea."

Maybe that's why he went to Earth instead. Though he was still on the abusive Rodimus' team investigating Trypticon's theft of famous monuments. Thief in the Night Interestingly, it was as a result of that caper that Octane was excommunicated from Galvatron's army. And then Sandstorm and Octane soon started hanging out, joyriding in and around Autobot City.

When the Combaticons tried to assassinate Octane, he and Sandstorm fled to a space station somewhere and had lunch. There, a Skuxxoid in Galvatron's employ tried to kill Octane several times but was comically thwarted by circumstance. Believing it would be safer, Sandstorm and Octane then went to Cybertron. But while Octane was alone there, he finally was captured by the Decepticons.

As he was being hauled away, Sandstorm tried to rescue him. And failed. Starscream's Ghost

The Headmasters cartoon

Alongside Springer and Broadside, Sandstorm was sent from Athenia to Cybertron in order to defend against a major Decepticon assault. Four Warriors Come out of the Sky The Triple Changers then traveled to Earth, where they helped Twincast sneak into Trypticon by keeping their Decepticon counterparts busy with a dogfight. Apparently, Sandstorm wasn't on friendly terms with Octane anymore. The Great Cassette Operation

Dreamwave comics continuity

That's not healthy...

Sandstorm served under Springer as part of the Wreckers faction during the Dark Ages. They were primarily interested in keeping Ratbat and the Ultracons from gaining control of the Tagan Heights, the primary manufacturing region of Cybertron. The Wreckers once fought a major battle in the Heights alongside the Protectobots against the combiner known as Devastator. War Within: The Dark Ages

Originally only able to transform into a ground vehicle, Sandstorm received an additional flight mode after the Great Shutdown, when Shockwave put him through Triple Changer engineering as part of the Pax Cybertronia between the Autobots and the Decepticons. New World Order Despite serving with Shockwave's Triple Changer Strike Force, Sandstorm and his partner Broadside grew uneasy about Shockwave's ultimate intentions, and allied themselves with the Autobot underground resistance. Sandstorm was killed by an assassin, Runabout, while secretly leading Optimus Prime through the Old Slave Trails to make contact with the resistance. Cold War

G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers

So bored he's talking to himself.

When a number of Autobots and G.I. Joes vanished while chasing Serpent O.R., Sandstorm and Springer were sent out to look for them. Unfortunately, Serpent O.R. jammed their radars, and they didn't find a thing. The Art of War #3

IDW Generation 1 continuity

This didn't happen, but this is what I looked like!

Sandstorm was part of the elite Wreckers unit operating under Impactor's command. He participated in the final showdown between the Wreckers and Squadron X on Pova, dogfighting with Crosscut and Ferak in the air. Last Stand of the Wreckers #4 However, after the Decepticons were defeated and imprisoned, the Wreckers were told to release them due to Pova being neutral territory. The increasingly deranged Impactor refused, and chose to personally execute every single member of Squadron X rather than let them go. Like most of the Wreckers, Sandstorm only looked away in shame and did nothing to stop him. Last Stand of the Wreckers #5

In order to cover up Impactor's crime, a new story was written for the official records. In this version of the events, Squadron X broke out of their bonds and injured Sandstorm, who collapsed after limping to warn his fellow Wreckers. The Wreckers were then forced to destroy Squadron X in a grand battle. Last Stand of the Wreckers #4

My face! What did you do with my beautiful face?!

Many years later, while Sandstorm and the other aerial Wreckers were assaulting the Decepticon Siege Mode Armature on Varas Centralus, Springer was ordered by Operations-Command to pull out and return to Cybertron to deal with the resurrection of Thunderwing. Stormbringer issue 2 Sandstorm participated in the short assault that crushed Bludgeon's cult, Stormbringer issue 3 and fought against Thunderwing himself when the creature was recalled to Cybertron. During the battle, he reported that their weapons were being shut down by Thunderwing charging the atmosphere and tried to tell Springer to get away, but he (along with several other Wreckers) were blasted away by the creature's microwave pulse. Stormbringer issue 4

Sandstorm and his fellow Wreckers were later dispatched to Corata-Vaz to gain control of the Nega-Core in place on that world, but had serious trouble getting past its watchdog, Thunderwing. They had a brief reprieve when Jetfire used the old axis cradle to remotely shut down the Pretender, but Jetfire was soon distracted and the battle was renewed. The Jumpstarters worked on overriding the Nega Core's programming while Sandstorm and the others held back Thunderwing. Eventually the Nega Cores were disabled and the Transformers of the Dead Universe defeated, causing Thunderwing to shut down once more. Spotlight: Sideswipe

Sandstorm's blue Blurr period.

During the Decepticons' devastating attack against the Autobots across the galaxy, Sandstorm was one of several Autobots who had been captured by Turmoil. When the ship made a stop at a neutral alien world, two attacks on the Decepticons occurred simultaneously: the Autobot veteran Kup led the remaining Wreckers to blast their way into the ship, while the factionless swordsman who called himself Drift snuck into the ship and helped the Autobots free their compatriots. Spotlight: Drift

Sometime later, after the defeat of the Decepticons in New York City, Springer remarked that Sandstorm was deep behind enemy lines. Why he was there, and if it was by his own choosing, is unknown. Bullets

Eventually, Sandstorm was one of the many Autobots seen stranded on Earth. After Optimus Prime turned himself in to Skywatch, Sandstorm decided to leave the Autobots along with Hot Rod. New Arrivals, Old Encounters When Ultra Magnus had located Hot Rod's group, Sandstorm was one of the first Autobots to welcome him. Seasons in Flight

Sandstorm was among the Autobots poised to fight against Galvatron's army on Cybertron. Led by Silverbolt, he and the other Autobot fliers attacked Kimia Facility and fought with the many Sweeps defending it. Chaos Part Two: Numbers After the Chaos war, Sandstorm presumably left Cybertron aboard the Lost Light which would search for the mystical Knights of Cybertron. Interference Patterns

Toys

Generation 1

He's like one of those kids that wears a propeller hat.

• Sandstorm (Triple Changer, 1986/1991)
  • Japanese ID number: C-83
  • Accessories: "Sandblaster gun"

As a Triple Changer, Sandstorm can transform from a robot to a "sand rail" dune buggy to a Sikorsky S-62 amphibious transport helicopter and back. Like many 1986 Transformers, there are two different versions; the initial releases use painted die-cast metal for his front bumper/robot-mode feet, while the more common later releases have orange-colored plastic.

He was re-released in the European Classics line in 1991, this time with black plastic feet painted orange.

• More information on Sandstorm at TFU.info

Machine Wars

File:MachineWars Sandstorm toy.jpg

• Sandstorm (Mega, 1997)
  • Accessories: 2 cannons, rotor blade

A redeco of the Generation 1 Rotorstorm toy, Machine Wars Sandstorm transforms into a Cybertronian helicopter with a US Air Force roundel added to his helicopter mode. Due to the small missiles of Rotorstorm failing US choke gate tests, the turbine launchers were retooled into non-firing cannons, with no missiles included. A button on the back of the rotor housing drops down both engines/cannons for an "attack mode" feature. In robot mode, Sandstorm has quite restricted articulation, and holds his turbine launchers in his hands. He can also hold his rotor blade as a somewhat odd sword.

This mold was later redecoed (and given further-retooled launchers) to make Universe Whirl.

• More information on Machine Wars Sandstorm at TFU.info

Generations

So the Movie Sandstorm redecos a mold of a G1 guy, and the G1 Sandstorm redecos a mold of a Movie guy. Okayyyyy.

• Sandstorm (Scout, 2012)

Generations Sandstorm is a redeco of Revenge of the Fallen Dune Runner, transforming into a vehicle based on the Sector Seven dune buggies seen in the 2007 Transformers film, which were heavily modified Chenowth Desert Patrol Vehicles (DPV) with added protective armor. This same vehicle also served as the basis for the 2007 movie toyline's Landmine. The twin gatling guns mounted on Sandstorm's roof/shoulders have multi-jointed armatures for different firing positions.

Originally developed by Hasbro Asia for release in their territories, Sandstorm was brought over with many other toys as ToysЯUs exclusives for the 2012 holiday season.

This mold was also used to make Revenge of the Fallen Beachcomber and Transformers: Hunt for the Decepticons Crankstart and Rollbar.

• More information on Generations Sandstorm at TFU.info

• Sandstorm (Voyager, 2013)
  • Accessories: Rifle, missile

Part of the fourth wave of 2012-2013 Generations Voyager Class toys, 'Thrilling 30' Sandstorm is a redeco and heavy retool of Voyager Springer, and is a Triple Changer, transforming into a robot, tiltrotor aircraft, and dune buggy. He comes with a missile-firing blaster which can peg via 5mm post, or mount underneath his helicopter nose.

Notes

Foreign names

• Japanese: Sandstorm (サンドストーム Sandosutōmu)
• French: Siroco (Canada)
• Italian: Ghibli
• Russian: Zatvor (Затвор, "Shutter")

External links

• Sandstorm's Universe profile at NTFA.net.