Searchlight (G1)

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

Searchlight is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family.

The sun! It burns our eyess!

Searchlight is a quiet and withdrawn member of the Throttlebots. A silent spy, he is most at home in the blackest night, not because of what the darkness covers, but for what it reveals. When he cruises through darkened cities or over deserted plains, he has no need to switch on his two 10,000 watt driving lamps: his front-mounted sensor array brings him a subtle panorama that the daylight only overwhelms in its fiery radiance. Searchlight sees all, be it in the dimmest spark of visible light, or in the infrared spectrum, or elsewhere in the realm of electromagnetic radiation. His X-ray capacity lets him look through objects, and his spectroscope allows him to analyze their composition. All of this he can record in stereoscopic, digital video. This amazing array even gives him some offensive capacity; he can blind foes with a dazzling, stroboscopic flash from his driving lamps, but this is painful and disorienting to his well-tuned optics.

So fascinating are the secrets which the nighttime world reveals to Searchlight that he often loses track of his assigned mission. A further drawback of working alone comes from his very best quality; his keen senses. A slight sound or movement, if made by something undetectable by his trained sensors, can make him anxious, and eventually send him into a panic. Therefore, though he is serious-minded and works best alone, his superiors must sometimes check on him.

Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

Marvel The Transformers comics

Lines in the dirt, he sees...

Everyone thinks he's Chase. Final Transformations

Thanks to a Decepticon Titanium-class Destruction Drone, Searchlight and his fellow Throttlebots were captured and brought to the Chief Decepticon Fuel Auditor Ratbat. An outbreak of Scraplets had begun on Earth, and Ratbat ordered them to travel there and destroy all of the infected—or he would destroy the planet itself to prevent spread of the deadly disease. Given new Earth-style vehicle forms and canisters of corrosive acid, Searchlight and the others arrived on Earth and soon found Goldbug in the death throes of a Scraplets infection. They attempted to destroy him, but during the skirmish, Goldbug's human friend Charlie Fong discovered a cure for Scraplets, the "rare chemical" water. With this knowledge, they managed to destroy all the Scraplets with help from G.B. Blackrock. The Cure!

Searchlight and the Throttlebots continued to travel on Earth with Goldbug and Blaster, but that only made them targets for virtually everyone—the Decepticons, the Autobot faction Goldbug had gone AWOL from, and the humans who hated and feared all Cybertronians. After escaping one of the Combaticons, Goldbug suggested they hide in a used car lot (because that worked so well for him before). Astonishingly the owner, Big Steve Ludwig, noticed a giant earthmover dump truck magically appearing on his lot, and soon put two-and-two together after receiving a notice from the local RAAT boys. After pouring sugar into the Autobots' gas tanks, he summoned the proper authorities. Searchlight and the Throttlebots were carted off and taken prisoner by RAAT's parent organization, Triple-I. Used Autobots

...cackling, self-illuminated giants with god-like power, not so much.

Still not recognizing the difference between Autobots and Decepticons, III's bigwigs publicly threatened to execute their prisoners if any more robot attacks took place. Guess what—the Decepticons were willing to call their bluff. After the inevitable raid, Forrest Forsythe ordered the Autobots crushed into cubes. However, a sympathetic (and borderline competent) agent named Walter Barnett realized Searchlight and his friends were telling the truth about there being two factions of robots, and salvaged their cerebro-circuits before the execution, transferring their brain chips into electronic toy cars. Toy Soldiers! Searchlight and the Throttlebots remained in Barnett's possession for some time, but were apparently returned to the Autobots at some point behind the scenes. The Throttlebots were reconstructed into new bodies replicating their old ones... only to be destroyed again, this time by Starscream. Dark Star

Generation 1 cartoon continuity

The Transformers cartoon

Voice actor: Steve Bulen (English), Masashi Hirose (Japanese)

Searchlight and the Throttlebots were assembled by Rodimus Prime for the botched rescue attempt of Optimus Prime's body from Doctor Mark Morgan. Along with Ultra Magnus and the Aerialbots, they were the first Transformers to be infected by the Hate Plague. The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1 Searchlight was eventually cured and together with his fellow Throttlebots defended Autobot City against a Decepticon raid in the year 2007. The Rebirth, Part 1

Japanese cartoon continuity

The Headmasters cartoon

Voice actor: Masashi Hirose (Japanese)

I said TALK to the hand! TALK to it!

When the Decepticons attacked Cybertron in 2011, Searchlight and the Throttlebots teamed up with three other Autobots to defend Vector Sigma. They crossed paths with the new Decepticon Headmasters, and ended up being put to sleep by Mindwipe. Four Warriors Come out of the Sky The Headmasters were later driven away, but soon returned alongside the Madmachine, a new Decepticon weapon. Searchlight and Throttlebots were dispatched to fight this new threat, but were unable to pierce its armor and had to settle for scrapping with the Headmasters instead. The Great Cassette Operation

The Throttlebots' next battle was set on Earth, but they broke orders and snuck away from the fight to stop the Decepticon meteorite known as Metamorphose. Searchlight and the others were extremely confident in their mission, but failed to notice the meteorite's ability to warp and bend any metal in its vicinity. The Autobot frigate Searchlight helped pilot was twisted out of shape, and the Throttlebots were out of commission for quite some time after that. Approach of the Demon Meteorite They eventually reappeared on Earth, where they were tasked with destroying one of Scorponok's Death Towers. Unfortunately, the tower was guarded by Predaking, who easily knocked out Searchlight and his friends. The Final Showdown on Earth (Part 2)

The Transformers 3-D

Bat riders of the Styx.

Searchlight was enjoying a nice shadowy corner when he was called in by Ultra Magnus to collect specimens of a newly discovered alien that converted whatever it ate to pure energon. Scouring the dark asteroid on which Fortress Maximus had landed, Searchlight pondered his existence until he suddenly stumbled upon a Decepticon base. He snuck inside and spied on Cyclonus explaining to Galvatron how they could take advantage of the energon-producing creatures, but was soon discovered and chased across the asteroid by Cyclonus and Scourge. While cursing all the things that could have gone so much better, Searchlight stumbled upon Ultra Magnus and his troops, who protected him from the Decepticons. Searchlight spent the ensuing battle riding Ratbat. The Test

IDW Generation 1 continuity

This section covers fiction that is ongoing. It will be added to as the story progresses. If it isn't current, you can help by updating it.

I was distracted by your badly-Photoshopped Autobot insignia

Searchlight served as Optimus Prime's aide aboard the main Autobot Orbital Command Hub. He reported Ironhide's (unauthorized) pulsewave alerting them of how Starscream's infiltration team had assumed Siege Mode ahead of schedule. Stormbringer #1 Later, he notified Optimus on the distress buoy launched from the Calabi-Yau and her subsequent silence. Searchlight was shocked when Prime ordered him to contact the Wreckers. Stormbringer #2

He remained on the Hub under Silverbolt's command after Prime left to take an active role on Earth. Spotlight: Blaster During the fight against the Expansion, he was apparently summoned to Garrus-9 to help bolster the Autobots' defenses after the Monstructor-Six were kidnapped. Spotlight: Hardhead Searchlight faced down Nemesis Prime with several other Autobots, but did little to halt his progression. Spotlight: Doubledealer

Searchlight was stationed as a courier at the Orvus Base orbiting Salvvatan VI. He and the other Throttlebots barely escaped the station when Sixshot attacked, destroying it to retrieve its classified information. Crash landing on Salvvatan VIII, Searchlight warned the rest of his group that he had seen Sixshot take on a whole army before and that hiding would be their best option. Sixshot found them, however, and quickly incapacitated Chase, Freeway and Wideload. Searchlight confronted the Decepticon with Goldbug and Rollbar. Sixshot was crashed through Metroplex by Rollbar and Searchlight followed with Goldbug. Goldbug was shot pointblank by Sixshot and then Searchlight was blown away from the building. Sixshot had him down holding a blaster to his head, but Searchlight refused to say he was afraid. He was saved by Metroplex, who crushed Sixshot in his massive hand and then stepped on him. Searchlight pleaded for the huge Autobot to join them in the war, but to no avail. He realized that whatever secret Metroplex was guarding had to be important, since no one would stay that alone if they don't have to. Spotlight: Metroplex

Toys

Generation 1

Let's just hop along, shall we? Hop. Hop. Hoppity-hop-hop.

• Searchlight (Throttlebot, 1987/1991)
  • Japanese ID number: C-93

Searchlight transforms into a Ford RS200 rally car with multiple molded headlamps. Like all Throttlebots, he features a pull-back motor that zips him forward in both vehicle and robot modes.

In 1991, the Throttlebots were re-released in European markets as part of the "Classics" sub-line. Searchlight was retooled to remove the rubsign indent on his back-end/backpack, and the rubsign decal itself was replaced with a glossy-paper Autobot sigil.

• More information on Searchlight at TFU.info

Notes

• Searchlight's Transformers Universe profile entry, from the Marvel Comics series, uses Chase's head design and vice versa.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Looklight (ルックライト Rukkuraito)
• French: Projecteur (Canada)
• Italian: Strobobot

External links

• Searchlight's Universe profile at NTFA.net