Billy (Armada)
| The name or term "Bill" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Bill (disambiguation). |
- Billy is a human from the Armada portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.
Billy and his cohort Fred were once bullies, picking on Carlos and Rad—though as Fred was largely unmotivated in this area, Billy served as the driving force in their antagonism. He also briefly plotted to win Alexis over romantically, but Billy's plans for this and any other short-term goals were ultimately unrealized due to the coming of the Transformers.
Billy and Fred eventually became friends with their one-time targets, in particular spending a lot of time around Carlos.
Fiction
Cartoon continuity
Armada cartoon
- Voice actor: Andrew Francis (English), Tarusuke Shingaki (Japanese), Erik Gyll (Swedish), Alexandre Gillet (French)
One day, as Rad and Carlos were preparing for class, Billy and Fred overheard the pair discussing the possibility of exploring the caves under the local observatory, and when the latter were asked if they wanted to come along, Billy rebuffed the very notion of being seen with those he considered 'dweebs'. When Rad and Carlos left after class, so Billy and Fred followed, intent on discovering what the two were up to, as well as wanting to bully them for no apparent reason.
Unfortunately for Billy, Rad's activation of a ship in the caverns caused an earthquake that almost buried them alive. First Encounter When he and Fred finally crawled out of the rubble, they were greeted by the sight of gigantic, body-shaped depressions and footprints in the valley floor. Metamorphosis
The next day, Billy and Fred lost three games of Basketball in a row against Carlos, Rad, and Alexis. Billy brought up the topic of the "earthquake" afterwards in the locker room, only for Carlos and Rad to feign ignorance over the whole subject. Then, after school, Billy and Fred were blown away at the sweet new rides the other three had somehow acquired overnight. Billy was especially impressed by Carlos’s skateboard (though Carlos brushed off his excitement, saying that the board was just a big hunk of plastic his dad had gotten during the 80's). Figuring the trio were up to something, Billy swore he’d find out what it was. Fred asked him if he had a plan, Billy retorted that he did, and the pair began to argue over the subject. When Billy and Fred returned to the cave, they found it sealed off, and all other evidence of weird happenings completely erased from the surface of the Earth. Base
Later, Billy and Fred managed to discover the truth about Rad and Carlos's toy robots, and were forced by Hot Shot to promise to keep the existence of the Transformers a secret, after he had saved their lives. Carnival
While attempting to once again harass Rad and Carlos, Billy and Fred were captured by the Decepticons for nefarious purposes and imprisoned in one of those conveniently abandoned ghost towns that seem to populate Earth in most Transformers continuities. When the Autobot rescue attempt went awry, Fred was pivotal in securing their freedom from the Decepticons and their nefarious purposes. Afterward, the pair joined the Autobot team. Confrontation
Some time later, he and Fred were treated to a tour of the Autobot base. When Rad, Carlos, and Alexis were called to the control room, Billy led Fred off to explore on their own. Megafrog Megatoy Megatron chose that moment to attack the Autobot base, seeking completion of the Star Saber. Fred and Billy found themselves in mortal danger when the base's automatic defenses opened fire on the Decepticons. Their presence caused Optimus Prime to order a ceasefire, allowing the Decepticons access to the Mini-Con storage area. To make matters worse, Billy and the other kids were nearly taken by Cyclobot Cyclonopus Cyclonus. (Look, it's hard for Billy and Fred to keep track of all these names, alright?) However, it ultimately turned out all right, as the Autobots were able to take Sonar from Megatron, completing the Star Saber. Swoop
Transformers Legends comic
Billy was at the beach with his friends when Alexis was pulled into the Legends Universe to help save Starscream from sacrificing himself. LG-18 Armada Starscream Super Mode Prologue 2
Dreamwave Armada comic
He's not Seth!
Billy has apparently had a fist coming, according to Rad. Billy made a persuasive argument in favour of this by throwing Rad onto the ground for absolutely no reason and then laughing about it. The two would've come to blows but Billy came under attack by a demonically possessed bicycle. It menaced him with a wheelie before disappearing. Armada #8
Panini Armada comic
Feeling that it was his duty to keep geek from having fun, Billy followed Rad and Carlos to a cave they were exploring. He tried to lever away some rocks, but only managed to cause a rockfall and ended up running away. First Encounter!
A while later, Billy was doing chemistry in science class, and hated it. He and Fred decided to have a little fun by messing up Rad's experiment, getting the nerd in trouble with the teacher in the process. As the two bullies celebrated a job well done, Rad's robot buddy High Wire pulled them out the window and beat them up. Just a Memory!
Reader's Digest Armada novels
Billy grew up for the first nine years of his life in the big city. He moved to the community surrounding the Cosmo Scope Research Center and Interstellar Observatory when his mom was offered a job there. Resentful of having to leave his friends, school and life behind in order to live in “the middle of nowhere,” Billy become somewhat of a tough kid who didn't fit in. His only friend was Fred, another outsider. Billy and Fred were initially invited to go on adventures with Carlos, Alexis, and Rad, but the two outsiders proved to be bossy and argumentative, leading to the trio to avoid them. One autumn afternoon, Billy and Fred noticed Rad and his friends heading out of town to explore some trails, and decided to secretly tail them. Following their tracks, Billy and Fred came upon the trio's extreme sport vehicles parked outside a cave entrance. Eager to follow into the cavern, Billy headed in first, with Fred hesitantly trailing behind. As the two friends delved deeper into the cave, the earth began to rumble, causing the both of them to freak out and skedaddle back outside. Convincing one-another that the other kids probably didn't head into the cave after all, Billy and Fred headed back to town. They spotted the trio at school the next day, but failed to learn what kind of adventure had taken place in their absence. The Battle Begins
Billy did not fail to notice that the three of them had acquired some new sweet-looking extreme sports vehicles during though. He asked Rad, Carlos and Alexis where they had gotten them after school, and Rad claimed his dad had received next year's models through his "connections." Neither Billy or Fred believe him. They decided to follow the trio out of town once more, and trailed them on their BMX bikes. They were stunned to find that the cave they had previously seen the trio disappear into was now sealed off. Frustrated, Billy and Fred decided that the venture was a wasted of time and turned back around. Fred looked back before doing so, and claimed he briefly saw giant robots off in the distance. When Billy took a look, he could only spot a few military vehicles, a normal sight in the area. Telling his friends he was seeing things, Billy pedaled back home. Race for the Mini-Con Robots
Notes
- According to the Micron Densetsu Year Book 2003, the producers of the Armada cartoon kept meaning to write Billy and Fred out of the series, but ultimately never got around to it. Their staying through to the end of the show was, thus, wholly unintentional.
- When asked about their status post-Armada, Aaron Archer joked that Billy and Fred now spend their time partying in the south of France. Go Billy!
- Billy has a sister. He says he would have rather she tagged along than Fred.
- Billy has a Shattered Glass doppelganger in the form of Will Hayes. Whether this means "normal" Billy's last name is also Hayes is uncertain.
Foreign names
- Japanese: Billy (ビリー Birī)
- Korean: Billy (빌리 Billi)
