Riptide (G1)
| This article is about the Generation 1 Autobot. For the Armada Autobot, see Riptide (Armada). |
- Riptide is an Autobot Hydrobot from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
Riptide has never really been particularly smart or studious. Preferring to enjoy the simpler things in life, such as drinking at Swerve's and pulling pranks on his fellow 'bots, Riptide fits perfectly into the Lost Light's already dysfunctional crew. He's also a bit of a chatterbox, especially when worried or scared.
Fiction
IDW Generation 1 continuity
Riptide was constructed cold as a M.T.O. in response to the Simanzi Massacre, specifically to combat the Forced Flood. Back then, the ten-step program for new 'bots had been shortened to eight steps and never mind Simanzi, his big past trauma was the download packs he had to study and the revision and the pressure and oh god the exam which everyone else found easy. Twenty Plus One
During the war, he became friends with Pipes (and may or may not have known that he was Pipes' "type"). No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases Hydrobot comrades included Aquabat. Towards Peace At some point in the war, he became moderately chirolingual, a Transformer 'sign language' of sorts. By the end of it, he'd developed an unreliable transformation cog. Twenty Plus One
Riptide was present when Drift and Pipes purchased the Lost Light from a pair of NAILs in Iacon's religious quarter. Suspicious of the original owners, Riptide offered to go back to get a receipt of sale but found the NAILs laughing about how they had sold a ship that contained a Sparkeater. In response Riptide attacked them but was instead knocked out for two days, preventing him from joining the original Lost Light crew. Twenty Plus One Pipes would die thinking Riptide just hadn't been bothered to turn up after all. No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases
He finally got a second chance to join up a few years later when the Lost Light briefly returned to Cybertron. As the ship prepared to get back to its mission, a disinterested Riptide was roped into helping Swerve and Crosscut with his fake new crewmember interviews. He was also present for Megatron's trial at Raskol Arena. Towards Peace
Once on the ship, Crosscut gave him and fellow newbies Mirage and Nautica a tour that ended with Swerve's. Riptide took a bunch of photos of the place. No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases He fell in with Skids and Nautica, and, wanting to set goals for himself, even risked the horrors of exams by going to Megatron's classes on the Knights. Words Hang in the Air Those classes didn't make him like or trust Megatron any further, though five months in Riptide bet twenty shanix that Megatron would pretend to be reformed for at least another month. Twenty Plus One
Reading the Lost Light Insider at Swerve's, Riptide managed to convince Trailcutter to break into the Medbay and steal Megatron's "super fuel". When communications with the Forcefield Specialist broke down, Riptide brushed off Skids' concerns. Words Hang in the Air Riptide began attending lectures held by Megatron, and when he was warned by Swerve that it was all a distraction while ol' Megs devised plans to conquer the universe, just responded that he needed that sort of life goals too. Predestination: A Beginner's Guide Not long afterwards when it became apparent that the Lost Light was disappearing around them, Riptide abandoned the ship along with twenty other 'bots aboard the Rodpod, though his fellow escapees continued to vanish. As the crew tried to keep their minds off things, Riptide talked with Ammo about the terrible M.T.O. exams. After Nightbeat worked out that those left behind were not part of the Lost Light's crew at launch, the Rodpod arrived at Ofsted XVII to find their ship, apparently broken in half. Twenty Plus One
Upon boarding the shattered remains, the Lost Lighters were stunned to recognise their landing zone as Swerve's bar. Megatron enlisted the aid of stowaway Ravage to help look for survivors, and in response Riptide took to mocking the Decepticon feline, getting a few digs in when Ravage claimed to smell Ultra Magnus but instead turned up Minimus Ambus instead. Megatron chastised him for being so flippant in front of a dead body and Riptide felt sufficiently ashamed enough to apologise. He was later teamed with Skids and Getaway as they searched for clues, and was the first to discover a room full of dead Lost Lighters, all in their altmodes and missing their transformation cogs. When both Skids and Megatron reached the conclusion the Lost Light they were aboard had been attacked by the Decepticon Justice Division, Riptide helped explain the group to Nautica, and hurriedly informed the team he'd repaired the Rodpod as the Lost Light shook. slaughterhouse
After Nautica mentioned the Lost Light's quantum drums floating in space, Riptide suggested that the profession just involved placing the word 'quantum' before other words. Nautica responded with a badly-executed joke, prompting him to remark on her failed effort. He later ended Rewind's tale about the DJD's attack by noticing that the quantum foam outside of the ship was beginning to spread. The Road Not Taken
When Brainstorm set out to change history, Riptide joined a team who followed him back through time to prevent this. Their first stop was in Alyon just before the war, where they helped Orion Pax defend a hot spot from the Senate. All Our Parlous Yesterdays On their next stop further back in history, Riptide was assigned to patrol waterways in search of Brainstorm, but found nothing (and was very vocal about how boring it was). Moving on, the team was present at Maccadam's for the bar brawl that led to Megatron's fateful arrest, during which Riptide saved Impactor by throwing the time case at a guard trying to shoot him. Stet They finally reached Brainstorm at his true goal—preventing the war by killing Megatron early on—and convinced him to stand down. Before returning to their own time, the team sent a message to their future selves to try to prevent other tragedies, with Riptide's contribution being a warning not to trust Brainstorm, but it didn't arrive in time. Predestination: An Expert's Guide
Riptide then attended the Lost Light Internal Legal Affairs Committee's hearing to discuss what Brainstorm's punishment would be. When Brainstorm sarcastically asked who else had built a time machine, Riptide stood up with his hand raised before realising Brainstorm had said time machine. Our Steps Will Always Rhyme
During the "EarthDance" party held at Swerve's, Riptide questioned if he'd choose Megatron or Soundwave, though the context of the question is unclear. The Frail Gaze He came along on the trip to the Necroworld, where he chatted with the Necrobot about his holographic flowers. The Not Knowing At some point, Riptide became a keyholder for Swerve, occasionally locking up the bar. Full Circle
Froid got Riptide to take him to Rung. Thanks, bro. Speak, Memory: Part 1
Sometime over the course of the journey, Riptide began to take Megatron's discussion classes; he was an enthusiastic if average student. He was also asked by Getaway if he'd join a hypothetical mutiny against Megatron and Rodimus, and answered yes. On the same day he was told Megatron was very impressed with the work he'd put into a history essay (he'd still failed but Megs would explain why later!), that mutiny kicked off. Megatron, Rodimus, and assumed sympathisers, including Riptide's friends like Nautica, were tricked off ship and when Getaway wanted to rub in how big the mutiny was in a broadcast, a somber Riptide stood with him. How Bright Their Frail Deeds
Eventually Riptide would come to regret his decision. When the Protectobots broke into Swerve's to discuss the crew's unusual behaviour, Riptide confessed the truth about the mutiny and Thunderclash's condition. When they were discovered, Riptide suckerpunched Powerflash and told the Protectobots to escape the Lost Light and contact Optimus Prime. Full Circle
Notes
- Riptide's robot and vehicle modes were revealed by Alex Milne on Twitter on March 29, 2014.
- Milne partially based Riptide's color scheme on the clothing of the Water Tribe from television series Avatar: The Last Airbender.
- James Roberts said the mutineers shown in "The Dying of the Light (1)" were deliberately "B-listers you know and like and trust" for impact, and singled Riptide out as someone chosen because he'd once been a 'main' guy.[1]
- More than Meets the Eye #31 gives him a vitreous-positive sparktype.
