Blackout (Terrorcon)
| The name or term "Blackout" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Blackout (disambiguation). |
- Blackout is a Terrorcon from the Energon portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.
Blackout is one of the many servants of Alpha Q that transforms into a robotic bird of prey. He has been adapted for stealth operations.
Fiction
Energon cartoon
When Unicron first came to Planet Q to devour it, many "Shadowhawk" warriors fought valiantly to defend their planet. It wasn't enough, and they were all devoured by the Chaos-Bringer. Alpha Q: Identity
Following the resurrection of Megatron, many of the Battle Ravage and Divebomb models of Terrorcon came under the Decepticon leader's command. Others remained in the control of Alpha Q, who equipped some of them for stealth, resulting in a difference in coloration. These Terrorcons were sent to Jungle City to steal some energon out from under the Autobots' noses. But their stealth upgrades had no effect on Kicker Jones's telepathic sensibility. The Terrorcons were soon uncovered, and after the Autobots were forced to flee, they detonated the entirety of Jungle City, taking most of the Terrorcons with it. Crisis in Jungle City Blackout was one of the "stealthy" blue-hued Divebombs that survived.
Evidently desperate for Energon, Blackout and another blue Divebomb took refuge in the Energon Tower located near Desert City. This somehow prevented the tower from reaching its maximum output, leaving Earth's Energon Grid unable to power up—a dangerous situation as Megatron was planning to bombard the planet with artificial comets.
At some point, Blackout and the other Divebomb apparently encountered a pair of Skyblasts and took them offline.
Kicker and Ironhide discovered Blackout and his comrade when they went to investigate the cause of the tower's malfunction. Blackout attacked them with his Energy Raiden, which Ironhide managed to blow up in mid-air. Alpha Q then communicated to Blackout that he should not attack, which Kicker somehow overheard.
Kicker then tried to lure the Divebombs out of the Energon Tower by using Ironhide's Energon chip as bait. Unfortunately, Blackout and his comrade were damaged to the point of being unable to move from the floor. Kicker then jumped down to bring the Energon to them—prompting the frightened Terrorcons to open fire on him.
Ironhide blocked their shots with his body, however, and Kicker continued forward, dropping the Energon chip in front of the Divebombs. After absorbing energy from it and healing, Blackout, the other Divebomb, Kicker and Ironhide withdrew from the tower to Desert City proper. Ironhide held the two Terrorcons in his arms as they watched the artificial comets explode against the Energon Grid, creating a fireworks-like display.
Not too long after, Rodimus showed up in a spaceship to pick up the two Divebombs. Unbeknownst to the Terrorcons, though, Ironhide had placed a tracer on both of them... Energon Grid
Another drone of Blackout's make was used by Alpha Q to spy on Megatron as he explained to Cyclonus that he was changing tactics. From the partial information Alpha Q gleaned through this unit, he learned that Megatron was planning to attack his base of operation next. The Terrorcon unit was found by Starscream, and taken offline. Its capture tipped off the Decepticon leader that Scorponok wasn't entirely loyal to him. Rodimus Friend or Foe?
With one of the Shadowhawks disabled after Megatron found it in his throne room inside Unicron, and the other presumably back with Alpha Q in Unicron's head, the Autobots were surprised to discover Ironhide's transmitters pointed them to two entirely separate bases on opposite sides of the galaxy. Go for Unicron!
Toys
Super Link
- Shadowhawk Cosmo Type (Basic, 2004)
- Japanese ID number: SD-13
- Accessories: 2-piece "Energy Raiden", Decepticon-style energon chip
- A redeco of Divebomb, Shadowhawk Cosmo Type transforms into a robotic bird of prey. Twin clear-plastic "energon" blades can attach to his bird-mode neck or be used as robot-mode claw-held weapons, held as either melee weapons (via the handle) or blasters (via the "connector" pegs). The blades can be combined together to form an "Ultimate Energon Weapon", the hooked blade "Energy Raiden". The spark crystal on his chest can accommodate an energon chip. These energon parts are the same light green as the Hasbro Battle Ravage energon parts, rather than the medium-green of the normal Divebomb.
- Despite the change to the toy, it comes on the same cardback, with the same bio card, as the normal Shadowhawk. The only difference is the addition of "Cosmo Type" to the cardboard insert inside the bubble above the name.
- Shadowhawk Cosmo Type was a somewhat-limited retail release during Super Link, and arguably the hardest to come across (for a time, at least; apparently many surfaced at blowout prices towards the end of the line's retail run). Unlike Command Jaguar Desert Type/Command Ravage, who also appeared in the Energon cartoon, Shadowhawk Cosmo Type was not released by Hasbro as part of the Energon toyline, technically making Blackout one of the few Energon show characters not to have a North American toy release.
- This mold was also used to make the "Dawn of Future's Past" versions of Laserbeak and Buzzsaw.
Notes
- In the Japanese version of the episode, Blackout is referred to as "Shadowhawk", the name of his base Terrorcon type. It would appear that his existence as an individual character was in reality a dub mistake. (For what it's worth, the "Divebomb"-type Terrorcons are in fact never called "Divebomb" during the course of the Energon dub, one of but a myriad of recurring errors found in the show.)
- Among the other differences between the Japanese and dubbed version of the episode featuring Blackout are...
- Originally, Kicker theorized that the Terrorcons had become trapped within the tower while scouting it out, rather than them coming to the tower in search of Energon.
- The confrontation between the Divebombs and Skyblasts was originally placed within the very recent past—they had been sent by Misha Miramond to investigate the same problem that Kicker and Ironhide were—rather than the nebulous "a fight happened a while ago" timeframe presented in the English dub.
- The Terrorcons themselves were originally presented as somehow causing the interference which made the Energon Tower malfunction. The point is not mentioned in Energon, making it seem that Ironhide and Kicker did nothing to suddenly make the tower work.
- The original Divebomb-model inhabitants of Planet Q were shown to have had the Shadowhawk Cosmo Type coloration in flashback.
