Gigawatt

Gigawatt is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Great Scott!

Whether it's the '50s or 1999, Gigawatt will always get you back—in time! When he hits 88 miles per hour, you're going to see some serious... scrap! It's heavy.

Fiction

Transformers/Back to the Future

Spoiler warning: Plot details for Transformers/Back to the Future issue 1 follow. Spoilers expire in 156 days

When Marty McFly awoke the morning after he'd returned to 1985, he found Hill Valley had been conquered by the Decepticons. After he'd made a foolish attempt to attack Starscream, Gigawatt materialized in time to save the boy from execution, transforming to robot mode and declaring that he needed the human's help to save the future. Transformers/Back to the Future #1

Toys

Collaborative

1.21 me?? 1.21 ME??!!

• Gigawatt (2020)
  • Accessories, Lighting rod/whip, "Mr. Fusion" generator, rifle

The third figure released in the Collaborative line, Gigawatt is an extensive retooling of Siege Deluxe Class Sideswipe that transforms into a heavily customized DeLorean, representing the iconic vehicle from the Back to the Future film trilogy. In his vehicle mode, his gull-wing doors can open and close, plus a "lightning rod" can be added to the back to replicate the climax of the first film. He can also be converted to the hovercar mode from the first film's ending (and how it appeared in much of the second film) by adding the "Mr. Fusion" generator to the back and folding his wheels down.

Initial stock photography specimens depicted the windshield and windows as clear plastic, but the final product had these pieces in translucent dark blue; the official Transformers Facebook page said that this change had been made in response to fan complaints. The toy's license plate reads, of course, "OUTATIME," but the package art shows a license plate saying "BK2FUT2".

In robot mode, Gigawatt displays a chest-mounted flux capacitor, as well as time circuits which display three dates, each corresponding to the time periods Doc and Marty visited in the first two movies. His knees also feature molded-in (and unpainted) flux capacitors to boot (ha ha). The lightning rod becomes a whip weapon, and the Mr. Fusion can be plugged into the back of his rifle, which bears a distinct resemblance to Siege Optimus Prime's rifle, but is an all-new sculpt.

Gigawatt is packaged in a nostalgic Generation 1-styled box in vehicle mode, much like the contemporaneous Vintage G1 line and Ectotron. Gigawatt's robot-mode package art matches Marty McFly's pose from the film's iconic poster, which is carried further by the toy itself standing in for the DeLorean from the poster (albeit oriented differently). The figure was released in two separate versions: a Walmart exclusive numbered edition was put up for preorder on July 2, 2020 (and seemingly sold out within mere minutes) with added graphics on the box identifying the figure as one of a limited run of 1,985. A standard non-numbered version was made available through Hasbro Pulse and other "select retailers" on October 1. In July, Takara Tomy announced that they would be releasing Gigawatt as well, making it the first Collaborative product to be released in Japan. Gigawatt was released in Italy initially as a Gamestop exclusive and then on Amazon starting from January 2021.

The figure does not appear to be officially licensed by the DeLorean Motor Company, as it lacks the "DMC" logo on the vehicle mode's front grille.

Notes

• Despite being officially released in Japan by TakaraTomy, Gigawatt's name was intentionally not adapted into the Japanese writing system, rather being given as a straight English word, "GIGAWATT" in all official media.