Gigawatt
- Gigawatt is an Autobot and former Decepticon from the Generation 1 continuity family (via Collaborative).
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.
| “ | You're never outta time when you're a time machine. | ” |
—Gigawatt's bio quote | ||
Fiction
Transformers/Back to the Future
 Plot details for Transformers/Back to the Future issue 2 follow. |
Gigawatt was one of the many dormant Decepticons who had been entombed aboard the Ark when it crash-landed on Earth millions of years in the past. In the year 1984, Teletraan-1 reactivated Megatron and the other Decepticons ahead of schedule thanks to a time-travelling Rumble, who had used Doc Brown's DeLorean to travel back in time from 2015 and bring his leader online. Reactivated along with his leader, Gigawatt watched Megatron execute the still-dormant Optimus Prime and the other Autobots, then destroy the temporal duplicate of Rumble who had masterminded the whole scheme in the first place.
Without the Autobots to mount an effective resistance, Megatron quickly conquered Earth and enslaved humanity. By the year 2015, Gigawatt received the task of extracting memories from Rumble's disembodied head and analyzing the DeLorean time machine, but soon became uncomfortable with Megatron's ruthless habit of executing under-performing human coordinators. When he raised the issue with his leader, he received a warning to focus on his work or face the consequences—but Gigawatt could no longer support his leader in good conscience and instead trans-scanned the DeLorean itself in the hopes that he could travel back in time and set things right. He nearly did so, but took a blast from Megatron at the last moment that damaged his new alternate mode's flux capacitor. Undaunted, Gigawatt joined up with Rodimus Prime's Autobot resistance and attempted to use his unusual new ability to benefit his new allies by traveling back to the year 1974 and stopping Rumble. However, due to his malfunctioning capacitor, he undershot his destination and instead landed in a Decepticon-ruled 1985. Transformers/Back to the Future #2
By pure chance, Gigawatt bumped into Marty McFly as the human attempted to escape Starscream, and materialized just in time to save the boy from execution. Gigawatt recognized the boy from the history files, and declared that he needed his help to save the future. Transformers/Back to the Future #1 Gigawatt proved unable to defeat Starscream on his own, but received some unexpected help from the disguised Autobot Skilz, and once Starscream had been incapacitated Gigawatt took his two allies back to 2015 to meet with the Autobot resistance, where he helped get Marty up to speed on how the Decepticons had altered the timeline. Transformers/Back to the Future #2
Toys
Collaborative
- 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. Being a retool of Sideswipe, he has C.O.M.B.A.T. System compatible ports on his arms, the soles of his feet, and oddly on the inside of his doors. These last two ports appear mainly to be as a way to store the hook when not in use, as few other things can easily be attached there.
- 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.[1] 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; specifically, the time circuits read that Gigawatt is currently in 2015, has just returned from 1955, and is going to 1985, suggesting that Gigawatt's "present" is after the elderly Biff Tannen delivered the sports almanac to his younger self and before Doc and Marty visit the corrupted alternate reality where Biff is all-powerful. 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 or the top of his rifle, which bears a distinct resemblance to Siege Optimus Prime's rifle, but is an all-new sculpt.
- Unfortunately, opening Gigawatt's doors can chip the painted black stripe that crosses them. Additionally, during transformation the back of Gigawatt's head can
erase from existencerub away the paint on the lowermost set of time circuit dates. Some units also have the issue of the Mr. Fusion not pegging firmly into place in vehicle mode after a few times due to a combination of the short peg and hole used to attach it as well as the silver paint on the peg wearing off, making it loosen.
- 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. A few details, such as its slightly wider headlights and lack of front bumper reflectors, seem to have been reworked to try to make its appearance similar but legally distinct.
| Siege mold: Sideswipe | ||
|---|---|---|
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Cybertronian vehicle mode:
Earth vehicle mode:
Other:
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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.[2]
- Gigawatt isn't the first Autobot that turns into a (debranded) DeLorean; that honor belongs to Swindler. He technically counts as the first Decepticon though.
References
External links
- Gigawatt at Futurepedia
