Blackout (G2)

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 Decepticon Seeker from the Generation 2 portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

All the good names are taken, but we don't have to use Y. pestis yet.

Blackout is a Decepticon jet. Given his coloration, he may be a stealth/nighttime operations specialist.

Toys

Generation 2

Paint it Black.

• Blackout (Decepticon Jet, 199?)

Generation 2 Blackout was intended as a black repaint of the Starscream mold.

Given that Generation 2 Starscream and Ramjet were released in tandem, it is possible that Hasbro planned to follow the same pattern for Blackout and Sandstorm.

Your bargaining posture is highly dubious. Proceed on your way to oblivion. This item has been canceled, with no current plans for release.

Notes

Whole new meaning of "Jet Black".

• Blackout has a riveting history as one of many canceled Generation 2 toy concepts:
  • A mostly black and grey mock-up of what was believed to be a Generation 2 Starscream, given the nose art "Black Death" and, accordingly, speculated as perhaps intended to be named as such, was found on U.S. auction site eBay courtesy of a seller who had acquired materials from former Hasbro employees. The same collection also yielded the mock-up of Generation 2 Sandstorm and artwork of "tiger Grimlock".
  • In 2012, the fandom discovered that Blackout was further along in production than previously suspected when a production colors test shot was discovered on the Chinese auction site TaoBao (from a seller also possessing loose copies of the Generation 2 Protectobots, Stunticons, and Sandstorm).
  • The packaging artwork was formally published in the 2014 book Legacy: The Art of Transformers Packaging, and in 2020, a labeled piece of the packaging artwork was discovered, revealing that the "Black Death Starscream" had, in fact, been intended to be named as Blackout.
  • Somewhat confusingly, there appear to be two different pieces of artwork related to the Blackout concept: one (seen at right) is simply a palette-swapped version of Starscream's Generation 2 artwork (down to having exactly the same color stickers), while the other (seen at top) features numerous alterations, among them new foot, knee, and shoulder intake detailing, differently positioned wings, and the missile launchers included with the Generation 2 releases of Starscream and Ramjet. Though unconfirmed, this wiki assumes that the second piece of artwork was meant to go with the final release.
• In addition to Blackout and Sandstorm, a jungle-themed deco of Starscream and a cloud-themed deco of Ramjet are known to exist. Whether these would have been Starscream and Ramjet or new characters remains unknown.