Vorpal Saber

The name or term "Dark Saber" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Dark Saber (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with the Sō'unga.

The Vorpal Saber (also called the Dark Saber) is a twisted copy of the Star Saber, formed by the three Unicron-allied Mini-Cons from the Aerial Extermination Mini-Con Team: Jackknife, Maverick, and Skull Buster. It is the personal weapon of Nemesis Prime, its power surging from the blackness of his cruel, mechanized heart. It doesn't actually go snicker-snack, but one could assume it does a good job at beheading.

Fiction

Linkage

Nemesis Prime wielded the Vorpal Saber as he traveled the universe, destroying entire civilizations in order to feed the Doomstone. Linkage Part 11

Armada cartoon

After the Autobots and the Decepticons landed on a strange world, they were menaced by a rampaging, powerful clone of Optimus Prime. The creature, calling himself Nemesis Prime, was seemingly defeated by Megatron when he fired the Requiem Blaster and blew the clone to pieces. However, the pieces reconnected with each other and Nemesis Prime formed the powerful Vorpal Saber as an extension of his own flexible, warping body. The Vorpal Saber disintegrated when the Mini-Cons arrived to save the other Transformers. Puppet

Games

Transformers: Earth Wars

Toys

Legends of the Microns

Snicker-snack!

• Air Assault Micron (Mini-Con Team, 2003)

• ID number: MM-17
• Release date: August 14, 2003

Released in the sixth wave of Takara's Legends of the Microns toyline, the Air Assault Microns (Jack, Mad, and Shade) is a redeco of the Air Defense Team. This set is almost identical to the Hasbro version of the "Air Assault" version of the Team; this version uses clear-plastic with a hint of purple rather than the Hasbro version's opaque off-white.

The three aircraft combine to form the Vorpal Saber/Dark Saber sword, which can be held by any figure that uses 5mm peg-holes for accessories. As they use clear-plastic as their main color, this lets the sword work with the light-up fists of Super Base Optimus Prime and Takara's release of Hot Shot.

These molds were later retooled to make the Energon Saber, Blizzard Saber, and the Chaos Saber.

Never held the Dark Saber but oh well.

• Rampage & Air Assault Micron

• ID number: MS-08
• Release date: August 14, 2003

The Air Assault Team was also available in a multi-pack with Rampage and Hawk.

All of the toys in this set are identical to their individual releases.

Armada

• Air Assault Mini-Con Team (Mini-Con 3-pack, 2003)

The Armada Dark Saber toy implicitly doubles as the Earth Wars version of the Aerial Extermination Mini-Con Team's combined mode.

A "tainted by evil" redeco of the team was released by Hasbro in the fourth wave of the Armada line. This version of the trio replaces the transparent plastic with opaque off-white, the other colors turning predominantly black and purple. Due to the lack of any light-up hand features in the Decepticon figures the "Dark Saber" is made to display with, being cast in opaque plastics makes sense for this release.

Notes

• "Vorpal" derives from Lewis Carol's nonsense poem, "Jabberwocky". The word has since become a somewhat common adjective to describe supernatural sharpness in fantasy works. Its use here may be inspired by fellow Hasbro property Dungeons & Dragons.
• The Vorpal Saber's animated appearance was later homaged by the non-Mini-Con Dark Saber in the Power of the Primes line.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Dark Saber (ダークセイバー Dāku Seibā)

External links

• Japanese bio translation