Astrotrain (G1)
| The name or term "Astrotrain " refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Astrotrain (disambiguation). |
- Astrotrain is a Decepticon in the Generation 1 continuity family.
Astrotrain loves to sow confusion. To this end, his Triple Changer abilities serve him well. Nothing pleases him more than confronting an Autobot in a dark corner and making him wonder if he's up against one Decepticon or two. He craves having this power over others. Single-minded, you may say, but when most of your time is spent transporting troops around, you have to take your jollies where you can.
He also craves having power over a massive army of train drones. Follow your dreams, Astrotrain. Follow your dreams.
- Italian name: Triplex Uno
Fiction
Animated continuity
- Voice actor: Jack Angel (US), Takurō Kitagawa (Japan)
With the help of Blitzwing, Astrotrain froze Megatron and Starscream in a sewer system in order to take over the Decepticons. He then created an army of trains to help him rule, thinking it was a good idea. Although he managed to amass a surprisingly large amount of Energon cubes, the productive day ended with him flooding the entire city, after bursting a water main. Worse, Megatron thawed out. The embarrassment of these incidents forced Astrotrain to creep back into the Decepticon ranks quietly. At fusion cannon point. Triple Takeover
Astrotrain transported Megatron, Starscream and Rumble to the lost Autobot colony of Antilla, where they discovered the entire civilization had been wiped out by the deadly Cosmic Rust. Not heeding a holographic warning from the Autobots, Megatron ventured further into the colony and seized an advanced heat ray weapon from its storage chamber. As they left Antilla, a Cosmic Rust spore-filled asteroid appeared to chase after Astrotrain, prompting Megatron to test out of the power of the 'lightning bug' weapon on the space rock. The blast obliterated the asteroid, but the shrapnel from the explosion pierced Astrotrain's hull and punctured Megatron's chest plate, infecting him with Cosmic Rust. Oddly enough, Astrotrain was never infected. Cosmic Rust
One of his notable achievements was to be worshipped by the people of Titan. While tracking Cosmos, he shot down the Autobot, who had been on a fuel scouting mission, and managed to trick the people of Titan into believing that he was a God, so that they would mine the energy crystals for him, via Jero, a corrupt High Priest who was as fanatical as he was ruthless. However, the Autobots Jazz and Perceptor arrived, and soon managed to refuel Omega Supreme. Knowing that they couldn't beat Omega Supreme, Astrotrain destroyed detonated the crystals before flying off. The God Gambit
He also transported the Decepticons away after getting their aft-sections handed to them at Autobot City. He couldn't make it back to Cybertron with the amount of weight on board, so they tossed some dead weight overboard.
Apparently, they all made it back okay. Astrotrain was then the person to crown Starscream during his coronation as the new Deception leader.The Transformers: The Movie (1986)
Fight! Super Robot Lifeform: The Transformers manga
Astrotrain photographed the incomplete Autobot City, with the aid of Reflector's camera mode, so that Megatron could decipher whether or not it was powerful enough to stand up to Trypticon.
Marvel Comics continuity
Generation 1
Astrotrain was one of Lord Straxus' warriors on Cybertron, operating out of Darkmount in Polyhex. At Megatron's demand, he called a group of Decepticons back from a planned assassination attempt on Emirate Xaaron and the Autobot leaders, leaving all the Decepticons unaware that it was actually a ploy by the Autobots to wipe them out.
Astrotrain and his fellow Triple Changers were commissioned by Ratbat to investigate the loss of his priceless cargo that had arrived on Earth via a low-cost freighter, but hadn't checked in as scheduled. Upon making contact with the crashed ship, Astrotrain and his companions were infected with Scraplets, and began to slowly waste away. Lucky for them, the Autobot Blaster was also infected, and his friends managed to re-discover the strange and wonderous chemical that acted as a cure. In saving Blaster, the Triple Changers were incidentally saved as well.
Having gathered the cargo and hypnotically secured the aid of a useful human, G.B. Blackrock, the Triple Changers linked up with Shockwave's Decepticons on Earth, which soon fell into the hands of their former superior on Cybertron, Ratbat. The Triple Changers were eventually destroyed battling Starscream in the Underbase Saga.
Generation 2
Astrotrain shows up among a crowd of Decepticons all fired up to tackle the armies of Jhiaxus, just before they're pretty much slaughtered.
Classics
Further information in this article is coming soon as it pertains to information that may not yet have been officially released. |
Dreamwave comics continuity
He isn't Quintessa.
IDW comics continuity
Astrotrain is part of a Decepticon insurgent cell that has operated covertly on Earth for at least four years, working to destabilize Earth's governing organizations and create global anarchy. He oversees the extraction and refinement of the mysterious, Energon-like substance, Ore-13, but despite having sampled its power, he is unwilling to stand alongside Starscream against Megatron.
Later on, he takes Starscream's place as the Earthbound Decepticon Infiltration Unit's second-in-command under Megatron. The wire in his forehead nearly explodes when Sixshot is ordered to come to Earth, but Megatron tells him to shut up.
IDW Hearts of Steel continuity
Referred to as the Astrotrain, the Decepticons built (or modified) Astrotrain to be the locomotive engine pulling their battle train to New York City. Hearts of Steel, Part 3 Astrotrain never speaks or transforms out of train mode during the story, but the cover of issue 4 appears to depict him in robot mode, and he clearly has some airplane components, so he is apparently a triple-changing Transformer in this continuity as in most. He is tough enough to ram through an Army blockade undamaged, but ends up driving off a cliff, and apparently falling to his destruction, despite having wings. Hearts of Steel, Part 4 His train mode is a black-and-purple locomotive, with a retracted propellor on the front, and batwings along the side.
Toys
Generation 1
- Astrotrain (1985, 1986, 2004, 2005)
- Japanese ID number: D-48, TFC-11
- Astrotrain was one of the two Triple Changer toys released in 1985. He transforms into both a purple steam locomotive and a gray space shuttle. Like several other characters from Generation 1, the pre-production toy shown in Hasbro catalogs and stock photography does not match the final product.
- In Japan, the 1985 release of Astrotrain had a color scheme based upon the real-life versions of the vehicles he transformed into, with a white space shuttle and a black steam locomotive. In 1986, Takara released Astrotrain in his US toy colors.
- In 2004, Takara reissued Astrotrain his original Japanese white color scheme, but with NASA stickers changed to ASTR, and with white paint on the shuttle side of the die-cast front. In 2005, Hasbro released this version of Astrotrain on the Hasbro Toy Shop.
- Astrotrain (2004)
- Japanese ID number: D-48
- Often referred to as 'Anime Astrotrain' by collectors, this version was decorated in colors used on the original 1986 toy's packaging as well as the Generation 1 animation model. He was an e-Hobby exclusive.
Classics
- Astrotrain (Deluxe, 2006)
- Classics Astrotrain, like much of the Classics line, is an extensive update of the original Astrotrain designed based heavily upon their cartoon appearances and using modern toy engineering techniques. He still transforms into a NASA space shuttle, though there are two rather obvious locomotive front halves on the sides of the rear hull, and instead of a steam engine, his secondary vehicle mode is a bullet train locomotive. His robot mode is based heavily upon his Generation 1 cartoon animation model design, and is armed with a large purple laser rifle similar to the original toy's rifle. However, purple highlights aside, his deco's color scheme is predominantly based on the original Takara toy.
- As with all Classics toys, he has a heat-sensitive rubsign.
Trivia
- Not only did early catalogs show the infamous prototype/show accurate Astrotrain, but some also showed different moldings. Slightly different feet and different headsculpt, but most impressively, apparent intent that Astrotrain's arms were to extend on a slide joint and be more in proportion to his body.
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