Cyclonus (G1)
| The name or term "Cyclonus" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Cyclonus (disambiguation). |
- Cyclonus is a Decepticon from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Among the Decepticons, finding a genuinely loyal and competent second-in-command is a near impossibility. Cyclonus is the exception to that rule. Created by Unicron, Cyclonus is a being whose loyalty to Galvatron and the Decepticon cause is so intense as to exclude most other emotions and interests from his mind. He is dedicated to destruction in his leader's name.
He also has brains to back up that dedication, power to enforce Galvatron's will, and the initiative to form plans and get them done. Cyclonus could easily rule the Decepticons himself if he so desired, either as a power behind the throne or directly overthrowing his psychotic master. His responses to any suggestions that he do so? "All hail Galvatron!"
It's really amazing that he's so loyal, when one considers that he alternates with Ultra Magnus as Galvatron's personal punching bag. His Targetmaster partner is Nightstick.
- Italian name: Ciclone ("Cyclone")
- Chinese name (Taiwan): Hsúan-fēng (旋風, "Cyclone")
- Chinese name (China): Kuáng Biāo （狂飙, "Rampage"）
Fiction
Cartoon continuity
Generation 1 cartoon
- Voice actor: Roger C. Carmel → Jack Angel (English), Minoru Inaba (Japanese)
In the year 2005, after an abortive attack on Autobot City, the evil Decepticons found it necessary to jettison excess weight from their craft to make it back to their homeworld of Cybertron. The injured and dying Decepticons were chosen to be ejected into the void of space, including the commander, Megatron, but when their bodies were recovered by the world-eater, Unicron, they were reborn as deadly new warriors in the service of the recreated Megatron, now known as Galvatron.
Immediately following his creation, Cyclonus served as little more than Galvatron’s personal ship and attack dog, carrying his leader to Starscream’s coronation, into the battle in Autobot City and to the planet of Junk, attacking and crippling the shuttle of Hot Rod and Kup in the midst of it all. After the destruction of Unicron, however, when Galvatron was lost, Cyclonus came into his own, his loyalty to the Decepticons’ absent leader shaping his character in different ways. The Transformers: The Movie
Disgusted with how far the leaderless Decepticons had fallen as they eked out a miserable existence on the barren world of Chaar, Cyclonus resolved to locate Galvatron, daring even to enter Unicron’s deactivated, disembodied head and replaying its memory banks, tracing Galvatron to the world of Thrull. Unfortunately, once extricated from a pool of the planet’s plasma-lava, Galvatron proved to have been driven insane from exposure to it and brutalized Cyclonus and the Sweeps before being talked down and returned to his position as leader. Five Faces of Darkness
As 2006 settled in, Cyclonus was captured by a Quintesson scientist for study, along with Ultra Magnus, Wreck-Gar and Marissa Faireborn, but when the entire group was sucked through a black hole into a negative universe, they were forced to work together to escape; Cyclonus and Magnus developed a grudging respect for each other as warriors, but vowed that when they met again on the battlefield, it would be as enemies. The Killing Jar
Chasing the Autobots through space, Cyclonus and his great leader ran them down on an abandoned funeral barge floating in the void. The Decepticons pursued the Autobots into the vessel, but were taken completely by surprise by the sudden appearance of the dead Autobot leader, Optimus Prime. Galvatron was injured in battle, and Cyclonus had to provide him with support. The loyal lieutenant was willing to fight on against Prime, but when the Sweeps abandoned the barge in fear, Cyclonus was forced to choose the better part of valor and leave as well, carrying Galvatron with him. Dark Awakening
Some time later, outnumbered and fleeing from the Aerialbots, Cyclonus and Scourge took refuge inside a vortex, which transported them to the pacifistic, energy-rich planet of Paradron, which had been settled by Cybertronian refugees. Naturally, the duo immediately conquered the planet and summoned Galvatron and the other Decepticons there; the plan was ultimately foiled by the Autobots, but at the cost of Paradron itself, which was destroyed. Fight or Flee
Cyclonus later had his body possessed by the ghost of the deceased Decepticon, Starscream, Starscream's Ghost and went on to clash with Ultra Magnus again aboard the Autobot records asteroid with the fate of Daniel Witwicky in the balance. Surprise Party
When a group of Decepticons, tired of being beaten and abused by the deranged Galvatron, confronted Cyclonus and demanded that he do something about the situation, Cyclonus was so short on options that he accepted the advice of a Quintesson, and tricked Galvatron into accompanying him to the therapeutic mental institution on planet Torkulon. It pained Cyclonus to see his leader so demented as each attempted therapy met with failure, but when the Torkuli attempted to cure Galvatron by removing the damaged part of his mind, thereby leaving him a vegetable, Cyclonus sprang into action, only to be restrained. Patched into the sentient network of the planet, rather than be cured, Galvatron infected the world itself with his madness and freed himself, decimating the planet, and decided to turn his attention back to fighting the Autobots, rather than dwell on Cyclonus' deception. Webworld
Later, Cyclonus was among the Transformers turned into an energy vampire by the Trans-Organic Dweller, thrown to the beast by Galvatron to delay his own fate—though he hesitated for a moment before fleeing, almost repentant for his action. The Dweller in the Depths While in Europe, Cyclonus and the Decepticons had made contact with several human terrorists and unscrupulous mercenaries. They even hired out human mechanics to work on Trypticon and oversee his repairs. Okay, fine. But when Cyclonus runs across Spike and Daniel Witwicky wandering around inside Trypticon, shouldn't he have recognized them?! Apparently, all flesh-creatures DO look alike to the Decepticons. The Ultimate Weapon
In a scheme to utilize anti-electrons against the Autobots, the Decepticons were forced to raid Unicron's head for an additional supply of the liquid. Scourge and Cyclonus performed the recovery operation while Galvatron and the Terrorcons kept their Autobot pursuers busy. They had only just returned with the flask, however, when Scattershot and the new Technobots arrived, destroying the anti-electrons and routing the Decepticon invaders. Grimlock's New Brain
Cyclonus and Soundwave were at Galvatron's side during a heavy battle with the Autobots, along with Trypticon, the Sweeps, and an assortment of Predacons and Terrorcons. The battle was going relatively well until more than half of Galvatron's forces suddenly responded to a mysterious call that only Primitives could hear. Enraged at Trypticon and the others for abandoning the field of battle, Galvatron took off after them with Cyclonus and Soundwave in tow. They didn't get far, however, before the energy-absorbing Tornedron struck them down in the middle of space. Only after the Primitives defeated Tornedron's creator were Cyclonus and the others restored to life. Call of the Primitives
Later still, he, along with a group of Autobots and Quintessons, were transported into a region of space cordoned off by the Quintessons, landing on the planet Zamojin, where Cyclonus aided the Quintessons in acquiring Perceptor’s universal emulator, in order to repair their systems and return to normal space. The Face of the Nijika
When the Hate Plague swept the universe, Cyclonus was infected and took leadership of the afflicted Decepticons, hunting down Galvatron and tracking him and a group of Autobots into the depths of Chaar, and infecting scientist Jessica Morgan. The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1 The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2
In 2007, Cyclonus participated in the massive Decepticon attack on Autobot City which culminated in the theft of the key to the Plasma Energy Chamber. When the chamber was then opened, the energy released blasted the key and a group of Autobots across the galaxy to the planet Nebulos, and Cyclonus and Scourge led a team of Decepticons in pursuit, attacking and capturing several of the Autobots. The Rebirth, Part 1 To battle them, the remaining Autobots combined with a group of Nebulan rebels into "Headmasters" and bested them in combat. Having learned of this fusion of Transformer and Nebulan, the Hive, the evil ruling council of Nebulos, approached the Decepticons to repeat the process, but Cyclonus argued them down to taking the heads of only the animal-mode Decepticons, and merely the weapons of the others.
Consequently, Cyclonus became a Targetmaster as his handgun was converted into an exo-suit for the Hive member Nightstick, giving them enhanced targeting abilities and firepower. The Rebirth, Part 2 Reclaiming the chamber key with their superior powers, the Decepticons headed back to Cybertron aboard the giant robot Scorponok, where Cyclonus attempted to convince the disgusted Galvatron of the benefits of being bonded to the Nebulans. The Autobots soon arrived back on Cybertron and invaded Scorponok, only to be captured by the Decepticons, and almost executed by Cyclonus before being saved by Spike Witwicky and Fortress Maximus. The Decepticons’ plan was subsequently thwarted by Spike and the Nebulans, and they were sent spiraling off through space aboard Scorponok by a tendril of plasma energy. The Rebirth, Part 3
Who is Cyclonus?
| “ | Even when you were a bug I hated your stinkin’ circuits. | ” |
—Skywarp on Cyclonus's origins, Wreckers: Finale Part II | ||
When the injured Decepticons are transformed by Unicron, two identical Cyclonus robots are simultaneously created—in the foreground, the Insecticon Bombshell, becomes one, while in the background, Decepticon jet Skywarp becomes another. The dialogue which accompanies this scene claims that we are seeing "Cyclonus... and his armada." But, clearly, one warrior does not make an armada (at least three are required) – the line is, in fact, a carry over from the original script, in which Cyclonus was intended to have multiple identical duplicates, in the same way that Scourge had the Sweeps. However, the idea was apparently abandoned right after this scene—as the group boards the Decepticon mothership moments later, the second Cyclonus has disappeared and been replaced with a third Sweep. And while the number of Sweeps would fluctuate constantly throughout the film and the rest of the series, Cyclonus was consistently depicted as a unique individual, barring some animation errors in "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5" and "The Quintesson Journal" that depicted multiple Cyclonuses. It was, essentially, as if the armada had never existed in the first place.
After all of this to-ing and fro-ing, the question is left: if there is actually only one Cyclonus, then which robot became him? Bombshell or Skywarp?
Outside of the questionable nature of the armada's actual existence, the question mainly exists due to certain fans' dissatisfaction with the asymmetry of the fates of Skywarp and Thundercracker. While many fans are happy to simply follow what is shown in the film and take it that Bombshell became Cyclonus, others point their fingers at Skywarp, offering the rationalization that since Thundercracker the blue jet from 1984 became Galvatron's blue spaceship lieutenant, it simply should be that Skywarp the purple(-accented) jet from 1984 would become Galvatron's purple spaceship lieutenant (the cross-sell catalogs included with 1986 toys even replaced Thundercracker and Skywarp with Cyclonus and Scourge in the Decepticon Jets section). It is not uncommon, however, for fans to then tack on to this rationalization that if Skywarp became Cyclonus, then Bombshell must have become the armada, unhelpfully overlooking the nebulous existence of the armada which caused the whole argument in the first place.
There are any number of other niggly little arguments that can be made for either party, regarding the personalities of the characters or the roles that they had prior to their reconstruction, but it's all very circular and self-defeating. Then, there are those who feel that it does not matter who became Cyclonus, holding that both candidates were dead at the time, and, ultimately, arguments on the matter seem irrelevant, as Cyclonus never displays any inklings of a past life, whatever life that might have been. This group of people probably sleep better at night.
The only extant written statement on the matter from the time of the movie's production and release comes, originally, from Cyclonus' Transformers Universe bio, which states that he is made from the "parts of dead Decepticons" (note plural), which would be echoed in his much later Heroes of Cybertron bio and his 2008 Universe bio. However, as noted above, the visuals in the scene as-animated certainly imply that it was one old body per new body, without mixing and matching, and favoring "Bombshell" as the answer because of the blocking of the shot.
The movie script is silent, or rather, completely apathetic on the matter: it states that after Megatron's transformation, the "other Decepticons" are turned into Scourge and Cyclonus and their minions, with no statements about particular bodies. The storyboards, however, are fairly unambiguous. They show Bombshell, pre-reformatting, and Cyclonus (with some other robots in the shot), post-reformatting. This may at least offer some insight into the authorial intent. It's worth noting that this version of the Storyboard omits any reference to Cyclonus' Armada.
For what it's worth in terms of retroactive canon-making, IDW's 20th anniversary adaptation, Transformers: The Animated Movie, presented the scene precisely as animated in the movie, with Bombshell in the foreground declared as Cyclonus through a caption box, and Skywarp in the background marked as his armada. On the other hand, the lenticular cover to the 20th Anniversary DVD edition places Skywarp and Cyclonus in the same location, and a set of character bios written by Australian fans for the 2003 Madman Entertainment DVD release of the movie—later used on several UK Metrodome DVDs—state with complete unambiguity that Skywarp become Cyclonus. Tangentially, Cyclonus and Skywarp are two separate, concurrently-existing characters in the arguably post-movie setting of the Wreckers comics. "Wreckers: Finale Part II" addressed the issue directly, adhering to the scene as animated by specifically stating that Skywarp had once been Cyclonus's armada, and having Skywarp call Cyclonus a former "bug." Meanwhile, the 2007 Masterpiece Skywarp toy includes an 'Armada Decepticon' sticker, seemingly putting that toy in the "Bombshell was Cyclonus" pile, but Masterpiece Thundercracker comes with the same sticker, only recolored.
However, none of these things, many coming two decades after the fact, are exactly "evidence" for what happened in the film.
The Transformers manga
Cyclonus took part in many of Galvatron's wacky schemes, including one involving a giant toothy spaceship that ate other spaceships and stole their energy. When Rodimus Prime infiltrated the ship, Cyclonus, Scourge and Galvatron swiftly ganged up on him. Rodimus, however, was clever enough to trick Galvatron into blasting a hole in the side of the ship, providing him with an escape. As Rodimus left, he dropped off a little "gift" for Cyclonus. Cyclonus was unable to recognize it as a bomb until it was too late. The Transformers issue 1
The Headmasters cartoon
- Voice actor: Tomomichi Nishimura (Japanese)
Cyclonus and Scourge continued to make token appearances when the new Headmaster warriors arrived to dominate the Cybertronian war. During the attack on the planet Beast, Cyclonus attempted to drop a rock on Rodimus Prime, but accidentally clobbered Galvatron instead, and ran away yelping in fear. Rebellion on Planet Beast Later, when Sixshot attempted to extort energy from six countries using each of his six modes, the duo completely botched his scheme when they failed to realize that he was behind it and attacked him with Trypticon. Terror! The Six Shadows
Marvel Comics continuity
In a future timeline similar but different to that depicted in the animated continuity, set in 2006, rather than 2005, (2006 being the original date for the movie, amended to 2005 after the production of a treatment from which the comics were penned) Cyclonus was also a creation of Unicron, remade from the body of the dispatched Decepticon Life Spark. Following Unicron's consumption of Cybertron's moons, Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge traveled back in time to 1986 as part of a plan to free themselves from Unicron's control by constructing a massive cannon that would destroy him upon their return to the future. The three Unicronian Decepticons proved themselves almost invincible in the face of the Autobots' attacks, but were finally defeated when Galvatron was duped into believing he was trapped in a temporal paradox, and returned to his own time to live out the remaining events 2006. Target: 2006
Following the destruction of Unicron at the hands of Rodimus Prime and the Matrix, Galvatron transported himself back in time to 1987, leaving Cyclonus and Scourge in the future, under Shockwave’s command. The duo were attacked by the freelance peace-keeping agent, Death's Head, who was seeking the bounty on Galvatron’s head, and Cyclonus revealed Galvatron’s whereabouts to him. Wanted:Galvatron — Dead or Alive! Later, Shockwave hired Death’s Head to kill Rodimus Prime, but Cyclonus and Scourge interfered with the job as they sought to kill Rodimus first, in order to reclaim their lost standing amongst the Decepticons. Headhunt This did not please Death’s Head, and consequently, he willingly accepted a contract from Rodimus to hunt down Cyclonus and Scourge, eventually tracking them down to the planet of Junk as 2008 dawned. Before he could finish the job, however, all three of them fell under the mind-controlling influence of Unicron, whose disembodied head had survived the destruction of his body and had landed on the planet, where he was having the native Junkions construct a new body for him.
Under Unicron's control, Cyclonus and Scourge killed Shockwave and became Decepticon leaders, reigniting the stalemated Cybertronian war to a furious degree to cover Unicron's actions. Death's Head, however, was able to fight the mind control and work with the Autobots long enough to stop the chaos-bringer's plan. As explosions destroyed Unicron, Death's Head tackled Cyclonus and Scourge, pushing them through a time portal Unicron had built, promising to kill them another time. Cyclonus and Scourge were hurled into the past of Cybertron by the portal, where they came under the command of Scorponok. The Legacy of Unicron!
Traveling to Nebulos with the rest of Scorponok's forces, they became Targetmasters and later came to present day Earth. Brothers in Armor!! Once there, they sought out Galvatron, and, no longer willing to serve him, instead demanded that he hand over his time travel device so that they could return to the future and their position as Decepticon leaders. The confrontation was disrupted by the sudden appearance of the Autobot commando squad, the Wreckers, who drew the ensuing battle away from the human settlement it was taking place in by professing to have stolen Galvatron's time jump mechanism, when in reality, the Decepticon no longer even had it for them to take. Wrecking Havoc Having met with failure again, Cyclonus and Scourge decided to cut their losses and team up with Shockwave's present-day Earth-based Decepticon forces.
Unfortunately, Cyclonus accidentally let slip that they would kill Shockwave in the future. Naturally wanting to ensure his continued existence, Shockwave unleashed a brainwashed Megatron clone upon the two. Seized by the clone, Cyclonus’s Targetmaster partner, Nightstick, was crushed, and as Cyclonus begged Scourge for help, his companion fled to save his own life and Cyclonus’s head was torn from his body, killing him outright. Dry Run!
Cyclonus and Scourge’s displacement into the past had circumvented the normal mass-replacement method used by time-travel, and had hence unbalanced the space-time continuum, causing a rift to appear in the fabric of space and time. Cyclonus’s death, twenty years before he was even created, proved to be the final straw, accelerating the rift, which soon threatened to consume Earth and Cybertron. Realizing that the only way to stop it was to return himself, Galvatron and Cyclonus to their original time, Scourge attempted to recover Cyclonus’s body from Shockwave, only to be attacked by the deranged Decepticon, who had lost his mind due to the illogical nature of the situation, and had strung Cyclonus’s remains up like a twisted trophy. Ravage, however, was able to bring Shockwave back to sanity enough for him to deposit Cyclonus’s remains after Galvatron and Scourge, and then seal it with an x-ray blast. Time Wars
An alternate version of Cyclonus later made a brief appearance, inhabiting an alternate future world of 2009 where Cybertron had been destroyed and Galvatron ruled Earth. In this future world, Cyclonus failed to stop an Autobot/human rebel invasion of the main Decepticon base, and was destroyed by an enraged Galvatron for his failure. Rhythms of Darkness!
Ladybird Books continuity
Cyclonus, a very evil and gloat-happy chap, rose to leadership of the Decepticons at a time when the war was entrenched on Nebulos. He matched wits against Hot Rod, his opposite number. His schemes included trying to absorb a burst of cosmic radiation, unconcerned that it could kill the rest of the planet, Decepticons at the Pole and a substantially less evil plot of trying to stop the Autobots lubricating their joints. Autobots Strike Oil
At some point, the Decepticon base Scorponok became a sentient Transformer and leader of the Decepticons, and Cyclonus was never seen again...
3H comics
After the end of the Great War, Cyclonus was still functional well into the era of the Maximal and Predacons.
Cyclonus was caught up in the Predacon Megatron's attack on all Cybertron. Despite Megatron's attempts to implant his spark within a Vehicon body, Cyclonus retained his own mind and managed to escape. Wishing to restore the glorious Decepticon empire, Cyclonus had already been seduced by Cryotek's ambitions when he, alongside other renegade "bad guys" Skywarp and Rotorbolt, joined the Wreckers. In the aftermath of Megatron's Transformation lock virus, the Wreckers and a few other small groups were the only Transformers left active on Cybertron.
Soon, the legendary entity called the Oracle gathered these groups together and gave them each a task. The Wreckers were summoned to a far-off planet, and so the team fought their way through scores of Vehicons to secure a shuttle. Cyclonus and Skywarp's arrival helped seal the Wreckers' victory, and the group managed to leave Cybertron towards their destination. Departure
After some difficulties with Devcon, a stowaway, Cyclonus and the other Wreckers landed on Archa Nine, where they learned of a mysterious energy-generating crystal named the "Divine Light". Cyclonus killed the Maximal Packrat, nearly killed Rotorbolt, and stole the Divine Light, and after taunting his deceived "comrades", fled home to deliver the artifact to his true master, Cryotek. Betrayal
As Cryotek siphoned the power of Primus by using the Divine Light, his ascension to borrowed godhood was guarded by Cyclonus. At first, Cyclonus seemed to have the upper hand when he appeared to be able to command Skywarp, who had been rebuilt as his armada during the Great War. Skywarp's complicity was just a ruse, however, and Cyclonus found himself doublecrossed. With the rest of the Wreckers busy, Cyclonus faced his old rival, Rodimus, in a very personal battle. After trading barbs both physical and verbal, the two ended their duel in a messy, violent stalemate. This stalemate lasted until Rotorbolt arrived and ended Cyclonus, avenging his near-deadly encounter on Archa Nine. Cryotek briefly resurrected him as one of many zombies, but his subsequent defeat at the hands of Rodimus, Cheetor, Sentinel Maximus, Al-Badur, and Ramulus ended Cyclonus's life again. Wreckers: Finale Part II
Dreamwave comics continuity
Cyclonus was a creation of Unicron built within pods inside the chaos-bringer's body, constructed from the remnants of matter he ingested in his ongoing consumption of planets. Although Scourge played a larger role in events, Cyclonus's appearance was brief—he was simply shown smashing his way out of his pod after Unicron consumed the planet Lithone in the wake of his reactivation. Generation One issue 0
G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers
Cyclonus was serving Shockwave when the latter was running the Cybertronian Decepticons in Megatron's absence. He was part of a unit standing by to seize several Autobots and Joes as they used Teletran 3 to prevent damage to the time-stream. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II
IDW comics continuity
Cyclonus was a crewman on the original Ark which plunged into the Benzuli Expanse millions of meta-cycles ago and hence continued to serve Nemesis Prime (who he keeps forgetting is no longer called Nova Prime). He has a fierce love of Cybertron and wants to see it bring about an ordered universe, bringing structure to a chaotic universe. Ironically he's absolutely mental, prone to unpredictable, violent actions; he tries to submerge this behind a fiction of being an ordered intellectual, and hopes ordering the universe might order him.
In the present, he was sent out of the Dead Universe to arm the Nega-Core and put up Thunderwing as its guardian, but he made a divergence to see first hand the devastation of his beloved Cybertron. Pissed off, he decided to take his anger out on the nearest Transformer and so assaulted the Ark-12, helmed by Hound's crew en route to Garrus-9. He was blown to bits, only to reform and keep on coming until Ultra Magnus arrived and Cyclonus realized he was blowing his mission—too long outside of the Dead Universe can kill its inhabitants.
Arriving on Corata-Vaz, he armed the Nega-Core but balked at activating Thunderwing, due to the destruction he caused Cybertron. Unfortunately Hound's crew and Magnus arrived, and Sideswipe goaded Cyclonus into attacking and in the process made Cyclonus realize he truly was a chaotic loony and just what Nemesis Prime wanted to erase. He was brought down, only to detach his hand, which flew off to activate Thunderwing. Using the distraction, Cyclonus escaped but Magnus sent another tracker after him. Spotlight: Cyclonus
Cyclonus made it back to the Dead Universe on time and was later patrolling the Benzuli Expanse with Galvatron to look for those who would disturb the Expansion. Upon spotting Cloudburst's ship, Cyclonus called "dibs" and Galvatron happily let Cyclonus attack the vessel. Spotlight: Doubledealer
After some time, Cyclonus finally destroyed the Mirror-Manifold just as its crew were beamed out by the Technobots, who had brand new Pretender shells waiting for them. Designed to survive the Dead Universe, they were more than a match for Cyclonus and he was defeated. Spotlight: Sideswipe
 Spoiler warning: Plot details for All Hail Megatron issue 14 follow. |
After recovering, Cyclonus made his way back to Gorlam Prime, where he gathered the bodies of his former crewmates to recycle them with honor. One of them, Scourge, was still barely alive, and Cyclonus told him that he would put an end to his miserable existence. He was interrupted by Galvatron, who was now infused with the Darkness. Galvatron blasted the bodies of the dead warriors, prompting Cyclonus to ask if he had gone binary. Galvatron revived Scourge, and created an army of Sweeps, which angered Cyclonus, who said they were sparkless slaves and refused to let this happen to him. Galvatron assured Cyclonus that he had plans and would need a lieutenant to join him. Using the Darkness, Galvatron repaired Cyclonus's spark and although he was unsure of their mission, Cyclonus told Scourge that as Seekers, their new mission is to follow Galvatron. Rebirth
Universe cartoon
Cyclonus was helping Megatron mine Energon from a gas station, mostly by taking pot-shots at bunnies. This ended shortly after he was El Kabong'd by Bumblebee and axed by Prime. Fight for Energon
Henkei! Henkei! pack-in comic
Toys
Generation 1
- Cyclonus (Decepticon Jet, 1986)
- Japanese ID number: D-70
- Accessories: "Oxidating Laser"
- Cyclonus transforms into a purple Cybertronian fighter craft. Early releases of Cyclonus had his belt and part of his "ears" painted blue. Later releases had those areas unpainted.
- Cyclonus, like the other new characters created for The Transformers: The Movie, was designed for animation first, and had his toy based on these designs. However, as with the other characters, the toy was based on an earlier design, most notably featuring folded back wings, while his animation model underwent further modifications before being finalized. The earlier design was the basis for the Marvel Comics version of the character, and also erroneously appeared in a few instances in the cartoon series. For some odd reason, his wings detach as an official feature. For some even more odd reason, you have to open his ass which is referred to as "trap doors" in the instructions.
- Targetmaster Cyclonus (1987)
- Accessories: Nightstick Targetmaster partner/"Black Beam Gun"
- Still lacking the blue paint, Targetmaster Cyclonus's fist holes were widened to accommodate his Nebulan partner, Nightstick, who replaced his previous handgun. This version of the toy was not released in Japan.
Expanded Universe
- Cyclonus (Ultra, 2002)
- Accessories: 2 missiles, 2 drone-missiles
- Expanded Universe Cyclonus is a redeco of Beast Machines Ultra Jetstorm, replacing blue with lavender, purple and gray, and the yellows with red. His spark crystal was tampographed with a Decepticon sigil. He transforms into a Cybertronic fighter jet. His jet mode cockpit/neck is geared up with the pop-up gun turret on his back so that both turn in the same direction when moved. This turret has a light-up feature plus two spring-loaded missiles. Cyclonus has both a "normal" bipedal robot mode and a "flight robot mode" with pop-out thruster engines.
- Cyclonus was available exclusively at BotCon 2002.
Universe (2008)
Generation 1 Series
- Cyclonus (Deluxe, 2008)
- Universe Cyclonus is the first new-mold toy of the character in over 20 years. This version is a better match for Cyclonus's main character model whereas the Generaton 1 version was designed from an early alternate model. The transformation scheme is reminiscent of the old toy, with a few new twists to allow for greater articulation and a more satisfying robot mode. As before, the toy transforms into a grey and purple Cybertronian jet-fighter. Most notably, the toy release includes his Targetmaster partner Nightstick, similarly featuring far greater detail and articulation than the original. Oddly, only his right hand has a hole to hold Nightstick in, a very rare feature amongst two-handed Transformers toys. An undocumented feature (in both the Hasbro and Takara versions) is that Nightstick can also mount to Cyclonus' wrists by leaving the hands folded in, exposing a tab-slot, a la The Headmasters... which Cyclonus wasn't a Targetmaster in. Tsk.
Dodged a bullet!
- Early Hasbro photos showed Cyclonus and Nightstick with considerably more beige than the final retail release. This was a factory mistake that was corrected before any toys hit stores, but it did create some fandom angst in its wake. Though no retail versions feature this factory mistake, some prerelease samples did.
Henkei! Henkei!
- Cyclonus (Deluxe, 2009)
- Japanese ID number: D-07
- Unlike the Hasbro Universe Cyclonus's toy-based colour scheme, TakaraTomy's Henkei! Henkei! Cyclonus has a mostly cartoon-based colour scheme, and casts much of the toy in a lavender plastic balancing between the toy's purple and cartoon's purple-blue, and includes a painted face. Like all Henkei toys, he features vac-metalized plastic, specifically his purple wings and much of the Nightstick Targetmaster weapon.
Merchandise
Super Collection Figure
- Cyclonus (2002)
- A PVC figurine of Cyclonus was part of the eighth act of Takara's Super Collection Figure series in 2002. Each case of 12 PVCs had two Cyclonuses; one in full-color, the other pewter-finish. It was later released as part of the third wave of Hasbro's Heroes of Cybertron line in 2003, with its pointed edges rounded off for safety.
Hard Hero
- Cyclonus (2005)
- In May 2005, Hard Hero released a Cyclonus polystone bust based upon his cartoon appearances.
- At the same time, Hard Hero also made a limited run of 100 pieces painted metallic purple as an exclusive for the Canadian TransformersCon convention.
Notes
- When asked about Cyclonus' design in an online interview, Floro Dery's reply was, "Cyclonus was a small time demon."[1]
- In two scenes in the US edition of Headmasters #2, where Cyclonus was supposed to appear, artist Frank Springer accidentally drew a giant-sized version of Nightstick (though it's actually Fracas, but those two's character models got swapped and... oy), who was then colored like Cyclonus. For the UK printing of the story, since audiences were already very familiar with Cyclonus from exclusive stories in that comic, the giant Nightstick was renamed "Krunix".
- During The Transformers: The Movie, Cyclonus is shown to be huge in vehicle form, serving as a personal attack ship for Galvatron, despite being a normal-sized robot. In the cartoon's subsequent third season, however, Galvatron uses the Decepticon mothership and his own flight capabilities as his primary means of transport, and Cyclonus never shows such size-changing abilities again.
- Cyclonus's unique origin in the UK comics is a result of Simon Furman's misinterpretation of the movie summary he had read (having not yet actually seen the feature), which referenced the fading "life spark" of a Decepticon. This led to Cyclonus actually claiming he had been rebuilt from a Decepticon named "Life Spark".
External links
- Cyclonus at TFU.info
- BotCon Exclusive Universe Cyclonus at TFU.info
- Cyclonus' Universe entry at NTFA.net
Footnotes
- Pages with image sizes containing extra px
- Character stubs missing fiction
- Pages with broken file links
- Beast Machines characters
- Convention exclusives
- Decepticons
- Generation 1 characters
- Headmasters characters
- Henkei! Henkei! characters
- Seekers
- Targetmasters
- Unicron-related characters
- Universe (2008)
- Universe characters
- Wreckers
