Bludgeon (G1)
| The name or term "Bludgeon" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Bludgeon (disambiguation). |
This article is a featured article, and considered to be one of the most informative on this wiki.
- Bludgeon is a Decepticon from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Bludgeon is a ferocious warrior, skilled in the ancient Cybertronian martial art of Metallikato. He and his blade can cut through the battlefield as if everyone else is operating at a minimal speed setting. Bludgeon's feats in battle seem nearly supernatural, which is probably the effect he's going for, if he doesn't believe his own hype. Utterly vicious and aloof, Bludgeon is also highly religious, adhering to an arcane code of honor. Though his beliefs fuel his single-minded bloodthirstiness with dogmatic precision, they also cause him to be rather superstitious.
Bludgeon's confidence, skill, and grand words have often catapulted him to the upper ranks of the Decepticons. Who wouldn't fall in line behind him? He's charismatic! The Mayhem Attack Squad is his usual host of cronies, but he's also been known to fill in as Decepticon leader if a power vacuum presents itself.
Bludgeon is (obviously) a Pretender who has adopted a shell which takes the appearance of a skeletal samurai. His signature weapon is an energo-sword, though he also carries a shield and an electric cannon. In accordance with his martial arts motif, generators in his shell's legs can create disorienting clouds of smoke, and he can generate electric fireballs from the torso of either his body or his shell. [1] It is unknown whether Bludgeon is any less agile or capable in his blocky robot mode, but it wouldn't be surprising.
| “ | Prattling fool! Your warrior heart is tainted by an idiot's tongue! Perhaps I shall remove both for you! | ” |
—Bludgeon takes on Jazz, "Primal Scream" | ||
- French-Canadian name: Gourdin ("Club", as in the beat-you-up-with kind)
- Italian name: Teskior
Fiction
Marvel Comics continuity
Generation 1
When Decepticons Catilla and Carnivac defected to the Autobots, a new Mayhem Attack Squad was formed which included Bludgeon, his Pretender cohorts Stranglehold and Octopunch, Needlenose, Spinister, and Snarler. After a mission simulation of Slaughter City, their prey was authorized -- they would hunt down and kill Catilla, Carnivac, and their new Wreckers friends. The Hunting Party They found Carnivac outside Dallas, Texas, and Bludgeon, promising him a warrior's death, led the charge. Way of the Warrior However, Carnivac escaped Bludgeon and the other Mayhems, Survival Run but tracked him down to Los Gravos, Mexico. Bludgeon fought Carnivac, and Spinister was about to deal the killing blow, when Catilla rescued him. However, Bludgeon threw his sword into Catilla, killing Carnivac's savior. As the rest of the Autobots arrived, Bludgeon ordered a withdrawal. Carnivac swore that Bludgeon and the other Mayhems would pay. A Savage Place!
He later took on the leadership of Thunderwing's new Mayhem Attack Squad, sent to slay the newly-resurrected Jazz, Bumblebee, and Grimlock. Alongside the Rescue Patrol, the Classic Pretenders were due to be teleported to Earth, an operation Bludgeon attempted to interrupt by shoving his blade through the transportation machine. Instead, he and the Mayhems were transported with the Autobots to the center of Cybertron. Yesterday's Heroes! Here, the Mayhems were foiled, although they inadvertently awakened the slumbering Primus in the process. Ultimately, the transportation was completed, and they were sent to Earth along with the Autobots, Primal Scream where they told Scorponok of Unicron's coming and joined his Decepticons on Earth. When Optimus Prime surrendered his Autobots to Scorponok in order to facilitate an alliance against Unicron, Bludgeon helped the other Decepticons imprison the surrendered Autobots. Surrender!
Bludgeon was seen fighting on Scorponok's side during the subsequent Decepticon Civil War ...All This and Civil War 2 and was transported with all of them to Cybertron by Primus. Primus (speaking through the body of Emirate Xaaron) told them of the history between himself and Unicron, while Bludgeon cleaned his sword. He was there also to quell the sudden Unicron cultist uprising, remarking that to a master of Metallikato, their moves were like slow motion. The Void! When Unicron himself arrived, though, the superstitious Bludgeon ran like hell. On the Edge of Extinction! Thankfully, Optimus Prime's sacrifice saved them all, and Bludgeon was there standing over Prime's body with a few others as he died. The Autobot/Decepticon alliance that emerged was shaky and the Decepticons leaderless, so Bludgeon and Krok discussed a plan of their own. Still Life!
Tensions came to a head when Blaster discovered that Cybertron was tearing itself apart in the aftermath of the Transformers' victory against Unicron. While Bludgeon openly kept the peace (like keeping Fangry in line at meetings), he and Krok began to worry that some of the Decepticons were in favour of peaceful alliance and plotted to break it up. New Autobot leader Grimlock almost gave them an opening by beating the tar out of Fangry, until Prowl stopped the fight; Bludgeon quickly exploited the situation anyway, demanding the full details of the Autobots' plans.
Now knowing they intended to start anew on another planet and live in peace, he sabotaged the Autobot ships and assumed command of the Decepticons. He gave the troops a rousing speech, condemning the Autobot plan as weak and advocating a return to conquest as was the Decepticon way. Having risen from the ranks to light their darkest hour, he was cheered on by the Decepticons. Exodus!
With his Decepticons eager for conquest, Bludgeon randomly selected the planet of Klo as their first target. A Savage Circle The peaceful inhabitants of Klo were easily (and violently) subdued, and Bludgeon thought this planet did not meet the challenges befitting their warrior race. In turn, Krok pleased him with news that their ships were bugged and that they should be expecting the Autobots to be arriving soon. The Last Autobot?
Indeed, when the Autobots arrived, Bludgeon's Decepticons were ready for them, luring them into an ambush—only five Autobots escaped their purge, and Bludgeon sent a small hunting party after them. Ultimate victory was snatched from Bludgeon only by divine intervention. The Last Autobot arrived with a resurrected Optimus Prime and the Neo-Knights. Bludgeon rejected this development on religious grounds; the Last Autobot, according to his beliefs, was the Ultimate Warrior, who was bent on conquest. He ordered his troops to attack the "unbelievers". Ultimately, the Decepticons were defeated. The Last Autobot was able to revive the fallen Autobots at will, and Bludgeon was forced to admit defeat and withdraw. As he and the Decepticons retreated, he promised a "solitary exile" to the Autobots—while saying something else to his subordinates. End of the Road!
Marvel UK future timelines
In an alternate 1990, Hot Rod was captured by the Decepticons and freed by an agent placed within the Decepticons. Megatron accused Bludgeon of being the culprit, and Bludgeon demanded the chance to prove himself through trial by combat. He was released and chased by Octopunch, Stranglehold and Warmonger. Bludgeon easily dispatched the former two but was caught from behind by Warmonger, who couldn't bring himself to kill in cold blood. Realizing who the infiltrator was, Megatron destroyed Warmonger, then reflected that it would have simply been easier to kill all four of them. Aspects of Evil!
Earthforce
Following Catilla's death, the Mayhems set up a base on a deserted island, where Needlenose decided to test their response time in an emergency. Enraged, Bludgeon threatened to tear him apart, but was stopped by Snarler. As Needlenose returned to his quarters, he was ambushed by Carnivac, who had snuck in during the chaos caused by his "drill". His calls for help were ignored by Snarler and Bludgeon. Cry Wolf! Carnivac decided to pick off Bludgeon next, finding him meditating. Bludgeon sensed him coming and took him on, and the other Mayhems responded to the commotion. Bludgeon wanted to finish this traitor with his blade as well, but Spinister decided to end it summarily by slagging Carnivac with his blaster instead. Wolf in the Fold! Angry at losing his kill, Bludgeon was pleased to find Earthforce attacking them, in an attempt to rescue Carnivac. He and his fellow Pretenders were defeated, outnumbered by the Autobots. But before they could be executed, a shell-less Carnivac appeared and told the Autobots to spare them, denying them a warrior's death. Where Wolf?
Captives of Earthforce, Bludgeon and his Pretender partners were held in a cell together. To get free, Bludgeon arranged a most subtle escape attempt with his cell mates. At first, they all remained completely silent for an extended period of time, partly to unnerve their guard, Inferno, but also to give Bludgeon time to make mental contact with his katana, locked away in the property vault. Once he found the weapon and began summoning it back to him through the hallways, Bludgeon signaled Stranglehold to begin pounding frantically on the floor. This sudden activity spooked Inferno into opening the cell door to pacify the prisoner, only to wind up with a floating sword in his backside. The Pretenders then simply walked out over his leaking body. Shut Up!
Afterwards, Bludgeon and the others hooked up with Megatron and Shockwave, the deposed leaders of the Decepticons, and took on a bounty to assassinate their betrayers, Starscream and Soundwave. External Forces! The assassins outnumbered their prey, but they hadn't counted on the Autobots intervening on Starscream's behalf. It seemed the Dinobot Snarl was dying, and could only be saved by a systems boost from a compatible Transformer, namely Starscream. Swoop and Sludge joined the fight on Starscream's side, and the Mayhems were defeated. The Lesser Evil
Another Time and Place
After the defeat on Klo, Bludgeon decided the Decepticons needed some "old blood" back in charge. He traveled to Earth and retrieved the deactivated body of Megatron from the wreckage of the Ark. Then, he seized upon an opportunity to follow Grimlock and the Dinobots to Hydrus Four, the source of the miraculous energy known as Nucleon which had supercharged the Dinobot commander. Slipping ahead of the Dinobots as they made their way to the medical facility, Bludgeon and his Decepticons set up a Holocaust Trigger to trap the Dinobots, disabling them without firing a shot. Unfortunately for Bludgeon, he ignored Fangry's cries of "Let's just kill them already!" and gave in to his inner Bond villain, keeping Grimlock and the Dinobots alive long enough for them to witness the triumphant resurrection of Megatron. That didn't mean, however, that he kept his fellow Decepticons from aggressively torturing their fallen captives.
In a matter of hours, a full scale Autobot strike force had tracked the Dinobots down to Hydrus Four and assaulted Bludgeon's position. Fearing his rag-tag team of Decepticons wouldn't be enough, Bludgeon accelerated Megatron's revival, sending the half-mad, half-living monstrosity at Optimus Prime. He had no time to gloat, though -- the heavily-injured Dinobot known as Swoop had dragged himself to the control module for one of the medical machines in the area, setting its spidery arms to work on Bludgeon, disassembling him in seconds down to his core components.
Bludgeon didn't even have time to scream. Another Time and Place
Generation 2
By "solitary exile", what Bludgeon had actually meant was "build a slag-off big planet-like spacecraft called the Warworld and attack vessels for their cargo across the galaxy". Primal Fear! He also battled Optimus Prime and the Autobots over a store of ancient alien weapons, but an alien entity drove him off. Ghosts After that, he went back to stealing resources—and finished the construction of a new generation of Decepticon warriors, who just needed the Matrix to come back to life. That meant luring Prime away from the Cybertronian Empire and to him... Primal Fear!
To lure Prime out, Bludgeon launched a full-scale attack on Earth and did succeed in drawing Optimus Prime to Earth's defense, but not before Bludgeon was confronted by the newly-rebuilt Megatron, who wanted command of the Decepticons for himself once more. Devices and Desires! Bludgeon destroyed Megatron's gun with one swipe of his blade, but neglected to realize how enhanced the new Megatron was -- the former Decepticon leader ripped Bludgeon's Pretender skull off with one hand. Undaunted, Bludgeon proclaimed himself an agent of chaos and transformed into his little-used tank mode to confront Megatron on his own terms. He briefly drove back Megatron, but ultimately the Decepticons' founder proved to be too much for their current leader, and his new railgun destroyed Bludgeon utterly. The Power and the Glory
The victorious Decepticon leader subsequently displayed Bludgeon's severed head in the Warworld, though he did muse that he might have spared Bludgeon's life if he'd known how much the guy had achieved and envisioned with limited time and resources. The Gathering Darkness Later on, the Decepticons would try not to say the word "bludgeon" around Megatron (even with the "to hit things" meaning) just in case it annoyed him. New Dawn
Generation 2 (Fleetway)
Intending to draw out Autobots to Earth and steal the Matrix to bring a new generation of Decepticons to life, Bludgeon attacked Earth in force—specifically London. Unfortunately for him, the Autobots were already there, and attacked just as his troops were low on fuel. Bludgeon fought Optimus in direct combat and lost. War Without End
He sneaked away to try the exact same tactic again—and learned if at first you don't succeed, Try #2 will get you killed by Megatron. The Power and the Glory
Classics
Optimus Prime was reluctant to prolong the war by following Bludgeon and his followers across the galaxy, but Grimlock was more than happy to. Grimlock, Ultra Magnus, and a crew of others searched and fought Bludgeon's Decepticons in the fringes of known space, but to no known resolution. At some point the mysterious Decepticon, Bug Bite, joined Bludgeon's Decepticons, and Bludgeon put him in charge of his own subgroup. Games of Deception
Dreamwave Generation One comics continuity
During the so-called "Dark Ages" of the Autobot-Decepticon conflict, Bludgeon, alongside Bugly and Mindwipe, formed the Chaos Trinity, a group that sought to harness the dark forces of the universe and use them to their advantage. During one of their ceremonies in the Orbital Torus State of Kalis, they were interrupted by the mysterious being known as The Fallen, who applauded their amateur theatrics while mocking the lack substance behind their words. He offered them power beyond measure in exchange for their servitude, a proposal that Bludgeon at first boldly refused, then agreed to once The Fallen changed the term for which they would be referred to. The Fallen tasked his new "disciples" with capturing a number of Transformers in order to perform a bizarre ceremony called The Unbinding in Cybertron's core. Fragmentation Soon, Bludgeon began to chafe at being ordered around without any tangible reward, so The Fallen gave him a glimpse of the dark power, ensuring the Decepticon's loyalty. While the Wreckers and Ultracons busied themselves with their civil war, unaware of the events unfolding, Bludgeon formulated a strategy to capture two of their targets: the Trinity would would exploit Grimlock's twisted sense of justice and have him deliver himself and Jetfire into their trap. Escalation
When Jetfire met with Shockwave in the Neutral Territories to discuss their suspicions about an outside force influencing the current conflict, the Trinity sprung their trap, attacking the Decepticon Commander. Bludgeon declared that once he would have never dared face Shockwave in battle, but he had been given new insights into the dark science and his ability to see the bigger picture, the latter no longer stood a chance. Once Shockwave was taken care of, the Trinity captured Jetfire, but noticed that Grimlock hadn't taken the bait of Jetfire's supposed treachery. As they prepared to leave, Grimlock jumped them, forcing The Fallen to step in. Revelation
With two of the targets secured, The Fallen ordered the Trinity to capture Hot Spot, leader of the Protectobots, while he would take care of the fourth target personally. In the ruins of Iacon, while the Protectobots were discussing their problems with maintaining their control while combined as Defensor, Bludgeon and the Trinity attacked, taking down the other Protectobots and capturing Hot Spot. Confrontation
While The Fallen used the four prisoners to unlock the Seal of Primus, Bludgeon and the others were forced to defend the access shaft to the underground chamber against the Decepticons. Though Bludgeon stood resolute, ordering his comrades to fight on, with the faith that they would be rewarded for their loyal service, his resolve soon crumbled when the Autobots and the Lightning Strike Coalition joined forces with Shockwave and eliminated Bugly and Mindwipe. Bludgeon escaped underground to seek his master, only to be gunned down by a teleporting Skywarp. Conflagration
Dreamwave Armada comics
A version of Bludgeon from an unspecified alternate reality was part of Galvatron's unit of Heralds, along with Dirge, Thunderwing and Scourge, sent to prepare Cybertron for the coming of Unicron. He was stationed as guard of the Decepticon base when Jetfire's unit arrived. While he put up a formidable assault (as Dropshot could attest), the Autobots eventually realized the secret to his technique and forced him to retreat, leaving behind his Pretender shell. Worlds Collide, Part 3 of 4 He returned when Jetfire attempted to use the space-bridge portal, but like the rest of the Heralds was shortly blown up. Worlds Collide, Part 4 of 4
G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers
Eons ago, when Optimus Prime was given the Matrix of Leadership, Bludgeon attempted to kill him, but failed.
Along with the Pretender Monsters, Bludgeon traveled to Earth, seeking to be present at the planet's destruction by Unicron. The group was shot down by the Chinese Air Force, however, and damaged in the process. An alliance with the underground kingdom of Cobra-La provided them with life-sustaining Pretender shells in exchange for protecting the kingdom. He was responsible for the death of Atomic Man in 1978, when the Adventure Team came snooping too close to Cobra-La's hidden lair in the caves beneath Tibet.
Decades later, Bludgeon engaged Optimus Prime in battle as the Autobot attempted to infiltrate Cobra-La's caves. After being burned by Bludgeon, Optimus ripped the chest off of Bludgeon's Pretender shell. In his anger, Bludgeon lost his edge and fell off a cliff. Although Optimus had caught him, Bludgeon chose to fall, standing by his philosophy of "merciless death and destruction." Black Horizon, Part 2 of 2
IDW comics continuity
Bludgeon was the leader of a team of Decepticons (including Iguanus, Finback, Skullgrin, and Bomb-Burst) who were assigned by Megatron to look into what Shockwave's various projects when he disappeared. Megatron also sent Soundwave to spy on them. During this time, Bludgeon discovered Shockwave's work on Regenesis. Eventually, however, they discovered the remains of Thunderwing, the Decepticon scientist who became the cause of the Cybertronian cataclysm. Bludgeon came to believe that Thunderwing was an avatar of the apocalypse, and became bent on restoring the wasted Cybertron to its former glory by resurrecting him. He and his team of Decepticons believed that in reawakening Thunderwing and turning him loose, the mass sacrifice of worlds would allow the rebirth of Cybertron. They also delved into the outlawed polydermal grafting experiments pioneered by Thunderwing, in an attempt to create super-shells of their own.
In 1984 they went to Earth to extract a load of Ultra-Energon, establishing a base within Mt. St. Helens. Soundwave naturally followed them. He eventually came to them asking for a cut of their profits, believing that they meant to sell the energon, but when he realized that they meant to resurrect Thunderwing he tried to stop them. They used one of Shockwave's devices to lock him in his alt-mode, then caused a volcanic eruption and returned to Cybertron via an orbital bounce. Spotlight: Soundwave
Twenty-three years later, Jetfire and the Technobots, detecting the Ultra-Energon from orbit, went to investigate, and were taken by the cult, planning to use them as raw materials for their shells. Bludgeon wanted Jetfire to witness Thunderwing's awakening, to make him see that Thunderwing had been right to experiment, but Jetfire eventually annoyed him too much. Connecting his mind to an Axis Cradle that controlled Thunderwing's blank neuroscape, Bludgeon sent Thunderwing to destroy Nebulos, then engaged the auto-drive to inspect his own shell's progress. Stormbringer issue 2 When Optimus Prime and the Wreckers attacked Bludgeon's base on Cybertron by surprise, Iguanus escaped to the bio-graft chamber to find Bludgeon—only to find the cult leader having donned full polydermal armor. However, in Bludgeon's rush, the shell was not mentally aligned, causing a psychic backlash that took down the Decepticon before the Wreckers even found him. It is unclear whether Bludgeon's mind survived, but if it did, it is apparently trapped in torment. Prime felt that he got off lightly for having unleashed Thunderwing. Stormbringer issue 3
After the defeat of Thunderwing, Bludgeon was transferred to Garrus-9, where Fortress Maximus stored his extracted spark in the Rig. Spotlight: Arcee
However, during Nemesis Prime's attempt to bring forth the Expansion, Bludgeon (his shell at least) was reactivated inside his cell by Jhiaxus to stop Jetfire from attempting to take control of Thunderwing. Spotlight: Doubledealer
The remote-controlled Bludgeon sliced its way into Jetfire's lab and Jhiaxus planned to have it kill the Autobot. However, multiple fronts of Autobot resistance at each Nega-Core kept Jhiaxus from focusing his full attention on controlling Bludgeon, and he was forced to abandon his effort to kill Jetfire. Cloudraker and Fastlane arrived and quickly disarmed the now-inert Bludgeon, and Jetfire borrowed the Pretender's sword to go aid Optimus Prime in his fight against Nemesis Prime. Bludgeon's body was presumably returned to confinement afterwards. Spotlight: Sideswipe
Some time later, Bludgeon had apparently been liberated by his fellow Decepticons and fully rehabilitated. Again in possession of his full faculties (such as they were), he was in command of a Decepticon warship crewed by the Monstructor Six. Still displaying cultish fanaticism and a cruel streak a mile wide, he urged his crew onward in pursuit of the maverick Autobot Hot Rod. Downing the Autobot's shuttlecraft, Bludgeon had his ship land and crew disembark to sacrifice Hot Rod for the greater purpose of restoring Cybertron. With the untimely arrival of the crew of the battleship Trion, Bludgeon ordered his acolytes to form Monstructor and crush the Autobots. However, his forces were put to rout by a precise shot from Perceptor's sniper rifle, which hit the vulnerable connecting joint of the large combiner. Realizing what he was up against, Bludgeon sounded the retreat. Lost and Found
Toys
Generation 1
- Bludgeon (Pretender, 1989)
- Accessories: Pretender shell, large "Laser Rifle" gun, tank turret/shield, small "Electric Cannon", helmet
- Bludgeon's inner robot transforms into a green and lilac tank of undetermined origin. Oddly, compared to most Transformers tanks, he has no wheels inside the static tank tracks for any sort of rolling movement; however, as the treads are arranged in two pairs, he is also one of the very few tank Transformers whose treads do not split apart during transformation. Transformation to robot mode is very similar to many tank-vehicle Micromaster figures, except one must remove the rotating turret piece to do so, with the removable main gun as his weapon, mounted in a hole in his wrist (rather than his hand).
- Bludgeon's Pretender shell, continuing the Decepticon trend of monstrous or war-like shells, is an orange and maroon humanoid samurai with a human skull for a head. Removing the helmet reveals great attention to detail to the skull, with cranium fusion seams and well-defined teeth, among other sculpting. The shell is armed with a white rifle and the inner robot's tank turret mounted on his arm as a sort of shield.
Notes
- Like Stranglehold and Octopunch, Bludgeon's character model portrays him with a specialized melee weapon. Bludgeon is consistently drawn with the character model's sword, which has become a trademark, despite his toy lacking one. The character model also seems to include a scabbard for the sword, though that is not included nearly as often. Why all three of these characters are given weapons that don't exist is unknown.
- The only time we see his character model is when it's copied faithfully by José Delbo in "Yesterday's Heroes!". (However, Robin Smith takes another crack at it in Fleetway's Generation 2 series, but a tiny few liberties were taken, style-wise.)
- The sword in his character model has unique detailing at the base of the front of the blade. In Delbo's rendition, it looks kind of like a dong. Elsewhere, not so much. Thankfully.
- Bludgeon's outer shell is a "Warrior-Grade Pretender Shell" equipped with an ambient stealth field.[2]
- Bludgeon came close to having a new toy on two separate occasions. The first was a planned 6" Titaniums toy, supposedly based on his War Within design [3], while the second was drawn up for the Universe line, but put on hold because of the large number of tank and tank-like vehicles released recently. [4] It seems likely those early plans were eventually developed into the Revenge of the Fallen Bludgeon toy.
- However, the origin of the Revenge Voyager class Bludgeon is older than one may expect. Artist Don Figueroa submitted a concept for a Unicron Trilogy Bludgeon toy that looked very similar to the final product way back during the development of the Energon or Cybertron toylines. Obviously, the concept wasn't put into production as a toy at the time, so Figueroa used it as inspiration for his IDW Publishing "Stormbringer" rendition of Generation 1 Bludgeon. However, Hasbro evidently resurrected the concept for the Universe and then the Revenge of the Fallen lines. Figueroa notes that his contribution on this toy is very small, as his work on it ended when he submitted the concept to Hasbro way back when.
References
- ↑ Bludgeon's More Than Meets The Eye profile says the electric fireballs are fired from either of his torsos. His original toy bio said they're fired from between his shell's antennas.
- ↑ Transformers: The Ultimate Guide, by Simon Furman
- ↑ Cancelled Titanium Bludgeon Revealed in TFW2005 Toy Database
- ↑ Bill Rawley in an interview for the Transformers Collector's Club magazine: "One that comes to mind right away is Bludgeon. We even started early design sketches for him but the fact that he would transform into a tank, in a line that had a lot of tank-like vehicles in it, meant that he would have to be put on hold... for now."
