Runway (Armada)

Runway is a Mini-Con from the Armada portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Runway is the de facto leader of the Air Defense Mini-Con Team, and also the most talkative of the three. Though reluctant to enter battle, he's an incredibly skilled and quick-witted commander. Given a little time, he can come up with some truly bizarrely-genius ploys that look suicidal at first, but really work out. Even though he's the brains and mouth of the Team, Runway trusts his teammates implicitly, and always looks to them before acting.

Japanese name: Jetter

Fiction

Armada cartoon

The animators took tips from José Delbo and AKOM in character model tracing.

Dreamwave Armada comics

Runway and his fellow team members, Jetstorm and Sonar, used to live in Mini-Con Village B13, one of the first to be attacked by the Decepticons. After managing to escape imprisonment, they took refuge in a junkyard, salvaged an old starship and thought up a plan to free their fellow Mini-Cons and leave the planet. To this end, they recruited Sparkplug after finding him injured near Village C52. The mission was a complete success, and the Air Defense Team successfully rescued all the Mini-Cons in the Decepticon base and left for the deep reaches of space. Unfortunately, their ship started malfunctioning shortly after takeoff. Dreamwave Armada issue 2

The ship crashed on Earth, and its occupants were left deactivated for roughly a million years. When the Air Defense Team woke up, they hid in a meat processing plant in Rapid City and began to plan for a way to get their war off this planet as well. Most of the planning was left to Runway, though, as Jetstorm and Sonar were incapable of creative thoughts. But it didn't matter in the end, as the Decepticons found them, captured them and forcibly combined them into the powerful Star Saber. Dreamwave Armada issue 6 Megatron used the sword to attack the Autobot base, but Optimus Prime took it from him and begged the Air Defense Team to fight Megatron's control and remember who they were. His pleas got through, and Runway and his teammates separated and fought back against the Decepticons. They still didn't want to join the Autobots, though, and went back into hiding. Dreamwave Armada issue 7

Some time later, the Air Defense Team was summoned to a strange structure in Kansas. Mindlessly, they flew to to the structure and entered it, and it turned out to be a starship designed to bring them to the Moon. Dreamwave Armada issue 8 They arrived at a fortress base constructed there by the Mini-Cons, and Runway, Sparkplug and Leader-1 were taken on an extended tour around the base by Dualor. Dreamwave Armada issue 9 The three were returned to the other "guests" just before the Decepticons attacked the base. Dreamwave Armada issue 10

Following the evacuation of the moonbase, Runway and his teammates disappeared for a while. They returned when a larger threat than the Decepticons showed up in the form of a Herald of Unicron. Against their better judgment, the Air Defense Team came to Megatron's aid and combined into the Star Saber, allowing him to defeat his powerful opponent. Worlds Collide, Part 3 of 4 Thankfully, Megatron didn't get to keep his hold on the Star Saber, as the Land Military Mini-Con Team distracted him and allowed the Air Defense Team to separate and escape. Worlds Collide, Part 4 of 4

The Herald of Unicron was soon followed by Unicron himself, so all the Mini-Cons on Earth gathered to join the fight against him. After returning to Cybertron, Runway joined the rest of the Mini-Cons in channeling their energies through the Mini-Con Matrix and heavily damaging Unicron. The End

Panini Armada comics

In the Panini comics, Runway's name and personality were switched with Jetstorm's (see Notes for more information). This article considers this to be an error, and the events below relate to the Mini-Con with Runway's body rather the Mini-Con with Runway's name.

Runway was among the Mini-Cons who ended up near Lincoln, Nebraska when their ship crashed, but he disappeared shortly after being reactivated. Deep Trouble! Alongside his teammates, he began performing various heroic deeds around the country, such as diverting a falling satellite from crashing in Chicago. However, this accident turned out to be bait set by Starscream, who was out to capture the team. Runway and Sonar's firepower failed to affect him, but thankfully, they were saved by a team of Autobots. Devices and Desires!

The Air Defense Team wanted to get off Earth, and they decided that the best (if not the nicest) way to do it was to steal a human spaceship. But when they broke into a NASA facility, they found soldiers from the Extra-Terrestrial Response Division waiting for them. Before he could react, Runway was shot and incapacitated by the humans' "scramblers" and taken to Area 54 alongside his teammates. Unlike the others, he didn't wake up automatically, but had to have his auxiliary processor rebooted by Sonar. Meanwhile, Jetstorm found that the ERTD had captured another team of Mini-Cons, but the Air Defense Team was forced to flee the complex before they could do anything about it. 'We Are Not Alone!'

A while later, the Air Defense Team was again hunted down by Starscream, who had placed a tracer on Jetstorm during their last meeting. After defeating them in combat, the Decepticon disengaged their personality chips and combined them into the legendary Star Saber, which he promptly used to assault the Street Action Team. However, Starscream didn't know only the will of the Air Defense Team members could keep the Star Saber's power in check, so without their personalities intact, the weapon quickly went out of control. As its power threatened to rip the Earth apart, Optimus Prime showed up and urged Runway and the others to separate our of their own free will. His words reached them, and the planet was saved. The Two-Edged Blade! The Air Defense Team subsequently told the Autobots about the Mini-Cons captured by the ERDT and managed to track them down thanks to Amos Hume. As they found the Land Military Team, Runway told his comrades to disable the humans' technology with pulse disruptor beams. Sale of the Century!

Toys

Armada

• Air Defense Mini-Con Team (Mini-Con Team, 2002/2003)
  • Japanese ID number: MM-02

Runway transforms into a Boeing Sonic Cruiser concept jet plane. He also forms the tip to the Star Saber sword, which can be held by any other Transformer that has 5mm fist-holes. This version came with his partners Jetstorm and Sonar.

This mold was also used to make Jackknife. It was later retooled to make Energon Wreckage, Beacon, and Cybertron Sunstorm.

• More information on Runway at TFU.info

• Hot Rod and Jolt with Air Defense Micron (Multi-pack. 2003)
  • Japanese ID number: MS-01

For the Team's Takara release, they were available both as an individual set, and in a multi-pack with Hot Shot. All of the toys in the set are identical to their individual releases.

• Air Defense Micron X-Dimension (Mini-Con Team, 2003)
  • Japanese ID number: MM-07

A redeco of the Air Defense Team was available in a shorter run in Japan. The X-Dimension Air Defense Team changed the opaque plastics to orange and red, and the paint trim to match. Though fans have dubbed the combined form the "Fire Saber", this name does not appear to be official.

• Jetter (Change Micron, 2003)

Available only in individual boxes each with a small bag of sugar-pellet candy, the Kabaya candy toy versions of the Team replaced the clear plastics with opaque white. This version is actually a completely new mold-set, with various small differences from the Hasbro/Takara releases.

• Jetter (Micron Booster, 2003)
  • Booster ID number: 3

Part of the first Micron Booster set, sold only in individual blind-packed boxes, this version of the Air Defense Team is almost wholly identical to the normal retail release. The only difference is that this version is cast in slightly-sparkly plastic and uses slightly-sparkly paint. The difference is almost unnoticeable unless you look at the two versions side-by-side.

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

A "tainted by evil" redeco of the Team released by Hasbro, this version of the trio replaces the transparent plastic with opaque off-white, the other colors turning predominantly black and purple.

This coloration was altered for the Takara Air Assault Mini-Con Team, who are separate characters from the Air Defense Team.

• Air Defense Micron Anime Color (Mini-Con Team, 2003)

Cast entirely in blue and clear-blue plastics, this incarnation of the Air Defense Team is supposed to represent the Star Saber as it appears in the cartoon, with a glowing blue "energy blade". It was only available as a pack-in with the CD single of the Micron Legend cartoon ending theme, "Never Ending Road", by Psychic Lover.

Notes

• The Air Defense Team is the only one of the three "legendary Mini-Con weapons" Teams to appear in either of Armada's sequel-series.

• Runway and Jetstorm's names are reversed in the original Air Defense Team's instructions. Their names are also reversed in several licensed Armada print material, like the coloring and activity books put out by Bendon Publishing, as well as in the DK Readers book "The Quest". Finally, it also happened on several occasions in the actual Armada television show. One of the few places it didn't happen was with the Dreamwave comics, but with the character's first appearance, the name was misspelled "Runaway". Fortunately, this didn't crop up again.