Impactor (G1)
- Impactor is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Impactor is the leader of the Wreckers, an elite Autobot strike team, and as such is a deadly force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. Though he is dedicated to his troops, he is not so dedicated to his superiors, and is not above directly insulting them. Emirate Xaaron takes this attitude in stride, and can give as well as he receives. Impactor refers to the Autobot resistance leader as a "wily old buzzard," as he is often surprised by Xaaron's blunt yet indirect ways of making his point and getting what he wants. Despite this, their difficulties mask a genuine friendship.
Fiction
Marvel Comics UK continuity
After the leave of Optimus Prime, Megatron and their troops from the war, Emirate Xaaron assigned the Wreckers to assassinate the warlord Trannis, who came into power in Megatron's absence. Impactor was chosen to lead this team. Though the assassination attempt was successful, other leaders quickly sprung up to take Trannis' place.
Countless years later, after Optimus Prime and his Autobots had awoken on Earth, Impactor and the Wreckers were responsible for executing Operation: Volcano, a planned ambush of the Decepticons' fiercest warriors using Xaaron as bait. Ultra Magnus was assigned to the Wreckers to help them bolster their ranks for the mission, but he was quickly needed to travel to Earth to investigate the disappearance of Optimus Prime. Impactor's commitment to the mission wavered and he at first refused to deploy his team without Magnus there as back-up, but he changed his mind after a conversation with Xaaron. Impactor's doubts were further quelled when Xaaron convinced him that Springer, Broadside, and Sandstorm were an adequate replacement for Magnus, which Xaaron accomplished by having them disguise themselves as Decepticons and beat Impactor up. Operation: Volcano was once again on track.
Xaaron, the bait for the Wreckers' trap, was placed according to plan, but suddenly Megatron called his warriors to Earth, overriding all other commands, including the planned ambush on Xaaron. Disappointed that their trap was ruined, the Wreckers let down their guard long enough to allow an assassin named Macabre, ignoring Megatron's orders, to fire upon Xaaron. Impactor was the first to react and pushed Xaaron out of the way, taking the shots meant for the Autobot underground resistance leader. Immediately, the other Wreckers turned and fired upon Macabre, killing him, but Impactor was fatally wounded. With his last words he named Springer the next leader of the Wreckers before dying in Xaaron's arms, again calling him a "wily old buzzard." Target: 2006
Impactor's death would haunt several other Autobots for some time to come. Though he sought to deny it, Ultra Magnus felt guilty for not returning to Cybertron in time, and this led to his taking an excessive approach when dealing with Optimus Prime, whom intelligence reports stated was a traitor. Under Fire! Subsequently Magnus found a fight with Megatron proved the opportunity to release his pent-up aggression over Impactor's death. Resurrection!
Springer was also severely affected by Impactor's death, and felt inadequate in the shadow of his legacy. So when a rogue Autobot scientist named Flame discovered a way to reanimate dead Transformers, Springer was crippled from action when he was met with the reanimated corpse of Impactor. Legion of the Lost! His route to the kidnapped Wreckers and Xaaron blocked, he reluctantly fought his predecessor until Springer managed to jar Impactor into remembering his past life. Impactor sacrificed his life again when he stopped Flame's reactors from destroying Cybertron. Meltdown!
IDW Generation 1 continuity
Impactor was the original leader of the Wreckers, and their longest-serving member. It was he who coined the phrase "Wreck and Rule!" while saving Xaaron at the Sonic Canyons. Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 2
 Plot details for Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 4 follow. |
He was also obsessed with hunting down Squadron X, the Wreckers' Decepticon counterparts, and their rivalry came to an end long ago on the planet Pova. The official story was, his first officer Springer found himself trapped under some collapsed rubble as Macabre and his troops advanced. Rather than leave Springer to his fate, Impactor stayed with him, and at Springer's suggestion, Impactor fired at them through Springer's own torso to serve as cover. This caught Squadron X by surprise, and they were subsequently rounded up. However, despite the inhibitors placed on them, they escaped. Impactor led the remaining unharmed Wreckers against Squadron X in one final, epic battle of good against evil, and Squadron X were executed that day.
This was not what really happened. What did happen, whatever it was, caused Springer to testify against Impactor after-the-fact. Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 4 As extra punishment for refusing to show remorse for what he'd done, Impactor was not granted the mercy of spark removal, and instead was imprisoned normally. In jail, they called him "the Autobot that went too far". Last Stand of the Wreckers #2
Thousands of years later, Overlord seized control of G-9, and Springer's Wreckers were sent to liberate it. Springer was trying hard to not think of Impactor. Last Stand of the Wreckers #1 However, the Decepticon Snare, wanting Overlord gone, released Impactor from his cell in the hope he could escape the planet and get help. Last Stand of the Wreckers #2 As the current-day Wreckers arrived at Garrus-9, a decrepit Decepticon dropship blocked their path. It exploded before their eyes, but not before the battered form of Impactor ejected from the craft. Appearing before the shocked Wreckers, Impactor sneered, requesting to be let aboard. Last Stand of the Wreckers #1
He filled the new Wreckers in on the situation and how he'd escaped, while continuing to clash with Springer. He not only refused to recognize his former soldier was now in charge, he snarled that he used to think Springer would've done the same thing Impactor himself did on Pova... and was now sickened that Springer wouldn't. Conflict aside, Springer knew Impactor was needed for the mission. Given a new harpoon/hand, he was placed in Springer's drop-team and deployed to G-9... and he recognized, with visible glumness, the name of their secondary objective, "Aequitas."
Descending towards G-9 in two ejected escape pods, they met with tough Decepticon resistance. Despite their maneuvering, Impactor's ship was the first to go down, though the other wasn't far behind. Last Stand of the Wreckers #2 After their crash landing, Impactor led them towards where the Autobot prisoners were being held. Cell Block G was directly below him, best he recalled, but Twin Twist's drilling only sent them tumbling into a large empty chamber. At the bottom, Impactor found the twisted remains of Kick-Off, who he regarded as one of the few guards who treated G-9's prisoners with respect. Their presence in this chamber signaled G-9's defenses, and after he, Springer, and Twin Twist were electrocuted, they woke up strapped to tables in the care of Stalker. A sadist, Stalker grabbed his tools of torture and gleefully went to work on them. Last Stand of the Wreckers #3
Plot details for Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 4 follow. |
Unlike Springer and Twin Twist, Impactor had grown used to the Decepticons' methods in the time since their take-over of G-9, so he alone managed to stay online during Stalker's "work." Twin Twist was looking terrible and mangled, and Springer had just woken up when he and Impactor began talking about their murky past. Impactor accused Springer of betraying the Wreckers with his testimony against him, while Springer was surprised to learn that Impactor still had no remorse for what he'd done. So long as Impactor refused to realize that he'd done wrong, their feelings were at an impasse.
Stalker returned with a new torture device, but his work on Twin Twist was interrupted when his brother Topspin sacrificed his own life elsewhere, extinguishing both sparks. Disappointed, Stalker turned his attentions to Impactor, but was again interrupted. Kup, Guzzle, and the turncoat Decepticon Snare blasted into Stalker's lair. Snare was mortally wounded in the following skirmish, and Stalker was killed. As Snare laid dying, Impactor questioned him, wondering why the Decepticon had saved them. Snare told them that Overlord was on his way, and to please kill him, which Impactor did curtly before Snare could finish his final words.
True to Snare's last warning, Overlord arrived with a boom. Unknown to them, elsewhere the other half of the Wreckers had completed their objective by hacking the supercomputer judge Aequitas and downloading it into Ironfist's brain. They were surrounded by Decepticons who they could easily deal with if they simply signaled all the deterrence chips in their heads, killing them. But they knew this would also kill Impactor, who was also an ex-prisoner, and so his and their fate came to a vote. Perceptor voted for killing him for the sake of many, Pyro voted against, and ... Ironfist, Impactor's greatest fanboy, and new host to Aequitas' judgment of Impactor, came to the sad realization that his hero very much deserved to die. Last Stand of the Wreckers #4
Notes
- According to Dreadwind in issue #221's letters page, Impactor transformed into an "earth-boring vehicle". In the letter page to issue #238, Dreadwind clarified that he transformed into a drill tank but didn't have an earth mode.
- In the Marvel comics, Impactor's right hand can be interchanged for a harpoon. This emulates the wrist-launcher gimmick found in many Diaclone-based toys. He is frequently seen carrying a club which looks an awful lot like a gun barrel, and which may be a gun attachment for his right arm; but being Impactor, he only ever uses it to smack guys around.
