High Wire (Armada)
| This article is about the Armada and Energon Mini-Con. For the Universe Mini-Con, see High Wire (Universe). |
- High Wire is a Mini-Con from the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.
High Wire is a bike. Motivational, intelligent, yet ego-free, he believes unwaveringly in the power of teamwork, and though he wouldn't admit it, he is great at leadership.
He combines with his fellow Street Action Mini-Con Team members to form Perceptor. On at least one occasion he has demonstrated a limited ability to manipulate time.
- Japanese name: Wheelie (Armada), Hopper (Energon))
- Russian name: Wire (Armada)
Fiction
Cartoon continuity
Armada
- Voice actor: SFX, Terry Klassen (US); SFX, Akira Tomisaka (Japan)
A million years ago, a ceasefire was called between the Autobots and the Decepticons, during which it was decided to banish the Mini-Cons from Cybertron so they would never be used as tools of war again. High Wire was among the Mini-Cons who were placed in stasis inside Mini-Con storage panels on board the starship Exodus for the long journey into deep space.
However, during the launch of the Exodus, the Decepticon leader Megatron betrayed the ceasefire and attacked, hoping to take all the Mini-Cons for himself. The Autobots managed to hold off the Decepticons long enough for the Exodus to make it to a warp gate and leave Cybertron behind forever. After drifting through space for countless years, the Mini-Con ship collided with the moon of a primitive world that would become known as Earth and broke apart, half of it remaining on the moon while the rest crash-landed on the planet's surface.
Thousands of years later, a human schoolboy named Rad and his friend Carlos were exploring the caves under the local observatory when they discovered the remains of the Exodus. Rad was drawn to the glowing, green Mini-Con panel in the darkness, and when he touched it, the systems of the Exodus reactivated and sent a signal back to Cybertron. Now the Transformers knew what had become of the Mini-Cons. After Rad and Carlos exited the caves and met up with Alexis, they were confronted by Megatron himself. In his fear, Rad stumbled and dropped the Mini-Con panel, which activated and released High Wire. High Wire was shocked to see Megatron and scanned Rad's bicycle to enable the escape for his new friends and liberators. However, Megatron managed to stop them and demanded the humans turn over High Wire. Fortunately for all concerned, the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime, arrived to confront the Decepticon leader. First Encounter
Energon
Dreamwave comics continuity
Armada
Energon
Fun Publications Cybertron comics
Panini Armada comics
Back on Cybertron, High Wire was a chemist of sorts, and once developed a nice and clean way of processing waste fuel. Unfortunately, his attempts to save the environment were for naught, as the Decepticons soon "turned the skies black with smoke" anyway. Just a Memory! He later left his home planet alongside most of the Mini-Con population, and ended up crashing on Earth and laying dormant for four million years.
High Wire was the first Mini-Con to meet Rad, Carlos and Alexis after they accidentally reactivated the Mini-Cons onboard their crashed ship in a cave. He helped Rad and Carlos out of the cave and tried to explain that he had come in peace, but hadn't picked up much English yet. Fortunately, Megatron showed up to translate for him. Unfortunately, Megatron was there to capture the Mini-Cons and conquer Earth. High Wire scanned Alexis's bike for an alternate mode, then transformed and carried the three kids to safety while Megatron was distracted by Optimus Prime. He met up with the rest of the awakened Mini-Cons, but they refused to help Optimus Prime against Megatron, as them getting involved with the war again would only end badly. First Encounter! Rad, disgusted by their cowardice, went off to save Prime by himself. High Wire realized that he couldn't let the human go alone, then raced after Rad, saving him just before Megatron could stomp on him. He ended up being punched by Megatron in the process, but was pulled out of danger by Longarm. Friends and Foes!
After the battle, High Wire and the rest of the Mini-Cons joined the Autobots. He spent some time racing with his new human friends, but they were soon sent by Optimus Prime to recover the locator log from the Mini-Cons' ship. They found it, but came under attack from Demolishor, who quickly took High Wire and Sureshock out with a single blast. Deep Trouble! In order to learn more about life on Earth, High Wire began following Rad around during his daily routines. While watching Rad during a chemistry class at school, he witnessed Billy and Fred messing up his experiment. Remembering his own experiments on Cybertron, he pulled the two troublemakers out of the window and avenged Rad by giving them a beating. Rad felt that this would only get him into trouble, and took High Wire to his other friends, who had similar "help gone wrong" experiences with their Mini-Con friends. High Wire was embarrassed, but Rad promised to guide him through proper human behavior. Just a Memory!
Some time later, High Wire almost returned to Cybertron when the Autobots decided to keep the Mini-Cons safe by sending them home. In the end, they remained on Earth due to various circumstances. No Way Home! The Street Action Team were racing with Rad, Carlos and Alexis again when they came under attack from Starscream, out to get himself some Mini-Con upgrades. High Wire threw Rad off of him and told him to get help, then combined with his teammates into Perceptor and did battle with Starscream. After Optimus Prime showed up and saved the day, High Wire hi-fived with Rad and explained that they had kept Perceptor a secret as sometimes, the less people know about Mini-Cons the better. The Two-Edged Sword
When the Autobots were threatened by Decepticon warheads fired from the Moon, High Wire and the other Mini-Cons offered to surrender themselves in order to buy the Autobots time to prepare. They were subsequently imprisoned on a solar barge which was then pulled towards the Moon by Cyclonus. Earthshaker! After breaking out, High Wire and Sparkplug activated their magno-clamps and walked out on the barge's hull, where they disconnected it from Cyclonus. Sparkplug was knocked into space in the process, but High Wire told Jolt to save him, and everyone returned safely to Earth. Lost in Space!
Legends anthology
After Alexis, Carlos and Rad failed to adequately explain Halloween, they invited the Mini-Cons along with them while Trick-or-Treating. High Wire was the first to catch on, but was confused by Rad mentioning that if they didn't get candy, they could t.p. the house. Something Robotic This Way Comes
Toys
Armada
- Street Action Mini-Con Team (Mini-Con Team, 2002)
- Armada High Wire transforms into a tiny BMX bicycle with turning pedals. His robot mode is adorable. He can combine with Sureshock and Grindor to form Perceptor, becoming the head and back of the gestalt form.
- Street Action Micron Anime Color (CD w/ toy, 2003)
- These redecoes of the Street Action Team were available only with the CD single of the first Micron Legend theme song, "Transformer: Dream Again" by Psychic Lover. The toys were decoed to be more cartoon-accurate; in High Wire's case, he has more detailed paint operations for his face and his Perceptor head kibble is a lighter blue.
- Wheelie (Change Micron, 2003)
- Part of the first assortment of Kabaya Change Microns, this candy toy version of High Wire is almost identical to the original toy, but was actually made using an all-new mold. The most obvious change is his face, which is now painted with a red mouthplate and no eyes. High Wire came in an individual box, packed with a baggie of sugar-pellets.
- Magna Convoy DX Set (Multi-pack, 2003)
- An X-Dimension redeco of the Street Action Mini-Con Team was packaged only with the Toys "R" Us Japan exclusive Magna Convoy DX toy. Grindor was given a red and black color scheme.
Energon
- Perceptor (Basic, 2004)
- Energon High Wire transforms into a dirt bike that doesn't hold together very well. His robot head can be used as a kickstand in this mode. Once again, he can combine with Sureshock and Grindor to form Perceptor. For some reason, it's hard to tell what side of his head is actually his face.
- Energon Kicker with High Wire (Deluxe, 2005)
- High Wire is a much larger, near Basic-sized version of Energon High Wire. He is an all-new design with increased detailing and some minor design changes, but unfortunately is out of scale of the Kicker figure he is packed with. He has a spark crystal on his chest rather than a Mini-Con powerlinx port.
Universe (2003)
- Perceptor (Basic, 2005)
- Universe Perceptor is a repack of Energon Perceptor, with no changes to the contents within.
Cybertron
- Blastcharge vs High Wire (Mini-Con 2-pack, 2006)
- Cybertron High Wire is a redeco of Energon High Wire. His vehicle mode's paint scheme is based upon Evel Knievel's various American flag-themed motorcycles. He retains his ability to combine with Sureshock and Grindor to form a patriotically-coloured Perceptor.
Notes
- The Energon Kicker with High Wire set was not "mech-designed" or engineered by Takara employees, a rarity for normal-series Transformers toys.
