Crosswise (Cybertron)

The name or term "Crosswise" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Crosswise (disambiguation).

Crosswise is an Autobot from the Cybertron portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

Oh, friend John, it is a strange world, a sad world, a world full of miseries, and woes, and troubles.

Crosswise is a monster hunter, and shares the following attributes of all the better practitioners of his craft:

• Lots of weaponry for every occasion,
• A tough, no-nonsense attitude,
• A propensity to dress in kewl black, and
• A super-cool, generic Central European accent.

He sometimes calls himself Smokescreen, for some reason only a SUPER COOL MONSTER HUNTER could ever understand. Out of his way, peasants!

Japanese name: Autovolt

Fiction

Cybertron cartoon series

Voice actor: Michael Donovan (English), Kenichi Mochizuki (Japanese)

Crosswise was descended from the original crew of the Atlantis, who came to Earth millennia ago to establish the great Space Bridge project. He was one of the few Cybertronians who did not turn towards evil and torment early Humanity. Just the opposite: Crosswise fought valiantly against these "Ancient Decepticons" in their monstrous forms, establishing a reputation for himself as a metallic knight and "Monster Hunter". Using specialized technology, he reduced his quarry to their spark cores, compressing them inside sealed stasis pod containers and housing them in a prison at the North Pole. Trap

For some unknown reason, Crosswise himself was entombed in ice for over a thousand years. He was uncovered by a scientific expedition run by Lucy Suzuki after her first encounter with the Transformers. The excavation reawakened Crosswise, and he quickly scanned a new sports car mode to reformat himself before breaking free of the ice and taking off into the night. Trust

Immediately concerned for the status of his prisoners, Crosswise raced to the hidden ice cavern at the North Pole where he had entrapped them centuries earlier. He quickly managed to make it to the cavern and was relieved to see it was undisturbed. Unfortunately, his haste drew the attention of Starscream and Sideways, and Crosswise was drawn into a confrontation with the Decepticons. Hoping to lead them away from the cavern, Crosswise popped off a few shots at the evildoers to get them mad, and then sped away as fast as his wheels could carry him. Starscream wasn't fooled by the display, however, and he entered the caverns, unleashing the Ancient Decepticons in full on Earth once again. Trap

Crosswise went deep into the desert to Evac's roost in order to gather support against his foes. He was tracked by Sideways, but together he and Evac made short work of the noisemaker. Afterwards, the duo located Starscream amidst his Seeker ships and presented themselves for battle. Starscream fired off a cheap shot at Crosswise and Evac, but it was intercepted by Optimus Prime of the Autobots, who had also been warring with the Decepticons. Crosswise and Evac helped get the injured Optimus to safety for repairs and marveled at the fact that their new comrades-in-arms were from Cybertron, the legendary homeworld of their people.Invasion Crosswise joined Optimus Prime and his team to protect the Omega Lock and the other Cyber Planet Keys. They planned to leave Earth aboard the Space Bridge and draw the Decepticons away from the humans. Starscream was relentless in his pursuit of the Omega Lock, however, and stormed his way through a dozen Autobots to reach it. He downed Crosswise and Scattorshot in a single move. Retreat

The return of Megatron left the Autobots with another threat to deal with, and Starscream's theft of the Omega Lock took a back seat to the Decepticon invasion. Crosswise and Override took to the streets and disabled the partners in grime, Ransack and Crumplezone. Revelation Later on, Crosswise helped Jetfire against his old sparring partner, Thundercracker. Critical As the fighting continued, the Autobots finally managed to break free from Megatron's men and journey to the volcano in the South Pacific where Starscream was communing with the Omega Lock. Optimus Prime was making a run at Starscream, but a horde of Ancient Decepticons got in his path. Crosswise told Prime to go on ahead and leave the Decepticons to him. After all, in case you hadn't heard, they called him the Monster Hunter! Self-congratulations aside, Crosswise proved to be amazingly effective, downing a dozen Decepticons with as many shots. After that, the only challenge in fighting Ransack was staying awake while doing so. Assault

Crosswise continued to aid in the fight against Megatron and the Decepticons. Starscream When the Autobots managed to retrieve the Omega Lock, Crosswise provided cover fire to distract the non-gargantuan Starscream while Evac and a small team transported the Lock to Cybertron to use against the black hole. United All the Autobots eventually made their way to Cybertron to put the Omega Lock into place. Before the ceremony began, Crosswise stood with Evac, Override and Snarl and marveled at standing on their true homeworld for the first time. Cybertron He attended the awakening of Primus and fought against the returning Starscream as well. Balance

When Megatron first reappeared after his death, he was little more than a dark shadow. Crosswise, Snarl and Landmine tried to get his attention with laser fire, but failed. Darkness After Megatron fully resurrected himself, Crosswise and the Autobots raced to keep him from claiming the power of the now-massive Omega Lock plugged into Primus. Memory He continued to fight randomly with different Decepticons, though characters with newer or bigger roles overshadowed his presence. Escape

Eventually, Crosswise returned to Earth to continue his role as Monster Hunter(!) and beloved protector. While Evac joined the other Autobots in journeying to Gigantion the Giant Planet for the final Cyber Planet Key, Crosswise remained behind to protect the Earth in their absence, alongside Mudflap and the other civilian Autobots. The Ancient Decepticons had all been recaptured, and Crosswise entombed them once more at the North Pole. Family As the threat of the black hole continued to loom ever closer, Crosswise was seen on Earth with Mudflap, regarding it with intense trepidation. Challenge

The black hole soon brought down the wrath of God upon Earth, with harsh storms and falling meteors threatening the populace. Crosswise and Mudflap helped organize the civilian Autobots for rescue operations around the globe, but it was all little more than a stopgap measure against the true threat. Realizing they needed allies anywhere they could be found, Crosswise teamed up with Evac again, and the two old comrades journeyed to the North Pole, where they released the Ancient Decepticons from confinement. In exchange for their freedom, Lugnutz and the rest agreed to fight at the Autobots' side against Galvatron and the black hole. Homecoming Crosswise and Evac even teamed up with Lugnutz against his former pal, Galvatron's super-sized floozy, Thunderblast. End

Once the black hole was closed and Galvatron defeated, Crosswise and the others helped with the planetary thrusters that brought Jungle Planet back into its proper orbit. Unfinished Afterward, he chose not to join the Space Bridge project with Evac and Lugnutz. Instead, he remained behind on Earth, living a life of peace amidst the humans he had protected for so very long. But if the hydra of trouble ever raised its nine heads again, it would know that his name is Crosswise, the once and future MONSTER HUNTER!! Beginning

Toys

Cybertron

• Crosswise (Deluxe Class, 2006)
  • Japanese ID number: GC-17

I've come to slay your monster.

Cybertron Crosswise transforms into a Bugatti EB 15.4 Veyron sports car. Though the design is modified to avoid licensing and legal problems it is also quite realistic, compared to some of the other Earth vehicles in the Cybertron line. The spoiler is a spring-loaded missile launcher that can fire a translucent blue flame-shaped projectile. Plugging a Cyber Key in his tailgate makes a pair of missile racks pop up from the engine bay and flip over onto his roof.

Crosswise features a fairly complex transformation sequence hearkening back to Robots in Disguise Side Burn in how the robot wears most of the vehicle like a shell, though Crosswise's robot mode resembles the classic 'hood-chest' style of Autobot cars. Compared to most other Cybertron toys (and continuing his favorable comparison to the RID toys), most of his joints allow an excellent range of movement due to extensive use of ball joints and a relatively unencumbered body design. Inserting the Cyber Key flips the missile racks onto his shoulders beside his head, evoking a similar appearance to Generation 1 characters such as Prowl. Two more guns are molded into his inner running boards, and can be deployed beside his hips. Crosswise's Cyber Key has the Cyber Key Code "d9f2" tampographed on its back, which when entered into Hasbro's Cybertron website, reveals additional information about the character as well as the character image seen at the top of this article.

There are some minor deco differences between the Takara Galaxy Force Autovolt release and Crosswise. The Autovolt version has entirely gold painted hands, silver detailing on his missile racks and more of his rear lights painted.

Crosswise was later redecoed into Cybertron Smokescreen and live-action movieverse Jolt, and remolded into Shattered Glass Jazz and Ricochet.

• More information on Crosswise at TFU.info

Notes

• In Crosswise's early appearances on the Cybertron cartoon, he was called Smokescreen, as this was an early name for the character that had apparently lasted long enough to appear on dubbing studio Voicebox's scripts. The name was soon replaced by his proper one, but the earlier name did provide inspiration for the later Smokescreen redeco of Crosswise's toy.