Twin Twist (G1)
- Twin Twist is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Twin Twist will sink his drills into anything, tearing it to shreds at the smallest excuse. He loves violence and fighting as much as your average Decepticon, full of fury and the desire to show off just how much destruction he's capable of doing. Optimus Prime sometimes worries about his uncontrollable nature, but no one can argue that he isn't an effective warrior.
As a Jumpstarter, Twin Twist and his brother Topspin can transform between modes in a fraction of an instant (.4 of a second), significantly faster than most Transformers.
He's a member of the Wreckers.
- French-Canadian name: Double Torsion
Fiction
Marvel Comics continuity
Twin Twist was a member of the Wreckers, and trained diligently with the other Wreckers in preparation for Operation: Volcano. When the operation's linchpin, Ultra Magnus, was required elsewhere, Twin Twist agreed with the others to drop the mission and redirect their efforts. However, after Twin Twist protected the weak in a bar brawl at Maccadam's, it was he who helped change everyone's mind by renewed their fighting spirit. Twin Twist and the others returned to training for Operation Volcano.
Twin Twist grieved with the other Wreckers when their leader, Impactor, died saving the life of Emirate Xaaron as Operation: Volcano ended horribly. Target: 2006
Twin Twist was one of several Autobots who attended the trial of four human children who were charged with aiding Blaster. No one knows how Twin Twist got there. Spacehikers!
After Impactor's death, Wreckers rookie Springer took his place. Some time later, Twin Twist stood with the Wreckers in the new Autobase in Kalis when a nuclear reactor exploded and hordes of zombie Transformers began pouring out of Cybertron's lower levels. Twin Twist was captured and imprisoned with the other Wreckers and Xaaron in Flame's underground base. Legion of the Lost! The Wreckers all managed to escape their cell, and after Twin Twist helped his fellow Wreckers fight through armies of Flame's zombie hordes, their undead former leader, Impactor, sacrificed himself to save all of Cybertron. Twin Twist joined the others in remembering Impactor's two heroic deaths. Meltdown!
Soon the time-traveling Galvatron who wandered Earth had attracted the attention of the Wreckers. After Twin Twist helped his fellow Wreckers memorize the stats of their foe, they warped themselves down to Earth to face him...and right into the middle of a heavily populated Earth city. Though Springer worried that this had totally compromised their mission, as they didn't want to inflict any casualties on the innocent humans, the Wreckers nonetheless threw themselves at Galvatron. Twin Twist and his Jumpstarter partner Topspin focused their efforts on Galvatron's equally time-tossed Targetmaster brethren, Cyclonus and Scourge. Eventually, to stave off further collateral damage, the Wreckers called off their attack. Wrecking Havoc
However, this only delayed the inevitable. Galvatron's presence in the present day had started to unravel the space-time continuum. Twin Twist and the rest of the Wreckers reluctantly teamed up with the Decepticons' counterpart organization, the Mayhem Attack Squad, to counter Galvatron.
Quickly, Galvatron began depleting the Wreckers' ranks. Though Roadbuster died inflicting a horrible head wound on Galvatron, this only made the Decepticon angry. With renewed fury, Galvatron tore through the Wreckers. He defeated Rack'n'Ruin and Twin Twist simultaneously, killing the latter by tearing off his head. Time Wars
Marvel UK future timelines
In the year 2510, Twin Twist witnessed the end of the old war and the start of a new one. With the last Decepticon destroyed, the Autobots began arguing among themselves as to whether Springer or Ultra Magnus should be Rodimus Prime's chosen successor. A scuffle broke out and casualties happened on both sides, leading to a new Autobot Civil War between the Technobots and the Wreckers, with Rodimus sitting in the middle of the war zone bawling like a baby. Peace
Dreamwave comics continuity
About 8 million years ago, Twin Twist began a lifelong obsession with the left feet of Transformers who were bigger than him. As an apparent founding member of the Wreckers, he tried to topple Devastator by drilling into his left foot. Amazingly, the strategy did not work. The War Within: The Dark Ages
In the present, Twin Twist and his compatriot, Topspin, served as guards under Shockwave's regime. Brothers' Burden Being elite soldiers, they also were members of Ultra Magnus's shock team. When Menasor was released to wreak havoc on Iacon, Twin Twist tried to attack his left foot. This time, it actually worked and toppled the giant. He survived the battle and uncovered evidence of Decepticon treachery in Menasor's rampage. Passive Aggression Twin Twist and Topspin continued to serve with Magnus on Cybertron after Shockwave's rule was overthrown. The Route of All Evil
IDW comics continuity
The Jumpstarters have a branched spark: a rare condition that means the two of them can share each other's pain and feelings, and sometimes perceive each other's circumstances. Twin Twist was the first to get involved in the Wreckers. Last Stand of the Wreckers #3
Teamed with Scoop, Twin Twist was working on drilling out a storm tunnel for Springer on Varas Centralus when they got the call from Optimus Prime to return to Cybertron to investigate the possible return of Thunderwing and rescue Jetfire's expedition team. Stormbringer #2 After Roadbuster and Whirl saved Afterburner and Nosecone from a squad of Centurion drones, Twin Twist's drills were invaluable for tunneling into the hidden base of Bludgeon. Stormbringer #3
Proving that obsessions exceed universal boundaries, Twin Twist continued his bizarre obsession with left feet by trying to drill the toes off the revenant Thunderwing. This time, he got kicked and stomped on for his trouble. Stormbringer #4
When the Wreckers were again called upon to battle Thunderwing on Corata-Vaz, Twin Twist was there, trying alongside his comrades to get past the massive Pretender to a Nega-Core it was guarding; a device essential for bringing forth the Expansion. One wonders why he didn't just tunnel underneath to get past Thunderwing... Spotlight: Hardhead Spotlight: Doubledealer
When Jetfire managed to remotely override Thunderwing's predetermined directives for a brief time, the Wreckers got by and found the Nega-Core. Twin Twist and Topspin then began attempting to decommission it, ultimately prepping it for transport through a space bridge portal. Once Autobot teams on different planets had reached the other Nega-Cores, Topspin carefully explained to everyone the process by which to properly unlatch and move them. Jetfire lost control of Thunderwing by this point and it turned back to resume attacking the Wreckers, but they managed to survive. Spotlight: Sideswipe
Sometime later, the Wreckers apparently had a battle with Turmoil and his crew of Decepticons that went badly. Twin Twist's fellow Jumpstarter Topspin and five other Autobots were taken prisoner aboard Turmoil's cruiser. Led by Kup, Twin Twist and the remaining Wreckers made a successful rescue attempt, thanks in part to their new recruit Drift. Spotlight: Drift With Kup back in the field, however, he recruited Springer and several of the Wreckers for his personal strike team.
Over two years later, the Wreckers were reformed and were taking on new recruits; Twin Twist and Topspin were still part of the team. While meeting the new guys, they saw Ironfist briefly fall unconscious. Twin Twist was going to have Perceptor fetched to check the guy out, but Ironfist claimed he was fine... while Guzzle revealed that Ironfist was the secret identity of "Fisitron", the historian behind the Wreckers: Declassified datalogs. Twin Twist was stunned, and then amused to find his official file was top secret and that Ironfist really wanted to know what was in it. While Topspin claimed they were just two normal guys really, Twin Twist gave a friendly warning for "Fisitron" to do "no more prying". Last Stand of the Wreckers #1 Before the assault on Garrus-9, Twin Twist briefly talked with Topspin about the vicarious perception they were experiencing, but decided not to let it distract them. During the assault he was placed in Springer's pod, and manned the pod's gun until he was knocked over by an enemy blast. Rather than falling to his death, he was saved by Impactor. Last Stand of the Wreckers #2
Upon planetfall, Twin Twist's group was followed by a group of Decepticons. The Wreckers responded with lethal force while Springer took a look at Twin Twist's wound. Needing to get to the cell block apparently below them, he painfully transformed into his drill mode— which was felt elsewhere by Topspin. He drilled directly into a large room and was again saved from his fall, this time by Springer. He reached a computer terminal and realized they had accidentally triggered a defense mechanism and were going to be vaporized. They tried to escape but were zapped by a high concentration of energy. Twin Twist came to in the presence of Stalker, who asked him to open wide as he brought a scalpel toward Twin Twist's head. Last Stand of the Wreckers #3
Stalker tortured Twin Twist in earnest, ravaging his face and eventually causing the Wrecker to pass out from the pain. Stalker left the Autobots alone briefly so he could go fetch the endoscopic claw, another torture device. Twin Twist woke up just in time to hear the bound Springer and Impactor arguing. Stalker returned with the horrific-looking instrument and resumed his torture of Twin Twist, despite the Autobot's desperate pleas. In the Aequitas chamber, Twin Twist's anguish was experienced by Topspin through vicarious perception. Rather than let his brother suffer any further, Topspin offered his spark up to bypass Aequitas' suicide lock. The two Jumpstarters died simultaneously, their shared last words being "Wreck and Rule!" Last Stand of the Wreckers #4
Toys
Generation 1
- Twin Twist (Jumpstarter, 1985)
- Accessories: "Semi Automatic Cannon-Rifle"
- Twin Twist transforms into a Cybertronic twin-drill tank via a very simple, one-step process. His vehicle mode features a pull-back motor which propels him forward; after a short distance, a latch on his body releases his spring-loaded legs, and the weight and momentum flips Twin Twist up onto his robot-mode feet. A small lever on the back of his head adjusts the timing of when his head hits the floor, and thus his kickoff angle, hopefully making this gimmick work better.
- This mold was redecoed to make Salt-Man Z and Robot-Man Z.
Trivia
- The Jumpstarters were originally Diaclone "Baku-ten (Blast-flip) Attack Robo" toys. The "Drill Type" that would become Twin Twist was available in two different color schemes: both had dark blue limbs, but one had a red torso while the other had a gray torso.
- The portraits of Topspin and Twin Twist on their bio cutouts were originally reversed, causing some children a bit of confusion. This was eventually fixed.
- Cartoon character sheets were created for both Topspin and Twin Twist back in the '80s, but they were never used in animation, not even in a commercial.
- Twin Twist has been found in a piece of Pretender concept art, likely being used as a pitch for the Pretender toy concept of simplistic Transformers in humanoid shells. His shell closely resembles that of Waverider though there are noticeable differences between Waverider's box art and the Twin Twist test art.
