Banzai-Tron (G1)
| The name or term "Banzai-Tron" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Banzai-Tron (disambiguation). |
- Banzai-Tron is a Decepticon from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Banzai-Tron is an entrepreneurial martial artist. Being a master of Crystalocution, Banzai-Tron can dismantle an opponent in seconds, only to sell the scrap later. Being very practical, he doesn't believe in the spiritual aspects of his martial arts background. Besides, the idea of a higher power would cramp the arrogant Banzai-Tron's style.
His Action Master partner is Razor-Sharp.
Fiction
IDW Generation 1 comics
Banzaitron [sic] is a high-ranking officer in the Decepticon Secret Service, possibly the director of the entire organization. He seems to possess a good deal of autonomy from Megatron in carrying out his actions. Banzaitron acts as the handler for Dealer, an unscrupulous Autobot who turned mercenary, selling secrets and services to the Decepticons for profit. Banzaitron attempted to acquire a legendary oracle called "the Magnificence" with Dealer's help, but the operation failed. Spotlight: Hot Rod
Dealer's cover ultimately remained intact, however, and he maintained contact with Banzaitron, selling him bits of information such as the existence of Transformer gestalt warriors discovered by the Autobots. With "Doubledealer's" information, Banzaitron tracked them to the penitentiary on Garrus-9 and staged a full scale assault on the Autobot base to acquire this revolutionary technology. After an opening mass bombardment, Banzaitron sent the Combaticons down in a dropship, and his soldiers successfully pulled the six Monstructor component robots out of Garrus-9 using an orbital pick-up. Spotlight: Arcee
Banzaitron and his Decepticons only made it as far as the Orcibe Cluster, where their captives were reactivated by parties unknown, allowing them to escape. The damaged Banzaitron was found by Arcee, with whom he formed an alliance. Spotlight: Hardhead Arcee joined him and his group in tackling Monstructor... but Arcee was convinced by Skram to give up that fight and go hunt down her creator, leaving Banzaitron and company to fend for themselves. How they fared in the battle is unknown. Spotlight: Sideswipe
Timelines: Wings of Honor
Banzai-Tron and his crew of experimental Skyraider warriors followed the Autobot ship Eight Track to the planet Beta-Nine, where he hoped to beat them to a mysterious cargo that had crashed there aboard the Van De Graaff. When the Autobot ship's youngest member was separated from the rest, he leapt out at him from beneath the swampy waters, missiles blazing. He ordered Hellbat to hypnotize the young Autobot, but interference from a native swamp monster distracted him long enough to allow their prey to escape. Banzai-Tron pursued in boat mode.
After the Autobot left the Van De Graaff with the cargo, Banzai-Tron again cornered the Autobot. Despite Skyquake's warnings, Banzai-Tron accepted a canister from the Autobot, only to quickly find that it was a decoy. A hand weapon sent to "overload" was inside, and it exploded in his face. Banzai-Tron was defeated and captured. Wings of Honor
Toys
Generation 1
- Banzai-Tron w/ Razor-Sharp (Action Master, 1990)
- Accessories: "Photon neutralizer" rifle
- Part of the third assortment of "basic" carded Action Masters, Banzai-Tron is a non-transforming action figure. Unlike the other Action Masters, he does not have any particular signs of an alternate mode, being largely a robotic samurai. He was sold on an individual card with his transforming partner Razor-Sharp. He is compatible with any other Action Master weapon or vehicle. Thanks to the peg on the tip of his rifle, he is able to hold his bayoneted gun as a sword.
Timelines
- Banzai-Tron (BotCon attendee figure, 2009)
- Accessories: 4 missiles
- Banzai-Tron is a redeco of Energon Mirage. The figure transforms into a sleek assault speedboat with multiple spring-loaded missile launchers, as well as fold-out wings for his "Hyper Mode". His transformation scheme is fairly complex, and as a side effect he ends up with some obnoxiously large vehicle mode shell kibble. Some bad design and excessively tight knee joints means his lower legs will often detach from the upper thighs whenever one tries to bend his knees. "To the victor go the profits," his original Tech-Spec quote, is written in Cybertronian letters on the sides of his hull. Banzai-Tron was part of a bagged souvenir set with Skyquake, limited to 1500 sets.
- This mold was also redecoed into Energon Dreadwing.
Notes
- Many promotional catalogs (and even his own Power Plans) consistently use a slightly different version of Banzai-Tron. It is notable for minor color variations, and spikes on his shoulders and helmet. Odder still, "Razor-Sharp" was usually depicted as the inner robot to Pretender Octopunch, but in Razor-Sharp's colors.
- Banzai-Tron is the third Transformer toy to carry a weapon that can be held as either a gun or a blade, the first being Pounce, the second being Pretender Grimlock's Shell.
