Skyquake (G1)
| The name or term "Skyquake" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Skyquake (disambiguation). |
- Skyquake is a Decepticon Predator from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Predator leader Skyquake is driven--you might say consumed--by a pathological hatred of anything and anyone that is not 100% pure evil. This leaves him with many targets of contempt even among the Decepticon forces. That rage, however, does not blind or control him. In battle, Skyquake is a cold, calculating destroyer, attributes which also even apply to his contempt for the Autobots. When he locks together with the smaller Predators under his command, he magnifies his long-range supersight abilities and enables instant communication with the minds of his underlings.
Skyquake even hates the small groups of Decepticons put under his command, and often subjects them to his experiments in body-structure science. His hatred is magnified by the sheer amounts of sensors built into his body; he's able to absorb such vast amounts of information, his apparent clairvoyance seems supernatural to those around him. He can literally smell fear and taste betrayal.
His paint job allows him to blend into the unique environment of the Skomiloch Territories.
- Alternate European name: Crash
- French-Canadian name: Aéroséisme
Fiction
Toy catalogue comic
During a Decepticon Predator attack on the Autobot base, Skyquake gazed into his Supersight as he was about to join the battle. Suddenly, into his Supersight view looms a menacing shape that strikes terror even into his hardened heart...
Presumably, Thunder Clash and Skyquake fought after this overly dramatic prose. Either him or Wheelie.
IDW comics continuity
Back before the war, Skyquake was part of Clench's inner-circle/gladiatorial team. Once Clench had, how shall we say... departed, he fought alongside Megatron in the Forge. Megatron Origin #2
Millions of years later, Skyquake led a force to the Skomiloch Territories to put down local resistance to the Decepticons' solar harvesting efforts. After crushing the resistance, Skyquake set up a mini-empire there, ruling the area while managing to stay on good terms with Decepticon High Command and Megatron himself. While there, Skyquake's team, the Predators, made adaptations to their bodies to suit the unique local environment. Snare's personnel evaluation
2412 meta-cycles later, during a galaxy-wide assault on Autobot-held positions, Skyquake led his Predators in a siege against the Garrus-9 prison world. Unfortunately, when that loose cannon Overlord arrived, Skyquake was visibly distraught. At first Overlord asked Skyquake nicely to hand over leadership to him; he refused to be Megatron's lapdog and had his own plans for Garrus-9. After some stammering, Skyquake refused. He would take Garrus-9 for Megatron as ordered.
Overlord apologized and fired into Skyquake's back as he walked away. As the Predators stood over Skyquake's smoking corpse, they viewed their new master in wide-eyed fear. Last Stand of the Wreckers #1
Timelines: Wings of Honor
Skyquake, known as a leader in body-structure science, particularly in creating unique "talent powers" and war-capable designs, developed an experimental Skyraider body refitting program. Leozack was his first test subject for this new body design, and soon Skyquake had converted not only several others but also himself.
Under Banzai-Tron's command, Skyquake, Leozack, Hooligan, Hellbat, and Gaihawk, followed the Autobot ship Eight Track to the planet Beta-Nine, where they hoped to beat them to a mysterious cargo that had crashed there aboard the Van De Graaff. Skyquake, Leozack, and Hooligan attacked the Autobots, separating the crew's youngest member from them. The Autobots' commander, Thunderclash, drove Skyquake and the others away with a barrage of firepower, allowing his crew to escape into the trees where the Decepticons would have to fight them on the ground.
Skyquake departed after Thunder Clash and ordered Leozack and Hooligan to kill the remaining two Autobots, Landshark and Flak. Unfortunately, Skyquake and the others were defeated and brought back to Cybertron as prisoners. The battle on Beta-Nine began the Autobot/Decepticon civil war. Wings of Honor
Toys
Generation 1
- Skyquake (Large Predator, 1992)
- Accessories: Missile launcher, 14 missiles
- Skyquake transforms into a large bomber jet, its model pretty much made-up but based (loosely) on an SR-71 Blackbird recon plane. His primary gimmick is the "Megavisor", a periscope system that the smaller Predator jets can attach to, showing their slides. Skyquake himself has two built-in slides; in jet mode an image of Rotorstorm can be viewed, while the robot mode picture showing the unmade Autobot Turbomaster Hyperdrive. Each wing also contains a "carpet bombing" gimmick, a rolling drum that drops the Predator-style missiles. This can also be targeted via the Megavisor; by twisting the small tail wings at the back, a mirror swings into a 45 degree angle. When you look through the eyepiece, you can then see directly down relative to the jet, enabling you to see where the bombs will land. He also has a standard Predator hand-held missile launcher, which mounts under his jet mode.
- Skyquake's scope is prone to Gold Plastic Syndrome, and is very delicate. It can break rather violently if one of the smaller Predator jets is attached to him. So don't do it. Attach them to Stalker instead.
- Skyquake was later redecoed (with neutered gimmicks and no handgun) to make Machine Wars Starscream and Universe King Atlas.
Timelines
- Skyquake (Deluxe, 2009)
- Accessories: Sword, rifle, 2 missiles
- Skyquake is a redeco of Energon Starscream, available exclusively at BotCon 2009. The existence of this figure was first announced by artist Andrew Wildman (who drew the character's profile art) in a blog post on February 23, 2009... and apparently Wildman jumped the gun a bit, as he soon had to delete the posting.[1]
- Skyquake transforms into a jet fighter loosely based upon the F/A-22 Raptor. The toy features numerous spots of sculpted battle damage. He comes with two very large accessories, a sword and a non-firing blaster, which can combine to form a really larger sword and/or non-firing blaster. In jet mode he has two wing-mounted spring-loaded missile launchers, which can flip up over his robot-mode shoulders. Limited to 1500 sets, Skyquake came bagged with Banzai-Tron.
- This mold was also redecoed as Energon Energon Starscream and BotCon 2009's Leozack.
Notes
- Skyquake might be the physical model for Operation Combination's unseen Decepticon leader Scrash.
- Interestingly, his first toy was redecoed into a Starscream, while his second was redecoed from a Starscream.
