Electro
- Electro is an Autobot Laser Rod from the Generation 2 portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
Turbocharged and livin' large, Electro defends the streets. That is, when he's not racing through them at excessive speeds that leave behind the tell-tale treadmarks of a vehicle equipped with posi-traction. This feature, combined with dual racing cams and a nitro-injected fuel supply, gives this Laser Rod the confidence he needs to never back out of a race. Electro doesn't back down from a fight either, using an armor-slashing light saber to battle his Decepticon foes.
- Japanese name: Effectro (e-fe-ku-to-ro, エフェクトロ)
Fiction
Marvel Comics continuity
Generation 2
Electro was one of the new Decepticon Laser Rods created by Megatron using the Creation Matrix, which he had stolen from Optimus Prime. However, Electro was curiously absent from the Laser Rods and Rotor Force's first mission on Tykos to capture the rheanimum. He was not seen until sometime later on Earth, after the Decepticons had joined forces with the Autobots and engaged in total war with Jhiaxus's battalion. He and Volt happily used the energies of their swords to zap the Cybertronian Empire's warriors to pieces. Total War!
Later, he and Hot Rod were scouting the enemy position for the alliance just as the Swarm arrived. A Rage in Heaven!
Japanese G2 minicomics and story pages
During the great Generation 2 battles, Electro was teamed-up with his Laser Rod partner, Volt, and worked closely with Optimus Prime as one of his most trusted warriors, joining his commander in battle against Megatron. G-2 #1 After Prime blasted Megatron with a "Matrix Saturn" attack, Electro had a lapse in judgment and moved into the smoking crater to finish their foe off. Megatron rose unharmed from the smoke, grabbing Electro's head with his hand. G-2 #2 His buddy being held hostage, Volt immediately sprang to Electro's rescue. G-2 #4
Electro then found himself pitted against the likes of Jolt and Sizzle, who declared their intent to turn him into Autobot scrap. Electro briskly defeated them with his "Knee Flash Kick" and declared that he'd turn them into Decepticon scrap. G-2 #3
Ganged up on in a later battle, Electro and Volt attempted to retreat. Megatron then ordered Jolt to follow them and locate Optimus Prime. Jolt caught up with them and knocked them both out with a powerful jump kick. G-2 #5
Eventually cornered by a horde of Decepticons, Electro and Volt ordered the troops not to break formation. The rebellious Autobot ninja Road Rocket ignored that order and took on the entire horrified battalion of Decepticons on his own. Electro and Volt were left thinking their comrade was nuts. G-2 #11
Electro and Volt eventually succeeded in busting Hooligan's wing, forcing him to attempt to escape their pursuit on foot. Luckily for Hooligan, he managed to run into Road Pig. Road Pig and Hooligan then teamed up on the very surprised Electro and Volt. G-2 #12
Megatron later took Electro prisoner back to Decepticon headquarters, admiring his skills in battle. Megatron attempted to turn him to the side of the Decepticons, but Electro refused. He was quickly rescued by Jetfire. G-2 #16
Following Optimus Prime's final triumphant battle against Megatron, Electro and Volt helped their badly wounded commander onto his feet and carried him back to base for repairs. G-2 Part 6
Comic Bom Bom G2 manga
Electro was being pursued through space by Jolt, when he was forced to land on the moon. The two Laser Rods fought vigorously until Electro impaled his opponent on the tip of his sword. The crafty Decepticon then set off his engines' afterburners in Electro's face, trying to burn the Autobot away. Electro managed to escape as Jolt exploded and died, but not before the Decepticon revealed that they were after Earth's forestonite.
Electro then traveled to Earth, confronting the Decepticon Cyberjets at an air show in Japan. He was briefly able to hold his own, but found himself preoccupied trying to keep a human boy named Junpei from getting killed. After sending Junpei to safety on a hoverboard, Electro was battered by Hooligan's missile attack and suffered severe injury and severed limbs. He was only saved by the intervention of Optimus Prime and was later helped off of the battlefield by Volt. Generation 2: The New Battle!!
Dreamwave comics continuity
Electro and Volt were briefly seen on Cybertron with the Brainmasters, after the fall of Shockwave's united government. Atonement
Timelines: Wings of Honor continuity
Electro was created on Earth using a combination of human and Nebulan science. By reverse-engineering the power of Vector Sigma, the humans were able to create a new generation of Transformers native to planet Earth. Electro and his partner Volt established themselves as energy specialists. Inevitably, conflict broke out on Earth as it once did on Cybertron, and the "second generation" Transformers chose sides. Electro and Volt became part of the Autobots under Pyro's command.
During a mission to Switzerland, Clench and his Decepticon Syndicate seized control of the Large Hadron Collider and captured Pyro. Electro was part of a squad led by veteran Turbomaster rear guard Scorch who delayed the main Decepticon forces long enough for reinforcements to arrive from Autobot city and for Rapido and Streetwise to infiltrate the building secretly from the rear. Once the reinforcements arrived, Aquafend dispatched Electro and Volt to locate the Collider's control systems and shut it down before the Decepticons could make use of its power. During the fight for the controls with Decepticons Sizzle and Jolt, they were exposed to the cyber-mutagenic forestonite gas accidentally set loose by Breakdown. Electro developed a Laser Rod power, enabling him to charge his sword with lightning-like effects. The Autobots soon rallyed around their new powers and drove the Decepticons away. Generation 2: Redux
IDW comics continuity
Electro was part of an Autobot squad led by Sunstreaker when they were attacked by Deadlock and his troops. He was shot in the back and killed while attempting to retreat. Drift issue 1
Toys
Generation 2
- Electro (Laser Rod, 1994)
- Japanese ID number: TRF-3
- Accessories: Sword
- Electro used to transform into a gold Ford pickup truck hot rod. (Yes.) Much like on his fellow Laser Rods, pressing a button on his hood would cause a red LED to light up, making his clear plastic engine glow red. In robot mode, this LED could be moved around at the end of a wire, and could plug into the bottom of either of his fists, allowing his light saber to be similarly illuminated. Also like other Laser Rods, he had a number of different hinges in his limbs and a rubber band waist similar to those of G.I. Joe figures, giving him an unusually large amount of articulation for the time.
- That was Electro in 1994. Today, Electro tends to be a mutilated robot corpse amidst a pile of tiny gold plastic fragments, a dismembered pelvis (and upper legs) with a place to thread a long-ago-snapped rubber band, and a wire that may or may not still be attached to anything. All he can transform into now is a pile of broken dreams.
Commercial animation
- In the commercial for Dreadwing and Smokescreen, the Decepticon jets fight Sizzle -- even though he's supposed to be a Decepticon -- and a gold redeco of Sizzle who's presumably meant to be Electro. So that's strange.
