Black Shadow (G1)
- Black Shadow is a Decepticon Crossformer from the Victory portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
Hailing from somewhere beyond the Milky Way galaxy, Black Shadow (ブラックシャドー Burakku Shadō) is a vile gangster whose skills in robbery, extortion and murder are available to anyone who can meet his price. He is loyal only to the highest bidder; even the Decepticons are loath to work with him that often, as they can never be sure he won't betray them in mid-job if he gets a better offer. In jet mode, he can devastate buildings around him with powerful sonic shockwaves by breaking the sound barrier while flying at low altitudes, a technique he calls his "Sonic Boomer Attack".
His partner in crime is Blue Bacchus, a gunman with a similar personality and moral fiber who looks up to him. The pair's partnership has made them infamous throughout space, and there is a massive bounty on their heads, but Black Shadow would actually kill Blue Bacchus without remorse if the situation demanded it.
Fiction
Victory cartoon
- Voice actor: Yūji Mikimoto (Japanese)
Black Shadow and his partner, Blue Bacchus, were hired by Hellbat of the Breastforce to help him loot Planet Micro of all its energon. While the Crossformers caused massive panic and destruction, Hellbat got a clear run at the energy reserves. The incredible size and power of the Crossformers, especially on a world full of Micromasters, made their mission relatively easy, until Governor Riker called in Star Saber to help. When the Autobot commander arrived to stop the villains during their attack on the plasma energy plant that provided Micro with a third of all its energy, Black Shadow informed Hellbat that he would need to triple their pay for them to risk their hides in battle with the legendary Star Saber. Hellbat grudgingly agreed, but before the two Crossformers could attack Star Saber, they themselves were attacked by Saber's ally, their former partner in crime, Greatshot, who had reformed and joined the Autobots. At first, the pair seemed to have the six-changer on the ropes, until he used his "Disappearing Dust" technique to get the drop on them and destroy their guns. The pair proved to be no match for Greatshot with their bladed weapons, and he destroyed their outer shells, forcing them to retreat in their small vehicle modes, vowing revenge. Hellbat joined them in retreat, without any energy to show for his trouble, but the Crossformers insisted that he would still be paying them. Planet Micro - The Mysterious Warrior
The Breastforce weren't very happy that Hellbat hired them. Rescue! Gaihawk
TransTech
Black Shadow was a resident of Axiom Nexus, performing manual labor for Cryotek at The Blue Deployer and... other work as came up from time to time. When Gutcruncher started stirring up the Offworlder population for a revolt against the TransTechs, Black Shadow was hired to eliminate the rabble-rouser. At Gutcruncher's rally, Black Shadow assassinated the mech with a photon charge through the central cortex, killing him instantly. Also, thanks to his stealth field and deliberate positioning, he was able to frame two newly arrived Autobots named Jackpot and Hubcap for the murder.
Black Shadow monitored the patsies to make sure they didn't implicate him somehow, and he was overjoyed when they "showed" their guilt by escaping from the police. Taking advantage of the situation, Black Shadow planned to execute the duo to cover his tracks and collect on the bounty Gutcruncher's pals had taken out on the "assassins". He gloated openly about his schemes to the two Autobots, until they split up and scampered, hoping he couldn't follow them both. Well, he could—Black Shadow split from his Crossformer shell and took off after both Autobots. However, Hubcap ultimately outsmarted the Decepticon. The little Autobot used his speakers to draw as much attention as possible to their chase. Then, when Gutcruncher's flunky Dirge and a pack of Malignus Revolutionaries responded, Hubcap played back a recording of Black Shadow's gloating admission of the crime for all to hear. One more fancy bit of wordplay tricked the Crossformer into admitting his photon charges killed Gutcruncher, and the verdict was in. The Malignus Revolutionary Army and their Gigantion buddy Menasor ended Black Shadow's existence very quickly. At the same time, a mysterious capsule of Scraplet digestive acid went off in Black Shadow's shell, saving Jackpot's life and preventing any information from being recovered from the shell's CPU. Black Shadow's own head (and therefore his datatrax) also went missing in the melee after his death...almost as if someone were covering their tracks... Gone Too Far
IDW Generation 1 comics continuity
Long ago, Megatron called three of his most deadly warriors to him, intent on making them his "phase sixers." Black Shadow and Sixshot were the first two, and Overlord, who teleconferenced holographically while in the middle of a battle on Caldoon 4, was the third. Though Black Shadow and Sixshot were excited to serve the Decepticons in this expanded capacity, Overlord chafed. Last Stand of the Wreckers #2
Toys
Victory
- Black Shadow (Crossformer, 1989)
- Japanese ID number: D-309
- Accessories: Crossformer shell, 2 large rifles, small rifle
- Black Shadow is a redeco of the Pretender Thunderwing, transforming into a Cybertronic jet. His outer Crossformer shell's chestplate/head piece is retooled from Thunderwing's to make it more robotic. However, it still transforms into a larger Cybertronic jet like the original version. The inner vehicle can be attached underneath the nose of the larger vehicle to create a combined starship mode. All three of his guns can be mounted on his shell's vehicle mode.
Notes
- In Japanese, Black Shadow's function reads "Uchū Gyangu" (宇宙ギャング), which translates to "Space Gangster". The common misconception that he is a member of the "Space Mafia" is due to a mistranslation some years ago in which "gangster" was interpreted as "Mafia". Big difference.
- The Crossformers' ID numbers are actually a huge jump backwards in the numbering system. The other Victory Decepticons' numbers start at D-322. However, Shadow and Bacchus' numbers put them right in the middle of the Super-God Masterforce Decepticons' numbers, between 1988's Browning and BlackZarak, even though the Crossformers were released in 1989. What the hell?
Foreign names
- English: Thunderwing (Omni Productions dub)
