Particle cannon
The particle cannon is Galvatron's primary weapon. It is attached to his right arm and is devastatingly powerful, as is to be expected from a weapon forged from the remains of Megatron's favoured fusion cannon.
Fiction
Generation 1
Marvel Comics continuity
Cartoon continuity
IDW comics continuity
Particle cannons were used by Skywatch as lethal countermeasures in their campaign against the Transformers.
After Breakdown was captured by a team led by four crash suits, Spike Witwicky ordered the particle cannons on the supporting gunship armed in order to lure out any other Cybertronians in the area by giving the impression that Breakdown was about to be terminated. This worked, and oddly enough, Prowl attempted to come to the Decepticon's rescue, but was then disabled.
Later, particle cannons were used against the Autobots who attempted to rescue Prowl. Spotting one of the cannons being aimed at Hot Rod and Prowl, Ironhide hurled himself into the weapon's path, and died. ...For All Mankind
Machine Wars
Presumably, Starscream gained a new body with which he got back at Galvatron for killing him in 2005. Starscream then claimed the particle cannon as trophy. Genesis: The Art of Transformers
Notes
- Galvatron's cannon was named as such in the UK comics, in which it was generally referred to as a particle (or particle-accelerator) cannon. His toy's instruction sheet names the weapon a "laser" which, according to the toy bio, "emits chemically-produced, direct-current electricity". The Marvel UK name seems to be taken partly as a reference to Megatron's fusion cannon and partly on the toy bio.
- The 2008 Universe Galvatron toy has a "firing particle cannon" callout on the packaging, adding weight to that being the correct name of the weapon.
- As noted above, Galvatron's toy bio descirbes his cannon as a "laser which emits chemically produced direct-current electricity". While this is a rather strange thing for a laser to do, it is a neat pun on his name. A galvanic cell, named after Luigi Galvani, is a certain type of chemical voltage source. Though Galvatron's toy's batteries are not galvanic cells, they do produce DC electricity chemically, making his toy one of the more fiction-accurate in the Generation 1 line.
- Just as Megatron's fusion cannon was sometimes shown in commercials to have a handle, Galvatron's particle cannon had a trigger on at least one occasion. Galvatron apparently doesn't need to use the trigger; however, several times in season three, he behaved as if he was, holding his cannon with his fist vertically, rather than horizontally, while having one finger in front of the others... go figure.
