Buzz Saw (BW)

The name or term "Buzzsaw" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Buzzsaw (disambiguation).

Buzz Saw is a Predacon from the Beast Wars and a Maximal from the Beast Machines portions of the Generation 1 continuity family. His name is also parsed as Buzzsaw.

Kid Friendly Character Rejection: Wrong kind of Bug

Buzz Saw is a figure of mystery, feared and respected on both sides in the Beast Wars. He is seldom even glimpsed as he flies at extreme altitudes to gather vital recon information or to rain unexpected death down on the Maximals far below. Little do any of them realize that he is, in actuality, a complete and utter coward, and his long range tactics stem entirely from the fact that he is terrified of coming into direct contact with the enemy. On the occasions where he must appear on an actual battlefield he does his best to remain at the back of the lines, hiding as best he is able behind dozens of other attacking Predacons. Socially he's a bit of a gossip and rather prone to bragging, wanting everyone to know what a great job he did on his last mission.

Buzz Saw is equipped with boosters that make him capable of escaping planetary orbit and flying free in space.

At some point after the Beast Wars he returns to Cybertron and joins the Maximals in their fight against Megatron's Vehicons.

Fiction

First wave toy bios

Buzz saw likes to gang up with his equally wicked partner, Waspinator, and revels in fighting land-based foes to give himself the extra edge in battle. His optical array is impressive, being capable of detecting Maximal activities from 200,000 feet by using infrared scanning sensors. His strategy is then to zero-in on his victims, and temporarily paralyze them with his air-to-ground "sting" missiles. Buzz Saw bio

The on-package bios of the first wave of Beast Wars toys, predate the development of the Beast Wars cartoon and its backstory. They seem to present the characters as a direct continuation of the previous Autobot/Decepticon conflict, with Optimus Primal actually being a new form of Optimus Prime and Megatron being his Generation 1 counterpart, and their battles taking place on present day, human-inhabited Earth, rather than in the distant past. Once the cartoon launched, the toyline adjusted itself to match that continuity instead, relegating this one to an aborted micro-continuity.

Intimidation Game

The Tripredacus agent Flamewar was held prisoner and interrogated by a group of Autobots and Maximals. However, this was actually a ruse perpetrated by Scourge and a group of Megatron followers, among them Buzz Saw (disguised as Obsidian). Intimidation Game

IDW Beast Wars comics

Just buzzing about. Don't mind me.

Buzz Saw was one of the protoforms on Earth reprogrammed into Predacons by Magmatron. The Gathering issue 2 He was sent to search for Razorbeast and his team of Maximals from the air by the recently revived Ravage. The Gathering issue 3 When Sky Shadow discovered the Maximals' lair, Buzz Saw was among the Predacons who participated in the battle that ensued. After being beaten by the Maximals and their newly arrived reinforcements, Buzz Saw presumably retreated along with the other Predacons. The Gathering issue 4

He popped up again in the air wing of the Predacons' last ditch assault on the Maximal base. The Ascending issue 1 After the initial charge, he spent the entire battle unseen (that'd be the cowardly long-range thing—see, Ascending had characterisation!) before popping up as a victim of the Pack's attack, Longrack nibbling on his wings. The Ascending issue 2 He was presumably left on Earth with many of the injured Predacons and Maximals as the rest returned to Cybertron to fight Shokaract. The Ascending issue 3

Beast Machines toy bio

Down in front!

Buzzsaw was saved from Megatron's virus by Rattrap, and has now become a part of the Maximal band fighting Megatron's rule over Cybertron.

Universe

Buzzsaw got a front row view of the wayward Autobots exiting their spaceship, at least until Rook shoved him out of the way to get a better view. Otherwise, he remained silent and blended into the crowd. Abduction

Toys

Beast Wars

• Buzz Saw (Deluxe, 1996)
  • Japanese ID number: D-9
  • Accessories: missile launcher, 2 missiles

A redeco of the original Waspinator mold, Buzz Saw transforms from an organic yellow jacket to a robot. The missile-launching gun stores in the beast-mode abdomen. Missiles for the gun store in the insect wings. His torso features a rotating center-block with a robot-mode head on each end; one is a "normal" robot mode face (with which he is usually depicted), the other a "mutant" face (which is nominally used by Waspinator).

The Takara release of the mold is slightly different from the Hasbro version, using a darker purple plastic, and replacing the lime-green plastic with a muted gray. (Curiously enough, the exact same plastic changes were done to Blackarachnia's Japanese release.)

This mold was also retooled to make Dirgegun.

• More information on Beast Wars Buzz Saw at TFU.info

• Showdown in the Darkness: Howlinger vs Buzz Saw (Multi-pack, 1997)
  • Japanese ID number: VS-9
  • Accessories: missile launcher, 2 missiles

In Japan, Buzz Saw was also available in a two-pack with the Maximal Wolfang. The two-pack versions are identical to their individual releases.

Beast Machines

Not to be confused with Gordon Sumner or Steve Borden.

• Buzzsaw (Basic, 2000)

Part of the first wave of Beast Machines Basics, Buzzsaw transforms into a technorganic wasp. His stinger/left arm is on a long flexible spring with a string "spine", letting it bend freely. It opens up to form a claw with extending needle, also revealing his spark crystal.

Buzzsaw is one of the few flying-insect Transformers whose bug-wings don't just hang off him as kibble, instead forming his robot-mode legs.

• More information on Beast Machines Buzzsaw at TFU.info

Merchandise

• Beast Wars Transformers Mutating Card Game (1997)

Buzz Saw was one of the 24 beast warriors to receive a battle card representation for the Beast Wars card game.

Notes

• The identification of Beast Machines Maximal Buzz Saw as the same character as the Beast Wars wasp stems from the fact that he was originally planned as a Predacon, until Hasbro decided more than two factions in the toyline would be confusing to kids. His bio still reflects this and talks about his conversion to the Maximals. Thus, as a Predacon wasp named Buzz Saw with the function "aerial recon" he would certainly have been the same bot. Hasbro has apparently confirmed this identification.
• Early concept artwork of Buzz Saw's Beast Machines body portrayed him in with a different color scheme.
• Buzz Saw's Beast Wars box art shows him with his "normal" head when in robot mode. This was most likely to make him look different from Waspinator, whose box art (and subsequent fictional portrayals) depicted him with his mutant head.
• The Beast Wars incarnation of Buzz Saw served as the inspiration for the homage-character Buzzsaw from the Cybertron series.
• His Beast Wars bio only uses genderless pronouns to describe him; He is only referred to as "It" or "Its".
• The Beast Machines version of the character had the pre-production names of Mudobber and Sting.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Buzz Saw (バズソー Bazu Sō)
• French: Frelon (Canada Beast Wars, "Hornet")
• Spanish: Abejorro (Beast Wars)