Superion (G1)
| The name or term "Superion" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Superion (disambiguation). |
- Superion is an Autobot combiner from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Superion is the combined form of the Aerialbots:
- Silverbolt
- Air Raid
- Fireflight
- Skydive
- Slingshot (or Airazor in some versions)
In his combined form, his thought capacity is reduced to two things: destroy the Decepticons, and protect the humans. Because of this, he sometimes has difficulty adapting to new situations.
In all continuities he is depicted as being the chief rival and equal of Menasor. However, this makes more poetic than literal sense, as the real-life scale difference between their component vehicle parts would suggest a rather drastic disparity in actual stature.
Fiction
Generation 1 cartoon continuity
The Transformers cartoon
- Voice actor: Frank Welker (English, "Key to Vector Sigma Part 2" only), Ed Gilbert (English), Tomomichi Nishimura (Japanese), Roberto Alexander (Latin American)
Silverbolt showed the rest of the Aerialbots how Sparkplug was able to disregard his fatigue out of concern for Omega Supreme's well-being, thus demonstrating to his teammates that humans were worth saving. With that knowledge, the Aerialbots joined the Autobots in battle against Megatron's Stunticons. The Decepticon leader, seeing his new warriors being outmaneuvered, ordered them to merge and form Menasor. The Aerialbots countered to form Superion.
At first, Superion was able to match Menasor, but the Decepticon combiner's sheer aggression soon saw the Autobot on the defensive until he was trapped. As Menasor moved in for the kill, the newly-repaired Omega Supreme suddenly appeared, helping Superion get free. Together, they defeated Menasor and sent the Decepticons into retreat. The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 2
Weeks later on Cybertron, Superion had to fight against a damaged Guardian robot, whose immense strength pinned the Autobot down until he managed to knock the drone into the sky, destroying it. War Dawn
A battle in the Middle East pitted Superion against Bruticus. They were evenly matched but Superion won by separating just as Bruticus charged him (and fell into an oilfield). Aerial Assault
While defending the Statue of Liberty, Superion got a second attempt at defeating Menasor. This battle went a lot better for him, as he singlehandedly defeated Menasor and destroyed Megatron's Lightning Bug weapon. Cosmic Rust
Superion was part of Ultra Magnus's team which prevented the Decepticons from using a comet to destroy Metroplex. After the group was shot down over Eurythma, Superion continued to fight the Decepticons until Soundwave incapacitated all of the Autobots using a harmonic weapon he'd obtained from the natives. Carnage in C-Minor
The Aerialbots were sent to investigate strange activities by the Junkions, and formed Superion after coming under fire from both the Junkions and the Quintessons. Superion shrugged off the Quintesson fire, rammed their ship with his fists and shot through the ship's protective shield, hurting himself in the resulting explosion. The giant Autobot managed to send a distress call to Cybertron and was carried back to the planet with help from Sky Lynx. Just before going offline, Superion warned Rodimus Prime of the Quintesson interference. The Big Broadcast of 2006
In a surprise attack in the middle of an asteroid field, the Aerialbots tenderized Scourge and Cyclonus with laser fire and then united into Superion to cause the pair even more pain. Both Decepticons escaped from Superion into a mysterious vortex. Fight or Flee
The Burden Hardest to Bear When attempting to recover Optimus Prime's body, the Aerialbots were infected with the Hate Plague. While infected, they combined into Superion, who smashed a whole through the roof of the lab they had entered. Kup led a team of Autobots to attempt to subdue Superion, but they were shot down by the raging gestalt. Later, Defensor was helping evacuate a bridge when Superion attacked. Defensor was able to knock Superion away, but he bounced off the bridge cables, making contact with Defensor and spreading the infection further. The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1
Japanese cartoon continuity
Scramble City: Mobilization
- Voice actor: Tomomichi Nishimura (Japanese)
The Headmasters cartoon
- Voice actor: Ken Yamaguchi (Japanese)
During the Decepticon invasion of 2011, the Aerialbots assembled as Superion on Cybertron to fight off Galvatron's troops. Superion fought fiercely against Abominus, but was almost shot in the back by the underhanded Devastator. Luckily, Optimus Prime was watching out for the giant warrior. Four Warriors Come out of the Sky Superion, Defensor and Raiden were under heavy fire by the Decepticon combiners when the Battleship Maximus dropped from the skies to rain down terror and artillery fire on the Decepticons. The Mystery of Planet Master
Sometime later, Superion fought with Bruticus outside Trypticon, staging a distraction so that Twincast could break into the Decepticon base and retrieve vital information. The Great Cassette Operation He was formed again, on Cybertron, during the Decepticon raid for the new super-metal Cybertonuron. Superion scattered the Stunticons like tenpins. Cybertron Is in Grave Danger, Part 1 Later, he fought with Abominus (again) until Devastator accidentally shot his comrade (again). Cybertron Is in Grave Danger, Part 2
Superion assembled on the moon to attack the Decepticons during Scorponok's leadership rally. The tide turned when Galvatron arrived and galvanized his troops to strike back at the Autobots. Superion was zapped hard, and fled with the other Autobots. Return of the Immortal Emperor
Superion joined the entire Autobot army in journeying to the North Pole for a climactic battle with Scorponok. He fought against the evil combiners as the battle raged. Along with all the other Autobots present, Superion lent his energies to the Headmasters' Head Formation to revitalize Fortress Maximus at the critical moment. The Final Showdown on Earth (Part 2)
Marvel Comics continuity
Superion was first depicted in a series of visions experienced by Buster Witwicky, the Autobots' human friend who had once contained the Creation Matrix itself within his brain. After a particularly serious nightmare, Buster subconsciously drew the image of a five-jet combiner robot, a design far more sophisticated than what had been achieved by Cybertronian science up 'til that point. Devastation Derby! Another series of surreal dream images from Buster's mind saw the jet combiner in action, first destroying the Decepticon commander Shockwave who had recently bedeviled Buster, and then fighting against a new car-robot combiner. Realizing these dreams were in fact unfocused visions from the Creation Matrix itself, Optimus Prime decided to mind-link with Buster during his next bout of REM sleep, guiding the visions into a more coherent stream of information. The link was successful, and Prime and Buster observed Superion fighting alongside his fellow combiner Defensor against their Decepticon opposite numbers, Menasor and Bruticus at the Pullen Power Plant. The Special Teams Have Arrived Relating this information to Wheeljack, Optimus and his chief engineer began planning on how to make these dreams into reality. Second Generation!
After a successful siege on the Decepticon mining base enabled Bumblebee to record the transformation sequence of the Constructicons forming Devastator, Wheeljack went to work reverse-engineering and refining the process to create the Autobot Aerialbots and their combined form, Superion. Command Performances! Unfortunately, the Aerialbots were called into action at Hoover Dam before the personality programming could be completed. Only Silverbolt had been inputted with the necessary protocols that caused him to respect life and protect the humans at all costs. When the Aerialbots were forced to combine in order to destroy a massive energy drill sent over by the space bridge, Superion was confronted with a human pawn named Ricky Vasquez carrying Megatron in gun mode, infused with a cerebro-shell that forced him to obey the Decepticons' will. Still, Vasquez had begun to fight the Decepticons' control over him, and he tried to resist Megatron's order to shoot Superion. Seeing the human as a danger to his mission, Superion attempted to crush Vasquez and end the threat, but Silverbolt loudly cried out against that course of action inside his head. Strangely, Vasquez and Superion ended up not fighting each other, but themselves, frozen in mid-action as they fought against their own inner drives. Ultimately, Silverbolt forcibly disengaged Superion rather than risk harming an innocent life. Aerialbots over America!
Following the near fatality at Hoover Dam, the Autobots erased the Aerialbots' programming and memories, reconstructing their minds from scratch and giving them an infusion of Matrix energy to start over again. Superion next saw action against the Decepticon combiner known as Menasor, fighting to protect his comrade Skids and their human ally, Donny Finkleberg. Their fight was cut short, however, when the monomaniacal RAAT agent named Circuit Breaker used her powers to overload Superion's circuitry, leaving him open to a blast from Menasor's cyclone rifle. The RAAT agents managed to dismantle the combiner into his separate Aerialbot bodies and took them all captive along with several other Autobots. Heavy Traffic! The Autobots were only released after Circuit Breaker was forced to make a deal with them in order to end the threat of the rampaging Battlechargers. Decepticon Graffiti!
Later, the Aerialbots confronted Menasor again, only this time their fusion into Superion let slip Silverbolt's secret shame, and his fear of heights was shared with his fellow Aerialbots by the fusilateral quintrocombination. Horrified at being found out, Silverbolt caused Superion to lash out at Menasor with such savagery that they very nearly harmed the very humans they had come to save. ...Perchance to Dream
Still doubting the Aerialbots because of their Superion issues, Optimus placed Jetfire in temporary command of the unit and had him test them. When Jetfire was gunned down by Decepticons, they formed Superion: once again, he was left crippled by the combination of personality flaws and could only concentrate on combat, tearing into the enemy in a crowded, urban area. When a bystander screamed at him to realise what he was doing, the giant proved incapable. However, because Jetfire had been offline at the time, he remained unaware of the issues with Superion. The Return of the Transformers
When Optimus Prime determined that a new human construction named Power Station Alpha might tempt the Decepticons into action, he sent Bumblebee to attend the unveiling as a precautionary surveillance measure. Sure enough, Bombshell made an appearance, and so Optimus sent Silverbolt and the Aerialbots as back-up. They arrived just in time to see Bumblebee being blown away by the G.I. Joe team guarding Power Station Alpha. Assuming their Superion form, the Aerialbots attempted to threaten the humans into allowing them to retrieve Bumblebee's body. Blood on the Tracks An intense but one-sided conflict raged between Superion and the Joes until he received a signal from Blaster, conveying the horrific news that Optimus Prime had died in battle while the Aerialbots were on their mission. Superion immediately disengaged and returned to the Ark. Power Struggle
A short time later, the Autobots joined forces with both G.I. Joe and Cobra against the Decepticons, who planned to use Power Station Alpha to destroy the world. The Aerialbots entered the battle and became Superion to pit their strength against the mighty Devastator. Superion eventually scored the winning shot when his stress fracture cannon caused a malfunction in Devastator's coupling links, forcing him back into his individual Constructicon modes. ...All Fall Down!
Earthforce
At one point after the Aerialbots joined Earthforce, Superion was struck with a cerebro-shell, courtesy of the Insecticon named Bombshell, and he began to run amok, crashing through sparsely populated areas on a beeline towards major human population centers. The Autobots were unable to stop him through sheer force, so they enlisted the help of a human reporter named Irwin Spoon, giving him instructions on how to infiltrate Superion's exo-structure and manually pull the cerebro-shell out of his circuitry. Spoon succeeded in the nick of time, freeing Superion's thought processes right as he reached a local township. Inside Story!
Dreamwave Generation 1 comics
After General Hallo and Spike Witwicky revived Optimus Prime, Superion was one of several warriors that the Autobot leader called upon from the depths of the sea. Superion served as the Autobots' heavy hitter in their mission to stop Megatron's mad plan to infect the world with technomatter virus similar to the effect the Key to Vector Sigma had on organic life. During this crisis, Superion fought with Devastator before being forced back into his individual component robots. Prime Directive #4
Hallo launched a nuclear missile at San Francisco in an attempt to destroy all the Transformers, and Superion sacrificed his life to save the city by ramming the missile over the Pacific Ocean. Prime Directive #6 Superion's faceplate was recovered from the Pacific Ocean and incorporated into Hugo Fortuna's private collection of Cybertronian and Cybertronian-derived technology. Fortuna's collection was uncovered by Spike Witwicky and Franklin Townsend while they were investigating the mysterious disappearance of several Transformers. Hardwired Like Devastator, Superion's remains were later taken in by Earth Defense Command for study. Generation 1 #0
Transformers/G.I. Joe
After the Aerialbots awoke in 1939, they formed Superion during the battle against Cobra and the Decepticons on the Fera Islands. The giant saved Grimlock and Roadblock from falling off a cliff to their doom, before being sent onwards to the front lines. Wolves Superion waded towards the Terrordrome, but was ordered to halt when Optimus Prime noticed that Cobra were using their slaves as a human shield. Cobra used this opportunity to open fire on Superion with Shockwave's massive cannon mode. Trenches However, Superion stood strong, shielding his allies against enemy fire for as long as he could. He was eventually destroyed, but his sacrifice gave G.I. Joe a chance to rescue the slaves and get into the Terrordrome. The Iron Fist
IDW comics continuity
On the reformatted Cybertron, a mysterious force altered the Aerialbots to become Superion. Night and the City
Toys
Generation 1
- Superion (Multi-pack, 1986)
- Japanese ID number: C-55
- Accessories: Head, fists, feet, chest plate, waist plate, gun, Slingshot's gun, Fireflight's gun, Air Raid's gun, Sky Dive's gun
- Superion is formed out of all five Aerialbot toys, with Silverbolt serving as the central body component, and the four smaller team members as limbs, using additional attachments for Superion's hands and feet. A helmet covers Silverbolt's head and a red waist plate attaches onto his chest piece. He carries Silverbolt's rifle as his main weapon.
- Due to Silverbolt forming his torso, his design weaknesses are carried over to Superion. Additionally, as Silverbolt has rather thin legs, this leads to Superion having very thin thighs. His height coupled with the weight of his limbs can make Superion lean back, putting stress upon Silverbolt's weak and flimsy waist hinges.
- Superion is also a Scramble City-style combiner, meaning his limbs can be interchanged. Just don't put any Stunticon limbs on him, 'kay?
Generation 2
- Superion (1994)
- As part of Generation 2, Superion was redecoed in colours deemed popular in products of the time, or something like that. Silverbolt's white is replaced by light blue, Slingshot is gold, Fireflight a much darker red, Sky Dive silver and Air Raid blue. Superion could now wield two spring-loaded missile launchers that came with Silverbolt.
- Because Slingshot is so notorious for Gold Plastic Syndrome you might be better off not merging this guy at all. Or throw Afterburner in there as a limb. That might work better, yeah.
- Unlike his original release, Generation 2 Superion was only available by purchasing all five Aerialbots separately. Hah-hah, no gift set for you, Generation 2 Silverbolt and friends and GPS-having Aerialbot peoples! Okay, that got away from us a little there...
Universe (2008)
G1 Series
- Superion (Multi-pack, 2008)
- Universe Superion is a redeco of Energon Air Team/Superion Maximus combiner, along the same lines as Classics Constructicon Devastator. Although most of the original Aerialbot characters return in this set, Airazor replaces Slingshot. While the brief character description on the back of the box fits Slingshot, Hasbro stated in a Q&A session that Airazor is a new character designed "in memorium" [sic]. Unlike the simultaneously released Bruticus Maximus, Superion's components suffer some mostly safety-related mold changes. The F-22 styled sculpts have both had their nosecones blunted severely.
- Like Bruticus Maximus, Superion, despite being initially intended as a Universe Target exclusive, was only released in Universe packaging on some non-American markets such as Australia and Singapore. Instead, American Target stores (and Zellers stores in Canada) received an unchanged version of the toy in Revenge of the Fallen packaging, still named Superion, with all the individual components retaining their names as well.
Merchandise
Generation 1
- Superion (Watch, 1986, 1993)
One of three Transformers watches (the others being Ultra Magnus & Galvatron) released in 1986 in Japan. It was subsequently re-released in 1993 by Takara as merchandise for the Generation 2 line in the USA. The watch featured Superion's torso with a clock in his chest. It included a mechanism whereby when a lever was pushed, the torso "transformed" into a full tiny figure complete with legs, standing up on the watch band. The figure cannot be removed from the watch, but the arms do rotate.
Notes
- Marvel UK is notable in how it really ran with Superion's tech spec, and its description of him having limited, "kill the enemy" mentality and being a "fierce and frightful machine". Of the four times he appeared in UK strips, three times have him turning out to be an uncontrollable threat (and the other time was a dream sequence!).
- A Superion Action Master was planned at one point, but apparently went no further than a concept sketch. It was intended to be the included rider of a transforming motorcycle.[1] Strangely, the body was based on the animation model while the head was taken from the toy. The motorcycle shown in the concept art is based on Action Master Prowl's Turbo Cycle.
- In the Generation 2 toy commercial, Garry Chalk played the voice of Superion.
- Given that his patent varies the most from the final version in terms of how the individual robots connect to each other, it is fair to assume that Superion was the first Scramble City-style combiner to be designed.[2]
- Also of interest in the same patent application is that Superion is composed of five fighter jets, as opposed to four jets and a core passenger plane.
- 'Superion' is a partial Latinization of Hyperion, the name of a Titan in Greek mythology associated with the sun. The fully Latinized form would be 'Superio'. If following classical pronunciation, the last syllable of 'Superion' should be pronounced 'own', not 'on'.
Foreign names
- Japanese: Superion (スペリオン)
- Italian: Pentajet (toy line and season 3)
- Mandarin: Superion (Taiwan, 速伯利昂 Sù Bó Lì Áng), Dà WúWèi (China, 大无畏, "Great Dreadnought")
- Portuguese: Superior (Brazil comic)
