Viewfinder
- Viewfinder is a Decepticon from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Viewfinder is the sinister spymaster who leads the Reflector trio. He's a master of observation - there's nothing he loves more than watching someone and dissecting their flaws. He doesn't just use his skills to advance the Decepticon cause, mind you; he's also an unrepentant blackmailer of his Decepticon comrades. His only problem is that he's so smug and self-assured that he's incapable of recognizing his own flaws.
Fiction
Marvel Comics continuity
Spectro, Spyglass and Viewfinder worked with the Decepticon medic to repair their fellow Decepticons. Subsequently an oddly colored Viewfinder was seen decorating the cavern floor of Mount St. Hilary after all the Decepticons were rendered inoperable by Sparkplug Witwicky's poisoned fuel. They didn't even get to introduce themselves in painfully lengthy exposition. Alas, Reflector was taken away from us before his prime. The Last Stand
Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Dreamwave comics continuity
Viewfinder was part of Megatron's crew, active on Earth in the 1980s before the Ark II incident. After Megatron disappeared, Skywarp and the united Reflector trio refused to bow to Starscream's new regime in the human city of Las Vegas. They challenged Starscream to meet them at Hoover Dam and, once he arrived, Skywarp openly announced his intention to take the leadership of the Decepticons away from Starscream. In hiding at first, Viewfinder and Spectro flew out to join Skywarp and Spyglass in attacking Starscream once the gauntlet was cast down. After Starscream eliminated Skywarp and his partner, Soundwave, destroyed Spectro with a blast of concentrated sound, though, Viewfinder and Spyglass laid down arms and agreed to follow Starscream's command. Hardwired Their loyalty was quite temporary, however: Megatron returned to Earth several days later, and invited all Decepticons truly loyal to him to abandon Starscream's "New Centurion" empire. Viewfinder and Spyglass quickly accepted the offer, and left Las Vegas with Megatron and his loyalist faction. Along with Megatron's Decepticons, Viewfinder joined forces with the Autobots to battle the awe-inspiring aliens known as the Keepers. Annihilation After the aliens were supposedly dealt with, Megatron felt it was necessary to send a message to the American government, who had been interfering with Cybertronian matters far too much. He and the Decepticons therefore stormed up Constitution Avenue and wrecked the White House, while Megatron held the quivering and whimpering President menacingly in the palm of his hand. With Spectro fully repaired, Viewfinder and his partners were on hand to record the entire exchange, and then send it to the human news media to discredit the President. The human leader did not learn quickly, though, and immediately began making plans to lure the Autobots and Decepticons into an ambush in the Nevada desert. Megatron once again arranged for Viewfinder and his partners to record the American military making a blatant and unprovoked attack on the Transformers, and released the footage to the media to force the President to back off.
Why he didn't just order the President squished is a mystery for the ages. Fusion
Viewfinder was NOT part of Megatron's crew, but worked for Shockwave on Cybertron with his two partners, monitoring the planet and its inhabitants for him from a central mainframe. Brothers' Burden They were seemingly destroyed by Starscream when he broke ranks with Shockwave's command structure. Countdown to Extinction
IDW comics continuity
The Reflector trio were low rank-Decepticon hoodlums. Early in the war, they tried to stop an Autobot prison break in the Citadel only to be blown away by Springer. Rise
In spite of their fate, the three Reflector units reemerged on Earth around the year 2007. Viewfinder was among the leading ranks of a major ambush the Decepticons staged on Earth. The entire Reflector trio, speaking in chorus, celebrated afterward. All Hail Megatron #7
In New York City, the trio observed as Rumble compulsively destroyed a Volkswagen Beetle, and observed in chorus that it was a pity it wasn't the real thing. All Hail Megatron #3 Some time later, Viewfinder sat moping by himself as Spectro and Spyglass had fun murdering humans elsewhere. Even when alone, he still repeated everything the other two components said. All Hail Megatron #8 When the Decepticons were finally defeated, Viewfinder was among the troops who fled the planet aboard Astrotrain. Uneasy Lies the Head
The Reflector trio eventually obtained a starship of their own. When it crashed into the remote planet LV-117, Viewfinder was impaled by a shard of viewport, killing him. The Autobot Wheelie later stumbled on his unambiguously dead corpse, still sitting in his command chair and was chilled by the grisly sight. His companions Spectro and Spyglass would soon join him in death. Spotlight: Wheelie
Toys
Generation 1
- Reflector (Mail-away, 1986/1987; wide release in Japan, 1985)
- Japanese ID number: 21
- Accessories: Spectro's "Shutter Gun", Viewfinder's "Lens Laser", Spyglass' "Optic Blaster", flash cube/missile launcher, 3 missiles, telephoto lens.
- Reflector was first sold in Japan in 1985 as an ordinary retail item. However, Hasbro delayed selling him in the US until 1986, and only then via mail-order from a direct-mail flyer promoting The Transformers: The Movie. (Oddly, this came just as the character was being fully phased out of the fiction.) The toy would be a common offering in pack-in flyers from then on, at a cost of $10 and two Robot Points.
- Reflector is composed of three distinct robots that combine to form a camera: Viewfinder as the central component with the lens, Spectro as the right-side component with the shutter button, and Spyglass as the left-side component with the flash. It includes a telephoto lens and old-style flashcube that doubles as a missile launcher, but of course, the Hasbro version has the spring-loaded mechanism neutered for safety reasons.
Merchandise
Decoy
- Reflector (Decoy, 1986)
- Reflector was one of the many characters represented by a small plastic decoy included with certain Transformers for a brief time. The decoy is based on the cartoon design of Viewfinder. Most commonly, it was made with purple plastic, but a red rare version is known to exist and goes for a lot more on the secondary market.
Notes
Foreign names
- Japanese: Viewfinder (ビューファインダー Byūfaindā)
