Broadside (G1)

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The name or term "Broadside" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Broadside (disambiguation).
Broadside is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Every mode is a loser.

Broadside is a huge loser. He's the forgotten Autobot Triple Changer who turns into either a tiny aircraft carrier and a jet, or an impossibly large "jet" and an aircraft carrier. Broadside also happens to be terrified of heights. And gets seasick on the water.

His life must suuuuuuck.

Fortunately, as one of the Wreckers, Broadside is almost constantly shooting the slag out of Decepticons, which is probably a good outlet for any frustration.


Italian name: Mistral
French-Canadian name: Navalo


Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

Events from the UK-only comics are in italics.

Broadside was present to watch Blaster and Grimlock duke it out on the moon. Totaled!

Broadside appeared as part of the Wreckers commanded by Springer on Cybertron, while they were been attacked at their Kalis base by the Legion of the Lost. Legion of the Lost! Following the Time Wars, Broadside become one of the Survivors.

Cartoon continuity

Voice actor: Bill Martin (US), Masashi Ebara (Japan)
Broadside had a troubled history in the animated continuity. A large Autobot spaceship that looked exactly like Broadside's jet mode appeared in Five Faces of Darkness, but was destroyed in the episode. In the following episode, The Killing Jar, a Quintesson scientist disguised his spaceship as Broadside and beckoned the Decepticon Cyclonus to come inside. For some reason, Cyclonus complied! His first confirmed appearance was in Thief in the Night, where he appeared in aircraft carrier mode. He fell on Devastator in Carnage in C-Minor, appearing in robot mode (albeit an old prototype design). In Grimlock's New Brain and The Burden Hardest to Bear, Broadside finally appeared in his correct robot mode.

Dreamwave comics continuity

During the first arc of Optimus Prime's tenure as leader of the Autobots, Broadside was an enormous warrior, as tall as the special combiner teams, and supposedly nearly as powerful. He helped defend the Autobot capital of Iacon. The War Within

A few thousand years after that, Broadside, now the size of a standard Transformer, is a member of the Wreckers fighting in the Tagan Heights. Most notably he organized the evacuation of his team when Devastator and Defensor were decimating the area. Possibly, Broadside had himself reduced after the signing of the Crisis Intervention Accords to keep his combat status nominal. The War Within: The Dark Ages

According to his DW "More Than Meets the Eye" bio Broadside was magically cured of his fear of heights and seasickness when Shockwave turned him into a triple-changer, but he still likes to complain about both anyway. (So basically in the DW-verse he's a whiner instead of a loser.)

IDW Comics continuity

Broadside was there. He saw it happen. The conquest of Kaon. The fall of a Prime. The beginning of the Great War. Broadside was there, and amazingly well armed for such a 'peaceful' period, though perhaps he took a clue from Sentinel Prime. Either way, the huge old bot was one of the survivors who managed to evacuate before Megatron's takeover. Megatron Origin

Presently, Broadside is a member of the elite combat unit "The Wreckers." Broadside appears to be the team's strongarm, and is second only to Roadbuster for total armament. He is also quite large (easily the tallest Wrecker), solving some of the issues of his mass-shifting. Typically in the air he worked alongside Whirl and Sandstorm, while on the ground he worked with Roadbuster and Scoop. He appears not to have the animated continuity version's phobias. But then, there isn't really time to complain when an omnicidal Pretender is trying to kill you. Stormbringer

Toys

Generation 1

A loser in three modes.
  • Broadside (1986)
Japanese ID number: C-85
Broadside is the most blatantly out-of-scale Transformers ever. He transforms into an aircraft carrier, and a rather unconvincing apparently-aircraft carrier-sized jet fighter. He carries a rifle and a (comparably) small axe as weapons in robot mode.


Trivia

  • Broadside has the distinction of having two animated character models, one based on a prototype toy that apparently went just short of production for some reason, and one based on the actual toy. The prototype design - which was used for the 1986 box mural, Carnage in C-Minor and his Marvel Comics appearances, albeit with a different coloration - features a head with antennae and a red humanoid face which appears to mounted on a horizontal pivot of some kind within the section of the aircraft carrier that folds back.
  • According to Carnage in C-Minor, Broadside has quite a temper when it comes to his paint job.




You will be whole again. I promise.
You will be whole again. I promise.
I cannot remain in this unacceptable operational status!

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