Skywatch
- Skywatch is a human organization from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
Skywatch is a government organization who deals with Cybertronians. It has changed a lot throughout the years.
Originally a covert organization originally bent on investigating the Cybertronian presence on Earth, Skywatch would collect offlined aliens and attempt to control them to their advantage. Eventually, the Cybertronian presence became common knowledge following an alien invasion of Earth, and Skywatch was reworked from the ground up. It became a military force working under the United Nations, using reverse-engineed Cybertronian technology to aggressively hunt down and detain the aliens, who were deemed enemies of humanity.
But as time went on, some Skywatch agents learned that the Autobot side of the Cybertronians were really not hostile at all, and a secret alliance was formed between them. They now work together to capture the Decepticons hiding on Earth.
Known members
- Campolongo
- Collins
- Emily
- Corporal Joe Henderson
- Colonel Gordon Horiuchi
- Lieutenant Daniel Klonowski
- Kloss
- Lieutenant Larsen
- Lopez
- Maria
- Kyle Pennington
- Joshua Red (former head)
- Sandra
- Schwalbe
- Doctor Weston
- General Daniel Witwicky (current head)
- Major Spike Witwicky
Known contacts
Skywatch units
Fiction
IDW comics continuity
In 1985, at Mount St. Helens in Oregon, Skywatch excavated a giant condor robot and a giant jaguar robot from a volcanic eruption the year prior. Group leader Joshua Red believed this discovery would finally give them the funding they required. Spotlight: Soundwave
In the following years, Skywatch gained a base in Washington, D.C.. From the outside, it appears to be a derelict building. They possess a secondary base in Carson City, Nevada, which appears to be a disused warehouse, and appears to be a new base. Yet another base exists in Salt Lake City, Utah, which appears to just be for storage.
In 2007, in Eureka, Nevada, Skywatch took over the excavation of a giant purple robot and several giant dinosaur robots. Escalation #5
In Washington, D.C., the active condor and jaguar robots were being held in a Skywatch facility. Escalation #6 Following the Brasnya conflict, Skywatch deployed to the battlefield with intention to use the jaguar and condor robots (which had undergone "conditioning") to find the other Transformers. There was no possibility of this blowing-up in their faces. Devastation #1 And then it blew up in their faces when their robots went AWOL, responding to an alien signal from a blue, secondhand microcassette recorder, right as giant robots starting trashing American soil. Devastation #4
Due to the Reapers' attack on Decepticon headquarters, Skywatch decided to activate the most advanced of the "Eureka-6": Thunder Lizard-1. Devastation issue 5 When their scientist, Weston protested he couldn't "process" TL-1 this quickly, Joshua Red explained they had no choice — they were at war, it was going to get worse, and "we can't rely on anyone coming to our aid!" Thunder Lizard-1 was transferred to the Carson City base, which was a dark, bare warehouse at the time. Devastation #6
Soon after, the base was now a high-tech hangar-cum-control center, designed solely for processing and activating the Thunder-Lizards. This appears to have been hurriedly put together, as Skywatch did not have time to make proper signs for all their doors and had to scribble the names of several rooms down in pencil, with a reminder to make a better sign.
Weston was worried that the techniques used to program the robot, knocked out in a few days, would blow up in their faces; Red ignored his concerns, focusing on the need for Earth to have an asset against the enemy robots. So, inevitably, this experiment blew up in their faces as well. A mole secretly working with the Machination interfered with the re-activation process and Grimlock (or Thunder Lizard-1) regained control of his functions and broke out of the base. Agent Red ordered the scientists to figure out what went wrong and to begin preparations for the other "Thunder Lizards" to be deployed. Even though Grimlock's reactivation was sabotaged, Agent Red still learned nothing. Idiot. Spotlight: Grimlock
In a shocking development, when the "Thunder Lizards" were quite easily reprogrammed and worked perfectly, Red began to show suspicion that something was up. When the lost Thunder Lizard-1 appeared in Fallon, Skywatch mobilized to isolate the town, cut communications, and send in their robot teams... Maximum Dinobots #1 who caused greater damage and had their neural nets go wonky. In a further example of his new-found brain cells, Red realized this meant enemy action was going on, and so went to have a chat with the sixth Eureka robot. Maximum Dinobots #2 Rather than try and usurp his will, Agent Red had placed a bomb in Shockwave's head which would explode in 24 hours if a signal was not transmitted. This was how much time Shockwave has to hunt down the seekers and the Thunder-Lizards. Shockwave seemed compliant, until he chillingly stated that he could lay waste to a substantial portion of the planet in 24 hours, leaving Agent Red and his team to worry. Maximum Dinobots #3
Agent Red later got word from one of his field units that they had reacquired Seekers One and Two from the coordinates Shockwave provided them with. He also learned that Shockwave was currently battling an "unidentified mecha" in another location. He told his tech to hold off transmitting the disarm code for the bomb in Shockwave's head, as he wanted all of their stray robots recovered first. If Shockwave recovered them all before the time was up, she should have let the bomb detonate instead. Shockwave later let Scorponok go and the Dynobots went after him, causing Agent Red to board a helicopter, wanting to see the battle first-hand, and told the tech to transmit the disarm code. As she did so, Soundwave intercepted the code and cloned it for Shockwave, who in turn told Soundwave how to free himself. As Soundwave did, he reactivated Ravage and Laserbeak, who easily dispatched the Skywatch agents and escaped. Intending to blow him and Shockwave up, Grimlock activated a grenade that blew the building they were in sky-high, the blast narrowly missing Agent Red's helicopter. An unhappy looking Agent Red later walked away from the debris left behind by the day's carnage, with all of his captured robots having escaped. Maximum Dinobots #5
Following a large-scale Decepticon invasion of Earth, Skywatch was reformed. The United Nations took full control of the organization, reworking it into a military force focused on actively defending Earth from the Transformers. They put Colonel Daniel Witwicky in charge (apparently firing Joshua Red in the process) of the new Skywatch, and made his son Spike head of field operations. The Man Of Steel The organization was overseen by the Joint Chiefs of the United States Army and worked with organizations across the world such as the Mossad. Scrapper
Through Spike Witwicky and some unidentified general, Skywatch came in contact with the Decepticon Swindle and began illegally purchasing Cybertronian weapons and technology from him. It was a closely guarded secret, and almost all members of Skywatch were unaware. Police Action Part 3: A Second Chance at Eden
Many Transformers were left behind on Earth following the invasion, and over the next two years, Skywatch worked hard to hunt down and capture them. When Breakdown attacked a power station, Spike's team incapacitated him and threatened to use lethal force, in a plan that brought Prowl out of hiding. Prowl was captured and used as bait for the other Autobots. When Hot Rod led a rescue team, Ironhide was killed in the process. In response, a depressed Optimus Prime resigned as Autobot leader and surrendered to Skywatch. ...For All Mankind Spike's attempts at interrogating Prime went poorly, so he had Pennington and Campolongo capture three additional Autobots in an attempt to make him talk. A Rude Awakening
Meanwhile, Skywatch colonel Gordon Horiuchi disagreed with the organization's view on how all Transformers were bad. Him and his unit went rogue, secretly contacting the Autobots and offering an alliance with them. The plan was for the Autobots to help Skywatch capture Decepticons, thereby proving that they weren't so bad after all. However, the alliance quickly went sour due to Horiuchi's way of controlling the Autobots. The Hanging Sword The plan was canceled after the Autobots resisted and Skywatch command started noticing that Horiuchi's unit weren't operating at full capacity. Lieutenant Daniel Klonowski took responsibility for it all, and ended up losing his position at Skywatch. Wings of Wax
Unhappy with how the brass saw him as an "army man" only capable of violent action, Spike continued to try and negotiate with Optimus Prime. Seasons in Flight One particularly deep conversation with Prime got him thinking about whether or not the Autobots were truly the enemy of humanity. Enemies of the System Later that day, Skywatch learned of a battle between Menasor and a number of Autobots in the Petrified Forest National Park. Having thought things over, Spike made the decision to release Optimus Prime so that he could help his people. After Decepticons were defeated, Bumblebee, the new Autobot leader, decided to negotiate with Skywatch. While he wasn't particularly trusting of the humans, Spike convinced him to form a mutually beneficial alliance between their forces. The Autobots would no longer have to hide from the humans in a cave, instead being granted access to the Skywatch New Mexico base, while Skywatch would in turn have access to their technology and aid in capturing Decepticons. Earthworks
When Colonel Witwicky found out, he was not happy with his son's decision. He didn't trust the aliens and feared what would happen if they found out what Skywatch had been doing in "Section 82". In addition, General Allenby would be even less happy if he found out that Spike had willingly released Optimus Prime, so they had to base the entire alliance on the lie that Prime had escaped on his own. Spike's co-worker Sandra did not enjoy being part of this deception. All His Engines After Spike and his father conspired together and lied to Allenby about Prime's "escape", he went AWOL and executed the Decepticon Scrapper, covering it up to keep it secret from the rest of Skywatch. Scrapper
With the new alliance firmly in place, a team of Autobots and Skywatch members were sent to investigate a spaceship crash in Las Vegas. They fought with the ship's occupants, Galvatron and his troops, until they learned that the real danger was a zombie virus they had brought with them. The Transformers: Infestation #1 Skywatch lost some men in the battle, but the zombie mastermind Britt was eventually defeated and the zombies sealed away. The Transformers: Infestation #2
Four months after the formation of the alliance, North Korea revealed that they had employed their own Transformers: the Combaticons. Before Skywatch could move out to take care of them, the President of the United States announced that any country collaborating with Transformers would be treated as possessors of weapons of mass destruction. Bad news for the secret Skywatch-Autobot alliance. International Incident Part 1: "The Land Ironclads" Still intent on defeating the Combaticons, a Skywatch team traveled to Korea with a several Autobots ordered to disguise themselves by remaining in vehicle mode at all times. This reflected poorly on their battle capabilities, and the Combaticons got away. International Incident Part 2: "Ranks of Bronze" To allow the Autobots access to their robot forms, Skywatch hacked the spy satellites watching the area, which Sandra considered to be crossing the line regarding obfuscation. International Incident Part 3: "Hawk Among the Sparrows" When Pennington opened up a satellite for Skywatch use in order to witness the battle himself, Sandra's morality overcame her and she shut off the satellites' encryption, revealing the Skywatch-Autobot alliance to the world. International Incident Part 4: "All My Sins Remembered"
Public opinion quickly turned against Skywatch; within days, protesters had gathered outside their New Mexico base and an assassation attempt had left Bumblebee grievously injured. Then things got even worse as the Decepticons returned to Earth, shot down the plane carrying the Korea team home, crippled the New Mexico base and freed all Decepticons in their captivity. Revenge of the Decepticons Part 1: The Demolished Man The base was evacuated, but the affected Skywatch troops and Autobots were attacked by Megatron before they could regroup at Omega Supreme. The Decepticon leader effortlessly defeated the Autobots and killed many of the humans. Revenge of the Decepticons Part 3: Woken Furies Most of the Korea team survived the plane crash and made it to shore, where Optimus Prime confronted and drove away Megatron. However, Jazz was forced to kill a human policeman who was threatening the Autobots, which didn't do any favors for the reputation of Skywatch or the Autobots. Revenge of the Decepticons Part 4: Burning Chrome
The Skywatch forces and the Autobots finally did reach Omega Supreme, who became their new base. Megatron then surrendered himself and was imprisoned at the same location, where he revealed to Optimus Prime that Spike had killed Scrapper in cold blood, claiming it as a reason why he shouldn't trust Skywatch so easily. Revenge of the Decepticons Part 5: Enemy Mine Six weeks later, Rodimus arrived at the base with news that Galvatron had conquered Cybertron. Most of the Autobots elected to return to their home planet to fight this new threat, leaving only Bumblebee, Prowl and a few others behind with Skywatch to investigate Scrapper's murder. Space Opera—Final Tableaux: Orphans of the Helix
Police Action: Part 1 Police Action Part 2: Only Forward Police Action Part 3: A Second Chance at Eden
