Stranglehold

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Stranglehold is a Decepticon Pretender from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Must.... Reach... Inner robot!

A brainless brawler of a bot, Stranglehold is the Decepticon equivalent of the stereotypical wrestler, which is rather appropriate, seeing as how he is the reigning Intergalactic Cybertronic Wrestling Federation Champ. Stranglehold has absolutely no qualms about cheating and will do anything to win. Stranglehold turns into a rhino, has a shell that resembles a giant human gladiator, and carries a gun that saps the strength of its targets, making them too weak to fight back. Just how he likes them.

Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

Generation 1

Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.

After the Time Wars, Stranglehold was chosen to be part of the Decepticon elite and join the newly reformed Mayhem Attack Squad, led by Snarler and Spinister. Their first mission: hunt down and execute the traitors Carnivac and Catilla, who had joined forces with the Autobot Wreckers on Earth! The Hunting Party They caught up with Carnivac in Texas, but the wolf scored first blood by clawing Bludgeon's shoulder. Stranglehold and Octopunch were about to step in for their turn when the National Guard arrived, giving Carnivac time to flee while the Mayhems were distracted. Survival Run Eventually it was Catilla, not Carnivac, who fell before Stranglehold and the Mayhems, and the Decepticons chose to flee with one kill under their belts rather than confront all the Survivors at once. A Savage Place!

For one shining moment, Stranglehold was modest enough to wear something.

Stranglehold grew a mustache and, along with Octopunch, remained a part of the Mayhem Attack Squad when Bludgeon took command, when it was sent by Thunderwing to assassinate the Autobot Pretenders; Bumblebee, Grimlock and Jazz. After tracking the Autobots to their secret base, the Mayhems interrupted the Classic Pretenders and Micromaster Rescue Patrol's trip through the trans-time dimensional portal, with all three groups transported to the core of Cybertron. Surprisingly, Cybertron's core contained none other than Primus himself! Yesterday's Heroes!

RUUNCH!

Stranglehold and the others were teleported further away from the core than the Autobots, so it took them a short while to close the gap. When they arrived, they interrupted none other than the Keeper of Primus as he was attempting to tell them the story of Primus and his arch-nemesis, Unicron. Despite their location on holy ground, the Mayhems attacked the Autobots, who were reluctant to return fire in case a stray shot might awaken Primus. This unsurprisingly tipped the odds in the Decepticons' favor. Emerging from his shell, Stranglehold rampaged through the Autobots in his rhino alt-mode, until eventually Jazz tricked Stranglehold into crashing into the wall. Primal Scream

Stranglehold and the other Squad members ended up on Earth, and joined forces with Scorponok. Surrender! After Stranglehold shaved his mustache, Primus himself brought all of the Earthbound Transformers to Cybertron to counter the imminent arrival of Unicron. Primus spoke to Stranglehold and the others through Emirate Xaaron, catching them up on the history between the two cosmic beings. Though Stranglehold still had his doubts about an Autobot/Decepticon alliance, they were mostly dispelled when Unicron cultists raided their camp -- he didn't mind the new opportunities for violence! The Void! (US)

When Unicron arrived, Stranglehold did the wise thing and made a run for it. On the Edge of Extinction!

Unicron was defeated, and with Scorponok also dead, Bludgeon assumed command of the Decepticons. Stranglehold grew a mustache. Bludgeon led Octopunch and the other Decepticons off Cybertron, stranding the Autobots behind on their dying home planet. Stranglehold helped Bludgeon randomly pick a new planet to rule, choosing Klo, a peaceful world which they could conquer quickly and easily. A Savage Circle During the subsequent carnage on Klo, Stranglehold shaved his mustache. The Decepticons found a tracer on one of their spaceships and, realizing the Autobots may have survived after all, waited for their adversaries to arrive, intending to spoil their surprise attack. The Last Autobot?

After growing another mustache, Stranglehold helped the Decepticons kill nearly all the Autobots once they arrived. However, when victory seemed finally in their grasp, Stranglehold and the other Decepticons were suddenly visited by the Neo-Knights, the Last Autobot, and a resurrected Optimus Prime. Stranglehold tried to attack Thunderpunch, but Rapture caused him to momentarily dream of being surrounded by beautiful robo-ladies, and Stranglehold's attack landed on Bludgeon instead. The Last Autobot began resurrecting the fallen Autobots, and soon the tide of battle was turning. Stranglehold got a tooth knocked out of him by Grimlock, and soon it became apparent that the Decepticons had been defeated. Bludgeon announced to the Autobots that they had been beaten, and the Decepticons withdrew, but not before Bludgeon took Stranglehold aside and told him that the Decepticons would regroup and some day rise again. End of the Road!


Marvel UK future timelines
Stranglehold struggles for a moment to remember his own name.

In 1990, Megatron accused Bludgeon of being a traitor to the Decepticon cause. Allowing him a trial by combat, the Decepticon leader sent Stranglehold, Octopunch, and Warmonger out to face him in battle. After Octopunch struck first, Stranglehold attempted to ram Bludgeon in his rhino mode, but ended up knocking himself out when Bludgeon nimbly stepped aside. Eventually, Megatron identified Warmonger as the true traitor, and executed him instead of Bludgeon. Aspects of Evil!

Earthforce
These stories do not fit into the normal Marvel continuity. See Earthforce for details.

Expecting Carnivac to make an ill-conceived attempt at retribution, the Mayhem Attack Squad bunkered down on a small tropical island to wait for their prey to come to them. Carnivac turned the tables on them, however, and managed to kill half the Mayhems before it was all over. To add insult to injury, Stranglehold, Bludgeon and Octopunch were taken into custody by the Autobot Earthforce at Carnivac's insistence, instead of being allowed to die gloriously in battle. Where Wolf? Guarded over by the Autobot Inferno, Stranglehold staged a distraction in their cell which gave Bludgeon enough time to telekinetically retrieve his katana, stabbing the guard in the back and gaining them their freedom. Shut Up! The Mayhems were then hired by Megatron and Shockwave to assassinate their usurpers, Starscream and Soundwave. They ultimately failed when Swoop and Sludge of the Dinobots joined forces with the Decepticons because they needed Starscream alive for their own reasons. The Lesser Evil!

Another Time & Place

In the Decepticons' next venture, Stranglehold shaved his mustache and joined Bludgeon in an attempt to bring Megatron back to life. Tracking the Dinobots to Hydrus Four, and the miraculous energy source known as Nucleon, Stranglehold and the Decepticons captured the Autobots and made ready to restore Megatron to his full glory. Stranglehold was seen worshipping on bended knee before Megatron's slowly recuperating body. When the Autobots attacked, Stranglehold charged into battle in rhinocerous mode (he's really the only Mayhem who LIKES transforming, isn't he?). However he fared personally, though, the Decepticons were defeated. Another Time & Place

Generation 2

"Also they're melting us!"

Stranglehold shaved his mustache and joined Bludgeon and his troops in raining destruction on Earth, hoping to draw out Optimus Prime and the Autobots. Devices and Desires! He was later ordered by the revamped Megatron to attack Jhiaxus's troops, which resulted in the Pretender being reduced to a puddle of slag by acid bombs. New Dawn

Classics

Classics follows the original Marvel G1 continuity, ignoring the events of Generation 2 and Marvel UK

Stranglehold grew a beard. He and Octopunch were hired by two REEEEEALLY stupid Decepticons to smash up Nightbeat and Siren. Ruckus should have told them that Slag and Sludge were with Nightbeat. Sludge beat Stranglehold so badly that he was begging for reinforcements. Then they saw that Ruckus was stupid enough to bring their hostage with him. Cheap Shots

Skullgrin wishes he could grow a mustache.

Some time later, Stranglehold shaved his beard, leaving only a mustache, and had joined Gigatron on Earth. He and Octopunch were present when Gigatron's team attacked the Autobots' Ironworks headquarters for their hidden Rarified Energon reserves. Invasion Prologue

Stranglehold immediately grew the rest of his beard back. While observing Ironworks with Gigatron and the rest of his troops from afar, they received word from Spinister that strange Transformers from another dimension had invaded the Autobot base. Gigatron decided the time was ripe to make another play for the Rarified Energon while the Autobots were distracted, and the Decepticons moved in. However, they discovered that Ironworks was under siege from extradimensional evil Autobots, and that just would not do. Stranglehold and the other Decepticons did their best to subdue these would-be conquerors. Ultimately, their efforts were mostly for naught. Earth was cast into the invaders' dimension as their entire native universe was destroyed.

A heroic Straxus tried to smooth things over with a poem. Invasion


Toys

Generation 1

File:G1Stranglehold toy.jpg
"The gun is good. The penis is evil. The penis shoots seeds, and makes new life to poison the Earth with a plague of men, as once it was, but the gun shoots death, and purifies the Earth of the filth of brutals. Go forth... and kill!"
  • Stranglehold (Pretender, 1989)
    • Accessories: Gun, large gun, helmet, backpack
Stranglehold's inner-robot transforms into a rhino with an orange body and green limbs, while his shell resembles an intergalactic sci-fi wrestler/circus strongman. Like the other smaller humanoid 1989 Pretenders, Stranglehold's shell includes an accessory that is an integral part of his inner robot: the combined back and tail of his rhino alt-mode (in a delightful shade of lavender), which attaches to the upper left arm of his outer shell as a small shield. Stranglehold also includes a small orange gun for his inner-robot to hold or plug into his alt-mode backpiece, and a large white rifle and helmet for his shell.
Stranglehold's shell is not Burt Reynolds. He also does not come with the spiked-ball-and-chain weapon he consistently carried in the Marvel comics.

Notes

  • Stranglehold's mustache comes and goes. He never has a mustache in any of the Marvel UK material, and usually has it in the Marvel US material, with exceptions. For example, Stranglehold lacks his mustache when Andrew Wildman first draws him in American material in "The Void!," but Wildman usually remembered to draw it in subsequent appearances. Usually. The mustache is gone completely in Generation 2. Years later, in "Cheap Shots," Stranglehold has graduated to a beard.

Foreign names

  • French: Prisegorge (Canada)
  • Italian: Demon
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