Slugslinger (G1)
| The name or term "Slugslinger" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Slugslinger (disambiguation). |
- Slugslinger is a Decepticon Targetmaster from the Generation 1 continuity family.
If you ask Slugslinger to describe himself, he'll tell you all about how he'll never turn down a chance to duel anyone, because he knows he'll always win. That is, assuming his Nebulan partner, Caliburst, still has some ammo left for Slugslinger to use to gun down his opponent from a distance. Take that away, and suddenly he's not such a tough guy after all.
Funny, that.
Fiction
The Transformers cartoon
- Voice actor: Peter Cullen (English), Kenichi Sakaguchi (Japanese)
Slugslinger was under the command of Scourge and Cyclonus when they attacked Autobot City as part of a division while the Decepticon Clones stole the Key to the Plasma Energy Chamber. After Scourge successfully activated the chamber on Cybertron (and inadvertently sent a shuttle full of Autobots and the key halfway across the galaxy), Slugslinger attempted to restrain Galvatron's anger towards the prone Scourge. When he arrived on the distant world of Nebulos, Slugslinger defiantly shouted about leaping into battle... though the actual "leaping" was delayed because Triggerhappy kept standing in front of him. Yeah, that's it. However, he did extol Trigger's battle cries. Lucky Autobots. He'll get them next time. The Rebirth, Part 1
Despite the Decepticons managing to capture several Autobots, when their friends arrived with their new-fangled Headmaster technology, the Decepticons had their asses handed to them. Slugslinger got a lucky break, being a jet, when the Decepticons met up with the Hive: Cyclonus didn't offer their new partners his head. Instead, he was partnered with Caliburst, a Hive member who claimed to have never missed a shot in his life, which Slugslinger pointed out was because he had never taken a shot before. Not that he was scared, mind you. He's just an honest sort. Yeah, that's it. The Rebirth, Part 2
Slugslinger and the other Targetmasters returned to Cybertron just in the nick of time to save Galvatron from the remainder of the Autobot forces. They may have done better to stand aside, for when Galvatron learned about the Hive, he was on the verge of scrapping them right there. But Slugslinger wasn't worried. The Rebirth, Part 3
Japanese cartoon continuity
The Headmasters cartoon
- Voice actor: Ken Yamaguchi
Slugslinger was a Decepticon aerial warrior partnered with Misfire and Triggerhappy. Their campaigns typically took place far away from recognizable worlds such as Cybertron, Earth and Chaar, battling against Pointblank and other Autobots on deep space missions. In 2011, Slugslinger and his men allied themselves with Scorponok just before his siege of the planet Master began. When a group of six refugees fled the planet seeking aid, Slugslinger, Misfire and Triggerhappy joined Sixshot in pursuing them. They crossed paths with the Battleship Maximus and their old foes Pointblank, Sureshot and Crosshairs out in space. As the fighting raged outside, the refugees befriended Fortress and volunteered to dispose of the plasma energy bombs aboard the battleship. As the refugees flew out in their starship to take the bombs to a safe distance, Slugslinger led his men to intercept them, but they were blocked by Pointblank's forces. The bombs exploded early, washing over all the Transformers present. Miraculous Warriors, Targetmasters (Part 1)
Sixshot retrieved Slugslinger and his partners after the explosion, bringing them back to Master. The plasma energy had somehow binary-bonded each of the Decepticons to one of the refugees. A permanent link now existed between Slugslinger and Caliburst, who could transformed into a powerful weapon for his new Decepticon master. Slugslinger and his Targetmaster partners rejoined the battle for Master at Scorponok's side. Their Targetmasters weapons were the equal of Pointblank and his men, who had also become Targetmasters in the plasma explosion. Miraculous Warriors, Targetmasters (Part 2) As the Decepticon Targetmasters mingled with the Headmasters, Slugslinger demonstrated that he (much like his Autobot counterpart Pointblank) is a humongous tool. His braggadocio quickly got on the nerves of Weirdwolf, leader of the Headmaster regiment. During a fight for data on the Master Sword, Slugslinger callously knocked the Headmasters aside as they got in the way of his shot. The Master Sword Is in Danger!!
Slugslinger and his partners got into another fight with Pointblank's trio, and believed the Autobots were dead after triggering a flash flood that washed them out of sight. Slugslinger's self-congratulation rankled Weirdwolf even more, especially after his fellow Headmasters started gushing over the Targetmasters' skill. Luckily for Weirdwolf's ego, the Autobot Targetmasters later turned up alive and well. The Zarak Shield Turns the Tide With the Zarak Shield fully reforged out of G-Metal, the Decepticons began making preparations to leave Master for Earth. Caliburst alerted Slugslinger that the Autobot Targetmasters had uncovered their location, and Slugslinger flew out with Sixshot and the Targetmasters to confront Pointblank's crew. They also unleashed massive devastation on a Master city when MegaZarak emerged from beneath it. Operation: Destroy the Decepticons
As Scorponok's ship touched down on Pallas for repairs, Slugslinger and the Targetmasters defended it against Autobot attack. Duel on the Asteroid At the North Pole, they were involved in the final battle against the Autobots, fighting their Targetmaster counterparts. After Fortress Maximus was tricked onto the platform of crysmagnetal, Slugslinger and the other Decepticons fled out into space. The Final Showdown on Earth (Part 2)
The Headmasters comic
Slugslinger and the Decepticon Targetmasters attempted to disrupt the Autobots' efforts to put out a blazing fire on Earth. The Autobots' split focus left them vulnerable, until the Battleship Maximus extinguished the entire fire in one sweep. Ricochet and Artfire then turned their full attention on Slugslinger and his allies, driving them from the scene. The Headmasters #7
Marvel Generation 1 comics
Slugslinger was one of the Decepticons working for Scorponok back on Cybertron, rounding up Autobots for the Smelting pool. Their greatest rivals were the Autobots led by Fortress Maximus, and so they were more than a little perturbed when their favorite sparring partners vanished into the night. A foolish interstellar phone call from Zarak, though, led the Decepticons to them on Nebulos. They quickly took Zarak and his people hostage and began laying waste to the planet. They were initially rebuffed by a new group of Autobot Headmasters, but Scorponok managed to replicate the procedure and apply it to his own men. He didn't make Slugslinger a Headmaster but, for some reason, when he was choosing warriors who might need a boost of confidence from becoming a super-charged, gun-slinging Targetmaster, Scorponok did think of him. Slugslinger was binary-bonded to the Nebulan Caliburst shortly before the Decepticons left Nebulos behind, chasing the Autobots of the Steelhaven towards Earth. Brothers in Armor!!
Slugslinger remained on call with Scorponok's forces after they arrived on Earth, but rarely participated in any active missions. He did battle with a group of Autobot fliers during the Underbase Saga and won (though he only did so while accompanied by the ever-terrifying Buzzsaw and several other Decepticons). Dark Star Slugslinger also stood up to Scorponok with his fellow Decepticons to challenge Starscream's place in the army.
He probably just wanted attention. Primal Scream
Transformers in 3-D
Slugslinger took part in an attack on Tau-Ursa, picking up one of the locals as a threat, while Galvatron obtained a vital component for his Nullification Cannon from Monitorus. Afterwards, he and the other Decepticons pretty much destroyed the entire city, just to show the Tau-Ursans who was boss. Their next stop was Cybertron, where Galvatron used his new toy to nullify the planet's energon supply. With Optimus Prime approaching, Galvatron threw Slugslinger at him, prepared for Slugslinger to die in order to facilitate his own escape. Prime decked Slugslinger, resulting in the Decepticon clinging to the edge of a precipice and pleading to Optimus to save him. Apparently unaware that Slugslinger's alternate mode was a space fighter, Prime stopped to help him, allowing Galvatron to escape. Slugslinger laughed that the Autobots were doomed, and was probably promptly slapped in a detention cell. The War Against the Destructons, Chapter 1 of 3
Dreamwave Generation 1 comics
Slugslinger was a member of Starscream's Predacon faction by the end of the Dark Ages. He participated in the attack on the peace treaty at Tyger Pax along with the other Predacons, but was quickly overrun by the combined Autobots, Decepticons and Ultracons who survived their first bombing run. The Age of Wrath
IDW Generation 1 continuity
Back before the war, Slugslinger appeared among the crowd in the Forge watching Megatron's first pit fight against Cy-Kill. Megatron Origin #2
After the Chaos War, Slugslinger was among the Decepticons living on Cybertron with the Autobots and the NAILs. When Megatron returned from the wilderness, the Decepticons began rioting in the streets. City on Fire
United
A nano-virus that afflicted most Autobots save the Targetmasters and the Headmasters required Ricochet to lead a team to Nebulos for an anti-virus. However, the nano-virus was merely a ploy by the Decepticons to draw out the Targetmasters and Headmasters to abduct their Nebulan partners, so when the Autobots arrived on Nebulos, Slugslinger and several other Decepticons were waiting for them! Slugslinger and the others quickly fell into disarray, unfortunately, when their leader Straxus was singled out and defeated. The Fierce Fighting on Planet Nebulos
Games
The Transformers (PS2)
Toys
Generation 1
- Slugslinger with Caliburst (1987)
- Japanese ID number: D-90
- Accessories: Caliburst Targetmaster gun
- Generation 1 Slugslinger is a Cybertronian twin-cockpit space fighter with possibly the most conservative colour scheme of the Targetmaster Transformers, being predominantly grey. His Targetmaster partner Caliburst attaches to a peg hole on the dorsal hull behind the cockpits.
- As typical with some of the larger 1987 Transformers toys, Slugslinger has a well-proportioned robot mode body that is seemingly designed to better match the style of the Generation 1 cartoon animation models, at least compared to Transformers designed during the Diaclone era and the 1986 Movie toys. He has decent articulation with shoulder and elbow joints, as well as hip and knee joints (though the latter is mainly to facilitate his transformation sequence). Caliburst transforms into a small guy in robot suit/little robot dude, depending on where you live, or can be left in gun mode to be held by Slugslinger.
- Like the other Targetmasters, his Japanese release lacks a Rubsign.
Notes
- Slugslinger is, of course, the inspiration for the Energon-series homage-toy Slugslinger.
- Slugslinger's design was used as a "generic" Decepticon in the Linkage mini-comics, in a flashback showing Redline and Flat-Out's former Decepticon masters. This fits in with the general theme of using Generation 1 character models as unnamed extras in the Armada cartoon. Of course, his actual appearance fits in with artist Hirofumi Ichikawa's general theme of using the toys as a visual reference rather than the character models used in animation; that is so not Slugslinger's animation design. Linkage Part 5
Foreign names
- Japanese: Slugslinger (スラッグスリンガー Suraggusuringā)
- French: Lance-Balle (Canada)
- Spanish: Skull (America)
- Italian: Proteus
