Leader-1 (Armada)
- Leader-1 is a Mini-Con from the Armada portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.
Leader-1 was once a wise and benevolent leader of the Mini-Con settlements on Cybertron, but when Megatron appropriated the Mini-Cons for his evil purposes, he kept Leader-1 as his own personal attendant. Megatron was cruel to the peaceful Mini-Con, delighting in his misery, and all Leader-1 could do was silently plot his escape.
Slowly, maliciously, a dark corner was being tugged at within Leader-1's mind, as he realized he enjoyed his growing love for domination and sadism. One day, he insists, he'll do away with Megatron once and for all, in the most humiliating and painful way possible. It will be a delicious irony.
Japanese name: Barrel
Fiction
Animated continuity
Armada
- Voice actor: SFX
Early in the search for the Mini-Cons scattered across Earth, Megatron found a Mini-Con panel near the Decepticons' base on the moon. He activated the panel, and Leader-1 appeared, who Megatron quickly reprogrammed. Returning to the base, Megatron chastised the other Decepticons for missing a Mini-Con who was right under their noses all this time.
Leader-1 spent most of his time perched cutely on Megatron's shoulder, only springing into action when Megatron needed to unlock one of his powerlinx features.
After Megatron was upgraded into Galvatron, Leader-1 was replaced by Clench.
Dreamwave comics continuity
Armada
Leader-1 was one of the first Mini-Cons captured by the Decepticons. He managed to get a distress call sent to Hot Shot, who then showed it to Optimus Prime. When the Mini-Cons escaped from the Decepticon fortress, Leader-1 had the misfortune of being with Megatron at the time, and thus had to serve him for the next four million years. This routine went uninterrupted for quite some time, until Leader-1 and the rest of the Mini-Cons on Earth were abducted by Dualor and the rest of the Destruction Mini-Con Team and taken to the Mini-Con fortress on the moon. When the Decepticons assaulted the fortress, Leader-1 shot the Destruction Team in the back and took over the control room, immediately contacting Megatron and giving him directions through the fortress. Ultimately, it turned out that Leader-1 had plans of his own, as he led Megatron into a security chamber and sealed the doors, before turning all of the automated weapons on him. As he gloated about finally getting his revenge for millions of years of indignity, pain, suffering, and torment, Dualor came to and shot him. This brief interruption provided enough time for Megatron to escape and tear his way into the control room, recapturing Leader-1.
Leader-1 ultimately regained his freedom when Megatron released him and the other Decepticon-held Mini-Cons in order to battle Unicron. And, as Megatron was slowly, torturously, and systematically disassembled and destroyed by Unicron's internal defense systems, Leader-1 ended up having the last laugh.
Toys
Armada
- Megatron w/ Leader-1 (Ultra-Con, 2002/2003)
- Japanese ID number: MD-01
- Available only with the larger Megatron toy, Leader-1 transforms into a Cybertronic buggy with twin top-mounted blasters. He also has multiple "gun" configurations that allow him to be mounted on Powerlinx plugs or held in the hands of most Unicron Trilogy toys.
- This mold was also used to make Clench and Caliburn. He shares engineering with the Cybertron new-mold Mini-Con Drill Bit.
- Megatron Supermode w/ Spark Barrel (Ultra, 2003)
- Japanese ID number: MD-08
- In Micron Legend, Megatron kept the same Mini-Con in his new form, as opposed to Armada where it was a new character. This version of Leader-1 is basically identical to Clench.
- Black Megatron w/ Barrel (Black) (Ultra, 2003)
- A contest prize limited to 100 pieces, Megatron and Leader-1 were redecoed in primarily black with dark purples, grays and olive-greens. The contest was listed in the June 2003 issue of Tele-V Magazine in Japan.
Merchandise
A small soft-plastic mini-PVC of Leader-1 came with the Mega Super Collection Figure version of Megatron.
Trivia
- Leader-1's name is a homage to leader of the Guardians from the Tonka GoBots toy-line/cartoon of the 1980s.
- During the course of American dub of the Armada cartoon, several characters were mistakenly referred to as "Leader-1". Sparkplug in particular seemed to bear the Leader-1 brunt.
External links
