Spinister (G1)
| The name or term "Spinister" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Spinister (disambiguation). |
- Spinister is a Decepticon Targetmaster from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Spinister is mysterious... terribly mysterious. He cannot cut guns in half with his mind, though he has been known to wield a gun that separates into two Nebulans. These dumb stubbies are Singe and Hairsplitter, if this really matters to anyone.
This grim air warrior seems far more independent of mind than the common Decepticon, though he doesn't go in for the outright mutiny for which Starscream is noted. When he spots unrecognized potential in the Decepticon ranks, however, he may well bring the would-be warrior under his tutelage without the knowledge or permission of his superior officers.
A closed book to the Decepticons, Spinister is a dark menace to his Autobot enemies. Often, the first warning of his approach is the gentle note of a detonating fusion bomb or the delightful hiss of metal boiling away under an assault of charged particles from his beam cannon. How he is so terribly sneaky is unclear, but rumor has it that he has beaten the Romulans by centuries and developed a cloaking device. However, if he has, he hasn't spoken to anybody about it.
Quiet and mysterious, that's how he likes to be and how he intends to stay. Speaking his mind would prevent the whole mysterious, shadow-warrior thing from working. One must wonder how much even his binary-bonded companions know about him.
Then again, the guy might just be a paranoid dumbass who'd shoot a torch just because it "looked at him funny." He's actually a bit of a savant when it comes to re-wiring things, though.
Also, his name is cooler than Slayride and Sinnertwin combined.
Fiction
Marvel Comics continuity
Marvel The Transformers comics
Spinister was recruited into the new Mayhem Attack Squad by Snarler, and placed in charge of training and grading other new recruits to the squad. During a training exercise, a fresh-new warrior named Needlenose went AWOL in the middle of a battle. Spinister went after him, knowing the desertion was punishable by death in the Decepticon Army. He saw promise in the young soldier, though, and so instead faked having difficulty against an Autobot drone he was fighting. Spinister hoped that seeing him in danger would force Needlenose to act, and he was right. Needlenose came back and fought off the drone to "save" Spinister. Because of this, Spinister ignored his temporary loss of courage in the official report, and nominated Needlenose for full membership in the Mayhems, and their mission to hunt down the traitors Carnivac and Catilla. The Hunting Party
Arriving on Earth, the Mayhems confronted Carnivac separately from his new Autobot comrades in the Survivors, and ran him to ground. Way of the Warrior Seeing Carnivac's newfound care for fleshlings, Spinister opened fire into a crowd, committing Carnivac to taking the fire himself in order to protect the humans. Stunned by the gunfire, Carnivac lay wounded as Spinister transformed and was about to pass sentence on him. His fellow traitor Catilla leapt out from nowhere, however, spoiling Spinister's aim. Bludgeon managed to impale the new arrival with his sword, but the Mayhems were then driven off by the Survivors before they could finish Carnivac off as well. A Savage Place!
As a member of the Mayhem Attack Squad, Spinister joined Needlenose, Ruckus and Windsweeper in serving their commander, Thunderwing. They investigated why Autobots were patrolling a sector of space, taking a group of Autobots as prisoner on the planet Pz-Zazz. Bird of Prey! The hostages revealed the search for the Creation Matrix, inflaming Thunderwing's obsession to obtain the artifact. The Mayhem Attack Squad were soon taken to Cheyne, where Spinister and Ruckus took down Dogfight for Thunderwing. As the Autobot proved to be of little use, the Decepticons left. Kings of the Wild Frontier. They next went to Pequod, and Thunderwing sent Spinister, who was beginning to have doubts about the sanity of his leader, and Needlenose to deal with the Autobot Pretenders at the planet while their leader mentally connected with the Klud to discern the Matrix's location. Once he did, he recalled his troops and left. Deadly Obsession On the moon VsQs, where the Matrix was, Thunderwing led his forces in battle with the Autobots there. He abandoned Windsweeper to his fate when the Matrixspawn creature attacked, being more focused on his prize than a fellow Decepticon. When their leader ran off chasing the creature, Spinister held back his fellow Mayhems, telling them it was their duty to look after the injured Windsweeper, and let Thunderwing deal with his own business. Dark Creation
After Thunderwing captured the Matrix and arranged for his team to infiltrate the Ark aboard a stolen shuttle, he quickly found the Matrix's own corrupted persona waxing control over his own mind. Spinister tried to warn him of the madness taking over, only to have Thunderwing fire on his own troop. The shock of having shot one of his loyal soldiers drove home the point for Thunderwing, but it was too late, and the Matrix completely overtook his thoughts. After the Autobots managed to drive Thunderwing out of the ship and into the vacuum of space, Spinister and the Mayhems gave up without a fight, wanting no more violence that day. All Fall Down
Earthforce
While Carnivac was still seeking revenge for Catilla's murder, Spinister and the others set up an island base on Earth while preparing for their next strike. The cowardly Needlenose got on everyone's nerves, though, when the waiting weighed on his circuits enough to compel him to stage a mock emergency drill and test the Mayhems' response time, just in case Carnivac came looking for him. Spinister gave Needlenose a stern rebuke after that, warning him that the next incident would cost him his life. As it turned out, Carnivac HAD infiltrated the base during the commotion, and Needlenose's next round of genuine emergency calls were left unheeded. Cry Wolf! The wolf's next strike on Bludgeon did not go as quietly, and he drew the attention of the rest of the base. Instead of risking himself in close-quarters combat, Carnivac's forte, Spinister wisely chose to blast the traitor from a distance, apparently destroying him. Wolf in the Fold! The Mayhems were then forced to defend themselves against the combined might of the Survivors and Earthforce, who had come to rescue Carnivac from his insane mission of vengeance. While Bludgeon and the others charged head first into battle, Spinister saw no gain in a warrior's suicide, and attempted to slip away. Unfortunately for him, only Carnivac's shell had been destroyed earlier, and the robot within had survived to take his vengeance on the Mayhems, shooting Spinister, crushing Snarler and then assisting the Earthforce in capturing the remaining Decepticons. Where Wolf?
Transformers Comic-Magazin
Template:TransformersComicMagazin Spinister was present when Megatron made peaceful gestures to Humanity in New York City and the Decepticons gave a "statue" of Snaptrap as a gift to the city. Unsurprisingly, once humanity was off-guard the Decepticons struck, and the Autobots barely stopped them. The Troy Principle
Classics
Spinister fell in with Gigatron's Decepticon forces on Earth. This was a very fortunate decision, as evil Autobots from another dimension invaded, and as a result everything not on Earth in Spinister's universe ceased to exist.
Invasion
Regeneration One
Spinister was present when Soundwave was recruiting for the "Neo-Decepticon" insurgency at Fort Scyk. He later participated in the attack on the Kalis Baird Beaming Transmitter that led to the destruction of the Last Autobot. Counterpoint
Soundwave was off-planet when the resurrected Scorponok returned to Cybertron with a Gene Key capable of turning Autobots into Decepticons. The former Headmaster arrived at Fort Scyk and commanded the assembled troops to follow him, executing Misfire as an example of the price of questioning his orders. Spinister filed out with the rest, but not before he had got a message out to Soundwave. Natural Selection, Part Three He was next seen with Needlenose alongside Scorponok at the Sonic Canyons, preparing to make his Gene Key's effects permanent, when Grimlock and the Dinobots attacked. When Grimlock's mole Perceptor neutralised the Gene Key's effects on the Autobots, turning the odds against Scorponok, Spinister and Needlenose chose the better part of valour, transformed to their aerial modes and fled. Natural Selection, Part Five
Later, Spinister and Needlenose convinced a few agitated Cybertronians to lob a grenade at Hot Rod as he was giving a speech at the Eugenesis Plaza. Destiny, Part One Spinister then monitored as Fang instigated a riot between more agitated Cybertronians and the Wreckers on Auto-artery RG1 (North) as part of Soundwave's plan to sow disquiet and blind Cybertron to Bludgeon's impending attack. Destiny, Part Two
Ladybird Books continuity
After the Decepticons kidnapped Highbrow, they demanded Optimus Prime turn himself over in exchange. Spinister acted as aerial spotter for the Decepticons, tracking Prime's route to the exchange point. Unfortunately for the Decepticons, a covered pass allowed Optimus to sneak Fizzle and Hosehead into the area inside his trailer as back-up. Autobot Hostage
Dreamwave Armada comic
In one of many alternate realities, Spinister was one of the few survivors of Unicron's attack on that universe's Cybertron, and had become little more than a gibbering half-insane emotional wreck as a result. When Optimus Prime was accidentally transported into this reality, Spinister told him about Unicron and what he did. Worlds Collide, Part 1 of 4 Worlds Collide, Part 2 of 4 When Unicron returned soon after Prime's arrival, Spinister welcomed his oblivion with open arms, and was drawn into the Chaos Bringer's open maw and destroyed. Worlds Collide, Part 3 of 4 Worlds Collide, Part 4 of 4
IDW Generation 1 continuity
Spinister was constructed cold. Arm the Lonely Back before the war, Spinister appeared in the crowd cheering Megatron's first pit fight. Megatron Origin #2 It is unknown whether he joined the Decepticons at their inception or became part of the movement later on after the conquest of Kaon. Much later, Spinister was working under Razorclaw on Cybertron, shortly after the Battle of Thunderhead Pass. He was part of the last major push for territory on the planet before it became uninhabitable. Spotlight: Blaster Millennia later, Spinister still served with the Predacon leader as part of the crew aboard the starship Thanatos. He followed Divebomb and the other flying Decepticons into battle with Thunderwing on Cybertron. Stormbringer #4
Spinister was among the Decepticons imprisoned on Cybertron after the war with D-Void. The Autonomy Lesson
Spinister somehow managed to get off Cybertron and land on Clemency where he would camp out with a squad of loose Decepticons led by Krok and annoyed them with his paranoid, triggerhappy nature. Rules of Disengagement During the time, they ran into a supposedly dead K-Class Decepticon called Fulcrum and Spinister removed his explosive charge in fear of the Decepticon blowing himself up while they were scavenging him. Who's Afraid of the DJD? Misfire described him to Fulcrum, after the bot revealed himself to be actually alive, as the dumbest being in the universe. Later, he wanted to shoot a fire for giving him weird looks (in fairness they were using a still-living Autobot as a fireplace) and then shot a torch because it was glowing at him, much to Fulcrum's dismay. They were later contacted by the Decepticon Justice Division, who were looking to torture and kill one of them for crimes against the Decepticons. Confused since there were only six of them and the Division mentioned seven bots present, they looked around and discovered a stasis-locked Grimlock. Rules of Disengagement The Scavengers decided to stay and fight the D.J.D. by unleashing Grimlock from his pod when the D.J.D. got close. As the D.J.D. were arriving, they revealed their real target had been Fulcrum but it was already too late. Krok released Grimlock and the fight began. During the battle, Spinister assisted Crankcase in fighting Helex. After a while, Fulcrum attempted to blow all of the D.J.D. members up with his bomb mode by jumping off the Worldsweeper. As Spinister (probably) expected, the Decepticon harmlessly crashed into the ground and made a soft explosion. The D.J.D. left in any case for another target and the leader, Tarn, announced the Scavengers and Grimlock were all now on The List. Spinister and the others recovered Fulcrum and a damaged Krok. Fulcrum then revealed to them that the D.J.D. had been after him for a crime he had committed during the war for fleeing from a fight. They set off afterwards for Cybertron with a plan to use Grimlock, who was revealed to be almost brain-dead, as a bargaining chip if they ever arrived on the planet. Before they left, they scavenged parts from Flywheels, who had been killed during the fight. Who's Afraid of the DJD?
When Misfire managed to get himself incarcerated in the Galactic Council's death row on the planet Constancy, the rest of the Scavengers hatched a plan to rescue him, but Spinister, Krok and Crankcase were incapacitated by Tyrest's universal killswitch at a crucial moment. Arm the Lonely After Rodimus and Perceptor used half the Matrix to neutralise the killswitch, Spinister was seen to recover. This Calamitous Life
Games
Transformers Legends
Following the restoration of Cybertron, Spinister and Acid Storm attempted to ambush a group of Autobots who were exploring the changes to their world. The pair were promptly captured and sent to a detention facility. The Autonomy Lesson
Transformers: Battle Tactics
Spinister participated in battles against a variety of opponents, both Autobots and Decepticons. Sometimes there were many of him! Transformers: Battle Tactics
Toys
Generation 1
- Spinister (Targetmaster, 1988)
- Accessories: Hairsplitter and Singe Targetmaster partners/guns
- Spinister transforms into a rather busily-coloured AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. His Targetmaster partners Singe and Hairsplitter can be attached onto peg holes on the underside of his wings. The rotors spin, but the main rotor tends to fold back into its storage mode when turned.
- Spinister, like all the Double Targetmasters, was never released in Japan.
Timelines
- Spinister and Octopunch (BotCon Souvenir Set, 2012)
- Accessories: Left & right missile launchers, two missiles
- A redeco of Transformers Tomahawk, with the head (but not the weapon or 5mm port on his camera array) of Dark of the Moon Vortex, Spinister transforms into a slightly futuristic strike helicopter with a rotating camera array under its cockpit, sporting an amalgamation of features from both the Eurocopter Tiger and the ADH-02 Hellhound attack helicopter from Patlabor. He comes with spring-loaded missile launchers that mount under his wings via 5mm posts. In robot mode, he is armed with "snapping pincers" on his right forearm, while his missile launchers end up over his shoulders. They can also be detached and held in his hands via 5mm post, or clipped onto the mini-guns on his wings or onto his forearms using the C joint system.
- Spinister was sold with Shattered Glass Octopunch and limited to 1500 total sets. The original version of this mold was retooled to make Generations Springer.
- Spinister (2016)
"insert you look "like that guy" cliche here"
- Part of the Figure Subscription Service 4.0, Spinister is a redeco of Blades from the Combiner Wars subline of Generations. He will include Hairsplitter and Singe, redecos of Holepunch and Caliburst respectively.
Generations
- Nemesis Prime & Spinister (Legends Class, 2014)
- Series / Number:
- Accessories: Rotor
- Generations Legends Class Spinister is a redeco of Thrilling 30 Blazemaster, transforming into a helicopter, a robot with 3mm-compatible hands, and a weapon with a 5mm handle. He comes packaged with Nemesis Prime, who can wield him in weapon mode.
- This mold was also used to make Movie Advanced Series Micron Jolt.
Notes
- Spinister's Timelines bio card art depicts him wielding Vortex's MechTech weapon. The toy doesn't come with it, and there's no real evidence it was ever intended to.
