ALLEGIANCE: AUTOBOT
SUB-GROUP: AERIALBOT

FUNCTION: AIR WARFARE STRATEGIST
FIRST APPEARANCE: TRANSFORMERS # 21

“Only by studying the past can we win the present.”

Profile: Skydive is more interested in reading about jet fighters than
being one. He’s more likely to have his face stuck in a book about World War
II air battles than to be in the air himself. It’s not that he’s a coward –
he’s just fascinated by the science of aerial warfare. But even though he’s
a somewhat reluctant member of the Aerialbot team, he is invaluable – his knowledge
of aerial military tactics is without equal. The other Aerialbots constantly
look to him to plan strategy, a responsibility Skydive sometimes finds to be
daunting given his extreme modesty. His biggest fault, if you could call it
that, is he doesn’t realize how smart he really is. At least everyone else around
him does.

Abilities: The information-storage capacity of Skydive’s cerebro-circuitry
is greater than most Transformers’. This enables him to record instantaneously
any flying motions he sees, and, within the limits of his design, duplicate
them himself. Thus, he’s able to simulate the techniques of World War II aces
he’s studied on film as well as the gliding patterns of birds he’s watched in
person. He is possibly the most skilled flyer of all the flying Transformers.
His maximum speed is Mach 2.6 and range is 1400 miles. In jet mode, he can shoot
laser-guided missiles with a range of 80 miles. In robot mode, he uses a nega-gun,
which shoots a beam that cancels the bonding force between molecules. Only objects
held together by the strongest molecular bonds can resist crumbling to dust
when hit by the beam. He combines with his fellow Aerialbots to form the giant
robot known as Superion.

Weaknesses: Sometimes, in duplicating the flight of another, Skydive
pushes his design beyond its limits. This often results in mid-air stalls. He
can usually recover before crashing, but while stalled, he is completely vulnerable
to attack.