ALLEGIANCE: AUTOBOT
FUNCTION: MEDIC
FIRST APPEARANCE: TRANSFORMERS # 1

“You break it, I’ll remake it.”

Profile: Ratchet was known as the best tool-and-die man on Cybertron.
In his work-area bay, he can fashion anything from a pin to a cruise missile
and repair most of the Autobots and their specific parts, given the right materials.
His rough language and manners belie his gentle touch on the operating-assembly
table. He knows how to have a good time despite his involvement in a combat
group. “When does the party begin?” is his usual query after he’s
completed patching up his latest fallen comrade. He’s more prone to giving his
leader, Optimus Prime, a lot more backtalk than the other Autobots, but does
his job as well as anyone.

Abilities: Ratchet has an assortment of laser scalpels, arc-welders,
electron microscopes, electrical circuit sensors and fluid dispensers (both
lubricating and super-cooled) at his disposal.

Weaknesses: His preference for partying to anything else sometimes interferes
with getting his job done. Otherwise he’s only limited in doing his work by
time and materials available.

ALLEGIANCE: DECEPTICON
SUB-GROUP: CONSTRUCTICON

FUNCTION: TRANSPORT
FIRST APPEARANCE: TRANSFORMERS # 10

“A battle front is only as good as its supply line.”

Profile: Long Haul isn’t too thrilled with his unglamorous role in the
Decepticon cause, but he understands its importance. Along with his fellow Constructicons,
his function is to help build the massive energy-recovery installations that
fuel the Decepticon onslaught. But he’d much prefer the excitement and glory
that come with being a full-time warrior. And he knows better than to tell anyone
of his secret desire – Megatron allows no dissent among the Decepticons ranks.

Abilities: In vehicular mode, Long Haul can carry up to 90 tons for
1200 miles. He can also add on a dual heat-seeking missile launcher. In robot
mode he carries a laser pistol. When combined with his fellow Constructicons,
he serves as the torso module in the giant robot known as Devastator.

Weaknesses: Long Haul is slow and sometimes his unhappiness reduces
his effectiveness. He’s sensitive to teasing about the mundane nature of his
job and can often be goaded into fights in which he may be clearly overmatched.

ALLEGIANCE: AUTOBOT
SUB-GROUP: THROTTLEBOT
FUNCTION: SCOUT
FIRST APPEARANCE: TRANSFORMERS # 30

“Hunters drive; targets park.”

Profile: Chase is usually ten miles down the road before his fellow
Autobots even have had a chance to shift into gear. He’s impatient and overeager.
He doesn’t seem to know how to stand still; the phrase “put it in park”
had no meaning for him. As fast as he drives, he talks even faster. His coarse,
simple language is seemingly at odds with his sleek, sophisticated design. He
usually dominates the conversation in any group, regaling all who will listen
with tales of past exploits and predictions of future conquests. But he does
all this in a most engaging manner. He’s extremely popular among the Autobots.

Abilities: In car mode, Chase can reach a cruising speed of 240 mph.
He has extremely well developed optical sensors in his head and his headlights.
He can see an object the size of a tennis ball at two miles and his excellent
peripheral vision gives him approximately a 270 degree viewing range; i.e.,
he can see simultaneously in front of him and on both sides. Embedded under
his car mode’s roof is an array of small radar dishes that allow him to detect
moving objects as small as a toaster from horizon to horizon. He also has the
ability to lock in on passing orbiting satellites and bounce radar signals off
of them, which allows him some over-the-horizon radar abilities.

Weaknesses: High speeds exact a heavy toll on Chase in car mode, particularly
on his drive shaft and transmission. Sometimes he’s too busy talking or running
off somewhere to listen to good advice. Consequently, he gets into trouble that
a cooler-headed individual might avoid.

ALLEGIANCE: DECEPTICON

SUB-GROUP: POWERMASTER
HUMAN COMPONENT: HI-TEST
FUNCTION: AIR DEFENSE
FIRST APPEARANCE: TRANSFORMERS # 42

“Fear is a friend whose presence is felt long after he’s left!”

Profile: Dreadwind is the proverbial “deactivation of the party,”
a mournful presence always first to look on the bleak side of things. Grim and
gloomy, he always acts as if his best friend has become permanently inoperative.
Most other Decepticons avoid him like the plague, knowing that however buoyant
their mood, Dreadwind is sure to bring them to Earth with a bump! As ominous
as a storm cloud and as chilling as a winter breeze, Dreadwind somehow manages
to convey his doom-laden message when he’s in battle, even in jet mode! Foes
have been known to feel despair at Dreadwind’s approach, even at a vast distance.
Dreadwind doesn’t appreciate the advantage this gives him in battle; it just
serves to further depress him. He’s been known to wade through a battlefield,
blasting Autobots and shouting, “Why does no one like me?” But Dreadwind
has been known to come close to reveling (in his own low-key way) in the carnage
he wreaks, knowing that perhaps his only true friend is fear. He sees it in
the visual receptors of enemies and feels slightly better himself. Though the
two profess to hate each other, and certainly detest combining to form Dreadwing,
Dreadwind and Darkwing are the perfect partners in crime, almost trying to outdo
each other in the bleakness stakes. The same cannot be said of Dreadwind’s binary-bonded
human component, Hi-Test. He’s a thrill-seeking, overachieving perfectionist
who can’t understand Dreadwind at all! How can he be so gloomy when there’s
so much wonderful badness in the world? Hi-Test does his best to bully Dreadwind
into enjoying himself, or at the very least concentrating his morose mind on
the job at hand.

Abilities: In jet mode, powered by his high-performance Powermaster
engine, Dreadwind can reach speeds up to Mach 2.6, and is able to climb to sub-orbital
altitudes. When combined with his fellow Powermaster Darkwing, as the vehicle
Dreadwing, they become capable of space flight, reaching light speeds and beyond.
His jet mode is armed with air-to-air missiles, thermal melters, rapid-fire
machine guns and lasers. He’s a flying armory with a vast capacity for devastation.
In robot mode he’s more cumbersome and less effective, presenting an easy target.
But at close quarters, his bulky strength and multi-shot wrist guns give him
an advantage.

Weaknesses: All of Dreadwind’s weaknesses stem from his continual brooding
and permanent depression. He’s so busy feeling sorry for himself, he tends to
forget he’s in the middle of a battle, leaving himself wide open to attack.

ALLEGIANCE: AUTOBOT
SUB-GROUP: HEADMASTER

HUMAN COMPONENT: MUZZLE
FUNCTION: DETECTIVE
FIRST APPEARANCE: TRANSFORMERS # 62

“Truth is revealed in the smallest detail.”

Profile: Nightbeat is a tough, no-nonsense type who is not afraid to
break the rules to get what he wants. And usually what he wants is the solution
to some complicated mystery… and he’ll go anywhere to get it. He feels as
comfortable driving down a dark alley as he does cruising along a six-lane super-highway.
He has an intuition for finding the truth that defies all known theories of
programming. In trying to account for Nightbeat’s remarkable talent, Optimus
Prime suspects that the circuitry in the digital detective’s logic center may
accidentally have been wired in a way contrary to accepted robotic engineering
procedures. But the Autobot Leader is still at a loss to explain why Nightbeat
thinks the way he does. Nightbeat prefers to work alone. Most partners don’t
understand his methods and his reasoning, and often wind up hindering his investigations
more than helping them. But being a good soldier, he doesn’t complain about
his fellow Autobots… instead he tries to compensate for their investigatory
deficiencies by working even harder.

He is binary-bonded to Muzzle, a human who worked as a detective on Nebulos
until he was framed in a scandal that put him out of business. When he found
out that an Autobot with training in detective work was looking for a Nebulan
partner, Muzzle immediately volunteered. He considered this an opportunity to
continue doing what he loved to do the most. After undergoing the bio-engineering
procedure that allows him to convert to an Autobot head module, Muzzle quickly
discovered that he and Nightbeat have one of the smoothest-working binary bonds
among all the Headmasters. Muzzle’s eye for detail makes Nightbeat an even better
detective than he was without him.

Abilities: Nightbeat carries two photon pistols and a high-powered plasma
blaster with infra-red sight. He also has enhanced audio and video sensors that
aid in his investigatory work. From five miles away, he can hear a screw fall
and count the threads on it. In car mode he can travel at speeds of up to 620
miles per hour and has a range of 1500 miles.

Weaknesses: Nightbeat’s overconfidence in his abilities typically persuades
him that he can handle almost any situation by himself. Given his preference
for working alone, he often suffers damage that a more team-oriented Autobot
might avoid.

ALLEGIANCE: AUTOBOT
FUNCTION: SCOUT
FIRST APPEARANCE: TRANSFORMERS # 1

“Observe everything, remember even more.”

Profile: Hound would just as soon be sniffing around the Grand Canyon
or Big Sur as he would a secret Decepticon base. Perhaps more than any other
Autobot, Hound takes pleasure in being on Earth. Unlike his home planet, which
is entirely composed of metal and machinery, he finds the natural wonders of
Earth endlessly fascinating, and uses his topographical skills to store every
sight he sees within his memory circuits. Hound’s bravery, fearlessness, and
loyalty are unwavering, like any good advance scout. But his secret desire is
to be human.

Abilities: While in his jeep mode, Hound uses his turret gun to sweep
over the landscape from horizon to horizon, like a radar scope, and, with the
help of internal 3-dimensional simulation circuitry, stores this information
as a topographical map. Error distortion is no more than one inch per 150 feet
distance from point of data collection. In robot mode, Hound’s turret gun becomes
an infrared radiation collector. It can detect heat differentials as small as
.02 degrees Centigrade, and he uses this ability in tracking machines as well
as humans. Hound’s shoulder-mounted hologram gun can project 3-dimensional grid
laser light images of terrain maps stored in his memory. He sometimes also can
use it to cast simple illusions.

Weaknesses: Hound’s infrared tracking ability can be countered by thermal
interference. High frequency electromagnetic waves can distort or completely
destroy his map-making ability. Sophisticated manipulation of such waves can
even result in the recording of false images within his memory circuits.

ALLEGIANCE: AUTOBOT
SUB-GROUP: CLONE
FUNCTION: SKY FIGHTER
FIRST APPEARANCE: –

“Gravity is the chain that binds us all.”

Profile: Nothing is good enough for Cloudraker. He’s jealous of his
clone brother Fastlane’s popularity with beings of all types. He wishes he could
scoot along on the ground like his brother does in dragster mode so that he
could have more opportunities to interact with others, while at the same time
he is terrified of being grounded. He flies as high as he can to escape this
fear, yet he is eternally frustrated by his inability to reach escape velocity
and achieve orbit. The fact that he is one of the fastest of all the Autobots
does little to console him. Even soaring through the skies is a problem for
him – an imperfection in his navigational systems afflicts him with claustrophobia.
The skies are too small for him! Cloudraker is a mass of crossed circuits. And
he’ll need years of psychological debugging before he ever fully straightens
out.

Abilities: In jet mode, Cloudraker has a maximum speed of Mach 2.8.
His range is 3200 miles. In robot mode he is armed with two gravity-rod rifles.
By altering the strength of the gravitational field around any object their
beams hit, the rifles can cause an object to either crash or float away. The
larger the object, the less effective are the rifles.

Weaknesses: All of Cloudraker’s various abilities are hampered according
to how emotionally distraught he is at any given moment. On the few occasions
when he can put all his problems behind him, he is a very effective warrior.
His major physical problem is a tendency to suffer “mode-lock” – the
inability to transform from one mode to another.