ALLEGIANCE: AUTOBOT
SUB-GROUP: AERIALBOT

FUNCTION: GROUND TROOP SUPPORT
FIRST APPEARANCE: TRANSFORMERS # 21

“I’m even better than I think.”

Profile: Slingshot won’t ever win a Mr. Popularity contest. He’s an
incessant braggart, even when he’s done absolutely nothing to brag about. He
likes to take credit for the exploits of others, a thoroughly annoying habit ?????????????????’?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????��?`?????????????????????’???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????��???�???????????????????’?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????��?`?????????????????????’?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????��?`?????????????????????’????????????????????????�?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????�??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????�????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????��?`?????????????????????’???????????????�??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????��?????’??????????????????????????????????????�??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
t a highway stop sign six miles away. In robot mode,
he uses with extreme accuracy a neutron rifle, which shoots packets of neutrons
at two hundred rounds per second. A short barrage can level a city block. He
combines with his fellow Aerialbots to form the giant robot known as Superion.

Weaknesses: Slingshot’s unorthodox method of flying takes its toll on
his equipment – he requires 50% more maintenance than his fellow Aerialbots.
Their dislike for him often results in their leaving him behind in dangerous
situations to fend for himself.

ALLEGIANCE: DECEPTICON
FUNCTION: ASSAULT BASE

FIRST APPEARANCE: TRANSFORMERS # 27

“Total victory requires total destruction.”

Profile: Trypticon doesn’t stop blasting away until he’s wading hip-deep
in smoking rubble. He’s the most efficient, lethal fighting machine yet devised
by the Decepticons. He is completely without mercy or remorse. The only emotion
that he is programmed to display is hatred. He hates everyone and everything.
This feeling is always present; it only varies in intensity. He restrains his
loathing for his fellow Decepticons enough to be minimally cooperative, but
his hatred for Autobots knows no bounds. Humans do not inspire such strong feelings
in him; he considers them barely worthy of his attention. But he also thinks
they get in the way too much. Without blinking an optical module, he would level
an entire city just to get a clear shot at an Autobot. He is supremely confident
in his abilities, but unsure of the Decepticons’ goals. Although he believes
he will one day rule the Decepticons, he has so little use for anyone else that
this prospect barely has any appeal to him. Trypticon makes no attempt to hide
his feelings… except to himself. He can’t admit to himself that his hatred
for others is a mask for his own self-loathing. He’d rather be doing anything
other than what he does. He secretly finds warfare boring and pointless. But
he accepts the fact that fate has forced him into his role of the ultimate warrior…
and nobody does it better!

Abilities: In dinosaur mode, Trypticon has incredible strength and is
virtually impervious to attack. A rocket backpack allows him to jump a distance
of 20 miles. He can shoot heat-seeking plasma bombs from his mouth and he carries
a particle beam cannon within his sinus cavity. His optical sensors shoot high
frequency hypno-beams. When locked on to the eyes of another Transformer, these
beams carry powerful electromagnetic currents that can override their target’s
own mental processes, allowing Trypticon to control that Transformer. If the
intended victim is strong-willed enough or manages to turn away from Trypticon’s
gaze quickly enough, he can avoid this fate. In city mode, Trypticon opens up
to reveal landing and repair bays and a communication center that includes antennae
for local and interspace transmissions. An anti-gravity repulsor disk at each
end prevents anyone from approaching closer than 1,000 feet unless Trypticon
so chooses. Rotating scanners on top of his assembly can blast a hole through
a city block of buildings. In mobile battle station mode, Trypticon is perhaps
at his most dangerous. He has a range of 8,000 miles and can attain a speed
of 800 mph. In addition, he has a flashing laser cannon, rotating blasters,
destructo beams, and dual photon launchers.

Weaknesses: Trypticon has no known weaknesses.

ALLEGIANCE: DECEPTICON

FUNCTION: FUEL SCOUT
FIRST APPEARANCE: TRANSFORMERS # 27

“The road is my dinner plate.”

Profile: Ratbat has no friends, only business partners. His sole allegiance
is to himself. The other Decepticons are aware of this, but cooperate with and
tolerate Ratbat because of his vital and unique talent for locating fuel resources.
So much do they value his services that they are willing to overlook his behavioral
extremes. Ratbat prefers to refuel himself by plunging his mecha-fangs into
the grime-free gas lines of brand-new cars; the better made the car, the better
its gas tastes to him. This usually destroys the cars. Although many of the
other Decepticons find this practice wasteful and disgusting, they are more
than willing to help Ratbat indulge in his horrible habit by procuring cars
for him. Besides, they know if Ratbat can’t satisfy his fuel lust in that way,
he might select one of them. And, given his importance, they are likely to let
him.

Abilities: In his bat mode, Ratbat’s wings act as chemical sensors that
enable him to locate and distinguish between fuels. They are able to detect
the slightest trace of a fuel – their sensitivity records molecular concentrations
as low as one part per quadrillion in the air. Within his mouth are retractable
mecha-fangs that can puncture all but the strongest materials. He uses them
to refuel himself. Micro-chemical processors within the fangs convert most fossil
and alcohol-based fuels into a form he can metabolize. As a bat, he can assume
the size of a normal bat with about a one-foot wingspan, or a larger version
with a ten-foot wingspan. In either size, he has a maximum speed of 65 mph and
a range of 200 miles. He is extremely maneuverable.

Weaknesses: Ratbat’s wings are his most vulnerable part. They offer
little resistance to artillery fire.

ALLEGIANCE: AUTOBOT
FUNCTION: WARRIOR
FIRST APPEARANCE: –

“One being’s junk is another’s art.”

Profile: The more seemingly worthless a gadget, the more Pipes is fascinated
by it. And he finds Earth a veritable gold mine of worthless gadgetry: carrot
juicers, musical wristwatches, electric hair combers – the capacity of the human
imagination never ceases to amaze Pipes! He is so enthralled by all this that
he now collects these artifacts, creating a sort of mini-museum of American
consumerism in an unused corner of the Ark. Pipes doesn’t allow his hobby to
interfere with his responsibilities to the Autobot struggle – at least not usually.
Even while on a mission, he’s been known to pull over to the curb and enviously
ogle a human walking by using a hand-held, portable electric fan. Pipes explains,
“The true collector never knows when or where he’ll discover his next treasure.”

Abilities: In vehicle mode, Pipes can travel 100 mph, has a range of
400 miles and can haul up to 60 tons. His twin exhaust pipes, which become his
arms in robot mode, emit corrosive gases that can dissolve a 2-inch thick slab
of steel in 10 minutes. He is among the strongest of the Autobots.

Weaknesses: Pipes is fairly tough, but even a mere scratch to his corrosion-resistant
armor leaves him vulnerable to the destructive effects of his own exhaust gases.
Often, in the heat of battle, Pipes is unaware of such blemishes and, consequently,
sometimes succumbs to his own weapon.

ALLEGIANCE: DECEPTICON
SUB-GROUP: SEACON

FUNCTION: UNDERSEA EXCAVATIONS
FIRST APPEARANCE: TRANSFORMERS # 47

“Blame someone else before they blame you.”

Profile: Despite his fierce appearance and formidable weaponry, Nautilator
is actually a stumbling, bumbling amphibious foul-up. Originally a land-based
warrior, he underwent adaptive reconstructive surgery for oceanic combat on
Cybertron without ever being tested to see if he had an aptitude for the undersea
environment. Once he joined the Seacons, it became apparent to everyone that
he liked that environment – he just wasn’t very capable within it. His fellow
Seacons have had to haul his chassis out of tidal undertows more times than
they care to admit. Some of them secretly whisper, “Let him drown,”
whenever he calls them for help nowadays. They’re also fed up with having to
retrieve him – almost every time he goes on one of his underwater exploratory
excavation missions, he usually gets lost. And to make relations with his comrades
even worse, he’s always quick to blame them for his mistakes. But there are
very good reasons why the Seacons usually come to Nautilator’s aid, as Snaptrap
explains, “If he didn’t bring back an occasional lost nuclear bomb from
the ocean bottom, we’d have left him down there to rust a long time ago.”

Abilities: In his lobster mode, Nautilator uses chemical, thermal, electrical,
magnetic, seismic and sonic sensors located in his legs and tail to search for
and detect underwater fuel deposits and other materials useful to the Decepticon
cause. His claws have an unbreakable grip and can pierce the thickest of ship
hulls with minimal effort. He wields a triple crusher cannon, a weapon that
shoots energon bands that encircle and trap their target, tightening around
it until only rubble remains. He can mount the cannon on his mouth, convert
to weapons mode and use it in a stationary position, or use it on land in robot
mode. In weapons mode, he can also convert it to a torpedo cannon. He combines
with his fellow Seacons to form the super-robot Piranacon.

Weaknesses: Nautilator suffers from a defective gyroscopic circuit center,
which accounts for his poor navigational skills. He also rusts relatively easily,
and can stay underwater for no longer than 4 hours without suffering damage.

ALLEGIANCE: AUTOBOT
FUNCTION: DATA COURIER
FIRST APPEARANCE: TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE # 1

“The faster it is, the better I like it.”

Profile: Blurr is the fastest Autobot in motion and in conversation.
He talks non-stop and continuously – if no one tells him to put a sock in it.
And he is a superior messenger because he can whisk information from one place
to another so fast that he is a blur in motion – hence his name – and almost
a blur in giving his report until he’s told to slow it down to a thousand words
a minute or something somebody can understand. He is rather nervous and high-strung…
not unusual for an Autobot who sometimes seems to be part-thoroughbred Cybertronic
race horse (if there were such a thing). But he is courageous and loyal and
determined to do what’s required whether or not it’s dangerous.

Abilities: In robot mode, he carries an electro-laser that reverses
the polarity of an enemy robot’s microcircuits and leaves him motionless. His
humanoid mode is built for speed – and he looks longer and leaner than most
Autobots. When he’s in his vehicular mode, he is a racing car that routinely
breaks the speed of sound and then some, leaving a trailing image as it hurtles
across distances.

ALLEGIANCE: DECEPTICON
SUB-GROUP: HEADMASTER
HUMAN COMPONENT: SPASMA

FUNCTION: SABOTEUR
FIRST APPEARANCE: HEADMASTERS # 1 (Apeface), HEADMASTERS # 2 (Spasma)

“Obnoxiousness is not a problem, it is an art.”

Profile: Pounding loudly on his chest plates to announce his latest
success is perhaps the least obnoxious of Apeface’s habits. He’s also known
for insulting everyone he talks to, clumsily knocking over anyone in his way
without apologizing, never changing his lubricant so he smells like a grease-encrusted
turboworm, and spitting fuel in public. He revels in the reactions others have
to his undesirable antics. What little imagination he has in his cerebro-circuits
he devotes to devising new gross-outs. One would think he wouldn’t be too popular
with his fellow Decepticons, but actually the opposite is true. He is the ultimate
team player. When he’s called upon to do a job, he puts aside the pranks and
gets down to work. Many think that his slobbish personality is just a disguise
he puts on to cover the cool professional underneath. Then again, many others
think he acts like a cool professional only to obscure the fact that he really
is a slob.

When his mind is merged with that of Spasma, the Nebulan to whom he is binary-bonded,
Apeface’s behavior is often even more repellent. Spasma was the nervous, insecure
son of a despised and bankrupt noble family. Seeing his father’s failed footsteps
as the only path that lay before him heightened Spasma’s feelings of worthlessness,
which manifested itself in his screechy, staccato manner of speech. He saw the
chance to become a powerful Decepticon Headmaster as a way of erasing his feelings
of inadequacy. Instead, now thrust into situations fraught with dangers, Spasma
worries more than ever. His speech is even worse, almost unintelligible at times,
and now, on his own, he walks as herky-jerkily as he talks.

Abilities: In jet mode, twin liquid hydrogen-fueled jet engines enable
Apeface to reach speeds of 3250 mph. He can emit powerful jamming frequencies
from his nose cone, which he uses mainly as a defensive measure to disorient
approaching enemy aircraft. Otherwise, he has no offensive capabilities in jet
mode. Apeface primarily uses his jet mode to transport himself to the site of
his mission objective, where he transforms to his ape mode. In this form, he
possesses great strength and agility, which he uses to great effect in climbing
about and sabotaging enemy installations. In robot mode, he wields a semi-automatic
sonic boomer, which emits wave after wave of concentrated sound energy.

Weaknesses: Lack of offensive weapons makes him fairly vulnerable in
jet mode. Spasma’s often erratic leadership dangerously delays Apeface from
reacting to enemy attack.