TRANSFORMERS: Revisiting The Characters From Generation 1 - DEAD END

 TRANSFORMERS:  Revisiting the Characters of Generation 1

"We are all just food for rust." - Dead End, 1986.

DECEPTICON

Name - DEAD END

Function - Warrior

Series Debut - 1986 / Wave 3

Sub-Group - Stunticon

BACKGROUND...

    Frustrated with the Autobots having control over the roads, Megatron had Rumble steal 5 Earth vehicles and return them to Decepticon headquarters.  Megatron then converted them into new Decepticon warriors.  He then had the empty shells infused with life and personalities by the Cybertronian super-computer - Vector Sigma.  Dead End and his fellow Stunticons were created to directly combat the Autobot cars on the roads.  The fact that they often get mistaken for Autobots is just icing on the cake.

    Dead End can be a bit of a downer.  He is underwhelmed by... basically everything.  He feels there is really no point to the Transformer's war, they'll all eventually just be shut down anyway.  So getting him to fight can be difficult.  The only thing he takes any interest in is himself.  So it should come as no surprise that he spends plenty of time polishing himself.

    Dead End transforms into a sleek, crimson Porche 928 car.  In his car mode he can reach speeds up to 220 mph.  His car mode is armed with a double-barrel Plasma-Energy Blaster.  He has a sophisticated radar system that can cover a 200 mile radius.  As a robot, he carries a Compressor-Air gun that can fire a blast of air of 40,000 psi.  

    Dead End can merge with his Stunticon brothers to form the giant robot - Menasor!!

MY THOUGHTS...

    Early 1986, very few Transformers from Wave 3 had been seen... if any!  We were on a trip to visit my grandparents in Florida.  While there I found Dead End!  The first Stunticon I had ever seen, other than on the cartoon.  I was excited!  I couldn't wait to bring him back and show him to my friends at the school lunch table!  On the same trip I found and bought Brawl and picked up Prowl as well.

    Dead End instantly became my favorite Stunticon!  The car mode was so cool and sleek looking!  I thought his crimson red color with the yellow stripe was awesome!  I liked the idea of him being vain, but wasn't crazy about his "downer" attitude (ie. "We are all food for rust").  In my eyes though, he had that wacky, wild side like Wildrider!

    Standing in for the original G1 Dead End is the version from the 2023 Legacy series.  This figure is AMAZING!  They really nailed the look of the car and perfectly got his cartoon accurate head sculpt!  An excellent update!!!

Stunticons from the original G1 Series 3 catalog from my collection!

    (Information on the character's lore was taken from the Sunbow Transformers cartoon series, including the Movie and the figure's original Tech-Spec.)