TRANSFORMERS: Revisiting The Characters of Generation 1 - CYCLONUS

TRANSFORMERS:  Revisiting the Characters of Generation 1

    "Compassion is the Autobots' downfall." - Cyclonus, 1986.

DECEPTICON

Name - CYCLONUS

Function - Saboteur

Nebulan Partner - NIGHTSTICK

Series Debut - 1986 / Wave 3

Sub-Group - None (1986), Targetmaster (1987)

BACKGROUND...

    Following the Battle of Autobot City in 2005, several injured Decepticons found themselves dumped into space by their teammates trying to ensure their own survival.  Among the group were the 3 Insecticons - Shrapnel, Bombshell, and Kickback; the seekers - Skywarp and Thundercracker; and the Decepticon leader - Megatron.

    Floating hopelessly in space, most of these Decepticons ran out of energon and were deactivated.  Only Megatron was left clinging to life.  Before long, they were draw in closer by the planet-sized entity known as Unicron.  He struck a deal with the defeated Megatron and offered to convert him and his troops into more powerful beings in return for the destruction of the Autobot's Matrix of Leadership.  Accepting the deal over sure death, Megatron was reformatted into Galvatron.  Unicron then used the remains of the other Decepticons to craft into new warriors - Scourge and his Sweeps, and Cyclonus!

    Cyclonus is a powerful air warrior that serves as one of Galvatron's chief lieutenants.  Despite the often erratic behavior of the new Decepticon Leader, Cyclonus remains steadfastly loyal (a stark contrast to the traitorous Starscream).  He is devoid of emotion and has no weaknesses.  His primary weapon is an Oxidating Laser which has the ability to fuse the internal mechanisms of his enemies.  

    Cyclonus transforms into a space jet.  He is able to reach speeds of Mach 2 and is capable of interstellar space travel thanks to his nuclear-powered turbine engines.  He can even size shift to accommodate Galvatron as a pilot.

    A few years after the defeat of Unicron, Cyclonus and several Decepticons traveled to the planet Nebulos in effort to track a team of Autobots.  The Cybertronian War began anew on this strange world.  The natives split their allegiances, some siding with the Autobots, others with the Decepticons.  

    As the two factions fought, both sides eventually combined Cybertronian and Nebulan technologies together and came up with the Targetmaster and Headmaster processes - teaming Nebulan and Transformer warriors together.  Cyclonus became a Targetmaster and was paired up with a Nebulan Master Criminal named Nightstick.  Nightstick was given the ability to transform into Cyclonus' new weapon - a Black-Beam Gun which can blind opponents and cause corrosive damage. 

MY THOUGHTS...

    In 1986, I didn't think Cyclonus or Scourge were as eye-catching as the previous two jet assortments.  Transformers: The Movie certainly made Cyclonus appear much cooler though!  I believe I got Cyclonus for Christmas 1986, so I never owned the Targetmaster version.  I wasn't going to re-buy the figure just for the Nebulan.  I thought the jet mode was super-cool looking, but the robot mode seemed a bit tall and lanky.

    And of course, there is the tired old argument - who became Cyclonus?  Was it Bombshell or Skywarp?  In my eyes, it makes more sense that it was Skywarp!  The scene we see in the Movie is riddled with errors... In this particular scene we see 2 Cyclonus' and there is a remark about his "armada" that we see once and then never again.  So you clearly can't go by what you SEE.  In reality though, there is no clear answer and there will never be one.  Scourge's tech-spec says he was "created from Decepticon wreckage", and I think that tells us these Transformers were no longer functioning, so it doesn't matter.

    Standing in for the original Cyclonus is the Combiner Wars version.  This figure has its share of pluses and minuses.  Both jet and robot modes were pretty good, I guess my biggest problem was that he is a retooled figure from Silverbolt... who both all share hardware with Scattershot as well.  So on his own he's okay, then putting him alongside the other two - the concept looks cheap.  These 3 shouldn't look that closely related!  The figure is better than the original, but it is still not a perfect representation of him.  Also I'll mention that Cyclonus was never meant to be a "combiner", so we'll ignore that fact about this figure.

    One final thought... why is Cyclonus a "saboteur"??  This does not seem like a job he would be doing.  I see a saboteur as someone more sneaky and off-the-radar - Like Ravage!  Cyclonus is a bit more "out front" and a fore-runner into the conflict.  Anyone know of any time Cyclonus has sabotaged anything???

Cyclonus and the other Decepticon Targetmasters in the original 1987 Hasbro 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-Specs.)