Blackout (G1)
From Transformers Wiki
| The name or term "Blackout" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Blackout (disambiguation). |
- Blackout is a Decepticon Micromaster from the Generation 1 continuity family.
As the high-ranking co-commander of one of the "most powerful Decepticon weapons of all time", Blackout spends a lot of time delivering rousing speeches about determination and duty to the troops. When the chips are down, however, the only thing that stops Blackout from forgetting all that crap and running for the hills is the thought of disappointing the legitimately-valiant Spaceshot, who forms the back half of the two siblings' combined B-1 bomber jet alternate mode.
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Fiction
Beast Wars: Uprising
Blackout and Spaceshot were sisters, and among the few Decepticons who remained mobile on a post-war Cybertron thanks to their more energy-efficient Micromaster bodies. As part of Hot Rod's team operating out of Micropolis, they helped counter the efforts of the Resistance, who sought to overthrow the current Cybertronian government, the Builders of Cybertron.
The sisters were called to attend a meeting after the rebel Maximal Grimlock managed to steal a potent weapon, the G-Virus. After being brought up to date on the situation, Hot Rod dispatched his team to help guard what he foresaw as being the terrorists' most likely target: Tesarus Arena during the upcoming gladiatorial games.
Hot Rod's prediction turned out to be accurate. When Grimlock and his team's intrusion was detected, Hot Rod had Blackout and Spaceshot accompany him to confront the trespassers. After dodging an ion disc lobbed at them by The Man Terror, the sisters occupied themselves with the Predacon and his fellow rebel, Snapper, while Hot Rod tussled with Grimlock himself. Spaceshot was defeated and dismembered by the Man Terror, sending Blackout into a rage. She avenged her sister by blowing the Predacon to scrap, only to be herself taken out of the fight when Snapper collapsed some rubble down onto her. Micro-Aggressions
In the final days of the Grand Uprising, Blackout and Spaceshot remained part of the Micromaster command team as the Resistance made their final push on the High Pavilion of Iacon. In jet mode, they made a pass over the marching troops and confirmed at least 50-100,000 Resistance, compared to the 17,000 Micromasters and Cyberdroids under Builder command. Ratbat and the Builder Assembly insisted the Micromasters continue fighting the Resistance all the way to the Pavilion, though it meant guerrilla tactics or even open warfare in civilian areas. Anything to slow the Resistance down until the Vehicons hordes arrived from the rear.
Blackout and Spaceshot objected to the idea of accepting innocent casualties for a delaying tactic. Hot Rod agreed and, with a silent nod from Countdown and Drillbuster, claimed communications were breaking down in order to ignore the Assembly's orders.
Blackout survived the Vehicon Apocalypse, and helped the combined Builder and Resistance army begin picking off stragglers from the aero drones and copter drones. Derailment
Toys
The Transformers
- Anti-Aircraft Base (Micromaster Combiner Anti-Aircraft Base, 1990)
- Accessories: "Anti-Aircraft Base" tank, "scout vehicle", ramp, 2 cannons, bazooka, communications dish, "radar drum", missile launcher
- Released in the seventh and final year of the original The Transformers toyline in the US (sixth and not-final in Europe), Blackout transforms into the front half of a blue and gray B-1 bomber jet, meant to combine with his partner Spaceshot to form a full jet. As a Micromaster Combiner, Blackout can combine with any other Micromaster Combiner, Combiner Transport, or Micro Trailer to form new and excitingly unworkable vehicle modes (although Blackout's arms stick out a little past the connection point, requiring them to be repositioned slightly in order to form a stable combination with anyone other than Spaceshot).
- Blackout's transformation bestows the unique honor among Micromasters of having neck rotation, allowing for great drunk-driving poses.
- He and Spaceshot were only available packed in with the Anti-Aircraft Base vehicle.
Notes
- Blackout and Spaceshot's original Tech Specs completely lacked any kind of pronouns. Although Dreamwave's More than Meets the Eye profile comics applied male pronouns to the characters, Jim Sorenson and David Bishop made them female in their Beast Wars: Uprising prose stories.
- Dreamwave's profiles accidentally reversed the character models for Blackout and Spaceshot, portraying Spaceshot as the front half of their combined vehicle mode and Blackout as the rear half. This error carried over into the bio text as well, so it is entirely possible that the personality assigned to Blackout was intended for Spaceshot, and vice versa.
- That mistake reappeared almost ten years later when, for reasons unknown, Spaceshot was featured in a character lineup on Hubworld.com's Generation 1 cartoon page, visually represented by Dreamwave's erroneous Blackout art.[1] Neither one of them had any business being there, as they didn't even exist until three years after the cartoon ended.
- In Beast Wars: Uprising, Transformers cannot share exactly the same name. Blackout is therefore a Micromaster Builder of Cybertron, coexisting with Armada "Black Out" and "Search", and the helicopter "Black-Out". It's kind of an Eats, Shoots & Leaves situation.
