Buzzsaw (Cybertron)

Buzzsaw is a Decepticon from the Cybertron portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

Yeah... I'm surprised I exist too.

Buzzsaw is not exactly right in the head. After all, he's one of the few brave or insane enough to have remained on Cybertron during the Unicron Singularity crisis. Something of an "old school" Decepticon, and a little thick, his one driving goal is to destroy as many Autobots as possible. He's not in it for the fame or glory... he just likes killing Autobots, that's all.

Fiction

Toy bio

Buzzsaw was a dangerous rogue from the old guard of the Decepticons. Despite the evacuation of Cybertron during the black hole crisis, Buzzsaw remained on the planet, hoarding as much energon for himself as possible in anticipation of the return of the Autobots, who he could destroy. He practiced his marksmanship by blowing the tops off of old Energon Towers. Cybertron Buzzsaw toy bio

Cybertron cartoon

Voice actor: Scott McNeil (English), Taketora (Japanese)

Someone had to spend time to model and paint this, and yet this is all we got?

As the announcer and commentator of the Planet Cup, Buzzsaw followed its participants closely from the skies. Nearing the finish line, he watched closely as Hot Shot and Override crossed over but as they were moving too fast, the winner couldn't be announced and a replay had to be viewed. Once it was confirmed, he announced Hot Shot as the winner of the Planet Cup. Champion

Timelines

Buzzsaw was assigned to the Upstart by Megatron, operating under Brushguard's command while they searched the galaxy for more Cyber Planet Keys. Their search took them to Combatron, a world devastated by conflict between more than a half-dozen factions. The factions had beaten themselves into extinction nearly 350 megacycles ago, but some of their hardware still existed. The Decepticons uncovered a massive bunker heavily guarded by corpses, which spoke to the possible riches inside. After Runamuck tore the doors open, that estimation proved to be correct. Behind the door was a virtual treasure trove of death—weapons and armaments of all possible varieties, just ripe for the taking. Runamuck found a pair of still operational Mini-Con panels and shared his find with Buzzsaw. His new partner, Heavy Barrel, cheerfully provided some more firepower for Buzzsaw's already impressive arsenal.

When they finally encountered the Autobots, the 'Cons were backed by an army of newly minted Decepticlones. Buzzsaw and Heavy Barrel spent time trading Mini-Con-enhanced firepower with Checkpoint. Checkpoint's Mini-Con burnt out first, and Buzzsaw and Hardtop managed to get the drop on him. Capturing most of the Autobots, the Decepticons were on the verge of victory before some local Mini-Cons stole their shuttle...and the missing Autobot Armorhide crashed their shuttle straight down on the Decepticon position. Buzzsaw and the other Decepticons were left behind on Combatron for three weeks waiting for pick-up...with nothing but Hardtop's supply of comic books to keep them entertained. Force of Habit

Eventually, Buzzsaw and the others were rescued, and they ended up in the employ of the space pirate Cannonball. While on the bridge crew of the Kalis' Lament, Buzzsaw heard the report from one of their probes that the Autobot shuttle Star Arrow had crashed on Sandokan with a valuable Force Chip in the crew's possession. Buzzsaw laughed out loud when his captain declared Sandokan a "cursed" planet, but his laughter turned to wheezes as Cannonball's vise-like claw closed around his throat. Instead of braving Sandokan themselves, the pirates sent in the mercenary Astrotrain to soften up the resistance for them. Buzzsaw joined his captain on a short-range shuttle when they followed up on Astrotrain's initial strike, engaging the monstrous entity known as Synthos, who had made Sandokan his home. Their fight against Synthos went well, but they made the mistake of leaving the Autobots unattended for too long...along with their shuttle. Buzzsaw and the others were stranded when the Autobots stole their ship (again), and they had to wait for the Kalis' Lament to come pick them up. Still, they did manage to steal Synthos's power source, the Dark Heart of Sandokan, so the trip wasn't a total loss. The Dark Heart of Sandokan

Toys

Cybertron

"I'm very discreet, I have no code of ethics. I will kill anyone anywhere. Children, animals, old people, doesn't matter. I just love killing!" (Takara version pictured)

• Buzzsaw vs Blurr (Multi-pack, 2005)

• ID number: GS-01
• Release date: February 24, 2005
• Accessories: 2 missiles, Cybertron Decepticon Cyber Key
• Known designers: Yujiro Matsuzaki (TakaraTomy)

Galaxy Force Buzzsaw is a redeco and fairly extensive retool of Armada Cyclonus, transforming into a Cybertronian helicopter. His primary gimmick is a trigger-activated gear assembly that runs through the length of the vehicle mode; pulling the trigger both spins the rotor blade and a gear system in the cockpit area. Normally, this simply causes his cockpit-mounted twin-cannons to shake back and forth.

Unlike the other retools in his assortment, some of the original mold's Mini-Con-activated gimmicks are still intact. The new bubble-dome cockpit front can still be lifted up to reveal a "second cockpit" connection port for the Crumplezone mold (ideally, the Galaxy Force Micron Booster Trigger, as it uses Buzzsaw's color layouts). If Crumplezone/Trigger is attached in secondary cockpit mode, the gears make their cannon barrel move back and forth. Attaching a compatible geared Mini-Con to the square frame on the underside of his cockpit (any one from the Destruction Mini-Con Team, the Adventure Mini-Con Team, or Refute molds) allows the gear system to activate their gear-wheel gimmicks as well by pulling the trigger.

The figure's wing/arm-mounted missile launchers have been retooled to operate off of a Cyber Key rather than a Mini-Con, which also means he cannot wield the helicopter blade as an arm-mounted weapon as the original does. The Powerlinx ports on his legs do not activate the pop-out shin-guns anymore; these are released with a simple nudge. Like previous versions of the mold, his booster tail piece can be detached and slid into his right wrist sculpted twin cannons for a hand blaster, but cannot do the same on his left arm.

In robot mode the figure features a retooled head which resembles the "robot" head of the Beast Wars character that is his namesake.

In Japan, he was only available in a two-pack with Blurr, released in the fourth wave of Galaxy Force product.

Fittingly, this toy was repurposed as the pre-beast form of Beast Wars Buzz Saw in Beast Wars: Uprising.

• Buzzsaw (Deluxe class, 2005)

• Accessories: 2 missiles, Cybertron Decepticon Cyber Key
• Cyber Key Code: df58

For his Hasbro Cybertron release, Buzzsaw was made as an individual as part of the Deluxe assortment, first released in a short-run "Wave 3.5". He is seemingly physically identical to the Japanese release, save for his Cyber Key, which has a new Cyber Key Code tampographed on its back.

Later releases of this toy came with a pack-in DVD of the Cybertron cartoon episode "Hidden".

• More information on Buzzsaw at TFU.info

Universe (2008)

• Battle for the Cyber Planet Keys (Multi-pack, 2008)

• Series: Cybertron Series
• Accessories: 2 missiles, Cybertron Decepticon Cyber Key
• Cyber Key Code: df58

Buzzsaw was re-released without changes in a Sam's Club-exclusive box set, as part of the 2008 Universe toyline.

This set also included similarly unchanged releases of Runamuck, Longrack, and Blurr, and a new redeco of Armada Deluxe class Optimus Prime.

Notes

• The gang-molded Mini-Con partner was dropped from both the Takara and Hasbro releases of the toy. In Japan, it was put into the fourth Micron Booster assortment as "Trigger". In the U.S. and Europe, it... wasn't put anywhere. The Mini-Con being Buzzsaw's partner was fanon until it was stated in a new bio for him on the Fun Publications Official Transformers Collectors' Club website, and later depicted in "Force of Habit".
• Buzzsaw's appearance in the cartoon is an odd one. While he had a toy made that presented him as a Decepticon, his only fictional appearance was as a Velocitronain race commentator. Originally one would have thought this to be just a simple homage to the figure in the toyline, but his Galaxy Force model sample sheet (see right) actually refers to him by name in parenthesis after "Broadcaster Transformer", making this more deliberate than it may seem. Despite this however, both Hasbro and Fun Publications would go on to ignore this, working with his Decepticon origin, thus making two identical characters with the same name, originating from different planets existing within the cartoon's continuity.
  • To make matters worse, the Cybertron cartoon does not credit the character, nor Scott McNeil's performance in the episode's credits.
  • The character model for Buzzsaw appears to be based on a prototype of the toy, as it features the back of the original toy mold's head, rather than the new one found on the final Buzzsaw toy.
• Buzzsaw's Cyber Key Code info confirms the obvious: his name, head sculpt, and color scheme constitute an homage to Beast Wars Buzz Saw. His crotch being grey instead of green, however, suggests his deco was specifically based on the Japanese release of Buzz Saw.
• The card-art for the four Armada retooled toys are the only ones in the Cybertron line to not have a "painted" look to them.
• Buzzsaw's toy was used as the model for the animation-only character Buzzbomb.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Buzz Saw (バズソー Bazu Sō), Broadcaster Transformer (Buzz Saw) (中継トランスフォーマー（バズソー）Chūkei Toransufōmā (Bazu Sō))
• Korean: Buzz (버즈 Beojeu)