Elita-One (Movie)

Elita-One is an Autobot from the Movie continuity family.

For once, we know what a version of Elita turns into.

Elita-One (also Elita-1) is the first of the female Transformer robots. Naturally, she receives a lot of attention, which by no means displeases her, but she's more than a pretty face. She's a cunning fighter and an excellent marksman, capable of hitting a target from at least four miles away. When it comes time to rely on more than her gun, she's able to emit an "attraction field" that can cause those without protection to overheat without warning.^[1]

As the older sister to Arcee and Chromia, and one of Optimus Prime's closest and longest-serving officers, Elita-One shares the Autobot commander's compassion and dedication for protecting the innocent and downtrodden. Every bit as skilled as she is compassionate, Elita-One is one of the Autobots' strongest leaders. Determined to protect the weaker from the ruthless Decepticons to the bitter end, she is a living definition of an Autobot.^[2]

Fiction

Revenge of the Fallen film

Voice actor: Grey Griffin (English), Masako Katsuki (Japanese), Chen Qian (Chinese), Martina Treger (German), Chiara Colizzi (Italian), Gabriela Bicalho (Brazil), Erica Edwards (Latin American-Spanish), Özlem Abacı (Turkish)

Holographic rider: Erin Naas

Elita-1? Flareup? Call me anything but Sweetie.

Elita-1 and her sisters were held in reserve as NEST entered Shanghai to deal with Demolishor, only being called into action when the presence of a second Decepticon, Sideways, was detected. Together with the twins, the sisters pursued the sneaky speedster through the streets of Shanghai, smashing through buildings and everything else in their way, but ultimately they weren't able to do much damage, so Sideswipe was brought up to bat, and proceeded to make short work of Sideways.

When The Fallen issued an ultimatum to Earth, the US government decided that the Autobots would be shipped back to Diego Garcia, but NEST disobeyed the orders, instead shipping Elita and the others to Egypt on the advice of Sam Witwicky, who had the means to resurrect the recently deceased Optimus Prime. During the climactic battle between NEST and The Fallen's Decepticons, the sisters arrived with Ironhide to help escort Sam and Mikaela through the warzone, but Elita-1 was one of the first Autobot casualties of the battle, being shot down from behind as she called for Sam and Mikaela to follow them. Revenge of the Fallen

IDW movie comics

Thousands of years ago on Cybertron, Elita-One was one of Sentinel Prime's followers, alongside Optimus, Megatron, Shockwave, and others who believed in his teachings of the Dynasty of Primes and the AllSpark. When Sentinel Prime proved the truth of his claims by unearthing the lost AllSpark from beneath the surface of Cybertron at Simfur, Elita helped defend it against an attack by the non-believing Thetacons until Wheeljack was able to warp time and space and bring a sun into Cybertronic space, thereby repowering the AllSpark and the plant. With this, the Thetacons accepted that Sentinel Prime had been right all along, and an end was called to hostilities. In the wake of the conflict, as new life began to spring on Cybertron, Elita told Optimus of her two sisters in Metrotitan and her desire to see them again, and Optimus decided to go with her. Foundation #1

Elita-One can't get enough of Optimus's eyeing her.

Elita and her sisters were later present during Sentinel's speech on Unification Day. She told Optimus that her sisters would have killed her if they missed it. Elita and Arcee joined Optimus's Science Division, while Chromia became part of Megatron's Defense Force. Foundation #2 Years later, when the Science Division unearthed a strange relic and Cybertron was attacked by the aliens of the Eshems Nebula, Megatron changed his military's mission to one of peaceful defense to aggressive offense, taking the fight to the aliens. Elita stayed behind on Cybertron, remaining true to Optimus's belief in the peaceful core values of their planet's society. Defiance #2 Studying the relic fragments they had uncovered alongside Arcee and Ratchet, Elita discovered that they all bore the same symbol in the same area: a symbol was also on Optimus's head. Drawing a correlation between the symbol and the Dynasty of Primes, Ratchet theorized that Optimus was involved with it somehow, redubbing him "Optimus Prime". Defiance #3

When Megatron reformed the military into the Decepticons and ordered the Primes to be assassinated, Elita came under fire with Sentinel and Wheeljack at the excavation site. Optimus and Chromia came to their rescue, and they escaped via a tunnel to Tyger Pax. Elita witnessed the departure of the Nemesis with the other Autobots, and became one of Optimus's closest advisors with Sentinel and Ironhide. With the war tearing Cybertron apart, Sentinel proposed using a "torch" to end the war without further loss of life. Foundation #3 It required the AllSpark to work: as Optimus battled Megatron at Simfur Temple, Elita successfully activated the torch and delivered it to Sentinel. Sentinel boarded the Ark and flew to Simfur, but it was all in vain after Starscream blew up the ship. Foundation #4

Nobody cares about your pain, woman.

Elita-One joined a vengeful Optimus Prime in a charge on Megatron's citadel. Shocked at the coldness and violence her old friend was displaying on the battlefield, Elita entreated him to stand down, telling him that such actions were not who he was, but he retorted that Megatron's death was all that mattered. Foundation #1 She was left behind when Ironhide decided to help Optimus Prime. Foundation #2 Though Optimus did not go through with killing Megatron after her sisters stole the AllSpark, Elita still found herself unable to speak to him. Foundation #4

Sometime in 1908, Elita-One were part of an Autobot team sent to steal energon from the Decepticons. Instead they were ambushed by Shockwave and his troops, and Chromia was killed in action. Rising Storm #2

After the Autobots claimed victory in their first great battle with the Decepticons on Earth in 2007, Starscream began a plan of his own to create an artificial Replica AllSpark, and had Elita-One, Grindcore, Signal Flare, and Warpath captured and put to work constructing it at Simfur. When Starscream arrived to inspect the cube, Elita pled with him for mercy, but none was dispensed. Upon the AllSpark's completion, she was strapped to it, with the intention of draining her life-force to power the cube. The Reign of Starscream #4 Arcee arrived too late to stop her sister's death, but blew up the generators used to store the life energy in revenge, throwing the Decepticons into disarray. The Reign of Starscream #5

Not long after, Elita-One's remains were acquired by the deranged Decepticon experimentalist Flatline, along with those of her sister Chromia and taken to his lab at an outpost on an unknown planet to use in his attempts to create a new breed of tripartite soldier, three bodies fuelled by a single spark. After several failures, whether by coincidence or design, Flatline was presented by Thundercracker with a new test subject: Elita and Chromia's sister, Arcee. Through the use of Arcee's spark, implanted in a new body, Flatline reignited the life-forces of Elita and Chromia in new shells, albeit not as they had truly had been before: now, they were at one with their sister, a singular entity at the spark, each feeling the sensations and emotions of the other, yet retaining some degree of autonomy and memory of their own identity. "One as three, and three as one". Grappling with their new forms, the sisters broke free, liberating Flatline's other victims, the twins Skids and Mudflap, in the process. Tales of the Fallen #6 Rising Storm #1

A short time later, the sisters, the twins, Sideswipe, Topspin, Leadfoot and Roadbuster arrived on Earth on the Wreckers ship Xantium. (While the ship and the Wreckers stayed behind in NASA) Dark of the Moon Dark of the Moon #3 in response to a summons beamed into space by Optimus Prime. Joining the allied Autobot-human strikeforce NEST, the new recruits received some training, and were soon called upon to put it into use: the Decepticon Demolishor had been sighted in Shanghai, China. Alliance #4

When NEST discovered that Starscream was selling Transformer weaponry to humans, a sting operation was staged in which Theodore Galloway would pose as a buyer to lure the Decepticons in. When Skystalker, Divebomb and Fearswoop took the bait, Elita and her sisters joined the twins and the human forces of NEST in tackling them. The sisters did not take kindly to Skystalker's bewilderment that the Autobots were sending their women to do the fighting for them, and killed him with practised ease. The violent streak his old friend was now displaying gave Optimus Prime pause, reminding him of the time in the past when he too had sunk into the depths of rage, and how Elita had disapproved of it then.

Returning to base after the mission, Elita told Optimus she could feel things from her sisters whose spark she shared: The pain of Arcee's wounds, and the feel of Chromia's sword blade as she tested it against her fingertip. Prime quietly told her that she had never told him these things before, and she simply replied that he had never asked. Rising Storm #1

When Starscream attacked Philadelphia and Sam Witwicky contacted NEST, Optimus decided that the sisters should be left behind due to damage that Arcee was still sustaining. However, in the end Optimus allowed Elita and her sisters to join the mission. Rising Storm #2

During the flight, Optimus tried once more to have Arcee sit out of the mission. Elita reminded Optimus that was Arcee's decision, and her desire for revenge was as strong as Elita's. Optimus tried to explain to her that victory at any price comes at a high cost, recalling the time on Cybertron when Prime let such an emotion overcome him. Elita's anger boiled over and she chastised him for leaving her behind on Cybertron, only to witness Chromia's death and die herself, and said that she had come back to life only to fight and kill more Decepticons. Optimus reminded Elita that he too had experienced death, but Elita explained that when he died, the Autobots actually cared. She and her sisters were dispatched to upstate New York - thought to be Starscream's base of operations - and destroy it, although they quickly found out they were wrong and that Shockwave was on Earth. Elita tried to contact Optimus, but Soundwave jammed their communications and sent his minions after her sisters. She attempted to flee and warn Optimus, but Astrotrain pursued her. Rising Storm #3

She's dead, Jim.

After a short chase, Elita eventually got the drop on Astrotrain. A swipe of her blade cleaved his armor, causing him to explode above a building as Elita sped away. She was able to inform Optimus Prime that the events occurring were not Starscream's doing, but were in fact the result of Shockwave's manipulation. Just as she was delivering her message, she was caught off guard by a surprise attack by Shockwave and was brutally killed, while both of her sisters could only helplessly feel her pain as she died for a second time. Shockwave took a look at Elita-1's lifeless head and mockingly 'asked' her if he had interrupted her. Distraught and enraged by her death, Optimus battled the Decepticon and began to gain the upper hand, until Shockwave's pet Driller arrived and rescued the Decepticon. Rising Storm #4

Shortly after Elita's death, a "grave" was made for her and other Autobots in the form of shipping containers. Optimus Prime dwelled on their deaths for a few minutes, shortly before he left on a mission to Chernobyl. Dark of the Moon #1

Titan movie comics

Strike a pose.

In a divergent timeline, the Decepticons succeeded at Mission City and conquered the United States. Elita-One was part of a small team of Autobot reinforcements summoned to Earth by the surviving Autobots on the planet. Touching down on Earth's moon, Elita-One reminded Strongarm that they were to wait until they heard from Ironhide and Bumblebee, as to act without the Earth-based Autobots' intel would be as good as just shooting themselves in the head there and then. Unfortunately, the Decepticons had detected the arrival, Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 1 and Starscream arrived to attack them, ironically just as Elita was expressing her desire for a fight. Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 2 Starscream's appearance led Elita to mistakenly conclude that the Autobots on Earth must have been destroyed, meaning the mission was a bust, so they team decided to go to Earth themselves—just as Starscream wanted. Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 3

Once on Earth, Elita-One's group unsuccessfully helped Bumblebee in battle against Megatron. The tables turned when the captive Optimus Prime was freed and joined the fight, so Elita hung back and warned Strongarm to keep out of the leaders' battle. Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 4 Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 5

After the Decepticons were beaten, she was on sentry duty with Armorhide. She was too busy swearing to look in more than one direction, causing the Decepticon attack force to reach Savannah without warning simply because they were approaching from behind her. Aftermath Part 1 Aftermath Part 2 Somehow this didn't get her banned from further sentry duty. Dark Spark

Elita-One joined Optimus, Longarm, Strongarm and Sky Blast in the Straxus, on a mission to gather Nucleon from Cybertron. The team was surprised to find a Unicron-possessed Cybertron head in their direction after they had blasted off. Return to Cybertron: Part 3 She managed to survive Unicron's initial assault against the Autobots' shuttle, and later helped in fending off Unicron's drones while the rest of her team worked out the means to force Unicron into fleeing. Return to Cybertron: Part 4

She later piloted the Straxus on its return flight to Earth, and was ordered to fly on to Washington, D.C. when it was discovered the Decepticons had taken over the Savannah base. Hard Target

Toy bios

Elita-1 came to find she had a lot in common with Sideswipe. As such, she would team up to go Decepticon hunting with the Autobot swordsman whenever possible. In particular, the Decepticon bounty hunter Axor made an interesting challenge for the pair. Hunt for the Decepticons Elita-1

Elita-1 and her sisters have hunted Sideways in the past, but he always got away. After begging Optimus Prime, the three of them got another shot at bringing him down. Sideways Sneak Attack

Unite for the Universe

Elita, war isn't a spectator sport!

When Starscream, powered by Project: Unite attacked multiple human installations, Optimus Prime led an Autobot force to combat the crazed Decepticon. Elita-One was among them, along with Scattorshot and Hubcap. They fired on Starscream, only managing to anger him, but he was soon blasted by even larger firepower, from a Megatron seeking out Starscream's head for his disobedience. On the Road of Destruction

As Megatron and Starscream battled it out without regard to their Autobot spectators, Elita muttered that she'd rather let the two wear each other down and then take the survivor. However, Optimus Prime knew that keeping their distance would still potentially leave the Unite technology in the wrong hands, meaning the Autobots would have to separate the two and defeat both. While Optimus went after Megatron, he directed Elita and the other Autobots at Starscream. They and Decepticons loyal to Megatron kept Starscream busy until Ratchet was able to arrive and separate Starscream from his Unite technology. With the defunct Starscream still in the care of Elita and the Autobots, Megatron and his Decepticons fled. The Strongest Weapon

Toys

Transformers (2007)

• Elita-One (Scout, 2007)

• Accessories: Missile, 2 tailpipes, scope, projectile launcher, Energon chip

A pinkish-copper and silver redeco of the Energon Arcee toy, Elita-One transforms into a "superbike"-type racing motorcycle of undetermined and probably made-up model. Like previous versions of the mold, she comes with several separate weapon pieces that combine into her Energon bow, which pegs into a hole just above her hand, and an Autobot-style energon chip. These items are cast in black plastic. One must take care when removing her black chip, as the star fits so tightly that careless removal can break her torso. Her deco meticulously matches that of Generation 1 Arcee.

Elita-One is part of the third wave of live-action movie toyline Target-exclusive Scouts, but is not marked as part of the Robo-Vision promotion. This toy was also sold as a Farmers exclusive in New Zealand.

This exact toy was repurposed as Shattered Glass Arcee. This mold also was used to make Superlink Ariel Paradron Type, as well as the BotCon 2005 Descent into Evil set's Chromia, Flamewar and Flareup, and Elita-One's fellow Target exclusive, Arcee.

• More information on Elita-One at TFU.info

Transformers (2010)

Clear a path, Prime. Your girl's just been swiped! (Hasbro version pictured)

Elita-2. (Takara version pictured)

• Elita-1 (Deluxe, 2010)

• Takara ID number: AA-08
• Accessories: Missile, figure stand/cannons
• Known designers: Andrew Scribner (deco artist)

Released in the second wave of Deluxes in the 2010 Transformers toyline, Elita-1 is a black, white and purple(ish) redeco of Revenge of the Fallen Chromia, transforming from a unicycle-robot into a Suzuki B-King motorcycle. Her vehicle mode weapon can attach as a display stand for either mode, ironically making a unicyclebot one of the most stable robot-modes. In robot mode, there is a spring-loaded missile between the tailpipes on Elita-1's left hand in addition to the aforementioned non-firing blaster-stand. She is slightly retooled from the original Chromia figure, sporting an extra tab that allows her chest to lock together more securely. She was released as part of the Hunt for the Decepticons promotion.

Elita-1 features a small Mech Alive gimmick: swinging her left forearm towards and away from her body makes a blue piston slide back and forth inside the large gun. Her stand has sculpted tank treads on the bottom, most likely to make it look that she's still mobile while using it. Her license plate has 3L 174 written on it as a leet way of spelling her own name ("leet"/"Elita"... get it? Haw haw.). A certain fellow would approve of that.

TakaraTomy initially mistakenly solicited their release of Elita-1 using the purple Arcee redeco from the "Rotorwash Rumble" pack. The actual released toy uses the Chromia mold just like Hasbro, with a more screen accurate deco that uses more purple paint.

• More information on Elita-1 at TFU.info

• Sideways Sneak Attack (Multi-pack, 2010)

• Known designers: Andrew Scribner (deco artist)

This Target-exclusive multi-pack was to contain redecos of the Revenge of the Fallen Legends class Arcee mold as Chromia and Elita-1, plus an Arcee who may or may not be different from the single ROTF release. The set furthermore includes a redeco of Deluxe class Sideways, whose painted battle damage evokes the scene in the film where he's been cut in half. Ouchies.

Proceed on your way to oblivion. This item has been canceled, with no current plans for release.

Dark of the Moon

Can I have my real body now, Hasbro?

• Autobot Skids / Elita-1 / Sergeant Epps (Human Alliance, 2011)

• Known designers: Andrew Scribner (deco artist)

A purple redeco of Human Alliance Arcee, Dark of the Moon Elita-1 comes with a redeco of Human Alliance Skids and Sergeant Epps. Epps can ride her in vehicle mode.

The mold that this Elita-1 is redecoed from actually uses Chromia's robot design (similarly to Elita-1's Deluxe-class toy), despite originally being named and colored like Arcee, meaning that the purple bike is a recolor of the red bike who somehow had the blue bike's body. Confused yet?

• More information on Dark of the Moon Elita-1 at TFU.info

Studio Series

FINALLY

• Chromia • Arcee • Elita-1 (Deluxe Class, 2019)

• Movie: Revenge of the Fallen
• Hasbro ID number: 52
• TakaraTomy ID number: SS-41
• TakaraTomy release date: January 25, 2020
• Accessories: 3 wheel stands, cannon, sword, shoulderpad, "Shanghai Pursuit" backdrop

Studio Series Elita-One is a Legion Class-sized mold accurate to her appearance in Revenge of the Fallen, transforming into a purple approximation of a MV Agusta F4. She comes packaged with Chromia and Arcee in a three-pack priced at the standard Deluxe Class price value, making them the smallest transforming toys in the Studio Series line to date. The three-pack comes also comes with a stand for each sister's bottom wheels, helping them stay upright, and a cardboard backdrop display of their pursuit of Sideways through Shanghai's streets.

Third-wheelin'

Though not included in the toys' instructions, the three sisters can combine into a kind of motorcycle-centaur form, as originally proposed for (but cut from) the movie (see Arcee's page for details). The combined form is assembled using special tabs on Elita-1 and Chromia's stands to link the figures together, and its appearance is completed with three accessories—a pink cannon, a blue sword, and a blue shoulder pad—which all attach to Arcee. Elita can somewhat wear the gun while in her individual robot mode, but neither it, the other weapons, nor the sisters' stands store anywhere in vehicle mode.

This is notably the first transforming figure of Elita-1's on-screen robot design, as well as the first toy that doesn't depict her as a repaint of one of her sisters.

Like the rest of the figures in the same wave, Elita-1 first saw release in some Toys"R"Us shops in Malaysia and independent stores in Hong Kong.

Notes

~"Wheeere did he go? / That Invisi-bo! / He's a menace to the town and to property / He wants to be in charge of you and me!"

• In both IDW Publishing's comics and Titan's Transformers magazine, Elita's head (her original body's head, that is) was redesigned to resemble that of her Generation 1 counterpart. As far as Titan goes, however, apparent lack of communication between artists has meant that this was not consistent across various issues, and that she is sometimes drawn with her toy-based head instead. And there's about a million different versions of her G1-ised head, one for each Titan artist...
• For her Revenge of the Fallen incarnation, Elita-1's name was originally announced as "Flareup" at Hasbro's panel during San Diego Comic-Con 2009.
  • Not long after, at BotCon 2009, it was claimed that she was going to be a redeco of Revenge of the Fallen Arcee.
  • The three bike girls were originally going to combine into a larger robot-form, but this was cut from the final movie. A vestigal reference to this can be found in fold-out tabs attached to their action figures, but with Elita's relegation to a redeco, no real combination appears possible with the toys.
  • Yeah, plans changed a lot with Elita.
• The third motorcycle in the movie was actually an MV Agusta F4, a different model from both Arcee's Ducati 848 and Chromia's Suzuki B-King.
• Elita-1 was originally planned to be yellow/gold. Evidence of this can be found multiple times on the Revenge of the Fallen special features DVD and other pieces of publicly released concept art. "The Human Factor", a segment on the DVD, features an image of her standard purple concept model in yellow behind several of the concept artists' during their interviews. The "Deconstructing Visual Bayhem" segment features the "Lamborghini Jump" which depicts the third member of the Arcee combiner in yellow. And finally, one of the concepts for Arcee's proposed combined mode was shown to feature gold components.
  • Other concepts for the combined mode also featured components in green and silver.
• A piece of (adorable!) TakaraTomy website art shows Chromia with her finalized design, but the other two bike girls as pink and red versions of Arcee. As Arcee's toy is red, this would ostensibly make the pink one Elita-1...despite her film design being entirely different and her toy being a redeco of Chromia.
• Robot Heroes Chromia is actually Elita-1's model in Chromia's colors.
• While the film is wholly apathetic on whether or not the shot that takes down Elita is fatal, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman would claim that all three Arcee components were killed ^[3] at the behest of director Michael Bay.^[4] IDW's comics ignored this and continued to feature the three sisters in Rising Storm. However, Elita does get killed off by Shockwave towards the end of that comic, presumably to explain her absence in Dark of the Moon.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Elita-1 (エリータ・ワン Erīta Wan)
• Mandarin: Elita (艾丽塔 Àilìtǎ), Jīng Yīng (菁英, "Elite")

References