Powerdive

Powerdive is a Decepticon from the Generation 2 portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Sure, "Blade" is "Powerdive" in North America, but it don't change how mustard tastes.

Powerdive (aka Blade) can detect an Autobot from a hundred miles away, giving him ample opportunity to figure the best approach to take them by surprise and take them apart with his flying rotor blades. A heavily armed warrior, Powerdive can rain down death on his opponents, or engage them in close combat. Either way, he is a no-nonsense fighter, ready and able to brutally tear through any obstacle.

Fiction

Marvel Generation 2 comic

Powerdive was one of several new warriors created by the Decepticons after their defeat on Klo. While Bludgeon designed these new warriors and conceived the plan of stealing the Creation Matrix from Optimus Prime, it was Megatron who actually carried out the plot. The Gathering Darkness Powerdive leapt into action alongside his fellow Rotor Force and Laser Rod members on Tykos, moon of E'brutoc, in order to acquire the metal-reinforcing gas known as rheanimum. The Decepticons ripped through the opposition and took the gas for themselves. New Dawn

Despite their new powers, Powerdive and his ilk did little to turn the tide against the Cybertronian Empire, and so Megatron was forced to make an alliance with the Autobots for mutual preservation. Powerdive was present for the final conflict on Earth with Jhiaxus and the Swarm. A Rage in Heaven!

Wings Universe

Sneaky sneak.

Powerdive was part of the "second generation" of Transformers created on Earth, and when this generation began fighting amongst themselves just like the previous one, he joined Clench's Decepticon Syndicate. He participated in the attack on the Large Hadron Collider, fighting in the skies alongside Skyjack and some Sharkticons. When the Autobots attacked, Powerdive and Ransack battled against Manta Ray and Leadfoot, and may have developed rotor powers after all four were exposed to forestonite gas. Generation 2: Redux

Legends comic

In the year 2038, Powerdive was a member of the Decepticon faction led by Galvatron II. They attacked the planet Beast to steal its energy and became aware of the power of the Three Wise Ones' Gems. Powerdive and the G-2 Decepticon jets strafed the Monsterbots and their Legends World allies so that Galvatron's Nemesis could begin harvesting power. However, the Legends Beast Warriors assumed their Transformer bodies and wreaked havoc on board Nemesis, bringing down the ship. The Road to Legends' Revival Chapter 3 Galvatron seized the Gem of Fire and attempted to wield it against his enemies, but the Monsterbots and local Beastformers proved better able to harness the Gems' power. Galvatron, Powerdive, and the Decepticons were forced to retreat from Beast. Grotusque Chapter

Toys

Generation 2

Comes with cherry or licorice-flavored rotors.

• Powerdive (Rotor Force, 1994)

• Hasbro EU name: Blade
• Accessories: Helicopter rotor, 2 rotor discs
• Known designers: Takio Ejima (TakaraTomy), Masakatsu Saito (concept artist)

Generation 2 Powerdive transforms into a Boeing-McDonnell-Douglas AH-64 Apache assault helicopter. As a Rotor Force toy, his hand-wound rotor assembly can launch plastic flying discs in vehicle and robot mode; the prop/engine portion becoming a hand-held weapon for robot mode.

He came with two rotor discs, in case you lost one (considering how well they fly, good idea). Early releases of Powerdive and his partner Ransack came with black-plastic rotor discs, but this was changed to red after a short while. The black-rotor version is much more uncommon.

In Europe, this toy was sold under the name "Blade".

• More information on Powerdive at TFU.info

Generations

• Powerdive (Voyager Class, 2012)

• Accessories: 2 Gatling guns

Generations Powerdive is a dark-green, red, purple, and gold redeco of Hunt for the Decepticons Highbrow with the pre-tooled alternate head, which is actually based on Ransack's. He transforms into a World War II-era fighter resembling a Lockheed P-38 Lightning with painted shark deco around his cockpit and "<DC" tampographed on the front, and features propellers which are geared to spin if you press the engines down. In robot mode, he features a flip-down battle mask, is armed with two non-firing gatling guns which can mount on his hip guards/small front wings via 5mm post, and the propellers on his forearms can be swung down to function as "spinning blade weapons." His head has movable goggles, and the lenses of the goggles are made of a translucent red plastic, allowing one to see Powerdive's eyes when the mask is down, as lowering the mask reveals much more of the translucent plastic on the back of his head, allowing the light-piping to shine through more.

With the cockpit shell halves splitting open and forming the wings, at the same time revealing the thruster attached underneath the "main" cockpit body, which is then flipped down, the cockpit kibble on his back actually turns into a jet-pack.

Powerdive was developed for and originally exclusively released in mainland Asian markets, but he and (most of) the others were later picked up by Toys"R"Us for U.S. release. This mold was also retooled into Timelines Obsidian.

• More information on Generations Powerdive at TFU.info

Notes

• Pre-production samples of Powerdive had green legs, as seen in the Rotor Force's cross-sell. Though the green leg design also showed up in the Generation 2 comics, it never made it into mass production.
• The original sample of Powerdive's package art is labelled "Ransack", implying the two had their names swapped at some point. This would make sense as powerdiving is certainly something planes do more than helicopters.
• Transformers Generation 2 #7 and #12 misspell his name as "Powerdrive".

Foreign names

• French: Acrobate (Canada)