Skywarp
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Skywarp is the name of several fictional characters in the Transformers toyline. Skywarp is a Decepticon, often classified as one of the Seekers. Skywarp is typically depicted as a jet fighter with a black-and-purple color scheme.
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[edit] Generation One (1984)
| Transformers character | |
 box artwork |
|
| Skywarp | |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | Decepticon  |
| Sub-Group | Seekers, Wreckers |
| Function | Warrior |
| Motto | "Strike when the enemy isn't looking." |
| Alternate Modes | F-15 Eagle (Cybertronian jet in War Within) |
| Series | G1 cartoon, Marvel Comics, Dreamwave Comics, IDW comics |
| Voiced by | Frank Welker (English) Masashi Ebara (Japanese) |
Skywarp (Fraudeur in Canada, Corvo in Italy) is the first Decepticon to awaken on Earth in 1984. After laying dormant for four million years, he now shares the same Earthen appearance (an F-15 Eagle) as Starscream and Thundercracker, and is usually allied with them during attacks. Like his name suggests, his special ability is to be able to teleport at will.
Skywarp's original tech spec bio indicated that he was a master of sneak attacks, using his teleportation abilities to cause mayhem amongst the Autobots - and his fellow Decepticons when playing malicious pranks. However, his relative lack of intelligence means he needs to be constantly monitored by his superiors Megatron and Starscream, or else he would be useless.
According to original tech spec notes written by Bob Budiansky found at Iacon One in 2006, the tech spec numbers were swapped for Starscream and Skywarp, but Thundercracker's were correct. Additionally, it was originally planned for Skywarp to have had an Intelligence rating of 4 (changed to 7), but when Skywarp and Starscream's specs were swapped, Skywarp was given a rating of 9, in complete opposition to his tech spec saying he wasn't very smart.
[edit] Animated series
Although a popular character in the Transformers universe, Skywarp seldom showed much function other than being a loyal Decepticon soldier. Skywarp also appears to be the least known decepticon amongst the autobots, he is only called by his name by Optimus Prime in Divide and Conquer
In the episode The Immobilizer, Skywarp attacked the Autobots with his Bouncer Bomb, but it went wild.
In 2005, Skywarp was among those who were thrown into space after being wounded during the battle for Autobot City. Adrift with Megatron and other wounded Decepticons, Skywarp encountered Unicron. Unicron used Skywarp's battered body to create one of Galvatron's new warriors - possibly Cyclonus, the loyal second in command of Galvatron, although there is some controversy about this due to animation inconsistencies.
[edit] Marvel Comics
Skywarp was amongst those Decepticons ordered by Megatron to greet the new arrivals from Cybertron. However these new arrivals were Blaster and his Autobots. Megatron was about to attack when he heard a plea from Soundwave and Shockwave who were being attacked by Optimus Prime. Ignoring their cry for aid Megatron instead led his Decepticons to the Ark which he believed to be defenseless. It wasn't - the Autobots' "secret weapon" Omega Supreme was guarding their headquarters and attacked the Decepticons. Skywarp was the first to be destroyed. Losing Skywarp and the other Decepticons meant nothing to Megatron who said they could easily be replaced.
During Galvatron's first trip from the future to the year 1986, Skywarp was part of the future Autobots plans to trick Galvatron in returning: Skywarp was still deactivated from his previous battle and was lying in the Ark along with the other defeated Decepticons. However, his body was painted to look like Starscream and remote controlled by the Autobots to make Galvatron think that Starscream had destroyed his machinery. Through Skywarp, the Autobots angered Galvatron enough for him to destroy what he believed was Starscream in a blind rage. Because Starscream played a role in Galvatron's creation, he believed that whatever actions he did in the past had no effect in the future and subsequently returned, unawarethat he was tricked.
Skywarp was presumably rebuilt at some point, placed back into cold storage and eventually rescued later on by the Constructicons who used a distraction to break into the Ark for that purpose.
His expanded Transformers Universe biography describes him as having a cruel sense of humor and that he loves to play practical jokes on his fellow Decepticons, usually involving his teleportation abilities. It also states that he's "not too bright and would be totally useless without the supervison of Megatron."
The comic version of Skywarp was ultimately destroyed by the Underbase powered Starscream along with Thundercracker and, seemingly, was never restored back to life. However, in the Generation 2 comic appeared a black decepticon jet using teleport powers. If this jet was or not a repaired Skywarp is unknown.
[edit] Dreamwave Comics
Skywarp was recruited as a Decepticon under the leadership of Megatron in his war against the Autobots on the planet Cybertron. Skywarp became a member of the elite Seekers under Aerospace Commander Starscream.
Skywarp and Thundercracker launched an attack against the city of Altihex, where they routed Grimlock and his Autobots. Later, Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker attacked the city of Protihex under the orders of Megatron. Knowing that Grimlock joined with the Autobots, but was dissatisfied with them, Starscream offered Grimlock the chance to join the attack on Protihex. Grimlock rejected the offer and not only evacuated the Autobot outpost before the attack could occur, but he left an explosive trap for Starscream and company. If not for Skywarp's ability to teleport them all to safety, the Decepticons may have not escaped alive
When Megatron and Autobot leader Optimus Prime disappeared in an accident with a space bridge, the Autobot and Decepticon forces splintered into smaller factions. Skywarp stayed with the Decepticons under the leadership of Shockwave, blasting Bludgeon of the Chaos Trinity at one point. After Megatron's return Skywarp was chosen as a member of the crew of the Nemesis when Megatron launched it to attack the Ark, an Autobot ship. Both ships fought, and after the Decepticons boarded the Ark, it crashed on the planet Earth. All on board were placed in emergency stasis lock for millions of years.
In the Earth year 1984, a volcanic explosion awakened the Ark. The Ark's computer, Teletraan I, reformatted all on board to be able to assume the forms of Earth machines. Skywarp was given the form of an F-15 fighter jet. After many battles, the combined forces of the Autobots on Earth, and their human allies were able to capture the Decepticons. A ship called the Ark II was built to take the Cybertronians back to Cybertron, along with some human companions, but the ship exploded shortly after takeoff. The human allies were killed, but the Cybertronians were lost in the ocean, again in statis lock.
Skywarp and others were recovered by a rogue military unit and reprogrammed as slave war machines, but Megatron broke free and then freed his fellow Decepticons, including Skywarp. He participated in the attack on San Francisco, and was one of those who blew apart Superion.
After returning to Cybertron with Shockwave, Skywarp returned to Earth under the command of Starscream. But he was captured by the Autobots along with Soundwave and Thundercracker were captured by the Autobots and locked in cells on board the Ark. They escaped when the Ark was attacked by Bruticus.
Skywarp also appeared in Dreamwave's Transformers/G.I Joe series as one of the Decepticons allied with Cobra, transforming into a P-51 Mustang. He was killed by Optimus Prime.
[edit] Devil's Due Comics
In this reimagining of the Generation One story, the Ark was discovered by the terrorist Cobra organization, and all the Transformers inside were reformatted into Cobra vehicles remotely controlled by the Televipers. In this storyline Skywarp turned into a Cobra Rattler jet. (since both Skywarp and Thundercracker were blue Rattler jets, Skywarp is supposed to be the black-headed one). When the Transformers broke free, Skywarp killed his pilot, Major Bludd, by transforming while Major Bludd was in his chest cockpit area thus crushing him. This is supported previously in the comic when Dr. Mindbender informs Destro that the results of attempts to modify the transformers so that soldiers can remain in the cockpits during transformation were "messy" and that Major Bludd is seen in the cockpit as the controls and seat begin to fold into their positions during robot mode, also the cockpit is closed in the next panel and Major Bludd's last scream comes from inside. Skywarp would battle the Autobots, but would be killed by a malfunctioning satellite system.
[edit] IDW Comics
After Dreamwave's closure, the rights to the Transformers comics were taken up by IDW publishing. They have begun to publish their own new material, including a miniseries called Infiltation featuring some of the Generation One Transformers. In Infiltration, Starscream appears to be in command of a small group of Decepticons on Earth, including Skywarp, Thundercracker,Blitzwing, Astrotrain and the Battlechargers Runabout and Runamuck. Starscream had discovered an ore on Earth that was the Transformer equivalent of steroids, making him bold enough to advance their infiltration phase ahead of schedule. However, it seems that humans have somehow obtained evidence of the Transformers' existence, which would derail Starscream's plans. Skywarp has thus far appeared as part of Starscream's elimination squad, disposing of any evidence of their operation on Earth. While bombing the Decepticon's abandoned base on Earth to destroy evidence of it, Skywarp battled Bumblebee, using his teleporting ability to stay a step ahead of the Autobot. However, Bumblebee managed to predict where he would emerge next and shot him down temporarily. Unfortunately for Skywarp though, after the destruction of the base was complete, Megatron had learnt of Starscream's attempts for power on Earth and arrived, seriously wounding him before making off to destroy Starscream. As evidenced by Runabout's dialogue to Astrotrain, Skywarp is not dead, opening the possibility for his return in the The Transformers: Escalation mini. Indeed, as of Escalation #1 he has been repaired and submits to Megatron's authority. His alternate mode here is that of an F-22 Raptor, the successor to his original Gen 1 F-15 alternate jet mode.
[edit] Evolutions:Hearts of Steel
Skywarp and the other Seekers also appeared in the mini-series Evolution: Hearts of Steel. In this Skywarp was the first Decepticon to appear, seemingly wakened by Muldoon's sunken submarine. He was presumably destroyed when Bumblebee and John Henry managed to send the entire Decepticon rail convoy into a chasm.[1]
[edit] Transformers: Universe (2004)
In the Botcon Wreckers comic series by 3H Enterprises , Skywarp returned after tricking the second Megatron into giving him a new body. Strangely, Skywarp joins the Wreckers alongside Cyclonus. This may indicate that the Universe comics believe that it was the Insecticon Bombshell, not Skywarp, who became Cyclonus (this is apparently due to the fact that artist Dan Khanna believes that it was Bombshell, not Skywarp, who became Cyclonus). This may in fact be a continuity error: even if Skywarp did not become Cyclonus he was transformed into a Cyclonus-type robot and his personality lost. However, as there is no explanation in the comic the relationship between the two remains unclear. This toy was a recolor of Beast Machines Deluxe Jetstorm.
After the end of the Great War 300 years in the future, a Predacon named Megatron conquered Cybertron with his Vehicon army. Megatron attempted to using Skywarp's spark to create a Vehicon to use against the few Maximals who opposed him, but Skywarp broke free and joined up with the Wreckers under the command of Primal Prime, along with several other Generation One survivors, such as Cyclonus, Arcee and Devcon, staying with the Wreckers after Cyclonus' betrayal. Despite this, following the Wreckers' defeat of Cryotek, Skywarp was seen in the service of Unicron as part of the Chaos-Bringer's army during Optimus Prime's recollections in issue #8 of the Cybertron Club comic..
The Skywarp repaint of the Deluxe Jetstorm mold was originally intended to be a Botcon exclusive. Painted mockups were seen, but it was never released. When the Transformers: Universe toy line came out, a nearly identical Skywarp was released to the general public.
It should be noted that Micro class Skywarp is described by Hasbro on their web site as a Universe toy, not a Cybertron toy.
[edit] Machine Wars (1997)
| Transformers character | |
 |
|
| Skywarp | |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | Decepticon |
| Sub-Group | Basic Vehicles |
| Function | Warrior |
| Motto | "Strike when their backs are turned!" |
| Alternate Modes | Jet |
| Series | Machine Wars |
Skywarp was one of the six Decepticons which appeared in this sub-line. Sharing the same mold as Thundercracker, Skywarp is now a white jet. His Machine Wars appearance is considered to be set in an alternate reality which replaces the entire G1 storyline although no official story has been released. The toy of Machine Wars Skywarp is based on an unusued Generation Two flip-changing jet mold. It was later used for Beast Wars Second Dirge.
His bio is much the same as his Gen 1 bio, indicating he loves using his teleporting for practical jokes - but lacks the intelligence to really exploit it, resulting in mid-air collisions. He can convert between alternate modes instantly.
[edit] Robot Masters (2005)
Skywarp was sold in a two-pack with Thundercracker by the Japanese online store e-hobby, both Decepticons are repaints of the Robot Masters Starscream toy in their classic color scheme. A Decepticon pin-badge was also included.
[edit] Beast Wars 2nd (1998)
| Transformers character | |
 |
|
| Skywarp | |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | Maximal |
| Sub-Group | Basic Beasts |
| Function | Sonic Speed Instructor |
| Motto | "If one does not think then one cannot fight." |
| Alternate Modes | Bald Eagle |
| Series | Beast Wars Second |
| Voiced by | Mantarô Iwao |
The second character to be named Skywarp, he is a Cybertron (Maximal) who is able to transform into a bald eagle and along with his team-mates Santon and Lio Junior, can combine to form Magnaboss. He provided the brains of the group, balancing Lio Jr's immaturity. A repaint of Silverbolt was given the same name in the US.
Skywarp is an aerial combat instructor dispatched from Seibertron as reinforcements for LioConvoy's troops. While strict, he has more consideration than anyone else for young Cybertron warriors. Part of his wings become Wing Caliber Swords and he has super-oscillation generators in his wing tips. Combining these with his sonic booms, he clears the ground around him. And if that's not enough, he can fold over his wings and fire his Sky Missiles.
[edit] Transformers: Armada (2003)
| Transformers character | |
 |
|
| Skywarp | |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | Decepticon |
| Sub-Group | Seekers |
| Partner | Thunderclash |
| Motto | "Bulls-eye in the sky, oh my!" |
| Alternate Modes | Cybertronian Jet |
The Armada version of Skywarp is an homage to the G1 character in his color scheme. Unlike the original Skywarp, the toy is a remold of Starscream rather than being a mere repaint.
Wile not much was known about Skywarp, Dreamwave's "More Than Meets the Eye" series established one extremely important fact - in the comics continuity he is related to Starscream. He is a grim and dangerous combatant with a near-perfect aim and an array of martial techniques. Unlike his treacherous relative he is loyal to Megatron; in fact the snide remarks of the other Decepticons about him getting his rank this way are the only thing that genuinely angers Skywarp. He is friends with Scavenger - a friendship complicated by the fact that, unbeknownst to Skywarp, Scavenger is actually a spy for the Autobots...
Skywarp would be briefly seen in issue 12 of the Armada comic, guarding Megatron's latest secret weapon alongside Wheeljack and Sideways. He would later be seen at the end of the Armada comic celebrating Unicron's defeat.
Note: Transformers: Universe Ramjet is a recolor of Transformers: Armada Skywarp.
[edit] Transformers: Energon
Armada Skywarp made his only Energon appearance in a flashback in Transformers: Energon #30 we would see Scorponok leading Wheeljack, Predacon, Terrorsaur and Skywarp against the Autobots in an unidentified battle on Cybertron. In Megatron’s battle barge, Starscream warned Megatron to watch out for Scorponok as Thrust, Cyclonus and Demolishor piloted the barge.
Armada Skywarp also was set to appear in the unreleased issue 31 of the Transformers: Energon comic series.
[edit] Transformers: Cybertron (2005)
A promotional toy called Skywarp was given away at the San Diego ComicCon which was a recolor of the micro-sized Cybertron Starscream toy. This toy was colored to resemble the original Skywarp's black and purple colors. Oddly this toy had no Decepticon symbol and came with a black Autobot Cyber Planet Key, but the people who released him said that he was a Decepticon, and that the key was a separate promotional item placed in the same bag. Note that although seemingly a part of the Cybertron line, according to the Hasbro web site this toy was part of the Universe line.
A second toy named Skywarp was made, this time a purple recolor of the Deluxe sized Cybertron Thundercracker.
His biography indicated that he was very similar to the original Skywarp - using his teleportation activities to cause mayhem, although his stupidity means he has to be closely monitored by his commander Starscream.
Because both Skywarp toys are US exclusives and the television series was made in Japan, neither made any appearances in the Cybertron television series. They also have yet to appear in the comics.
[edit] Transformers Classics (2006)
On Sunday, September 3, 2006, it was revealed that Generation One Skywarp would return as part of the Transformers Classics toyline. The toy, a direct repaint of Classics Starscream, will come in a two-pack with Ultra Magnus(a repaint of Classics Optimus Prime) in a set titled "Battle For Autobot City." The two-pack will be a retailer exclusive to Target stores nationwide. It is expected to be available at retail in late Autumn, 2006.
