Sparkabots

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The Sparkabots are a group of three fictional Autobots in the Transformers toyline released in 1988. The Sparkabots have extremely simple transformations and no accessories, but their unique gimmick is that they shoot sparks from the rear ends of their vehicle mode when moved across a flat surface.

Contents

[edit] Transformers: Generation One

[edit] Members

  • Fizzle is the groups' military planner, although his boasts of success are considerably more impressive than what he's actually done. He is an arrogant ranter. The failure of his stratagems is never his fault, but due to the failures of the soldiers under him. This is all really a cover for the fact that he feels he's wasted his life in the war. He is a skilled planner, but sometimes his imagination runs away with him. His motto is "Planning a battle is ten times more important than fighting it."


  • Guzzle, on the other hand, is a warrior through and through. He has not time or tolerance for those Autobots who say they can't fight due to inexperience, and will do what he has to in battle. He keeps his edge in fighting due to his no-nonsense attitude. His motto is "It's better to have fought and lost than to have never fought at all." He transforms into a Challenger 1 main battle tank.


  • Sizzle's role as interceptor effectively means that there are no rules, and no limits. He gets the job done, but its better if he gets a rush doing it. He gets bored easily if he's not having fun, and pushes himself further and further just to stave it off.He is a fierce warrior, but the combination of his overeagerness and Fizzle's overambitious pans usually spell disaster. His motto is "Life in the fast lane is the only life worth living." Interestingly, in his Marvel Comics appearances he is portrayed as the group's leader.

[edit] Marvel Comics

The Sparkabots were regularly used in the Marvel comic after their debut, but this was mainly in the U.K. comic as followers of Ultra Magnus. In the U.S. comic, they rarely appeared and eventually forgotten about; possibly at a request from Marvel U.K. who were using the characters themselves. The Sparkabots usually appeared together as a trio. They were sometimes known as Sparkler Mini-Bots; possibly an early name for this sub-group.

They originally appeared in issues 152 and 153 of the U.K. comic, having been dispatched to Earth to keep an eye on the future Decepticon Galvatron. However, they ended up battling the Firecons, who had been sent by the Cybertron Decepticons to form an alliance with Galvatron. Their battle was interrupted by Galvatron himself, who laughed off the Firecon offer of an alliance, and swatted Sizzle through a tree when he tried to stop the Decepticon.

Later, they managed to free Galvatron's enemy Ultra Magnus, who had been trapped in a volcano with the future Decepticon, until a battle between the Throttlebots and Combaticons had shaken them loose. Magnus had developed a phobia of Galvatron, not helped when the future Decepticon himself arrived to stop them from halting Shockwave's plan to revive Megatron. With Magnus unwilling to fight, the Sparkabots took on Galvatron themselves, and lost badly. However, their courage allowed Magnus to get a second wind and defeat Galvatron, forcing him to flee.

The Sparkabots then returned to Cybertron - and almost immediately got caught up in the mad Autobot scientist Flame's plan to turn Cynbertron into a Warworld. They formed a temporary alliance with the Duocons. Despite Sizzle's reservations, he returned with Trypticon, who helped defeat Flame's army of zombie Autobots. With the Wreckers and Emirate Xaaron, they defeated Flame once and for all.

After this, the Sparkabots helped Magnus close down a ring of deadly alien gladitorial games, clashing once more with the Firecons. This had repercussions in their first US appearance, as the Firecons captured them and the Triggerbots, transporting them to Earth to be hunted by a group of human bounty hunters using Scorponok's jamming devices. After learning of Zarak's true nature the Autobots and humans teamed up to defeat him. After this the Sparkabots did not appear as much. One notable appearance was in a nightmare alternate future where Unicron had destroyed Cybertron and Galvatron ruled Earth. Guzzle was one of the few surviving Autobots. He, Chainclaw and Getaway were to distract Cyclonus and Scourge while the other Autobots and humans sabotaged Galvatron's secret weapon. Sadly Guzzle paid the ultimate price, as Cyclonus smashed through his chest with one punch, killing him.

[edit] Japanese Sparkabots (1988)

There were repaints of the Sparkabots that were native only to Japan, released for the Japanese Transformers: Super-God Masterforce toyline. Hardspark (C-313) was a recolor of Guzzle, Hotspark (C-314) was a recolor of Sizzle and Wildspark (C-315), the third Sparkabot was just Fizzle with a yellow face. The characters of these toys are not known. Hardspark's function is Fire Warrior, Hotspark's Fire Assault and Wildspark's function is Flame Field Combatant.

[edit] Generation 2 (1994)

Sizzle was remade in clear green plastic with a turquoise robot body. His function was now that of a scout and he had a new motto - ""I can smell the evil of a Decepticon. Wherever they are - I'll find them!"

There was also a new Sparkabot released who was a translucent green recolor of the original Sparkabot Fizzle with purple wheels. Little is known about him except that he functions as a Hit Man and that his motto is "You are only as good as your performance - and that can always be bettered." He made an appearance in a UK annual story released in 1991 but showed little characterisation.

[edit] Dreamwave Productions

None of the Sparkabots, other than Fizzle (who received a one-screen shot when Optimus Prime rallied the Autobots), would appear in Dreamwave's G1 storyline, but all three received one-page biographies in their More Than Meets the Eye profile series.

[edit] IDW Publishing

Although Fizzle and Guzzle have yet to appear, Sizzle made a brief appearance in the Spotlight issue on Kup, informing Springer of the arrival of Trailbreaker.

[edit] External links