Jhiaxus

Jhiaxus (pronounced gee-axe-us) is a fictional character in the Transformers universes. He is an evil Decepticon jet.

Transformers: Generation 2

Unlike most of the notable characters in the Transformers comics, Jhiaxus is not based on a toy. Originally created for Marvel's Generation 2 comic series, the character was named in reaction to the unrealistic sales expectations the publisher put on writer Simon Furman, and is a pun on the phrase "gee, axe us", anticipating the short life of the series.

Hasbro registered the name Jhiaxus for U.S. Trademark in October 2003.^[1]

Comics

Marvel Comics

In the Generation 2 comic series, Jhiaxus holds the rank of Liege Centuro of the Cybertronian Empire - an offshoot faction which came to power during the Autobots and Decepticon's 4 million year hibernation on Earth prior to 1984. His calm, self-assured personality is a notable departure from Megatron's zeal, Galvatron's insanity, Starscream's treachery, and Shockwave's calculating logic. During the series, it is revealed that Jhiaxus was among the earliest "second generation" Decepticons that would eventually form the Cybertronian Empire, and he was originally a vicious, warmongering butcher and sadist who reveled in slaughter. When the Empire abandoned Cybertron and turned to Cyberforming the universe, he believed that he was abandoning his brutal past. When he ran into the Autobot platoon under Optimus and Grimlock, he captured them alive with intent to convince them to join the Empire, and when they rebelled he pursued them with intent to destroy.

The pursuit went bad when both Autobots and Imperials flew into a sector of space inhabited by psychic parasites that fed off violent feelings. Everyone went berserk, and after they'd escaped Jhiaxus was left staggered by his own brutality. He internally pledged that he had to hunt down and wipe out the Autobots, because their existence and morality challenged the Empire's ideology far too greatly. Seeing the task before him, Optimus Prime attempted to form an alliance with Megatron but the Decepticon leader went it alone against the G2 Cybertronians. Jhiaxus' forces obliterated a Decepticon scout team, then assault Megatron's Warworld flagship en masse. The battle was an indiscriminate slaughter, with Megatron's forces being decimated. In retaliation, Megatron challenged Jhiaxus to a duel and was nearly killed. Ironically, this defeat caused the Decepticons to ally with the Autobots.

As the war escalated, Jhiaxus slipped further into rage and insanity, ordering galaxy-wide massacres to draw the Autobots out which proved him unable to deal with unexpected setbacks. After learning of the existence of The Swarm, Optimus Prime attempted to reach out to Jhiaxus. By this point, he had lost all grip on sanity due to his defeats at the hands of the Bot/Con alliance. Soon after the destruction of San Francisco, done solely to show he could, he engaged Optimus in battle and decimated him. His first blow shattered Prime's faceplate and destroyed his vocal systems. Before he could finish the battle, The Swarm arrived. Driven by his rage, Jhiaxus challenged The Swarm itself. Being a foe that could not be combated through ordinary means, Jhiaxus was unable to harm it and was consumed with ease.

Transformers: Robots in Disguise

Near the end of the Transformers: Robots in Disguise toy line's run, the name Jhiaxus was used for an orange repaint of Beast Machines Jetstorm.^[2]

Although he had no tech specs or background information, he was finally given a bio in one of the Transformers Collectors Club magazines, where it was revealed he was indeed the same character as Generation 2 Jhiaxus. The Collectors Club planned to make Jhiaxus part of their Transformers: Universe fiction. He would have been a servant of Unicron, abducted from his home dimension and made into one of Unicron's troops, which would explain how a G2 character could appear in Robots in Disguise, a different universe altogether.^[3]

3H Enterprises

Jhiaxus made a brief appearance in issue #2 of the Transformers: Universe BotCon comic as one of the captives of Unicron, forced to fight in gladiatorial battles. He was presumably freed by Optimus Primal.

IDW Publishing

Jhiaxus is first mentioned in IDW Publishing's The Transformers: Spotlight issue featuring Optimus Prime. According to Omega Supreme, Jhiaxus was Nova Prime's Chief Theoretical Strategist and among his experiments was the first combiner, Monstructor. He also experimented with gender in Transformers, creating Arcee and possibly others. It is alluded that Jhiaxus disappeared along with Nova Prime on the first Ark. He made his first major appearance in the Arcee Spotlight issue, appearing on a viewsceen to check that Arcee had not interfered with his project - the Nega-Core. In The Transformers: Devastation he appeared, talking to both Nova Prime and Galvatron.^[4]

As a member of the "Dead Universe" faction led by Nemesis Prime, Jhiaxus figures prominently in the Spotlight Miniseries, Revelation, which wraps up a number of threads running through the IDW continuity. While his head design and color scheme resemble that of his Generation 2 incarnation this Jhiaxus has a notably more hunched over appearance.

Fun Publications

Wing of Honor

Jhaixus appears in "A Flash Forward" by Fun Publications. In the year 2005 Devastator attacks Autobot City. He is opposed by Ultra Magnus, Sideswipe, Red Alert and Tracks. Firing every weapon they have, the Autobots are able to force Devastator to break apart into the individual Constructicons. Now outnumbered the Autobots retreated. Red Alert is killed covering the withdrawal, as Megatron watches. These events and others are related to Jhaixus by Runabout and Runamuck in 2013.^[5] After coming out of stasis on Cybertron with no memories, Side Burn was taken by Runabout and Runamuck to see Jhaixus. Later Jhiaxus proudly displays his new "second Generation" creations to the captive Nebulan scientist Hi-Q.^[6]

Machine Wars

With an army of Cybertronian clones, Jhiaxus attempted to conquer Cybertron and establish a new empire, but found his efforts opposed by an unlikely alliance of Autobots and Decepticons. To the surprise of his foes, Jhiaxus found in this joint effort an unexpected realization of his hopes for a reunified Cybertron, and thus surrendered. He was then murdered by Megaplex, whose original Megatron-based programming had asserted dominance and sought revenge on him.

Toys

• Robots in Disguise Deluxe Jhiaxus (2003)

A redeco of Beast Machines Deluxe Jetstorm.^[7]

References

• Furman, Simon (2004). Transformers: The Ultimate Guide. DK Publishing Inc. p. 73. ISBN 1-4053-0461-8. 

External links

• Jhiaxus on Transformers Wiki