Waspinator

Waspinator is the name of four fictional characters from the Transformers franchise. He is sometimes called Wasp. The original Waspinator was voiced by Scott McNeil in the Beast Wars animated series.

Beast Wars

Template:Transformers character Waspinator, later called Thrust, is best remembered for being the universe's whipping boy: getting destroyed or demolished in almost every episode of Beast Wars, yet returning in almost perfect condition in the very next episode. He is also dim-witted, talks in a broken third-person speech pattern, often referring to other characters, except Megatron, Optimus Primal, and himself, (however when Megatron became a dragon, Waspinator referred to him as "Dragon-Bot") by names that reflected their transformation modes instead of their true names (example: referring to Silverbolt as "Doggy-Bot") and spent most of the series as an underdog, causing him to take constant abuse from Maximal and Predacon alike (thus summing up Waspinator's most well-known line "Why universe hate Waspinator?!") making him one of the more fan-favorite characters on the show. His beast mode is a wasp and his name is based on The Terminator.

Waspinator's toy was recolored as the Predacon Buzz Saw, a character who only appeared in the comic series. Waspinator came with two different heads, a robotic and mutant head, but the television series only ever depicted him with the mutant head. Buzz Saw was depicted in the comics with the robot head.

Although a transmetal version of Waspinator was made in the toy line, Waspinator remained in his original form in the television series from first episode to last (the only one of the original five Predacons to do so). There was also a "Fox Kids" repaint of his original form, which was in new colors, and one of his transmetal form which had the colors of Buzz Saw.

In 2005 the original Waspinator toy was one of the toys selected for the Beast Wars 10th Anniversary toyline, repainted in more show-accurate colors. He came packaged with one of the six pieces used to make the Transmutate toy and a DVD with the episode Possession on it.

As the Vehicon General Thrust he was in charge of the Cycle Drones and was one of the few who remained an ally to Megatron until the very end.

Scott Mcneil attended Botcon 2006 at the Lexington Convention Center for the 10th anniversary of the TV series.

Reception

Wired Magazine once nominated him as one 12 most ridiculous Transformers of all time. In 2011, Waspinator was the second fan choice Transformer to be put in the Transformers: Hall of Fame.

Animated series

Waspinator was a young follower of the Predacon criminal Megatron, joining him on his raid of the Golden Disk artifact from the Maximals and being on the Darksyde when it was chased through Transwarp Space by the Axalon and crashed on prehistoric Earth. High energon levels threatened to destroy the crew unless they adopted organic alternate modes, and Waspinator took the form of a wasp ("Beast Wars Part 1"). Waspinator's body was blasted apart, crushed or disassembled numerous times throughout the series ("Oh sure...don't mind Waspinator; Waspinator just lie here and suffer... drag himself to CR tank..."). Even his fellow Predacons had little respect for Waspinator, often letting him take the shots in battles. Despite the fact that Waspinator never actually led or participated in a rebellion against Megatron, he was not loyal to the Predacon tyrant but merely too cowed and frightened of Megatron to overthrow him, a sentiment which only got worse as Megatron grew more powerful during the series and Waspinator did not. This can be best observed during the first season when Waspinator was shown in a private conversation with himself, revealing his desire to, like most Predacons, overthrow Megatron and establish himself as leader.

In the first season, he was often partnered with Terrorsaur and proved himself to be a capable aerial combatant. However, Waspinator had few notable roles other than acting as Megatron's aerial muscle. But he did get a successful victory when he stole the Axalon's Energon shielding system in "Call of the Wild" and also blinding and nearly destroying some of the Maximals in "Dark Voyage". During the episode "Possession", Waspinator was possessed by the spark of the ancient Decepticon Starscream. Starscream betrayed Megatron with the help of Blackarachnia and managed to capture the Axalon from the Maximals, but his own ego and a betrayal in turn by Blackarachnia saw him defeated. There is evidence that Starscream influenced Waspinator's character. In another bizarre incident, he was severely damaged by a reprogrammed Rhinox, who had developed his own ideas about leading the Predacons. As usual Waspinator survived but this time he had been temporarily damaged mentally, referring to himself as the original Insecticon Shrapnel, and talking with his speech impediment. In the same scene he refers to himself as Wonko The Sane, which is in turn a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, as well as to a prominent Transformers fan who used that name as his online handle. This episode of insanity lasted until an annoyed Cheetor shot him down and Waspinator was repaired (with his last insane line being part of the original transformers theme song "more than meets the eye")..

Waspinator spent much of the season partnered with Inferno and Quickstrike ("Ant-Bot and Two-Head"). He was briefly teamed up with the Transmetal II clone of Dinobot (who sliced him to ribbons), only to end up quickly shot by Cheetor after the young Maximal completed his own 'upgrade' into a Transmetal II. Waspinator's status grew increasingly poor as time went on, to the extent that he was literally taken to pieces by the proto-human girl Una, who had been taught by Cheetor to go for the hinges when attacking robots. Megatron merely described this as "situation normal then". Throughout most of this series he was used as Predacon cannon fodder, while the slightly more powerful ones did more active combat. When the Predacons broke into the Maximal base, he was told that he would be leading the attack, but instead turned out to be a decoy that was literally squashed by Optimus.

After the destruction of the Predacon Base, Inferno, Quickstrike and Waspinator were sent to establish a new base for the Predacons and discovered caves that were inhabited by a tribe of early humans. Just as the Predacons were about to engage the early humans in battle, Waspinator decided he was sick of the evil Predacon ways and of the constant physical abuse he was always receiving and quit in a furious and surprising rant. As the Beast Wars came to an end and the Maximals left for Cybertron, it was revealed that Waspinator stayed behind on Earth, living amongst a tribe of early humans and being worshiped as a god. He even got the last line of the series: "Waspinator happy at last!".

Waspinator was captured by Megatron's Vehicon Drones and his spark was transferred into the Vehicon General Thrust in Beast Machines. During the series, it was revealed that, following the conclusion of the Beast Wars that the early humans got tired of Waspinator, despite having worshipped him as a deity, and forced him to leave (although he claimed he was tired of them and left because he missed Cybertron). How he got home afterwards was never revealed, though he did say "Took forever, but waaayyy worth it". Even writer Bob Skir mentioned in his website that "someone someday has to explain to me how he hitchhiked his way home..." It is possible that he just flew under his own power and it took him so long to reach Cybertron that he arrived just prior to the Maximals exiting from transwarp space.

Thrust was the only one of the original three Vehicon Generals who was able to remember on his own that he used to be someone else. For a while, Blackarachnia believed that this someone else was Silverbolt, since Thrust kept displaying a soft spot for the she-spider. She was disappointed to learn that Thrust was not Silverbolt, but the Predacon Waspinator. Waspinator had been left on prehistoric Earth, to be worshiped by the early humans, but Waspinator accidentally boringly flung a pebble at a human who was building a statue to worship his "godlike" performance, and chased him off. Somehow he returned to Cybertron where his spark was extracted by Megatron and reprogrammed into Thrust. Waspinator was actually very pleased to be inside the "cool biker-bot" because "Chick-bots dig 'brooding loner' bit! " Each of the three original Vehicon Generals had their own personalized command codes; Thrust's was: "Thrust Overdrive!!"

With Cybertron's reformatting at the end of the series, Waspinator was reformatted into a surprisingly small technorganic wasp, but with the head of Thrust. He was then swatted by Rattrap and sent spiraling away through the air. His final line in this series is an ironic contrast to his last on Beast Wars. Bob Skir referred to this version of Waspinator as Thrustinator in the DVD commentary of the last episode.

3H Enterprises

In the Transformers: Universe storyline Thrust would return in his Vehicon form as one of the many Transformers kidnapped by Unicron from alternate timelines.

The original Waspinator also put in an appearance in the BotCon voice actor play. When Rhinox's attempts to stop Unicron pulling victims from alternate realities resulted in two groups of dimensionally-displaced Autobots being marooned on frozen planetoids, Waspinator, on the side of good for once, was sent alongside Silverbolt and Rattrap to help. They ended up battling Unicron's minions alongside a crew of time lost Autobots (Bumblebee, Cosmos and Tracks) and the two groups of Autobots they had been sent to help (both from the RiD universes), and, with Rhinox's help, sent them back to their own times and realities.

Fun Publications

The Predacon General now known as Megatron gathered a crew of like-minded individuals. While Waspinator and Terrorsaur stole a ship, Megatron, Dinobot and Scorponok stole the Golden Disk artifact, battling the guards and destroying one, disabling a second, and leaving a third to commandeer a ship to pursue them. Waspinator would lose a contest to name the ship with Terrorsaur, christening it the Darksyde (Waspinator's choice being "Buzzerbot"). Picking up the others, they fled and were pursued by two ships: one of which was the Axalon commanded by Optimus Primal, the other the Chromia 10 piloted by Airazor. With a little help from Laserbeak and Buzzsaw (secretly sent by Divebomb to ensure Megatron's plan to change history succeeded) they destroyed one of their pursuers, and the newly christened Darksyde fled into Transwarp space, with the Axalon in pursuit - thus beginning the Beast Wars.

Beast Wars II Galvatron, Megastorm, and the technorganic Predacon Waspinator appeared together in the story "Wreckers: Finale Part II" by the Transformers Collectors Club in 2007. During the invasion of Cybertron by the Quintessons the Predacons worked together to ambush a Quintesson contingent commanded by Overseer Vashik. Vashik's troops were caught in a pool of molten magma and destroyed.

IDW Publishing

Waspinator had a biography printed in the Beast Wars Sourcebook by IDW Publishing.

Waspinator first appears as a cameo in the "Spotlight Thundercracker", and is a titan hunter. Later appearing in Robots is Disguise and Dark Cybertron, Waspinator is drawn into Shockwave and Jhiaxus' plans to trick Orion Pax into raising a titan so that Waspinator could bring it back to Cybertron. During the Windblade ongoings, Waspinator is a part of the post-war society, first being drawn into Windblade's plans to expose Starscream's activities and helping to clear the damage done by Menasor to the colony Caminus.

Other media

Waspinator appears among the characters in Re-Unification, the 2010 TFcon voice actor play prelude comic.

Waspinator appears in the TFcon 2012 live script reading prelude comic. In this story Blackarachnia, Quickstrike and Waspinator discover three Constructicons on prehistoric Earth and are confronted by the Maximals and Wreckers .

In the Transformers Collector's Club Magazine for 2013, Waspinator reappeared, still bearing traces of his Vehicon persona of Thrust and going by the portmanteau Thrustinator. In the storyline, his contact with Starscream's immortal Spark resulted in his gaining Starscream's ability to time travel and extended lifespan.

Reception

For BotCon 2011, Hasbro named Waspinator as the "Fans' Choice" robot inductee in the Transformers Hall of Fame, beating Shockwave, Grimlock, Jazz and Erector. He is the second Beast Wars character to be given this honor.

Toys

• Beast Wars Deluxe Waspinator

The original Waspinator toy featured two different heads for his humanoid robot mode. One more human-like and another more insect-like. The insect one was featured in the show as his only head in robot mode.

The original Waspinator toy was recolored as Buzz Saw, then remolded into Dirgegun in the Japanese Beast Wars II TV Show.

• Beast Wars Deluxe Transmetal Waspinator

In the toy line, Waspinator was a deadly and efficient aerial warrior, who ended up becoming a transmetal with a tertiary mode of a fighter-jet. His jet mode slightly resembled a Mirage 4000.

• Beast Wars Fox Kids Transmetal Deluxe Waspinator

A recolor of transmetal Waspinator.

• Beast Machines Deluxe Thrust

A Deluxe sized toy was released for Thrust by Hasbro.

• Beast MachinesHappy Meal Thrust

A smaller version of Thrust was also made as a toy which was included in children's fast food meals.

• Beast Wars Returns Scout Thrust

A recolor of the Motorcycle Drone toy that was only released in Japan, as part of their 2005 Beast Wars Returns.

• Universe Transmetal Waspinator (unreleased)

There were plans to release a Transformers: Universe toy of Waspinator, a repaint of the transmetal Waspinator, part of a Halloween Horrorcons 2 pack, but the toy would never be released.

• Beast Wars 10th Anniversary Deluxe Waspinator (2005)

In 2005 the original Waspinator toy was repainted in more show accurate colors and re-released for the 10th Anniversary of Beast Wars.

• Timelines Basic Waspinator (2006)

A toy of Waspinator in his pre-Beast War vehicle mode was released as a BotCon 2006 exclusive toy. This toy is a remold of Machine Wars Skywarp. He turned into a Saab Gripen jet.

• Timelines Deluxe Thrustinator (2013)

A repaint/retool of Dirgegun from Beast Wars II, combining elements from both Waspinator and Thrust.

Transformers Animated

Template:Transformers character Waspinator is introduced as former Elite Guard trainee, named Wasp, around the same time as Bumblebee, both being of the same model with similar abilities, though Wasp is faster, stronger, angrier, and arrogant in personality. Due to Longarm's intervention, Wasp ended up being his scapegoat when Bumblebee believed Wasp to be the double agent working for Megatron. Though it was truly Shockwave disguised as Longarm who was the double agent, using Bumblebee's blind conviction to his own advantage. In the flashbacks, Wasp's color scheme consists of light green and yellow with black highlights, and he has the signature Autobot blue eye color.

By the time of his introduction, Wasp resembles more of his Beast Wars version in both eye/body color and speech pattern. But once converted into Waspinator, his design is very similar to his original Beast Wars CGI model but with a smaller second set of arms that jut from his sides. Originally able to talk normally as a cadet, his time in the Stockade rendered him to speak in a brooding voice that mimics the ravings of The Lord of the Rings' Sméagol/Gollum, speaking in Waspinator's trademark third-person and adding "-bot" to the names of fellow Transformers. (ex. Bumblebee=Bumblebot)

In his upgraded technorganic form he can fly and shoot stinger lasers from his robot mode hands or his beast mode forelimbs. He is also much larger and more powerful as a technorganic being. According to his toy bio and as seen on the show, Wasp can survive being blown to pieces, just as the original Waspinator famously could. It is unclear, however, if this is a side-effect of his mutation or if Wasp has had this ability from the start.

One notable difference between this newer Waspinator and his Beast Wars counterpart, was that the original Waspinator was a bumbling idiot unlike his Animated counterpart, who had a murderous, psychotic and deadly personality.

David Kaye said at TFcon 2010 that the creators wanted to get Scott McNeil to voice Waspinator, but since he could not work in the US without a permit, they were unable to get him to reprise his role.

Animated series

Wasp made his debut in the opening scenes of the episode "Autoboot Camp" when he broke out of his imprisonment and escaped his former drill sergeant Sentinel Minor via Space Bridge. However, the long imprisonment reduced Wasp into a completely cold and impassive shell of his former ego, seeking vengeance on Bumblebee for ruining his life. Though hunting him down on the impression he was heading to Megatron, Bumblebee would learn from Shockwave the truth that he really sent an innocent bot to the Stockade. Being pursued by a small team composed of Jazz, Sentinel Prime, Jetfire and Jetstorm, Wasp managed to get to Earth in order to get his revenge. Though Bumblebee attempted to explain what had happened, Wasp was bent to make him suffer just like he had, knocking him out before swapping paint jobs, helmets and voice synthezisers with him, so Bumblebee could take his place while he remained free. To further the trick, Wasp downloaded information from the earth Autobots' computer to know everything he knows. However, when his deception ultimately failed, Wasp used Bumblebee as a shield to make an escape.

After being found, Wasp attempted to evade his Autobot captors as they cornered him, refusing to go back to the Stockade. It was only when two of his pursuers, Optimus Prime and Sentinel Prime, begin arguing over what to do with him that Wasp escaped before being abducted by Swoop. Swoop took Wasp to Dinobot Island and dropped him before Blackarachnia, whom he fell in love with. Blackarachnia used her charm and mutual past of Autobot betrayal to gain Wasp's trust, using it to make him step into her transwarp generator and be exposed to its energy along with Wasp DNA. A few cycles (minutes) later, as Sentinel confronted Blackarachina, Wasp exited the generator as Waspinator to protect his friend. During the fight, Waspinator entered the hallway and ran into Bumblebee. Bumblebee tried to apologize for sending Wasp to the Stockade, and though Waspinator said "Wasp" forgave Bumblebee, he angrily stated that "Waspinator would never forgive him." Waspinator was about to blast Bumblebee when the transwarp radiation stored inside him became unstable, followed by Waspinator overhearing Blackarachnia's rant of using him to suit her own ends. Enraged for being betrayed again, Waspinator followed Blackarachnia outside and tried to kill her, but he went critical with Blackarachnia spinning a chrysalis around her and Waspinator so only they were effected by the energy. Ending up in an African jungle in pieces, Waspinator began to put himself back together, stating that he had "plans". Unfortunately, with the series having ended after its third season, his objectives are a mystery.

Toys

• Animated Deluxe Waspinator (2009)

A Deluxe sized mold depicting Waspinator's techno-organic wasp mode.

• Animated Deluxe Fugitive Waspinator (unreleased)

A green recolor of the Animated Deluxe Bumblebee. This was mentioned, but not yet shown at the 2009 BotCon. It was later shown in the slide show at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International. On the back of the packaging of Deluxe Cybertron Mode Ironhide, a picture of the figure is shown. It is unknown if Hasbro will indeed release this figure.

• Animated TA-37 Deluxe Waspinator (2010)

The Japan release version by Takara Tomy is virtually identical to the Hasbro version, with the exception of a silver wasp head and a purple Decepticon emblem. Set for release in Japan on August 2010.

Shattered Glass (Elite Guard)

Template:Transformers character In the mirror universe of Shattered Glass, WASP (Wireless Automated Sales Person) is a sentient hologram of an Autobot (and seeingly a member of the Elite Guard) who does commercials.

Fun Publications

Wasp makes an appearance in a commercial in the Around Cybertron comic strip #6. He appears as Rook does a story about the death of Megatron.

Toys

Although no toy for this version WASP was made, his appearance is identical to the Animated Elite Guard Bumblebee toy.

Kre-O Transformers

Fictional biography

WASPINATOR not like other brick-bots! WASPINATOR looooooves being taken apart! Oh yes! There is nothing WASPINATOR loves more than being just a head on a table! Please disassemble WASPINATOR!

Hobby: Getting blown up.

Favorite Hangout: In shadows, behind big rocks. Anywhere lasers can't hit him.

Preferred Status: Disassembled

Toys

• Kre-0 Transformers Kreon Micro-Changer Waspinator (2012)

Part of the blind packed preview wave of Kreon Micro-Changers.

Shattered Glass (Predacon)

Template:Transformers character In the mirror universe of Shattered Glass, Waspinator is a heroic Predacon who enunciates just fine and is probably nigh invulnerable. Shattered Glass Waspinator's body is based on Waspinator's "Thrilling 30" Generations toy, albeit colored like Fox Kids Transmetal Waspinator.

Fun Publications

As shown in "Shattered Destiny", Waspinator was a member of the Darksyde's crew under Megatron. They were battling the Axalon when both ships were pulled through an unexpected dimensional rift and crash-landed on prehistoric Earth. Waspinator and the others disembarked to find Depth Charge outside.

Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015)

Template:Transformers character This version of Waspinator is an Insecticon from the mobile game based on the 2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon. Waspinator is a surprisingly competent Decepticon in comparison to previous incarnations. He has the ability to fire a bolt of energy from the weapon on his left arm which powers up his fellow Decepticons, making him an invaluable ally. Waspinator's name doesn't appear in the game itself, but was found by looking at the game files.

Mobile game

Waspinator was one of the Decepticons aboard the Alchemor and was freed by Steeljaw. Using a cloning process, a small army of clones of Waspinator and many of his fellow Decepticons were created to battle the Autobots. Waspinator himself lurked in the forest near the Alchemor crash site, where the other Decepticons were constructing a space bridge. Unfortunately for him, he was found and defeated by Bumblebee's Autobot team, who presumably stuffed him back into a stasis pod.

References

• Furman, Simon (2004). Transformers: The Ultimate Guide. DK Publishing Inc. p. 87. ISBN 1405304618.