Skywarp
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.
Transformers: Generation 1 (1984)
Template:Transformers character
Skywarp (Fraudeur in French Canada, Corvo in Italy, Espião Celeste in Portugal), 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 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.
Animated series
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Skywarp is the first Transformer to awaken on Earth in 1984, and he helped bring Megatron and the other Decepticons back online. 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.
Although a popular character in the Transformers universe, Skywarp seldom showed much function other than being a loyal Decepticon soldier. Although he did seem to take a perverse joy in praising Megatron's brilliance as a leader in front of Starscream. 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 and had to be destroyed by Megatron in pistol mode. This is the only time this ability has ever been seen in Transformers fiction.
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, but there is controversy about this due to animation inconsistencies.
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, unaware that 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. 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.
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 supervision of Megatron."
Fun Publications
Based on the Transformers Classics toy line, the Timelines 2007 story is set 15 years after the end of the Marvel Comics story (ignoring all events of the Marvel U.K. and Generation 2 comics). Megatron survived the crash of the Ark on Earth, reformatted himself into a new form and now leads Ramjet, Skywarp, Soundwave, Starscream and the Constructicons. Optimus Prime has also returned to Earth commanding Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Grimlock, Jetfire, Mirage and Rodimus (formerly Hot Rod). When the Cybertronians Skyfall and Landquake arrive on Earth unexpectedly Megatron attempts to destroy them, but Optimus Prime and his Autobots are able to drive Megatron away.
Dreamwave Productions
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 stasis 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 and locked in cells on board the Ark. They escaped when the Ark was attacked by Bruticus.
Transformers/G.I. Joe
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.
Devil's Due Publishing
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 Doctor 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.
IDW Publishing
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 The Transformers: Infiltration 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. Skywarp survived, though, as Megatron placed him and Blitzwing in CR chambers, as revealed in The Transformers: Escalation. He submits to Megatron's authority, accepting no further mistakes would be tolerated. He and Thundercracker were sent to bomb a a desert power plant, escalating tensions amongst the humans in the area. Accompanying Megatron to the disputed Soviet border state of Brasnya, Skywarp was sent to wait in case back-up was needed - and it was as Optimus Prime appeared leading a team of Autobots to stop the Decepticons. Skywarp and Astrotrain attacked using Skywarp's teleporting power, running interference for the human facsimile they were using. Despite his teleporting powers Jazz and Wheeljack quickly cottoned on andanticipated his moves. Skywarp then disappeared, promising to return with reinforcements. He returned with Thundercracker, damaging Hot Rod severely and killing the facsimile. However, they were forced to flee when Megatron called for pickup after his Ore-13 was expended. His alternate mode here is that of an F-22 Raptor, the successor to his original Gen 1 F-15 alternate jet mode.
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. Sent ot scout ahead of the Decepticon Astrotrain, he was presumably destroyed when Bumblebee and John Henry managed to send the entire Decepticon rail convoy into a chasm.[1]
3H Enterprises
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.
Toys
- Generation 1 Skywarp (1984)
- The original Skywarp toy was originally part of the Japanese Diaclone toyline, and was imported to become part of the Transformers toyline by Hasbro in 1984. In jet mode, the toy is 21cm long (a scale of 1:93, suggesting that Skywarp 14cm robot mode would be about 13m tall). In what is considered to be a major drawback to the toy, the majority of its parts have to be removed for transformation, and it is rare to find a totally complete one, since no single mode can hold all the parts.
- Skywarp shared a mold with Starscream and Thundercracker, and later Sunstorm. He was remolded into Dirge, Ramjet and Thrust.
- Machine Wars Skywarp (1997)
- 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.
- Smallest Transformers Skywarp (2003)
- This redeco of Smallest Transformers Starscream was only released in limited numbers as a chase item in the blind packed Smallest Transformers line.
- Transformers: Universe Skywarp (2004)
- 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.
- Robot Masters Skywarp (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.
- SDCC Skywarp (2006)
- 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.
- Transformers Classics Skywarp (2007)
- 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, comes in a two-pack with Ultra Magnus(a repaint of Classics Optimus Prime) in a set titled "Battle For Autobot City." The two-pack is exclusive to Target stores nationwide. It was available at retail in early 2007.
- Masterpiece Skywarp (2007)
- Recently an image of a black and purple recolor of the MP-03 Masterpiece Starscream has surfaced with the title as MP-06 Skywarp. Masterpiece Skywarp has a retooled faces from Starscream, one with a normal expression (the lips and nose are different from Starscream) and the other face with a snarling expression (opposed to Starscream's smirk).
Beast Wars 2nd (1998)
Template:Transformers character 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.
Transformers: Armada (2003)
Template:Transformers character 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.
Armada Skywarp was redecoed into Universe Ramjet, who came with a reduco of Thunderclash and three additional Mini-Cons.
Dreamwave Productions
While 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.
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.
Note: Transformers: Universe Ramjet is a recolor of Transformers: Armada Skywarp.
Transformers: Cybertron (2006)
Template:Transformers character A toy named Skywarp was made, this time a purple recolor of the Deluxe sized Cybertron Thundercracker. It is unknown if Hasbro intended this character to be an upgrade of Armada Skywarp or a different character, as his personality and abilities are closer to the Generation 1 Skywarp.
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 Skywarp is a U.S. exclusive and the television series was made in Japan before it was made, he made no appearances in the Cybertron television series. He also has not appeared in any comics.