Bios: Sentinel Maximus

"...Til all are one."

Function - Matrix Guardian / Armored Transport

One of the Heralds created by Primus when it first withdrew it's consciousness to the core of Cybertron, Sentinel Maximus has emerged from the shadows of Time to serve as a guardian over Cybertron during it's darkest hour. With direct access via interdimensional datalink to the nearly limitless knowledge of Vector Sigma, he is a master battlefield tactician and an ideal leader. His perfect synergy with his Mini-Con Ape-Linq is driven by a totally unified consciousness; the two bots act as one in all things. The vast processing power at his disposal allows him to download holographic items into reality, and the power upgrade granted him by Primus prior to his ancient battle with a diabolical and long-forgotten entity from the southern polar regions of Cybertron make him a nearly unstoppable force on the battlefield.

Strength: 10 Intelligence: 10 Speed: 7 Endurance: 10 Rank: 9

Courage: 10 Firepower: 9 Skill: 10

Bios: Deathsaurus

"Glory of death for my enemies, glory of victory for me!"

Function: Decepticon General

Profile: After his defeat centuries ago by the Autobot Star Saber, Deathsaurus was recreated as one of the Generals in the Decepticon army. Having led many successful campaigns, he became frustrated as the Autobots and Maximals began to overwhelm the Decepticon/Predacon Alliance. His ultimate goal is to re-establish his title of Emperor of Destruction and return the Decepticon Empire to its former prominence. Savage, cruel and brilliant, Deathsaurus should never be underestimated. Deathsaurus hopes to use his Insecticon Clones to increase his power base.

Abilities: Deathsaurus' new form was engineered to have six distinct transforms including a dragon mode, an aerial vehicle mode and a high-speed ground mode. These forms, along with his dual Timelines blade weapon make him a formidable foe. Utilizing the unique materials in his wings, he can convert sunlight into dark energy, which will corrode any type of metal upon contact. Deathsaurus is one of the strongest Decepticons.

Weakness: Deathsaurus' arrogance allows him to believe his plans are fool proof, causing him to sometimes overlook potential flaws.

Strength: 9 Intelligence: 8 Speed: 7.6 Endurance: 9.2 Rank: 9 Courage: 8.5 Fireblast: 8.3 Skill: 8.7

Bios: Sky-Byte

 

"Flash of metal fins. Sharkticons tear foes to shreds. Die quick, Autobots."

Sky-Byte is a Predacon by design, but, like his Quintesson creators, works with the Decepticons from time to time when it's profitable to do so. He leads the new-generation Sharkticons into battle, ruthlessly shredding all cars and robots on his way. He sees himself as a sophisticated warrior poet, the self-proclaimed "greatest shark around," composing haiku about the robots in disguise he's about to deactivate. Exposure to forestonite has given Sky-Byte a devastating new ability; he can unleash a "Tsunami Blaster" freeze attack from his chest, paralyzing his foes. Combined with an already impressive arsenal, air speed, and his Sharkticon hordes, he's a menace to everything in the air, land and sea. Were he more competent and less given to overblown theatrics that leave him vulnerable, he'd be one of the Autobots' greatest threats.

Let's Transform Cyberjet Jetfire!

Good old Jetfire. One of the more popular Cyberjets and for a while there, one of the more often used molds. Chances are you've probably got a version or two of it and let's transform it? As you can see above your figure should have two missiles. These fire from the launcher on the top of the jet which is also the robots right hand. It only fires one at a time, so the spare is often held in the other hand as a club.

 

In jet mode, the spare missile can be stored underneath the jet. With both missiles in place he looks pretty heavily armed. The jet itself is pretty neat. It's small, but not tiny. The wings can open up as well.

To fire the missile, just push on the end and it pops out flying a few inches. Instead of a spring trigger, the launcher has a sort of marble mechanism. 

The launcher clamps around the ball shape on the missile. The pushing plays with the friction of the holder and it just pops out. This works really well and is very handy as you won't loose missiles by accidental firings.

Let's start transforming him now. simply unfold the jet's undercarriage out. It's pretty obvious that these are Jetfire's legs. Thanks to the sculpting they blend in pretty well. There's also some fold-able landing gear built into them which stores out of the way in robot mode.

After you flip out those legs, adjust those arms into place. The missile launcher is one and by now you've noticed the other was the storage for the spare missile. Spread them out like in the picture. Just like the picture, don't get creative. 

By now you can probably see the robot's head, that's generally where you need to start folding. So do that. Fold it. Now. As you do this everything will fit into place with a little adjusting. Maybe a lot if you got creative with those arms like I told you not to.

You've mostly got Jetfire transformed. Just fold those arms up into place and you've got a pretty good looking robot.

 

Place one of those missiles in the launcher so Jetfire can shoot it at somebody. The other can be held like a club or stored on the underside of his arm. It's the same place you had it stored in jet mode and looks like an arm mounted gun when done so here.

Like I said before, this mold got a lot of use and chances are you've probably got a version or two of it. There's five different versions of it out officially and I still see bootlegs of it occasionally. 

It was used twice in G2 as Hooligan and Jetfire. In Robot Masters as R-Blade and Wind Sheer in Universe (v1). The last use was in the BotCon 2005 exclusive set as Ricochet. Each version is pretty different from the other and are pretty sharp looking toys. Go get one if you don't already own a version. Then fly him around your living room. Make "pew pew" noises.

Bios- Sgt. Hound

Watchful attentiveness launches triumph.

Sgt. Hound, as a scout for Optimus Prime throughout the third Cybertronian war, was instrumental in the victory of the Autobots over the brutal Decepticons. Along with Special Operations Officer Autobot Jazz, Sgt. Hound presented the General with precise intelligence that allowed the newly-reconstituted Autobot Firestormers to route Megatron's expansion of the Decepticon Star Empire before it could attack any other worlds. The battle ended when the experimental energon refinery that Sgt. Hound had forewarned about was struck by a Decepticon missile. The Decepticons destroyed themselves, but the explosion also cast Sgt. Hound and General Optimus Prime through a rupture in reality.

 

With the war over in his own universe, Sgt. Hound attempted to find peace in his new home. Unfortunately millions of years of conflict, honed military skills and alertness prevented him from finding it. When General Optimus Prime joined Security Administration Officer Cheetor's task force, Sgt. Hound once again enlisted under his commanding officer. Even with war and military service being all that he can remember, Sgt. Hound is still as friendly and compassionate as the day he came online. He befriended many Low-Techs, including fellow former soldiers Dia and Cline.

Bios- Megaplex

The skies belong to me!

Megaplex was built by Jhiaxus as a clone of Megatron, copying the Decepticon tyrant’s aggression, cunning and battlefield skills into a brand new body ready for the modern age. Charged with leading an assault against the planet Cybertron and securing the heart of Jhiaxus' new, unified Cybertronian Empire, Megaplex uses the traits he has inherited from Megatron with chilling efficiency as he smashes through planetary defenses and culls the planet below.

Megaplex must be cautious, however, since under his armor plating he can feel Megatron billowing to the surface, screaming to be let free. The chaos and destruction wrought by the invasion of Cybertron has fed the psyche once buried by Jhiaxus' tutelage, and it may only be a matter of time until Megaplex can do nothing else but let Megatron loose against his enemies. Whoever they might be.

Shattered Glass Rodimus

To the victor go the profits.

Rodimus was once a mercenary who commanded a team of fellow mercenaries known as "The Wreckers". They plundered resources across Cybertron and preyed upon the weak. While Rodimus always believed in Optimus Prime's vision of conquest, he did not want to be a follower. During the battle of Praxus-Delta, Optimus Prime hired Rodimus' team to bolster his own forces. In the battle, the Decepticons managed to destroy every member of the Wreckers except for Rodimus. Despite the heavy losses, Rodimus wanted to fulfill his contract with Optimus, so he fought on. As a result, the Autobots were able to retreat that day without further casualties. Optimus Prime was impressed with Rodimus' fighting ability and asked him to join the Autobots. Rodimus agreed. He is determined to eventually take leadership for himself and turn the Autobot forces into the largest mercenary group the galaxy has ever seen!

Shattered Glass Sideswipe

There is only one rule now; revenge

Once part of Prime's elite Seeker unit, Sideswipe was feared as the most ruthless of the trio. Drench, the team's leader, believed that there should be a balance between a stern hand and compassion. Though there was a difference in philosophy between the two, there was also a mutual respect. However, for Optimus, these were not traits he found appealing in his sub-commander and when the opportunity arose, he had Drench killed. Sideswipe, though ruthless, was loyal and did not agree with the fate that had been dealt to his fallen leader. Sensing a conflict in Sideswipe's "loyalties," Prime let Sideswipe walk into a staged ambush in which he and a fellow Autobot were left to die. Though the companion, who had been there by mistake, was killed, Sideswipe survived and ended up being accepted into the ranks of the Decepticons. While Sideswipe fights for different reasons than his new comrades, he fights nonetheless. As a tribute to his former commander, Sideswipe has taken the colors Drench once bore as a constant reminder to Prime that vengeance is coming

Clench (G2 Redux)

Out. Of. MY. WAY!

From the moment he came online, Clench was trouble. Created as a security bot, he completely trashed the Cyberfactory that gave him life a mere ten minutes earlier. Within days, he had gathered the disaffected and angry among the Earth-born Cybertronians and created the Decepticon Syndicate, crushing anything in his path. His sole motivation seems to be a seething core of universal hatred that fuels him more than any energon. He has no true designs for usurping Galvatron or Zarak, but figures, someday, they're going to get in his way...

Even before the Forestonite experiment, Clench was a terrifying monster in battle. Now his nearly impenetrable armor and Colossus Cannons are augmented with the ability to create localized gravity wells up to ten times Earth's pull, leaving his targets utterly helpless before his wrath.

Spooky Spotlight: Virulent Clones

Profile: The Insecticon Virulent Clones were the result of Deathsaurus' resurrection of the latent Insecticon cloning capability. Extracted from the Cybertronian genetic codes of Buzzclaw and Dirge, the Insecticon clones were created to act as a self-replicating source of warriors for the Decepticon army. Each has a very rudimentary intelligence with no personality of its own. This makes them ideal for swarming enemies, with little regard for their own safety. The Clones listen to the Insecticon masters, Buzzclaw and Dirge, and will follow their orders to the letter at all times.

Abilities: The claws and mandibles of each clone secrete acid, which helps them tear into enemy armor. The Clones are capable of comsuming almost any material to convert into energy to sustain their systems. In robot mode, each Clone carries that can absorb energy from an enemy's attack and redirect it back at them. They can use their wrist mounted claws as slashing weapons, and each has a basic level of hand-to-hand combat knowledge based on memory implants from Buzzclaw.

Weakness: The exo-structure of the Clones are not as strong as those of Buzzclaw and Dirge. Thus the Clones are easily destroyed. It is their massive number, which serves as their greatest advantage.

I appreciated the descent into evil

BotCon 2005's Descent into Evil box set was a largely unpopular set for a variety of subjective reasons that I thought was pretty great. I don't think I disliked anything about it and it gave me my favorite Ironhide and Ratchet toys to date. I really liked Ricochet and the new Insecticons and really enjoyed the comic. I wanted more adventures with the cast of the set, which didn't really happen (though some of the toys and characters get re-purposed for other stories). Just wish the set got as much love from everyone else as it did from me.

Weekly Spotlight: Shattered Glass Goldbug

The least likely is always the most dangerous.

Goldbug was once a young Cybertronian drifter known as Bumblebee. He survived on the streets of Polyhex with no real purpose. Over time, he became skilled at sneaking around, stealing, eavesdropping and blackmailing. When he heard of a new cause being led by Optimus Prime, he eagerly joined the Autobots in hopes of finding a place to belong and where his unsavory activities would be tolerated. When the war began, Bumblebee showed extreme bravery in battle and often sought ways to be noticed by command. In time, he worked his way up the ranks of the Autobots and when the Autobot Seeker Drench was destroyed, Bumblebee was offered an upgraded form and a new identity as Goldbug, to take his place. Although he holds a high position in the Autobot hierarchy, he is paranoid that someone will one day try to betray him and take his place as he has done to so many others in the past.

Weekly Spotlight: TFCC Astrotrain

"The greatest opportunities are borne from adversity."

Constructed to serve as a transport for Megatron and his warriors, Astrotrain became discontent ferrying unappreciative Decepticons across the galaxy. In the chaos that followed the Unicron Battles, Astrotrain struck out on his own as a bounty hunter. Astrotrain convinced the Mini- Con Starcatcher to join him by promising him wealth and riches. The same promise was made to a trip of Mini-Cons who joined him later: Astro-Hook, Astro-Line, and Astro-Sinker. Astrotrain is cruel, but he is also extremely loyal to those under his command. He has an innate ability to inspire loyalty in others. His years of successful commissions have afforded him significant wealth, allowing him to upgrade his systems, greatly enhancing his strength. However, he has never given up his primary weapon, an ionic blaster that disrupts an enemy's internal circuitry.