Skywarp

Skywarp is the name of six fictional characters in the Transformers series, first introducedin 1984.

1984 The Transformers

The original Skywarp is a Decepticon warrior. Like his name suggests, is able to teleport.

Comics

1984 Marvel Comics

Skywarp was amongst those Decepticons ordered by Megatron to greet the new Decepticon arrivals from Cybertron. However, the arrivals ended up being Blaster and his team of 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 was not—the Autobots' "secret weapon," Omega Supreme was guarding their headquarters soundly defeated the Decepticons, destroying Skywarp first. 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 (to defeat Unicron), Skywarp played a part in the future Autobots' plans to trick Galvatron into 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 resemble Starscream and set up to be operated under remote control by the Autobots to trick Galvatron into thinking that Starscream had destroyed his machinery. A furious Galvatron destroyed what he believed was Starscream in a blind rage, but because Starscream played a role in Galvatron's creation, Galvatron believed that whatever actions he performed in the past would have no effect on his or Unicron's future and subsequently returned to his own time, unaware that he was tricked.

Skywarp was seemingly rebuilt at some point, placed back into cold-storage and eventually rescued, along with the other captured Decepticons, by the Constructicons, who used a distraction to break into the Ark for that purpose. Skywarp (and Thundercracker) were ultimately destroyed by the Underbase-powered Starscream and was never seen again in the original Transformers comic.

The Transformers: Generation 2 comic showed a black Decepticon jet using teleportation powers. It is unknown if this jet was a repaired Skywarp.

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 Transformers: Universe comics believe that it was the Insecticon Bombshell, not Skywarp, who became Cyclonus (according to artist Dan Khanna). 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 use 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.

According to the script for the unreleased issue #4 of Transformers: Universe - The Wreckers the Wreckers returned to Cybertron where they helped repel the an invasion by the Quintessons. Skywarp was then thought to have been left by Cyclonus as an agent to turn against the Wreckers, but Skywarp then revealed that he had hated Cyclonus ever since the two of them had been reformatted by Unicron and turned on his former commander.

Devil's Due Publishing

In this re-imagining 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's alternate mode was a Cobra Rattler jet. When the Transformers broke free, Skywarp killed his pilot, Major Bludd, by transforming while Major Bludd was in his chest cockpit area, crushing him. This was supported previously in the comic when Doctor Mindbender informed Destro that the results of attempts to modify the transformers so that soldiers could remain in the cockpits during transformation were "messy" and that Major Bludd was seen in the cockpit as the controls and seat begin to fold into their positions during robot mode. Also, the cockpit was closed in the next panel and Major Bludd's final scream came from inside. Skywarp battled the Autobots, but was eventually killed by a malfunctioning satellite system.

Dreamwave Productions

In the re-imagining of the Generation 1 universe by 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.

Early in the Autobot-Decepticon war, 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, attacking 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 went into emergency stasis lock for millions of years.

In the Earth year 1984, a volcanic explosion awakened the Ark and 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 Eagle 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 designated 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 Arctic 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 attacked Superion, causing him to separate.

After returning to Cybertron with Shockwave, Skywarp returned to Earth under the command of Starscream. However, 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.

Skywarp also appeared in Dreamwave's Transformers/G.I. Joe series as one of the Decepticons allied with Cobra during an alternate reality World War II, transforming into a P-51 Mustang. He was killed by Optimus Prime.

Fun Publications

Classicverse

Skywarp was a character in the Classicverse setting. Skywarp is among Megatron's troops in Crossing Over. In Transformers: Timelines volume 2 #2, "Games of Deception", Megatron detects the arrival of Bug-Bite's ship on Earth and sends Starscream, Skywarp and Ramjet to investigate.

Universe

Skywarp appears in the Universe setting started by 3H Enterprises. Snarl, Skywarp, Tap-Out and Triceratron appeared in the story Wreckers: Finale Part 2 by the Transformers Collectors Club in 2007. Despite his dislike for the other Wreckers Skywarp remained loyal to them in order to take out vengeance on Cyclonus. During the invasion of Cybertron by the Quintessons all four vanished, taken captive by Unicron's transport beam. 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

Wings of Honor

Skywarp appears in the Wings setting among Megatron's troops when Megatron attacked Iacon with his new weapon, Devastator

IDW Publishing

After Dreamwave's closure, the rights to the Transformers comics were awarded to IDW Publishing. The rebooted Generation One continuity borrowed from many previous sources, included the animated series, as well as the Marvel and Dreamwave comic books, but also featured many new and unexplored ideas and origins. Chronologically, Skywarp made his first appearance in The Transformers: Megatron Origin, joining the criminal gladiator, Megatron. He, along with his fellow Seekers, played a role in Megatron's plan to cause a rash of terror throughout Cybertron. Skywarp soon became a member of the Decepticons.

Much later, chronologically, in The Transformers: 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 Decepticons' abandoned base on Earth to destroy evidence of it, Skywarp battled Bumblebee, using his teleportation 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 learned 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 submitted to Megatron's authority, accepting no further mistakes would be tolerated. He and Thundercracker were sent to bomb 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 and anticipated 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 Generation 1 F-15 alternate jet mode.

Skywarp and the other Seekers also appeared in the mini-series, The Transformers: Evolutions: Hearts of Steel. Skywarp was the first Decepticon to appear, seemingly wakened by Muldoon's sunken submarine. Sent to 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.[8]

Toys

• Hasbro Transformers Decepticon Plane Skywarp (1984)

• Kenner Machine Wars Basic Skywarp (1997)

Skywarp was one of the six Decepticons which appeared in the Mchine War sline. Sharing the same mold as Thundercracker, Skywarp is now a white jet.

• Takara Smallest Transformers Skywarp (2003)

This black and purple recolor of Smallest Transformers Starscream was only released as a chase item (one in a case of 48) in wave 1 of the toy line. Despite the small size (roughly 2 inches in robot height), the toy is virtually faithful to the original G1 toy's design and transformation.

1998 Beast Wars II

The second character to be named Skywarp was introduced in 1998 and is a 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 Junior's immaturity.

In the story, Skywarp is an aerial combat instructor dispatched from Cybertron as a reinforcement for Lio Convoy's troops. While strict, he has more consideration than anyone else for young Maximal 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. In addition, he can fold over his wings and fire his Sky Missiles.

2003 Unicron Trilogy

The third character named Skywarp was introduced in 2003 and was a Hasbro exclusive in the Transformers: Armada toy line that did not receive a biography, but was later expanded upon by Dreamwave Productions.

It is unknown if Hasbro intended the Cybertron Skywarp character to be an upgrade of Armada Skywarp or a different character, as his biography indicated that his personality and abilities are closer to that of his 1984 namesake.

2007 Transformers

According to an interview with producer Tom DeSanto published in issue 15 of the Transformers Collectors' Club Magazine, the original lineup pitched for the Decepticons in the 2007 live action Transformers film was Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Ravage, Laserbeak, Rumble, Skywarp and Shockwave. Skywarp did not appear in the film, but did appear in the toy line and comics for sequel films.

Fictional biography

Skywarp has never been interested in power or conquest. He simply wishes to be left alone in his pursuit of knowledge. He joined the Decepticons because Megatron was willing to give him facilities in which to work, and simply leave him alone. In return, he has produced countless powerful weapons and experimental systems for his comrades. He is personally equipped with mighty weapons that can twist the very fabric of reality into a smear of color and light, or rip mountains apart

2008 Shattered Glass

Skywarp is a heroic Decepticon in Shattered Glass stories by Fun Publications. He is the mirror universe counterpart of the 1984 character.

In art Skywarp appeared as Cybertron Starscream in Generation 2 Cyberjet Air Raid colors and as United Ghost Starscream in Cybertron Skywarp colors.

Development

One proposed toy concept for a BotCon 2011 was Shattered Glass Skywarp made from Robots In Disguise Classic Deluxe Starscream.

2010 Transformers: Prime

Skywarp is a Decepticon who turns into a jet.