Bludgeon (G1)


 * Bludgeon is a Decepticon from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Bludgeon is a ferocious warrior, skilled in the ancient Cybertronian martial art of Metallikato. Utterly vicious and aloof, Bludgeon is also highly religious, adhering to an arcane code of honor.

"Arcane", of course, is code for "bloodthirsty, murderous, sadistic, and subject to the whims of the guy holding the sword."

"Prattling fool! Your warrior heart is tainted by an idiot's tongue! Perhaps I shall remove both for you!"

- Bludgeon takes on Jazz


 * French-Canadian name: Gourdin
 * Italian name: Teskior

Generation 1
''Hot Rod was captured by the Decepticons and freed by an agent placed within the Decepticons. Megatron accused Bludgeon of being the culprit, and Bludgeon demanded the chance to prove himself through trial by combat. He was released and chased by Octopunch, Stranglehold and Warmonger. Bludgeon easily dispatched the former two but was caught from behind by Warmonger, who couldn't bring himself to kill in cold blood. Realizing who the infiltrator was, Megatron destroyed Warmonger, then reflected that it would have simply been easier to kill all four of them. ''

''When Decepticons Catilla and Carnivac defected to the Autobots, a new Mayhem Attack Squad was formed which included Bludgeon, his Pretender cohorts Stranglehold and Octopunch, the "double" Targetmasters, and Snarler. After a mission simulation of Slaughter City, their prey was authorized -- they would hunt down and kill Catilla, Carnivac, and their new Wreckers friends. They found Carnivac outside Dallas, Texas, and Bludgeon, promising him a warrior's death, led the charge. However, Carnivac escaped Bludgeon and the other Mayhems, but tracked him down to Los Gravos, Mexico. Bludgeon fought Carnivac, and Spinister was about to deal the killing blow, when Catilla rescued him. However, Bludgeon threw his sword into Catilla, killing Carnivac's savior. As the rest of the Autobots arrived, Bludgeon ordered a withdraw. Carnivac swore that Bludgeon and the other Mayhems would pay.

He later took on the leadership of Thunderwing's new Mayhem Attack Squad, sent to slay the newly-resurrected Jazz, Bumblebee, and Grimlock. Alongside the Rescue Patrol, the Classic Pretenders were due to be teleported to Earth, an operation Bludgeon attempted to interrupt by shoving his blade through the transportation machine. Instead, he and the Mayhems were transported with the Autobots to the center of Cybertron. Here, the Mayhems were foiled, and though they inadvertently awakened the slumbering Primus in the process. Ultimately, the transportation was completed, and they were sent to Earth along with the Autobots,  where they told Scorponok of Unicron's coming and joined his Decepticons on Earth. When Optimus Prime surrendered his Autobots to Scorponok in order to facilitate an alliance against Unicron, Bludgeon helped the other Decepticons imprison the surrendered Autobots.

Bludgeon was seen fighting on Scorponok's side during the subsequent Decepticon Civil War and was transported with all of them to Cybertron by Primus. Primus (speaking through the body of Emirate Xaaron told them of the history between himself and Unicron, while Bludgeon cleaned his sword. He was there also to quell the sudden Unicron cultist uprising, remarking that to a master of Metallikato, their moves were like slow motion.   When Unicron himself arrived, though, the superstitious Bludgeon ran like hell.    Thankfully, Optimus Prime's sacrifice saved them all, and Bludgeon was there standing over Prime's body with a few others as he died.  The Autobot/Decepticon alliance that emerged was shaky, so Bludgeon and Krok discussed a plan of their own.

Tensions came to a head when Blaster discovered that Cybertron was tearing itself apart in the aftermath of the Transformers' victory against Unicron. After the alliance was tested when new Autobot leader Grimlock beat the tar out of Fangry, Prowl assured Bludgeon with promises of starting anew on another planet and living in peace. Bludgeon rejected this in secret, and, assuming command of the Decepticons during their current leadership vacuum, ordered the Autobots' escape ships to be sabotaged, leaving their rivals to die as their planet imploded. With his Decepticons eager for conquest, Bludgeon randomly selected the planet of Klo as their first target. The peaceful inhabitants of Klo were easily (and violently) subdued, and Bludgeon thought this planet did not meet the challenges befitting their warrior race. In turn, Krok pleased him with with news that their ships were bugged and that they should be expecting the Autobots to be arriving soon.

Indeed, when the Autobots arrived, Bludgeon's Decepticons were ready for them. Only five Autobots escaped their purge, and Bludgeon sent a small hunting party after them. Ultimate victory was snatched from Bludgeon only by divine intervention. The Last Autobot arrived with a resurrected Optimus Prime and the Neo-Knights. Bludgeon rejected this development on religious grounds; the Last Autobot, according to his beliefs, was the Ultimate Warrior, who was bent on conquest. He ordered his troops to attack the "unbelievers". Ultimately, the Decepticons were defeated. The Last Autobot was able to revive the fallen Autobots at will, and Bludgeon was forced to admit defeat and withdraw. As he and the Decepticons retreated, he promised a "solitary exile," but he whispered differently to his subordinates.

Earthforce


Following Catilla's death, the Mayhems set up a base on a deserted island, where Needlenose decided to test their response to an emergency. Enraged, Bludgeon threatened to tear him apart, but was stopped by Snarler. As Needlenose returned to his quarters, he was ambushed by Carnivac, who snuck in. His calls for help were ignored by Snarler and Bludgeon. Carnivac decided to pick off Bludgeon next, finding him meditating. Bludgeon sensed him coming and took him on, and the other Mayhems responded to the commotion. Bludgeon tried to finish him, but Spinister decided to slag him with his blaster instead. Angry at losing his kill, Bludgeon was pleased to find Earthforce attacking them. He and his fellow Pretenders were defeated, outnumbered by the Autobots. But before they could be executed, a shell-less Carnivac appeared and told the Autobots to spare them, denying them a warrior's death. Bludgeon, Octopunch and Stranglehold managed to escape Autobot captivity by playing a silent mind game on Inferno. ''

Generation 2
Following a brief exile, Bludgeon created a large planet-like spacecraft known as the Warworld, which functioned as a vessel for pirating resources throughout the galaxy. Bludgeon then made a bid to lure Optimus Prime to Earth to steal the Autobot Creation Matrix so life could be granted to a new generation of Decepticon warriors. The plan involved a full-scale attack on Earth and did succeed in drawing Optimus Prime to Earth's defense, but not before Bludgeon was confronted by the newly-rebuilt Megatron, who wanted command of the Decepticons for himself once more. Bludgeon destroyed Megatron's gun with one swipe of his blade, but neglected to realize how enhanced the new Megatron was -- the former Decepticon leader ripped Bludgeon's Pretender skull off with one hand. Undaunted, Bludgeon proclaimed himself an agent of chaos and transformed into his little-used tank mode to confront Megatron on his own terms. He briefly drove back Megatron, but ultimately the Decepticons' founder proved to be too much for their current leader, and his new railgun destroyed Bludgeon utterly. The victorious Decepticon leader subsequently displayed Bludgeon's severed head in the Warworld.

Classics
Bludgeon is still leading most of the Decepticons, to Megatron's resentment. Shockwave believes Bug Bite is one of Bludgeon's minions.

Dreamwave Generation 1 comics continuity
During the so-called 'Dark Ages' of the Autobot/Decepticon conflict, Bludgeon, alongside Bugly and Mindwipe, formed the Chaos Trinity. They became disciples of the mysterious being known as the Fallen in exchange for dark power. Together with him, they captured a number of Transformers in order to perform a bizarre ceremony at Cybertron's core, but were eventually foiled by Jetfire and Grimlock. Bludgeon was stopped from alerting the Fallen of the impending allied attack on the Well of All Sparks by a teleporting Skywarp.

Dreamwave Armada comics continuity
Bludgeon was part of Galvatron's unit of Heralds, along with Dirge,  Thunderwing and  Scourge, sent to prepare Cybertron for the coming of Unicron. He was stationed as guard of the Decepticon base when Jetfire's unit arrived. While he put up a formidable assault (as Dropshot could attest), the Autobots eventually realized the secret to his technique and forced him to retreat, leaving behind his Pretender shell. He returned when Jetfire attempted to use the space-bridge portal, but like the rest of the Heralds was shortly blown-up.

IDW comics continuity


Bludgeon was the leader of a team of Decepticons who were assigned by Megatron to look into what Shockwave was researching before he disappeared. Megatron also sent Soundwave to spy on them. During this time, Bludgeon discovered Shockwave's work on Regenesis. Eventually, however, they discovered the remains of Thunderwing, the Decepticon scientist who became the avatar of the Cybertronian cataclysm, and became bent on restoring the wasted Cybertron to its former glory by resurrecting him. He and his team of Decepticons (Iguanus, Finback, Skullgrin, and Bomb-Burst) believed that in reawakening Thunderwing and turning him loose, the mass sacrifice of worlds would allow the rebirth of Cybertron. They also delved into the outlawed polydermal grafting experiments pioneered by Thunderwing, in an attempt to create super-shells of their own.

In 1984 they went to Earth to extract a load of Ultra-Energon, establishing a base within Mt. St. Helens. Soundwave naturally followed them. He eventually came to them asking for a cut of their profits, believing that they meant to sell the energon, but when he realized that they meant to resurrect Thunderwing he tried to stop them. They used one of Shockwave's devices to lock him in his alt-mode, then caused a volcanic eruption and returned to Cybertron via an orbital bounce.

Twenty-three years later, Jetfire and the Technobots, detecting the Ultra-Energon from orbit, went to investigate, and were taken by the cult, planning to use them as raw materials for their shells. Bludgeon wanted Jetfire to witness Thunderwing's awakening, to make him see that Thunderwing had been right to experiment, but Jetfire eventually annoyed him too much. Connecting his mind to an Axis-Cradle that controlled Thunderwing's blank neuroscape, Bludgeon sent Thunderwing to destroy Nebulos, then engaged the auto-drive to inspect his own shell's progess. When Optimus Prime and the Wreckers attacked Bludgeon's base on Cybertron by surprise, Iguanus escaped to the bio-graft chamber to find Bludgeononly to find the cult leader having donned full polydermal armor. However, in Bludgeon's rush, the shell was not mentally aligned, causing a psychic backlash that took down the Decepticon before the Wreckers even found him. It is unclear whether Bludgeon's mind survived, but if it did, it is apparently trapped in torment. Prime felt that he got off lightly for having unleashed Thunderwing.

After the defeat of Thunderwing, Bludgeon was transferred to Garrus-9, where Fortress Maximus stored his extracted spark in the Rig.

Devil's Due GI Joe vs. Transformers continuity


Eons ago, when Optimus Prime was given the Matrix, Bludgeon attempted to kill him, but failed.

Along with the Pretender Monsters, Bludgeon traveled to Earth, seeking to be present at the planet's destruction by Unicron. The group was shot down by the Chinese Air Force, however, and damaged in the process. An alliance with the underground kingdom of Cobra-La provided them with life-sustaining Pretender shells. He was responsible for the death of Atomic Man in 1978, when the Adventure Team came snooping too close to Cobra-La's hidden lair in the caves beneath Tibet.

Decades later, Bludgeon engaged Optimus Prime in battle as the Autobot attempted to infiltrate Cobra-La's caves. After being burned by Bludgeon, Optimus ripped the chest off of Bludgeon's Pretender shell. In his anger, Bludgeon lost his edge and fell off a cliff. Although Optimus had caught him, Bludgeon chose to fall, standing by his philosophy of "merciless death and destruction."

Generation 1

 * Bludgeon (Pretender, 1989)
 * Accessories: Pretender shell, large "Laser Rifle" gun, tank turret/shield, small "Electric Cannon", helmet




 * Generation 1 Bludgeon's inner robot transforms into a green and lilac tank of undetermined origin. Oddly, compared to most Transformers tanks, he has no wheels inside the static tank tracks for any sort of rolling movement. Transformation to robot mode is very similar to many tank-vehicle Micromaster figures, except one must remove the rotating turret piece to do so, with the removable main gun as his weapon, mounted in a hole in his wrist (rather than his hand).


 * Bludgeon's Pretender shell, continuing the Decepticon trend of monstrous or war-like shells, is an orange and maroon humanoid samurai with a human skull for a head. Removing the helmet reveals great attention to detail to the skull, with cranium fusion seams and well-defined teeth, among other sculpting. The shell is armed with a white rifle and the inner robot's tank turret mounted on his arm as a sort of shield.

Trivia

 * Like Stranglehold and Octopunch, Bludgeon's character model portrays him with a specialized melee weapon. Bludgeon is consistently drawn with the character model's sword, which has become a trademark, despite his toy lacking one.  The character model also seems to include a scabbard for the sword, though that is not included nearly as often.  Why all three of these characters are given weapons that don't exist is unknown.
 * The only time we see his character model is when it's copied faithfully by Jose Delbo in Yesterday's Heroes!.
 * The sword in his character model has unique detailing at the base of the front of the blade. In Delbo's rendition, it looks kind of like a dong.  Elsewhere, not so much.  Thankfully.


 * Bludgeon's outer shell is equipped with an ambient stealth field.