Cyrus Rhodes


 * Colossus Rhodes is a human in the Transformers Animated continuity family.



Cyrus "The Colossus" Rhodes is a biotech-enhanced human who works for Prometheus Black. He seems to have issues over being rather small and frail, so he uses the enhancements to transform into a giant that's as big as Bulkhead.

That's pretty fragging big.

Black boasts that Rhodes is one of his greatest successes in biotechnological enhancement. Colossus is strong, but he isn't very smart.

"That's a human?"

"Must be a new model..."

- Bulkhead and Prowl commenting on Rhodes's strange appearance

Transformers Animated cartoon

 * Voice actor: Corey Burton (English), Gunnar Helm(small)/Gerald Paradies(giant) (German)

Cyrus Rhodes first appeared as a combatant in a wrestling match staged by Prometheus Black to show off how effective biotechnology is. Though he seemed to be just a tiny, old man, pistons implanted in his back began pumping super-steroids that quickly made him more than a match for Bumblebee. He tossed the plucky little 'bot out of the ring, and then proceeded to make a mess out of him and most of the surrounding parking lot. He was then disoriented by the sounds of a nearby car alarm, giving Prowl a chance to disable the pistons that granted him his enhancements. Captain Fanzone was not impressed by Rhodes's crazed, berserker-like state and denied Black the coveted Detroit police contract.

Later, as Black attacked the Sumdac corporation as the villainous Meltdown, Rhodes was left to mop up the opposition outside. Prowl again tried to disable the freak's steroid pistons, but Rhodes commented that the "boss" had reinforced them. Ultimately, he became disoriented again when he accidentally tossed Optimus Prime against a church bell. Prowl correctly surmised that sonics were Rhodes's weakness, so Prime struck the bell repeatedly and forced Rhodes back into his normal, un-enhanced form.

Several weeks later, he was still working for Black. After Swoop kidnapped Sari, Black left Rhodes to guard her. However, he wasn't very good at it, as Sari tricked him into walking into a bathroom and drenched him with water, which shorted out his "electrode thingies". He later got his pistons working and emerged from Black's hideout (along with Black's two other mutant freaks) to help their boss, but met up with the Dinobots. After being frightened by the Dinobots' menacing flaming weapons, Rhodes and his cohorts were thoroughly trashed by the robot dinosaurs.

Trivia

 * Colossus Rhodes's name is a reference to the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.


 * His vulnerability to high-frequency sonic waves seems similar to the that of Marvel supervillain Venom, another joint trait being that their shared weakness is discovered by the accidental ringing of a church bell, as seen in Spider-Man 3.


 * His pumps also malfunction when they get into contact with water. Yes, clearly a great success, Prometheus.


 * This doesn't even touch on his thematic resemblance to DC Comics's steroid-pumped freak, Bane.