Blitzwing (TFA)


 * Blitzwing is a random nutjob Decepticon in the Transformers Animated continuity family.



Blitzwing not only has three modes (robot, jet, and tank), he also has three alternate personalities (an "icy" cold strategist, a short-tempered "hothead", and a total "random" nutcase) along with the faces rattling around in his head to go with them. He's as liable to have a conversation with himself as he is to say a word to his fellow Decepticons. Pretty much the only thing that keeps him in line is that all three of his personalities are scared to death of Megatron.

Blitzwing's icy personality is represented by a long, solemn blue face with a monocle and speaks with quiet disdain. His easily angered hothead personality has a wide red face and is gap-toothed, making him look and sound like a certain Austrian musclehead. Finally, his random personality's face looks like nothing so much as a black jack-o'-lantern and just sounds hysterical. All three personalities have a German accent, and apparently he has trouble flying in a straight line.

Blitzwing's armament varies depending upon which personality is dominant at the time. His calculating personality has an arsenal of ice weaponry, while the hothead predictably can bring the heat. When his third personality is foremost, nearly anything can be dished out from either of his vehicle modes. Blitzwing's alt-mode is likewise usually dependent on which aspect is dominant at the time. His cold side favors the jet, his angry side favors the tank, and his insane side has no favorites. It even goes so far that if he becomes angry enough during flight, he transforms into tank mode. It's possible for Blitzwing to fire conventional explosive missiles while in jet mode when he's angry or crazy, but that rarely happens. Most likely, he can use icy attacks while he's in tank mode as well, but this has never happened on screen.

It's worth noting that Blitzwing spends a lot of time paired up with Lugnut - enough time that he's learnt to ignore most of Lugnut's rants about the glorious Megatron, anyway. Not that they get on any better for it. Blitzwing is just as likely to have a heated argument with Lugnut as he is to give him dancing lessons, and Lugnut is still too obsessed with Megatron to pay the slightest attention to any of Blitzwing's more sane suggestions.

Basically, Blitzwing's the Purple Baron... or a Panzer that can walk... or just a purple lunatic.

"Ze name iz Blitzwing, insect—remember it! Cause it's ze last thing you're gonna hear before I—express my feelings in song!"

- Blitzwing switching personalities like we switch shoes

Animated cartoon

 * Voice actor: Bumper Robinson (English), Rainer Doering (German)

Blitzwing was aboard the Nemesis with the other Decepticons at the time of the AllSpark's re-discovery. He partially froze Blackarachnia's arm, commenting on how her demeanor was as unpleasant as her organic beast mode. When Blackarachnia advised him to blow it out his actuator, Blitzwing angrily demanded that she refer to him by his proper name, or else he would...express his feelings in song! His out-of-tune rendition of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" got all the Decepticons arguing until Megatron entered, prompting Blitzwing to fall silent with the rest.

When it became clear the Nemesis was going to crash into an exploding space bridge, Blitzwing fled in an escape pod.

''After Megatron's disappearance, the Decepticons held a funeral at New Kaon. Blitzwing gave the eulogy, in which he vowed that they would destroy the Autobots responsible for their leader's demise...and then paint mustaches on their faceplates. Lugnut was angry with the service, declaring that Megatron was alive and would return. When Blitzwing pointed out evidence to the contrary, Lugnut destroyed the statue of Megatron that Blitzwing had built. This angered Blitzwing, who'd spent six deca-cycles building it, and initiated an exchange of fire between him and Lugnut.''

Blitzwing placed a bounty on Optimus Prime, intending to punish him for destroying Megatron. Fifty stellar cycles later, the bounty hunter Lockdown contacted Blitzwing, saying he had Prime. Blitzwing promised that Lockdown would receive payment once Blitzwing received Prime — then his random side asked if he could please, please please see Prime turn into a firetruck.

Some time after this, Blitzwing and Lugnut followed a beacon to the Moon to find the wreckage of the Nemesis. Arriving on Earth, the two had similar problems determining the dominant species on Earth as the Autobots did, mistaking Earth's automatons and machines for sentient beings. During an encounter with the Autobots, Bumblebee and Prowl were hard pressed to avoid Blitzwing's energy blasts, but his freeze beam did get Bumblebee off his feet. When Lugnut demanded information on Megatron's location, the Autobots mentioned that he had "turned into a fireball somewhere over Cleveland". Naturally, Lugnut was displeased, and he used his super-punch to floor the Autobotsand bury himself and Blitzwing under the rubble. When Blitzwing unburied himself, he irritatedly reminded Lugnut of his often repeated request for a little warning before the punch.

Having observed the battle over a live feed, Megatron opted to radio Lugnut exclusively, leaving Blitzwing struggling to work out what exactly was going on. Blitzwing believed Lugnut was only listening to voices in his head, so Lugnut had to take him along forcibly. Uncertain of the number and strength of the Autobots' "reinforcements" (the Detroit Police Department), the pair scanned Earth vehicles for disguises so they could lay low. Icy Blitzwing wanted to scan a fighter jet, while Hothead wanted a tank. After a brief argument, Random suggested that they scan both. That evening, the two Decepticons followed the Autobots to Lake Erie, where Blitzwing froze the lake. When the Autobots submerged, he followed them in tank form. Blitzwing was lured by the Autobots towards their ship and blasted by one of its weapons systems. He and Lugnut were left fragmented but functional and floated to the surface, only to be met by Starscream, who offered to repair them in exchange for a pledge of undying allegiance.

Apparently, they chose to serve under Starscream, but still were bickering with each other. When Lugnut began receiving internal transmissions from Megatron again, Starscream was confused, and Blitzwing explained that it was a "technical glitch" that happened. A lot. When Starscream learned that Lugnut thought he was talking to Megatron, he felt threatened and scanned Lugnut, detecting the signals. Starscream ordered both Lugnut and Blitzwing to find the Key while he himself tracked the transmissions.

At the moment, the Key was in the hands of Ratchet. Blitzwing used his ice guns to freeze Ratchet and rip off the arm that was carrying the Key. Afterward, they went to Sumdac Tower to find Megatron. In the process of greeting him, they revealed Megatron's true Decepticon nature to Prof. Sumdac. Blitzwing, now understanding what had been going on with Lugnut, inserted the Key into Megatron's head, restoring their true leader.



As Megatron proceeded to beat up the Autobots, Blitzwing and Lugnut decided not to intervene and kept an eye on Professor Sumdac instead. When Megatron called his loyal troops to him, Blitzwing looked on as his leader made an example of Starscream. The Decepticons took to the air, locating and attacking the Autobots' ship as it travelled from the lake to the Tower, then from the Tower to Dinobot Island, where it was shot down. Blitzwing split off to tackle Prowl, Ratchet and Bumblebee, before being brought down by a combined EMP burst. As Blitzwing rolled around and shelled the Autobots, Prowl noticed that Blitzwing's personalities were connected to his alternate modes and powers. By this time, Blitzwing was back in the air, but Bumblebee taunted the Triple Changer enough that Hothead Blitzwing took over, transformed from jet to tank—and fell into the lake.

The Decepticons set up a base in a mine containing carbon deposits, which would block their energy signatures so they could recover from their encounter with the Autobots without detection. When Megatron announced his new plan to conquer Cybertron, Blitzwing felt the plan was crazy, as neither he nor Lugnut had any idea how they would get there. He changed his mind when Megatron explained that they would build their own space bridge using the specs Megatron had downloaded from Teletran-1 during one of the encounters with the Autobots. However, they would need the captured Prof. Sumdac to help them, as the specs were incomplete.

After Isaac Sumdac developed a device that shielded their energy signatures from Autobot sensors, Blitzwing and Lugnut went to retrieve a tachyon transmitter from the Elite Guard's ship. When they presented it to Megatron, Starscream appeared, tried to kill Megatronand was killed by Megatron. However, Starscream appeared to survive, and Blitzwing spent the rest of the evening dumping Starscream's body into the river. The next day, Blitzwing and Megatron responded to an AllSpark energy signature which turned out to be a trap laid by Starscream. Blitzwing and Megatron then pursued the traitor, offlining him again.

Blitzwing was later sent by Megatron to track down an All Spark fragment, with an oddly disappearing energy signature. He froze Bulkhead and much of the surrounding landscape, destroyed a bridge, Captain Fanzone's car, and Master Disaster's truck before Sari Sumdac managed to make him leave using Master Disaster's remote.

Blitzwing and Lugnut wound up stuck with the dirty work, collecting supplies for the construction of the space bridge. Foiled by the Autobots, they tried again the next day, hauling heavy trailers up a hill. Blitzwing's foot slipped, and he was nearly offlined by the trailer sending him careening towards a wall. Bracing for impact, his demise was interrupted by the intervention of Mixmaster and Scrapper. Seeing a good opportunity in the brawny Constructibots, he tricked them into hauling the two trailers to the mine. Though Lugnut stated that Megatron would never stand for this, he reassured the huge Decepticon that the two newcomers would be offlined as soon as the work was done. True to his word, Blitzwing was about to have Lugnut dispatch the hapless bots when Megatron stepped in. He had bigger plans for them.

When the Constructicons resurfaced, Megatron dispatched Blitzwing to bring them back to the mine, giving him some oil to entice them, and instructing Blitzwing not to engage the Autobots. During his seach, Blitzwing came across the Autobots. Although his Icy personality wanted to continue the search, his Hothead and Random personality decided to engage them. During the battle, Blitzwing utterly dominated the Autobots, and eventually took Ratchet hostage. At that point, Megatron ordered Blitzwing to disengage and resume his search. Finally locating the Constructicons, Blitzwing offered the two the oil barrels he was carrying, and led them back to base.

Soon after the space bridge was near completion, the Autobots found the Decepticons' hideout and attempted to stop them. Blitzwing and Lugnut attacked the Autobots invading their underground base, but they ended up getting stasis cuffed by Blurr.

Blitzwing was later retrieved by Scrapper and joined in on the attack on Omega Supreme. It didn't go too well, with Blitzwing being headbutted to the horizon by the titanic Autobot. He is now in the custody of Sentinal Prime, courtesy of Lockdown.

Animated

 * Blitzwing (Voyager, 2008)
 * Accessories: 2 "flame" missiles


 * Blitzwing transforms into a futuristic "Mech-Warrior"ish-tank with two large, spring-loaded anti-aircraft-like guns, and a squat jet with tracks. His tank-cannons become the jet's thrusters. The cannons can be swiveled so that no matter what form he is in, the launch buttons will not get in the way. The robot mode has three faces, which can be switched around via a knob on the back of the head. However, the knob tends to be difficult to turn and is generally useless, mostly due to the size of Hothead's chin.  The purple sections on his forearms are spring-loaded, being compressed in both vehicle modes but extended in robot mode.


 * Some complaints have arisen that once transformed, his vehicle modes don't sit quite right, with the forearms pushing up; however, pressing down on the back fuselage/tank armor section will lock the wing assembly down, holding the two sections flat and giving both vehicle modes a cleaner appearance.


 * Sadly, his cannons cannot tilt forward over his shoulders when in robot mode. But they could be taken off the peg the turret fits on and put down a little bit so that the cannons can go diagonally forwards or have his cannons taken off and fitted between his shoulders and his head so they face forwards.



Trivia

 * Marty Isenberg originally envisioned a character who could change into anything. When that (obviously) proved unworkable in toy terms, the character of Blitzwing as a triple-changer was suggested for the role. As fate would have it, Hasbro designer Eric Siebenaler had been itching to do a face-swapping Blitzwing since 2005.


 * Blitzwing's pre-earth robot form holds a passing resemblance to his G1 namesake, especially on the wings. The hothead face was similar to Blitzwing's G1 face too.


 * Blitzwing's three personas are listed on his model sheets as "Icy", "Hothead" and "Random".


 * His helmet is an obvious nod to a World War II-era German Stahlhelm helmet and goggles. Given the overall design in robot mode, the nature of his personalities and even his name itself, this really isn't very surprising. Ironically, the Nazi detested purple


 * Blitzwing's face-changing gimmick was in part inspired by Man-E-Faces from Masters of the Universe. He's not the first Transformers toy to feature multiple rotating faces; Alpha Q, inspired by the five-faced Generation 1 Quintessons, holds that distinction.  Whether Blitzwing (or the Quintessons) have any roots in such larger cultural currents as the many three-faced depictions of the Buddha and various gods from the Hindu pantheon (or at least Japanese cartoon characters from the 80s based on them) remains unknown.


 * In "Transform and Roll Out!", Blitzwing is seen singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" aboard the Nemesis after threatening Blackarachnia. Assuming that neither faction had any previous contact with Earth at the time, how or where did Blitzwing learn to sing the nursery rhyme? Unless...


 * Blitzwing's decision to scan both a tank and a jet in Lost and Found was an interesting one, possibly implying that Blitzwing wasn't a Triple Changer to begin with, and perhaps that other Animated-era Transformers can take on multiple forms if they just scan other vehicles. He's usually only a tank when he's in hothead mode, and only a jet when in his colder, calculating personality, so if a requirement to being a Triple Changer is having a few bolts loose, maybe that's not a road other Transformers wish to take.


 * His German accent was a last-minute idea by voice actor Bumper Robinson.


 * Random Blitzwing can fire his heat cannon and his ice laser at the same time.


 * It is interesting that the fiery personality should bear resemblance to Arnie when the Governor of California portrayed a villain who utilizes ice based attacks.