Thunderwing (G1)


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



Like many Decepticon leaders, Thunderwing strikes a delicate balance between calm composure and explosive rage (what humans would call "bipolar tendencies"). Thunderwing wants to be admired and respected by his subordinates, but all too often he can be caught in a consuming obsession that leads him down the irreversible path of darkness, bringing his entire home plant to the brink of destruction in several universes.

But, hey -- he means well.


 * French-Canadian name: Aérofoudre

Marvel Comics continuity



 * (Note: Events in italics occurred only in the Marvel UK books.)

''Thunderwing was a driven Decepticon who rose quickly from relative obscurity to a command position in the ranks. He made a bid for full leadership of the Decepticons to the High Council, and they decided to test him with a hunting mission -- three Autobot prisoners were released on Earth, and Thunderwing was charged with chasing down and executing them on his own. While Playback and Horsepower did fall before his cyclone cannon, the last runner Hosehead was saved by his fellow Autobots Nightbeat and Siren. The Headmasters exploded the fuel core in Playback's corpse at close range to Thunderwing, nearly cooking him alive inside his own impenetrable Pretender shell. Shrieking in agony, Thunderwing plunged into the nearby surf. ''

''Thunderwing eventually rose from the waters, his still-cooling shell juxtaposed with the growing intensity of his rage at being beaten. Thunderwing lashed out at everything around him, and very nearly destroyed a ship of his fellow Decepticons who had been sent to find him. As a duly appointed officer of the Decepticon High Council, Ruckus was sent to inform Thunderwing that his bid for leadership was not being rejected outright, but was still under review and the Councillors had asked that he return to Cybertron. Instead, Thunderwing violently conscripted Ruckus and his team into joining him for an assault on the Ark, in order to get revenge on Hosehead and his ilk. Thunderwing single-handed blasted his way into the Ark and confronted Optimus Prime directly, before Ruckus convinced him to save the fight for another day. Returning to Cybertron, Thunderwing was surprised to learn that the Decepticon High Council was impressed by his initiative and the strength of his vendetta, and granted him full leadership of the Decepticons of Cybertron. ''

''One of Thunderwing's first actions on taking over Decepticon leadership was to abolish neutral territories, making places such as Maccadam's Old Oil House Decepticon-only establishments. ''

Lord Thunderwing became displeased with the growing success of Jazz, Grimlock, and Bumblebee and their raiding of Decepticon fuel depositories. He ordered Bludgeon, Octopunch and Stranglehold -- the Mayhem Attack Squad -- to find and kill the Autobot Pretenders.

At the beginning of the Matrix Quest, Thunderwing began to take matters into his own hands. After learning of the Matrix from some captured Autobots, he realized that it was the key to power beyond comprehension. His obsession with finding the Creation Matrix caused some concerns for the Decepticons under his command (as they did not know of the Matrix's true power), he even attacked his own troops when accused of taking his personal quest too far.

It was at this time that Thunderwing revealed that he was one of the select few Transformers, and indeed, the only known Decepticon, to possess a natural affinity for the Matrix. He was one of the very few who could actually use the powers of The Matrix. (Whether this makes him an actual Matrix Templar like Snarl or Hot Rod is unclear.)

After forming a psychic link with an immense whale-like alien called a Kludd whom had been restored from the brink of extinction by the Matrix's power, Thunderwing learned where the Matrix was last seen: the third moon of Cameron. Thunderwing immediately set out to retrieve it, much to the disapproval of his troops.

As it would happen, between the revival of the Kludd and the arrival of Thunderwing, The Creation Matrix had become warped. A dying alien "Deathbringer" had touched the Matrix, and was fully healed and recreated by its power. This malevolent entity gave The Matrix its first taste of evil. Later, another creature found the Matrix: a parasitic insect which existed purely to kill and destroy. The Matrix, now quite fascinated by the nature of darkness, restored and improved the creature, considering it to be the single most evil creature it had ever seen. This new creature was referred to as the Matrix Spawn and would serve as its vessel.

Meanwhile, the Autobot Pretenders, having escaped from the Mayhem Attack Squad, arrived on Cameron after hearing the reports of a research team on that moon. The researchers had discovered an incredible power source inside Optimus Prime's old body -- shortly before being slaughtered by the Matrix Spawn creature. The Autobots could only assume that the described "power source" was the Creation Matrix.

When Thunderwing arrived on Cameron, he attacked the Autobot Pretenders. The battle was pre-empted by the arrival of the Matrix Spawn however. Thunderwing, possessing a natural affinity for The Matrix, managed to catch The Spawn off guard, causing it to flee with Thunderwing in pursuit.

The Spawn fled straight to the Matrix, where it met Thunderwing in mortal combat. The Spawn was defeated, and the Matrix was Thunderwing's prize.

In the final issue of the Matrix Quest mini-series, Thunderwing, using his new found power as a result of having the Matrix, moved to the Ark with the intention of destroying the Autobots.

After nearly beating Optimus Prime using the power of the matrix, the other Decepticons under Thunderwing's command realized how completely Thunderwing had fallen, and turned against him. After being damaged by one of the Pretenders, the true scope of relationship between The Matrix and Thunderwing was revealed. The Matrix's newly found evil influence was even enough to dwarf Thunderwing's own judgement, and was controlling him!

After Thunderwing (or "The Vessel" as the Matrix called him) was damaged, The Matrix manifested itself as an immense spectral demon. This new entity proved to be too much for both Autobots and Decepticons to handle. After seeing what he had become, Thunderwing struggled to break free of The Matrix's control. While the Thunderwing/Matrix demon was distracted, the course of the battle shifted.

During the turmoil, the Autobots who had been captured by Thunderwing earlier in the Matrix Quest story-line had gotten free. Nightbeat managed to fire the Decepticon ship's grappling hook into Thunderwing's shoulder. They then launched the ship out of the Ark, and detonated it, apparently destroying both Thunderwing and the Matrix. This saved all the Transformers on board, but left no method for defending themselves from the coming threat of Unicron.

Only when Unicron finally arrived on Cybertron, did the corrupted Matrix and Thunderwing reappear. Despite now being corrupted and enraptured by the nature of darkness, The Matrix was created to destroy Unicron. It could not deny this aspect of its existence.

Sensing its ancient nemesis, The Matrix rebuilt Thunderwing, who promptly sped to Cybertron. Unfortunately, because the Matrix was now a product of evil, it had no effect upon Unicron, who destroyed the Decepticon completely with a massive burst of energy, ending Thunderwing's career permanently.

IDW comics continuity
Seven hundred years ago, during the height of the Autobot-Decepticon war on Cybertron, Thunderwing was a Decepticon scientist who alerted both sides to the damage that the ongoing conflict was doing to their planet and the resultant danger of an impending catastrophic event. According to Bludgeon, his warnings were ignored, even by Jetfire.

Subsequently, Thunderwing took action on his own, subjecting himself to a "polydermal grafting" process of his own design, one that had previously been summarily rejected by Megatron as "unnatural" and "ill-concieved." This process, of grafting tissue culled from living subjects onto a Transformer to create an armored symbiotic carapace, somehow also appears to have made him the avatar of the very apocalypse he had warned against. The process drove Thunderwing insane but made him invulnerable; even the combined might of the Autobots and Decepticons coudn't stop him. In the end, he was swallowed whole by Cybertron itself, leaving the planet completely uninhabitable.

When Shockwave went missing, Megatron assigned Bludgeon to dig into his research and find out what he was up to. An indeterminate time later, Thunderwing's resting place was discovered by a group of Decepticons led by Bludgeon, who planned to continue where Thunderwing left off. The project was completed in the present day, using a combinaton of "Ultra-Energon" (culled from Shockwave's research) and a set of imprinted commands. Thunderwing was thus resurrected, and immediately departed for Nebulos following Bludgeon's plans to sacrifice that world to somehow restore Cybertron. There, Thunderwing was engaged by the Decepticon Infiltration team in place, which did not want to see Nebulos completely destroyed. After Thunderwing totalled Crankcase, Ruckus, and Roadgrabber, the survivors, Dreadwind, Darkwing, and Thrust, abandoned the planet, leaving Thunderwing alone. However, after the destruction of Bludgeon's control harness, Thunderwing changed course - back towards Cybertron.

There, he was attacked by Optimus Prime, the Wreckers, the Predacons, and reprogrammed Centurion drones. Jetfire revealed that enough punishment would eventually cause Thunderwing to drain most of his Energon reserves. However, Thunderwing revealed a third "Ultra" robot configuration. Thanks to the Wreckers, the Decepticons, the instability of Ultra Energon, and a speech/salvo combination from Optimus Prime, he was stopped dead in his tracks. His innanimate form was taken into custody by the Autobots.

Galvatron would later steal Thunderwing's body from Hound's detail of Autobots, in service of his master in the Dead Universe. Whether they plan to revive Thunderwing, duplicate his grafting process or something else is yet unknown.

Dreamwave Armada comics
An alternate version of Thunderwing appeared briefly as one of Unicron's heralds, along with Scourge, Bludgeon, Dirge, and Galvatron. He was blown up when Jetfire detonated the Decepticon headquarters that they had taken over.

Generation 1

 * Thunderwing (Mega Pretender, 1989)

Thunderwing's inner robot transforms into shuttlecraft. His Pretender shell also transforms into a starship mode of its own. The inner vehicle can be attached underneath the nose of the larger vehicle to create a combined starship mode.


 * This mold was retooled to make Black Shadow.