Bludgeon (G1)

The name or term Bludgeon refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Bludgeon (disambiguation).

Bludgeon
Continuity:	The Transformers
Affiliation:	Decepticons

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 name (Canada): Gourdin (Club, as in the beat-you-up-with kind)

Italian name: Teskior

Hungarian name: Husáng (Stick, as in the beat-you-up-with kind)

Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

Generation One

Note: Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.

The shoulder is a well-known Transformer instant-death spot.

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, Needlenose, Spinister, 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. Hunting Party! They found Carnivac outside Dallas, Texas, and Bludgeon, promising him a warrior's death, led the charge. Way of the Warrior However, Carnivac escaped Bludgeon and the other Mayhems, Survival Run 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 withdrawal. Carnivac swore that Bludgeon and the other Mayhems would pay. A Savage Place!

The colorist made me look hunchbacked.

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. Yesterday's Heroes! Here, the Mayhems were foiled, although they inadvertently awakened the slumbering Primus in the process. Ultimately, the transportation was completed, and they were sent to Earth along with the Autobots, Primal Scream 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. Surrender!

Bludgeon was seen fighting on Scorponok's side during the subsequent Decepticon Civil War ...All This and Civil War 2 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. The Void! When Unicron himself arrived, though, the superstitious Bludgeon ran like hell. On the Edge of Extinction! 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 and the Decepticons leaderless, so Bludgeon and Krok discussed a plan of their own. Still Life!

It's a good thing the Battlechargers were dead then, or Bludgeon's shell would've been totally ganked.

Tensions came to a head when Blaster discovered that Cybertron was tearing itself apart in the aftermath of the Transformers' victory against Unicron. While Bludgeon openly kept the peace (like keeping Fangry in line at meetings), he and Krok began to worry that some of the Decepticons were in favour of peaceful alliance and plotted to break it up. New Autobot leader Grimlock almost gave them an opening by beating the tar out of Fangry, until Prowl stopped the fight; Bludgeon quickly exploited the situation anyway, demanding the full details of the Autobots' plans.

Now knowing they intended to start anew on another planet and live in peace, he sabotaged the Autobot ships and assumed command of the Decepticons. He gave the troops a rousing speech, condemning the Autobot plan as weak and advocating a return to conquest as was the Decepticon way. Having risen from the ranks to light their darkest hour, he was cheered on by the Decepticons. Exodus!

With his Decepticons eager for conquest, Bludgeon randomly selected the planet of Klo as their first target. A Savage Circle 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 news that their ships were bugged and that they should be expecting the Autobots to be arriving soon. The Last Autobot?

Look at him go. What a skeleton!

Indeed, when the Autobots arrived, Bludgeon's Decepticons were ready for them, luring them into an ambush - 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" to the Autobots - while saying something else to his subordinates. End of the Road!

Marvel UK future timelines

In an alternate 1990, 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. Aspects of Evil!

Note: The above story is the earliest known account from the Marvel UK alternate "Movie" timeline. The split between the main comic and the future stories almost certainly took place in 1989, either due to the Time Wars, the events of Primal Scream where Primus alerted Unicron to his location 15 years early, or both.

Earthforce

Note: These stories do not fit into the normal Marvel continuity. See Earthforce for details.

There wolf!

Following Catilla's death, the Mayhems set up a base on a deserted island, where Needlenose decided to test their response time in 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 had snuck in during the chaos caused by his "drill". His calls for help were ignored by Snarler and Bludgeon. Cry Wolf! 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 wanted to finish this traitor with his blade as well, but Spinister decided to end it summarily by slagging Carnivac with his blaster instead. Wolf In The Fold! Angry at losing his kill, Bludgeon was pleased to find Earthforce attacking them, in an attempt to rescue Carnivac. 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. Where Wolf?

Captives of Earthforce, Bludgeon and his Pretender partners were held in a cell together. To get free, Bludgeon arranged a most subtle escape attempt with his cell mates. At first, they all remained completely silent for an extended period of time, partly to unnerve their guard, Inferno, but also to give Bludgeon time to make mental contact with his katana, locked away in the property vault. Once he found the weapon and began summoning it back to him through the hallways, Bludgeon signaled Stranglehold to begin pounding frantically on the floor. This sudden activity spooked Inferno into opening the cell door to pacify the prisoner, only to wind up with a floating sword in his backside. The Pretenders then simply walked out over his leaking body. Shut Up!

Afterwards, Bludgeon and the others hooked up with Megatron and Shockwave, the deposed leaders of the Decepticons, and took on a bounty to assassinate their betrayers, Starscream and Soundwave. External Forces! The assassins outnumbered their prey, but they hadn't counted on the Autobots intervening on Starscream's behaft. It seemed the Dinobot Snarl was dying, and could only be saved by a systems boost from a compatible Transformer, namely Starscream. Swoop and Sludge joined the fight on Starscream's side, and the Mayhems were defeated. The Lesser Evil!

Another Time and Place

After the defeat on Klo, Bludgeon decided the Decepticons needed some "old blood" back in charge. He travelled to Earth and retrieved the deactivated body of Megatron from the wreckage of the Ark. Then, he seized upon an opportunity to follow Grimlock and the Dinobots to Hydrus Four, the source of the miraculous energy known as Nucleon which had supercharged the Dinobot commander. Slipping ahead of the Dinobots as they made their way to the medical facility, Bludgeon and his Decepticons set up a Holocaust Trigger to trap the Dinobots, disabling them without firing a shot. Unfortunately for Bludgeon, he ignored Fangry's cries of "Let's just kill them already!" and gave in to his inner Bond villain, keeping Grimlock and the Dinobots alive long enough for them to witness the triumphant resurrection of Megatron. That didn't mean, however, that he kept his fellow Decepticons from aggressively torturing their fallen captives.

In a matter of hours, a full scale Autobot strike force had tracked the Dinobots down to Hydrus Four and assaulted Bludgeon's position. Fearing his rag-tag team of Decepticons wouldn't be enough, Bludgeon accelerated Megatron's revival, sending the half-mad, half-living monstrosity at Optimus Prime. He had no time to gloat, though—the heavily-injured Dinobot known as Swoop had dragged himself to the control module for one of the medical machines in the area, setting its spidery arms to work on Bludgeon, disassembling him in seconds down to his core components.

Bludgeon didn't even have time to scream. Another Time and Place

Generation 2

G2, home of New Extreme Weapons.

By "voluntary exile", what Bludgeon had actually meant was "build a slag-off big planet-like spacecraft called the Warworld and attack vessels for their cargo across the galaxy". Primal Fear He also battled Optimus Prime and the Autobots over a store of ancient alien weapons, but an alien entity drove him off. Ghosts After that, he went back to stealing resources - and finished the construction of a new generation of Decepticon warriors, who just needed the Matrix to come back to life. That meant luring Prime away from the Cybertronian Empire and to him... Primal Fear

To lure Prime out, Bludgeon launched 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. Devices and Desires! 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 Power and the Glory

The victorious Decepticon leader subsequently displayed Bludgeon's severed head in the Warworld, though he did muse that he might have spared Bludgeon's life if he'd known how much the guy had achieved & envisioned with limited time and resources. The Gathering Darkness Later on, the Decepticons would try not to say the word "bludgeon", as in "to hit things", around Megatron just in case it annoyed him. New Dawn

Generation 2 (Fleetway)

Intending to draw out Autobots to Earth and steal the Matrix to bring a new generation of Decepticons to life, Bludgeon attacked Earth in force - specifically London. Unfortunately for him, the Autobots were already there, and attacked just as his troops were low on fuel. Bludgeon fought Optimus in direct combat and lost. Generation 2 (Fleetway comic)

He snuck away to try exactly the same tactic again - and learnt if at first you don't succeed, Try #2 will get you killed by Megatron. The Power and the Glory

Classics

Note: The Classics stories take place after the end of the original Marvel Comic, but in a splinter timeline that does not include the events of the Marvel UK-exclusive stories or Generation 2.

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

Dreamwave Generation One comics continuity

Sorry, Blud, it won't bring Gary Gygax back.

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. The War Within: The Dark Ages

Dreamwave Armada comics continuity

Silent but deadly.

A version of Bludgeon from an unspecified alternate reality 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. Worlds Collide

Devil's Due GI Joe vs. Transformers continuity

Bludgeon always secretly dreamed of being a Visionary.

Eons ago, when Optimus Prime was given the Matrix of Leadership, 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."

IDW comics continuity

Talk about talking your jaw off!

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. Spotlight: Soundwave

oshit.

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 progress. Stormbringer issue 2 When Optimus Prime and the Wreckers attacked Bludgeon's base on Cybertron by surprise, Iguanus escaped to the bio-graft chamber to find Bludgeon—only 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. Stormbringer issue 3

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

Toys

Generation One

• Bludgeon (Pretender, 1989)

• Accessories: Pretender shell, large "Laser Rifle" gun, tank turret/shield, small "Electric Cannon", helmet

I see dead people...and I'm the one that made them dead.

Generation One 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.

Notes

• 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.

External links

• Bludgeon at TFU.info
• The Bludgeon Home Page