Spinister (G1)

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Spinister is a Decepticon in the Generation 1 continuity family.

I'm terribly mysterious and I have 300 pounds of canned meat strapped to my right arm.

Spinister is mysterious...terribly mysterious. He can not cut guns in half with his mind, though he has been known to wield a gun that separates into two Nebulans. These dumb stubbies are Singe and Hairsplitter, if this really matters to anyone.

This grim air warrior seems far more independent of mind than the common Decepticon, though he doesn't go in for the outright mutiny for which Starscream is noted. When he spots unrecognized potential in the Decepticon ranks, however, he may well bring the would-be warrior under his tutelage without the knowledge or permission of his superior officers.

A closed book to the Decepticons, Spinister is a dark menace to his Autobot enemies. Often the first warning of his approach is the gentle note of a detonating fusion bomb or the delightful hiss of metal boiling away under an assault of charged particles from his beam cannon. How he is so terribly sneaky is unclear, but rumor has it that he has beaten the Romulans by centuries and developed a cloaking device. However, if he has, he hasn't spoken to anybody about it.

Quiet and mysterious, that's how he likes to be, and how he intends to stay. Speaking his mind would prevent the whole mysterious shadow-warrior thing from working. One must wonder how much his binary-bonded companions even know about him.

Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

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

Spinister was recruited into the new Mayhem Attack Squad by Snarler, and placed in charge of training and grading other new recruits to the squad. During a training exercise, a fresh-new warrior named Needlenose went AWOL in the middle of a battle. Spinister went after him, knowing the desertion was punishable by death in the Decepticon Army. He saw promise in the young soldier, though, and so instead faked having difficult against an Autobot drone he was fighting. Spinister hoped that seeing him in danger would force Needlenose to act, and he was right. Needlenose came back and fought off the drone to "save" Spinister. Because of this, Spinister ignored his temporary loss of courage in the official report, and nominated Needlenose for full membership in the Mayhems, and their mission to hunt down the traitors Carnivac and Catilla. Hunting Party!

Arriving on Earth, the Mayhems confronted the traitors and successfully killed Catilla, but were driven off by Carnivac's Autobot allies the Survivors before they could finish him off as well. A Savage Place Spinister and the others set up an island base while preparing for their next strike, but they were infiltrated by Carnivac, who killed Needlenose before apparently being killed himself. The Mayhems were then forced to defend themselves against the combined might of the Survivors and Earthforce, who had come to rescue Carnivac from his insane mission of vengeance. While Bludgeon and the others charged head first into battle, Spinister saw no gain in a warrior's suicide, and attempted to slip away. Unfortunately for him, only Carnivac's shell had been destroyed earlier, and the robot within had survived to take his vengeance on the Mayhems, killing Spinister and Snarler and then assisting the Earthforce in capturing the remaining Decepticons. Where Wolf?

As a top-ranking member of the Mayhem Attack Squad, Spinister joined Needlenose, Ruckus and Windsweeper in serving their commander, Thunderwing, on his quest to possess the Autobot's Creation Matrix. The Mayhems clashed with several Autobot teams on their mission, and Thunderwing's obsession became more pronounced as time went on, and Spinister became less and less willing to serve under such a madman. On the planet VsQs, Thunderwing abandoned Windsweeper to his fate when the Matrix-spawn creature attacked, more focused on his prize than a fellow Decepticon. When their leader ran off chasing the creature, Spinister held back his fellow Mayhems, telling them it was their duty to look after the injured Windsweeper, and let Thunderwing deal with his own business. After Thunderwing captured the Matrix and arranged for his team to infiltrate the Ark aboard a stolen shuttle, he quickly found the Matrix's own corrupted persona waxing control over his own mind. Spinister tried to warn him of the madness taking over, only to have Thunderwing fire on his own troop. The shock of having shot one of his loyal soldiers drove home the point for Thunderwing, but it was too late, and the Matrix completely overtook his thoughts. After the Autobots managed to drive Thunderwing out of the ship and into the vacuum of space, Spinister and the Mayhems gave up without a fight, wanting no more violence that day, Matrix Quest

Note: Clearly, there's a discrepancy between the US and UK stories, as the Mayhems/Survivors story thread is one of the largest continuity glitches in the Earthforce Saga. Don't think about it too hard.

Dreamwave Armada comics

WE'RE GONNA GET SENT TO THE BAD PLACE!

In one of many alternate realities, Spinister (or a mech matching his description) was one of the few survivors of Unicron's attack on that universe's Cybertron, and has become little more than a gibbering half-insane emotional wreck as a result. When Optimus Prime is accidentally transported into this reality, Spinister tells him about Unicron and what he did. Worlds Collide, Part 2 When Unicron returns soon after Prime's arrival, Spinister welcomes his oblivion with open arms, and is drawn into the Chaos Bringer's open maw and destroyed. Worlds Collide, Part 4

Note: "Spinister" was never named in the "Worlds Collide" storyline, though the name is spelled in katakana on the character's helicopter mode kibble. It is not known if this version of the character had Targetmaster partners, but as he was never shown with weapons, they likely predeceased him if they existed in this micro-continuity.

IDW comics continuity

Back before the war, Spinister appeared in the crowd cheering Megatron's first pit fight. Megatron Origin issue 2 It is unknown whether he joined the Decepticons at their inception or became part of the movement later on after the conquest of Kaon. Much later, Spinister was working under Razorclaw on Cybertron, shortly after the Battle of Thunderhead Pass. He was part of the last major push for territory on the planet before it became uninhabitable. Spotlight: Blaster In the present day, Spinister still served with the Predacon leader as part of the crew aboard the starship Thanatos. He followed Divebomb and the other flying Decepticons into battle with Thunderwing on Cybertron. Stormbringer, Part 4

Toys

Generation 1

• Spinister (Targetmaster, 1988)
  • Accessories: Hairsplitter and Singe Targetmaster partners/guns

Inyuk-chuk!

Spinister transforms into a rather busily-coloured AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. His Targetmaster partners Singe and Hairsplitter can be attached onto peg holes on the underside of his wings. The rotors spin, but the main rotor tends to fold back into its storage mode when turned.

External links

• Spinister at TFU.info

• Spinister's Marvel Universe profile at NTFA.net