|
| Laserbeak | |
| Biographical information | |
|---|---|
| Homeworld |
Cybertron |
| Date of birth |
At least over 4,000,000 B.C. |
| Physical description | |
| Alternate Mode |
Cybertronian datadisk, Microcassette |
| Gender |
Male |
| Sensor color |
Yellow |
| Personal information | |
| Enemies |
Autobots |
| Profession |
Interrogation, Combat |
| Position |
Interrogation |
| Chronological and political information | |
| Era(s) |
Generation 1 |
| Affiliation |
Decepticons |
Laserbeak from The Transformers (2017 TV Series).
Bio[]
Laserbeak is not usually found on the front lines of battle. His chosen role is that of the spy, lurking in unseen corners and inconspicuous perches, snatching up any useful information he can to relay to his superiors. He has also been known to serve as an interrogator, using his lasers to carve up helpless prisoners to extract anything and everything they know. On occasion he's even played the role of assassin, striking quickly at unsuspecting (and particularly vulnerable) targets, and vanishing in a flash in the chaos following the attack.
He much prefers this "hide and sneak" tactic, as to his core, Laserbeak is a coward. Should his weapon's energy reserves start running dry, he starts running for the hills. A sufficiently big threat will also send him screaming off for the horizon at top speed. His self-preservation habit even dictates his attitude towards Decepticon leadership power-shifts: he basically allies himself with whoever's in charge at the moment, a loyalty that can vanish almost instantly once the reins of power change.
History[]
Arc 1[]
Four million years ago, Megatron and a group of Decepticons (which included Laserbeak) attempted to hijack the Ark, only to fail and fall into deactivation sleep for four million years. |The Beginning| |Cold Comfort and Joy| In 1984, the detonation of the volcano Mount St. Hilary reactivated the Autobots and Decepticons, unleashing their war on Earth. Laserbeak was sent to spy on the Autobots, and located a group of them during an outing to a drive-in movie theater. With this information, the Decepticons attacked. |The Beginning| Soon after, Laserbeak participated in a raid on Harrison Nuclear Power Plant and helped use their bounty to build a new headquarters atop a cliffside. After construction's completion, Megatron learned of the location of a human who could help the Decepticons convert Earth fuel to a form they could consume, and their leader sent Laserbeak and the others to S. Witwicky Auto Repairs & Tow Service to retrieve him. However, the Autobots were waiting for them and Optimus Prime easily repelled Laserbeak's attacks. |Power Play| Laserbeak returned with the Decepticons to their headquarters with their target, Sparkplug Witwicky. |Prisoner of War|
The Decepticons' captive, Sparkplug Witwicky, succeeded in converting Earth fuel into a digestible form for the Decepticons, and with Megatron's forces fully charged, they attacked the Ark once again. Laserbeak and Buzzsaw were the first to burst through the Ark's hull, but Laserbeak's glory was shortlived. Mirage duped him with a visual trick, and the condor fled in fear. Laserbeak was not seen for the duration of the battle. |The Last Stand| Despite Sparkplug Witwicky's assistance, he'd secretly poisoned the Decepticons' converted fuel, resulting in a coup by Shockwave who nursed the fallen Decepticons back to health and subjugated Megatron. Either Laserbeak or Buzzsaw was present during this time. |The Worst of Two Evils|
During Shockwave's rule, the new Decepticon leader sent Soundwave (with Laserbeak stowed) to infiltrate Blackrock Aerospace Assembly Plant Number One, where they were carried inside in cassette deck mode by plant workers Ferdy and Gabe. Once inside, the two quickly besieged the plant's controls and enslaved its workers. |Warrior School| While Laserbeak was perched on his shoulder, Soundwave informed Shockwave that the human slaves weren't quite as efficient as they had hoped, but work was proceeding forward nonetheless. |Repeat Performance| Shockwave's first project came to completion as the Constructicons were brought online. By this time, human military presence had become an encumbrance outside of the plant, and so Laserbeak was sent out to act as a distraction, allowing the Constructicons to slip past them and go on their first mission. Laserbeak used some sort of chemical weapon to dissolve all of the humans' metallic weapons, effectively neutering their offensive capabilities. |The Next Best Thing to Being There| Laserbeak served many other functions during the Decepticons' occupation of this plant, such as squawking, heating up the workers' pizzas, and delivering recorded messages to the human military poised outside. Shortly after learning that the Creation Matrix was no longer in Optimus Prime's possession, Shockwave managed to track it down within Buster Witwicky. He sent Laserbeak out to nab the boy, but Laserbeak was shot down by Bluestreak in his attempt, and crashed down in a nearby river. |Brainstorm| Laserbeak later accompanied Soundwave and a few of the other cassette-tape Decepticons to aid their impostor Optimus Prime's ambush of the Autobots, though all of them were easily defeated once the real Optimus Prime was restored. |Prime Time|
Post Arc 1[]
Bumblebee, who was chasing an escaped Ravage, was surrounded by Decepticons in the wilderness. Laserbeak brought the Autobots a memento of their captured friend... an arm! The condor teased the shocked Autobots, telling them that if they wanted the rest of their friend, they knew where to find him. Sensing that there was a trap set for the Autobots, Optimus Prime insisted on springing Bumblebee on his own. Optimus traveled to the Decepticons' hideout, punched Laserbeak in the jaw, and freed Bumblebee. |Crisis of Command|
It was discovered that after the Autobots crash-landed on Earth, a rescue ship was sent after them which was buried somewhere in England. Laserbeak was among the Decepticons who flocked to the ship in an effort to seize it, but he was fired upon by an Ark shuttlecraft cannon and ultimately fled with his peers. |Man of Iron|
After Starscream shot Ravage, Laserbeak was among the Decepticons who Megatron assembled to take the traitor down. |The Enemy Within| Later, Megatron staged a full-scale assault on the crashlanded Ark. After boasting loudly, Laserbeak was the first casualty, having been shot by Optimus Prime. |Raiders of the Last Ark|
During the Dinobot Hunt, Laserbeak was charged with watching the progress of the Autobots as they tried to subdue Snarl and Slag. He was ordered to not engage his enemies, but was so engrossed in watching the Autobots fight Slag that he allowed himself to be nabbed by Jetfire and stuffed into the Dinobot's mouth. His clogging up Slag's mouth caused a backwash of the Dinobot's flamethrower, shutting both Laserbeak and Slag down. Laserbeak was left buried under some rubble until acting commander Soundwave eventually uncovered him. |Dinobot Hunt| After being left in stasis lock, Grimlock would dream of comprehensively defeating Laserbeak and the other Decepticons before being slain in turn by Starscream. |Victory|
Arc 2[]
Unlike the Decepticon Planes, Soundwave, Laserbeak, and the other cassettes remained more loyal to Megatron than to Shockwave, and so when the former Decepticon leader was discovered in a coal mine, they arrived swiftly to refuel and reclaim him. |I, Robot-Master|
At this time, Soundwave's signal finally reached Cybertron and Lord Straxus discovered that Laserbeak and the other Earthbound Decepticons were still alive. |The Smelting Pool|
One of Megatron's first acts upon returning to the Decepticons was to send Laserbeak and Buzzsaw to retrieve Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp. However, he got an irritating surprise when Shockwave decided to accompany the jets. |The Bridge to Nowhere| Soon, Megatron attacked the Ark while seemingly all of the Autobots were attacking the Decepticon base, and he took the Seekers and all of the cassette Decepticons (minus Ravage) with him. Unfortunately, the Ark was now defended by the newly-built Omega Supreme. All of the attacking Decepticons except for Laserbeak, the Reflector trio, and Megatron were obliterated, and it was only thanks to the wounded Laserbeak that he and the other four 'Cons escaped with their lives. When they returned to the Decepticon base, Laserbeak perched not on Megatron's shoulder, but Shockwave's, silently acknowledging their true leader. Shockwave rebuked Megatron for his poor command, but Megatron surprised him with a rationalization for his actions. As Shockwave again submitted to Megatron's leadership, Laserbeak exchanged perching positions, signifying the transfer of command. |Command Performances|
The Decepticons caught word that journalist Joy Meadows was gathering evidence that the purported supervillain Robot-Master was in fact a fraud initiated by the United States government. Upon tracking her down, Laserbeak and Soundwave compiled all her evidence and destroyed it while the rest of the Decepticons kept the Dinobots, who had taken it upon themselves to protect the human, occupied. |In the National Intent| When Galvatron traveled back in time and defeated Megatron it was once again Laserbeak who signified the transfer of Decepticon command in this manner. After Galvatron returned to the future Laserbeak promptly dug Megatron out from under the ruins of Galvatron's weapon and perched on the restored Decepticon commander. |Target: 2005| Laserbeak sat on Megatron's shoulder when the Decepticon leader ordered the Battlechargers to deliver a message to Optimus Prime. He flew off when Megatron attacked Soundwave with a makeshift metal scepter for questioning his methods. |Decepticon Graffiti|
Upon spotting Optimus Prime driving solo near the Decepticons' base, Laserbeak relayed his findings to Soundwave, who in turn alerted Megatron to this opportunity to ambush their enemy. |Prey|
Laserbeak was the one to alert Shockwave and Soundwave to the approach of a human military column on the Decepticons' Wyoming base. |Gone but Not Forgotten|
Arc 3[]
In search of Galvatron, the freelance peace-keeping agent Death's Head made his way to the Decepticons' headquarters and roughed up Soundwave for information. Soundwave dispatched Laserbeak to aid him in battling his attacker, but Death's Head made short work of Laserbeak by sending a volley of spines into him. |Hunters|
When Ratbat came to Earth, Laserbeak helped in taking control of an oil tanker. The heist went off without a hitch... except that the tanker had already emptied its cargo. Stating that Shockwave's methods were costing the Decepticons too much fuel for their efforts, Ratbat took command of his forces. He then put Laserbeak to task in overseeing his Wash and Roll car wash empire, making sure that the patrons hypnotized by the carwash would dispense their vehicles' gas into the Decepticons' fuel tanks. Both Laserbeak and Ratbat were chased away from the fuel-holding facility when their hypnotized human subjects were shaken free of their programming by Buster Witwicky. |Buster Witwicky and the Car Wash of Doom|
Later, he was among the Decepticons present when Galvatron attacked their new underwater headquarters, ready to try and gun down their near-invincible opponent as he breached their defenses. However, upon doing so, Galvatron told the Decepticons that he had only wished to talk to them, and that Shockwave's choice to respond to his arrival with violence had taken that option off the table. Laserbeak turned to Shockwave, none-too-impressed with how he had handled the matter as Galvatron took off. |Enemy Action|
Even later, the Decepticons ambushed the Autobots on the Moon while Grimlock and Blaster were dueling for leadership. Laserbeak counted Jetfire among his victories, but he and the others were called back to their ship to retreat once Blaster and Grimlock disabled its guidance systems. |Totaled|
The Decepticons relocated to the Arctic, where an invasion alert warned the group about unexpected visitors dropping by. Laserbeak squawked in eagerness for some action, a sentiment shared by Tantrum, as he flew out into battle. However, upon meeting their visitors, Ratbat's Decepticons found that they weren't Autobots, but rather another group of Decepticons led by Scorponok. Both groups were manipulated into a Decepticon civil war by Starscream so that he could secure for himself the legendary Underbase while the others were busy with their infighting. |Cold War|
Trivia[]
- Nolan North voices Laserbeak.
Changes[]
- Laserbeak wasn't in Grimlock's dream in Victory!
- For the purpose of continuity, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw weren't part of the Decepticon team hunting Bumblebee in Plight of the Bumblebee as they're supposed to still be working for Soundwave.
- The episode form of Target: 2006 was renamed Target: 2005, and all references to 2006 were also changed to accomodate.
- Laserbeak didn't appear in Enemy Action!