Blitzwing (BB)

Blitzwing is a Decepticon from the Bumblebee portion of the live-action film continuity family.

Midway presents...NFL BLLLLLLLLLLLITZ!

Is Blitzwing a triple changer? Is he a Seeker? Or is he a familiar face? Regardless, Blitzwing is just another Decepticon who holds a grudge against Bumblebee, or more-so, Bee holds a grudge against him. Blitzwing sees all Autobots as traitors of Cybertron that deserve to be hunted and given the death penalty, but in reality, he is the one being hunted by his enemy. Extremely violent, he carries an Electron Spike Blade to silence any Autobot, something that can unknowingly lead he himself to an eternal silence.

Fiction

Bumblebee Movie Prequel

"When the universe is broken, only one handyman can fix it!"

During the Great War, Blitzwing functioned as Diabla's handler during her stint as an Autobot spy, being the one who ultimately had her return to her faction. A later encounter with the Autobot Bumblebee ended in a humiliated Blitzwing being left for dead and swearing revenge on the scout. Several thousand years later, Blitzwing made his way to Earth during the Cold War and fell under the command of Malignus.

In 1964, Blitzwing reunited with Bumblebee in London and eagerly began exacting his revenge. Unable to match the Triple Changer's strength, Bumblebee was forced to detonate a gas main and flee underground. The encounter with his thought-dead foe led to Bumblebee erroneously believing that Blitzwing was in charge of the Decepticon forces on Earth, only realizing his error when Blitzwing appeared among Malignus's troops. Energon Is Forever

Unfortunately, Malignus' master plan began going sideways when Diabla suddenly turned on the Decepticons by saving Bumblebee from a Sharkticon. With Runabout butchered by Dead End and Astrotrain fleeing the battle out of disgust for Malignus' leadership, Blitzwing was the only one left to deal with the renegade Diabla. He was almost succeeded in killing her before Bumblebee tackled him, throwing off his aim and accidentally striking the nuclear warhead fired by Malignus. Blitzwing tried to use the chaos to fire at the unsuspecting Bumblebee only for P.R.O.G.R.A.M.M.E. agent David Reeve to warn his friend in time, the blast instead killing Dead End. Using Dead End's corpse as a shield, Blitzwing was able to survive the base's collapse and flew off into the night, being hunted by Bumblebee for the next two decades. From Cybertron with Love

Bumblebee film

Voice actor: David Sobolov (English), Haruo Yamagishi (Japanese), Frédéric Souterelle (European French), Marlin Wick (German), Nicola Braile (Italian), Leonardo Martins (Brazilian Portuguese), Mauricio Bennetts (Latin-American Spanish), Idzi Dutkiewicz Sánchez (Latin American-Spanish, trailer), Ali Ekber Diribaş (Turkish)

You thought I was Starscream, BUT IT WAS I, BLITZWING!

Blitzwing was among the Decepticons under the command of Shockwave and Soundwave in their conquest of Cybertron in Megatron's absence.

When the Autobot scout B-127 was cornered by a brigade of Sector Seven troops led by Agent Burns, Blitzwing, in the form of an Air Force jet, took his chance to swoop in. While the humans were confused by the arrival of the Air Force, Bumblebee recognized the jet for a Decepticon, and warned the humans to run. Blitzwing didn't give them the chance, bombarding Autobot and humans alike with missiles before transforming to attack Bumblebee directly, assuring him that he will die screaming. While much larger and capable of flight, he lost their first clash when the nimbler Autobot damaged his thrusters and sent him crashing to the ground.

"Yup, that's me. You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation."

This wasn't enough to down him, however, and the Seeker subdued the scout and dangled him over a cliff as he interrogated him about Optimus Prime's whereabouts. When the scout refused to answer and defiantly asserted that he would never speak, an enraged Blitzwing "[made] it official" by tearing his voice synthesizer out and throwing him off the cliff. The Decepticon then prepared to execute the "traitor", but was taken by surprise when the Autobot tore a missile from his arm and jammed it in his chest. Blitzwing only had a moment to comprehend this and try to pull the explosive out before B-127 kicked himself away from him and fired upon the missile, detonating it and blowing him to pieces. Bumblebee

Sector 7 Adventures

Blitzwing and Soundwave made a bet to see who can reduce a human into at least one kilounit of water. The Battle at Half Dome

Bumblebee's First Life on Earth

"Enough with the jokes already, sheesh!"

Blitzwing pursued B-127 over the skies of Earth until the Autobot fell on the surface of the planet. Picked Up from the Junkyard

Toys

Bumblebee

"The name's Lobo. That's L as in "Lacerate", O as in "Obliterate", B as in "disem- Bowel" and O as in, uh... Well, I guess I can use "Obliterate" twice, huh?"

• Blitzwing (Power Series, 2018)

Bumblebee Power Series Blitzwing is a redeco of the Megatron figure from the Energon Igniters line. The figure's head has been retooled to match the CGI design, but the choice of military-green for the tank mode makes for a rather inaccurate robot mode. As an Energon Igniter, he can interact with the Cores included with other toys in the line.

"Now the more ya move, the worse it'll hurt. So, feel free to go crazy!"

• Blitzwing (Nitro Series, 2019)

Bumblebee Nitro Series Blitzwing is a Voyager-sized mold that transforms from robot into a jet plane that is not the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. He also comes with his own Igniter Core, which allows his jet to zip along smooth surfaces. Blitzwing also features a head-swapping gimmick, which gives him an alternate head that is reminiscent of his Animated counterpart's crazy face.

This mold was also used to make Rise of the Beasts Starscream.

Studio Series

'Zwing when you're winning.

• Blitzwing (Voyager Class, 2020)

• Movie: Bumblebee
• Hasbro ID number: 65
• TakaraTomy ID number: SS-57
• TakaraTomy release date: October 23, 2020
• Accessories: Null-ray Blaster, Electron Spike Blade, removable hands, 2 drop tanks, "Canyon Attack" backdrop (2nd version)

Part of the tenth wave of Studio Series Voyager Class toys, Blitzwing transforms from a very movie-accurate robot into what Hasbro describes as a "Cybertronian jet"^[1] in 27 steps. It's actually a generic earth jet with a very different appearance from the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II he used in the film. The jet mode canopy can open, but there is no interior detail inside as the space is occupied by Blitzwing's head. You can rotate his head to mimic the look of a pilot's seat.

Blitzwing's main accessories are his Null-ray Blaster and Electron Spike Blade. His hands are connected via 5 mm posts at the wrists; either can be removed and replaced with the Electron Spike Blade. However, it's intended to replace Blitzwing's left hand, as his right has a knuckle joint allowing him to grasp the neck of Studio Series Offroad Bumblebee and recreate a scene from their confrontation, though this makes it difficult for his right hand to grasp normal accessories. The blaster and detached hand can be stored in two 5 mm ports on the backs of his wings, and the spike blade can also be stored on the flight stand connection in the center of his back.

The drop tanks on his wings detach and change positions between modes, connecting with rectangular pegs that are compatible with 5 mm ports. In jet mode, the spike blade stores under one of the tail fins and the blaster stores on the underside, either via a rectangular tab to point forwards (similar to the underslung cannon on previous G1-styled Blitzwing jet modes) or under the tail via an otherwise unused 5 mm port. He's also packaged with a cardboard backdrop display depicting the canyon where he fights Bumblebee. It's the same render used for Offroad Bumblebee, just with Blitzwing in jet mode removed.

Blitzwing has a few quality control issues. The first and easiest to rectify is a minor assembly issue, where the small fins on each of his shoulders are inserted on the opposite sides. Since they're attached with friction hinges, they can be popped out of place and swapped by hand. Another problem present in some copies of the mold is that one or both of the panels on his forearms have excess plastic, preventing them from clipping flush into the wing in jet mode; this can be remedied by using a knife to very carefully shave away the excess plastic. Finally, in robot mode, Blitzwing's chest and wings are secured in place by two peg connections; if his shoulder joints are too tight, the force of their pivoting can easily disengage the assembly. Fixing this requires disassembling the chest and filing down the plastic used for the shoulder joints' mushroom pegs until their movement is loosened. Otherwise, remember to hold down his chest when rotating his shoulders.

Blitzwing appears to have had several late changes to his molding and paint when compared to his digital renders. Notably, the points on his shoulder pylons were shortened and the connection between his wings and forearm panels was slightly altered, which is the cause of the aforementioned excess plastic issues. The paint on his wingtips and mask cylinders was removed, and he has a dark gray overspray around the jet cockpit and fuselage (which is broken up by the light gray of the thighs) instead of just a gray nosecone. The physical sample used for stock photos is quite bizarre; while most of it matches the final product, it still has the original wing molds and the painted wing tips from the render, and the front half of his helmet and his crotch are also unpainted!

Studio Series Bumblebee Starscream looks very much like Blitzwing and features similar engineering, but shares no parts. A slightly upscaled version of his head was used for Studio Series Bumblebee Thrust and Thundercracker.

Merchandise

Threezero

• Blitzwing (DLX Scale, 2019)

• Accessories: display stand, 2 Alternate hand sets, Null-ray Blaster, Electron Spike Blade

3A DLX Blitzwing is a non-transforming figure based on his appearance in the Bumblebee movie, standing at 10.6 inches tall and made to scale with their DLX Bumblebee. He uses die-cast parts painted parts to match the character model.

Blitzwing requires assembly as the wings are detached from the figure in order to maintain packaging size. His right arm can be detached and replaced with a blaster piece based on the standard Seeker weapon, and his hands can be replaced with a set of closed fists or grabbing hands, and his left hand can be replaced with the spike hand based on the weapon he used when he tore Bumblebee's voice box out.

Much like other 3A figures, Blitzwing comes with light-up eyes that can be activated using two LR-44 batteries.

• More information on 3A DLX Blitzwing at the official threezero website

• Blitzwing (Premium Scale, 2020)

• Accessories: TBA

Collect them all! This character article is a stub and is missing information on their toys & merchandise. You can help Transformers Wiki by expanding it.

"Let's make your need for nostalgia official."

• Blitzwing (Vintage Inspired) (DLX Scale, 2021)

• Accessories: display stand, 2 alternate hand sets, Null-ray Blaster, Electron Spike Blade

Threezero "Vintage Inspired" Blitzwing is a redeco of the original 3A DLX Blitzwing, the colors made to match the appearance of his Generation 1 namesake. He comes with the same parts as the original 3A figure, though each is recolored to match the figure's new color scheme.

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available at mass retail.

Killerbody

• Blitzwing (High-end Baby Figurine, 2019)

• Accessories: Stand

Released by Killerbody, this non-converting super deformed Blitzwing features a shaking head, light-up eyes and shoulder articulation.

He was released with either a Bluetooth speaker stand or a normal, non-functional stand.

• Bumblebee & Blitzwing (Dual Set, 2019)

• Accessories: Stand

Blitzwing was also released in a 2-pack with Bumblebee.

Prime 1 Studio

• Blitzwing (2021)

• Movie: Bumblebee
• ID number: MMTFM-25 / 25EX (exclusive)
• Accessories: Base, null-ray blaster, Electron Spike Blade (exclusive)

Prime 1 Studio Museum Masterline Blitzwing is a huge non-transforming sculpture. The statue is made of polystone along with other materials and features light-up LED eyes.

He comes with a null-ray blaster which can replace his right hand. The exclusive version also comes with the Electron Spike Blade which can replace his left hand.

The exclusive version is limited to only 80 pieces.

Trumpeter

• Blitzwing (Smart Kit, 2021)

• Accessories: TBA

Released by Trumpeter, Blitzwing is a pre-painted and well articulated model kit. He comes with his blaster, his spike blade and a base.

Notes

• Let's not mince our words: Blitzwing really, really looks like Starscream. First off, his design is based on the classic Generation 1 Seeker body-type (which is used by multiple other characters in the film), but with vehicle kibble of an F-4 Phantom II instead of an F-15 Eagle. Second, he is wearing the classic red and greyish-white colors of the original Starscream.
  • When the first trailer for the film was released, most viewers logically assumed he was Starscream, and a synopsis for the film posted on the official Viacom blog even referred to the treacherous Decepticon by name^[2]—only for the synopsis to be edited within hours to remove it. A month later, director Travis Knight then stated at San Diego Comic-Con 2018 that the Decepticon was, in fact, Blitzwing.^[3] Humorously, Hasbro decided to use Blitzwing's Nitro Series mold 5 years later in the toyline for Rise of the Beasts to make a Starscream.

• It is unclear if it was consciously decided to reimagine Blitzwing as a Seeker, or if it was just a case of a generic Decepticon getting labelled with the "Blitzwing" name after the fact. However, it seems unlikely that the character was originally intended to be Starscream himself; the character's demise was present in the early test screenings when the movie was still intended to be a prequel to the Michael Bay films, in which Starscream was very much alive. Indeed, a different placeholder name was used for Blitzwing in the post-screening questionnaire.^[4]
  • Within the film, the character is never referred to by name in dialogue, and has little relation to the original Blitzwing, but subsequent toys and media went on to bridge that gap, depicting the movie character with a tank alt mode in addition to his jet mode, and even different rotating faces like Animated Blitzwing.
• The first trailer to include Cybertron scenes featured Blitzwing among Shockwave's Seekers. In later trailers and the final film, he was replaced with Starscream, sporting his traditional color scheme and seemingly a new head lacking the "flight mask" design motif. The Cybertronian Blitzwing design can briefly be seen to Soundwave's right with Dropkick in the opening scene.
• Blitzwing was used as a "cover" name on concept art of Dark of the Moon Shockwave.^[5]
• In the final movie, it isn't made clear how Blitzwing tracked Bumblebee down, or even how he got to Earth in the first place. Even Shatter and Dropkick only found out Bumblebee was there when he accidentally broadcast a tracking signal at them, and at no point do they show any awareness that there had been another Decepticon on the planet.
• The Battle at Half Dome has Soundwave mentioning that he made a bet with Blitzwing to see which of them could reduce a human into at least one kilounit of water; considering this, it's possible that Blitzwing was a crew member of the Nemesis.
• Like the others of his body type seen on Cybertron (with the exception of Starscream) Blitzwing has an apparatus resembling a flight helmet's oxygen mask on his face. While it was assumed this was simply the design of his mouth region, a more conventional mouth underneath can briefly be seen during his first transformation, it can also be seen when Bumblebee stabs him through the shoulder (00:09:27 on the Blu-ray).

Foreign names

• Japanese: Blitzwing (ブリッツウィング, ブリッツ・ウィング Burittsuwingu)

References