Blaster (G1)

Blaster is the name of the Autobot's communication's officer, who transforms into a cassette player, and is a major character in the Generation 1 cartoon and comic. However, he does not feature as prominently in modern Transformers media.
As a member of the Autobot communications sub-group Blaster frequently worked with its other members - Eject, Ramhorn, Rewind, and Steeljaw. He is the Autobots' answer to the evil Decepticon Soundwave and is his arch-rival.
Blaster was characterised very differently in both the cartoon and comics. In the cartoon, Blaster, like the Autobot Jazz, has a great love of Earth culture, rock music and other forms of music as long as it is "good, hard and loud". He's normally at the forefront of any given situation.
However, the comics Blaster was characterised as a grim, rebellious loner who hated Decepticons with a passion, and was rather anti-authoritarian. Blaster was voted the 5th top Transformer who was bad ass in the comics by Topless Robots.
==History==
=== Cartoon ===
Blaster's first appearance was in episode 30, Dinobot Island, Part 1 with no particular origin, simply appearing among the Autobots. Blaster frequently spoke in rhyme resembling rap music lyrics.
He had several important appearances in season 2, most notably in Blaster Blues, where his love of rock music and transmitting it to the other Autobots meant they were unable to respond to a Decepticon attack and prevent them from stealing a powerful decoder. He redeemed himself when he was able to transmit the location of the Decepticon base despite being captured.
In Prime Target, the big game hunter Lord Chumley captures a secret Soviet jet, leading to panic and the possibility of the Cold War turning hot. Chumley then set his sights on the ultimate trophy, the head of Optimus Prime. In order to lure Optimus in, Chumley captures the Autobots Tracks, Bumblebee, Jazz, Beachcomber, Grapple, Blaster and Inferno. Windcharger and Huffer are able to avoid being trapped. When Cosmos learns of the location chumley was keeping the captured Autobots, Optimus Prime accepts Chumley's challenge to meet him alone. Although interrupted by the Decepticons Astrotrain and Blitzwing's attempt to ally the Decepticons with Chumley, Optimus defeats the big game hunter and frees the Autobots. Chumley and the stolen jet were handed over to the Soviets by the Autobots as punishment for his actions.
He also had a prominent role in "Auto-Bop", where he faces off with his Decepticon counterpart Soundwave in a sonic duel.
In The Transformers the Movie, set in the year 2005, Blaster was assigned to Autobot City on Earth. During the invasion by Megatron's forces, Blaster was responsible for sending a distress signal to Optimus Prime on Moonbase One. Blaster's transmission is jammed by Soundwave's cassette minions to prevent him from establishing contact with the Autobot Moonbase. However, the signal is received and Optimus Prime is able to arrive with reinforcements to defeat the Decepticons. After the attack, Blaster picked up transmissions from Moonbases One and Two. He was not seen for the rest of the film, but he was prominently featured in season three.
In Madman's Paradise, Spike and Carly host a banquet for a visiting ambassador. Daniel gets bored and wandered off. Grimlock follows him, and they fall into a lost chamber where Quintessons banished their criminals to other dimensions. They slipped through to the sorcerous other-dimensional realm of Menonia, and are tricked into fighting on the Red Wizard's side, only to find out that he is the Quintesson criminal, who overthrew the Golden One. Blaster, Ultra Magnus, Eject, Rewind, Ramhorn, and Steeljaw follow, and using Blaster's amplification, they help the Golden One defeat the Red Wizard. With the help of Perceptor, the Autobots and Daniel are returned to Cybertron.
He continued to appear throughout the third season, as his toy was still available and he had recently received his cassette team, so therefore, Blaster was necessary to promote the cassettes. His last appearance in the U.S. cartoon was in episode 95, "The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2".
===Comics ===
====Battling Straxus====
Debuting in Marvel US Issue #17, Blaster was part of the Autobot resistance group on Cybertron led by Perceptor. He had a reputation as a hothead, but was nevertheless respected by the rest of their unit and seen as a natural leader. He was concerned by the disappearance of the neutral scientist Spanner and worked with his colleague Scrounge to try and get information on the activities of Lord Straxus' Decepticons. Scrounge was captured and sentenced to death in the smelting pool. Blaster was unable to save Scrounge but was able to retrieve the information he had gathered, learning that the Autobots led by Optimus Prime were alive on Earth, battling Megatron's Decepticons.
Blaster and Perceptor decided to prioritise disrupting any alliance between Straxus and the Earth Decepticons and launched an attack on the space bridge they had constructed, only to suffer massive casualties on both sides. With the space bridge damaged, Straxus attacked the Autobots personally. Blaster fought Straxus and managed to send him flying off the bridge into the void, apparently destroying him. With their link to Cybertron cut off, Blaster, Perceptor and the other survivors - Warpath, Powerglide, Cosmos, Seaspray and Beachcomber - were forced to travel across the bridge to Earth.
====Arriving on Earth====
Immediately after they arrived, the group were attacked by the anti-robot organisation RAAT and the robot-hating vigilante Circuit Breaker. Unwilling to use force against humans, they were quickly subdued and disassembled, being joined soon after by Skids and the Aerialbots. Their chance for freedom came when Circuit Breaker tried to stop the Battlechargers' rampage. The Autobots' one-time ally Donny Finkleberg convinced her to do a deal with the captive Autobots, using them to form a giant robot to battle the Decepticons and then restoring them afterwards.
Skids attempted to guide the seven new arrivals to the Autobots' spaceship, the Ark, but was promptly shunted into limbo by the arrival of future Decepticon leader Galvatron. Blaster and the others soon came under attack from Galvatron, with Blaster the only one not taken out of the fight straightaway. He fought Galvatron alongside the Dinobots, with Galvatron finally withdrawing when Shockwave and the Earth Decepticons entered the fray. Blaster and his compatriots were directed to the Ark by the Dinobots, finally joining the Earth Autobots. Not long after, Blaster had to report the death of Optimus Prime, and took temporary command in negotiating an alliance with G.I. Joe and Cobra to stop Shockwave destroying Earth with Power Station Alpha.
Blaster was one of the senior Autobots gathered by Perceptor to choose a new leader. The conference was interrupted first by the Dinobots, who proposed Grimlock as leader, and then by an attack from Trypticon. Blaster was injured during the battle, along with Perceptor, but after the Dinobots had helped see of Trypticon, they recovered enough to join Jetfire and Ratchet in endorsing Grimlock as the new leader.
====On the run====
Blaster soon came to regret the decision, as it became clear that Grimlock lacked the qualities of an Autobot leader. He ordered Blaster and Goldbug to retrieve Autobot weapons stolen by human criminal the Mechanic and to eliminate any humans who got in their way. Blaster instead worked with the human police to disrupt the Mechanic's attempts to sell weapon-equipped vehicles, leading to the arrest of several of his associates, although the Mechanic escaped. Unwilling to put up with Grimlock, Blaster and Goldbug decided to desert and strike out on their own.
Seeking advice from the Autobots' ally G.B. Blackrock, the pair decided to disrupt the arrival of a Decepticon delivery in North Arizona. Confronted by the Decepticon Triple Changers, Blaster was infected by the metal-eating Scraplets, as the Decepticons had already been. They were eventually cured thanks to Goldbug and the Throttlebots, and worked together to defeat the Scraplets, although the Decepticons escaped with their cargo.
The newly-formed group next investigated a report of Ultra Magnus and Galvatron being found encased in lava. They ended up encountering Soundwave and the Combaticons, who had set out to destroy the volcano, with Blaster using music to jam the signal Soundwave intended to use to detonate the explosives. Subsequent to this, Blaster and his allies found themselves pursued by the Combaticons, RAAT and the Protectobots, sent by Grimlock to arrest them for desertion. A battle resulted in the Throttlebots being captured by RAAT and Blaster being captured by the Protectobots. When the Combaticons attacked again, Blaster protected a group of human children, impressing Hot Spot so much that he let Blaster go.
Blaster gave the children a trip in a captured Blast Off, only for them to come under attack from the Ark. While Sky Lynx tried to get the children away from the vengeful Grimlock, Blaster entered the Ark and soon had the support of the other Autobots, who had tired of Grimlock's command. However, he ended up surrendering to the Dinobots to save the children. Grimlock had him locked away, attached to a variable voltage harness as punishment. Although he was bitter about the lack of help from the other Autobots, when Goldbug arrived having joined up with the Autobot group led by Fortress Maximus, he convinced Blaster to challenge Grimlock to a duel for leadership. The duel was cut short when the watching Auobots were attacked by Ratbat's Decepticons, with Grimlock and Blaster working together to drive them off.
====Underbase Saga====
When a resurrected Optimus Prime assumed command of the Autobots, Blaster became one of his top aides. With Buster Witwicky being held captive by the Decepticons, Blaster used his cassette recorder disguise, with help from Buster's girlfriend Jesse, to infiltrate the Decepticons' island base, which they had turned into a holiday resort as cover. Blaster managed to access the tapes the Decepticons had recovered and learned the legendary Underbase was about to pass through Earth's solar system, but was forced to retreat without Buster or the tapes.
Before investigating this, Blaster was part of a team Optimus Prime put together to challenge Galvatron, although he ended up being shunted into limbo by the arrival of Kup and the other future Autobots and sitting out the battle. When Starscream subsequently gained the power of the Underbase, the Autobots and Decepticons joined forces to halt his attack on Earth. Blaster led the defence of New York alongside Ratbat, but saw their troops wiped out and Ratbat fleeing the scene. Blaster attacked Starscream himself but was deactivated like all the others.
====Unicron War and aftermath====
Blaster was one of the Autobots revived by Grimlock with nucleon and brought to Cybertron as reinforcements when it was attacked by Unicron. With Optimus Prime killed in the battle and Grimlock taking command, Blaster took on a senior role, assigned by Prowl to investigate a series of tremors. He determined Cybertron was about to destroy itself. The Decepticons abandoned the Autobots but Grimlock was able to provide them with ships, only to lead them into an ambush when they followed the Decepticons to Klo. Blaster was one of the handful to survive the original assault, and despite being shot by Quake, he was patched up to join a returned Optimus Prime in finally routing the Decepticons, after which they could return to the restored Cybertron in triumph.
====Earthforce====
Blaster made no appearances in the Earthforce storyline, the only one of Grimlock's reinforcements from US Issue #75 not to appear, so presumably remained inactive in that continuity.
==Powers and skills==
As an AM/FM stereo cassette player, he can perform as a deck, plus receive radio signals on a variety of frequencies. Acting as the Autobot communications center, he can transmit signals within a 4,000 mile radius. Blaster is sometimes depicted as carrying various tape warriors within his deck.
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