Boltax (G1)

Boltax is aTransformerfrom theMarvel portionof theGeneration 1continuity family.

Before the war,High CircuitmasterBoltaxbegan storing the accumulated knowledge of the Transformer race in a database called theUnderbase.He remained a neutral when the wars between theAutobotsandDecepticonsbegan, and hisTemple of Knowledgeis off-limits to all its participants. It is guarded by hisdisciples.

It is not known to many that Boltax is no longer a robot, but instead he himselfisthe Temple of Knowledge; the robot known as Boltax which presides over the estate is merely a puppet.

Sometimes he is aTechnobotnamedCybaxx.In this capacity he serves asScrounge's partner and a component ofComputron.

Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

MarvelThe Transformerscomics

"But... Oreos!"

Boltax is... a Boohbah?!

Millions of years ago, when the war onCybertronwas young, an equally youngOptimus Primesought the knowledge of Boltax to aid the Autobots in ending the war. Bringing theTriggerbotswith him, he evaded the multiple traps outside the Temple of Knowledge, but was deterred by the Disciples of Boltax. The Triggerbots remained outside, while Optimus Prime continued inside to question Boltax.

Boltax welcomed him but could not give Prime exactly what he sought. Nevertheless, he allowed Prime to bathe in the knowledge of the Underbase in a chamber just beyond where they were standing. Optimus entered, butMegatronand theTriggerconswere not far behind. Having already destroyed the disciples, they threatened Boltax as well. Boltax refused them access, and Megatron punched his fist through Boltax's chest, leaving his lifeless body outside the chamber.

Wonk wonk wonk!

In the resulting skirmish, Optimus Prime launched the Underbase off into space, destroying the Temple of Knowledge (the real Boltax), to keep it out of the hands of Megatron. Optimus Prime regretted his careless actions for the millions of years to come, though ironically it made his reputation as a great Autobot warrior.The Flames of Boltax!

Regeneration One

In Cybertron's distant past, High Circuitmaster Boltax was one of the world's five greatest minds, alongsideJhiaxus,Decanus,Rokan,andTallus.Recognizing the benefits of their knowledge, the quintet regularly met as a "Brain Trust" to combine and share information mentally. However, Jhiaxus had plans of his own and took advantage of the merger, absorbing all the knowledge from his victims' cortices, and then wiping all memory of him from Cybertronian history. Jhiaxus left Cybertron, leaving Boltax and the others in the dark.Less Than Zero

The "spirit" of Boltax and the others later reconstituted in their creation, theUnderbase,which in turn reconstituted inside its one-time thief,Starscream.Through Starscream, the Brain Trust confronted Jhiaxus in the present day and forcibly absorbed him back into their quintet gestalt.The War to End All Wars, Part 4

Timelines

Among the many historical artifacts thePredaconDirgemanaged to acquire was the Boltaxian Codex.TimelinesDirge profile

Beast Wars: Uprising

TheUnderbasewas also known as "Boltax's Blunder".Not All Megatrons

Of Masters and Mayhem

High Circuitmaster Boltax intended to preserve all the knowledge of Cybertron against the threat of war, encoding it in a vast database called theUnderbase.Unfortunately,Megatroncoveted that power for himself, and seemingly ripped Boltax to pieces in front ofOptimus Prime,before Prime managed to launch the Underbase into deep space.

Boltax, however, had managed to preserve his consciousness inside the Underbase before his death. Working from a theory that Boltax had accomplished this,Impactorand theWreckerslaunched Operation: Cybaxx to find him. They manipulatedStarscream's lust for power to get his aid in approaching the Underbase. Somehow, the Wreckers managed to extract Boltax and provide him a body again. Codenamed "Cybaxx" after the operation itself, Boltax joined theTechnobots.He worked with a small bot namedScroungeand incorporated themselves together into an enhancement forComputron's arm module. This allowed Computron to access the full knowledge of Cybaxx and the Underbase to feed his data processing abilities.

Even this was not enough againstThunder Mayhem.Lively Pursuit

Toys

Combiner Wars

Scrounge's special partner. There is no other like him!

• Computron(Collection Pack,2016)

Combiner Wars"Cybaxx" is aredecoofGenerations: Thrilling 30Payload,who transforms into both a modifiedX-37B space shuttle^[1]and a5 mmdouble-barreled blaster that can be wielded by his larger partnerScroungeor any of the other Technobots in the set. In shuttle mode, he can attach to the front end of Scrounge's flying saucer mode. In this configuration, Scrounge and Cybaxx can also attach toStrafe's arm mode to serve as a shield weapon forComputron.

Cybaxx was only available as part of a Computron box set. The set was one of several so-called "Collection Packs" that were "online exclusives" in the United States, available from online retailers such asHasbro Toy Shop,Amazon,andBigBadToyStoreas well as the online stores of "big box" retailers such asToys "R" Us,Walmart,Target,andKmart.In Hasbro's Asian markets such as Singapore and Taiwan, the set was available at general retail. In Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, it was sold at Toys "R" Us stores, whereas in Spain, it was available via the Spanish subsidiaries ofAmazonand Carrefour, as well as the department store chain El Corte Inglés, supposedly also only available online.

This toy doubles as the independent characterCybaxx,and this sculpt was also redecoed intoAstrotrainandSpacewarp.

• More information on Cybaxx at TFU.info

Notes

• Boltax is named after Janet Boltax, one of writerBob Budiansky's longtime friends.[1]
• Whilst Cybaxx is referred to by name in the Computron set'sinstructions,the official product description for the set used by numerous online retailers exists in three versions which acknowledge his existence to a varying degree: While otherwise identical, one version refers to a "Cybaxx mini space shuttle figure",^[2]another to a "Cybaxx mini-UFO figure",^[3]and a third to a "Scrounge mini-UFO figure".^[4]Considering it's a list of what the set includes on top of the main six figures, only the first version actually makes any sense. On top of that, an official Hasbro designer desk video with Hasbro designerJohn Wardenrefers to the Cybaxx figure as Scrounge's "special arm".^[5]

References