High Beam (G2)

High Beam is anAutobotand laterMaximalfrom theGeneration 1continuity family.

Behind you. Yes, YOU.

High Beamis a tracker who always means business. He never backs down from a challenge or shirks his responsibilities. Although his fellow Autobots tend to think of him as more of a thinker than a fighter, he'll eagerly engage in a firefight if he feels it is his duty to do so. This sense of duty is what drives him on his mission to find and destroyDecepticons.High Beam is more than ready to "get busy" with his latest targets, those feistyCombaticons.^[1]

Fiction

Theft of the Golden Disk

High Beam underwent the Maximal upgrade at the end of the Great War and joined theMaximal Command Security Force,a group of highly trained individuals who uphold thePax CybertroniaonMaximal-controlledCybertron.Due to his brash and over-eager disposition, High Beam often found himself getting demoted... nearly as often as he got promoted up again.High Beam's profileHigh Beam was very surprised to see that his teammateGetoutmodeled himself after a lesser known Autobot namedSkramwhom High Beam had known personally.Getout's profile

High Beam, along withSwitchblade,was shot bya Predaconwith anenergy ray.Theft of the Golden Disk

Wings Universe

High Beam and the Go-Bots were brought to life on Earth using a combination of human andNebulanscience, becoming part of the "second generation" of Transformers. When the new 'bots started picking sides just like their predecessors, High Beam joined the Autobots under the overall command ofPyroandRapido.He brought his Go-Bots to assist his commanders at theLarge Hadron Colliderin Switzerland when it was raided byClenchand his Decepticon Syndicate. The Go-Bots helpedScorchbring down the colossalDouble Punch.Generation 2: Redux

Unite Warriors

High Beam, with other Autobots, oversaw an attempt to wipe theCombatrons'Destrongerprogramming. However, before they could be reprogrammed,Unicroninterrupted the process and whisked away the Combatrons.Ruination Chapter, Part One

Toys

Generation 2

Mattel, please look the other way.

• High Beam(Go-Bot, 1995)

• Accessories:Rifle
• Known designers:Masakatsu Saito(concept artist)

Part of the first wave ofGeneration 2Go-Bots,High Beam transforms into a "concept car" with an exposed rear engine that looksexactlylike theSpeed Blastercar fromMattel'sHot Wheelsline that was first released in 1991 under the names "Back Burner" and "Sonic Special". At 1:64 scale and using through-axle wheels for speedy rolling on smooth surfaces, High Beam is compatible with manyHot WheelsandMatchbox-brand playsets and tracks.

The same mold wasredecoedinGeneration 2for the Go-Bots version ofBumblebee,as well as for theBotCon 1995exclusivetoy,Nightracer.It was later used for the2001Robots in DisguiseSpychangerCrosswise.

• More information on High Beam at TFU.info

Notes

• High Beam's card-art mistakenly gives himGearhead's rifle.
• Though most of the Go-Bots were never released in Japan, High Beam did gain a Japanese name via aBotCon Japan 1997exclusiveposter,which featured bios for all of the newGeneration 2characters released in the U.S. who weren't part of the Japanese line: theAxelerators,theSkyscorchers,Rotor Force,four of the Go-Bots, and theColor Changers.
• As with the rest of Security Force, High Beam's Maximal body is modeled on that ofCybertronClocker.
• According to an interview withBob Budianskyin a 2018 episode of theNetflixseriesThe Toys That Made Us,"High Beams" was a rejected name for one of the original 28 Transformers from the 1984 toy line. Budiansky stated that Hasbro declined the name for being a slang term for erect nipples. The same fate presumably befell the 1987Throttlebotultimately named "Searchlight".

Foreign names

• Japanese:High Beam(ハイビームHai Bīmu)
• French:Turbo-Libero(France/Belgium),Lumen(Canada)
• Italian:Puma

References