Astrotrain (SG)

Astrotrain is a heroicDecepticonfrom theShattered Glasscontinuity family.

"Pile on some weight, or I'll totally make it to Cybertron!"

Astrotrainis the honorable and brave commander of his personal squad ofMicromasters—Fasttrack,Stonecruncher,Submarauder,andTailwind—that he transports around in his shuttle compartment, and sometimes also a member of theMayhem Suppression Squad.He's also close friends withBlitzwing.

Fiction

Shattered Expectations

The heroic Astrotrain—who served as a means of conveyance for his teammates—and the rest of theMayhem Suppression SquadassistedStarscreamandRazorclawagainst a trio of maraudingAutobots.Shattered Expectations

Fun PublicationsShattered Glasscontinuity

Astrotrain transported the supplies andenergon rodsfrom theArch-Ayrdepot, which the Decepticons had just laid claim on, toDarkmount.Later that cycle, he assisted in the hunt for theDinobotsby collecting all captured Dinobots and bringing them back to base.Dungeons & Dinobots

Astrotrain and his squad helped with final preparations for the launch of theNemesis,which necessitatedWhisperand thePredaconsbeing sent to rescueMegatronfromRicochetinstead.

Some time later, theNemesishad successfully launched and was in pursuit of theArk.During the firefight that ensued it was discovered that theArkwas armed with aneutron cannonthat would keep theNemesisfrom getting close enough to finish the Autobots off.Starscreamdecided to order Astrotrain and his squad to disable the cannon, since they were small enough to evade the gunfire and get in close enough to do so. Astrotrain nobly informed his squad that any of them could stay behind if they so chose, but none took him up on the offer.

They were able to successfully approach and land on theArk's hull to commence their attack. While his Micromasters caused general damage, Astrotrain crawled towards the neutron cannon itself. Unfortunately, the Autobots discovered their presence on the hull and steered theArkinto enteringEarth's atmosphere in an attempt to burn them off. Starscream attempted to order Astrotrain back to theNemesis,but he turned off his comm and continued with the mission.

He was able to dislodge the neutron cannon and disable its aiming mechanism with his squad's help. He then manually set the cannon to fire on theArk,let the cannon go, and recalled his squad into his shuttle compartment as he transformed and moved back. While his turning the cannon on theArksuccessfully disabled the ship and sent it on a trajectory to crash onto the planet, he wasn't able to avoid his own hull being burned by the entry into Earth's atmosphere.Do Over

When the Earth was in danger of being attacked by a hijackeddefense satellite,Heatwavelamented that he wished they had Astrotrain to fly up and disable it. Unfortunately, they still didn't know where he had landed, or if he and his squad had even survived atmospheric entry.Eye in the Sky

Hedidsurvive entry, and crash-landed inAntarctica,prompting most of theDecepticonsto go there to dig him out, leaving Blitzwing and Heatwave alone just long enough to get into trouble dealing with theAutobots'stellar spannerbefore reinforcements could arrive.

Later, after he had been freed, he was placed in theNemesisrepair bay instasis lockto have the ice drained out of his systems.Soundwavehad thought that the wayward Blitzwing might be there, as he and Astrotrain had been close, but instead found only a datapad Blitzwing had left behind before taking off for parts unknown.Blitzwing Bop

He was eventually brought back online. When Starscream led a group of Decepticons to rescueSephie Beller,he and his Micromasters were kept in reserve to join the battle if needed.Transhuman

IDWShatteredGlass comic

Astrotrain fought in the Decepticon assault onGoldbug's fortress in order to rescue Starscream, following behindSoundwaveas he blasted a path into the compound.Shattered Glass #5

Toys

Timelines

Bet you didn't count on my loyal army of prostitutes.

• Astrotrain(TFCC exclusive, 2007)

• Accessories:Electronic thruster-cannon, shield, 2 bombs

TimelinesAstrotrain is aretooledArmadaUltra-sizedJetfire,transforming into a Cybertronian space shuttle, in a gray and purple color scheme that is a (very) loose homage toGeneration 1Astrotrain.Since he is the Jetfire mold, he can also form the lower legs forArmadaOptimus Prime's super mode. In shuttle mode, hisMini-ConpartnerStarcatchercan form his front landing gear. Placing Mini-Cons on thePowerlinxpoints on his wings drops the bombs stored underneath. He retains the electronic lights and sounds in his main thruster/blaster-weapon from thePowerlinxJetfire version, uncommon among such low-run collectorexclusivetoys.

Aside from Starcatcher, Astrotrain also comes with aredecoof theGiant Planet Mini-Con Team,namedAstro-Hook(crane),Astro-Line(plane), andAstro-Sinker(submarine). In addition to the Mini-Cons, anexclusive illustrated text story featuring Astrotrain,set in theCybertronseries, was made available to club members online.

The toy was released in March2007as one of the first exclusives available for purchase toTransformers Collectors' Clubmembers. Well,sortatechnically the first. He ended up being available at the same time as the Club's exclusiveDawn of Future's PastAirazortoy, but Astrotrain was the first Club exclusiveadvertised.And that's also not counting the "free" club figures available with subscriptions but which were also available to those who subscribed late.

• More information on Timelines Astrotrain at TFU.info

Notes

• A shuttle crashing, becoming buried in polar ice, and being dug outsounds awfully familiar.