Barrage (Transformers)
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Barrage is the name of two fictional characters in the Transformers series. The original Barrage was one of the Insecticons, introduced in 1985. The second was an Autobot Micromaster introduced in 1990. Both Barrages are from the original line of Transformers, and they are the second example of reusing a name for a completely different character, after Sky High.
Contents
Transformers: Generation 1 (1985)
The first Barrage is an Insecticon who can become a Japanese rhinoceros beetle.[1]
Dreamwave Productions
In Dreamwave's The War Within series Barrage and his fellow Deluxe Insecticons were members of Ratbat's Ultracons faction. They accompanied their leader during the battle against the Wreckers, but were forced to flee when Devastator was defeated.
In the third series, The Age of Wrath, they accompanied Ratbat to the peace talks with Shockwave's Decepticons and Ultra Magnus' Autobots, where Barrage forcibly "dissuaded" Autobot journalists from asking to many questions. When the conference was attacked by Starscream's Predacons, the Deluxe Insecticons helped fight them off. After Megatron's reappearance, the Barrage rejoined the Decepticons.
The Deluxe Insecticons later appeared in the Transformers: Micromasters series as the main antagonists. Barrage was eventually killed during a battle between Autobot and Decepticon aligned Micromaster factions.
Devil's Due Publishing
Barrage also appeared in the third G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers series from Devil's Due Publishing. He was seen trying to hold back the combined Autobot/G.I. Joe force trying to rescue Optimus Prime, where he was under attack by a G.I. Joe vehicle driven by Lady Jaye. With Serpentor's final defeat, his fate beyond this is unknown.
Toys
- Generation 1 Deluxe Insecticon Barrage (1985)
- During the Transformers: Generation 1, Barrage was one of four Deluxe Insecticons featured in the second year in the line.[2] The Deluxe Insecticons were built by Bandai, and imported to United States via Hasbro. Due to an arrangement with Takara (the Japanese toy company who built the toys originally intended to be Transformers), they never appeared on TV in anything more than animated commercials. This was so the television series could be shown in Japan, where Bandai still owned the images of the characters.
- In the 1980s Transformers were such a success that Hasbro wanted to get as much product out on the shelves with the Transformers name on it as possible. Since they were running out of old Takara molds to use, they obtained licences to use the molds of other companies' robot toys in the Transformers line. Shockwave, Jetfire, Omega Supreme, Roadbuster, Whirl, Chop Shop, Venom, Barrage and Ransack were among those molds. With the licences to those toys now expired Hasbro and Takara no longer have legal rights to those figures and cannot reissue them.[3]
- The same toy was imported in the Convertors toy line in the 1980s as the Insectors Crawler.
Transformers: Generation 1
Barrage is also the name of an Autobot Micromaster combiner who turns into a lunar exploration vehicle when combined with Heave.[4]
Barrage is actually the second example of unrelated Transformers sharing names. The first reuse of a name was Sky High.
Dreamwave Productions
This Barrage has never appeared in any official Transformers fiction save his single page biography in Dreamwave Productions Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye series.
Toys
- Generation 1 Micromaster Barrage (1990)
- Came packaged with Heave and the other members of the Micromaster Astro Squad.
References
- ↑ Alvarez, J.E. (2001). The Unofficial Guide to Transformers 1980s Through 1990s Revised & Expanded 2nd Edition. Schiffer Publishing Ltd.. p. 26. ISBN 0764313649.
- ↑ Lee's Guide to Loose 1985 Transformers: The Decepticons. Lee's Toy Review magazine, issue #201, August 2009
- ↑ http://www.cliffbee.com/reviews/barrage.php
- ↑ Alvarez, J.E. (2001). The Unofficial Guide to Transformers 1980s Through 1990s Revised & Expanded 2nd Edition. Schiffer Publishing Ltd.. p. 98. ISBN 0764313649.
