Axer (G1)

Axer is a Decepticon Action Master from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Axer? But she seems so nice!

A bounty hunter, Axer (also Axor) gained experience by stalking in the slag swamps of Cybertron for microchip smugglers. He custom-built his Turbo Cycle, a heavily-armed motorcycle that converts to a small battle station.

He is renowned across Cybertron for his intuitive prowess as a tracker and detective. He eschews equipment and devices, preferring instead to rely on knowledge and instinct. This personal involvement in his craft extends right to the end, when he gets to unleash his sadistic pleasures on his terrified victims. The joy he feels at the sight of helpless targets' faces when he blows them away is worth more to him than the money he gladly collects for doing so.

Axer has also traveled to a different universe, where he doesn't ride a "turbo cycle", but rather he transforms into one instead. While this alternate mode doesn't look like its namesake, it does bear much of the same weaponry.^[1]

Fiction

Robots in Disguise toy bio

Axer went through a black hole on a rescue mission, and he ended up joining Galvatron in order to monitor his "operation." Galvatron placed him under Scourge, whose leadership Axer resented.^[1]

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

Before joining the Decepticon army, Axer was a "freelance peacekeeping agent" both on Cybertron and across the galaxy. But he was willing to take a pay cut to work for the Decepticons exclusively, since they gave him the freedom to indulge his murderous sadism without consequence. The Decepticon high command employed him not just as a bounty hunter but also as a full-on assassin.

Despite being classified as an Action Master, Axer was never known to lose his ability to transform. The Turbo Cycle made up not for a lack of an alternate mode, but for a particularly slow alternate mode. More Than Meets The Eye #1

2005 IDW continuity

First appearance: Spotlight: Arcee

Does this salami smell funny to you?

Four million years ago, Axer was a Decepticon agent who slightly modified his appearance to infiltrate the Autobots' ranks. It is unknown for how long he operated among them. After the Autobots successfully halted a major Decepticon energon convoy, however, Axer made his move. He attended a celebration in honor of the Autobot's victory and, as the majority of soldiers present relaxed and let their guard down, he pulled a hidden blaster from his side and made an assassination attempt on Optimus Prime. Only the keen battle instincts of Prime's bodyguard Ironhide kept the Autobot leader alive, as Ironhide threw himself in the path of Axer's blast. The Iron Age

Ninja consultant.

In the modern era, Axer was a part of Banzai-Tron's Decepticon Secret Service team, serving aboard the flagship while they raided the Garrus-9 penitentiary for the Monstructor-Six gestalt team. Spotlight: Arcee Some time later, Banzai-Tron's own base was leveled by Nemesis Prime's Dead Universe minions, who were searching for Monstructor themselves, and Axer was one of the few survivors. Spotlight: Hardhead He later assisted the Autobot Arcee in fighting Monstructor after the gestalt had been turned into one of Nemesis Prime's Nega-Core guardians. Spotlight: Sideswipe

Three years later, Axer was one of the Decepticons left stranded on Earth after Megatron's top lieutenants fled the planet. He was captured by Bumblebee and the Autobots for Skywatch. The Hanging Sword

Wings Universe

In the early days of the war, Axer [sic] had a reputation as a procurer of illegal things. He used a neutral tavern as his typical meeting place for new business ventures, but was skilled enough to be choosy about his clients. This was unfortunate for Take-Off, the loud chatterbox minion of a minor Decepticon Warlord who needed a ship for transport off planet. Take-Off was too busy rattling off secret information to Axer to notice the Autobot Elite Guard spy listening to his every word. Axer quickly ended their meeting and got as far away from Take-Off as possible before the moron dragged him down with him. A Team Effort

During the "last Decepticon uprising", Axor [sic] and his team were hunted down by Devcon, who impressed upon Axor of his ruthlessness. Managing to escape Devcon's pursuit, Axor joined the Star Seekers and continued to fear for his life. As a result of his paranoia, Axor incessantly asked Ferak to improve the Star Seekers' weapons in case they ever encountered Devcon.

On the day that Tornado and Ferak joined the Star Seekers, Axor operated the Tidal Wave’s guns and blew their Autobot pursuers into oblivion. He often pestered Ferak on improving the ship’s weaponry to ease his paranoia about Devcon returning to finish him off.

Along with the rest of the crew, Axor participated on the attack on Ventax II. Tornado - Decepticon Saboteur

Eventually, Cannonball took the Star Seekers through time in a ploy to pillage Cybertron of all its Energon in its future. The trip took its toll on the Tidal Wave though, and Axer informed his captain that they were without long distance propulsion for the duration of their raid. He presumably stayed back with the ship, not participating in the plundering proper, which turned out to fail anyways since Cybertron had become technorganic by the time the Star Seekers had arrived. Hoist the Flag

Regeneration One

Axer was on Cybertron just before the rise of the Anti-Matrix's shadow-leeches. The War to End All Wars, Part 4

Ask Sideways

Sideways claims Axer has a foul-mouthed sister that everyone calls "Airbags" (because of the way they sometimes deployed during, ah, collisions). The reason the bounty hunter chased him across the multiverse from Primax to Viron is Sideways dated his sister and "I miiiiiiight have accidentally made an inappropriate remark about her exhaust port". However, Sideways claimed that Axer was a hypocrite because he once talked openly about how he and a Terradore were doing something (censored by the Axiom Nexus Auto-Censors) in front of Imperius Drax. Ask Sideways, 2015/07/05

2019 IDW continuity

Axer was a survivor of the Iron Hope disaster and shared a close relationship with fellow survivor Circuit. The two parted on bad terms, with Axer moving to Velocitron and joining Security Operations there for a fresh start. At some point, he secretly became affiliated with the underground terrorist organization Mayhem, intent on upending the society that had looked down on him for no longer being able to transform. Tread & Circuits Part 2

Circuit joined the Wreckers and Axer encountered him again on Velocitron, the team intent on stopping Mayhem from disrupting the Speedia 500. Tread & Circuits Part 1 Axer cornered his former compatriot snooping around near a hidden Mayhem hideout, but merely offered Circuit a ride back to the Wreckers' ship. On the way, the two caught up and Axer wanted to make amends for Circuit being hurt the last time they were together. He asked Circuit to leave the planet with the Wreckers and assured him that SecOps had their own plan to deal with Mayhem. Circuit seemed to agree, but Axer soon found a camera drone following him as he returned to the hideout. Axer destroyed it and went ahead to meet with Mayhem's leader Octopunch, annoyed that Circuit hadn't heeded his warning. The trailing Circuit witnessed this meeting and was suddenly shot in the head by a Mayhem sniper. Later, as the Speedia 500 was about to commence, Axer stood on call as part of SecOps and prepared to reveal his true allegiance. Tread & Circuits Part 2

After the race began, Mayhem made their move, triggering an avalanche that scattered the participants. Axer rode his bike into the chaos, singling out Road Pig as the first victim and helping Octopunch kill him. Axer and Submarauder eventually caught up to the racers in the lead and took out Override, Sideways and Road Rocket. Only Knock Out remained in the race, and Axer pursued the Ascenticon alone. Axer vented his fury and disgust over the mistreatment he had suffered thanks to elitists like Knock Out as he kept pace. Unfortunately, the SecOps commander and Knock Out's Conjunx Endura Breakdown was lying in wait ahead, and he blew Axer and his bike to bits with a barrage of firepower. Axer died, never learning that Knock Out and Breakdown were secretly in cahoots with Mayhem to put an Ascenticon in charge of the planet. Tread & Circuits Part 3

Games

Transformers Legends

Axer, Straxus, and Thunderwing accompanied Nemesis Prime on a mission to defeat Nemesis's former self, Nova Prime. Prime Evil

Toys

The Transformers

• Axer (Action Blaster Vehicle, 1990)

• Accessories: "Magnetic-lock targeting destabilizer rifle", "Off-Road Cycle" vehicle
• Known designers: Masakatsu Saito (concept artist)

Part of the first (and only) assortment of The Transformers "Action Master Blaster Vehicles", Axer is a non-transforming 3¾-inch tall robot action figure, with hints of an alternate mode to his design, possibly some form of off-road car. His fists have 3 mm holes for holding accessories, and the screw-hole in his back is 5 mm post compatible.

He came with the Off-Road Cycle, an off-road motorbike with sidecar that can transform into a gun emplacement. The sidecar has a flip-down panel so another Action Master figure can stand on it.

Axer's figure mold was used to make Circuit.

• More information on Generation 1 Axer at TFU.info

Robots in Disguise (2001)

• Sideways vs Axer (Mega, 2002)

• Takara release date: May 30, 2002

Robots in Disguise Axer is a redeco of the Microman: LED Powers toy Road Bison, itself a retool of the Generation 2 Laser Cycle Road Pig with new handlebars. He transforms into a mostly-black Harley-Davidson Electra Glide motorcycle. His tailpipe has an LED that lights it up, becoming an arm-mounted weapon in robot mode.

He was only available in a Mega-class 2-pack with Sideways. This set was a Walmart exclusive in the US released in April of 2002, and a Toys"R"Us-exclusive "USA Edition" in Japan in May.

This mold was also used to make Microman Tornado Bison and Robotmasters Double Face. It was going to be used for Generation 2 Soundwave, but that release was canceled.

• More information on Robots in Disguise Axer at TFU.info

Transformers (2010)

• Axor (Deluxe Class, 2010)

• Accessories: Engine

Transformers Axor is a retooling of Revenge of the Fallen Lockdown with a new head and colors based on the Generation 1 Action Master Axer. He also has a new axe weapon on his right arm instead of Lockdown's hook. Axor transforms into an amalgam of a 1980s Corvette and a 1960s Cougar, with lots of spikes and a cow-catcher on his bumper. The toy's Mech Alive feature rotates cylinders inside his thighs as his lower legs rotate, and pneumatic cylinders extend as his axe is deployed.

Like with Lockdown, Axor's arm-mounted hot rod engine weapon can be removed and can be replaced by Revenge of the Fallen Deluxe Ratchet's weapon. In return, Axor's engine can be mounted on Ratchet's roof, but not attached to his arm.

This toy was redecoed into Timelines Circuit.

• More information on Axor at TFU.info

Notes

My torso's blue! My torso's blue!

• The Axer figure shown in the 1990 catalog and on his own toy packaging has different coloring from the final version. Most Action Masters had different pre-final colors, for whatever reason.
• Axer's vehicle has two names. In all forms of fiction (bios, comics) it's called a "Turbo Cycle", but in descriptions of the toy (packaging, instructions, catalog) it's called an "Off-Road Cycle". Note that Action Master Prowl's vehicle was also called a "Turbo Cycle".
• Axer was the first Transformers character to cross over physically from one continuity family to another.
• An Axer retool was planned by Hasbro designer Mark Maher from the 2022 Legacy Prime Universe Arcee toy, though it ultimately went to Road Rocket.^[2]

Foreign names

• Japanese: Axer (アクサー Akusā)
• Italian: Exploder

References