Cannonball (G1)

Cannonball is the name taken by Decepticon pirate captains from the Wings Universe portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

"And I half expected it to be made of wood. You are without doubt the worst pirate I’ve ever heard of."
"But you have heard of me."

Cannonball is a name passed down a lineage of great Decepticon pirates.

Fiction

Wings Universe

You will remember this as the day you almost caught captain Cannonball!

Cannonball the 1st commanded the nomadic Maraudicons, an army which let him rise to the rank of Decepticon Warlord. He was among the Warlords who were eliminated when Deathsaurus sent an unwitting suicide bomber to a council meeting. A Team Effort

Cannonball the 3rd undertook a voyage to the nightmare planet Toruin, but faced mutiny during the escape to the nearby Sperity. Cannonball the 4th achieved success in the Garyun Melee.

Cannonball the 5th was enjoying a "shore leave" in Tetra Gar with the rest of his crew, where he managed to win the "Hunter" in a game of cards from an ill-mannered gambling rube. After a brief exchange, the Hunter and Cannonball came to an agreement; the Hunter would be a helping hand on Cannonball's ship, the Tidal Wave. In exchange the Hunter could leave at any time he wished, free to pursue whatever "called" to him when he would encounter it.

Cannonball was counting his crew's loot in the fourth arm of the Rhondarian Cluster when he caught sight of a small vessel being pursued by an Autobot ship. The pirate captain was impressed by the tenacity and gumption of the Decepticons being pursued, and so blasted away their pursuers before inviting them on board.

On one occasion, he led his crew to a planet of bipedal reptiles who hoarded Energon as artifacts. The Star Seekers encountered resistance, but Cannonball made short work of those who opposed him with his golden dueling daggers. Cannonball later ordered his crew to break into a special vault. The crew successfully acquired access to what was within: a single lizard holding a piece of paper. Pleased with his newly acquired prize, Cannonball told his crew that their greatest bounty awaited them in the near future.

He next led the Tidal Wave into the "Demon's Maw". Cannonball had to periodically reassure his crew that their goal was in view as the trip proved itself to be extremely long and boring. When the creature inhabiting the "Demon's Maw" attacked their ship, Cannonball led his crew on a counter-assault. With Axor’s help, he managed to force the creature to flee, earning him many cheers from his band of buccaneers.

I have no say in it. It's a pirate's life for me. Savvy?

He later led an attack on Ventax II. During the attack, he had to reprimand Tornado for deviating from his orders, and later confronted the little ‘bot on-ship about the presence of a Deberian Sky Seer aboard. Cannonball took a liking to the bird, and opted to keep it as a pet.

Immediately prior to Cannonball's great heist, Cannonball locked himself away in his quarters, only occasionally conversing with the Navigator. When he finally revealed his plan to his crew at large, he declared that the Star Seekers would be traveling into Cybertron’s far future in order to siphon the planet of its energy. Tornado - Decepticon Saboteur

The trip through time took its toll on the Tidal Wave, and they missed their destination by an unknown amount of time, but Captain Cannonball went on with his plan nonetheless. A small addition needed to be made to his scheme though: to take possession of a space bridge. Using one of Ferak's many inventions to do so, Cannonball encountered the Decepticon Flamewar along the way. Impressed by her violent capabilities, he hired her to accompany his crew on their heist. They then used the space bridge to get inside Unicron’s head, still in orbit around Cybertron. As the chaos bringer's remains were being primed for the planet-wide siphoning, the Cybertronian Knights came to oppose the Star Seekers. Cannonball attempted to take on Alpha Trizer on his own, but was easily bested by the Autobot elder. As it turns out, Cannonball's plan would have failed even if the knights hadn't interfered; Cybertron couldn't be drained of Energon, as it had become a technorganic planet in the time Cannonball had traveled to. Hoist the Flag

So there is a curse...that's interesting.

Eventually breaking out of incarceration, the pirates found themselves on the run from the Cybertronian Knights, but they nonetheless set out on their next adventure: tracking down Starscream’s immortal spark! Their journey took them to a small nameless planetoid inhabiting a "safe zone" between several black holes. Captain Cannonball and his crew discovered there an ancient Quintesson, who offered them the last known location of Starscream’s spark in exchange for being taken aboard their ship.

As soon as the Quintesson was brought aboard, strange happenings began across the Tidal Wave. These events culminated in Starscream’s spark revealing itself and taking over Cannonball’s body in a mutiny spearheaded by Flamewar. With Cannonball’s body being reformatted to suit Starscream’s needs, his spark was locked away in the very container with which the captain had planned to capture Starscream. Cannonball was then left stranded on the barren planetoid, though several of his loyalists stayed behind as well.

Flamewar would take up the mantle of Cannonball from that point on. Tornado - Decepticon Saboteur

Beast Wars: Uprising

Cannonball the 3rd ran a crew of pirates called the Star Seekers during the Great War. After the Armistice and the failure of the Great Push, Cannonball III and his mechs were hunted down by the Headmasters Devcon and his partner. They were returned to Cybertron for incarceration and/or punishment. Star Dasher's profile

Toys

Timelines

It's the Oingo Boingo van!

• Pirates vs Knights (BotCon 2014 box set)
  • Accessories: 2 swords

Timelines "Pirate Cannonball" is a retool of Prime Ratchet in black and gold with a new head, transforming into a SUV. He has a "dramatic head reveal" gimmick, with his robot mode head being spring-loaded to pop up once his "backpack" is pulled down and features 5mm peg-holes for his hands, a pair on his front bumpers/shins, and a pair on his vehicle roof. He comes with a pair of blades that can mount/be held via 5 mm post, and his hands can be swung down at the wrist to give the appearance of the blades sprouting out of his wrists. The blades can mount into the peg-holes on his front bumper, creating a battle mode, or store on tabs underneath the vehicle mode. Cannonball comes in a box set with fellow pirates Ferak, Tornado, Scorponok, and Olin Zarak, plus knights Ginrai and Devcon.

The initial concept for Pirate Cannonball utilized the Prime Wheeljack mold instead.^[1][2] A large number of the toys suffered from assembly errors, which led to the obvious potential of a redeco as Red Alert never being seriously considered.^[3]

This mold was also used to make 2014 Transformers Protectobot First Aid.

• More information on Cannonball at TFU.info

Legacy

For further information, see: Cannonball (Cybertron)#Legacy

Notes

• The Wings incarnation of Cannonball (the Fifth) is visually an homage to Cybertron Cannonball while his background as a Star Seeker is taken from the Aligned incarnation of Cannonball.

References