Nightracer (G2)

Nightracer is a Decepticon from the Generation 1 continuity family.

A pioneer for women and goths.

Steady and stoic, Nightracer stands alone. She fears emotional entanglements with her fellow Decepticons will distract her from getting the job done swiftly and precisely. And her caution has seemingly bore results—she's one of the Decepticons' most skilled sharpshooters. Nightracer's aloofness and well-deserved confidence has earned her the ire of her would-be peers, mistaking her demeanor for arrogance, but the truth is she's merely pragmatic, and sees no virtue in downplaying her abilities. Of her fellow Decepticons, Nightracer cares only for Megatron, to whom she is unerringly loyal.

Nightracer is sometimes paired with the Micron Shakar. Because the two were assigned to one another by Megatron himself, Shakar is the one other Decepticon Nightracer does not shun.^[1] Occasionally, she's cloned from another, somehow even cooler, Nightracer.

Fiction

The Allspark Almanac

Readers of Venus, a trans-dimensional magazine for Decepti-femmes, were invited to decide who was deadlier, Nightracer or Flamewar. The Allspark Almanac

Wings Universe

Believe it or not, but I'm the same toy as that guy in front!

In 2012, Jhiaxus had the Battlechargers retrieve several personality components from within Cybertron, one of which was the original Nightracer's. A Flash Forward, Part 2 Jhiaxus had remembered the myth of Nightracer, and chose to clone her and re-create one of Cybertron's deadliest warriors. In particular, he chose to include her acerbic personality to see how his other clones, his "Second Generation" of Cybertronians, would react, in order to overcome arising divisions. The cloned Nightracer firmly believed in Jhiaxus's goals of recreating the Cybertronian Empire. At least, that's what she told herself, since the original Nightracer's aversion to social interaction and bonds still showed through. Her knowledge that she was a clone of the original Nightracer gives her serious doubts, often causing her to wonder whether the original Nightracer was faster, a better shot, or stronger. Nightracer's profile in Club magazine #46 She was unveiled along with the rest of the "Second Generation" to Hi-Q. A Flash Forward, Part 3

Hi, I'm Nightracer. I'm here to befriend Autobots and endorse peace treaties between them and the Decepticons, as Raksha intended.

After Pyro and his team of Autobots were captured, Jhiaxus showed him Nightracer and five other clones as an example of his work. Realizing that one Autobot was unaccounted for, Jhiaxus instructed Nightracer to go look for him. As she did so, Side Burn offered to watch her rear, to which she responded that he was a little young for her and raced off. A Flash Forward, Part 5

Side Burn caught up with Nightracer on a cliff overlooking the rest of her clone brethren clashing with Pyro's Autobots. When sight of the battle below restored Side Burn's memories of the war, Nightracer pleaded for him to stay with her and the other Decepticons. Side Burn reminded her that she and the other clones were intended by Jhiaxus to rise up above their factions, and noted that by coming with him to join the Autobots, she could fulfill that mission. Apparently persuaded, she returned to Earth with the Autobots, where she helped Side Burn debrief Ultra Magnus on what had happened and advocated pardoning the Battlechargers for their kidnapping charges. A Flash Forward, Part 6

Nightracer later acquired a new body, and was present for the signing of the Pax Cybertronia at Autobot City. A Common Foe

Renegade Rhetoric

One of Megatron's Renegade Decepticons, Nightracer followed her leader out of their home reality to a new reality. There, Nightracer and Crash Test raided a Sumdac Systems to acquire a pallet of Destronium. Renegade Rhetoric (2), 2016/05/05 With their ill-gotten supplies, the Decepticons upgraded themselves into the second generation of Go-Bots, improving upon the technology of the GoBots of Strata 22, sending the Autobots on the defensive. Renegade Rhetoric (2), 2016/05/12 Subsequently, Nightracer stuck with Megatron when Nemesis Prime made a play for leadership. Renegade Rhetoric (2), 2016/05/19

Toys

Generation 2

She's still waiting for her insignia to finish downloading.

She feels positively naked without her stripes. (FX version shown).

• Nightracer (Go-Bot, 1995)

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

Nightracer was a BotCon 1995 exclusive toy, with a confirmed at-convention run of only 298 pieces. A redeco of the Generation 2 Go-Bot High Beam, Nightracer transforms into a "concept car" with an exposed rear engine that looks exactly like the Speed Blaster car from Mattel's Hot Wheels line 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, she is compatible with many Hot Wheels and Matchbox-brand playsets and tracks.

Technically, Nightracer is a literal repaint of the Go-Bots version of Bumblebee, using the same base plastic colors but lacking the gold overcoat paint layer, and featuring silver paint on her face and engine as opposed to Bumblebee's purple face and unpainted black engine. She also uses different wheels than Bumblebee, supposedly those intended for the Double Clutch/Mirage sculpt. (See "Notes" below for more details on the origin of the toy.) Each toy given at the convention was further modified with hand-painted blue stripes on the sides of the hood, and a custom-made Decepticon sigil sticker on the center of the hood.

Nightracer came packaged in a taped plastic factory bag affixed to a classic-series-styled card, also produced on a personal home printer.

Several years later, a large batch of Nightracer figures were sold through WhizBang Toys, both on eBay and through WhizBang's toy shows, presumably Hasbro overstock. This version of the toy lacks the hand-painted details and Decepticon sigil sticker, obviously.

Aside from being the first toy specifically redecoed for use as a convention exclusive, Nightracer was also the first Transformers toy sold as a female character to see North American release, however limited.

This mold was also used to make 2001 Robots in Disguise Crosswise.

• More information on Nightracer at TFU.info

Timelines

I make a pretty good Wipe-Out too!

• Krok / Nightracer (TFSS 3.0, 2015)

• Known designers: Raksha (original concept, bio)

Timelines Nightracer is a redeco of the Generations: Thrilling 30 Legends Class Tailgate mold, using the blues requested (but not used) for her original BotCon toy, transforming into a muscle car of probably-made-up model.

She shipped as the "freebie" figure in Version 3.0 of the Transformers Figure Subscription Service, in the same box as Krok, the 6th and final paid figure in the service. She came packed with a similarly recolored version of Groundbuster, named Shakar, an anagram of Raksha, Nightracer's creator and the host of Botcon 1995, who also contributed the text for Nightracer's packed-in bio card.

This toy was repurposed as a body for Shattered Glass Tailgate. This mold was also retooled into Thrilling 30 Windcharger.

• More information on Nightracer on TFU.info

Merchandise

Transformers Trading Card Game

• Nightracer, Gunner (2020)
  • Wave 5: Titan Masters Attack
  • Rarity: SRT
  • Card Number: T30/T46
  • Stars: 5

• Known designers: Sara Pitre-Durocher (illustrator)^[2]

This card's set was originally set for an April 2020 release, however due to the global COVID-19 pandemic the release was pushed back to May 29, 2020.

Notes

• Nightracer's 1995 toy colors weren't quite what Raksha had asked for: the lime-ish yellow plastic parts were supposed to be blue, but Hasbro had presumably told Raksha that the colors couldn't be changed.^[3] A possible reason for this is that, due to the Generation 2 Go-Bots' gang-molded nature, Nightracer was actually made from spare parts that were left over from the production run of the Japanese releases of Go-Bots Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Soundwave: Nightracer's "godawful yellow" is also the color of Soundwave's car shell. This would also explain the different wheels, which were supposedly intended for the Double Clutch/Mirage sculpt, which (along with the Motormouth/Ironhide sculpt) didn't see another release during this time span. Supposedly, then, the subsequent WhizBang release of Nightracer also consists of leftover parts from the same production run as the Japanese Go-Bots.
• Nightracer's Timelines magazine profile art (seen below) depicts her with a unique character model not seen before or since: a body-type patterned after Animated Arcee; apparently a case of artistic license, as artist Matthew Armstrong had incorporated elements of Animated characters into the other profiles he drew for Fun Publications.
• The original Nightracer's name, character, and biography never went through the Hasbro approval process—Raksha in fact originally maintained that Hasbro had no legal claim on the character. Having alleviated this concern one way or another, Raksha penned the bio for Nightracer's Timelines toy in 2015, formally canonizing the character's original characterization some 20 years later.
• As of the end of "A Flash Forward", Nightracer is pretty friendly, apparently okay with Side Burn hitting on her, and also now aligned with the Autobots. Well, at least they finally got the colors right.

Gallery

• 

  Generation 2 card art

• 

  Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club profile art

• 

  Timelines card art

References