Garboil is a Decepticon Mini-Cassette from the Collector's Edition portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

No, not "garble".

Garboil (ガーボイル Gāboiru) is a member of the elite Cobalt Sentries, the "public safety unit" of the Decepticon Secret Police. His primary function is information control; he keeps tabs on everyone. Not just the citizens of worlds under Decepticon control in his endless hunt for rebels, but also on his fellow Decepticons, weeding out potential traitors or potential future Secret Police members. When he's not doing that, he's making sure the right information is being released to the troops or public... even if the "right" information is a carefully crafted pack of lies.

Despite his important position within the Secret Police, he has very little combat capability. His main strength is in his vocoder, which is capable of generating a powerful cacophonic blast with a subsonic override signal, causing confusion and fear in his targets.

Fiction

Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

Legends comic

With Soundwave and the other Decepticon cassettes, Garboil was part of an attack on the Ark to steal the new Transform Super Cog in the late 1980s. Slugslinger's Ambition

Masterpiece toy bios

Garboil attempted to tempt Cordon into joining the Cobalt Sentries. Cordon profile

The Cobalt Sentries managed to acquire several of the mysterious "G2 bodies" from the planet Foreston, and upgraded Decepticons with them. One such Decepticon was Riggorus, whose upgrade took place on a sealed room in a Decepticon flagship with the procedure overseen by Garboil himself, who assured the medic he had nothing to worry about with regards to the unusual soldier watching the proceedings.

As part of the Cobalt Sentries, Garboil got in contact with the mysterious "Liegemen", who had originally scuppered the first G2 experiments, and helped supply them with raw material recruits. The whole thing was kept on the hush-hush from Megatron, since the Sentries figured the Liegemen Empire wasn't a threat to them.

Some time later, the Decepticons decided to go get some more G2 bodies from Foreston, with some assistance from the Liegemen. In a battle over the Diadem facility and its protectors, the Liegemen abandoned Garboil to make a grab for the technology for themselves. The injured Sentry was found by Riggorus, and in his state let slip about the deal, much to the medic's disgruntlement. He patched the condor up, but on the grounds that he make himself useful and win the fight for the Decepticons, with a talk about doctor-patient confidentiality for later. Riggorus profile

Lil Formers

Garboil was one of the absurd amount of minions Soundwave ejected out of his chest, all in a row, in preparation for a fight. Lil Formers

Games

Transformers: Frontiers

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Transformers Roleplaying Game

Garboil was one of Soundwave’s secondary cassette minions, with a body based on Laserbeak’s original form. In his role as an information officer, he kept tabs on his fellow Decepticons by spreading rumors and lies designed to keep his comrades at one another’s throats. Decepticon Directive

Toys

Collector's Edition

The Bluebird of ZAPPINESS.

• Cobalt Sentry (2-pack, 2005)

• ID number: 70 (individual), 71 (Cobalt Sentries set)
• Accessories: Left & right "Phonon Maser" cannons/thrusters, cassette case

Collector's Edition Garboil is a redeco of the Laserbeak/Buzzsaw mold, transforming from a mechanical condor into a microcassette tape that can fit in the chest compartment of the Soundwave or Blaster molds. His blue coloration is based on the pre-Transformers individually-sold Micro Change "Microcassette Robo MC-03 Condor" toy. He also came with a clear-plastic cassette case, like early Takara releases of cassette Transformers.

His "tape window" shows a readout of the Autobot Fortress Maximus, including a "weak point" that's revealed when Garboil is placed behind a clear-red piece of transparent plastic, particularly the "tape door" chestplate of the Soundblaster toy (which had just gotten re-released as part of The Transformers Collection!). But of course he will also work the various Twincast releases, or any other clear-red plastic such as the old Tech Spec decoders.

Garboil was only available in an e-HOBBY exclusive "Cobalt Sentry" two-pack with Howlback, shipping out to buyers in April 2005.

This mold was later used to make another e-HOBBY exclusive, Sundor.

• More information on Garboil at TFU.info

Notes

Here's how Garboil can still win.

• "Garboil" is an actual English word, meaning "confusion" or "uproar"... hence his special power.
• Garboil's coloration is based on a pre-Transformers Micro Change "Microcassette Robo" version of the toy, the blue MC-03 Condor. This deco was only available individually in the Micro Change line.
• The Wings Universe incarnation of Laserbeak is described as a Cryo-Condor. This designation may apply to all characters sharing Laserbeak's body-type.
• Artwork provided by Hasbro to retailers to visually merchandise the War for Cybertron: Siege toyline features Garboil on Soundwave's arm.^[1] The art was first seen by the public as part of a poster handed out by Hasbro reps at New York Comic Con 2018; given the poster features other Decepticon High Command characters like Soundwave, Megatron, Shockwave, Starscream, Thundercracker, and Laserbeak's partner Ravage, it seems like someone in the art department may have mixed up their bird cassettes.

References