Obsidian is a Vehicon from the Beast Era portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning."

Obsidian and his consort Strika have fought for Cybertron in countless battles... and won them all. Though he is sophisticated and canny, able to concoct strategies with layers upon layers, his purpose is single-minded. He defends Cybertron.

There is some fine print. Whoever happens to be in charge, whether a benevolent or malevolent force, in his reasoning, is Cybertron. Once power changes hands, so does he. He is loyal only to the planet, and perhaps his consort Strika, not to any moral ideals. As his fellow Vehicon General Thrust has remarked, "If you're loyal to everybody, can you really be loyal to anybody?"... a question that has given Obsidian pause.

While he was pretending to be dumber even than Tankor, his activation code (and, indeed, his entire vocabulary) was "obliterate". He dropped the word when the ruse was over.

Obsidian is sometimes a former Autobot or a former Predacon.^[1]

Fiction

Beast Wars cartoon continuity

Beast Machines cartoon

Voice actor: Paul Dobson (English), Masaya Onosaka (Japanese), Yu Deyuan (Chinese), Dario de Castro (Brazilian Portuguese), Andreas Hosang (German), Patrick Donnay (French)

Tired of the Maximals using his world as a playground and getting fed up with Thrust's inability to handle them, Megatron selected two Sparks to be his new generals. When Thrust first saw Obsidian and Strika, he remarked "Very nice, boss. Very very nice." However, the feeling wasn't mutual, as Thrust discovered when he started to inform the new guys of their enemies—and was batted away by Obsidian, bouncing off the wall and sliding to a halt at his "feet".

Obsidian: Larger than you remember.

Obsidian was quick to act against the Maximals, ambushing Silverbolt and Nightscream with Strika. Screaming "Obliterate!" repeatedly, he pursued Silverbolt but was tackled by Optimus Primal, sending both crashing into the ground. When Optimus tried to reason with him, Obsidian merely fired at him and transformed, escaping into the city. He rendezvoused with Strika and let the Maximals into a trap, as hundred of drones modeled after the two generals surrounded them. Transforming to robot mode, Obsidian remarked "Although he took his name from a great leader, Optimus Primal never learned the first rule of warfare: NEVER underestimate your opponent." The Maximals were able to escape the trap, but found all of their escape routes blocked by drones, Rattrap surprised at the number of drones and Optimus realizing that it wasn't number but tactics; their new opponents were master strategists. Forced to barricade themselves inside the Counsel Citadel, Primal realized that they had been herded there, at which point Obsidian contacted him and offered the Maximals the chance to surrender themselves. Revealing who he and Strika were, Obsidian informed Optimus that "Megatron IS Cybertron. To defend one is to defend the other. And to betray Megatron is to invite death." Despite their advantage, Obsidian and Strika were unable to capture the Maximals due to Botanica's timely arrival, disrupting the drones' targeting systems and allowing the Maximals to escape. The Strike

Obsidian, LA Nails spokes-bot.

Obsidian's next major move was against Cheetor, Blackarachnia, and Silverbolt. Sent to a shell yard by Megatron and told to wait for the Maximals (as Megatron had sent Optimus a flash about the Sparks and their possible locations, which of course was a trap), Obsidian attacked the trio, outgunning and outflanking them easily. However, a power core thrown by Cheetor was hit by a shot from one of Obsidian's drones even as he was desperately telling them to cease fire, causing a huge explosion that sent him and his drones flying away in a fiery shockwave. The Search

When Megatron began to enact his plan for the Sparks, Obsidian and Strika were stationed to watch over the ground and air around the BFH. While he didn't get to do much personally, Obsidian attempted to engage Savage/Noble in single combat, only to have one of his own drones smacked into him and then Strika thrown into him. Ouch. The Siege

After Megatron's seeming destruction, the generals were at a loss. Without a leader they had no purpose, and when Cheetor and Nightscream approached them with an offer to join the Maximals they accepted, much to Thrust's annoyance: he snarled at Obsidian that if he was loyal to everyone, he was loyal to no one.. A possessed Jet Drone suddenly attacked both the generals and the Maximals, destroying the drones that were present. Obsidian and Strika did not join Cheetor and Nightscream in the fight against the Jet Drone (wusses). Later, Optimus welcomed the two to the group and sent them to patrol the inside of the Grand Mal, where they unsuccessfully tried to stop Megatron's depolarized Spark from entering. After Megatron was re-polarized and bonded to a Diagnostic Drone, Obsidian and Strika seized him and made their escape, pledging their loyalty to evil once again. Obsidian admitted it was Thrust who had made him and Strika realize where their loyalties lay. Spark of Darkness

Hey, it's the sun! Holy crap.

The conflict came to a head when Megatron began an all-out attack on his former base, seeking to reclaim the Sparks. Obsidian fell victim to Rattrap's identity scrambler, destroying several of his own troops before realizing his mistake. He later returned to his main fleet that was attacking the BFH, but they were unable to penetrate the shields. That changed when Megatron found a device Rattrap used to send Botanica back to the surface—a shield harmonic device synchronized to the base's shields. Obsidian and Strika were then able to fire through the shields and destroy the base's drive units, sending it plummeting into the Citadel. The Downward Spiral

After repairing and placing his troops, Obsidian began a second attack on the Grand Mal with Strika and Thrust. Taking down the shields and defeating several Maximals, the trio were left with only Cheetor in their way. However, the Maximal led them into the engine room, where he brought the anti-gravity generators online and sent Obsidian and Strika into Cybertron's orbit. When Legends Fall

Transformers Legends anthology

While Obsidian and Strika were agreeing to side with the Maximals, after Megatron's apparent death, Megatron's spark animated an Aero Drone body. Unimpressed with their duplicity, Megatron cut off their access to their drone armies and opened fire on them. Singularity Ablyss

3H comics

Though marooned in orbit, Strika and Obsidian were otherwise undamaged and were able to serve Cybertron once more. When the Quintessons invaded technorganic Cybertron one week after the Great Transformation, Obsidian rewired an orbiting monitoring station for combat, while Strika used its artillery to take down an impressive target. The Quintesson ship Paradigm was destroyed in low orbit over Polyhex. Strika and Obsidian turned their attentions to the planetary defense grid. Though they had faith in the Maximals below, as they had bested even them, the two still served the lofty goal of protecting Cybertron from invaders. Wreckers: Finale Part II

Legends comic

Obsidian and Strika were still floating in the skies following the end of the Spark War. Epiloge

Timelines

Voice actor: Paul Dobson (English)

During the time that the Ark spent in stasis on Earth, Obsidian was an Autobot general. Saber was a skilled operative of his, but Saber's sense of honor occasionally clashed with his superior's pragmatic approach to war. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/09/15

The Tripredacus agent Flamewar was held prisoner and interrogated by a group of Autobots and Maximals which included Obsidian. However, it transpired that the questioning was merely a test of suitability by the Predacon insurrectionist Megatron, and the entity appearing to be Obsidian was in fact a disguised Buzz Saw. Intimidation Game

Wings Universe

Obsidian was one of the most seasoned and decorated military officers in Cybertronian history. After the departure of the Ark and the Nemesis, Obsidian was essential to the remaining Autobot guerrilla campaigns on Cybertron. As a strategist and tactical coordinator, he worked closely with his comrade Strika, remaining personally off the battlefield but engineering a campaign of urban warfare and counter-action that prevented Shockwave from ever taking full control of Cybertron's resources.

When Unicron threw Decepticon-controlled Cybertron into disarray in 2005, Obsidian stepped out from the shadows and led the Autobots to a decisive military victory, claiming Cybertron as their own for the first time in over four million years. His contributions were publicly recognized by Optimus Prime, and Obsidian was decorated with nearly every military rank and honor in the book. Wings Universe Obsidian profile

At the dawn of the Machine Wars in 2013, Optimus Prime was comatose and years of peace under the second Golden Age had left Cybertron unprepared for outright war. As the highest ranking military official left on Cybertron, Obsidian assumed command of planetary defense. He promoted Guzzle, Dogfight, Clamp Down, Jazz, Backstreet, and Hardhead to City Commanders, ordered the release of all prisoners—Autobot and Decepticon—willing to fight, and authorized the use of all weapons of war available to the Cybertronian defenders. Termination

Two days before Jhiaxus’s army reached Cybertron, Pyro and Obsidian conversed over video transmissions. Obsidian learned that the Sandstorm that was helping him was actually a double, as the real Sandstorm was currently with Pyro on Earth. Obsidian then took the time to plant a serro-gyro mekarach on the clone, which would later activate itself during the battle to come. A Common Foe

KING ME!

The war effort initially seemed to be going poorly, as one-by-one the City Commanders withdrew from their assigned city-states, allowing the clone armies to occupy greater and greater territory. Three days later, however, Obsidian struck back by attacking Thunderclones near the Rad Zone while disguised as civilians. Their deception was successful, and Obsidian's forces managed to capture the clone general Thundercracker and learn the location of their leader, Megaplex: Iacon. Obsidian marched a half-dozen troops into Iacon, using Thundercracker as a hostage to draw out Megaplex. When the clone commander arrived, Obsidian revealed his trump card: an entire army of Cybertronians, drawn from the various city-states and cloaked inside Iacon. The previous retreats by the City Commanders had been a ruse, allowing Obsidian to bring them all together at the clones' key military location, obliterating them all. However, the clone Sandstorm's actual personality activated at that moment, and Sandstorm gunned down Obsidian and assumed command of the clone army. Jhiaxus and the rest of his forces soon arrived, explaining that Megaplex had become too much like his template Megatron. Jhiaxus offered both Megaplex and Obsidian's forces the same choice: leave Cybertron or be destroyed. Termination

Facing off against a squad of Sandstorm drones, Obsidian and Strika declared to the onlooking Jhiaxus that they would fight him to the bitter end. With Jhiaxus unwilling to let up his invasion, Obsidian engaged the enemy, slicing in half a nearby drone. The whole battlefield then lit up with laser blasts, and Obsidian and his cohort pressed on in their defending of their homeworld. The serro-gyro mekarach then did what Obsidian intended, disabling the clone Sandstorm and drawing on Sandstorm's energon supply to send a pre-arranged signal to Earth. This prompted Pyro to enact their plan: deploying Alpha and Bravo Teams as reinforcements to Cybertron.

Obsidian ultimately succeeded when Jhiaxus surrendered, the Cybertronian declaring that he had in fact won because he inadvertently got Autobot and Decepticon to fight for each other rather than against each other. A week later, the Pax Cybertronia was signed on Earth by the Autobots, Decepticons, and Jhiaxus's clones, bringing about the end of the Great War. Obsidian and Strika immediately vanished from public view, however, saying that they did not want their faces to remind the public of the war. A Common Foe

Toy bios

Created as a "mindless aerial-attack automaton", Obsidian served his creator, Megatron, with an armanent of heat-seeking missiles that could penerate 800 meters underground. A low-flying aerial combat unit, Obsidian acted in conjunction with tank drones and played "symphonic scores" to unnerve his Maximal opponents. While he proved aggressive in battle, Obsidian was quite calm outside of it, hovering peacefully for hours. Beast Machines bio

Universe CD-ROM

Whee.

On one version of Cybertron, Obsidian fought alongside the Decepticons Tankor, Razorclaw, Reptillion [sic], and Blackarachnia against Optimus Primal and his Autobots. One of these battles—the most violent of that year—was interrupted by a mysterious ship that sucked those Decepticons up on beams of light and sped away. None of the combatants realized that it was taking its captives to Unicron for use in a massive army. Universe CD-ROM

Universe comic

A universe where I can not spell "possibilities"!

An Obsidian hailed from Primax 208.06 Zeta, Ask Vector Prime, 2015/08/16 where he was an Autobot general during the Great War, decorated with the highest military honors for leading many successful campaigns on Cybertron against the Decepticons. Universe Obsidian profile In Obsidian's universe during the Beast Wars, Starscream took permanent control of Waspinator's body and staged a coup against Megatron after slaughtering most of the Maximals. Megatron was quickly defeated by the upstart, but on the way back to Cybertron he managed to escape, travelling forward in time and creating a transformation virus that allowed him to take over Cybertron. (Sound familiar?) When Starscream's Transmetallized troops arrived, the virus severely weakened them but allowed them to stay mobile. They eventually found the Oracle, who granted them technorganic bodies. Megatron retaliated by creating Vehicon Generals. (This ring a bell?) After Silverbolt was freed from his Jetstorm body, Megatron retaliated by bringing the vaunted Autobot general Obsidian online. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/08/16

When Megatron gave him a new, helicopter-based body, Obsidian hid his thirst for revenge behind a feigned loyalty. He conspired with the brute Tankor, eventually using the latter's raw strength to carry out Megatron's termination. The vain Obsidian, an ex-Autobot, supplanted the Predacon's rule with an iron-fisted tyranny of his own. With his enforcer Tankor at his side, Obsidian put down uprisings, Universe Obsidian profile battled against the many resistance groups that had sprung up across Cybertron, Ask Vector Prime, 2015/08/16 and basically held the planet in fear... until Unicron decided that such a mindset would serve his own purposes, and he pulled them out of their universe entirely. Universe Obsidian profile

Unicron, his ruined form trapped between dimensions, sought to revitalize himself by pitting abducted Transformers against each other within his own body, absorbing their energon radiation and, eventually, sparks. But Obsidian was spared this fate, instead overseeing the deathmatch arena along with Tankor, Razorclaw, Reptilion, and Striker. Silverbolt, one of the intended victims, recognized Obsidian. Obsidian confirmed the familiarity, but noted that in his and Tankor's own timeline, Silverbolt had "died screaming". Abduction

Dunk tank!

Two others from Silverbolt's party, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, were scheduled for an immediate duel within the Cauldron, and Obsidian tossed them their weapons. Sideswipe tried to turn on his captor, but his punch was repelled by Reptilion's machinery. As Sideswipe was punished, Obsidian reassured them that over time, all "remaining veneer of civilisation" would be stripped from them. For all his boasting and accomplishments, though, Obsidian still did a pretty crappy job of keeping Optimus Primal from freeing Silverbolt and dozens of other captives. He was nowhere to be seen as Optimus Primal battled Razorclaw, and showed up to pursue the fleeing captives, along with the other generals, only after they had left the Cauldron.

However, Blackarachnia and Shadow Striker opted to stay behind with the generals, as Unicron's influence had corrupted them. Obsidian and Tankor escorted Blackarachnia to Unicron's core, where she was reunited with Tarantulas. Escape

Much later, Optimus Primal waged one last desperate assault against Unicron, and his Children of Primus were able to defeat the Minions of Unicron. As Unicron himself seemed to dissolve below them, Obsidian and Nemesis Strika were left behind and were last seen falling to their deaths. Revelations Part 2

2005 IDW continuity

First appearance: Windblade vol. 2 #3

"Obsidian! Fetch me the TV remote!"

Obsidian served aboard Carcer, a Titan flying through space under Elita One. All That Remains As her second in command, he was aware that the Titan was not Carcer but in fact Vigilem, something he was sworn to secrecy on. Desperate Measures After battling combiners from Cybertron briefly touched the Titan, Obsidian reported the events to Elita One, who was amused by the news. All That Remains When Starscream and Windblade arrived on Carcer to invite the inhabitants into Cybertron's Council of Worlds, Elita One asked Obsidian for his opinion on the matter, and he voiced his belief that Starscream was lying about the supposed peace they'd find on Cybertron. Nonetheless, Windblade convinced the crew of Carcer to join the Council of Worlds, and two weeks later Obsidian and Strika were sent as ambassadors. The Will of the Few He would end up running the Justice Committee, which handled inter-world legal issues. 07:00:00

As the Carcer crew integrated into Cybertron's society, Obsidian was seen greeting Airazor on the streets of Metroplex. Choose Me When Optimus Prime announced that he'd annexed Earth into the Council of Worlds, the ambassadors gathered for a meeting to discuss the event. New Worlds Order

You might think they're trying to undercut Starscream but we couldn't possibly comment.

The political situation was so messy on Cybertron that Obsidian began to see why Elita One kept the bulk of them away. Applicable Skills The ongoing police brutality began to threaten Carcerian interests though, as he found someone who knew mnemosurgery and was assaulting Decepticons had finally hit someone who was a supplier to Carcer. Elita One tasked him to help Windblade reform the Badgeless. Obsidian called a meeting of the Justice Committee—an annoyed Starscream noting purely internal crime was not committee business—and questioned Ironhide on the security business he ran as a way to punk Starscream by showing nobody trusted the Badgeless, before whipping out all the evidence that first horrified the delegates and secondly showed it was now affecting another colony. To Ironhide's surprise, Obsidian then proposed the Autobot himself become a special prosecutor to clean up the Badgeless and prove it wasn't corrupt. Starscream was backed into a corner. When the Badgeless killed a Decepticon that night, Obsidian arrived at the scene and threatened that Elita would hear about this, and the Badgeless had better get their 'facts' in order. 07:00:00

The following day, as Obsidian and Airazor groused about Cybertron to each other, an anti-Badgeless march came towards the Council building and Obsidian remarked that as they were stuck with Cybertron's problems, they'd have to solve them. At the Council meeting on the unrest, Obsidian quietly helped Ironhide propose he take personal control of the police and reform it wholesale. Applicable Skills At the next Council meeting, Obsidian offered his congratulations to Ironhide for his progress in cleaning up the police force. Things We Said We'd Never Do

Not the bird.

Once Prime arrived to explain himself for laying claim to Earth, Obsidian and Strika voiced their opinion that he had no right annexing a populated world. The Medium and the Message As the situation on Earth heated up, Optimus succeeded in raising a Titan from the ground - a seemingly supernatural feat that made many individuals on the Council reconsider their earlier ruling. No Fair Fights

When Windblade returned to Cybertron, Obsidian met her at the Space Bridge, where he offered her comfort over her insecurities before listing the many things they had to do when his communicator suddenly pinged. He and Windblade called an emergency meeting of the Council to allow a declaration of war, explaining that Carcer's sensors had detected a Space Bridge spitting out a horde of undead (and hostile) Titans that would arrive at Cybertron in six hours. Ping

He has better things to do today than die with honor.

When the Cybertronians tried to seize Carcer from Elita, Obsidian advised his leader to simply tell the truth, but his suggestion was shot down. Desperate Times Overseeing the battle with Lancer and Greenlight, he began to suspect the Cybertronians were simply trying to distract them. Greenlight later reported a breach which sealed itself, prompting Obsidian to check the cameras, letting him see that Windblade was leading a team to the armoury. Obsidian saw through the ruse and reported the situation to Elita while he went to defend the Titan's brain module, arriving before any intruders could enter. When the real Windblade's team arrived, Obsidian tried to talk them down from reactivating the Titan, stating that they should trust him, before they all came to blows. Outnumbered, Obsidian was mauled by Tigatron before Moonracer and Fireshot grounded him by destroying his propellers. Desperate, he begged Windblade not to go through with the mind meld, but she felt she had no choice and Vigilem was reactivated. Desperate Measures

When Windblade realized the folly of her action, Obisdian screamed to her to keep Vigilem's higher functions, asking that her allies trust him. When Windblade seemed to be losing control, Obsidian opted to pull the plug but Tigatron kept him down, prompting Obsidian to scream that the Eukarian was dooming them all and allowing Vigilem time to release Liege Maximo. When Elita One arrived to bring a permanent end to Vigilem, Obsidian begged her to hold her fire, to no avail as Elita emptied her weapon into the Titan's brain module, killing him and seemingly Windblade as well. Rubicon

Once Cybertron had begun to rebuild, Obsidian attended a Council meeting where Optimus and Starscream argued over trading with the Junkions. Behind My Bleeding Back

Seems to have finally taken Thrust's words on loyalty to heart.

Growing increasingly disillusioned with Optimus Prime, Obsidian kept an optic on the prison where G.I. Joe and M.A.S.K. were being held (it didn't violate any of the current statutes) in case Optimus tried anything. Sure enough Optimus's team broke the humans out of jail. Obsidian soon brought the news to Starscream who, after taking a moment to bask in his glory, mobilized all forces after Optimus. When Obsidian questioned Elita's decision to have Starscream take command, the First revealed to her subordinate that she intended for all humans to die and that Obsidian had best wrap up the killings before too much time was wasted. First Strike #5 Catching up with the rogues and villains outside of the core's chamber, Obsidian engaged Optimus at Elita's command, his missile barrage nearly disintegrating Scarlett and Joe Colton. Garrison Kreiger then activated the alien Talisman, revealed himself to be an alien known as "Merklynn" and created New Prysmos using Cybertron's energon supply. Obsidian later held a briefing regarding the alien site and its effect on Cybertron's energon. First Strike #6

Trusted advisor, strategist and study-buddy.

When the Council of Worlds met to discuss the unsuitability of Cybertron's energon, Obsidian stood by Starscream during his rant. The Dead Come Home, Part 1

Obsidian showed up to see Chromia off on her mission into space to track down the escaped Liege Maximo. He presented Greenlight and Lancer to Chromia as reliable crewmates for her journey. After Windblade revealed Liege Maximo's freedom to the public, free elections were called, with Elita throwing her name in the ring. After she'd secured herself as a candidate, Obsidian confirmed she was the favoured to win before offering his aid for the debates. Elita declined and asked him to instead begin drawing up battle plans for Maximo's return, allowing for a 33% fatality rate. The Chosen One

When Unicron attacked Cybertron, Elita drafted the Torchbearers into her service so as to have Victorion breach the monster's innards and destroy him from within. Unicron's heralds, the Decepticon Vengeance Division, proved too much for Cybertron's ragtag fleet with the flagship Worldsweeper crippling Carcer. As the ship began falling apart, Obsidian was crushed underneath debris, killing him. Our Finest His corpse was presumably destroyed when Elita defiantly rammed the totaled ship into Unicron's face. Road's End

Kre-O comic

When Metroplex came under attack from Earth's five most wanted criminals, Obsidian led the Autobots against them. He held his own against Doctor Arkeville during the fight. The villains nearly made their escape with a disk containing Metroplex's brain, much to Obsidian's dismay. Thankfully, Carzap managed to intercept the disk, and the villains were forced to flee empty-handed. With their base safe once more, Obsidian thanked the Autobots under his command for a job well-done. The Brick List: Earth's Most Wanted

Beast Wars: Uprising

Obsidian was Razor-Claw's loyal general and was chosen to be his representative to the Cybertronian Parliament after the Vehicon Apocalypse. Derailment

2019 IDW continuity

First appearance: Transformers #26

Trying out for Rotor Force.

Obsidian studied multiple disciplines in Crystal City before the wars. A Dust of Crystals

Obsidian was part of a crowd of Decepticons who watched Termagax denounce them (and Megatron in particular) for twisting her ideals. Awakenings He was recruited into Strika's Heavies just before a major Decepticon attack on the Pyramid. When Apeface asked him if he wanted a weapon, Obsidian simply replied he himself was the weapon. During the assault, Obsidian breached the Pyramid through a hole in the roof created by Nova Storm and swiftly sliced Brawn's chest open with his rotor blades. He was forced to back off however, when Javelin shot him in the shoulder. Titans

Obsidian Tzu

Obsidian joined the rest of Strika's Heavies in the massive assault on Crystal City, musing beforehand about his fondness for the place. He and Wingstun scouted the city ahead of the main force and found its streets largely deserted. Suddenly, Wingstun's head was blown off by Sidetrack and Obsidian promptly moved to engage the attacking Autobot. Kup barely shouted out a warning before Obsidian eviscerated Sidetrack in a single pass and called down an airstrike on his position, sending Kup's team scattering for cover as he escaped. A Dust of Crystals After Lodestar arrived on the battlefield, most of the Decepticons retreated, save the Heavies. When Computron exited Lodestar, Strika ordered her team to take him down and Obsidian flew into battle alongside Apeface, rebuffing his comrade's attempt at small talk. Obsidian sliced Computron's arm, but was casually finger-flicked to the ground by the combiner, whereupon he found himself held at gunpoint by some arriving Autobots. In the end, the Heavies stood down as Optimus Prime successfully forged a temporary truce with Megatron. The Landscape of Fear

Obsidian and the Decepticons flew out to intercept the Autobots as they made their way to Darkmount. End of Time He watched as Megatron was forced to let the Autobots go after they removed the imploder being used to hold them hostage. Fate of Cybertron

Games

Transformers Roleplaying Game

Obsidian and Strika were some of the greatest generals in Cybertronian history, who'd fought and won a thousand wars over the course of their long careers. As Megatron's newest Vehicon Generals, Obsidian considered Megatron to be synonymous with Cybertron. Technorganic Secrets

Toys

Beast Machines

This time, your farewell will be forever, brother.

• Obsidian (Basic, 2000)

• Accessories: 2 rotors
• Known designers: Takashi Kunihiro (TakaraTomy)

Part of the second wave of Beast Machines Basics, Obsidian transforms into a twin-rotor assault helicopter vaguely similar to an Osprey. His cockpit in helicopter mode is multi-jointed to allow it movement to look around, the Vehicons' toy aesthetic being "living vehicles". The cockpit's "eyes" further enhance the effect. The two rotor blades are pressure-launch projectiles. His nominal robot "flight" mode keeps his tail section together but curled up below him (as in the show), but the tail section can split up to form a pair of "normal" legs as well. His orange spark crystal is located on the robot mode's back.

The same mold is used by Robots in Disguise Obsidian. A hand-painted mock-up of the mold was presented as a proposed Wreckers Rotorbolt as a future BotCon exclusive, but was never produced.

• More information on Beast Machines Obsidian at TFU.info

You lost the right to call me brother long ago!

• Obsidian / Quickstrike (2-pack, 2000)

• Accessories: 2 rotors

Obsidian was also available in a two-pack with the Maximal Quickstrike. Both toys are actually on their original individual cards, but packed within a thick cardboard backing with "Beast Machines 2 Pack" printed on it. The set was sold at the now-defunct ToyCo retail store, which was similar to KB Toys and appeared in several of the "Mills" family of shopping centers, like Arizona Mills or Ontario Mills, in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Universe (2003)

Oh, fine, everyone immediately recognize your old enemy Tankor, but does anyone think I'm the dashing Rotorbolt? No!

• Tankor & Obsidian (Ultra, 2003)

• Accessories: 2 rotors

Part of the second wave of Universe Ultras, this redeco of the Beast Machines Obsidian toy was only available with his larger partner Tankor. The toy features the "energon surge" paint deco most of the early Universe toys featured.

This toy's coloration is not too far from the proposed colors for the unmade Wrecker Rotorbolt (save the "energon surge" deco, of course). As such, many fans use him as a substitute for the haughty Predacon.

• More information on Universe Obsidian at TFU.info

Beast Wars Returns

I was as I always was... a stage magician! ...no no no wait...

• Vehicon Obsidian (Basic, 2005)

• ID number: BR-14
• Release date: April 14, 2005
• Accessories: 2 rotors

In 2005, the toy was redecoed and released as part of the Toys"R"Us Japan exclusive Beast Wars Returns series, Takara's version of Beast Machines. Having been produced several years after the cartoon was, this version had a deco considerably more show-accurate than the original, but still not quite there, physical differences between the mold and show model regardless.

Interestingly, Beast Wars Returns Obsidian's vertical stabilizers/heels have been swapped in comparison to previous releases of the mold.

Timelines

I am not as I always was. For a while I was that thing over there! <-

• Machine Wars: Termination (Box set, 2013)

• Accessories: 2 gatling guns

Timelines Obsidian is a retool of Hunt for the Decepticons Voyager Class Highbrow, featuring a new head, and transforming into a World War II-era fighter resembling a P-38 Lightning. He features propellers which are geared to spin if you press the engines down, is armed with two non-firing gatling guns which can mount on his hip guards/small front wings via 5 mm post. The propellers on his forearms can be swung down to function as "spinning blade weapons". With the cockpit shell halves splitting open and forming the wings, at the same time revealing the thruster attached underneath the "main" cockpit body, which is then flipped down, the cockpit kibble on his back actually turns into a jet pack.

Yo.

Originally, Obsidian was revealed as having a green, toy-accurate color scheme, but was later revised to be a more cartoon-accurate dark teal.

Obsidian comes in a BotCon 2013-exclusive boxset with Hoist, Skywarp, Strika, and Megaplex. The original version of this toy, with the alternate head, was used to make Generations GDO Powerdive.

• More information on Timelines Obsidian at TFU.info

Kre-O

• Machine Wars (Kreon Souvenir Figure Set, 2013)

• Accessories: 2 small pistols

The Kre-O Machine Wars five-pack was exclusive to BotCon 2013, and includes Kreons of Hoist, Megaplex, Obsidian, Skywarp, and Strika, limited to 1500 pieces. They have generally more parts than the Kreons packed in with larger Kre-O sets, but do not have alternate vehicle builds like Micro-Changers.

The Obsidian Kreon is based on the early promotional images of the full-sized BotCon Obsidian toy, which showed it in the green and blue colors of the original Beast Machines Obsidian toy. While the larger toy changed colors to be more accurate to the cartoon model, the Kreon retains the original bright scheme.

• More information on Obsidian at TFU.info

Notes

(BotCon 2013 Wings Universe profile art)

• Obsidian had the pre-release name of "Blitzwing".^[2]
• At one point Obsidian was planned to have a Mega toy that would be more show-accurate. Sadly, this toy never made it past pre-production. (Rotorbolt was originally going to be a BotCon exclusive redeco of this mold, explaining why he was drawn to match Obsidian's show appearance in The Wreckers comic rather than the Basic toy.)
• Story editor Bob Skir wanted to depict Obsidian and Strika's return to Cybertron after the reformatting wave hit in the last episode, making them the only two purely mechanical beings remaining. They would refuse reformatting into techno-organic forms, seeing being in their normal bodies as punishment for their misguided actions. However, this never made it into the series.
• In his panel at TFNation 2019, Marty Isenberg admitted that the inclusion of an Animated version of Obsidian in the outline for the unproduced episode "Trial of Megatron, Part 1" might have been a simple slip-up on his part, one that would have been corrected in the final cut by having Strika featured in Obsidian's place.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Obsidian (オブシディアン Obushidian)
• Mandarin: Osedi (Taiwan, 奧西迪 Àoxīdí), Jīngāngxiá (China, 金刚侠, "Vajra Stalwart"), Hēiyàoshí (China, 黑曜石, "Obsidian")

References