Wingblade is an Autobot from the Transformers portion the movie continuity family.

He's been getting an awful lot of some lady's mail since 2013.

Wingblade is second only to Ironhide in the number of confirmed Decepticon kills, and that is only because Ironhide is older. When he is not hunting Decepticons, he can be found either training in combat or working on new weapons and maintaining his equipment in preparation for combat. He even keeps a lengthy database of alternate vehicle modes to change into so he can be as efficiently deadly as possible in any form. He is meticulous about keeping not only his vast arsenal in perfect working order, but scrubbing his body panels clean and keeping them damage-free.^[1]

However, since Wingblade spends all his spare time preparing for his next mission, his fellow Autobots are a little worried that he simply does not know how to live outside of the battlefield. Although he is one of the largest Autobots around, he never has anything to say unless he is acknowledging orders from his superiors. Most of Wingblade's allies are convinced that if the war ever ended, he would simply shut down and wait for a new one to start, which Wingblade has not denied. But at least he's in good company.^[2]

Fiction

IDW movie comics

Many years ago, Wingblade was a member of Optimus's Science Division, under the overall command of Protector Megatron. After a mysterious relic was uncovered outside the Simfur Temple (which coincided with an attack by aliens unknown from the Eshems Nebula), Defiance #1 Protector Megatron changed, seizing control of Cybertron's military and essentially declaring himself dictator. Optimus implored the 'bots under his command to not follow Megatron into war, advice that Wingblade heeded. Defiance #2 Unfortunately, soon after, Megatron declared Optimus and his group "traitors" following a failed attempt to capture the scientist leader and kill his subordinates. Defiance #3

Forced by circumstances beyond their control, Wingblade and other scientists became soldiers in Optimus Prime's Autobot faction against Megatron's Decepticons. He was present when the Autobots watched the Decepticons launch the Nemesis in search of a Star Harvester. Foundation #3 As the civil war reached its height, Optimus revealed his plan to allegedly capture the AllSpark and somehow transport it aboard their ship, the Ark. What most of the Autobots didn't know was Optimus planned to launch the Cube into deep space, away from Megatron, to give the Autobots a fighting chance. Wingblade was one of the Autobots who elected to remain behind on Cybertron. Defiance #4

Thousands of years later, after Megatron had been killed on Earth and the AllSpark destroyed, Wingblade and his friends were part of the Autobot underground resistance to Starscream and Dreadwing's rule. They were preparing to move out to Simfur on a rescue mission when Arcee returned from Mars. The Reign of Starscream #4 Wingblade, Breakaway, and Strongarm moved to create diversion at the capitol of Trypticon so Arcee's team could move in. However, Dreadwing's drone forces attempted a coup, complicating the situation, so Wingblade's team was instead assigned the task of deactivating the drone army via a fail safe switch in the city. The Autobots barely got out of Trypticon in time as Dreadwing's escape ship plummeted down and destroyed the once-magnificent capitol of Cybertron. The Reign of Starscream #5

Toys

Transformers (2007)

What do you mean I wasn't in the movie!?!

• Wingblade (Ultra Class, 2008)

• Accessories: Left & right blades, 2 blade-handles, left & right spring-loaded rocket launchers, 2 projectiles, red Autobot Cybertron-style Cyber Key
• Known designers: Joe Kyde (deco artist)

A Toys"R"Us exclusive alongside Jetstorm, Wingblade is a redeco of Cybertron Wing Saber, transforming into a stylized A-10 Thunderbolt. Pressing the button behind his cockpit canopy causes "air combat sounds" (a mini-gun sound) to emit from a speaker on the bottom of the nosecone. Plugging a Cyber Key into the key slot behind his canopy enables his "hyperdrive mode" and reveals his "heavy blaster cannons and hyperdrive ram scoop", splitting the nosecone fuselage in half and exposing a cannon with a red LED. Pressing the button activates the same machine gun sound effect, this time with the red LED flashing unobstructed. His wings can unfold to extend his wingspan for "super combat mode".

Wingblade's wing-flaps detach to form swords; for Wingblade to use them, they need to be inserted into sword-handles that plug into 5mm holes in his forearms, as his hands are incompatible with the standard weapon-pegs. His removable spring-loaded rocket launchers, mounted under his wings, can also be attached to those ports. His Key-activated cockpit gimmick can also be used in robot mode, being mounted over his head via a supporting strut, although it points at an upward angle.

Wingblade can also form a flight/weapons pack for the Cybertron Leader-class Optimus Prime mold. Of course, since that mold is not available as part of the Movie line, this feature is undocumented. His unfolding wings are part of this transformation, as is his expanding chest armor, which can be done anyway simply to give him a bit more of that "plate armor" look of the Movie bots.

This toy was also sold exclusively at The Warehouse in New Zealand.

• More information on Wingblade at TFU.info

Notes

• Despite being part of the "Allspark Power" rebranding of the movie line, Wingblade (like all of the new-character store exclusives) has no "Allspark blue" on him.
• According to Hasbro designer Joe Kyde's design notes on Hasbro's Transformers website, Wingblade was loosely inspired by the A-10 Warthog gunships that appear in the live-action movie. His secondary colors were intended to be the color-wheel opposites of his casemate, Jetstorm, though it was acknowledged that this accidentally makes him a dim Springer homage.^[3]
• Also according to Joe Kyde, Wingblade's Autobot symbol is a special kind of chrome that is apparently hard to obtain. Of course, on this score, he could be talking crap because it's funny. It also happens to be the same kind of chrome only otherwise seen on the Cyber Key of Cybertron Galaxy Force Optimus Prime, with whom Wingblade can combine.
• Wingblade's box-back shows him with a redeco of Cybertron Optimus Prime's Matrix-shaped Key, instead of the standard Cybertron-Autobot one he actually comes with.

References