Powerglide



Powerglide, unlike most Autobots, can fly under his own power, and it goes straight to his pointy head. Give him any excuse and awaa-aa-aay he goes, dashing off into the stratosphere at 500 mph—but not in a straight line. No, Powerglide is an aerial acrobat, able to perform stunts other Transformer planes would never dream of. Barrel rolls, tail stands, death spirals, screaming 3200-mph powerdives: none of these are too tough for this Autobot barnstormer, and if he has an audience, be they friendly or enemy, he is guaranteed to put on the air show of their lives.

Yet this seeming frivolity has saved his life countless times in combat. Powerglide is lightly armed with small concussion bombs and a nose-mounted thermal beam, and the former is practically useless in the air. Furthermore, his speed and power, impressive as they are, are vastly outclassed by most aerial Decepticons. Like the flying aces of World War I, Powerglide resorts to dogfighting maneuvers, using his flying skills to confuse and evade the enemy. This tactic works very well.

In fact, Powerglide's skill only aggravates his greatest weakness. He is good, and he knows it, and he misses no chance to show it. If this means he will seek out ever tougher foes to prove his mettle—then he'll do that, even if it kills him. Some day, it might.

The Transformers cartoon
Powerglide was a brash barnstormer with a penchant for spouting gung-ho sayings like "And awaaa-aaa-aay we go!". He literally appeared out of nowhere to save Spike Witwicky when the boy had been thrown overboard Megatron's spaceship, after the latter's plan to use a clone of Optimus Prime to destroy the Autobots failed. A Prime Problem

Bumblebee and Powerglide were sent on a reconnaissance mission to investigate some strange energy readings out at sea. Inside the temporal anomaly, they discovered a prehistoric island inhabited by dinosaurs. Powerglide had to save Bumblebee from an aggressive pterodactyl, then attempted to repair Bumblebee's damaged jetpack, before abandoning it and flying Bumblebee off the island. Later, after it was decided that the Dinobots should be relocated to the island, Powerglide led the large brutes and Spike to the island. After Spike unwittingly got himself into several dangerous situations, Powerglide flew him back home. Called on to find Grapple and Hoist, Powerglide soon located the pair working on their Solar Power Tower with the Constructicons. He reported back to Optimus and later took part in the battle to destroy the tower, attacking Devastator and dogfighting with Ramjet. The Master Builders Though he was damaged during an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the Decepticons retrieving the Heart of Cybertron, Powerglide volunteered to carry Perceptor's miniaturised team and drop them off on Megatron's body. To his surprise, he found the Decepticons in a state of inebriation due to over-energizing. He dropped off his cargo and made a clean getaway, despite Megatron taking a shot at him.

All of the Autobots were exiled from Earth after being framed by the Decepticons. Megatron's Master Plan, Part 1 They ended up being set on a collision course with the Sun, but at the last minute, were able to return to Earth and kick Decepticon tailpipe. Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2 After a disastrous battle at an airport, Powerglide helped Ironhide and Grapple reconstruct a building, only for it to be demolished by Grapple's inaccurate placing of the roof. Ironhide and Powerglide had a laugh at their friend's expense, but it soon turned out that the problem was more serious than a minor glitch — the Autobots were suffering by Cybertonium depletion. Powerglide's symptoms included his head falling off.

When Megatron's latest plan blocked radio transmissions all over Earth, Powerglide, Spike and Carly helped Optimus guide commercial aircraft safely to the ground. They were attacked by Starscream and Thundercracker, leaving Prime incapacitated and Powerglide in danger of crashing. Spike used a spare rocket pack to stabilise Powerglide's flight, and the Autobot was able to pick up Optimus and carry him back to base. There, Carly made emergency repairs, and they took Omega Supreme to the Moon, where they watched Optimus and Megatron fight.

Powerglide was part of a group of Autobots taking a walk along a beach when they were attacked by Decepticons. As the battle raged on, Thrust found a pool of Electrum and, once coated with the stuff, became impervious to the Autobot weapons. While Seaspray and Perceptor were captured, Powerglide and the others escaped. Powerglide was part of the retaliatory mission; however, the rest of the Decepticons had already coated themselves in Electrum, rendering anything the Autobots could do ineffective. Damaged, Powerglide washed up on the shore in time to spy the Decepticons utilising the pool of Electrum, enabling him to fly back to base and warn the Autobots.

The Autobots set up a sting operation in New York City to apprehend car thieves, of which Powerglide was a part. He and Cosmos chased Starscream into a shopping mall, but the two Autobots were unable to prevent him from getting away. Make Tracks Cosmos suggested Powerglide lead an assault on the Constructicons, who were working on an asteroid, but, to Powerglide's disappointment, Prime went to talk to Omega Supreme instead. Powerglide later helped defend San Francisco from an alien creature unleashed from the asteroid. The Secret of Omega Supreme During a coup by Astrotrain and Blitzwing, Powerglide spied on what the triple changers were up to and was able to rescue Spike when the city was flooded. After Megatron demanded Optimus Prime's surrender in exchange for Elita One, Powerglide was among the Autobots who followed him to Cybertron. Once there, he was disbelieving of Starscream's claim that Optimus Prime had been destroyed. During their vengeful attack on the Decepticons, Powerglide met up with his old friend Moonracer.

Soon after hooking up with Moonracer, he saved the fleshling female Astoria Carlton-Ritz from being kidnapped by Ramjet, Thrust and Dirge. He was assigned to escort her back to Autobot HQ, but they were again attacked by the coneheads, who injured Powerglide and snatched Astoria. After receiving some repairs from Ratchet, Powerglide set off for the Decepticon Sky Platform to rescue Astoria. Caught in the platform's security field, Powerglide was helped by Astoria herself, who destroyed an energy tower. Unfortunately the damage left the platform plummeting out of control, but Powerglide was able to rig it to crash into the Decepticon base.

Afterwards, it seemed as though Powerglide had developed feelings for Astoria, much to the amusement of the other Autobots. The only lasting result was a series of flashing lights under his chestplate in the form of a stylized heart. What purpose this served (other than being disturbing) is not immediately clear.

After thoroughly embarrassing himself by accidentally destroying several sets and props in an attempt to show off, Powerglide was among several egotistical Autobots who demanded to be given a role in a movie that Hoist was starring in. Initially, his "role" amounted to crashing into a STORE while in jet mode (supposedly to stop "the crooks"). Soon afterwards, Powerglide and the other would-be-actor Autobots asked Hoist to talk to the director to get them some "real" acting roles. After reworking the movie into Attack of the Alien Robots, the director had the Autobots given cheesy alien face masks. Powerglide remarked that the role was "the pits", and that he would rather do the stunt crashes. In a later scene, Powerglide demonstrated his rather wooden acting "skills". Guess he was better suited for stunts. Hoist Goes Hollywood

Powerglide was one of the Autobots who volunteered to rescue Perceptor from the Decepticons. Cosmic Rust He took part in the defence of headquarters against another attack by the Decepticons, only to be puzzled when Megatron almost immediately called a retreat. After some investigation, it turned out Starscream had stolen some personality components to create the Combaticons. Powerglide set out to find the rebel Decepticons, and soon found them fighting Megatron's forces at the Amalgamated Water and Power Plant Starscream's Brigade During a massive attack on a human city by the Insecticons, Powerglide dropped Spike and Perceptor off in the battle zone, so the pair could warn the Autobot leader about strange signals coming from Cybertron. The Revenge of Bruticus

Powerglide and the rest of the Minibots tried to repel the Decepticons' new mobile assault base—and failed. When the colossal 'con took several direct hits and seemed to be falling apart, Powerglide cheerfully reported that they had destroyed it—then in his shock, just happened to narrate aloud that it had a reptilian mode too. Powerglide appeared to have been destroyed during a disastrous Autobot attack on the Quintessons led by a resurrected, reprogrammed Optimus Prime. Dark Awakening However, he was later among the Autobots who attempted to stop Scourge and Starscream's ghost from stealing Metroplex's eyes, so he must have gotten better. Unfortunately, a blind Metroplex accidentally shot him down, but Warpath saved him.