Skids (Transformers)
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Skids is the name used for four characters in the Transformers Universes. Due to copyright reasons, the name was modified to "Skid-Z" for it to be used on new characters and an "Autobot" prefix was added when the original Skids toy was reissued and when he became an Alternator.
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[edit] Transformers: Generation 1
| Transformers character | |
| Skids | |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | Autobot |
| Function | Theoretician |
| Motto | "Deep down, we are more like than unlike humans." |
| Alternate Modes | Honda City Turbo Scion Pickup Truck |
| Series | Transformers: Generation 1 Transformers: Alternators |
| English voice actor | Michael Chain/Dan Gilvezan |
As with many early Transformers toys, Skids' toy was previously released in a Takara toy line named Diaclone. The toy originally included a scooter which could fit inside his vehicle mode but this was omitted when the toy was released as a Transformer.
Skids was characterized as the perfect absent-minded warrior. Highly intelligent and always collecting data, Skids is nonetheless always daydreaming. He is a scientist first and foremost, and has made many valuable discoveries. Skids genuinely hates the war he finds himself caught up in, but for now is forced to continue in the Autobot army.
[edit] Animated series
Although Skids did appear in season two of the original Transformers cartoon, he only made brief cameo appearances in two episodes.
In the episode "Quest for Survival", Skids is shown being repaired by Hoist, and is voiced by Michael Chain.
In his second episode, "Triple Takeover", it was Dan Gilvezan who provided Skids' voice.
[edit] Marvel Comics
[edit] Arrival on Earth
Four million years ago, Skids was one of five Autobots who agreed to have their sparks transferred to crystal storage in case the Autobots needed extra troops during the mission of clearing a path for Cybertron through an asteroid belt. In 1985, the Autobots were suffering heavy casualties and the five Autobots were activated in "Rock and Roll Out" (U.S. #14). Skids and the others (except Grapple) were shown around Earth by Bumblebee, where Skids encountered music for the first time and proved unable to interact easily with humans. Despite orders not to engage with the enemy, they went on to battle Decepticons at a rock concert.
During a raid on the Decepticons' Wyoming base, Skids was damaged in the withdrawal and was rendered M.I.A. Unknown to the other Autobots, he was found and salvaged by a Western-enthusiast named Charlene, and spent the next few days living a peaceful life in her small hometown. He revealed he never really wanted to be a soldier in the first place, and he decided to stay with her and avoid the war. However, Skids was forced into battle when Donny Finkleberg arrived, fleeing the Decepticons and being pursued by Ravage. In order to protect both Donny and Charlene, Skids had to engage Ravage in combat and was able to trap him in a well (where he remained for the next few years). Realizing he couldn't walk away from the Great War, Skids returned to the Ark with Finkleberg in tow.
Skids was partnered with Donny in U.S. #22 in a mission to locate seven Autobots (recent arrivals from Cybertron) captured by I.I.I.'s new Rapid Anti-robot Assault Teams, engaging in battle with the Stunticons as they went. However, he was betrayed and given over to R.A.A.T. for money. The guilt of what he'd done weighed heavily on Donny and when the Battlechargers proved too much for R.A.A.T. to handle, he helped convince Circuit Breaker to release Skids and the other Autobots from custody so they could battle the Decepticons in U.S. #23's "Decepticon Graffiti".
[edit] Trapped In Limbo/Survivors
Skids led the seven Autobots to the Ark, but partway into the journey he was interrupted mid-conversation and disappearing into Limbo with a scream, a bright light and an explosion in UK #101. This effect was caused by the future Decepticon Galvatron time-jumping again, which sends a present day being into limbo to make room for the time-traveler. Skids was trapped in limbo for the better part of two years. (He appeared in non-speaking group shots in three U.S. issues; the UK reprints carefully erased or altered his appearance each time.)
Limbo was inhabited by strange psychic parasites who trapped visitors in fantasy worlds where dreams became reality; Skids was exposed to them for two years and when Galvatron finally left, Skids emerged on Earth to find the monsters from his nightmares had manifested and were following him. They tricked him into believing their death would also cause him to die and vice versa to stop him destroying them, but the truth came out and he was assisted by the surviving members of the Wreckers & Mayhem Attack Squad. The battle over, Skids joined them in forming the Survivors.
The Survivors went rogue and saved human lives in random situations. When a Mayhem hit squad came after Carnivac and killed Catilla, the other Survivors turned to the Autobot Earthforce for help and subsequently joined them.
Issue #279 of the Marvel UK. Transformers comic featured a story called "Divide and Conquer!" where Soundwave led the bulk of the Decepticon forces on Earth against the Autobot Earthforce headquarters while Starscream attacked an oil tanker. Sent into battle by Prowl, the Dinobots routed the main Decepticon forces while Springer led the Autobot Survivors Inferno, Skids, and Carnivac to defeat Starscream.
[edit] Dreamwave Productions
Skids was part of Prowl's team of Autobots during Transformers: The War Within - The Dark Ages. They attempted to investigate a new Decepticon base — only to discover it was Trypticon. In the ensuing battle, Skids was crushed though he was later repaired.
[edit] 3H Enterprises
Skids appeared in a flashback scene in issue #2 of the Transformers: Universe Wreckers comic, where Rodimus Prime consulted Quickmix, Skids, Perceptor and Rad on his plans to send out ships to gather information on threats from space after the defeat of Unicron.
[edit] Devil's Due Publishing
Skids appeared in the fourth G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers crossover from Devil's Due Publishing as part of a group led by Prowl working with former G.I. Joe leader Hawk to stop the spread of Cybertronian technology on Earth. Skids acted as the group coordinator. He was shown to be knocked out when the Decepticon Monster Pretenders attacked, although he was later repaired.
[edit] Toys
- Generation 1 Skids (1985)
- Based on the Diaclone toy. Later remolded into Crosscut.
- Transformers Alternators Autobot Skids (2005)
- Skids reappeared in the Transformers: Alternators toy line, now turning into a Scion xB car with large Scion flame logos tampographed on his bodywork. His motto is "Speed is immaterial when you've got intelligence. And killer rims." For copyright reasons he was renamed Autobot Skids. His function was still a Theoretician.
- In Binaltech, he appeared as the Japanese Toyota bB version of the car, in a lighter shade of blue and with some differences to his robot-mode detailing. He did not have the Alternator version's flame tampographs or window tinting, but instead came with a sticker sheet which included a stripe detail reminiscent of his original G1 appearance, and a flame detail of a different design to that used on the Alternator. Binaltech Skids was released at the same time as the silver Broadblast repaint.
- In the Binaltech storyline, Skids is entrusted with the critical task of executing "Operation: Distant Thunder", a desperate attempt by the Autobots to undo the temporal damage caused by Ravage. Using warp gates on Dinobot Island, the intent of the operation is to send a copy of Wheeljack's memory banks back to the Autobots at a point before the timeline was changed, with the hope of avoiding both Ravage's time corruption, in which all the Autobots were likely be annihilated, and the original animated movie's events in which Wheeljack, Ironhide, Prowl and many other Autobots died aboard the shuttle to Autobot City. Just as Skids initiates Distant Thunder, a squad of Decepticons attacks. .. (the storyline is continued on the limited-edition Binaltech Black Convoy's box).
- Transformers 3D Battle-Card Game Skids (2007)
- Produced by Wizards of the Coast, wave 2 of their Transformers 3D Battle-Card Game included a Skids card, who was a redeco of Ironhide from wave 1. Oddly he's colored more like Generation Kup.
[edit] Transformers: Robots in Disguise
| Transformers character | |
| Skid-Z | |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | Autobot |
| Japanese name | Indy Heat |
| Function | High-speed Scout |
| Motto | "Catch me if you can, Decepticons!" |
| Alternate Modes | Indy Racer |
| Series | Transformers: Robots in Disguise |
| English voice actor | Michael Lindsay |
| Japanese voice actor | Hitoshi Nishimura |
The first of the modified spelling of the name, Skid-Z is a repaint of a toy named "Indy Heat" from the Takara series Car Robots and he is the Hasbro version of that character.
[edit] Animated series
Skid-Z first arrived on Earth in the episode "Skid-Z's Choice". Arriving from Cybertron he scanned the alternate mode of a race car driven by the deceased racer Augie Cannay. After that, he felt a compelling need to participate in any race he could, no matter what it was. Sky-Byte actually attempted to recruit the ultra-competitive Autobot into the Predacons, but Skid-Z refused. The other Autobots tried help him, believing he was possessed by the psychic energy of Augie. Believing they could find and help Skid-Z, Optimus Prime, the Autobot Brothers, Spy Changers and Team Bullet Train entered the international Grand Prix. The race was also entered by Sky-Byte undercover as a red sports car, who saw it as a chance to destroy the Autobots. Eventually Megatron attacked the Autobots during the race, with Skid-Z having to choose between saving his fellow Autobots or winning the race. He was able to overcome his racing urges and save the day. After this, he won the race, coming in first — but mistook Koji's watch alarm as a starting signal, racing off again. He was not seen again until after Galvatron's defeat in the final episode.
[edit] Toys
- Robots in Disguise Skid-Z (2001)
- The F1 toy that was used for Skid-Z originates from 1997 where it was first used in a toy line called Machine Wars but was created and intended to be used earlier in Transformers: Generation 2.
- Skid-Z is a basic-sized toy which is a 'flip-changer' — pulling on his rear spoiler transforms the vehicle automatically to robot mode. He came packaged with a Decepticon flip-changer jet named Windsheer but was the only one of the two to appear in the TV series, albeit sparingly.
- The Japanese version of this toy was decoed slightly differently, and was more show-accurate.
[edit] Transformers: Armada
| Transformers character | |
| Skid-Z | |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | Mini-Con |
| Partner | Predacon Side Burn |
| Motto | "If you don't believe, you don't belong." |
| Alternate Modes | Car |
| Series | Transformers: Armada |
| Japanese voice actor | Nanae Kato |
The second and most recent use of the modified name "Skid-Z" was for a Mini-Con, a repaint of the Street Speed Team toy named Spiral. Skid-Z was one of two partners to the Decepticon named Predacon.
[edit] Dreamwave Productions
The Mini-Con Skid-Z did not appear in any Transformers fiction, save his bio in Dreamwave Productions More Than Meets the Eye series.
His bio indicated that Skid-Z was a follower of the charismatic cult leader Predacon. Always a misfit, Skid-Z felt as if he finally belonged with Predacon's group. Unfortunately, while he believed wholeheartedly in Predacon's philosophy, he was incompatible for the organics grafting process Predacon used on his followers to make them technorganic. Although the charismatic leader professed to be fine with this, Skid-Z felt as if he had let down his partner. He has a distinct rivalry with Predacon's other Mini-Con partner Side Burn, whose organic grafting took perfectly. Of course, Skid-Z doesn't know his rival is a spy for the Autobots.
[edit] Toys
- Armada Predacon with Side Burn and Skid-Z (2003)
- Skid-Z is a redeco of Armada Spiral.
[edit] Transformers: Galaxy Force (2005)
Skids is the Japanese name for the Transformers: Cybertron toy/character named Clocker, He is a native of the planet Speedia and transforms into a futuristic racing car; he is a protégé of Autolander. His voice actor is Nanae Kato. This Skids is exempt from having a modified name or a prefix as the licensing law that Hasbro has to abide to do not apply to toys released in Japan.
[edit] External links
- Alternators Skids Toy review
- Binaltech Skids Toy review - includes description and photos comparing Binaltech and Alternators versions
- Robots in Disguise Skid-Z Toy Review
- Armada Skids Toy Review
- Galaxy Force Skids Toy Review
