Beachcomber — hero

Beachcomber is a recurring character of the Transformers Generation One franchise. Beachcomber has a hard time reconciling his love of peace and freedom for all creatures with the need to combat those who threaten it. Furthermore, however just the cause for which it was fought, the gruesome and destructive aftermath of any battle sickens him to the spark. Sometimes, when the internal struggle gets too heavy, he simply has to wander into the wilderness and cleanse his soul. Even there, far from civilisation, he sometimes finds strange substances to aid the Autobot cause, for Beachcomber is a skilled naturalist, and geology is his speciality. He often tries to preserve or even to hide these discoveries, but he has seen too much evil done by the ruthless Decepticons to conceal any possible source of aid completely from his allies. Beachcomber is neither very fast nor very strong, and his antiwar sentiments gain him little respect from the more martial of the Autobots, yet he is agile and skilled in a fight, and his courage is beyond all reproach.

In the cartoon, Beachcomber is voiced by Alan Oppenheimer.

Biography

Cartoon

Beachcomber was introduced in the second season episode "The Insecticon Syndrome", helping Bumblebee, Hound and Spike Witwicky investigate activity by the Insecticons. The foursome later joined Optimus Prime and the rest of the Autobots in tracking the Insecticons, who were about to explode as a result of absorbing too much power, to an attack on a military base. Like many of the newer Autobots, Beachcomber was given a featured role in the two-parter "Dinobot Island", taking part in the battle with the Decepticons on the island.

Beachcomber's largest role was in "The Golden Lagoon" where, in the middle of an encounter between the Autobots and Decepticons in a forest, he stumbled across a pool of electrum, a material that could temporarily make a Transformer invulnerable. Worried that the beautiful area would be destroyed if others learned of the pool, Beachcomber kept quiet even when first Thrust and then all the Decepticons coated themselves with the electrum and captured Perceptor and Seaspray. Beachcomber was himself captured and the trio managed to escape, by which time Optimus Prime had learned of the pool's existence. Beachcomber kept quiet about the fact he had already known where it was and took part in the subsequent battle with the Decepticons, but was left devastated when the area was destroyed as he had feared.

Beachcomber continued to make other appearances throughout the rest of season two, including trying to reason with the Constructicons' giant bird in "The Secret of Omega Supreme", being disabled by Kremzeek in "Kremzeek", being among the Autobots captured by big game hunter Lord Chumley in "Prime Target" and helping to retrieve Perceptor in "Cosmic Rust".

In The Transformers: The Movie, a robot resembling Beachcomber was shown being dropped into an acid pool inside Unicron. Despite this, he was briefly seen in the third season opener "Five Faces of Darkness" helping to defend Autobot City from Trypticon.

Comics

Beachcomber first appeared in Issue #17 as part of an Autobot resistance group led by Perceptor on Cybertron. He joined the group in rescuing Blaster from Decepticon leader Lord Straxus and getting the information that Optimus Prime's Autobots were active on Earth. With Straxus aiming to share resources with the Earth Decepticons, Beachcomber and the rest of the group launched an attack which destroyed Straxus' base and apparently Straxus himself but only damaged the new space bridge, which they were forced to use to travel to Earth.

As revealed at the end of Issue #21, shortly after, Beachcomber and his fellows were captured by the anti-robot team RAAT and dismantled. They were restored after helping defeat the Battlechargers. In the UK-exclusive story "Fallen Angel", the group were attempting to join up with the main Earth Autobots in the Ark when they were attacked by Galvatron, finally making it to the Ark in the following story, "Resurrection".

Beachcomber made occasional appearances among the Earth Autobots in the following issues, being present for Ratchet's failed attempts to revive Optimus Prime in Issue #26, blasted by Trypticon in Issue #27, helping new Autobot leader Grimlock prepare to punish renegade Blaster in Issue #32, welcoming Blaster back to the Ark in Issue #36 and observing the duel between Blaster and Grimlock in Issue #41. He made his last Marvel US appearance in Issue #50 during the Underbase Saga, where he was one of the Autobots who went to the Arctic in answer to a distress call from Buster Witwicky only to be ambushed by the Decepticons, with Beachcomber being mauled by Mindwipe. He was confirmed as deactivated in the UK story "Deathbringer", where Ratchet was shown trying to revive him.

The post-movie version of the character appeared in "Space Pirates" trying to defend Autobot City from the Quintessons. Aware they were being overrun, he and Air Raid tried to summon help but were cut down.

Powers and Abilities

Beachcomber's geology tools include a wide array of sensors (magnetic, seismic, sonic, infrared) and a 'sonic pick' which can cut through rock. Beachcomber can use his magnetic sensors to navigate like a compass, but local magnetic disturbances can cause this to lead him astray. His sonic probes possess only limited range.

Navigation

Heroes

Build Team
Wedge | Heavy Load | Hightower | Grimlock

Others
Skid-Z | Tow-Line

Elite Guard
Ultra Magnus | Sentinel Prime | Jazz | Blurr | Jetfire & Jetstorm

Dinobots
Grimlock | Snarl | Swoop

Cybertron intelligence
Arcee | Cliffjumper

Others
Omega Supreme | Wreck-Gar

Malto Family
Members
Robby Malto | Morgan Malto | Dorothy Malto | Alex Malto

Terrans
Twitch Malto | Thrash Malto | Hashtag Malto | Jawbreaker Malto | Nightshade Malto

Decepticons
Megatron | Tarantulas | Breakdown

Others
Quintus Prime | Terratronus

Wild King
Optimus Prime | Lightlong | Hydrophant | Ignite Leo

Generation One Heroes

Humans
General
Spike Witwicky | Sparkplug Witwicky | Daniel Witwicky

Cartoon exclusive
Carly Witwicky | Chip Chase | Rauol | Astoria Carlton-Ritz | Marissa Faireborn