Undertone

Undertone is an Autobot Mini-Con from the Robots in Disguise portion of the Aligned continuity family.

You're going to find it very difficult to get beyond Undertone.

The stealthy ninja-bot Undertone has a "strong, silent type" personality that some folks may have a hard time getting beyond. That he'd prefer to let his actions speak for him makes him an ideal partner for the often-taciturn Ratchet.

Fiction

2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon

Alright this party sucks. Undertone, explode this building with your mind.

After the rebirth of Cybertron, Ratchet was given the task of patrolling space and capturing any rogue Decepticons by the Council, who weren't enamored with the Autobots. To aid him in his task, he was partnered with Undertone, Decepticon Island (Part 1) who was also one of the Autobots blacklisted by Cybertron's new High Council for supporting Optimus Prime. Enemy of My Enemy

The duo tracked a Decepticon to Earth, where they ran across Clampdown and Bumblebee's Bee Team. Undertone followed Ratchet back to Bumblebee's scrapyard base, where they encountered Toolbox. Undertone came along with Ratchet to take part in the raid on Glowstrike's Decepticon base. The team slipped into the base by masquerading as Grimlock's captives, although they were eventually spotted and surrounded by Steeljaw's new army of Decepticon fugitives. Decepticon Island (Part 1) The Autobots managed to escape from this predicament thanks to Windblade providing them with an impromptu distraction. The team then had to split up, buying time for Bumblebee and Optimus Prime to detonate a cryo-gas bomb in the ship's ventilation. In order to rescue Windblade, Undertone and Ratchet fought alongside Drift and his Mini-Con students against Overload, but the Decepticon got beyond him, and he wound up getting thrown in a stasis pod. Jetstorm and Slipstream released them, and the Autobots escaped the ship after Bumblebee and Optimus detonated their bomb. In the aftermath, Undertone opted to accompany Ratchet back to Cybertron to confront Cybertron's government. Decepticon Island (Part 2) When Ratchet returned to Earth months later with Optimus's new group of allies, Undertone was conspicuously absent. Enemy of My Enemy

Games

Robots in Disguise mobile game

Undertone could be recruited to help fight off the Insecticon clone army overrunning Crown City. Robots in Disguise mobile game

Toys

Robots in Disguise (2015)

• Mini-Con 4-Pack (Multi-pack, 2015)

• Accessories: Chestguard/mask, left & right shoulder armor, left & right gauntlet-blades, left & right leg-guards

The first version of Undertone released, dubbed "Scorch Strike Undertone", comes in "desert"-themed ocher colors. He transforms from a small humanoid robot into a spheroid in a single step. As a Cyclone-style Mini-Con, he can attach to and launch from the Deployers Crazybolt and Overload... who are both Decepticons. Huh. He comes with an Autobot-sigil-shaped sprue with a number of clear plastic armor pieces that can be attached to him in both robot and sphere modes.

He shares engineering with, but is not a retool of, Major Mayhem.

He was part of the first of three Mini-Con 4-Packs, which also comes with Blizzard Strike Backtrack, Scorch Strike Beastbox, and Blizzard Strike Swelter.

• More information on Scorch Strike Undertone at TFU.info

• Mini-Con 4-Pack (Multi-pack, 2016)

The normal-colors version of Undertone, now in a more show-accurate white and blue, was packaged in the second Mini-Con 4-Pack. However, he lacks the accessory sprue from his first four-pack release.

This set also includes Anvil, Hammer, and Weaponizer Slipstream.

• Mini-Con Mega Pack (Multi-pack, 2016)

This massive fifteen-pack of Mini-Cons, released exclusively in some Asian and European markets, includes a slightly-altered version of Undertone. He superficially resembles his Scorch Strike deco, but is actually in bright orange plastic with the paint deco from his "standard" release (minus the two yellow operations on his chest).

The set also includes Anvil, Back, Bashbreaker, Beastbox, Divebomb, Hammer, Lord Doomitron, Ratbat, Sandsting, Sawback, Swelter, Tricerashot, Velocirazor, and Windstrike, each with extremely minor deco changes and none with armor sprues.

Notes

The packaging photo actually took some effort. You might say they went above and beyond Undertone.

• Despite his toy being a Cyclone-style Mini-Con (and the only Autobot among the Cyclones in the American portion of the toyline), in the cartoon he transforms into a buzzsaw like Slipstream and Jetstorm.
• Numerous online retailers referred to the figure from the first Mini-Con 4-Pack not as "Undertone" but as "Cyclostorm", suggesting it was originally intended to be a separate character from the "standard" release of Undertone altogether.
• Curiously, there exist two sets of promotional stock photos for the Mini-Con 4-Pack: the first set features Undertone in mostly white with tan accents, a color scheme not seen anywhere else.
• On top of that, the second 4-pack, and therefore the Undertone figure in it, was presumably supposed to be released before the first 4-pack, considering the one released first was listed as "Mini-Con 4-Pack Collection 2" on numerous online retailers' websites. For unknown reasons, they were released in reverse order.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Undertone (アンダートーン Andātōn)

Gallery

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  Package art