Whirl (Universe)

Whirl is a Combatronian Autobot from the Unicron Trilogy continuity family (via the 2003 Universe toyline).

Right round like a record, baby.

Whirl is all soldier. No surprise, really, given that his home planet, Combatron, housed some of Cybertron's finest fighting forces—and then played host to an apocalyptic, world-spanning fratricidal war. Whirl survived all that, and is determined do his duty, even as his dead world crumbles around him. In this grim task, he is assisted by his Mini-Con companions Thunderstick, Skysickle, and Grip-Lock.

Fiction

Timelines

A survivor of the wars that devastated Combatron after the disappearance of King Atlas, Whirl was assigned to guard a vault containing a "doomsday arsenal" of dangerous weapons. Four hundred stellar cycles passed, during which Whirl faithfully maintained his post, with only Thunderstick, Grip-Lock, and Skysickle for company. During the Unicron Singularity crisis, Whirl engaged the Autobot Blurr in combat, having been alerted to the presence of intruders by his Mini-Con allies. Although he was nearly overwhelmed by the Velocitronian's Cyber Key-enhanced speed, the battle was won thanks to the assistance of Thunderstick and Skysickle. He soon encountered Blurr's teammates Longrack, Checkpoint, and Armorhide, the former of whom convinced Whirl—in no uncertain terms—that they were all on the same side. With his new allies, Whirl confronted the Decepticons who had landed on the planet and claimed the vault's arsenal for themselves. Whirl tried to destroy the Decepticons' purloined scanner template, but was overwhelmed by Brushguard's army of Decepticlones. The battered warrior rose up and battled Brushguard, only to find himself entrapped by one of the Decepticon botanist's weaponized plants. He recovered in time to rescue Armorhide from his semi-successful kamikaze attack on the arsenal. (Semi-successful in that the arsenal was destroyed, but Armorhide was not.) He and his new allies then left Combatron on the Decepticons' ship Upstart, which the Mini-Cons had commandeered in the battle. Force of Habit

3H and Fun Publications comics

Whirl was a Combatronian soldier from Aurex 1104.30-JM Zeta. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/08/23 He was one of the many dimension-displaced Cybertronians released from the Cauldron due to the actions of Silverbolt and Trailbreaker. Escape

Whirl eventually joined Optimus Primal's Children of Primus in the Universe War. During a fierce battle in the Cauldron, Unicron suddenly began disappearing around them (as a result of the Unicron Singularity). Whirl and the other Children thereby emerged victorious in the Universe conflict as they escaped through a portal presumably leading back to Primal's technorganic Cybertron. Revelations Part 2

Toys

Universe (2003)

Oh, sure, I'd love to take some Mini-Cons. Even though I don't have any connectors...

• Autobot Whirl with Gunbarrel & Makeshift (Ultra, 2004)

• Accessories: Left & right turbine-cannon launchers, 2 missiles, rotor blades
• Known designers: Marcelo Matere (packaging artist)

A redeco of the Generation 1 Turbomaster Rotorstorm, Universe Whirl transforms into a Cybertronic assault helicopter. His missile launchers were retooled in order to fire new missiles that passed US safety testing (the actual missile mold is the same as used by Energon Omega Supreme). The pegs holding the launchers on in alt mode were also retooled, adding a bar connecting the two pegs, with a corresponding slot added on the launchers. This strengthens the pegs, preventing breakage that could occur on previous releases. Pressing a small button just behind his rotor drops the cannons down to firing position. His rotor blades can detach and be held in his hand, but lack the jointing needed to be held like a normal sword. (He can certainly slice horizontally with them, though.)

He came with the Mini-Cons Makeshift and Gunbarrel (who, in fiction, would later be renamed Skysickle and Thunderstick, respectively), but doesn't have the necessary Powerlinx connectors to use them. This set was released in the third "official" wave of Ultra-class releases (Universe has a few ".5" half-waves, which ultimately put this pack in the fifth set of Ultra releases, yes it's confusing).

This mold was also used to make Machine Wars Sandstorm.

• More info on Whirl at TFU.info

Merchandise

Attacktix

A whole new Whirl! A new, fantastic gaming piece! No one can knock him down, or paint him brown, or say his turn is over...

• Whirl (Booster, 2007)

Part of the cancelled series-2 Booster Pack assortment (blind-packed boxes containing one "Rare" and one "Super Rare" piece each), Attacktix Whirl was to have been a Super Rare 30-Point Warrior piece, depicting Whirl in his vehicle mode. He had two spring-loaded launchers (which are only slightly more oversized than normal for a Turbomaster) that could each fire a standard Attacktix missile. His copter-portion can also separate from the base, tethered to it by a string, which could have been used to let Whirl increase his range before firing, similar to the Marvel Green Goblin figure. Figures with two launchers can usually attack twice per turn—it's possible that Whirl's string power could have also let him aim at different targets on completely different parts of the board, since he would be able to completely change his position without using any tix. His Special Power, "Evade", was meant to do something that we don't know what.

Seems like this sucker could absolutely dominate a board. However, as the Attacktix line was canceled before this piece was released, we'll never know for sure.

Game over. This Attacktix item has been canceled, with no current plans for release.

Notes

• The Universe Whirl toy's lack of bio information mean that it could plausibly have been a new form of Generation 1 Whirl until "Force of Habit" established Universe Whirl as a Unicron Trilogy character.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Whirl (ホワール Howāru)