Squadron X
From Transformers Wiki
For a time, Squadron X was the Decepticons' answer to the Wreckers. While the Wreckers used their unique sense of bravado and brutality to right wrongs, Squadron X left a wake of indiscriminate corpses. As such, the Wreckers' leader, Impactor, was obsessed with tracking them down and ending them. Their personal battlecruiser is the Pale Fire.
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Fiction
2005 IDW continuity
Squadron X became a crusade for Impactor, maybe because, deep down, he recognised something of the Wreckers in them. Zero Point
While Squadron X was refueling on Pova after transporting munitions, Ferak's Squadron X profile the Wreckers confronted their counterparts and started a fight. Squadron X lost and were taken into captivity. Zero Point However, the Autobots had signed a treaty with the Povians that gave the Autobots no jurisdiction on the world and, to avoid a political incident, Impactor was ordered to let the prisoners go. Rather than do this, he locked himself in Squadron X's cell with them and murdered them all while all the other Wreckers—bar Springer—did nothing. For this, Impactor was sent to Garrus-9 and condemned as "the Autobot who went too far". Last Stand of the Wreckers #5
All the other Wreckers were utterly horrified by what had happened, not realizing Impactor had meant to murder them, and turned to Springer to take command so the Wreckers wouldn't be shut down. Or so they told Springer—actually, they'd been glad to watch Impactor do it, and wanted to avoid going on trial themselves. Zero Point
Impactor's crime was covered up in official accounts and secondary sources that took after them. Wreckers: Declassified in particular drummed up a grandiose story of the Wreckers vs. Squadron X and claimed that, when captured, Squadron X broke free of their inhibitor harnesses. This narrative stated that Impactor, realizing that their rivalry with Squadron X could never end with them in containment, ordered the Wreckers to take them out permanently. Last Stand of the Wreckers #4 Bullets
Known members:
Animated cartoon continuity
During the Great War, Squadron X was defeated at Pova. The AllSpark Almanac II
Wings Universe
Squadron X was formed to serve as a counterpart to the Wreckers. As brutal as they were, Squaddies would be more brutal. Recruiting standards were therefore lax. So long as you were violent, you could sign right up. If you were insane and violent, you didn't have to bother applying first. Macabre was appointed their leader, for being the most insane and violent mech around, so much so even his troops weren't certain what he'd do at any given moment.
Squadron X and the Wreckers fought multiple times, both giving as good as they got. The Squadron started burning through new recruits so quickly the veterans didn't bother learning their names. Tornado - Decepticon Saboteur. 2014/04/21 During a campaign on Frellus IV, the Squadron managed to shoot down the Wreckers, but their enemies held out against them for twelve stellar cycles. On the thirteenth, Macabre decided to change tack. He had the Squadron attack the local Hasmatans, who had been supplying the Wreckers. Within fifteen cycles, the Hasmatans were all dead... and the Wreckers were gone, having stolen the Squadron's ship, the Decimator, while their attention was occupied, killing Squaddies Red Star and Nullifier in the process, and leaving their enemies stuck on Frellus. The team roamed the planet with an insanely angry Macabre until they found a spaceport, whereupon Macabre "acquired" a new spaceship which he dubbed the Pale Fire. Tornado - Decepticon Saboteur, 2014/05/15
At some point afterwards, the Squadron had a skirmish on Olliphia, where Sky Creeper was killed on arrival. Tornado - Decepticon Saboteur, 2014/05/15
After the Great War technically ended, while the Squadron was incommunicado out in deep space, Macabre hit upon a plan to solve the Wrecker problem once and for all. On Torax Prime, he had the Squadron create a disturbance guaranteed to bring the Wreckers running, so they could have their final showdown.
The Wreckers never showed. And while they were waiting, the Squadron turned on their leader. Fang was executed for disobeying orders, then Triton and Crosscut turned on Macabre. Earthquake got bored and strapped a bunch of explosives to himself before making a run at Macabre, which ended up killing both of them, leaving only Tornado and Ferak. Tornado - Decepticon Saboteur, 2014/04/21
Known members:
Notes
- In the Wreckers' comic series of origin, their opposing team was the Mayhem Attack Squad. But the point of Squadron X was that they were all extremely expendable characters who had died long ago, so obviously, Nick Roche didn't want to waste the Mayhems in that role; he would later repurpose the squad with a new role in Last Stand sequel, Sins of the Wreckers
- To further dirty up the Wreckers' murder of Squadron X, the character profiles in the second Last Stand hardcover explain that Ferak was going to retire after "one last job" and Earthquake was going to be murdered for pathologically hero-worshipping Optimus Prime.
- Squadron X's roster is composed of many of the named minor Decepticon non-toy characters from the original Marvel Comics run. This was to give the comic some characters it could easily kill off but who weren't generics, who were obscure enough that they could be as powerful as the script said without readers going "hang on...", and to give hardcore fans a big grin. The text-only "Wings Universe" members, meanwhile, are all named after minor G.I. Joe villains.
- Colorist Josh Burcham has admitted using the Obscure Transformers Website as a reference for the characters' color schemes... except for Crosscut, whose colors he made up since the character was never given a color scheme in his original Marvel appearance.
Foreign names
- Japanese: Squadron X (スコードロンX Sukōdoron X)
- Swedish: Skvadron X (Squadron X)
