Quickswitch

ALLEGIANCE: AUTOBOT
SUB-GROUP(S): SIX-CHANGER
FUNCTION: ASSAULT WARRIOR
“A confused enemy is a defeated enemy.”

First Appearance: Transformers 240
Significant Appearances: Transformers 240

Quickswitch suffers from an incredibly volatile disposition. One moment he can be kind and compassionate; the next, hateful and merciless. His mood swings became legendary when he was unceremoniously ejected from the Autobot army. Quickswitch is just too unpredictable to be a team-player. He realises how his personality affects his fellow Autobots and prefers to work in solitude; usually on covert espionage missions that take him away from everyone else. However, even during his most bitter moods, he refuses to fall towards the side of the Decepticons. The fact remains that Quickswitch is incredibly lonely, and the brief times that he is in a compassionate mood, he wishes he could be accepted back into the ranks.

Abilities: Quickswitch has been restructured many times over to become a six-changer. In hovercraft mode, he can maintain a top speed of 140 knots over water and 220 km/h over light terrain. In jet mode he can reach sub-orbital altitudes and a speed of Mach 2.1. His tank mode is equipped with an armour-piercing front-mounted drill. In weapon mode he can fly at subsonic speeds with limited maneouvrability. In beast mode his armour is coated with stealth shielding that renders him invisible to radar. In robot mode, Quickswitch is armed with two photon blasters.

Weaknesses: Quickswitch can never call for back-up if he ever gets into trouble, which can be quite often due to his irrational behaviour and poor tactical planning.

Commentary

In the British comics, Quickswitch’s only appearance was in one black-and-white five page story illustrated by Andy Wildman. Quickswitch was never featured in the American series.

Quickswitch was released in 1988, apparently as the “son of Six-Shot” according to the television commercial. In Japan, the toy was released in different colours and called “Sixknight”.