Bludgeon (Transformers Generation 1)

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Name: Bludgeon
Allegiance: Decepticons
Function: Master of Metallikato
Sub-group: Pretender, Mayhem Attack Squad
Timeline: Generation 1

To know your own limits, you must first know your foe's limits.

Profile:

Bludgeon is one of the most lethal and efficient killers in the Decepticon army. A cold, merciless and utterly vicious warrior, Bludgeon has spent hundreds of stellar cycles training under the greatest martial artists on Cybertron to push himself to the absolute limits of physicality and spirituality. Bludgeon has mastered dozens of forms of armed and unarmed combat, and is in particular known as a master of Metallikato and Crystalocution. Bludgeon has also gained a great degree of "self-mastery", controlling his emotions to the point many accuse him of being completely emotionless. He's increased his perceptiveness to the point he can react to threats out of pure instinct. But perhaps the most unnerving thing about Bludgeon is his obsession with the occult. As a young 'bot, Bludgeon was a devout follower of Primus and one of the greatest disciples of the leader of the Circle of Light, Dai Atlas. Dai Atlas cast out Bludgeon when he learned of Bludgeon's growing interest in the darker aspects of Cybertronian spirituality and how this was starting to corrupt those around Bludgeon. Bludgeon has since delved deeper and deeper into these darkest aspects of Cybertronian existence. Some of the practices he has adopted are truly disturbing and scare even the most battle-hardened Decepticons; even so, Bludgeon maintains a loyal core of followers who share his beliefs, or who simply do not care and want become more effective warriors, studying under Bludgeon as his students. This loyal core of followers make up the main part of the elite Decepticon combat group, the Mayhem Attack Squad. Most Decepticons choose to overlook Bludgeon's unusual beliefs, given his incredible effectiveness on the battlefield and the efficiency of his combat unit. Even so, there are persistent rumours among the Decepticons that Bludgeon is not truly loyal to the Decepticon cause, but has pledged himself to some darker force in order to gain even more power.

Powers and Abilities:

Bludgeon's primary weapon is his sword, which is forged of Tironium, an exceptionally strong alloy. There is much speculation that the sword has some kind of special properties, such as it absorbs the sparks of those slain by its cutting edge, that it cannot be sheathed until it has tasted the fuel and / or energon of a victim, or that it is sentient. None of these things are true. It is a simple, unremarkable sword with no special properties, albeit one of excellent craftsmanship.

Bludgeon is a Pretender - his skeletal samurai robot form is in fact an exoskeleton surrounding the true Bludgeon. Bludgeon can disengage from his Pretender exoskeleton and both can attack independently, although Bludgeon rarely does this because he considers it dishonourable. Like the Autobot Pretenders, Bludgeon's Pretender exoskeleton can use mass displacement to shrink to human size and use hard-light holographic projection to appear as a human. When walking as a human, Bludgeon prefers to appear as a Japanese man in his late 20s, with shoulder-length hair and wearing an expensive suit.

Bludgeon has an arsenal of weapons built into his Pretender shell. Vents in the armour secrete an ordorous mucus slime. The slime is an extremely sticky adhesive which slows down opponents and interferes with the smooth operation of mechanical systems. Bludgeon's legs contain smoke generators which can release a disorienting smokescreen to cover retreats or provide cover for a tactical strike. Bludgeon's inner robot can transform into a tank mode; his Pretender shell has been engineered to transform into a scaled up version of that same alternate form. The tank mode's main gun is a high-voltage electric cannon which can overload and destroy targets. Bludgeon's inner robot carries a scaled down version of this same weapon. Bludgeon's most mysterious ability is that he can generate balls of flame from his body. These fireballs have a range of 400 yards. Bludgeon claims he uses high-powered antennas to produce the fireballs, but most Decepticons think it is a sign of a deal with The Fallen.

By far, Bludgeon's deadliest weapon is his own body. He is a master of dozens of forms of armed and unarmed combat, including Metallikato, Cystalocution, Circuit-Su, and Tekkaido. He is best known for his Metallikato, an armed combat discipline which focuses on striking opponents fracture points and is widely considered to be a forbidden art. Bludgeon's mastery of Crystalocution is also to be feared. This unarmed combat art gives Bludgeon the ability to slay an opponent with a single jab of his fingers. Bludgeon's mastery of martial arts, and the related spiritual discipline he has obtained, means that to him opponents move in slow motion.

Weaknesses:

Bludgeon's lust for more power and more arcane knowledge has led to him occasionally making some questionable alliances which will have long-term consequences. Bludgeon's code of honour sometimes precludes his use of the most appropriate weapons or tactics for a given situation. When operating independent of his Pretender shell, any pain inflicted on the shell is felt by Bludgeon himself; because Bludgeon so rarely takes off his exoskeleton the release mechanisms sometimes seize up.

Bludgeon is arrogant, often demeaning those who face him in combat as fools, although his arrogance is based on the fact that he's bested countless opponents and mastered dozens of forms of combat. Smart opponents simply avoid Bludgeon entirely because they're wise enough to avoid facing a master of Metallikato.

Tank mode:

Author notes:

I've written about Bludgeon twice now for Instagram, and one of the aspects that I came to both times was how Bludgeon is a respected if creepy commander in the Decepticon army. That to me is the best aspect of the character - he's an exceptionally deadly commander, who even scares his own allies. That, to me, is what makes Bludgeon so fascinating. He's like a Sith Lord among Imperial Officers - someone with borderline supernatural abilities and an almost cultish following. That's the Bludgeon I've written here - the one who may have supernatural abilities, but equally may just have advanced technology and a certain level of mystique in his persona.

The reference in the abilities to Bludgeon appearing as a human in an expensive suit is a personal touch of mine. Much as the Pretenders appear as humans in the Masterforce series, I feel Bludgeon is different enough from the other Pretenders that he'd have a human form - except unlike Metalhawk and the other Autobot Pretenders, when Bludgeon summons his Pretender armour, he'd do so in a far more monstrous way, that'd also involve his human features turning into a skull. That's my idea for a "Masterforce" version of BLudgeon.

Toys of Transformers Movie Bludgeon

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Bludgeon

In my Transformers Classics collection, I use the Revenge of the Fallen version of Bludgeon as an update of the Generation 1 Bludgeon. While released as a Movie toy, this is so far one of the best representations of Bludgeon on the market. He's an extremely cool toy, with his spindly limbs creating the impression of a skeletal soldier in the style of Ray Harryhausen's stop motion skeletons from Jason and the Argonauts. He's got a reasonably complicated robot to tank transformation, but the result is a very convincing tank mode that manages to hide almost all of the robot mode parts. I like that a lot. The robot mode has a nice level of poseability - not perfect or up to the standards set by Transformers Siege, but still extremely good. You can get some great poses out of this toy. One word of warning - the larger sword, which forms the gun for the tank mode, has been known to stress the hands to the point the thumbs will break off. The thumb on mine is cracked, hence for these photos I've left the sword to one side and grabbed the katana that came with Transformers Go Jinbu. It's a good fit for Bludgeon, and serves him well as a sword.

More information on Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Bludgeon at TFW2005

See more Transformers Revenge of the Fallen toys in my collection.