Name: Alpha Bravo
Aliases: Vortex
Allegiance: Double Agents
Function: Ground troop support
Sub-group: Aerialbot
Timeline: Generation 1
The name's Alpha Bravo. Keep up with me - if you can!
Profile:
The newest member of the Aerialbots, Alpha Bravo was recruited when Rodimus Prime ordered Silverbolt to add reserve members to the Aerialbots - an order motivated by the neutralization of Bruticus following the imprisonment of the Combaticon Blast Off. Silverbolt was reluctant to upset his group's dynamic, but found that Alpha Bravo came very highly recommended, with a spotless military record from his past service as a member of Thunderclash's peacekeeping force on the galactic rim. Being the new guy, Alpha Bravo acts like he has a lot to prove, earnestly demonstrating his skills at every opportunity, performing death-defying aerial stunts and dizzying loops. Alpha Bravo wants to show that while his assault helicopter mode might be a lot slower than his teammates' top speed, he can easily outmanoeuvre opponents moving at many times his speed. In spite of his eagerness, Silverbolt has never needed to reprimand Alpha Bravo for being too gung-ho in battle, as once a battle begins Alpha Bravo shows his cool and collected side, calmly and efficiently shooting down Decepticons with some impressive sharpshooting. And when he's not trying to prove himself out of battle, Alpha Bravo is just "one of the guys", laughing and exchanging good natured banter with the rest of the Aerialbots. The only one among the Aerialbots that doesn't get along with Alpha Bravo is Slingshot, but his protests that Alpha Bravo is hiding something were quickly dismissed as more of Slingshot's typical animosity.
Unfortunately for the Aerialbots, Slingshot was right. Alpha Bravo is a carefully constructed lie. Unable to form Bruticus, Onslaught assigned Vortex to go undercover and rescue Blast Off, obtain as much intelligence on Autobot operations as possible, and find a way to cripple the Autobot combiners. With a little help from Swindle, Vortex was able to construct a convincing backstory (which Swindle's contact Bitstream loaded into the Autobots' databanks). Swindle even figured out a way to allow Vortex to indulge his love for reckless flying without blowing his cover. The only thing Vortex and Swindle struggled with was a name; Brawl suggested "Alpha Bravo" based on the first two letters of the NATO phonetic alphabet. Vortex thought this was too obviously a faked name; the fact that only Slingshot ever picked up on it filled him with glee. "Autobots truly are trusting idiots" Vortex thinks to himself, as he plays on the insecurities of the Aerialbots to tear the team apart from within.
Combat helicopter mode:
Author notes:
So Alpha Bravo is a toy that I always felt was obviously an undercover version of Vortex. First of all, that name screams "this is a fake identity" to me, and I know a lot of fans picked up on it at the time. Then there's the fact that Alpha Bravo and Vortex have more or less the same paint applications. So I figured, yeah, this is Vortex undercover, he's using a version of the phase shifting paint from Transformers Animated to modulate his appearance.
Writing this profile I really took the time to properly flesh out both who Alpha Bravo is in my head and add in some details of his backstory. Who is this guy that nobody has ever heard of? Presumably one of those warriors we're told about in the Season 3 Teletraan 2 segments who was offworld through the early episodes. So where was he? Why not have his backstory have him serving somewhere suitably remote so that nobody could contact his former captain to confirm his story - which left me with two real options, the Primal Vanguard, or Thunderclash. I planned for the Vanguard to be an older group from the pre-war period, so Thunderclash was the more logical choice. I put the whole thing in season 3 purely because in my mind that's where the Combiner Wars story would most logically take place, plus there is more contact with the wider galaxy for the cover story angle to work.
Mostly, this is all just a fun excuse to give Alpha Bravo a true place in my collection and explain why sometimes Superion has a helicopter leg where Slingshot should be.
Toys of Transformers Generation 1 Alpha Bravo
Transformers Combiner Wars Alpha Bravo
Alpha Bravo is one of my least favourite molds from the Combiner Wars era, for one simple reason: the hips keep getting blocked by the torso. When posing this guy, if I bend the legs at certain angles, the tops or sides of the hips catch on the bottom of the torso, making it extremely hard to get the legs exactly where I want them for a pose. It's frustrating! If I only had to deal with the issues of this mold once, it probably wouldn't bother me that much, but I have another five versions of this toy in my collection (Vortex himself, Blades, Spinister, and the two helicopter ladies from Victorion). It doesn't help that of the six, Alpha Bravo is one of the less impressive looking molds, and one with minimal story connection other than what I myself assigned to him. Were it not for that, my Alpha Bravo would probably end up gathering dust while the other five Aerialbots take all the glory as Superion. Although, truth be told, that's exactly what Alpha Bravo does anyway - he just kind of stands in front of Superion looking like a spare limb.
I do like the toy, even so. He's got a nice design, and I love the rockets on the arms. But when you're a no-name character and your mold has been used so many times that I am tired of the mold itself, there is this uphill struggle to overcome in order to win a place in this collector's heart.
More information on Transformers Combiner Wars Alpha Bravo at TFW2005
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Transformers Combiner Wars toys in my collection.
