Rad

Origin

Rad is a robot of two sides, equally at home on the battlefield and in the laboratory. Rad's levelheadedness keeps his quick-tempered partner Lionizer from atomizing everything. Rad was revived by the Fuel Grimlock found on Hydrus Four. This caused him to evolve into his Action Master form.

Creation

Rad was created by Hasbro for The Transformers Action Masters Toyline (1990). He was first seen in 1991 Marvel Comics' The Transformers issue #76 by writer Simon Furman and editor Rob Tokar.

Major Story Arcs

Generation 1

Marvel Comics

After the battle with Unicron, Rad was present during the argument between Prowl and Grimlock over the responsibility of leading the Autobots. Rad was among the Autobots that received the Nucleon Fuel to revive the Autobots who were injured during the fight with Starscream when he was powered by the Underbase.

IDW Publishing

Rad has not yet appeared in Regeneration One.

IDW Continuity

Last Stand of the Wreckers

Rad was one of the Autobots stationed at the Garrus-9 penal colony. He and Jackpot were seen taking Impactor into custody after he was found guilty of war crimes.

Spotlight: Arcee

He was also on Garrus-9 when Banzai-Tron and his Decepticon Secret Service bombed the penitentiary to free the captive Monstructor. Along with Arcee and Jackpot they were caught in an explosion, but survived.

Chaos

Rad eventually started scientific work at the Kimia Facility. After Cyclonus's massacre of the station's inhabitants, he boarded an escape pod piloted by Chromedome and Brainstorm. The pod was later picked up by Arcee, who told the survivors of the D-Void's plan to destroy the universe and brought them all to Cybertron to stop it.

More Than Meets the Eye

Rad later joined Rodimus's mission to use the map within the Matrix of Leadership to find the Knights of Cybertron. Upon departure the Lost Light had an explosion sending it into premature quantum jump. The resulting hull breach sucked Rad out of the ship, burning up as he entered the atmosphere. He was later found alive and repaired with most of the other Transformers who had been sucked out of the ship.

Powers and Weaknesses

Highly intelligent and an expert in battle. Rad's partner Lionizer transforms into a powerful atomizing blaster. Being small and a scientist by nature, Rad is inefective against larger more powerful Decepticons.

Characteristics

• Allegiance: Autobot
• Sub Group: None
• Function: Scientist/Scout
• Alt-Modes: Motorcycle
• Color Schemes: Red/Yellow

Alternate Versions

Fun Publications

Timelines

Rad is a commander of the Autobots' base in Oregon, Ironworks. The facility was attacked by Overlord and his Decepticons. Following the battle, Rad assisted Metalhawk in rebuilding their damaged fortifications.

As reconstruction continued, Rad received an alert from Kick-Off about a strange portal opening up in the sky above Ironworks. Rad assured Metalhawk that they will be able to take care of whatever came out of it. However, when Rad found his warriors, many of them had already been corrupted and reformatted into Junkions. Rad sacrificed himself so that Kick-Off could reach safety inside.

3H Productions

Universe

After the Wreckers battle with Unicron, Rad was among the scientists including; Perceptor, Quickmix and Skids, who questioned Rodimus Prime's plan to send out the remaining Autobot scientists to establish deep-space reconnaissance posts.

Other Media

Television

Action Masters Commercial

Rad made his only TV appearance in a commercial for the Action Masters toyline.