Buzzsaw (Armada)

Let's see what you can see... This article is in need of images. Specifics: Fiction, toys

Buzzsaw is a Mini-Con from the Armada portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

I don't HAVE a saw. I have tiny buckets. TINY BUCKETS.

Buzzsaw knows that in order to create, sometimes you must also destroy. He's come to accept this, but it's all a matter of what must be destroyed. Unlike his leader Dualor, he doesn't believe that you can just up and sacrifice anything or anyone to get whatever you want. But Buzzsaw lacks the strength of resolve to stand up to Dualor, and the guilt of watching innocents suffer has begun to take its toll on him.

His only relief is in his work as a builder, and his hobby as an artist. Though certainly any symbolism in his creations is lost on Dualor.

Fiction

Toy pack-in comics

Starscream and the Destruction Mini-Con Team were sent to destroy a satellite dish that could have helped detect Megatron. While they succeeded at destroying the dish, the Destruction Team were tied up by the Autobots guarding it. Armada Volume 2

Armada cartoon

You won't find me, not even in the file description!

Buzzsaw was one of several Mini-Cons captured in quick succession by the Decepticons after Starscream gained the power of the Star Saber. Conspiracy

On a later mission, Megatron gathered Buzzsaw and a number of other Mini-Cons to help him in a scheme against Optimus Prime. Prime managed to win the Mini-Cons' loyalty, however, by absorbing their laser fire without resistance or fighting back. Moved by his actions, Buzzsaw and the others turned on Megatron and accompanied Optimus back to Autobot headquarters. Vow

Buzzsaw, seemingly stolen back by the Decepticons along with the other Mini-Con defectors, was present working a "tune up" for the Decepticons. Runaway

Buzzsaw was later found by Perceptor and the Autobots, working on the Decepticon ship. He, along with his teammates were rescued by the Autobots and taken back into their custody. Rescue

After his rescue, he helped prepare the Autobots' new spaceship to chase the Decepticons back to Cybertron. Buzzsaw and the united Mini-Cons were seen helping with the construction work. Remorse Buzzsaw and the Mini-Cons all chose to willingly follow the Autobots into space aboard the Axalon, fighting alongside them against the Decepticons. Depart

Dreamwave Armada comic

Buzzsaw appeared to be in the hands of the Decepticons when the other Mini-Cons left Cybertron, Armada #2 but this was apparently an illusion or something, as he was also among the Mini-Cons who ended up on Earth's moon. After Dualor built a fortress base and summoned even more Mini-Cons to it, Buzzsaw helped up by pointing a gun at them in case they didn't like being summoned. The Decepticons soon attacked the base, but Buzzsaw assured Sparkplug that it was impenetrable. Armada #9 He and the other Destruction Team members were then blasted unconscious by Leader-1 while organizing their defenses. Armada #10 This led to their capture at the hands of Megatron. Armada #11

The Destruction Team didn't give up so easily, though. By activating a failsafe program, they overloaded the Decepticons with power and saved themselves from being used against their will. This allowed Dualor to strike a deal with Megatron: They'd lend the Decepticons their strength in exchange for some degree of leadership. Megatron accepted and handed Buzzsaw and the others to Cyclonus, whom they promptly drove insane with power anyway. Fire & Ice Megatron mused that he knew that the Mini-Cons would betray him, then retrieved them alongside the unconscious Cyclonus. Armada #13

Buzzsaw and his teammates were subsequently punished via Punishment Cube. Worlds Collide, Part 1 of 4 They were not among the Decepticon-held Mini-Cons released to join the fight against Unicron. Megatron was vague on their fate, simply saying that the Decepticons were "better off without them". The End

Panini Armada comic

Unsurprisingly, Buzzsaw was among the Mini-Cons who supported Dualor's plan to get rid of Megatron in the early stages of the war. The plan consisted of luring the Decepticon leader to Autobot Command HQ, where Buzzsaw and Drill Bit had planted magno-web charges to blow him up. Ultimately, the plan failed due to Sparkplug's unwillingness to sacrifice the Autobots. Counter-Strike!

In the modern era, Buzzsaw and his teammates lived on Earth's moon following the crash of the Mini-Con escape vessel. One day, they found Cyclonus crashed on the moon's surface, and agreed to pay the Decepticons back for their crimes. Power-linking with the unconscious Decepticon, the Destruction Team boosted his power and took control of his body, then used him to attack the Decepticons' moonbase. They even managed to defeat Megatron himself, but before they could finish him off, their power-links were severed by Starscream's sonic destabiliser. Buzzsaw and the others escaped back to their hideout, where Starscream later contacted them and offered them a deal... Dawn of Destruction!

Toys

Armada

Not even Mini-Cons are safe from Hasbro's stock photography mistransformations!

• Destruction Mini-Con Team (Mini-Con 3-pack, 2002 / 2003)

• Takara name: Destruction Micron
• Takara ID number: MM-04
• Takara release date: December 26 2002
• Known designers: Yuichiro Hira (Takara)

Released in the second wave of Armada Mini-Con three-packs, Buzzsaw transforms into a bucket-wheel excavation machine. He features a gear-wheel system that causes his excavator mode bucket-wheel to rotate when he is rolled in vehicle mode. He can also be attached to the underside of the Armada Cyclonus mold, interacting with the Decepticon’s gear-wheel rotor system so the bucket-wheel moves as Cyclonus's rotor-trigger is pulled.

He was nominally only available in a three-pack with his teammates Dualor and Drill Bit.

This mold was also used to make Cybertron Landslide and Zigzag.

• More information on Buzzsaw at TFU.info

• Sandstorm & Destruction Micron (Multi-pack, 2002)

• Sonokong name: Sandstorm & Destruction
• ID number: MS-04
• Takara release date: December 26, 2002

The Destruction Microns were also included in a multi-pack in Japan with Sandstorm and his partner Mini-Con Cannon. Each toy is identical to their individual Takara releases.

This set was also released by Sonokong in Korea, with no changes from the Takara release, other than the packaging. This was also the only way to obtain Sandstorm (Cyclonus) and the "Destructions" in Korea.

• Destruction Micron Exdimensions (Mini-Con 3-pack, 2002)

• ID number: MM-09
• Release date: December 26, 2002

A limited-edition (yet still standard retail) redeco of the Destruction Microns was released in Japan. The entire team was given an orange and gray color scheme.

This toy also doubles as the separate character Wheel.

• More information on Exdimensions Wheel at TFU.info

Then, when you have found the shrubbery, you must place it here, beside this shrubbery, only slightly higher, so we get the two-level effect with a little path running down the middle.

• Wheel Undergrove Edition (Promotional Micron, 2003)

• Release date: January 1, 2003

Exclusive to Ito Yokaido stores in Japan, one member of the "Undergrove Edition" Destruction Microns were given at random to customers who bought MC-01 Convoy Super Mode throughout January (until they ran out of them), though reportedly some stores gave one away with any Legends of the Microns purchase.

"Undergrove Edition" was not on the instructions packed in with the toys; the name was ultimately revealed in the "Micron Museum" portion of Takara's Legends of the Microns website on July 18th that year.

• More information on Undergrove Wheel at TFU.info

• Wheel White Micron (Promotional Micron, 2003)

• Release date: April 26, 2003

As part of the "Golden Week" holiday, Japanese "TF Station" affiliate stores gave out solid-white versions of the Destruction Microns at a limit of one per customer.

In some stores, these pieces were given out with the intent of being used in "paint your own" in-store events.

• More information on White Wheel at TFU.info

Stupid expensive. And we do mean stupid.

• Wheel Space Galaxy Edition (Micron pack-in, 2003)

• Release date: May 1, 2003

In May, JUSCO stores in Japan got in special versions of Convoy Super Mode that contained one member of the "Space Galaxy Edition" Destruction Microns per box… but the bonus Microns were blind-packed inside the boxes.

Yes, you read that correctly. Blind-packed inside the most expensive toy in the line (at the time).

As such, this version of the team is among the most expensive of the promotional Microns on the secondary market.

• Road Wrecker Mini-Con Team (Mini-Con 3-pack, 2003)

Released in the sixth wave of Armada Mini-Con three-packs, a green-and-gray redeco of the Destruction Mini-Con Team was put out under a new team name, but as the same individual characters.

This set was released under the Unicron Battles branding, hyping up the release of the giant Unicron toy.

• More information on Road Wrecker Buzzsaw at TFU.info

• Predacon with Side Burn and Skid-Z (Bonus Buy pack, 2003)

The entire team, in their original colors, was included in a "Bonus Buy" set, in a small bubble added to the top of the normal Predacon box, sold for the price of Predacon alone.

It is currently unknown what retailer this set was sold through.

• Blurr with Incinerator and Bonus Mini-Con (Bonus pack, 2003)

• Sideways with Rook & Crosswise and Bonus Mini-Con (Bonus pack, 2003)

• Release date: November 28, 2003

In November of 2003, US Toys"R"Us stores had special bonus pack Super-Con (Deluxe) toys, which came with a single bonus Mini-Con attached to the card over their sticker, for less than the price as a normal Super-Con during Toys"R"Us's post-Thanksgiving-day sale. Each of the original-color Destruction Mini-Con Team members could come packaged with either Blurr or Sideways.

Energon

• Road Wrecker Mini-Con Team & Night Attack Mini-Con Team (Mini-Con 6-pack, 2004)

A re-release of the Road Wrecker Mini-Con Team was included as part of an Energon "Mini-Con 6-pack" with the Night Attack Mini-Con Team.

This pack was a shared exclusive to both Toys"R"Us and Walmart stores in the US.

Notes

• In regards to Buzzsaw and the Destruction Team's ambiguous fate in the Dreamwave Armada comic, Simon Furman has said in the letters page of "Multiplicity, Pt. 3" that it can be assumed that Megatron strapped them to a rocket and fired them into the sun.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Wheel (ホイール Hoīru)