Clench (G1)

Clench is a Decepticon Obliterator from the Generation 1 continuity family.

You were supposed to be this colossus! You were this great legendary thing!

Utterly devoted to destroying the Autobots, the Decepticon leader Clench (aka Colossus) is fueled by anger, hatred, and malevolence. He wades into battle blasting, smashing and running over anything in his path with no mercy, then shooting anything else with heavy firepower.

So naturally, he's a registered driver in Texas.

Fiction

Fleetway Generation 2 comic

C'mon, at least shout your name and powers or something.

Clench was part of the Decepticon force led by Bludgeon, sent to Earth to smash stuff up and lure out Optimus Prime. Mostly, he just drove over some parked cars. War Without End

2005 IDW continuity

Insert crappy "Let me give you a hand" joke here.

Long before the war, a group of ex-miners including Megatron, Frenzy, and Rumble took part in a violent uprising against leaders who had exploited them while pocketing the fruits of their labor. They found themselves on the lam in crime-ridden Kaon, which is where they apparently met Clench. Clench employed these same bitter ex-miners to work as gladiators in an underground bloodsport (in which he also occasionally partook), placing them at greater risk than they had ever known and conditioning them to give in to their murderous impulses, all while hoarding the fruits of their labor for himself. Clearly, he had thought this through.

So Megatron eventually killed him during one of the fights and took over. Megatron Origin #2

Wings Universe

"But Black Dynamite, I sell drugs to the community!"

Clench was created at a Cyberfactory in the U.S. state of Texas using a combination of human ingenuity, Nebulan science, and reverse-engineered Cybertronian technology that allowed access to the same font of life that flowed through Vector Sigma. Although designed to function as a security bot, Clench had other ideas: less than ten minutes after coming on-line he had demolished the facility he was born in and set off on one of the most atrocious criminal careers in history. Not the first unsavory Cybertronian of the second generation, Clench soon met others like him and forged them into an outlaw organization known as the Decepticon Syndicate, with him as the head honcho.

Only cursorily connected to the original Decepticons, Clench gladly accepted new troops and technology that arrived from Galvatron, so long as the big bosses "stayed off his turf". The Decepticon Syndicate started with classic Decepticon gambits like hijacking and fuel theft, but Clench soon expanded their repetoir into more unusual Cybertronian crimes like gunrunning and racketeering. Following the Non-Biological Entity Citizenship Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Clench was simultaneously declared a citizen and #1 on the Most Wanted list. Clench eventually pushed too far, however, when he attempted to kidnap and ransom the Queen of England. This crime prompted UK citizen Pyro Ignatius Spark to gather his own team of second generation Autobots to actively oppose Clench and his Syndicate in their dirty dealings. Clench's profile

Clench led a platoon of "second generation" Decepticons into battle at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, repelling the Autobots who had tried to defend the facility and capturing Pyro. Inside, Clench met up with his new ally, the Quintesson minion Sky-Byte, who promised him that his highly energized forestonite fuel would endow the Decepticons with amazing new powers and tilt the tide of battle in their favor. Breakdown urged Clench not to trust Quintesson science, for which Clench mocked him...and then came to believe him, choosing to use Cindersaur as a test subject for the forestonite. As this first subject began to mutate, Clench dictated that Sky-Byte and Breakdown would be the next guinea pigs, and if all survived then he himself would power up with the substance, to later determine if any other Decepticon deserved the privilege. The forestonite imbued Clench with the power to create local gravity wells, crushing and immobilizing his enemies.

He and his troops charged into battle against a would-be Autobot rescue team, and Clench reveled in his new power and gloated over how quickly his enemies would all be destroyed. But Clench and his troops were soon overwhelmed by the sheer number of Autobot reinforcements, whose rapid-attack tactics were more than a match for Clench's strategy of "use gravity beams to hold them down while Double Punch crushes them". Things only got worse when the Autobots gained Forestonite upgrades as well—particularly when Pyro gained limited precognition and could then pre-avoid all of Clench's attacks. In the skirmish the LHC facility was destroyed, prompting Double Punch and Sky-Byte to retreat. Disgusted at the prospect of a fair fight, Clench too fled the scene. Generation 2: Redux

Cooperating with Jhiaxus, Clench supplied his ally with blueprints stolen by Ramjet as well as the Firecons. When he was cagey about the Firecons' abilities, Jhiaxus revealed that he had already heard all about forestonite from Sky-Byte, infuriating Clench. A Flash Forward #2

2019 IDW continuity

Clench was once a gladiator, and his fight against Apeface made Pipes a fan. After the closing of the pits under the Nominus Edict, Clench became a member of the newly-rechristened Decepticons. Clench was a part of the attack on the Senate building, releasing a squad of Decepticon infiltration troopers hidden within him to swarm the Senators. He fought the Senate Guard members, even landing a hit on his former fan Pipes (and thinking he should at least feel a little guilty about it). We Have Deceived You

Clench was made a member of Strika's "New Heavies", and manned a massive rail gun on the Senate building's roof. He reported to Megatron that he spotted Sentinel Prime escaping, and fired on the retreating Autobots below, maiming Bumper and Sideswipe and killing Chainclaw. Clench wound up being blown to bits when Sunrunner marked his position and Sidetrack and Flak bombarded him with homing missiles. Prime

Games

Transformers Legends

Clench was involved in the gladiatorial pit fights in Kaon. As Megatron rose in the ranks of the fights, he found himself opposed by Clench. Megatron defeated Clench and proceeded to take over Kaon itself. Megatron Origins

Toys

The Transformers

MEGAWEAPON!

• Clench (Obliterator, 1993)

• Accessories: 6 missiles
• Known designers: Takio Ejima (TakaraTomy), Masakatsu Saito (concept artist)

Clench transforms into the front half of a long-nosed truck cab resembling an early 1990's Kenworth T600. The back half of his vehicle form, the truck bed and container, turns into a large, double-barreled, missile-launching artillery platform that uses "gravity feed" to load a new pair of missiles for rapid firing. Pressing a button between the barrels pops up a spring-loaded targeting reticule. Both gimmicks are available in truck mode as well. In truck mode, the support strut for the artillery cannon becomes a rear-mounted, extending gripper-claw.

He was first released as part of the "transitional" period of Transformers in the European market, in Generation 1 style packaging, yet bearing the new Generation 2 Decepticon sigil.

Despite what his tiny fictional appearance and his boxart would suggest, Clench is actually a very dark blue-green in colour. With neat little sparkles! Yay. Sparkles.

• More information on Clench at TFU.info
• Instruction booklet for Clench at Botchthecrab.com

Generation 2

• Colossus (Obliterator, 1994)

• Accessories: 6 missiles

Clench was re-released in Europe without changes in Generation 2 proper, now under the name "Colossus".

Timelines

Clench got hench.

• Generation 2: Redux (BotCon 2010 box set)

• Accessories: Riot shield

A new-head retool of Universe Ultra Class Onslaught, Timelines Clench transforms into a six-wheeled SWAT assault truck with positionable mine-scoops and a rotating double-barreled turret on top. His right arm has a spring-loaded flip-out (non-firing) blaster cannon, while his blast shield can be mounted on his left arm and placed on his turret in vehicle mode. The electronics originally in this mold were removed for this release.

The robot mode cheats somewhat, having a second tow-winch on his belt-buckle immediately below his vehicle hood, while the actual vehicle mode winch splits in two to form his shoulders.

Clench is part of the BotCon 2010 boxed set, alongside Breakdown, Autobot Spark, Streetstar, and Sky-Byte.

The original version of this toy was redecoed into Universe Hardhead. The Clench tooling also served as the basis of the non-toy Beast Wars: Uprising incarnation of Torca.

• More information on Clench at TFU.info

Merchandise

Transformers Character Card

• Pyro & Clench Set (October 17, 2023)
  • ID number: 63 & 64

Released as part of the ninth wave of the e-HOBBY exclusive Transformers Character Card series, this pair of holographic trading cards depict super-deformed art of Pyro and Clench along with character profiles and tech specs.

• Translation of Clench's Transformers Character Card

Notes

THIS TOY REVEAL MAKES US SO ANGRY!!! BOTCON IS RUINED FOREVER!!!

• Clench's original toy's license plate reads "TEXAS 1953 NUE 480". It's certainly not a Texan license plate, but it doesn't particularly look like any European license plate either.
• Clench has what appears to be an odd personal insignia: jagged lightning bolts that at their center feature a gunsight-target view of a red wolf in crosshairs. Exactly what this is supposed to symbolize is unclear. The lightning bolt seems to be the same design used on fellow UK villain Skyquake, which was released the year before Clench's original toy.
• His Function is "Leader." This supposedly means he's the main baddie of 1993's line, though Hasbro Europe was pretty liberal with the "Leader" label during that time. But most of the other "Leaders" were members of multi-bot groups, and since Clench is a Decepticon sub-group of one, then it follows he's likely the head honcho of them all.
• After some crafty fans found images of BotCon 2010 "Streetstar" in BotCon.com's directory structure, a (fake) photoshopped image of Universe Tankor in Clench's colors was found also soon thereafter, and reported as real news by Seibertron.com. About half an hour later, the BotCon 2010 site went live, revealing Clench's true sculpt. Oh, those Fun Publications guys, such pranksters.
• In "Generation 2: Redux", Clench's mannerisms are based on character actor Jack Palance.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Clench (クレンチ Kurenchi)