#39: Needlenose (1988)

Needlenose is more relevant now then he was back in 1988. There, I said it. In a world where celebrity is now king, where TOWIE and Paris Hilton are listened to more than politicians, where better for the ultimate celebrity cool dude Needlenose to reside?

I always liked Needlenose's Tech Spec bio. A lot of the Decepticon bios tend to be about how they're going to bring about the Autobot's ultimate doom, and their general badassness, Needlenose fell into the category of 'a little bit on the selfish side'. He's one of those who could have been an Autobot, if not for the fact that they were a little bit TOO much on the selfish side of things. He's like the anti-Jazz, fascinated with Earth fads and Earth pop culture in general, but instead of wanting to help people and join in the culture, he just wants it all for himself and no one else.

In the comics, he was a little bit inept too, being constantly talked up by Spinister, and always letting him down by being rubbish and lazy and yep, you guessed it, selfish. He ended up surrendering to the Autobots after Thunderwing went mental, and was never heard from again, until he wound up being one of Soundwave's neo-Decepticons, that is. He's around in the IDW-verse too, avoiding being lynched and generally being angry and looking cool and badass. In his mind, anyway. He was never in the cartoon though, and never got any Japanese action, the double Targetmasters not being sold there at all. Which I always thought of as slightly odd.

Needlenose is pretty much your gimmicky G1 brick, his only articulation being in his shoulders. To be fair though, that's not why you'd want him, it's Sunbeam and ZigZag, his partners, that's why you'd want him. Because Double Targetmasters are cool. He's actually a really cool toy, all things being equal, the plane mode looks good, and his robot mode does too, even without the articulation. Also, Double Targetmasters are cool. I may have mentioned this before.

It looks like Needlenose might be due a comeback then, given the way that IDW's comics are going. Will he ever be a big player? Doubtful. But he's always there, so someday, the time may come when he can get his richly deserved 15 vorns of fame...