Silverbolt

Silverbolt

Allegiance: Autobot

Sub-Group: Arialbot

Function: Arialbot Commander

First Comic Appearance: Transformers #21

"Don't look down, look straight ahead."

Profile: Silverbolt is scared of heights. It is this one trait, above all else, that determines the rest of his behavior. He projects the image of a brave, grimly determined warrior, befitting his role as Aerialbot Commander. In truth, he is just that. But it is a constant struggle for him to maintain this persona, to never falter or show any sign of emotional weakness to those he leads. Helped by the sleek, aerodynamic jet form that makes him appear to be a natural-born flyer, Silverbolt knows that everything about him belies even a hint of the existence of his phobia. And, in fact, no one is aware he has this problem, except Optimus Prime. It is for that reason the Autobot Commander selected Silverbolt to lead the Aerialbots- Optimus figured if Silverbolt felt responsible for the welfare of others, he'd have less time to worry about himself. Given that Silverbolt is an excellent leader, Optimus was right.

Abilities: In jet mode, Silverbolt can reach Mach 1.9 and has a range of 4500 miles. He carries on his underside an electrostatic battery, which allows him to strip electrons from air molecules as he's flying and store them. He can then direct this stored charge through his nose cone as a powerful bolt of electricity. He's capable of storing and releasing up to 150,000 volts at a time. He's especially effective in lightning storms, due to their abundance of charged particles. He carries an electrostatic discharger rifle in robot mode that has the same capability. He combines with the other Aerialbots to form the giant robot known as Superion.

Weaknesses: As long as Silverbolt is busy leading or fighting, he's fine, but when he's simply flying, particularly by himself, his fear of heights begins to manifest itself. The effect can be devastating: he might start flying wildly, go into a tailspin or even crash.

Silverbolt was the leader of the Aerialbots and formed the main body of Superion. Although a good warrior, Silverbolt was actually afraid of heights and, more importantly, afraid of a situation where the other Aerialbots might find out. This sometimes impaired his performance in battle.

Comic Bio (US):

Silverbolt and his fellow Aerialbots first appeared on the planet Earth, where they were constructed using stolen "gestalt" technology and given life by Optimus Prime. On their first assignment, they successfully defeated the Insecticons and the Seekers Thrust, Ramjet, and Dirge. During the battle, Silverbolt's fear of heights appeared when Dirge's engines activated it. However, he recovered enough to allow Slingshot to land on his wing. As Superion, the Aerialbots were about to kill a human under Bombshell's mind control when Silverbolt decided to save his life by seperating. At this point, the human was able to regain enough control over his mind to avoid shooting Silverbolt with Megatron. After this, the Aerialbots were all reprogrammed to place a greater value on human life.

Along with the other Aerialbots, Silverbolt was captured by the human organization RAAT when Circuit Breaker intervened in a battle between Superion and Menasor. By firing a massive electrical blast that depleted her reserves, she distracted Superion long enough for Menasor's cyclone gun to deliver the knockout punch. He and the other captured Autobots were released after helping Circuit Breaker to defeat the Decepticon Battlechargers.

The Aerialbots were among the first Autobots to battle the GI Joe team when they were sent in to retrieve Bumblebee's body. Superion eventually retreated without accomplishing his objective when Blaster radioed him with the news of Optimus's death [Ed: Technically, Blaster said that Prime was assassinated, which was untrue.].

Silverbolt lost his life battling Starstream, who was empowered by the Underbase at the time.

The Aerialbot leader was revived by the Nucleon which Grimlock pumped into all the stasis pods aboard the Ark. Silverbolt can later be seen in a line of Autobots ready to jump out of the Ark to fight Unicron.

Later, Silverbolt was seen training alongside the Aerialbots and Groove.