Outback's is a character from Transformers Generation 1 franchise. His bio presented him as a risk-taker who was willing to bend the rules if need be. In the animated series, he was mainly voiced by Dan Gilvezan, and spoke with an Australian accent.
History[]
Cartoon[]
Outback made his first appearance in "Five Faces of Darkness Part 1". After Ultra Magnus, Kup and Spike Witwicky were kidnapped, the Autobots assumed the recently defeated Decepticons were behind the plot. Rodimus Prime sent out Autobot patrols to seek out any remaining Decepticons. Outback was on patrol with Blaster, when they were called in to investigate suspicious jets in the fictional nation of Carbombya. Using his "trusty Decepticon detector" he lured Dirge and Ramjet out into the open. He and Blaster disabled and interrogated them as to the whereabouts of their new hideout, the planet Chaar. In part 5 Outback was among the Earth-based Autobots forced to defend The Ark from Trypticon. However, the Autobots were no match for the Decepticon monster and the Ark was completely destroyed.
Outback's next significant role came in "The Quintesson Journal". Outback, Blaster, Sky Lynx and the Autobot cassettes were returning to Cybertron from an undisclosed mission. While en route, Perceptor intercepted a signal determined to be an old Quintesson frequency. He ordered Outback and Blaster to rendezvous to the coordinates from where the signal was originating. The Autobots, as well as the Predacons arrived on the planet and discovered the journal. Soon the Quintessons themselves arrived and attempted to reclaim their journal. This resulted in a three way frenzy to maintain control of the journal. The Autobots eventually escaped with the journal and returned to Cybertron. The contents of the journal revealed the operation by the Quintessons to supply weapons to two warring civilizations, Zetaxus and Lenarq. The sneaky Quintessons would fuel tensions between the two factions, by selling larger and more expensive weapons to each side, without the other knowing it. Neither faction realized they had been conned by the Quintessons until the journal was revealed, leaving the Zetaxus and the Lenarq to agree to a cease fire. Outback did not make any major appearance in the series after this.
Comics[]
Outback mainly appeared in Marvel's the Transformers UK comics, where he resided on Cybertron. In The Harder they Die, Outback was attacked by a lone Decepticon killer, but was saved by Optimus Prime, who had accidentally returned to Cybertron along with Megatron. Though Prime told Outback that he wanted to be left alone after the rescue, Outback decided to quietly follow Prime along from a distance anyways. After Optimus Prime was framed as a imposter in Under Fire, Outback tried to save Optimus from being executed by the Wreckers, telling Ultra Magnus that he was acting rashly due to his guilt over Impactor's death. When Magnus refused to believe him, Outback helped Optimus Prime escape by distracting his captors with a gas particle bomb. The two went on the run together, pursued by Magnus and a squad of Guardian droids. Two of the Guardians caught up to them, and Outback was seriously wounded in battle against them. Optimus Prime was forced to carry him to safety.
While cared for Distant Thunder, Outback began to grow increasingly despondent. To raise his spirits, Optimus told him of how he survived his experiences while stranded in the Limbo dimension. The Wreckers burst in on them when Optimus finished his story, and he was willing to lay down his life so that Outback would be cared for. This, combined with Prime's story, convinced Magnus and Emirate Xaaron that Prime was the real deal. Now working together, in Resurrection, Outback helped raid several Decepticon camps.
In the Marvel US comics, Outback was twice seen among the Earth Autobots without explanation, being among those present for the duel between Blaster and Grimlock on the moon in Totalled and taking part in a training session aboard the Ark in Club Con.
His last appearance was in the UK story Underworld, where he was shown back on Cybertron, working with Pipes to locate their friend Tailgate who had disappeared into the underworld. They arrived to find Tailgate battling a group of demons but, realising Tailgate needed to get closure for the death of his friends, Outback convinced Pipes to hang back and allow Tailgate to defeat them on his own.
