Strafe (G1)

Strafe (ストレイフ Sutoreifu) is one of the smart and intelligent Autobots called the Technobots. He transforms into a Cybertronian space fighter and forms into the right arm of Computron. He was also created by Grimlock who decided to built new smart and intelligent Autobots by using Unicron's brain parts. He is a trigger happy fighter who's as much danger to friends as he to his enemies. He was also voiced by Steve Bulen.

Profile

Strafe was created, like the other Technobots, by the temporarily super-intelligent Grimlock from components found within Unicron's head. The exuberant newborn Autobot was immediately presented with the task of using his flight and firepower to disable Unicron's internal defenses. The Technobots were subsequently dispatched to aid the Autobots fighting on Unicron's surface against the Terrorcons, and defeated their combined form of Abominus by merging into Computron. 

Less than a week later, Strafe the other Technobots were assigned to an Earth Defense Command science unit in order to learn how to interact with humans. When reports came in from EDC headquarters of an unknown spacecraft entering the planet's atmosphere, Strafe joined Scattershot and Marissa Faireborn in investigating, and in his eagerness for some action, Strafe wound up opening fire on the craft. Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!!

Strafe was too busy watching the ship crash and congratulating himself to notice that the ship had actually been pursued by Hun-Grr of the Terrorcons, who took both him and Scattershot down, but the pair were saved from the two-headed terror by the timely arrival of the rest of their Technobot comrades. The crashed ship's owner, unscrupulous trader Dirk Manus, agreed to lead the heroes to a hidden Quintesson base he had discovered on Titan, and Strafe, Scattershot and Lightspeed set off with him the next day. Strafe had little patience for Lightspeed's rambling on the beauty of space, but soon found himself something much worse to complain about when the team was ambushed by Abominus and sent plummeting to the moon's surface. 

Nosecone, Afterburner and Faireborn soon arrived to help, rescuing the group from the Sharkticons; they headed for the Quintesson base. In route, Strafe "saved" Marissa from some aggressive vines by wantonly opening fire on them. Blam! Blam! Blam!!

Manus took Marissa hostage and handed them over to the Quintessons, the Technobots' injuries having left them unable to combine. However, the whole thing was a complex double-cross by Manus, eager for revenge on the Quintessons following a deal gone wrong; he used the molecular disassembler/reassembler known as the Recreator to heal Strafe and the Technobots' injuries, and they defeated Abominus and the Quintessons. 

Strafe and his team later got a chance for a rematch with the Terrorcons when they attempted to stop them stealing a heat-resistant alloy from Doctor Mark Morgan's laboratory, but this battle ended in failure for the Technobots, and Strafe was tasked with summoning First Aid to provide medical care for Morgan's daughter, who was injured in the battle. 

Months later, Strafe was at Autobot City, talking with his fellow Technobots and the Throttlebots about what a glorious day it was, and about how every day had been a glorious one ever since they ended the threat of the Decepticons once and for all, and the days would continue to be glorious as long as... okay, you know what's coming. 

After the Decepticons were finally defeated (again), Strafe was among the Autobots celebrating the new Golden Age of Cybertron. 

Marvel Comics

Strafe was not explicitly shown during the Headmasters miniseries but must have been present with the Autobots on Nebulos for the Technobots to form Computron. His only proper appearance in the Marvel US series came in Issue #50, during the Underbase Saga, where he was part of a combined Autobot-Decepticon taskforce led by Fortress Maximus and Soundwave sent to defend Buenos Aires against the Underbase-powered Starscream. He was among those killed in the battle.

The post-movie version of the character appeared in Marvel UK's "Space Pirates" among the Autobots stationed on Cybertron. He and the other Technobots accompanied Ultra Magnus in answering a distress call which turned out to be from Soundwave and the Decepticons: The two groups worked together to fight off a Quintesson invasion of Cybertron. In the Dark Rodimuys arc, he was stationed on Earth and was one of the Autobot reinforcements summoned by Kup after the ship from Cybertron crashlanded. They arrived to find Rodimus Prime possessed by Unicron, with Strafe among those killed fighting him.

Despite this, in "Peace" Strafe was one of the Autobots presented when Rodimus Prime announced the final defeat of the Decepticons and end of the war in 2510. However, Decepticon deep cover agent Triton managed to foster dissent between the Autobots present, leading to an Autobot Civil War.

Abilities & Weapons

G1 Strafe's stats (According to his trading card & G1 Tech Spec)

Dreamwave G1 Strafe profile

G1 Strafe Tech Spec

Abilities

• In his rocket plane mode, Strafe can travel at maximum ground speed of 250 mph (~ 402 km/h). In flight, his rear retro-rocket boosters allow him to fly at a maximum speed of 580 mph (~ 933 km/h) for up to 3000 miles (~ 4828 km). He has lightning-fast reflexes in this mode, which allows him to outmaneuver a heat-seeking missile and make a right turn at maximum flying speed in the space of a quarter-mile (~ 0.40 km).

[MTMTE's profile claims Strafe's maximum speed is 500 mph (~ 805 km/h).]

• Strafe has average strength, above average intelligence & overall endurance. He also retains incredible reflexes from rocket plane mode. Strafe is an expert marksman despite his wild shooting sprees: He can burn a hole through a screw head from two miles (~3.22 miles) away.

• He becomes one of the limbs (mostly the left arm) for the gestalt form of the team - Computron. He helps other components (namely fellow Technobots) rapidly refocus their attention on any new targets or problem that arises.

Arsenal: Strafe has significantly above average firepower

• In rocket plane mode, Strafe is armed with 2 automatic light-pulse blasters.

• In robot mode, Strafe uses a heat-ray rifle.

[MTMTE's profile claims Strafe is armed with 2 rapid-fire explosive shell cannons in his rocket plane mode. His robot mode's weapon is a pistol with similiar capabilities.]

Weaknesses

• Strafe has a tendency to stall in mid-air during some of his more daring maneuvers. His slow air speed also leaves him vulnerable to faster flyers.
• His wasteful manner in which he uses his weapons often leaves him lacking ammunition in battle situations when he truly needs it.

[MTMTE's profile claims Strafe's skill as a warrior can't keep up with his reflexes at all. His weapons fire is so inaccurate that he does more harm than good to his comrades.]