Pyro (G1)

Pyro is an Autobot Obliterator from the Generation 1 continuity family.

For 17 years, this was the only art of me.

Young Pyro (aka Spark) is another in a proud tradition of selfless Autobot heroes. He is invariably on the front lines protecting the weak and helpless, and is so brave and steadfast as to be virtually immovable. He stands for truth, justice, and the freedom of all sentient beings. He commands a powerful multi-functional battlestation. And, hey, did we mention that he transforms into a truck?^[1]

Fiction

2005 IDW continuity

First appearance: Last Stand of the Wreckers #1

When war initially broke out on Cybertron, Pyro declared himself a conscientious objector and left with a large number of refugees for the Neutral Territories. But after being ambushed by Decepticons en route, Pyro changed his mind and soon joined the Autobot resistance. He gained prominence after rescuing a platoon of cadets trapped behind enemy lines and continued to distinguish himself in several off-world skirmishes. Pyro nearly lost his life to the Crucible during the Simanzi Massacre, alongside thousands of others, but was saved at the last moment by Optimus Prime.

Over here, Optimus! I'm behind you! Please notice me! :(

Pyro would consequently work to emulate Optimus Prime in any way he could, taking the Autobot commander's methods and ideals to heart and eventually even altering his physical appearance to more closely resemble Prime. His latest effort included a new red and blue paint job and an added faceplate. Far from a simple case of hero worship on Pyro's part, Autobot psy-ops specialist Rung even diagnosed him with the Cybertronian personality disorder "primus apotheosis" after studying his case. His greatest wish was to die gloriously in battle as Prime watched and understood their intimate connection. Last Stand of the Wreckers #5

Pyro got to fight alongside Prime while part of the 113th Battalion, which waged a massive battle against the Phase Sixer Black Shadow. Rules of Disengagement

Pyro would lead a platoon on Hydrus 5 and successfully defended it from a Tremorcon attack, with his own heroic actions being noted as a reason for victory. Bullets Afterwards, a surprised Pyro was personally approached by Springer for recruitment into the Wreckers, with Springer claiming that the former was on the top of the list. Dead Men's Boots

Along with Guzzle, Ironfist, and Rotorstorm, Pyro waited for pick-up at the Igue-Moor Fuel Depot; unlike them, he was extremely embarrassed when their bored target practice trashed the place, hurriedly putting fires out and trying to apologize to the irate foreman Dipstick. Upon pick-up, he was stunned to find one of those fragile humans was a Wrecker, and he bemused Verity with a stunned speech about how Optimus was right about the need to protect her species. Last Stand of the Wreckers #1

In his head, Pyro likes to call them Ironhide, Warpath, and Powerglide.

After the former (and incarcerated!) Wreckers leader, Impactor, was picked up by the group, Pyro and the other new recruits were sidelined to a separate room while the "grown-ups" chatted. The others tried to help Pyro pick out a motto for himself, as he had yet to do so. His suggestions of "Freedom of thought, freedom of action, freedom... to be" and "Sentience is the guarantor of autonomy" were deemed either too pompous or too, uh, derivative.

Soon, all the Autobots on board Ultra Magnus's ship gathered to work out the details of their planned take-back of the prison world Garrus-9. Unfortunately, the mastermind behind G-9's subjugation was the infamous Decepticon wild card, Overlord, and Pyro joined the others in freaking out just a tad. Pyro expressed concerns that their strategy for completing their objectives wasn't terribly complex. Springer reminded him that this was the Wreckers, where planning is dumb. The group was to arrive on planet spread across two escape pods. Pyro, Topspin, Perceptor, and Ironfist were assigned to Rotorstorm's shuttle, while the other pod was to be guided in remotely also by Rotorstorm. On the way in, Pyro was surprised to learn that their pod had a stowaway: Verity Carlo in her battle suit.

The Decepticons were, of course, ready for the two pods with an impressive volley of firepower. After their pods took a number of hits, Pyro and the others crash-landed on the surface of Garrus-9, right on the footsteps of Overlord. Last Stand of the Wreckers #2

Pyro mistakes Verity for Hi-Q.

After their recovery and Rotorstorm's demise at the hands of Overlord, Pyro protected Verity by shielding her in his chest while Perceptor, Topspin, and Ironfist took on Overlord. The Autobots beat a hasty retreat as Overlord requested the rest of the Decepticons bring them a head of a Wrecker in exchange for freedom. After they escaped and found their way to where Aequitas was being held, Pyro finally remembered he was hiding Verity in his chest. After a verbal scolding from Verity, who reminded him that humans don't fold up inside chest compartments well, Pyro let his mask slip and openly questioned what Optimus Prime saw in these fragile creatures.

Once Pyro's team arrived at Aequitas's cell, and with Decepticons closely on their tails, he helped Topspin carry the barely alive Fortress Maximus inside as the prison doors opened to reveal... Last Stand of the Wreckers #3

Fight and die, rather than live with the knowledge that you ran! ...unless it's for something stupid.

...Aequitas, Garrus-9's supercomputer, which judged its prisoners of their guilt. They were charged with downloading the contents of its hard drive and getting out of there, but there was one catch: With Garrus-9's command crew gone, the only way to access the mainframe for downloads was to sacrifice a spark to it. Perceptor was ineligible for this, as he was needed to interface with the supercomputer, sacrificing Topspin would also kill Twin Twist, and Verity was a human... leaving Pyro and Ironfist.

Pyro balked at this, insisting his life was destined for far greater things than sacrificing himself so that they could merely turn on a computer. No, he saw himself at the end of his life going out in a blaze of glory, saving a planetful of organisms, and finally catching the attention of Optimus Prime. Like the true hero he was destined to be, he fingered Ironfist to sacrifice himself instead. After all, that guy just worked in a lab. What important things had he done? This argument infuriated Verity. Just as Ironfist began sadly to agree, they were interrupted by Topspin nominating himself. Twin Twist was about to die from torture at the hands of Stalker anyhow, and this way, they could both die with relative dignity, on their own terms.

Once Perceptor had access to Aequitas, another hard decision reared its head. Pyro and the others were surrounded by Decepticons, and in moments, they would be overrun and, most likely, destroyed. Perceptor could activate the deterrence chips in every prisoner on Garrus-9, thus saving them, but, as Pyro noted, Impactor was also a former prisoner and would share their fate. Perceptor put their decision to a vote, and Pyro voted against. However, Perceptor decided the needs of many outweighed the needs of Impactor, and Ironfist, with the vast database of Aequitas downloaded into his systems, had learned that Impactor wasn't so great after all and deserved to die. Last Stand of the Wreckers #4

Don't worry, he's just re-enacting "City of Steel".

Verity made an impassioned plea to Perceptor and Ironfist not to activate the deterrence chips, arguing that the Wreckers as lionized by Ironfist would never sacrifice a teammate in this manner, no matter what Impactor had done. Perceptor decided she was correct, and they would simply fight their enemies head on. But Pyro spoke up and told them to run instead, while he offered to buy them time. Ironfist pointed out that Pyro would be slaughtered and this was hardly the blaze of glory the larger Autobot had wanted. Pyro simply told Ironfist that he had decided that dying to protect people he cared about was a fine way to go, and apologized to Verity for underestimating her worth. The others stood aside as Pyro blasted the door open. As the Decepticons charged in, Perceptor and the others slipped by while Pyro tried to hold the mob off. Verity asked Ironfist how long Pyro would be able to hold out, and Ironfist assured her that Pyro would "put up a good fight".

Unfortunately, Pyro was quickly overwhelmed as the mob of Decepticons swarmed over him and literally tore him limb-from-limb. After G-9 was liberated, Pyro's remains, along with the other fallen Wreckers, were placed in caskets and transported to Earth. Last Stand of the Wreckers #5 Pyro's remains were eventually interred alongside his comrades in the Zone of Remembrance within Debris. Zero Point

Some years later, Brainstorm rebuilt his Early Early Warning System with the ability to do famous voices; on hearing it say "Freedom is the right of all sentient—what the hell is that?!", Nautica claimed to recognise the voice as belonging to Pyro. Sardines

Wings Universe

Take me to your leader!

Born in a Cyberfactory in the United Kingdom, Pyro Ignatius Spark was the first Transformer birthed on Earth to be recognized as a citizen of a human nation. He has a "real" name, he has a birth certificate, and he even has a job with which Pyro pays the bills: he's both a firefighter and a fire engine for the London Fire Brigade. Fearless and relentlessly cheerful, he attends to his daily chores with an eccentric, irreverent glee... even when he functions as the leader of the Generation 2 Autobots when they routinely battle Clench's Decepticon Syndicate. In 2007, Pyro was knighted Sir Pyro Ignatius Spark for his rescue of the Queen of England from the Decepticons.

In 2010, Pyro's G2 Autobots fought the Decepticon Syndicate once again, this time outside the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, where Pyro feared that Clench meant to destroy the Earth. Unfortunately, Pyro was captured and brought inside by Clench, though this did not quell Pyro's ever-present good mood. Clench did not mean to destroy the Earth (he was on it!), but had teamed up with the Quintesson-aligned Predacon general Sky-Byte and his army of next gen Sharkticons for the purpose of using the Collider to unleashing the power of forestonite. They believed that when bombarded with particles, the forestonite would grant Transformers special powers, albeit with some color mutations.

Doctor, doctor, give me the news.

Indeed, they were right, and when Pyro's team came to rescue them, both factions ended up altered by the bombarded forestonite gas. Pyro was given the power of precognition, allowing him to perpetually see a few seconds into the future. In addition to the quick reflexes his precognition made possible, he was also able to focus his new power on an object to "read" events from its recent past.

Freed, Pyro battled Clench one-on-one, and while Clench's new powers allowed him to create local gravity wells, Pyro's precognition served him better. When it became apparent that Clench was losing, Sky-Byte and the Sharkticons abandoned him. Clench and the Syndicate also fled, and Pyro directed his team towards repairing the damage done to the Hadron Collider. And after that, there would be the exciting adventure of hunting down unaccounted-for canisters of forestonite! Generation 2: Redux

This Pyro gets to work with A-list Ark crew!

In 2012 following a break-in at Quantum Laboratories, Pyro was given the task of finding out who did it by Ultra Magnus. A Flash Forward #2 Pyro's team had not long gotten underway when they received a call from Nebulos. They arrived to the news that the scientist Hi-Q had gone missing, and after reviewing security footage, Pyro discovered that the culprits were Runabout and Runamuck. A Flash Forward #3 He and his team tracked the Battlechargers' exhaust emissions to Qre and were surprised to find it had been altered to resemble Cybertron. They were attacked by a training system before Jhiaxus arrived to introduce himself. Though Jhiaxus invited them in, Pyro soon found his team ambushed by Sharkticons and imprisoned behind a radiation field. A Flash Forward #4

This Pyro found the real Hi-Q!

Jhiaxus explained to Pyro that he was creating a "second generation" of clones to live in peace. Sideswipe, meanwhile, posed as his own clone, allowing him to free Pyro and the rest of the team. A Flash Forward #5 Pyro had to warn Aquafend off attacking Jhiaxus as the latter had Hi-Q in his chest. After rescuing the Nebulon, the Autobots fled the exploding base to be confronted by the three Autobot clones. Pyro managed to talk the trio into returning to Earth with him. Back on Earth, he reported the results of the mission to Ultra Magnus but then learned from Sizzle that the "Machine Wars" were coming. A Flash Forward, Part 6

Pyro's actions in 2012 were seen on a computer screen by Rhinox and Prowl of Nexus 208.0 Epsilon as Rhinox noted that Pyro's home reality, Primax 509.28 Epsilon was unaffected by the current wave of multiversal chaos. Invasion: Epilogue

Pyro was stationed on Earth during the Machine Wars. Two days before Jhiaxus's army reached Cybertron, Pyro and Obsidian conferred over video communications, and coordinated their teams efforts in anticipation of the enemy's movements. Pyro informed Obsidian that he suspected foul play; Obsidian had previously told Pyro that Obsidian was working with Sandstorm, but it turned out the real Sandstorm was with Pyro at the moment. In actuality, the other Sandstorm was a clone created by Jhiaxus.

Three days after the invasion of Cybertron, Pyro received an mekarach pulse from Cybertron, and rightly deduced that it had been the only means that Obsidian had found to make contact with him while Cybertron's communications were down. He subsequently deployed Alpha and Bravo Teams via space bridge as strategic reinforcements. A Common Foe

Kre-O online manga

Pyro helped Inferno put out a raging fire. Dive Into the Fire! The Rescue Operation of Friendship

Ask Vector Prime

In Primax 092.0 Beta, Pyro succeeded Hyperdrive as Autobot leader though Hyperdrive remained on the front lines until the Great War finally ended. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/07/16

TransTech

Sparky (or to give her full name, Pyra Ignatia Spark) and her assistant Firecracker were interviewed by Andromeda regarding the fireworks display the pair had set up for the New Year's Eve celebration. The interview touched on Sparky's Conjunx Endura Vez and the fact that the fireworks would be previewed during Rosanna's pre-party concert. Andromeda - Axiom Nexus News, 2016/12/31

Toys

The Transformers

Captain Carrot reporting for duty.

• Pyro (Obliterator, 1993)

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

Pyro transforms from a Carmichael Cobra airport crash truck into a robot (front half) and a gun emplacement (back half). The latter features a six-barrel missile launcher which actually fires as one rotates the knob on the back. His sticker sheet notably includes several different windshield decals, each with the word "FIRE" in a different language. In robot mode he has fairly limited articulation as well as an Optimus Prime-looking headsculpt, which was the trend with Autobot leaders at the time.

He was first released as part of the "transitional" period of Transformers in the European market, bearing the new Generation 2 Autobot symbol.

Pyro notably suffers from Gold Plastic Syndrome, as his feet, lower arms, wheel rims, missile launcher, his gun and his, erm, crotch, are made of this brittle plastic.

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

Generation 2

• Spark (Obliterator, 1994)

• Accessories: Rifle, 6 missiles

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

Timelines

Holy god yes.

• Generation 2: Redux (BotCon 2010 box set)

• Accessories: "Flame" missile

Timelines "Autobot Spark" is a redeco of Universe Voyager Class Inferno, transforming into a fictional six-wheeled variant of the 2002-2007 Pierce Contender series of firetrucks. His top-mounted spring-loaded missile launcher ends up mounted on his right arm in robot mode. He may have the most paint of any BotCon toy ever.

He was part of a Generation 2-themed five-figure box set available exclusively at BotCon 2010. The other figures in the set were Streetstar, Clench, Breakdown, and Sky-Byte.

This sculpt was retooled to make Transformers Solar Storm Grappel, and was differently retooled into Generations Protectobot Hot Spot. Grappel himself was later redecoed into 2014 Transformers Protectobot Hot Spot, and the sculpt was also redecoed into United Artfire, using tooling from both the original Inferno version and the newer Grappel version of this sculpt.

• More information on Autobot Spark 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 Pyro's Transformers Character Card

Notes

(BotCon Wings profile art)

• Pyro's personality in Wings continuity is based on David Tennant's Tenth Doctor.
• Pyro's Timelines card art is drawn with his forearm kibble mistransformed.
• Kreon Pyro is made from several existing Kre-O pieces, most obviously the Optimus Prime helmet piece.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Pyro (パイロ Pairo)

References