Hotlink (G1)

Hotlink is a Decepticon from the Generation 1 continuity family.

But can it do smoke rings? (Hotlink is the purple one in front.)

Hotlink is a "Mechatronic Engineer" by trade but a gadget geek at heart. You'll never find him without his tool kit, and he's always ready to tinker up a new device to fit the needs of the moment. It's an affinity that transcends even Autobot or Decepticon factions for him. He'll be just as quick to geek out over an awesome Autobot weapon as one from his own team. And just as quick to "improve" it for his own enjoyment.

His favorite creation of his own is the pyropathic flamethrower. The kids love that one.^[1]

Fiction

Generation 1 cartoon continuity

The Transformers cartoon

Voice actor: Masashi Ebara (Japanese)

Hotlink was one of the Decepticon jets on Cybertron four million years ago. He used a flamethrower to enclose the Autobots Wheeljack and Bumblebee in a circle of fire. They were nevertheless able to escape and plowed through Hotlink's patrol. More than Meets the Eye, Part 1

Wings Universe

In 2013, Hotlink was part of the joint Autobot/Decepticon resistance on Cybertron against Jhiaxus's Cybertronian clone army in the Machine Wars. Two days before Jhiaxus's army arrived, Hotlink helped Hoist fuse the controls for the space bridge control room. Despite their best efforts, however, the bridge could not be opened up from their end. They were ushered out of the room when Obsidian and Pyro wished to talk in private. A Common Foe

Five days later, he joined in an all-out assault on the Cybertronians, setting at least two clones ablaze with his flamethrower. Termination

TransTech

Hotlink was one of many offworlders in Axiom Nexus's Under City. Hotlink was part of a crowd in Seeker-Shinai that C-81 attempted to disperse through intimidation. Unfortunately, all the Seekers present were too stunned to see a "Megatron" in Axiom Nexus to budge. Cybertron's Most Wanted

Prime Wars Trilogy cartoons

The Mistress of Flame ordered Hotlink and the other members of the Elite Air Resistance Squadron to attack Trypticon, but they were all completely overwhelmed by the Titan. Our Heroes Respond

Transformers/Ghostbusters

A member of the Decepticons during the final battle for Cybertron, Ghosts of Cybertron Part 1 Hotlink was among the many Decepticon warriors sent out to battle Gozer, but was unable to prevent it from utterly destroying their metallic homeworld. Ghosts of Cybertron Part 2

War for Cybertron Trilogy continuity

War for Cybertron Trilogy marketing material

Hotlink was an Air Force Applied Sciences Raider, whose function was an engineer. During the war for Cybertron, Hotlink worked with the twin Battle Master flamethrowers Heatstroke and Heartburn. War for Cybertron Trilogy toy packaging

War for Cybertron Trilogy cartoon

Voice actor: Marcus Clark-Oliver (English)

Remember, keep 6 feet away from other Seekers for physical distancing.

Hotlink was seen standing alongside the rest of the Seekers when Megatron was giving orders to hunt down the Autobots. Siege episode 2

Hotlink was one of the Seekers who were listening to Starscream's disapproval of Megatron's plan to reformat the Autobots. However, they were quickly brought back in line by Jetfire. Later, Hotlink was among the Decepticon crowd that cheered for Megatron, and listened as Megatron declared that the Decepticons would be hunting for the Allspark. Siege episode 3

Hotlink accompanied Megatron and several other Decepticons in escorting the captive Ultra Magnus, who was guiding them to the supposed location of Autobot command. Arriving at the tomb of the late Alpha Trion, Hotlink and the other Decepticons aimed their weapons at Magnus, forcing him to open the entrance, only to reveal an empty room, and no base. An enraged Megatron then executed Ultra Magnus as Hotlink stood by and watched.

Moments later, Jetfire arrived and was instructed to take the body of Magnus back to Shockwave, though this command was halted by Starscream, who outed Jetfire as a traitor to the Decepticon cause. Jetfire attacked and then fled, and Hotlink joined Starscream and another Seeker in pursuing their former commander. During the aerial battle, Jetfire transformed and jumped down upon Hotlink, who was still in jet mode, and swiftly cut at him with his blade. Jetfire transformed and sped away as Hotlink exploded. Siege episode 4

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2019 IDW continuity

Maybe he just needs some tiny soup. Soup always makes me feel better.

Hotlink worked up on the Winged Moon for a while before he got involved with The Rise. War World: Moon He was loned out to the bigger and badder Team Stream Mark Two on an operation to steal the Moon for the Decepticon cause. Wheeljack: Orbital Decay However, a rival team of engineers refused to cede control to the Decepticons. Hotlink was unable to access the control systems and determine if there was even enough energon left to fight over. The odds only became worse once Colonial Security arrived to back up the defenders. After the opposing engineer Lancer used the moon's gravity core to blow up its energon supply, Hotlink and the rest of Team Stream were forced to evacuate aboard Astrotrain. Inside the shuttle, Hotlink was asked his opinion on Sunstorm's condition, but he merely conceded the phenomenon was beyond his area of expertise. War World: Moon

When the Decepticons fought along the Sea of Rust, Hotlink was among the Seekers seen in retreat after the Enigma of Combination was lost. Enigmatic

Hotlink joined the Seekers led by Strika in the invasion of Crystal City. A Dust of Crystals During the subsequent siege of Darkmount, the Autobots shot Hotlink out of the sky and sent him spiralling to the ground in a fiery explosion. Fate of Cybertron

Games

Transformers Legends

Hot Link was part of Sunstorm's team which unsuccessfully attempted to intercept Bumblebee and Cliffjumper as the pair returned to Iacon after an energon scavenging mission. More than Meets the Eye

Toys

Timelines

Now you can recreate my awesome flamethrower scene! Flamethrower not included.

• Rainmakers [sic] (Convention 3-pack, 2013)
  • Accessories: Left & right missile launchers, 2 missiles

A redeco of the Classics Deluxe Class Starscream mold, Timelines Hotlink transforms into a F-15 Eagle, but has the nose of an F-14 Tomcat fighter jet. His missile launchers can mount under his wings, on his shoulders, or in his fists, and fire spring-loaded projectiles. The large size of his launchers (necessary for safety reasons) restricts his arm movement somewhat in robot mode, as they bump into his wings. All three Rainmakers have slight tolerance issues with the white parts, making key joints juuuuuust a bit too tight.

He was only available in a BotCon 2013 exclusive souvenir set with Bitstream and Sunstorm, limited to 2500 pieces. All three toys use exactly the same paint operations and plastic layouts, with the only difference between the three being their primary plastic color.

• More information on Hotlink at TFU.info

War for Cybertron Trilogy

You can pretend he's that Skywarp you couldn't get. But you'll always know he's not...

• Hotlink (Voyager Class, 2020)
  • TakaraTomy ID number: WFC-06
  • TakaraTomy release date: November 28, 2020
  • Accessories: 2 "HPI Null-Ray Laser Launchers", "Heartburn" and "Heatstroke" Battle Masters, 2 "fire blast" effects

Promoting the first season of the Netflix War for Cybertron Trilogy cartoon, Hotlink is a redeco of Siege Voyager-sized Skywarp, coloring him entirely purple while slathering him in an extensive paint wash coating to represent accumulated grime and battle scars. He transforms into a Cybertronian "tetrajet" based on the Seekers' appearance in "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1" although the jet mode has the robot-mode legs pretty much his entire robot body sticking out from the undercarriage. As a rather heavy shellformer, Hotlink can easily be separated into both a wingless robot mode and a nearly complete tetrajet via a single friction hinge.

He includes two "HPI Null-Ray Laser Launchers", which can mount on his upper arms or under the wings in jet mode (or in any other 5 mm port, really). As part of the Siege C.O.M.B.A.T. System, Hotlink has 5 mm ports on his biceps, forearms, shins, under his feet (vehicle-mode thrusters), and wings. The 3 mm pegs on his shins, forearms, left bicep, and the tips of his null-rays can accommodate effects parts, like the ones that come with his pack-in partners, Battle Masters Heartburn and Heatstroke. These two are nigh-identical redecoes of Blowpipe meant to be the flamethrowers the pre-retcon "Hotlink" used in the original 1984 cartoon.

The military insignia on Hotlink's box places him in the Air Force division as an Applied Sciences Raider. His instructions, meanwhile, have him as a Ground Force Infantry General. Given that puts him at the same rank as Megatron, his box prrrrobably has it right.

As with other Netflix series figures, Hotlink was exclusive to Walmart in Canada and the United States. In Japan, Hotlink was a TakaraTomy Mall exclusive.

Notes

• Hotlink was a nameless walk-on in his first appearance in the original Generation 1 cartoon's first episode, "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1". He was given his name with his first toy in 2013, taken from a more recent Aligned Seeker. Incidentally, "hotlink" didn't exist as a word when he made his original fictional appearance! Maybe, back then, he just loved andouille.
• In the Japanese dub of The Transformers cartoon, Hotlink actually shouts out an anime-esque name for his special move involving the ring of fire: "Fire Attack!"
• Coincidentally, "Hotlink" was originally intended by Fun Publications as the name for the orange Seeker to be included in the BotCon 2013 exclusive souvenir three-pack, back when e-HOBBY was planning to release their own exclusive Sunstorm toy, and FunPub had thus changed the figure's intended color scheme to a more red-ish orange. At that time, the purple Seeker was intended to be named "Nacelle". However, when the e-HOBBY figure didn't happen, the orange Seeker's identity was changed back to Sunstorm, he was given a more yellow-ish color scheme closer to FunPub's original original plans for the figure, and the name "Hotlink" was reassigned to the purple Seeker.^[2][3] The name "Nacelle" was later given to yet another Seeker.
• Further confusion arose when the BotCon 2013 exclusive souvenir three-pack was given the name "Rainmakers". Fun Publications employees subsequently confirmed that the pack's title was an error, and that they were indeed intended to be the "welcoming committee" from "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1", with no intended direct connection to the the trio from "Divide and Conquer" known as the "Rainmakers".

Foreign names

• Japanese: Hotlink (ホットリンク Hottorinku)

References