Nightstick (G1)

Nightstick is a Decepticon-allied Nebulan Targetmaster from the Generation 1 continuity family.

"You're probably confusing me with someone else."

Back on Nebulos, Nightstick was a master criminal. For some reason, he gave that up to undergo binary-bonding to Cyclonus. The loyal and honorable Decepticon warrior often finds himself at odds with the very dishonorable Nightstick and generally considers him an irritating pest.

Nightstick transforms into a black beam gun that fires a corrosive beam of blinding darkness (and no, that doesn't make a lot of sense).

Fiction

Marvel The Transformers comics

Nightstick became the Targetmaster partner to Cyclonus, under Scorponok's command, near the end of the Decepticons' stay on his homeworld of Nebulos. His trial run came about when several of the Decepticons' Autobot prisoners escaped, and Cyclonus wielded him against them in the streets of Koraja. When the Autobots left Nebulos for Earth, Scorponok's Decepticons followed, as did their Nebulan partners. Brothers in Armor!!

Nightstick remained in Cyclonus's service even after he and Scourge left Scorponok's crew. Shockwave's leadership was periodically threatened by Galvatron, who was also originally from the future, as were Cyclonus and Scourge. Cyclonus and Scourge, desperate to return to 2008, offered their services to Shockwave to protect him from Galvatron, so long as they could take Galvatron's time-jump trigger mechanism when he was defeated.

Well, Springer, you could just crush them first.

See?

Nightstick traveled with Cyclonus, Scourge, and Fracas to predetermined coordinates, where they would surround and defeat Galvatron, and along the way they defeated a squad of United States military jets over Oregon. When they arrived in their destination, a human city, Galvatron was surprised that Cyclonus and Scourge did not travel alone, what with their tiny Nebulan companions, and that they dared to challenge him unarmed. He was subsequently surprised when Nightstick and Fracas transformed into the guns of their Decepticon partners. But before the battle could begin, they were interrupted by the sudden arrival of the Wreckers!

Springer did not expect Cyclonus or Scourge to be there, nor that their guns would be able to transform and run away when removed from them. The battle was called off when they realized that Galvatron no longer had the time-jump trigger mechanism, and everyone went home. Wrecking Havoc

Later, Shockwave learned that the reason Cyclonus and Scourge wanted to return to 2008 was that they were co-leaders of the Decepticons—and that they had assassinated Shockwave to take that position! Shockwave unleashed his pet project on his would-be protectors and assassins, a brainwashed Megatron. Megatron attacked and killed Cyclonus, while he grabbed and squeezed the gun-mode Nightstick, quite likely killing him. Dry Run!

The Transformers cartoon

Voice actor: Peter Cullen (English), Eiji Yanagisawa (Japanese), Bernd Simon (German)

See this? This... is my NIGHTSTICK!

A member of the Hive, Nightstick initially suggested to Lord Zarak that the alien robots who had arrived on Nebulos should be "rubbed out" for "muscling in on our turf". Zarak had other ideas, however, and when a bargain was struck between the Hive and the Decepticons, Nightstick became the Targetmaster partner of Cyclonus. As they paired up, he told Cyclonus "the boys" all called him Nightstick, and he hoped Cyclonus liked "bustin' heads", to which Cyclonus remarked that he would like busting Autobot Headmasters better.

During a subsequent battle with the Autobots, Nightstick was briefly captured by Brainstorm, who took a detailed scan of his exo-suit. The information obtained was then used to create the Autobot Targetmasters. The Rebirth, Part 2

After the Decepticons kidnapped Arcee, who possessed the Key to the Plasma Energy Chamber, Nightstick escaped Nebulos with the rest of the Decepticons on board Scorponok. They returned to Cybertron, where Nightstick and Cyclonus helped rescue Galvatron from a desperate group of Autobots. Galvatron was (surprise!) not pleased, and yelled at the Decepticons for allowing themselves to be infected and affiliated with these lowly organics. When Galvatron threatened to kill off the Nebulans, Nightstick and the other Targetmasters transformed and aimed themselves at the Decepticon leader. Galvatron reconsidered the partnership with the Nebulans when Lord Zarak announced that he had the Key to the Plasma Energy Chamber within Scorponok. The Rebirth, Part 3

Transformers in 3-D

Cyclonus wielded Nightstick during the Decepticons' attack on Tau-Ursa, again when the Decepticons attacked the Autobots on Cybertron afterwards, and once more on a distant moon, where the Autobots and Decepticons joined forces to combat the Destructons. The War Against the Destructons, Chapter 1 of 3

Henkei! Henkei! pack-in manga

My finger points!

Nightstick accompanied Cyclonus and Starscream to a strange crater, within which was the key to granting Megatron his true strength. This excursion was interrupted by the Autobots Ironhide, Hot Rod, and Mirage, and Nightstick transformed into Cyclonus's weapon to fend off their enemies. Though the resulting battle collapsed the crater, a cranky Galvatron nonetheless emerged from the ruins, calling his subordinates lazy cowards. Henkei! Henkei! #9

Later, Nightstick was still palling around with Cyclonus while his partner appraised Octane's abilities. While Octane attempted a mission at Cyclonus's behest, the Triple Changer daydreamed of being honored by Megatron and the other Decepticons. Unfortunately, in reality, Octane was a failure, and when he came to attention, Nightstick and Cyclonus mocked him. Henkei! Henkei! #12

Henkei! Henkei! Bun Bun manga

I want to tell you about the Transformers! This character article is a stub and is missing information on their fictional appearances. You can help Transformers Wiki by expanding it. The Threat of Galvatron

Henkei! Henkei! Transformers -Visualize-

I want to tell you about the Transformers! This character article is a stub and is missing information on their fictional appearances. You can help Transformers Wiki by expanding it. Visualize Shot 11

Beast Wars: Uprising

See: Nebulon (Headmasters)#Beast Wars: Uprising

Games

Angry Birds Transformers

Nightstick appears as an accessory to the Cyclonus piggy. He sits either in Cyclonus's hand (in robot mode) or on his wing (in vehicle mode) and he gives Cyclonus a 20% decrease in weapon cooldown. Angry Birds Transformers

Toys

The Transformers

• Cyclonus (Targetmaster, 1987)

Released in the fourth year of original Transformers toyline, Targetmaster Nightstick is a figure of an armored humanoid in black armor with gray legs. He folds in half to turn into a black-beam gun that can be held by any Targetmaster (or any toy that uses 5 mm pegs for accessory holding/mounting).

He was only available with the Targetmaster re-release of Cyclonus.

This mold was used without changes as the Autobot Stepper's partner Nebulon.

• More information on Nightstick at TFU.info

Universe (2008)

The first Nebulan to break the posability glass ceiling!

• Cyclonus (Deluxe, 2008)

• Series: Generation 1 Series
• Known designers: Bill Rawley (Hasbro), Takashi Kunihiro (TakaraTomy), Andrew Scribner (deco artist), Don Figueroa (concept artist)

Part of the fourth wave of Universe deluxes, Nightstick is once again available only with his larger partner Cyclonus, only this time he has some genuine posability, with swivels at the shoulders, elbows and hips. He is a "robot-to-machine figure"^[1] that transforms into a "laser cannon" that can be held in Cyclonus's right hand, mounted on his vehicle mode back, or—in an undocumented feature—plugged into the "wrist socket" created by leaving Cyclonus's fists in their vehicle-mode position. This undocumented combination emulates the "plug into the wrist" method of Targetmaster combination seen in the Japanese Headmasters cartoon (even though this is the first toy to actually be physically capable of such a combination, and Cyclonus wasn't a Targetmaster in that series, but it's still neat). His gun handle can also act as a Powerlinx port for a Mini-Con.

Nightstick is based very loosely on his Fracas-based character model (see below), if only for the rough shape of his gun mode and the fin on his helmet. Everything else appears to be an entirely new design.

• More information on Universe Nightstick (and Cyclonus) at TFU.info

Now with schnazzy lavender shoes.

• Challenge at Cybertron (Multi-pack, 2010)

• Series: G1 Series

A redeco of Universe Cyclonus (with Nightstick) was released in the "Challenge at Cybertron" multi-pack along with redecoes of Rodimus and Galvatron. This version of Nightstick, like the Henkei! figure (below), is intended to be accurate to the cartoon's colors, though it attempts the idea with less chrome.

The set was only released in Southeast Asian markets by Hasbro Malaysia.

• More information on "Challenge at Cybertron" Nightstick (with Cyclonus) at TFU.info

Henkei! Henkei!

Sometimes he breaks out the shiny pants.

• Cyclonus (Deluxe, 2009)

• ID number: D-07

This redeco of the Universe mold hews more closely to the animation model's colors, having a mostly black upper body with silver legs, though in this case, the silver is shiny chrome. His primary gun barrel is also chromed silver. Despite appearances he has a red face with orange eyes.

He was only available with the Henkei! Henkei! version of Cyclonus.

Transformers (2010)

• Battle in Space (Multi-pack, 2010)

• Known designers: Andrew Scribner (deco artist)

This version of Nightstick —described on the packaging as a Mini-Con— is nearly identical to the "Challenge at Cybertron" version, though his feet and crotch are less purple in color than the earlier release.

• More information on "Battle in Space" Nightstick (with Cyclonus) at TFU.info

United

Cinderella Nightstick.

• Decepticon Set (Multi-pack, 2011)

This redeco of the Universe Nightstick mold (see above) is cast in transparent purple plastics, emulating... uh... nothing. He's gang-molded with Cyclonus and is in the set so that Cyc would have a gun, even though the set is emulating the scene from The Transformers: The Movie when the Decepticons are reformatted into new forms by Unicron, well before the whole binary bonding thing. Eat it, continuity!

This version was only available in an e-HOBBY exclusive 3-pack with clear-plastic versions of Galvatron, Cyclonus, and Scourge. Preorders for the set were opened on December 13, 2010, and closed on January 11, 2011, and shipped in April.

This figure was available with a Galvatron pin and Macrocosmic Seekers booklet directly from e-HOBBY, he was also released in Asian countries outside of Japan without said pin and booklet.

• More information on United Nightstick (with Cyclonus) at TFU.info

Generations Selects

• Cyclonus & Nightstick (Voyager Class, 2022)

• Series: Legacy
• Accessories: 2 Fire Blast effects

Part of a Generations Selects add-on set to Legacy, Nightstick is a redeco of Siege Blowpipe. Nightstick comes with two Fire Blast effect pieces that can be used to simulate fire from his weapon mode's gun barrel, and which can also attach to various hardpoints found on other C.O.M.B.A.T. System-compatible figures and weaponry. The outer peg of the effect part can also attach to 5 mm ports. Nightstick's gun barrel part can detach from his back to connect to his arm as a cannon. However, attaching a Fire Blast effect to the gun barrel part while Nightstick wields it on his arm will render the figure unable to stand.

Cyclonus & Nightstick were revealed on Amazon Australia before their having their Hasbro Pulse pre-order listing.

Merchandise

Transformers Trading Card Game

• Raider Nightstick, Ground Force-Weapons/Black Beam Blaster (2019)
  • Wave 3: War for Cybertron: Siege I
  • Rarity: UT
  • Card Number: T33/T48
  • Stars: 6

Raider Nightstick, Ground Force-Weapons is one of forty-eight double-sided character cards available in Wave 3 of the Transformers Trading Card Game, War for Cybertron: Siege I. As a Battle Master, Raider Nightstick, Ground Force-Weapons begins the game in Bot Mode. Instead of being sent to the KO Area once his Health drops to zero, the card is flipped to the Upgrade side, becoming the Black Beam Blaster, and equipped in the Weapons slot of another character on the player's side of the battlefield . In order to represent Nightstick's size as a Battle Master, the card is the size of a battle card, about half the size of a normal character card.

Notes

• The character models for Nightstick and Fracas appear to have been swapped around in pre-production, so Nightstick's fictional appearances in both the cartoon and Marvel comics are based on Fracas's toy, and vice-versa. This seems to have originated from a model sheet (see right) that refers to Fracas's model as being the partner to Cyclonus. It also seems that the animators caught onto this too; though a little too late into production, leaving them no choice but to just swap the colors around. So even though Nightstick is clearly based on Fracas's toy, he's still colored like Nightstick.
• This also means that Krunix is technically a giant Fracas, not a giant Nightstick.
• Targetmaster Cyclonus's box art shows him holding the Nightstick mold in Fracas's colors; so basically he's got model-sheet Fracas.
• The character model switcharoo may be tied up in the two toys' use in Japan as well. In the Japanese The Headmasters series, the Hasbro Nightstick toy was sold as Stepper's partner "Nebulon" (the "name" given to Fracas in Scourge's on-package bio), and Fracas was given to Artfire and dubbed Nightstick. Confused yet? It gets worse.
• On top of that, the rendition of Nightstick from Dreamwave's More Than Meets The Eye profile for the Targetmaster version of Cyclonus was recycled as the package art for the other Nightstick for both The Transformers Collection Stepper and Commemorative Series Ricochet.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Nightstick (ナイトスティック Naitosutikku)
• Russian: Joystick (Джойстик Dzhoystik)

References