Landmine (Transformers)

Landmine is the name to several fictional characters from the Transformers series. The first Landmine was a heroic Autobot Pretender who shouldn't be confused with Lander, a similar character.

Transformers: Generation 1

Landmine

Autobot
Information
Sub-group	Pretenders
Function	Asteroid Miner
Rank	6
Motto	"The greatest treasures are found in the darkest places!"
Alternate modes	Cybertronian Exploration Vehicle
Series	Transformers: Generation 1

Landmine is one of the first Autobot Pretenders to be created. The Autobot Pretenders are Transformers who have an armored shell usually resembling a humanoid. As with many Pretenders, Landmine did not appear in a cartoon shown in the U.S.; his only appearance was in the Marvel comics.^[1]

Reception

One of the hotels in Walt Disney World is called Disney's Pop Century Resort, which has different buildings from different decades of the later half of the 1900s. In the lobby are a series of shadow boxes with memorbelia from each decade. In the one from the 1980s are various items including a Transformers Landmine robot.

Animated series

Although the US Transformers animated series stopped making new episodes before Landmine was brought out, his Japanese counterpart Lander appeared in the Masterforce anime series.^[2]

Landmine appeared in animation in early commercials for the Pretender toys.^[3]

Animation from the commercial was used in the opening credits for season 5 of the Transformers, which retold episodes of earlier seasons. Landmine appeared in them.^[4]

Comics

Condor Verlag

In a story called "By their Blasters you shall know them ...!" from Transformers Comic-Magazin issue #12 by German comic publisher Condor Verlag Optimus Prime instructs Backstreet, Bumblebee and Ruckus on how to identify Autobots from Decepticons in battle using the Ark's computer. Landmine is one of those he displays to the Autobots.^[5]

Dreamwave Productions

Although Landmine did get a full character profile in Dreamwave's More Than Meets The Eye series, he didn't appear in their comic stories before the company closed. His bio described him as being perpetually struck with dreams of adventure: whether its daringly rescuing innocents from the clutches of nefarious villains and then ride off into the sunset, or exploring dark caverns for the long-lost artifacts of ancient civilisations. He doesn't let this get in the way of his field performance, and often serves as the commander of the Pretender group.

IDW Publishing

Cloudburst, Groundbreaker, Landmine and Waverider appear in Spotlight: Hardhead investigating the Benzuli Expanse and reporting to Jetfire.

Marvel Comics

Although not seen or mentioned directly, Landmine was among the Autobots who joined Fortress Maximus in leaving Cybertron for the planet Nebulos (Transformers: Headmasters #1). When there, he fought against the Decepticons on many occasions. Followed to Nebulos by the Decepticons under Scorponok, Fortress Maximus's band left Nebulos for the planet Earth (Transformers: Headmasters #4).

When Brainstorm needed subjects to duplicate the Decepticon Pretender experiment, Landmine and five other Autobots volunteered and became the Autobot Pretenders. They fought the Decepticon Pretenders with the help of Optimus Prime and Goldbug (Transformers #40). Landmine was present when Grimlock fought Blaster for leadership of the Autobots on Earth's moon. The Autobots were then attacked by the Decepticons led by Ratbat (Transformers #41).

His most notable appearance was in issues #52-#53, where he and Cloudburst were sent by Optimus Prime to deep space on a quest to purchase new microchips to fix the Autobots killed or injured during the Underbase saga. After several misadventures with a race of robot eaters called the Mecannibals and the Decepticon Powermasters the quest eventually led Landmine and Cloudburst to a planet called Femax, ruled exclusively by women. The women forced Landmine and Cloudburst to fight in gladiatorial combat. The leader of the tribe fell in love with Cloudburst, but decapitated him when she discovered he was a robot. Landmine managed to talk her into repairing him and get the crystals that they needed.

The Decepticon Pretenders Bomb-Burst, Iguanus and Skullgrin were sent to steal from an oil rig in the "Gulf of New Mexico" in the 1989 U.K. Annual story "The Chain Gang." They were opposed and captured by the Autobot Pretenders Cloudburst, Landmine and Splashdown.

Landmine appeared on several more occasions as part of Prime's troops on Earth, but had few large roles. He last appeared in issue 66 of the U.S. Marvel Comics series where he is killed by Thunderwing.

Toys

• Generation 1 Pretender Landmine

This toy was identical to the toy for Lander.^[6][7]

Transformers: Energon

Landmine is one of the most powerful soldiers under the leadership of Rodimus. He and Prowl were Rodimus's most loyal followers, going everywhere with him without question. Landmine turns into a powerful construction vehicle with an enormous crane platform. Landmine can powerlink with his weapons pack to become Landmine "Brute Mode". He is a powerful veteran soldier who is never afraid to battle Decepticons, unlike his brother Landquake.^[8]

Landmine (Guard Shell in Japan) reappeared in the follow-up series Transformers: Cybertron with a much more major role. Although Cybertron Landmine is said to be the same character as the Landmine from Energon, Galaxy Force (the Japanese version of Cybertron) is not written to be a sequel in Japan and Guard Shell is a completely original character.^[9]

Hasbro registered the name Landmine for U.S. Trademark in October 2003.^[10]

Animated series

Landmine first appeared in Transformers: Energon episode 11 "The Legend Of Rodimus". It was shown here that he was one of the Autobots that originally chose to go with Rodimus when the Autobot leader abandoned the war. Landmine became Rodimus' right-hand man.

When Alpha Q convinced Rodimus that by resurrecting Unicron they could rebirth the worlds he destroyed, Landmine served Rodimus unwaveringly, although he had his own doubts.

Eventually, after Rodimus agreed to a truce with Optimus Prime, gaining a Powerlinking body through the power of Primus himself.

Landmine also served under Optimus in this period, and grew to respect the Autobot leader. He eventually gave up his Spark energy to empower Optimus Supreme against the Unicron possessed Galvatron.

Landmine was later upgraded into his Landquake color scheme, but retained the same name, in Japan. In the U.S. toy bios, Landquake was supposed to be his brother. In both versions of the television series, Landmine was repainted into those colors and no brother was mentioned.

At the beginning of the Cybertron series, Landmine served as a trusted and respected advisor to Optimus Prime, advising him on the increasingly precarious state of the black hole created by Unicron's demise in Energon. When the Autobots attempted to evacuate, the Decepticons struck, acquiring the Map to locate the Planet Keys from Vector Prime. Landmine battled Starscream and lost, only being saved by the intervention of Vector Prime. This led to a rivalry between the two.

Vector Prime had saved Landmine from destruction in the black hole, but his wormhole deposited a badly damaged Landmine on Earth. He was found by the humans Coby, Bud and Lori, who befriended and eventually rebuilt him, giving him the Earthen form of a bulldozer. When Prime and the others came looking for him, Landmine was amongst the Autobots who advocated using Earth as a base to search for the Keys and establish a new home for the Transformers until the crisis had passed. He grew to care for his new home and the humans who helped him. However, this was offset by the betrayal of Mudflap, one of his protégés. Mudflap joined the Decepticons after his frustration at being stuck on Earth boiled over.

Landmine discovered that Mudflap had joined the Decepticons in episode 27 "Revelations". They fought in episode 28 "Critical." Mudflap followed Megatron to Starscream's island headquarters in episode 29 "Assault," but Landmine followed him there.

Landmine participated in many of the battles over the Keys and the Omega Lock, even journeying to Velocitron to aid Hot Shot's efforts to beat Override and stop Ransack and Crumplezone from stealing the Key. He also suffered another humiliating defeat at the hands of Starscream when the traitorous Decepticon defeated Prime's entire party to steal the Omega Lock. He managed to bring Mudflap back to the side of good after the former Autobot questioned his decision. He even obtained his revenge on Starscream, siphoning the power of the Giant Planet's Cyber Key to grow to a gigantic height and trounce the Decepticon.

After Galvatron was eventually defeated, Landmine and Mudflap journeyed into space to aid Wing Saber, who believed he had found the trail of the thought-dead Starscream.

Dreamwave Productions

Landmine first appeared in Transformers: Energon #24 "Aftershock", where he was one of the Autobots stationed on Earth to guard against Terrorcon attacks. He also appeared in issue #27 as one of the Autobot reinforcements under Jetfire heading to Earth to battle the swarms of Terrorcon clones alongside his brother Landquake, although he did not appear in the following battles.

Pack in comics

In the second Transformers: Energon pack in comic Prowl, Inferno and Landmine discover some hills on Earth that are rich with energon and call in to Optimus Prime that they should put an energon tower up. Optimus warns the Autobots that Decepticon activity has been scanned nearby. Megatron attacks with a horde of Divebomb Terrorcon clones. The Autobots attempt by fight back by having Prowl and Inferno Powerlinx while Landmine goes into brute mode, but they are overwhelmed when Insecticon Terrorcon hordes join in the attack. The Autobots retreat and Megatron takes the energon for himself.

Toys

• Energon Ultra Energon Landmine

This toy was later redecoed into Energon Landquake.^[11]

• Energon Ultra Landquake

Although this toy's bio portrays him as Landmine's brother, it is the form used after he is upgraded in the Energon animated series.

• Cybertron Deluxe Landmine

His bio indicated that he had taken on the role of veteran Autobot by the time of the events of Cybertron, using his wisdom and tactical knowledge to help in the battle for the Cyber Planet Keys. He was repaired and rebuilt by the Autobots' human allies after a bad crash landing. Landmine is also said to be one of the Autobots who originally trained Optimus Prime, and honor shared only with the Armada character Scavenger.

Like most toys sold in the Galaxy Force toy line by Takara, then later in the Cybertron toy line by Hasbro, there are small paint differences between the two versions of the toy. The Hasbro version has a code number on the back of his Cyber Key, while the Takara version has no number on his Force Chip.^[12]

Cybertron Landmine is 19.8 feet (238 inches) tall, while his toy stands 5 inches tall for a scale of 1/48.

After being sold by itself, Landmine's toy was later packaged with the Mini-Con Dirt Boss and a Tiny-Tin as a promotion at Walmart stores.

A special value three-pack sold in Toys-R-Us stores in 2006 included Cybertron Landmine, Snarl and Dirt Boss.

Transformers

Landmine is the name of a non-movie character from the 2007 Transformers movie toy line. His alternate form resembles the Sector 7 dune buggies seen in the film.^[13]

According to his bio from Hasbro, Landmine was actually one of the Sector 7 vehicles present in the final battle of the film, and he was granted life by the Allspark during the final battle with Megatron (presumably off camera).

After the events of the film, he continued working with Sector 7 and was trained by Ironhide in combat.^[14]

IDW Publishing

Four months before the events of the film, in Alliance #2, Sector 7 captured the Decepticon Wreckage. Working with Wreckage, Sector 7 was able to start developing the L.M.-1 drones.

In Reign of Starscream #2 Sector 7 deployed a L.M.-1 unit against Starscream, but it locked up in mid transformation. In issue #3 Sector 7 brought the unit back to base.

In Alliance #2 three L.M.-1 units came online when exposed to an Allsaprk fragment to defend humans from Wreckage, but they were quickly defeated by the Decepticon.

Films

The assault buggies of Sector 7 were used by Epps and Lennox during their trip from the Hoover dam to Mission City, where they battled the Decepticons.

Toys

• Transformers Deluxe Landmine (2007)

Landmine transforms into a dune buggy.^[15] First seen in U.S. stores in December 2007.^[16] The Japanese version by Takara Tomy comes with a micro replica of the Allspark that can be held by Deluxe, Voyager or Leader figures.

An actual DPV is 408 centimeters long while this toy is 13.5 centimeters long. This gives the toy a scale of about 1/30. The robot mode would stand about 423 (13 feet 11 inches) centimeters tall. Landmine is notable as the only Deluxe-class toy with working shock absorbers in vehicle mode. This toy was featured in issue #18 of the Transformers Collectors Club magazine.^[17]

The mold for this figure was also used for Revenge of the Fallen Armorhide and Dark of the Moon Comettor.

References