TRITON
Appearances:
UK Transformers
1988 Annual (Peace)
Quote:
"I don't believe it! I didn't spend the last ninety years as a double agent just to make sure the Autobots won!"
Alt-Mode:
Unknown. However his name (taken from Greek mythology, Triton was the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, and was half man, half fish) suggests an aquatic alt mode.
Description:
Triton was another one of those great UK characters that gave us a glimpse into
something we never really saw in any other of the Transformers media. He
was a deep-cover spy! In fact he's the only Decepticon deep-cover spy we ever
see, in any Transformer media!
Triton was basically a plot device. He was created to be the Decepticon who
starts the war again after it's over. His story is probably best considered
'out of continuity' (as far as anyone can consider Transformers as having
continuity). Mostly because the characters in the story were all too dead to
have taken part.
Ok, death isn't always the big goodbye for a Transformer... but still...
Biography:
Triton was under deep cover inside Autobot
ranks for at least ninety years. He was obviously quite a good agent, and a
convincing one, to have stayed so deep under cover for so very long. When the
war ended, and his comrades were all slaughtered, Triton was still under deep
cover, the last Decepticon alive.
Shortly after the end of the war, Rodimus Prime announced his intention to step
down from Autobot leadership. As he explained his decision to pass the Matrix to
Springer (leader of the Wreckers), Triton seized this opportunity and stepped
forward, saying that Ultra Magnus should be the new leader! Suddenly the Autobot
army was divided: Magnus or Springer? Scuffles began to break out, and when
Triton was killed it turned into all-out war.
Triton accomplished his goal. He ruined the Autobot victory by making them
fight amongst themselves.
Tech Specs/TFU:
Hard to say. Triton never had any kind of tech specs, or character profile. One would assume a high-ish intelligence, for him to have been such a good infiltration agent. Other stats are completely impossible to gauge from his limited appearance in this story. Perhaps a low endurance, as he died after one blast?
Toy:
Triton was (and I'll be blunt) a fairly poorly drawn character who probably wouldn't have made a good toy. He's got no alt-mode features and no real distinguishing features that would mark him out as a good TF. The one interesting thing about him is that, at the end of the story, his Autobot insignia (it's massive, you should be able to spot it) falls off to reveal a Decepticon insignia underneath. A gimmick like this (possibly a variation of the gimmick used on Armada Sideways) would be quite fun. Certainly it would make more sense than Punch/Counterpunch's "I've got an Autobot on my back!" gimmick.
Over All:
Triton is, in and of himself, not the
greatest character. He appeared in a fairly poorly written story, and personally
I dislike his appearance and his limited personality. However, he was a rather
significant little player in his story (and in the whole Transformers saga?).
However, like other such deep-cover agents (Warmonger is one who springs
straight to mind), it's his actual JOB that makes Triton interesting. Though
we've seen spies in the TF continuity since the start, it's only these handful
of guys from the UK comics, and possibly Punch/Counterpunch, who represent the more classic 'deep cover' spies
from popular culture.
Most other Transformer spies just appear to be Peeping Toms...
Gallery:
UK 1988 Annual
