CYCLONUS II / KRUNIX

 

 

It's Cyclonus... no it's Krunix... no it's... Fracas?Appearances:  

Cyclonus II

Headmasters #2 (Broken Glass)

 

Krunix

Transformers UK #135 + 136 (Broken Glass, pt 2 + 3)

 

 

Quote:  

"Save some for ____!" insert either 'Cyclonus' or 'me too' in space provided. Krunix doesn't identify himself by name twice. Maybe he's not as up himself as his US counterpart?

 

 

Alt Mode:  

Unknown, though more than likely he transforms into a giant gun. If this is the case it would make Krunix / Cyclonus II the only giant gun in the comics who is not a Decepticon leader. (Well okay, there is Quickswitch...)

 

 

Description:  

This is probably one of the most unusual of all Obscure Transformers. Cyclonus II / Krunix was a character created not on purpose, but via a strange mistake. 

 

Frank Springer, penciler on the Headmasters mini-series, was attempting to draw Cyclonus and got it totally wrong. It's hard to say for sure how he managed to get a character's appearance so outrageously wrong (none of Cyclonus II's features resemble the original Cyclonus'). Because of the new Targetmaster gimmick the best bet would be that Springer confused Cyclonus with his Targetmaster unit. Unfortunately this doesn't hold up to close scrutiny.

 

On close examination, it turns out that Cyclonus II is actually a giant version of Fracas, Scourge's Targetmaster unit, not Nightstick, who belongs to the original Cyclonus.

 

This was not the first,  or last time Frank Springer mixed up the appearance of a Transformer. In several places throughout the Headmasters series, including the cover of issue 3, he drew Fortress Maximus with Cerebros's head. Cerebros is the robot who Transforms into Fortress Maximus's head. In one scene Chromedome's head transforms from its head form into Chromedome himself, who then takes off his helmet and reveals Stylor's face. We won't even go into the fact that, on page 21 of issue 2 of Headmasters, Pointblank has no head. A little thanks goes out to LV who pointed out a bunch of these Springer mistakes to me.

 

It's clear either there were some problems with the character model sheets for Headmasters or there was a problem with Springer's own brain. Maybe he just couldn't wrap his head around this whole 'Nebulan Companion' thing. (To be fair, I actually like Frank Springer's Transformers work. He drew some of the most  frantic fight scenes you've ever seen, and has very detailed work. I'm inclined to believe that a lot of the blame lays with the model sheets.)

 

The mistake which created Cyclonus II was made far more interesting than the average Springer stuff-up by the UK comics' reaction to it. 

 

In the UK comics Cyclonus was a far more established character than in the US. He'd been appearing in the UK comics since issue 78, and most UK fans knew him very well. For this reason, the random inclusion of a second Cyclonus would not go unnoticed by fans (as it did in the US). 

 

To fix this problem the editor of the UK comic (who I believe was Simon Furman at the time) simply changed the name of this new mystery character. Then viola... Krunix!

 

The result was the first character in Generation One with two different English names. Though many Gen1 characters had different names between Japan and the west, it wasn't until Generation Two that the British characters really started having different names to their American counterparts. The only other one in Generation 1 (as far as I know) was Overbite/Jawbreaker, the Seacon. (Though it must be noted that, like Krunix/Cyclonus this appears to be a difference in names present only in the comics, not the toyline. Overbite was sold as Overbite in the UK.)

 

 

Biography:  

Cyclonus II / Krunix was among several warriors who invaded Fortress Maximus' base after it was abandoned and the Autobots left for Nebulos. 

 

When the base received a transmission from Nebulos Cyclonus II / Krunix suggested that the message might be a trap. Instead it turned out to be an invitation for the Decepticons to come to Nebulos.

 

Krunix / Cyclonus II then went with Scorponok to Nebulos to help destroy the Autobots. He assisted in the attack on the Citadel where Fortress Maximus and his Autobots were being held. He was never seen again after that.

 

While the real reason he was never seen again is because both Budiansky and Springer lost track of all the new characters who absolutely INVADED the comics with Headmasters, there's a couple of possible 'in canon' reasons for his disappearance. First of all, it's possible he died in the battle against the Autobot Headmasters. The other obvious option is that he's still around, just that we haven't seen him in the foreground since issue 2 of Headmasters.

Let me add a bit of speculation here. Cyclonus II / Krunix appeared in issue 2 of Headmasters. The Targetmasters did not appear until issue 4. Therefore, Fracas (or at least his Targetmaster power suit) came after Cyclonus II / Krunix in-continuity. (The following is purely 'in canon' theorising. Obviously Krunix is based on the Fracas toy and not the other way around.) Basically, what this means is, it's very possible that Cyclonus II / Krunix was a template for that Targetmaster. Working on making their guns transformable, it's possible that (to hurry the technology along) the Decepticons used members of their ranks who could transform into guns as the templates for the transformations of the smaller Targetmaster units.

 If this were true, then it would mean there are at least 4 other Decepticon gun-formers who look like enlarged versions of the Targetmaster guns. Again, not completely unreasonable.

 After all, we see Transformers (both Autobot and Decepticon) who resemble giant versions of the Headmaster heads. There are a tonne of them on the opening pages of Headmasters #1, being led towards the smelting pool by Scorponok and crew. Could these generics have been templates for the Headmaster units?

  Cyclonus II!!Krunix!!

 

 

Tech specs/TFU:  

He had neither, unless you count the real Cyclonus' tech specs and TFU. I wouldn't count them, if I were you. Mostly because they weren't changed to the name 'Krunix' in the UK.

 

 

Toy:  

None. He definitely couldn't be kit-bashed from a real Cyclonus toy, though. That's just out of the question. However, seeing as Cyclonus II / Krunix is just a giant version of Fracas, Scourge's Targetmaster unit, it would be really easy to kitbash a Micromaster version of this character. All you need to do is colour your Fracas toy purple!

 

Well? Get to work on it people, I don't have all day!

 

 

Over All:  

Cylonus II / Krunix is an interesting little mix-up of a character. When I originally created this web site I'd intended to have a Cyclonus II entry. However I never got around to it, so I took down the 'coming soon' type entry I'd put up.

 

My interest in the character was sparked again when I found out, rather by chance, that in the UK he was known as Krunix. The two-name thing was rather interesting to me. Still, I uhmed and ahhhed and didn't get anything done on the character's entry to the website for quite some time. Kind of sad of me. Oh well. I suppose this entire website could be considered kinda sad.

 

Okay, I know what you're saying. This is all well and good, but where's the justification for this? After all, it's well known that all through Transformers, in all its media and continuities, stuff-ups have occurred, and occurred often. How many times did a Skyraider-jet coloured like Starscream suddenly talk with Skywarp's voice? Is this classified as a new Skyraider? Probably not. Even in Headmasters alone you have mistakes like Mindwipe being drawn as Vorath, Misfire referring to himself as Mindwipe, a giant version of Caliburst calling himself Slugslinger (then disappearing), and Stylor being drawn as Chromedome. Why aren't all these mix-ups considered new characters?

 

I admit, it's rather subjective of me. But I think Cyclonus II is a special case. First of all he consistently refers to himself as Cyclonus, even though he doesn't look like Cyclonus (he's Fracas, dammit!). Second of all, and most importantly, he IS a separate character in the UK. The fact that he was given an all-new name (IE: Krunix) sets him apart from all these other silly mistakes. Nowhere else in the comics (as far as I know) has the UK editor (Simon Furman) had to correct a naming problem by creating an all-new name for a character.

 

Cyclonus II in a 'say your name' line up. (Click for the UK version.)

 

 

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