Guardian robot

Guardian robots are a type of Transformer, often Autobot-aligned from the Generation 1 continuity family.

SUMO!

The Guardian robots^[1] (aka Guardians, Omega Sentinels, Omega Destructors, and GADEPs) were once the peacekeepers of Cybertron, powerful giants that guarded cities and quelled uprisings. The Guardians gave the Decepticons much trouble at the outbreak of the Third Cybertronian War, but by the modern era they were no longer so prevalent.

The most notable surviving Guardian is Omega Supreme, who is the only one seen to have his own name, distinct color scheme, and personality; it is unknown how unique these qualities actually are.

Fiction

Generation 1 cartoon continuity

The Transformers cartoon

Voice actor: ? (English), Ken Shiroyama (Japanese)

Mega Man really let himself go.

When the Quintessons ruled over Cybertron, they employed Dark Guardians against the growing Autobot insurgency. Forever Is a Long Time Coming By the time of the Golden Age millions of years later, the Autobots themselves were using their own Guardian robots (visually identical to the Dark Guardians except for their colors) to maintain supremacy. War Dawn They were also attended to by Robodoctor. The Secret of Omega Supreme When Megatron's uprising began, his troops feared the giant enforcers, but in time they eventually fell before the Decepticon onslaught. War Dawn

One tool Megatron used in his strategy was the Robosmasher, a brainwashing device. He used it to turn the Constructicons to his side, then he had them destroy Crystal City. The city's Guardian, Omega Supreme, was heartbroken and enraged by this betrayal, especially because he had been friends with the Constructicons. He tracked them down and reprogrammed them to be free of the Robosmasher's influence, but he was not thorough enough. They feigned rehabilitation, but only long enough to lure Omega into a trap. Megatron had given them a combiner mode, Devastator, which they used to pin Omega against a wall while the Robosmasher pounced on him. The Guardian was able to destroy the machine, but it left him a taciturn, vengeance-driven shell of his former self. The Secret of Omega Supreme

Millions of years later, after escaping an Autobot attack on their time machine facility, some Decepticons found the remains of a decapitated Guardian robot. Skywarp said that it gave him the creeps, and Thundercracker remarked on how the Guardians had given them a pounding in the old days. Shockwave repaired the giant and sent it into battle against the Autobots, lamenting that the lack of a head would limit its maneuverability. Nevertheless, it was a formidable foe for Optimus Prime and his small team; the tide was only turned with the arrival of the Aerialbots. The Guardian was able to put up a strong fight against Superion at first, but the combiner eventually destroyed it. War Dawn

e-HOBBY comics

whuh-oh

Megatron and his Silver Company had just successfully invaded Sectors 2, 4 and 6, killing as many Autobot civilians as possible. Megatron began to remark how easy things were proceeding, when all his soldier units began reporting sightings of a terrifying figure before their communications were cut off.

As Megatron began to wonder what they were talking about, he soon came face to face with the Guardian Robot that was single-handedly destroying entire units of the Silver Company; its firepower impossible to evade. 64 Cybertron Urban Defense Robot GADEP

Wings Universe

"Doc" was the foremost expert on Guardian robots, also known as GADEPs. To replace the aging giants, Doc came up with the Centurion droids, but his demonstration of their obedience didn't go well. He promised that they'd work out the kinks before selling them to customers. Around Cybertron #12

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

*sigh* "I really got to get that transfer to Earth."

The Omega Sentinels, one of the largest and most powerful mechanoids ever built, were a type of Guardian robot designed to defend key locations and resources on Cybertron. Mostly lacking sparks, the Sentinels fought to defend whatever they had been programmed to defend. Omega Supreme was unique among them, as he had an independent spark. He was also the last Sentinel produced, as objections from Kaon about the morality of the Sentinels ended their production. More Than Meets The Eye These massive mechanoids were seen guarding various strategically vital locations in Iacon. The War Within #1 During the Decepticon attack on Iacon, they were among the first and last lines of defense standing between the Decepticons and the Decagon. The War Within #4 Despite their power, the Omega Sentinels began to fall under the Decepticon onslaught over time, with deactivated Sentinels littering the Iacon landscape. Shockwave managed to kill two Omega Sentinels during the battle.

With one shot. The War Within #5

During the war Omega Supreme and other Sentinels were sent out into space in an attempt to locate the missing Ark, and to defend against cosmic threats. Others on Cybertron would be retired when the Autobots could no longer support their high fuel demands. More Than Meets The Eye Millions of years later, during the Dinobots' rampage on Iacon, Shockwave activated the Sentinels to stop them, brushing aside the trappings of peaceful coexistence and instituting martial law. Passive Aggression The Autobot insurrection began in full force after that, with Optimus Prime leading the various splinter units into battle. United as one, the Autobots fought their way through the Omega Sentinels and Shockwave's loyal Decepticons. Optimus was able to bypass one of the Guardian robots thanks to cover fire provided by Hot Rod and Ironhide. This Guardian wound up getting its claw shattered to pieces when it seized Ironhide, only for the old Autobot to freeze its servo with a blast of liquid nitrogen. Countdown to Extinction The Guardian robots were vanquished after a hard-fought battle, with their last member being brought down by Defensor. Their defeat allowed the Autobots to reclaim Cybertron in the name of peace. Revelation

2005 IDW continuity

The Omega Sentinels were truly ancient beings, venerated as Cybertron's ancient protectors. Last Stand

During the reign of the Thirteen Primes, some ten million years ago, the Omega Sentinels were heralded as the guardians of the Crystal City, where the Thirteen regularly convened. Urged on by Onyx Prime, Prima sought to expand Cybertronian civilization towards the stars, and commissioned an interstellar fleet — which included a detachment of Omega Sentinels, and their leader Omega Supreme — to conquer and colonize the neighboring planet of Antilla. First contact between the two species turned to war, and the Omega Sentinels spearheaded the devastating Cybertronian invasion. The First Who Was Named Our Finest The war only came to a pyrrhic end when an Antillan scientist built and deployed a weapon that destroyed all life on the planet, killing several Omega Sentinels in the process. Our Finest The massacre, and the role that Cybertron had played in it, ensured that other races would come to fear the power of the Transformers. The First Who Was Named

After the conclusion of the First Cybertronian Civil War, the Crystal City had vanished underground; by the time that the lost city was rediscovered by Nova Prime, only their leader Omega Supreme remained. Primus: All Good Things

On That Day, Cybertron Received a Grim Reminder.

In the days of the Senate, the Omega Destructors were massive enforcer units employed by the government, though they were very rarely used. They were of similar design to Omega Supreme, but it's unknown if they had any other connection to the Omega Sentinels of legend. The Omega Destructors were deployed by the ruthless Zeta Prime to stamp out any resistance to the Autobot regime in the early days of the war. The behemoths required large amounts of energy to function, which was an issue since energon was in short supply, but Zeta solved the problem by equipping them with vamparc ribbon weapons designed to drain energon straight from the bodies of Cybertronians. Parasites The modified Destructors were first unleashed on the rebel-infested city of Nyon. Ruins

To buy time for the insurgents to evacuate the city, Orion Pax and his Autobot unit poured all their firepower on one of the Omega Destructors, but only succeeded in distracting it. Giving up on his attempts at evacuation, the rebel Hot Rod then detonated a large number of powerful explosives hidden throughout Nyon, destroying both the city and the Destructors. Purge The remaining Omega Destructors were standing guard at Zeta Prime's Citadel when the combined forces of Orion Pax and Megatron attacked. Thanks to Kup, who knew that the giants could be brought down by concentrated fire at a seam-junction in their undercarriages, the attackers succeeded in defeating the Destructors. The final one gave them some trouble until it was destroyed by a full power blast from Shockwave's gun mode. Overthrown

When Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Arcee entered Unicron, they found the ruined corpse of an Omega Sentinel among the hodgepodge of everything the Chaos Bringer had devoured, prompting Bumblebee to wonder if there was some truth to the old legends regarding Cybertron's relation to Unicron. Last Stand Soon after, Bumblebee sought out the wounded Omega Supreme for answers regarding Unicron's past. Though Supreme was able to answer the Minibot's queries, doing so ultimately claimed his life, ending the Omega Sentinels. Stranger Eons

Beast Wars: Uprising

While spinning tall tales to his fellow bar patrons, Buzzclaw taught them exactly how to avoid an Omega Sentinel's strafing attack. He had no idea what he was talking about. Head Games

War for Cybertron Trilogy cartoon

Voice actor: Keith Silverstein (Omega Supreme, English)

When the war between the Autobots and Decepticons began, the Guardians refused to get involved. Later, Optimus Prime summoned the Guardians for their assistance but, in spite of his pleas, the giants continued to hold their neutral stance. Siege episode 4 However, Omega Supreme would come to the Autobots' assistance by holding off the Decepticons as the Ark pursued the AllSpark through a Space bridge. Siege episode 6

During a raid on the Kaon arena, Elita-1, suspecting that she was being watched, bluffed that the Guardians were on stand-by for an attack, the falsehood luring out the cloaked Shockwave. Earthrise episode 6

Energon Universe

Within Megatron's data, Cobra Commander saw a scene where a Guardian robot battled Decepticons above the skies of Cybertron. Cobra Commander #1

Toys

Collector's Edition

The most expensive army-builder ever?

• GADEP (Cybertron, 2008)

• ID number: 64
• Accessories: 2 small shields, 2 medium shields, 2 large shields, 4 armour halves (A, B, C, D), 4 ankle half (E, F, G, H), 2 feet, backpack, 4 tracks (J, K, L, M)

A Collector's Edition e-HOBBY exclusive, this toy is a redeco of the Generation 1 Omega Supreme toy using the same tooling as the Transformers Encore reissue Omega, featuring a retooled head with a partial face under the facemask/canopy.

GADEP transforms into three individual components simultaneously: a large rocket base, a rocket and a tank. The toy involves very little actual manipulation of the parts, "transforming" instead mostly by being disassembled into its component pieces, which are then put back together in a different configuration.

GADEP's distinctive forearms (left large cannon and right large, three-fingered claw) disconnect from their arms at the elbow and plug together end-on-end to form the rocket. Its legs are composed of quite a few independent parts; the outer casing of each one is a "shell" made up of two pieces held together by three sliding blue clips, concealing two further "shell" pieces which clip around the leg proper and are held together by its feet. All of these parts are removed and reassembled to form the "core" of the rocket base, which is completed with the addition of the backpack and feet as a gantry for the rocket to stand astride, and its wings (made up of six individual pieces themselves, which can be assembled in various configurations) as an ovular track that encircles the whole affair. This leaves the Guardian's torso, which then undergoes some actual transformation to become a tank that rests on the track. The torso features a battery-powered motor which propels the tank around the track as its turret spins and flashes with orange light, or allows the Guardian to walk (very slowly) forward in robot mode.

Preorders for this toy were shipped out in September of 2008.

• More information on the Guardian robot at TFU.info

Generations Selects

Hold my beer.

• Guardian Robot and Lunar-Tread (Titan Class, 2023)

• TakaraTomy name: GADEP & Lunar-Tread (ガデプ＆ルナトレッド)
• TakaraTomy release date: 2024 January 27
• Accessories: 7 Fire Blast effects, 2 track/wing pieces
• Known designers: John Warden (Hasbro), Takashi Kunihiro and Shogo Hasui (TakaraTomy)

An add-on for Legacy: Evolution, Generations Selects Guardian Robot is a redeco of Siege Omega Supreme, and as such he's a huge Titan Class figure that transforms into a rocket base and comes with Lunar-Tread. His tank component can store a vehicle mode Micromaster in a front hatchway, with a track upscaled to the point that a deluxe class figure can roll on it. A robot mode Micromaster can fit in a space at the top of the rocket, with plenty of spaces in his general body for smaller figures. Like most Siege figures, Guardian Robot features extensive articulation and numerous 5 mm holes across his body to accommodate the C.O.M.B.A.T. System, and his large size means you can overload his arsenal.

The tank mode can elevate its central turret as well as two smaller side cannons—however, once clipped into place against the robot head, the turret cannot spin. The robot head has a very small faux tank cannon attached to the back of it, which can be folded out of sight.

Guardian Robot's track pieces use A.I.R. Lock System connectors to attach to his main body. Additional A.I.R. Lock connectors can be found at the ends of the ramps on his thighs as well as on flip-out black pieces on his legs/gray track segments. He also features Titans Return compatible connectors on the outer circumference of his tracks, though only Fortress Maximus (or Grand Maximus) has ramps that can reach them at a flat level. Other figures have to be boosted or have their ramps bent.

The toy's instructions presumably have the same error as Omega Supreme's, where when transforming Guardian Robot's arms into rocket mode they say to collapse the forearms towards the shoulder section before closing the quarter-circular panels. However, the toy is designed to have the quarter-circular panels closed first. Then, line up the arrows on the forearms with the corresponding arrows on those panels, then collapse the forearms in towards the shoulders and rotate them in the indicated direction to lock them in place.

Multiple owners of the toy have reported a noticeable worsening in tolerances from the mold's original release to the point of increased friction inducing breakage.^[2][3] As such, caution is advised when transforming the figure out of the box, particularly in the vicinity of the tank's front hatch, which is prone to breakage when squeezing force is applied to its sides. Instead, one can remove the tank side cannons from their slots and using the new opening, ease the hatch open.

"GADEP & Lunar-Tread" was released as a TakaraTomy Mall exclusive in Japan.

Notes

• Although no toy of the Guardian robots was made during the original Generation 1 toyline, they are clearly a slightly more Dery-ized, chubbier version of Omega Supreme. e-HOBBY capitalized on this similarity by releasing an Omega Supreme redeco as a Guardian over twenty years later, though it is unknown if the Guardians in the cartoon were actually capable of transforming, as the toy does.
• The Japanese name for the Guardian robots, "GADEP", comes from the Japanese dub of the Generation 1 cartoon, but the only known source for what the acronym means is the e-HOBBY toy bio. e-HOBBY's excessively clunky answer, "Groundling Auto-Destruct Powerbroker", sounds like a back-formation, and some fans think the acronym originally had a different meaning, "Guardian/Defender/Protection". However, no official confirmation of this theory has been found.
• The Japanese name was later also used for Gadep, the drone companion to Brave Maximus.

Foreign names

• Japanese: GADEP (ガデプ Gadepu, Groundling Auto-Destruct Powerbroker),^[4] Guardian (Siege dub, ガーディアン Gādian), Syugosha (Siege sub, 守護者, "Guardian")
• Russian: Ohrannik (Охранник, "Guard")

References

See also

• Animated Omega Sentinels
• Energon Omega Sentinel
• Sentinel Armada