Buzzclaw (G1)

Buzzclaw is a Decepticon Insecticon from the Descent into Evil portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Buzzclaw is one of the few surviving members of the Insecticons in his time. A former pit-fighter from Polyhex, he prefers hand-to-hand—or, more accurately, terrible-foreclaw-to-sternum—combat over using ranged weapons. He just likes killing, and killing up-close. He's spent a lot of time working on that, studying many forms of unarmed combat.

He has teamed up with the rogue Deathsaurus, who is attempting to unlock the Insecticons' diluted clone-making abilities in order to bring the Decepticons back to the mighty force they once were.^[1]

Fiction

Descent into Evil

Buzzclaw was defeated at some point in the past by the Autobots Chromia and Flareup on the planet Regulon Four. Later, on Ceti Alpha Seven, where Deathsaurus unlocked the secret of Insecticon cloning in Buzzclaw and Dirge, the two Autobots arrived as part of a team sent to destroy the cloning facility. However, Buzzclaw was denied a rematch, as Deathsaurus and his Virulent Clone army defeated the Autobots first. Buzzclaw later attacked a rescue party consisting of Ironhide and Ratchet, but Ironhide dispatched him with a spray of acid. Whether he survived the damage is unknown. Descent into Evil

Toys

Timelines

No, they never explained why I'm part lizard.

• Descent into Evil (Multi-pack, 2005)
  • Accessories: Claw-pack, tail/shield

A redeco of the Beast Wars Predacon Fuzor Buzzclaw, Timelines Buzzclaw transforms into a praying mantis-lizard monster. Its beast mode foreclaws and wing-assembly can be used as a hand-held melee weapon, and its tail can be mounted on its arm as a shield. Buzzclaw was only available as part of the main seven-piece "Descent into Evil" box-set from BotCon 2005, packaged with Chromia, Dirge, Deathsaurus, Fallback, Ironhide, and Ricochet.

The same mold is used by Timelines Dirge, the Virulent Clones, and Universe Repugnus.

Due to a production error, all Buzzclaws had their beast mode lower jaw misassembled, so the mandibles point downwards like a funny bandito moustache. This same assembly error is also found in the other BotCon uses of the mold as well as Universe Repugnus, leading fans to joke that the original Fuzor Buzzclaw is the "misassembled" one.

• More information on Buzzclaw at TFU.info

Notes

• Despite the familiar name and mold use, this Buzzclaw was not created to be the same character as his Beast Wars namesake. Ben Yee explained that the name and mold were mainly chosen out of necessity. Of the Beast Wars insect molds proposed for the BotCon 2005 boxed set (which included Insecticon and Scarem), only the Buzzclaw mold was able to be procured from Hasbro. As for the name, Yee had originally wanted to use one of the Generation 1 Deluxe Insecticon names (like Barrage), but time was short and the name "Buzzclaw" had been an early submission that cleared with Hasbro. However, despite Yee's original intent to create a new Insecticon character, he has also leaned into the possibility of this Buzzclaw later becoming the same character as Beast Wars Buzzclaw.^[2]

References