Clear Skies Team

"One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just DOESN'T belong..."

The Clear Skies Team are a group of Autobot-allied Mini-Cons who love to fly in the unpolluted air of a living planet. Should they encounter any Decepticons ruining the ecosystem and stripping it of its resources, they go on the sickeningly self-righteous offensive! Their weapons are all the powers of Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Heart, and Spandau Ballet. Well, they should be.

The Clear Skies Team consists of...

• Steel Wind the A-10 Thunderbolt II bomber plane.
• Thunderwing the F-14 Tomcat.

And either

• Nightscream the dragon.

or

• Noise Effect

Fiction

Classics

The Clear Skies Team were a group of flying Mini-Cons loyal to Modus Prime and the Mini-Con way of life. They were performing aerial recon the day Broadside arranged an "accident" to stir up resentment in the Mini-Con population against the Autobots. Steel Wind did his best to put out the flames caused by Broadside's explosion, but even his fire retardant bombs couldn't quell the inferno. Modus Prime and several other Mini-Cons died in the conflagaration, allegedly caused by an Autobot attack.

In the aftermath, the Clear Skies Team were assembled by Hacksaw along with the other Mini-Cons he trusted most. Meeting with the Dinobots and the Night Rescue Team, they tried to assess the situation in order to keep the population from rioting over rumors of a "madness plague". The discussion slowly raised suspicions about Broadside's involvement in the incident, but further discussion ceased when Steel Wind detected a change in the planet's broadcast signals — someone was tampering with the trans-hyperwave caster tower. Steel Wind offered to investigate, but Hacksaw pointed out that Thunderwing's "investigations" tended to end with buildings collapsing. The Dinobot commander insisted on investigating alone, but he asked the Clear Skies Team to maintain a holding pattern around the tower as back-up.

The Team maintained their position, but recorded a video of Hacksaw's fatal battle with Broadside, and the Dinobot's subsequent death. With the eloquent Nightscream in the lead, the Clear Skies and Night Rescue Teams played back the video at Broadside's press conference later, implicating him in the deaths of Hacksaw and Modus Prime. Nightscream was ready to string him up right then and there, but Divebomb insisted Broadside be brought before the law for trial. Unfortunately, this gave Broadside and opportunity to state his case before the assembled Mini-Cons, and a new civil war began brewing on Cybertron.

Shoulda just slagged the glitchhead. The New World

Ask Vector Prime

In Aurex 615.03 Epsilon, the Clear Skies Team was dispatched on board the Hyperion to the Beast Wars of Alpha Q's universe. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/09/23

Toys

Classics

• Clear Skies Team (Mini-Con Team, 2006)

Released in the second wave of Classics Mini-Con three-packs, the Clear Skies Team are a trio of tiny bots with aerial alt-modes: Nightscream the dragon, Steel Wind the A-10 Thunderbolt II bomber plane, and Thunderwing the F-14 Tomcat. As Mini-Cons, each one has a "Powerlinx" socket that allows them to attach to larger toys that have compatible Powerlinx plugs.

This set of molds was used to make a large number of new characters, but not always together and not in equal amounts of redecoes; see the individual toys' pages for more information on those redecoes.

Notes

• The Team's unusual grouping of forms (well, mainly the dragon) is a result of the Classics Mini-Cons having been originally designed with Cybertron two-packs in mind rather than three-packs, meaning they wouldn't necessarily have needed a consistent theme.
  • The Facebook edition of Ask Vector Prime would attempt to rectify this incongruity by establishing a version of the team without Nightscream and replacing him with Noise Effect, a fighter jet.