Spyglass

Comes with 35 millimeters of terror.

Spyglass is a Decepticon from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Spyglass is Gallant to Spectro's Goofus. He's an eager-beaver go-getter when it comes to espionage and surveillance. He's always on board with whatever sinister scheme Viewfinder cooks up for the Reflector trio, even to the point where he'll cajole the uncooperative Spectro into playing along—making sure, of course, that Spectro doesn't know too much.

Fiction

G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers

Spectro, Spyglass and Viewfinder were among the Transformers who crashed on Earth millions of years in the past, and upon being discovered by humans, they were reprogrammed to serve the terrorist organization Cobra. The Autobot Wheeljack eventually restored everyone's original programming. Though Cobra desperately scrambled to salvage control of the Cybertronians, one Cobra operative declared the situation hopeless. The angry Reflector trio broke into Cobra's control center to confirm his assessment. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #4 Reflector was then ordered by Megatron to assist Doctor Mindbender and Firefly while they used the SPS Satellite to create energon cubes. When Optimus Prime arrived to halt their scheme, the three Reflectors attacked him, but were easily swatted aside. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #5

Though the Decepticons fell into disarray once Megatron was defeated, they were reunited under Megatron's "son:" Serpent O.R.. Under his leadership, Spyglass joined a Decepticon assault on an Autobot peace ceremony. He rode atop of Menasor alongside Spectro and Viewfinder, the latter of which had been tasked with delivering a message to Optimus Prime. The transmission was briefly interrupted due to an attack from Jetfire, but an angered Prime forced them to resume the projection at gunpoint. The Art of War #4

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

Spyglass was part of Megatron's crew, active on Earth in the 1980s before the Ark II incident. Although he had no great love for Megatron, Spyglass was not willing to mindlessly fall in line behind Starscream once their leader vanished in Tokyo, Japan. Making an alliance with Skywarp—who hated Starscream and wanted to hold leadership of the Decepticons for himself until Megatron inevitably returned—Spyglass arranged to get Starscream's attention. Knowing that Starscream had recruited Soundwave to his cause and set up base in Las Vegas, Spyglass and Skywarp made a stand at Hoover Dam, deliberately bringing themselves inside Soundwave's scanning range yet refusing to answer his hails. Spyglass agreed to let Skywarp run the show, but the "negotiations" for Starscream's abdication quickly degenerated, and the fight was on. Spyglass's Reflector partners came out of hiding to join the battle, but Starscream and Soundwave quickly demolished Skywarp and Spectro, leaving them in deep stasis lock. With his loyalties being questioned at gunpoint, Spyglass wisely said, "What did Megatron ever do for me?" and knelt before Starscream in defeat. Hardwired

Spyglass and Viewfinder did not remain loyal to Starscream for long. When Megatron returned from space with the threat of the all-powerful Keepers at his heels, he was too badly damaged to forcibly retake the Decepticons from Starscream as he had in the past. Megatron still refused to serve his former Air Commander, however, and when he abandoned Starscream and Las Vegas to deal with the problem posed by the Keepers, Spyglass and several other Decepticons did the same. They were wise to do so, because almost immediately thereafter the Keepers confronted Starscream, stole his body to use as a host for their minds, and imprisoned the remaining Decepticons loyal to him. Spyglass and the other Decepticons joined forces with the Autobots in driving the Keepers off planet Earth. Annihilation With Megatron back in command, Spectro was restored to full functionality and the Reflector trio were reunited. They lent their recording abilities to several efforts by Megatron to blackmail the President of the United States into keeping his nose out of Decepticon business.

A "inferior copy" of Fusion Spyglass was not part of Megatron's crew, but worked for Shockwave on Cybertron with his two partners, monitoring the planet and its inhabitants for him from a central mainframe. Brothers' Burden They were seemingly destroyed by Starscream when he broke ranks with Shockwave's command structure. Countdown to Extinction

2005 IDW continuity

Early in the war, the Reflector trio tried to stop an Autobot prison break in the Citadel only to be blown away by Springer. Rise

Spyglass and Spectro were later seen aboard a Decepticon orbital outpost, terrified of walking down the same hallway as Sixshot. Spotlight: Sixshot

Spyglass is probably the one with blue on him.

The Reflector trio, speaking in chorus, celebrated after a successful Decepticon ambush on Earth. All Hail Megatron #7

In New York City, the trio observed as Rumble compulsively destroyed a Volkswagen Beetle, and observed in chorus that it was a pity it wasn't the real thing. All Hail Megatron #3 During the Decepticons' stay in New York, Spyglass and Spectro entertained themselves by chasing down humans and offering to play games with them—games that inevitably led to the two robots breaking their playmates. This didn't discourage them too much, as they just attempted to put the humans back together again. All Hail Megatron #8

I get to be an individual for once.

Three years later, Spyglass was among the Decepticons left behind on Earth after Astrotrain took most of the others off world. After joining a few other abandoned 'cons, he helped retrieve and repair a heavily injured Thundercracker. Seasons in Flight Led by Swindle, the rag-tag group attacked several Autobot deserters, but laid down their arms when they realized they could work together to get off Earth. New Arrivals, Old Encounters

In the aftermath of the war with Galvatron and the D-Void on Cybertron, Spectro, Spyglass and Viewfinder were instructed by Shockwave to undertake a special mission beginning with the theft of Turmoil's time-sliding space cruiser. Night and the City Using the ship, they were supposed to locate LV-117 and report its circumstances back to Shockwave, but were unprepared for the planet's erratic movement through time. Appearing out of nowhere right in front of them, LV-117 flung the Reflector trio over one hundred years into the past, depleting the ship's fuel supply and causing it to crash. Syndromica (2)

Viewfinder was killed in the crash when a large piece of the bridge's canopy shattered and impaled him through the chest. Spectro and Spyglass survived, and eventually they located Wheelie, who had previously crashed on the same planet and had been building an escape vessel with a friendly alien. They managed to hijack the vessel shortly before it launched by threatening to kill Wheelie's friend, but the tiny Autobot removed the safety catch from his energon converter before disembarking, causing it to violently explode shortly after take-off. Spotlight: Wheelie

Hearts of Steel

Spyglass was one of the many Decepticons under Starscream's command during Earth's industrial revolution. Along with Spectro and Viewfinder, he helped overlook the construction of the railway that would allow The Astrotrain to reach New York. Hearts of Steel #3

Transformers vs. G.I. Joe

Spyglass, Spectro and Viewfinder, the "three are one" Decepticons, participated on an assault Metroplex at Megatron's behest. Everybody Hates Metroplex

War for Cybertron Trilogy marketing material

During the war for Cybertron, Spyglass was a Ground Force Espionage Raider Siege Refraktor toy packaging and a component of Refraktor.

Games

Transformers Roleplaying Game

Spyglass was a fun-loving prankster who enjoyed making jokes about his comrade’s dirty secrets. A persuasive manipulator, he was often responsible for spurring the Reflector trio into action. Decepticon Directive

Toys

The Transformers

REALLY don't look into this flashcube.

• Reflector (Mail-away, 1986/1987; wide release in Japan, 1985)

• Takara ID number: 21
• Accessories: opto blaster, flash cube/missile launcher, 3 missiles
• Known designers: Hideaki Yoke (TakaraTomy), Shinji Aramaki (concept artist)

Available only as part of the Reflector set, Spyglass transforms into the left-hand-side grip of a camera that most closely resembles a 1969 Ricoh 126C-Flex TLS, with Viewfinder and Spectro forming the remaining 2/3rds of the camera. The camera's flashcube fits over his robot mode head and can be held in robot mode. The cube also features a spring-loaded missile launcher, minus the spring in the Hasbro release for safety reasons. Giving away Spyglass' origins, he retains teeny tiny "MC" logos on the stickers on the fronts of his feet.

Reflector was first sold in Japan in 1985 as an ordinary retail item. While Hasbro originally planned him for release in 1984 (thus him appearing in the cartoon), they delayed selling him in the US until 1986, and only then via mail-order from a direct-mail flyer promoting The Transformers: The Movie. (Amusingly, this came just as the character was being quietly and fully phased out of the fiction.) The toy would be a common offering in pack-in flyers from then on, at a cost of $10 and two Robot Points.

• More information on Spyglass at TFU.info

Combiner Wars

• Reflector (3-pack, 2016)

Released as a BotCon 2016 souvenir exclusive, Combiner Wars Reflector (Spectro, Spyglass, and Viewfinder) is a redeco and retool of Combiner Wars Shockwave, utilizing the mold's preexisting alternate head. Reflector transforms into a spaceship based on Shockwave's Cybertronian handgun mode. Undocumented in the instructions, Reflector can transform into a gun mode for any Combiner Wars combiner.

Hasbro has encouraged finding ways to combine the three into a vaguely camera-shaped object, and as such there are multiple unofficial attempts. The links below are listed in order of increasing structural integrity.

This version of the mold was also used to make BotCon 2016 Flash Sentry. This mold also served as the model for the non-toy Beast Wars: Uprising incarnation of Movor.

• Deceptigtar's instructions
• Robowang's instructions
• NightViper's instructions

War for Cybertron: Siege

• Refraktor (Deluxe Class, June 2019)

• Hasbro ID Number: WFC-S36
• TakaraTomy ID Number: SG-28
• TakaraTomy release date: August 24, 2019
• Accessories: "EMM Distortion Blaster"/tripod part, "HPR Telefocal Shield"/lens part, "Bioscale Compression Rotor"/chest module
• Known designers: AJ Piejko-Brown (packaging)

Siege "Refraktor" (thanks, trademark!) is a single-packaged Deluxe figure based on Viewfinder's robot design, although the figure includes a removable 'chest module' which allows one to recreate Spectro or Spyglass instead.^[1] While each Refraktor bot on its own can transform into an "artillery hovercraft",^[1] purchasing three and combining them will allow them to form the classic camera mode. To this end, each Refraktor includes a blaster and a shield which form one-third of the camera tripod and lens, respectively, with the Viewfinder "chest module" connecting the tripod for stability.

Inputting the blacklight code "Reflector" into the Teletraan-1 page on Hasbro's website reveals a desktop wallpaper containing a preview of the Refraktor Reconnaissance Team, notably before the official reveal at San Diego Comic-Con.

Due to the need for 3 Refraktors, Hasbro wholesalers allowed independent retailers to order entire cases composed solely of them, outside the normal waves and case assortments offered to retailers.

This mold was later used to make War for Cybertron Trilogy Scrapface.

• Refraktor Reconnaissance Team 3-Pack (Multi-pack, 2019)

• Release date: September 1, 2019
• Accessories: "Telefocal Shield"/lens part, "Optic Blaster" rifle, "Flash Launcher" flashcube, "Bioscale Compression Rotor"/torso-part
• Known designers: AJ Piejko-Brown (packaging)

One of many many many online exclusives revealed and opened for pre-order during San Diego Comic-Con 2019, this set features three copies of the Deluxe figure above, only this time decoed to match the original Reflector toy layouts (mostly).

Each robot also comes with extra accessories to make the combined camera mode look that much more like the original toy; Spyglass comes with a new flashcube for camera mode that can also be used as a hand-held weapon, though it lacks the "missile launcher" functionality in any form whatsoever, not even hole in the middle to plug in a compatible non-firing "missile" or Fire Blast effect. Of the new parts, the flashcube is the only one that can actually be used in the mold's "artillery hovercraft" form.

The set also includes a Kremzeek figurine, which is compatible with the Siege "blast effect" system.

Notes

• In the Transformers cartoon, the three individual robots are never named; they are all simply "Reflector" and are all entirely identical, save for the lens aperture visible in the chest of the robot who forms the center of their camera mode. Reflector normally spends his time in this divided, triplicate state (three robots being the number required to form his camera mode), but in certain circumstances, he'll remain as one entity.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Spyglass (スパイグラス Supaigurasu)
• Mandarin: Wàngyuǎnjìng (Taiwan, 望遠鏡, "Telescope"), Jùguāngjìng (China, 聚光镜, "Condenser")

References