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Skids is the member of the Autobots and the name used for several characters in Transformers. While a minor character in the Generation 1 cartoon, Skids was a more notable character in Marvel's the Transformers comics.
History
Cartoon
Skids first appeared in Quest for Survival, as part of a strike force sent to stop the Insecticons from ravaging a human farm, only to be defeated. Apparently injured in the battle, Skids was repaired by Hoist upon returning to Autobot Headquarters, where he responded incredulously to Bumblebee's report that he had retrieved robotic insecticide from the planet Floron III to deal with the Insecticon threat.
In Triple Takeover, Skids was part of a team sent to investigate bombs that were raining down on a city from a football stadium, which was caused by Blitzwing. Blitzwing had the stadium surrounded by a "Zone Defense" maze built by the Constructicons, and while attempting to traverse it, Skids crashed into Prowl and was driven over by Blitzwing in tank mode. Skids and the other Autobots' remains were then gathered by Scrapper, who built his personal throne out of them. These Autobots were soon rescued and quickly rebuilt, and helped battle Blitzwing, Astrotrain, Megatron and Devastator while they all tried to become Decepticon leader.
Following that skirmish, Prowl opined that Optimus Prime was the greatest leader in the universe, which prompted himself, Skids, Bluestreak and Tracks to form themselves into a throne for Prime, which he politely declined.
Marvel's the Transformers
Revived on Earth
Skids was among the Autobots who had their personalities encoded onto the Ark's crystalline containment vessels, in case Optimus Prime needed extra manpower. When many of his troops were left injured during the early days of the war on Earth, Prime arranged for new bodies to be built, which the personalities were then programmed into, bringing Skids and the others to life "for a second time".
Skids, along with Hoist, Tracks and Smokescreen, was subsequently given a tour of Earth by Bumblebee. In the process, the five of them stumbled upon a plot by Shockwave to steal the sound energy from a concert and worked together to defeat him. He later accompanied Optimus Prime in a failed attempt to stop the Decepticons reviving the inert Megatron, which ended with the human military firing on them.
Battles with Ravage
Skids was present when Optimus Prime summoned together the entire Earth Autobots for an assault on the Decepticons' base, in order to analyse their combiner technology. Skids expressed concerns about the plan, especially when the Dinobots refused to take part. During the battle, Optimus Prime saved Skids from injury and, when Shockwave deployed Devastator against them, Bumblebee recorded the information they needed and Optimus Prime called a retreat. As they withdrew however, Skids was hassled by a human driver he had crashed into earlier, allowing Ravage to snipe at him and blast him off the road. The other Autobots chose to continue their withdrawal rather than risk the Decepticons catching them, leaving Skids behind.
Skids was found and restored by a human woman, Charlene. He revealed his true nature to her and considered abandoning the war and remaining with her, but was accosted by Donny Finkleberg, who had been used by both the human authorities and the Decepticons for propaganda purposes, pretending to control the Transformers as a supervillain named "Robot Master". He had just escaped from the Decepticons and was being pursued by Ravage. Skid was reluctant to get involved, but eventually accepted that if he didn't stop the Decepticons, humans like Charlene would be in danger. He fought Ravage and threw him down a mine shaft to his apparent demise. Saying goodbye to Charlene, he departed with Finkleberg.
Returning to the Ark
Skids confiscated Finkleberg's payment in order to co-opt him helping the Autobots track down seven of their number who had recently arrived from Cybertron. Skids and Finkleberg set out to search for them, unaware they had been captured by the human anti-robot organisation RAAT and dismantled. Skids became caught up in a battle between the Aerialbots and the Stunticons, during which the Stunticons convinced the watching humans that Skids was on their side, ruining the goodwill he had gained by saving a human driver. Tiring of their quest, Finkleberg deactivated Skids and turned him over to RAAT. Skids was dismantled but he and the other Autobots eventually did a deal with the robot hunting vigilante Circuit Breaker, who restored them in return for their help against the Battlechargers.
Lost in the void
Joined with the seven newly arrived Autobots, Skids attempted to guide them back to the Ark, but was then shunted into limbo by the arrival from the future of Galvatron. While stays in limbo were normally short, Skids would remain there for years, being left in a catatonic state as he was preyed on by limbo parasites.
(During this period, Skids made a few brief appearances in Marvel US stories, being present for Ratchet's failed attempt to revive Optimus Prime, Blaster's return to the Ark and the duel between Blaster and Grimlock on the moon. These were usually redrawn for the UK printings.)
Skids was finally freed when Galvatron was destroyed, but was left traumatised by the experience. He was found by stranded Autobots Springer, Broadside and Inferno, shortly before encountering a group of limbo demons who had followed him back to the real world. The Autobots defeated the demons with the aid of Decepticons Carnivac and Catilla, with the mismatched group forming a team known as the Survivors.
Skids would later join the other Autobot Survivors in driving off the Decepticon Mayhem Squad when they tried to kill Carnivac, although they were too late to save Catilla. Much later, he was among the reinforcements Grimlock brought to Cybertron for the battle with Unicron.
Earthforce
When Carnivac ignored Springer's recommendation and went after the Mayhems on his own, Skids helped convince Springer to contact Grimlock's Autobot Earthforce for assistance. The Survivors agreed to join the Earthforce in exchange for them lending extra troops to challenge the Mayhems. The group managed to defeat and capture Bludgeon, Stranglehold and Octopunch, with Carnivac having already disposed of the others.
The Survivors continued to operate as a unit within the Earthforce and were sent out on patrol together, stumbling across Starscream attempting to hijack an oil tanker. Skids used a distraction from Carnivac to freeze Starscream with his liquid nitrogen gun and enable Inferno to knock him overboard.
Regeneration One
Personality
Skids was characterised as the absent-minded warrior. Highly intelligent and always collecting data, Skids is nonetheless always daydreaming. He is a scientist first and foremost, and has made many valuable discoveries. Skids genuinely hates the war he finds himself caught up in, but for now is forced to continue in the Autobot army.
Abilities
Skids carries a liquid nitrogen rifle with 600 foot range, and the twin electron blaster of 20,000 volts can short-circuit almost anything.
Robots in Disguise (2001)
See main article: Skid-Z
Transformers Cinematic Universe
See main article: Skids & Mudflap (Transformers Cinematic Universe)
Transformers IDW
See main article: Skids (IDW Comics)
Trivia
- Given that the Skids seen in the comics was a copy of the original, it is unknown whether the original Skids still existed elsewhere.
- While Skids was banished to the Void for a long time in the UK comics, he still made cameos in the US series, they were small enough to be removed from the UK version of the comic.
- The last of these cameos was in Totaled, where the Autobots fought the Decepticons on the Moon. Given Skids' next appearance is being revived with Nucleon in On the Edge of Extinction, it's possible in US continuity, Skids' was offlined off-panel during that battle.
- Skids' involvement with the Survivors is complicated, as that storyline is continued in Earthforce, which does not fit into continuity very well.
