Animated Series
Obsidian is a legendary Cybertronian General who scored countless victories alongside his consort Strika. According to the Maximals in the episode "Sparkwar" they fought a thousand wars and won them all. The two were captured by Megatron, along with the entire population of Cybertron, who then eventually placed their sparks in Vehicon bodies. Obsidian became a helicopter, leading the aerial forces in place of the fallen Jetstorm.
They first appeared in the episode "Sparkwar Part 1", where they immediately made an impact. Pretending to be dim and fairly weak, a'la Tankor, the two lured the Maximals into a trap, cutting off their every option with countless numbers of new Vehicon Drones. Cornering them underground, the Maximals only escaped due to Botanica's intervention.
Unlike the previous generation of Vehicon generals (Tankor, Jetstorm and Thrust), both Obsidian and Strika weren't given alternate personalities. They remained who they had always been. However, their prime directive was the protection of Cybertron, and they had been programmed to perceive Megatron and Cybertron as one and the same. To defend one was to defend the other. Unlike the previous Generals, Obsidian was willing to take the responsibilities of his own failures, making him perhaps the most honest of the Vehicon Generals. Obsidian and Strika were the first vehicons to address Megatron as "Lord Megatron"
Obsidian proved himself to be a tactical genius on the battlefield, given his history as a supreme general. Despite his military brilliance, he was at a loss when without a certain directive. When Megatron was seemingly destroyed, he and Strika joined the Maximals, since their options had become limited. This alliance would turn out brief though, for when Megatron returned in the body of a Diagnostic Drone, Obsidian and Strika immediately return to his side.
In the final battle with the Maximals, Obsidian and Strika were tricked into standing on an antigravity unit by Cheetor, who launched the pair into space, where neither were affected by the reformatting of Cybertron.
According to an F.A.Q. on Bob Skir's web site there was a scene with Obsidian and Strika cut from the final episode. "Obsidian and Strika had a MAGNIFICENT scene in which they return to Cybertron and decline an offer to be reformatted themselves (partly because they feel unworthy because of their role helping Megatron, and party because I wanted them to remain "pure" when I brought them back in the next series... which (as of this writing) I haven't been invited onto yet. Sadly, their finale got cut for time."
Read more about this topic: Obsidian (Transformers), Beast Machines
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