




Function Aeriabot Commander
Motto "Don’t look down, look straight ahead!""On a wing and a prayer."
Universe
Silverbolt is the largest of the five Autobot-allied
Aerialbots. He forms the head and torso of
Superion.
A brave and grimly determined warrior, Silverbolt was appointed by Optimus Prime to command the Aerialbots, a task that keeps Silverbolt worrying more about his teammates than about his
acrophobia. When transforming into a jet, he can reach speed of Mach 1.9 with range of 4500 miles. He is armed with an electrostatic discharger rifle.
Silverbolt was recreated from a "low-flying transport" (which is ironic because the Concorde was designed for high-altitude travel), which is believed to be the cause of his fear of heights. He was given life by
Vector Sigma and Alpha Trion with the other
Aerialbots to combat their Decepticon counterparts, the
Stunticons. However, after defeating
Menasor,
Megatron, escaped with the Decepticons' latest superweapon, forcing Silverbolt to confront his fear of heights to chase him down. He is a very level-headed robot that uses common sense and compassion to make his decisions, which later led
Optimus Prime to name him the Aerialbots' leader.
Despite his fear of flight and being less adventurous then the other Aerialbots, he proved to be a great leader. He was able to lead the Aerialbots to many victories against the Decepticons and other combiners, like defeating Menasor again ("Cosmic Rust"), stopping the
Combaticons from controlling the eastern oil fields ("Aerial Assault"), saving
Rodimus Prime and the others from
Quintessa ("Five Faces of Darkness"), fought with
Scourge and
Cyclonus ("Fight or Flee"), blast
Trypticon from the inside ("The Ultimate Weapon"), and was badly damage while spying on the
Junkions.
In the three part season 4 episode, "The Rebirth", the Aerialbots were among those who tried to stop the Decepticons on Cybertron. However,
Galvatron ordered
Sixshot to take them out. He did so, using each of his alternate modes to defeat the entire team. The Decepticons then scavenged their parts to construct a super engine to move the planet Cybertron. It is unknown if they survived or not, though one does appear jumping up and down with
Bumblebee indicating that they might have survived.
Silverbolt and the other Aerialbots were created on Earth by Wheeljack and given life by Optimus Prime using the Matrix. After their initial mission was deemed a failure due to only Silverbolt's personality being stabilized (with Superion nearly killing a human), Optimus Prime had their minds wiped clean and all five Aerialbots given life once again. Unbeknownst to Prime, the
Insecticon Bombshell piggy-backed aboard Silverbolt, and attempted to inject a cerebro-shell into an open wound Prime incurred earlier. The shell allowed Bombshell to transmit Prime's thoughts -- and the Matrix's creation process -- to Megatron and Soundwave, allowing them to bring life to the
Stunticons. (Transformers #21-22.)
The Aerialbots were subsequently captured by
Circuit Breaker and her
Rapid Anti-Robot Attack Team, She then took them to her laboratory and dismantled them for study. However, to combat the threat of the rampaging Decepticon
Battlechargers Runabout and
Runamuck a deal was struck - if they cooperated in stopping the Decepticons she would let them go. Circuit Breaker then created a massive robot out of their parts, piloted by herself. After defeating the Decepticons, Circuit Breaker released the Autobots.
When
Starscream returned to Earth after absorbing the powers of the
Underbase, Silverbolt and his Aerialbots were amongst those in New York first to attack... and also amongst the first to fall in battle. Later when
Optimus Prime was deciding which one Autobot to restore life to, he considered Silverbolt but imagined that after a while, he would resent being chosen over others.
Silverbolt was finally restored to take part in the battle against
Unicron thanks to
Grimlock's supply of
Nucleon. Fortunately, Silverbolt managed to purge his system of the Nucleon before it froze up his power to transform. He subsequently appeared in the Generation 2 comic as the Aerialbots were attacked from all sides by
Jhiaxus' fliers - until
Thundercracker and
Skywarp unexpectedly bailed them out, leading a Decepticon armada into the fray.