Depth Charge

Beast Wars

After Protoform X slaughtered his crew on the space colony Omicron, Depth Charge (voiced by David Sobolov) made it his mission to hunt him down. After successfully capturing him, the protoform was put onto the Maximal ship, Axalon, to be transported to a barren planet, in the hopes that no one would fall victim to his wrath ever again. Even after Protoform X's capture, Depth Charge was still vigilant and kept watch of any trace of X's whereabouts, in the hopes of avenging his fallen comrades. In the season 3 episode "Deep Metal", Depth Charge (making his debut in the series) ended up travelling through a wormhole and landing his star cruiser on prehistoric Earth, where Optimus Primal's Maximals and Megatron's Predacons were fighting the conflict known as the Beast Wars. He took the form of a Transmetal manta ray and discovered Protoform X had fallen into the hands of the Predacons, and was now called Rampage. Depth Charge ended up fighting Rampage to a standstill, until the Predacon Fuzor Quickstrike knocked him out, allowing Rampage to escape.

After being healed by the Maximals, Optimus Primal welcomed him to join his group, but Depth Charge declined. Optimus tried to convince him further after Depth Charge saw what the Maximals were guarding: the Autobot ship known as the Ark. Optimus warned Depth Charge of the dangers of working alone, with Megatron and his group out there. Depth Charge said coldly "I've gotta hand it to ya, Primal, when you screw up, you do it big time. But thanks for the tip". Meanwhile, Rampage destroyed Depth Charge's ship, stranding him on the planet.

Depth Charge's final battle took place near the end of the Beast Wars, as he engaged in an underwater battle with Rampage. Depth Charge impaled Rampage with a shard of Energon through his spark, and in the process, the explosion of Rampage's spark destroyed the both of them.

Beast Wars: The Gathering

Depth Charge is seen for a moment in the first issue of the IDW mini-series, where both Drill Bit and Magmatron watch him rise out of the water. At first, Drill Bit is alarmed by his presence, until Magmatron reminds him that since they are out of sync with the time stream by two seconds (thanks to the chronal armbands they're wearing), Depth Charge won't notice them, or even see or hear them.

Transformers: Universe

In issue #3 of the short-lived 3H Enterprises exclusive comic series (only available at the renamed Botcon they sponsored), Optimus Primal is given by Primus and Alpha Trion the task of organizing a team to fight the threat of Unicron, and allows him to choose whomever he wants to be members. He revives both Rhinox and Depth Charge, who now longs to live a peaceful life, having at last gotten his revenge on Rampage. When he leaves the war room, he ends up saving Rattrap from a brainwashed Blackarachnia, only to run into the rest of her team--a squad of clones of the Seacon Overbite.

Personality

Depth Charge had a cold, distant personality, not really trusting anyone but himself. He had an obsession with Rampage after he killed his crew, not resting until he was brought to justice. Depth Charge was rebellious towards Optimus Primal's methods for dealing with the Predacons.

Transformers: Animated

Derrick Wyatt, in his collection of sketches (seen in the Transformers Animated Allspark Almanac), drew Depth Charge, among others, as possible characters for background appearances in the Transformers: Animated television series. He also appears in the 2011 Botcon exclusive comic book "The Stunti-Con Job", as the chief of Cybertron's security who demotes Cheetor to the beat in Iacon.

Toy History

The first figure of Depth Charge was released in 1998 as part of the Ultra-sized Transmetals figures, along with Rampage and Optimal Optimus Primal. In addition to turning into a manta ray, like all Transmetals he had a psuedo-vehicle mode, in this case a "star cruiser" (based on the ship he arrived in). He came with a small shark drone that fired two missiles and could be used as a rifle, and the tip of his tail could be detached and used as a melee weapon. He could also fire discs from his chest via a button (shaped like a fin) on his back. The entire figure was repainted and re-released in 2004 as part of the Transformers: Universe toyline, which was made up of repainted figures from various pre-Armada/Energon Transformers series. His color scheme, according to his designer, was based on the Slave I spaceship used by Boba Fett in the Star Wars franchise.