Viewfinder

Viewfinder is a Decepticon from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Viewfinder studied at the Generation 2 Optimus Prime school of disguise.

Viewfinder is the sinister spymaster who leads the Reflector trio. He's a master of observation - there's nothing he loves more than watching someone and dissecting their flaws. He doesn't just use his skills to advance the Decepticon cause, mind you; he's also an unrepentant blackmailer of his Decepticon comrades. His only problem is that he's so smug and self-assured that he's incapable of recognizing his own flaws.

Fiction

Marvel The Transformers comics

A hi-then-die who didn't even get to say hi!

Viewfinder was decorating the cavern floor of Mount St. Hilary after all the Decepticons were rendered inoperable by Sparkplug Witwicky's poisoned fuel. The Last Stand

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

Viewfinder was present for a Decepticon gathering on Cybertron, during which Serpent O.R. took control of the Decepticon army. The Art of War #3 During a subsequent Decepticon assault on an Autobot peace ceremony, he was charged with delivering a message to Optimus Prime. After being carried to Prime in Menasor's palm, Viewfinder used his chest lens to project a hologram of Serpent O.R., allowing the Decepticon leader to negotiate with Prime. He was then injured by an attack from Jetfire, but an angered Prime forced him to resume the projection at gunpoint. The Art of War #4

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

Viewfinder was part of Megatron's crew, active on Earth in the 1980s before the Ark II incident. After Megatron disappeared, Skywarp and the united Reflector trio refused to bow to Starscream's new regime in the human city of Las Vegas. They challenged Starscream to meet them at Hoover Dam and, once he arrived, Skywarp openly announced his intention to take the leadership of the Decepticons away from Starscream. In hiding at first, Viewfinder and Spectro flew out to join Skywarp and Spyglass in attacking Starscream once the gauntlet was cast down. After Starscream eliminated Skywarp and his partner, Soundwave, destroyed Spectro with a blast of concentrated sound, though, Viewfinder and Spyglass laid down arms and agreed to follow Starscream's command. Hardwired Their loyalty was quite temporary, however: Megatron returned to Earth several days later, and invited all Decepticons truly loyal to him to abandon Starscream's "New Centurion" empire. Viewfinder and Spyglass quickly accepted the offer, and left Las Vegas with Megatron and his loyalist faction. Along with Megatron's Decepticons, Viewfinder joined forces with the Autobots to battle the awe-inspiring aliens known as the Keepers. Annihilation After the aliens were supposedly dealt with, Megatron felt it was necessary to send a message to the American government, who had been interfering with Cybertronian matters far too much. He and the Decepticons therefore stormed up Constitution Avenue and wrecked the White House, while Megatron held the quivering and whimpering President menacingly in the palm of his hand. With Spectro fully repaired, Viewfinder and his partners were on hand to record the entire exchange, and then send it to the human news media to discredit the President. The human leader did not learn quickly, though, and immediately began making plans to lure the Autobots and Decepticons into an ambush in the Nevada desert. Megatron once again arranged for Viewfinder and his partners to record the American military making a blatant and unprovoked attack on the Transformers, and released the footage to the media to force the President to back off.

A "inferior copy" of Fusion Viewfinder 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

The Beast Within

During an all-out Decepticon offensive against the Autobots, Viewfinder was one of the first victims to fall to The Beast, the Dinobots’ monstrous combined form. The Beast Within

2005 IDW continuity

They can cross the galaxy and shatter worlds, but safety glass is beyond the Decepticons' ken.

The Reflector trio were low rank-Decepticon hoodlums. Early in the war, they tried to stop an Autobot prison break in the Citadel only to be blown away by Springer. Rise

The three Reflector units arrived on Earth around the year 2007. Viewfinder was among the leading ranks of a major ambush the Decepticons staged on Earth. The entire Reflector trio, speaking in chorus, celebrated afterward. 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 Some time later, Viewfinder sat moping by himself as Spectro and Spyglass had fun murdering humans elsewhere. Even when alone, he still repeated everything the other two components said. All Hail Megatron #8 Viewfinder participated in the melee between the Decepticons in New York. All Hail Megatron #11 When the Decepticons were finally defeated, Viewfinder was among the troops who fled the planet aboard Astrotrain. Uneasy Lies the Head He and the rest of the fleeing Decepticon forces spent the next two years deteriorating under Starscream's leadership until Megatron returned and took back command. Spotlight: Megatron

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. When it suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of them, Viewfinder had a brief vision of his own impaled corpse before the ship's fuel supply vanished, causing it to crash... some one hundred years in the past. Syndromica (2)

As the ship impacted with LV-117, Viewfinder was impaled by a shard of viewport, killing him. The Autobot Wheelie later stumbled on his unambiguously dead corpse, still sitting in his command chair and was chilled by the grisly sight. His companions Spectro and Spyglass would soon join him in death. Spotlight: Wheelie Later still, the ship in which his body rested was appropriated by Jhiaxus, who removed Viewfinder's remains and left them to rust on LV-117's surface. Syndromica (2)

Hearts of Steel

Viewfinder was one of the many Decepticons under Starscream's command during Earth's industrial revolution. Along with Spyglass and Spectro, 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

Viewfinder, Spyglass, and Spectro 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, Viewfinder was a Ground Force Espionage Raider Siege Refraktor toy packaging and a component of Refraktor.

Games

Transformers Roleplaying Game

Viewfinder was the most intelligent member of the Reflector triad, a deep thinker with a tendency to get lost in thought. Decepticon Directive

Toys

The Transformers

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

• Takara ID number: 21
• Accessories: lens laser, telephoto lens
• Known designers: Hideaki Yoke (TakaraTomy), Shinji Aramaki (concept artist)

Available only as part of the Reflector set, Viewfinder transforms into the central lens portion of a camera that most closely resembles a 1969 Ricoh 126C-Flex TLS, with Spectro and Spyglass forming the remaining 2/3rds of the camera. Viewfinder actually has a working, well, viewfinder: If one looks through it, one can see out the lens. Speaking of the lens, the telephoto attachment can slide onto Viewfinder's blaster, reducing the loose kibble slightly (and turning it from a rifle into a honking big cannon).

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 Viewfinder 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 gestalt.

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, lens laser, "Bioscale Compression Rotor"/torso-part, left & right viewfinder-halves
• 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, though... Viewfinder here is a much brighter shade of blue than the original toy).

Each robot also comes with extra accessories to make the combined camera mode look that much more like the original toy; Viewfinder comes with two halves of a "viewfinder" canopy that slot into the protrusions on his shoulders. The connector pegs are on swivel-arms so they can be closed around his head in camera mode or stay over his shoulders in robot mode. Unfortunately, there's not really a non-awkward place for them to store in "artillery hovercraft" mode, as they can only attach to those shoulder protrusions, and they're big enough to interfere with the "Telefocal Shield" in its vehicle-mode placement.

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

Merchandise

Decoy

"HI! I'M SUPPOSED TO BE CONSPICUOUS! AM I DOING IT RIGHT? HI!"

• Reflector (Decoy, 1986)

Reflector was one of the many characters represented by a small plastic decoy included with certain Transformers for a brief time. The decoy is based on the cartoon design of Viewfinder. Most commonly, it was made with purple plastic, but a rare red version is known to exist and goes for a lot more on the secondary market.

ReAction

• Reflector (2022)

Part of the fifth wave of Super7's line of multi-property 3.75-inch action figures, ReAction Reflector is a non-converting action figure with 5 points of articulation and is based on Viewfinder's character model. Unlike most releases in this line, he lacks an accessory. As with all releases in the ReAction toyline, Reflector comes packaged in a small cardback that emulates the nostalgic packaging style of Kenner Star Wars action figures of the late 1970's.

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: Viewfinder (ビューファインダー Byūfaindā)
• Mandarin: Qǔjǐngqì (Taiwan, 取景器, "Viewfinder"), Fǎnguāngjìng (China, 反光镜, "Reflector")

References