CIRCUIT BREAKER

Real Name: Josephine "Josie" Beller (see comments)

Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Earth-120185 - see comments) technology user (see comments),

Occupation: Robot hunter,
   former Blackrock computer technician and inventor/designer

Group Membership: Neo-Knights (Dynamo/Hector Dialonzo, Rapture/Katrina Vesotzky, Thunderpunch/Lee Gruber);
   formerly RAAT (Rapid Anti-Robot Assault Team: Donny Finkleberg/Robot-Master, Kurtz, Winowski, others)

Affiliations: G.B. Blackrock;
   formerly "conglomerate Autobot" (Beachcomber, Blaster, Cosmos, Perceptor, Powerglide, Seaspray, Skids, Warpath, others), Triple I (Information and Intelligence Institute: Walter Barnett, others)

Enemies: Autobots (Air Raid, Beachcomber, Blaster, Cosmos, Fireflight, Jazz, Perceptor, Powerglide, Seaspray, Silverbolt, Skids, Skylight, Sky Lynx, Slingshot, Superion Warpath, Wheeljack, others), Decepticons (Breakdown, Drag Strip, Dead End, Frenzy, Menasor, Motormaster, Runabout, Runamuck, Scorponok, Shockwave, Skullgrin, Starscream, Wildrider, others), Unicron

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed (see comments);
    formerly Cybertron;
    formerly RAAT headquarters, southern New Jersey
    formerly Blackrock facilities in and around Portland, Oregon
     

First Appearance: (as Josie Beller) Transformers I#5 (June 1985);
    (as Circuit Breaker) Transformers I#9 (October 1985) (see comments)

Powers/Abilities: Circuit Breaker's exoskeleton enable her to store and direct large amounts of electricity. She also has magnetic powers of attraction and repulsion that allow her to fly; if stunned while flying, her powers ensure she floats softly downward rather than a potentially lethal plummet. However, she needs to be near a large enough amount of metal to levitate, as when she was fighting Skullgrin in the Grand Canyon she became grounded when he moved too far away from her. She has a high degree of control of electric power in nearby machinery, allowing her to remotely and swiftly access computer files no matter how well protected, read them, reprogram them and disrupt them; when she establishes contact, a visible spark of electricity extends from her fingers to the device she is accessing, but she can seemingly remain in contact and control thereafter without any visible signs. She can disrupt security camera feeds, causing them to show only static until she releases the system. Using the atomic-powered micro-batteries incorporated into the circuitry she can also violently discharge large amounts of electricity (up to at least 300,000 volts) as an attack. If she discharges too much in one shot then she needs a few minutes to recharge before she can fire again. The suit's electromagnetic field also protects her from injury (like a force field, reducing the effect of impact or energy attacks), and may also keep Josie warm (see comments). Her original circuitry left a lot of exposed flesh, but when she joined the Neo-Knights she modified to show a little less skin; whether this had any function beyond being more modest is unrevealed.

   Despite all these special features, her suit's main function is to act as a surrogate nervous system, allowing her complete motion despite her damaged natural nervous system. To an observer the suit appears to be metal tape, but underneath is printed circuitry. It can be removed in sections by touching release points built into the device; for example, a pressure point on her left shoulder causes the metal tape to peel off her arm from that shoulder down. Placing the appropriate part of the detached section back into contact with the rest of the suit causes it to automatically reattach to her body.

   A later iteration of her suit could be concealed within a wheelchair, but on the touch of a button the circuitry would unspool from the hidden compartments and wrap round her body to form her suit.

   Even without her bodysuit, Josie Beller is a very skilled technician and a computer genius, but she only has limited motion in her right hand, enough to move it to a keyboard and type, but not to lift or move it beyond that.

   She briefly controlled a giant 60' tall Autobot created by combining the bodies of several smaller Autobots; she rode spreadeagled in the chest unit, and controlled it with her thoughts, though the Autobot consciousnesses within could still take action under their own initiative. It could fly and possessed extremely powerful blasters strong enough to destroy Decepticons with a single shot. It could also detach the hands, which could fly and act independent of the rest of the body.

Height: 5'10" (by approximation) (see comments)
Weight: 140 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Green; (originally) blue (see comments)
Hair: Blonde or red (see comments)

History: (Transformers I#5 (fb) - BTS) - Josie Beller lived on Earth-120185, a world whose Earth differed from Earth-616 mainly in that it became a theater for the conflict between the alien mechanoid lifeforms called the Autobots and the Decepticons. Despite being only a few years out of high school she had gained the reputation for being a computer genius and had landed a job working for the industrialist G.B. Blackrock, for whom she designed a state-of-the art oil-drilling platform.

(Transformers I#7 (fb) - BTS) - She also designed Portland's Blackrock Aerospace Plant Number One, an assembly plant where the most technologically advanced fighter jets in the United States were built.

(Transformers I#5) - Josie joined Blackrock on the newly completed platform situated three miles off the Oregon coast for its public launch, and was interviewed by television reporter Charlene Wells after Blackrock credited her for the revolutionary design. Unfortunately for all concerned, the broadcast caught the attention of the Decepticon Shockwave just as he was plotting to steal Earth's energy resources and enslave the population. Deciding he had to begin his reign of terror somewhere, Shockwave rocketed out from his base in the Oregon mountains.

(Transformers I#6) - Shockwave attacked Blackrock's platform, plowing through the Terrans' defenses. From the rig's control center Beller personally activated the structure's automated weapons in an attempt to rout Shockwave. After mortar cannons merely served to annoy Starscream, Beller fired wire-guided surface to air harpoons at the Decepticon, painfully piercing his living metal hide to become lodged in his armor. Shockwave, in gun mode, pulled himself away, tearing off a big part of the rig connected to the harpoon cable, and gunned down the one-man hovercopters trying to defend the site. Unwilling to see more men die defending a lost cause, from his office Blackrock ordered the rig's evacuation, but Josie responded over the intercom defiantly insisting she would fight on until their attacker was defeated. As Blackrock pleaded with Josie to see sense, Starscream shook loose the debris he had been towing, which fell back down onto the rig, setting off a chain reaction of electrical malfunctions throughout the platform, including in the control center. Beller was caught in a massive electrical discharge, her scream alerting Blackrock to her plight. He rushed to the control center, finding the young woman in unconscious and in critical condition, and carried her supine form to the outside in time to witness Shockwave land and switch to robot form. Usurping the platform, Shockwave let the remaining humans live so they could be his messengers, instructing them to return to the mainland to warn the world that the conquest of the Decepticons had begun. After they departed, Shockwave summoned his fellow Decepticons to join him on the rig.

(Transformers I#7 (fb) - BTS) - Blackrock rushed Josie to the Blackrock Chronic Care Institute, a Portland hospital he owned, where the doctors confirmed that at least for the moment she was virtually paralyzed from the neck down, retaining only some slight movement in her right arm, enough to work a computer to do research. The doctors noted that the damage to her nervous system was extensive, and they didn't know if she would ever fully recover. Josie requested specialist tools she could operate via her computer, including printed circuit design equipment and a micro-etcher; despite these being extremely expensive, a guilt-stricken Blackrock agreed to provide them.

(Transformers I#7) - Blackrock visited Beller in the hospital, struggling to make small talk and act upbeat in the face of Josie's injuries and lack of response (see comments). As his technicians delivered the first of the tools she had requested, Blackrock assured her that it was not possible for her to ask for too much. Once the technicians left the room Blackrock's jovial mask crumbled, and he informed her that he felt he had failed her again since another Decepticon attack had taken over Blackrock Aerospace Plant Number One earlier that day. As he left, the determined Beller silently promised him in her thoughts that the robots would be stopped and despite her ruined body she returned to her work.

(Transformers I#8) - Shockwave, coming to join his compatriots at Blackrock Aerospace Plant Number One, shrugged off the efforts of the American soldiers who had surrounded the facility when they tried to stop him. A furious Beller cried with anger as she watched a live television broadcast of the robot entering the complex, then returned to her work. Typing an instruction, she then let a mechanical grip raise her right hand up so that another waldo could attach an exoskeleton to her limb. Testing the new device by moving her fingers to confirm she had regained greater motor control, Josie smiled grimly.

(Transformers (UK)#30/1) - Josie lay in her hospital bed as the waldos applied the refined exoskeleton to her arm. Once done she admired the work, and promised herself that the she would soon have her revenge against the robots.

(Transformers I#8/Transformers (UK)#32/1) - By nighttime the circuitry of Josie's new arm exoskeleton was completed. Lying awake despite the late hour she pointed her index finger at a computer on the other side of the room and a discharge of energy shot from her hand to destroy it.

(Transformers I#8) -With her hand surrounded by a dissipating coruscant of energy, Josie declared that it was time to check out of the hospital.

(Transformers I#9 (fb) - BTS) - Needing to reassure investors that he could defend his company's holdings, Blackrock announced plans to unveil a new anti-robot weapon and rushed construction of a photonic multi-cannon.

(Transformers I#9) - Again visiting Josie Beller in the hospital, Blackrock explained he would have come sooner but he had been held up meeting with senior army officials who had tried to make him cancel his plans to unveil his weapon, as they didn't want to publicize the robot problem until the army could determine who was behind the machines. Josie assured Blackrock that he was justified in wanting to stop the robots, adding that she wanted to help as soon as she returned to work. Looking at the paralyzed woman lying in her hospital bed, Blackrock told her not to rush things even if she was feeling a lot better. Seeking to prove herself, Josie informed him that she hadn't been lying around doing nothing, explaining that she had been working on a new levitation system using the expensive equipment he had supplied, and demonstrated by making a widget on the stand by her bed fly using an electromagnetic field to repel itself from ferrous objects. An impressed Blackrock lauded her genius, but when she insistently told him it was all down to his support and she wanted to repay him by helping him fight the robots he put her off, telling her they could talk about it next time, as he secretly hoped she would forget her dreams of revenge, blaming himself for what had befallen her and determined to keep her from further harm.

(Transformers I#9 - BTS) - Unwilling to let her dreams of revenge go, Josie completed her exoskeleton and snuck out of the hospital later that night.

(Transformers I#9) - Josie broke into Blackrock's main building, easily breaching his security and reaching Blackrock's office just after he ended a phone call from the hospital telling him Josie had vanished from her room. Revealing herself (in several senses) to the industrialist, she showed off her metal exoskeleton and informed him of her new nom de guerre, "Circuit Breaker." Stating that she had come back to work for him in order to help him destroy all the robots, she demonstrated her abilities, explaining how the suit restored her mobility and granted her a variety of powers. As part of this display Circuit Breaker showed how easily she could access a computer by doing so to Blackrock's personal machine...

(Transformers I#9 - BTS) - and while doing so she downloaded the photonic multi-cannon's design specs into herself.

(Transformers I#9) - Despite her impressive display, when Josie asked Blackrock when they could get started going after the robots, he insisted she should return to the hospital to complete her recovery, finally admitting to her that he blamed himself her getting hurt and would not risk the robots hurting her again. He swore to her that he would do everything he could to stop the robots, but the incensed and single-minded Circuit Breaker stormed out, making it clear she would do what she wanted even without him.

   The next day, shortly before his demonstration at Blackrock Motor Speedway, Blackrock was approached by the Autobot Jazz, who explained there were two factions of robots, and that the one not hostile to humanity, were willing to defend his facilities in return for vital fuel. Convinced, Blackrock agreed to work with them. With the rest of the world, especially Josie, unaware of this newly forged alliance, Blackrock continued his demonstration, unaware Circuit Breaker was secretly in attendance. Helped by knowing the design specs Circuit Breaker covertly used electrical interference to disrupt the weapon so that it merely fizzled unimpressively when Blackrock tried to fire it at a robot mock-up for the benefit of the attending press and television audience. Circuit Breaker emerged, taking credit for neutralizing the cannon, and demanded that Blackrock acknowledge her as his champion against the robots. Before Blackrock could respond, the Decepticons Starscream and Frenzy blitzed the onlooking crowd.  Jazz confronted them but Circuit Breaker attacked him, ignoring Blackrock's insistence that this robot was on their side. As a second Autobot, Wheeljack, revealed his presence in order to battle the Decepticons, Josie turned her attention to Starscream, interfering with his electrical systems so that he lost control of his jet engines. As Starscream reacted with shock that a mere human could cause him to crash, Wheeljack thanked Circuit Breaker for her assistance, but this drew her ire and she stunned him with a major electrical blast. Hearing her swear to destroy the helpless robot as soon as her power recharged, Blackrock placed himself between Circuit Breaker and the downed Wheeljack and begged her to not let the blind hatred she felt for robots interfere with her better judgement. While she was distracted Starscream and Frenzy beat a hasty retreat. As an injured Jazz stumbled towards them, Blackrock continued his appeal to Circuit Breaker, explaining he understood her thirst for vengeance but that he now knew that some of the robots were humanity's friends, and insisting she did not need to pursue this vendetta just because she thought she owed him, since it was really he who owed her. An angry Circuit Breaker appeared to be about to blast the helpless Jazz, then at the last moment changed her target to the fake robot target Blackrock had intended to use for the demonstration. Blasting the mock-up to pieces, she informed Blackrock that she had acceded to his request and they were now even, but next time nothing would stop her, and with that last missive she departed.

(Transformers (UK)#41/1) - Wandering around St. Petersburg (just outside of Portland) in late December, Circuit Breaker saved a little girl from drowning in icy waters, but was rejected by a crowd of bystanders as a freak. Later, Circuit Breaker ran across the Autobot Jazz with his human associate Buster Witwicky, just after Jazz had skidded on the icy roads, throwing Buster out into the snow and knocking him out. Seeing Jazz looming over the prone Buster, Circuit Breaker jumped to the conclusion that Jazz had hurt him and attacked. She swiftly gained the upper hand and Buster woke in time to witness Circuit Breaker about to finish her foe off. Buster plead for his friend's life, but Circuit Breaker refused to back off until nearby church bells chimed out, the start of midnight services for Christmas Day. As it was Christmas, Circuit Breaker acted in a magnanimous fashion and left without harming Jazz, though she insisted there would not be a third reprieve.

(Transformers I#22 (fb) - BTS) - Government agent Walter Barnett of III (Information and Intelligence Institute) tracked Circuit Breaker down and recruited her to lead the newly formed government strike force RAAT (Rapid Anti-Robot Assault Team).

(Transformers I#18 - BTS) - At the Columbia River Gorge, human police and rescue services confronted a group of seven Autobots (Beachcomber, Blaster, Cosmos, Perceptor, Powerglide, Seaspray, Warpath) who had recently returned to Earth from a battle with Lord Straxus on Cybertron. Unknown to the Autobots, RAAT had been informed and were on their way, led by Circuit Breaker.  

(Transformers I#22 (fb)) - Nearing the gorge in attack helicopters, the RAAT forces witnessed the Autobots attempting to peacefully talk to the police present. From her biased perspective Circuit Breaker immediately assumed they were about to attack the police and ordered her forces to "counterattack" without warning. They fired two "electric snow" missiles that blanketed the Autobots with electrical interference-producing foil to disrupt the robots' circuits, allowing soldiers to be winched down from the helicopters to attach magnetic superconductor pads to the disoriented robots' heads. Circuit Breaker then exited her own helicopter, hovered above her targets and let out a 300,000 volt blast of electricity that homed in on each pad, short-circuiting all seven targets simultaneously. The unconscious Autobots were then hoisted by helicopters onto flatbed trucks for transport to RAAT headquarters.

(Transformers I#21 (fb) - BTS) - En route Circuit Breaker decoded some of the Autobots' memory chips, learning they had just arrived on Earth from the planet Cybertron.

(Transformers I#21) - The flatbeds delivered their captives to RAAT headquarters, the only hangar not fallen into disrepair on a long forgotten airstrip in southern New Jersey. Once inside and unloaded the unconscious Autobots had their faces cut off with acetylene torches and mounted on the wall as prizes. As the final face was put in place, one of the soldiers shouted out to Circuit Breaker that it was the last, but Circuit Breaker corrected him, saying it was only the beginning.  

(Transformers I#22) - At RAAT headquarters, Circuit Breaker briefed Walter Barnett over the Columbia River Gorge incident as they watched a videotape of the incident together. Barnett pondered the possibility that they could have tried talking and reasoning with the robots, which Circuit Breaker summarily rejected. Later, Barnett and Circuit Breaker learned from a Colorado local news report that another robot (the Autobot named Skids) had saved of a motorist who had skidded into an electrical pylon during a heavy downpour; Barnett suggested this might mean they had judged the robots too quickly and that they might not all be bad, but Circuit Breaker reasoned the report simply meant she had one more target to hunt down and destroy.

   The news report had also alerted the Decepticons to Skids' general whereabouts, prompting their leader Megatron to send his subordinates the Stunticons (Breakdown, Drag Strip, Dead End, Motormaster, Wildrider) to hunt the Autobot. Seeking to draw the concealed Skids out from the normal vehicles he was hiding within, the next morning the Stunticons attacked freeway traffic in the area. Just as the Decepticons spotted Skids, still in his car form, RAAT helicopters arrived on the scene. The humans tried the same tactics that had been successful against their previous opponents, but when they deployed their electric snow Dead End dispersed it with his air compression gun and Breakdown disrupted one of the RAAT helicopters with his concussion cannon. As it began spiraling to the ground, Circuit Breaker exited her helicopter hoping to draw fire away from her soldiers and blasted the Stunticons, but Motormaster batted the cabin of a truck into the air, striking her a glancing blow. Momentarily stunned, she floated slowly to the ground, where she was approached by Donny Finkleberg, a former III employee who had been traveling with Skids, seeking to check she was alright. As Barnett also joined the pair by the side of the freeway, they witnessed the arrival of more Transformers, this time the Autobot unit dubbed the Aerialbots (Air Raid, Fireflight, Silverbolt, Skylight, Slingshot), coming to assist Skids. Circuit Breaker immediately radioed RAAT to send reinforcements to target the newcomers, prompting Donny to point out that the new arrivals were good guys. Unwilling to acknowledge any robots might be benevolent, Circuit Breaker accused Donny of being a robot collaborator, but Barnett seemed prepared to overrule her, until the crafty Stunticons pretended to be allies of Skids who had come to protect him from the Aerialbots. Decrying Donny's friend as an ally of the robots who had been attacking the freeway, Circuit Breaker returned to the battle, just as the two rival forces combined their individual members into become the gestalt robots Menasor (Decepticon/Stunticons) and Superion (Autobot/Aerialbots). Taking advantage of their singular focus on one another, Circuit Breaker moved into position for a surprise attack, and when Donny shouted at her to leave Superion alone as he was on their side, the contrary Circuit Breaker unleashed her costume's full energy reserves on the Autobot, stunning him long enough for Menasor to deal a decisive blow. Her costume depleted, Circuit Breaker began falling from the sky, and Menasor lunged to grab and kill her, but Barnett, swinging from a rope hanging from a remaining RAAT helicopter, snatched her first and ordered a retreat, ignoring her insistence that she had to finish off the other robot.

     Donny and Skids also escaped in the confusion, but later, when Skids entered into a state of rest resembling sleep, Donny contacted Barnett and informed him as to the whereabouts of the dormant Skids in return for fifty thousand dollars.

(Transformers I#23 (fb) - BTS) - As a result of Donny's treachery, Skids was captured by RAAT, and Donny was even put on RAAT's payroll as a bonus. However, Donny was disquieted to discover that instead of merely locking Skids up and asking him a few questions, Circuit Breaker began to dissect him, starting by taking apart Skids' head.

(Transformers I#23) - At her headquarters, Circuit Breaker examined the tiny cluster of microchips that composed Skids' brain, now removed from the partially dissected Autobot but still connected to the body by some wires. Intrigued, she demonstrated to the nearby Donny how she could make Skids' body respond to electrical charges to specific chips, making the nearby body jerk its legs like a laboratory frog with electrodes jammed in its brain. This clearly upset Donny, already beginning to regret his betrayal, but Circuit Breaker insisted she was merely doing her job by researching her enemies. She showed Donny an image of Optimus Prime taken from Skids' memories, stating that he showed up frequently but that she didn't know why he was significant, prompting Donny to identify Prime and explain that he was the Autobot leader. Donny hesitantly suggested Circuit Breaker could ease up on her captive, noting that he looked like he was in pain, but this merely triggered an anti-robot tirade and a tour of the facility as she showed off her wall of victories, boasting that she had taken down thirteen robots so far. Noticing that all her trophies were Autobots, Donny quietly realized that as things stood she might end up helping the Decepticons win, and that was partially his fault.

   Three days later, as Circuit Breaker continued to examine Skids, Walter Barnett visited RAAT to inform them that several U.S. monuments had suddenly being had strange symbols painted on them. Circuit Breaker recognized the markings as having been done in the Cybertronian alphabet, though she couldn't translate their meaning. Donny suggested reassembling Skids so they could ask him, but Circuit Breaker rejected this as naive, insisting that robots considered humans their enemies and so could not be trusted. Barnett instructed Circuit Breaker examine the pattern of movement made by whomever was marking the monuments and anticipate where next they would strike, so that RAAT could be waiting to destroy them.

   The next morning the two Decepticon Battlechargers responsible for the graffiti, Runabout and Runamuck, struck again at the Washington Monument. RAAT were on the scene two hours later, still far too late to catch the culprits; when Donny suggested the Autobots might be able to help, Circuit Breaker angrily shot the suggestion down, insisting that the Autobots were probably behind the vandalism. A police officer brought over some witnesses, the Actons, who informed her they had been at every place where the graffiti had been found, sometimes arriving just minutes after it happened. Circuit Breaker suggested (correctly) that the robots might have somehow seen the route the Actons had planned for themselves and were also following it, and (also correctly) that they might have learned to do graffiti by imitating human behavior; though the Actons denied any knowledge of this last, Judy Acton's sudden decision to pull her wayward son Noah to her betrayed the truth. Checking, Circuit Breaker confirmed the Actons' next stop was Independence Hall in Philadelphia that afternoon, and told the Actons to still go, but to give her time to get her forces into place first. She reassured a worried Judy Acton that they would be perfectly safe, but once the Actons departed she admitted to Barnett and Donny that she didn't want to risk the robots being tipped off by the Actons' absence.

   When the Actons arrived at Independence Hall, Runabout and Runamuck shed their car disguises intending to paint the monument, but were confronted by Circuit Breaker and RAAT. However, the Decepticons immediately began blasting at nearby buildings, deliberately creating rubble to fall down on civilians below. The rest of RAAT immediately withdrew, realizing there were too many bystanders who a battle might endanger, but Circuit Breaker remained focused on attacking the Decepticons. Escaping from his father, Gary's, grasp, because he wanted to watch the fight, Noah Acton ran into the area and very quickly became endangered by falling debris. Spotting him, Circuit Breaker chastised herself for getting that the reason she had taken up her mission was to protect other humans from the robots, and flew down to shield Noah with her own body, resulting in her being knocked out by some of the masonry. As the two robots fled, RAAT agents rushed to check her injuries and called for medical assistance.

   Back at RAAT base, Circuit Breaker was informed she had a mild concussion and a couple of broken ribs, plus an easily repaired break in some of her suit's circuitry. Insisting she felt fine, she demanded to know the next stop in the Actons' itinerary and was informed it was the Statue of Liberty tomorrow, but Barrett ordered her to stay at base and rest, saying he would keep civilians away from Liberty Island and be personally in charge of the RAAT unit guarding the monument. Upset at being temporarily stripped of command but accepting that she was too weak to go after the Battlechargers alone, she was surprised when Donny suggested she turn to her Autobot captives for help, insisting once more that they couldn't be trusted. When Donny pointed out she had no other options, she noted it still wouldn't work, as it would take days to make the Autobots operational by reconnecting their minds to their motors, but Donny countered by suggesting she could use her own circuitry to link them. Circuit Breaker hesitantly admitted that in theory she could, but noted with horror that he was asking her to interface with robots. Seeing that her resistance to his suggestion had been whittled away, Donny pressed home, pointing out that they were all she had if she wanted to stop the Decepticons.

(Transformers I#23 - BTS) - The Autobots agreed to help so long as Circuit Breaker released them afterwards. Reluctantly she agreed, and with their help Circuit Breaker jury-rigged a giant robot by combining multiple Autobot bodies, with Circuit Breaker housed in the conglomeration's chest, acting as its brain.The next day they traveled to New York City and Circuit Breaker used her RAAT status to commandeer a large barge to take them out to Liberty Island, hoping that by approaching this way they would not be noticed by their Decepticon targets.

(Transformers I#23) - They arrived at Liberty Island just after Runabout and Runamuck had sprayed their graffiti on the Statue, and Circuit Breaker immediately attacked. Initially unimpressed by the sight of the mismatched robot body, the two Decepticons began to take the threat more seriously when a glancing shot destroyed part of Runamuck's cowl. In retaliation he targeted Circuit Breaker directly, firing too swiftly for her to react in time to defend herself - but to her surprise the conglomerate moved on its own accord, shielding her with one of its arms. Recalling that she had been caught off guard the previous day when forced to protect innocents, Runamuck next shot the torch off the Statue so that it fell towards a nearby tourist ferry, but Circuit Breaker instructed the Autobot's left hand to detach and catch the torch. The two Battlechargers decided that the situation was no longer amusing and attempted to flee, but Circuit Breaker blasted them both in the back, apparently destroying them, and their burning remains fell into the bay.

(Transformers I#23 - BTS) - As she had agreed, Circuit Breaker set the Autobots free.

(Transformers I#23) - Several hours later back at RAAT headquarters Barrett congratulated Circuit Breaker for a job well done, even if she had violated his orders. Then, to her shock, he apologetically fired both her and Donny for having released their captives, stating that his bosses expected her to capture robots, not free them. As she stormed off, Circuit Breaker stated she was sorry she had ever struck a deal with robots, and vowed she would make them sorry. 

(Transformers I#45) - Some months later an Autobot called Sky Lynx was given the duty by Optimus Prime of returning some children who had been kidnapped by aliens to Earth. With anti-robot sentiment now high on Earth and hoping to avoid causing panic, Sky Lynx sent word in advance to the human authorities of why he was coming and exactly where he intended to land. Hearing the details reported on the news, Circuit Breaker drove to the location, intending to attack Sky Lynx when the opportunity arose, and watched as he landed amidst a crowd of reporters and anti-robot demonstrators, waiting for her opportunity to strike. However, some of the demonstrators opened fire on Sky Lynx, their conventional firearms a mere nuisance to the Autobot, but still enough to prompt him to swiftly depart.

   Later hearing news reports about a creature called Skullgrin, an entity humanity believed to be a Yeti-Sasquatch-like being but which was in fact a Pretender Decepticon (a Decepticon who wears an outer shell making him appear to be a member of another species), Circuit Breaker became suspicious and decided to investigate. Skullgrin, in order to gain oil for the Decepticons, agreed to allow a film producer, Rollie Friendly, to use him in a production, in return for oil as payment. With her printed circuit suit concealed within a wheelchair, Circuit Breaker attended a press conference held by Friendly, but could not be certain if Skullgrin was a Transformer or not. However, she did run into Carissa Carr, who was to appear in the film with Skullgrin. Circuit Breaker, whom Carr believed to be a harmless physically-challenged person, discovered that the filming with Skullgrin would commence in a couple of days at the Grand Canyon.

   During the making of the film at the Grand Canyon, Skullgrin took off his Pretender shell. Seeing this from nearby, Circuit Breaker finally had irrefutable proof that Skullgrin was a Transformer, and jumped into combat. To her surprise, even though her initial attack knocked Skullgrin down, he was able to remotely pilot his Pretender shell to attack her, briefly stunning her. In response she overrode Skullgrin's control of the Pretender shell and attacked him with it. During the skirmish between Circuit Breaker and Skullgrin, Carissa Carr was caught on a crumbling cliff, and called to Skullgrin to save her. At first he refused, believing she had betrayed his friendship by luring him into Circuit Breaker's ambush, but realizing that letting the girl fall would make her no better than the Transformers who had crippled her Circuit Breaker shouted to her opponent to save Carissa, confirming the actress had not helped set him up. However, as soon as Skullgrin moved Carissa to safety, Circuit Breaker announced that their ceasefire was over and resumed her attack. With Skullgrin down and Circuit Breaker moving in for the kill, Carissa plead for her friend's life, pointing out that he had never harmed anyone, but Circuit Breaker rejected this appeal. Trying to ensure Circuit Breaker didn't heed Carissa, Friendly called out to Circuit Breaker, revealing he had recorded the entire fight to use in his movie, and offering her wealth and fame if she killed Skullgrin on camera. Unintentionally, this saved Skullgrin's life. Disgusted at Friendly's suggestion, Circuit Breaker declined to play along, destroyed the camera, and left without finishing Skullgrin off.

(Transformers I#68 (fb) - BTS) - The Security Council reluctantly accepted that RAAT's failure to make the distinction between friendly and unfriendly Transformers had ended up helping the Decepticons by hampering the Autobots, so they disbanded the organization. Still blaming himself both for Josie's injuries and for not convincing her afterwards to put aside her vendetta against robots, G.B. Blackrock became determined to handle the Decepticon problem more effectively than RAAT had done. He began by assembling his own team of metahuman operatives, starting with two initial recruits, Lee Gruber and Katrina Vesotzky, who he codenamed Thunderpunch and Rapture, and informing them of a third prospective candidate, Hector Dialonzo, who had been caught on camera singlehandedly defeating three Decepticons who targeted a Louisiana oil refinery. Having made contact with Dialonzo, Blackrock and his two operatives set off in a helicopter to Matacumbe Key, Florida, where Dialonzo had fled after his encounter at the refinery.

(Transformers I#68) - Circuit Breaker was also looking for Hector, and located him in a dockside bar in Matacumbe Key. She started to pitch the idea of teaming up, but the discussion was interrupted by Starscream ripping the roof off of the bar and grabbing Hector. Circuit Breaker attacked Starscream, but was blasted behind by Shockwave, lurking nearby but trying to remain unseen for reasons of his own. Stunned, she fell from the sky into the sea. Only aware that Circuit Breaker's attack had abruptly stopped and she had apparently vanished, Starscream returned his attention towards Hector, but at this juncture Blackrock arrived, and Rapture and Thunderpunch were unleashed on the Decepticon. Moments later Circuit Breaker returned to rejoin the fight, but suddenly Hector intervened, hitting the combatants with energy blasts just strong enough to knock the wind out of them. Stating he was tired of being fought over, he told them to make their respective pitches and he would go with whichever one he liked. Starscream offered Hector a partnership in a plot for world hegemony, while Circuit Breaker stated that she wanted to recruit Hector in a campaign against the Cybertronians. However, Blackrock pitched a chance to stop being an unwilling loner and have a chance to belong somewhere as part of a team. Seeing Hector seemed to be considering this last, Starscream decided to cut his losses by killing all the humans present, but Rapture spotted him preparing to fire and trapped his mind in an illusion, giving Circuit Breaker and Thunderpunch the chance to take Starscream down. With Hector now agreeing to Blackrock's offer, G.B. appealed to Circuit Breaker, saying that if he couldn't help her lose her anger, perhaps he could at least teach her to control it and turn it against the true enemy, and begging her to at least give it a try. Thinking his words were falling on deaf ears, Blackrock turned to go back to his helicopter, where the others were already waiting. Behind him Circuit Breaker's hardened facade briefly cracked as she looked down thoughtfully and a little regretfully, then she suddenly ran to catch up and join the others on the helicopter.

(Transformers I#72 (fb) - BTS) - Hector took the codename Dynamo, and Blackrock dubbed his team the Neo-Knights, offering their services to the U.S. President should he ever feel the need to use them. Sure enough, soon after there was a report of a Transformers battle at Battery Park; deeming it too close to Manhattan to send the military in, the President phoned Blackrock.

(Transformers I#72) - Now wearing a modified (and a little less revealing) suit, Circuit Breaker and the rest of the Neo-Knights arrived to find Scorponok and Shockwave battling over who would lead the Decepticons, with the Autobots Nightbeat and Optimus Prime observing the battle..

(Transformers I#73) - Though Scorponok mocked the idea of metahumans, the Neo-Knights vigorously attacked him, and when Rapture captured him in an illusion, causing him to drop his guard, Circuit Breaker took the chance and began frying his bio-circuitry. Unfortunately the Autobots needed Scorponok alive as he was the only prospective Decepticon leader willing to enter into an alliance against the far greater looming threat of the demonic Unicron which now threatened the Transformers' homeworld, Cybertron. As a result Nightbeat called out to Circuit Breaker to stop her attack, a plea which Circuit Breaker chose to ignore until she was shot in the back by Shockwave. Circuit Breaker assumed that Nightbeat had been the one who blasted her, even when Blackrock tried to tell her otherwise, and attacked the Autobots. When trying to reason with her failed, Blackrock told the other Neo-Knights they might have to stop her, but Thunderpunch was reluctant to use force against a teammate, informing his boss that if it came down to choosing between a robot or Circuit Breaker, then the robot would lose. Then Blackrock suddenly recognized Shockwave as he assumed his gun form, realizing it was the same robot who had attacked his oil platform all those months ago. As Shockwave flew into a position to destroy Scorponok, Blackrock drew Circuit Breaker's attention to him. Flashing back to when Shockwave had crippled her, Circuit Breaker let loose with all her power, decimating the Decepticon. Her reserves drained, an unconscious Circuit Breaker dropped from the sky, but was safely caught by Thunderpunch.

   Far off in space Unicron was nearing Cybertron. Having originally created the Transformers to face this very threat, the Transformers' "god," Primus, transported all of the Transformers on Earth to Cybertron, inadvertently taking the nearby Neo-Knights and Blackrock as well, as their helicopter was touching one of the Transformers.

(Transformers I#74) - The Neo-Knights, with the still drained Circuit Breaker, found themselves on a planet surrounded by Transformers from both factions, as Primus' servant Emirate Xaaron explained the origins of Unicron, Primus, and Cybertron. With her pathological hatred of robots rooted in a desire to never be hurt by them again, finding herself on a planet full of them sent her into a state of shock and her mind withdrew into itself. Optimus Prime tried to get the Neo-Knights transported back to Earth to spare them the battle with Unicron, but he could not reach Xaaron and Primus to ask them to do so. Before this situation could be resolved, Unicron arrived.

(Transformers I#75) - Unicron attacked Cybertron and the Neo-Knights and Blackrock fled looking for somewhere safe to take refuge, with Thunderpunch still carrying the unresponsive Circuit Breaker, now rendered almost catatonic by the sight of the planet sized Unicron. Realizing they had nowhere they could run to and wanting to help Circuit Breaker, Thunderpunch suggested they make a stand and fight, insisting that Circuit Breaker's only hope was to make her confront her fear. However, despite the team's willingness to fight to the finish, the Neo-Knights soon learned they were completely out of their league, and none of their attacks made even the slightest dent against Unicron. Realizing that no matter how vast their opponent was, it was still a robot which meant it had circuits, Blackrock tried to snap Josie out of her panic, finally achieving it by taunting her that the robots were laughing at her, sacrificing all the progress he had made in trying to reduce her psychopathic hatred for robots. Rage overpowered fear, and she extended her powers to their limits to disrupt Unicron's systems, her attack proving more effective than anything the Transformers had been able to do. Knowing she couldn't maintain this for long, Blackrock urged Optimus Prime to do whatever he could to stop Unicron immediately; knowing Unicron embodied death, Optimus used the time Circuit Breaker had bought him to seize Primus' Creation Matrix, which brought life to Transformers, and, as Circuit Breaker collapsed, drained once again, Optimus destroyed Unicron.

(Transformers I#77) - In the aftermath of Unicron's attack, Cybertron seemingly began to break up. As the Autobots prepared to evacuate the planet on a spaceship, the Neo-Knights were placed in a storage chamber for the journey. To Blackrock's growing concern, Circuit Breaker continued to withdraw further into herself, leaving him worrying that his shocking her back into action had snapped the last threads of her sanity. Optimus Prime had died, but his humanoid confidant, HiQ (whose mind had merged with that of Optimus Prime due to a psychic link) was placed in the adjacent chamber to the Neo-Knights. Insisting that the Autobots were wrong and should not leave Cybertron now, he asked them to help him find the "Last Autobot."

(Transformers I#78) - With Circuit Breaker still withdrawn, the other Neo-Knights listened as HiQ explained how his mind had been merged with Optimus Prime, and that the Last Autobot could prevent Cybertron's destruction. Despite Blackrock's skepticism, HiQ began to convinced Thunderpunch to at least try to help with this quest.

(Transformers I#79 (fb)) - With the Neo-Knights already unhappy about being treated as little more than baggage, Hi-Q convinced the group to help him, and they broke out of their storage chamber before the Autobots departed Cybertron, taking the unconscious Circuit Breaker with them.  

(Transformers I#79) - As the planet continued to break up, the Neo-Knights began to question their decision. Luckily Dynamo's powers tuned him into Cybertron's remaining energies, allowing him to sense where they needed to go, finally leading them to the Last Autobot.

(Transformers I#80 (fb)) - A repository for some of Primus' power, the Last Autobot transfigured Hi-Q into a duplicate of Optimus Prime, and revealed that Cybertron was not dying, but being reborn, a process the last Autobot completed.

(Transformers I#80 - BTS) - The Neo-Knights headed into space with Optimus and the Last Autobot to locate the other Transformers and bring them the good news, after which Optimus intended to return the Neo-Knights to Earth.

(Transformers Annual (UK) 1992 - BTS/Transformers Generation 2 - BTS/Transformers: Regeneration One) - At this point a divergence happened in the timeline of Earth-120185; down the timeline that retained that designation, Circuit Breaker's fate remains unrevealed, but in another timeline thinks took a darker turn (see comments).

(Transformers - Regeneration One#83 (fb) - BTS) - Back on Earth Circuit Breaker mentally recovered at least well enough to function again.

(Transformers - Regeneration One#83 (fb)) - A few years later the Decepticons again invaded Earth, triggering a nuclear conflict. In the aftermath Circuit Breaker teamed up with survivors and Autobots to fight the Decepticons; her ultimate fate remains unrevealed, but she probably died (see comments). Blackrock later used her suit technology to revive the terminally injured Spike Witwicky, turning him into Circuit Smasher.

Comments: Josie Beller was created by Bob Budiansky and Alan Kupperberg; Circuit Breaker was created by Bob Budiansky and Mike Manley, but first depicted in a story by Jim Shooter and Al Milgrom.

   An entry that shouts out for comments! This entry serves as a place to address the complicated issue of the relationship between the Transformers and the Marvel Universe-- and for that matter G.I. Joe and the Marvel Universe- specifically Earth-616. The first indication that the Transformers stories took place anywhere remotely within the rubric of the Marvel multiverse first happened with the appearance of Spider-Man in Transformers#3. (A footnote in that story even noted that Spider-Man wore his black symbiote costume because this story took place before Amazing Spider-Man#258!). Brief appearances or mention of Nick Fury with Dum-Dum Dugan (of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Dazzler, and Reed Richards occurred in this issue. The Savage Land appeared in Transformers#4 and#8. Circuit Breaker's aforementioned appearance in Secret Wars II#3 came out around the same time as#8, and actually predated her first appearance as Circuit Breaker in the Transformers regular series.

   However, later on, the letters page of Transformers declared that the Transformers stories did not take place on Earth-616, the mainstream universe, and so such references to Marvel-owned properties declined and faded away. The continuing Decepticon/Autobot war was felt to be too disruptive to Earth-616 continuity. However, through a back door, readers eventually discovered that, while not on Earth-616, the Transformers still existed somewhere that could be reached from there.

   That back door occurred because of the British Transformers comics. Put out by Marvel UK, the British Transformers series came out every week; so simply reprinting the American material left space to fill. This space was filled by new material - much of which took many years before finally appearing in the United States. In Transformers (UK version)#113, in one such unique to the UK story, the writer Simon Furman took the opportunity to introduce to the Transformers a ruthless mechanoid bounty hunter named Death's Head, who worked for both sides of the Autobot/Decepticon fault in 2006. Time-traveling back to 2006, Death's Head killed Bumblebee along the way of a single-minded pursuit of Galvatron (a important point of divergence between the US and UK Transformers comics, as I will discuss below). Death's Head appeared in Transformers#113-114, 117-118, 120, 133, 134, 146-151 before he was blown through the dimensions in a battle involving Unicron. After bumping into the Doctor (from Doctor Who) in Doctor Who Magazine#135 where he was shrunk from Transformers size to human size), he had various adventures between his second encounter with the Doctor in Death's Head#8. This time, the Doctor left him off at Four Freedom's Plaza on Earth-616. So, however obliquely as it occurred, Death's Head nevertheless proved that you could travel from Earth-120185 to Earth-616. (Years later, we discovered that Death's Head was not a native of Earth-120185, but had been brought there by an unknown third party who had stolen him from Death's Head's creator Lupex and his lover Pyra in yet another dimension, as revealed in Strip#19-20.)

   However, I should note that the Transformers Universe Death's Head traveled from, the one seen in the British comics, was not exactly the same as the one in the American Transformers comics. Although large contradictions were avoided, and almost all American Transformers stories were also part of the British continuity (by way of getting reprinted in the British Transformers comics) the British and American Transformers comics did have a slightly different continuity. Many of the differences had to do with the fact that Simon Furman made more use of the ideas and characters from Transformers: the Movie and more time-travel/future stories than the American comics did.

   An especially notable point of divergence occurred around the death of Bumblebee. As mentioned above, in the British comics, Death's Head killed Bumblebee, who was rebuilt as Goldbug. However, in the American comics, Bumblebee became Goldbug after being killed by...G.I. Joe! Yes, in a special crossover mini-series called G.I. Joe and The Transformers, G.I. Joe met the Transformers, and due to Decepticon trickery, killed Bumblebee, although they later helped rebuild him as Goldbug. Thus, it was established that G.I. Joe existed in the same universe as the Transformers for the American continuity.

   The British continuity's relationship with G.I. Joe was a bit more indirect. In Britain, the Marvel UK G.I. Joe adaption did not appear until 1987, and when it did, it went under the title Action Force to sound more international. Action Force served as a European based version of G.I. Joe, with many of the same members, led by Flint to oppose Cobra. Since the American G.I. Joe comic book started in 1982, Action Force was years behind, and since the crossover mini-series with the Transformers referenced many later developments from the American G.I. Joe comic book, to avoid confusion it was not reprinted as a part of the continuity of the British Transformers stories. The Transformers did, however, meet Action Force in Transformers#125 and Action Force#26-29 (a storyline reprinted in the United States in G.I. Joe European Missions#1-6), thus establishing that Action Force existed in the Transformers-UK universe. (Incidentally, contrary to a common misconception, G.I. Joe did in fact also exist on Earth-120185; when Action Force was cancelled, it became a back-up strip in Transformers. In Transformers#245, a story explained that both Action Force, active in Europe, and G.I. Joe, active in the United States, existed as organizations to oppose Cobra, and in that issue the two organizations merged to become G.I. Joe the Action Force to better stop Cobra conspiracies. As regards Earth-616, although in a storyline published in Web of Spider-Man#6 and Amazing Spider-Man#268, a special military organization led by a man who suspiciously resembled one of G.I. Joe's leaders appeared, there exists no solid evidence that G.I. Joe existed on Earth-616.)

   As regards the American comics, G.I. Joe met the Transformers again much later in G.I. Joe#138-142, and Transformers: Generation 2#2. Soon after this, yet another divergence occurred, however; since in Transformers: Generation 2#4, the Decepticon Bludgeon initiated a massive assault on Earth, something that nobody on Earth could have missed...yet we never heard anyone in G.I. Joe make a reference to it in the last year or so of the Marvel run of the title. (G.I. Joe was cancelled at issue#155.) I posit that this last year or so of G.I. Joe occurred in a parallel Earth which diverged at some point after G.I. Joe#142, in that Bludgeon never attacked Earth. Since the recent Image G.I. Joe comics draw heavily on the Marvel G.I. Joe series, with Larry Hama having even recently returned to writing G.I. Joe for a series of stories to explain what happened in-between the last issue of the Marvel series and the first issue of the Image series, and since Image does not have the rights to the Transformers (Dreamwave does) and will never mention Bludgeon anyway, one can conclude that the recent Image G.I. Joe series takes place in that universe.

   For the reasons that the American Transformers comics are more readily available and as noted, with the exception of the G.I. Joe crossover mini-series most American stories also took place in the British continuity, and the fact that Circuit Breaker only appeared in one story unique to the British comics, I have generally listed the American issues to reference her appearances. For the curious, I have provided a link to a conversion chart if you want to see when the American comics were reprinted in the British series.

   We never saw Circuit Breaker again in the Marvel Transformers comics, as the Generation 2 series made no mention of her. We can presume that the Autobots returned her and the other Neo-Knights to Earth, though. Incidentally, since Simon Furman now writes the Dreamwave Transformers comics, and one of the series at that publisher heavily references the Marvel series, it is possible that it exists in the same timeline as Earth-Transformers US or Earth-Transformers UK.
   I'm assuming it does, since that was Furman's intention, and the Regeneration One series even continues the numbering from the original Transformers comic. - Loki.
   Transformers: Regeneration One does not take place on Earth-91274 nor Earth-120185 since it ignores Transformers: Generation 2 and UK-original stories (as confirmed by Simon Furman itself). It even got its own designation in the Transformers Multiverse. - Mike Castle
   Not being as versed as Mike on the various Transformers timelines, I was unaware of this, but I've now checked and covered it in the history above. To clarify for those who, like me, didn't know this: As if Transformers continuity wasn't confusing enough what with the differences between Marvel US Transformers and Marvel UK Transformers mentioned above, and the multiple new timelines established to account for the different cartoons and comics by different publishers, Simon Furman himself has written three sequel stories set after the events of Transformers I#80, each of which gives irreconcilably different accounts of what happened next. Given that he's the person who wrote the end of the original Transformers comic, each new continuation is as "valid" as the others, so we've got three timelines. For simplicity's sake, I ASSume that the sequel in the UK Transformers Annual 1992 is the future of the Transformers UK timeline (Earth-120185), the sequel that appeared in the Marvel-published Transformers Generation Two comic is the future of the Transformers US timeline (Earth-91274), and the sequel that appeared in Transformers: Regeneration One is a third timeline, which has yet to receive a Core Continuum Designation. Nevertheless, it's as valid a continuation of the story as the other two timelines, and since it's the only one to give details of Circuit Breaker's fate, I've included the information in her history.  - Loki

   However, as to whether Circuit Breaker will return there may not be possible, for as a Marvel-created character, she may not be accessible. It is not clear how the rules regarding totally original characters created for licensed series work, but I would not assume that Hasbro (makers of the Transformers toys) owns Death's Head just because his introduction took place in a comic based on their property. The Sax Rohmer estate does not own Shang-Chi just because he is Fu Manchu's son, and Conan Properties, Inc. does not own Kulan Gath just because he first appeared in a Conan comic.
   As the update to the history above shows, while they couldn't explicitly name her, they did briefly use and even depict Circuit Breaker in the Regeneration One series. As for Circuit Breaker, she is owned by Marvel, so her appearance in Secret Wars II causes them no legal problems when they want to reprint it. - Loki

   For a long time there was some uncertainty about whether the Circuit Breaker who appeared in Secret Wars II#3 was the Transformers Universe version or her Earth-616 counterpart. However, that was finally cleared up in the Beyonder's Handbook entry, which confirmed it was the latter. As such, she's been split off into her own entry.

   Addressing a common online error people make about Circuit Breaker: She is NOT a cyborg. Her technology is a suit and entirely removable, as she clearly mentions when she creates it and demonstrates it to Blackrock, and as later shown in Transformers I#45 when she goes around with it stored in her wheelchair. - Loki