ALLEGIANCE: AUTOBOT
FUNCTION: RECONNAISSANCE
FIRST APPEARANCE: -

"When the smoke clears, I've cleared out."

Profile: "Eat my dust" is Sandstorm's motto. He particularly enjoys quoting this as Decepticons are vainly pursuing him. Always willing to take the most death-defying risks, Sandstorm likes to get close enough to the enemy during his patrols so he can count the number of bolts in a Decepticon's armor plate. Only by being so daring, by getting his fuel pumping so strongly that he feels his internal circulatory hoses about to burst, does Sandstorm truly feel functional. He likes to live on the edge. Anything less than dangerous he finds boring, and when he's bored he's more likely to be in danger since his concentration lapses. Sandstorm fears only one thing: an end to the war. With no enemy to spy upon, he worries he will have no further useful purpose.

Abilities: In both helicopter and buggy modes, Sandstorm is adept at directing his rotor blades and exhaust at the ground to whip up blinding clouds of dust and sand. As a helicopter, he can go 200 mph and has a range of 800 miles. In buggy mode, his 4-wheel drive allows him to traverse the roughest terrains. He can reach a speed of 100 mph and has a range of 500 miles. In robot mode, he uses a sandblaster gun, which shoots a high-speed stream of glassy silicate particles that rapidly erodes anything it hits. A non-stop barrage of the particles aimed at a foot-thick concrete wall would create a five-foot-wide hole in less than two minutes.

Weaknesses: Although extremely maneuverable in helicopter mode, Sandstorm is also extremely fragile. Even a small explosion near his rotor assembly can cause him to crash. In buggy mode, he is often a victim of breakdowns in his wheel assembly due to dirt and sand getting into his axles, a result of his many off-road meanderings.