JURASSIC TRANSFORMERS (Jurassic Park) Name: ‘WHIRLWIND’ Affiliation: Autobot Alt. Mode: Agusta A-109A - InGen Helicopter N293G During the run-up to Jurassic Park’s planned opening, InGen were tight on resources and were unable to procure the vehicles needed to give the assessment team a full tour. The Autobots offered two keen volunteers to assist with operations...One of whom was an aerial-bot called ‘Whirlwind’. Whirlwind generally had an easy-going, laid back attitude, often going with the flow where ever the winds of change took him. So much so, that he nearly let the opportunity to work with an island full of dinosaurs slip by him...Only on a second look did he see that InGen needed a helicopter to take teams to and from the island. Having casually browsed through humankind’s history of aviation, he was fascinated by how helicopters operated and was keen to try it out himself...’why not’, he thought to himself. Whilst Expo arrived at Isla Nublar a day before the assessment team were due, Whirlwind was needed sooner; he took several days to transport key members of staff to and from the island, Costa Rica and the classified island known only to him as ‘Site B’, the latter of which he was asked to keep quiet about...But that didn’t phase him; he went with the flow and was happy with only what he needed to hear. Amongst his VIP passengers were Dr. Henry Wu, Dennis Nedry, Ray Arnold and the Lockwoods, a father and daughter duo who knew Hammond well, but were not heard from again after their one visit...Another temporary case of curiosity for Whirlwind but as with Site B; if he needed to know, they’d inform him. But it was a trip to the United States that gave him his most important role yet; transporting the assessment team, along with John Hammond himself. During the journey to the island, Whirlwind was amused with the conversations aboard, especially between Hammond and the eclectic Dr. Malcolm. But as Isla Nublar came into view, Whirlwind was guided by the pre-planned route that Hammond designed, rather than the quickest and most efficient, so the visitors could have the best views possible for most dramatic effects...Hammond was ever the showman before they even landed. After dropping the team off at the helipad, Whirlwind immediately set off to pick up his next couple of passengers from the airport in Costa Rica; Hammond’s grandchildren, Lex and Tim Murphy. Their journey to the island wasn’t overseen by Hammond, so this time he took the less extravagant, more direct route...A decision he was glad he made; the kids were too excitable for him and the snacks they had for the trip made a bit of a mess in his interior...! Whirlwind remained on the Isla Nublar helipad. After the support crew helped to clean out the interior, the Autobot didn’t have much planned until it would be time for the assessment team to leave. He was able to kick back and share stories with his human colleagues, who in turn let him know how Wrangle, who had been on the islands for several years at this point, was a valued member of the team. They also encouraged Whirlwind to scan through radio stations so he could check out some (human) music...He was especially taken with psychedelic and prog rock... The chill would come to an abrupt end when they learned that Hurricane Clarissa was fast approaching the island...Air travel was going to be far too risky and the majority of staff were going to be evacuated by boat. The order came through for everyone to get to the dock as soon as they could...Whirlwind encouraged his crew to go on ahead, as he would be able to take the beating and catch up with them later. That very night, the worst of the hurricane had passed, but the rains were still strong; Whirlwind was selecting appropriate music to play, such as ‘Riders on the Storm’, when he saw that the lights surrounding the helipad had gone. He transformed and scanned the area; no power...Not even from the nearby perimeter gate. Something was wrong. He tried to reach someone through his radio; dead...He wanted to stay in case anybody would need to reach the helipad, but he also wanted to take off to find out what was wrong, despite the poor weather... ‘This is why I prefer to go with the flow’ he thought, flustered by his dilemma. Whirlwind ended up making a decision; he took off. The heavy rain was starting to ease, but it wasn’t ideal flying conditions...All across the island, his scanner picked up lifeforms in various places, hardly any of them human. ‘This is bad’ he thought, comparing his scans with the layout of the facilities... ‘all the dinos are going where they ain’t supposed to be’. He also checked on the Energon signatures of his Autobot comrades, Wrangle and Expo...Until one started to flicker...It was Expo at the Tyrannosaur paddock. Whirlwind picked up speed and fought the storm to try and get there as fast as he could, but lightning struck him; he span out of control towards the ground below... The following morning, Whirlwind had washed up the bank of the lake in the Brachiosaur enclosure...He was jolted awake by a Parasaurolophus blaring its morning call, like a rooster with a trumpet. Whirlwind crawled up onto the grass and inadvertently scared the Parasaur herd away. He checked his scanner; only one Energon signature...He transformed and took off towards where he last saw Expo... Whirlwind hovered above the remains of the Tyrannosaur paddock; the fence was destroyed, a restroom was obliterated and the only vehicle visible, Tour Vehicle 05, had been abandoned. He scanned over the fence and detected traces of Energon...He swooped down the drop and on the ground, Expo’s body lay in a mess, savaged by the Tyrannosaur. He saw human footprints leading away from the car...In his sorrow for his comrade, he was glad to know that Expo protected humans until the very end. Whirlwind payed his respects; ‘Til all are one’ he mournfully recited, before he took off to seek out the other Energon signal. At the garage near the Visitors’ Centre, Whirlwind arrived to find Jeep 12; Wrangle. He was happy to see Wrangle alive, but had to tell him that Expo had gone...This didn’t help Wrangle’s mood, who was still upset at being somewhat responsible for a human death...Whirlwind tried to convince him to help out the other people that are still in danger. After a moment, Wrangle agreed to track down the Velociraptors, as it was the smaller carnivores he knew could be the most dangerous for humans. Whirlwind tracked the T. Rex and found her finishing off a Gallimimus. Three human signals were being picked up but he couldn’t tell exactly where they were as they were already deep in the nearby jungle...As such he made sure that the Rex didn’t follow them by being a distraction, as a vulture is to a lion. But eventually Whirlwind heard a power surge over the radio; electricity had been restored to the park. He tried contacting people again; on channel two he picked up a woman’s voice; it was Dr. Ellie Sattler...She sounded distraught and out of breath. Whirlwind wasn’t sure if she knew about the Cybertronians, so he just said that it was ‘the chopper team’...Ellie told them to have the chopper ready to go. And then her radio signal dropped...Whirlwind told Wrangle to get to her position ASAP. Thankfully Wrangle was nearby; he found Ellie’s radio, which looked like it had been ditched...And then he found Robert Muldoon’s savaged corpse. Wrangle took a moment to rip off his soft Jeep-roof (therefore his ‘cape’) to cover his fallen human comrade. And then, finding Velociraptor tracks, radio’d Whirlwind to tell him that the Velociraptors are tracking the humans to the Visitors’ Centre. Whirlwind still had eyes on the Tyrannosaur and then had an idea...He told Wrangle that they need to lure the Rex to the Centre...Wrangle fired a flare into the air. Success; the Rex saw the bright red light in the distance and started heading towards it with an almighty roar. Whirlwind told Wrangle that it’s working and to make sure she’s heading in the right direction. He also told Wrangle that according to the radio chatter, there are two survivors (Hammond and Malcolm) in an underground bunker that need a pick-up and one of them’s incapacitated with an injury. Meanwhile, Whirlwind himself would take off and fly as fast as he could to the helipad. He found that his ground crew decided to remain on the island after all, which was handy, as the survivors would need all the human help they could get. Sure enough, he saw Wrangle speeding towards the helipad with all the surviving humans available; the ground crew helped Malcolm board the helicopter with his broken leg. Hammond took one last look at his dream before Wrangle transformed to tell them he’ll look after what’s left of the place. Whirlwind took flight with the six survivors on board...The humans had been through a lot and, despite some of them being absolutely filthy from their time in the jungle, Whirlwind didn’t mind...Especially since the kids were fast asleep.
