Okay, so people want to argue saying the one in front was Cyclonus and the other was the Armada. That's fine with me. If you look at:

​

You'll see Skywarp is in front of Bombshell.
Now you look at:

​

It would appear Bombshell is in front but that's because of the camera angle. Notice in both pics he would be behind Skywarp if the camera angle was rotated and they were revolving in space. Notice the angle of Thundercracker was different in the beginning:

​

Also, if the Deceps were flying towards Unicron,

​

That direction shows that Skywarp was in front originally if you compare it to the first picture I posted.
People think only Megatron lived. Not necessarily so:
1. We only saw the Deceps thrown out of Astrotrain.
2. There is no proof that anything harmful came along the way.
3.
Look in the upper left corner. Bombshell's eyes are still bright red. They didn't darken and dim like Prime's. So they were very much alive.
Of course, Cyclonus and Scourge could have been other Seekers or Insecticon Clones:

​

The true Skywarp and Bombshell may be one of many Sweeps that appear at the top that we never saw Unicronized.
Of course they may all be clones and Skywarp, Thundercracker lived to fight the war against Unicron:

​

Heck, even Starscream came back to life some time during the movie to fight Unicron:

​

Then again, that may have been the loyal Starscream look alike from More Than Meets They Eye:

​

If you listen, he did not sound like Starscream.

 

Firrib forever! You know who really was Cylonus, Jerry Seinfeld and Gary Shandling was the Armada, their best roles ever.  

In the end does it really matter? The only real difference between the two was one was eventually forgotten, and I think it was that way for a reason  

 

In the movie I think it's quite clear that it is Bombshell being reformatted into Cyclonus. Personally, I've never doubted or argued that.

What I have always argued, and the reason I agree with the spirit of the OP, is that logic dictates that Cyclonus SHOULD BE Skywarp. Why?

Well, to take two main players out of the show who were sort of loyal to Starscream until he turned on them, and replace them with two main players who have no love lost for Starscream (at coronation and in the SS ghost episode), it makes sense that these be the same characters.
A smaller more pedantic argument could be made about Skywarps iconic purple highlights matching Cyclonus' scheme, and T'Crackers blue matching Scourges blue body.

I've always felt the canonical nature of the animated series to be dubious anyway, and I think all fans to some degree express a level of personal bias and "fanon". To me, this extends to the inclusion of a second Cyclonus, or if you prefer "his armada". Cyclonus is the new air commander, Skywarp got a promotion, and his armada includes Scourge, the Sweeps and later the coneheads and any surviving seeker clones. Scourges sweep army are obviously the insecticon clone army, why? because the show needed an endless fleet of Decepticons to flesh out the army, as they were always so woefully outnumbered by the Autobots. Might as well create an army of semi-mindless clones out of an army of semi-mindless clones, right?

For the people who insist the 1986 movie is perfect in every way, and insist Bombshell is Cyclonus then I respect you for clinging on to your childhood memories, but take another look without rose tinted glasses at which makes more sense and I'm sure most people will see the logic (even if they then disagree).

 

Good luck waiting for your 'date' to show up, OP - it would seem that sto_vo_kor's been permanently banned. About time, too, I say. His anal retentiveness irked me to no end.

Also:  

 

you trying to bring about the end of the world?

 

And again: "His armada" is Scourge and his Sweeps. The other Cyclonus is just an animation error. Cyclonus was made of the remains of Skywarp and Bombshell.

 

Now that's out of the way, all I'm saying on the matter is that I believe Unicron to have a sense of symmetry. If you can't figure out what that means, then too bad.

 

Shoot me in the head

 

He's the blue one.

 

I'm still amazed people CARE about this damn thing.

Frankly, I prefer the idea it's BOTH of them, myself. Both the original Universe 2.0 toy's bio AND some of the lines spoken by the RtS repaint in the RtS comic pack-in suggest that Cyclonus was created from the remains of MULTIPLE "Deactivated Decepticon Warriors" and in the comic Cyclonus mentions having "memories of my past lives" when Rodimus challenges him to some kind of honor battle that Kup doesn't even know about but Cyclonus does, supporting the idea Cyclonus is a gestalt mind created from the remains of others. Granted, it's a retcon, but it makes sense in the context of the movie as even the script does not define who the hell became Cyclonus.

 

Blah blah blah.


The toys were clearly meant to replace the "purple and blue ones", so it's easy to assume that. The cartoon never matches the toys anyway... otherwise Galvatron would have just been a "City Commander".


Rumble is RED.  

 

Cyclonus was Skywarp because I say so.

There, I have laid out an argument stronger than anything else anyone can come up with.

 

listen skywarp is cyclonus and bombshell is scourge pay close attention to there personalitys

 

whoah, do you know why?

 

Gonna go with the thought process that Cyclonus and Scourge are derived from several of the floating bodies. Cyclonus doesn't actually have much of Skywarp's personality, but Scourge clearly has Bombshell's abilities and personality, IMO. I don't recall if Cyclonus ever developed any teleporting abilities...but did Skywarp really show that off in the cartoons all that often, if at all? Sorry, my knowledge is derived almost entirely from the various other forms of media, so if I'm going with the cartoon's personalities...Cyclonus is none of the bodies floating in front of Unicron because he's actually somewhat intelligent and a capable second in command, unlike the Bebop and Rocksteady personalities that Skywarp and Thundercracker had.

I've never gotten to get in on one of these debates and while the horse cadaver is picked clean, I don't mind picking the stick up to hit it a few more times.

 

Tread lightly here folks, choo know better  

 

does it matter who turned in2 who? they were completely different characters. unicron said new troops unlike megs/galvy which was new body.

 

yes this is a good thread. It has meaning behind it and has a good reason to discuss

 

This is the most interesting post in the thread. Had no idea Sto got banned. So we're allowed to talk about and even tongue-in-cheek criticize G1 once in a while again?  

 

There's no PROOF he was permanently banned. It may be a temp ban of an unspecified time, or he may have changed his user title to say "banned." Maybe it was just an administration error. Sadly, I was not there, and have no way to know creator intent. Until then the burden of proof is on you.