neither skywarp or bombshell

It was one of Bombshells clones

 

"I shall give you a new body and NEW TROOPS TO COMMAND" yes either Skywarp or Bombshell's body was used for Cyclonus but its pretty clear that Cyclonus is his own guy


Here's a theory what if the reason only Galvatron has memories from who he was before being reformatted is because he was the only one still online when they ran into Unicron

 

Ultra-twist: What nobody knows is that Mirage had actually snuck onto Astrotrain as they fled the city and was accidentally jettisoned when Starscream dumped the damaged Decepticons into space.

Cyclonus is really Mirage. You just couldn't see him because he was invisible until he was reformatted. And that's why he never showed up in season 3.

Alternative double-ultra-twist: Cyclonus is really Snarl. And now you know why he vanished after that one scene in the movie. The times you see him in season 3 were animation errors.

 

I just choose to believe they were all Frankensteins monstered together.

 

This. I had read this theory only years later I watched movie and is the best one for continuity and situations,in movie would have been very powerful,maybe even,during the process, with pieces covered by something similar or equal to effects seen in the movie but with them flowing and whirling in some way in front of Unicron,but too scary for children in this way.
Even now,by scenes that replaced this idea, I suppose that Cyclonus has inherited Skywarp body but only because a seeker is best choice and more powerful and it's just body.
Except for Megatron, I consider all of them already dead when they meet Unicron so that is birth of new troops and personalities with no memories or legacy with previous attitude of deceased characters.
One thing had helped me in this,for attitude I thought that Thundercracker was too grey in the comic and toy bio to become Scourge and I didn't consider Skywarp as intelligent as blue seeker to be Cyclonus,but when scenes confirmed that Thundercraker=Cyclonus then I knew that all of them were dead and for script is even better with new characters arrival.

 

I've always felt Skywarp and Bombshell where both very much dead when Unicron reformatted them. He basically stripped them for parts, forged a new spark (assuming he can do that, certainly if anyone in the G1 cartoon canon could it would be Unicron) and built Cyclonus from scratch.

 

The original intent was that the statues got broken in the background, like that one incredibly Scourge looking character, and their sparks flew off and were what got turned into Scourge and Cyclonus

The true answer is of course, whoever you think. Though, a lot of recent stuff is pushing the idea of Skywarp, even though earlier stuff was more on the Bombshell side of things.

 

I dun rlly care, it ain't important who became Cyclonus

 

Snowcat!

Yodel-Lei-HEEEEEE!!!!

Spoiler

(This question is 39 years old so yeahim trolling.)

 

I'm still surprised people get into debates about anything Transformers related... the cartoon was so poorly written and there were so many continuity errors that it should simply be viewed for what it was meant to be.... diversion...

 

Didn't vote because I'm extremely biased in the matter as Skywarp was my favourite (no real idea why).
Either way though Cyclonus became my favourite.
Makes all the sense in the world that its Skywarp yet undoutedly, at least for the regeneration shots, in the movie it was Bombshell.
Who Shot Nice Guy Eddie? - Transformers did it first.

 

In my headcanon they both became cyclonus but skywarp (in the back) crashed into the bigger ship because he was confused

 

In my mind Skywarp became Cyclonus.
Yes I am a little bias just look at my user name, he is my tied for my favorite seeker with Cyclonus even though Cyclonus is not technically a seeker depending on who you talk to.

I do have some logic behind my argument, both Scourge and Cyclonus are the elite guard for Galvatron and have been on/off again classified as Seekers. With this in mind it would be logical that There pre-formatted counterparts would be Thundercracker and Skywarp respectively for Megatron.
While the Sweeps are seen/used as cannon fodder with a seemingly limitless supply of "Clones" this sounds like how the Insecticons worked and who says that Unicron did not retain this feature when He reformatted the Insecticons into the Sweeps as well as incorporate that feature into their leader Scourge.
Another point of argument in the very next scene where the board the Revenge that there are 4 Sweeps including Scourge and one Cyclonus.

See the video at time stamp 3:35

 

Neither. Both were dead and pooled for parts, and it should be obvious to anyone who can accept the death of C-list characters.

 

Skywarp was as Starscream's coronation so "Background Seeker who looks like Skywarp #2,365" gets my vote.

Or maybe it was "Bombshell Clone #1,860,192"

Shit, the debate continues.

 

"Cyclonus was constructed from the cast-off chassis of deactivated Decepticons, programmed by Unicron to be loyal only to Galvatron."

taken from the bio of the universe figure. as far as im aware this was the most recent official word on who became who, and that answer is that all of the cons were "deactivated" (dead) and used for raw materials with cyclonus being a new entity that was neither bombshell or skywarp

 

If he was Bombshell because that is what's shown on screen, by that logic there is no Rumble/Frenzy debate.
There does seem to have been something lacking around the 'armada' just disappearing seconds after being introduced so the movie isn't flawless in that regard.

There are examples of Cyclonus/Scourge/Sweeps remembering things that they wouldn't in that scenario - they know everyone names, Cybertron, Strascreams voice - but that can all be explained away by them discovering this in conversation.

 

Exactly it can be explained like that also remember in Five Faces when Astrotrain says Megatron and afyer Cyclonus corrects him that it's Galvatron Astrotrain remarks that they were the same guy I find it curious not one single decepticon made a comment on who Cyclonus and Scourge used to be and that's probably because they are in essence totally different characters also Galvatron is the only one who has a personality similar to that of his pre reformatted self

 

The only way to find out is to ask the Transformers: The Movie writers/producers.

I, myself, believe its Skywarp. When I was a kid, the toy catalog even replaced Thundercracker and Skywarp with Scourge and Cyclonus respectively.

Hell even the recent Transformers Animated Series shows that Skywarp became Cyclonus. (Of course its not G1 continuity, but I think it paid homage or at least something)

And finally, this was taken off from one of the Transformer page.