In his former life, on the Planet Nebulos, Zigzag was a miserable fellow. He had a job repairing hovercraft, but his welding skills, or more accurately, his complete lack thereof, were so terrible, that any vehicle he worked on usually ended up in far worse condition than when he started - needless to say, he was constantly ridiculed by his co-workers. When the Nebulans tragically found themselves dragged into the Transformers' never-ending civil war, Zigzag eagerly jumped at the opportunity to have himself binary-bound to a powerful Decepticon, hoping that, at long last, he would finally have the means to revenge himself upon the society that had mocked him for his entire adult life.

In his new role as a sidearm for the Decepticon Targetmaster Needlenose, Zigzag can transform into a double-barreled Electrostatic Overloader Rifle. This weapon discharges bolts of electricity that can disable mechanical objects by overloading their circuits; this power surge may even cause the target to explode. However, Zigzag is just as bad a marksman as he was a welder, if not worse, so, he rarely manages to hit whatever he's aiming at. Zigzag can also piggyback with Needlenose's second Nebulan companion, Sunbeam (who transforms into a solar-powered Light-Burst Discharger), to create a deluxe firearm that retains the offensive capabilities of both individuals. In the unlikely event that Zigzag ever has to partake in close quarters physical combat, Needlenose has also armed his minion with a Duranium sword and shield, but, given Zigzag's general ineptitude, he'd probably just end up accidentally stabbing himself instead of his opponent.

Zigzag is almost completely useless as both a sidekick and a weapon, but, his master, Needlenose, and Nebulan comrade-in-arms, Sunbeam, shouldn't complain too much, because they're not exactly A-grade material themselves. Needlenose is only interested in being perceived as cool and fashionable; the Decepticon "warrior" seldom shows up for battles, instead, he spends his time engaging in activities that he thinks make him hip, like playing Earth's video games. And Sunbeam, bored with the beaches of Nebulos, only enlisted so that he would have the opportunity to surf the exotic waves found on different worlds throughout the cosmos. When it comes to recruitment, the Decepticons apparently have the lowest standards imaginable.

In the United Kingdom Transformers comic book continuity, Needlenose (and presumably, by extension, Zigzag and Sunbeam) was destroyed by the rogue Pretender wolf Carnivac. His fellow Decepticon warriors could have saved him, but, fed up with his shenanigans and generally cowardly behavior, they ignored Needlenose's pleas for help and let him perish.

******************************

This Transformers Targetmaster Zigzag figure was completely modeled from scratch over a period of three days and finished with acrylic paint and ink. In the 1987/1988 Transformers toy catalogs/checklists, Hasbro repeatedly describes Headmaster, Powermaster, and Targetmaster Nebulans as sidekicks, so that qualifies them as legal subject matter for this contest. Initially, I was interested in making a Headmaster, but, then I got to thinking, what good is a head going to be without a body? Ditto for a Powermaster engine. So, I decided on a Targetmaster, because a gun is a more versatile object that can be used by any toy that can hold it (as you can see in the photos with Marvel Legends Series 9 Bullseye.) After studying all of the Autobot and Decepticon Targetmasters, I narrowed it down to either Needlenose's Zigzag or Triggerhappy's Blowpipe. While I liked Blowpipe's gun design better, with its two asymmetrical barrels, I felt Zigzag had the better color scheme and backstory, plus I thought the sword and shield made him stand out from the other Nebulan mini figures. The original 1988 Zigzag toy is just an unarticulated brick (other than the gun barrels, which rotate forwards/backwards), so there was a lot of room to try to improve on his design.