TORCH. Tom Winken was born in Botany Bay, New South Wales, Australia, and was sent to Borstal (reform school) at age fourteen. He escaped and joined the Merchant Marines, where he learned to use an oxy-acetylene cutting torch. "Torch" later joined the Melbourne Maulers motorcycle gang, and eventually made his way into the Dreadnoks. Like most other Dreadnoks he simply loves violence and simply tearing things apart. Torch was also very much afraid of Zartan, though he could be coaxed into disobeying him, such as the time Buzzer stole Zartan's motorcycle to go joyriding, and convinced Torch to come along. He was one of the three Dreadnoks -- with Buzzer and Ripper -- who traveled to the United States with Zartan, who had begun working for Cobra. Torch and the Dreadnoks came up against the Joes again and again, serving as Zartan's destructive henchman.

After working with Cobra for years, the Dreadnoks were reorganized into a national biker gang led by Zartan. In 2001, they began working again with Cobra and renewed their fight against the G.I. Joe team. After a battle in the streets of Washington against the Joes and a new, advanced BAT, Torch and many of the original Dreadnoks were arrested and held in Blackwater Prison. They were eventually freed due to the legal machinations of Tomax and Xamot and went on to join in the battle against the forces of a revived Serpentor on Cobra Island. They later freed Zartan from a military facility where he was being held prisoner. Over a year later, he and others fought Duke and General Rey when they came looking for information about Rey's past from Zandar.

(for more information about Torch, see Dreadnoks)

(GI 24, 25, 28, 30, 32, 33, 35, 38, 47-52, 54, 55, 64, 73-77, 79, 81, 89, 90, 91, 93; GIv2 1, 2, 10-13, 27, 31, 39; BF 2; FL 1, 2, 10; AE 5, 6, 19, 20; DDH; Figures: 1, 2, 3, 4 )