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Tarantulas (BW)

2007-02-24T07:04:51Z

205.188.116.203: /* ''Beast Wars'' cartoon */

:''Tarantulas is a [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] from the [[Beast Wars]] portion of the [[Generation 1]]/[[Beast Era]] [[continuity family]].
:''His name is also officially spelled "'''Tarantulus'''".''

[[Image:Tarantulasbw.jpg|right|thumb|250px|"And fries! Lots of FRIES!"]]

'''Tarantulas''' is the scheming mad scientist of the Predacon crew. The type of mad scientist who experiments on living beings, cackling all the while, and then if things go wrong happily eats what's left as his midday snack. He was one of the Predacons to join [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] during his theft of the [[Golden Disc]] and the search for [[Earth]]. In addition to being an utterly insane, sadistic sociopath (even by Predacon standards), Tarantulas has a record for treachery rivaled by few other Transformers. Tarantulas is actually an agent of the [[Tripredacus Council]] who is trying to coax the Beast Wars toward an unspecified goal, where neither Autobot or Decepticon won the Great War.

Tarantulas has a particularly notable hatred of the [[Vok]] aliens, a hatred strong enough to make him work to eliminate them by any means.

''Japanse name'': '''Tarans'''

==Fiction==
===Toy Bio===

Tarantulas is a sneaky, mysterious ninja feared across the galaxy. A master of the martial arts, he's suspected in the disappearances of many [[human|earthlings]] and rumors swirl of giant cocoons where he stores his prey.

''('''Note:''' The techspec bios of the first wave of Beast Wars toys predate the development of the Beast Wars cartoon and its backstory. Instead they seem to present the characters as a direct continuation of the previous Autobot/Decepticon conflict with their battles taking place on present day, human-inhabited Earth, rather than in the distant past. Once the cartoon launched, the toyline adjusted itself to match that continuity instead.)''

===Optimus Primal VS Megatron pack-in comic===

Tarantulas is guarding the Predacon's jungle-based genetics lab along with Megatron and Waspinator. When the Maximals discover them he engages Razorbeast in combat briefly before Megatron calls retreat and destroys the lab. ''(This story predates the Animated continuity and seems to be set on present day earth, see note above.)''

===Animated continuity===
====''Timelines: Dawn of Future's Past'' comic====
[[Image:Tarantulasdawn.jpg|left|thumb|250px|He's using Scandisk, har har har.]]

As [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] and his rogue band of Predacons escaped [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] in their stolen ship, the ''[[Darksyde]]'', Tarantulas was in charge of scanning the disk for a desired set of coordinates. While Megatron was not watching, he was in secret communications with a member of the [[Tripredacus Council]]. (The reflections in his helmet show the silhouette of [[Ram Horn (BW)|General Ram Horn]].)

Using the decoded coordinates, the ''Darksyde'' opened a [[transwarp]] portal, which it and the [[Axalon (BW)|''Axalon'']] passed through.

====''Beast Wars'' cartoon====
:''Voice actor:'' [[Alec Willows]] (US), [[Yūichi Nagashima]] (Japan)

Tarantulus was one of the original crew on the [[Darksyde]] when it crashed to prehistoric Earth. As Megatron's technical leader, he manned the scanners to appropriate Beast Forms based on the most powerful local creatures.

Tarantulus caused as many problems for Megatron as he fixed. Tarantulus always needed a separate hideout to plot other, evil schemes, and he managed to stay one step ahead of most of his 'allies'. The only partner he worked with frequently - though they betrayed each other just as often - was [[Blackarachnia]].

When Tarantulus learned of the [[Vok]] and their impending return to Earth, he spent his best efforts to capture a working [[stasis pod]] to craft an escape shuttle. At the hour of the Vok's return, he finally crafted one. Unknown to him, Megatron had known of his and Blackarachina's plans, and threw a wrench in the works - [[Inferno|Inferno (BW)]]. Inferno stomped into the room, interrupted his download of the stasis pod's datatracks, torched Tarantulus, and was defeated by Blackarachnia.

Fortunately for him, Blackarachnia picked up his discarded download visor. Tarantulus jumped into her mind, controlling her (presumably from his stasis-locked body). When the [[quantum surge]] knocked out all of the Transformers on Earth, his body was upgraded to a Transmetal form, complete with a motorcycle vehicle mode. He maintained a link to Blackarachnia's mind, but was forced to severe it when she threatened to to commit suicide - which would also off-line him.

When the transwarp explosion finally reached through the time warp and had enough potency to enter Cybertronian space, Tarantulus' alliances were revealed - He was a member of the [[Predacon Secret Police]], along with the original [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] and the [[Tripredacus Council]]. The Tripredacus Council was the first alerted of it, and realized it was Megatron's ship. Ravage was sent to ally with the Maximals, arrest Megatron, and then betray and destroy them all.

Allied with the Maximals, and with his stealth ship, they easily overwhelmed Megatron. Tarantulus knocked out the power to his ship at the exact moment, allowing an easy capture.

Megatron managed to manipulate Ravage into his servitude using a recording of the original [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] on the Golden Disc and gained his freedom. Tarantulas joined Ravage on his stealth ship for an attack on the [[Axalon]]. However, Tarantulas was blown to pieces by Rattrap through a combination of the rodent's demolition bombs and the explosion of the ship. Tarantulas survived, though, and was quickly put back together by his spider drones.

Megatron, in all his wisdom, forgave Tarantulas' treachery, as it was simply the Predacon way and Tarantulas was too useful to execute. However, Tarantulas seemingly cut ties with both factions and retreated to his sytem of lairs, working on his own agenda. His overall goal was rarely the focus of any episodes past this point. Instead, he emerged to pursue his grudge against Blackarachnia by releasing Transmetal raptors on her and the other Maximals(a harbinger of [[Dinobot 2|things to come]]) and exposing how he had damaged her shell program. Later, when the [[Vok]] emmisarry, [[Tigerhawk]], attacked, Tarantulas managed to take him prisoner. Tarantulas intended to force the all-powerful being into his servitude by drawing the Vok influences out of his body and reprogramming him. Tarantulas' scheme backfired and the formless Vok spectres attempted to take-over Tarantulas' body. Panicking, he attempted to destroy them, but accidently Tarantulas' destruction at the hands of the Vok caused a chain-reaction of explosions in his lab. Cheetor managed to rescue Tigerhawk (who was now in his right mind) and Tarantulas was presumed dead.

====3H ''Primeval Dawn'' comics====
[[Image:Primeval Tarantulas.jpg|right|thumb|Tarantulas, like most creepy stalkers, doesn't really hate the Vok so much as he wants to kill them and wear their skin.]]
Following the Beast Wars, Tarantulas' body returned to life, reanimated by the Vok powers he previously absorbed. The undead Tarantulas, along with a rebuilt Ravage (as [[Tripredacus Agent]]), nurtured new troops to life through enigmatic means, growing [[Razorclaw (BW)|Razorclaw]] and [[Iguanus (BW)|Iguanus]] in tubes. The remaining Vok anticipated Tarantulas' plan to destroy the rest of them, take their power, and fashion the timestream to his desires, and so they assembled an army of their own consisting of [[Primal Prime]], [[Airazor (BW)|Airazor]], and [[Tigatron]]. Tarantulas met this opposition in battle, overwhelmed them, and ripped the [[Matrix of Leadership]] from Primal Prime's chest. Wounded critically, the Maximals withdrew to the [[Ark]]. Tarantulas ordered Ravage to take Razorclaw, Iguanus, and their new recruit [[Spittor]] and assault the Ark in order to finish them off.

''([[3H Productions]] dissolved before this storyline could be completed. It can be assumed that the Matrix of Leadership was restored to Optimus Prime's body at the end of this altercation, and that the Maximals were triumphant.)''

====3H ''Universe'' comics====
When the influence of [[Unicron]] sways [[Blackarachnia]] to the side of darkness, she is surprised to see Tarantulas (still in his undead body) greet her as she joins the ranks of the [[Minions of Unicron]].

{{-}}

==Toys==
===Beast Wars===
*'''Tarantulas''' (Deluxe, 1996/1997)
: ''Japanese ID number:'' '''D-4''', '''VS-4'''

: Part of the first wave if ''Beast Wars'' product, Tarantulas transforms into an organic spider. His abdomen contains a spring-loaded missile launcher, which fires the anchor-missile kept in his spider-butt. This missile is attached by a string so he can hang from things like a real spider. The launcher can be removed and used as a robot-mode weapon, using any of his front four spider-legs as missiles. Like all early Deluxe-and-up ''Beast Wars'' toys, his has two different robot-mode "heads", a robot-mode one and a "mutant" face. He is almost always depicted using the mutant face.

: There is a variation of this toy in the [[Hasbro]] line: later releases (the smooth-bubble) lack the yellow paint on his elbows.

: The Japanese release of Tarantulas was originally unchanged, and could also be purchased in a two-pack with [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]]. Later, a slightly-color-altered version was released, using a brighter shade of green and a slightly-darker gray. The color-altered version also replaced the blue eyes on the 'robot' head with gold as well as the black eyes of the 'mutant' head.

: This mold was used to make the first [[Blackarachnia]] toy.

*'''Orcanoch''' ([[MicroVerse]], 1997)
: A small, non-transforming micro-figure of Tarantulas came with the [[MicroVerse]] [[Orcanoch]] playset. It was presumably painted based on the original design, as its a bright copper rather than purple.

*'''Tarantulas''' (Deluxe Transmetal, 1998)
: ''Japanese ID number:'' '''D-44'''

: Part of the first assortment of [[Transmetal]]s, Tarantulas transforms into a robotic spider. He also has a third "transport" mode, flipping down a wheel from his abdomen and a saw-blade under his beast-head, making a spidey-cycle. The saw detaches for robot mode to become a hand-held weapon.

: The Japanese version is slightly different, replacing the "TARANTULAS" [[tampograph]] with "DESTRON" and the Predacon sigil, plus his robot-mode eyes were painted as a single visor to better match the show.

*'''Tarantulas''' (Deluxe "Fox Kids" Transmetal, 1999)

: A [[redeco]] of the Transmetal Tarantulas toy in grays, silver and black. He and a Transmetal [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] redeco were part of the little-seen second wave of Toys "R" Us [[exclusive]] "Fox Kids" toys, so called for the advertisements for the Fox channel on the packaging (as the [[Beast Wars (cartoon)|''Beast Wars'' cartoon]] has moved there from syndication). Internal Hasbro documents have listed this toy as "'''Steel Tech Tarantulas'''", a name that did not make it to final packaging.

*'''Predacon Tarantulus''' (Tenth Anniversary, 2006)

:This toy is a slight [[redeco]] of the original Tarantulas toy, more closely resembling Tarantulas' appearance in the cartoon (save the big Predacon faction sigil tampograph). Part of the second wave of ''Beast Wars'' 10th Anniversary product, he came with a DVD of the episode "[[Spider's Game]]", plus the left leg to [[Trans-Mutate]].

===Merchandise===

==Trivia==
* In the Japanese dub of Beast Wars, Tarantulas retained his trademark cackle, however, it was a little ''different''. His voice was very high-pitched and he shrieked almost constantly. His trademark laugh more closely resembled a wicked witch of sorts.

* Early promotional pictures showed the original Tarantulas toy as being transparent orange, but the final toy was a clear deep purple instead. Presumably, this was for a little visual variety in the early line, which already had a largely-tan toy ([[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]]) and a largely yellow toy ([[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]]) in the Deluxe range, plus another then-planned clear-orange Mega-sized Predacon arachnid ([[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]]).

* The original Tarantulas toy has ''nine'' eyes in beast mode, as does the show model. This makes characters' references to him as "eight-eyes" rather... interesting.

==External links==
*[http://www.tfu.info/1996/Predacon/Tarantulas/tarantulas.htm Tarantulas at TFU.info]

{{stub}}
[[Category: Beast Wars characters]]
[[Category: Ninjas]]
[[Category: Predacons]]
[[Category: Scientists]]
[[Category: Timelines characters]]
[[Category: Toys "R" Us exclusives]]
[[Category: Transmetals]]
[[Category: Unicron-related characters]]
[[Category: Universe characters]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

Talk:Overlord (G1)

2006-10-16T02:40:34Z

205.188.116.203:

Is Gigatron really a different character than Overlord, or is it just another instance of two seperate names for the same Transformer? [[User:Dark T Zeratul|Dark T Zeratul]] 21:47, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
:Dreamwave's MTMTE guide went on to characterise him as an ancient mechanoid who first conceived the Powermaster process, so I'd say yes. - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 21:53, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

::Raising the inevitable question- is Gigatron UK Overlord, or are Gigatron, Overlord (UK) and VOerlord (MF) all 3 seperate characters? (Overlord (UK) is certainly not Overlord (MF), he's not even a Powermaster!) -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 21:55, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
:::This is a question I choose not to answer! :D (Although one might theorise that Overlord UK is the post-MF fully robotic Overlord Transtector.) - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 21:59, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

:Dreamwave also had Dai Atlas and Deathsaurus as ancient TF's. And it has Sunstorm (who is not generally a clone) as a clone, along with a bunch of other non-clones like Ricochet and Monacle. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 22:03, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
::Mmn, but at the same time, they didn't change their names. "Same body, same names, different setting" would equal "alternate version of same character," moreso than "different name, different setting, same body" would. - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 22:04, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

:::Isn't there also a UK comic character called Overlord? --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 22:08, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
::::Yah, from "State Games," I think. But IIRC, that was a title ("The Overlord") rather than the bloke's actual NAME, for what that's worth. - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 22:10, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

:::::Last of The Overlords, who had once ruled Cybertron. I construed the ovelords were reponsible for the city-state clustering, having foudned them as personal power bases before dying off of old age... but there's nothign int he story itself to support that. They were a source of stability on Cybertronw hile they held power. After they died, planetary war broke otu almost imemdiately and never really ended. One cour argue this indicates TF's, which have a sort of inherited monarchy system, were not culturally ready for self-rule.-[[User:Derik|Derik]] 22:25, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

::Going by that logic, Derik, then every different G1 continuity should be completely removed from all the others as far as characters go. Skyfire and Jetfire (his Marvel version, anyway) are obviously the same character, yet their origins are just as different as Dreamwave's interpretations of Sunstorm and Gigatron/Overlord. And as I recall, this same discussion came up regarding Stepper/Ricochet. To me, it seems like we really need some solid criteria for deciding when an American name of a Japanese character makes it a new character, and when it's merely the difference between Prime and Convoy. Especially because expecting a new G1 continuity to be exactly the same as an old one is just ridiculous. - [[User:Dark T Zeratul|Dark T Zeratul]] 11:35, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

:::The point of me bringing up Sunstorm (whi in other continuities is NOT a clone) was to say "Dreamwave did somethigtn funky- but that does nto necessarily mean he's not one of the other Overlords." -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 20:15, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

::::Well, I've gussied up the section to make the question a bit more open. - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 20:22, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Gingatron apparently take his QUOOTE from the UK Overlord, but his bio from his Japanese bio. (which wasn't much like wh was on the show, but there uyou go, that's why Gigatron's bio soudns so wierd.)

Based on '''that''' are we thinkign that Gigatron == Overlord UK == Overlord JP? They have to be at different points in his life-- energon figures are clearly '''not''' Powermasters or Godmasters, but are we confident in sayign hese 3 characters are in fact 1 character? -21:47, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

:In different timelines/dimensions, sure. Jsut as how, as noted, Sunstorm can be a generic trooper, a super-powered clone, or a minion of Megazarak all at once. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 21:56, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

:Hmn, y'know, you're right. I don't know WHY I thought it was based on his UK bio... - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 23:00, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

:: Well, if you compare: [http://members.aol.com/regenesis0/overlord.jpg Overlord's spec], [http://groups.google.com/group/rec.toys.transformers.moderated/msg/eea8dc38822feee0?hl=en& Godmaster Ovalrolled's spec], and [http://www.bwtf.com/pvc/hoc/techspecs/gigatronback.jpg Gigatron's epec]

:: You see all 3 actally cotain similar language, refering to the weapons plant in him.

::So, if we assume the Dreamweave continutiy refers to Hic Gigatron (And I think it does, because we know they had plans for Gigatron from itnerviews) Then we have 3 warring interpetations of the character:
* Dreamwave: Ancient Transformer who made initial forays into what would (when later perfected by the Autobots on Nebulos) be known as Powermaster techology. Developed the technology for the original Decepticon push towards space. Powermaster.
* UK: Legendy Transformer who emerges from the shadows to wasge a one-man-war, with a promise of a full-scale invasion if he secures a beachhead. Armed with something similar to Powermaster technolgoy (dependign on what you think Energon figures are, they have to be power-related)
* Japanese: Undersea monster not seen until Masterforce's present, may have existed for centuries, but did not (based on all evidence) exist on Cybertron, or have a history there.

::All 3 share elements of their tech-specs,t he weapons refinery. Two share quotes, 1 lacks a quote. They are Powermaster, Energon-figure and Godmaster.

::I'm sayign 3 aspects of 1 character, with the MF version being odd-man-out because it lacks any real 'history' prior to MF.
::And while the HoC Gigatron's conflict with PM Optimus was probably a ''reference;; to Masterforce, I thin had Dreamwave made it allt he way to Nebulos, Gigatron would have shown up there. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 00:41, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Is there any canonical material linking HOC Gigatron to Dreamwave Gigatron? All DW ever officially published about Gigatron was his name and his anciently-powerfulness. No physical description, no image. James McDonaugh and Adam Patyk had said in some interview somewhere that they wanted Gigatron to be Overlord after all--but that development was never published. So does it count? If we start kowtowing to unpublished non-canonical material, don't we plummet into 'Dark Glass' territory?

My point is that given the Lioconvoy --> Leo Prime business, I think there is clear precedence to turn Overlord into Gigatron, and the DW published canonical material that gave Gigatron a different backstory never linked Gigatron to being Overlord in any way, shape, or form.

I like the way this is done now with the UK story info from his bio IN the fiction section. A LOT of the toy bios actually have STORY in them when you come down to it and I don't think that story should be ignored or marginalized just cause of it's location. It's still Story and it is still something these entries should inform folks about. I think when warented Tech Spec story deserves its own entry in the Fiction catagory, such as it is here.<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>