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A Bridge Too Close, Part I

2010-09-25T05:13:46Z

72.184.129.252:

{{episode|
|series=Anitoon
|series2=AniJapan
|ep=28
|ep2=25
|prev2=Black Friday (episode)
|next2=A Bridge Too Close, Part II
|image=TFA ABTC1 Space Bridge operational.JPG
|caption=Closer... closer...
|title="A Bridge Too Close, Part I"
|airdate=[[June 28]], 2008
|written by=[[Marsha Griffin]]
|directed by=[[Ben Jones]] [[Christopher Berkeley]] [[Shunji Ōga|Shunji Oga]]
|animation studio=[[The Answer Studio]]
}}

'''The Decepticons kidnap Bulkhead to aid in Megatron's ultimate plan to take over Cybertron.'''

==Synopsis==
[[Image:Megatron branding.jpg|thumb|left|"Can't you just paint the insignia on our chest?" "Now, where's the fun in that?"]]

Now serving under [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]], the [[Constructicon (Animated)|Constructicons]] have completed construction of the villain’s [[space bridge]]. They are rewarded for their efforts by being officially inducted into the [[Decepticon]] army in a small ceremony led by Megatron, with [[Lugnut (Animated)|Lugnut]] and [[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]] serving as witnesses (and, for some reason, holding candles). After the Constructicons have recited the oath of allegiance, Megatron [[branding|brands]] them, quite literally, with a [[Redeco|color-change]] for their armor and eyes thrown into the bargain. At Megatron’s instruction, [[Isaac Sumdac|Professor Sumdac]] fires up the bridge, but when it fails to activate due to the professor’s simple lack of understanding of the technology, Megatron realizes that he will require additional help...

[[Image:TFA ABTC1 Screamer Clones Argue.jpg|thumb|"There's something in your [[optic]]." "No, there isn't!"]]

On [[Earth]]'s [[Moon (moon)|moon]], [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] gloats over five new [[Starscream clone (Animated)|clones]] of himself, to which he is in the process of putting the finishing touches. The final clone is completed and, like its fellows, brought online with a tiny chip of the [[AllSpark (Animated)|AllSpark]] that gives Starscream life. Immediately, however, Starscream has to wrestle with the various wacky personalities the clones have wound up with, each one an exaggerated aspect of his own: a coward, a sycophant, an egomaniac, a pathological liar... and a short-tempered female who insists that Starscream not ask what aspect of his personality gave birth to her.

Megatron contacts [[Shockwave (Animated)|Shockwave]] on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] in order to have him [[DataNet|track down]] the top space bridge engineer on the planet. Shockwave is surprised to report that the engineer in question is on Earth—it’s [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]]! Megatron decides to capture Bulkhead personally and instructs Lugnut and Blitzwing to pick up an item from [[Sumdac Tower]] to aid in “convincing” the Autobot to help them. When Lugnut points out that Sumdac cannot be trusted in the base alone with the Constructicons, Megatron decides to take the professor with him. As all this scheming goes on, however, someone else is listening in—the mysterious “Blue Racer” that [[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]] recently encountered.

[[Image:TFA ABTC1 painting time.JPG|thumb|left|Optimus Prime has deemed this image in need of a caption!]]

At the Autobot base, Bulkhead is working on his latest painting, an abstract rendition of [[Sari Sumdac|Sari]]. Unfortunately, backseat artistry from the other Autobots winds up ruining the painting, and Bulkhead goes for a walk with Sari to vent a little. Bumblebee follows to apologize, but just as he catches up to them, Megatron appears in the sky overhead and opens fire. Using Sumdac as a human shield to stop the Autobots from firing back, Megatron continues to rain destruction down on the Autobots as Bumblebee and Sari argue over whether or not Sumdac has been working with Megatron.

[[Image:TFA ABTC1 Megatron Sumdac Hostage.jpg|thumb|right|...dads?]]
Suddenly, the Blue Racer speeds onto the scene, and Bumblebee, believing the enigmatic speedster to be working with Megatron, chases him off through the city and manages to run him off the road. When he attempts to report his success to Bulkhead, though, there’s no response—because Megatron has captured Bulkhead and is airlifting him away. Bumblebee’s failure is compounded by the next turn of events: The Blue Racer reveals himself to be [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]], a fast-talking member of the [[Cybertron Elite Guard]] who has been covertly monitoring Megatron’s activities.

Back at the Decepticon headquarters, Bulkhead refuses to help Megatron, so the villain unveils the fruit of Blitzwing and Lugnut’s labor: a [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] unit! Faced with the threat of once again having his body taken over and being used to destroy his fellow Autobots, and failing to elicit any help from [[Scrapper (Animated)|Scrapper]] or [[Mixmaster (Animated)|Mixmaster]], Bulkhead relents and agrees to work on the space bridge.

At the Autobots’ base, Blurr relates his mission to [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] and company and brings them up to speed, quite literally. While Prime leads the rest of the team to the Decepticon base, the location of which is provided by Blurr, [[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]] and Sari head for Teletran-1 to try to get it online one last time. Just like [[Lost and Found (episode)|last time]], their efforts lead to nothing, forcing Ratchet to attempt one last drastic approach: using the AllSpark fragments the Autobots have gathered to jump-start the ship’s systems.

[[Image:TFA ABTC1 Bulkhead Sumdac.JPG|thumb|left|Merry Christmas!]]

Prime’s team is led by Blurr into the Decepticons’ coal mine base, where they are immediately attacked by Lugnut and Blitzwing. The fight is a brief one, as Blurr uses his super-speed to bind the odd couple with [[stasis cuffs]]. Meanwhile, as the space bridge nears completion, Bulkhead insists on modifying many aspects of Sumdac’s design, and winds up in an argument with the human, which Sumdac interprets as Bulkhead trying to sabotage the bridge deliberately. When the bridge is activated, however, it functions perfectly—Bulkhead knew full well that Sumdac’s design was wrong, and he corrected it!

[[Image:TFA ABTC1 Screamer Clones Emerge.jpg|thumb|right|Why, I'm beside myself! And myself! And...]]
As the bridge flares into life, Prime’s team bursts into the main chamber, but they are instantly immobilized by cement booties, courtesy of Mixmaster. With the Autobots out of the picture, it seems there is nothing to stop Megatron now...until the roof of the cavern explodes, and Starscream and his clone army make their grand entrance!

[[A Bridge Too Close, Part II|To be continued…]]
{{--}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]] (14)
*[[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]] (15)
*[[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]] (16)
*[[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] (17)
*[[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]] (18)
*[[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]] (19)

|c2=
*[[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]] (1)
*[[Lugnut (Animated)|Lugnut]] (2)
*[[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]] (3)
*[[Scrapper (Animated)|Scrapper]] (4)
*[[Mixmaster (Animated)|Mixmaster]] (5)
*[[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] (7)
*[[Thundercracker (Animated)|Thundercracker]] (8)
*[[Sunstorm (Animated)|Sunstorm]] (9)
*[[Ramjet (Animated)|Ramjet]] (10)
*[[Skywarp (Animated)|Skywarp]] (11)
*[[Slipstream (Animated)|Slipstream]] (12)
*[[Shockwave (Animated)|Shockwave]] (13)

|c3=
*[[Isaac Sumdac]] (6)
*[[Sari Sumdac]] (15)
}}

==Quotes==
"Ah, never before have I seen such an impressive group of lethal fighting machines! And pretty good-looking, if I do say so myself."
:—The ever-humble '''Starscream''' comments on his clone army.

'''Skywarp, the Coward Starscream''': Us? Against Megatron?!? ARE YOU INSANE?!? ''[Meekly]'' Ah, I think I just sprang an oil leak... 
'''Thundercracker, the Egomaniac Starscream''': Silence, you fool! Megatron is a worthless pile of scrap metal compared to ''my'' genius. 
'''Sunstorm, the Sycophant Starscream''': Brilliant observation! Brilliant! But your genius pales in comparison to the genius of our leader, the [[Starscream (G1)|original]] Starscream. 
'''Starscream''': Mmm, I could listen to this one all day! 
'''Ramjet, the Liar Starscream''': What are you talking about? ''I'' am the [[Geewun|original]] Starscream! 
'''Starscream''': Liar! ''I'' am the original Starscream. 
'''Ramjet''': I never said I was the original Starscream. 
'''Starscream''': You just did right now. 
'''Ramjet''': No, I didn't. 
'''Starscream''': Yes, you did. 
'''Ramjet''': No, I didn't. 
'''Starscream''': Yes, you did! 
'''Ramjet''': No. I. Didn't. 
'''Slipstream, the Female Starscream''': Ohh, haven't you figured it out yet? He's a pathological liar. Each of us clones represents one aspect of your personality. [''points to each clone in turn''] He's a coward... he's an egomaniac... he's a suck-up... he's a liar. 
'''Ramjet''': I am not! 
'''Starscream''': So, which part of me did you come from? 
'''Slipstream''': Don't ask. 
'''Starscream''': ''[sigh]'' This is going to be a long orbital cycle.
:—Best [[introdump]] ever?

"I just didn't think my head was so big." 
"That's your leg."
:—'''Sari''' and '''Bulkhead'''. Oh, the irony!

'''Sari''': No, don't shoot! You'll hit my dad! 
'''Bulkhead''': She's right! 
'''Bumblebee''': So what are we supposed to do? Fight him with snappy comebacks?
:—'''Bumblebee''' conveniently forgets his normal attack strategy.

'''Bumblebee''': All right, Zippy, start talking! 
''[Blurr transforms from vehicle mode to robot mode]'' 
'''Blurr''': First of all, the name's not "Zippy"! As a matter of fact, I don't believe I've ever met another bot named Zippy, so one can only assume that you came up with "Zippy" in reference to my speed, which may be technically accurate, but lacks a certain creativity! 
'''Bumblebee''': Eh...eh-eh... 
'''Blurr''': More to the point, the name's Blurr! I'm an Autobot intelligence agent, sent to this planet by the Elite Guard to keep an eye on Optimus Prime and his crew as well as monitor the Decepticon activity, and ''you'', my friend, have just blown a decacycle of covert surveillance designed to uncover Megatron's plot to conquer Cybertron. Everything was going according to plan when I intercepted a communication between the Decepticon leader and an unknown double agent! They were in the midst of plotting the abduction of an unsuspecting Autobot, which now, from the status of the current ground situation, appears to have been successful. Got that so far? 
'''Bumblebee''': Uh...could you repeat the last part? 
'''Blurr''': Which last part? 
'''Bumblebee''': Oh, everything after "The name's not Zippy."
:—It took Bumblebee a long time to get Blurr to start talking. From this point on, he doesn't shut up.

'''Bumblebee''': Woah, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up! 
'''Prowl''': Did he just say Bulkhead? 
'''Optimus Prime''': ''Our Bulkhead?'' 
'''Ratchet''': ''An expert?'' On anything?!
:—The Autobots aren't terribly impressed with Bulkhead.

"I must be a bigger pain in the gearshaft than I thought." 
"Well, well, well, look who just got to the party!" 
"Don't ''start'' with me, woman!" 
:—'''Starscream''' [[Total War!#Quotes|openly admits]] one of his primary faults, much to '''Slipstream's''' annoyance.

"Okay, I give. I'm officially no longer the fastest thing on wheels."
:—'''Bumblebee''' is humbled after seeing Blurr's speedy takedown of Blitzwing and Lugnut.

==Notes==
===Animation or technical errors===
*When Mixmaster encases Optimus and Prowl in concrete, his colors shift back to his neutral, pre-Decepticon color scheme.
*When Megatron attacks the Autobots, his cockpit changes from black to grey for a brief moment, then back.
*Blurr's mouth disappears for a frame after he introduces himself to Bumblebee and is pointing at him for the second time.

===Continuity errors===
*Not so much an error as a quirk: During the engagement in the mines, Icy Blitzwing is scowling noticeably, while Hothead Blitzwing is...''smiling???''
*When Bulkhead is brought into Decepticon HQ, Prof. Sumdac says his name as if he is surprised to see the Autobot, despite the fact that Sumdac was ''there'' when Bulkhead was kidnapped by Megatron.
*It's odd that while Bumblebee wasn't fast enough to catch up with Blurr with his turbo boosters in "[[Velocity]]", he can catch up to him and hit him while he hasn't got them on in this episode. Maybe he was doing the speed limit?

===Transformers references===
[[Image:ABridgeTooClosePart1-MegatronHandExtendtion.jpg|thumb|right|His special hand! There's none other like it!]]
*Shockwave's report on Bulkhead appears to be in the form of [[Tech Spec]]s.
*After branding, the Constructicons' colour schemes match those of their Generation 1 counterparts.
*Megatron shoots off his middle and index finger which isn't [[Scrounge (G1)|something]] [[Elita One#Classics|new]].
*Ironically, what Starscream says about his clones is similar to what [[Starscream (G1)|his Generation 1 counterpart]] remarked on [[Starscream clone (G1)|his clone]].

===Foreign dubbing===
'''French'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Le portail d'à côté 1/2'''" ("The Portal Next Door 1/2")
:*''Original airdate:'' ???

'''German'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Die Weltraumbrücke, Teil 1'''" ("The Spacebridge, Part 1")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[July 30|30 July]] [[2008]]

'''Japanese'''
:*''Title:'' '''それぞれの思惑''' (''Sorezore no Omowaku'', "Respective Expectations")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[September 18|18 September]] [[2010]]

* This episode marks the japanese debut of the Constructicons Scrapper and Mixmaster.

'''Polish'''
:*''Title:'' "'''O Jeden Most Za Blisko, Część 1'''" ("A Bridge Too Close, Part 1")
:*''Original airdate:'' ???

===Real-world references===
*In ''[[Wikipedia:The Bridge on the River Kwai|The Bridge on the River Kwai]]'', [[Obi-Wan Kenobi|Alec Guinness]] is a prisoner of war who is forced to build a bridge. Even though the bridge will help his enemies, he builds the bridge to the best of his ability just to demonstrate how capable he is. In "A Bridge Too Close"...replace "Alec Guinness" with "Bulkhead".
*The title is a reference to the movie ''[[Wikipedia:A Bridge Too Far (film)|A Bridge Too Far]]''.
*Among the parts needed for a space bridge are "hollow cathode tubes", parts which until recently made up computer monitor displays.

===Trivia===
*So in all the months that Isaac Sumdac has been missing, it never occurred to anyone that the Decepticons kidnapped him? Perhaps everyone thought he was dead.
*All of the heavy exposition is given to the guy who talks really, really fast. Handy.
*Megatron initiates new Decepticons by [[branding]] the symbol onto them with cattle brands. How bovine.
*This is not the first time Bulky has transformed his [[Total Meltdown|kibble into a chair]].
*Starscream opens a hatch on his head to pick parts from his AllSpark fragment to bring the clones to life, suggesting that in all of the episodes when you do see it, he has his hatch open, exposing the AllSpark fragment.

==Home video releases==
;DVD
[[Image:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2009 — ''Transformers Animated'' — Season Two ([[Transformers Animated (cartoon)/home video|Paramount]]) — English and Spanish audio. 
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2009 — ''Transformers Animated'' — Volume Six: Black Friday (Paramount) — English and German audio. 
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2009 — ''Transformers Animated'' — Volume Six: Black Friday (Paramount) — English and German audio. 
[[Image:Flag of Germany.png|20px|Germany]] 2009 — ''Transformers Animated'' — Volume Sechs: Schwarzer Freitag (Paramount) — English and German audio.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bridge Too Close, Part I}}
[[Category:Animated episodes]]

Blackarachnia (Animated)

2010-06-18T23:41:55Z

72.184.129.252: /* Notes */

{{disambig3|Blackarachnia}}
{{disambig3|Elita One}}
{{factions|decepticon|autobot}}

:''Blackarachnia (formerly "Elita-1") is a [[Decepticon]] from the [[Transformers Animated (franchise)|Transformers Animated]] [[continuity family]].

:[[Image:FinalAniBlackarachnia.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Welcome to [[wikipedia:Goth Talk|Goth Talk]]!]]

In another life, she was '''Elita-1''', an energetic, spunky Autobot Academy cadet. That was until a fateful trip to [[Archa Seven]], where [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|her]] [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|teammates]] abandoned her to a horde of alien spiders. Now calling herself '''Blackarachnia''', she hates her new body with a passion. Her loathing of her organic parts is slowly driving her insane, and she will do ''anything'' to get rid of them, no matter whom she has to crush in her path. Her mutation fueled a newfound hatred of the [[Autobot]] cause and a quest for revenge that led her to join [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]] in his war against them. However, she does not appear overly loyal to her leader.

In her mutant [[technorganic]] form, she makes use of her newfound '[[cyber venom]]' to paralyze her enemies, and combines this with her natural ability to download and mimic other [[Transformer]]s' traits and weaponry for a limited amount of time with a simple touch. Hope nobody told [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]].

{{quote|It'll be a long time before I ever trust another Autobot. Especially you, Optimus.|Blackarachnia|"[[Along Came a Spider]]"}}

==Fiction==
===''Animated'' cartoon===
{{Idw-tfa}}
:''Voice actor:'' [[Cree Summer]] (English), [[Ryōka Yuzuki]] (Japanese), [[Christin Marquitan]] (German), [[Marcella Silvestri]] (Italian)

[[Image:TFA Elita-1.JPG|left|175px|thumb|Girlfriend in a coma, I know, I know it's serious.]]

Blackarachnia was previously known as Elita-1. A thousand [[Units of time|stellar cycles]] ago Elita and her teammates were exploring [[Archa Seven]], looking for a Decepticon [[Twilight (Animated)|ship]] filled with [[Energon (fuel)|energon]]. They accidentally fell into a series of caves. They were ambushed by giant spiders and, when escaping the massive energon explosion caused by the battle, Elita ended up being left behind. When she tried using her ability to borrow powers from other beings, she was injected by the spiders' venom, turning her into the hideous freak she is now. Because of her new, semi-organic nature, her signal did not appear on Optimus's radar, leading him and Sentinel to believe that she had perished in the explosion. {{storylink|Along Came a Spider}}

When the [[AllSpark (Animated)|AllSpark]] was found by a group of Autobots, Blackarachnia was aboard the [[Nemesis (Animated)|''Nemesis'']] with the other Decepticons, annoyed at [[Lugnut]]'s emphatic, vocal loyalty to Megatron. She even suggested that Lugnut's speech of praise was hardwired into his mind. She also had conflict with [[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]], who touched a sore point by insulting her organic mode. Her retort to "blow it out your actuator, three-face" angered Blitzwing to the point that he... began to express his feelings in song. Later, at Megatron's orders, she scanned the Autobots' ship to determine the nature of their high-energy cargo. She confirmed the Autobots were carrying the AllSpark, or at least something just as powerful. When the Autobots escaped and it became clear the ''Nemesis'' was going to crash into an exploding space bridge, Blackarachnia fled in an escape pod. {{storylink|Transform and Roll Out}}

''Fifty stellar cycles later, while searching space for any trace of the AllSpark in the hope that she could use its power to purge herself of her organic mode, Blackarachnia stumbled across [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]], still operating out of the battered shell of the ''Nemesis''. Realizing that Starscream was searching for the AllSpark as well, Blackarachnia proposed an alliance, but Starscream proved uninterested in sharing power and promptly booted her out into space. Before being ejected, however, Blackarachnia was able to plant a homing device on Starscream, {{storylink|Dispatches}} and eventually tracked the beacon to [[Earth]]. At first setting down on Earth's [[Moon (moon)|moon]] to investigate the crashed hulk of the ''Nemesis'', Blackarachnia ran afoul of the bounty hunter [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]], who had been hired by Blitzwing to hunt down Optimus Prime. Not willing to risk the bounty hunter finding the AllSpark before her, Blackarachnia attempted to dissuade him from investigating Earth, but Lockdown didn't take kindly to her interference, and the pair wound up battling. During the fight, Blackarachnia used her download ability on Lockdown, knocking him out, but she was immediately overwhelmed by the sheer number of powers and modifications she wound up taking from him, and passed out herself. Blackarachnia was first to awake, however, and hid herself aboard Lockdown's [[Death's Head (Animated)|ship]], so that when the bounty hunter finally came to and headed for Earth, she was able to hitch a free ride to the planet. {{storylink|A Few Loose Strands}}'' At some unknown point in the future, Blackarachnia was interviewed by the trans-dimensional magazine ''[[Venus (magazine)|Venus]]'' and recounted this adventure for the publication's readers. {{storylink|Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac|The AllSpark Almanac}}

[[Image:Blackarach anim beast.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The Itchy Bitchy Spider crawled up the water spout...]]

After arriving on Earth, Blackarachnia stalked [[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]], [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]], and [[Sari Sumdac|Sari]] on [[Halloween]] night. Once she took out the boys, she attempted to sweet-talk Sari into handing over her [[AllSpark Key]], but Optimus Prime arrived to intervene. Using Bulkhead and Bumblebee's stolen powers to overcome Optimus, Blackarachnia captured Sari and web-swung her way to the top of a skyscraper, with Prime in hot pursuit. In the ensuing fight, Prime finally realized who Blackarachnia truly was. Exploiting the opening, Blackarachnia bound Prime in her web and seized Sari's key, activating its power in hopes of become fully mechanical. However, the energies unleashed caused any organic life in range, including Sari (and presumably any other [[Human|fleshy]]), to shrivel and sicken. It almost killed Blackarachnia, but Optimus Prime pulled the Key out, restoring the organics. Prime tried to reason with "Elita", asking her to come with them in the hopes of curing her, but Blackarachnia stabbed him, saying that it would be a long time before she trusted him again. After she knocked out Prime, she cried her four eyes out. {{storylink|Along Came a Spider}}

Later, she again kidnapped Sari, who was running away after having the AllSpark Key taken away from her. When she heard about the Key and how Sari felt totally mistrusted by the Autobots, Blackarachnia played on the girl's sympathies by saying she knew how Sari felt. Blackarachnia noted how she was not a Decepticon until after the Autobots turned their backs on her, and how the AllSpark's power was the only thing that could cure her current form. Despite being kidnapped again and nearly being killed by Blackarachnia's previous use of the Key, Sari appeared to start seeing eye to eye with her captor. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 1}}

[[Image:Megatron Rising Blackarachnia farewell.JPG|left|175px|thumb|Here's hoping her organic half can withstand impact.]]

At least, that was what she wanted Blackarachnia to believe. Leading her around in circles over the frozen [[Lake Erie]], Sari was finally forced to admit that the [[Teletran-1|Autobots' ship]], which contained the AllSpark, was underwater. Blackarachnia's organic half couldn't survive the icy water; incensed, she prepared to kill Sari. [[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]] brought the ship up through the ice, and Sari bit Blackarachnia's hand, showing that her organic half couldn't withstand teeth, causing her to drop Sari and allow Ratchet to grab her and get in the ship. As Blackarachnia tried to force the door open, the vessel accelerated, and Blackarachnia was thrown off the ship. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 2}}

[[Image:TFA Black Friday ME GRIMLOCK IN LOVE.jpg|right|180px|thumb|Me Grimlock be kisser for you!]]

Washing ashore on [[Dinobot Island (Animated)|Dinobot Island]], Blackarachnia was taken in by the [[Dinobot (Animated)|Dinobots]], who gave her [[Meltdown (Animated)|Meltdown]]'s former base as a home. Using her charms, Blackarachnia was able to manipulate the Dinobots into doing anything she wanted. [[Grimlock (Animated)|Grimlock]] was particularly attached to her, and reminded the other Dinobots of this through violence. Going over Meltdown's notes, she realized that he would be able to remove the organic half from her body. She sent the Dinobots to release him from prison, causing the Autobots to come investigating. Blackarachnia then poisoned Bumblebee and [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]] with her venom, and used the "promise" of an anti-venom to blackmail Optimus into helping Grimlock find the [[genetic modifier]] Meltdown needed for the experiment. Unfortunately, Meltdown turned the tables on them when the modifier was his, planning on removing Blackarachnia's technological half and leaving him with an organic transformer. Optimus was able to stop Meltdown before he succeeded, but the modifier was damaged and Meltdown presumed killed. Needing to escape, Blackarachnia urged Optimus to hold her, causing Grimlock to attack in jealousy, and Blackarachnia fled. However, it appears that Blackarachnia left the anti-venom needed to save Bumblebee and Prowl beside them. This gave Optimus hope that beneath all of Blackarachnia's anger and manipulation, there was still something left of Elita-1 in there. {{storylink|Black Friday (episode)|Black Friday}}

[[Image:TFA-PredaconsRising-SentinelBlackArachnia.jpg|thumb|200px|left|[[Dark Designs (episode)|[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY84MRnxVzo Baby got back.]]]]
Still taking refuge in Meltdown's abandoned laboratory, Blackarachnia began experimenting with [[transwarp]] energy to create new techno-organic beings to experiment on in an attempt to purge her organic elements, the idea being if she could turn another techno-organic purely robotic, she could do the same to herself. Most of her early attempts proved fruitless, until [[Swoop (Animated)|Swoop]] was able to capture the perfect test subject: the renegade Autobot [[Wasp]]. Tempting him with both her feminine wiles and promises of power great enough to achieve revenge on the bots who betrayed him, she coaxed him into being experimented on, fittingly merging him with the DNA of a wasp.

[[Image:TFAni Predacons Rising Blackarachina sans Helmet.jpg|thumb|200px|I'd hit it.]]

While Wasp was being turned techno-organic, her old friend Sentinel Prime stumbled upon the lab and was disgusted to find a robot with an organic mode. He was even more shocked when she revealed that they had a past: she was his old friend Elita-1. Disgusted by her mutation, Sentinel was willing to "put her out of her misery", and during a scuffle knocked Blackarachnia's helmet off, allowing him to see her true, partially organic face. After Wasp's transformation into Waspinator was complete, Blackarachnia revealed her plans to Sentinel and Optimus.

[[Image:PredaconsRising-WaspinatorBlackarachnia.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Did you know that some wasps use spiders as live hosts for their larva?]]

Unfortunately, Waspinator was within earshot when she revealed what little regard she had for his life. Hurt by this betrayal, the now physically unstable Waspinator issued Blackarachnia an ultimatum: either fix him or be destroyed. She tried to escape, but once it was revealed that the transwarp energies responsible for his creation were going critical and about to cause a huge explosion, Blackarachnia surrounded herself and Waspinator in her webbing, shielding the Autobots from the explosion and seemingly leading to her final demise.

However, when she awoke, she was in a strange jungle, in front of a [[Maximal|group of organic creatures]] that looked rather surprised to see their new guests. {{storylink|Predacons Rising}}
{{--}}

===''Web of Deception''===
Blackarachnia hired Lockdown in an attempt to get her revenge on Optimus, paying the bounty hunter to abduct the Autobot and tie him to a bomb next to one of the arachnids whose organic material had contaminated her. She believed that detonating the bomb would fuse Optimus and the spider into a similar techno-organic form. Luckily she didn't get the chance to test her theory, as before she could set off the bomb, the rest of the Autobots and a couple of small humans caught up with her. {{storylink|Web of Deception}}

{{Note|"Web of Deception" is a [[multipath adventure]], and as such, some details may vary. In one possible outcome, Lockdown got a better offer from a safari hunter, and captured Blackarachnia to be taken to the [[Kvi Cluster]].}}

===Titan Magazines===

Realising that the Autobots also win due to the power of teamwork, Blackarachnia decided to isolate one of them from the rest of the team. She stuck a tracer on Bumblebee so she could listen in on the crew and find out the best opportunity, while she roped Blitzwing and Lugnut into helping her. By the next day, when Bumblebee and Prowl were having a race at [[Crazy Coyote Canyon]], the Decepticons had set up a trap and were able to capture Prowl. To Blackarachnia's annoyance though, Bumblebee turned up and somehow her comrades failed to pursue him even ''with'' the tracer.

She commanded Lugnut to fire on the Autobots as they sped across the cave roof, realising too late this would cause a cave-in. To add insult to injury, she found the tracer couldn't track Bumblebee any more because it was stuck on Lugnut's butt... {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 25|The Race}}

==Toys==
===Animated===
[[Image:Blackarachniaanimateddeluxe.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Hideously mutated into this sexy, sexy figure.]]
*'''Blackarachnia''' (Deluxe, 2008)
**''Japanese ID number:'' '''TA-09'''
**''Accessories'': Grapnel-hook

:Blackarachnia transforms into a mechanical spider with some organic aesthetic. Many of her pointier parts are [[For safety reasons|molded in softer plastic]] to keep unfortunate children from putting their eyes out. She comes with a [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/grapnel grapnel] hook accessory. This is spring-loaded, with a jointed claw at the end of it. Pressing a button causes it to retract along the string. It may be mounted under her abdomen in spider mode or on her back in robot mode, via two different sets of pegs. There is also a peg hole in each wrist, for [[Spider-Man|web-slinging]] action.

:The spider's head is mis-transformed in the package, making the first step of her instructions initially confusing. Furthermore, the pedipalps will easily come off if manipulated too much, and her transformation requires that they be turned around completely. Because of this, they will often fall off over, and over, and ''over''...

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2008/Decepticon/Blackarachnia/blackarachnia.htm More information on Blackarachnia at TFU.info]''

{{anchor|Prime2pack}}
*'''The Revenge of Blackarachnia''' (2-pack, 2008)
**''Accessories'': Grapnel-hook

: The Blackarachnia toy was released again in a Wal-Mart [[exclusive]] two-pack with the "Battle Damaged" [[Optimus Prime (Animated)#DVDpack|Optimus Prime from the DVD 2-pack with Megatron]]. Both toys are identical to their original releases.
{{--}}

==Notes==
[[Image:AniBlackarachniaPromoModel.jpg|right|180px|thumb|Black belly is, like, so last season.]]
* A non-final [[character model]] for Blackarachnia was included in the initial ''Transformers Animated'' press kit from [[Cartoon Network]], was used briefly (in silhouette) for her first appearance in "[[Transform and Roll Out]]", and appears on the Deluxe figure's packaging. Though the toy shares the non-final model's spider-leg placement in robot mode, black belly, dark purple skin, and yellow Decepticon symbol, the rest of the toy adheres much more closely to the finished model.
*The initial ''Transformers Animated'' press kit from Cartoon Network also said that Blackarachnia's techno-organic state was caused by "an encounter with the [[AllSpark (Animated)|ALLSPARK]]" in the past. Given her actual in-show origin, either this was an early idea for the character, or the press release writer was misinformed.
* As Blackarachnia, she wore helmet modeled after her Beast Wars version's head. Howevr once losing it in "[[Predacons Rising]]", she bares some resemblence to her Beast Machines incarnation.
* Blackarachnia is the only major ''Animated'' character not to have [[stock footage|a detailed on-screen transformation]].
* As Elita-1, her head seems to be based on the pony-tailed Ariel, the younger form of [[Elita One]], while her body's ornamentation homages Elita One herself.
* According to [[Derrick J. Wyatt]], Elita-1's [[alternate mode]] is a "Cybertronian car". [https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21975298&postID=2344351953813555694&isPopup=true]
* Apparently, Blackarachnia was quite the scientist even before she was introduced to Prometheus Black's genetics experiments. According to the ''[[Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac|AllSpark Almanac]]'', Blackarachnia introduced the concept of [[Triple Changer|Triple-Changing]] to the Decepticon ranks when she rebuilt [[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]] after the Great War.
* Blackarachnia has a [[mouthplate|faceplate]], which is only ever seen in ''[[The Arrival]]'' issues [[Dispatches|1]] and [[The Arrival issue 4|4]] but never in the show itself.
*In the japanese version, Blackarachina is once more voiced by [[Ryōka Yuzuki]] as she provided talents to the Transformer's Beast Wars incarnation.

[[Category:Animated characters]]
[[Category:Autobots]]
[[Category:Decepticons]]
[[Category:Female Transformers]]
[[Category:Turncoats]]