Kranix (G1)


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This article is about the Generation 1 Lithone. For the Aligned Transformer, see Kranix (ROTDS){{#switch:{{#sub:Kranix (ROTDS)|-1}} != .= ?= .

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Kranix is a Lithone from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Kranix is the last survivor of the consumed planet Lithone. Well-versed in the art of combat, the friar warrior Kranix has an advanced artificial intelligence, possessing a full range of emotion. But unlike his companion Arblus, this emotion does not cripple him with fear. Rather, he's friendly and polite, seeming almost human.

That is, until his present situation, which has carved a fault line in his chivalrous exterior.

Fiction

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Generation 1 cartoon continuity

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The Transformers cartoon

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Voice actor: Norman Alden (English), Toshiro Ishii (Japanese){{#if: Gao Quansheng (Chinese), Pierre Hatet (French), Roberto Macedo (Brazilian Portuguese, VHS dub), Willy Schäfer (German, first Movie Dub), Aart Veder (German, second Movie Dub for DVD)|, Gao Quansheng (Chinese), Pierre Hatet (French), Roberto Macedo (Brazilian Portuguese, VHS dub), Willy Schäfer (German, first Movie Dub), Aart Veder (German, second Movie Dub for DVD)}}

On the planet Lithone, Arblus and Kranix were either friends with or the assistants to a scientist. The pair brought the scientist a couple of fluid-filled vials while he worked, although Kranix was the only one to do any carrying (lazy Arblus). Unfortunately, the building shook, sending the chemicals to the floor.

It wasn't seismic activity, however — running to a nearby window, the Lithones saw it was the menace they knew as Unicron! Kranix compelled his companions to get to the escape ships, but only the one he and Arblus was on managed to escape his planet's destruction, as another shuttle was caught in Unicron's pull as he finished his destruction of the planet itself. After Lithone was destroyed, Kranix and Arblus somehow became prisoners on Quintessa, the home of the dreaded Quintessons and Sharkticons.

Not long afterward, the Autobots Kup and Hot Rod were placed in the cell next to Kranix during Arblus' execution. Kranix told them of the Quintessons and his planet's demise, but would not enjoy their company long, for Quintesson guards soon came to take Kranix to his fate, while he plead for mercy, as he was the last survivor of his planet (to anyone's knowledge). Over the plank above the Sharkticon pit, Kranix protested the mockery of justice that the Quintessons represented in their so-called court. He was then sentenced to death by the Quintesson judges and fed to the Sharkticons. The Transformers: The Movie

Kranix's involvement in these events, or events mostly similar, were also chronicled in the comic mini-series Transformers: The Animated Movie and the storybook "Transformers the Movie".

Deviations

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Before Kranix could be tried by the Quintessons, an team of Autobots led by Optimus Prime chased them away and Kranix was freed from his cell. Kranix explained to the Autobots about the threat of Unicron, and was invited to join the Autobots in their journey to stop the planet-eater. Deviations

The Transformers: The Movie comic

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When Unicron attacked the planet Lithone, he devoured it by emitting a corrosive mist. Arblus was dissolved and eaten by the mist, but Kranix was able to transform into a spaceship and escape. The Planet-Eater! He was then captured by the Quintessons, and locked up to await his trial within the five-faced creatures' kangaroo court. In his cell, he met Kup, Hot Rod, and Grimlock, and told them of Unicron's coming. Afterwards, he was brought before a Quintesson judge, found "innocent," and fed to a pool of Sharkticons as "punishment." Judgment Day!

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

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Kranix and Arblus could do nothing but watch as their world was consumed by the recently awakened Unicron. Generation 1 #0

Knights of Unicron

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The Kranix Memorial Stadium, located on Planet Lithone, was the nineteenth venue for the Knights of Unicron on their 2014 "Till All Are One" tour. Knights of Unicron

Ask Vector Prime

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In some universes where Lithone became a tainted world, Unicron implanted a vestige of Kranix's intellect into what was left of his homeworld. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/08/09

Games

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Transformers: Devastation

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Kranix lived a simple life in Tagon Heights on Cybertron before joining the crew of the Proudstar on the Mission of Cybertronian Expansion, traveling the galaxy and cyberforming uninhabited planets such as Lithone, even injecting Ore-13 into their cores. These planets would find future use as Cybertronian colonies. The group set down on a planet that had no need of cyberforming to restock. While there, Kranix felt someone was watching them—someone powerful and evil. Following this, many of his crewmates changed; even the noble Nova Prime seemed to be driven more by ego rather than his righteous mission. He later blamed the mysterious mechanical planet for the changes in his friends.

This came to a head when Nova Prime selected an inhabited planet for his cause. Though disgusted by its nonmechanical inhabitants, Kranix felt that they had as much right to live as any and secretly sabotaged the Proudstar to collide with the planet when its cyberforming protocols were initiated. Praying that Jhiaxus wouldn't find his treachery, Kranix planned to make his escape back to Lithone. Transformers: Devastation

Toys

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Transformers (2010)

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I'm a planet now? How'd that happen?
  • Unicron (Supreme Class, 2011)
Kranix is a redeco of the Armada Dead End figure. Available only with the 2010 Transformers series Unicron, Kranix transforms into a mechanical "moon" with a cannon, and can fit into a specially-shaped socket on Unicron's planet form to act as a turret.
Unicron and Kranix were exclusive to Amazon.com in the US and Canadian Toys"R"Us stores, while being available at general retail in parts of Southeast Asia. He was also released in Chile as a Ripley exclusive during Christmas 2011.
This mold was used to make Bug Drone and Bug General.


Platinum Edition

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The Transformers x Bakugan crossover we all wanted.
  • Unicron (Supreme Class, 2016)
Part of Hasbro's Platinum Edition offerings for 2016 intended to commemorate the 30th anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie, this release of Unicron is a minor redeco of the 2010 Transformers figure, including a re-release and minor redeco of Kranix.
Like several of the 2016 Platinum Edition sets, Unicron saw a very limited release: Essentially, he was only ever officially released in some of Hasbro's Asian markets such as Hong Kong. A small number of US-based online retailers (such as BigBadToyStore), plus a few more from Canada and the United Kingdom, stocked him as well, having obtained their stock through Asian vendors.


War for Cybertron Trilogy

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I'm not a planet anymore! Nor am I that sick spaceship mode, for that matter...
  • Quintesson Pit of Judgement (Multi-pack, 2020)
Poor Kranix is the "guest of honor," as it were, in this giftset commemorating his own execution. Kranix is made available as a non-articulated, non-transforming figurine. Promotional images of this set showed the included Sharkticon toy biting him. He's also small enough to fit inside the also-included Quintesson Judge's cage accessory. Hilariously enough, since he's much smaller than the Battle Masters the cage was designed for, he can just slip through the bars at the right angle.
The set also also includes a Quintesson Bailiff and a figurine of the Quintesson Prosecutor at the same general size as Kranix.
This set was exclusively available through Hasbro Pulse, and was available first for people who attended the Hasbro Fans Expo in Hong Kong and preordered the set.


Studio Series

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If only Kranix had his trusty gas pump nozzle on him when Unicron attacked..
  • Kranix (Deluxe Class, 2026)
Released to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie, Studio Series Deluxe Kranix is the first "proper" depiction of the character as a transforming toy, with a screen-accurate robot mode that turns into his seldom-seen spaceship mode from the movie's tie-in media (see below), albeit in his film appearance's colors. The spaceship's mounted cannon detaches as a blaster for his robot mode. Oddly enough, his packaging marks him as an Autobot, despite him having no alignment and not even being a Cybertronian in the first place.

Notes

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"The ships! Get to the ships, it's our only... Wait, I'M a ship!"
  • In a very early draft of The Transformers: The Movie, Lithone was a planet of living rock creatures, and Kranix was named Granix (from "granite", you get it?). Although this was amended for later drafts, one or two instances of this original spelling made it through the spell-check, into a much later version of the script, puzzling fans for over a decade.
  • In another pre-final draft, Kranix is one of an unnamed species of "strange robotic creatures" that transforms into a "small rocket ship" in order to escape his planet's destruction by Unicron, with his character model designed with this in mind. His ability to transform was absent in the final draft and thus from the film, though his alternate mode did appear in the Marvel Comics adaptation (which was partially based on that earlier script) and in his The Transformers Universe character profile.
  • It is never made explicit within the film how Kranix ended up on Quintessa after escaping Unicron. A deleted line of dialogue explained that the Quintessons hunted down those who escaped the wrath of Unicron and put them on trial, with the sentence always being the same—death! In the same draft that had the Lithones as rock creatures, meanwhile, Kranix had actually come to Quintessa on a scientific expedition.

Foreign names

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  • Japanese: Kranix (クラニクス Kuranikusu)

References

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