Manterror

Manterror is a Predacon from the Beast Era portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
"More like preying mantis! Get it?"

Manterror (aka the Man Terror) is a nasty sort of 'bot. His internal stealth silencers allow him to sneak up undetected on his Maximal adversaries, but even if they do see him, his hunched, ungainly appearance might lull opponents into a false sense of security. That's when Manterror uses his sharp claws and ion discs to swiftly strike out and disable his foe. And once he has an opponent down, he's been known to slowly and surgically pick them apart, piece by piece.

Worst of all, he likes puns.

Fiction

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Dreamwave Generation One continuity

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Shell Game was never published. The following would have taken place in unpublished issues.

Manterror was brought to prehistoric Earth by Magmatron in order to raise an army out of the stasis pods left there after the departure of Optimus Primal's team. He was sent out into the field, and witnessed Snapper emerge from his pod as all protoforms were brought online. Shell Game #1

2006 IDW Beast Wars continuity

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 {{#if:"I'm strongly against introducing Female Transformers to any continuity!"|
"I'm strongly against introducing Female Transformers to any continuity!"
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Magmatron recruited Manterror, along with Transquito, Drill Bit, Spittor, Iguanus, and Razorbeast, on Cybertron. Magmatron's plan was to use the abandoned stasis pods on prehistoric Earth to build an army and take over Cybertron. Upon arrival, Magmatron sent Manterror and the others to watch over the stasis pods as they were activated. Manterror witnessed the birth of Snapper. As it turned out, Razorbeast was a Maximal spy. Magmatron sent his new Predacon army to hunt down the Maximal and his band. The Gathering #1

Soon enough, the Predacons, now augmented by a freshly resurrected Ravage, found the hideout of Razorbeast's band of Maximals. It was Manterror who reported to Ravage the base's compliment and defenses. However, the attack was interrupted by the arrival of the other Maximals Razorbeast had activated. During the conflict that followed, Manterror got his face smashed by Wolfang. The Gathering #4

Manterror was next seen leading an advance scouting party consisting of himself, Retrax, and Snapper to spy on the Maximals' base-camp, and telling Retrax to shut up and man up, the big wimp. They were discovered by Grimlock and Manterror and Snapper were disabled while Retrax rolled to safety. While his wings were being eaten, he desperately called for Retrax to blow the mines they'd planted around the Maximal base. The Ascending #1

He managed to recover and was seen amongst the Maximals and Predacons left behind on Earth to fight the Blendtrons. It is unknown if he survived this battle. The Ascending #4

Beast Wars: Uprising

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The Man Terror was a member of the Resistance, an alliance of Maximals and Predacons fighting together to overthrow the tyrannical Builders of Cybertron that ruled over them. He operated under the legendary Grimlock alongside Barbearian, Mach Kick, and Snapper. While their leader was away on a mission, Snapper and Barbearian started scuffling over some petty insult. Happening upon the fight after Mach Kick had been dragged into it, The Man Terror eagerly involved himself as well. When Grimlock returned, he broke up the kerfuffle and berated all four of his underlings for neglecting their posts. The former Dinobot then informed them that he had acquired a powerful weapon to be unleashed onto their oppressors: the G-Virus.

The Man Terror's group infiltrated Tesarus Arena to infect as many Builders as possible. Though they made much headway unimpeded, they eventually wound up stumbling into an ambush. Mach Kick was blown to bits, though The Man Terror was unfazed by this grim development and joined Grimlock in tackling their Micromaster opponents head on. Snapper came to The Man Terror's aid, much to the later's annoyance as he insisted he didn't need any help. Then, Hot Rod, Spaceshot, and Blackout flew in to further impede the group's progress. During his entrance, Hot Rod landed a direct hit on The Man Terror, who retaliated by sending an Ion disc towards the sisters' combined vehicle mode. The pair split and transformed, evading the projectile. Grimlock and Hot Rod started tearing into one another, leaving their underlings to select their own opponents. The Man Terror managed to defeat Spaceshot, and dismembered her before heading off to assist Grimlock in dealing with Hot Rod. He found them in the arena's crowd, but was destroyed by Blackout shortly after prying Hot Rod off of Grimlock. Micro-Aggressions

War for Cybertron Trilogy marketing material

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In the back.

The Predacons traveled across time to find the AllSpark and change the fate of Cybertron. While battling the Maximals on pre-Ice Age Earth, both sides were joined by the Autobots and Decepticons, their epic battle changing their combined destinies forever. Kingdom webpage<ref>Kingdom webpage</ref>

In a possible destiny recorded on the Voyager Golden Disk, Manterror was present when Blackarachnia ascended to the leader of the Predacons, alongside Retrax, Predaking, Buzz Saw, and Buzzclaw. Kingdom Golden Disk cards

Toys

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Beast Wars

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Shut up, Brak!
  • Manterror (Deluxe, 1997)
Part of the second wave of second-year Beast Wars Deluxes, Manterror transforms from a robot into an organic praying mantis. Each foreclaw holds one of his "ion discs", which uses a pressure-launch mechanism to fling them. His mantis head features a tiny opening jaw, and his wings are on ball joints. His energon chip is applied to the top of his robot mode head.
This toy was released in Japan as an import in Hasbro packaging with a Takara-applied sticker. This mold was also used to make Beast Wars II Mantis, and was planned for Jai-Alai, which did not come to fruition.

Notes

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  • Buzzclaw's function is "Quick Attack Specialist", and his toy bio states that he uses "ion discs", suggesting that he is Manterror reborn as a Fuzor. Either way, Manterror and Buzzclaw appear as separate individuals in subsequent fiction.
  • Sketches in The Gathering trade paperback indicate that Manterror's Cybertronian mode was a dragster-type car. This design would go on to influence the design of the 2010 Hunt for the Decepticons toy Brimstone.[citation needed]{{#ifeq: ||}}

Foreign names

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  • Japanese: Manterror (マンテラー Manterā)
  • French: Manterreur (Canada, "Manterror")
  • Italian: Cannibal<ref name="italian">For some reason, Hasbro/GiG failed to add Italian names to the English/Spanish/Italian Biocombat packaging for most 1997 Basic and Delxue figures. As a result, Manterror's Italian name only appears in the cross-sell on the back of the English/Spanish/Italian Biocombat "video-pack" releases of Airazor and Razorclaw.</ref>
  • Spanish: Manterror (Latin America)

References

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<references />
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