Snow Cat (Energon)

The name or term "Snow Cat" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Snow Cat (disambiguation).

• Cyclonus
• Snow Cat

Snow Cat is a Decepticon from the Energon portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

So now we've gone from asking "Did this guy become Cyclonus?" to "Did Cyclonus become this guy?" Life is weird sometimes.

Snow Cat is a powerful Decepticon who can overcome any environment. He transforms into an all-terrain vehicle and has given his Decepticon allies a strategic advantage in battle on many occasions. Though unruly at times, Snow Cat has proven to be one of Megatron's most valued warriors. His insane fighting tactics are feared by his enemies, and sometimes, his allies.

Fiction

Energon comic

Snow Cat was located in a small town in the Yukon, under the command of Scorponok. He busied himself in sabotaging Base Unit 1 so that the Energon it'd produce would rerouted to feed Unicron. A band of Omnicons stumbled upon his base, but he managed to quickly disable and capture them. Snow Cat then rigged the Omnicons to a Spark Rewriter, a device that would brainwash them into obedient Decepticons. However, the Omnicons learned the value of teamwork thanks to the shared-hallucination-induced disembodied advice-giving head of Over-Run, broke free, and fled out into the open. Snow Cat gave chase, and held them at a disadvantage, seeing as he was better equipped for the snowy environment. But the Omnicons discovered an underground pocket of natural gas, and detonated it at the right moment to knock Snow Cat silly. Snow Cat was then captured and brought to Hot Shot. Omni-Potent

Much later, Snow Cat was one of several Decepticons who attempted to "sneak" into Ocean City and steal the data for the Autobots' Omega Supreme prototype. He rushed into the dark hangar, smacked into a scaffolding like a big dumb doof, and was chased out by security. Megatron didn't buy Snow Cat's recounting of how his daring and skill was thwarted by a "sub sea earthquake" for one second. Perspective

Energon ceased publication before the story could conclude. The following would have taken place in unpublished issues.

The Omnicons' experience in fighting Snow Cat was instrumental in defeating a ghostly Starscream, who was invulnerable to conventional attacks. By pooling their minds together, as they had learned in their encounter with Snow Cat, they were able to drain the Energon from Starscream, reverting him to a material being once more. Armageddon Part 2

Toys

Energon

• Snow Cat (Combat Class, 2004)

• Accessories: 2 missiles
• Known designers: Aaron Archer (Hasbro), Takio Ejima (Takara)

Released in the second full wave of Hasbro's Energon Combat Class toys (aka "Deluxes"), Snow Cat transforms into a G.I. Joe "Snow Cat" SAM half-track cast in primarily white and light blue plastics, with clear and burgundy for accents. In vehicle mode, the front wheel-hubs and side-skirts can be lowered to form skis for the vehicle to travel on, while the sideskirt-skis fold down from his feet in robot mode to allow him to "ski". He has one non-functional Mini-Con port on his left arm, which is on a small swiveling panel that swaps to the right side in vehicle mode. This is one of the most frequently lost pieces for second-hand figures.

He features twin spring-loaded missile launchers available to him in both modes; in robot mode, they end up as a back-mounted over-shoulder assembly. His missiles are cast in the same clear blue plastic as his windshield with the front ends painted gold. This makes them look awesome in flight. There are also two 5 mm post-holes on each missile launcher. His big ol' belly features a spark crystal as an attachment point for an energon star, which ends up on his front bumper in vehicle mode. Unusually for Transformers of this era, he has a visible cockpit interior with a partially frosted windshield and working windshield wiper, further homaging the G.I. Joe toy he was designed after.

Snow Cat's vehicle mode features no physical means of securing its back end together beyond the luck of friction in the waist swivel meant for transformation and against his stored feet, both of which are highly prone to failure. Due to this, simply picking him up in this mode is likely to result in the bottom half of the back end swinging out of place, especially if the skis are deployed. Although mis-transforming the ski-based side panels diagonally in vehicle mode can offer some assistance to hold the vehicle mode together, it is by no means secure, and for obvious reasons is of no help in ski mode. Snow Cat also does not include the ski poles seen in the cartoon, although in a pinch his missiles can be loosely held to simulate them. Snow Cat's instructions also configure the folded-up skis mounted on his angles onto the side of his shins rather than the back as they appear in the cartoon. While the back skis can be folded in back to be show-accurate, doing so drastically reduces the already-low range of motion in his knees due to obstruction. The skis do not secure regardless of where they are placed, and are highly prone to falling out of place, as are the front skis.

• More information on Snow Cat at TFU.info
• Additional information and comparison images at YoJoe.com

Universe (2003)

Night Force Snow Cat?

• Snow Cat (Deluxe Class, 2005/2006)

• Accessories: 2 missiles

The Energon Snow Cat mold was redecoed in superdark blue and black with orange accents and released as a Universe exclusive to KB Toys stores in 2005, alongside a redeco of Energon Downshift. However, at the time KB was undergoing financial troubles, closing numerous stores across the United States, and it appears that the two toys did not make it to a great many of the stores that remained open. Many did make their way to Toy Liquidator outlets, a sub-company within KB mostly found in outlet malls. In 2006, the toys eventually made it to a wider distribution through the remaining KB stores.

This Snow Cat's colors appear to be an homage to the G.I. Joe: Night Force redeco subline, which has never featured the G.I. Joe Snow Cat toy!

• More information on Universe Snow Cat at TFU.info
• Additional information at YoJoe.com

Notes

• Snow Cat is one of several toys wrapped up in a weird situation where Hasbro and Takara's toy teams would have one idea about the toys' fiction, and Takara's marketing team would completely ignore them and have the cartoon do something else with them. Like Mirage, Beachcomber, and several others, Snow Cat was meant to be a new character, but the cartoon instead portrayed the toy as a new body for an already-existing bot; in this case, Armada Cyclonus (despite this change making basically no sense). Hasbro either did not have time to change Snow Cat's bio to match, or simply decided to proceed as planned regardless. Similarly, Energon comic author Simon Furman has stated he wrote Snow Cat as a unique individual unrelated to Cyclonus. And so, Snow Cat represents both Cyclonus and a new, separate character.