Elephan

This article is about the Beast Wars: Uprising Predacon. For the Aligned Autobot, see Sledgehammer.

Elephan is a Beastformer from the Generation 1 continuity family.

So what does it mean when you see purple elephants? Probably not good things.

One of the physically strongest beings on planet Beast, Elephan (エレファン Erefan) can literally move mountains if he really puts his weight into it. Even a single punch from his Ultra Hammer arm can blow away a building. And while he's slow, he's able to mitigate that by teaming up with Wildthunder, who has the strength and sheer inertia to pull Elephan along into a devastating rushing body blow attack. And staying back away from him isn't even safe, as his Elehammer (エレハンマー Erehanmā) MVP Weapon fires "Elebeams" capable of cutting through 50 cm thick steel.

But like many strongbeasts in White Leo's army, Elephan is a gentle giant who doesn't want to fight, but does so for the sake of peace and protecting others. He wears his big heart on his sleeve, has a boisterous booming laugh, and is easily moved to tears. It's not hard to love the big guy, and even difficult people find themselves opening up to someone so open and honest. But not all of his big emotions are nice: he does have a temper, and if he's pushed into anger, he can go on absolutely devastating rampages... after which he's sure to feel very, very bad about.

Following the Great War, he reigns as the King of Stoll, with his good friend Wildthunder as his subordinate Emperor. Elephan's warm and open nature is slowly helping Wildthunder work on his impulsive side.

Fiction

Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

The Headmasters cartoon

Lots of trunk space. HA! I kill me!

The Elephan were a species of Beastformer allied with the rebels led by White Leo against Decepticon invaders and their allies, the evil Beastformers led by Alligatron. Some Elephans were kidnapped, to be used as slaves in the construction of components of Scorponok's transtector. One Elephan was part of Big Serow's attack on the Decepticon stronghold that ultimately failed when the opposing attacks proved too much. Assistance soon came when the Autobot Transformers came, and two Elephans were there to welcome them.

The Elephan slaves were rescued through the efforts of Daniel, Wheelie, and the Monsterbots. At the same time, an Elephan was part of a force led by White Leo to rescue the slaves. The two Beastformer groups joined and emerged from the caves just in time to see the Decepticon invaders leave the planet. Rebellion on Planet Beast

The Headmasters comic

Elephan, among others, was menaced by Predaking and the Sharkticons, led by Alligatron. They were able to escape when Brainstorm and Highbrow distracted the giant combiner. The Decisive Battle of Planet Beast!

Legends comic

Elephan was among the Beastformers who joined the Laser Beasts in fighting against Galvatron II's invading Decepticons on Beast. He watched as the Legends World refugees took off in the Axalon to ram Nemesis. The Road to Legends' Revival Chapter 3

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

Elephan was in the forefront of battle against Megatron and his Air Warriors when they showed up on Planet Beest. Welcome to the Jungle

Beast Wars: Uprising

Sledgehammer of Peptex was a heavily armored 'bot who trafficked contraband. When members of the Maximal Command Security Force raided a warehouse in the hopes of stopping a shipment of Energon from reaching the Resistance fighting against the Builders' reign, they came upon Sledgehammer. Stiletto, Wolfang, and Aura tried to bring him down, but Sledgehammer was so juiced up on Nucleon during the encounter that he managed to keep all three of them at bay, despite the massive amounts of damage he was dealt. After chopping off Wolfang's legs, Sledgehammer made his escape through a window and ran off into the night. Burning Bridges

Toys

Transformers: Beastformers

He's gotta be on the set of The Young Ones later.

• Elephan (Beastformer, 1987)

• ID number: 8
• Pack: A
• Accessories: Lance (usually)

Part of the first series of Takara's Beastformers toys, Elephan is an anthropomorphic African elephant in black robotic armor. His left arm ends in a sledgehammer (albeit one not exactly positioned to be good at vertical hammering blows, oh well). The Battle Emblem on his... groin.... reveals one of three symbols when warmed up (ummmm); Fire, Water or Wood.

He usually comes with a silver lance-weapon marked with the same ID number as on his back. However, Beastformers is notorious for toys coming with someone else's weapon; it's unclear if this was just originally poor QC, but in the sequel series, this semi-random weaponry was actually turned into a "gimmick".

He was only available in the "A Pack" assortment (which was only printed on the shipping case), and came in a red-grid generic "Cybertron Beastformer" box. He came with a Transformers-style bio card with a painted character image on a red grid backdrop, though there was a chance his bio card would instead be replaced with the rare "Holography Mirror" hologram card featuring Platinum Tiger.

Merchandise

Meiji candy toys

• Ramune Beastformers Battle Card (1988)
  • Meiji ID number: 25

A gold-foil "Battle Card" of Elephan, featuring his painted character art from his original bio card, was available in randomly-packed sets of cards that came with ramune-flavored candy tablets. The back of the card features a severely truncated bio, with data for the game from the Meiji chocoball SD figures' packaging.

Though this card shows line-art of a super-deformed Elephan toy, no actual toy was ever produced.

Notes

• As he was not sold in the post-Transformers sequel series and thus had no bio card, his "RPG"-era bio comes from the Hero Special 4: Beastformers mook. This bio gives him the nickname "Elly" (エリー Erī).
• A 1987 Beastformers spread from Tele-V Magazine named his weapon the "Beam Spear" (ビームスピア Bīmu Supia). This is the same source that named his hammer-hand the "Ultra Hammer".

Foreign names

• English: Sledgehammer Elephant