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 disks 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

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

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 The following would have taken place in unpublished issues.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

IDW Beast Wars comics continuity

"I'm strongly against introducing Female Transformers to any continuity!"

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.

"Look, every time I move my arm, it costs the Cartoon Network forty-two bucks!"

As it turned out, Razorbeast was a Maximal spy. Magmatron sent his new Predacon army to hunt down the Maximal and his band. During the conflict that followed, Manterror got his face smashed by Wolfang. The Gathering

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

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 the Hot Rod off of Grimlock. Micro-Aggressions

Toys

Beast Wars

A wild Scyther appeared!

• Manterror (Deluxe Predacon, 1997)
  • Accessories: 2 disc projectiles

Manterror transforms from a robot into an organic mantis. Each terrible foreclaw holds one of his disc-weapons and uses a pressure-launch mechanism to fling them.

He also has a head for a crotch.

This mold was used to make Beast Wars II Mantis.

• More information on Manterror at TFU.info

Notes

• Buzzclaw's function is "Quick Attack Specialist", and his toy bio states that he uses "ion disks", 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 Transformers (2010) Brimstone.

Foreign names

• French: Manterreur (Canada, "Manterror")
• Italian: Cannibal