Deathsaurus (G1)

This article is about the evil Decepticon Emperor of Destruction. For the heroic Decepticon Colonel, see Colonel Deathsaurus.

Deathsaurus is a Decepticon from the Victory portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Spell it right or you're kickbanned, buster.

Deathsaurus began terrorizing the galaxy long before ascending to the position of Decepticon Emperor of Destruction. For thousands of years, this savage and cruel dictator has spread terror throughout the universe, and has now set his sights upon the Earth as a source of energy to power his terrifying superweapon, the Planet-Destroying Fortress. And if Star Saber should get in his way, so much the better: Deathsaurus bears the Autobot Supreme Commander a bitter grudge, and relishes any opportunity to destroy him that presents itself.

Deathsaurus is a Breastforce warrior, partnered with two transforming chestplates that become the Breast Animals Tigerbreast and Eaglebreast. He wields a deadly spiked flail, and the Living-Metal-Destroying Cannon, which erodes the living metallic cells of super-robot lifeforms. The bladed wings of his creature mode absorb sunlight, converting it into dark energy, and he can then launch these energized blades at his opponents in an attack known as his "Death Wing". Despite all of these terrifying powers, however, Deathsaurus is a surprisingly "hands off" leader, who is perfectly happy to allow his subordinates to formulate their own plans and schemes to gather energy for him—but if they should fail, he'll always be there to berate and brutalize them. Even when the plans are his own, Deathsaurus is content to watch and command from a distance, rather than dirty his own hands—but he'll rarely waste a chance to engage Star Saber on the battlefield, and if that occurs, woe betide anyone who gets in Deathsaurus's way.

Curiously, Deathsaurus permits himself one distinctive, unusual foible: although he despises most humans, he has a surprising soft spot for children.

I will not forgive this, Star Saber! I swear! I swear I will crush you with my bare hands! I swear, you worm! With my bare hands!Deathsaurus tells you all you'll ever need to know about him, "Resurrection!? The Decepticon Fortress"

Japanese name: Deszaras (デスザラス de-su-za-ra-su)

English-Malay dub name: Deathsanras

Latin American dub name: Zan Ráz

Fiction

Victory cartoon

Voice actor: Takeshi Aono (Japanese)

500,000 years ago, striving to become the Decepticons' new Emperor of Destruction, Deathsaurus created a gigantic battle fortress capable of destroying planets, but an attack by the young Autobot commander Star Saber saw the fortress de-powered and trapped in a gravity cell at the heart of the region of space known as Dark Nebula. This began the enmity between Star Saber and Deathsaurus, and as both combatants rose through the ranks of their respective armies, Deathsaurus vowed to eventually liberate his fortress and use it to destroy Star Saber. Resurrection!? The Decepticon Fortress

Some years prior to 2025, after the conclusion of the Masterforce war on Earth, Deathsaurus succeeded Overlord as Decepticon leader and achieved his dream of becoming Emperor of Destruction. [1] Under his command, the Decepticons began seeking a planet that they could call their own and invaded worlds all across the galaxy. To counteract Deathsaurus's campaign of terror, the Autobots—now with Star Saber serving as their Supreme Commander—and many other sentient races formed the Galactic Peace Alliance, and struck back at the Decepticons with their Galactic Defense Force. As time passed and this conflict continued, Deathsaurus began focusing his attacks on "Sector One" of the galaxy, containing the planet Earth, until 2025, when the severity and frequency of the attacks forced Star Saber to take command of the Defense Force unit in that area himself. The Brave Hero of the Universe - Star Saber

When Deathsaurus's Dinoforce attacked the Lunar Base on Earth's moon, Star Saber raced to aid his fellow Brainmasters in battle there, only to find his way barred by Deathsaurus. Hoping to distract Star Saber long enough for the Dinoforce to finish their job, Deathsaurus engaged his old foe in battle, but Star Saber broke off the fight as quickly as he could and headed on toward the moon with Deathsaurus hot on his heels. After Star Saber defeated the Dinoforce, Deathsaurus caught up to him and unleashed his Breast Animals upon the Autobot in both beast and weapon forms. Star Saber eventually won out, defeating both the creatures and besting Deathsaurus in a swordfight, forcing the Decepticon leader to summon up his craft, the Thunder Arrow, and flee aboard it. The Brave Hero of the Universe - Star Saber

Recognizing the Earth as a rich source of energy that he could use to power up his Planet-Destroying Fortress, Deathsaurus centered most of his subsequent attacks on the planet, summoning the Breastforce to aid in the campaign. Sneak Attack! Dinoking Attack! Leozack Unite!! Multiforce Deathsaurus was entirely aware of the fact that the Breastforce's leader Leozack had designs on leadership of the Decepticons for himself, Move Out! Rescue Team but he was amused enough by it to let him slide by, allowing Leozack to believe that he was oblivious to his schemes. Residing on the Thunder Arrow as it hopscotched around the planet and solar system, Deathsaurus was content to watch as his troops staged numerous attacks on Earth. Infiltration... The Uranium Mine Explosion!! The Energy Base

Deathsaurus finally decided to join his troops on a mission when the Decepticon began draining electrical energy from an American subway system. While the Breastforce snuck through the subway tunnels, Deathsaurus himself targeted the power distribution center, where he was confronted by Star Saber. The true cunning of Deathsaurus's scheme was revealed when he let loose his Breast Animals, and Star Saber proved no match for the creatures in the small confines of the underground complex. Unfortunately for Deathsaurus, he had overlooked the fact that with both Breast Animals deployed, his own chest was left unprotected, leaving it open to an attack from Star Saber's Saber Blade. Wounded, Deathsaurus recalled his Breast Animals and fled, but not without successfully taking the energy he had managed to steal beforehand. Big City - Underground Terror

When the Breastforce were joined by Hellbat, the newcomer also adopted designs on the Decepticon throne. The New Warrior - Hellbat Deathsaurus was even less concerned with Hellbet's ambitions than he was with Leozack's, though, since the two would-be traitors were always too busy fighting with each other to pose a serious threat to him. In their constant games of one-upmanship, Leozack and Hellbat crafted numerous failed schemes of their own, eventually forcing Deathsaurus to step in and give his minions a mission of his own devising. Deathsaurus had the Decepticons hide in the asteroid belt and capture human shuttlecraft in order to use drain their energy and use them to create an energy alloy. Star Saber soon got wise to the villains' evildoings and arrived to put a stop to them, but again, Deathsaurus successfully escaped with his amassed energy. A Fierce Battle!! The Asteroid

While the Breastforce were busy on planet Micro, Deathsaurus and the Dinoforce took the Thunder Arrow into the Dark Nebula, where Deathsaurus emptied his stockpile of energy into his inactive fortress. The giant structure briefly flared back to life, but soon shut down once more; Deathsaurus was unfazed, having only sought to confirm whether or not the fortress could even be reactivated. On the trip back to Earth, the Decepticons crossed paths with Star Saber and the Rescue Patrol Team, and Deathsaurus engaged Star Saber in battle with his Living-Metal-Destroying Cannon. Although Deathsaurus was actually able to pull the trigger on what would have been a fatal blast, he discovered that he had expended too much of his energy supply reactivating his fortress, and his weapons systems shut down before he could end Star Saber's life, necessitating his tactical withdrawal. Resurrection!? The Decepticon Fortress

Deathsaurus next clashed with Star Saber in Antarctica, only stepping onto the battlefield after the Breastforce, combined as Liokaiser, had severely weakened Star Saber. Deathsaurus took over the fight, intent on being the one to deliver the final blow, but Star Saber was able to turn the battle around, and forced Deathsaurus into retreat. Fight to the Death!! Antarctic Battle In a later battle atop the Thunder Arrow, deep in the desert, Star Saber again humbled Deathsaurus, this time with the aid of Greatshot, but the fight left both the Supreme Commander and Blacker badly wounded. Crisis! Ambush in the Desert Capitalizing on the Autobots' reduced manpower, Deathsaurus stepped up the Decepticons' attacks across the planet, and removed another annoyance by finally calling Leozack out on his treachery. Easily besting the traitorous Breastforcer in combat, Deathsaurus forced him to swear total loyalty to him, or face death. Leozack made the logical choice, and then, combined with his fellow Breastforcers as Liokaiser, joined with his leader in staging an ambush for Star Saber in a subterranean cave in Asia. Disguising himself as a Terracotta Army-esque statue, Deathsaurus was able to get the drop on Star Saber when Liokaiser lured him into the cave, and again unleashed the Living-Metal-Destroying Cannon on his enemy. Once more, Deathsaurus stood poised to kill Star Saber with the weapon, until the last-minute arrival of God Ginrai, who took the fatal shot. Liokaiser had to persuade the incensed Deathsaurus to retreat as more Autobots arrived, A Deadly Battle but the Decepticon leader soon clashed with Star Saber once more in a later battle at a solar power station. Deathsaurus emerged victorious in that fight when Star Saber was forced to flee upon receiving news of Ginrai's deteriorating condition. Ginrai Dies!! Ginrai's life was saved, however, when he was rebuilt into the powerful new warror, Victory Leo. Fight!! Victory Leo

Next, Deathsaurus began bombarding the Earth with missiles from an orbital weapons platform, as a means of staying the Autobots' hands while his forces gathered energy across the planet. Star Saber and Victory Leo were able to thwart his plan by combining into the mighty Victory Saber; Deathsaurus's missile launch system had been programmed based on Star Saber's speed, but with the added power of Victory Leo, the Autobot hero was able to outrace the missiles, destroy the launcher and defeat Deathsaurus in an outer space battle. The Tide is Turned! The Ultimate Weapon, the Victory Unification

Following an attempt to destroy the Autobots with the metal-eating Dorya insects, The Death-Bringing Space Insects!! Deathsaurus was informed by Hellbat that he had discovered the location of the sunken continent of Atlantis, which could provide the raw energy to reactivate his fortress. Deathsaurus risked all or nothing to obtain Atlantis's energy, using up the Thunder Arrow's entire energy stockpile to raise the continent, but the plan proved a success, as the Autobots were too busy dealing with the devastating tidal waves caused by the rise of Atlantis to stop him from absconding with enough energy to bring his fortress back online. The Terror of the Giant Tidal Waves Having no further use for the bumbling Dinoforce, Deathsaurus abandoned them on Earth and headed back to the Dark Nebula with the Breastforce, where he successfully re-energized his fortress and began moving it towards Earth. The Wrath of the Resurrected Giant Fortress!

Intent on learning from the failures of all past Decepticon leaders, Deathsaurus chose not to conquer Earth, but to utterly destroy the planet, eradicting from Decepticon history the humiliating stain of defeat the planet represented. As the fortress rained destruction down upon Earth with meteor bombs, even Victory Saber could not stand up to its power. Soon, however, a resentful Dinoforce supplied information on the fortress's weak spot to Star Saber's adopted human son, Jean, who then used his own personal mech to enter the fortress and strike at this vulnerability. As he did so, Deathsaurus and Star Saber engaged in a vicious final battle, during which Deathsaurus lost an eye, and was eventually stopped when Star Saber broke his sword off in the villain's chest. Gushing fuel and fluid, Deathsaurus vowed to have the last laugh as he set the crippled fortress on a collision course with Earth and blew himself out an airlock, vowing to return again and again. But, as his body drifted off into space, no sign of life was visible from the conquered emperor. Victory Saber was able to subsequently destroy the fortress before it collided with Earth, but Deathsaurus was not heard from again. Showdown! The Fortress vs the Victory Unification

Victory manga

The mighty King Zaras. Mighty.

As a parallel to Star Saber's adoption of Jean, Deathsaurus had a "son" of his own, a human boy named Solon Kitakaze. Solon's mother was killed during a Decepticon attack on Earth, and Deathsaurus "adopted" the boy, turning him into a cyborg and raising him to believe that he was his son. Solon had frequent clashes with Jean, whose school he began attending, which often degenerated into "my dad can beat up your dad"-style arguments as their "fathers" battled. At one point, Deathsaurus even attempted to bribe Jean into joining the Decepticons with toys, games, candy and cash.

Solon had his own battle armour and often rode Deathsaurus's Breastars as steeds, but when Victory Leo and Star Saber merged into Victory Saber, Deathsaurus sought a way to increase his own power in a similar fashion and crafted a Transformer-sized mech for Solon named King Solon, with which he was able to combine, forming King Zaras. However, in the midst of this battle, Solon discovered the truth about his mother, and his distraction allowed Victory Saber to destroy the King Solon mecha. Deathsaurus fled, abandoning Solon, who accepted his earthly heritage and joined the Autobots.

During the final battle, as Deathsaurus's fortress attacks the Earth, it is he who battles Star Saber in space (unlike the animated series, in which Liokaiser takes this role). Leozack, then, is able to take his treachery to the ultimate extreme by turning the fortress's power on Deathsaurus, and Deathsaurus cripples the craft with his cannon as Star Saber takes Leozack down. Then, the wounded Deathsaurus reveals the true reason he has quested to liberate the fortress from the Dark Nebula—it is home to the Decepticons' families and civilians. As the shocked Autobots discover this, they meet Deathsaurus's wife, Esmeryl and Deathsaurus and Star Saber then make peace, shaking hands and vowing to work together for the betterment of the Transformer race.

Descent into Evil

Deathsaurus orchestrates the rise of a New Decepticon Empire, or NAMBLA.

Using a clone lab on Ceti Alpha Seven, Deathsaurus wished to revive the fading Decepticon Empire with a vast Insecticon army. After the first batch of clones was completed, his operation was interrupted by a team of Autobot commandos under the command of Ironhide. Deathsaurus overpowered and captured the first wave himself, and soon faced Ironhide one-on-one, while Ratchet attempted to rescue the fallen Autobots. Due to the assistance of Tripredacus Agent Flamewar, these two were defeated and captured as well.

They woke up bound inside Deathsaurus' clone lab. The Emperor of Destruction appeared on a television screen, declaring that his use for the lab was completed and was prepared to detonate it remotely with the Autobots inside. Unfortunately for Deathsaurus, the Autobot espionage agent Ricochet not only freed the Autobots before the explosion occurred, but also seeded the remaining clones with a virus, leaving Deathsaurus with nothing to show for his work.

Toys

Victory

• Deszaras (Large Breastforce, 1989)
  • Japanese ID number: D-336
  • Accessories: Tail/shield, rifle, Tigerbreast & Eaglebreast "Breast Animals"

The original Deathsaurus toy transformed into a nondescript dragon-lizard thing with wings (or giant mutant space chicken) that doesn't really look like anything except ugly. Unusually for post-Generation 1 toys, he has die-cast-metal feet in beast mode.

In robot mode, both of his Breast Animal components can be slotted inside his spring-loaded chest (or kaiju-mode back) to form his elaborate torso armor; Eaglebreast must go in first, then Tigerbreast added on top. Both Breast Animals can also become hand-held weapons. He is armed with a light blue laser rifle — which, despite what the boxart and cartoon would have you believe, does not have a removable flail— and a large shield constructed out of his tail that can mount on either bicep.

Timelines

• Descent into Evil (multi-pack, 2005)
  • Accessories: 2 hilts, 2 sword-blade/missiles

If you squint, he could still be Megatron.

Part of the BotCon 2005 "Descent into Evil" boxset, Deathsaurus is a blue and black retool of Robots in Disguise version of Megatron/Galvatron. He comes with a pair of swords that can launch their blade-missiles through a pressure-launch mechanism, as well as combine at their bottom ends to form a large double-blade weapon. The blade-missiles are rounded off for safety reasons like the other Hasbro uses of the mold.

His head is a new sculpt based on Deathsaurus's appearance in the Victory anime (though Deathsaurus's face seems to be copied from Megatron's). Deathsaurus's mold was originally a ten-changer, though the "gargoyle"/bat mode was neutered for this release due to the dropping of the bat snout piece, required to give his new head enough space inside his chest cavity for other modes. He still retains the other nine modes (robot, dragster, jet, two-headed dragon, hand, mammoth, hydrofoil, one-headed dragon, and winged griffin). His tail-piece was removed for in-box storage, but easily popped back on since it's on a ball-and-socket joint.

Merchandise

Super Figure Collection

• Deszaras (2002)

File:SFCAct7Deszaras.jpg

It was cold. I dressed in layers.

Deathsaurus was released in Act 7 of the Takara Super Collection Figure line as a non-transforming PVC with a funky pose and limited posability. Two pieces came per case of 12 PVCs, one in full-color and one in pewter-finish. He also came with a clear-plastic stand, and the pewter version came with one piece to add to wave-mate Star Saber to turn him into Victory Saber. (This add-on piece could also be either full-color or pewter-finish.)

A limited chase version (shown here) features his inner Breastforce member, Eaglebreast, rather than the normal version's Tigerbreast.

Deathstickus

• Deathsaurus pin (2005)

The first 100 BotCon 2005 Primus-package preregistrants received an exclusive Deathsaurus pin as part of their registration package.

Trivia

• Deathsaurus's name is the source of a long-lasting argument. The phonetic Japanese reading of the name is: "De-su-za-ra-su". This is represented in English on his toy packaging and tech specs as "Deszaras." English-speaking fans would long debate the "proper" romanization of the name, interpreting it as Deszaras, Deathzaras, Deathsaurus, Death Czarus, Def Zarce, Deaths 'R' Us, Debt Source, Darth Sass, Death's Arse and god knows what else. "Deathsaurus" had a tendency to be the most popular and well-known (on account of it actually meaning something), which led to it being used on the character's first official Western toy, making it his official American name. However, it is unlikely that this was supposed to be the actual name for the character—were his name "saurus", then it would be rendered as "sa-u-ru-su" or "za-u-ru-su" in Japanese, rather than "za-ra-su"—and that his name was genuinely intended to be the word, "Deszaras", which resembles the pattern for naming of Kaiju monsters (see below). The character appears with the "Deszaras" name on the Region 2 Transformers: Victory DVD boxset.

Anyway, if you plan on insisting his name is "Deszaras", please learn to spell it.

• While often called a dragon or occasionally a griffin (or a giant chicken), Deathsaurus is most likely styled after traditional Japanese "kaiju", such as Godzilla or Rodan. Hence, the Kaiju-esque name, "Deszaras".

• His Japanese name (Deszaras) is spelled really closely to the Hungarian phrase for "so shitty" and also the equivalent to "bugger me", which in turn, if taken literally, means "to crap oneself in the pants". Whichever phrase we look at, the incident nevertheless caused a lot of joy in the Hungarian fan community.

• In Dreamwave's Generation One #10, Deathsaurus was seen as a statue representing an ancient transformer, together with Dai Atlas.

• The original Deathsaurus mold was redecoed into the non-living "Red Geist" mech for Takara's Brave of Legend Da Garn toyline, which lacked the Eaglebreast partner. Although the character design in the television show for the line was significantly modified from that of Deathsaurus, including replacing Tigerbreast's tiger mode with a jet mode, the Red Geist toy itself was not retooled.

External links

• Deathsaurus on TFU.info
  
  
  From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki, a Wikia wiki.