Tarantulas (BW)

This article is a featured article, and considered to be one of the most informative on this wiki.

Tarantulas is a Predacon from the Beast Wars portion of the Generation 1 continuity family. He is sometimes known as Tarantulus.

"And fries! Lots of FRIES!"

Tarantulas is the scheming mad scientist of the Predacon crew. He's the type of mad scientist who experiments on living beings, cackling in his trademarked laugh all the while, and then if things go wrong, happily eats what's left as his midday snack. The eating is what he was really looking forward to, anyway. It's this focused perversity that turns off even his fellow Predacons. Tarantulas's emotional detachment from their war also rubs his peers the wrong way. Fighting Maximals and following orders is just a required chore; his real passion is the unmentionable projects stashed in his "secret" lair.

Nominally, Tarantulas was one of the Predacons to join Megatron during his theft of the Golden Disk and the search for Earth. In addition to being an utterly psychotic, sadistic sociopath, Tarantulas has a record for treachery rivaled by few other Transformers. Tarantulas is actually an agent of the Tripredacus Council, which is trying to coax the Beast Wars toward an unspecified goal, where neither Autobot or Decepticon won the Great War. Who knows what other dark secrets lie in his past.

If anything upsets Tarantulas, other than losing a potential meal, it's those pompous aliens who call themselves the Vok. He harbors a hatred for them strong enough to make him work to eliminate them by any means.

“	You're insane.	”
—Tigerhawk

“	So they saa-aay! Wbrrwbrrbbppth!	”
—Tarantulas, "Other Victories"

Japanese name: Tarans (タランス Taransu)

Chinese name (Taiwan): Jr-jū (蜘蛛, "Spider"), Húng Jr-jū (紅蜘蛛, "Red Spider")

Chinese name (Mainland):Láng-Zhū (狼蛛，tarantula)

Italian name: Metal Tarantulas (Transmetal)

Polish name: Tarantulator

Brazilian name: Tarântulos

Fiction

First wave toy bios

Why Megatron, I do believe you're trying to seduce m-- oh, hey, Razorbeast.

Tarantulas is a sneaky, mysterious ninja feared across the galaxy. A master of the martial arts, he's suspected in the disappearances of many Earthlings, and rumors swirl of giant cocoons where he stores his prey.Tarantulas bio

Later, Tarantulas was guarding the Predacons' jungle-based genetics lab along with Megatron and Waspinator. When the Maximals discovered them, he engaged Razorbeast in combat briefly before Megatron called retreat and destroyed the lab. Optimus Primal vs Megatron!

This comic, along with the on-package bios of the first wave of Beast Wars toys, predate the development of the Beast Wars cartoon and its backstory. They seem to present the characters as a direct continuation of the previous Autobot/Decepticon conflict, with Optimus Primal actually being a new form of Optimus Prime and Megatron being his Generation 1 counterpart, and their battles taking place on present day, human-inhabited Earth, rather than in the distant past. Once the cartoon launched, the toyline adjusted itself to match that continuity instead, relegating this one to an aborted micro-continuity.

Cartoon continuity

Theft of the Golden Disk

What y'wanna do? Wanna be hackers? Code crackers? Slackers? Wastin' time with all the chatroom yakkers? WHAT?

Tarantulas decoded the information on the Golden Disk, freshly stolen by Megatron. He thought this was quite hilarious, but then, he thinks that about everything. Theft of the Golden Disk

Dawn of Future's Past

See? A Planet X key in the corner of the pic. He's working for Unicron! Get him!

As Megatron and his rogue band of Predacons escaped Cybertron in their stolen ship, the Darksyde, Tarantulas was in charge of scanning the disk for a desired set of coordinates. While Megatron was not watching, he was in secret communication with a member of the Tripredacus Council. (The reflections in his helmet show the silhouette of General Cicadacon.)

Using the decoded coordinates, the Darksyde opened a transwarp portal, which it and the Axalon passed through. Dawn of Future's Past

Beast Wars cartoon

Voice actor: Alec Willows (English), Yūichi Nagashima (Japanese), Fábio Vilalonga (Portuguese), Riccardo Peroni (Italian), Hervé Joly (French)

Not arachnophobic, eh? I can fix that.

Tarantulas was one of the original crew on the Darksyde when it crashed on prehistoric Earth. As Megatron's technical leader, he manned the scanners to appropriate beast forms based on the most powerful local creatures, choosing the form of an oversized spider for himself. He cheerfully took part in the first battle of the Beast Wars, only to succumb to energon buildup while the Maximals were escaping. Beast Wars (Part 1) The Predacons uncovered a stash of energon crystals atop a mountain, but were forced to fight in their beast modes. Tarantulas and Rattrap fought in this manner until Megatron triggered a chain reaction which caused the energon to explode. Beast Wars (Part 2)

It wasn't long before Tarantulas had set up his own underground lair to keep his experiments away from Megatron's prying eyes. After helping Scorponok recover a mega-cannon, Tarantulas managed to capture Cheetor, trapping the young Maximal in a web in his lair with the intent of feeding later. Rattrap mounted a rescue, during which the cavern caved in on Tarantulas The Web Tarantulas was blasted by Rattrap during the battle at the Standing Stones, and later accompanied Megatron and Terrorsaur to attack the Axalon after it appeared that Optimus Primal had perished. After the Maximals got the ship's shields back up, he suggested to Megatron that they return to the Standing Stones. Unfortunately once there, the Maximals managed to retrieve Primal from the alien probe at the site, and Tarantulas was one of the first victims of the restored Maximal commander. Chain of Command

Terrorsaur, his power boosted, defeated Megatron in combat before leaving Tarantulas in charge of the other Predacons. Tarantulas promptly tailed Terrorsaur to find out what his new power source was, and discovered it was a flying mountain topped with a cache of super energon. Before he could do anything with the knowledge, he encountered Rattrap, who'd come to destroy the mountain. Their fight ended with Tarantulas falling from the side of the mountain. Power Surge He subsequently took part in an attack on the Maximal base after a stasis pod crashed. While Megatron kept Dinobot distracted, Tarantulas and Scorponok ambushed the Maximal from behind. Unfortunately for them, Dinobot had time to activate the base defenses, and Tarantulas was blasted into the distance by the auto-guns. Fallen Comrades

When the Predacons finally captured a stasis pod, Tarantulas made sure that the protoform was given a spider beast mode, creating Blackarachnia. Megatron suspected he had ulterior motives. Tarantulas seemed happy to follow Terrorsaur when the Predacon again mounted a takeover attempt with the aid of Rattrap, but spent most of his time skulking around the Darksyde in search of rats to eat. He spotted Rattrap sneaking around, but the Maximal blasted him before he could do anything. He subsequently limped back to the others to find that Megatron had reasserted his leadership. Double Jeopardy After one of Scorponok's viruses turned Primal into a berserker, the Maximal leader broke into the Predacon base and, completely ignoring Tarantulas's attempts to stop him, pinned the spider to a wall using Tarantulas's own weapon. Gorilla Warfare

One of Tarantulas's many inventions, the transformation lock lens was instrumental in preventing the Maximals from contacting a temporal probe which was doing a flyby of the planet. He was able to use it to ensnare Tigatron and Cheetor, then wreaked havoc with the Maximals' attempts to build a communications array, before he was finally defeated by Primal. The damage was already done, and the probe flew by uncontacted. The Probe After the Predacons discovered a Maximal spy camera in their base, they faked a mutiny and hid in a crevice. Tarantulas spent his nights being hugged like a stuffed toy by Waspinator, and his days eating stray rats. While the Maximals repaired the Axalon, the Predacons were discovered by Dinobot, and gave chase. Though they attacked the Maximal ship in an attempt to capture it, the affair ended with the Axalon crashing back to the ground. Victory After a Maximal victory, largely due to the efforts of Rhinox, Tarantulas captured the rhino in a web on Megatron's orders, so that he could be converted into a Predacon by the Transmuter. Dark Designs

Tarantulas detected another stasis pod landing in Grid Scavos, but Megatron refused to let him go and assist in the recovery, much to his disgust. The Spark The next time a stasis pod crashed, Tarantulas was more prepared. From his lair, he used a magna pulse to disable both the Darksyde and Axalon to allow him to investigate without interference. Unfortunately for him, Blackarachnia had found his lair, and insisted on coming along to help. At the pod, Tarantulas reprogrammed the new arrival into a Predacon, but was disappointed that a beast mode had already been chosen, and Inferno would not be another spider. In the confusion that followed, he made off with the real prize — the stasis pod itself. Unfortunately for him, Tigatron destroyed the pod before he could get very far, and he was forced to retreat when Megatron arrived. Later, in his lair, he inadvertently told Blackarachnia that the planet was doomed, and she realised he was intending to build an escape ship, however he threw her out before she could work out any more of his plans. Spider's Game

Tarantulas took part in a diversionary attack while Waspinator and Terrorsaur stole the Maximals' rectifier coil. After the Maximals went feral, the Predacons mounted a hunting expedition, though Tarantulas was stuck supporting the back end of Megatron's chair. Call of the Wild On another occasion, Tarantulas detected what appeared to be walking energon. Megatron realised that an earlier battle had left four of the Maximals contaminated and blinded, and ordered Tarantulas to send Terrorsaur to investigate. Dark Voyage After Waspinator was possessed by the ghost of Starscream, Tarantulas took part in the attack on the Axalon, and pointed out once they'd conquered it that their own base was now undefended. Megatron's answer was to leave Starscream in charge of the Axalon, a decision which would come back to bite him later. Possession

"See? I told you I was taller than Tarantulas."

During an attack on the Maximal base, Tarantulas was able to infect Rhinox with an energon discharge virus, though he himself was injured by Dinobot during the retreat. He was tracked by Dinobot and Rattrap, but eventually turned the tables by getting the drop on them, only to be flattened by a huge boulder. After recovering, he took advantage of their incessant arguing by trying to get the drop on them again, only to be knocked unconscious by a double punch. Finally, Dinobot attempted to use Tarantulas's body as a hostage, only for Megatron to blast it aside. Perhaps his only consolation was that he avoided the indignity of the fate that befell the rest of the Predacons. The Low Road

With the return of the aliens a certainty, Tarantulas stole a transwarp cell from the Darksyde, slagging Waspinator in the process. Megatron detected the theft and used Blackarachnia as a distraction while he remotely inserted his own programming into the cell. The two spiders later took part in an attempt to prevent Tigatron from escaping the Predacon base, and were squished by a boulder Dinobot had set up. They were relatively uninjured and able to haul their damaged comrades back to the ship. Before the Storm The two spiders teamed up again, infiltrating the Maximal base and disabling Rhinox and Dinobot while the other Maximals were busy with the latest alien construct to appear. Other Voices, Part 1 In the cargo hold, Tarantulas used the transwarp cell and a stasis pod to construct a ship, but was interrupted by Inferno, who torched the spider. Fortunately, Blackarachnia entered Tarantulas's mind to obtain the information to complete the escape ship, and he was able to set up a permanent neural link between the two Predacons. Other Voices, Part 2

A new look, and he didn't even have to sell out to Tony Stark for it!

When the quantum surge knocked out all of the Transformers on Earth, Tarantulas's body was upgraded to a Transmetal form, and he forced Blackarachnia to drag it from the Maximal base, even getting her to ignore Megatron's command to stay and fight the Maximals. Aftermath With Blackarachnia's hard work and some serious-looking electrical arc generators, Tarantulas was restored to life. Megatron soon called him to the battlefield, so he left Blackarachnia to root around in their leader's computer files. Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1) Using his new cycle mode, Tarantulas quickly reached the Maximals' position. During the fight, he kept in contact with her, until a shot by Dinobot put him temporarily out of commission. After he came around, Blackarachnia reported that she'd failed to get the data he needed. The Predacons were soon routed by the resurrection of Optimus Primal, and forced to return to base. There, Megatron and Tarantulas questioned Blackarachnia, only to be told the vital data had been lost. Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)

With his old lair destroyed by the Planet Buster, Tarantulas was fortuitous in that Megatron assigned him with Blackarachnia and Quickstrike to check out a cave filled with energon. He quickly surmised that it would make an excellent new lair, and attempted to get his two comrades interested in going it alone. Blackarachnia was more interested in getting rid of the neural link the two of them shared, and cracked an energon crystal, sending feedback through the link, to force him to sever it. By a fortunate coincidence, the three Predacons were soon attacked by Silverbolt and Rattrap, and during the battle Tarantulas was able to convincingly fake the destruction of the cave, allowing him to utilise it as his own lair. Tangled Web When Dinobot defected to the Predacon side, Tarantulas offered to verify his programming, but Megatron decided it wouldn't be a very good idea to let Tarantulas into Dinobot's processor. Maximal, No More

Back in his lair, Tarantulas's instruments detected the aliens again, and he rushed off to the site. He arrived shortly after Tigatron and Airazor had been abducted, and zapped Cheetor, but was forced to retreat when more Maximals arrived. He visited Megatron, claiming to no longer be under the tyrant's command, but willing to help. The Predacons returned to the alien site to set up equipment, during which Blackarachnia revealed that she had learned through the broken neural link that Tarantulas hated the aliens. Other Visits (Part 1) Megatron, Quickstrike, and Tarantulas recovered quickly from the energy wave put out by the new alien construct, and after Tarantulas's refractive web was activated, the trio ventured inside. Once Megatron had control of the construct, he terminated his alliance with Tarantulas, dropping the Predacon from a great height. Infuriated, Tarantulas helped the Maximals attack the construct, infiltrating it along with Rattrap, and sabotaging the transwarp cells which Megatron installed, causing the ship to explode. Other Visits (Part 2)

Though a bug planted on Megatron's chair, Tarantulas learned that Blackarachnia had been sent to recover a new protoform, and took the opportunity to threaten her to try and extract the information he suspected she'd gained from Megatron's computers. Unfortunately for him, Silverbolt stepped in and defended Blackarachnia, shortly before an energon explosion separated everyone. Though Tarantulas found the stasis pod, its contents found him, and his body parts were spread liberally over a wide area. Bad Spark Dinobot later tracked down Tarantulas in an attempt to find out what Megatron's latest scheme was. Though Tarantulas didn't know, Dinobot forced him to act as transport, and they soon found Megatron preparing to torch a valley fill of Protohumans. Tarantulas took advantage of Dinobot's distraction to shoot the Maximal, only for Dinobot to drop a boulder on him. Code of Hero

Tarantulas presses the History Eraser Button.

Alerted by the transwarp wavefront, the Tripredacus Council sent covert agent Ravage to capture Megatron. The former Decepticon led the Maximals to apprehend Megatron, and Tarantulas assisted by taking down the Darksyde's defense system. The Agenda (Part 1) Megatron was later informed by Ravage that the spider was in reality Lieutenant Tarantulas, of the Predacon Secret Police and an agent of the Tripredacus Council. Tarantulas was able to instruct the Maximals in the location of a stash of energon crystals that Megatron had hidden. The Agenda (Part 2) When Ravage was persuaded to change sides by the Predacon leader, Tarantulas appeared to come too, manning the transwarp cruiser's weapons systems for an attack on the Axalon. Alas, Rattrap chewed his way into the ship and tossed a couple of bombs at Tarantulas, which stuck to his hands before exploding. The Agenda (Part III)

Tarantulas survived, though, and was quickly put back together by his arachnoids. He was repaired in time to witness the destruction of the Axalon. Optimal Situation He was soon seen back at the Predacon base, taking part in field missions for Megatron. He battled the Maximals alongside Megatron's cyber raptors, taking the opportunity to try out his new Transmetal cyber venom to great success, though he was stomped on by a cyber raptor once the Maximals worked out how to destroy their controls. Cutting Edge He assisted in the construction of Megatron's disruptor cannon, suggesting that they abduct an early human to complete the device when the other Predacons were unable to get too close to it due to the unstable power source. While the cannon was completed by Una, she managed to use her knowledge of levers to tip a piece of heavy equipment on him. Though he survived that, Una had taken the cannon's stablizer crystal, and it exploded in the Predacons' faces when they tried to use it. Go with the Flow

When the Maximals attempted to remove Blackarachnia's shell program, he revealed to Megatron that he had included "certain safeguards" that guaranteed she would not survive, and joined the other Predacons in an attack on the Maximals that was meant to disrupt the attempted shell removal. He fired the missile which knocked the Maximals' power off-line at a crucial instant, seemingly bringing an end to his "treacherous creation". Enraged by the death of his beloved, Silverbolt attempted to kill the scientist, but was thwarted by Rampage, who was later defeated by a revived—and Transmetalized—Blackarachnia. Crossing the Rubicon

Tarantulas participated in the Predacons' next attempt to retake the Ark, utilising his latest invention to allow Quickstrike to take control of Optimus Primal. He manipulated Quickstrike into throwing Megatron into the nearby lava while he himself set the Ark's engines to overload. At this point, he claimed to be descended from neither the Autobots nor the Decepticons, which was why he was willing to destroy the core members of both factions then present (in stasis lock) in the Ark. Megatron survived his lava-dunking, gaining a new body in the process. However, he had lost his patience. While he'd tolerated Tarantulas's treachery, he could not tolerate incompetence. Tarantulas survived his punishment and fled back to his lair. Master Blaster

Oh, yeah, he meant to do this. Right. Sure, he did.

When the Vok emissary Tigerhawk arrived on Earth shortly afterwards, Tarantulas managed to disable and capture him. Tarantulas intended to force the all-powerful being into his servitude by drawing the Vok influences out of his body and reprogramming him. The scheme backfired, however, as his energy beam device expelled two actual Vok out of Tigerhawk. The formless spectres attempted to take over Tarantulas' body. Panicking, he opened fire on them—a futile gesture that merely served to spin the energy device around 'til its rays were blasting him and his lab equipment. Overloaded by the beams, Tarantulas exploded, leaving nothing behind but his boots. The remainder of his equipment detonated seconds later, blowing the lair to rubble. Cheetor managed to rescue the inert Tigerhawk, and Tarantulas was presumed dead. Other Victories

While searching the ruins of Tarantulas's lair, Megatron offhandedly referred to him as "Unicron's spawn". They discovered that at some point, Tarantulas had uncovered the Nemesis, the flagship of the Decepticon fleet, lying at the bottom of the ocean and restored it to working status, as well as installing a transwarp cell. Nemesis Part 1

Beast Wars Diorama Story

Sometime after Starscream's arrival to prehistoric Earth, Tarantulas was confronted in battle by a time-displaced Motorarm, who fended off the Predacon with his Beetle Claw attack. Tarantulas was not present when the Autobots from another universe and Maximals combined all of their energies to attack a team of Predacons and Decepticons. Motorarm Chapter

3H comics

Tarantulas is the inventor of the mind-drill. Megatron "borrowed" it from him to get information out of Antagony. Herald

File:PrimevalDawn2-TarantulasMatrix.jpg

Further proving the maxim: "If you want to steal the Matrix, you basically can."

Following the Beast Wars, Tarantulas's body returned to life, reanimated by the Vok powers he'd previously absorbed. The undead Tarantulas, along with a rebuilt Ravage (as Tripredacus Agent), nurtured new troops to life through enigmatic means, growing Razorclaw and Iguanus in tubes. Primeval Dawn Part 1

The remaining Vok anticipated Tarantulas's plan to destroy the rest of them, take their power, and fashion the timestream to his desires, and so they assembled an army of their own consisting of Primal Prime, Airazor, and Tigatron. Tarantulas met this opposition in battle, overwhelmed them, and triumphantly ripped the Matrix of Leadership from Primal Prime's chest. Primeval Dawn Part 2

Wounded critically, the Maximals withdrew to the Ark, while Tarantulas and his Predacons returned to his lair, where he directed them in the construction of a transwarp portal. Upon completion, Tarantulas planned to bring his stolen prize to his master, Unicron. Since his troops were getting restless, he promised them they could assault the Ark once they finished construction. Tarantulas was true to his word, and as Ravage led the Predacons against the Maximals, Unicron's spawn tried to stabilize the portal and prepared the Matrix for transport. Primeval Dawn Part 3

3H Productions dissolved before this storyline could be completed. Based on the subsequent Wreckers and Universe storylines, it can be assumed that the Matrix of Leadership was restored to Optimus Prime's body at the end of this altercation, the Maximals were triumphant and used Tarantulas's portal to return home to Cybertron, and that Tarantulas somehow fled to Unicron.

Basically I just never die.

A year after the Great Reformatting, the influence of Unicron swayed Blackarachnia to the side of darkness. As she was escorted by Tankor and Reptilion into the heart of the Chaos Bringer, she was surprised to see Tarantulas (still in his undead body) greet her as she joined the ranks of the Minions of Unicron. She hissed with disgust, while Tarantulas noted that it was just like old times. Escape

Tarantulas had learned that Alpha Trion had been assembling the Children of Primus to counter Unicron's Minions, and so he sent Blackarachnia on a mission to Cybertron to sever the link between the Transformers and Primus by invading Vector Sigma's chamber and destroying Alpha Trion. He gave Blackarachnia a swarm of Piranacons and directions to the chamber through a structural weakpoint near the Rust Sea. Homecoming

A Meeting of Minds

This story takes place immediately after "Master Blaster."

The original Megatron, now inside the mind of Predacon Megatron, berated the Predacon leader's failures—in particular, being led astray time and again by such treacherous subordinates as Tarantulas. A Meeting of Minds

Beast Wars Metals comic

Following the Quantum surge, Tarantulas was upgraded into a Transmetal. Scheming with Megatron within their floating island base, the Hindenburg, Tarantulas developed a plan to revive the deceased Optimus Primal as a Predacon slave. Recovering Primal's mindless, raging body, Tarantulas staged a strange voodoo ceremony (complete with boiling cauldron). As Megatron pricked his finger and prepared to use his mutated blood to turn Primal's rampaging body into his slave, the spark of Optimus Primal returned to it just in the nick of time. As Primal turned into a Transmetal, Tarantulas began to celebrate, convinced that his plan had worked out better than he had thought, unaware of what was really going on. An angry Optimus Primal then proceeded to knock Tarantulas's block off. Raise the Curtain for Beast Wars Metals!!

Fire in the Dark

When human archaeologists uncovered a cave filled with primitive language, Mini-Con Laserbeak translated it for them. The markings told of a time when the Maximals and Predacons crashlanded on prehistoric Earth, though the stranded Transformers were seen by the protohumans as gods. The "spider-god" and the "wasp-god," under instruction from their leader, enslaved the humans for the purposes of excavating "glowing rose crystals." Eventually, the Maximals came and freed the humans. Fire in the Dark

IDW Beast Wars comics

Tarantulas programmed the Predacons' mobile fortress, the Arachnid, utilizing his own personality programs to give it some form of sentience, accompanied by Tarantulas's own tendency for cruelty.Beast Wars Sourcebook

Games

Beast Wars: Transformers video game

Voice actor: ?

This game takes place in an alternate version of the first season of the Beast Wars cartoon.

Some great dialog there, Tarry.

Upon arriving on prehistoric Earth, the dangers of Energon radiation forced the Maximals and Predacons to take on beast alternate forms. Tarantulas picked up a tarantula in his palm and scanned it. Soon, Tarantulas spotted Cheetor moving in on the Predacons' crash site. Swearing revenge, Tarantulas transformed and attacked, and threatened to skin the Maximal alive. Beast Wars: Transformers video game advertising comic

Tarantulas is a playable character in the Predacon mode of this game for normal gameplay.

Sadly, there's no Eat Cheetor level.

All of the Beast Wars combatants had managed to construct personal bases, customized to their personal tastes, due to the extended duration of the war. Tarantulas overtook Rhinox's base and reprogrammed its defenses, prompting the Maximals to retake it.Tarantulas warred against both the Maximals and the evil extra-dimensional aliens dubbed the Skriix. Beast Wars: Transformers (video game)

Due to the nature of this game, a player may select various individual characters to perform the feats required in every level, and complete the game's narrative. Thus, any playable Maximal can fill the role of protagonist in Maximal Mode, and any playable Predacon can fill the role of protagonist in Predacon Mode. As such, each character's page only lists said character's actions when they fill the role of antagonist during gameplay. To view the various feats Tarantulas can accomplish throughout gameplay in Predacon Mode, it is told on the pages of the several Maximals included as opponents in this game, as well as the game's main antagonists, the Skriix, wherein Tarantulas fills the role of the nameless Predacon. To view the plot as a whole view the Beast Wars: Transformers (video game) page.

Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals video game

Arboreal Camouflage Tarantulas? Blue Crusader Tarantulas?

This game takes place in an alternate version of the second season of the Beast Wars cartoon.

Voice Actor: Alec Willows (English), ??? (Japanese)

Tarantulas found a way to escape prehistoric Earth and return to Cybertron. The Beast Wars progressed in his absence for a time...

Tarantulas in the N64 Game

Then he came back, newly promoted and with an armada of Transwarp battleships under his command, out to end the Beast Wars and enforce the Tripredacus Council's will... Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals

Each character possessed an alternate ending, displayed if the Nintendo 64 game was beaten with said character. Each character has only their own ending listed on their pages, see the other characters' pages for Tarantulas's fate in those outcomes.

Duel Fight Transformers Beast Wars: Beast Warriors' Strongest Decisive Battle video game

Megatron was capable of summoning Tarantulas forth to the battlefield during his attempts to acquire the super-powerful energon crystal. Duel Fight Transformers Beast Wars: Beast Warriors' Strongest Decisive Battle

Toys

Beast Wars

Hey, guess who's going to be redecoed into a hot girl?

• Tarantulas (Deluxe, 1996/1997)
  • Japanese ID number: D-4
  • Accessories: Launcher, 4 spider-leg missiles

Part of the first wave of Beast Wars product, Tarantulas transforms into an organic generic spider (not a tarantula). His abdomen contains a spring-loaded missile launcher, which fires the anchor-missile kept in his spider-butt. This missile is attached by a string so he can hang from things like a real spider. The launcher can be removed and used as a robot-mode weapon, using any of his front four spider-legs as missiles. Like all early Deluxe-and-up Beast Wars toys, he has two different robot-mode "heads"; a robotic face and a "mutant" face. He is almost always depicted using the mutant face.

There is a variation of this toy in the Hasbro line: Later releases (the smooth bubble) lack the yellow paint on his elbows.

The Takara release of Tarantulas was originally identical to the Hasbro release. Later, a slightly color-altered version was released, using a brighter shade of green and a slightly darker gray. The color-altered version also replaced the blue eyes on the "robot" head and the black eyes of the "mutant" head with gold.

This mold was used to make the first Blackarachnia toy.

• More information on Tarantulas at TFU.info

The classic battle of dino vs spider. We've all heard the tale.

• Brutal Showdown: Dinobot VS Tarans (VS pack, 1997)
  • Japanese ID number: VS-4
  • Accessories: Launcher, 4 spider-leg missiles

In Japan, "Tarans" was available both as an individual and in a two-pack with "Dinobot". Both toys in this set were identical to their individual releases.

Currently, it is unknown if the latter "more show-like" redeco of Tarantulas was ever released in a VS set.

I'm-a spawn of-a Unicron! I-a slice-a ya pizza!

• Tarantulas (Deluxe Transmetal, 1998)
  • Japanese ID number: D-44
  • Accessories: Sawblade weapon

Part of the first assortment of Deluxe Transmetals, Tarantulas transforms into a robotic spider. He also has a third "transport" mode, flipping down a wheel from his abdomen and a saw-blade from under his beast-head, making a spidey-cycle. The saw detaches for robot mode to become a hand-held weapon.

The Japanese version is slightly different, replacing the "TARANTULAS" tampograph with "DESTRON" and the Predacon sigil, plus his robot-mode eyes are painted as a single visor to match the show look better.

• More information on Transmetal Tarantulas at TFU.info

It's like Eight Legged Freaks, but classier, and with a pizza slicer.

• Tarantulas (Deluxe "Fox Kids" Transmetal, 1999)
  • Accessories: Sawblade weapon

A redeco of the Transmetal Tarantulas toy in grays, silver and black. He and a Transmetal Cheetor redeco were part of the little-seen second wave of Toys"R"Us exclusive "Fox Kids" toys, so called for the advertisements for the Fox channel on the packaging (as the Beast Wars cartoon had moved there from syndication). Internal Hasbro documents have listed this toy as "Steel Force Tarantulas", a name that did not make it to final packaging.

These colors were used to depict Tarantulas in the Primeval Dawn and Universe comics. With the toy's limited availability, secondary-market pricing for this item due to its fictional use has gone up.

• More information on Fox Kids Tarantulas at TFU.info

MicroVerse

I'm not The Thing, I swear!

• Orcanoch (MicroVerse, 1997)

A small, non-transforming micro-figure of Tarantulas came with the MicroVerse Orcanoch playset. It was presumably painted based on the original design, as its upper body is copper rather than purple. Its only articulation is at the waist, letting it sit in any of the MicroVerse mini-vehicles or playset stations.

• More information on MicroVerse Tarantulas (via Orchanoch) at TFU.info

Beast Wars 10th Anniversary

He's not here to help assemble Transmutate. That leg's his dinner.

• Predacon Tarantulus (Deluxe, 2006)
  • Accessories: Launcher, 4 spider-leg missiles

This toy is a slight redeco of the original Tarantulas toy, more closely resembling Tarantulas's appearance in the cartoon (save the big Predacon faction sigil tampograph). Part of the second wave of Beast Wars 10th Anniversary product, he came with a DVD of the episode "Spider's Game," plus the left leg to Trans-Mutate.

• More information on 10th Anniversary Tarantulas at TFU.info

Merchandise

• Beast Wars Transformers Mutating Card Game (1997)

Tarantulas was one of the 24 beast warriors to receive a battle card representation for the Beast Wars card game.

Robot Heroes

Don't take your eyes off your mech fluid, Primal.

• Optimus Primal vs Predacon Tarantulas (2008)

Part of the second wave of Universe Robot Heroes, this PVC figurine of Tarantulas' original body has articulation in the shoulders and neck. He was available only in a "Beast Wars Series" two-pack with Optimus Primal (amusingly enough, the Maximal he also came with in the MicroVerse Orcanoch playset).

• More information on Robot Heroes Tarantulas at TFU.info

Notes

Not terribly appealing.

• Tarantulas is referred to as simply "Tarantula" in the commercial advertising his toy. This commercial and also early promotional pictures showed the original Tarantulas toy as being transparent orange, but the final toy was a clear deep purple instead. Presumably, this was for a little visual variety in the early line, which already had a largely tan toy (Dinobot) and a largely yellow toy (Cheetor) in the Deluxe range, plus a Mega-sized Predacon arachnid then planned to be orange (Scorponok), and Tigatron, who was at one point slated to be a traditional orange tiger.

He tastes everything he holds.

• In the original control art for Tarantulas, the claws are shown in the same configuration as used in the show. In other words, the claws were somehow swapped during the assembly process and have remained as such on every version of the mold thereafter.

• The original Tarantulas toy has nine eyes in beast mode, as does the show model. This makes characters' references to him as "eight-eyes" rather... interesting.

• Tarantulas's toy bios paint him as a really dumb ninja-like stealth assassin. Both of his Tech Specs give him an intelligence of 4, even the numbers that accompany his Transmetals bio which mentions the cartoon's quantum surge.

• In the first season, Tarantulas is characterized more as a cannibalistic, psychotic gourmand who happens to be the Predacons' Science Officer than as the mad scientist and master plotter he becomes from "Spider's Game" onwards. This is to the extent that his official season one profile makes several mentions of his eating habits, describes his sole interest as being "food", and summarizes his relationship with the other Predacons as simple disdain, as he considers them to all be potential meals.

• In the Japanese dub of Beast Wars, Tarantulas retained his trademark cackle, but it was a little different. His voice was very high-pitched and he shrieked almost constantly. His trademark laugh more closely resembled a wicked witch of sorts.

Tarantulas is one of Reprolabels's best customers.

• From "Optimal Situation" onwards, the Arachnoids sport a Tarantulas-themed insignia.

Pew! Pew!

• Tarantulas's origins are a bit complicated. He declares in "Other Victories" that he and the Tripredacus Council have origins other than Autobot and Decepticon, such that they would not be affected by the destruction of the Ark. Megatron's line about "Unicron's spawn" was apparently not intended by Bob Forward to be taken literally; it was to have been a generic insult rather than a statement of fact. (Forward's own inkling, albeit never realized, was that they might be descended from Jhiaxus's Cybertronian Empire.) A Unicronian origin also creates potential canonical issues, as Tarantulas says that "under our rule, Cybertron will conquer the universe" ("Other Victories"), whereas Unicron's goal would have been to eat Cybertron. But, much like Terrorsaur's line about "the dark side", this line developed a life of its own. Eventually this connection was reasserted in 3H Productions' Primeval Dawn storyline, initially written by... Bob Forward.

• Tarantulas's body in "Theft of the Golden Disk" is based on Cybertron Ransack.

• Tarantulas is probably the only Predacon Minion of Unicron who avoided being labeled a Decepticon.

• From what can be observed from art on the back of Transmetal Tigatron's packaging, Tarantulas's vok-enhanced abilities include levitating and firing energy beams from his eye(s?) in robot mode. Neat!