Wolfang (Maximal)

This article is about the Maximal wolf. For the Predacon wolf from the Japanese Beast Wars reissue series, see Wolfang (Predacon).

Wolfang is a Maximal from the Beast Wars portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

I saw Wolfang drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's. His hair was perfect.

Wolfang is no lone wolf. He is a team player through and through, effortlessly integrating himself into whatever Maximal unit he finds himself entrenched with. This "strength in numbers" mentality is only enhanced by his given beast mode; he has even developed an affinity with actual, flesh-and-blood wolves. Wolfang does his best work under cover of night, relishing tracking down Predacons while cloaked. Once he has his quarry, Wolfang prefers to call in the rest of his Maximal "pack" to help finish the job.

Fiction

Ain't No Rat

On their way back to Cybertron, Rattrap recalls meeting three unknown Maximals named Wolfang, Bonecrusher, and Optimus Minor, when they saved him from Dinobot II in the wilderness. He asked them to join the Axalon's crew, but they declined because of some other mysterious purpose that they couldn't elaborate on. Wolfang and the others asked Rattrap to keep their existence a secret, and he acquiesced. Ain't No Rat

IDW Beast Wars comics

In touch with the ground, I'm on the hunt, I'm after you.

Wolfang was one of the protoforms left behind by the crew of the Axalon on prehistoric Earth. He was activated and put in chronal phase by Razorbeast at Magmatron's request, but was protected from Magmatron's Predacon shell-program by Razorbeast's viral code. The Gathering #1 He was one of the first Maximals Razorbeast hooked up with,and accompanied him in his quest to obtain a transwarp signal amplifier from the wreckage of Ravage's ship. They had a short scuffle with Magmatron, but managed to escape while Optimus Minor and Snarl secured the signal amplifier. The Gathering #2 The Maximals' attempt to use the amplifier to send a distress call to Cybertron was interrupted by a full-scale Predacon attack, and Wolfang and the others were boxed-in. Luckily, they were saved by timely reinforcements led by Torca. The Gathering #4

Still stranded on Earth weeks later, Razorbeast expressed frustration to Wolfang and Prowl II about the current situation and doubt that rescue was ever going to arrive. Wolfang tried to point out the positive, stating that they had beaten the Predacons before and had Grimlock on their side. Only a short time later, the Predacons staged another assault on the Maximals' base-camp. The Ascending #1 On the verge of being overwhelmed, the Maximals were once again saved by a timely intervention; this time by Lio Convoy and the Pack. The battle was halted, however, when Rartorata arrived and infected Razorbeast with a dose of Angolmois venom. The Ascending #2 Driven berserk by the infection, the feral Razorbeast forced the Maximals and Predacons to work together to both contain him and fight the new Blendtron threat. Lio Convoy and Ravage quickly gathered a portion of their combined forces to return to Cybertron in hopes of preventing the ascension of the mad demi-god Shokaract. Wolfang was among those who went back. The Ascending #3 However, upon return to his home planet, Wolfang was engulfed in one of Shokaract's powerful blasts and killed fighting alongside K-9 and Insecticon. The Ascending #4

Toys

Beast Wars

• Wolfang (Deluxe, 1996)
  • Japanese ID number: C-9
  • Accessories: Tail/launcher, back/shield, 2 missiles

Wolfang transforms into a wolf. In robot mode, his mutant head flips down to cover his normal head. His wolf mode's back becomes a shield while the tail becomes a spring-loaded missile launcher in robot mode; two anchor-shaped missiles are stored in Wolfang's midsection.

This mold was redecoed to make the Predacon also named Wolfang (pronounced "vol-fang"), and retooled to make K-9 and Max-B.

• More information on Wolfang at TFU.info

• Showdown in the Darkness: Howlinger VS Buzz Saw (VS pack, 1997)
  • Japanese ID number: VS-9
  • Accessories: Tail/launcher, back/shield, 2 missiles

In Japan, Wolfang was available both as an individual release, and in a "VS" pack with the Predacon Buzz Saw. Both toys are identical to their individual releases.

Merchandise

• Beast Wars Transformers Mutating Card Game (1997)

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

Notes

• Wolfang was originally to be the first new character to join the Beast Wars cartoon. However, that role was instead filled by Tigatron, due to the fact that Tigatron's animation model is a tweak of the already-in-cartoon Cheetor model, thereby saving Mainframe a buttload of time and money. Doesn't anyone get the feeling Hasbro should've done it earlier with other characters like Buzzaw (BW) when the cartoon was in production?
• "Ain't No Rat" was originally going to be a prologue for Dreamwave's Beast Wars series. After Dreamwave collapsed, IDW picked up the project and Simon Furman reworked the original plan into The Gathering; as a result, the three new Maximals from Dreamwave's story figured prominently into IDW's first limited series.
• In IDW's Beast Wars Sourcebook #4, Wolfang's name is misspelled as "Wolfgang".
• Wolfang's deco seems to have served as the inspiration for Universe Scavenger.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Howlinger (ハウリンガー Hauringā)
• French: Croc (Canada, "Fang")
• Italian: Wolf
• Spanish: Lobo ("Wolf")