Snow Cat (Energon)

The name or term "Snow Cat" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Snow Cat (disambiguation).

• Cyclonus
• Snow Cat

Snow Cat is a Decepticon from the Energon portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

Snow Cat is a powerful Decepticon who can overcome any environment. He transforms into an all-terrain vehicle and has given his Decepticon allies a strategic advantage in battle on many occasions. Though unruly at times, Snow Cat has proven to be one of Megatron's most valued warriors. His insane fighting tactics are feared by his enemies, and sometimes, his allies.

Fiction

Toy pack-in comics

Somehow, Megatron was able to ambush Optimus Prime, and forced him to battle Snow Cat, Demolishor, Mirage, and Shockblast without back-up. Luckily for Prime, Wing Saber arrived with a new Powerlinx mode for the two of them, enabling Prime to annihilate Snow Cat and the other Decepticons with heavy firepower. Energon Volume 4

Energon comic

Snow Cat was located in a small town in the Yukon, under the command of Scorponok. He busied himself in sabotaging Base Unit 1 so that the Energon it'd produce would rerouted to feed Unicron. A band of Omnicons stumbled upon his base, but he managed to quickly disable and capture them. Snow Cat then rigged the Omnicons to a Spark Rewriter, a device that would brainwash them into obedient Decepticons. However, the Omnicons learned the value of teamwork thanks to the shared-hallucination-induced disembodied advice-giving head of Over-Run, broke free, and fled out into the open. Snow Cat gave chase, and held them at a disadvantage, seeing as he was better equipped for the snowy environment. But the Omnicons discovered an underground pocket of natural gas, and detonated it at the right moment to knock Snow Cat silly. Snow Cat was then captured and brought to Hot Shot. Omni-Potent

Much later, Snow Cat was one of several Decepticons who attempted to "sneak" into Ocean City and steal the data for the Autobots' Omega Supreme prototype. He rushed into the dark hangar, smacked into a scaffolding like a big dumb doof, and was chased out by security. Megatron didn't buy Snow Cat's recounting of how his daring and skill was thwarted by a "sub sea earthquake" for one second. Perspective

Energon ceased publication before the story could conclude. The following would have taken place in unpublished issues.

The Omnicons' experience in fighting Snow Cat was instrumental in defeating a ghostly Starscream, who was invulnerable to conventional attacks. By pooling their minds together, as they had learned in their encounter with Snow Cat, they were able to drain the Energon from Starscream, reverting him to a material being once more. Armageddon Part 2

Toys

Energon

• Snow Cat (Deluxe, 2004)
  • Japanese ID number: SD-10
  • Accessories: 2 missiles

Snow Cat transforms into a G.I. Joe "Snow Cat" SAM half-track. He is cast in primarily white and light blue plastics, with clear and burgundy for accents. In vehicle mode, the front wheel-hubs and sideskirts can be lowered to form skis for the vehicle to travel on, while in robot mode the sideskirt-skis fold down from his feet to allow him to "ski" in robot mode. He features twin spring-loaded missile launchers available to him in both modes; in robot mode, they end up as a back-mounted over-shoulder assembly. Unusually for Transformers of this era, he has a visible cockpit interior with a partially frosted windshield and working windshield wiper, further homaging the G.I. Joe toy he was designed after.

• More information on Snow Cat at TFU.info

Notes

• With Snow Cat (and Mirage, Beachcomber, etc.), the apparent struggle between Hasbro's intentions and Takara's decisions came to a head. Numerous toys intended to be new characters had been turned into powered-up versions of existing characters when portrayed in the cartoon. And so it was with Snow Cat, who was shown to be a rebuilt Cyclonus when he debuted in the cartoon. Hasbro had intended the toy to be a new character, however, and either did not have time to change his bio, or else decided to proceed as planned regardless. Similarly, Energon comic author Simon Furman has stated he wrote Snow Cat as a unique individual unrelated to Cyclonus. And so, Snow Cat represents both Cyclonus and a new, separate character.