Cyborg Beast
The Cyborg Beasts (サイボーグビースト Saibōgu Bīsuto) are freakish fusions of animal and machine, born from exposing Transformers to dangerously high levels of Unicron's Angolmois Energy.
The Cyborg Beasts include:
- Dirgegun, cyborg bee.
- Hellscream, cyborg shark.
- Max-B, cyborg dog.
- Thrustor, cyborg velociraptor.
By the end of days, they picked up at least one additional member:
- Untite, cyborg hyena.
They are sometimes also known as "Cyber Beasts"; in which cases, they are overseen by Gigastorm as their leader.
Fiction
Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Beast Wars II cartoon
For trying to murder him earlier, Gigastorm blew away the ground underneath Starscream and BB and sent them tumbling down into a river of Angolmois Energy. This was supposed to kill them, but instead they were changed into the more powerful forms of Cyborg Beasts and rose up from the volatile liquid as Hellscream and Max-B. Unaware that Gigastorm was even around but cognizant of the gathered Maximals, they attacked them. Even against nine opponents, the duo had the upper hand, but that changed when Scuba got in the Tako Tank to fight back. The Cyborg Beasts were captured in its tentacles and forced back into the Angolmois Energy to be buried as rocks were made to fall down on them. The plan saw the Maximals victorious, but Hellscream and Max-B did get out elsewhere just as Gigastorm admitted to trying to kill them. It led to a stand-off that was resolved by the arrival of Galvatron, who ordered them to cease their in-fighting. The End of Starscream Worried about the new power difference between Hellscream and Max-B, Dirge and Thrust turned to Gigastorm for help. He shared the Angolmois Energy flowing through his own body with them, which turned them into the Cyborg Beasts Dirgegun and Thrustor. Elated with their new forms, they tested the powers that came with it on Scuba, Bighorn, and Tasmania Kid. The results pleased them and so they went after their real prey: Lio Convoy. They got the drop on him, but Lio Junior's intervention prevented his father's execution. The two Maximals did opt to make a run for it, which pleased the new Cyborg Beasts because it reassured them they were now a force to be reckoned with. The Lio Convoy Assassination Plot Gigastorm and all four Cyborg Beasts went out to stop the Maximals from freezing down the volatile Angolmois Energy. The Great Angolmois Freezing Tactic
End of G1 Universe
Beast Wars II comic
The Combatrons angered Gigastorm by serving him oil without Angolmois Energy in it as ordered. He kicked them into a hole to bring him the Angolmois Energy located down below, but what the four fell into was a hot spring. They decided they'd worked hard enough and that they deserved to relax in the warm water for a bit. Due to them dozing off and because of the thick vapor, they didn't realize they were changing until it was done. As they readied to get back to work, they realized they had become horribly ugly and belatedly found the warning sign left by the Autorollers that the hot spring was actually a Angolmois Energy processing facility. Hellscream took the change the worst, but he found an outlet over not being handsome anymore when Tasmania Kid was discovered spying on the group. They caught him and, jealous of the Maximal's cuteness, Hellscream put him in a cage above the Angolmois Energy and called the Maximal Gaia base. Apache answered and Hellscream gave him one hour to save his young colleague or they'd drop the cage and turn him into Cyborg Beast Kid. Hellscream thought it was a good joke what with Apache being a nobody, but Apache wasn't a nobody and showed up mostly on time. He proceeded to shoot Thrustor in the raptor mouth before he could fire his mouth cannon, avoided Max-B's Tail Gun and stabbed him after taking him in a chokehold, and to counter Dirgegun's stinger he ripped off Thrustor's Raptor Shield tail and shot a missile at the insect. Hellscream tried to attack too, but as a shark he was useless on land and Apache only had to kick him to subdue him. By this time, the other Maximals had arrived and freed Tasmania Kid from the cage, so the Cyborg Beasts, noting that nothing had changed, opted to flee. Recover the Bonds Lost! The Predacons travelled to Nemesis to reunite with Galvatron. Because he'd left before they were changed, the Cyborg Beasts had to reintroduce themselves to him. Galvatron wasn't particularly pleased about what had been done to his loyal servants, both for moral reasons and aesthetic ones, and this formed the opening for a fight between him and Gigastorm. The arrival of the Maximals put their fight on hold so that they could focus on defeating the enemy. In the ensuing battle, Max-B lost against Tasmania Kid and also didn't fare well against Bighorn while Thrustor and Dirgegun were bested by Scuba. Hellscream logically got taken down by one of the other Maximals. All Hands, Make a Special Attack on the Evil Planet! Their fate hereafter is unknown.
2006 IDW Beast Wars continuity
When coming into contact with Angolmois Energy, Megastorm was transformed into the more powerful Gigastorm. He set out, creating a new subfaction within the Destrons, the Cyber Beasts. To fill up this subfaction, Gigastorm exposed BB, Dirge, Starscream, and Thrust to Angolmois Energy, transforming them into Max-B, Dirgegun, Hellscream, and Thrustor. Beast Wars Sourcebook
As Magmatron surveyed the apocalyptic future Shokaract was destined to usher in, he saw Dirgegun engaged in furious combat with several other Predacons. The Ascending #1
Maximals and Predacons alike rose up to confront Shokaract, but he unleashed his own warriors: Hellscream, Max-B and Thrustor, along with Antagony and Hardhead. The Ascending #3 These heralds battled the Cybertronians being led by Lio Convoy and Big Convoy, but it was ultimately a treacherous underhanded sneak attack by Ravage (combined with a grenade or two) which ended the threat of the Cyborg Beasts and their allies. The Ascending #4
Games
Transformers Roleplaying Game
Reptilion noted that the Cyborg Beasts of planet Gaia shared many traits with Transmetal 2 Transformers. Technorganic Secrets
Toys
Beast Wars
- Cyborg Beasts (1998)
- Known designers: Hisashi Yuki (TakaraTomy), Masakatsu Saito (concept artist)
Notes
- The Cyborg Beasts are never referred to as such in either their original toys' packaging or the cartoon. The name is primarily used in the Beast Wars II comic and other print media, originating from material published ahead of the toys' releases.
- A longstanding fan belief is that Gigastorm is also a Cyborg Beast. Though he does play a pivotal role in upgrading the Combatrons into the Cyborg Beasts in both the cartoon and manga, Gigastorm himself is not a Cyborg Beast in the original Japanese fiction. Likewise, in IDW Publishing's Beast Wars Sourcebook, Gigastorm is not labeled as a "Cyber Beast", either, but is stated to be their leader.
- A similar design concept known as "Unicron's subordinate" was proposed for Beast Wars Neo.
