Strika (BM)
| The name or term "Strika" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Strika (disambiguation). |
- Strika is a Vehicon from the Beast Machines portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
Strika is one of the greatest generals in Cybertron's history, and the consort of Obsidian. She had her spark removed by Megatron, only to later have it replaced within a Vehicon body. She joined the ranks of the Vehicon generals, taking the place of Tankor as commander of heavy artillery.
While she was pretending to have all the brains of a calculator watch, her activation code (and, indeed, her entire vocabulary) was "terminate". She dropped the word when the ruse was over.
- Japanese name: Stryka (ストライカ Sutoraika)
Fiction
Beast Machines
- Voice actor: Patricia Drake (English), Rikako Aikawa (Japanese)
Like Obsidian, Strika wasn't given an alternate personality, as the previous Vehicon generals had. However, her primary directive was to protect Cybertron, but since Megatron was Cybertron now, her loyalty was misplaced. Built at the same time as Obsidian, Strika remained silent as Thrust admired the two new recruits (though she did give him a dirty look). Attacking a topside Silverbolt and Nightscream, she went after the bat when they split up, grounding him with cannon fire. Before she could crush him, though, Cheetor dropped into her party and Blackarachnia trapped her in a web, though it didn't hold for long under her attempts to escape. Cheetor tried to reason with her, but she turned and sped off, reuniting with Obsidian. When the Maximals cornered the two generals, the trap was sprung, as hundreds of drones surrounded the Maximals. Strika expressed smug amazement that the Maximals had fallen for her and Obsidian's "dumb generals" act, complete with faked battle cries/activation codes of "Terminate!" and "Obliterate!"
Forced to retreat, the Maximals attempted to escape into the sewers, but Strika's drones popped out from every manhole, cutting them off. After they'd barricaded themselves in the Citadel, Optimus Primal realized they had been herded there, at which point Obsidian contacted them and revealed himself and Strika. Only the timely intervention of Botanica saved the Maximals, her seeds disrupting the drones' targeting systems. Strika was upset to discover her side's scans of Botanica were drastically incomplete. With the Maximals gone, Strika returned with Obsidian to Megatron to accept their punishment for failure, but they were congratulated instead, having given Megatron time to formulate his plan for the sparks. Sparkwar Pt. I: The Strike
When Optimus split his team to investigate a vision from the Oracle, Strika was waiting for Rattrap and Botanica at the Citadel. Ambushing the Maximals, she gave chase but temporarily lost them when they hid in a building. However, it didn't take long to locate them, and she mercilessly attacked Botanica while Rattrap was plugged into a holographic pleasure terminal. Disabling them, Strika prepared to administer the coup de grace to Botanica, but Rattrap intervened and plugged her into the terminal instead, leaving her admiring the beauty of an undamaged Cybertron. Sparkwar Pt. II: The Search
As Megatron prepared to enact his plan, Strika and Obsidian were assigned to guard the Grand Mal's exterior. When the Maximals attempted to enter the Grand Mal, Silverbolt, Cheetor and Nightscream caused some major problems for the two with Rattrap's signature-altering devices—until Strika used one of the devices to send feedback through the other units, allowing the Maximals to be detected. She then got thrown into Obsidian by Noble. Sparkwar Pt. III: The Siege
With Megatron's seeming destruction, Obsidian and Strika were at a loss. Offered a place with the Maximals by Cheetor, Strika was incredulous at the notion, but she and Obsidian accepted after a crazed mutant zombie thing tried to scrap her and everyone else present. When Megatron's crazed spark entered the Grand Mal, Obsidian and Strika moved to intercept. It wasn't too successful. However, when Megatron's spark was repolarized and bonded to a Diagnostic Drone, Strika and Obsidian seized him and vacated the premises, swearing their loyalty to Megatron once more. Spark of Darkness
Along with Obsidian and Thrust, Strika led the final assault on the Grand Mal, though she spent her time chasing Maximals rather than attacking the floating base (and chasing Thrust around for a while after Nightscream planted a device on her that made her see others as Maximals). Endgame Pt. I: The Downward Spiral
After making a massive assault on the downed fortress and taking out Blackarachnia personally, Strika, Obsidian and Thrust cornered Cheetor in the Grand Mal's engine room. However, the crafty cat activated the anti-gravity drive, sending Strika and Obsidian hurtling up into Cybertron's orbit. Endgame Pt. II: When Legends Fall
Universe Featuring the Wreckers
Though marooned in orbit, the Vehicons were otherwise undamaged and were able to serve Cybertron once more: making their way to orbiting defense platforms, they turned this formidable firepower against the invading Quintesson spacefleet.Wreckers: Finale Part II
Toys
Beast Machines
- Strika (Deluxe, 2000)
- Accessories: 2 missiles
- A Deluxe-price point toy in the Beast Machines line, Strika transforms into a six-wheeled assault tank. Two pressure-launch missiles are mounted on top, and pressing the figure's spark crystal causes them to move back and forth as if they were firing.
- This mold was retooled and redecoed into Universe Nemesis Strika
Beast Wars Returns
- Vehicon Stryka (Deluxe, 2005)
- Accessories: 2 missiles
- In 2005 the toy was redecoed and released as part of the Japanese Toys 'R' Us exclusive Beast Wars Returns series, the Japanese name for Beast Machines. Having been produced several years after the cartoon was, this version had a deco somewhat more show-accurate than the original, but still not quite there, physical differences between the mold and show model regardless. The figure retained the mold changes used for the Universe release.
Trivia
- Story editor Bob Skir wanted to depict Obsidian and Strika's return to Cybertron after the reformatting wave hit in the last episode, making them the only two purely mechanical beings remaining. However, this never made it into the series.
- The name Strika is possibly derived from "Stryker", a type of eight-wheeled all-wheel-drive armored combat vehicle.
