Cataclysm (BW)
| This article is about the Herald of Shokaract from Beast Wars. For the event that destroyed the GoBots universe, see Cataclysm (event). |
- Cataclysm is a Predacon from the Beast Era portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
Cataclysm is a Predacon who viciously clawed his way up Shokaract’s chain of command to become one of his elite Heralds, with his eye on becoming the Herald Maximo, second only to Shokaract himself. A great enmity exists between him and Antagony, the current Herald Maximo, and both have attempted to undermine and eliminate the other. Cataclysm is extremely intelligent and utterly ruthless. He is the fission-brother of the Cub.
Fiction
Tales of the Beast Wars
Cataclysm nearly toppled the main resistance against Shokaract on Cybertron by infiltrating the resistance base and culling a legion of soldiers to attack the Capital with a fool-proof plan; but as Cataclysm was the head of the operation, it was all a trap that cost the resistance sixteen thousand soldiers and mortally wounded the resistance forces on the planet. Upon his ascension to a Herald of Shokaract, Cataclysm did everything in his power to usurp Antagony, but all in secret. In turn, Antagony did everything in her power to undermine Cataclysm's bid for Herald Maximo.
Cataclysm got a chance to achieve his dreams during the Horus Campaign, when he and Antagony were sent to battle Horus, a powerful warlord who had held Shokaract's forces at bay with his vast armada and ability to draw energy from a star. While Antagony opted for a convoluted diversion that allowed her to face Horus himself in battle, Cataclysm decided on a more direct plan: blowing up the star powering the self-styled god. This bold tactic weakened Horus enough for Antagony to finish the job, despite the latter also being injured in the destruction of the star. Unfortunately for Cataclysm, his eternal rival survived (and was royally peeved at the percieved assassination attempt), and both Heralds were commended by Shokaract, who mistakenly thought they were working together.
Initially chosen to undertake the mission to Earth’s past to secure the Dark Essence of Unicron, the source of Shokaract’s power that he would — in the far future — find to become the warlord of the galaxy, Cataclysm’s fear of time-travel cost him dearly as Antagony was chosen to go in his stead when he showed a moment’s hesitation at the plan. Furthermore, Cataclysm was forced to exterminate his fission-brother, the Cub, for his failure in the trial that would dictate the Cub's ascension to the position of Herald of Shokaract.
When Antagony did not return from ancient Earth, Cataclysm was chosen again to secure the Dark Essence. However, his travel to the past via Transwarp portal was interrupted by Windrazor, the fused form of the Cub and the Veteran, and Cataclysm was defeated, his component molecules scattered across the timestream. Herald, Covenant, Schism, Paradox
When Shokaract himself journeyed to ancient Earth to secure his source of power, he brought both Antagony and Cataclysm back to life to fight the Covenant of Primus while he attempted to protect the Dark Essence from attack by Megatron. Cataclysm was destroyed yet again, this time by Apelinq and members of the Covenant, and once the Dark Essence was destroyed, he was presumably erased from time along with all that Shokaract had created. Terminus
Notes
- Cataclysm first appeared in a promotional poster for BotCon 2000, unnamed. Many fans assumed him to be one of the convention-exclusive toys, as he was modeled after the Transmetal version of Cheetor. This was in fact an intentional red herring on the part of the organizers, and no toy of Cataclysm was ever produced.
