Apelinq (BM)
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- Apelinq is a Maximal from the Beast Era portion of the Generation 1 continuity family. When he received a new body, he became known as Hyperlinq.
A participant in the close of the Autobot/Decepticon wars, Apelinq turned to scientific research, particularly computer xenoscience, in Cybertron's new peacetime economy. But in due time, he was called by the Maximal government to lead the resurrection of Cybertron's legendary strike team, the Wreckers. Known for his genius battlefield tactics, Apelinq is a bot of ideas who would rather outwit his opponents than destroy them with brute force. His years in research have jaded him against more spiritual thinking. He doesn't trust mysticism. Apelinq tends to micromanage, to his detriment, and, thanks to his solid confidence in his own abilities, he can get in over his head.
Apelinq's scientific endeavors have armed him well. He carries two impact maces of his own design. He is most famous for his Transfer Interlink, an invention that can download digital objects into reality. The limitations of this technology are not yet known, though he uses this ability to achieve his favorite mode of transportation—through the skies on his "virtual digiboard". [1]
Fiction
Reaching the Omega Point
As the Maximal Elders were silenced and chaos erupted across Cybertron, Apelinq grew increasingly worried. Marshals were disappearing left and right and entire sections of populace began to go missing. After the source of the trouble was identified as Megatron, returning from the Beast Wars, Rodimus and the other Wreckers, sans Apelinq, were sent to put him down. Only Rodimus returned alive, his unique Matrix Templar physiology curiously immune to Megatron's virus.
Apelinq used Rodimus's physiology as a starting point for the creation of a countervirus, but suddenly, a new ship arrived through a low-altitude transwarp anomaly on Cybertron. While Rodimus and Apelinq investigated, finding the crew to be Primal Prime and other surviving troops, the group was rushed by the Vehicon general Mirage. Apelinq and Mirage were thrown through the anomaly, landing on a strange organic planet. Apelinq disposed of Mirage, but was separated from the countervirus and his transfer interlink.
Apelinq found himself a captive observer of the Beast Wars. He kept a distance for a long duration, until he bore witness to a battle between Shokaract and the Covenant. He could stand by idle no longer, and Apelinq joined their battle. Apelinq's War Journals
Unfortunately, the countervirus had been found by Packrat and Onyx Primal before Apelinq could get to it. During their fight with Fractyl, Vice Grip, and Antagony, Apelinq was able to grab the device without them noticing anything more than a "shadowy figure". They blamed Megatron. Visitations
Apelinq, having viewed the Beast Wars from afar for a time, could not stand idle any longer. Shokaract had traveled from the future to ensure his place in history, and the Unicron-powered tyrant was battling Optimus Primal's troops and the legendary Covenant. Though Apelinq had found the antidote to Megatron's transformation virus he had lost here, after a number of the Covenant were cut down by Shokaract, Apelinq transformed into his vehicle mode and attacked.
Apelinq survived the first few waves of attacks, despite their high number of casualties, and regrouped with Optimus Primal, Windrazor and the others. For a moment, they thought they had been betrayed by one of their own, the heroic Predacon Sandstorm, but this was just a ruse. Sandstorm was secretly Scorpius, one of the Covenant. But when Sandstorm died as well, Optimus Primal was inspired by his sacrifice, and asked Apelinq to fight alongside them. Together, along with the summoned might of J'nwan, they were able to defeat Shokaract, remove Unicron's essence from prehistoric Earth, and rewrite the future. As time began to grow unstable around them, Apelinq grabbed Windrazor and managed to return to the Cybertron from which he originated.
However, once Apelinq arrived home, Windrazor had disappeared. Terminus
Universe: Featuring the Wreckers
After Primal Prime and Ramulus saved Optimus Primal and Nightscream from some Tank Drones, Apelinq appeared and introduced himself to Optimus. Since the timeline in which they had battled Shokaract in Earth's past had been erased, Apelinq filled Optimus in on their time together. But he and the others were off to a meeting with the Oracle, and Primal and Nightscream decided to tag along.
Several groups, including Primal Prime and Apelinq's Wreckers converged on the Oracle's chamber, and a series of cryptic messages were given to each group. The Oracle admitted that the Wreckers could probably stop the Vehicons themselves, but before it could give the Wreckers their mission, Optimus Primal interrupted. Apelinq quietly disapproved when the Oracle subsequently wiped Primal's mind of the events from the day. The Oracle flickered, a strange voice spoke, and a set of coordinates were beamed into Primal Prime's head. Their task lay before them, and Prime ordered Apelinq to prepare their Autobot shuttle for launch.
But just as they arrived within the shuttle's launch bay, the Wreckers were ambushed by hordes of Megatron's drones. Thankfully, Apelinq had some backup, and he summoned Cyclonus, Rotorbolt, and Skywarp. Shouting the Wreckers' battle cry, Apelinq entered the fray. Together they cut their way through the Vehicon army, and the shuttle lifted off, escaping Cybertron for parts unknown. Departure
But their shuttle had a stowaway. The bounty hunter Devcon had attacked some of their crew, and in the process Fractyl was seriously damaged. Apelinq, Arcee, and Ramulus rushed the injured Fractyl to the repair bay. Frustrated with the antiquated Autobot technology, Apelinq used his Transfer Interlink to create CatSCAN, merging the ship's medical diagnostic program with design schematics from an old acquaintance. The new medic was able to save Fractyl, but Apelinq was unable to dissolve CatSCAN as he normally would with his creations.
The Wreckers received a homing beacon and followed it to the surface of a planet. Apelinq, Primal Prime, CatSCAN, and Ramulus began to survey the planet when CatSCAN got in some trouble with the locals and was attacked by Tap-Out. Apelinq jumped in to assist, but Glyph entered the scene to sort things out. Glyph and Tap-Out were the only survivors of a survey mission sent centuries ago by Rodimus Prime. They were looked after by the native Akalouthans while studying their culture.
Curiously, these natives were expecting the Wreckers. According to prophecies, protectors would arrive to guard the Divine Light, the power source which the Akalouthans worshiped. Apelinq's analysis found the Divine Light to be a sort of battery, but with unusual properties. Having suspected that there was a traitor among them for a while, the Wreckers were surprised to find their comrade Rotorbolt nearly off-line. Apelinq, Ramulus, and Devcon rushed to the Divine Light's chamber in time to witness Cyclonus make off with the treasure. Betrayal
In the aftermath of their betrayal on Archa Nine, Primal Prime retreated into himself and the Matrix. Apelinq's skepticism surrounding their divine mission continued to nurture, and the others had growing doubts of their own.
They traveled to an icy planet ten systems away, and Primal Prime ordered Apelinq, Rodimus, Arcee, and Ramulus to follow him quickly outside, while Apelinq protested their hastiness. Apelinq's worries were, for the moment, unwarranted, as the sole inhabitant of the planet seemed to be the excommunicated Quintesson Al-Badur. Though the Wreckers eyed him uneasily, he was willing to tell them the history of the Quintessons' attempts to use Vector Sigma to enslave the Transformers race. When Al-Badur revealed that the Oracle itself was a Quintesson creation devised to control Vector Sigma, Primal Prime was taken aback. Had they been led astray this whole time?
However, for Apelinq, the pieces now fit together, and he recounted how the real Vector Sigma had broken through the Oracle shell program, giving them a real mission. Primal Prime was reassured during the brief moment before the Sharkticons attacked. Though the Sharkticons were armed with strange (yet somehow familiar) technology, they were eventually overtaken by the Wreckers. With Al-Badur, the Wreckers left once again, but this time for Cybertron. Disclosure
After arriving in orbit above the newly reformatted Cybertron and finding a full-scale Quintesson invasion, Primal Prime ordered his troops to concentrate only on Cryotek, the real threat. Taking Apelinq, Ramulus, Tigatron, and Al-Badur with him, Primal Prime leapt from the still-airborne shuttle into the battle below.
But their subterranean attack on the Predacon gangster, grown to intimidating size and power by the Divine Light, was costly. Primal Prime had sacrificed himself, taking a fatal hit that was intended for Apelinq, but rather than saving Apelinq, Prime's act fused them together grotesquely. With two of the Wreckers' most powerful disposed of, leaving only Devcon, Tigatron, Ramulus, and the Quintesson, all hope seemed lost.
Suddenly, a glowing titan formed before them, from the combined bodies of Apelinq and Primal Prime into a single powerful entity: Sentinel Maximus, with Apelinq, now named Hyperlinq, forming the head of Primus's champion. During the battle with Cryotek, Hyperlinq was once forced to disengage from Sentinel Maximus when they were frozen still by Cryotek's ice powers. He transformed into robot mode and was able to break Maximus free of the ice with a few laser blasts. Wreckers: Finale Part II
Toys
Beast Machines
- Apelinq (Mega, 2000)
- Accessories: Hand-cannon/thruster, 2 club-missiles
- Apelinq is a redeco of the Beast Wars Mega Transmetal version of Optimus Primal, transforming into a robotic gorilla. He also has a third "transport" mode, where his robot legs unfold into a "virtual digiboard" for his gorilla form to ride. The thruster for the board becomes a handheld spring-loaded missile launcher, which uses Apelinq's twin maces for ammunition.
- Apelinq was available as an exclusive toy to BotCon 2000. He and Shokaract were limited to 1200 pieces.
Universe
- Sentinel Maximus with Ape-Linq Mini-Con (Ultra, 2004)
- A retooling of the Armada Mini-Con Rollout, Ape-Linq transforms into an armored personnel carrier capable of towing the larger "armored transport" mode of Sentinel Maximus. He also has a hand-held gun mode, plus forms the head and central torso of the combined Sentinel Maximus robot mode. His head was completely retooled to resemble a fully-mechanical version of the original Apelinq toy's noggin, plus the larger Sentinel Maximus robot head was given wholly-new tooling as well. Naturally, he was only available with Sentinel Maximus.
- The set was a planned exclusive to OTFCC 2004, but was not produced in time for the show. After the convention license was revoked from 3H's ownership, Hasbro eventually mailed out the paid-for Sentinel Maximuses in new packaging.
Notes
- Even though Apelinq's toy forms his hoverboard out of parts of Apelinq's robot feet, the hoverboard is treated in fiction as a digital object downloaded into reality from Apelinq's Transfer Interlink.
- Both Apelinq and his creator, Glen Hallit, are former engineers. Apelinq is super smart and is an excellent fighter, he can download any digital object into reality, and his lowest Tech Spec stat is 8. Later, he sort of gets the Matrix. Hmm.
- The original planned name for the Universe incarnation of Apelinq was Hyperlinq, which was printed on the proposed boxes shown at OTFCC 2004. However, when Hasbro created new packaging for the toy, they went with the name "Ape-Linq", as did Sentinel Maximus's profile in the Collector's Club magazine. However, he is called the intended name, Hyperlinq, in "Wreckers: Finale Part II".
- On the Alternators character Decepticharge, there is a pseudo-advertisement for "Hyperlinq Racing".
- Apelinq/Ape-Linq/Hyperlinq/whatever is one of only a few characters to receive multiple BotCon exclusive toys, sharing the distinction with Breakdown, Double Punch, Tigatron, and Shattered Glass Megatron/Galvatron. He is the only one of the five who does not share his name with any mainline toy.
- Glen Hallit strongly implied at BotCon 2000 that Apelinq was known as "Uplinq" prior to taking his gorilla altmode.
Footnotes
- ↑ Profile written from information provided both by Apelinq's original bio (see external links) and the full-page profile published in the back of Wreckers #2.
