Zarak (G1)
| The name or term "Zarak" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Zarak (disambiguation). |
- Zarak is a Decepticon allied Nebulan from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Lord Mo Zarak[1] is a powerful and corrupt Nebulan leader who transforms into the head of Scorponok.
Fiction
Marvel Comics continuity
Lord Zarak was a high-ranking politician of questionable morality and ethics. Though generally believing he worked for what was, in his own mind, the good of all Nebulos, he tended to be close-minded, dishonest, manipulative, self-aggrandizing, and excessively proud. He loved his daughter Llyra very much, but was a political rival of her young and idealistic lover Galen.
When the Autobots arrived on Nebulos, Lord Zarak became convinced of their sinister intentions—even though he himself engineered some of the "evidence", such as causing Blurr to seemingly attack a crowd of Nebulans. When the Autobots approached the capital city of Koraja to try and negotiate peace, he urged Galen to open fire, though Galen ignored his histrionics.
Zarak didn't give up his dream of getting rid of the giant robots; he paid demonstrators to stage protests in Koraja, creating the illusion of popular support for his position. Later, Zarak took more direct action, and used information gleaned from the Autobots to contact their enemies, the Decepticons, and inform them of Fortress Maximus's whereabouts. Broken Glass!
When the malevolent Decepticon contingent led by Scorponok arrived on Nebulos, his mistake should have been obvious, but Zarak continued to claim he wanted nothing more than to make Nebulos safe. To that end, he convinced Scorponok of the advantages of the Headmaster process developed by the Autobots, and ultimately binary bonding with the Decepticon leader. Using Llyra as a messenger, he lured the Autobot Headmasters into a trap by claiming that he and his crew were being held hostage. As he led the Decepticons into battle, he soon found himself overwhelmed by the raw power at his command, nearly forgetting the things he cared about, even his own daughter. When Scorponok used Llyra and other Nebulans as a distraction, endangering her life, he experienced only a moment of hesitation before carrying on with the plan. Later, after the Autobots were defeated and Zarak separated from Scorponok, he was immensely relieved to find that Llyra did not recall exactly what had happened during the battle. Love and Steel!
Zarak carried on with his campaign of aggression, battling the Autobots at every turn and claiming to the news media that his work was a victory for Nebulos, even as his forces began reducing the planet to rubble. The captive Galen tried to convince him of his own madness and battle lust, but not till he and his forces nearly destroyed The Nursery did he have the "moment of clarity" that let him see the true nature of his actions. As he related it to Galen, he was being overwhelmed by the force of Scorponok's personality, which he claimed was "reprogramming" him, causing him to act against his own will. With his last shreds of decency, he freed the Autobots so that Nebulos might still have a chance. He then immediately joined a battle against those selfsame Headmasters, his brief moment of independence lost. Brothers in Armor!!
The Autobots left Nebulos, and Scorponok ordered his Decepticons to pursue. In a battle within the caves of Mount St. Hilary, Zarak used his small size to pursue a potential human hostage into the deeper caves, where the larger Fortress Maximus could not follow. Zarak and Galen eventually came to fisticuffs, till Zarak used his mind-link with Scorponok to blast the ceiling over the human. Rushing to save the human, Galen was killed, to Zarak's delight. Unfortunately, the human then took control of Fortress Maximus, and the Decepticons were driven into retreat. Trial by Fire!
Zarak used his humanoid form on several occasions to operate discretely on Earth. He acted as the head of the Z Foundation, a Decepticon front operation on Earth designed to get humans to destroy the Autobots. Ca$h and Car-nage! He also acted as a "manager of talent" in the wrestling world, bringing in the Air Strike Patrol to take on the popular Roadhandler in the ring. The Interplanetary Wrestling Championship!
Though Scorponok dominated at first, it seems that ultimately, Zarak's mind also exerted influence. The bonding between Scorponok and Zarak seemed to have the unexpected side-effect of causing their minds to fuse into one composite being. It was Zarak who, in one last act of individual choice, nobility and self-sacrifice, freed Galen and the captured Autobot Headmasters so the Decepticons would follow them away from his beloved world. Their bonding may be part of the reason that Scorponok became more sympathetic towards the Autobot cause towards the end of the series, ultimately sacrificing his life against Unicron. On the Edge of Extinction!
Classics
Scorponok and Zarak's remains on Cybertron were discovered and studied by the Mini-Con Broadside. The New World
The Transformers cartoon
- Voice actor: Stan Jones (English), Katsuhisa Hōki (Japanese)
Lord Zarak was a vile dictator, the leader of the Hive, a group of telekinetics who have enslaved the population of Nebulos. While the Hive could not control Transformers as they could normal machines, Zarak nonetheless used his machines to capture and bully the Decepticons into supplying Headmaster and Targetmaster forms for the other ten members. The Rebirth, Part 2
Zarak later rebuilt the Hive's underground city into the giant Headmaster body Scorponok, with a special suit that allowed him sole control over Scorponok. In the end, Zarak/Scorponok lost to Fortress Maximus and the Decepticons and Hive fled Nebulos. Conflict between Zarak and Galvatron for leadership was present. The Rebirth, Part 3
Zarak talked in an almost monotone voice, showing little emotion and never anger. While he retained his body, he was never shown to walk without his Headmaster suit and may be a paraplegic. One eye was also always closed; he may be blind in it or missing it.
Transformers in 3-D
After the Clones failed to obtain the coordinates to Metascan Alpha, Zarak mocked Galvatron's skills and, combining with Scorponok, reasserted that he was leader of the Decepticons now. While the pair were still in disagreement, Optimus Prime broke into their base with the intention of destroying Galvatron's Nullification Cannon. During the battle, Scorponok took a swing at Prime which accidentally connected with the Cannon, causing it to explode. The War Against the Destructons, Chapter 1 of 3
IDW Generation 1 continuity
Scientist Mo Zarak was the reclusive chairman of the Zarak Consortium, a front for an inner circle of maverick scientists called the Cranium. He was approached by Scorponok, a renegade Decepticon who ignored the Transformers' Code of Interplanetary Conflict, who conspired with Zarak and his team of scientists to create a new, enigmatic technology. Within the inner sanctums of the Cranium's labs, at least one fusion of Nebulan and Cybertronian technology was created in the form of a re-engineered Nebulan specimen.
However, this research was halted 29 stellar cycles ago when an Autobot peacekeeper, Ultra Magnus, infiltrated the Cranium and engaged Scorponok in battle. Zarak, worried that their work would be destroyed in the crossfire, was killed by friendly fire. Zarak's wounded, opened torso revealed he himself had been re-engineered with Cybertronian technology. Scorponok escaped, with a major headwound, through an artificial wormhole generator, but the fate of Zarak's corpse was not revealed. Spotlight: Ultra Magnus
Wings Universe
Following the rebirth of Cybertron's Golden Age, Lord Zarak and Galvatron led their Decepticon forces away from Earth and Cybertron. They attacked Zarak's homeworld of Nebulos and many other planets in deep space, with Optimus Prime and his Autobots in hot pursuit of them through the cosmos. Generation 2: Redux
Toys
Generation 1
- Scorponok (Headmaster, 1987)
- Zarak is the Headmaster figure included with Scorponok, forming his partner's head in robot mode or piloting his cockpit in scorpion mode. As he is about the same size as a smaller Headmaster figure, Zarak actually makes a rather small head for the huge Scorponok, but this is covered up by Scorponok's large helmet.
- As with all Headmasters, Scorponok has a flip-down panel on his chest which covers a spring-loaded mini-Tech-Spec-meter which gives readings for Speed, Strength and Intelligence. The tumblers are activated when Zarak (or any other Headmaster unit) is plugged into his neck socket while in head mode.
Notes
- For whatever reason, Zarak's character model's head is the same as the one on Scorponok's character model, minus the antennae.
- Zarak is one of the first Non-Cybertronian Decepticon Leaders. The first if we ignore that business with Serpentor...
References
- ↑ A first name, Mo, is given for Zarak in IDW's Spotlight: Ultra Magnus. No name other than "Zarak" is given to him in any other continuity. Whether TFWiki considers this a retroactive addition to all versions of the character or relevant to only the IDW continuity depends—because we're children here—entirely on how awesome the new name is. The new name is hilarious, which is practically the same as awesome, so there.
