Blackarachnia (Animated)
| The name or term "Blackarachnia" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Blackarachnia (disambiguation). |
| The name or term "Elita One" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Elita One (disambiguation). |
- Blackarachnia (formerly "Elita-1") is a Decepticon from the Transformers Animated continuity family.
Welcome to Goth Talk!
In another life, she was Elita-1, an energetic, spunky Autobot Academy cadet. That was until a fateful trip to Archa Seven, where her teammates abandoned her to a horde of alien spiders. Now calling herself Blackarachnia, she hates her new body with a passion. Her loathing of her organic parts is slowly driving her insane, and she will do anything to get rid of them, no matter whom she has to crush in her path. Her mutation fueled a newfound hatred of the Autobot cause and a quest for revenge that led her to join Megatron in his war against them. However, she does not appear overly loyal to her leader.
In her mutant technorganic form, she makes use of her newfound 'cyber venom' to paralyze her enemies, and combines this with her natural ability to download and mimic other Transformers' traits and weaponry for a limited amount of time with a simple touch. Hope nobody told Lockdown.
Fiction
Animated cartoon
- Voice actor: Cree Summer (English), Ryōka Yuzuki (Japanese), Christin Marquitan (German), Marcella Silvestri (Italian), Raquel Marinho (Portuguese, as Elita-1), Adrianna Pissardini (Portuguese, as Blackarachnia), Rosario Zamora (Latin American Spanish)
A thousand stellar cycles ago or so, a young cadet received the name "Elita-1" from her instructor, Kup Minor. Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac II Elita-1 and her teammates found their way to Archa Seven, looking for a Decepticon ship filled with energon when they accidentally fell into a series of caves. They were ambushed by giant spiders and, when escaping the massive energon explosion caused by the battle, Elita ended up being left behind. When she tried using her ability to borrow powers from other beings, she was injected by the spiders' venom, turning her into a hideous freak. Because of her new, semi-organic nature, her signal did not appear on Optimus's radar, leading him and Sentinel to believe that she had perished in the explosion. Along Came a Spider
When the AllSpark was found by a group of Autobots, Blackarachnia was aboard the Nemesis with the other Decepticons, annoyed at Lugnut's emphatic, vocal loyalty to Megatron. She even suggested that Lugnut's speech of praise was hardwired into his mind. She also had conflict with Blitzwing, who touched a sore point by insulting her organic mode. Her retort to "blow it out your actuator, three-face" angered Blitzwing to the point that he... began to express his feelings in song. Later, at Megatron's orders, she scanned the Autobots' ship to determine the nature of their high-energy cargo. She confirmed the Autobots were carrying the AllSpark, or at least something just as powerful. When the Autobots escaped and it became clear the Nemesis was going to crash into an exploding space bridge, Blackarachnia fled in an escape pod. Transform and Roll Out
Fifty stellar cycles later, while searching space for any trace of the AllSpark in the hope that she could use its power to purge herself of her organic mode, Blackarachnia stumbled across Starscream, still operating out of the battered shell of the Nemesis. Realizing that Starscream was searching for the AllSpark as well, Blackarachnia proposed an alliance, but Starscream proved uninterested in sharing power and promptly booted her out into space. Before being ejected, however, Blackarachnia was able to plant a homing device on Starscream, Dispatches and eventually tracked the beacon to Earth. At first setting down on the Moon to investigate the crashed hulk of the Nemesis, Blackarachnia ran afoul of the bounty hunter Lockdown, who had been hired by Blitzwing to hunt down Optimus Prime. Not willing to risk the bounty hunter finding the AllSpark before her, Blackarachnia attempted to dissuade him from investigating Earth, but Lockdown didn't take kindly to her interference, and the pair wound up battling. During the fight, Blackarachnia used her download ability on Lockdown, knocking him out, but she was immediately overwhelmed by the sheer number of powers and modifications she wound up taking from him, and passed out herself. Blackarachnia was first to awake, however, and hid herself aboard Lockdown's ship, so that when the bounty hunter finally came to and headed for Earth, she was able to hitch a free ride to the planet. A Few Loose Strands At some unknown point in the future, Blackarachnia was interviewed by the trans-dimensional magazine Venus and recounted this adventure for the publication's readers. Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac
After arriving on Earth, Blackarachnia stalked Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Sari on Halloween night. Once she took out the boys, she attempted to sweet-talk Sari into handing over her AllSpark Key, but Optimus Prime arrived to intervene. Using Bulkhead and Bumblebee's stolen powers to overcome Optimus, Blackarachnia captured Sari and web-swung her way to the top of a skyscraper, with Prime in hot pursuit. In the ensuing fight, Prime finally realized who Blackarachnia truly was. Exploiting the opening, Blackarachnia bound Prime in her web and seized Sari's key, activating its power in hopes of become fully mechanical. However, the energies unleashed caused any organic life in range, including Sari (and presumably any other fleshy), to shrivel and sicken. It almost killed Blackarachnia, but Optimus Prime pulled the Key out, restoring the organics. Prime tried to reason with "Elita", asking her to come with them in the hopes of curing her, but Blackarachnia stabbed him, saying that it would be a long time before she trusted him again. After she knocked out Prime, she cried her four eyes out. Along Came a Spider
Later, she again kidnapped Sari, who was running away after having the AllSpark Key taken away from her. When she heard about the Key and how Sari felt totally mistrusted by the Autobots, Blackarachnia played on the girl's sympathies by saying she knew how Sari felt. Blackarachnia noted how she was not a Decepticon until after the Autobots turned their backs on her, and how the AllSpark's power was the only thing that could cure her current form. Despite being kidnapped again and nearly being killed by Blackarachnia's previous use of the Key, Sari appeared to start seeing eye to eye with her captor. Megatron Rising - Part 1
At least, that was what she wanted Blackarachnia to believe. Leading her around in circles over the frozen Lake Erie, Sari was finally forced to admit that the Autobots' ship, which contained the AllSpark, was underwater. Blackarachnia's organic half couldn't survive the icy water; incensed, she prepared to kill Sari. Ratchet brought the ship up through the ice, and Sari bit Blackarachnia's hand, showing that her organic half couldn't withstand teeth, causing her to drop Sari and allow Ratchet to grab her and get in the ship. As Blackarachnia tried to force the door open, the vessel accelerated, and Blackarachnia was thrown off the ship. Megatron Rising - Part 2
Washing ashore on Dinobot Island, Blackarachnia was taken in by the Dinobots, who gave her Meltdown's former base as a home. Using her charms, Blackarachnia was able to manipulate the Dinobots into doing anything she wanted. Grimlock was particularly attached to her, and reminded the other Dinobots of this through violence. Going over Meltdown's notes, she realized that he would be able to remove the organic half from her body. She sent the Dinobots to release him from prison, causing the Autobots to come investigating. Blackarachnia then poisoned Bumblebee and Prowl with her venom, and used the "promise" of an anti-venom to blackmail Optimus into helping Grimlock find the genetic modifier Meltdown needed for the experiment. Unfortunately, Meltdown turned the tables on them when the modifier was his, planning on removing Blackarachnia's technological half and leaving him with an organic transformer. Optimus was able to stop Meltdown before he succeeded, but the modifier was damaged and Meltdown presumed killed. Needing to escape, Blackarachnia urged Optimus to hold her, causing Grimlock to attack in jealousy, and Blackarachnia fled. However, it appears that Blackarachnia left the anti-venom needed to save Bumblebee and Prowl beside them. This gave Optimus hope that beneath all of Blackarachnia's anger and manipulation, there was still something left of Elita-1 in there. Black Friday
Still taking refuge in Meltdown's abandoned laboratory, Blackarachnia began experimenting with transwarp energy to create new techno-organic beings to experiment on in an attempt to purge her organic elements, the idea being if she could turn another techno-organic purely robotic, she could do the same to herself. Most of her early attempts proved fruitless, until Swoop was able to capture the perfect test subject: the renegade Autobot Wasp. Tempting him with both her feminine wiles and promises of power great enough to achieve revenge on the bots who betrayed him, she coaxed him into being experimented on, fittingly merging him with the DNA of a wasp.
While Wasp was being turned techno-organic, her old friend Sentinel Prime stumbled upon the lab and was disgusted to find a robot with an organic mode. He was even more shocked when she revealed that they had a past: she was his old friend Elita-1. Disgusted by her mutation, Sentinel was willing to "put her out of her misery", and during a scuffle knocked Blackarachnia's helmet off, allowing him to see her true, partially organic face. After Wasp's transformation into Waspinator was complete, Blackarachnia revealed her plans to Sentinel and Optimus.
Unfortunately, Waspinator was within earshot when she revealed what little regard she had for his life. Hurt by this betrayal, the now physically unstable Waspinator issued Blackarachnia an ultimatum: either fix him or be destroyed. She tried to escape, but once it was revealed that the transwarp energies responsible for his creation were going critical and about to cause a huge explosion, Blackarachnia surrounded herself and Waspinator in her webbing, shielding the Autobots from the explosion and seemingly leading to her final demise.
However, when she awoke, she was in a strange jungle, in front of a group of organic creatures that looked rather surprised to see their new guests. Predacons Rising
Web of Deception
Blackarachnia hired Lockdown in an attempt to get her revenge on Optimus, paying the bounty hunter to abduct the Autobot and tie him to a bomb next to one of the arachnids whose organic material had contaminated her. She believed that detonating the bomb would fuse Optimus and the spider into a similar techno-organic form. Luckily she didn't get the chance to test her theory, as before she could set off the bomb, the rest of the Autobots and a couple of small humans caught up with her. Web of Deception
Titan Magazines
Realising that the Autobots also win due to the power of teamwork, Blackarachnia decided to isolate one of them from the rest of the team. She stuck a tracer on Bumblebee so she could listen in on the crew and find out the best opportunity, while she roped Blitzwing and Lugnut into helping her. By the next day, when Bumblebee and Prowl were having a race at Crazy Coyote Canyon, the Decepticons had set up a trap and were able to capture Prowl. To Blackarachnia's annoyance though, Bumblebee turned up and somehow her comrades failed to pursue him even with the tracer.
She commanded Lugnut to fire on the Autobots as they sped across the cave roof, realising too late this would cause a cave-in. To add insult to injury, she found the tracer couldn't track Bumblebee any more because it was stuck on Lugnut's butt... The Race
The AllSpark Almanac
In an interview with Venus, Blackarachnia told of her encounter with Lockdown on the Moon. Elsewhere in the issue, readers were promised secrets guaranteed to help find their sparkmates, tune-ups in just two megacycles, 6 ways to climb the chain of command and more. Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac
The Cool comic
Blackarachnia was part of Megatron's band of Decepticons, chasing down the Autobots who had rediscovered the long-lost Allspark. She was visibly frustrated when Megatron along with the Autobots disappeared through a Space Bridge gate. The Cool Extra issue 3
Upon arriving on Earth, Blackarachnia joined Starscream and Lockdown in attacking Detroit. Transforming from spider to robot mode, she came swinging down from the sky to attack Ratchet in an attempt to seize the AllSpark. The Cool Episode 1
Later, she finally caught up with her old flame, Optimus Prime for a long-overdue conversation. She announced her plans to use the key to cure her body, but Optimus refused to let her, calling her "Elita-1" in the process. Incensed at being called that, she demanded Optimus explain why he abandoned her to die years ago. Optimus told her that he and Sentinel immediately formed a rescue party but were unable to find her. Breaking free from her webbing, Optimus then vowed to help her find a cure for her condition no matter what.
Blackarachnia was moved by Optimus's words until Blackout arrived and interrupted their tender moment. Before she could consider the offer, Lugnut seized her and ordered a retreat. As she flew off with the Decepticon, Optimus repeated his offer to "Elita-1". Blackarachnia reminded him never to call her by that name again, shedding a tear in the process. The Cool Episode 4
Toys
Animated
- Blackarachnia (Deluxe, 2008)
- Japanese ID number: TA-09
- Accessories: Grapnel-hook
- Blackarachnia transforms into a mechanical spider with some organic aesthetic. Many of her pointier parts are molded in softer plastic to keep unfortunate children from putting their eyes out. She comes with a grapnel hook accessory. This is spring-loaded, with a jointed claw at the end of it. Pressing a button causes it to retract along the string. It may be mounted under her abdomen in spider mode or on her back in robot mode, via two different sets of pegs. There is also a peg hole in each wrist, for web-slinging action.
- The spider's head is mis-transformed in the package, making the first step of her instructions initially confusing. Furthermore, the pedipalps will easily come off if manipulated too much, and her transformation requires that they be turned around completely. Because of this, they will often fall off over, and over, and over...
- The Revenge of Blackarachnia (2-pack, 2008)
- Accessories: Grapnel-hook
- The Blackarachnia toy was released again in a Wal-Mart exclusive two-pack with the "Battle Damaged" Optimus Prime from the DVD 2-pack with Megatron. Both toys are identical to their original releases.
Merchandise
Microbots Collection
- Blackarachnia (Capsule, 2010)
- Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. released Blackarachnia and 5 other Animated characters as small PVC figures in the Microbots Collection, a series of capsule toys.
Notes
- Blackarachnia is based on the original Blackarachnia, who first appeared in the Beast Wars franchise.
- A non-final character model for Blackarachnia was included in the initial Transformers Animated press kit from Cartoon Network, was used briefly (in silhouette) for her first appearance in "Transform and Roll Out", and appears on the Deluxe figure's packaging. Though the toy shares the non-final model's spider-leg placement in robot mode, black belly, dark purple skin, and yellow Decepticon symbol, the rest of the toy adheres much more closely to the finished model.
- The initial Transformers Animated press kit from Cartoon Network also said that Blackarachnia's techno-organic state was caused by "an encounter with the ALLSPARK" in the past. Given her actual in-show origin, either this was an early idea for the character, or the press release writer was misinformed.
- As Blackarachnia, what seemed to be her new head is actually a helmet that was lying around in the wrecked Decepticon warship where she had her accident. After seeing her without it in "Predacons Rising", you can understand why she wore it.
- Blackarachnia is the only major Animated character not to have a detailed on-screen transformation.
- As Elita-1, her head seems to be based on the pony-tailed Ariel, the younger form of Elita One, while her body's ornamentation homages Elita One herself.
- According to Derrick J. Wyatt, Elita-1's alternate mode is a "Cybertronian car". [1]
- Apparently, Blackarachnia was quite the scientist even before she was introduced to Prometheus Black's genetics experiments. According to the AllSpark Almanac, Blackarachnia introduced the concept of Triple-Changing to the Decepticon ranks when she rebuilt Blitzwing after the Great War.
- Blackarachnia has a faceplate, which is seen in The Arrival issues 1 and 4, but never in the show itself.
- In the credits for "Megatron Rising" Parts 1 and 2, her name is parsed as "Black Arachnia".
Foreign names
- Japanese: Blackarachnia (ブラックアラクニア Burakkuarakunia), Elita One (エリータワン Erīta Wan)
- Russian: Chërnaya Vdova (Чёрная Вдова The Black Widow), Elita-1 / Elita One (Элита-1 / Элита Один Elita-1 / Elita Odin)
