Scorponok
Scorponok is the name of several fictional characters from the Transformers series.
Contents
Transformers: Generation 1
Scorponok is a fictional Headmaster Decepticon character.
Marvel Comics
Scorponok appeared in a story called "Pretender to the Throne", where he created the first six Decepticon Pretenders. [1]
Books
Scorponok was among the Decepticons featured in the 1988 book and audio adventure Autobot Hostage by Ladybird Books. While on solo patrol, Highbrow is captured by the Decepticon Tentakil. Scorponok sends a message to the Autobots promising to release him if Optimus Prime gives himself up. Optimus Prime surrenders but also smuggles Hosehead and Fizzle into the Decepticon base. As expected, Scorponok fails to keep his side of the bargain but the two Autobots manage to free both Optimus Prime and Highbrow and after a brief battle they make their escape.[2][3]
Mosaic
Scorponok appeared in the Transformers: Mosaic story "The Cassandra Effect" by Richard Cookson.[4]
Beast Wars
Scorponok was one of the original members of Megatron's Darksyde crew who stole the Golden Disk artifact from the Cybertron archives in Beast Wars. He turns into a giant scorpion.[5]
Animated series
Scorponok was promoted to second-in-command of the Predacons after forcibly (and literally) ejecting Dinobot from the group, and acted as Megatron's right hand in the first season of the Beast Wars. To survive on the Energon-filled planet, he scanned a scorpion as his beast mode.
Scorponok had several important roles in season one, like finding an old Predacon cannon (which he almost lost to Cheetor), and then chased Cheetor in the Darksyde with Waspinator. He then tried to infect Optimus Primal with a virus that was supposed to make him a coward, but instead made him a berserker. He was partners with Blackarachnia who betrayed him twice. Scorponok also didn't get along with Terrorsaur, because Terrorsaur always wanted to usurp Megatron. Throughout season one, Scorponok's faith in Megatron was unmatched, almost to the extent of looking up to him. Scorponok was arguably the lone original Predacon who was completely loyal to Megatron; the other 4 original Predacons - Terrorsaur, Tarantulas, Waspinator, and Dinobot - all tried to usurp Megatron's position of leader at one point of the first season. Sadly this was never reciprocated, and Megatron treated Scorponok as disposable as the rest of his minions.
In the season one finale, he joined Megatron and Terrorsaur at the alien structure, where the Maximals Rattrap and Optimus Primal were trying to get inside of it to rescue Airazor. But due to the truce, and their hopes of the Maximals possible destruction within the structure, the Predacons decided to help them. They used Scorponok's toxic sting so that they could enter the forcefield in an attempt to retrieve Airazor. Scorponok announced to Megatron that he had one mega missile to shoot at the Maximals while they were inside, to which Megatron replied, "Excellent!" With their plan to destroy the Maximals thwarted, Megatron, Terrorsaur and Scorponok returned to their base which proved to play a significant part of the demise of Terrorsaur and Scorponok when their base was hit by the Quantum Surge.
Scorponok seemingly died along with his rival, Terrorsaur, in the second season premiere, when they both fell into a pit of magma as the quantum surge hit the planet from the destroyed Vok "Planet Buster". After this, Inferno took his place as Megatron's second-in-command.
Comics
Fun Publications
The Predacon General now known as Megatron gathered a crew of like-minded individuals. While Waspinator and Terrorsaur stole a ship, Megatron, Dinobot and Scorponok stole the Golden Disk, battling the guards and destroying one, disabling a second, and leaving a third to commandeer a ship to pursue them. Picked up by their ship, they fled and were pursued by two ships - one of which was the Axalon commanded by Optimus Primal, the other the Chromia 10. With a little help from Laserbeak and Buzzsaw (secretly sent by Divebomb to ensure Megatron's plan to change history succeeded) they destroyed one of their pursuers, and the newly christened Darksyde fled into transwarp space, with the Axalon in pursuit - thus beginning the Beast Wars.
Scorponok's pre-Beast Wars mode seems to be based on Energon Scorponok, but no actual toy was created for this character.
IDW Publishing
Scorponok had a biography printed in the Beast Wars Sourcebook by IDW Publishing. According to his biography published in the Beast Wars Sourcebook Scorponok actually survived the events of season 2 and was turned into a transmetal scorpion, but he remained trapped in the magma, unable to escape until after Megatron was defeated and the Maximals left with him for Cybertron. What happened to Scorponok afterwards is unknown.
Toys
- Beast Wars Scorponok (1996)
- The Scorponok toy was recolored as Double Punch in Japan in 1998 and as Botcon Sandstorm in 1999.[6] The commercial for Scorponok referred to him as a "robot in disguise with a killer bee inside!"
- Beast Wars Transmetal Scorponok
- A transmetal toy of Scorponok was released as McDonald's happy meal toy.
Transformers: Energon
Like his predecessor, the Transformers: Energon incarnation of Scorponok (misspelled Scorpinok in his debut episode) is known as Megazarak in Japan and is a Triple Changer, transforming from robot to scorpion-themed tank to jet.
Animated series
Originally, he was the Grand Chamberlain of the alien world of Planet Q, and sacrificed his life when he detonated the planet's core to stop the attack of Unicron. The spark of the planet's ruler, later to be known as Alpha Q, continued to exist within the dormant Unicron, and set about forming a plan to recreate his homeworld and other worlds that had been consumed by Unicron, using Energon. From Unicron, he recreated Planet Q's armies as the Terrorcons, and resurrected Scorponok to lead them.
Scorponok managed to turn several Decepticons to his and Alpha Q's side, until Megatron was resurrected. Although Scorponok tried to kill the newly reborn Decepticon Leader, Megatron predictably beat Scorponok brutally for trying to usurp the power of Decepticon Leader, and branded him with a Decepticon symbol. Megatron then used Scorponok as a shield against the Autobots' fire on his first attack in his new body (he was eventually repaired by Tidal Wave). However, Scorponok continued to act as a mole for Alpha Q, working towards his master's goals from within Megatron's team. When Megatron came to suspect this, he strapped Scorponok to a meteor and hurled him at Earth's Energon Grid, hoping to force Alpha Q out of hiding to rescue his minion. Scorponok survived the ordeal, and reunited with Alpha Q, entering into an alliance with the Autobots to stop Megatron from reviving Unicron. However, after Scorponok's subsequent defeat by Megatron, the positively charged Energon released from Unicron's head by Alpha Q reacted with the negatively charged Energon vented from Unicron's body by Megatron, tearing open a fissure in space, through which the teams were sucked. In this new region of space, all of the planets consumed by Unicron had been recreated, but Scorponok was to meet an unfortunate fate as Megatron completely reprogrammed him, turning him into a true Decepticon.
During his alliance with the Autobots, Scorponok had earned an admirer in Ironhide, who attempted several times to make him remember who he was and to turn him away from Megatron's service. His words continuously fell on deaf ears, and the two friends-turned-foes had their final conflict on Cybertron as Optimus Prime battled the Unicron-possessed Galvatron. Both combatants were rendered unconscious, but Scorponok was the first to recover as Ironhide's Spark began to glow - Optimus Prime was calling on all his troops to lend him their strength. With the last of his own energy, Scorponok transported Ironhide to Prime's side so that he could join in the ultimate combination, but told him that he was not doing it for him - he was doing it so that Prime could save Galvatron from Unicron. And with that final act, Scorponok died.
The Japanese version of Ironhide and Scorponok's final exchange adds a touch of ambiguity to their relationship. From his reappearance as a Decepticon up to this point, Ironhide has been attempting to make Scorponok remember Alpha Q, while Scorponok has insisted that Megatron is the only master he has known. His final line, however - a near-whispered "Our planet..." - suggests that he may well indeed remember Alpha Q, and that he may be serving Megatron out of his own free will (perhaps, as some earlier dialogue suggests, for giving him new life as Decepticon when he would have died otherwise). Scorponok's line survives into the Energon dub, but Ironhide's reaction ("Scorponok? So... you do...") does not, depriving the exchange of the punctuation which makes its meaning clear.
In the 33rd episode, "Scorponok's Scars", it is revealed that the spark within Scorponok is not actually that of the general of Planet Q - his spark was completely extinguished in his last act of sacrifice. Alpha Q instead used the wandering Spark of a Decepticon to recreate Scorponok, programming it to act and think the way the real Scorponok did. For an unexplained reason, however, this episode was not dubbed into English.
Comics
Dreamwave Productions
In Dreamwave Productions' Transformers: Energon comic book series, Scorponok was a former lieutenant of Megatron. Unlike Megatron, he preferred to actively participate in combat, his brutal and 'right-to-the-point' tactics earning him the respect of his troops. Scorponok's precise history after this is unknown, although Starscream implied he was one of those who fought against Unicron.
Ten years after the defeat of Unicron, Scorponok sought out the Decepticons who were not happy with the current Autobot-Decepticon alliance, and found a new ally in Alpha-Quintesson who gave him and his followers new, energon-enhanced hyper-modes for finding Energon to re-activate Unicron. As his first act, Scorponok killed the always treacherous Starscream, stating he never knew why Megatron kept him around.
Following Alpha-Q's orders, he led his new army, the Terrorcons to Earth, planning to suck the planet dry of Energon. During his first assault his team captured Kicker, whom Scorponok realised could help him locate Energon. After soundly defeating the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, Scorponok started the mining of Energon. The Autobots' second attack, aided by the Omnicons, took him by surprise and with the mined Energon blown up, Scorponok was gated away and reprimanded by his master.
Learning from his mistakes, Scorponok didn't take any chances in his next attack. He unleashed four huge armies of the cloned Terrorcons on four cities of Earth, while he hitched a ride on a tower of the Earth defence grid, arriving from space to the Yukon Territory Autobot station. Thus avoiding the warning systems, Scorponok took the three Autobots Ironhide, Overload and Dropshot by surprise and took them out easily. However, just as he wanted to claim the defense system, he was challenged by Megatron, who was recently freed from his imprisonment in Unicron (in flashbacks we would see Starscream warning Megatron about Scorponok's ambitions).
Megatron and Scorponok battled it out, both verbally and physically. Their philosophies, subtle and blunt, clashed just like they themselves did on the battlefield. Figuring that Megatron was drained of energy by using his teleportation powers, Scorponok grounded him and buried him under a hill, but then was stabbed in the back by Megatron, who was far from finished. Burning him from the inside out with his energon sword, Megatron left the empty husk of what was Scorponok behind.
Dreamwave went bankrupt and the comic was cancelled, but the official bio of Hasbro's Cybertron Dark Scorponok follows this Energon comic continuity, where Scorponok is reanimated by the energy of Unicron, and follows his orders while hoping to regain his spark.
Fun Publications
The character appeared in the Transformers: Cybertron comic strip exclusive to the Official Transformers' Collectors Club, transported into the Cybertron animated series timeline by reality warps resulting from the black hole created by Unicron's destruction.
Dark Scorponok first appears in the third issue of the comic, as Vector Prime warns that Unicron could bring more minions to battle the Autobots, Dark Scorponok rises from the dead. Later, an Autobot named Skyfall arrives in his ship at a spaceport only to discover the place abandoned, until he is attacked by Scrapmetal and Dark Scorponok. As Scorponok continues to attack Skyfall, Skyfall is buried in rubble. The Mini-Cons of Ramjet find Scorponok and lure him to the Autobots. Safeguard attempts to defend Alpha Trion's chamber from Scorponok, then is joined by Sentinel Maximus. Scorponok fights madly, ignoring all injuries to himself. While the other Autobots defend Vector Prime tries to get the nearby autoguns online. Scorponok stings Sentinel Maximus who nearly shuts down due to the cyber-venom. The autoguns come online and blast Scorponok.
Toys
- Energon Ultra Scorponok
- A Triple Changer.
- Cybertron Ultra Dark Scorponok
- Energon Scorponok returned in the Transformers: Cybertron toyline. Now called Dark Scorponok, his toy biography cites his death as that seen in the Dreamwave comic book, at Megatron's hands, rather than the cartoon's depicition of his passing.
- A retool of the Energon toy, he is a homage to Black Zarak. He is a zombie who hungers for the lifeforce of other Transformers, much in the wave of victims of the Transorganic Dweller.
- Titanium 3 inch Scorponok
- A 3 inch tall non-transforming Scorponok toy was released in the Transformers: Titanium line. Though the toy comes in Energon colors, his tech specs fit more with original Decepticon Scorponok's character.
Kre-O Transformers
Fictional biography
I’m SCORPONOK, and I’m always one step ahead of the game. If you think you can outsmart me, you’ve got another thing coming – in the form of my toxic tail! I’m big, I’m bad, and if the DECEPICONS know what’s good for ‘em, pretty soon I’ll be in charge!
Rival: Galvatron
Big Plan: Take over the Decepticons. Conquer Earth.
Favorite Hangout: The biggest throne he can find.
Toys
- Kre-0 Transformers Kreon Micro-Changer Scorponok (2012)
- Part of the blind packed preview wave of Kreon Micro-Changers.
References
- ↑ "Transformers" #40 (May 1988)
- ↑ http://www.green-ranger.com/stuff/ladybird/09-hostage/
- ↑ John Grant (1988). Autobot Hostage. Ladybird Books. ISBN 0721411185.
- ↑ http://transformers-mosaic.deviantart.com/art/The-Cassandra-Effect-192897154?offset=10
- ↑ Beast Wars is the monster of 3-D computer animation, Chicago Sun-Times, July 3, 1997 by Lynne Heffley
- ↑ Stalking The Prey: A Guide to Hasbro's Beast Wars by Nicholas R. Messina, Jr., Lee's Action Figure News and Toy Review #71, page 34-40, September 1998
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