MAXIMAL: Optimus Primal

FUNCTION: Leader

FIRST APPEARANCE: “Beast Wars part 1” (TV show)

"We’re in a war to save our own future. Defeat is NOT an option."

He was leader of the Axalon, part of an exploration fleet from a Cyberformed world believed to be Cybertron. One of its other missions was to dump the nightmarish Protoform X, which Primal helped create, in a barren, uninhabited world. However, the Axalon was ordered to engage the Darkside, a Predacon ship hijacked by Megatron, member of the terrorist/religious group The True Path. The ships battled in Transwarp and were stranded on a strange world. Optimus now found himself a reluctant commander in a guerrilla war, suffering doubts and criticism (mainly from Rattrap and later from Onyx Primal), especially over decisions like letting Dinobot, a Predacon deserter, join the group.

He proved to be a capable commander, bringing many victories. But his hardest challenge was when they encountered the Vok, a powerful race of aliens who were experimenting on this world. The Vok decided their experiment was ruined and so tried to destroy the planet, revealing its second moon as a powerful weapon. He went to destroy it with a converted stasis pod, but when he tried to eject, he found he couldn’t- Megatron had tampered with it. He died but was brought back a few weeks later by Rhinox, finding himself in a new Transmetal body in a vastly different world. He regained command, gaining a new problem when they discovered that the world they were on was actually Earth, 2 million years ago! He now had to deal with Megatron trying to alter the future, escalating the conflict as those close to him died, humanity was nearly wiped out and Protoform X ended up under Megatron’s command as Rampage. The greatest challenge came when the Ark was discovered and broken into by Megatron, who blew apart Optimus Prime. Primal had to keep the Spark safe until Prime’s body could be repaired- the Spark’s energies turned him into an “Optimal Optimus”, a Super Transmetal. Time was restored to its original course, but at the cost of the Axalon.

For the last year of the Beast Wars, he had to defend the Ark from the Predacons and deal with fresh criticism from newcomer Depth Charge. This was to be rendered mute when Megatron unleashed the power of the Nemesis- a Decepticon warship rebuilt by Tarantulus. The death toll was high, and Primal himself was nearly killed by the raging Predacon, but the battle was won thanks to Rhinox and Dinobot 2. He finally left the Beast Wars, leading his weary warriors home. 

Profile:    Optimus Primal is a powerful warrior, a brilliant commander and friend to those under his command- one of the worthier owners of the Optimus/Prime title. He takes the form of a gorilla in beast mode, its strength and social skills suiting him. He is a confident and open leader, but can also become aggressive when called for, as Depth Charge can attest. As the Beast Wars went in, he became more morose and brooding, but he still remained the confident, determined leader.

Abilities:    In beast mode, Optimus can travel quickly in short bursts and can go toe-to-toe with Megatron’s Tyrannosaurus mode. In robot mode, he can fly and commands powerful shoulder-mounted missiles and an arm-mounted rapid-fire shotgun. He has incredible speed and stamina, and a good mind for military strategies, as shown when he took down a Predacon spy system through an elaborate façade passing Rattrap off as a traitor. As a Transmetal, Optimus’ strength and firepower was increased two-fold, and he gained a hoverboard for his beast mode, allowing him to cover ground better. As “Optimal Optimus”, he is stronger still and has improved targeting, along with two extra modes; a tank and a thunderjet. As Optimal Optimus, he is the strongest of all the Transmetals, excluding the Transmetal 2’s.

Weaknesses:    All setbacks are felt sorely by him, and he is suffering from constant pressure NOT to mess up the time stream during the wars. He could also be seen as too trusting by letting Dinobot and Blackarachnia join, despite their obvious threat. As Optimal Optimus, his speed is greatly decreased.

PREDACON: Rampage

FUNCTION: Berserker warrior

FIRST APPEARANCE: "Bad Spark" (TV show)
"Embrace the pain, surrender to fear."

Rampage, AKA Protoform X, is the dark secret of the Maximals. He was created in an attempt to replicate Starscream’s spark, which was said to be immortal; this could be true or it may be that historical records of the Air Commander are sketchy. Either way, Protoform X was created- powerful, unkillable and insane. He was imprisoned on Colony Omicron, where he broke out and slaughtered all there, except for security chief Depth Charge- he thought it amusing to leave Depth Charge to blame himself and suffer in anguish. This backfired when his murderous attacking of the planet was halted by a vengeful Depth Charge. He was turned over the Council of Elders who, for some reason, decided to keep X alive. He was handed over to the Axalon crew for dumping; the ship was commanded, ironically, by Optimus Primal who had a hand in his creation.

His was one of the many Protoforms dumped when the Axalon crashed, and was knocked down by the Quantum Surge. A battle over his pod awakened him, and he gleefully tore apart Tarantulus and tormented Silverbolt, before being defeated. As he lay prone, Megatron performed surgery on him, cutting away half his Spark so he could control the beast. It was here X was renamed Rampage and bullied into the Predacons. (The name may be a joke on Megs part) Rampage horrified enemy and comrade alike, only showing a softer side when he encountered the confused, grotesque Transmutate. However, it was killed in a battle between Rampage and Silverbolt, driving him deeper into his madness. He began to have fun tearing through the Maximals and destroying the Axalon, but had much more fun when Depth Charge arrived- now a Transmetal and dedicated to killing Rampage. As if this wasn’t enough for him, his Spark half was used to create the first Transmetal 2- the new Dinobot. He continued his private war with Depth Charge regardless, until they both perished in battle beneath the ocean. The immortal Spark, it seemed, was vulnerable to being stabbed with pure Energon.

 Profile:    Created by a sinister experiment, Rampage is a powerful psychotic and feared by all Transformers. He can go from brooding to gleeful to mindless rages in seconds, and it is only the other half of his Spark that keeps him on the Predacons side. He is notorious for cannibalism and fights a private war with Depth Charge.

Abilities:    He is a Transmetal, with king crab, tank and robot modes; all heavily armoured. He is extremely strong and uses a powerful Gatling cannon, which sprays the battlefield with powerful cluster rockets. He has aquatic abilities and a vicious style of fighting, happy to tear Maximals apart by hand. His spark is near immortal, allowing him to heal all wounds without use of the CR Chamber.

Weaknesses:   His Spark means he cannot sleep, or die, and this causes him madness; he kills people to die THROUGH them; this madness impairs his effectiveness in the Beast Wars. Half of his Spark belongs to the Predacons; pressure placed on it will cause him incredible pain. He prolongs the war with Depth Charge, despite his ability to take the manta ray out cleanly; this causes him and the other Predacons damage. His Spark cannot withstand pure Energon; if it comes into contact with it, it won’t fizzle out like with other Transformers but will violently explode. 

MAXIMAL: Airazor

FUNCTION: Aerial warfare

FIRST APPEARANCE: "The Spark"

"To fly is to know true bliss."

Airazor was nearly killed in protoform stage, as her stasis pod was damaged and unable to locate a beast mode; she was luckily saved by Rhinox and Cheetor. Although Airazor's innate Cybertronian memories are intact, she sees Earth as her home and prefers her beast mode, a Peregrine falcon. She formed a strong bond with fellow naturist Tigatron and the two frequently stayed away from the Axalon, together out in the wilderness. They did join Onyx Primal's group but only to spy on him for Optimus; this proved near-fatal when they suffered a vicious beating at the claws of Megatron.

Airazor & Tigatron headed out on an exploration mission after the Quantum Surge, and encountered a mysterious Vok device called the Metalhunter. It sent them offline and they were transported to the Vok's home nebula. It is unknown what happened to them there, but it appears their sparks were removed from their bodies and studied; their physical forms were merged to form Tigerhawk.

PROFILE: Airazor prefers her beast mode and nature to her normal form and the Axalon. She shares a sibling bond with Cheetor, as he gave some of his circuitry to keep her protoform alive, and is involved in a quiet relationship with Tigatron. She is quite cocky in battle and refuses to back down from a challenge.

ABILITIES: She is fast and efficient. Her beast mode can reach speeds of 500 MPH and her robot mode can go at Mach 1; this gives her a sonic boom weapon, similar to Decepticon warrior Thundercracker. She is armed with wrist-mounted missile launchers, which fire adamantium-tipped arrows. She is very manoeuvrable in the air and has a superb range of sensors; infra-red, tracking systems, phenomenal hearing and she can see anything within 5 KM clearly. 

WEAKNESSES: She is weak and has low endurance, causing problems in a pitched, close-range fight. Her aerial skills have sacrificed her usefulness on land; her beast mode is completely useless on land and in robot mode she proves to be awkward and gangly when walking. She hardly ever retreats, which can result in her receiving severe damage. 

MAXIMAL: Tigerhawk

FUNCTION: Vok Emissary

FIRST APPEARANCE: "Other Victories"

"I give you a final chance; surrender or be terminated!"

The Vok became worried about the damage being caused to the timestream by the Beast Wars; however, an all-out attack like before would only cause more damage. Instead, they turned to the Spark-less bodies of Tigatron and Airazor, and fused them together into one being; Tigerhawk. Two of the Vok possessed this body and granted it demi-god powers, and sent it to Earth as an emissary. It destroyed the Darkside, thrashed the Predacons and nearly killed Optimus and the Transmetal 2 Megatron, but was felled by Tarantulus' devices. The madman attempted to reprogram Tigerhawk as his slave, but Tigerhawk had NO programming other than the Vok within; those Vok were driven out and attacked Tarantulus, resulting in his death. With that, the sparks of Tigatron & Airazor arrived and entered Tigerhawk. They fused together into one sentient entity.

Tigerhawk was part of the Maximals for a week, before the Nemesis was activated. He went into direct combat with it and was promptly slagged.

PROFILE: With the Vok within him, he is a no-nonsense, one-track warrior, showing no mercy or restraint. When the Sparks entered him, he became more scholarly and controlled, and re-established old friendships with the Maximals. 

ABILITIES: He is unique as a Transmetal 2 FUZOR (tiger/hawk beast mode) and commands incredible stamina, flight skills and strength. In both modes he contains small chain guns, wing-mounted as beast and shoulder-mounted as robot, and underarm missiles. The most impressive ability of Tigerhawk is the incredible energies within him, capable of powerful blasts and even manipulating the wind and causing earthquakes!

WEAKNESSES: None, except for his tendency to melt when you fire a Fusion Cannon at him.

Rattrap, formerly Speedtrap, was assigned as a gunner for the Axalon, based on his previous and successful career as freelance peacekeeper for the Council of Maximal Elders. He and his friend Speeder were assigned to the two twin exploration ships of Axalon and Aurora, and both were shot down by Predacon terrorists- the True Path cult. Speedtrap woke up to find himself now a rat, and took the name Rattrap. Nobody said names were his strong point.

Since he first awoke, Rattrap was trying hard to annoy people. He sparred verbally with Cheetor, criticised Optimus and got into many a fight with Dinobot. Dinobot was a sore point with him; he felt the ex-Predacon was a security hazard, but eventually the two rivals ended up gaining a grudging respect and camaraderie, however warped. Despite these tendencies, Rattrap proved himself as a valuable member of the crew; he saved Cheetor from Tarantulus, put himself on the line in order to dupe the Predacons and find out how they were spying on the Maximals, shutting down the Sentinel security program after it accidentally locked the Maximals out of the Axalon, and Optimus trusted him enough to have him placed temporarily in charge at one point. Granted, he gave the team Packrat, but nobody held that against him. 

His relationship with Dinobot was fractured after the raptor nearly rejoined the Predacons, and this caused many hostile fights between them; the death of Dinobot, however, left Rattrap mentally scarred and contributed to a greater hatred of the Predacon enemy. He also resented Blackarachnia's inclusion in the group, partly because of this and also because he felt she was usurping Dinobot's old position. He eventually accepted her, and he also gained a new sparring partner in Depth Charge. By the end of the Beast Wars, however, he had just about had his fill of fighting and looked forward to a relaxing existence hanging out with Speeder in some of Cybertron's more...disreputable bars.

PROFILE: Rattrap is brash, rude, sarcastic, cynical and occasionally annoying. Despite this, he gets the job done with flash and zeal, and seems to have natural charisma coming out of his ears. He loves to show off and gets his kicks from alternatively shooting Waspinator or sparring with a team-mate, whether Dinobot or Depth Charge or Onyx Primal. He is also a bigot, hating Predacons with a passion, though his experiences with Blackarachnia and Dinobot may have lessened these. While he incessantly complains, he is still a valued member of the group and will fight to the death for his friends.

ABILITIES: In beast mode, he can travel at 20 KPH, but is twice as fast in his robot mode. He is an expert marksman, able to hit a Predacon from 50 metres away while under fire, and also trained in the art of demolition; he carries a machine gun and bombs with him everywhere. He is also well versed in spying and computer hacking. As a Transmetal, he can withstand background Energon levels for 5 times as long and in his new vehicle mode, he can go at 70 KPH.

WEAKNESSES: His prejudice and constant bickering can drive wedges between him and the others. He is nearly useless in hand-to-hand combat and suffers from acute pessimism (albeit for a good reason!). He has previously had problems with cowardice, as shown in the first battle of the Beast Wars, but this is mostly cured now.

PREDACON/MAXIMAL: Blackarachnia

FUNCTION: Covert operations

FIRST APPEARANCE: "Double Jeopardy"

"I like being bad, and I bet, deep down, you like it too."

She was originally a Maximal protoform, before her stasis pod was captured by Megatron. She was handed over to Tarantulus, who created her with the single aim of her to be his mate. However, she proved to be unreliable and treacherous, just as much as Tarantulus, and the two became bitter rivals. When they did team up, as in the creation of Inferno and the invading of the Axalon, they proved deadly but luckily they hated each other too much to stay united. Things changed after the Quantum Surge, which turned Tarantulus into a Transmetal and created a mental link between the two spiders; Blackarachnia was Tarantulus' slave for a few months, before she forced him to sever the link by threatening to kill herself, and therefore him as well via the link. 

Her greatest achievement was getting the access codes and location of the Ark. This was then used by Megatron as apart of his insane scheme. She somehow became attracted to the Maximal Silverbolt, and he to her. After their mutual experiences with Protoform X, the two met in secret repeatedly; after the "Agenda" fiasco, she joined the Maximal ranks, taking the place left by Dinobot. She didn't quite fit in here, and at one point was driven away and nearly died at the hands of Dinobot 2. However, this all changed when she stole the futuristic Transwarp Driver and tried to become a Transmetal; her Predacon shell-program contracted Corrodia Gravis and had to be removed; after what appeared to be her death, she was revived and became a Transmetal II thanks to the oddly-acting Transwarp Driver. She was now a full Maximal and later saved their base from Predacon occupation, before returning to Cybertron with her beloved Silverbolt.

PROFILE: Blackarachnia is unreliable and extremely intelligent; a lethal combination. She has a lust for fighting and charges into battle against any opponent, save Rampage. She is power-hungry and will manipulate others, from Quickstrike to Silverbolt. While her amoral behaviour has lessened since she's been a Maximal, it is still evident, though she has gained a greater appreciation for the life on the planet and the protohumans in particular. 

ABILITIES: She is trained in many different forms of Cybertronian martial arts, taught to her by Tarantulus. In spider mode, she can avoid nearly all detection and can move at 20 KPH. She is vastly intelligent, both in terms of scheming & tactics, and mechanical matters. She fires rapid machine gun fire from her spider legs when in robot mode, and she carries a lethal cybervenom crossbow. As a Transmetal II, her speed and physical strength has been increased threefold and she displays telekinetic abilities.

WEAKNESSES: She is untrustworthy, leading to hostility from her Predacon allies and causes them to become distant from her. She is also capable of very rash decisions, and this can lead to her being placed in danger. She has low endurance. In TM2 mode, she has no obvious weaknesses.

PREDACON: Waspinator

FUNCTION: Cannon fodder

  FIRST APPEARANCE: “Beast Wars" part 1

"Wazzzpinator hazzz planzzz..."

PROFILE:  He's hip, he's swank, he's got a permanent target on his thorax. He's a rather dim Predacon but has the intelligence to realise he's getting a bum deal. He's extremely bitter and has the idea that if he makes the others look bad verbally, he may got treated better and NOT get blown up. So far, this has yet to happen. He DID survive the Nemesis attack and ended up ruling prehistoric Earth- the one time he was truly happy; then Red Alert & Inferno knocked him out and put him in stasis lock until 1986... when Galvatron blew up the ship Waspy was on. Interestingly, Waspinator is the Chosen One, existing in a time loop that spans 2, 000, 000 BC to the 30th Century- as long as he exists in this time, the Transformers will as well. However, Waspinator ended up making it BACK to Cybertron and then being turned into Thrust- nobody knows how he succeeded in doing this.

ABILITIES: Waspinator can fly at speeds of 60 KPH, and his wasp mode stinger becomes his gun in robot mode. Other than this, he has NO abilities, except for the incredible ability to regenerate from the most amazing wounds. He is immortal.

WEAKNESSES:  Other than his physical strength, somehow he manages to attract enemy firepower. Blasts aimed directly at Quickstrike have been known to swerve in midair and hit Waspinator. The Covenant believes this to be the work of Unicron, subtly using his powers to attempt to destroy the Chosen One. Waspinator believes that everyone just likes shooting him. And he's right.

PREDACON: Buzzsaw

FUNCTION: Surveillance

  FIRST APPEARANCE: "Aurora Saga: Adjustment" by Graham Thompson

"My brother and I have this... condition..."

PROFILE:  Strong, skilled, intelligent, threatening- Buzzsaw is everything Waspinator is NOT. He was created via biomorphic reproduction, the process which created the Cybertronian Empire, from Waspinator, and gets on rather well with his fission-brother. He works for Transquito's crew, the sister crew to Megatron's group, and has yet to see combat with the Maximal crew of the Aurora.  

ABILITIES:  Like Waspinator, he can fly at 60KPH and his stinger becomes a gun. UNLIKE Waspinator, he has greater physical strength and a range of sensors- he can locate chemicals for up to 30 miles (this is the Transformer version of a sense of smell) and can see & magnify objects for up to 5 Kilometres. 

WEAKNESSES: For some reason, he keeps falling apart; this makes him FAR weaker than his brother, because he can fall apart just by sitting quietly in his room. This may be a side effect of being cloned from an immortal Spark. His incredible vision makes him easily disoriented by bright flares and strobe lighting. 

DINOBOT
Allegiance: Maximal
Function: Front-line combat
"Death is acceptable if it is done with honour."

History: Dinobot joined the True Path early on, a close acquaintance of both Megatron and Tarantulus. He followed the idea of Predacon domination completely, until Megatron got them stranded on an unknown planet. Dinobot rebelled and was turned on by the other Predacons, forcing him to ally himself with the Maximals. At first this was an alliance of convenience, but after a while he came to be a loyal and dedicated warrior. Dinobot, however, always bore in mind his Predacon heritage, and when it looked like the Maximals could return to Cybertron, he declined, not wanting to return and be arrested as a criminal. 

Dinobot was the first to realise that they were stranded on prehistoric Earth. Upon discovering this, he stole the Golden Disks, knowing that they contained information on 20th Century Earth and thus could be used to tell & predict the future. He hid the original but took the alien one to the Axalon. Later, unsure of what to do after suffering from the fear that the future could be fixed and that he was just a pawn of destiny, he simply went with the flow of events which resulted in him temporarily rejoining Megatron and giving the Predacons the original Golden Disk; he went back to the Maximals, however, rather than kill Rattrap. Suffering from guilt for his betrayal, he attempted suicide before deciding to go and find the Golden Disk & destroy it. He discovered Megatron's plans to destroy the evolutionary ancestors of humanity and thwarted it by defeating 6 of the 7 Predacons & destroying the Disk- at the cost of his own life. 

Profile: Dinobot is a warrior first and foremost, steeped in the Predacon honour of conquering with strength. He would rather slash his way through problems than to use diplomacy, which hurts his people skills. He is constantly tormented by ethical and philosophical issues, and has an obsession with fate and destiny- he demands nothing less than to be master of his own life, and speaks of suicide should he find his life to be fixed by fate. He originally joined the Maximals with the full intention of returning to the Predacons by defeating Megatron & taking charge, but after the months went on, he decided to stick with the Maximals. He has an odd rivalry-camaraderie relationship with Rattrap and respects Optimus greatly even though he'd like nothing better than to take his position.

Abilities: Dinobot is a master of both unarmed and armed combat. In robot mode his velociraptor tail splits to form a shield and spinning drill-like sword which can easily rip through Predacon armour. In velociraptor mode, he can pick up on chemical traces in the air. He fires high-intensity Argon lasers from his optics.

Weaknesses: His ethical and philosophical issues make his loyalties untrustworthy, and he has a bad tendency to leap headfirst into battles against overwhelming odds.

DINOBOT II
Allegiance: Predacon
Sub-group: Transmetal 2
Function: Special operations
"Die."

History: Dinobot 2 was born of an earlier experiment- the Predacons attempted to create a doppelganger of Dinobot by using the Darkside's records of his beast mode's DNA and a copy of Dinobots memory tracks; they resulted in creating a velociraptor with the mind of pre-Beast Wars Dinobot. The clone was killed, but the Predacons still had the means to make a second.

In the 3rd year of the Beast Wars, Megatron had developed "Transmetal 2" technology- he had altered the Transwarp Driver the time-traveller Antagony had brought with her to create Transmetals and augment their properties- Energon resistance, extreme stamina, improved strength & firepower -to new levels. He used this on the velociraptor DNA to create Cyber-raptor soldiers as a test- afterwards, he realised he needed a Spark to fully utilise the Transmetal 2 process. Luckily, Megatron had the half-Spark he'd cut from Rampage... He captured a stasis pod which contained a dead Protoform and infused it with velociraptor DNA, an altered copy of Dinobot's programming, the half-Spark and then zapped it with the Transwarp Driver, creating a nightmarish undead clone of Dinobot.

Dinobot 2 was used for hunting missions- his first involved tracking and killing the newly Transmetal 2 Cheetor, the second assassinating Blackarachnia and the third taking out Depth Charge whilst the Predacons gained control of the Maximal base. When Rampage was killed, Dinobot 2's Spark nearly flatlined- this allowed the spectre of the original Dinobot to make contact and ultimately possess the clone. The clone, acting under impulses from the original, gave the Maximals the means to stop the Nemesis and rebelled against Megatron. The Nemesis crashed to Earth, killing Dinobot 2 who refused to evacuate. Whether he was acting of his own will in this or if he was being controlled utterly by the old Dinobot is unknown.

Profile: He is a perversion of everything the old Dinobot stood for- bereft of honour and living solely to kill. He is a silent, sadistic hunter, with no humour and willing to go to any lengths to carry out Megatron's orders. He has a hate-hate relationship with Rampage and a similar one with Depth Charge, most likely due to influences from Rampage's half-Spark. His skeletal form gives the impression of an undead Dinobot.

Abilities: He knows all of the old Dinobot's combat skills and contains the hunting instincts & knowledge of a real velociraptor. He wields Transmetallised scythe-claws which can shred all but TM2 armour, and fires a single, devastating red beam from his optics. His Spark, having one been Rampage's, gives him advanced healing abilities, the ability to paralyse enemy Transformers and the ability to cause instant pain to Rampage. 

Weaknesses: None.