Tarantulas (Transformers)

Tarantulas is a character who features in Transformers.

Biography

Tarantulas was one of the original members of Megatron's Darksyde crew who stole the Golden Disk artifact from the Cybertron archives. A recurring gag throughout the series is his tendency to get squashed by something, usually a boulder. He has been known to attack enemies both physically and psychologically. He is often considered one of the most sadistic and treacherous members of the Predacons, a mad scientist in his own right. He was the one who infected Blackarachnia and Inferno with Predacon shell programs (and once Rhinox as well). In the case of Blackarachnia, he reprogrammed her from a Maximal Protoform with the full intention of her being his mate and partner. He later developed an obsession with the "She-spider" (as he often called her), because of how much she rivaled him in skills. However, when he was consistently betrayed and rivaled by Blackarachnia, he then took to calling her "Witch". Another attempt to create a spider Predacon failed because the pod had already scanned a fire ant, which resulted in Inferno.

Megatron often relied on Tarantulas because of his technological and strategic brilliance. However, he was always suspicious of his intentions and aspirations as well as his somewhat psychotic nature (he made comments about Tarantulas' "treachery" long before he ever found about his agenda). He was well known for his frequent maniacal laughter. Megatron would eventually discover Tarantulas' role but, much to Tarantulas' amusement, could not afford to kill him as he still had need of his talents.

At points in the first season, Tarantulas would show to have abnormal levels of knowledge about the Vok (then simply called the "aliens") and even knew in advance they planned to destroy the planet. He attempted to capture and modify a Maximal Stasis Pod so he could escape. Unfortunately for him, Megatron learned of this and sent Inferno to stop him. The arsonist Predacon torched Tarantulas with his flamethrower, seemingly disabling him. Despite his body being blasted, Tarantulas' managed to download his mind temporarily into Blackarachnia's body when she tried to access his datatracks.

Tarantulas continued to influence Blackarachnia's body, forcing her to abandon a battle with the Maximals (much to Megatron's fury) to return his newly transmetalized body to the Predacon base. There, Tarantulas' mind was transferred back into his body but kept a psychic link to use Blackarachnia as his puppet, forcing her to attempt to gain information on Megatron's Golden Disks. However, Blackarachnia betrayed him, waiting until he was distracted by the Maximals to download the data for herself. Tarantulas retained the link until Blackarachnia forced him to break it by threatening to kill herself, which would also kill him.

After that (and the resurrection of Optimus Primal as a transmetal), Tarantulas remained with the Predacons for a while. Although, he was always following his own agenda (even sabotaging a Predacon mission in order to gain a new lair). Tarantulas became a free agent after the discovery of the Vok ship that abducted Airazor and Tigatron in "Other Visits", much to Megatron's fury.

The two formed an alliance of sorts after, promising to share its secrets. Megatron predictably pulled a double-cross, forcing Tarantulas (who had planned to do the same) to form a wary alliance with the Maximals to stop him from returning to Cybertron with the ship, actually helping them to stop Megatron due to his hatred of the Vok. After this, he was often seen helping Megatron if he had something to gain from it. The two never truly trusted each other, resorting to spying on each other and bugging the others' communications.

Tarantulas also attempted several schemes of his own, attempting to take Protoform X's pod for himself while forcing Blackarachnia to reveal her knowledge, only to get beaten up by Silverbolt and subsequently torn apart by the psychotic Protoform X. Later, when Ravage was sent to Earth, Tarantulas showed his true colors. Ravage identified Tarantulas as an agent of the Tripredacus council. Tarantulas then aided Ravage and the Maximals in capturing Megatron by disabling the defenses of the Darksyde . When Ravage switched sides after seeing a recording of the original Megatron, Tarantulas also switched sides, helping him to attack the Axalon . However, their attack failed when Rattrap delivered bombs onto Ravage's ship in a daring solo assault on the vessel, with Tarantulas being blown to bits when the demolition charges glued onto his hands exploded.

Shown to be rebuilt by spider-like repair bots in "Optimal Situation" Tarantulas only appeared sparingly, working on his own agenda off-screen, though he appeared to have rejoined the Predacons. Megatron referred to him as "Lieutenant" and he appear to function as a squad commander on the Predacon mission to try and to kill Blackarachnia (now having defected to the Maximals) and Cheetor with the aid of cloned transmetal enhanced Velociraptors and on the Predacon mission to ensure Blackarachnia would die when her Shell Program was being tampered with (this nearly got him killed by a vengeful Silverbolt). His hatred of the Vok was also made clear although the reason behind it remained a mystery.

He finally cut all ties with the Predacons when he manipulated the gullible Quickstrike into using Optimus Primal (who Quickstrike could control via Tarantulas' control suit gadget) to kill Megatron, throwing him into a lava pit as he warred for control of the spark of his namesake. With Megatron's seeming demise, Tarantulas attempted to destroy The Ark with all the dormant Autobots and Decepticons inside, setting it to self-destruct. However, his plan was foiled on both fronts—Megatron arose from the pit, mutated by the power of his ancestor into a massive new dragon form, one he quickly used to full effect on the traitor, first roasting him with blasts of fire, and then telling him that while Megatron could suffer Tarantulas' treachery, he could not suffer his incompetence (likely meaning that this action was too much for him to tolerate). Without hesistation, Megatron angrily throws Tarantulas into the lava pit himself, finishing with "Treachery requires NO mistakes!!". Tarantulas, having survived the plunge, concedes to Megatron's statement, swearing never to make another mistake again. Elsewhere, Blackarachnia used her knowledge of Tarantulas' methods to halt the self-destruct countdown.

When Tarantulas attempts to alter history by destroying the Autobots and Decepticons dormant within the Ark he reveals that neither he nor the Tripredicus Council are of Decepticon or Autobot origin, but are descended from Unicron and would not be affected by the time-line alteration. Thus prompting Megatron referring to him as "Unicron's Spawn" It is further implied that this might have been in keeping with the Council's plans.

Badly damaged and forced into hiding after this, Tarantulas attempted to take over control of Tigerhawk from the Vok, ironically saving Megatron (Tigerhawk was about to kill him). Here he revealed that this was the plan of the Tripredacus Council, who were not descended from Autobot and Decepticon like the rest of the Cybertronians, and wanted the planet's current existence erased from the timeline (and hence would not have been affected by the destruction of The Ark). However, in doing so, he inadvertently attracted the direct attention the Vok influence and, as it tried to enter his own body, he accidentally vaporized himself with his own machinery (comically leaving his legs). It is revealed in the two-part series finale "Nemesis", that Tarantulas had been repairing and restoring the crashed Decepticon warship, Nemesis, for his own use, something which Megatron takes advantage of.

Notes

• Tarantulas featured in the setting of Beast Wars.

Alternate Versions

• In the Beast Wars: Primeval Dawn comic, it is revealed that Tarantulas' destruction was an elaborate ruse engineered by himself, in order to absorb the Vok who possessed Tigerhawk into himself. With the power of the Vok at his command Tarantulas now planned to destroy the rest of the Vok and refashion the timeline to his own desire. Reviving Ravage and adding Razorclaw, Spittor and Iguanus to his ranks, he sought to complete the task he had begun. However, he met opposition in the Vok's new avatar, Primal Prime, as well as with the returned Tigatron and Airazor. Although there would be no Tarantulas toy for the Universe line, Tarantulas (seemingly in the Vok-afflicted body from Primeval Dawn) appeared in the Transformers: Universe comic book series. Presumably after his defeat in the Primeval Dawn storyline, he joined forces with Unicron's Decepticons. He welcomed Blackarachnia back to the side of evil (Transformers Universe #2) and sent her on a mission against the Autobots (Transformers: Universe #3).
• Tarantulas was featured in the 2006 BotCon tale Timelines: Dawn of Futures Past. Much more of the background surrounding the theft of the Golden Disk artifact was revealed. After Megatron and his crew had stolen the Golden Disk Tarantulas was able to decode enough information from the Golden Disk to set a course through Transwarp space - all the while reporting his discoveries to his master on the Tripredacus Council member General Ram Horn. 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. Art sketches by artist Marcelo Matere in the latter section of the comic indicate his pre-Earth mode was that of a multi-wheeled transport.
• Tarantulas appeared in the 2006 TransformersCon voice actor play. Voices in the play were performed by a variety of volunteers and the actual voice actors attending the convention. In this play various Transformers from different timelines and realities were swept up in a repeat wave and transported along with Unicron to Earth. The Transformers included original Tracks, Ariel, Cosmos and Megatron, Beast Wars Tarantulas, Robots in Disguise Sky-Byte and Beast Machines Tankor. Tarantulas was seemingly plucked from some time in early season two of Beast Wars. Unlike most of the Transformers present, Tarantulas immediately allied himself with Unicron, who sensed the spider as one of his servants. Eventually the Transformers were able to learn that the death of Unicron in 2005 was what created the repeat wave. They defeated Unicron by tricking him into Transforming and using up his power, then using the Key to Vector Sigma program (which Tankor had brought with him) to tap into the power of Vector Sigma itself, and through it the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. With Unicron severely drained the various Transformers faded back to their original timelines.

Appearances

• Beast Wars:

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