Those Spooky 'Cons

Essay contributed by DrSpengler. Last updated: Oct 2004.

In the Japanese episodes following the end of Season 3 in America ("2010") a trend began which followed all the way to the end of Generation 1 in Japan. Beginning with Masterforce, each Decepticon Emperor of Destruction had a strange supernatural alien being pulling their strings. Not only that, but each of these beings shared traits extremely similar to those of Unicron.

Let's begin with Unicron. Unicron had the ability to resurrect, repair and reformat Transformers into new, more powerful beings. He could seemingly create matter through beams of energy. In Transformers the Movie he took the remains of Megatron, the Seekers and the Insecticons and turned them into Galvatron, Cyclonus, the Sweeps and the lone Armada warrior. He did so with beams of energy. After his defeat at the end of the Movie strange green energy escaped from his exploding body. According to Japanese continuity this was called "Angromois Energy" and was the lifeforce of Unicron, himself. Some remained within Unicron's head while the rest raced across the galaxy until it landed on the distant planet Gaea and riddled itself into the world.

In the 2010 episode "Ghost in the Machine" the spirit of Starscream, aided by the unwilling Scourge, reactivates Unicron's head in order to receive a new body. Scourge attempts to flee, leaving Unicron to remind him "You will stay until the labors have been completed. What I have given you I can also take away". Unicron's powers are weak but within such a close range he is still capable of destroying Scourge, as he was a being he "created". At the end of the episode Unicron gives Starscream a new body in the same fashion he reformatted Megatron and the rest in the Movie, through beams of light.

Later on in the Headmasters series Cybertron exploded, Unicron's head with it. It was revealed later in Beast Wars Neo that Unicron's servents, known as the Blendtrons, searched the Universe for every last peice of Unicron's remains, as each bit still contained a fragment of Angromois energy which Unicron needed in order to be reborn. The Blendtrons themselves were given life through Unicron's Angromois energy, his lifeforce. So they were literally his spawns.

In the American Beast Wars series Tarantulas reveals that he and the Tripredacus Council share origins different from the Maximals and Predacons. Meaning that they are not descended from Autobots or Decepticons. In the episode "The Nemesis part 1" Megatron states "Ah yes. Insipid treachery from Unicron's spawn may yet turn the tide", insinuating that Tarantulas is a descendant of Unicron, much like the Blendtrons.

It is argued that the "Unicron's Spawn" remark was made as an insult, rather than a statement. I tend to disagree with that mainly due to the way Megatron gives the line. Had he said something to the effect of "Curse that miserable spawn of Unicron!" I would be more inclined to view it as an insult, but the way Megatron says it is very matter-of-factly. As if he already knew Tarantulas' true origins. In the end, it's all a matter of interpretation.

It would stand to reason, however, that while Unicron sent the Blendtrons out to recover his corpse and lifeforce, he would dispatch the Tripredacus Council and Tarantulas to keep tabs on Cybertron. The Tripredacus Council controlled a great deal of Cybertron, politically. They were the polar-opposites of the Maximal Elders (who died battling Unicron during the finale of Beast Wars Neo).

Which brings me back to Generation 1 and the supernatural Decepticon entities which played pivitol roles in so many stories. Given their powers, appearance and motives one could assume that they too were Spawns of Unicron.

The first of which was Devil Z in Masterforce. He was shown as a pulsating being of pure energy. Despite Overlord's status as Emperor of Destruction, he truely commanded the Decepticons. His true origins were never revealed, only that It was he who had created the transectors and hid them on Earth. The transectors were later recovered by the Autobots to form the Godmasters. Devil Z eventually possessed the body of Black Zarak to more effectively command the Decepticons. He also had the power to reformat his troops into more powerful beings. Granting their request, he relieved Buster and Hydra of their humanity and turned them into purely robotic beings, boosting their strength exponentially. At the end of the series, once Giga and Mega turned on him, he killed them and reformatted Overlord into a sentient being with no need for human componants. Black Zarak's body was destroyed battling God Jinrai during the series finale. Without a body, Devil Z was left in his energy form, vulnerable to Jinrai's fireball attack. Devil Z was then killed.

Following Masterforce was Victory. The series dropped the supernatural-angle for its Decepticon Commander, as well as the ned for human componants, and went back to the basics of the series.

Victory was then followed by Zone which existed as an OVA episode and a manga series. In Zone the Decepticons are shown being under the command of a demonic, nebulos creature with three faces calling itself Violen Jigar. Violen Jigar had the power to resurrect nine deceased Decepticon Generals (most of which were gestalts), upgrade their power and reformat them with new bodies. Violent Jigar was obsessed with obtaining the Zodiak, the very thing which created the universe itself. He also recruited a Decepticon Commander called Metrotitan to aid in his battle. Over the course of the series the Decepticon Generals were killed and Violent Jigar was destroyed battling the combined form of Dai Atlas, Sonic Bomber and Roadfire, called Big Powered.

The next supernatural creature to command the Decepticons was Dark Nova, who appeared in Battlestars: the Return of Convoy. Appearance-wise, he was very much like the Vok aliens from Beast Wars. He was a skull-like head attached to a mane of cables and tentacles. He revived Galvatron from his prison beneath the North Pole and reformatted him into Super Megatron. After defeat he reformatted Megatron again into Ultra Megatron. Eventually the two combined to become Star Giant. Star Giant was destroyed battling Star Convoy, and Dark Nova along with it (though Megatron would survive to return in Japanese Generation 2).

Dark Nova is a curious creature. In the original concept art included in the Transformers Generations guide book, Dark Nova is shown as a shadowy figure in the perfect sillouette of Unicron. This never appeared in the manga itself, though. It is understood that the art featuring Dark Nova as Unicron was purely conceptual, when the artists at Comics Bon Bon were not yet sure of Dark Nova's design. His end result was something completely different looking but extremely Vok-like in appearance. Similar yet different enough to seperate him from their sepcies. Dark Nova's motives also didn't seem to coincide with those of the Vok, who would deem such things as the Great War "beneath them".

Dark Nova, and all the other demonic Decepticon Commanders seemed to be more occupied with trying to Destroy the Autobots and running the race ragged and weak. Keeping the Transformers in a state of constant war would eventually lead to the destruction of both factions, something Unicron would no doubt desire.

Simply theory, but the evidence would seem to point to Unicron's constant involvement in the Great War even after his demise.