Tarantulas (BW)

Tarantulas is a Predacon from the Beast Wars portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

"And fries! Lots of FRIES!"

Tarantulas (aka Tarantulus or Mesothulas) is the scheming mad scientist of the Predacon crew. He's the type of mad scientist who experiments on living beings, cackling in his trademarked laugh all the while, and then if things go wrong, happily eats what's left as his midday snack. The eating is what he was really looking forward to, anyway. It's this focused perversity that turns off even his fellow Predacons. Tarantulas's emotional detachment from their war also rubs his peers the wrong way. Fighting Maximals and following orders is just a required chore; his real passion is the unmentionable projects stashed in his "secret" lair.

Nominally, Tarantulas was one of the Predacons to join Megatron during his theft of the Golden Disk and the search for Earth. In addition to being an utterly psychotic, sadistic sociopath, he has a record for treachery rivaled by few other Transformers. He is actually an agent of the Tripredacus Council, which is trying to coax the Beast Wars toward an unspecified goal, where neither Autobot or Decepticon won the Great War. Who knows what other dark secrets lie in his past.

If anything upsets Tarantulas, other than losing a potential meal, it's those pompous aliens who call themselves the Vok. He harbors a hatred for them strong enough to make him work to eliminate them by any means.

Fiction

Toy bios

Why Megatron, I do believe you're trying to seduce m—oh, hey, Razorbeast.

Tarantulas was a sneaky, mysterious ninja feared across the galaxy. A master of the martial arts, he was suspected in the disappearances of many Earthlings, and rumors swirled of giant cocoons where he stored his prey. Tarantulas bio

Tarantulas was guarding the Predacons' jungle-based genetics lab along with Megatron and Waspinator. When the Maximals discovered them, he engaged Razorbeast in combat briefly before Megatron called retreat and destroyed the lab. Optimus Primal vs Megatron!

After the quantum surge, Tarantulas became a Transmetal, with the accompanying vehicle mode to match. With his new set of wheels, Tarantulas didn't have to rely on stealth and deceit as much, instead speeding head-first into battle and using his new mechanical beast mode to overpower his enemies. Transmetal Tarantulas bio

Cartoon continuity

Beast Wars cartoon

Voice actor: Alec Willows (English), Scott McNeil (English, portions of "Other Voices, Part 2" only), Yūichi Nagashima (Japanese), Xue Weigang (Chinese), Alexandr Novikov (Russian, 1st dub), Hervé Jolly (French), Lutz Harder (German), Riccardo Peroni (Italian), Junseok Song (Korean), Humberto Vélez (Latin American Spanish), Fábio Vilalonga (Portuguese)

Lieutenant Tarantulas of the Predacon Secret Police was one of Megatron's original crew, a mole inside his organization feeding information back to the Tripredacus Council without his knowledge. The Agenda (Part 2) More than that, he was a direct agent of the Council and shared their origins that existed outside of Autobot and Decepticon, with an overall agenda to alter the timeline by going back to prehistoric Earth and completely destroying the Ark and the Transformers within. Other Victories The plan went tits up though, as Megatron's Darksyde warship ended up crashing on an unidentified planet and contact with Cybertron was lost. Beast Wars (Part 1) Tarantulas carried on as normal despite this setback. The Agenda (Part 2)

Not arachnophobic, eh? I can fix that.

As Megatron's technical leader, he manned the scanners to appropriate beast forms based on the most powerful local creatures, choosing the form of an over-sized spider for himself. He cheerfully took part in the first battle of the Beast Wars, only to succumb to energon buildup while the Maximals were escaping. Beast Wars (Part 1) The Predacons uncovered a stash of energon crystals atop a mountain, but were forced to fight in their beast modes. Tarantulas and Rattrap fought in this manner until Megatron triggered a chain reaction which caused the energon to explode. Beast Wars (Part 2)

It wasn't long before Tarantulas had set up his own underground lair to keep his experiments away from Megatron's prying eyes. After helping Scorponok recover a mega-cannon, Tarantulas managed to capture Cheetor, trapping the young Maximal in a web in his lair with the intent of feeding later. Rattrap mounted a rescue, during which the cavern caved in on Tarantulas The Web Tarantulas was blasted by Rattrap during the battle at the Standing Stones, and later accompanied Megatron and Terrorsaur to attack the Axalon after it appeared that Optimus Primal had perished. After the Maximals got the ship's shields back up, he suggested to Megatron that they return to the Standing Stones. Unfortunately once there, the Maximals managed to retrieve Primal from the alien probe at the site, and Tarantulas was one of the first victims of the restored Maximal commander. Chain of Command

Sure, he's fast on the draw, but he ALWAYS shoots himself in the foot.

Terrorsaur, his power boosted, defeated Megatron in combat before leaving Tarantulas in charge of the other Predacons. Tarantulas promptly tailed Terrorsaur to find out what his new power source was, and discovered it was a flying mountain topped with a cache of super energon. Before he could do anything with the knowledge, he encountered Rattrap, who'd come to destroy the mountain. Their fight ended with Tarantulas falling from the side of the mountain. Power Surge He subsequently took part in an attack on the Maximal base after a stasis pod crashed. While Megatron kept Dinobot distracted, Tarantulas and Scorponok ambushed the Maximal from behind. Unfortunately for them, Dinobot had time to activate the base defenses, and Tarantulas was blasted into the distance by the auto-guns. Fallen Comrades

When the Predacons finally captured a stasis pod, Tarantulas made sure that the protoform was given a spider beast mode, creating Blackarachnia. Megatron suspected he had ulterior motives, but was nonetheless pleased by the new soldier. Tarantulas seemed happy to follow Terrorsaur when the Predacon mounted another takeover attempt with the aid of Rattrap, but spent most of his time skulking around the Darksyde in search of rats to eat. He spotted Rattrap sneaking around, but the Maximal blasted him before he could do anything. He subsequently limped back to the others to find that Megatron had reasserted his leadership. Double Jeopardy After one of Scorponok's viruses turned Primal into a berserker, the Maximal leader broke into the Predacon base and, completely ignoring Tarantulas's attempts to stop him, pinned the spider to a wall using Tarantulas's own weapon. Gorilla Warfare

"Behold my latest invention... THE DISCO BALL VERSION 2.0!"

One of Tarantulas's many inventions, the transformation lock lens, was instrumental in preventing the Maximals from contacting a temporal probe doing a flyby of the planet. He used it to ensnare Tigatron and Cheetor, then wreaked havoc with the Maximals' attempts to build a communications array, before he was finally defeated by Primal. Although his new toy was destroyed by the recovered Cheetor and Tigatron, the damage was already done, and the probe flew by uncontacted. The Probe After the Predacons discovered a Maximal spy camera in their base, they faked a mutiny and hid in a crevice. Tarantulas spent his nights being hugged like a stuffed toy by Waspinator, and his days eating stray rats. While the Maximals repaired the Axalon, the Predacons were discovered by Dinobot, and gave chase. Though they attacked the Maximal ship in an attempt to capture it, the affair ended with the Axalon crashing back to the ground. Victory After a Maximal victory, largely due to the efforts of Rhinox, Tarantulas captured the rhino in a web on Megatron's orders, so that he could be converted into a Predacon by the Transmuter. In return, the new Predacon poisoned him and Blackarachnia. Dark Designs

Ever the engineer, Tarantulas invents the low-tech equivalent of a tow truck.

Tarantulas detected another stasis pod landing in Grid Scavos, but Megatron refused to let him go and assist in the recovery, much to his disgust. The Spark The next time a stasis pod crashed, Tarantulas was more prepared. From his lair, he used a magna pulse to disable both the Darksyde and Axalon to allow him to investigate without interference. Unfortunately for him, Blackarachnia had found his lair, and insisted on coming along to help. At the pod, Tarantulas reprogrammed the new arrival into a Predacon, but was disappointed that a beast mode had already been chosen, and Inferno would not be another spider. In the confusion that followed, he made off with the real prize—the stasis pod itself. Unfortunately for him, Tigatron destroyed the pod before he could get very far, and he was forced to retreat when Megatron arrived. Later, in his lair, he inadvertently told Blackarachnia that the planet was doomed, and she realized he was intending to build an escape ship, however he threw her out before she could work out any more of his plans. Spider's Game

Tarantulas took part in a diversionary attack while Waspinator and Terrorsaur stole the Maximals' rectifier coil. After the Maximals went feral, the Predacons mounted a hunting expedition, though Tarantulas was stuck supporting the back end of Megatron's chair. Call of the Wild On another occasion, Tarantulas detected what appeared to be walking energon. Megatron realized that an earlier battle had left four of the Maximals contaminated and blinded, and ordered Tarantulas to send Terrorsaur to investigate. Dark Voyage After Waspinator was possessed by the ghost of Starscream, Tarantulas took part in the attack on the Axalon, and pointed out once they'd conquered it that their own base was now undefended. Megatron's answer was to leave Starscream in charge of the Axalon, a decision which would come back to bite him later. Possession

"See? I told you I was taller than Tarantulas."

During an attack on the Maximal base, Tarantulas was able to infect Rhinox with an energon discharge virus, though he himself was injured by Dinobot during the retreat. He was tracked by Dinobot and Rattrap, but eventually turned the tables by getting the drop on them, only to be flattened by a huge boulder. After recovering, he took advantage of their incessant arguing by trying to get the drop on them again, only to be knocked unconscious by a double punch. Finally, Dinobot attempted to use Tarantulas's body as a hostage, only for Megatron to blast it aside. Perhaps his only consolation was that he avoided the indignity of the fate that befell the rest of the Predacons. The Low Road

With the return of the aliens a certainty, Tarantulas stole a transwarp cell from the Darksyde, slagging Waspinator in the process. Megatron detected the theft and used Blackarachnia as a distraction while he remotely inserted his own programming into the cell. The two spiders later took part in an attempt to prevent Tigatron from escaping the Predacon base, and were squished by a boulder Dinobot had set up. They were relatively uninjured and able to haul their damaged comrades back to the ship. Before the Storm The two spiders teamed up again, infiltrating the Maximal base and disabling Rhinox and Dinobot while the other Maximals were busy with the latest alien construct to appear. They became aware that the planet's second moon had just been revealed as an artificial, alien doomsday weapon in disguise, with Tarantulas remarking it was "the beginning of the end" for the planet. Other Voices, Part 1 In the cargo hold, Tarantulas used the transwarp cell and a stasis pod to construct a ship, but was interrupted by Inferno, who torched the spider. Fortunately, Blackarachnia entered Tarantulas's mind to obtain the information to complete the escape ship, and he was able to set up a permanent neural link between the two Predacons. Other Voices, Part 2

A new look, and he didn't even have to sell out to Tony Stark for it!

When the quantum surge caused by the "second moon's" destruction knocked out all of the Transformers on the planet, Tarantulas's body was upgraded to a Transmetal form, and he forced Blackarachnia to drag it from the Maximal base, even getting her to ignore Megatron's command to stay and fight the Maximals. Aftermath With Blackarachnia's hard work and some serious-looking electrical arc generators, Tarantulas was restored to life. Megatron soon called him to the battlefield, so he left Blackarachnia to root around in their leader's computer files: by this point, the loss of the "moon" and the damages to the planet had revealed it to be prehistoric Earth all along... Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)

Using his new cycle mode, Tarantulas quickly reached the Maximals' position. During the fight, he kept in contact with her, until a shot by Dinobot put him temporarily out of commission. After he came around, Blackarachnia reported that she'd failed to get the data he needed. The Predacons were soon routed by the resurrection of Optimus Primal, and forced to return to base. There, Megatron and Tarantulas questioned Blackarachnia, only to be told the vital data had been lost. Neither of them believed her, but didn't call her out. Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)

It's important that you understand that Transmetal Tarantulas's beast mode has a jaw.

With his old lair destroyed by the Planet Buster, Tarantulas was fortuitous in that Megatron assigned him with Blackarachnia and Quickstrike to check out a cave filled with energon. He quickly surmised that it would make an excellent new lair, and attempted to get his two comrades interested in going it alone. Blackarachnia was more interested in getting rid of the neural link the two of them shared, and cracked an energon crystal, sending feedback through the link, to force him to sever it. By a fortunate coincidence, the three Predacons were soon attacked by Silverbolt and Rattrap, and during the battle Tarantulas was able to convincingly fake the destruction of the cave, allowing him to utilize it as his own lair. Tangled Web When Dinobot defected to the Predacon side, Tarantulas offered to verify his programming, but Megatron decided it wouldn't be a very good idea to let Tarantulas into Dinobot's processor. Maximal, No More

Downside: everything tastes like feet now.

Back in his lair, Tarantulas's instruments detected the aliens again, and he rushed off to the site. He arrived shortly after Tigatron and Airazor had been abducted, and zapped Cheetor, but was forced to retreat when more Maximals arrived. He visited Megatron, claiming to no longer be under the tyrant's command, but willing to help. The Predacons returned to the alien site to set up equipment, during which Blackarachnia revealed that she had learned through the broken neural link that Tarantulas hated the aliens. Other Visits (Part 1) Megatron, Quickstrike, and Tarantulas recovered quickly from the energy wave put out by the new alien construct, and after Tarantulas's refractive web was activated, the trio ventured inside. Once Megatron had control of the construct, he terminated his alliance with Tarantulas, dropping the Predacon from a great height. Infuriated, Tarantulas helped the Maximals attack the construct, infiltrating it along with Rattrap, and sabotaging the transwarp cells which Megatron installed, causing the ship to explode. Other Visits (Part 2)

Through a bug planted on Megatron's chair, Tarantulas learned that Blackarachnia had been sent to recover a new protoform, and took the opportunity to threaten her to try and extract the information he suspected she'd gained from Megatron's computers. Unfortunately for him, Silverbolt stepped in and defended Blackarachnia, shortly before an energon explosion separated everyone. Though Tarantulas found the stasis pod, its contents found him, and his body parts were spread liberally over a wide area. Bad Spark Dinobot later tracked down Tarantulas in an attempt to find out what Megatron's latest scheme was. Though Tarantulas didn't know, Dinobot forced him to act as transport, and they soon found Megatron preparing to torch a valley full of anthropoids. Tarantulas took advantage of Dinobot's distraction to shoot the Maximal, only for Dinobot to drop a boulder on him. Code of Hero

Tarantulas presses the History Eraser Button.

Alerted by the transwarp wavefront, the Tripredacus Council sent covert agent Ravage to capture Megatron. The former Decepticon led the Maximals to apprehend Megatron, and Tarantulas assisted by taking down the Darksyde's defense system. The Agenda (Part 1) Megatron, much to his indignation, was later informed by Ravage that the spider was a lieutenant in the Predacon Secret Police; Tarantulas joined in the diss by laughing over a comm-screen at his former boss. Tarantulas was able to inform the Maximals of the location of a stash of energon crystals that Megatron had hidden. The Agenda (Part 2) When Ravage was persuaded to change sides by the Predacon leader, Tarantulas appeared to come too, manning the transwarp cruiser's weapons systems for an attack on the Axalon. Alas, Rattrap chewed his way into the ship and tossed a couple of bombs at Tarantulas, which stuck to his hands before exploding. The Agenda (Part III)

You've been cool, but you've never been Leading An Army Of Cyborg Velociraptors Into Battle cool.

Tarantulas survived, though, and was quickly put back together by his arachnoids. He was repaired in time to witness the destruction of the Axalon. Optimal Situation He was soon seen back at the Predacon base, working under Megatron's command once again with no mention of his former secession. Cutting Edge However, around this time he was also working on another scheme: restoring the Nemesis, the flagship of the Decepticon fleet! At some point, he'd found it lying at the bottom of the ocean, and was ensuring it would not only fly again but had a Predacon control console and a transwarp cell that could take it back to Cybertron. Nemesis Part 1

He battled the Maximals alongside Megatron's cyber raptors, taking the opportunity to try out his new Transmetal cyber venom to great success, though he was stomped on by a cyber raptor once the Maximals worked out how to destroy their controls. Cutting Edge He assisted in the construction of Megatron's disruptor cannon, suggesting that they abduct an early human to complete the device when the other Predacons were unable to get too close to it due to the unstable power source. While the cannon was completed by Una, she managed to use her knowledge of levers to tip a piece of heavy equipment on him. Though he survived, Una had taken the cannon's stablizer crystal, and it exploded in the Predacons' faces when they tried to use it. Go with the Flow

Pew Pew!

When the Maximals attempted to remove Blackarachnia's shell program, he revealed to Megatron that he had included "certain safeguards" that guaranteed she would not survive, and joined the other Predacons in an attack on the Maximals that was meant to disrupt the attempted shell removal. He fired the missile which knocked the Maximals' power off-line at a crucial instant, seemingly bringing an end to his "treacherous creation". Enraged by the death of his beloved, Silverbolt attempted to kill the scientist, but was thwarted by Rampage, who was later defeated by a revived—and Transmetalized—Blackarachnia. Crossing the Rubicon

Tarantulas participated in the Predacons' next attempt to retake the Ark, utilising his latest invention to allow Quickstrike to take control of Optimus Primal... and that was when he made his move, at last. He manipulated Quickstrike into throwing Megatron into the nearby lava while he himself set the Ark's engines to overload. Megatron survived his lava-dunking, gaining a new body in the process. However, he had lost his patience. While he'd tolerated Tarantulas' treachery, he could not tolerate incompetence. Tarantulas survived his punishment and fled back to his lair. Master Blaster This appears to have not been what Quickstrike thought he was going to do, and neither he nor Megatron had any idea why he'd planned to destroy the whole Ark.

"Save me, X-Men!"

Tarantulas was left ranting in his lair about how the Tripredacus Council's plans were wrecked, while his systems monitored the Nemesis (which was finished by this point). However, his rant and Nemesis plans were interrupted when the aliens—now revealed to be called the Vok—sent their emissary Tigerhawk to Earth. Tarantulas let him take out the Predacons, then used his arachnoids to disable and capture him. Tarantulas intended to force the all-powerful being into his servitude by drawing the Vok influences out of his body and reprogramming him, and then have him obliterate the Ark. He cheerfully told the emissary that as he nor the Council had Autobot or Decepticon origins, they'd survive the resulting timestorm, turn Cybertron into a universe-conquering force, and one day even conquer the Vok themselves!

The scheme backfired, however, as his energy beam device expelled two actual Vok out of Tigerhawk. The formless spectres attempted to take over Tarantulas' body. Panicking, he made a religious sign to ward them off and then opened fire on them—a futile gesture that merely served to spin the energy device around 'til its rays were blasting him and his lab equipment. Overloaded by the beams, Tarantulas exploded, leaving nothing behind but his boots. The remainder of his equipment detonated seconds later, blowing the lair to rubble. Cheetor managed to rescue the inert Tigerhawk, and Tarantulas was presumed destroyed. Other Victories

Megatron knew that Tarantulas must have had some schemes on the go that the Predacons could pick up and use, and had his men search the ruins of the spider's lair. During this, he offhandedly referred to him as "Unicron's Spawn". He ended up discovering and using the working Nemesis. Nemesis Part 1

Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

Yokohama Decepticon Secret Base

As part of a plot to destroy the 2014 Transformers Expo in Yokohama and the Cybertronian artifacts within, Tarantulas, working on Unicron's behalf, secretly granted NAVI-ko a new body and intelligence regarding Nemesis Prime. True to plan, NAVI-ko was sent to activate the clone and guide him to the Transformers Expo. However, thanks to Nemesis Prime's inherent sense of justice, the plan failed. Yokohama Decepticon Secret Base

Cloud

While the Maximals were trying to help out the wayward Hot Rodimus and SARA of the Cloud World, they investigated an energon mine, only to find the Predacons waiting there. The two sides battled, and Hot Rodimus took the opportunity to transform into helicopter mode to pursue his true quarry, the Shockwave from his world. The two's battle set off the nearby energon, forcing the Predacons to retreat. Wild

In another fight with Shockwave, Hot Rodimus thought back to their confrontation with the Beast Warriors, including Tarantulas. TFC-A03

Beast Wars Diorama Story

A ravenous, sinister fiend... and Tarantulas.

Sometime after Starscream's arrival to prehistoric Earth, Tarantulas was confronted in battle by a time-displaced Motorarm, who fended off the Predacon with his Beetle Claw attack. Tarantulas was not present when the Autobots from another universe and Maximals combined all of their energies to attack a team of Predacons and Decepticons. Motorarm Chapter

Legacy VS500 Collection Special Comic

Tarantulas was a spectator for the second week of the Speedia 500 on Velocitron. Velocitron Speedia 500 Part 3

3H comics

Tarantulas was the inventor of the mind-drill. Megatron "borrowed" it from him to get information out of Antagony. Herald

Further proving the maxim: "If you want to steal the Matrix, you basically can."

Following the Beast Wars, Tarantulas's body returned to life, reanimated by the Vok powers he'd previously absorbed. The undead Tarantulas, along with a rebuilt Ravage (as Tripredacus Agent), nurtured new troops to life through enigmatic means, growing Razorclaw and Iguanus in tubes. Primeval Dawn Part 1 Primeval Dawn II

The remaining Vok anticipated Tarantulas's plan to destroy the rest of them, take their power, and fashion the timestream to his desires, and so they assembled an army of their own consisting of Primal Prime, Airazor, and Tigatron. Tarantulas met this opposition in battle, overwhelmed them, and triumphantly ripped the Matrix of Leadership from Primal Prime's chest. Primeval Dawn Part 2

Wounded critically, the Maximals withdrew to the Ark, while Tarantulas and his Predacons returned to his lair, where he directed them in the construction of a transwarp portal. Upon completion, Tarantulas planned to bring his stolen prize to his master, Unicron. Since his troops were getting restless, he promised them they could assault the Ark once they finished construction. Tarantulas was true to his word, and as Ravage led the Predacons against the Maximals, Unicron's spawn tried to stabilize the portal and prepared the Matrix for transport. Primeval Dawn Part 3

Tarantulus [sic] basically just never dies.

After using the Divine Light to access Primus's power, Cryotek reanimated several Sharkticon corpses into facsimiles of Megatron's old subordinates, including one of Tarantulas. Wreckers: Finale Part II

A year after the Great Transformation, the influence of Unicron swayed an abducted Blackarachnia to the side of darkness. As she was escorted by Tankor and Reptilion into the heart of the Chaos Bringer, she was surprised to see Tarantulas (still in his undead body) greet her as she joined the ranks of the Minions of Unicron. She hissed with disgust while Tarantulas noted that it was just like old times. Escape

Tarantulas had learned that Alpha Trion had been assembling the Children of Primus to counter Unicron's Minions, and so he sent Blackarachnia on a mission to her home Cybertron to sever the link between the Transformers and Primus by invading Vector Sigma's chamber and destroying Alpha Trion. He gave Blackarachnia a swarm of Piranacons and directions to the chamber through a structural weak point near the Rust Sea. Homecoming

Transformers Legends anthology

The original Megatron, now inside the mind of Predacon Megatron after the latter planted the former's spark inside his body, berated the Predacon leader's failures—in particular, being led astray time and again by such treacherous subordinates as Tarantulas. A Meeting of Minds

2006 IDW Beast Wars continuity

One account stated that when Tarantulas was born at the Pit, a glitch in the process granted him insight into the fact that an alien force was manipulating the Predacons for its ends. Thus, Tarantulas became obsessed with whatever this force was. Beast Wars Sourcebook #4

He's laughing at the chances of the fandom at large accepting this comic as the one true pre-Beast Wars canon.

Another account stated that Tarantulas was one of the Tripredacus Council's covert agents, working for them since before the Great Wars began to be recorded. As a key member of the council's schemes, Tarantulas helped develop the combiner technology that led to Predacus. Combiner Wars Tarantulas bio

Before his travels off-world, Tarantulas worked in tandem with the Tripredacus Council, who sought to unite Cybertron under a single, "purer" race. As the Great War drew to a close, Tarantulas received field intelligence reporting startling news: both Optimus Prime and Galvatron had died in a terrible confrontation between their forces. Though his masters weren't particularly moved by this turn of events, a renegade within their army's ranks was. It became clear to the council that this upstart would resume the offensive against the enemy forces despite being ordered not to, and so Tarantulas was sent back out into the field to try and prevent any further complications from arising out of the situation.

While Tarantulas was away, the Council's secret base was discovered, and due to an exploration vessel accidentally getting in its path, the transmatter bomb the Council had attempted to launch, to reformat all of Cybertron at once, was deflected from its proper course. Ram Horn, Cicadacon, Sea Clamp, and Ravage all met up with Tarantulas in the field, and confronted the gestalt Predaking, who was among the Decepticons causing dissension in their ranks. Tarantulas and his allies isolated him on the battlefield, and merged into their own gestalt form, Predacus, to slay him.

Seriously, this might be a medical condition.

Tarantulas next met with the upstart now calling himself "Megatron", and told him that the transmatter raining down on the planet was the result of a doomsday weapon of Galvatron's going off, triggered by the mad tyrant's death. He next informed Megatron that Predaking has committed suicide out of shame for his involvement in Galvatron's plans. The Tripredacus Council had hoped these lies would be enough to dissuade Megatron from continuing hostilities, but this was not the case, and so moved on to plan B: sniping Megatron with a stun beam, and surrendering to the Autobots themselves.

For the "great risks" Tarantulas took towards the pursuit of peace, he was granted amnesty after the signing of the Pax Cybertronia. He had a hearty laugh at the expense of the Autobots' gullibility over this. Dawn of the Predacus

During his time on Earth, Tarantulas discovered the force he was obsessed with since birth was the Vok. Beast Wars Sourcebook #4 He also programmed the Predacons' mobile fortress, the Arachnid, utilizing his own personality programs to give it some form of sentience, accompanied by Tarantulas's own tendency for cruelty. Beast Wars Sourcebook #1

While Magmatron surveyed the timestream, he witnessed several key events during the Beast Wars. Among these was Tarantulas in his original "beast" body skulking in his lair. The Gathering #1

SD BotCon

Tarantulas joined Ravage at a bar to laugh maniacally over drinks, only for the pair to be approached by Beetle after their fourth outburst; the pair were being kicked out since everyone else was tired of their cackling. Thankfully, Tarantulas knew of a place where they could laugh to their hearts' content... a children's ball pit! SD BotCon #1

Timelines

What y'wanna do? Wanna be hackers? Code crackers? Slackers? Wastin' time with all the chatroom yakkers? 9 to 5, chillin' at Hewlett Packard? WHAT?

Tarantulas decoded the information on the Golden Disk which had been freshly stolen by Megatron. He thought this was quite hilarious, but then, he thinks that about everything. Theft of the Golden Disk

See? A Planet X key in the corner of the pic. He's working for Unicron! Get him!

As Megatron and his rogue band of Predacons escaped Cybertron in their stolen ship, the Darksyde, Tarantulas was in charge of scanning the disk for a desired set of coordinates. While Megatron was not watching, he was in secret communication with General Cicadacon of the Tripredacus Council.

Using the decoded coordinates, the Darksyde opened a transwarp portal, which it and the Axalon passed through. Dawn of Future's Past

Two weeks after Airazor was reborn on Earth, Tarantulas fought to defend an orbital weapon from the Maximals. The launching pad was destroyed by Airazor. The Razor's Edge

Wings Universe

"Well, howdy! Just scratching the wall, don't mind me!"

One of four mysterious protoforms found by Sky-Byte in the laboratory of Jhiaxus while trying to save his former collaborator's clones from the Autobots, A Common Foe Tarantulas and the other three pledged allegiance to the Predacons in suspiciously quick time.^[1]

Hot Shot's Bot Thoughts

The Tarantulas of Primax 509.28 Epsilon was interviewed by Shotimus Prime, who seemed determined to prove that Tarantulas was also Sideways. Annoyed by Shotimus's badgering, Tarantulas eventually resorted to pulling the Matrix out of Shotimus's chest, reverting him to Hot Shot, and then hitting him repeatedly with it. Hot Shot's Bot Thoughts

Waspscream continuity

In Primax 208.06 Zeta, Tarantulas joined Waspscream's successful coup against Megatron. Waspscream then convinced Tarantulas to decode Megatron's Golden Disk by promising to make Tarantulas his lieutenant upon returning to Cybertron and deposing the Tripredacus Council. Unfortunately en route, Megatron escaped, conquered Cybertron with a transformation virus, and turned the bodies of Cybertron's populace into Vehicons. Upon arrival, Waspscream's crewmembers who had transmetal forms managed to survive the virus and escape Megatron's clutches, eventually finding their way to the Oracle, who granted them technorganic forms. Waspscream's Predacons waged a valiant Spark War against the Vehicons, eventually achieving victory. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/08/16

Beast Wars Metals manga

Tarantulas raises an army of mannequins to strike terror into his foes.

Following the Quantum surge, Tarantulas was upgraded into a Transmetal. Scheming with Megatron within their floating island base, Hindenburg, Tarantulas developed a plan to revive the deceased Optimus Primal as a Predacon slave. Recovering Primal's mindless, raging body, Tarantulas staged a strange voodoo ceremony (complete with boiling cauldron). As Megatron pricked his finger and prepared to use his mutated blood to turn Primal's rampaging body into his slave, the spark of Optimus Primal returned to it just in the nick of time. As Primal turned into a Transmetal, Tarantulas began to celebrate, convinced that his plan had worked out better than he had thought, unaware of what was really going on. In fact, he was so convinced that Primal was now a Predacon slave, that he ordered the monkey to give him a shoulder massage. Optimus Primal proceeded to knock Tarantulas's block off. Beast Wars Metals #1

Tarantulas pulled himself together and confronted Tigatron, only to be promptly sliced in half. Beast Wars Metals #2

Undeterred, he taped himself back together and planted an arachnoid in Tigatron which gave Tarantulas control of the Maximal samurai's mind and body. Beast Wars Metals #3 Airazor linked her mind to Tigatron's in an attempt to free her beloved and while her body fought Tigatron, Airazor's consciousness fought Tarantulas and his virtual minions. Ultimately, with Blackarachnia's help, Tigatron's mind was freed, though Airazor died in the process, killed by the mind-controlled Tigatron. Optimus Primal arrived and promptly stomped Tarantulas to death and blew his body to pieces. Beast Wars Metals #4

Shortly afterward, the energies from sparks freed from an obliterated Rampage brought Tarantulas back to life as a mindless zombie. He fought Optimus Primal but was destroyed for good by Primal's rocket-fists. Beast Wars Metals #5

Fire in the Dark

Legends anthology

When human archaeologists uncovered a cave filled with primitive language, Mini-Con Laserbeak translated it for them. The markings told of a time when the Maximals and Predacons crash-landed on prehistoric Earth, though the stranded Transformers were seen by the Natiltec as gods. The "spider-god" and the "wasp-god", under instruction from their leader, enslaved the humans for the purposes of excavating "glowing rose crystals". Eventually, a "wolf-god" came, and had a fierce battle with the spider, allowing the captive humans to flee. The spider was defeated by the wolf, and then buried underground in a cave-in. Fire in the Dark

Ask Vector Prime

Dimensional observer Vector Prime explained that in Aurex 1104.30-JH Zeta, Tarantulas had his own agenda on prehistoric Earth. He deployed his Arachnoids across the globe to search for traces of Super Energon, accumulating a large cache of the powerful substance. Optimus Primal sacrificed himself to hijack Tarantulas's makeshift craft and destroy it in orbit, causing a Super Energon Transwarp Explosion which granted a Transmetal upgrade to many participants in the conflict as well as created the Fuzors. Later, Megatron attempted to use Tarantulas's secret experiments in a last-ditch effort to turn the tide, but ultimately, the Maximals emerged victorious in the war for the Mini-Cons. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/08/13

Legends World

The Tarantulas of the Legends World was head of Tera-Kura Co.'s science department and an expert at building robots. Headmaster Chapter Prologue He sneakily browsed the toys for sale at Transformers Celebration 2014. Legends Bonus Vol. Later, Tarantulas was responsible for production of Tera-Kura's Nightbird Shadows. One day, he was approached by the Decepticon Headmasters of another universe, who offered him use of their technology in exchange for his help in building them new transtectors. Realizing he could use this tech to conquer the Legends World for himself, Tarantulas accepted. Headmaster Chapter Prologue Once a partnership between the Decepticons and Tera-Kura had been formed, he used data stolen from the Autobot Headmasters to build a body for Skullcruncher as well as the drone Butla. Seeking to eliminate the Autobots, his rivals on the technology market, he and Weirdwolf then sent out Skullcruncher to lure out and destroy them, but the Headmaster was defeated. Bonus Edition Vol. 22 Tarantulas's boss, Megatron, chewed them out over their violent approach, leading to a disgruntled Tarantulas building a body for Megatron that would turn him into the destructive Galvatron. In the end, Megatron resisted the body and taught them a lesson, though Tarantulas pointed out that as he'd planned, Galvatron's destruction had increased Tera-Kura's sales. Bonus Edition Vol. 23

Not ones to give up, Tarantulas and Weirdwolf had Mindwipe hypnotize Megatron back into Galvatron only for Blurr to undo the spell. Bonus Edition Vol. 25 He was present at the office when Scourge attempted to take over Tera-Kura. Bonus Edition Vol. 26 When a group of mass-produced Headmasters from Autobot Axalon Trading Company started stealing Decepticon transtectors on the orders of Rewind, Tarantulas responded by activating the Galvatron body's mask, briefly brainwashing the unfortunate Rattrap into being evil. Bonus Edition Vol. 28 Since his Megatron plan wasn't working out, Tarantulas chose to enter the Galvatron body and pilot it himself, using it to defeat Megatron and use his head mode as a soccer ball. Though he was defeated by Wheelie and Shūta Gō, he was happy with the data he'd gathered about controlling a transtector. Bonus Edition Vol. 29 He then finished a new transtector for Weirdwolf, shocking its owner by making it sentient (and revealing that Skullcruncher's had been so all along). Bonus Edition Vol. 30

Tarantulas was initially gleeful when Tera-Kura purchased Metroplex, but quickly grew unsatisfied and wanted control of both Metroplex and Autobot Axalon's new base, Maximus. He had Weirdwolf infiltrate Maximus and take it for Tera-Kura by using the Master Sword, but the plan failed when Weirdwolf was unable to control the giant transtector's power. Using what he'd learned from piloting Galvatron, Tarantulas took things into his own hands by taking direct control of Metroplex and having him attack Maximus. The battle between Metroplex and Fortress Maximus ended with Fortress destroying Tarantulas's control device, and the scientist was arrested for his crimes. Bonus Edition Vol. 31 He eventually broke out of jail and encountered Astrotrain, who agreed to hide him from the law in exchange for a transtector of his own. Tarantulas then found himself pressed to mass-produce these bodies for Astrotrain's master plan, and once he was done and expected to get along with his "fellow jailbird", Astrotrain promptly deemed him unnecessary and turned on him, sending him fleeing. Bonus Edition Vol. 40 He next found refuge with Weirdwolf's faction of Decepticons, only to again be press-ganged into building bodies, this time for Full-Tilt and Trypticon. LG-43 Trypticon Project Chapter As such he was present for the resurrection of Trypticon. Decepticon Civil War

Ask Vector Prime

To the best of Vector Prime's knowledge, Tarantulas and Sideways did not think of themselves as relatives. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/05/15

Sideways claimed he showed up at the last second to help win the battle against Primal Prime but only referred to Ravage being there, not Tarantulas. Ask Sideways, 2015/06/06 He also claimed to know the secret origins of Tarantulas and the Tripredacus Council. Ask Sideways, 2015/06/28

2005 IDW continuity

First appearance: Sins of the Wreckers #1

"I'm not Sideways! Okay, maybe I am... but basically, no, I'm not."

Mesothulas was a non-affiliated scientist, an avid student of Shockwave, Requiem of the Wreckers who served as a consultant for Prowl during the early stages of the Great War. Mesothulas saw their relationship as symbiotic—Prowl's imagination would feed into Mesothulas's desire to make the impossible real and vice versa. This collaboration yielded many of the weapons and technologies that the Autobots would use during the war, including stasis bullets, spark extraction, Decepti-Bombs, and positive reinforcement prisons; most notably, Mesothulas developed the guilt-detecting supercomputer known as Aequitas. Sins of the Wreckers #3 Mesothulas eventually came to believe that the war itself was a sort of macrocosmic "organism", and could be manipulated at will with the right tools. Requiem of the Wreckers Mesothulas's mad science would eventually yield what he considered his greatest success, the artificial life-form known as "Ostaros". Prowl eventually began to doubt the ethics involved with Mesothulas's inventions, and events came to a head after the scientist unveiled his latest creation: a hellish prison dimension he called the "Noisemaze". Sins of the Wreckers #3

Realizing that Mesothulas's increasingly depraved experiments could not continue, Prowl cashed in a favor with Impactor, asking him to dispose of Mesothulas by pushing the scientist into his own Noisemaze, then destroying everything in his workshop. When faced with the innocent Ostaros, however, neither Prowl nor Impactor could bring themselves to kill the young "Transformer", and instead Prowl falsified a new identity for him as the Autobot Springer. Sins of the Wreckers #3 Sins of the Wreckers #5 Thanks to the bulky, face-concealing armor Impactor wore, Mesothulas was left to believe that Prowl had personally disposed of him. Sins of the Wreckers #5

But then one day he went to that science lab
That mutated spider came down

Though Mesothulas was prepared for such an occurrence, having built a personal jumpgate built into his body, the disorienting effects of the Noisemaze meant that it took centuries before Mesothulas could put it to use. With his lab ransacked and his experiments left in shambles, Mesothulas turned his efforts outwards: he followed in the footsteps of his idol Shockwave—a trail that led him to Earth. There, he discovered and refined samples of Shockwave's Ore-13 to create an artificially derived superfuel he called obtenteum, which became the basis for all of his future inventions. Using obtenteum, he established a base within the Noisemaze he dubbed the Tor; inspired by the native wildlife, he turned the Tor into a laboratory for developing the perfect bio-disguise, a mass-shifting bodyform that formed the basis for the spark-shielding Chimeracon upgrade. Fascinated by Earth's spiders, he eventually modified his own body with Chimeracon technology to become a gigantic arachnid, renaming himself "Tarantulas". Sins of the Wreckers #3

The Chimeracon process required further raw material, and so Tarantulas returned to Cybertron and began the incident that would later be immortalized as the "Roadbuster affair"—by shrinking down into a tiny size, Tarantulas was able to crawl into Roadbuster's ear, whispering for him to torture his recruits. Roadbuster assumed that he was hearing the voice of Mortilus and cheerfully followed the orders of "Mortilus" to the letter, dumping the bodies of his dead recruits into a pit where Tarantulas could later recover them. The other Autobots soon found out what had happened, and intervened in time to save Hubcap from the fate that befell his friends. By that point Tarantulas had already fled the scene and everyone assumed that Roadbuster had suffered a debilitating mental breakdown. Sins of the Wreckers #4 Eventually, Tarantulas was able to turn Hubcap to his side and convince him to serve as a mole within the Autobot ranks, using his outlier powers to uncover Prowl's secrets, including the data containing Aequitas's proclamations. Sins of the Wreckers #3 Even though Tarantulas admitted having been the voice of "Mortilus" that drove Roadbuster mad, the terrified Hubcap went along with it, hoping to gain a stronger Chimeracon body for himself and seeing justice meted out against Roadbuster. Sins of the Wreckers #4

Oh, and now Meso crawls over everyone's walls
And he's swingin' all over town

Following the end of the war—and a series of diplomatic incidents that saw Prowl reduced to a wanted fugitive—Tarantulas sought to rekindle the relationship that he and Prowl had one enjoyed, and sought to bring the disgraced strategist back into the fold. To do so, he became the patron of the post-war anarchist cell known as Mayhem; clad in Chimeracon bio-disguises, they became his private enforcers, operating from the Noisemaze and carrying out his orders. Sins of the Wreckers #3 Tarantulas ordered Mayhem to abduct Prowl shortly after the Combiner Wars, and had him spirited away to the Tor. There, Tarantulas suspended Prowl in his webs Sins of the Wreckers #1 and presented the data slug that contained information on the Aequitas trial, stolen from Verity Carlo, as collateral for an open conversation between the two. Sins of the Wreckers #2

With the greatest of anticipation, Tarantulas unveiled his new form to Prowl, who was horrified at his old collaborator's metamorphosis. Prowl suspected Tarantulas intended to use the war crimes data from Aequitas to simply blackmail him, but Tarantulas revealed his true desire: he simply wished to work with his old compatriot once more, to recreate the symbiosis of their original possibly-more-than-professional relationship. When Prowl still refused, he was placed in the company of his would-be rescuers: Verity, Springer, Roadbuster, and Arcee, their most shameful, damning thoughts opened bare to him thanks to Tarantulas's new invention, the guilt-extracting Impetus. Sins of the Wreckers #3

You or a loved one may be entitled to financial compensation.

Tarantulas explained to Verity that her current sickly condition was a result of exposure to the Aequitas supercomputer back on Garrus-9; when he attempted to force Prowl into Impetus, Prowl tried to talk him out of it, lying that he had killed Ostaros that day in the lab. Before a grief-stricken Tarantulas could torture Prowl any further, rescue arrived in the shape of Wrecker space station Debris, its mass threatening to rip the Noisemaze apart. Tarantulas ordered the Chimeracons to counterattack and for Hubcap to transmit the Aequitas data across the galaxy, only for Hubcap to turn on his employer and free the Autobot prisoners instead. Roadbuster was briefly able to overpower him by using his vehicle mode to ram the gigantic spider out a window... but Tarantulas had survived the fall, shrinking himself and crawling into Roadbuster's head once more.

Tarantulas taunted his old victim one last time... then expanded back to his full size, blowing open Roadbuster's head from the inside out. As the surviving Wreckers regrouped at the Tor and prepared to take down the entire structure, Tarantulas revealed himself, smugly promising that he would soon do "something weird" to everyone. Sins of the Wreckers #4

"Quick! Someone get a giant slipper!"

Using his mass displacement technology to enlarge his spider mode to its maximum size, Tarantulas activated a final contingency plan: shrinking the Tor itself down to pocket size so that he could safely transport his lab out of the collapsing dimension, while revealing that he had healed Verity's illness for no other reason other than to one-up Prowl. As they battled, Tarantulas continued to grow, ranting madly about his need for revenge for Ostaros's murder, finally prompting Impactor to reveal that he had destroyed the lab on Prowl's orders. Tarantulas demanded to know what had become of Ostaros—and then made the connection between Springer's voice and the fate of his creation. Tarantulas scurried into the depths of his facility to reunite with his creation, even as Arcee sliced off his beast mode head and used it to trip the retinal scanner and halt the Tor's contraction.

Tarantulas managed to find Springer as the Autobot finished rigging the facility to blow, earning himself a punch in the face from the green Autobot. His words were garbled by the energies of the Noisemaze, preventing any kind of meaningful dialogue between creator and creation. The pair struggled with one another as Springer repeatedly stabbed Tarantulas, neither able to speak or hear each other. Escaping the Tor and reuniting with the other Autobots, Springer escaped as Impactor destroyed the Noisemaze, seemingly destroying Tarantulas with it. Sins of the Wreckers #5

Only a student of Shockwave's would consider becoming a furry while using time travel to tamper with history.

Unbeknownst to the Wreckers, however, Tarantulas had survived his encounter with the Wreckers, and escaped the destruction of the Noisemaze by shrinking to miniscule size and hitching a ride on Springer as he escaped. Tarantulas spent a year hiding out in the retrofitted barn that Springer and Verity called home, using their Cybertronian transmitter to communicate with the rest of the galaxy. He established a dialogue with the rogue Decepticon Overlord, who had been left rudderless following his botched battle with Megatron on the Necroworld, and Tarantulas hatched a new plan. The pair relocated to an extinct volcano; using his knowledge of biotechnology, Tarantulas upgraded Overlord with a Chimeracon body, using samples of Verity's DNA to create a human alter-ego for Overlord: firebrand politician "Megan Guiglione", a twisted experiment so that Tarantulas could watch what happened when he introduced an irrational aggressor into Earth's political ecosystems. Using this cover identity to amass money and resources, Tarantulas began developing what he considered to be his ultimate masterstroke: the Timemaze, a functional time machine that would allow him to use time travel to his advantage by repeatedly splintering the timeline by sending Overlord back in time and creating infinite new realities for him to experiment with.

When Verity inadvertently learned of Overlord's human disguise, he brought her back to the volcano to dispose of; Tarantulas, on the other hand, wanted her kept alive, in the hopes that protecting her would win him the favor of his beloved Ostaros. In the meantime, Tarantulas showed her his newest invention in between bickering with Overlord. It soon became clear that Overlord's irrational hatred of Megatron—a "temporal cornerstone"—overrode his loyalty to Tarantulas, and as Tarantulas realized his erstwhile partner would use the Timemaze to travel back in time solely for the purpose of repeatedly killing Megatron, the pair fell to fighting. When Springer did arrive, Tarantulas immediately stood down, hoping that he could make amends with his creation. Before he could do so, however, Overlord shot him in the back of the head.

Tarantulas' encounter with Garfield ended in tragedy.

When Overlord was finally defeated, Springer knelt beside Tarantulas's mangled body. Though he had been fatally wounded, Tarantulas admitted that he was happy to be reunited with his greatest creation one last time; while they couldn't be together, he was glad that, after bringing so much chaos into the universe, Springer was proof that he could leave something good behind. Having made peace with his legacy, Tarantulas died. Requiem of the Wreckers

Beast Wars: Uprising

"You're one ugly mother..."

Tarantulas of Iacon served as chief science officer at the Mandala, the headquarters of the Predacon Secret Police. Loyal only to his own scientific... curiosity... Tarantulas also moonlighted with the Predacon anarchists known as the Mayhem Attack Squad, providing tech support to them in exchange for hired goons when he needed them. Trigger Warnings In his downtime, he visited the same software developers' chat room as Scorponok. Identity Politics

A PSP deep-cover agent in the Maximal Command Security Force caught a murder case in Iacon, the death of a Builder named Twirl. Tarantulas examined the data Wolfang provided his superiors and recognized Twirl was not a Micromaster, but a Targetmaster, one who had somehow survived the Extirpation a generation prior. Finding the idea of his own weapon of mass destruction appealing, Tarantulas inserted himself into the case and pinged the Mayhemists to be on alert as well.

Wolfang tracked down the Mayhemists, believing them to be responsible for the murder. He encountered Tarantulas and arrested him for conspiracy and terrorism, but Tarantulas managed to talk his way out of imprisonment when he came before Onyx Primal. Instead, he joined the PSP as they intercepted Wolfang, who had found the true murderer, another secret Targetmaster named Overrun. Fearing the idea of Tarantulas or anyone getting ahold of the power of a Targetmaster, Wolfang and Overrun died keeping him out of PSP hands. Trigger Warnings

Getting his mitts on the Robo-Smasher that Overrun had left behind, Tarantulas decided to play with it in Proximax, with his first target being the disgraced former Resistance member Grimlock. His scheme was noticed by the Ex-Bots, who thanks to some pre-cognitive warning from Overshoot's ghost were able to jam the Robo-Smasher, giving Grimlock the chance to obfuscate and sabotage the Predacon's scheme. Before they could do anything with him, the Vehicon Apocalypse broke out.

Tarantulas managed to disappear during the chaos, only reappearing once the Vehicons were done and dusted, at the side of Megatron, head of Darksyder, Inc., and one of the largest powers left on Cybertron. Tarantulas, for his part, was giddy at the thought of meeting Stiletto again. Derailment

Millennia later, historians would remember "Tarantulus", but somehow came to conflate him with Blackarachnia, and were even convinced he was Lio Convoy's head scientist. Lio Convoy: Unity Through Tyranny

2021 Beast Wars comic

Tarantulas was a Predacon separatist in the employ of Galavar; Savage Landing Part 1 although he considered himself one of the greatest geniuses in Cybertronian history, Savage Landing Part 4, most regarded him as a wanted criminal, a treacherous mad scientist whose reputation for cruelty and indiscriminate violence had earned him infamy among the Maximals. Pod Part 1

Eventually, Galavar went rogue, changed his name to "Megatron", and launched a daring heist to steal a mysterious Golden Disk from the Maximal Science Ministry. While half of Megatron's team stole the disk, Tarantulas, Waspinator, and Skold broke into the Great Shipyard in Vos, liberated the transwarp-capable warship Darksyde from its berth, and sabotaged the rest of the fleet to prevent any pursuers. Tarantulas busied himself with hacking the security protocols required to access the ship's transwarp drive, before the vessel came under assault from the nearby Maximal science vessel Axalon. Tarantulas successfully unlocked the transwarp drive, and followed a set of coordinates inscribed on the golden disk—a jump that took to a mysterious, primitive world. After a brief orbital dogfight with the Maximal starship, who'd followed them across time and space to this unfamiliar planet, both ships crashed on opposite sides of a lush valley. To survive high concentrations of energon radiation, the Darksyde's computer system refitted its passengers with beast modes that would allow them to safely operate outside their ship. Upon reactivating in his new form, Tarantulas joined Megatron as the Predacon leader vowed to hunt down and dispatch any Maximals who'd survived the crash. Savage Landing Part 1

As the Predacons settled in, Tarantulas busied himself with tracking a number of anomalous unspace signatures within the ship, and butted heads with Megatron's nominal lieutenant Dinobot when he ordered Tarantulas to scout out their immediate surroundings. Tarantulas snapped that, as rogue agents, he and the other Predacons answered to no one and could do as they pleased. Savage Landing Part 2 That evening, Terrorsaur returned with a prisoner: the Maximal flier Nyx. While Megatron interrogated their captive, Tarantulas operated the electrical torture device intended to shock her into surrendering her secrets; when Nyx refused to speak, however, Tarantulas deduced that she must be protecting other Maximal survivors, and a pleased Megatron turned Nyx over to Tarantulas to dispose of as he liked. As such, Tarantulas rigged up a public execution, using his new transformation lock lens to keep his victim from fighting back or escaping. The show went as planned, until Dinobot had a crisis of conscience and abruptly turned on his allies. With the advantage of surprise on his side, Dinobot quickly incapacitated Tarantulas by kicking him in the face, then used his security clearance to remotely trip the Darksyde's lockdown protocol and trap all the other Predacons in the base while Nyx transformed and escaped. Savage Landing Part 3

It took Tarantulas several hours to unscramble the ship's systems, and by the time that he succeeded both Dinobot and Nyx had disappeared into the jungle that divided the Darksyde from the crashed Axalon, which necessitated a manhunt to find and dispatch the traitor. Savage Landing Part 4 By following Dinobot's trail, the Predacons found the crashed Axalon and devised a plan to take out both Dinobot and the Maximals in one fell swoop—while Megatron and the other Predacons launched a frontal assault, Tarantulas infiltrated the ship to bring it down from within. While sneaking around the ship's lower levels, he encountered Rattrap, whom he attempted to eat before Rattrap shot him in the face and escaped into the ship's vents. Frustrated, Tarantulas swore to find a way to sabotage the Maximal starship and kill everyone aboard. Savage Landing Part 5

While searching for anything he could salvage from the Axalon's many empty laboratories, and, after accessing the ship's consist, discovered that the Maximals had been carrying a cargo of protoforms they'd ejected into orbit before the crash. Eager at the prospect of raising his own army and overthrowing Megatron, Tarantulas quickly wrote a shell program and attempted to access the stasis pod network to upload his code, but as he struggled with the ship's security systems, Rattrap used the ship's cargo-loading exoskeleton to grab the Predacon scientist and hurl him out the nearest window. Tarantulas quickly recovered, and, while Dinobot faced down the other Predacons alone outside theAxalon, Tarantulas ambushed the ex-Predacon, stabbed him through the chest, and joined in his comrades as they beat their former comrade to the brink of death before Optimus Primal used the Axalon's autoguns to intimidate the Predacons into leaving. Savage Landing Part 6

While fruitlessly trying to contact the orbital stasis pod network from the Darksyde, Tarantulas discovered that his earlier experiment had indeed paid off: his attempts to hack the Maximal pods had yielded Blackarachnia, who'd taken the initiative of deorbiting the remaining stasis pods and infecting many of them with the same program Tarantulas had used to turn her into a Predacon. However, Tarantulas found that Blackarachnia was no slave, but a fiercely independent warrior who refused to take orders from anyone. Pod Part 2 Tarantulas attended Megatron's celebration commemorating their new member, but quickly found himself the object of suspicion when Megatron pointedly remarked that Tarantulas had "forgotten" to inform Megatron of this new development. Thicker Skin

When Terrorsaur played a cruel prank on Skold by locking her in the ship's brig, Tarantulas and the other Predacons watched the ship's security system in shock as the little Predacon befriended and decapitated their prisoner Powerhug. Skold's No Good, Very Bad Day Some time later, Tarantulas and Blackarachnia worked together to construct an elaborate maze designed to trap Maximals, then used (and subsequently abandoned) Waspinator as a guinea pig to test it. When Rhinox blundered into their trap, he found a pre-recorded message in which the two argued over who would take the credit for the trap. Rhinox's Amaze-ing Adventure

As Terrorsaur's impatience with Megatron's leadership grew, he grew bold enough to directly criticize their commander, and found himself on the receiving end of a savage beatdown. Fortunately, Tarantulas used one of his inventions to save Terrorsaur before Megatron could deliver the killing blow; the moment Megatron turned his back, he warned Terrorsaur that he'd saved him only because he'd need the spare parts one day. Maximals Strike Back, Part 1 When the Maximals launched a full-scale assault on the Darksyde to retrieve the Golden Disk and disable their transwarp drive, Tarantulas fetched up against Nyx once again, Maximals Strike Back, Part 2 but couldn't stop her from blasting the delicate transwarp engine and permanently destroying it. A furious Tarantulas transformed to attack, but wound up immobilized by Nyx's new taser. Although Tarantulas survived the battle, not all of his comrades were as lucky: Terrorsaur perished, and while the other Predacons licked their wounds Tarantulas eagerly took custody of Terrorsaur's corpse and got to work, promising his dead comrade that he'd find new purpose beyond death. Maximals Strike Back, Part 3

At some point, Rattrap took part in a skirmish over energon that ended with Cheetor getting injured. The Speedway of Central Consciousness

Prepare for trouble! Make it double!

When Scorponok and Waspinator discovered a mysterious sample of red energon in the jungle, Tarantulas analyzed it and discovered that the substance possessed unusual aggression-increasing properties. He and Blackarachnia found a way to weaponize the substance into an explosive, then ambushed Optimus Primal and Dinobot while the two Maximals were alone in the jungle and escaped after planting the bomb on Dinobot's back. Primal Rage

At some point around this time, Tarantulas came into contact with the enigmatic Vok, aliens who hailed from unspace and the self-appointed guardians of this world, who sought to permanently remove the Maximals and Predacons from their planet. In exchange for the secrets of the universe, Tarantulas betrayed his fellow Cybertronians; while he worked behind the scenes to undermine the tentative Maximal-Predacon alliance, The Beginning of the End he also made the direct step of locating every fallen stasis pod he could find and reprogramming the Predacons within into loyal "Children of the Vok" who would serve as shock troopers in their impending assault on the Cybertronians. The End

However, when Rhinox and Scorponok discovered that someone had used Megatron's access code to disable the Darksyde's transwarp drive, Megatron immediately realized that Tarantulas, the only other Predacon who could've known the code, had been working against them. Tarantulas tried to flee to the Vok, but Dinobot impaled the Predacon scientist with his sword and brought him back to the Darksyde for questioning. In retaliation, Tarantulas activated his hidden experiment: since taking custody of Terrorsaur's corpse, he'd rebuilt him into a monstrous, mindless, physically-enhanced zombie. "Experiment ZT-Omega" made short work of his captors, then freed Tarantulas so that he could send a message to Cybertron using the Darksyde's jury-rigged transwarp drive in the hopes that someone could send a ship to their space-time coordinates and rescue him. The Beginning of the End

As the Children of the Vok besieged the Predacon base, Tarantulas gleefully took in the chaos until Blackarachnia attacked him. However, the arrival of the Vok interrupted their fight. The inscrutable aliens had come to the conclusion that all Cybertronians were inherently violent and could not be allowed to live, and powered up a massive reversion device to scour the planet clean. Together, the Maximals and Predacons successfully weaponized transwarp technology to banish both the aliens and Megatron, and Tarantulas slipped away amidst the confusion. With Megatron gone, Blackarachnia took command of the remaining Predacons and decided that, before leaving the planet, they'd track down the treacherous scientist and kill him. The End

Games

Beast Wars: Transformers video game continuity

Beast Wars: Transformers video game comic

Some great dialog there, Tarry.

Upon arriving on prehistoric Earth, the dangers of Energon radiation forced the Maximals and Predacons to take on beast alternate forms. Tarantulas picked up a tarantula in his palm and scanned it. Soon, Tarantulas spotted Cheetor moving in on the Predacons' crash site. Swearing revenge, Tarantulas transformed and attacked, and threatened to skin the Maximal alive. Beast Wars: Transformers video game advertising comic

Beast Wars: Transformers video game

Voice actor: ??? (English), ??? (Japanese)

Sadly, there's no Eat Cheetor level.

Many Beast Wars combatants had managed to construct personal bases, customized to their personal tastes, due to the extended duration of the war. Tarantulas still preferred to operate out of a dark, underground lair. Tarantulas joined his fellow Predacons in battling not only the persistent Maximal resistance, but the interdimensional monsters known as the Skriix.

Maximal campaign

After Rhinox had expanded his own personal base too close to Tarantulas's own territory, creating an opening for the Predacon to infiltrate Rhinox's personal metropolis. Tarantulas overtook Rhinox's base and reprogrammed its defenses, prompting the Maximals to retake it. The Maximal's offensive push forced Tarantulas to retreat deeper and deeper into the annexed territory, until he finally returned to his own lair. While he was in control of Rhinox's forces, however, Tarantulas had gained access to sensitive information, prompting the Maximals to follow Tarantulas back to his hide-out, and eliminate him once and for all.

Predacon campaign

Rhinox's expansion into Tarantulas's territory allowed the Predacons to infiltrate the Maximal's "Urban Area" and eliminate Rhinox. Beast Wars: Transformers

Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals (N64)

Player 2 Has Entered His Stomach. Continue?

Arboreal Camouflage Tarantulas? Blue Crusader Tarantulas?

Voice actor: Alec Willows (English), Yūichi Nagashima (Japanese)

In an alternate timeline created when Megatron sent a message through Transwarp back to his past self, Tarantulas participated in a series of all-out battles with the other beast warriors.

Eventually, Tarantulas found a way to escape prehistoric Earth and return to Cybertron. The Beast Wars progressed in his absence for a time...

Then he came back, newly promoted and with an armada of Transwarp battleships under his command, out to end the Beast Wars and enforce the Tripredacus Council's will... Beast Wars Transmetals

Move list

Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals (PS)

Voice actor: Alec Willows (English), Yūichi Nagashima (Japanese)

Maximal story

Tarantulas joined the other Predacons in an assault on the Axalon. Unfortunately for them, Optimus Primal and his team fought back, beating the Predacons all the way back to the Darkside. By the time it was all over, Tarantulas had already abandoned the mission and taken off. Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals (PS)

Predacon story

Tarantulas gleefully informed Megatron that their plan was already underway, and the Maximals had taken the bait and were on the approach. Mocking Rampage for not understanding the subtle intricacies of "beat up the Maximals, follow them to their base, then beat them up even more", Tarantulas joined a team of Predacons in beating them back to the Axalon. On the ship's bridge, with the Maximals all but defeated, Tarantulas and the others prepared to finish them. However, Rhinox arrived at that moment and activated Sentinel's auto-guns, forcing the Preds to make a hasty retreat. Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals (PS)

Move list

Duel Fight Transformers Beast Wars

Megatron was capable of summoning Tarantulas forth to the battlefield during his attempts to acquire the super-powerful Energon Quartz. Duel Fight Transformers Beast Wars

Transformers: Battle Tactics

Tarantulas participated in battles against a variety of opponents, both Autobots and Decepticons. Sometimes there were many of him! He appeared in three different bodies:

• Tarantulas—This Super Rare character first appeared in the "Beast Wars: Episode 2" event, and could be recruited by by collecting 250 units of Cybermetal, 75 units of Transmetal, 35 event cores, and 10 cores of this character.
• Tarantulas—This Epic Character was available in the August Daily Campaign and could be recruited by collecting 20 Alpha cores, 20 Beta cores, 20 Omega cores, and 10 cores of this character.
• Tarantulas Transmetal—This Super Rare character was available to 2500 players during the second event of the "Transmetals: Episode 3" mini events.

Transformers: Battle Tactics

Watch out!/Here comes the spider bike!

Transformers: Earth Wars

Tarantulas was an agent of the Tri-Predacus Council, but is only loyal to himself.Tarantulas bio

Tarantulas had stolen Rampage's half-spark, and was told by Blackarachnia that Megatron had become lost in time. He told her that this news was rather splendid. They wanted to weaponize Rampage's half-spark somehow. With it, the Heralds of Unicron would fear them. Tarantulas suspected that the prophesied Great Resetting was about to begin. They were attacked by Soundwave, the Stunticons and the Combaticons. Soundwave ordered them to slaughter Tarantulas and Blackarachnia before they could erase their temporal data on Megatron they may have collected. Lost In Time

• Class: Special
• Lowest Star Rating: 2 stars
• Ability: Life Stealing Charge - Rush into combat imprisoning buildings on your path for 7 seconds. The vines deal damage per second, slow down defences by 70% and heal your nearby allies by a percentage of the defence’s damage value per second.
  • Cost: 5 ability points, +2 for reuses.

Tarantulas at Transformers: Earth Wars Wiki

Toys

Main article: Tarantulas (BW)/toys

Merchandise

Main article: Tarantulas (BW)/toys#Merchandise

Notes

Tarantulas is one of Reprolabels's best customers.

Pew! Pew!

• Tarantulas's name may come from an unproduced G.I. Joe Manimal named Tarantulus, as the Beast Wars Maximal name itself was derived from the Manimals.
• The original Tarantulas toy has nine eyes in beast mode, as does the show model. This makes characters' references to him as "eight-eyes" rather... interesting.
• Tarantulas's original toy bio paints him as a really dumb ninja-like stealth assassin. His intelligence stat of 4 was maintained for his Transmetal toy and (much later) his Legacy toy. All of his other toys give him a more cartoon-accurate stat of 10.
• In the first season, Tarantulas is characterized more as a cannibalistic, psychotic gourmand who happens to be the Predacons' Science Officer than as the mad scientist and master plotter he becomes from "Spider's Game" onwards. This is to the extent that his official season one profile makes several mentions of his eating habits, describes his sole interest as being "food", and summarizes his relationship with the other Predacons as simple disdain, as he considers them to all be potential meals.
• In the Japanese dub of Beast Wars, Tarantulas retained his trademark cackle, but it was a little different. His voice was very high-pitched and he shrieked almost constantly. His trademark laugh more closely resembled a wicked witch of sorts.
• From "Optimal Situation" onwards, the Arachnoids sport a Tarantulas-themed insignia.
• Tarantulas's body in "Theft of the Golden Disk" is based on Cybertron Ransack. His body in "Dawn of Future's Past", however, is a unique design not directly based on an existing toy, unlike the rest of the show characters in the story.
• From what can be observed from the art on the back of Transmetal Tigatron's packaging, Tarantulas's vok-enhanced abilities include levitating and firing energy beams from his eye(s?) in robot mode. Neat!
• In the 2021 Beast Wars comic, Tarantulas's Cybertronian body is a stylized version of his "Mesothulas" body from the 2005 IDW continuity.^[2]

Character background

Tarantulas's origins vary based on the continuity or writer. He declares in "Other Victories" that he and the Tripredacus Council do not descend from either Autobots or Decepticons, such that they would not be affected by the destruction of the Ark. Megatron's line about "Unicron's spawn" in "Nemesis Part 1" was not intended by Bob Forward to be taken literally beyond being an insult; Larry DiTillio said Bob "regrets" the line and they never had a fixed idea of Tarantulas's origin. Had the show continued, the characters "might" have been descended from the Cybertronians.^[3] A Unicronian origin also creates potential canonical issues, as Tarantulas says that "under our rule, Cybertron will conquer the universe" ("Other Victories"), whereas Unicron's goal would have been to eat Cybertron. But, much like Terrorsaur's line about "the dark side", this line developed a life of its own. Eventually, this connection was reasserted in 3H Productions' Primeval Dawn storyline, initially written by... Bob Forward. Other writers have made their own takes on Tarantulas's background, variously leaning onto the Unicron connection or leaving it as a mystery.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Tarans (タランス Taransu), Tarantulas (タランチュラス Taranchurasu)
• Italian: Metal Tarantulas (Transmetal toy)
• Korean: Tarantulas (타란튤라스 Talantyullaseu)
• Mandarin: Zhīzhū (Taiwan, 蜘蛛, "Spider"), Hóng Zhīzhū (Taiwan second and third season, 紅蜘蛛, "Red Spider"), Lángzhū (China, 狼蛛, "Tarantula")
• Polish: Tarantulator
• Portuguese: Tarântulos (Brazil)

References