Gnaw (G1)

Gnaw is aSharkticonfrom theGeneration 1continuity family.

Too cute for the Decepticons, too spikey for the Autobots, and expendable by Quintesson standards, a young Gnaw's sense of rejection gave way to overeating.

Though he originated as just anotherSharkticon,Gnawseems to be loyal only to the one who fed him last, be theyQuintesson,Decepticon,or evenAutobot.Much like his kin, he is insatiable in appetite and savage in combat. Gnaw's "masters" don't so much give him orders as they do unleash him like a caged tornado that promptly eats its way through the battlefield in a feeding frenzy.

And yet, Gnaw has on occasion shown glimpses of heart and devotion. He has been known to watch over the AutobotWheelieand seems genuinely loyal to the youngster regardless of suppertime frequency. Gnaw tends to snap at the fingers of any other robot, however.

Fiction

DreamwaveGeneration Onecontinuity

"Oh, anyone get the number of that truck that ran me over?"

During theGreat Shutdown,theQuintessonssent swarms ofSharkticonstoCybertronfor an unknown purpose, possibly to infiltrate and reconquer the planet. Some of them encountered the revivedShockwaveandScourge,Unicron's chief agent.Cold WarGnaw was damaged, presumably in battle with these two, and was abandoned on Cybertron when the other Sharkticons were called home. Following the great revival, an amnesiac Gnaw came across the young Autobot namedWheelie,and the two formed a strong bond. Gnaw later followed Wheelie in joining the resistance movement alongsideHot Rod,Kup,and several others.Passive Aggression

Down in one of the tunnels that make up theOld Slave Trails,he savedOptimus Primefrom theBattlechargersin his own... unique style (Tastes great! Less filling!).Cold WarGnaw took Prime to his resistance group, but when Prime awoke, his first sight was Gnaw, who he thought was trying to eat him, and attacked. Wheelie took this poorly, and bit Prime's foot. Obviously the little guy and the Sharkticon had been hanging around each other for too long.Passive AggressionOnce the misunderstanding had been dealt with, Gnaw was present to witness Optimus Prime unite the Autobot resistance and lead it against Shockwave.Countdown to ExtinctionHe was last seen working with Wheelie underUltra Magnus's command on Cybertron, being assigned perimeter guard duty in anticipation of whatever threat might endanger Cybertron next.The Route of All Evil

After accompanying Hot Rod to visit Optimus while he was still off-line and recovering, Gnaw and Wheelie witness their friend being accosted by a group of female Autobots. Gnaw leaped into action to help Hot Rod, but was quickly beaten down.Generation 1 #11

Beast Wars: Uprising

Gnaw was a Sharkticon picked up onArkusbyDead-Endto keep as a pet. Aboard Dead-End's ship, theDinosaur,Gnaw was kept in the liquid coolant systems as a secret, where she occasionally visited and sneaked him food over time. Gnaw proved useful when theproto-formercrew mutinied against theBuildercommand structure. Dead-End needed to shut down the higher brain functions of the ship, which was actually thecityformerTrypticon.She unleashed Gnaw to keep theBrunttank drone busy long enough to deactivate Trypticon and stop him from killing them.

After Trypticon crashed on the planetLGC-8803,the crew retrofitted him as a new colony, Dinosaur City. Gnaw and Dead-End remained behind on the colony as other members of the crew returned to Cybertron.Intersectionality

Games

Transformers Legends

Gnaw was among the Decepticons who aidedGalvatronafter his rebirth inUnicron's maw, but their assault on the Autobots failed when they were defeated byRodimus's forces.All Hail Galvatron

Transformers Rising

The Game Full of Death and Suffering...! This character article is astuband is missing information on theirvideo game appearances.You can helpTransformers Wikibyexpanding it.

Transformers: Earth Wars

ROWF! RAWWRRRR! *Chomp!* *Nom Nom Nom Nom*

Gnaw is unfailingly loyal to whoever's fed him last. Better hope the other side didn't offer a better meal mid-battle!Gnaw bio

Both the Autobots and the Decepticons recruited a Sharkticon by tuning a Gnaw Crystal to lock onto his signal. He began munching on the Space Bridge he just came through, and Ironhide/Bludgeon tried unsuccessfully to extract him. Bumblebee/Shockwave figured out they could tame him with Energon snacks. He was then later assigned to work with Seaspray/Octopunch.Transformers: Earth Wars

On the Autobot's side,Seaspraynamed the new Sharkticon Gnaw, after considering "Gnasher"™ and" Bite Me ". Blaster picked up a Decepti-comm on the coast, and so Seapsray and Gnaw went to invesitigate.

On the Decepticon's side, Gnaw went withOctopunchto one of Earth's oceans, waiting to ambush an Autobot. Gnaw didn't seem interested in Octopunch's explanation. ( "Nuff, Yaff", he said). Seaspray eventually arrived, but Gnaw leapt out too soon, and Seaspray had enough Energon goodies to make him turn on Octopunch.Gnaw Decepticon Research

• Class:Special
• Star Rating:2 star - 5 star
• Weapons:Gnaw chomps buildings or breathes acid on them.
• Ability: Chomp Chomp Chomp- Unleashes four vicious Sharkticons one star rating lower than Gnaw. If any Sharkticons are killed or are active when Gnaw reuses his ability, they will explode.
  • Cost:4 ability points +3 for reuses.

Gnaw at Transformers: Earth Wars Wiki

Transformers Roleplaying Game

Gnaw was once an ordinary Sharkticon, but chose to rebel against the hierarchy and join thePredacons.Decepticon Directive

Toys

The Transformers

Been hitting the energon goodies too much, have we?

• Gnaw(Sharkticon,1986)

• Takara name:Sharktron
• Takara release date:??1987and??1988
• Accessories:tail/mace,maceration laser
• Known designers:Floro Dery(concept artist)

Gnaw transforms into a rotund, squat-limbed, shark-like monster withchromedchompers. Hisbeast modetail becomes a mace weapon forrobot modeand is also the most frequently missing piece from many Gnaws on the secondary market.

There is a minor production variation in the beast mode legs/robot arms; some have two screws holding the light-gray calf/forearms together, while other have three screws. Exciting, we know. Some releases of Gnaw also came with one of four pieces to aThe Transformers: The Movieposter with glow-in-the-dark elements, advertising theDecipher the Decepticoncontest.

Though the toy is labeled as "Gnaw", it can be considered either the individual character or one of the countless others of its type. Because of its fictional appearance as mass armies, it is one of the few original-linearmy buildertoys, though it is costly to use it for that purpose.

In the United States, Gnaw shared his assortment with thePredacons.In Japan, the "Sharktron" was not available as part of the normal retail assortment, despite its semi-prominent fictional appearance. At first, it was a mail-away contest prize in the first wave of theBeastformersspin-off line in 1987, requiring mailing in five filled-in survey forms fromBeastformerstoys for a chance to win. It was later made available in limited quantities as a mail-away in 1988, by which time the toyline consisted of theSuper-God Masterforceline-up.Rather than any sort of Japanese-original packaging, the figure simply shipped in Hasbro packaging, with only a couple of additional stickers identifying it as the Japanese market version.

• More information on Gnaw at TFU.info

Titans Return

Commence Army Building!

• Gnaw(Legends Class,2016)

• Accessories:tail/mace
• Known designers:John Warden(Hasbro)

Part of the third wave ofTitans ReturnLegends Class toys, Gnaw transforms once again into a squat-limbed, shark-like monster. He comes with a mace accessory, which can be wielded by his 5mm hands, or plug onto his beast mode butt as his tail.

Like all other new-moldTitans ReturnsLegends toys, he has a riding compartment forTitan Masters(andPrime Masters)... but this one is insidehis mouth.Yes, you read that right.

He wasredecoedto make two different generic Sharkticons, first inTransformers Legendsas "Sharktron",and later in theWar for Cybertron Trilogyseries as athe only Sharkticonin the "Quintesson Pit of Judgement" box set.

He's extremely short for a humanoid Legends Class figure, coming up to the shoulders of most other robot modes.

Studio Series

"How many would you like to buy?"
"Yes."

• Gnaw(Deluxe Class,2021)

• Movie:The Transformers: The Movie
• Hasbro ID number:86-08
• TakaraTomy ID number:SS-70
• TakaraTomy release date:November 27,2021
• Accessories:tail mace, fin sword, blaster, "Mockery of Justice" backdrop
• Known designers:Evan Brooks(Hasbro),Shogo Hasui(TakaraTomy),Mario Carreiro,Christina MurphyandAmy Bence(packaging),^[1]Marcelo Matere(packaging artist)

Released to commemorate the 35th anniversary ofThe Transformers: The Movie,Studio SeriesGnaw ismostlyaccurate to the Sharkticons' general appearance in the original cartoon, though he has circular dents where the antennae should be. His tail-mace has a single swivel-joint at the base to give it a bit of articulation. His robot-mode blaster can attach to his beast mode's left side. Sadly, the gun barrel's end is not compatible withblast effects.His dorsal fin is attached by a simple5 mm post,and can be removed and held as a knife, though Gnaw's cuffs cause some minor clearance issues.

Gnaw's backpack comes detached in the packaging, and Gnaw himself is set quite high in the box, with his head often humorously looking down into his chest.

Gnaw has the honor of being both the firstQuintesson-aligned character released inStudio Seriesand the first toy of the character tonotbe labeled as a Decepticon. While this is aquintessential(hahaha)army-builder,designerEvan Brookshas stated that the figure is named Gnaw in reference to the original toy during itsMay 21Fan First Fridayreveal.^[2]

A lot of Gnaw's details appear to be heavily inspired by an olderMarvel Productionsmodel of the Sharkticon, which in turn, isone of two refinded variants of line artbased onFloro Dery'soriginal designs.The final model byToeiactually mirrors theAlliconmodels (also designed by Toei artists), in that they share the same poses, but aside from those differences the base details remain mostly the same.^[3][4]Additionally, the heads, shoulders and paint applications ressemble more of the final Toei models, therefore, making Gnaw a combination of both designs.

As with otherStudio Seriestoys, the interior of the package forms a diorama display for the figure. In this case, it is theDinobots' famous "self-invited" entrance atHot RodandKup's execution.

In 2024, Gnaw was re-released in new packaging that was altered significantly in accordance with Hasbro's new plastic-free packaging approach. This packaging variant was released in the same wave asConcept Art SunstreakerandGamer Edition Sideswipe,and came with different UPC and EAN barcodes than the original version.

Notes

• Leaked product listings for theThrilling 30subline ofGenerationsincluded a "Gnaw & Gnash" entry, indicating that a new Legends Class toy of Gnaw was in the works prior to cancellation.^[5]It is unknown if thisThrilling 30figure eventually evolved into theTitans ReturnGnaw figure, or if the latter is a completely separate development.
• Studio SeriesGnaw having a blaster accessory is unusual for the scrupulously cartoon-accurateStudio Series'86, since none of the Sharkticons in the Generation 1 cartoon ever carried firearms.
  • This was acknowledged by Evan Brooks during the figure's Fan First Friday reveal, who stated that the blaster was included out of necessity to reference the original Generation 1 Gnaw toy.^[6]

Foreign names

• Japanese:Gnaw(ノーNō)
• French:Fringalo(Canada)
• Mandarin:Gāng Yá( cương nha, "Steel Teeth" )

References