Terrorcon (Prime)

It's like a movie, it's a B-movie show!

Born from deadTransformersinfused withDark Energon,theTerrorconsareMegatron's greatest asset—anundeadarmy under his thrall. Each is powerful and relentless in its own right;en masse,their persistence and Dark Energon they radiate can sap the strength of their Autobot prey until they can pull it down and tear it apart. Thankfully, they are not invulnerable. Energy blasts of sufficient force can deter them, though the best method is to use bladed weapons to slice them to pieces—the smaller the better—as the Dark Energon charge cannot sustain itself within the smaller, disparate components. Simply slicing them in half doesn't seem to be sufficient, though the method of irradiation may be a factor: Theone caseknown to be prodigiously active despite total bisection was the product of a direct implantation of crystallized Dark Energon; all others to date have been created by absorbing energies emitted over a wide area by a shattered crystal. Unlike other Cybertronians, Terrorcons possess a unique anti-sparkthat can even survive the destruction of their physical body.

Fiction

Primecartoon

Voice actor:Frank Welker(English)

There goes the sun

AfterCliffjumperwas killed after a battle against theVehicons,his body was saved byStarscreamfor use in experiments. WhenMegatronreturned, he wished to test the then-theoretical property ofDark Energonto revive the dead. It worked, to an extent. Cliffjumper was reborn as a screaming beast, and he promptly destroyed two Vehicons before leaping at Megatron. Megatron commented that the creature before him was no longer an Autobot and sliced the Terrorcon Cliffjumper in half with his claw. The half with the head remained alive, and it attackedArceewhen she tried to rescue it.Darkness Rising, Part 2

Here comes the night

Megatron realized the potential for brutal, undead warriors from the encounter with Cliffjumper and decided to use the Dark Energon more extensively. WhenOptimus Primerealized that the substance they were dealing with was Dark Energon, he andRatchetput two and two together and realized Megatron was up to something, that something being raising the dead. Eons ago, there had been a war on Earth after the smuggling of Energon to the planet. Since Cybertronian bodies do not decompose, there were some still buried in the ground. Megatron appeared to Optimus Prime and Ratchet in a large canyon and threw a chunk of Dark Energon into the ground, which promptly began to glow bright purple, as did Megatron himself. The ground opened up, and undead robots crawled out from the cracks, brandishing the same deadly weapons they'd carried in the previous war.Darkness Rising, Part 3Despite being outnumbered, Optimus and Ratchet were able to dispose of the Terrorcon horde after a great deal of time but, only to be informed by Megatron that this was merely the prelude to his main event. That event, they soon discovered, was raising the countless dead onCybertronitself.Darkness Rising, Part 4

Somebody turn on the light

Unfortunately for the Autobots, Megatron was already a step ahead of them in implementing his plan, since he already had a workingspace bridgeand a ship to get to it. The Autobots used theirGroundBridgeto reach the space bridge, but failed to stop Megatron from throwing his supply of Dark Energon through, raising the entire deceased population of Cybertron. Before the Terrorcons could pass through the bridge, the Autobots managed to reverse the power flow, causing the bridge to explode, taking the zombies and Megatron with it.Darkness Rising, Part 5Megatron inside Bumblebee's body would however return to that same site, passing over deceased Terrorcons to retrieve the Dark Energon shard used to create them to revive himself.Out of His Head

Somebody tell me that fate has been kind!

Starscream later used a shard to attempt to revive the slainSkyquake.While he successfully raised the mighty Decepticon, due to a series of unexpected events the revenant Skyquake was left trapped in analternate dimension.ShadowzoneMegatron would find out about Skyquake's Terrorcon transformation from Soundwave and tried to terminate Starscream in a mine for it.Rock BottomSkyquake's brotherDreadwingwould also find out about Skyquake's Terrorcon transformation and attempt to kill Starscream for it.Regeneration

You can't go out

The addition of Dark Energon toKnock Out'sSynthetic Energonformula turnedCylasinto a new form of Terrorcon which cravedenergon.His bite passed on the infection, causing a brief plague in the Decepticon Vehicons, the only way of destroying them was a shot to the spark. Starscream and Knock Out attempted to handle the plague themselves but Megatron would soon find out. The plague was quelled by the Decepticons but at the cost of over half the Vehicons being destroyed.Airachnid,however, was freed from her stasis lock imprisonment and infected by Cylas before she killed him but she was space bridged to Cybertron's moons. Airachnid presumably spread the plague to theInsecticonsshe fed upon.Thirst

Aiming to destroyPrimus,Unicron raised an army of Terrorcons from the many remains at a Predacon burial ground. The horde marched to theWell of All Sparkssoon facing the Autobots in theNemesisand thePredaconsPredaking,Skylynx,andDarksteel.The Terrorcon horde headed into the Well, almost reaching the core before Unicron's anti-spark was trapped and the Terrorcons all disintegrated.Predacons Rising

Games

Transformers Prime: Terrorcon Defense

Whenever the Autobots failed to prevent Vehicons from entering a Dark Energon mine, they would emerge from the mine as Terrorcons, and were much more difficult to vanquish before they ultimately escaped the battlefield.Transformers Prime: Terrorcon Defense

Vector Sigma Bot Builder

Hey, hey, look at me! I mean, really! Barf, barf, barf! I'm amedic,agladiatorand aSeeker!Oh-ho-ho-ho! God! I'm a mish-mash!

Under unknown circumstances, the process of creating a bot can be corrupted byDark Energonresulting in a Terrorcon that must be destroyed.Vector Sigma Bot Builder

Transformers Universe

Packs of Terrorcons sometimes showed up to menace both Autobots and Decepticons inHigh GrandandCentral City,sometimes ambushing squads ofVehiconsorAutotroopers.They were often accompanied by bulkyGladiatorsand the very powerfulReckoners.After killing them, their anti-sparks could be collected for further research.

Transformers Universe

On October the 10th 2014, several artworks were available to download on the official site.^[1]One of them included what appears to be a Terrorcon combiner.

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

Optimus ordered a lot ofAutobot Soldiersto make a stand, and to keep the Decepticons away from the Dark Spark. After that, most of the Autobot army tried to stop Shockwave from taking the Dark Spark toKolkular.Things went wrong, as Shockwave, along with the Combaticons, not only murdered a lot of Autobots but also took Cliffjumper as a prisoner. After that, Optimus, along with Jazz, infiltrated Kolkular to retrieve the Dark Spark and rescue Cliffjumper. When Cliffjumper was rescued, Optimus ordered Jazz to leave with Cliffjumper before going to face Megatron himself. Once Optimus reached the Dark Spark's room, he noticed that were a lot of dead Autobot soldiers. To his horror, Megatron revived them with the Dark Spark's power andDark Energon,turning them into zombies loyal to him. Megatron, now using the Dark Spark to increase his power, joined his new troops in their fight against Optimus. Whenever Megatron begins to recharge the Dark Spark, Optimus starts destroying the charging towers. Optimus is also forced to destroy the undead Autobot soldiers. In a last ditch effort, Optimus and Megatron begin to unleash the power of theMatrix of Leadershipand the Dark Spark, respectively. Eventually, the power of the Matrix overpowers the Dark Spark, causing it to eject itself out of Megatron and launch itself into space.Rise of the Dark Spark (console)

Toys

Prime

This is weird, it's much worse than I feared!

• Terrorcon Cliffjumper(Deluxe,2012-04-28)
  • ID number:AM-08

This version of the undeadDark Energoninfused Cliffjumper is available only in the JapanesePrimetoyline, and was released in the second assortment. "Terrorcon" Cliffjumper is a translucent-purple and opaque-brownredecoandretoolingof the "First Edition" Terrorcon Cliffjumper mold, with several addedMini-Conmounting points on hisvehicle modetrunk and hood. He features flip-out triple-barreled blasters in each of his arms that can be swung out to replace his hands. Hedoeshave wrist articulation, but the plastic panels on the outer sides of his arms tend to get in the way, meaning his wrists can only easily rotate up to 90 degrees.

As with the other toys in the JapanesePrimeline, much of the toy is unpainted, and relies ondecalsto add color detail, including the windscreens, with a pair of unused Decepticoninsigniastickers also being included. He comes with hisArms Micronpartner,Jida.

Earlystock photographyshowed Terrorcon Cliffjumper as being primarily opaque blue-purple plastic.

• Terrorcon Cliffjumper at Alfes's blog (part 1)
• Terrorcon Cliffjumper at Alfes's blog (part 2)

I'll close my eyes and make it disappear!

• Rust In Peace Terrorcon Cliffjumper(Deluxe, 2012)
  • Accessories:Dark Energon shard, "embedded" Dark Energon shard

ASan Diego Comic-Con2012exclusive,"Rust In Peace" Terrorcon Cliffjumper is a much more extensively-decoed and premium-packaged version of the "Terrorcon Cliffjumper" retool of the "First Edition" Cliffjumper mold, which was originally canceled worldwide, but was eventually released as an Asian market andToys "R" Usexclusive.Whew! Hispaint operationshave been expanded from the original retail plans to give him more battle damage deco. He comes with two Dark Energon accessories; a long shard of the stuff, and a shorter, more rubbery one ending in an "energy splash" that can grasp around the edges of his chest to represent, well, him being stabbed with Dark Energon to bring him back to "life."

He comes in a special case shaped like Cliffjumper's zombified head, which itself comes inside a box with Cliffjumper's chest printed on the front. Gruesome!

Yes, it's strange!

• Terrorcon Bumblebee(Deluxe, 2012-08-10)

Meant to represent Bumblebee turned into a vicious monster after being infused withDark Energon,"TerrorconBumblebee"is theArms MicronBee molding done in black, gray, and clear-purple. Rather than his nominal Arms Micron partner,B.B.,he instead comes withTerrorcon Zori,a clear-purple version ofSoundwave's Micron partner. This set was available as an Ion storesexclusivein Japan.

It ain't home on the range!

• Decepticon Set(EZ Collection 6-pack, 2012-11-24)
  • ID number:EZ-SP2
  • Accessories:Battle blade

Exclusive to theTakaraTomyseries,TerrorconCliffjumperis a translucent-purple redeco of hisCyberversetoy. He was only available in a TakaraTomy six-pack withMegatron,theVehicon,Breakdown,Starscream,andKnock Out.

First Edition

You just tell St. Pete
That you got cold feet!

• Terrorcon Cliffjumper(Deluxe, 2012)
  • ID number:005
  • Accessories:Stand

Part of the second wave ofPrime: First Editiontoys, TerrorconCliffjumperis aredecoandretoolingofFirst EditionCliffjumper, with purple translucent parts, a new, bashed-up head, and "Dark Energon" battle-damagepaint operations.

Hisstock photographyincorrectly depicts him with silver-painted wheel rims.

The second wave ofFirst Editiontoys was initially only released in the Asian market in mid-2012. Terrorcon Cliffjumper was noticeably absent in this particular release, and was believed to be canceled. (TakaraTomywould then do their own drastically different interpretation of the toy, see above.) In late 2012, Wave 2 was finally released in its entirety in Hasbro's Asian markets, and Toys "R" Us picked up these toys, along with most of theFirst Editionline, as part of ahugeblock of US market exclusives for the holiday season.

• More information onFirst EditionTerrorcon Cliffjumper at TFU.info

Notes

• The term Terrorcon is first used in "Loose Cannons"when Arcee is describing Skyquake's revival.

Foreign names

• Japanese:Terrorcon(テラーコンTerākon)
• Mandarin:Xíng Shī Zǒu Ròu(China, hành thi tẩu nhục, "Walking Dead" )
• Brazilian Portuguese:Terrorcron

References