Apelinq (BM)

Apelinq is aMaximalfrom theBeast Eraportion of theGeneration 1continuity family.

Code Monkey get up, get coffee. Code Monkey go to job. Code Monkey have boring meeting with boring manager Rob.

Apelinqwas a participant in the close of the Autobot/Decepticon wars specializing in scientific research, particularly computer xenoscience, inCybertron's new peacetime economy. But in due time, he was called by the Maximal government to lead the resurrection of Cybertron's legendary strike team, theWreckers.Known for his genius battlefield tactics, Apelinq is a bot of ideas who would rather outwit his opponents than destroy them with brute force. His years in research have jaded him against more spiritual thinking. He doesn't trust mysticism. Apelinq tends to micromanage, to his detriment, and, thanks to his solid confidence in his own abilities, he can get in over his head.

Apelinq's scientific endeavors have armed him well. He carries two impact maces of his own design, capable of shattering most vanadium-reinforced armor. He is most famous for hisTransfer Interlink,an invention that can download digital objects into reality. The limitations of this technology are not yet known, though he uses this ability to achieve his favorite mode of transportation—through the skies on his "virtual digiboard".^[1]

Sometimes his name is spelledApe-Linqand sometimes when he receives a new body, he becomes known asHyperlinq.

Fiction

3H comics

Over threevornsago, Apelinq was part of the High Council's Research Cooperative. He got to knowCryotek,a fellow engineer, before the Predacon went on to be a crime lordThe Wreckers: Finale Part 1and Apelinq became a facility head.BotCon: Beyond Apelinq profile

He would leave the hard sciences for the Wreckers, becoming the 2nd platoon commander of the 7th Wreckers Squadron,The Wreckers: Finale Part 1eventually coming to operate from within theWrecker Command Base.Shortly before 316 A.U., Apelinq was part of the effort to track down the missingAxalon.Apelinq's War Journals

As theMaximal Elderswere silenced and chaos erupted acrossCybertron,Apelinq grew increasingly worried. Marshals were disappearing left and right and entire sections of populace began to go missing. After the source of the trouble was identified asMegatron,returning from the Beast Wars,Rodimusand the other Wreckers, sans Apelinq, were sent to put him down. Only Rodimus returned alive, his uniqueMatrix Templarphysiology curiously immune to Megatron's virus.

Yeah, uh, real shadowy.

Apelinq used Rodimus's physiology as a starting point for the creation of a countervirus, but suddenly, a new ship arrived through a low-altitude transwarp anomaly on Cybertron. While Rodimus and Apelinq investigated, finding the crew to bePrimal Primeand other surviving troops, the group was rushed by theVehicon GeneralMirage.Apelinq and Mirage were thrown through the anomaly, landing on a strange organic planet. Apelinq disposed of Mirage, but was separated from the countervirus and his transfer interlink.

Apelinq found himself a captive observer of theBeast Wars.He kept a distance for a long duration, until he bore witness to a battle betweenShokaractand theCovenant.He could stand by idle no longer, and Apelinq joined their battle.Apelinq's War Journals

Unfortunately, the countervirus had been found byPackratandOnyx Primalbefore Apelinq could get to it. During their fight withFractyl,Vice Grip,andAntagony,Apelinq was able to grab the device without them noticing anything more than a "shadowy figure". They blamedMegatron.Visitations

Hi, don't mind me, I'm just this year's exclusive toy being shoehorned into this story...

Then, after a number of the Covenant were cut down by Shokaract, Apelinq transformed into his vehicle mode and pressed his attack against the Unicron-powered tyrant.

Apelinq survived the first few waves of attacks, despite their high number of casualties, and regrouped with Optimus Primal,Windrazorand the others. For a moment, they thought they had been betrayed by one of their own, the heroic PredaconSandstorm,but this was just a ruse. Sandstorm was secretly Scorpius, one of the Covenant. But when Sandstorm died as well, Optimus Primal was inspired by his sacrifice, and asked Apelinq to fight alongside them. Together, along with the summoned might ofJ'nwan,they were able to defeat Shokaract, remove Unicron's essence from prehistoric Earth, and rewrite the future. As time began to grow unstable around them, Apelinq grabbed Windrazor and managed to return to the Cybertron from which he originated.

However, once Apelinq arrived home, Windrazor had disappeared.Terminus

"Dammit, Primal, look, I'm yourredeco,okay? "

AfterPrimal PrimeandRamulussavedOptimus PrimalandNightscreamfrom someTank Drones,Apelinq appeared and introduced himself to Optimus. Since the timeline in which they had battled Shokaract in Earth's past had been erased, Apelinq filled Optimus in on their time together. But he and the others were off to a meeting with theOracle,and Primal and Nightscream decided to tag along.

Several groups, including Primal Prime and Apelinq's Wreckers converged on the Oracle's chamber, and a series of cryptic messages were given to each group. The Oracle admitted that the Wreckers could probably stop theVehiconsthemselves, but before it could give the Wreckers their mission, Optimus Primal interrupted. Apelinq quietly disapproved when the Oracle subsequently wiped Primal's mind of the events from the day. The Oracle flickered, a strange voice spoke, and a set of coordinates were beamed into Primal Prime's head. Their task lay before them, and Prime ordered Apelinq to prepare their Autobot shuttle for launch.

CHOOM

But just as they arrived within the shuttle's launch bay, the Wreckers were ambushed by hordes ofMegatron's drones. Thankfully, Apelinq had some backup, and he summonedCyclonus,Rotorbolt,andSkywarp.Shouting theWreckers' battle cry, Apelinq entered the fray. Together they cut their way through the Vehicon army, and the shuttle lifted off, escaping Cybertron for parts unknown.Departure

But their shuttle had a stowaway. The bounty hunterDevconhad attacked some of their crew, and in the process Fractyl was seriously damaged. Apelinq,Arcee,and Ramulus rushed the injured Fractyl to the repair bay. Frustrated with the antiquated Autobot technology, Apelinq used hisTransfer Interlinkto createCatSCAN,merging the ship's medical diagnostic program with design schematics from an old acquaintance. The new medic was able to save Fractyl, but Apelinq was unable to dissolve CatSCAN as he normally would with his creations.

The Wreckers received a homing beacon and followed it to the surface of a planet. Apelinq, Primal Prime, CatSCAN, and Ramulus began to survey the planet when CatSCAN got in some trouble with the locals and was attacked byTap-Out.Apelinq jumped in to assist, butGlyphentered the scene to sort things out. Glyph and Tap-Out were the only survivors of a survey mission sent centuries ago byRodimus Prime.They were looked after by the nativeAkalouthanswhile studying their culture.

Curiously, these natives were expecting the Wreckers. According to prophecies, protectors would arrive to guard theDivine Light,the power source which the Akalouthans worshiped. Apelinq's analysis found the Divine Light to be a sort of battery, but with unusual properties. Having suspected that there was a traitor among them for a while, the Wreckers were surprised to find their comrade Rotorbolt nearly off-line. Apelinq, Ramulus, and Devcon rushed to the Divine Light's chamber in time to witness Cyclonus make off with the treasure.Betrayal

That's me in the corner, that's me in the spotlight, losing my religion.

In the aftermath of their betrayal on Archa Nine, Primal Prime retreated into himself and the Matrix. Apelinq's skepticism surrounding their divine mission continued to nurture, and the others had growing doubts of their own.

They traveled to an icy planet ten systems away, and Primal Prime ordered Apelinq, Rodimus, Arcee, and Ramulus to follow him quickly outside, while Apelinq protested their hastiness. Apelinq's worries were, for the moment, unwarranted, as the sole inhabitant of the planet seemed to be the excommunicated QuintessonAl-badur.Though the Wreckers eyed him uneasily, he was willing to tell them the history of the Quintessons' attempts to use Vector Sigma to enslave the Transformers race. When Al-badur revealed that the Oracle itself was a Quintesson creation devised to control Vector Sigma, Primal Prime was taken aback. Had they been led astray this whole time?

However, for Apelinq, the pieces now fit together, and he recounted how the real Vector Sigma had broken through the Oracle shell program, giving them a real mission. Primal Prime was reassured during the brief moment before the Sharkticons attacked. Though the Sharkticons were armed with strange (yet somehow familiar) technology, they were eventually overtaken by the Wreckers. With Al-badur, the Wreckers left once again, but this time for Cybertron.Disclosure

After arriving in orbit above thenewly reformatted Cybertronand finding a full-scale Quintesson invasion underway, Primal Prime ordered his troops to concentrate only on Cryotek, the real threat. Taking Apelinq, Ramulus,Tigatron,and Al-badur with him, Primal Prime leapt from the still-airborne shuttle into the battle below.

But their subterranean attack on the Predacon gangster, grown to intimidating size and power by the Divine Light, was costly. Primal Prime had sacrificed himself, taking a fatal hit that was intended for Apelinq, but rather than saving Apelinq, Prime's act fused them together grotesquely. With two of the Wreckers' most powerful disposed of, leaving only Devcon,Tigatron,Ramulus, and the Quintesson, all hope seemed lost.

Suddenly, a glowing titan formed before them, from the combined bodies of Apelinq and Primal Prime into a single powerful entity:Sentinel Maximus,with Apelinq, now namedHyperlinq,forming the head of Primus's champion. During the battle with Cryotek, Hyperlinq was once forced to disengage from Sentinel Maximus when they were frozen still by Cryotek's ice powers. He transformed into robot mode and was able to break Maximus free of the ice with a few laser blasts.Wreckers: Finale Part II

Wings Universe

Apelinq was a master of computational xenoscience and held a position as lead researcher at theCybertron Science Academy.Despite his dedication to the rational and the tangible, however, Apelinq had been plagued with "visions" ever since coming online. He perceived aliquid orb atop a long bridgeand continuous impressions of events that did not happen, or did happen, but differently.Apelinq's tech specsIn order to collate his thoughts, Apelinq began transcribing a personal journal. He repeatedly experienced vague visions and warnings fromanother lifetime.Apelinq's personal logs

When Apelinq was aprotoform,he was told tales of how Cybertron's spiritual leader, the sageAlpha Trizerwas once part of a group of warriors whose battlescrossed time and space.Apelinq's personal logs

Once, Apelinq single-handedly defended the Academy from a Decepticon raid using his own invention: theTransfer Interlink.His heroism and talent attracted the attention of Alpha Trizer, who recruited him into theCybertronian Knights.Apelinq subsequently became the resident science officer of the Knights.Knight Apelinq's profile card

Apelinq was present to hear the news that Alpha Trizer was reinstating theWreckersto defend Cybertron's interests throughout the galaxy. He personally noted, however, that the great sage had probably done so mainly to separate the conflicting personalities of Primal Prime andGinrai.

While on a routine patrol of the outskirts of the formerRust Sea,Apelinq had yet another vision of the "Hunter"as well as amulticolored Optimus Prime-like 'botleading a motley group into agreat battle.Later investigating a safe house holding representatives of theTwin StarContinuum, Apelinq had a visual hallucination where he saw the word "Hunter" spelled out in the mech fluid of the fallen dignitaries.Devcon,however, dismissed Apelinq's hallucination and noted that the corpses were the work ofFlamewar.

Along with Ginrai, Apelinq rapidly responded to a disturbance in orbit ofNebulos,only to find that it was a mere spaceborne "fender-bender". Meanwhile, Apelinq was plagued by yet another vision of the "Hunter".

Apelinq met new recruitFlare-Upat theNew Polyhex Training Academy,finding her to be a talented if excitable 'bot. While at the Academy, Apelinq also encountered Primal Prime, who hoped to recruit Flare-Up for the Wreckers, but the young female Autobot declined as she had already been recruited for the Cybertronian Knights. Apelinq noted to Flare-Up that he had never doubted her inclinations as her quarters clearly demonstrated her admiration for Commander Ginrai. Apelinq and the other Knights were extremely chagrined to be called in for a mandatory meditation session with Alpha Trizer. Apelinq noted that the Knights would preferably faceTerrorcons,Scraplets,or evenUnicronhimself.

After the Wreckers' shipRodimus Majordisappeared into a spatial anomaly, Apelinq was tasked with examining the logs brought back by surviving WreckerFireflight.Apelinq's personal logs

While onCyberion,Apelinq and Flare-Up were summoned by Ginrai to respond to a communications malfunction out of theDelta Prysmos Sector.They soon located the source: a group of pirates attempting to renovate Unicron's head into an energon siphon to attack Cybertron. The plot failed, and the Knights quickly rounded up the pirates. At least...most of them.Hoist the FlagSome time later, Apelinq and Flare-Up were standing in a burning ruin on Cybertron, unaware that at that very moment, Shokaract plotted to return to the planet and lay waste to it.Legacy

Beast Wars: Uprising

HULK COGITATE!!

Apelinq was chief science officer aboard the starshipDinosaur.A graduate of the IaconAcademy of Science and Technologyand the only other Maximal officer on board, Apelinq was nominally third-in-command of the ship afterthe captainand first officerLongrack.

When a planetside mission to recover lost prisoners came up, Apelinq was placed in charge of the landing party when the Builder political officer,Synapse,convinced Longrack to stay behind. During planetfall, the shuttle was caught in a tractor beam and pulled to the site of the Draco Ziggurat. Apelinq andSaberbackremained behind to study their landing site while security specialistHard Headled the other members of the crew in search of the prisoners.

Saberback received a mental summons from the ziggurat, drawing him and Apelinq into a digital realm. Once they adjusted to their new surroundings, Apelinq reluctantly agreed to follow Saberback's instincts and approach theEye of Providencefound in the digital realm. Saberback supplicated himself before the Eye, and was inhabited by the consciousness ofMetascan Omega.Apelinq and Saberback convinced Metascan Omega to intervene on behalf of their friends, using the tractor beam to control the descent of both the shuttle and theDinosaur,which had undergone serious troubles since the duo entered the Draco Ziggurat.

With news of theGrand Uprisingby the Proto-races back home, many of the crew decided to establish a new colony using the crashed ship as Dinosaur City. Apelinq chose to remain with the colony rather than return home, hoping to reestablish Metascan Omega as a mecca for knowledge and learning once more.IntersectionalityHe was still in residence a decade later when Lio Convoy and theVokarrived at Metascan Omega.The Inexorable March

2005 IDW continuity

Apelinq was one ofOnyx Prime's Maximals. When the Maximals invaded Cybertron, he was one of the many warriors who wound up battlingArceeand fell to his death when Arcee disrupted thegravity generatorin theNemesis.Unforgivable

Toys

Beast Machines

I'm totally different from Optimus Primal. I have some green!

• Apelinq(Mega Class, 2000)

• Accessories:Hand-cannon/thruster, 2 club-missiles

Apelinq is aredecoof theBeast WarsMegaTransmetalversion ofOptimus Primal,transforming into a roboticgorilla.He also has a third "transport" mode, where his robot legs unfold into a "virtual digiboard" for his gorilla form to ride. The thruster for the board becomes a handheld spring-loaded missile launcher, which uses Apelinq's twin maces for ammunition.

Apelinq was available as anexclusivetoy toBotCon 2000.He andShokaractwere both limited to 1200 pieces.

• More information on Apelinq at TFU.info

Universe(2003)

Don't mind the new packaging, my name is Hyperlinq, for serious!

• Sentinel Maximus with Ape-Linq Mini-Con(Ultra Class, 2004)

Aretoolingof theArmadaMini-ConRollout,Ape-Linq transforms into an armored personnel carrier capable of towing the larger "armored transport" mode ofSentinel Maximus.He also has a hand-held gun mode, and forms the head and central torso of the combined Sentinel Maximus robot mode. His head was completely retooled to resemble a fully-mechanical version of the original Apelinq toy's noggin, plus the larger Sentinel Maximus robot head was given wholly-new tooling as well. Naturally, he was only available with Sentinel Maximus.

The set was a planned exclusive toOTFCC 2004,but was not produced in time for the show. After the convention license was revoked from3H's ownership,Hasbroeventually mailed out the paid-for Sentinel Maximuses in new packaging.

This mold was also used to makeEnergonKnock Out.

• More information on Ape-Linq at TFU.info

Timelines

I'm totally different from Optimus Prime! I have some green!

• Knight Alpha Trizer / Knight Apelinq / Knight Flareup(Souvenir multi-pack, 2014)

• Accessories:"Digitized hoverboard," blade, missile, Cybertronian Knights key

TimelinesKnight Apelinq is a redeco ofBeast Wars 10th AnniversaryDeluxe ClassOptimus Primal.Similar to his Transmetal form, Apelinq comes with a hoverboard with two5 mm postsat the base, allowing him to ride it in his gorilla mode, or hold it in robot mode via the 5 mm posts on his robot palms/gorilla feet. When aCyber Keyis inserted at the rear of the board, a spring-loaded extending blade deploys, and a trigger is revealed to allow one to use the spring-loaded missile launcher at the tip. Though it is not intended to be removed, the blade can be popped off and held in Apelinq's hand thanks to his posable thumbs. Apelinq's key is chromed as a callback to his chromed original toy, plus it sports the Cybertronian Knight sigil.

Apelinq was only available as part of aBotCon 2014at-show souvenir 3-pack, packed in withKnight FlareupandKnight Alpha Trizer.

This mold wasredecoedintoCybertronOptimus Primeand BotCon 2014Primal Prime.

• More information onTimelinesApelinq at TFU.info

Generations

• BotCon Legacy Collection(Multi-pack,2015)

• Accessories:"Digitized hoverboard," blade, missile, Cybertronian Knights key

"Ape-Linq" was repackaged with fellow BotCon 2014 toysFlareup,Shokaract,andFlamewarin theGenerations"BotCon Legacy Collection", which also had thepack-in comic"Legacy".




Notes



Hey, that should be your legs!
• Even though Apelinq's toy forms hishoverboardout of parts of Apelinq's robot feet, the hoverboard is treated in fiction as a digital object downloaded into reality from Apelinq'sTransfer Interlink.
• Both Apelinq and his creator,Glen Hallit,are former engineers. Apelinq is super smart and is an excellent fighter, he can download any digital object into reality, and his lowestTech Specstat is 8. Later, he sort ofgets the Matrix.Hmm.
• The original planned name for theUniverseincarnation of Apelinq was "Hyperlinq", which was printed on the proposed boxes shown at OTFCC 2004. However, when Hasbro created new packaging for the toy, they went with the name "Ape-Linq", as did Sentinel Maximus's profile in theCollector's Club magazine.However, he is called Hyperlinq in "Wreckers: Finale Part II".
• On theAlternatorscharacterDecepticharge,there is a pseudo-advertisement for "Hyperlinq Racing".
• Apelinq/Ape-Linq/Hyperlinq/whatever was the first character to receive a second BotCon toy.
• Glen Hallit strongly implied atBotCon 2000that Apelinq was known as "Uplinq" prior to taking his gorilla alternate mode.
• TheBeast Wars: Uprisingincarnation of Apelinq is a "virtual redeco" of theCrossoversHulktoy.

References

1. ↑Profile written from information provided both by Apelinq's original bio (see external links) and the full-page profile published in the back ofThe Wreckers#2(Director's Cut edition).

Gallery

• 

  UniverseHyperlinq profile art

• 

  BotCon 2014Wings Universeprofile art

External links

• Apelinq's BotCon: Beyond profile on the BotCon Online archives