Magmatron
Encyclopedia
Magmatron is a Transformers character who first appeared in the Japanese Beast Wars Neo
series, was later released in the American Beast Machines
Dinobots
toy line, and most recently in official Beast Wars
comic continuity.
and the Duocons
in the original series, Overlord
from Transformers Super God Masterforce, and Tidal Wave
in Transformers: Armada
series) Three beasts, a Giganotosaurus
, Elasmosaurus
and a Quetzalcoatlus
, can combine into a humanoid robot form, or that of a giant Fuzor
with attributes of all three beasts. While in his beast modes he is able to maintain a singular consciousness/personality.
Magmatron's tech specs paint him as a study in contradictions. On the one hand, he is violently impulsive and tends to charge into battle without thinking. On the other, he is known to rationally and coolly appraise situations before committing himself fully. He is the successor to Galvatron (the Beast Wars II version, not the original) as Predacon
Emperor of Destruction. Despite the inherently treacherous nature of his Predacon underlings, Magmatron's charisma is so powerful that many times they submit to his authority without question.
Magmatron is described as a fierce warrior determined to succeed at all costs, much like his original. However, his new tech spec gave him a new background mixed with his old: He was returning from a mission to acquire energy capsules (a reference to the Angolmois energy capsules of Beast Wars Neo) to discover Cybertron overrun with armies of mindless Vehicon
drones. This bio identified his title of “Emperor of Destruction” (which is not an actually rank in most mainstream Transformer fiction) as moniker given to him as a testament to his destructive presence on the battlefield. Magmatron’s ability to separate into three distinct bodies (identified as: Landsaur, Seasaur, Skysaur respectively) is attributed to a “Mitotic” spark.
commander Big Convoy. Tracking his rival's forces, he became aware of the Angolmois energy pods released by the Nemesis and managed to gather many of them. However they were then stolen from him by the Blendtrons. He then discovered the truth - that the Angolmois Energy was really the lifeforce of Unicron
himself.
As Unicron took Galvatron's corpse as a new body, Magmatron realised the disaster he had unleashed and his forces challenged Unicron. They were defeated, and Magmatron was left trapped in a wormhole.
Magmatron appears in episode #35, called "Graduation!!" Luring Unicron into battle, the Maximals, are aided, surprisingly, by the escaped Lio Convoy, Magmatron and his Predacons. They manage to delay Unicron long enough for Convoy to use the power of the Matrix to charge his weapon into the Matrix Buster. The cannon blasts Unicron, seemingly destroying him for good. Big Convoy's Maximals fight the three Blendtrons. Heinlad stops time just as the three are about to fire on the Maximals, moves them, and then restarts time so they shoot each others. The Blendtrons then retreat. With the threat of Unicron eliminated Big Convoy is joined with Magmatron to usher in a new era of peace of Cybertron.
' unpublished Beast Wars comic. Although the company's bankruptcy meant that no issues were released, released art and information have revealed that Magmatron would have been the overall villain of the series, even presiding over Megatron
's trial on Cybertron. This indicates that the Dreamwave tales would have followed a different continuity from Beast Machines
.
they produced their own Beast Wars comic
, featuring Magmatron. In this story, during the Beast Wars (as the Predacons are installing Sentinel, which would place the events described here around those of the third season episode: "Changing of the Guard"), Magmatron and his troops (Drillbit, Iguanus
, Transquito, Spittor
, Manterror and Razorbeast) arrived on Earth on a mission following up Ravage
's failure. However, even the Tripredacus Council were unaware of Magmatron's true goal - to locate the mass of stasis pods jettisoned by the Axalon
at the beginning of the Beast Wars, and turn their protoform
s into a Predacon
army loyal to him; one that he could use to overthrow the Maximals on Cybertron. His plan was sabotaged by the Maximal
undercover agent Razorbeast, who managed to modify Magmatron's shell program, resulting in many of the protoforms emerging as Maximals. Hunting down and battling Razorbeast, even Magmatron's three modes were unable to prevent Razorbeast's escape. Realising that time was running short, Magmatron also recovered the remains of Ravage and used a blank protoform to bring him back in a stronger Transmetal II
form, intending for him to stay behind and hunt down Razorbeast. Magmatron now realised the only way to divert the Council's suspicion was to acconplish his assigned goal - capturing Megatron
. Revealing himself to Megatron, the two would-be tyrants battled, but after Megatron gained the upper hand he was captured when Magmatron's lackeys managed to put a restraining collar on Megatron. Magmatron aimed to send him back to Cybertron
, but was interrupted by an unexpected foe - Grimlock
. As the two battled, Razorbeast and Optimus Minor sabotaged Magmatron's transport machine. Magmatron eventually defeated the former Dinobot
, but Razorbeast used Magmatron's own chrono-wristband to battle Magmatron and stay ahead of his blows, before Minor used his own time displacement band to send him back to Cybertron empty handed.
The follow-up series, The Ascending, revealed Magmatron's fate. The failed time-jump had consigned Magatron to a temporal limbo, able to see the whole of time and space, but affect nothing. When he saw the Cybertron of the future being destroyed by Unicron
and Shokaract, Magmatron used what power he had to ensure a signal from prehistoric Earth summoned Lio Convoy and the Pack. Then, when Ravage
tried to use the time displacement band for his own ends, Magmatron was able to communicate with him and instruct him to call a truce with the Maximals against the Chaos-Bringer. During the battle on Cybertron the Maximal Snarl was able to shunt Shokaract into limbo with Magmatron, where the truth of Unicron's plans were revealed. Shokaract destroyed himself and Magmatron was freed, returning to Cybertron.
Notably, IDW's Beast Wars: Sourcebook profile on Magmatron places the events seen in Beast Wars Neo before those of The Gathering, establishing that after he had tried to follow up Galvatron
's intentions to gather Angolmois in Neo he and Big Convoy both ended up on the bi-partate committee for state affairs, setting up the events of the comic.
The sketch gallery in the Beast Wars: The Gathering trade paperback indicates that Magmatron had his "split" Tricon technology before he received his beast modes. His Cybertronian modes were a tentacled submarine, a hovercraft and a tank.
Magmatron had a biography printed in the Beast Wars Sourcebook by IDW Publishing
.
, Dillo, Mol, Rav, Skywarp
, Cyclonus
, Rotorbolt and Devcon join the Wreckers. In Betrayal the Dinobots are attacked by the Dweller.
When shown later, the Dinobots were missing several members, including Magmatron. It is presumed that the missing members were victims of the Dweller, but since the Dweller doesn't kill its victims, only turns them into energon-zombies, Magmatron may not be dead.
Beast Wars Neo
Beast Wars Neo is a 1998 Japanese Transformers television animated series and toy line, and a sequel to Beast Wars II.-Plot:The series focuses on a battle between Maximal and Predacon factions for possession of an energy source called Angolmois. The lone "one-man army" Big Convoy is assigned the...
series, was later released in the American Beast Machines
Beast Machines
Beast Machines is an animated television series produced by Mainframe Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. Hasbro has the full distribution rights to the show as of 2011. It was a direct sequel to Beast Wars taking place within the continuity of the original Transformers series...
Dinobots
Dinobots
Dinobots is the name of several teams of characters in the fictional Transformers Universe. The groups are made up of several robots, each of whose transformed mode is that of a dinosaur or similar prehistoric animal. They are called Dinotrons in the Japanese version; and ' in the Japanese dub of...
toy line, and most recently in official Beast Wars
Beast Wars
Transformers: Beast Wars is a Transformers toyline released by Hasbro between 1995 and 2000, and a Daytime Emmy Award winning full-CG animated television series spawned by it that debuted in 1996...
comic continuity.
Beast Wars Neo
Magmatron is one of the only 6 known reverse-combiners (the others being Sky LynxSky Lynx
Sky Lynx is the name of several different characters in the fictional Transformers universes.-Transformers: Generation 1:Sky Lynx consists of two separate components: a space shuttle that can transform into a bird-like creature , and a ground transport vehicle,...
and the Duocons
Duocons
The Duocons are a sub-group of Decepticons from the fictional Transformers universe.-Profiles:The Duocons sub-group is particularly small, consisting of only two members, Battletrap and Flywheels...
in the original series, Overlord
Overlord (Transformers)
Overlord is the name of several fictional characters from the various Transformers universes.-Transformers: Generation 1:-Animated series:Outside of Japan, Overlord's sole animated appearance was in the toy commercial aired in Europe....
from Transformers Super God Masterforce, and Tidal Wave
Tidal Wave (Transformers)
Tidal Wave is the name of a fictional character from Transformers: Armada and Transformers: Energon. He is a Decepticon, and at one point of the Energon series, he was rebuilt as Mirage....
in Transformers: Armada
Transformers: Armada
Transformers: Armada, known in Japan as , is a Transformers animated series, comic series and toy line which ran from 2002–2003. It was originally scheduled for 2001, however was delayed until early-2002...
series) Three beasts, a Giganotosaurus
Giganotosaurus
Giganotosaurus is a genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaur that lived around 97 million years ago during the early Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period. It included some of the largest known terrestrial carnivores, slightly larger than the largest Tyrannosaurus, but smaller than the...
, Elasmosaurus
Elasmosaurus
Elasmosaurus + σαυρος sauros 'lizard') is a genus of plesiosaur with an extremely long neck that lived in the Late Cretaceous period , 80.5 million years ago.-Description:...
and a Quetzalcoatlus
Quetzalcoatlus
Quetzalcoatlus was a pterodactyloid pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous of North America , and one of the largest known flying animals of all time. It was a member of the Azhdarchidae, a family of advanced toothless pterosaurs with unusually long, stiffened necks...
, can combine into a humanoid robot form, or that of a giant Fuzor
Chimera (mythology)
The Chimera or Chimaera was, according to Greek mythology, a monstrous fire-breathing female creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of multiple animals: upon the body of a lioness with a tail that ended in a snake's head, the head of a goat arose on her back at the center of her...
with attributes of all three beasts. While in his beast modes he is able to maintain a singular consciousness/personality.
Magmatron's tech specs paint him as a study in contradictions. On the one hand, he is violently impulsive and tends to charge into battle without thinking. On the other, he is known to rationally and coolly appraise situations before committing himself fully. He is the successor to Galvatron (the Beast Wars II version, not the original) as Predacon
Predacon (Transformers)
The Predacons usually refer to the name of several fictional Decepticon-like teams led by Megatron, however Transformers: Armada, Predacon is the name of a single character.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
Emperor of Destruction. Despite the inherently treacherous nature of his Predacon underlings, Magmatron's charisma is so powerful that many times they submit to his authority without question.
Magmatron is described as a fierce warrior determined to succeed at all costs, much like his original. However, his new tech spec gave him a new background mixed with his old: He was returning from a mission to acquire energy capsules (a reference to the Angolmois energy capsules of Beast Wars Neo) to discover Cybertron overrun with armies of mindless Vehicon
Vehicon
Vehicons are a faction in the fictional Transformers, appearing in the animated cartoon series Beast Machines. However, most Vehicons are non-sentient drones, controlled entirely by the will of Megatron or their respective general.-History:...
drones. This bio identified his title of “Emperor of Destruction” (which is not an actually rank in most mainstream Transformer fiction) as moniker given to him as a testament to his destructive presence on the battlefield. Magmatron’s ability to separate into three distinct bodies (identified as: Landsaur, Seasaur, Skysaur respectively) is attributed to a “Mitotic” spark.
Animated series
Magmatron became the "Predacon Emperor of Destruction" after Galvatron's defeat, establishing a rivalry and mutual respect with MaximalMaximal (Transformers)
Maximals are a faction in the Transformers series by Hasbro. They are generally depicted as respecting all life and following a path of peace before war. They follow the tenets of the Pax Cybertronia. The Maximals are opposed by the Predacons...
commander Big Convoy. Tracking his rival's forces, he became aware of the Angolmois energy pods released by the Nemesis and managed to gather many of them. However they were then stolen from him by the Blendtrons. He then discovered the truth - that the Angolmois Energy was really the lifeforce of Unicron
Unicron
Unicron is a fictional character from the Transformers universe and toyline. Created by Floro Dery, he was introduced in the 1986 animated film The Transformers: The Movie as the film's main antagonist. Unicron is a prodigiously large robot whose scale reaches planetary proportions, and he is also...
himself.
As Unicron took Galvatron's corpse as a new body, Magmatron realised the disaster he had unleashed and his forces challenged Unicron. They were defeated, and Magmatron was left trapped in a wormhole.
Magmatron appears in episode #35, called "Graduation!!" Luring Unicron into battle, the Maximals, are aided, surprisingly, by the escaped Lio Convoy, Magmatron and his Predacons. They manage to delay Unicron long enough for Convoy to use the power of the Matrix to charge his weapon into the Matrix Buster. The cannon blasts Unicron, seemingly destroying him for good. Big Convoy's Maximals fight the three Blendtrons. Heinlad stops time just as the three are about to fire on the Maximals, moves them, and then restarts time so they shoot each others. The Blendtrons then retreat. With the threat of Unicron eliminated Big Convoy is joined with Magmatron to usher in a new era of peace of Cybertron.
Manga
Magmatron and all his forces were changed into Transformers from actual animals by the power of the Angolmois capsules. Magmatron and Big Convoy battled across the cosmos, until Magmatron was finally felled by the might of Unicron. In his dying moments, he repented of his wrong-doings, and indeed, Big Convoy struck the blow that finished Unicron once and for all with Magmatron's own sword.Dreamwave Productions
Magmatron was also set to appear in Dreamwave ProductionsDreamwave Productions
Dreamwave Productions was a Canadian art design studio and comic book publisher founded in 1996 and is best known for their multiple Transformers comic book series...
' unpublished Beast Wars comic. Although the company's bankruptcy meant that no issues were released, released art and information have revealed that Magmatron would have been the overall villain of the series, even presiding over Megatron
Megatron (Beast Wars and Beast Machines)
The Beast Wars and Beast Machines version of Megatron is the main antagonist from the aforementioned parts of the Transformers animated series, toy lines, and multiverse...
's trial on Cybertron. This indicates that the Dreamwave tales would have followed a different continuity from Beast Machines
Beast Machines
Beast Machines is an animated television series produced by Mainframe Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. Hasbro has the full distribution rights to the show as of 2011. It was a direct sequel to Beast Wars taking place within the continuity of the original Transformers series...
.
IDW Publishing
When the licence to produce Transformers comics passed to IDW PublishingIDW Publishing
IDW Publishing, also known as Idea + Design Works, LLC and IDW, is an American publisher of comic books and comic strip collections. The company was founded in 1999 and has been awarded the title "Publisher of the Year Under 5% Market Share" for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 by Diamond Comic...
they produced their own Beast Wars comic
Beast Wars: The Gathering
Beast Wars: The Gathering is a four-issue comic book mini-series, published by IDW Publishing. The series was launched with #1 in February 2006 and ended with #4 in May. It has since been republished as a trade paperback....
, featuring Magmatron. In this story, during the Beast Wars (as the Predacons are installing Sentinel, which would place the events described here around those of the third season episode: "Changing of the Guard"), Magmatron and his troops (Drillbit, Iguanus
Iguanus
Iguanus is the name of several fictional characters from the various Transformers series.-Transformers: Generation 1:Iguanus is a loathsome Decepticon who is in love with his Pretender shell so much he rarely takes it off.-Reception:...
, Transquito, Spittor
Spittor
Spittor is the name of several fictional characters from the various Transformers universes.-Beast Wars:Spittor is a Predacon who turns into a poisonous frog.-Dreamwave Productions:...
, Manterror and Razorbeast) arrived on Earth on a mission following up Ravage
Ravage (Transformers)
Ravage is the name of several fictional characters in the Transformers universes. Due to the inability to trademark the common word "ravage", he is sometimes called Battle Ravage, Command Ravage or Tripredacus Agent...
's failure. However, even the Tripredacus Council were unaware of Magmatron's true goal - to locate the mass of stasis pods jettisoned by the Axalon
Axalon
The Axalon is the name of the fictional Maximal ship in the Beast Wars cartoon and comic books. In addition, in the Transformers: Armada cartoon, the Autobots constructed a space ship that was also named the Axalon, possibly in reference to the original Maximal ship.-History:The Axalon, commanded...
at the beginning of the Beast Wars, and turn their protoform
Protoform
In the fictional world of the Transformers, protoforms are "basic frames" of a Cybertronian placed in stasis until a suitable form can be found.-"Beast Wars: Transformers" :...
s into a Predacon
Predacon (Transformers)
The Predacons usually refer to the name of several fictional Decepticon-like teams led by Megatron, however Transformers: Armada, Predacon is the name of a single character.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
army loyal to him; one that he could use to overthrow the Maximals on Cybertron. His plan was sabotaged by the Maximal
Maximal (Transformers)
Maximals are a faction in the Transformers series by Hasbro. They are generally depicted as respecting all life and following a path of peace before war. They follow the tenets of the Pax Cybertronia. The Maximals are opposed by the Predacons...
undercover agent Razorbeast, who managed to modify Magmatron's shell program, resulting in many of the protoforms emerging as Maximals. Hunting down and battling Razorbeast, even Magmatron's three modes were unable to prevent Razorbeast's escape. Realising that time was running short, Magmatron also recovered the remains of Ravage and used a blank protoform to bring him back in a stronger Transmetal II
Transmetals
Transmetals are a subgroup of the Beast Wars and Beast Machines characters in the fictional Transformers universe. Ordinary Transformers in the Beast Wars universe have a mechanical robot form and a techno-organic animal form, also known as a "beast mode"...
form, intending for him to stay behind and hunt down Razorbeast. Magmatron now realised the only way to divert the Council's suspicion was to acconplish his assigned goal - capturing Megatron
Megatron (Beast Wars and Beast Machines)
The Beast Wars and Beast Machines version of Megatron is the main antagonist from the aforementioned parts of the Transformers animated series, toy lines, and multiverse...
. Revealing himself to Megatron, the two would-be tyrants battled, but after Megatron gained the upper hand he was captured when Magmatron's lackeys managed to put a restraining collar on Megatron. Magmatron aimed to send him back to Cybertron
Cybertron
Cybertron is a fictional planet, the homeworld of the Transformers in the various fictional incarnations of the metaseries and toyline by Hasbro. In the Japanese series, the planet is referred to as "Cybertron" pronounced as セイバートロン Seibātoron...
, but was interrupted by an unexpected foe - Grimlock
Grimlock
Grimlock is the name of several fictional characters in the Transformers universes. He is usually portrayed as a tough leader who turns into a mechanical dinosaur...
. As the two battled, Razorbeast and Optimus Minor sabotaged Magmatron's transport machine. Magmatron eventually defeated the former Dinobot
Dinobots
Dinobots is the name of several teams of characters in the fictional Transformers Universe. The groups are made up of several robots, each of whose transformed mode is that of a dinosaur or similar prehistoric animal. They are called Dinotrons in the Japanese version; and ' in the Japanese dub of...
, but Razorbeast used Magmatron's own chrono-wristband to battle Magmatron and stay ahead of his blows, before Minor used his own time displacement band to send him back to Cybertron empty handed.
The follow-up series, The Ascending, revealed Magmatron's fate. The failed time-jump had consigned Magatron to a temporal limbo, able to see the whole of time and space, but affect nothing. When he saw the Cybertron of the future being destroyed by Unicron
Unicron
Unicron is a fictional character from the Transformers universe and toyline. Created by Floro Dery, he was introduced in the 1986 animated film The Transformers: The Movie as the film's main antagonist. Unicron is a prodigiously large robot whose scale reaches planetary proportions, and he is also...
and Shokaract, Magmatron used what power he had to ensure a signal from prehistoric Earth summoned Lio Convoy and the Pack. Then, when Ravage
Ravage (Transformers)
Ravage is the name of several fictional characters in the Transformers universes. Due to the inability to trademark the common word "ravage", he is sometimes called Battle Ravage, Command Ravage or Tripredacus Agent...
tried to use the time displacement band for his own ends, Magmatron was able to communicate with him and instruct him to call a truce with the Maximals against the Chaos-Bringer. During the battle on Cybertron the Maximal Snarl was able to shunt Shokaract into limbo with Magmatron, where the truth of Unicron's plans were revealed. Shokaract destroyed himself and Magmatron was freed, returning to Cybertron.
Notably, IDW's Beast Wars: Sourcebook profile on Magmatron places the events seen in Beast Wars Neo before those of The Gathering, establishing that after he had tried to follow up Galvatron
Galvatron
Galvatron is the name of several fictional Transformers, most often the recreated version of Megatron, the Decepticon leader. He was voiced by Leonard Nimoy in the 1986 Transformers movie, and then by Frank Welker in season 3 and 4 of the animated television series. Since then, other Transformers...
's intentions to gather Angolmois in Neo he and Big Convoy both ended up on the bi-partate committee for state affairs, setting up the events of the comic.
The sketch gallery in the Beast Wars: The Gathering trade paperback indicates that Magmatron had his "split" Tricon technology before he received his beast modes. His Cybertronian modes were a tentacled submarine, a hovercraft and a tank.
Magmatron had a biography printed in the Beast Wars Sourcebook by IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing, also known as Idea + Design Works, LLC and IDW, is an American publisher of comic books and comic strip collections. The company was founded in 1999 and has been awarded the title "Publisher of the Year Under 5% Market Share" for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 by Diamond Comic...
.
3H Enterprises
In Departure the Wreckers, Mutants and Dinobots arrive on Cybertron and are sent on missions by the Oracle. ArceeArcee
Arcee is the name of a fictional character in the Transformers franchise. She is a female Autobot, usually pink in color. Being the most famous of the Female Transformers, she has two primary forms...
, Dillo, Mol, Rav, Skywarp
Skywarp
Skywarp is the name of several fictional characters in the Transformers toy line. He is usually depicted as a black or purple Decepticon jet with teleportation powers.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
, Cyclonus
Cyclonus
Cyclonus is the name of several fictional characters from the various Transformers universes.-Transformers: Generation 1:The tech spec from the box art of the Cyclonus toy describes him as a compassionless Decepticon air warrior and saboteur...
, Rotorbolt and Devcon join the Wreckers. In Betrayal the Dinobots are attacked by the Dweller.
When shown later, the Dinobots were missing several members, including Magmatron. It is presumed that the missing members were victims of the Dweller, but since the Dweller doesn't kill its victims, only turns them into energon-zombies, Magmatron may not be dead.
Toys
- Beast Wars Neo Magmatron
- Initially a Takara exclusive and original mold for Beast Wars Neo, Magmatron stands 19cm tall as a toy. With the show notes saying he stands 4.5m tall, that means this toy is 1/24 scale. This toy was designed by TakaraTakaraTakara Co., Ltd. was a Japanese toy company founded in 1955, that merged with another prominent Japanese toy company, Tomy Co., Ltd., on March 1, 2006 to form Takara Tomy, also known in English as TOMY Company Ltd....
's Takashi Kunihiro.
- Beast Machines Magmatron
- Hasbro released Magmatron as part of the Beast Machines: Dinobots toyline with no repainting or retooling.