Blackarachnia (Blackwidow in Japan) is a fictional character from the Transformers series. She has appeared as a star or supporting character in various forms in several of the animated television series and comics from that franchise. She is a female transformer who turns into a spider and was the first reoccurring female Transformer villain in the series. She has been portrayed as both a villainess and heroine, and is usually a romantic interest to one of the heroes in the series. The original Blackarachnia appeared in the 1996 Beast Wars animated series where she was voiced by Venus Terzo. She continued on to the 1999 Beast Machines sequel series and end up in the Transformers: Universe comics. A new version of Blackarachnia would be created for the 2007 television series Transformers Animated, while a third version of the character would be created for the Transformers: Timelines comic book series.
Contents[]
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Beast Wars[]
| Transformers character | |
|---|---|
Blackarachnia in the Beast Wars animated series | |
| Name | Blackarachnia |
| Decepticon/Maximal/Predacon | |
| Japanese name | Black Widow |
| Series | Beast Wars Beast Machines |
| English voice actor | Venus Terzo[1] |
| Japanese voice actor | Ryoka Yuzuki |
| Information | |
| Alternate modes | Western Black Widow Spider, Transmetal II Spider, Technorganic Spider |
| Function | Double Agent, Saboteur |
| Gender | Female |
| Motto | "I use deception for the purpose of good- I use it a lot." (Beast Wars) "It is a double pleasure to deceive the deceiver." (Beast Machines) |
| Sub-group | Deluxe Beasts, Transmetal II |
Blackarachnia is a former Maximal turned Predacon. She can become a spider.[2]
She is known for saying "Even when I'm good, I'm still bad." [3]
Originally, this character was intended to be a quick retool of the Tarantulas toy, but the animators ended up giving Blackarachnia a very feminine design and shapely figure based on an exotic dancer.[4]
The first toy of Blackarachnia again did not resemble the character in the television series (whose design takes it to the full extent of her "Exotic Dancer" look) - although the toy was recolored to more closely resemble the television model in its Japanese release. Also, a kids meal toy was released which looked more like the television model.
Reception[]
Blackarachnia was voted one of the top robot characters that does not look like her toy by Topless Robots.[5]
Blackarachnia was named the 4th worst upgrade in Beast Wars history Topless Robot.[6]
Animated series[]
Beast Wars[]
During the Beast Wars series, she was originally a Maximal protoform, but her stasis pod was captured by the Predacons and was fitted with a Predacon shell program and reprogrammed by Tarantulas as a Predacon spy and saboteur. Her beast form is a black widow spider.[7]
The stasis pod containing Blackarachnia was launched into Earth orbit in the Beast Wars series pilot. [8]
Blackarachnia has some skills in mechanics and science but still second to Tarantulas. In season one she largely assisted Tarantulas in his machinations. However, if Tarantulas was expecting a loyal servant and consort, he was sorely disappointed. Blackarachnia proved as ambitious as any Predacon, with no loyalty to anyone save herself. Although she initially served with a pretense of loyalty, this changed when a floating island (created by the Vok) was discovered, Blackarachnia would betray Scorponok, taking over the island for herself and planning first to use its firepower to destroy the Maximal Base, then take over the Predacons. The efforts of Tigatron and Airazor stopped her. But Blackarachnia’s ambition had just begun.[9]
Later, the spark of the ancient Decepticon Starscream possessed Waspinator. Predictably plotting to betray Megatron, Starscream taught her the ways of treachery - a move that backfired when Blackarachnia betrayed him, leaving him to be defeated by Optimus Primal. [10]
When the Vok returned to Earth, Blackarachnia forged an alliance with Tarantulas to capture a stasis pod from the Maximals and escape the planet; however they were both unaware this was exactly what Megatron wanted. The Predacon leader sent Inferno to kill them, so that the Maximal would capture the reconverted pod. Blackarachnia managed to defeat Inferno, but Tarantulas was killed in the fight. She attempted to access Tarantulas' mind to find the data needed to operate the Pod, only for his consciousness to enter her body.
After talking her way out of being killed by Megatron for her treachery, she was briefly possessed by Tarantulas, who forced her to return his spark to his newly transmetallized body. Maintaining the link, Tarantulas forced her to access Megatron's files on the two Golden Discs. However, she betrayed him, waiting until Tarantulas had been immobilized by the Maximals dropping a boulder on him to download the files for herself. Neither Megatron nor Tarantulas ever trusted her fully after this: in the episode "Bad Spark" Megatron discreetly planted a surveillance device on her, while Tarantulas was willing to use her as a living shield against Maximal fire.[11]
Eventually, Blackarachnia began a relationship with the Maximal Silverbolt, who continually tried to bring her over to the side of good. She first encountered him when she was setting up an energon mining post with Tarantulas and Quickstrike, and was stunned at how he refused to destroy her simply on the grounds that she was a female unit. It was also at that time that she managed to force Tarantulas to sever the link by threatening to kill herself with an energon cube, taking him down with her if he didn't comply to her demands.
Blackarachina and Silverbolt spent their first significant amount of time together when the Predacons and Maximals fought over Rampage's pod; although she had goaded him into trying to fight her as she attacked him, Blackarachnia was attacked by Tarantulas, and Tarantulas in turn was attacked and struck down by Silverbolt, who then helped Blackarachnia to her feet. Unfortunately, Silverbolt slammed Tarantulas into the pod, which was lying in a bank of energon crystals, and the force of the throw caused an explosion that scattered the combatants and left the two equally damaged and in need of contacting their respective bases. So together they traveled to a mountain that was above the energon interference. Along the way, Silverbolt saved Blackarachnia again from a saber-toothed cat, even though she was about to shoot him in the back. Intrigued by his actions again, she decided to keep him alive after that, unaware that Megatron and the other Predacons were listening in. Their journey ended when Optimus Primal and Cheetor arrived in time to help them fight Rampage (then still called Protoform X), and Silverbolt, forcing his damaged wing mechanism to work, save her from seemingly falling to her demise. This proved to be only the beginning of their rocky relationship. The two spent a night together, which resulted in a kiss.
For a long time Blackarachnia resisted Silverbolt's attempts to reform her (based on his assessment that as a Maximal protoform, she possessed inherent goodness). She even told him that it was her bad girl persona that he liked most about her, and simply used him. He did seem to bring out a more altruistic side of her however, and she was often genuinely surprised at just how much he cared about her. Having come from the violent, treacherous and often abusive world of the Predacons, the kindness and unconditional love Blackarachnia received from Silverbolt seemed very alien to her, and she found returning it difficult, often resorting to displaying her affection buried underneath her sardonic sense of humor. She used him to acquire parts for her converted stasis pod. When she realized that Megatron was sending Waspinator to the location of The Ark, she followed him, only to be waylaid by Silverbolt again. The two worked together to gain access to The Ark, only to have Megatron arrive and threaten Silverbolt's life to force Blackarachnia to allow him entrance. Upon gaining entrance, Megatron then shot the Autobot Leader Optimus Prime in the head, causing a timestorm that threatened to destabilize all of history.
Blackarachnia officially switched sides in the first episode of the third season when Megatron attempted to change history by killing Optimus Prime, a change which would have resulted in Blackarachnia and the other Maximal protoforms never being created, or even existing. Although still calling herself a Predacon (and not yet changing her activation code), she worked on the same side as the Maximals from this point on, even though none of them besides Silverbolt fully trusted her. She had a few misadventures during this time, including when she and Dinobot's Transmetal II clone hunted each other.
Envying the power Cheetor and the Dinobot clone gained from the Transmetal Driver, Blackarachnia acquired it for herself and tried to remake herself into a Transmetal II, but it failed and caused her Predacon shell program to start to fail, something that would eventually wipe her core clean; now she had no choice but to have her Predacon programming purged, which would finally have made her a Maximal. While Rhinox tried to save her, Tarantulas' meddling apparently brought about her death, but the driver brought her back to life as a Transmetal Maximal while still retaining some of her bad girl personality and sardonic sense of humor, and finally changing her activation code. For some unexplained reason, Blackarachnia gained telekinetic or magnetic powers in her Transmetal II form (although it is a probability from being exposed to the Transmetal Driver). After stopping Tarantulas' attempts to destroy The Ark, Blackarachnia would return to Cybertron with the other Maximals after Megatron's final defeat.
Beast Machines[]
Blackarachnia was one of eight characters to survive Beast Wars and go on to the Beast Machines series.[12] At this point, she underwent a sort of "role-reversal," and she spent a great deal of time looking for her love Silverbolt and freeing him from his Vehicon alter ego: Jetstorm.[13]
On the way back to Cybertron Megatron escaped into Transwarp Space, and arrived on Cybertron years before the Maximals. Megatron conquered Cybertron, and when the Maximals arrived he captured Silverbolt and Rhinox and removed their sparks. Optimus Primal, Rattrap, Cheetor and Blackarachnia escaped, but were infected with a transformation blocking virus which stripped them of their Transmetal enhancements and left them slowly dying in beast mode, suffering from memory loss. Fleeing deep within Cybertron Optimus Primal was contacted by The Oracle and was reformatted into a technorganic form which then reformatted his companions.
In an attempt to learn what had happened on Cybertron the Maximals raided the Cybertron Archives, but found it empty. Megatron's diagnostic drone continued to remove the organic elements from Megatron's body, however it continued to fail. Blackarachnia started to have visions of Silverbolt when she was in robot mode. Frustrated with how the Maximals were eluding his drones, Megatron used the sparks of Rhinox, Silverbolt and Waspinator to create the Vehicon Generals Tankor, Jetstorm and Thrust, respectively. Rattrap and Blackarachnia first encountered the three Vehicon Generals when looking for their ship, the Autobot shuttle Omega Delta, at a spaceport. Rattrap discovered that the Vehicons could only track the Maximals in robot mode. When Blackarachnia accessed the shuttle records in an attempt to learn what happened when they arrived on Cybertron, Megatron attempted to read her memories and learn the location of the Maximal Base, but Rattrap saved her from revealing the information. Cornered by the Vehicon Generals, Optimus Primal and Cheetor rescued their comrades but the shuttle was destroyed.
As the first season progressed, Blackarachnia and Thrust formed an interesting relationship. Blackarachnia believed Thrust was her beloved Silverbolt, but when she was able to look into his spark, she discovered Thrust was actually Waspinator and Jetstorm was Silverbolt. Thrust and Jetstorm battled briefly over who Blackarachnia loved but they quickly reverted back to their evil selves.
Rattrap invented a device which combined a spark extractor with a DNA scanner he planned to use it to restore Transformers into their bodies. Blackarachnia stole this device and together with the organic core of Cybertron and a nearby fossil reformatted Jetstorm into Silverbolt, now a techno-organic Maximal.
Unfortunately, Silverbolt's mind had become fully aware and conscious whilst Jetstorm was active, and the fact that he'd been able not only to commit such atrocities but also enjoy them had left him with a darker personality, no longer as close to his beloved as he had originally been out of mixed-guilt. He refused to resume his relationship with Blackarachnia, claiming he wanted to end the conflict with Megatron first and that the relationship would only get in the way. This greatly annoyed Blackarachnia, who had to go through many dangers to bring him back.
After the defeat of Megatron the planet Cybertron was left reformatted into a techno-organic world. Silverbolt's old, chivalrous personality seemed to reassert itself and he finally rekindled his romance with Blackarachnia. Blackarachnia and Silverbolt were about to kiss, but were interrupted by an angry Waspinator - who was promptly swatted by Rattrap.
Comics[]
3H Enterprises[]
Blackarachnia was one of the stars of the 1997 BotCon Convention Comics, a story set near the end of season one of the Beast Warstelevision series.
In the Convention Comics plot, Inferno and Blackarachnia watched as the Predacon scientist Fractyl attempted to invent Energon Armor capable of protecting them from energon build up. Although seemingly successful, the armor was stolen by the Maximal thief Packrat. Blackarachnia and Fractyl realized the energon armor was flawed and could destroy the planet if it came in contact with large amounts of energon. Inferno pursued Packrat, but since Packrat didn't need to assume beast mode with the armor on, he got the upper hand in the fight with Inferno. Hearing the battle, Airazor, Cheetor and Rhinox joined Packrat. Fractyl convinced Rhinox that the armor was a threat to them all. Rhinox was able to talk Packrat into giving up the armor, which Fractyl aided them in doing. When Blackarachnia arrived with Megatron, Packrat suggested that Fractyl pretend to be attacking the Maximals, who fled. Megatron was impressed with Fractyl's new found battle prowess.
In Transformers: Universe, Blackarachnia is converted to the Decepticon side and joins forces with Unicron, as Silverbolt once again attempts to return her to the side of good.
Celebrating with the other Maximals on Cybertron Blackarachnia was on hand to welcome a group of ancient Autobot heroes back to Cybertron. However, the celebrations were cut short when the entire group was abducted by Unicron and forced to compete in his barbaric games. Reformatted into new bodies by the Chaos-Bringer, the taint went more than skin-deep in Blackarachnia's case, as she now defected to the Decepticons (the servants of Unicron), much to Silverbolt's horror. As he had before, Silverbolt vowed to free her from the influence of evil, even as she attacked Rattrap.
Although Universe finished after issue #3, a resolution of sorts would be found in the flashbacks of Optimus Prime in issue 8 of the Transformers Collectors Club magazine Cybertron/Robots in Disguise. He told of the final battle between Optimus Primal's Autobots and Unicron's Decepticons - a battle cut short when Unicron disappeared (as a result of the events in Transformers: Energon). In the flashback Silverbolt is seen carrying Blackarachnia as they all retreat, but it is unknown if this means she switched back to the Autobot/Maximal side.[14]
Fun Publications[]
White Propionica was featured in the script reading story for the event - once again voiced by Venus Turzo - where she reported to Hot Rodregarding Megatron's sabotage of the Plasma Energy Reactor.
IDW Publishing[]
White Propionica appeared in the BotCon 2016 story Transformers: Dawn of the Predacus, where she appears on Cybertron with Air Hammer after the end of the Great War.[15]
Blackarachnia had a biography printed in the Beast Wars Sourcebook by IDW Publishing.[16]
TFcon comics[]
Blackarachnia also appeared in the TransformersCon 2006 program comic, where she was working together with Tarantulas during season two of the Beast Wars.
Quickstrike, Blackarachnia and Waspinator discover the Constructicons Bonecrusher, Hook and Mixmaster in Dark of Wreckening
Blackarachnia appears in the TFcon 2012 live script reading Days of Wreckening. In this story Blackarachnia, Quickstrike and Waspinator discover three Constructicons on prehistoric Earth and are confronted by the Maximals and Wreckers .[17]
Ultra Magnus, Rodimus Prime, Roswell, Van Guardian and Blackarachnia in Grab and Go prelude
Blackarachnia appeared in the TFcon 2013 live script reading Grab and Go.
Games[]
Blackarachnia is a hidden playable character in the Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals video game.[18]
- Hero 4th Edition role playing game character sheet for Beast WarsBlackarachnia
Other media[]
Blackarachnia appeared in Lil Formers #93, "Fembots" by Matt Moylan, where she co-hosted a television talk show series.[19]
Toys[]
- Beast Wars Deluxe Blackarachnia
- Although sold by herself by Hasbro, Takara sold Blackarachnia by herself or packaged together with Tigatron. This figure was one of the first female Transformers figures available at retail.[20][21][22]
- Beast Wars McDonalds Transmetal Blackarachnia
- Although a Transmetal version of Blackarachnia was sold with Happy Meals, Blackarachnia did not become a Transmetal in the beginning of the second season of the Beast Wars television series like some other characters did, probably because of the limited resources of the show animators.
- Beast Wars Transmetal 2 Blackarachnia
- This toy was later redecoed into BotCon Arcee.[23]
- Beast Machines Deluxe Blackarachnia
- A Deluxe class mold.[24][25] Later redecoed in Japan to have more show accurate colors.
- This figure was based on drawings by Hasbro designer Tim Bradley.[26] The toy of Blackarachnia was recolored as the Autobot Crystal Widow, a separate and different character.
- Beast Machines Happy Meal Blacharachnia
- A toy given away with Happy Meals, actually more show-accurate in appearance than the Deluxe toy.
- Universe Deluxe Blackarachnia
- A redeco of Beast Machines Deluxe Blackrachnia as a Decepticon.
- Universe Halloween Horricon Blackarachnia (unreleased)
- A redeco of the original Blackarachnia toy in new colors, this toy was part of a Halloween Horricon set that was never released.
- Binaltech XBT-16 Black Widow (unreleased)
- A silver redeco of the Binaltech/Alternators Honda S2000 mold used for Windcharger, Overdrive and Arcee. The figure was originally intended to be the Decepticon Wildrider, but was renamed Black Widow due to trademark issues. Ultimately, plans to release this figure were canceled, as Takara Tomy feared another redeco of the same mold was repetitive.[27]
- Beast Wars 10th Anniversary Blackarachnia (2007)
- Released in Japan in 2007, this toy is a redeco of the original Blackarachnia toy repainted in more show-accurate colors.