Scorponok (Movie)

Scorponok is a small Transformer with a symbiotic connection to Blackout. His main drives are to hunt, destroy, and hunt some more, and nobody knows if he's truly barely sentient or is actually a cunning opponent getting friend & foe alike to underestimate him. Just as Blackout would often be found looming powerful and silent by Megatron, Scorponok is always near Blackout, except in those times he has been sent to kill.

Since he can tunnel underground with frightening speed, he's incredibly good at ambushing. His favorite pastime is playing Hide and Seek with unsuspecting players, be they robotic or organic. He prefers to be hider and seeker. On Cybertron, he was deliberately left behind on battlefields - so he could use his chameleon mesh armour plating to blend in perfectly with the background to ambush any Autobot patrols that would arrive. Megatron gave him more autonomy due to this than other Decepticons would get, as he admired Scorponok's genocidal zeal.

"Click-click. Sniggle-sniggle. Shee-shook."

- Scorponok, every slaggin' second, Transformers (film)


 * Chinese name (Taiwan): Wēn-yì (瘟疫, "Plague")

Ghosts of Yesterday
He helped Blackout fight Optimus Prime, and later sabotaged the Ark. Ratchet makes Scorponok his bitch for this. He is saved by Blackout, who was still recovering from a massive beating by Starscream. What a pal.

Transformers Movie Prequel (Target)


Scorponok and Blackout, who ordinarily never leave Megatron's side, were dispatched to join Starscream's forces elsewhere on Cybertron while Megatron closed in on the All Spark. After the group realized that both the All Spark and Megatron have left Cybertron, Blackout ended an argument with Starscream over what to do next by deploying the fearsome Scorponok. The entire group headed to Earth, where Scorponok adorably helped out in the massacre of a United States military installation in Afghanistan. During the battle, Scorponok was cornered by a tank convoy, but Blackout saved him from a massive beating. What a pal.

"Flight of the Bumblebee" online game
Scorponok was one of a group of Decepticons who trapped Bumblebee in a canyon. He stood around on a rocky butte, walking back and forth and waiting for Bumblebee to drive up to him. When the Autobot dropped in, Scorponok immediately opened fire, blasting Bumblebee continuously. Unfortunately, Bumblebee had the idea to shoot back, blasting him right out of the picture with just one shot.

Transformers: The Game
After Blackout scrapped the military base in Qatar, Scorponok was sent to destroy five mobile communications vehicles, succeeding in his task. Scorponok went and did his own thing while Blackout searched the databanks for information on Megatron and the AllSpark, but reunited with Blackout in time for their escape.

After arriving in Mission City, Scorponok fought through a horde of Energon drones to secure the AllSpark. Sam Witwicky nearly handed Scorponok the AllSpark, but Ironhide punted Scorponok. That made Blackout very mad...

His fate, as well as Blackout's, remains unknown.

Transformers (2007) movie
During Blackout's attack on US SOCCENT Forward Operations Base in Qatar, the Decepticon helicopter dispatched Scorponok to seek out and destroy the escaped unit under the command of Captain Lennox.

The next morning, as the surviving soldiers discussed the attack, Scorponok observed their conversation from a distance while hidden in the sand. Targeting Lennox for elimination, Scorponok followed the unit as they made their way to the human boy's village. Choosing his moment to strike just as the men stopped on the outskirts of the settlement, his attack was foiled when Sergeant Epps saw the metal scorpion tail pointed at Lennox's back and shouted a warning. (Well, it wasn't so much a warning as it was a very, very panicked "WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" followed by gunfire, but hey, it counts.) The other soldiers joined in the firefight as Scorponok dove under the sand to confuse them before impaling Sgt. Donnelly and dragging him below.



Driving the soldiers into the village, Scorponok fired a barrage of missiles which destroyed the ruins that the village had grown around and critically injured Figueroa. Unfortunately for Scorponok, Lennox's distress call to the Pentagon had gotten through, and an MQ-1 Predator drone relayed images of the Decepticon to astonished US military commanders. They immediately sent two A-10 Thunderbolt IIs to attack Scorponok to little effect, then followed up with an AC-130 Spectre gunship, which damaged Scorponok enough for him to dive back into the sand and escape, leaving his broken tail behind.



Scorponok's tail was transported back to the States. Lennox, Epps, and several other soldiers examined it enroute, which led to the discovery that the only damage the armour didn't either shrug off or quickly heal was the "6000-degree magnesium burn" of a sabot round. Armed with this knowledge, the humans knew they now had a weapon that could hurt the invaders.

Titan Magazines


...at least until Ironhide and a team of US Special Forces went looking for him. (Captain Lennox was originally meant to oversee this mission but was reassigned.) Hunting his hunters, Scorponok attacked Ironhide and took control of motor functions, having him rampage through the humans. Luckily one of them was able to sever the connection with a shot, and Ironhide smashed the Decepticon to pieces.

In an alternate reality where the Decepticons won, Scorponok spied on a team of moon-based Autobot reinforcements and later helped Starscream battle them.

Revenge of the Fallen


Scorponok joins the battle in Egypt after Jetfire kills Mixmaster. He fights Jetfire despite Jetfire being much bigger than him. Scorponok drills into his belly twice, severely wounding him, but Jetfire tosses him off to the ground. As Scorponok rushed again, Jetfire crushes Scorponok's head with a single punch, finally killing him. The short fight causes Jetfire to complain that "I'm too old for this crap."

Transformers film

 * Blackout (Voyager, 2007)
 * Japanese ID number: MD-01




 * Blackout comes packed with a small black mini-figure of Scorponok, who himself features a spring-loaded tail. He is usually stored in a cage on the rear of Blackout's helicopter mode. (Note: The spring in the figurine's tail is oriented not to spring the tail forward, but to help propel the figure out of the cage so that it lands right side up.)


 * Blackout Ver. 4500X (Lawson exclusive Voyager Class, Japan 2007)


 * This Voyager Class Blackout repaint, exclusive to the Japanese convenience store chain Lawson with the purchase of the movie DVD, came with a redeco of the small Scorponok figurine that came with the regular Voyager Class Blackout, in metallic colors that better match the Deluxe Class Scorponok toy (and the movie CG design, of course).


 * Blackout ("Premium Series" Voyager Class, USA 2008)


 * This redeco of the Voyager Class Blackout toy appears to be based on the same plastic color layout and paint mask as the Japanese Lawson exclusive "Version 4500X" redeco of Voyager Blackout, down to the improved paint on the Scorponok mini-figure. As a matter of fact, both toys might turn out to be outright identical, packaging aside.


 * Unlike some of the early "Premium Series" toys, Blackout was available as a mass release.


 * Bumblebee vs. Scorponok (Legends Allspark Battles two-pack, 2008)




 * Legends Scorponok is the smallest transforming figure of Movie Scorponok yet. He features a better proportioned robot mode and better articulation for the legs than the Deluxe Class version. In fact, he's one of the best articulated Legends-sized toys to date. Even his claw hands are able to rotate. He does bear a resemblance to a previous version, though. The only version of the mold released thus far comes packed with a slightly redecoed Legends Class Bumblebee.


 * Scorponok (Deluxe, 2007)
 * Japanese ID number: MD-04




 * Scorponok is a robotic scorpion superficially resembling a Zoids Death Stinger. His body is covered in military warning and command designation markings, suggesting he forms part of a larger military vehicle (hint, hint). Two wheels on the bottom of his beast mode, when pushed on a flat, smooth surface, rotate gears that cause the turbines in his body and the pincers on his arms to spin. His tail features a spring-loaded, yet non-launching stinger that extends when a latch is released.


 * In beast mode, Scorponok can combine with the underside of Blackout's helicopter mode to exploit the larger Decepticon's own gear gimmick system. A geared shaft linked to Blackout's rotor mechanism connects to a geared peg on Scorponok's back. Thus, pressing the button on Blackout's tail not only rotates his blades, but also rotates Scorponok's pincers and the turbines in his body. (This can also be done with Evac due to him being a retool of Blackout.) This gimmick can also be activated (more easily) by rotating the geared wheels on Scorponok's undercarriage instead.


 * Deluxe Scorponok can transform into what might be charitably called a robot mode, but was most likely added as an afterthought to the design for added play value (and, possibly, so Hasbro could actually justify selling the toy as a "Transformer" by itself). The later Legends Class toy features a considerably better executed bipedal robot mode. In any case, this robot mode never appears in the movie, but does appear briefly in the second Target-sponsored Movie Prequel comic and in The Reign of Starscream issue 1.


 * Decepticon Desert Attack (Toys'R'Us exclusive two-pack, 2007)




 * This package, based on their first appearance in the film, features an unchanged Voyager Blackout packaged with an unchanged Deluxe Scorponok, which was exclusively available at Toys "R" Us stores. Since Voyager Blackout was gang-molded with the miniature Scorponok figure the single release came with, this means that the set contains two Scorponok toys in different sizes.


 * Ultimate Bumblebee Bonus Value pack (Wal*Mart exclusive multi-pack, 2007)


 * A Wal*Mart exclusive special pack of Ultimate Bumblebee with Deluxe Class Decepticon Brawl and Scorponok as bonus figures. None of the three toys is changed from their respective original releases.


 * Desert Attack (Screen Battles, 2007)
 * Japanese ID number: SB-03




 * This pack features a minor redeco of Deluxe Class Scorponok sporting 'sand' paint applications on his body. The pack also comes with non-posable figurines of Sergeant Epps, Jorge Figueroa and Sergeant Donnelly. They are packaged in a special window box featuring a diorama depicting the battle at Mahfouz's village.


 * According to details listed in an official checklist on Hasbro's website, this pack was originally supposed to include "4 soldiers". Apparently budget ultimately only allowed for three. The fourth one was most probably supposed to be Captain Lennox, who was included with the Screen Battles "Capture of Bumblebee" set instead, colored as a Sector Seven soldier.

Revenge of the Fallen

 * Stalker Scorponok (Deluxe, 2009)
 * A redeco of the original Scorponok deluxe movie toy, Scorponok is now black with red details.

Merchandise

 * Battle Masters Megatron and Scorponok (Attacktix Battle Master set)


 * Optimus Prime vs Scorponok (Robot Heroes, 2007)

Trivia

 * Real physical props of Scorponok's head and tail were made by KNB EFX's crew for certain scenes, most notably Lennox and Epps' examination of the tail leftovers on the plane. The head prop was used in the close-up of Scorponok stalking the SOCCENT survivors.


 * According to writer Roberto Orci on the official Transformers Movie board, Ravage was originally going to appear in the movie (back when Blackout was still supposed to be Soundwave), but was later changed to Scorponok when the setting of the opening scene was changed from jungle to desert. This would make Scorponok's scorpion form the robot mode (in the same fashion Ravage's panther mode was the robot mode), whereas his "alternate mode" is actually a part of Blackout's engine.




 * Exactly which parts of Blackout turn into Scorponok is a little unclear. The center of his body appears to be made of a General Electric T64 turboshaft engine; his transformation/separation sequence in the movie shows that his forearms are made up of part of the side exhausts, and therefore also consist of parts of T64 engines.  How this is possible, considering an MH-53 Pave Low only features two T64 engines, is up to anyone's guess.


 * Meanwhile, the various markings found on the CGI model's design, the life-sized props and Hasbro's Deluxe toy are taken from all kinds of places of Blackout's helicopter mode, most prominently the cockpit and the tail. Some of those markings can also be found on props used for the scene which features the US Navy dumping the Decepticons' remains into the ocean. Considering Blackout didn't appear to be missing any integral parts of his alternate mode in the movie's final act, it seems that either Scorponok reattached himself to Blackout after he escaped the US Air Force's counter-attack in Qatar (and was therefore part of Blackout during the final battle), or Blackout somehow magically regrew the parts that were previously made up by Scorponok. However, it is mentioned, when the soldiers are examining Scorponok's tail, that the transformers seem to have a self-regenerating molecular armor.  So it is possible that Blackout regrew the missing parts that way.


 * In the feature "From Script to Sand: The Skorponok Desert Attack" on the movie's bonus DVD, production designer Jeff Mann suggested that Scorponok was "birthed" from Blackout, thus suggesting that he might be more of an autonomous extension of Blackout himself, similar to Roller. Screenwriter Roberto Orci later confirmed that as far as he was concerned, Scorponok was something between a symbiont and a "drone", rather than a fully-fledged character.


 * A leaked early draft of the script spells his name "Skorponok". That spelling is also used by Alan Dean Foster's novelization of the movie and in the menus for the movie's bonus DVD (most notably the featurette named "From Script to Sand: The Skorponok Desert Attack"). Hasbro themselves used the traditional spelling "Scorponok" for their toys, even though a wallpaper on Hasbro's website spells the name "Scorponock". Meanwhile, in interviews, Michael Bay constantly refers to him as "Scorponox", and a preorder listing for the movie score even uses the spelling "Skorpinok". Come on, people! It's not like his name's Mxyzptlk. (Even though misspelling Scorponok's name is not quite unprecedented.)


 * Speaking of real, the famous shot of Scorponok leaping from the sand after a trio of soldiers used in a lot of the promos? Scorponok is the only element of CGI in that shot. The sand-explosion behind the soldiers is real, caused by carefully timed explosives placed under the dunes, which certainly must have encouraged the actors to run like hell--the looks of fear on their faces are 100% genuine. The overwhelming majority of explosions, flying cars, the famous bus smash, and broken buildings in the movie are similarly real effects, not CGI.


 * He seems to be a powerful foe as shown when he battles Jetfire and manages to mortally wound him despite their vast height difference.


 * In the game of the first film, he can fire from his stinger, but never stings with it.


 * He apparently was on vacation when the DS games were made. Blackout must have been sad.