Tigerhawk

Tigerhawk was a Maximal warrior, originally an emissary of the Vok, who fought during the Beast Wars era of the Generation 1 continuity.



Japanese name: Tigerfalcon.

Beast Wars
Voice actor: ''Blu Mankuma (US), Kōichi Tōchika (Japan)

Concerned with Megatron's constant futzing with the timestream, the Vok merged the bodies of the Maximals Tigatron and Airazor together to form the staggeringly powerful Tigerhawk while leaving out the Sparks.

Tigerhawk is easily one of the most powerful Transformers shown in the Beast Wars era. In robot mode, Tigerhawk can fly, has missile launchers under each arm, his wings double as sheilds, and he has wrist-mounted electricity cannons. His beast mode contains razor sharp claws and teeth, as well as a pair of chainguns on his forearms. These outstanding powers are nothing compared to his uncanny shamanic abilities to control the weather and terrain of Earth almost completely at whim.

Controlled by two Vok, Tigerhawk approached Earth as a meteor, which promptly destroyed the Darksyde, engaged and defeated the entire Predacon force, and nearly buried both Megatron and Optimus Primal, before succumbing to a virus courtesy of Tarantulas.

Later, after awakening in Tarantulas' lair, the spider attempted to destroy Tigerhawk's mind by forcefully demolishing the Vok presence inhabiting it. Due to a fluke coincidence, Tarantulas only succeeded in destroying himself, alongside the Vok who had enslaved Tigerhawks mind. The Sparks of Airazor and Tigatron, which followed Tigerhawk to Earth, merged to become one and entered Tigerhawk. Afterward, Tigerhawk allied himself with the Maximals.

Tigerhawk's memories are somewhat vaguely described - he has little recollection of being Tigatron or Airazor, yet he shares both of their connection with the prehistoric Earth. He vaguely recalls things from the Beast Wars, but the appearance of Cheetor as a Transmetal 2 and Optimus Primal as his Optimal Optimus form came as a surprise to him.

Megatron, somewhat later, discovered the rebuilt the Decepticon warship Nemesis, and attempted to use it to destroy the Ark itself. Tigerhawk attempted to single-handedly stop the Nemesis, and despite holding his own for quite some time against the legendary warship, he was killed by the ship's main cannon.

Beast Wars Metals manga


(Note: although it picks up after the first season, the Beast Wars Metals manga is not in-continuity with the TV series.)

At one point, Transmetal Airazor's spark became seperated from her body, and he body was then possessed by a malevolent force. Airrazor's body did battle with Tigatron, though Tigatron's could not bring himself to hurt Airazor due to his affection for her. Desiring death over harming her, Tigatron gave her one of his katana and knelt down.

As Airazor struck his neck with the blade, the real Airazor's spark traveled through the katana and into Tigatron's body. Inside cyberspace, the two reunited Maximals embraced, vowing never to be apart again. As their sparks joined, Tigatron and Airazor was reborn as the powerful Tigerhawk!

(In the Beast Wars Metals manga, Tigatron was interpretted as a samurai; the katana being their weapon of choice. Hence the whole samurai motif for Tigerhawk.)

3H comics
Razorclaw was an alternate version of Tigerhawk. Unfortunately, one of the differences was his being evil and in league with Unicron.

Toys

 * Tigerhawk (Transmetal 2 Ultra, 1999)