Rampage (BW)


 * Rampage is a Transmetal Predacon from the Beast Wars portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.



Rampage (also known as Protoform X) is the awful result of scientific experimentation gone awry. He is a serial killer and cannibal, with an immortal spark that ensures his twisted brand of horror and misery will live on as long as he does (forever, presumably). Though hard to destroy Rampage's Spark is not completely invincible. As shown during his fight with his old enemy, Depth Charge, Rampage's Spark can be destroyed when pierced by raw Energon (though it is unknown if this is because the Spark was experimental or Energon is so powerful in its raw state). Rampage detects and draws strength from the emotions of others, literally feeding on the pain and suffering he causes. As an unwilling conscript of the Predacons, he is contemptuous (at best) of the rest of his team, typically bored and uncooperative on missions, and he frequently sneaks off for his own purposes to try to relieve his boredom in the most cruel and horrible ways possible.

"Is that fear you are feeling, Maximal? Yes...my spark feeds on terror. Let it grow!  Let it consume your circuitry!  Feel it, yes, feel it!  Feel the fear!"

- Rampage


 * French-Canadian name: Furibo
 * Italian name: Granchior
 * Polish name: Pieniacz (a person who loves to start conlficts)
 * Spanish name: Rampante

Timelines: Dawn of Future's Past
While preparing for a deep-space exploration mission, the Maximal crew of the Axalon stopped for a few weeks at a space station. Here, Rhinox helped acquire a mysterious complement to their cargo, a very large protoform branded with an X. The Axalon was ordered to dispose of "Protoform X" on a barren moon somewhere in the Alpha Quadrant. However, before its captain, Optimus Primal, was able to explain the circumstances fully to his crew, they were suddenly under even newer orders to pursue a stolen Predacon ship, the Darksyde. Subsequently, the Axalon followed the Darksyde through a transwarp portal and crash-landed on a mysterious planet.

Beast Wars cartoon

 * Voice Actor: Campbell Lane (English), Nobuyuki Hiyama (Japanese)



Protoform X was a Maximal experiment to recreate Starscream's mutant, immortal Spark. Though arguably successful in this regard, the creation was unstable. In point of fact, he was criminally insane. He destroyed Colony Omicron, killing all of its inhabitants save a lone security officer, Depth Charge, who eventually tracked him down and captured him - but not before Rampage destroyed Starbase Rugby and devoured an unknown number of the inhabitants. The Maximal Elders had Protoform X placed into a stasis pod aboard an exploration vessel, the Axalon. They instructed its commander, Optimus Primal, to dump him on some barren world in deep space.

Protoform X was among the stasis pods jettisoned by Optimus when the Axalon was damaged by Megatron's Predacons, and only fell out of orbit far into the Beast Wars. Battle near his stasis pod shocked him into activation, and he promptly set out to terrorize all nearby Transformers, rending Tarantulas limb from limb and stalking Blackarachnia and Silverbolt. (All right, whose bright idea was it to allow the homicidal maniac to keep his weapons!?) X seemed unstoppable at first, but when one of Silverbolt's missiles jammed his tank treads as he climbed up a mountainside, he lost his grip and tumbled down the rock face in pieces.

As Protoform X lay immobilized, Megatron arrived and, using a blade of pure energon, removed a portion of his indestructible spark. Megatron then had him brought back to the Predacon base and repaired. When X attempted to turn his weapons on his "savior", Megatron revealed that he held half of X's spark in a special cage lined with energon crystals, allowing him to torture the beast at will. Megatron thus welcomed him into the Predacon fold, dubbing him "Rampage".

Rampage made no secret of his hatred for his new "master". Megatron kept the spark cage with him at all times, fending off at least one attempt by Rampage to take it back. Megatron eventually used the spark fragment to form the core of Dinobot 2, who likewise retained the ability torture Rampage into continued loyalty with it.

Though a violent sociopath, Rampage was not without compassion. He found a kindred spirit in the badly damaged Transmutate and sought to protect it from the other Predacons. When Transmutate was killed, Rampage bellowed in grief.

Later, Depth Charge arrived on prehistoric Earth with the single-minded goal of destroying Rampage. Rampage was beside himself with joy, eager for revenge on his old "playmate". Depth Charge's loss at Colony Omicron had embittered him, and Rampage used this emotional wound to torment the Maximal. They met in battle numerous times, fairly evenly matched.

While Megatron was retrieving the submerged Decepticon craft Nemesis, Depth Charge met Rampage in battle one last time. At the battle's climax, Rampage allowed Depth Charge to kill him with a shard of raw Energon, resulting in a fantastic explosion which destroyed both. Rampage won even in death, laughing maniacally in triumph as Depth Charge made the final, stabbing blow.

Except that Depth Charge came back to life.

Beast Wars Metals comic
Identical to his series incarnation, though more of a cannibal, Rampage actually took refuge in an abandoned ship that crash landed after he ate the crew who were guarding him. Attacking Primal when he, Rattrap, and Airazor were investigating the crash site, he devours Primal's head only to learned he actually was chewing on a bomb that incapiated him as the Maximals quickly jetison him out of the atmosphere and into outer space.

Beast Wars

 * Rampage (Ultra Transmetal, 1998)
 * Japanese ID number: D-41
 * Accessories: Spring-loaded triple barrel missile launcher, 3 missiles and 1 rifle




 * Rampage transforms into a Transmetal king crab with a tank mode that includes rubber treads. In beast mode, he features fully articulated crab legs and pincers that can open, close and be posed in a variety of angles through the use of ratcheting joints.  His triple-barreled Gatling missile launcher is stored on the underside of the beast mode, with its barrels flipping to the front during vehicle mode.  In this tank mode, the crab legs fit together to form a road wheel network for Rampage's rubber treads to fit over so he can roll upon them.  Rolling the tank activates the wheel in the missile launcher, firing any or all of the three missiles that can store in it.


 * In robot mode, Rampage is an imposingly large figure with a decent level of articulation due to his ball joints, but because he wears most of his beast mode as a sort of backpack, he is quite back-heavy. His (very) small laser rifle and his triple-barreled launcher can be held in both of his hands. It should be noted that there were two releases of the toy, one with face colors accurate with the show and another with an orange colored face (seen to the right).


 * The location of four of the crab legs in the show is not accurate to the toy; the show has the legs on the shoulder pads, whereas the toy situates the legs on Rampage's arms (which mean they are rather cumbersome).


 * This toy was later redecoed into the BotCon 2000-exclusive Shokaract.

Trivia

 * According to the series background materials published in the Beast Wars Universe guidebook, Rampage's body was supposed to have been constructed out of leftover G1-era technology seen in the Great War due to the lack of know-how for protoform technology.
 * In some episodes, Rampage's robot-mode mouth is animated as an actual hole in his face; in others the external mouthplates are shown to be in front of a greenish solid construct that looks like an extension of his eyes.
 * Strangely, his energon-boost that revived him, seen in "Bad Spark", took place in the dense jungle, despite his awakening in a King Crab Beast Mode. No explanation has been given. Maybe there was a crab skittering around Starbase Rugby.
 * Some fans are split on how to interpret Rampage's death; he is clearly shown to let go of the energon shard that killed him prior to being stabbed with it, to which Depth Charge reacted in surprise. Because of this, some fans feel this means Rampage, knowing he couldn't win the struggle, allowed himself to be impaled in order to end his torturous existence (and laughing in the giddy euphoria of oblivion), while others believe he deliberately let go to test whether or not Depth Charge would go through with his threat of ending his life, his laughter instead being taken as solace in the knowledge that Depth Charge's obsession with him had successfully corrupted him into the same kind of monster he wanted to kill. Or, Rampage could just be batshit insane.
 * No explanation is ever given for why energon suddenly kills Rampage, even though Megatron's been poking his spark with it ever since he appeared. Although the fact the energon was unstable may have had something to do with it.
 * In the episode Optimal Situation, it is shown that on the head of Rampage's missiles there is a rather ironic "peace" symbol.
 * Given that Dinobot II later reported that his Spark felt "whole", it could be hypothesized that Rampage' spark might not actually die but was simply reunited with the other half of his Spark.


 * The humanoid mode of his Movie counterpart slightly resembles to psychotic Mr. X, such as bulky upper torso, tiny legs, caterpillar treads inside claws (though in robot mode instead of Rampage's vehicle and beast mode), back and shoulder kibble.