Cryotek (BW)


 * Cryotek is a Predacon from the Beast Era and Universe series. His toy, however, was released under the Robots in Disguise banner. 



Cryotek is a gangster in Cybertron's dangerous criminal underworld. Once a brilliant engineer, he grew increasingly dissatisfied with his fellow Predacons' actions (or lack thereof) after the war. Turning his talents to crime, he has become Cybertron's most dangerous outlaw.

Ironically, Cryotek's claim to fame would be his protégé, the rogue Predacon who would be called Megatron. Cryotek's greatest ideas would be co-opted by his former student, including technology for spark extractors and even his plan for the theft of the Golden Disk. If there's one thing Cryotek's pride cannot stand, it's his own failures.

Chro can often be seen perching on his shoulder.

Theft of the Golden Disk

 * Voice actor: Brad Venable

After gloating about his genius plan to steal data revealing the location of a sacred Maximal artifact, the Golden Disk, he dispatched his star pupil Megatron to carry it out. He reminded Megatron that only Cryotek was allowed to decrypt the data.

Cryotek was no fool, however, and knew that Megatron would betray him sooner or later. He alerted the authorities to Megatron's heist, expecting his protégé would take the fall. Though when Dirge returned with the data storage box, it was empty. Megatron had doublecrossed him! Cryotek plead for his lawyer as the Maximal Command Security Force infiltrated his secret lair.

Universe: Featuring the Wreckers
Cryotek offered to rid Megatron of his beast mode, wishing to take the powerful dragon form for himself. This process, however, left Cryotek vulnerable. Upon his recovery, he discovered that Megatron had stolen his research and conquered Cybertron.

Considered an outlaw among his own kind, and with Cybertron overrun with Vehicons, Cryotek exiled himself to New Quintessa, where he began a business partnership with Derodomontatus and the rest of the Quintesson race. Using the Oracle shell program that the Quintessons had used to manipulate Vector Sigma since eons ago, Cryotek and Derodomontatus manipulated several groups of survivors of Megatron's virus into running various fool's errands. One of these groups, the Mutants, were instructed by the Oracle to journey to New Quintessa itself. A trap was waiting for the Mutants, and they were devoured by Sharkticons while Cryotek and Derodomontatus. The Quintesson was amused, but Cryotek, striking him, reminded Derodomontatus of his race's incompetence and hubris.

Secretly, Cryotek suspected that Vector Sigma's true voice would break out through their deceptions, and so he placed Cyclonus into another of the surviving groups, the Wreckers. The Wreckers traveled to Archa Nine, Cyclonus double-crossed them, and Cryotek had the object of his desire, the Divine Light, delivered to him.

Robots in Disguise

 * Cryotek (Ultra, 2001)


 * Cryotek, a redeco of Transmetal 2 Megatron in blue, teal, and purple chrome, was a Target exclusive in 2001. He transforms from a robot into a cyborg-like dragon and can launch a missile from the top of his robot head.  He also has a third "dragster" mode which is best forgotten.


 * Both this mold and Tigerhawk's mold share a gimmick that was dropped before release -- a cockpit bubble where a tiny "spark figure" would have piloted the character. Hasbro dropped the concept due to it junking around with the Transformers mythos (as it was feared fans would mistake the "spark figures" as humanoid pilots for a non-sentient transforming robot {a la Diaclone} instead of being representations of the spark essence of a living, breathing Transformer), but the cockpit bubbles remain on both toys (and their redecos). A limited-edition Japanese release of the toy restored the "spark figure" feature, however.

Trivia

 * The name "Cryotek" was first used by a hero from Hasbro's mid-Eighties action figure line Visionaries.


 * Cryotek's CGI model in "Theft of the Golden Disc" is based on Energon Shockblast with a new head. His voice was patterned after actor Sidney Greenstreet.