Airachnid is a Decepticon torture expert, assassin, and alien collector. She has a cold-sparked, murderous demeanour. She left Cybertron in the Great Exodus and went solo. She started visting other planets, when she does, she takes... souvenirs — the heads of the dominant species, which she keeps in specimen jars on her ship. She has quite a history with Arcee.
- "Yeah she's domineering and the extra arms are weird but I find myself intrigued by her."
- ―Breakdown on Airachnid
Fiction
Prime cartoon
- Voice actor: Gina Torres (English)
Rattrap wouldn't trust her.
Airachnid's ship crash landed on Earth while Arcee and Jack were on Energon Patrol. She had come to Earth for her next souvenir. As soon as Arcee saw the ship, she knew who it was. This led her to a flash back while she was in Airachnid's torture chambers on Cybertron. Arcee witnessed her partner Tailgate's death by Airachnid's hand, Airachnid then proceeded to scour a mark on Arcee's face with her Acidic touch. Later though, Arcee faced her demons. Arcee arrived just in time to stop Airachnid harming Jack. Airachnid pinned her to the wall with her webs. After getting free, Arcee managed to defeat Airachnid with a little help from Jack, only to see her escape under-ground in her drill mode. Predatory (episode)
She later had a "partnership" with M.E.C.H. to get revenge on Arcee and Jack. M.E.C.H kidnapped June Darby, Jack's mother, and lures them to Arachnid. When Arachnid was about to strike her revenge, Agent Fowler showed up. She scanned his helicopter and fled. Crisscross
Later, she stole the Polarity gauntlet from Breakdown in the desert, claiming "It fits, a girl can never have to many accessories." When Arcee arrived, magnetized to Bulkhead's rear, they fought. A stray blaster bolt from Arcee knocked the gauntlet from Airachnid's hand, causing it to activate, but Breakdown managed to turn it off. Later in the battle, she got stuck to Breakdown and was taken aboard the Nemesis. She told Megatron, "What can I say, it's good to be back." Metal Attraction
Airachnid and Starscream went in search of the Harbinger, a lost Decepticon transporter that carried a special weapon, the Immobilizer. Airachnid activated the ship's computer, but Starscream warned that the Autobots would trace the energy signal, which They did. When Airachnid found out the ship was broken in half when it was attacked by Autobots, she wasn't happy. She tied him up and left for the Autobots. He told where the other half is though. When the Autobots found him, he said he wanted change sides and become an Autobot. Partners
Not far away, Airachnid had found the other half of the ship, and, the Immobilizer. When the Autobots arrived, she attacked them with it. She hits Bulkhead, freezing him. Nearby, Arcee was guarding Starscream when he made the Primus awful mistake of admitting to her that he was the one who killed Cliffjumper. Enraged at finding the 'Con who killed her partner, Arcee allowed Starscream to be escape and they began to fight. Thinking she had frozen him, Airachnid left Bumblebee, only for him to sneak up to her and punched her round the chops. She dropped the Immobilizer and Bumblebee destroyed it. Airachnid transformed and escapes in her helicopter form, only to get the riot act from Megatron, who was furious at her for leaving Starscream to the Autobots, thereby giving them access to valuable Decepticon information. What both of them did not realize was that Starscream had escaped and declared himself neutral to the bots and cons before flying off to parts unknown. Partners
Later, Airachnid was placed in command of Megatron's vessel in his absence. When Megatron did not report back for some time, Airachnid stated that the Decepticons "should consider the possibility of a future without Megatron..." As Earth begins to fall into chaos due to the awakening of Unicron, Airachnid threatened the troops into obeying her command of retreat. Soundwave, however, challenged Airachnid's authority. When she tried to correct him, Soundwave easily beat Airachnid down, forcing her to yield, and embarrassing her in front of the entire crew. One Shall Rise
Airachnid requested Megatron to utilize her skills of subterranean travel in the anticipated retrieval of the other coordinates from Project Iacon, which Orion Pax had left encrypted. As she left the bridge, Megatron asked Soundwave to remind him of Airachnid's trustworthiness. Soundwave responded with a recording of Airachnid suggesting that the Decepticons leave Megatron behind in the chaos of Unicron's wake. Megatron then assigned Dreadwing to assassinate her, thereby rising to First Lieutenant. Dreadwing brought Breakdown with him to ensure her destruction. However, Airachnid's cunning got the better of Breakdown. She lured him into a trap and kills him, tearing him limb from limb, but injuring herself in the process. M.E.C.H. soon came along and cleaned up her mess, unbeknownst to her or anyone else. She hid underground and comes across an Insecticon trying to kill Starscream. She discovered she had almost a hypnotizing control over the beast, and after being handed the Energon the creature had been carrying, she ordered it to kill Starscream. Starscream manages to escape, though badly injured and contacts the Autobots to warn them of her command of the Insecticon. As Megatron and the other Decepticons questioned what happened to Breakdown's remains, Airachnid contacts Megatron. She challenged him to kill her himself, since he could not be bothered to do it the first time, and Breakdown payed the price for it. Megatron gladly accepted, commanding Dreadwing to remain on ship, and met Airachnid at her coordinates. However, the Insecticon quickly ambushed Megatron, and soon after the Autobots arrived. Arcee ambushed Airachnid and as the two of them fight, Megatron managed to kill the Insecticon. Airachnid trapped Arcee and just as she was about to kill her, Starcream saved Arcee and released her, remarking that she had spared him when he was in a similar situation. Airachnid escaped, cursing Starscream and swearing retribution when she heard the hum of a Spark in stasis. She stumbled upon a vast cave housing thousands of Insecticons in stasis. She remarked "So my warrior was merely a scout..." Crossfire
Later, she found the location of the Nemesis and awakened several of the Insecticons inside the nest she had found. While they were busy flying to the Decepticon warship, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Arcee arrived. However, Airachnid then had the rear unit of her Insecticon army attack the Autobots while she escaped, but Arcee was able to escape the Insecticons and chase after her.
While giving chase, Arcee also had to handle two Insecticons; however, one of them stopped right in front of a tree, which caused the other to ram into it. One of the disabled Insecticons then crashed near Airachnid, causing her to fly off the ledge she stood upon. Upon recovering from the impact, Airachnid tunneled underground, into the nest she had discovered, and Arcee followed.
Inside the nest, Airachnid began to actually combat Arcee. During the fight however, she knocked into one of the opened Insecticon stasis pods by Arcee. She then activated the pod, which sealed before she could escape (and slicing off one of her "legs"), then entered a form of stasis. The pod was then brought back to the Autobot's headquarters. Armada
Personality & Traits
A sadist in the purest sense of the word, Airachnid takes sick and twisted pleasure and enjoyment out of inflicting pain upon others; whether it's physical, mental, or emotional. Having studied and practiced the arts of torture to horrifying degrees, she is able to measure one's strength of will by how much they resist the agony she inflicts upon them.
A 'con of sport, Airachnid enjoys hunting (mostly sentient beings), as well as collecting endangered species (and if they're not endangered, she'll make it so). She likes to toy with her victims, prolonging their suffering for as long as possible. A vengeful and conspiring woman, Airachnid will always settle scores, as she tried to against Jack when she attempted to kill his mother in front of him. Making him watch while she takes his family apart "the sweetest revenge [she] can possibly devise", as retaliation for Jack destroying her ship.
Toys
- Airachnid (Deluxe Revealer, 2012)
Note
- Airachnid is the first Transformer with a beast mode in Prime.
- Airachnid has multiple modes: humanoid mode, "beast" mode, drill mode, and helicopter mode.
- It is later revealed that her "drill mode" consists of her in her beast mode with her legs formed around her in a diamond shape. She burrows through the ground by spinning rapidly.
- Airachnid's ship is very Predator-esque, with the heads of aliens in tanks and all.
- She shares several aspect with Lockdown from the Transformers Animated cartoon. Both of them are obsessed with hunting and poaching down their own kind as trophies, possibly a reference to the novel The Most Dangerous Game. Both of them have no interest in serving Megatron or the other Decepticons, prefering to do their hobbies solo.
- When Airachnid froze Optimus and Bulkhead with the Immobilizer, she asked Bumblebee if he thinks Megatron will enjoy the trophies. Airachnid originally said in "Metal Attraction" that she only steals things for herself, which would mean Airachnid would choose to immobilize Megatron, not please him.
- Just as Breakdown is Bulkhead's rival, Airachnid is Arcee's.
- Airachnid made mention of Breakdown's capture and their past acquaintance, while striking her deal with M.E.C.H. The voice actors for Airachnid and Breakdown (Gina Torres and Adam Baldwin respectively) previously worked together on the television series Firefly and the movie Serenity.
- Her name, spelled with an additional i, is almost certainly a reference to her later choice of altmode.
- Her drill mode is very similar in appearance to the Aparoid Moth boss of Nintendo's Star Fox series. Her headpiece also bears a striking resemblance to the infamous Disney villain, Maleficent.
- Despite scanning Agent Fowler's helicopter, her alternate mode has little to no resemblance to that helicopter model being far more angular than Fowler's and having a complete absence of landing gear, likely because of her smaller size compared to other Transformers.
- Airachnid and Knock Out are the only two main Decepticons who currently have no appearance in the War for Cybertron franchise.