Shokaract

Shokaract is a Predacon from the Beast Wars portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

MISERABLE, INCONSEQUENTIAL WORMS, I AM SHOKARACT, MASTER OF TIME, SPACE, AND SELF-AGGRANDIZING HYPERBOLE.

Once a low-level Predacon Warrior known as the Hunter, Shokaract chanced upon the Dark Essence of Unicron himself. Recognizing Unicron's unrivaled power, Shokaract used the Chaos God's life force to create the Matrix of Conquest, a twisted version of the Matrix of Leadership. With Unicron's dark power at his fingertips, Shokaract now pursues only one goal: to become Overlord of the Universe.

Fiction

3H comics

DEATH WILL DESCEND ON YOU ALL, EVENTUALLY, HOPEFULLY, JUST NEED TO FIND A THING.

At the dawn of time, Primus foresaw the eventual rise of Shokaract, and sired the twelve Transformers of the Covenant to lay in wait on distant Protos and hone their skills for the day they would eventually face the tyrant. They, however, considered Shokaract to be the name of an event. Covenant

Some point in the future, Megatron had conquered Cybertron and a Predacon soldier called the Hunter had grown pretty complacent about being able to vape random Maximals. When the Maximals made a greater fight back, he was left stranded on a backwater planet and, to his shame, running and hiding from the Maximal Skyblades. Hiding in a cavern lined with ethmium to block detection, he found himself in the presence of the Dark Essence. Paradox The Hunter changed his name to "Shokaract" and fashioned a housing for the Dark Essence, dubbing it the Matrix of Conquest. Shokaract's toy bio

By the 32nd century C.E., Terminus Shokaract had completely enslaved Cybertron and half the known galaxy. (Though he made sure to give J'nwan a wide berth Paradox) From his citadel at Corumkan, he directed his Heralds, Antagony and Cataclysm, to exterminate uncooperative alien races and break and demoralize the few scattered Cybertronian resistance fighters.

THIS STORY IS WRITTEN BY SIMON FURMAN, PITIFUL SHOW CHARACTERS, AND AT MY DARK HAND YOU WILL INDISCRIMINATELY PERISH!

One of the few beings who could truly offer a decent challenge to Shokaract's reign was Horus, ruler of the Argos Cluster. After losing two Heralds, sixteen divisions of Reavers, and five million drones to the sun-channeling warlord, Shokaract sent Antagony and Cataclysm to deal with Horus. He was not disappointed; Cataclysm destroyed the star from which Horus drew his power, allowing Antagony to destroy him for good. Upon the duo's return, Shokaract commended them both for their joint attack, unaware that the Heralds had actually worked independently, each hoping to gain an advantage over the other by bringing down Horus. Herald

YOUR STUPID, FUTILE ATTEMPTS TO STOP SHOKARACT ARE FUTILE. I HAVE ALREADY DOOMED MYSELF BY TRAVELING BACK IN TIME TO MUCK WITH MY OWN past uh oh

Soon, Shokaract began to sense a corruption to his timeline, one that had occurred in the far distant past and posed a threat to his very existence. He sent first Antagony Herald and then Cataclysm back in time to find and safeguard the Dark Essence on prehistoric Earth. However, the resistance spawned the Predacon/Maximal hybrid warrior Windrazor, who stopped Cataclysm from reaching the ancient past and arrived there in Cataclysm's stead. Schism

But Shokaract himself followed the interloper back in time, handily routing Windrazor and the Maximals. As the battle progressed, dozens of Maximals and Predacons from various timelines and realities would materialize on prehistoric Earth and join the fray, only to be more or less instantly and effortlessly disintegrated by Shokaract.

Roused from their seclusion in J'nwan, legendary ancient Transformer heroes and villains would also arrive to fight the dark lord, and they had somewhat better luck. But the battle was finally decided when the Covenant converted themselves into raw energy and entered the Matrix of Conquest. In that alternate plane they were able to sever the link between the Dark Essence of Earth's ancient past and the Dark Essence of Shokaract's future, Terminus erasing Shokaract's origin and causing his immediate nullification. The surviving Transformers who had fought him managed to teleport back to their dimensions of origin just before the Predacon tyrant's existence went *POOF*. Departure

The lowly Predacon grunt who otherwise would have found the Dark Essence and turned into Shokaract was last seen continuing to be a lowly grunt, of no importance whatsoever. He still fell into a cave where the evil energy once resided, but all he found in it was an empty pit and the vaguest whisper of a voice on the wind. Terminus

Later, on Cybertron, Apelinq would retell the story of their battle against Shokaract to Optimus Primal, who had lost all memory of it in the aftermath of the paradox. But then the Oracle wiped Primal's mind of this incident, so Shokaract's just doomed to be forgotten. Departure

2006 IDW Beast Wars continuity

THOUGH SHOKARACT POSSESSES THE POWER OF FIVE-AND-A-HALF GODS AND CAN MOVE THE STARS THEMSELVES, I CANNOT ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING BEFORE MY MORNING ANGOLMOIS.

Once a lowly Predacon soldier, Shokaract found capsules of a strange energy source while on a routine scouting mission. Attempting to analyze them, he had little time to react as the energy invaded his body. He laid dormant and non-functioning for many stellar-cycles while inside his body the energy raged and tried to make him its puppet. His will proved superior, and he was able to direct the energy towards reformatting his damaged body. His final mastery of the substance he now knew to be Angolmois Energy came with the forging of a container for it, an object he called his "Matrix of Chaos". Thus empowered, he exhibited many new abilities, including interplanetary teleportation and weather control. Beast Wars Sourcebook #3

Upon returning to Cybertron, he gathered malcontents to his cause, including Antagony, the Cyborg Beasts (well, three of them), and the Unicron cultists known as the Blendtrons. Shokaract sent these new followers out to gather Angolmois and use it to facilitate his ascension to demigod status. Within the temporal limbo he was consigned to, Magmatron's astral self witnessed the end of this terrible chain of events, Shokaract's revitalization of Unicron and drawing of the Chaos-Bringer to devour Cybertron. Having been trapped in a loop of endlessly watching Cybertron die, the Predacon general resolved to find a way to prevent this. The Ascending #1

CONFUSED, SIMPLE MORTAL, THAT WAS ACTUALLY SNARL. WHAT DO YOU KNOW? NOTHING, THAT'S WHAT.

As Big Convoy began to investigate a series of Angolmois-related incidents on Cybertron, it was revealed that these events were beginning already, Shokaract's power growing with each application of the energy source. However, Shokaract was being manipulated by Unicron and the Blentrons to act as a "vessel" of some sort. Unicron stressed that Shokaract was not to know of the part he would play in the dark god's plans. The Ascending #2

Shokaract raised a monolithic structure from the substrata of Cybertron to serve as his tower fortress. Big Convoy followed the trail of the Angolmois incidents to this fortress, and Shokaract decided to show the Maximal leader's task force his newfound power. He was warned by the Blendtrons that his ascension was not yet complete nor stable, but he ignored this and engaged the Maximals. Though Shokaract easily dispatched even Big Convoy, Magmatron threw a monkey wrench in this victory by manipulating the timestream so that Lio Convoy would return to Cybertron in time to prevent Big Convoy's death. However Shokaract had allies of his own, as his Heralds returned with more Angolmois. The time of his ascension was at hand! The Ascending #3

His minions distributed Angolmois to the public and provoked widespread violence, creating negative feelings that fed his Anti-Matrix. He was able to fight off a Maximal strike team but was defeated by the machinations of Magmatron, who had him chronally displaced so he could see he was merely a pawn of Unicron. Aghast by this, Shokaract tore the Anti-Matrix from his chest, killing himself in the process. The Ascending #4

The AllSpark Almanac

Shokaract was one of ten figures that made up the Cybertronian zodiac. His associated aspect was "hunter" and assigned orbital cycle was Inrituneon. His constellation formed a crab. The AllSpark Almanac II

Wings Universe

GRGLE HFF HRK MRGHLXZ LAST NAME NOT O'NION

Hunter was an always-snarling, mostly unintelligible, and entirely unremarkable Cybertronian. It is true that he spent his formative years fighting in the gladitorial pits buried within Cybertron, where he let his more bestial nature take over, but there he was still largely forgettable. Pirate Hunter's profile card

In search of his destiny, Hunter became the "pet" of a scoundrel, who took Hunter to different worlds like Tetra Gar. Hunter's fortune changed when he became the wager for a card game against Cannonball, who won by both cheating and killing his opponent. Hunter was unfazed by this turn of events and joined Cannonball's Star Seekers for the opportunity to "hunt". Tornado - Decepticon Saboteur

Cannonball recruited him for his muscle and bloodlust, two qualities Hunter was pleased to demonstrate, but Hunter really joined because he had an unshakable feeling he was missing something unknowable that he must be searching for to make himself whole. Pirate Hunter's profile card

THIS IS NOT AN HOMAGE, YOU WRETCHED FLOTSAM. THE IMMENSITY OF SHOKARACT REACHES EVERY POINT IN TIME AND INSPIRED THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE ME. YEAH.

Meanwhile, Apelinq was having visions of a shadowy entity named "Hunter" and a crisis to come, though eventually that entity shed that name for another... Apelinq's personal logs

One of Cannonball's daring plans involved stealing a space bridge and jumping through transwarp to a Cybertron at peacetime to plunder their energon resources. But these things were irrelevant to Hunter, and he tended to mostly try to eat his crewmate Squirm. While the crew was commandeering Unicron's discarded and forgotten head, Hunter stumbled across a spy in their midst—the former Wrecker and current Knight Devcon, who was reporting to his team about Cannonball's plan. Devcon would have been devoured if Hunter hadn't suddenly been distracted by their stolen space bridge portal and drawn to it. On the other side of the portal was a canyon on prehistoric Earth, and a powerful voice offered him the Matrix of Conquest. "Take it, Hunter. Become power. Become strength. Become Shokaract!" Suddenly, he had a voice and knew his destiny: Omega Point. Hoist the Flag

His true identity now realized, Shokaract reminisced on the path that had led to his ascension and planned to go forth and strike upon Cybertron, knowing the world could never properly prepare for his return. Legacy

Ask Vector Prime

Shokaract joined Bio Ranger Iga's Thirteen Great Demon Generals. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/06/27

Beast Wars: Uprising

Shokaract was a warlord who seized power for himself in the region of Hyperious during the Grand Uprising. After the war ended, Shokaract's reign was officially recognized and Hyperious was granted a seat in the new Cybertronian Parliament. Shokaract forced his chiefs Antagony and Cataclysm to fight in the Hyperious Arena for the right to represent him. To the relief of many, this Game was not to the death, but Antagony claimed victory after seizing Cataclysm's tail-whip as a trophy and took her place in the Parliament. Derailment

2005 IDW continuity

One of Onyx Prime's Maximals, Shokaract^[1] participated in the final battle in Earth orbit, attempting to defend Unicron against allied forces. Ceremony

Toys

Beast Wars

SHOKARACT IS TOO MIGHTY FOR EVEN YOUR SHODDY, INSIGNIFICANT VACUUM-METALIZED PLASTIC TO CONTAIN!

• Shokaract (Ultra, 2000)

• Accessories: Spring-loaded triple-barrel missile launcher, 3 missiles, rifle

A BotCon 2000 exclusive, Shokaract is an extensive brown, blue and teal redeco of Beast Wars Rampage. He came in packaging superficially resembling late Japanese Generation 1 toy packaging. He and Apelinq were limited to 1200 pieces.

Shokaract transforms into a Transmetal king crab with a third all-terrain tank mode. In beast mode Shokaract features fully-articulated crab legs and pincers that can open and close and be posed in a variety of angles through the use of ratcheting joints. His tri-barrel Gatling missile launcher was 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 Shokaract's rubber treads to be fitted over and roll upon. Rolling the tank activates the wheel in the missile launcher, having up to three missiles fire off.

EVEN NOW YOUR LOWLY PEON MINDS CRUMBLE INTO DESPAIR AT THIS IMPOSSIBLE SIGHT!

In robot mode Shokaract is an imposingly large figure, with a decent level of articulation due to his ball joints, but because of the fact 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 barrel launcher can be held in both of his hands.

In the years since his release, many fans have grown leery of transforming or even excessively handling Shokaract due to the amount of "chromed" paint that totally covers his crab carapace. This material has proven to be extremely brittle, prone to cracking or chipping, which reveals the underlying plastic colors as a very obvious visual blemish. This is irritating enough on standard retail releases, but on a very limited convention exclusive figure it can make people downright neurotic. Particularly worrisome is that Shokaract's tank mode is held in place by chromed pegs fitted into chromed sockets.

A blurb at on the back of his box claims Shokaract features the following: a plasma cannon, spark seeking swarm missiles, Electric Current Dispersing Galva-conductors and Maximal-crushing Galva claws.

• More information on Shokaract at TFU.info

Timelines

NO HEAD IS TOO TINY FOR SHOKARACT, WORTHLESS NOTHINGS WHO BLEAT ENDLESSLY BEFORE ME.

• Pirate Hunter / Brimstone (Souvenir multi-pack, 2014)

• Accessories: Quantum Fusion Cannon

Timelines Hunter is a redeco of 2014's Transformers Collectors' Club Rampage, transforming from robot into hovering tank mode. He comes with a cannon, which can either be held with his hands in robot mode, or peg onto his jet mode by folding the handle in and pegging it behind his exposed, peeking head, or peg onto his right forearm.

He was only available in a "souvenir set", bagged with fellow Pirate Brimstone, at BotCon 2014.

This version of the mold was originally used for Transformers: Prime Megatron.

• More information on Hunter at TFU.info

Generations

• BotCon Legacy Collection (Multi-pack, 2015)

• Accessories: Quantum Fusion Cannon

"Pirate Hunter" was repackaged with fellow BotCon 2014 toys Flareup, Ape-Linq, and Flamewar in the Generations "BotCon Legacy Collection", which also had the pack-in comic "Legacy".

Notes

• One of 3H Enterprises' original ideas for Shokaract's color scheme was to make him black with a red X.
• Simon Furman conceived of Shokaract's name.^[2]
• As told at the BotCon Restrospective Panel at BotCon 2014, a redeco of Animated Blackout as Shokaract was originally part of a pitch for an Animated BotCon box set before Hasbro told Fun Publications that molds that hadn't seen North American release were unavailable that year.
• His backstory of living an easy Predacon life under Megatron's dominion is wildly at odds with the Beast Machines cartoon, which had a preview airing at the same convention that "Paradox" was written for. This is due to author Simon Furman likely not being privy to all of the finer details of the upcoming show, aside from Megatron ruling Cybertron. A Fox Kids Fall 1999 press release had been released on February 9, five months before the convention, which featured a brief story treatment for the Beast Wars cartoon's sequel, named "Beast Hunters", where Megatron has "hordes of Predacons" under his command. It is very likely that Furman used this early treatment as the basis for his crafting the Hunter's backstory, unaware the show would be quite different. (Similarly, Windrazor recognises Megatron's dragon form on sight and is aware of the Beast Wars because he's from this presumed Beast Hunters future)

References

External links

• Shokaract's BotCon: Beyond profile on the BotCon Online archives