Vok
From Transformers Wiki
The Vok are a mysterious race of energy-based aliens who transcend space and time, a highly-evolved species who reached an apex of technological sophistication as far beyond the Transformers as the Transformers are to humanity. Vast, cool, unsympathetic, and firmly committed to their enigmatic agenda, the Vok use primitive worlds like Earth as enormous laboratories to conduct strange and sometimes contradictory terraforming experiments intended to accelerate and alter the development of sapient life. However, these lofty goals rarely survive contact with the warlike Cybertronians, whose careless blunderings invariably contaminate and jeopardize the Vok's long-term ambitions.
Although the Vok guard their secrets jealously, they rarely take direct action unless the situation calls for it. More often, the Vok will deploy autonomous weapons or a network of empowered proxies; in extreme situations, they may "sterilize" a failed experiment by deploying planetary superweapons.
| “ | A simple name for so arrogant a race. | ” |
Contents |
Fiction
Beast Wars cartoon continuity
Beast Wars cartoon
- Voice actor: Blu Mankuma and Richard Newman (English), Hidetoshi Nakamura and Takehito Koyasu (Japanese), Carlos Campanile (Portuguese), Wolf Frass (German), Eduardo Borja and Luis Loria (Latin-American Spanish), Michel Vigné (French)
Early into the Beast Wars, the Vok were alerted to the Transformers' presence. They abducted and scanned Optimus Primal, then returned him a day later, their business done. Chain of Command Later, the destruction of Brigadoon, the Vok's testing ground for any sentient life, sent a warning signal to them. The Trigger, Part 2 Tarantulas immediately started to work on a way to escape the planet, darkly warning that it was "doomed". Spider's Game The discovery of an alien Golden Disk would reveal he was right: The Vok were on their way and were not happy. Before the Storm
Once they arrived, they carried out further scans and briefly faced off with Optimus, taking the form of Unicron to do so; they claimed they had no physical form he could comprehend, and so were assuming the form of a "figure of authority" in his mind. They informed him that the Beast Wars had irreversibly contaminated their experiment and, due to unspecified danger if this was allowed to continue, they were going to cut their losses. The nature of the second moon was now revealed: It was an immense cannon designed to destroy the planet! Other Voices, Part 1 Optimus Primal sacrificed himself in order to destroy the Planet Buster. Other Voices, Part 2
As a result of the Planet Buster's explosion, a quantum surge was released. The surge caused a mutation in several of the Transformers (notably, Megatron, Rattrap, Cheetor and Tarantulas) turning them into Transmetals. Aftermath The destruction of the Planet Buster also released a transwarp wavefront that traveled through space and time, eventually reaching Cybertron in the era from which the Axalon and Darksyde crews originated. The Agenda (Part 1)
Later, the Vok made another attempt to wipe out the Transformers. A second weapon, the Metal Hunter, appeared on the planet to knock the Transformers unconscious, and the Maximals Airazor and Tigatron were abducted. Megatron and Tarantulas, meanwhile, had both gained knowledge about the aliens from the Vok Disk. Other Visits (Part 1) Other Visits (Part 2) Megatron would go on to capture and alter an alien device he called the "Transmetal driver", which he used to create Transmetal 2's. Feral Scream Part 1 It could also raise the dead somehow! Crossing the Rubicon
Near the end of the Beast Wars, the Vok sent an emissary, Tigerhawk (a newly created fusion of Airazor and Tigatron), to Earth to deal with Megatron's disruption of the timestream. Tigerhawk was able to destroy the Predacon base, but was eventually subdued and captured by Tarantulas. Tarantulas was able to draw the Vok out of Tigerhawk's frame and into his own, but this led to his own destruction. Other Victories
3H comics
Established as the enlightened descendants of Swarm, the Vok's goal in guiding Earth's development was to atone for their shameful and destructive past. As servants of Primus, whom they knew as both the "Source" and the "Core", the Vok were tasked guarding their master's Grand Plan for "the one and the all." They had spread to many worlds in many dimensions, seeding each one (including the prehistoric Earth of the Beast Wars) with mysterious projects designed for the purpose of fulfilling Primus's vision of a completely harmonized and organized multiverse. Primeval Dawn Part 3
Knowing that Tarantulas was reborn and had stolen their own power for his evil plans, the Vok turned to the Ark, creating Primal Prime (from the Matrix, a Datasphere and Quickstrike's control harness) and restoring the sparks of Airazor and Tigatron to separate Transmetal bodies, hoping they could defeat Tarantulas. Primeval Dawn Part 1 Primeval Dawn II
Later, when they lost the Matrix to the zombified arachnid, the Vok merged themselves with Primal Prime in order to provide a temporary substitute for the Matrix. Primal Prime gained a snazzy new Vok-shaped breastplate out of the deal. Primeval Dawn Part 3
Later still, when the Quintessons launched their invasion force on Cybertron, Tigatron called upon the power of the Vok to restore the critically injured Fractyl. In exchange for this boon, Tigatron agreed to release the Vok from the bind to his spark, and was left without their mystical might henceforth. Wreckers: Finale Part II
Transformers Legends anthology
While his spark was untethered from his body, Megatron bemoaned the organic infection he and the Maximals had brought back to Cybertron after fighting the Beast Wars on Earth. He posited that maybe the Vok had been involved in changing the Cybertronians from within to "infect" them with the biological contamination. Singularity Ablyss
Razorclaw continuity
In a splinter timeline of Primax 496.22 Alpha, the Vok also abducted Airazor and Tigatron, the last two surviving Maximals, to create their emissary Tigerhawk to stop Megatron, whose machinations continued to threaten the Vok's presence on Earth. Ask Vector Prime, 07/08/2015 Corrupted by the Vok's influence, Tigerhawk succeeded in killing Megatron Universe Razorclaw profile but not before Megatron had absorbed the spark of his namesake, causing a timestorm which tore that reality apart. From the remains of Tigerhawk's reality, Ask Vector Prime, 07/08/2015 Unicron would pluck Tigerhawk to serve as his final Minion general, Razorclaw. Razorclaw would actively utilize his Vok powers in service to the Chaos-Bringer. Universe Razorclaw profile
2006 IDW Beast Wars continuity
The Vok were the enlightened evolution of the Swarm, a combination of Cybertronian, human, and mysterious lizard species life. Their aim is to find the optimal path of development for the sources of their components, especially Cybertronians.
After Tigerhawk was destroyed, the Vok granted Airazor a Transmetal body using a blank protoform. Tigatron gained a new Transmetal body as well, and his experience with the Vok expanded his awareness of Nature to the entire Universe. Beast Wars Sourcebook #4
Antagony was "reconstructed" by the Vok to act as a provocateur in whatever realities they toss her into, to test the upper limits of Cybertronians. Antagony, however, believed that she was from a future ruled by Shokaract, and did work for him at one point. Beast Wars Sourcebook #1
When Blackarachnia was close to death, a Transmetal "Vok alternate body" was created in null-space. When Blackarachnia lived, the body was sidelined. Beast Wars Sourcebook #1
After Rhinox's death as Tankor, the Vok took his spark from the Matrix, gave him a new body, and dropped him into different realities, supposedly to combat Unicron's chaos, but really to manipulate Cybertronian history. Rhinox realizes this and does not trust the Vok, but, out of guilt for his actions as Tankor, still helps any Cybertronian he comes across. Beast Wars Sourcebook #3
Waspscream continuity
In Primax 208.06 Zeta, the machinations of the Starscream from Primax 206.15 Gamma resulted in a decisive Predacon offensive against the Maximals. The Vok responded by trying to sterilize their experiment, but Megatron tricked Blackarachnia into destroying the Planet Buster. Ask Vector Prime, 16/08/2015
Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Generations Selects Special Comic (1)
After the seven universes guarded by the Primus Vanguard were merged into one in an attempt to purify them of the Specters that acted as shadows to their Matrices' light, the Specters evolved into the Vok. They made their return in front of Primus after his insane ravings caused the factions of the Primus Vanguard to scatter. Finale Prelude
Beast Wars cartoon
Legends comic
The Vok that seemingly perished in the confrontation between Tigerhawk and Tarantulas would recover and emerge millions of years later as two Dark Novas to threaten the Maximals' and Predacons' ancestors to avert the Beast Wars. LG-EX Big Powered Prologue Part Two
Generations Selects Special Comic (2)
After they didn't succeed in the Beast Wars, the Vok and their Novaroid army attacked planets in the universe prior to the G1 World in an attempt to recreate the universe to their liking. The Primus Vanguard traced their origins to the future, so Primus used the Black Legendisc to peer into the next universe, where he discovered the origins of the Vok. Fearing that defeating them would just cause them to evolve again, Primus devised a complex plan Finale Prelude that brought in Optimus Prime to defeat the Vok with the help of the Silver Matrix. He was able to do so and stop their attack on the Blue Planet. Star Convoy comic Super Megatron comic 2
Animated cartoon
The Vok are an alien race which hails from Nexus Zero. Little is known about them save that they've developed Negatronic force field emitters. According to a certain arms dealer, they're "nice creatures". If you're ever in the Nexus Zero area, look them up—you won't be sorry. SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy
Shattered Glass
After the Thirteen hid the Origin Matrix on prehistoric Earth of Primax -408.24 Epsilon, Vector Prime placed a time lock on the local spacetime so that evil could not get their hands on the Matrix. The Vok, already present on Earth to conduct their experiments, were entrusted with guarding the Matrix. Ask Vector Prime, 18/05/2015
While Megatron and his dimensionally-displaced Decepticons were fighting similarly displaced Autobots on prehistoric Primax -408.24 Epsilon, Megatron was knocked down into a ravine by Ultra Magnus. After Megatron was dug out by his "Predacon" troops, he was then excited to find a giant Vok face carved into a rock. Shattered Paths He utilized the equipment found inside the adjoining cave to build the Gigastorm Armor, Shattered Hope which he then used to great effect in a battle against the "Maximals". Shattered Balance Shattered Destiny
The Depth Charge of Primax 209.0 Gamma, having been sent by the TransTechs to keep the Origin Matrix out of evil hands, had some knowledge of the Vok, commenting during the hunt that "sneaky death-faced creeps" must have been involved in hiding the Origin Matrix. Shattered Balance
Ask Vector Prime
Vector Prime stated that the Vok created Megatron X as an emissary in Primax 1099.01-N6 Kappa and Primax 700.12-N4 Kappa, enhancing him in the image of the most potent spark in the conflict. Ask Vector Prime, 15/05/2015 He also noted that the Vok were uninterested in Aurex 1104.30-JH Zeta. Ask Vector Prime, 13/08/2015
Beast Wars: Uprising
A decade after the Vehicon Apocalypse, the Vok showed up at Dinosaur City on Metascan Omega, to tell the inhabitants that mortals weren't allowed to live there (either unaware or uncaring that the former occupants had said it was okay) and that in order to stay, they would have to prove their "cosmic worth". The Inexorable March
2021 IDW Beast Wars comic
At some indeterminate point in the past, a trio of Vok—Pakak, Tonrar, and Tikaani—used an uncharted planet as a testbed for multiple biological and geological experiments, which included seeding the planet with vast supplies of energon, Savage Landing Part 2 importing alien fauna like ironwolves, Thicker Skin and genetically altering other creatures while patiently observing the results from the extradimensional realm of unspace. Primal Rage As they had done before on other worlds, the three installed a reversion device as a failsafe. The End
Eventually, however, the starships Axalon and the Darksyde crashed on this pristine world, bringing with them two warring factions of Cybertronian lifeforms. Having never encountered Transformers before, Pakak was eager to study the Cybertronians, though Tonrar remained adamant that they could not be allowed to contaminate their long-term experiments; Tikaani proposed a compromise of observing the intruders until they proved too disruptive. Not long after the Vok returned to their own realm, Skold performed a scan of the Darksyde and accidentally picked up the unspace signatures that the Vok had left in their wake. Savage Landing Part 2
After the Maximals and Predacons' initial battle, the Vok observed Razorbeast's birth and the Maximal's friendship with Skold, giving Tikaani an idea for an experiment. Thicker Skin However, the continued Cybertronian conflicts eventually eroded Pakak's goodwill towards the interlopers. Intruding into Cheetor's mind, Pakak tricked the Maximal into revealing information on the protoforms. Though Pakak wiped Cheetor's mind to prevent him from warning the Maximals of the full plan, Cheetor managed to impart the aliens' name to Optimus Primal. The Speedway of Central Consciousness
Using Cheetor's knowledge, the Vok reprogrammed nineteen of the Axalon's protoforms as the "Children of the Vok", The End sending Polar Claw and Saberback to abduct the two leaders. Primal Rage When the two leaders managed to escape, Pakak and Tikanni decided to allow them to live, eager to see how the two rivals would work together, and sent the Children against them. After Megatron killed Polar Claw and Saberback, Pakak used the former's corpse as an avatar with which to speak to the Predacon only to be fired upon. Angered, the three Vok appeared in their true forms and were about to kill Megatron before Primal intervened, offering the three the chance to see how Maximal and Predacon would behave when faced with a common foe. Despite Tonar's protests, Pakak and Tikaani agreed to Primal's proposal and gave the Cybertronians seven cycles to prepare. Children of the Vok
As the Maximals and Predacons drew up battle plans, Skold and Nyx discovered the connection between the Vok and unspace energy. The Vok themselves contacted Tarantulas and offered him their knowledge if he destroyed the Darksyde's transwarp drive. After Tarantulas' deception had been discovered, The Beginning of the End he summoned the totality of the Children of the Vok to reinforce him against the Maximal-Predacon alliance.
Their attention drawn by the battle, the Vok trio materialized and decided that all Cybertronians were too disruptive, immobilizing them as they activated the reversion device. As the superweapon charged, the Vok were fired on by the Axalon. With Rattrap and Waspinator having routed the energies of the ship's transwarp drive into its weapon systems, its unspace blasts dissipated the Vok's energy forms, ending their threat. The End
Games
Transformers: Earth Wars
The Vok implanted secrets into Starscream's head. Optimus Primal believed that he would be critical in the coming months, and that the Maximals would need to know where to find him when that time came.All AnglesBehind the scenes
In the course of writing the Beast Wars television show, the co-story editors had conflicting ideas on who the Vok were. Bob Forward liked to imagine the Vok as the evolutionary endpoint of all sentient life in the universe, shaping the development of other races in order to guide them eventually into becoming Vok themselves. Larry DiTillio wanted to link the Vok to the Swarm, who, in his version of the events of the Generation 2 comic book, had completely wiped out humanity and wished to atone for their crimes. Neither origin made it into the television show before it completed.
Note that a Swarm-based origin raises continuity questions, as the Swarm were shown to have become enlightened only after an intervention of sorts from Optimus Prime in "A Rage in Heaven!"...whom the Vok would have preemptively killed 4 million years earlier when their Planet Buster weapon destroyed prehistoric Earth (but see below).
Ultimately, the Swarm origin was published as backstory for 3H's "Primeval Dawn" storyline and IDW's Beast Wars Sourcebook.
The Beast Wars Universe book, working off interviews and notes from the series writers, says that the Vok's experiments on Earth were part of an attempt to further evolve Humanity, as the Vok had destroyed the human race while existing as the Swarm, and they wished to rebuild all the races they'd destroyed. It states that the energon crystals were seeded so that they would become energon cubes by the time Humanity came about. This would give them a reliable fuel source which wouldn't harm the environment, as energon actually provided nutrients to the soil of the planet and didn't harm its animals. The Vok also attempted to play the role of God for humans, intending to guide their development and reveal their true nature once the Vok felt the humans were ready. It also states that the Vok had been forced to destroy and recreate Earth several times before the events of "Other Voices, Part 2", all the while subtly manipulating the timestream after they did. Only contact with Tigatron made them unsure if this was a good idea.
One of their other motivations was to turn the Transformers into a smaller race that could better interact with organics, and therefore become the friends and protectors of the galaxy. To do this, they created protoforms and dumped them on Cybertron, forcing the evolution into Maximal and Predacon. Only high-ranking figures like the High Council and Optimus Prime know that protoforms have an alien origin.[1] Another idea was that sparks are pieces of Vok—that the composite bits of the Vok want to be individuals, so they separate into good and evil sparks, entering newly built Transformers. Once the Transformer dies, their spark rejoins the Matrix, properly known as the Vok Nebula, and becomes a new, changed Vok. Obviously, this idea has been totally nullified by later Hasbro-published canon, though the Allspark has some similarity to the Vok Nebula idea.
The canonicity of these claims is dubious at best, as they are basically all wish-lists of authorial intent published years after the fact in obscure, non-English media, they never appeared in any actual story material, and some items (such as the notion that the Vok created sparks too) were rendered flatly impossible by later in-fiction revelations. But one thing is for sure: Old habits die hard.
Symbols
"Can you read Sumerian?"
"In my sleep, underwater and with the lights out. Of course I can read Sumerian."
The golden disk that the Vok left on prehistoric Earth displayed ten symbols at a time, five on each side. Symbols spontaneously changed from one to another; there were 15 unique symbols. The first four symbols on the upper left row each represented an alien artifact.
- The first symbol represented Brigadoon from "The Trigger, Part 1" and "Part 2".
- The second symbol represented the Standing Stones from "Chain of Command".
- The third symbol represented the Planet Buster from "Other Voices, Part 1" and "Part 2".
- The fourth symbol represented the Metal Hunter from "Other Visits (Part 1)" and "Part 2".
The fifth symbol on the top row was used to mark traps on Brigadoon. The meaning of the other ten symbols was not explained.
File
Notes
- Most of the Beast Wars episodes involving the Vok begin with the word "Other", followed by a word starting with the letter V. See: "Other Voices" Parts 1 and 2, "Other Visits" (Parts 1 and 2), and "Other Victories"; with "Chain of Command" and "The Trigger, Part 1" and "Part 2" being the exceptions.
- The Vok claimed to possess a physical form no one could comprehend. This idea appears to have been dropped, as floating skulls aren't that incomprehensible. The idea of a greater danger coming from a contaminated experiment would also go unmentioned in later appearances.
Foreign names
- Japanese: Alien (エイリアン Eirian), Voke (ボーク Bōku), Vok (ヴォック Vokku)[2]
- Mandarin: Vok (Taiwan, 沃克 Wòkè)
- Spanish: Valk (America)
References
- ↑ Translated section from Beast Wars universe
- ↑ "Vok" has two different pronunciations in Japanese media; those that hew closely to Hasbro material, such as Beast Wars Universe, rhyme it with "rock". The Beast Wars Metals dub and media following this, however, interpret the name to rhyme with "woke".