WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Transformers: Beast Wars #12, on sale now from IDW Publishing.
Things have ramped up in the past few issues of IDW’s Beast Wars, taking things from a familiar reinvention of the show to something much different. That continues to be the case with the book, which now seems to be setting up many characters old and new for different status quos. One of these is a certain scheming Predacon who has just seemingly met his end.
Terrorsaur died in Issue #11 of the series, but the newest issue sets him up for a fate he never received in the Beast Wars cartoon. This shows how different the series is willing to go with these familiar faces, which may include bringing in ideas from the toyline. Here’s how Terrorsaur may return in a much more metal capacity.
Tarantulas' Plans for Terrorsaur In Beast Wars #12
Transformers Beast Wars issue #12 by Erik Burnham and Josh Burcham had the battle between the Maximals and Predacons come to a close, with both sides having suffered casualties. In the case of the Preds, it was Razorbeast’s murder by Terrorsaur that prompted the turtle Predacon Skold to violently kill the pterodactyl Transformer in revenge. Sparkless and lifeless, the sniveling traitor isn’t mourned by his comrades, including his leader Megatron. Megatron had much bigger problems, such as Optimus Primal and the Maximals getting a hold of the Golden Disk. Though he recovered it in exchange for letting them go, the Pyrrhic victory more than stung his ego.
Tarantulas, on the other hand, tried to turn the bleak situation in his favor. Recovering the scraps of what was once Terrorsaur, Tarantulas eagerly anticipated bringing him back to life in some form or fashion. Though it’s unknown exactly how this might unfold, those who collected the Beast Wars toyline might have a few ideas.
How Terrorsaur Could Return As a Transmetal
In the original toy line for Beast Wars, Terrorsaur, Waspinator, and Rhinox had new Deluxe class Transmetal figures released. This was despite their not becoming Transmetals in the show, though there was a bit of an explanation for Terrorsaur. When he met his demise in the show by falling into a pool of lava, his hand is briefly shown undergoing the Transmetal process. He was intended to come back in this form to match the toy, but the showrunners never did so. It’s worth noting that lava logically should’ve been fine for Cybertronians, as Transformers, including Megatron, had fallen into the murky magma before and come out fine.
The concept of Transmetals hasn’t been introduced yet into the IDW Beast Wars comic books, though doing so now would certainly be an interesting way to do it. After all, the past few issues have so far been the series’ best, namely because they veer away organically from just retelling the show’s story in comic book form. Having the Transmetal be part of an experiment of Tarantulas’ would also upend fan expectations in an interesting way.
The creative team behind the book isn’t afraid to do these types of plot twists, either. For instance, they had contemplated killing off Dinobot as early as the 6th issue but eventually decided against it. This shows that they don’t want the book to just be a nostalgia fest or at least a boring one. Another way they’ve gone against the grain while still honoring Beast Wars’ roots is by introducing characters such as Razorbeast who only ever showed up in the toyline. Solicitations for upcoming issues preview more of this, with ursine Maximal Polar Claw planned to make an arctic appearance. Given all of this, it’s entirely possible that the Transmetal Terrorsaur toy could show up as the revived version of the character in the comics. This “immortality” would ironically make him even closer to the fiendish Decepticon Starscream, an archetype he was clearly based on.