Onyx Primal
From Transformers Wiki
| This subject of this article goes by multiple names that apply to other articles as well. See Onyx (disambiguation), Primal (disambiguation). |
- Onyx Primal is a Maximal or Predacon from the Beast Wars portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
At one time, Onyx Primal was one of the Tripredacus Council's more promising assassins, even if he was given to overblown melodrama. His movements are utterly silent, and his bat mode's "stealth cloak" can shield him from most scanners. A smug glory-hog, Onyx quickly takes credit for any nearby successes and is even quicker to shuffle blame for his failures to others.
However, a falling-out with the Predacons has left him with little choice but to join the Maximals. He doesn't like them, and they don't like him, but neither camp is in a position to refuse each others' help. He's an accomplished spy and assassin, though as a Maximal he has little opportunity to practice the latter skill.
Evidently, he is also known as Blackie.
Contents |
Fiction
Toy bios
An angry and vengeful Onyx Primal (A.K.A. "Blackie") vowed to strike down any enemies that would bring harm to his comrades, letting his foes know his name in the process. Onyx Primal toy bio
3H comics
- Voice actor: Garry Chalk (English)
Once an up-and-coming assassin for the Tripredacus Council, a falling out with his superiors led Onyx Primal to somehow end up in the Beast Wars, where he was rehabilitated as a soldier for Optimus Primal's Maximals. Loathing the idea of siding with his enemies, he begrudgingly accepted it as the only way to avoid termination by his former employers. Fearing knowledge of his past might endanger his survival, he kept much of it to himself since his attitude already made him less than stellar as a Maximal. Onyx Primal's BotCon: Beyond profile
Onyx Primal and Packrat were in Predacon territory investigating a fallen meteorite when they stumbled across a Predacon "plot device". They fought over the artifact amongst themselves but were immediately attacked by Vice Grip and Fractyl. After Onyx Primal stashed the artifact in a rock crevice, a shadowy figure stole it and vanished.
The Predacons continued their attack, but Silverbolt and Rattrap appeared overhead to rescue the Maximals, even though they were mere "repaints". Vice Grip and Fractyl's defeat was followed by Optimus Primal's arrival. Onyx Primal and Packrat argued over whose fault it was the artifact was lost.
Ultimately, they blamed Megatron. Visitations
Beast Wars: Uprising
Onyx Primal was a member of the Predacon Secret Police, operating from the Mandala in Iacon. He served as handler for Wolfang, the PSP's undercover agent inside the Maximal Command Security Force.
When Wolfang caught a murder investigation for the Builder named Twirl, Onyx Primal expressed an interest. He was able to provide Wolfang with a new lead and was just as concerned about a Builder being killed in their territory as Wolfang's MaxCop supervisor, Aura.
Unknown to Onyx, the intel he provided Wolfang had been compromised by the PSP tech specialist Tarantulas, who was working his own angle with the Predacon extremist faction known as the Mayhemists. Twirl had secretly been a Targetmaster who survived the Extirpation by going into hiding, and her unique cyber-biology would be dangerous in the wrong hands. Or, any hands. Once Wolfang discovered Tarantulas's treachery, he turned him over to Onyx and the PSP. Unfortunately for Wolfang, Tarantulas was able to talk his way out of the arrest, turning the blame on Wolfang. Onyx Primal and Tarantulas attempted to capture Wolfang and a second secret Targetmaster named Overrun, the real killer. Overrun ultimately sacrificed his life to prevent anyone from getting ahold of his power. Trigger Warnings
2005 IDW continuity
Onyx appeared in a fictional scenario projected into the mind of a dying Sideswipe through a mnemopathis projector. He and multiple Decepticons were depicted as helping with relief efforts on post-war Cybertron, though Sideswipe initially believed they were smuggling energon and attacked them. The Life of Sideswipe
Toys
Beast Wars
- Onyx Primal (Basic Class, 1996/1997)
- Accessories: 2 electron-scimitars
- A redeco of the Basic-class Optimus Primal toy, Onyx transforms from a large vampire bat to robot mode with a one-step spring-loaded transformation. He has two scimitars, stored on the underside of his wings. (Most of the art associated with Onyx shows these swords held in the same fist as a sort of double-bladed weapon.) He is notable for being the first Transformers convention-exclusive toy specifically cast in new plastic colors (the previous year's exclusive was only a repaint, using the same plastics as one of the retail versions of the mold).
- He came in a large box with no real padding and incredibly low-resolution artwork on the cover half. A "VIP" (Very Important Predicon [sic]) packaging variant was given to guests of the convention; the toy inside was the same.
- He was available exclusively to pre-registrants and attendees at BotCon 1996... at first. Reportedly, BotCon '96 organizers Men in Black had to have 1700 Onyx Primals produced in order to have them at all, and as such ended up with a lot of overstock. So much that for their unofficial convention "TransCon '97", they offered attendees Onyx Primal again. And in hotel rooms "coincidentally" within the facilities for later BotCons... plus they had another way to move more of them...
- This mold was also used for the Optimus Prime-colored Convobat toy.
- Onyx Primal (Basic, 1996)
- Accessories: 2 electron-scimitars
- In a move never duplicated by later convention organizers, a "Dealer Exclusive" version of Onyx Primal was available only to—of course—dealers. The toy is almost identical, having "BOTCON '96 DEALER EXCLUSIVE" tampographed on his back in metallic gold paint.
- This version came in a black box with silver lettering, and included a silver sticker showing which number of the limited amount you had. Exactly how many of these boxed pieces were given out is unknown... and how many more Onyxes with the back-tampo were made and not given to dealers is also a mystery, as quite a few eventually ended up on eBay without box or sticker, reportedly from a former Hasbro/Kenner employee.
Notes
- The original Onyx Primal bio is a pretty direct lift of Jules Winnfield (played by Samuel L. Jackson) from the 1994 film Pulp Fiction reciting Bible scripture. This was not the only slapped-on Pulp Fiction reference to happen in BotCon 1996 material.
- Onyx Primal's faction is generally in flux.
- The original BotCon 1996 bio said Onyx was a Predacon assassin.
- In 1997, the Transcon II box identifies Onyx as a Maximal, while the bio card inside is the same Predacon one from Botcon 1996.
- In 1998, Hasbro/Kenner decided retroactively that Onyx was a Maximal due to the original use of the mold being a Maximal, according to a statement given by 3H member Glen Hallit at BotCon 1998[1] (this line of thinking also resulted in the "Noble Predacon" Sandstorm for BotCon 1999). This change was first displayed in the 1998 voice actor script reading, "Visitations", and later, a new extended profile reflecting this change was crafted for the BotCon: Beyond site (which was later moved to BotCon Online, linked below), which recast Onyx Primal as a deeply flawed individual (a transparent critique of the individuals who created him) who had defected from the Predacons to the Maximals.
- A decade later, Beast Wars Sourcebook presented Onyx as a Predacon assassin again, this time as a dark creature of the night.
- Garry Chalk's voice for Onyx was based loosely on Jackie Gleason, to go along with Scott McNeil's Art Carney voice for Packrat, portraying them as spoofs of Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton, respectively, from The Honeymooners. In fact, Onyx's BotCon: Beyond profile describing him as "Stubborn, quick to claim credit and slow to take blame," could just as easily read as a reflection of Kramden's personality, furthering the parody in addition to the aforementioned critique of Men in Black.
- According to the toy database section of Beast Wars Universe, Onyx Primal was given the alternative name "Blackie" because someone at Men in Black was a fan of the Microman franchise. M114 Blacky was a black and yellow Microman from 1975 who had "great knowledge of universal science".
- Beast Wars Universe goes on to say that Onyx Primal's black color scheme was chosen by his designer to enhance the mold's inherent resemblance to Batman, an action figure license also held at the time by Kenner.
References
- ↑ "I asked Glen Hallit about this one at BotCon, actually. All Maximal toy molds are supposed to be Maximals, and all Predacon toy molds are supposed to be Predacons. I assume Hasbro issued that condition to make sure their designs retain some semblance of "thematic" appeal even when they're recolored. Apparently, Onyx Primal was *supposed* to be a Maximal, but he ended up being a Predacon. As it stands now, Onyx Primal is indeed a Maxie."—Tengu, alt.toys.transformers, 1998/07/07
