Nightscream (BM)

Nightscream is a Maximal from the Beast Era portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

I'd hit that...with a brick.

When armies of Vehicons conquered Cybertron, young Nightscream survived alone in the darkness below the surface of the planet. This trauma influences much of his behavior. He's always on the defensive. Paranoid. Rude. Distrusting. Confrontational. But really, he's just a troubled kid, and he's been through a lot. Inside, he's got a good heart. He's just got to learn to stop fighting friends and enemies alike.

Regardless, he seems to have found a kindred spirit in the wild Noble creature.

Fiction

Beast Wars cartoon continuity

Beast Machines cartoon

Voice actor: Alessandro Juliani (English), Nobutoshi Canna (Japanese), Liu Li (Chinese), Oberdan Junior (Portuguese), Julien Haggége (German), Enrique Mederos (Latin American Spanish), Peppino Capotondi (French)

I'm with the Vehicons here.

When the Vehicons and their virus struck, Nightscream ran and panicked like many Maximals. Fleeing underground, he fell down a hole during the attack, and everything went dark. Forbidden Fruit Though he would not recall the details later, somehow he wandered into a cave containing the fossils of a prehistoric bat-like creature. His internal DNA scanners used them to reformat him into an organic beast form and save him, at least temporarily, from the virus. Survivor Nightscream's mental state at this point is unknown, but he seems to have spent the next period trapped in his bat form, hiding and feeding off a strange fruit tree he found growing below the planet's surface. Eventually, Optimus Primal and company arrived and, distrustful, he began to spy on their activities, hoping to work out how to transform.

Cue Zelda "item get" music.

Nightscream fled when they spotted him, flying through the tunnels until they managed to corner him. When Jetstorm turned up, Nightscream accused them of leading the Vehicons to him, but after they began fighting the aero drones, he realised his mistake and used a sonic cry to disorientate the Vehicons. He subsequently lead the other Maximals to his tree. Cheetor suspected a trap on the part of Megatron, more so when the other Maximals ate the fruit and reverted to their beast instincts, but Nightscream objected loudly to the accusation. They were shortly found by Jetstorm again, forcing Cheetor to destroy the fruit tree to restore his friends, but to Nightscream's anguish. The young Maximal was injured by the Vehicons during the battle, and Primal reformatted him into a technorganic bat. Reveling in his new form, Nightscream used a Sonic Scream to destroy the aero drones and drained energon from Jetstorm. Afterward, he accepted Cheetor's invitation to join the Maximal team. Forbidden Fruit

With Primal weakened by the reformatting, Cheetor, Nightscream and Rattrap went on a mission to gather information from a Vehicon factory. Nightscream discovered that disabling the Vehicon Generals disabled all of the drones they controlled. However, the plan they developed was inadvertently ruined by Rattrap, who'd thought that Nightscream was in trouble. Annoyed at Rattrap's foul-ups, Nightscream suggested they get rid of him, but Cheetor angrily turned down the idea, saying that they should cover for their friend. Unknown to them, the discussion led Rattrap to join Megatron, albeit temporarily, and the Maximals later found themselves confronting their comrade. It was only when Primal interceded that Rattrap rejoined them. The Weak Component

Why, this car could go like... Greased Lightning!

After another encounter with Thrust, Nightscream became dissatisfied with Primal's ability to lead and suggested Cheetor take command, though his suggestion was rebuffed. They later discovered a factory of corpses with evidence of spark removal. The factory was destroyed in another battle, and Nightscream was saddened at the loss, though Rattrap pointed out they could build new bodies when they found the sparks. Discovery With Cheetor in command, the Maximals set about trying to access Tankor's memories so they could find out what happened. Nightscream and Blackarachnia were assigned to keep Thrust and Jetstorm busy, but Blackarachnia's belief that Thrust housed the spark of her lover, Silverbolt, resulted in her being overpowered by the two generals. Nightscream attempted to help, but was unable to stop Thrust extracting Blackarachnia's spark. Descent Nightscream pursued the two generals, retrieving Blackarachnia's spark from Jetstorm before dropping an elevator on the Vehicon. After then defeating Thrust, he was able to restore the spark to Blackarachnia's body, and the pair joined Cheetor and Rattrap, who had discovered that Tankor was their old friend Rhinox. Rhinox, unfortunately, was siding with Megatron's view of a technological Cybertron, and Primal insisted they let him go. Apocalypse

Rattrap's attempts at accessing Nightscream's memories turned up the fact that he had a built-in DNA scanner, providing a vital clue. He clashed with the other Maximals over their losing of the Beast Wars, however, and was reminded that they'd lost friends during that war. The Maximals headed for the cave which had housed Nightscream's fruit tree, only to find it had been sealed off. As Nightscream tried to use his Sonic Scream to break through, they were attacked by Vehicons, and Nightscream was abducted. The Diagnostic Drone attempted to analyse Nightscream's physiology, but the young Maximal was able to escape, pursued through the underground corridors by the Vehicons. With the help of the other Maximals, he eluded his captors, eventually ending up in a cave full of fossils. The realisation that, had he not been caught up in himself, he could have saved other Transformers, caused Nightscream great anguish. Optimus commiserated with him, and the Maximals took up residence in the cave. Survivor

Alas, poor whoever he was.

After Tankor found the Key to Vector Sigma and confronted the Maximals, Nightscream threw himself between the Vehicon and Optimus, taking a blast from the key and being turned into technomatter. Losing his sanity, Nightscream passed the technomatter sickness on to Blackarachnia before the other Maximals were able to use the organic goop they'd discovered to cure them both. The Key Nightscream, Optimus and Cheetor rescued Rattrap from some overgrowing vines after Rattrap discovered a catalyst to improve the goo. Though Optimus forbade them from using the catalyst in combat, the other three used it to rescue Blackarachnia from the Vehicons, which almost spelled doom for the Maximal orchard. The Catalyst

After Primal discovered the location of the Plasma Energy Chamber, the other Maximals persuaded him to try it their way first, and, while Rattrap attempted to tap into Megatron's computer, the other Maximals fought against the Vehicons. Unfortunately, they were overpowered and converted into technomatter by the Vehicon drones. End of the Line The clashing energies of the Key and the Plasma Energy Chamber cancelled each other out, restoring the four Maximals, who discovered that Optimus, Megatron and Tankor had all perished during the final battle. Finding no answers above ground, they traveled down to see the Oracle, and, finding Primal floating within, persuaded him to choose life and rejoin them. Fallout

"I have...no fans?"

On discovering a giant floating head with the likeness of Megatron, Blackarachnia and Nightscream attempted to infiltrate it, only to be repelled by its defences. The Maximals soon encountered a dragon-like beast dubbed Savage by the Vehicons, and shortly after, a wolf Maximal named Noble, whom Nightscream regarded as a kindred spirit and quickly befriended. When Noble went missing, Nightscream worried that Savage had killed their new friend. However, once they cornered Savage, Nightscream was able to talk to the beast, and it transpired that Savage and Noble were one and the same, a completely organic Transformer. Savage Noble Nightscream valued his new friendship, even rebuking the other Maximals over their treatment of Noble. When the other Maximals infiltrated the Council Citadel, Noble dashed in after them, and Nightscream followed. During their attempt to access Megatron's computer, Noble ripped Rattrap from the control harness and attempted to use it himself. Failing, he used a spark extractor to rip his own spark out and took over the giant flying head. In reality, Noble had been Megatron, trapped in his own organic half, and had taken advantage of Nightscream's compassion. Nightscream was shattered by the betrayal. Prometheus Unbound

Noble himself lived on, though sparkless and lacking in intelligence. Nightscream didn't give up on his friend, and he searched Cybertropolis at length. During a battle with Vehicons, Nightscream was knocked out by Thrust but rescued by Savage, who dragged him off. Nightscream recovered to find himself in Noble's lair, being offered metallic fruit. An ill-advised rescue attempt on Rattrap's part caused Noble to revert to Savage and chase the pair. They were able to divert his attention to Thrust, and Nightscream insisted that they should try to help Noble, but Primal said he would come to them when he was ready. In Darkest Knight

Megatron's re-engineered Hate Plague virus infected all of the Maximals, causing them to fight amongst themselves until Optimus was able to help them overcome it. Despite this, Nightscream blamed Silverbolt for the virus's spread. A Wolf in the Fold After a spaceship crashed, the Maximals headed for the site. Nightscream and Silverbolt took the option of going by air, though Nightscream made it obvious he wasn't enthusiastic about being partnered with the new Maximal. After encountering a strange plant creature, the Maximals were surprised to discover it was a Maximal named Botanica. Once again, they found themselves fighting tank drones, and at one point Silverbolt saved Nightscream's life, finally turning the young Maximal's opinion of him. Home Soil

Nightscream's attempts to persuade Silverbolt to be nicer to Blackarachnia were interrupted when the pair encountered two new Vehicon Generals, Obsidian and Strika. The other Maximals joined the fight, but were outclassed and trapped by the new generals until Botanica rescued them. The Strike In search of the missing sparks, Optimus and Nightscream ventured underground, finding the ancient city of Iacon. While Primal was conferring with a hologram of Optimus Prime, Nightscream found himself being overwhelmed by Cycle Drones and was only rescued by the arrival of Savage. Later, Optimus revealed that he'd discovered the location of the missing sparks. The Search

"Hey! Primal didn't send him to a farm at all!"

Nightscream, Cheetor and Silverbolt fought the Vehicons while the others infiltrated the giant floating head. However, they were too late to prevent Megatron's attempt at ascension, fueled by the captured sparks. As Megatron attempted to remove Nightscream's spark, Savage came to their aid and attempted to attack Megatron, only to be blasted by the evil spark. Savage fell to the ground and reverted to Noble, who died in Nightscream's arms. Enraged, Nightscream used his Sonic Scream to blast Megatron, apparently destroying the evil spark. The Maximals later held a funeral service for Noble. The Siege Though the Maximals celebrated Megatron's demise, their enemy lived on as a disembodied spark. Megatron was unable to maintain the use of a single body for long, and Nightscream and Cheetor tangled with him in the body of a deceased aero drone. Megatron eventually became stuck in the form of a Diagnostic Drone. Spark of Darkness

****YOU I WON'T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME!!!

With the Maximals besieged on the giant head, Nightscream, Silverbolt and Blackarachnia attempted to keep the Vehicons busy. They were able to find a Vehicon factory, where Nightscream tricked Megatron and managed to blow up the facility. Though the trio was able to catch Botanica's pod when Rattrap ejected her from the head, they were unable to do anything when the Vehicons brought the giant head itself crashing to the ground. The Downward Spiral As the Maximals prepared for the Vehicon assault, Optimus consulted the Oracle, and they were bestowed with extra spark power. During the battle, Botanica became aware that the Vehicons were attacking the technorganic orchard, and she went to save it with Rattrap and Nightscream. Nightscream attempted to defend the fossil chamber, but was overwhelmed and, like the other Maximals, had his spark ripped out. When Legends Fall Though unable to help physically, the Maximals offered Primal moral support during his one-on-one battle with Megatron. After the reformatting of Cybertron, Nightscream's spark was restored to his body, and he and the other Maximals found themselves in a technorganic paradise. Seeds of the Future

3H comics

This looks way more phallic than it needs to.

During Megatron's rule over Vehicon-held Cybertron, Nightscream and Optimus Primal were able to recover a trio of Deployers from a remote location far outside of Cybertropolis. With Tank Drones hot on their trail, the intervention of Primal Prime and the Wreckers were eventually required to save them. The Wreckers introduced themselves, and Optimus Primal, Nightscream, and the Deployers accompanied the Wreckers to the Oracle, where other groups had assembled before it to be given instruction. However, at the end of this meeting, the memories of Nightscream and Primal were wiped, their bodies were taken back to the surface, and the Deployers were stolen away by Packrat. Departure

A week after the Great Transformation, the Quintessons invaded Cybertron. However, Botanica felt that the true threat was below ground, and she took Nightscream and Rattrap into the subterranean chambers. Here they stumbled upon Al-badur, a rogue Quintesson, who convinced them he was aiding the Wreckers, and thus on their side, by disabling 30% of the Quintesson invading forces up on the surface.

Shortly thereafter, they met up with the Wreckers proper. As Rattrap spent forever catching up with Tigatron, Nightscream reminded them that they should probably pay more attention to Cryotek, who was in the planet's core attempting to use the Divine Light to usurp the power of Primus and become a god. Under Al-badur's direction, the large group eventually made their way to a Quintesson execution chamber that the Quintesson hoped would help them banish Cryotek to another dimension... if they could lure the Predacon there.

But when Cryotek arrived, he had already grown monstrous due to the Divine Light's effects. Nightscream and some of the others attacked the former gangster, but when Nightscream tried to use his fang attack on him, Cryotek was able to grab the line that connected Nightscream to the projectile fangs and slam Nightscream into Rotorbolt. Al-badur was able to trap Cryotek in a containment bubble that would imminently vanish their nemesis, but the Wreckers leader Sentinel Maximus was caught inside it with him. Nightscream and the others tried to destroy the bubble, but the young Maximal's Sonic Scream had no effect. Only the combined efforts of Rodimus and Cheetor were able to thwart it, though the strain killed Rodimus. Nightscream was stunned into near silence, as he'd only read things about Rodimus' younger days, and the sacrifice awed him. But Rodimus's sacrifice was negated by Sentinel Maximus's, who had pushed himself and Cryotek through the portal in the bubble into the void beyond.

When the media arrived, Nightscream was eager to hog the spotlight, but Rook ignored him. Wreckers: Finale Part II

Transformers Legends anthology

While attacking the Maximals in a trashed Jet drone, Megatron noted that he hated Nightscream for interrupting his ascension. Nightscream attempted to use his taser fangs on Megatron, who used the connection to shock the Maximal, whilst wondering whether any of Nightscream's verbal outbursts ever made any sense. Singularity Ablyss

Wings Universe

Following the Great Transformation of Cybertron, Blackarachnia and her friends stood guard over Cheetor as their leader attempted to commune with the Oracle. Alpha Trizer's profile

Legends comic

Following the Great Transformation, Nightscream and the other surviving Maximals listened to Cheetor explain that Rhinox's spark was not gone for good, but lost in another universe. Bonus Edition Rattrap After Rattrap and Waspinator were sent to retrieve their comrade, Nightscream was elated to see the two return with Rhinox accompanying. Bonus Edition Rhinox

Waspscream continuity

In Primax 208.06 Zeta, Nightscream survived Megatron's conquest of Cybertron and joined Waspscream's Predacons in the Spark War against the Vehicons. The Predacons eventually emerged victorious. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/08/16

Lil Formers

Nightscream went up against Battle Unicorn in the auditions to appear on the Beast Machines cartoon. Battle Unicorn mixed up his lines, allowing Nightscream to secure his role as a cast member. Lil Formers

Beast Wars: Uprising

If he says "music to my ears", we will end him.

In one universe, the Autobots and Decepticons had grown too decrepit to continue waging the Great War. Constructing the Maximals and Predacons as new armies to continue the conflict, an entire generation of Cybertronians was brought up knowing nothing but war. Nightscream was a member of Blackarachnia's squad, and after the death of Rhinox and Silverbolt conspired with her to kill their commander, Optimus Primal. After Primal's demise, he fled with her and activated an experimental transwarp device, seeking to flee Cybertron. The device transported them to Axiom Nexus, where they were discovered by the native Transcendent Technomorphs, processed, and assigned to Alpha Trion. Taking advantage of Nightscream's discontent, Trion was able to sway him to his cause and procured a suitable body to transfer his spark to. His new body proving to be a significant upgrade, Nightscream was all too happy to join the rebellion. "TransTech" Blackarachnia's profile in Club magazine #25

After returning to Alpha Trion's lab, Nightscream claimed to have discovered where Megatron and his cronies had taken Breakaway. With this information, Alpha Trion announced an attack on the location that very night. Transcendent: Part 4 At the transit facility, Nightscream went with Blackarachnia and Scavenger to secure their escape route while Alpha Trion helped Skyfall and Landquake rescue their friend. Transcendent: Part 5 He manned the transwarp controls as the others lept through the portal, leaving him the only witness to Alpha Trion's brutal murder of Skyfall. At Alpha Trion's command, he carried the corpse through the portal with them. Transcendent: Part 6

Upon arrival in Alpha Trion's home universe, Nightscream began securing equipment from Alpha Trion's old lab for travel, as their materialization had surely been detected by one faction or another. Reunification: Part 1

Weeks later, after the assassination of Megatron, Nightscream and Sky Lynx followed Alpha Trion to confront Optimus Prime, intent on his assassination as well. Unfortunately, the three had not counted on Prime's new warrior, Omega Doom, and Sky Lynx and Nightscream stared dumbfounded after one blast left their leader a distant smear on the ground. Reunification: Part 5 Nightscream was gunned down by Optimus Prime's ion blaster, and apparently left for dead. The Coming Storm: Part 1

Legends World

Along with Airazor, the Legends World's Nightscream (nicknamed "Bat Aunt Chama") was hired by the Axalon Trading Company to work as an office lady (complete with skirt and hair bow). Rattrap became enamored with how cute both the office ladies were, only to be shocked when Rhinox informed him that the Axalon Trading Company had no women on the payroll. The Gender Gap Hoping to get to the bottom of the whole "male or female" thing, Rattrap and Rhinox decided to follow Airazor and Nightscream to see which bathroom they use. They were further confused when they found that their building had no female bathrooms at all. The Bathroom Gap

During Christmas, Nightscream spent the holiday watching Age of Extinction with Savage. Merry X'mas!!

Following the destruction of their office building, Nightscream and the other employees began using Metroplex as their new office. The Mysterious Knowledgeable Grandpa Chapter Nightscream also worked at a "little brother cafe" and was there when the manager, Starscream, explained to another worker, who was another Starscream, just what kind of cafe it was. LG-18 Armada Starscream Super Mode Prologue

Nightscream also had a side job as a movie director, his latest work being Transformers: Convobat Amazon Showdown in which he himself starred as Convobat. He hired most of his coworkers as well as employees of Tera-Kura Co. to play other roles, but was greatly upset that they were more interested in ad-libbing funny lines than actually following the script. Things got worse when the living transtector he'd borrowed from Mindwipe to play Convobat's body went out of control, but they were able to calm it and complete the movie, which was enough of a success that he began working on a sequel. Bonus Edition Vol. EX While accepting a delivery from Ginrai, Nightscream was so impressed with his new Magna Convoy body that he offered him a role in his next film. To his disappointment, however, Ginrai had lost the body the next day. Bonus Edition Vol. EX

Nightscream was walking the streets of Akihabara after it was rebuilt, Targetmaster Chapter Prologue was given Beastformer armor when White Leo tried to recruit the locals into his army, Bonus Edition Vol. 51 and was present when Broadside arrived in the Legends World. Bonus Edition Vol. 53 He later encountered the discarded Noble and took him in, getting him a job at the Wolf Circus. Bonus Edition Vol. 63

Toys

Beast Machines

"Nightscream likes extra ketchup."

• Nightscream (Ultra Class, 2000)

• Accessories: 3 launching disks
• Known designers: Yuichiro Hira (TakaraTomy), Tim Bradley (concept artist)

Part of the second wave of Beast Machines Ultra-class toys, this massively out-of-scale Nightscream (although one could make the case that it is in scale with the later supreme-size Optimus Primal and Cheetor) is fairly show-accurate. The beast mode is a technorganic bat. It is molded almost entirely in transparent blue plastic, with some brown paint details to match his show model. The bat head features an articulated jaw, and his Spark crystal is located on the inside of his chest flap.

The two main gimmicks of this figure are its disc launcher and "kick-attack" mode. The disc launcher is very similar to the kind Beast Wars Depth Charge uses, and able to store all 3 translucent orange discs and fires them. The launcher itself has a red LED in it that will illuminate the discs and the surrounding body parts. In robot mode, the disc launcher can only be used when the "chest door" is opened and it is swung forward (as it faces down in this mode). In beast mode, the disc launcher needs to be popped up, which activates the LED and clears the weapon to launch the discs. When in this position, turning the disc launcher also makes the bat head turn in the same direction as they are linked together via a simple gear system, much like the concurrently released Ultra Jetstorm.

The "kick-attack" mode is really more of a pose for the beast mode. Nightscream's wings actually have little folding-out "feet" on its longest points. These can support the beast mode and by putting the bat feet a little forward, you can make Nightscream kick forward by pushing on his back. This never really worked too well, as the figure usually fell over and the arm joints that allow him to swing were always too stiff. Perhaps one aspect that was pulled off well was Nightscream's little streak of hair included in the head sculpt.

The translucent blue plastic used for this mold did not age well, and is very brittle. Intact Nightscreams are hard to find, not that anyone is actively seeking one.

• More information on Nightscream (Ultra) at TFU.info

Really good at "We're not worthy!" posturing.

• Nightscream (Happy Meal toy, 2000)

Greatly simplified for the tykes, Nightscream's McDonald's Happy Meal toy is nonetheless a fairly accurate representation of his cartoon model, albeit with somewhat warped proportions in his beast mode, and supplementary kibble in robot mode. His color scheme has been simplified to be represented with a yellowish-cream color and brown as the more dominant colored plastics, with some opaque blue plastic and translucent blue plastic for the beast mode's head and back, and his robot mode legs/beast mode wings respectively.

• More information on Nightscream (Mcdonald's) at TFU.info

• Nightscream (Little Red Rooster Meal, 2001)

Strangely, when the McDonald's Happy Meal toys were released in Australia through the Red Rooster restaurant chain, the little plastic baggy they came in advertised that it contained Nightscream, Jetstorm, Rattrap or Tankor... but Nightscream was not actually part of the promotion, his place being taken instead by Megatron. Oh well!

Beast Wars Returns

• Nightscream (Ultra, 2005)

• ID number: BR-09
• Release date: March 26, 2005
• Accessories: 3 launching disks

Released in the second wave of the Beast Wars Returns line, Nightscream is a redeco of the Beast Machines toy, with lighter colors, more chest paint, and different leg paint apps. The toy retains all gimmickry from the previous version, as well as the brittle translucent plastic issue.

This figure, laike all Beast Wars Returns toys, was available only at Japanese Toys"R"Us stores.

Legends

• Convobat (Deluxe, 2016)

• ID number: LG-EX
• Release date: December 19, 2016

Released as an e-HOBBY exclusive, Legends Convobat is a redeco of the Titans Return Deluxe Class Mindwipe body, using a Headmaster redecoed from Infinitus. Convobat's modules are also compatible with any Deluxe-or-larger Titans Return-style toy. Convobat also comes with a pair of swords originally from Prime Deluxe Class Wheeljack, a Megalligator Headmaster redecoed from Nucleon, and Ape X Arms, redecoed from Titan Master Apeface's accessory, in Optimal Optimus's colors. It does not come with either of the accessories included with Mindwipe, though his shield would eventually see release with Magna Convoy.

This mold was also used to make Draculus.

Notes

• Story editor Bob Skir originally wanted the character of Nightscream to be a young female Transformer, patterned after the girl "Newt" from the movie Aliens. When the Powers That Be nixed that, Nightscream ended up becoming John Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day instead.^[1] In hindsight, maybe that wasn't the best idea.
• The pre-beast Nightscream seen in "Forbidden Fruit"'s flashback sequence was "The Agenda (Part III)"'s Prowl model with the wings removed.
• In the Japanese dub of Beast Machines, most of the characters underwent major changes for a more comedic bent. Nightscream in particular was turned into an extremely stereotypical gay man. Like all characters in the dub, he has his own vocal tic: A habit of chanting and repeating "Fū!", which was the catchphrase of Japanese comedian Masaki Sumitani when performing his "Hard Gay" persona (which was popular in the early '00s). Japanese Nightscream was obsessed with fashion and style, making various comments like an effeminate, preening fashionista. His pet name for Rattrap was "Aunty". In the course of the series, Silverbolt spent more time with Nightscream than he did Blackarachnia, as they were both flyers, which incited angry commentary from the jealous fembot (who derisively referred to them as the "homo-tachi" or "gay boys"). Silverbolt constantly denied her accusations, insisting he wasn't gay. Stay classy, Iwanami.
  • As an extension of his gay characterization in Japan, the Legends comic depicts Nightscream as a crossdresser whom the male characters constantly mistake for female. Nightscream's odd nickname, "Bat Aunt Chama" (コウモリのおばちゃま Kōmori no Oba Chama), is a reference to Japanese film critic Kazuko Komori (小森和子 Komori Kazuko), whose nickname was Komori no Oba Chama (小森のおばちゃま).

Foreign names

• Japanese: Nightscream (ナイトスクリーム Naitosukurīmu)
• French: Chauvesoucri^[2]
• Mandarin: Ànxiào (暗啸, "Darkscream")

References