Nemesis (Transformers)

The Nemesis
First appearance	Transformers #1 by Marvel Comics, September 1984
Information
Affiliation	Decepticons
General characteristics
Length	2.5 miles
Width	1.75 miles
Height	1.25 miles

The Nemesis is a fictional space ship in the Transformers toy and medai franchise. It is the main flag ship of the Decepticons, the franchise's primary antagonists. The ship was never referred to by any name in the original transformers series from 1984, the name 'Nemesis' is first used in the series finale of Beast Wars, a sequel to the original cartoon.

The Nemesis ship is not to be confused with the Transformers characters Nemesis Prime, Nemesis Strika and Nemesis Breaker.

Transformers: Generation 1

Marvel Comics

The backstory of the Nemesis in the Marvel Transformers comics was similar in that Megatron pursued the Ark in it. However, there was one important difference: in this continuity Shockwave was also aboard and was left on the ship when Megatron's troops attacked the Ark. Subsequently Shockwave piloted the Nemesis down to Earth and left it at the bottom of the Atlantic. Shockwave's subsequent entombment by the Dinobots meant the ship was forgotten until much later. According to the letters page in the US comics it was subsequently used by Shockwave as his base in the Civil War against Scorponok.

A continuity error arises when the UK stories are taken into consideration. In the Target: 2006 storyline the Nemesis is seen to still be orbiting the Sun. Galvatron upon building a massive laser cannon to destroy Unicron in the present, to ensure his own dominance in the future, tested it by blowing the distant Nemesis out of space.

Animated series

When the Autobots left Cybertron in the Ark, they were pursued by the Decepticons aboard the Nemesis. In the battle that ensued, the Nemesis attached itself to the Ark via its tractor beam and the Decepticons initiated a boarding. As the two factions battled aboard the Ark, the gravity of a nearby planet Earth dragged both ships down. While the Ark embedded itself in a volcano, the Nemesis crashed into the Pacific Ocean. This retelling of the crash of the ships comes from the original Generation One animated series. When Optimus Primal related it in Beast Wars, he claims that the Nemesis shot the Ark down. This is a result of the way Beast Wars treats the original cartoon series: as a historical legend.

In the Earth year 1985, an archaeological expedition uncovered the Nemesis in a mountainside in South America (how it got there is explained below), drawing the attention of the Decepticons, who attacked and reclaimed the Heart of Cybertron, which was installed into Megatron himself, giving him wildly increased powers, forcing Bumblebee, Perceptor and Brawn to shrink themselves down and enter his body in order to remove it.

Crew of the Nemesis

• Megatron
• Seekers
  • Starscream
  • Skywarp
  • Thundercracker
• Soundwave
• Reflector
• Rumble
• Ravage
• Laserbeak

In the Marvel Comics series the Nemesis was crewed by:

• Frenzy
• Buzzsaw

Beast Wars

The Nemesis would play a much more important role in the Beast Wars series, where it was finally named. When two small groups of Maximals and Predacons—descendants of Autobots and Decepticons from three centuries in the future—traveled back in time and wound up stranded on prehistoric Earth, the treacherous Predacon Tarantulas located the Nemesis and, unbeknownst to anyone else, began refurbishing it, outfitting it with a transwarp cell and a Predacon-sized command console, as well as the only other existing copy of the Covenant of Primus, which he had stolen before leaving Cybertron himself (the other copy was aboard the Ark). Following Tarantulas's death, however, Megatron acquired the ship and used it to attack the Ark. All seemed lost until Rhinox crashed an Autobot shuttle through the Nemesis, heavily damaging it. The ship was last seen disappearing over the horizon trailing fire and smoke, presumably gliding long enough for the Nemesis to reach and crash into a mountain in South America, where it was subsequently buried until the year 1985.

Dreamwave Productions

In Dreamwave's reimagining of the Transformers universe the Nemesis backstory remained the same. When Starscream returned to Earth after Shockwave's defeat he used the Nemesis as his base.

Toys

• Generation 1 Titanium Nemesis (unreleased)

In 2006, Hasbro planned to release a toy of the Nemesis in its Titanium toy line.

• iGear TF008 Command Base (not yet released)

An unofficial replica of the Nemesis' interior. Concept photos show that it will contain a main computer, a throne and a miniature Soundwave in cassette recorder mode.

Beast Wars Second

In Beast Wars Second, Nemesis was the name of Galvatron's planetoid fortress. An enormous ship that could drain entire worlds of their energy, Galvatron determined to attack Cybertron with it, but was stopped by Lio Convoy. Enraged, Galvatron set the Nemesis to self-destruct to kill his foes, but he only succeeded in trapping his foes in a wormhole, and confining his own troops to a black hole.

Transformers

The Nemesis does not appear in the live-action film, being that the Transformers transport themselves as protoform "comets". The Nemesis does appear in the sequel, revealed to be The Fallen's spacecraft. The ship crashed on one of Saturn's moons, becoming the Decepticons' base of operations as seen in Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday with Starscream using it to search for the Allspark (and ostensibly Megatron). Although it is described as the epitome of Decepticon science, it is merely a transport for Protoforms, and is actually much weaker than the Autobot equivalent ship, the Ark.

In Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen the Nemesis is seen crashed on one of Saturn's moons sometime in the past. The wreck is the headquarters of the Fallen and also the place where Decepticon hatchlings are kept in cocoons, lacking the Energon to be awakened. When Megatron is resurrected, he heads here where he meets with Starscream and the Fallen who orders Megatron to kill Optimus as he is the last Prime and the only one who can stop him. Later, after Optimus is killed, the Fallen detaches himself from the ship and leaves. After the Solar Harvester is destroyed it is presumed that the hatchlings perished due to lack of Energon, except for the few Megatron apparently retrieved and kept alive in Africa. The Nemesis is not seen again after Optimus' death.

Transformers Animated

The Nemesis makes a return for the 2008 Cartoon Network TV Series, where it is much bigger and stronger than the Ark. It chases the Ark, for it carries the Allspark. When the space bridge it goes through explodes, all the Decepticons, except Starscream, abandoned ship. Surviving the blast, Starscream tracks the Allspark to Earth but the Nemesis crashes on the moon. After Starscream abandons it on the moon to search for the AllSpark on Earth, Lugnut and Blitzwing later arrive in the episode "Lost and Found" and discover its ruins. They deduce that Megatron is still residing on Earth and, like Starscream, descend to find him. During the third season, Megatron and a disembodied Starscream utilize the Allspark fragment in Starscream's head to reawaken Omega Supreme from his stasis lock, and near the series finale use his transwarp ability to go back to the Nemesis. There, they rendezvous with Shockwave and make plans to build Omega Supreme clones. Starscream takes this opportunity to get another body (using his entire horde of protoforms and body parts). Megatron destroys the spare body parts and some of the protoforms once he discovers Starscream recovering. He utilizes three of the remaining protoforms (along with parts of the Nemesis) to create the planned Omega Supreme clones. The clones are similar in appearance to Lugnut (albeit with Omega Supreme's body) in head and coloration. The Nemesis is not mentioned or seen for the remainder of the series.

At three miles long, the Nemesis is the largest ship made on Cybertron as well as being flagship of the Decepticon fleet.

Transformers: Timelines

In the Fun Publications Shatterd Glass story, where the Decepticons are heroic and the Autobot the villains, the Ark and Nemesis appear as well. The Nemesis is gold in color, but otherwise is shaped like the Generation 1 ship. Launched from Cybertron in 2009, the Nemesis was commanded by Starscream. Among the crew of the was Astrotrain, Blitzwing, Bombshell, Cliffjumper, Crasher, Fasttrack, Frenzy, Heatwave, Overkill, Ravage, Sideswipe, Slugfest, Soundwave, Stonecruncher, Submarauder and Tailwind.

Transformers: Prime

Template:Transformers character Trypticon has appeared in Transformers: Prime as the Nemesis, the ship that brought the Decepticons to Earth. During the episode Armada, sabotage by the Autobot Bulkhead, causes the ship to crash. In the following episode, Flying Mind, Megatron uses Dark Energon to re-energise the ship. This causes Trypticon's dormant mind to reawaken. Trypticon takes control of himself, seeking the Iacon artefacts, and places Megatron and the other Decepticons in stasis after they interfere. Trypticon is eventually stopped by the Autobots' human allies, who flush the Dark Energon out of his system, returning him to stasis.

Trypticon is not referred to by name, only as "the Decepticon warship".

Books

Trypticon appears in the novel Transformers: Exodus. He first appears in his space station mode, then in his giant reptilian form. He is then ordered by Megatron to transform into a Nemesis-class battleship to pursue the Ark.

Animated series

The Nemesis is seen as the Decepticon's warship in Transformers: Prime. In the episode "Flying Mind", Megatron uses Dark Energon to restore power to the ship after its Energon Power generator is destroyed by Bulkhead in the previous episode "Armada". However the Dark Energon gives the ship a will of its own, and it turns on Megatron and the Decepticons (after locking all the Autobots stasis). It seeks to obtain the Relics of Iacon and begins decrypting the Iacon datafiles, and manages to uncover four previously unknown relics, one of which was located under the streets of New York City. Seeking to obtain the Iacon datafiles Jack, Miko, Raf, and Agent Fowler (who is knocked-out shortly after boarding the ship) on board, board the Nemesis without detection thanks to its inability to detect them due to not scanning for carbon-based lifeforms (though it eventually detects them after expanding its search protocols). It is eventually defeated by Jack, Miko, and Raf when they dump its Dark Energon supply.

Video games

Trypticon is a non-playable boss in the 2010 video game Transformers: War for Cybertron. In the Autobot campaign, he is ordered by Megatron to shoot down any Autobot transport ship attempting to leave the dying planet of Cybertron. In retaliation, Optimus Prime orders Jetfire, Silverbolt and Air Raid to fly and destroy Trypticon. The aerial trio enter Trypticon and destroy his cooling systems and pulse regulator, disabling his main weapon. Unfortunately, the attacks are not enough to disable Trypticon, so they enter his core and destroy his transformation cog. Forced to transform into dinosaur mode, Trypticon sets a course toward the Autobot city of Iacon with the intent of destroying it, but the Autobot trio destroy his flight pack, sending him crashing into the planet. Optimus Prime and his ground-based troops finish him off, sending him plunging into a pool of energon goo.