#nightfright

Dear Batty Bountiful,

Nightfright was the brother of the Predacon known as Screechwing, and shared his alternate mode of a large cybernetic bat, though he was red in color. As a bounty hunter, Nightfright was well known for taking jobs from the Predacon Council where he was tasked with hunting down turncoats to the Predacon cause.

I've already told you of how he slew the Dinobot Terrorsaur and was slain by Grimlock in retribution, but Nightfright's targets were many. In one particularly harrowing job, he was sent after a mark by the name of Bonecrusher, a former Predacon who transformed into a bulldog. Nightfright tracked Bonecrusher to the refuse reclamation center he'd come to live in, and though the canine Maximal fought viciously, he succumbed to Nightfright’s phobia-inducing hypno-waves; Bonecrusher was overcome by visions of his greatest fears, leaving him defenseless to the bounty hunter.

Still yet another victim of Nightfright's was the grasshopper Maximal, Kickback. A craven coward, he left the Predacons and cozied up to the Autobots with promises of secret intel. Nightfright discovered that Kickback had a taste for organic snacks, and set a trap for the ravenous Insecticon… by ensnaring some aliens to use as bait. While Kickback devoured them, Nightfright snuck up behind the Maximal and blasted him.

There is one last job of Nightfright's, however, which truly lays bare his vile barbarism—his hunt for Apelinq, a particularly noble Predacon who deserted over moral objections' to the Council's cruelty. Apelinq did not resettle among the Autobots, but instead took refuge on a distant planet, where he became protector of a group of indigenous natives. Rather than target the formidable Apelinq directly, Nightfright terrorized his protectorate, picking them off after sundown one by one… until Apelinq was near-catatonic with grief and guilt, unable to muster the will to defend himself against the bat Predacon.

Dear Dinosaur Denominator,

Not to my knowledge, but there is one individual to whom he bears a very strong resemblance. Like Magmatron, he possessed a tripartite spark which could be split across three separate beast modes, each embodying a different facet of his personality: Overkill, the Gigantosaurus; Divebomb, the Quetzalcoatlus; and Splashdown, the Elasmosaurus. As a combiner, they could merge to form a monstrous beast mode referred to as the “Dinosaurer”, in addition to their robot mode combination. He was named Trypticon—after the monstrous beast from Cybertronian legend.

Trypticon was eternally loyal to the Predacon Council, and was the first leader of the cel that came to be known as the “Dinobots”, named for their prehistoric alternate modes. In fact, Trypticon considered it his right to command all saurian Predacons, using intimidation to recruit even experienced veterans like Reachout, and he demanded viciousness from all of his warriors.

For much of the Cybertronian Civil War, Trypticon's domineering and cruelty went uncontested, but eventually the other Dinobots had enough, and a number of them conspired to bring about his downfall. They prevailed by isolating Trypticon's three components and preying on their individual weaknesses. Overkill was provoked into a berserker rage by Sludge, Snarl and Terrorsaur, who put him down once his mind became consumed by blind anger. For Divebomb, Terranotron and Grimlock took advantage of his pride, luring him high into the sky until he was within firing range of the team's ship, the Megalosaur. As for Splashdown, it was simply a matter of isolating him on dry land, where he was vulnerable to Slapper’s earthquakes and Triceradon’s flame breath.

Dear Terrorsaur Interrogator,

Indeed, though he barely resembles the Beast Warrior you might already be familiar with. For one, he transformed into a tyrannosaur, rather than a pteranodon, and he was nowhere near as traitorous. In fact, he was a loyal member of the group you may know as the Dinobots!

Originally a Predacon, Terrorsaur was known for being boisterous, gregarious, and friendly, despite what his name might imply. In fact, he was the glue that held the group together, as the other Dinobots were surly and always quarreling for control of the group. Terrorsaur put an end to that when he chose to step aside during one of their leadership contests, leaving Grimlock the uncontested victor. Following his example, the remaining Dinobots accepted this without a qualm.

In battle, Terrorsaur was ferocious, showing little mercy to Autobots. His chief weapons were his Tail Lancer, which could both clamp down on and impale his foes, the dual Anchor Cannons on both hips, and the Acid Shot cannon hidden in his right arm.

In the waning days of the Civil War, the Dinobots grew dissatisfied with the Predacon Council's leadership, and decided to defect. However, joining the Autobots did not come without a price, as the Council immediately set bounty hunters upon them. Terrorsaur unfortunately met his end at the hands of the mercenary Nightfright, who tore out his spark with his own fangs. Though the Dinobots managed to get their revenge, Terrorsaur's death saddened them all, with Grimlock herself vowing to make sure his sacrifice would never go to waste. From then on, they made it their mission to hunt down any remaining Predacon bounty hunters and destroy them, to ensure no others met Terrorsaur's fate.