Zarak (G1)

Zarak is a Decepticon-allied Nebulan Headmaster from the Generation 1 continuity family.

"Z to tha A to tha R to tha AK!"

Zarak is a powerful and corrupt Nebulan leader who transforms into the head of Scorponok. He often holds the title of "Lord" in certain continuities.

Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

Marvel The Transformers comics

"I may look like Jay Leno but I'm ten-times funnier!"

Lord Zarak was a high-ranking Peer of questionable morality and ethics. Though generally believing he worked for what was, in his own mind, the good of all Nebulos, he tended to be close-minded, dishonest, manipulative, self-aggrandizing, and excessively proud. He loved his daughter Llyra very much, but was a political rival of her young and idealistic lover Galen.

When the Autobots arrived on Nebulos, Lord Zarak became convinced of their sinister intentions and urged his peers to take swift and decisive action against the "invaders." Though several other members of the government council agreed with this course of action at first, Galen opposed the idea of lashing out before they had attempted a dialogue with the newcomers. As more voices spoke in opposition to his, Zarak was quick to denounce any declaration of peace the Autobots put forth as lies meant to lure Nebulos into a false sense of security. Zarak went so far as to engineer himself some of the "evidence" proving the robots' guilt, such as causing Blurr to seemingly attack a crowd of Nebulans. When the Autobots later approached the capital city of Koraja to try and further negotiate peace, Zarak urged Galen to open fire, though Galen ignored his histrionics. Ring of Hate!

Zarak didn't give up his dream of getting rid of the giant robots; he paid demonstrators to stage protests in Koraja, creating the illusion of popular support for his position. Later, Zarak took more direct action, and used information gleaned from the Autobots to contact their enemies, the Decepticons, and inform them of Fortress Maximus's whereabouts. Broken Glass!

When the malevolent Decepticon contingent led by Scorponok arrived on Nebulos, his mistake should have been obvious, but Zarak continued to claim he wanted nothing more than to make Nebulos safe. He even begun convincing himself of an alternate version of events that had led up to this point, in order to ease his nagging conscience. His first meeting with Scorponok reestablished his doubts, as the callous Decepticon roughly manhandled him, and declared that he would turn to conquering Nebulos as soon as he had dealt with the Autobots. Doomsday for Nebulos But when Scorponok found this task more challenging than he had initially believed it to be, Zarak delineated to him the advantages of the Headmaster process developed by the Autobots, and ultimately binary bonded with the Decepticon leader. Using Llyra as a messenger, he lured the Autobot Headmasters into a trap by claiming that he and his crew were being held hostage. As he led the Decepticons into battle, he soon found himself overwhelmed by the raw power at his command, nearly forgetting the things he cared about, even his own daughter. When Scorponok used Llyra and other Nebulans as a distraction, endangering her life, he experienced only a moment of hesitation before carrying on with the plan. Later, after the Autobots were defeated and Zarak separated from Scorponok, he was immensely relieved to find that Llyra did not recall exactly what had happened during the battle. Love and Steel!

Apparently those built-in guns on Hot Rod and Blurr don't count.

Zarak carried on with his campaign of aggression, battling the Autobots at every turn and claiming to the news media that his work was a victory for Nebulos, even as his forces began reducing the planet to rubble. The captive Galen tried to convince him of his own madness and battle lust, but not till he and his forces nearly destroyed the Nursery did he have the "moment of clarity" that let him see the true nature of his actions. As he related it to Galen, he was being overwhelmed by the force of Scorponok's personality, which he claimed was "reprogramming" him, causing him to act against his own will. With his last shreds of decency, he freed the Autobots so that Nebulos might still have a chance. He then immediately joined a battle against those selfsame Headmasters, his brief moment of independence lost. Brothers in Armor!!

Thanks to a bug previously planted in the Autobots' headquarters, the Decepticons learned that their enemies had manufactured a fuel convertor which would allow them travel to Earth. They put together a plan to steal it.

Zarak accompanied Scorponok into Autobot territory and there they issued a challenge to Fortress Maximus and Kord: the two faction leaders would fight a death match, and the winner would be declared triumphant in the greater conflict. Fortress Maximus accepted, and the duel commenced immediately. Though Scorponok secured an early advantage by clamping Maximus in his pincers, the Autobot turned the tables by targeting Zarak: a hit to the more vulnerable Nebulan caused Scorponok to momentarily seize up. He quickly recovered, and combined with Zarak in order to better protect him. The clash was brought to a premature end after Triggerhappy managed to sneak off with the convertor, and the Decepticons retreated with their prize in-hand. They soon made their way off-world, forcing the Autobots to follow. The Final Conflict

Flesh helmet, or metal chin?

The Autobots left Nebulos, and Scorponok ordered his Decepticons to pursue. In a battle within the caves of Mount St. Hilary, Zarak used his small size to pursue a potential human hostage into the deeper caves, where the larger Fortress Maximus could not follow. Zarak and Galen eventually came to fisticuffs, till Zarak used his mind-link with Scorponok to blast the ceiling over the human. Rushing to save the human, Galen was killed, to Zarak's delight. Unfortunately, the human then took control of Fortress Maximus, and the Decepticons were driven into retreat. Trial by Fire!

Zarak soon began experimenting on his own troops, developing the Pretender process to meld the organic and the mechanical into six powerful new warriors. Unfortunately for the evil scientist, Optimus Prime's mind found its way into his computer and gave the Autobots access to his files, allowing them to duplicate the process. Though Zarak/Scorponok tried to destroy Optimus by battling him in a digital landscape, he was nearly lobotomized when his opponent uploaded massive amounts of data into his processor. Pretender to the Throne!

He just came out from the phone booth.

Zarak used his humanoid form on several occasions to operate discretely on Earth. He first set up the Z Foundation, a Decepticon front operation designed to get humans to destroy the Autobots. Under his orders, Kreb, Brisko, and Lokos hired a quartet of bounty-hunters to test out new "jammer" devices the Decepticons had developed to paralyze their foes. The "Roadjammers," as they were dubbed, turned on the Decepticons after one mission, and used the devices on the three Headmasters. Zarak was forced to intervene personally, bringing Scorponok along to swat the bothersome humans. But one of them, Felix, had managed to modify the jammer to also take control of its victims motor functions. As a result, Scorponok was beaten down by his own minions. Left at the humans' mercy, Zarak was forced to use an "anti-jammer," which allowed the Headmasters to spring back to his aid, but also released the Autobot prisoners. Ca$h and Car-nage!

Scorponok managed to lure Highbrow out into a forest, where Mindwipe lay in wait for the Autobot. Using his powers of hypnosis, Mindwipe gave Highbrow a severe case of amnesia, and next convinced him that he had always been a Decepticon. Highbrow remained ill-at-ease, and so both Mindwipe and Scorponok transformed their heads into their Nebulan forms to defuse the tense atmosphere. It was at this time that the Decepticons learned of their fatal mistake: though Highbrow's mind had been blanked, Gort's had not! Free to think independently, the heroic Nebulan knocked out Vorath, taking Mindwipe out of the fight. But Zarak reached Scorponok before he too could be dealt with, and recombined with his larger partner. Gort outwitted them once more by pretending to return under Mindwipe's thrall in rejoining Highbrow, only to assume complete control of the Autobot's motor functions. The Autobot ripped Scorponok's head off his shoulders, causing him to black out from the forced separation. All in the Minds!

Highbrow carried Scorponok's head back to the Autobots' headquarters, unable to bring himself to terminate Zarak, and thus end Scorponok's threat permanently. Scorponok's Decepticons caught up to him before he could rejoin his fellow Autobots, and rejoined their leader's head to his body, returning him to full functionality. Revenge for Scorponok's decapitation would wait however, as the Decepticons were then swept up in a plot to stop a time storm from destroying the Earth, forming a tenuous alliance with the Autobots along the way. Zarak/Scorponok leaped into the fray despite word of caution from Soundwave, and wound up getting clobbered by the future-Decepticon Galvatron for his rashness. Time Wars

Leno invited his fellow talk show hosts Oprah and Arsenio to the wrestling match.

Following an invitation from Starscream, Scorponok's Decepticons met with Ratbat's troops in the latter's Arctic base. Due to Starscream's trickery, the two factions' alliance got off to a rocky start, which took a turn for the worse when Ratbat voiced his disgust for organic creatures. In response, Scorponok had Zarak transform and reveal himself, his Headmaster subordinates following suit afterwards. Ratbat and Scorponok's animosity came to a head when the latter learned that Ratbat was keeping information about the legendary Underbase to himself, resulting in a Decepticon Civil War erupting between their forces. Cold War!

After Scorponok emerged as dominant Decepticon leader, he established a new base of operations in New Jersey. Some time later, Zarak caught wind that the Autobot Micromaster Roadhandler was to participate in a professional wrestling match. He attended the show without his armor to avoid attention, and found himself intrigued by the spectacle. Returning to base, he and Scorponok contacted Cybertron, requesting they send over some Decepticon Micromasters. Zarak later approached Roadhandler outside the ring, acting as a "manager of talent" in the wrestling world. Revealing the Air Strike Patrol as the "talent" he was promoting, Zarak forced the Autobot into a match with Storm Cloud, threatening to "disrupt" all future matches if he refused. Roadhandler complied, but Zarak still planned on playing dirty; he instructed the rest of the Air Strike Patrol to abduct Roadhandler's fan club so they could force him to throw the match. The rest of the Autobot Micromasters foiled all of their kidnapping attempts however, and the Decepticons were forced to flee once Roadhandler emerged victorious. The Interplanetary Wrestling Championship!

Some time later, Scorponok found himself drawn into a battle at the MacDill Air Force Base by his newest recruits, the Air Strike Patrol. There, Optimus Prime tried talking to Scorponok about alliance and cooperation, of them both being manipulated by some unknown player. Scorponok wasn't very interested in listening, and transformed into his scorpion mode, splitting off from Zarak in the process, in order to blast the Autobots' shuttle. Optimus spoiled Scorponok's shot, and reiterated his point, telling Zarak that he was akin to a puppet being controlled by an unseen puppet-master. This comparison struck a chord with the Nebulan, and the Decepticons were made to stand down. Just as Zarak agreed to compare notes with his enemy, the Pretender-enhanced Starscream arrived to destroy all combatants on both sides. All the Familiar Faces! Zarak was too stunned at first to react at all, unable to comprehend how a seemingly dead foe had returned to strike him down. He was shaken out of his stupor by Optimus Prime, who convinced the Decepticons to aid him in a coordinated assault against their common foe. When Starscream showed that he could still feel pain despite his immense power, Zarak's confidence returned to him and he made full use of Scorponok's weaponry against the Pretender. Completely overwhelmed, Starscream's cowardice came to the forefront, and he begged Scorponok to allow him to return to the Decepticons. Zarak accepted, and he left the battlefield with his troops. Skin Deep

Optimus once more approached Scorponok, seeking an alliance, during a tumultuous time for the Decepticon leader. His troops had grown disillusioned with him after he had taken back Starscream under his command, only for the Seeker to go AWOL. As such, Scorponok readily accepted Prime's surrender, and ordered his troops to take away the Autobots' weapons, Pretender shells, and Nebulan partners. Zarak separated from his partner to ruminate on the situation, thinking to himself that those who had deserted him would surely return then, begging to be forgiven for their transgressions. He was still making up his mind over whether or not he would genuinely join forces with Optimus, or betray him and leave him to rot in a cell, when it was brought to his attention that several unidentified crafts were headed towards his base. Zarak was then caught off-guard by Hot Rod, Kup, and Optimus storming his command post. Hot Rod hoisted the Nebulon up, and threatened to rip him limb from limb. Zarak countered by having Scorponok's body grab Kup by the head, and threatened to crush it if he wasn't released. Optimus talked everyone down, and had both Hot Rod and Zarak release their hostages so that they could discuss an alliance on equal terms. Zarak rejoined with Scorponok and was about to officiate the union with a handshake when a rogue faction of Decepticons, the crafts detected earlier, began their attack on his headquarters. Surrender! The Decepticon base collapsed on itself, but Scorponok emerged from the debris, still fully capable of taking on the challengers thanks to his ultra-dense armor. After quickly batting aside the rank-and-file, Scorponok battled Shockwave man-a-mano, their brawl spilling over into the nearby city. Zarak separated from Scorponok during the duel, so that he could mock Shockwave's lack of spirit while his partner blasted away at their opponent. Zarak combined once more with his larger partner to deliver the finishing blow. ...All This and Civil War 2

Old rivalries had to be put aside when all Cybertronians on the battlefield were recalled to Cybertron by Primus, in order to prepare for the coming of Unicron. Zarak's personality began to shine through more and more as Scorponok found himself faced with his own mortality in the upcoming Armageddon. When the dark god appeared in Cybertron's orbit and began to bat away all opposition, Scorponok came to realize that he was truly Lord Zarak at his core; a flawed man tired of his involvement in a war that wasn't his. However, he soon managed to dispel his insecurities upon seeing his troops forfeiting their lives on the battlefield. Recalling his Decepticon heritage, Scorponok dashed into the fray and began to tear into Unicron's foot. Unicron retaliated with a blast of fiery breath, mortally wounding the Decepticon. Zarak and Scorponok perished as one, while Optimus stood over him and assured him he had done good in his final moments. On the Edge of Extinction!

Classics

Scorponok and Zarak's remains on Cybertron were discovered and studied by the Mini-Con Broadside. The New World

Regeneration One

Scorponok related the story of his experience with Lord Zarak in the Headmaster process. Scorponok eagerly gobbled up Zarak's genius to improve his intelligence, although he remarked Zarak wasn't as receptive to his warrior instincts.

Zarak was responsible for the "ghost protocol" that automatically reactivated the original Scorponok on Nebulos when his facility was breached by other Nebulans. Natural Selection, Part One

Ask Vector Prime

In Primax 489.0 Zeta, Monzo "Mo" Zarak's binary-bonded partner Scorponok tried to connect to Horus in the Argos Cluster to obtain the alien's power, only for the duo to be mutated, driven insane, and fused with their floating fortress, creating Majin Zarak. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/07/10

Generation 1 cartoon continuity

The Transformers cartoon

Voice actor: Stan Jones (English), Katsuhisa Hōki (Japanese), Francis Lax (European French), Walter Reichelt (German)

"Well, enough bargaining. Yah, we're not here to bargain, we're here to REMOVE *clap* YOUR HEADS."

Lord Zarak was a vile dictator, the leader of the Hive, a group of telekinetics who had enslaved the population of Nebulos. While the Hive could not control Transformers as they could normal machines, Zarak nonetheless used his machines to capture and bully the Decepticons into supplying Headmaster and Targetmaster forms for the other ten members. The Rebirth, Part 2

Zarak later rebuilt the Hive's underground city into the giant Headmaster body Scorponok, with a special suit that allowed him sole control over Scorponok. In the end, Zarak/Scorponok lost to Fortress Maximus and the Decepticons and the Hive fled Nebulos. Conflict between Zarak and Galvatron for leadership was present. The Rebirth, Part 3

Legends comic

Zarak used his mental powers to cross dimensions into the Legends World, where he had Scorponok's city pose as the "Hive" shopping center and planned to conquer this world. After recruiting Flywheels, who in turn brought him Grimlock and Brawn, Zarak began his assault only to be opposed by his enemies Stylor, Duros and Arcana, who had followed him and teamed up with the local Headmasters to become Double-Headmasters. Too prideful to join with Flywheels to become a Double-Headmaster himself, Zarak was defeated and sent back to his home universe. LGEX Headmaster Set Chapter

Wings Universe

Lord Peer Mortilus Olin Zarak III, Servant of the Realm, By Grace of the Spheres^[1] had a daughter, Llyra, who eventually grew up to reject her evil father. Not desiring to allow this to happen again, Mo fathered a son, Olin, with another woman. Olin was kept squarely under his father's watchful eye as he grew. Tornado - Decepticon Saboteur

Following the rebirth of Cybertron's Golden Age, Lord Zarak and Galvatron led their Decepticon forces away from Earth and Cybertron. They attacked Zarak's homeworld of Nebulos and many other planets in deep space, with Optimus Prime and his Autobots in hot pursuit of them through the cosmos. Generation 2: Redux

Mo eventually died, allowing Olin to inherit Scorponok. Tornado - Decepticon Saboteur

Transformers in 3-D

After the Clones failed to obtain the coordinates to Metascan Alpha, Zarak mocked Galvatron's skills and, combining with Scorponok, reasserted that he was leader of the Decepticons now. While the pair were still in disagreement, Optimus Prime broke into their base with the intention of destroying Galvatron's Nullification Cannon. During the battle, Scorponok took a swing at Prime which accidentally connected with the Cannon, causing it to explode. The War Against the Destructons, Chapter 1 of 3

Swamp of the Scorpion

Zarak stationed the mighty city-robot Scorponok as his base of operations deep within Nebulos's vast jungle-swamp, while he plotted to steal Nebulos's oil supply. Opposing his dreams of conquest were a young Nebulan and the Autobot Highbrow. Whether or not the Decepticons won depended on which decisions the Nebulan made! Swamp of the Scorpion

2005 IDW continuity

When we asked for "More Zarak", there was a miscommunication.

Scientist Mo Zarak was the reclusive chairman of the Zarak Consortium, a front for an inner circle of maverick scientists called the Cranium. He was approached by Scorponok, a renegade Decepticon who ignored the Transformers' Code of Interplanetary Conflict, who conspired with Zarak and his team of scientists to create a new, enigmatic technology. Within the inner sanctums of the Cranium's labs, at least one fusion of Nebulan and Cybertronian technology was created in the form of a re-engineered Nebulan specimen.

However, this research was halted 29 stellar cycles ago when an Autobot peacekeeper, Ultra Magnus, infiltrated the Cranium and engaged Scorponok in battle. Zarak, worried that their work would be destroyed in the crossfire, was killed by friendly fire. Zarak's wounded, opened torso revealed he himself had been re-engineered with Cybertronian technology. Scorponok escaped, with a major head wound, through an artificial wormhole generator. Spotlight: Ultra Magnus

Ask Vector Prime

Vector Prime stated that Zarak's full name and titles were Doctor Mortilus Quixotol "Mo" Zarak, DHME (Doctor of Higher Mechanical Engineering). Ask Vector Prime

Knights of Unicron

Zarak's Palace (presumably not unlike Caesar's Palace), located on Planet Nebulos, was the eighteenth venue for the Knights of Unicron on their 2014 "Till All Are One" tour. Knights of Unicron

Transformers vs. G.I. Joe

Zarak betrayed his people, the Neb'los, to the Decepticons and had the city of Scorponok built on their remains. Driven by the voices of the dead aliens, Scarlett traveled to Scorponok's Headmaster chamber where she decapitated Zarak and took over his binary bond with Scorponok. Headmasters

Ask Vector Prime

In Primax 1086.0 Kappa, the Nebulans successfully repulsed the Cybertronian invasion of their world. Years later, Lord Mortilus Zarak would salvage several of their corpses into the immense Zarak Maximus, which Zarak binary-bonded himself to. The process drove him mad, and he fled the world rather than harm his daughter Llyra or grandson Olin. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/06/11

Beast Wars: Uprising

Zarak was a Macromaster Decepticon, who in the 21st century infiltrated Nebulos as part of the Decepticons' infiltration protocol. He managed to do well at this, getting the planet's Hive Nations at war with the World Watchers. When the war was forced into the open, the Decepticons teamed up with the Hive, Zarak forming a partnership with the scientist Fausto Borx. The two quickly proved a terrifying duo, conducting horrific experiments on Autobot and Nebulon captives alike. It was these experiments that gave rise to the Headmasters. This led to the war on Nebulos reaching a stalemate, until Zarak and Fausto came up with a new idea. They turned the city of Kinodia into the mighty MegaZarak, the first double-Headmaster. In response, the Autobots created the equally impressive Fortress Maximus. The two city-bots fought a war that devastated what little was left of Nebulos, until the Autobots used Fausto's daughter Llyra as a distraction which caused the Fausto half of MegaZarak to pause, allowing Fortress Maximus to kill him.

Zarak himself endured, reappearing when Galvatron turned his attention to the planet Rebirth. This time, he declined to take a scientist as a partner, or anyone with any kind of emotional attachments that could "weaken" him. Instead, he looked for a partner with base cunning, and found such a being in Dante. Joined with the street brawler Caliburn as his Powermaster partner, MegaZarak was reborn. In the course of the war for Master, he would fight Fortress Maximus again, and this time it was MegaZarak who had the upper hand.

At some point between then and the forced end of the Great War, MegaZarak fought Fortress Maximus one last time. A Brush With Infamy–Prologue As only Fortress Maximus was still standing years later, it probably didn't end well for MegaZarak.

Commercial appearances

When the Technobots encroached on the Scorponok base, Zarak rushed out to oversee it transform to scorpion mode and attack his enemies. The Technobots merged into Computron to fight back, and so Zarak transformed into Scorponok's head and hurled a boulder at them. Technobots and Scorponok commercial

Games

Transformers Roleplaying Game

Zarak was an ambitious Nebulan with his own agenda, which made it difficult to work with his Headmaster partner, the cruel and controlling Scorponok. The Enigma of Combination Despite this, the pair enjoyed a seat on the Decepticon Conclave. Decepticon Directive

Toys

The Transformers

• Scorponok (Headmaster, 1987)

The Transformers Zarak is the Headmaster figure included with Scorponok, forming his partner's head in robot mode or piloting his cockpit in scorpion mode. As he is about the same size as a smaller Headmaster figure, Zarak actually makes a rather small head for the huge Scorponok, but this is covered up by Scorponok's large helmet.

As with all Headmasters, Scorponok has a flip-down panel on his chest which covers a spring-loaded mini-Tech-Spec-meter which gives readings for Speed, Strength, and Intelligence. The tumblers are activated when Zarak (or any other Headmaster unit) is plugged into his neck socket while in head mode.

This mold was redecoed along with the rest of Scorponok to make Super-God Masterforce BlackZarak.

• More information on Lord Zarak at TFU.info

Titans Return

Main article: Scorponok (G1)#Titans Return

War for Cybertron: Earthrise

Your friend, Palpatine, and your pal, Friendpatine.

• Scorponok (Titan Class, July 2020)
  • Hasbro ID number: WFC-E25
  • TakaraTomy ID number: ER-10
  • TakaraTomy release date: November 30, 2020

• Known designers: Shogo Hasui (TakaraTomy), Ken Christiansen (concept artist)

Receiving a new Titan Class figure for Earthrise, Scorponok now has a head inspired by his appearance in "The Rebirth" while his main body hybridizes inspiration from "The Rebirth", The Headmasters, and the original toy. Earthrise Scorponok's head detaches to become the Deluxe-sized "Lord Zarak", whose own head detaches as the Titan Master "Lord Zarak". Said Titan Master also fits in a compartment on the scorpion mode's back.

Notes

• For whatever reason, the head of Zarak's character model is the same as the one on Scorponok's character model, minus the antennae.
• Zarak is one of the first non-Cybertronian Decepticon leaders. The first if we ignore that business with Serpentor...
• "Mo" is given as Zarak's first name in IDW's Spotlight: Ultra Magnus and it is later also used in the Wings Universe via the "Tornado - Decepticon Saboteur" Facebook page.
  • Ask Vector Prime would later clarify that Mo is short for Mortilus in both instances, and further state that in other universes it can be short for other names, including Monzo in Primax 489.0 Zeta, Mollox, Mogahn, Modrex, and Mongo.
  • Further, Vector Prime would note that sometimes his name is even further afield, and that he has occasionally been known as Lord Kord Zarak, Dante, and even Scorponok.
  • Additionally, his middle names in Primax 509.28 Epsilon and Primax 1005.19 Gamma have significance; in the Epsilon universe, his middle name is Olin, and in the Gamma reality his middle name is Quixotol.
  • As to the significance of his first name sometimes being the same as a member of the Guiding Hand, Vector Prime speculated that it could be mere coincidence foreshadowing his eventual villainy, or it could be something more sinister.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Lord Zarak (ロード・ザラク Rōdo Zaraku)

References