Tankor

Tankor is the name of several fictional characters from the various Transformers universes.

Beast Machines

He is a Vehicon General who was in charge of the Tank Drones. His tech specs portray his unintelligence as a ruse he uses to make his enemies underestimate him. He carried the spark of the Maximal Rhinox.

His motto is word for word the same as that used on the Generation 1 Dinobot Grimlock, but he seems to have more of a connection to The Incredible Hulk.

In Beast Machines, Rhinox's spark was taken by Megatron, becoming the Vehicon General Tankor, with no memory of his previous life. As Tankor, he supported Megatron's ambitions with single-minded devotion. Tankor was the powerhouse of the three original Vehicon Generals. Between his simple speech patterns of "Tankor, SMASH!" and his rage, he was intellectually dim, but he could display surprising cunning in battle, such as setting off an explosion large enough to stun every combatant besides himself, who could withstand such unconventional assault.

Each of the three original Vehicon Generals had their own personalized command codes; Tankor's was: "Tankor Pulverize!!!"

In one episode, Optimus Primal, still unaware of Tankor's prior identity, used his spark telepathy to convince Tankor that Megatron was his enemy, and to join the Maximals. Megatron countered by deleting Tankor's memories of the events and blocking any further attempts to contact Tankor's mind (Mercenary Pursuits).

After the Maximal Rattrap attempted to interface Tankor's CPU, Tankor regained the blocked memories of his time as Rhinox. Optimus Primal chose not to forcibly undo Megatron's Vehicon reprogramming of him in fear that would make the Maximals no better than Megatron. This proved to be a mistake as Tankor remained with the Vehicons, now with Rhinox's genius and memories. Tankor hid the new knowledge of his identity from his fellow Vehicons, and continued to act like the old Tankor in their presence.

While Tankor agreed with Megatron's ideal Cyberton, he saw the partially organic Megatron as unfit to lead it, preferring himself as its ideal leader given his pure technological make-up and his experiences as both Maximal and Vehicon (Rhinox expressed a similar view when he was reprogrammed as a Predacon in the Beast Wars Series) and planned to overthrow Megatron. Tankor reprogrammed the Diagnostic Drone to only obey him so it could retrieve the Key to Vector Sigma, which could purge all organics from Cybertron, like the Maximals. Then he manipulated the Oracle to send false visions to Optimus so that the Maximals would find the Plasma Energy Chamber and use it to destroy Megatron. Tankor was killed at the end of the first season of Beast Machines when he was going to destroy Megatron but it was revealed that all Vehicons were hard-wire programmed with fail-safes that prevent them from harming Megatron. It was revealed that Megatron knew of his deception all along. When he was killed, Tankor became Rhinox again and rejoined the Matrix, forgiven for his crimes as Tankor.

In the U.S. he was voiced by Paul Dobson prior to the re-awakening of his prior memories. After that, he was voiced by Richard Newman using Rhinox's old voice, although on occasion he used his Tankor voice to deceive the Vehicons.

According to DVD commentary by Bob Skir, Tankor's character was influenced by the Incredible Hulk.

Dreamwave Productions

Tankor would make a very surprising cameo appearance in Dreamwave's Transformers:Armada Comic. With Optimus Prime having disappeared to an alternate dimension devastated by Unicron. As Jetfire attempted to locate him through Spacebridge links to other dimensions, one of these clearly shows Tankor.

Voice actor plays

Tankor appeared in the 2006 TransformersCon voice actor play. Voices in the play were performed by a variety of volunteers and the actual voice actors attending the convention. In this play various Transformers from different timelines and realities were swept up in a repeat wave and transported along with Unicron to Earth. The Transformers included the original Tracks, Ariel, Cosmos and Megatron, Beast Wars Tarantulas, Robots in Disguise Sky-Byte and Beast Machines Tankor. Eventually the Transformers were able to learn that the death of Unicron in 2005 was what created the repeat wave. They defeated Unicron by tricking him into transforming and using up his power, then using the Key to Vector Sigma program (which Tankor had brought with him) to tap into the power of Vector Sigma itself, and through it the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. With Unicron severely drained the various Transformers faded back to their original timelines. Before returning to his timeline Tankor thanked his Autobot ancestors, telling them it was an honor to work with them.

Toys

• Beast Machines Tankor (2000)

Like many of the Beast Machines figures, the toy of Tankor bore only as passing resemblance to the animation model on the television series. Furthermore, though the toy was named "Tankor" and said so on its box; the instructions oddly misspell his name as "Tankorr." A later toy meant to represent the Tank-Drones resembled Tankor's animated incarnation more closely.

• Happy Meal Tankor

There was also a Happy Meal toy of Tankor available from McDonalds which resembled his appearance on the series. In some countries this figure was released in different colors.

• Beast Wars Returns Tankor

In the series, Tankor and his Drones looked identical. In Japan, the Tank-Drone mold (repainted in more show accurate colors) was used to represent Tankor in the Beast Wars Returns toy line.

Transformers: Universe (2003)

Tankor returned as a Decepticon in the ranks of Unicron’s army. According to his tech spec and appearances in the comic book series, this was a Tankor from a parallel universe were Tankor never recovered his memory and so was not killed. Apparently Jetstrom was restored as Silverbolt for there was also an Obsidian, but no Strika because Tankor was still active. Obsidian therefore made Tankor his new partner and together they overthrew Megatron and ruled Cybertron themselves. Unicron, impressed by their ruthlessness, abducted them from their own dimension. Impressed in turn by Unicron's massive power, the two agreed and became his servants.

This Tankor more closely resembled the Tankor toy than the CGI Tankor. He has massive firepower and durability, but he still relies on Obsidian as the brains of their partnership. In the final battle between Unicron's Army and The Children of Primus, Tankor was bested by a surprising foe - Rhinox, resurrected by Optimus Primal as his lieutenant, giving Rhinox a chance to face his darkest demon: himself as Tankor.

Toys

• Transformers: Universe Tankow with Obsidian

Transformers: Universe (2005)

The name of Tankor was used again in Transformers: Universe as a Micromaster Autobot who turned into a locomotive, and was part of a U.S. release of the Japanese Sixliner team. He has not appeared in any official fiction.

Toys

• Transformers Universe Micromaster Tankor (2005)

He is a repaint of the original Micromasters Alan and Altan. Tankor came with the head and rifle for Rail Racer.

Transformers: Cybertron

The name was used yet again in the Transformers: Cybertron line as a Mini-Con aligned with the Autobots who turned into a tank. He was a repaint of the Mini-Con Wreckage. He came packaged with Cybertron Shockwave. Neither has appeared in any official fiction.

After the Unicron Battles, many Mini-Con choose to remain on Earth in hiding and separate from the ongoing conflict between the Autobots and Decepticons. Tankor, with other Mini-Cons, hid among the armed forces of Earth so that they could protect the humans from Shockwave and the Sky Attack Team. The desire to protect human life is nearly an obsession for Tankor; he exists solely to prevent the damage inflicted by Shockwave and his aerial companions. The return of the Transformers to Earth has forced them once again to take sides in a larger conflict.

Toys

• Cybertron Tankor (2005)

Shockwave and Tankor were included with the Decepticon Mudflap as a promotional item at Target Stores in 2006.

Transformers: Universe (2008)

See Octane/Tankor