Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has a very wild Maximals cameo

Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Rhinox, Airazor — for legacy followers of the Transformers franchise’s Beast Wars animated TV collection, these are family Maximal names. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts adapts them to stay motion for the primary time ever, nevertheless it additionally brings in a fifth Maximal, and his inclusion on this film is a fairly bonkers deep lower. Somebody behind this film is clearly a critical Transformers lore specialist — this explicit Maximal is a reference to Transformers conference fiction from the start of the millennium.

The gorilla-shaped Optimus Primal (Ron Perlman) leads the Maximals for many of Rise of the Beasts, however in its opening scene, he’s second-in-command to a second metallic gorilla named Apelinq. That Maximal is surprisingly distinctive, a unique design from Optimus Primal’s gorilla mannequin — he has a white mohawk, metallic tusks, and intimidating blades tucked into his forearms.

Voiced by David Sobolov (who additionally voiced Battletrap and Rhinox on this movie, in addition to the unique Beast Wars cartoon’s Depth Cost), Apelinq passes the mantle of Maximal management onto the smaller Optimus Primal so Apelinq can stall their enemy Transformer Scourge (Peter Dinklage), and ship the opposite Maximals to security with the Transwarp Key, a McGuffin Scourge needs on behalf of his planet-eating grasp Unicron (Colman Domingo).

Apelinq’s look is a surprising however welcome feature-film debut for a personality who first appeared as a toy unique to BotCon 2000. If Rise of the Beasts’ 5 credited screenwriters felt {that a} totally different gorilla character ought to precede Optimus Primal because the Maximals’ chief, Apelinq is an apparent however obscure selection. The unique Apelinq was a redeco of 1998’s Transmetal Optimus Primal in black, crimson, and inexperienced, and BotCon solely produced 1,200 copies of the determine. Being a Transmetal meant that Apelinq remodeled from a furry, natural robotic right into a robotic gorilla, however with a 3rd transportation mode. (In Apelinq’s case, this meant his robotic legs partially remodeled right into a surfboard for the gorilla mode. The ’90s, of us!)

300 years into the way forward for the Transformers setting, when Maximals rule Cybertron after the tip of the Nice Warfare, Apelinq was the commander of Cybertron’s legendary do-or-die strike group, the Wreckers. (These characters appeared in stay motion in 2011’s Transformers: Darkish of the Moon.) However Apelinq’s true ardour was scientific analysis and engineering. He was greatest identified for his Switch Interlink, an invention that allowed Apelinq to “obtain digital objects into actuality.” This was admittedly a extra spectacular superpower earlier than 3D printers grew to become widespread, nevertheless it allowed Apelinq to basically pull weapons out of skinny air. In observe, largely this was an try to elucidate his toy’s deployable “digital digiboard.”

Apelinq’s character historical past was chronicled throughout a number of toys and extra Transformers conference fiction. He was first thrown again in time from the longer term to the Beast Wars, the place he witnessed the Omega Level, an epic battle with the Unicron-powered Predicon Shokaract. This battle paradoxed itself out of existence, leaving Apelinq as the one participant who remembered it occurred.

He was returned to his time, the place he wound up on the Vehicon-controlled Cybertron seen in 1999’s Beast Wars sequel collection, Beast Machines. However as an alternative of becoming a member of Optimus Primal’s group of Maximals of their 26-episode try to free the planet from Vehicon management, Apelinq was tasked by the Oracle to take his Wreckers off planet to cease the evil gangster Cryotek from possessing the Divine Mild, an artifact that will let the Predacon take management of Vector Sigma itself.

Alongside the way in which, Apelinq merged with Primal Prime (one other Optimus Primal toy in numerous colours), which concerned being remodeled out of beasthood and turning into a truck cab for the Matrix-powered guardian Sentinel Maximus. Now renamed Hyperlinq, he and Sentinel Maximus had been despatched throughout varied Transformers continuities underneath task from the Transformers’ creator god Primus himself, which has acquired to have made Apelinq/Hyperlinq — a magic-hating, insistent atheist — chafe somewhat.

A variant of Apelinq returned to BotCon in 2014, with a brand new toy (one other Optimus Primal in numerous colours) and a narrative to match. This time, the Maximal engineer was the scientific officer for the Cybertronian Knights, a Wreckers-like group led by former Cheetor Alpha Trizer. He and the Knights fought pirate Transformers, such as you do. Although he wasn’t the identical Apelinq as he was beforehand, he nonetheless had his Switch Interlink, which he used to summon his digital digiboard. The model of Apelinq from Rise of the Beasts by no means grew to become Hyperlinq, that we all know of — he seems to die on this film, although in a franchise the place characters are so incessantly killed and resurrected, I wouldn’t rely him out simply but.

In case you’ve been questioning, sure, “Apelinq” was at all times only a corny pun on the phrase “Uplink,” with Apelinq’s creator, BotCon organizer Glen Hallit, placing the “Q” in there solely so there’d be some title continuity when he grew to become “Hyperlinq.” And characters say this title out loud! In a theatrical blockbuster film, but!

I do, nonetheless, remorse to tell everybody that in Rise of the Beasts, whereas Apelinq has been remodeled from obscure conference unique right into a heroic Maximal commander, he doesn’t at any level obtain something digital into actuality. Not even a digital digiboard.