Carnivac

Carnivac is a minor antagonist in the Transformers franchise, especially Generation One. He originally appeared as a figure in the 1988 toyline.

Although Carnivac was presented as an antagonist in the toyline and in his sole Marvel US appearance, the Marvel UK comics portrayed him as an anti-hero who allied with and eventually joined the Autobots.

Marvel Comics
Carnivac was the leader of the Decepticon Mayhem Squad, an elite team formed on Cybertron. With the Decepticon hierarchy concerned about Galvatron, who had made it clear he wanted to be supreme Decepticon leader and was unwilling to work with everyone, it was decided to ally the Mayhem Squad with the Autobot Wreckers and send the joint team to Earth to deal with him. Carnivac was under orders to kill any Wreckers who survived. However, their attack on Galvatron's base was a disaster, not least because Galvatron turned out to be backed up by Megatron (along with Scourge and Ravage). Despite his orders, with Springer having saved him during the battle, Carnivac leaped at Megatron when he was about to kill Springer. However, nearly the entire team was wiped out, with the others only surviving because Rodimus Prime arrived with a combined team of Autobots and Decepticons from two different time periods. Carnivac and his friend Catilla were the only Mayhems to survive.

Stranded on Earth after Megatron stole their ship, Carnivac and Catilla joined up with a new arrival, Snarler, and contacted Decepticon leader Scorponok for help. Scorponok fitted them with Pretender Beast shells and gave them a refuelling in return for them attempting to kill Spike Witwicky, the Headmaster partner of Fortress Maximus. Carnivac and Snarler attacked Spike but were defeated when he summoned Fortress Maximus.

Carnivac and Catilla sought out the survivors of their old Autobot allies, Springer, Broadside and Inferno, and suggested pooling resources. Snarler objected, threatening to charge them with fraternising with the enemy unless they killed the Autobots. When they ended up under attack from a group of limbo demons which had escaped when Skids had been freed from limbo by the death of Galvatron, Snarler said he would accept letting them die but instead Carnivac and Catilla helped their friends defeat them. Springer formed the group into the Survivors. Catilla accepted his offer to join the Autobots but Carnivac made it clear he was joining them as a Decepticon.

Carnivac soon tired of Springer using the group in rescue missions and struck out alone. Despite this, he helped protect a town from a robotic hellhound, only to learn it was a trap set by Snarler, who was backed up by a new Decepticon Mayhem Squad. Carnivac managed to take Needlenose and Octopunch out of the battle and tried to minimise human casualties. Catilla came to his aid but was killed by Bludgeon, shortly before the Autobots drove off the remaining Mayhems. Carnivac vowed revenge.

Although Springer advocated waiting and making a plan, Carnivac again struck out alone, managing to sneak into the Mayhems' island base during an unscheduled drill and kill Needlenose. He later attacked Bludgeon but failed to take him by surprise and ended up being pursued by the whole Mayhem Squad. Carnivac detached from his Pretender shell and sent it out under mental control, letting Spinister blow it up. With the Mayhems believing him dead, he managed to kill Snarler and Spinister. Finding remaining Mayhems Bludgeon, Octopunch and Stranglehold overcome by the Autobot Earthforce, who Springer had summoned, he stopped the Autobots killing them. Prowl complimented him on his mercy and welcomed him into the Earthforce. Carnivac retorted that it wasn't mercy: He knew that being captured instead of dying in combat would hurt the trio's sense of honour. He accepted he was now an Autobot but warned he would always be a Decepticon at heart.

Carnivac later joined the other Survivors in battling Starscream when he tried to hijack an oil tanker. He made a point of referring to himself as an ex-Decepticon, providing a distraction so Skids and Inferno could overpower Starscream.