Dark Nova
From Transformers Wiki
- Dark Nova is a weird alien thingy from the Return of Convoy portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
Dark Nova (ダークノヴァ Dāku Nova) is a mysterious supernatural entity from outer space who sides with the Decepticons against the Autobots.
Known as the Ultimate Emperor, Dark Nova revived Galvatron, upgrading him into Super Megatron and then Ultra Megatron, and later merged with him to become the Star Giant (星の巨人 Hoshi no Kyojin). He commands armies of Novaroid drones and Galaman troopers, which make up the bulk of his forces.
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Fiction
Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Legends comic (1)
After their apparent deaths at the hand of Tarantulas's device during the Beast Wars, the two Vok that inhabited Tigerhawk instead lingered and reemerged in the 21st century. First creating Violengiguar to procure the Zodiac to prevent Optimus Prime from reviving, the pink-eyed Vok would assume the form of Dark Nova and take control of the Decepticons when Violengiguar fell in battle against the Powered Masters. He sometimes took the visage of Unicron to strike fear into the Transformers and also abducted the body of Optimus Prime with a Vok probe, but his efforts were for naught as it was recovered by the Battlestars. LG-EX Big Powered Prologue Part Two
The Battlestars comic and story pages
Almost immediately following the defeat of Violengiguar, Dark Nova rose to take his place as Decepticon Emperor and began unleashing his hordes of Galaman warriors upon the universe. Autobot Supreme Commander Dai Atlas realized that the only one capable of defeating Dark Nova was Optimus Prime and ordered the Battlestars to use the Zodiac to revive the legendary commander. Zone Part 10 The Battlestars Part 1
To thwart the Battlestars, Dark Nova stole the body of Optimus Prime and cloned it as the sinister False Convoy. With the help of Grandus, the Battlestars defeated False Convoy. The Battlestars Part 3 The Battlestars then invaded the Decepticon planet Lucifer, rescued Prime's body and used the Zodiac to resurrect him as Star Convoy. The Battlestars Part 4
To counter the threat of Star Convoy, Dark Nova did one better: He beamed a blast of weird energy down to the frozen corpse of Galvatron in the North Pole, resurrecting and upgrading him into Super Megatron. The Battlestars Part 6 From the Dark Nebula, Dark Nova snickered with glee as Super Megatron led the Galaman forces in raiding the Earth of all its energy. Super Megatron was subsequently driven from the planet by Star Convoy. The Battlestars special
Eventually, Star Convoy defeated Super Megatron, resulting in Dark Nova providing another upgrade, this time into Ultra Megatron. Dark Nova then revealed himself to aid Ultra Megatron in battle. The Battlestars Part 8 Ultra Megatron was ultimately defeated as well. Irritated, Dark Nova merged with Ultra Megatron, resulting in the Star Giant. The Battlestars Part 9 He proved nearly indestructible from the outside, so Star Convoy, Grandus and Sky Garry allowed themselves to be eaten. Inside the Star Giant's tummy, they began tearing him apart. After doing a fatal amount of damage, the trio escaped just as the Star Giant detonated. The only piece of the Star Giant which survived the explosion was a portion of his head, which happened to be housing the remains of Ultra Megatron, allowing the Emperor of Destruction to survive. The Battlestars Part 10
Legends comic (2)
When Megatron paid a visit to the Legends World, the Megatron of that universe didn't recognize him. Waspinator was more than happy to give the outsider Megatron's life story, including that time he was merged with Dark Nova and turned into the Star Giant. Bonus Edition Vol. 13
In 2038, Violengiguar took over a planet, transforming it into "Unicron Neo", LG-EX Big Powered Prologue Part One which served as a disguise for the second Dark Nova. LG-EX Big Powered Prologue Part Two First, Unicron Neo attacked Galvatron II's force on Chaar, which forced Galvatron to travel back in time to escape Unicron Neo. In the aftermath, Smokescreen and Dreadwing were provided with new bodies by the entity in exchange for their loyalty. Acquiring Beast Power and Megatron, Unicron Neo, now seeking Energon Z, went on to attack the Z Planet with his subordinates new and old. The sapient toy Transformers of the Legends World came to the Autobots' assistance and combined with the Mini-Cons to form the Unicron of Light. The two Unicrons battled, with Light seeming victorious. LG-EX Big Powered Prologue Part One
However, not was all as it seemed, as Dark Nova emerged from Unicron Neo and tore his opponent apart. After expounding on his origins as the second, yellow-eyed Vok, Dark Nova swore to destroy the Transformers so that the Beast Wars would never happen. Sending more minions to attack the Transformers, Dark Nova intensified his attack on the Z Planet. To fight against their powerful opponent, the generations of Autobot leaders present combined their energies to make a decisive attack on Dark Nova, only for the entity to use the previously consumed Megatron to transform into the Star Giant. LG-EX Big Powered Prologue Part Two The massive combined being attacked the planet, leaving the Autobot unsure about what next steps to make, as they did not want to hurt the redeemed Megatron, but Sonic Bomber had a go. Sonic Bomber Chapter As it turned out, the Powered Masters had already collected fragments of the Zodiac and were able to use them in the fight against the Star Giant and Violengiguar. Roadfire Chapter Goaded on by Megatron, who was barely hanging on to his own identity, Dai Atlas was able to decisively destroy the Star Giant and put an end to Dark Nova's reign of terror. Dai Atlas Chapter Epiloge
Ask Vector Prime
In Primax 092.0 Beta, Star Convoy and Fire Rodimus formed Supernova Convoy to defeat Star Giant and Ultra Megatron. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/08/15
Known liar and Herald of Unicron Sideways claimed to know enough about Dark Nova to not mess with him. Ask Sideways, 2015/07/07 Surprisingly enough, he might have actually been telling the truth on this one.
Notes
- In the second toy catalog story page, Dark Nova's robot mode made its first appearance in Return of Convoy (and in an itty-bitty picture, at that). This mode was never used in the story pages published in TV Magazine. Additionally, this story page shows Dark Nova being defeated in an altogether different way: Ripped in two by Star Convoy as the Autobot drives over him in truck mode.
- "Hoshi no Kyojin" (星の巨人), the Japanese characters from which the "Star Giant" name derive, appear to be an intentional reversal of "Kyojin no Hoshi" (巨人の星), which is the title of a classic Japanese baseball manga and anime (otherwise known as Star of the Giants). This may actually be a reference to Japanese Megatron voice actor Seizō Katō, who played main character Ittetsu Hoshi in that TV series.
- Dark Nova's appearance as "Unicron Neo" is directly based on the Beast Wars Neo greyscale Unicron prototype toy.
Connection with Unicron
Prior to 2019, absolutely no origin or back story of any kind had ever been established for Dark Nova. Where he came from, why he sided with the Decepticons and whether he has any connection to Cybertron and the Transformers at all was a complete mystery. Neither the story pages printed in TV Magazine nor the Battlestars manga elaborate upon the character in any substantial way.
Other material, however, implied some sort of connection between Dark Nova and Unicron, but the extent of such a relationship was originally unclear. The first Battlestars story page published in the toy catalogs used a spectral image of Unicron to represent Dark Nova. However, when Dark Nova appeared in the second toy catalog story page, he boasted a completely original design. Neither story page mentioned Unicron by name in the actual text, further muddying any relationship between the characters.
Officially, however, the uncertain connection between Unicron and Dark Nova was acknowledged by the Japanese timeline included with the Kiss Players manga. In the Battlestars segment of the timeline, a note is included, stating: "The Great Emperor Dark Nova, who looks very similar to Unicron, appears". Beyond that vague sentence, no further explanation was offered.
In the actual Battlestars fiction, one can pick out either intentional or coincidental similarities between Dark Nova and Unicron. Dark Nova displays the ability to resurrect and upgrade Transformers with beams of pure energy, much as Unicron did in The Transformers: The Movie. The fact that the Transformer receiving these upgrades and placed into Dark Nova's servitude is Galvatron may not be an accident. And in addition to that, Dark Nova meets his end in a fashion almost identical to Unicron's: The Autobots travel inside his body, fight off his defense mechanisms and destroy him from within, with only the head of Dark Nova's Star Giant form surviving the explosion.
All this would finally be resolved long after the fact in the Legends manga by Hayato Sakamoto, which established Dark Nova as a member of the Vok, and his appropriation of Unicron's appearance as evoking his fearsome reputation among Transformers in a callback to "Other Voices, Part 1".
