Polar Claw

Polar Claw is a Maximal from the Beast Wars portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

He'll steal your purse and your pic-a-nic basket.

Ferocity and frenzy are what Polar Claw possesses in abundance. Many a foe have sampled his righteous ire. But when it comes to his comrades and subordinates, his sense of fair play is legendary. He believes in a disciplined, principled army of peacekeepers and strives to make sure the Maximal military remains as such. Polar Claw is very protective of the peace granted by the Pax Cybertronia, and has no qualms about handling any upstart Predacons with extreme prejudice.

He is partnered with a robotic bat drone called Batscout, which aids in tracking and surveillance operations.

Fiction

3H comics

Hey, do I go up and touch your face?

During the final battle with Shokaract, several realities converged into a single, apocalyptic timestorm. Beast Warriors from alternate realities emerged, including Cybershark, B'Boom, Drill Bit, Transquito, Air Hammer, Polar Claw, and unidentified others, though all of them were summarily defeated. Terminus

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

After the Maximals left prehistoric Earth at the end of the Beast Wars, Magmatron travelled to the organic world to activate all protoforms that had been left behind, planning to turn them into Predacons in the process. Polar Claw was among the protoforms activated to this end, but was not reprogrammed into a Predacon thanks to Razorbeast's interference. Shell Game #1

2006 IDW Beast Wars continuity

He hasn't gotten along well with the other Transformers since the Oscars.

Polar Claw was a drill sergeant at the Maximal Military Academy. Beast Wars Sourcebook #3

Polar Claw was one of the protoform stasis pods jettisoned from the Maximal survey vessel Axalon when it was forced to crash-land on prehistoric Earth. The Predacon general Magmatron led a small group (that included the Maximal agent Razorbeast) back in time to place these protoforms into chronal phase and reprogram them into Predacons, and lead this army against the Maximals in the present. However, Razorbeast placed a viral code in Magmatron's Predacon shell program, allowing a number of the protoforms to retain their Maximal identity. It was Spittor who was unfortunate enough to witness Polar Claw's activation. The giant polar bear summarily squashed Spittor. The Gathering #1

Polar Claw worked his way toward Razorbeast's summoning signal, The Gathering #2 and eventually arrived in time with reinforcements to help fight off an army of Predacons commanded by the revanant Ravage. In the subsequent battle, Polar Claw stomped on Terragator. The Gathering #4

Sometime later, when Ravage's Predacons hit the Maximals again, Polar Claw was among the ground forces defending their base. The Ascending #1 He struggled against Powerpinch and Drill Bit until the arrival of the Pack, Lio Convoy's secret special forces unit. Unfortunately, the Unicron agent Rartorata followed injecting Razorbeast with Angolmois, forcing the Maximals and Predacons to band together to fight their mutual foe and prevent Unicron's return to Cybertron. The Ascending #2 Polar Claw chafed at having to watch the battle from the ground, thirsting for his turn at the enemy. After Rartorata was temporarily brought down, he reported the situation to Lio Convoy, considering the fact that Transquito had to inject his full reserve of nacro-virus to bring down the Blendtron be poetic justice considering what Rartorata did to Razorbeast. However, the Unicron servant's allies Drancron and Elephorca followed, forcing those Maximals and Predacons in fighting condition (of which Polar Claw was among) to escape to The Pack's transwarp cruiser while Razorbeast and those left behind held them off. The Ascending #3

During the battle on Cybertron against Shokaract, Unicron's acolytes attacked the Maximals, hitting Polar Claw and Drill Nuts. It is unknown if they were among the survivors after Shokaract was defeated. The Ascending #4

Beast Wars: Uprising

Polar Claw was a member of the Maximal Command Security Force, a corrupt cop in a corrupt system. He and his partner Snarl enjoyed busting Maximals for minor infractions in order to collect energon fines and flaunt their power. While accosting Noctorro for staring at his reflection too long (seriously), the MCSF officers were confronted by Lio Convoy. Recently having had his eyes opened about the injustices of his society, Lio Convoy had been wandering in search of a fight, and he started one with Polar Claw and Snarl, utterly humiliating them in combat while Noctorro fled to safety. Broken Windshields

2005 IDW continuity

The Revenant was a lot different in its first draft.

Polar Claw became part of a secret society known as Mayhem after the war, using advanced Chimeracon upgrades to disguise themselves on Earth. Their agenda was to take out the "ruling class" of both factions and they started with Prowl, plotting to expose all his dirty deeds. Sins of the Wreckers #2 Polar Claw struck the first blow by tracking Verity Carlo and attempting to seize the Aequitas file from her, but Stakeout drove off the "polar bear". Sins of the Wreckers #1 In their second go-round, Polar Claw was the first Mayhem to transform when he tried to slow down Impactor and Guzzle.

That went poorly for him: he was beaten, Carnivac abandoned him as "already dead" rather than parlay, and Guzzle ripped him in half to drink his energon. Er, the cause still lives? Sins of the Wreckers #2

2021 Beast Wars comic

The protoform that would become Polar Claw was contained in one of the many stasis pods on the Axalon that were ejected when the ship was caught in a battle with the Darksyde and left in orbit above the planet they crashed on. Savage Landing Part 1 The pod was soon brought down to the surface due to sabotage carried out by Blackarachnia. Pod Part 2 Before he could activate, Polar Claw was discovered by the Vok who, using knowledge gleamed from Cheetor, reprogrammed him to serve their interests.

Part of the "Children of the Vok", Children of the Vok Polar Claw was sent out to capture Optimus Primal, easily overpowering the rage-induced Maximal leader while Saberback detained Megatron. Primal Rage

When the two leaders awoke, the Children explained that the Vok sought to be rid of the Cybertronians until their experiments on the planet were complete and Polar Claw suggested that both crews should leave outright. When Primal and Megatron escaped their cells thanks to their beast modes, the Children attacked again. In beast mode, Polar Claw charged Megatron, only to be grabbed in the dinosaur's jaws. Despite the Child's request to be released for a more honorable battle, Megatron simply blew a hole through Polar Claw, killing him and then Saberback not long after. Unwilling to lose more of their subjects, Pakak possessed Polar Claw's corpse to speak to Megatron, only for the Predacon to blast the avatar, which prompted the Vok to show their true forms. Children of the Vok

Reanimated through Vok science, Polar Claw joined the rest of the Children of the Vok in an attack of the Darksyde only for the group to withdraw following the death of their masters. The End

Toys

Beast Wars

He's always taken pride in his aim, ever since his days on Cybertron.

• Polar Claw (Mega, 1996)

• Takara ID number: C-2
• Accessories: robotic bat/paw
• Known designers: Yuichiro Hira (TakaraTomy), Masakatsu Saito (concept artist)

Part of the very first Beast Wars Mega assortment, Polar Claw transforms into a polar bear. Rearing him up on his hind legs in beast mode exposes a pair of nasty-looking fangs. His beast-mode forelegs become shoulder-mounted weapons in robot mode: his left leg has a spring-loaded attack claw, while his right launches from the shoulder stub and transforms into his partner "robotic bat". His robot head has a face on both sides; a normal robot mode one, and a "mutant" face.

The Takara version of the toy, "Whiteclaw" released in the first wave of the Japanese Beast Wars line, appears to have no noteworthy differences from the Hasbro version, but he does come with a bio card.

This mold was also used to make Grizzly-1/Barbearian and Survive, and was the basis for the non-toy character Ursa Magnus.

• More information on Polar Claw at TFU.info

"Arctic Showdown"? Good luck, Scorp.

• Hokkyoku no Taiketsu: Whiteclaw VS Scorpos (Vs set, 1996)

• ID number: VS-2
• Accessories: "Bat Scout"/paw

In Japan, "Whiteclaw" was available both as an individual and in an "Arctic Showdown" (北極の対決) two-pack with Scorpos. Both toys are identical to their individual releases.

Amusingly, both toys are packaged in beast mode with their smaller partners deployed, making it look like the fight isn't going so well for Whiteclaw.

Merchandise

Beast Wars Transformers Mutating Card Game

You think he's scary, you should see his brother: Bi-Polar Claw.

• Beast Wars Transformers Mutating Card Game (1997)

Polar Claw was one of the 24 beast warriors to receive a battle card representation for the Beast Wars card game.

Kabaya

• Whiteclaw (1997)

A Beast Wars PVC figurine set was released in Japan, including an action-posed Polar Claw.

Collect them all! This character article is a stub and is missing information on their toys & merchandise. You can help Transformers Wiki by expanding it.

Notes

Collect all the nonexistent toys!

• The Barbearian toy was actually the "prototype" deco for Polar Claw. The first solicitations for the Beast Wars Megas featured the bear mold brown and yellow (as well as a differently-colored Scorponok). The back of the first Beast Wars catalogue from the Optimus Primal/Megatron two-pack called him "Grizzly-1", while solicitations sent to magazines used "Barbearian". The reasons for the changeover to a polar bear are unknown.
• Simon Furman has a noted love of polar bears, which is probably why Polar Claw got the most panel time (by far) out of all of the dimension-displaced Beast Warriors in "Terminus". Furman's affection for the creatures might also explain why, when Polar Claw appeared in IDW's 2021 Beast Wars comic, he picked up the speech patterns of Furman's original character Death's Head, yes?
• Polar Claw was initially planned to receive a toy in War for Cybertron: Kingdom as part of John Warden's plans, but was dropped in favor of Tigatron as the Hasbro Transformers team changed.^[1] Remnants of this original plan include Polar Claw's appearance in a concept poster for Kingdom.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Whiteclaw (ホワイトクロー Howaitokurō)
• French: Griffe Polaire (Canada, "Polar Claw"), Patte Polaire (Happy Meal card, "Polar Paw")
• Italian: Polar
• Spanish: Garra Polar (America, "Polar Claw")

References