The following text is an excerpt from the official Beast Wars Story Bible, written by Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio. It's from a draft of Dec. 1995, before the first show aired...

Name: SCORPONOK, Second in Command
Beast Form: Orange and Blue Giant Scorpion
Robotic Form: Orange and Blue Humanoid
Weaponry: CyberBee (Launched from left front claw), Missile
Launcher (Right front Claw), Projectile Launcher (Tail-Mounted, launches "Poison" projectiles).

Skills: Desert Survival, Ranged and Melee Combat, Heat-Seeker (he can scan for thermal emissions).

Interests/Hobbies: He likes to lie under the sun on a hot rock.

Attitude: Scorponok is the only Predacon who doesn't consider himself a rival for Megatron's position and is quite honored to be second-in-command. He likes blasting enemies more than he does melee combat but he is good at both. His best asset is the flexibility of his weapons systems. His CyberBee can be used for spy missions or turned into a weapon to divert his enemies. From his tail he launches projectiles which are "poisoned", not your traditional poison but programs that can cause a robot to lock up, overheat, become disoriented or anything else our writers can think of. The problem is Scorponok is often too eager to show his prowess and will sometimes take out his own allies. Scorponok starts clicking his claws when nervous, a habit that drives the other Predacons mad. He gets nervous a lot.

Scorponok is always the first one into battle, the glorious leader of the charge. This too is an honor bestowed on him by his friend Megatron. He enjoys battle, when he's winning. But he is always afraid of being cornered and this can hamper him. He is not afraid of his fellow Predacons, he knows they fear him greatly. They don't, they fear Megatron, but he is too arrogant to admit it.

RELATIONSHIPS:

He is loyal to Megatron and thinks they are friends. This doesn't mean he would risk his life to save Megatron, but he could most assuredly be conned into it.

He despises Terrorsaur for a coward and a weakling, basically taking a cue from Megatron.

He treats Waspinator as a friend, though Waspinator constantly puts him down. He thinks Waspinator is joking.

He doesn't like Tarantulas, Tarantulas creeps him out.

Bibliography of significant appearances: Scorponok played a significant role in many episodes of Beast Wars, season 1. In particular, he was heavily featured in the each of the following episodes:

episode 1: Beast Wars, part 1 It was a blast from Scorponok, hiding, loyal and in-wait which caught Dinobot off guard and sent him departing from the Predacon ranks.

episode 8: Double Jeprody: Scorponok with a little help from Terrorsaur retrieves the Stasis Pod that will become Blackarachnia.

episode 10: Gorilla Warfare, Scorponok creates a viral mine, intended to make Optimus Primal a coward and a pacifist. Instead, the poison, delivered by his cyber bee, backfires and OP turns overly aggressive and hostile.

episodes 16-17 The Trigger, pt 1-2 Scorponok is chosen by Megatron to accompany Blackarachnia to investigate the mysterious flying island. His cyber bee is used by Tigatron to send a message back to his fellow Maximals.

episode 27: Aftermath, Scorponok meets his demise, falling into the lava pits of the predacon base.