As a loud and proud nerd, Thundercracker Safeguard is actually kind of excited for this school. Maybe he can hone his writing skills there, and he's optimistic that there might be fellow students of the JAAT who he can talk about his favorite shows with. Even better, he's found himself caught up in a magical story of his own as Scourge, a Decepticon revolutionary capable of things beyond even his wildest dreams! Now if only those Autobots would stop raining on his parade and let him be a superhero in peace.

Biography

Thundercracker was forged circa v.42.165.100 by the Cybertronic Timekeeping Standard along with his trine siblings Starscream and Skywarp. The three of them were originally raised in the city of Vos in a mid-level tier. They caused enough problems in their group home to be known as troublemakers, and by the time they were nymphs, their patron decided the problem was too much to bear. Being treated as bothersome and unwanted was deeply painful for each of them, and from this Thundercracker learned to cling to his interests as a refuge and mostly ignore other people's negativity.

Their patron presented them with a choice: as they were too annoying to deal with, they could either be split up and no longer see each other anymore, or be given to a different group home entirely. Ultimately, they chose to remain together, but no group home in Vos would take the three of them. The only reason the trine was able to remain together was because of the Safeguard Aerie in Iacon. Founded by Jetfire and Jetstorm, twins from Devisiun, this group home specifically opens its doors to kids with siblings that other group homes may not accept all together. On the lookout to preserve sibling relationships, Jetfire and Jetstorm accepted Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp when they were shipped over from Vos.

Adjusting to a new home, a new city-state, and a new dose of trauma was difficult. As they grew into younglings, Thundercracker started fixating on fiction, becoming a world-class dweeb with far less shame than his siblings would like him to have. The trine met Megatron not long after moving, and he dragged them in as sort-of-friends, sort-of-lackeys. His loyalty and general positive attitude means he's willing to put up with Megatron's more surly moods, sometimes outright encouraging his moments of dramatic gravitas. As the default voice of common sense among the other three, Thundercracker usually swings between being the straight mech to their comedic stupidity or being the nerd everyone else makes fun of. Joke's on them though, he will not stop talking about his favorite show ever just because they can't recognize its greatness.

In v.42.168.429, the Jhiaxian Academy of Advanced Technology hosted entrance exams for its first set of students. Thundercracker sat these exams and passed, along with his trinemates and several other Safeguard siblings. On the first day the JAAT opened, he found to his excitement that his trinemates would be rooming next to him along with Megatron and he'd be able to keep an optic on them easily. When the weather turned extreme the next day, Megatron dragged him along to witness the storm, and the four of them nearly died when a chunk of debris catapulted them into the school library. In the rubble, they found mysterious Primal relics of power. Thundercracker took up the Forge of Solus and powered up into Scourge. [s1e01]

Relationships

Decepticons

The Decepticon cause is something Scourge feels passionately about, and it never ceases to frustrate him that his peers do not seem to feel the same way. Their goal is to eradicate the entrenched evil of functionism, purge the world of the dead dross dragging it down into corruption, and make Cybertron anew with a society where one may stand strong on their inherent value! Why does Galvatron insist on haring off on these mad schemes? Why does Hellscream do nothing but seek out opportunities to bicker and bite at any convenient target? And for the love of the Hand, where in the world did Cyclonus disappear to now?? It feels like it's up to him to remember how important their mission is, and likewise continue to appreciate the fact they all have actual real life superpowers, just like his shows! He'll never take these abilities for granted, especially not when they gave him his Sweeps. [s1e06] They're useful, they're adorable, and they don't snark back at him like every other Decepticon. Truly, mech's best friend. Now, if only they'd listen to him and fight their Autobot counterparts.

Scourge has mixed feelings about Thunderblast. On the one hand, she's powerful, clever, and tends to show up exactly when she's needed, just like she did when she joined. [s1e12] On the other hand, she's catty, dramatic, and too much of a wildcard to be reliable. Cyclonus likes her though, and he can begrudgingly respect their friendship. Of course, outside of the serious persona of Scourge, Thundercracker might like her a little more. Or a lot more. Or, actually, uh, he doesn't remember her being so pretty... Is it getting hot in here or does he just have a concussion? [s3e03]

Under different circumstances, the chaos Triptych brings to their group might put Scourge on edge. As it is, he's just happy someone else seems to appreciate the cool factor of being magical vigilantes. He tries to be delicate about Triptych's mental instability. Most of the time he's repaid with terrible jokes he walked right into. They make a decent team with their shared expertise in tracking, a skill they've been taking advantage of from the start. [s2e08]

When Sixshot first appeared, [s1e09] Scourge felt that someone else was finally taking up the Decepticon mission with the seriousness it deserves. When they left, [s2e15] he couldn't help but feel betrayed. But their parting words stuck in his mind, and even now he wonders if perhaps their criticism didn't have some merit? Maybe Sixshot was truer to their principles than the rest of them. Drift, on the other hand, has always struck Scourge as wishy-washy. After ostensibly joining the Decepticons only to disappear with just a few words exchanged, [s2e11] he just seemed to be there for the epic highs and lows of youngling vigilante drama. Although, Scourge must admit, that's sort of what they're all there for, isn't it? He's actually kind of interested to see where Drift ends up after his defection. [s3e14]

Other Factions

When facing the Autobots, Scourge doesn't feel any deep-seated rage like Galvatron apparently does, and he's certainly not pursuing suicide-by-rival like Hellscream is. Mostly he's just irritated that these other heroes are kind of killjoys. They refuse to believe the Decepticons are working for the betterment of the world and keep treating them like petty criminals, as if they aren't all illegal in the optics of the government! The Mistress of Flame is pretty intense, but when she's not cutting down his sibling she might not be the worst of the bunch. Since their respective drone teams keep fraternizing with the enemy, he's got some common ground with her. The only Autobot he truly respects is Ultra Magnus. He's quick on his pedes and devastating in an argument, and Scourge finds it delightfully difficult to deal with him even when teaming up with Cyclonus.

While the Elite Guard are theoretically their ideological opposites, Scourge is disgruntled to find they don't seem to care that much. Sure, Elita 1 will duel with Galvatron on the regular, but he knows flirtatious violence when he sees it. Only Elita 3 seems to take him seriously, which is thrilling because he's fascinated by the synergy of their respective powers.

The Predacons should be intimidating, Scourge knows, but honestly he sort of wants to hear them out. They established themselves as antagonists, rebels, distinct from the Decepticons, and better, and with Sixshot as a founding member he thinks they might actually have a more refined ideology. [s3e05] The deliberate political statements Abominus makes without saying a word are crystal clear, and Airachnid manages a more cutting critique of state violence with her knitting than he does in a whole grandiose speech. He might be a little jealous!

JAAT

Thundercracker is a resident of Room 2 in the Navitaneon dorm of the JAAT. Megatron, Starscream, and Skywarp are all in rooms close at hand, which makes coordinating Decepticon outings relatively simple, but it also exposes him to a lot of drama. And it isn't even just his siblings causing it! Tailgate is bubbly and nice but with the cattiest mean streak he's ever seen aside from Starscream, and he won't stop going on and on about how amazing and handsome and swoonworthy Cyclonus is. Then he turns around and derides Skywarp as if he's some lousy thug! One of these days Thundercracker is going to get fed up with him. The demure medical nerd First Aid is fine, most of the time, but has a habit of swooning over their dorm neighbor Springer in inconvenient places. He's pretty sure Motormaster is trying to intimidate him, or just has an unfortunate personality. Shuttler isn't even around very often due to all his unsanction sightseeing, but that just makes it easier to go about his hero business unnoticed.

He might be something of an introvert, but Thundercracker is certainly the easiest of his siblings to get along with. He's already struck up a friendship with Starscream's roommate Powerglide by sharing As the Kitchen Sinks with him. And, despite Megatron's whole complex, he also considers Orion Pax one of his favorite acquaintances. They haven't spent a lot of time together but he's more than willing to track Orion down to commiserate over their shared experiences with the angriest youngling they know. The diversity of the Academy's student body never fails to pique his interest, but so far the most intriguing person he's met has been Nightracer, a gutter child who started sneaking onto campus. He doesn't see her often but he tries to be as kind as possible when he does. Who knows how long it's been since someone treated her with respect?

Family

The most important people in Thundercracker's life have always been Skywarp and Starscream. They're a very close trine, forced even closer by the way they were made to choose between each other and a stable home when they were young. They often bicker or outright fight, rag on each other's interests, and undermine any attempts to change or experiment. But also, they defend each other, keep each other's confidence, lift one another's spirits with debatable success, and will always, always choose their trine before anything else. Thundercracker is well aware of their faults and tries to soften Starscream's bullying habits or Skywarp's more callous tendencies when he can. There have been times when he's wished they'd just shut up for a minute to let him earnestly enjoy his hobbies without teasing. If he just pulled away from them a bit, maybe he'd get some peace and quiet for once... But it's never more than an idle daydream, because despite it all he doesn't want a life where his trine isn't as close as they are. Just, maybe they could hurry up and emotionally mature a little bit?

Being shunted off to the Safeguard Aerie in a foreign city-state may have let his trine stay together, a move which Thundercracker has come to appreciate more and more, but he honestly doesn't think of himself as belonging to anywhere in particular. His patrons Jetfire and Jetstorm enabled his appetite for media from the get go and have never made him feel like being a nerd was a bad thing. It might not be Vos, but as long as he's safe and with his family, he's content to be a Safeguard ward.

None of the other Safeguard kids got into his favorite shows, but they're probably all capable of reciting several dozen As the Kitchen Sinks facts thanks to living in his vicinity. There's a few who share his general love of books and shows, like Acid Storm. Together the two of them have doubtless devoured at least a quarter of all the reading material in Iacon's libraries. Thundercracker tries to keep track of the ones who made it into the JAAT with him for an occasional quick chat.

Attributes

As Thundercracker:

He's a size 4 jet, a frametype often called a "seeker" as it's relatively common. He's not one for trick flying like his siblings, but his endurance and acceleration are actually better. His creativity is tempered by his level head and a shameless sense of self that carries him through negativity in a way his siblings can't quite match.

Thanks to his active imagination, Thundercracker tends to perceive the personalities imbued in the Forge as if they were budding character concepts waiting to be written into a story. There's a small handful of them that chatter at him sporadically. One likes to suggest new ways to set things on fire, another just wants him to read a book to entertain them, and the rest share worried commentary on his surroundings and his peers. He's too familiar with the trope of losing one's self to a cursed object to listen to them very closely, but so far their occasional suggestions for how to imrpove his mechanical engineering grades haven't driven him insane, so maybe they're okay.

As Scourge:

With the Forge of Solus, Scourge has a bigger frame, greater strength, and a multitude of new powers. Some of the typical relic upgrades he received include bleeding blue with innermost energon, swift healing, an internal comms system that allows him to speak with other relic bearers, and a well of subspace in which he can store items. His full name is actually "The Ultimate Kind Of Scourge Who Cannot—Will Not—Wait For The Downtrodden To Die Screaming, For It Is Time For Those Injustices To Reap The Whirlwind," which is an excerpt of his first pontification. Very few people even remember its full length, much less deal with the inconvenience of using it, so he begrudgingly tolerates Scourge. Even Galvatron says he gets the Whirlwind part mixed up with Cyclonus.

His alt mode is an airskiff, less agile than a jet but durable and difficult to knock out of the sky His individual abilities are:

• the Forge itself, a giant flaming hammer capable of bludgeoning, melting, or reforging things on impact
• generative creation ability limited only by his comprehension of what he's making and how it works. He can edit already existing objects or create things from scratch, like the Sweeps
• concussive shockwaves emitted at will that act not unlike a sonic boom, as if he struck the air itself
• indestructible hands that don't even get sore from the reverberation of the Forge's handle in his grip, capable of scooping plasma in his palm unscathed
• incredibly comprehensive sensory suites capable of tracking down anything from a running enemy to a single missing screw
• an arresting eloquence that make his words his as hard as his weaponry

Trivia

Motivation:

Loyalty to friend and family, yearning for adventure, and basic nerdy admiration of sick anime powers

Hobbies:

Watching cartoons and reading comics, talking about said cartoons and comics, writing

Favorite Food:

Rich lead sweets for the taste, crystal chips for the texture