by Mr. Kemp » Fri Sep 26, 2008 11:48 pm
Just about every fan Transformer I've ever thought of has been a denizen of an alternate universe, simply because I wanted to create a Transformers universe where I could run free with characterization without concern with ramifications on actual canon. In short, I make my own canon with only original characters. Some of my ideas are woefully flat, while others I focus on to the point where I am concerned about making them a Mary Sue/Marty Stu. However, I feel compelled to share them, simply because I have had ever-changing fragments of a character-driven story in my head I want to know what you all think. By the way, this takes the concept of Beast Wars and takes it in a whole new direction.
1. Potshot (Cybertronian Helicopter), Grumble (Construction Tank), & Motormouth (Cybertronian Van): these three jokers are your low-level villains that the protagonists whoop on. The reason that they constantly get their skidplates handed to them is not their physical deficiencies - Grumble is a powerful mech nearly as wide as he is tall, while Potshot is a decent shot and Motormouth is a good hand-to-hand opponent; the reason that these losers always lose is due to certain flaws in their personality. Grumble lives up to his name, complaining more often than actually doing anything. Off the battlefield, this habit is annoying; on the field, it can be fatally distracting. Motormouth, the lecherous leader of the three stooges, shoots his mouth off on a regular basis, taking on bots that he has no business even thinking insulting thoughts about. Potshot, meanwhile, is a disgusting coward who would flee, grovel, and sell his allies out to save his own skin. This does not win him many friends. In fact, the only reason that Motormouth and Grumble tolerate Potshot is because Potshot can fly, a rarity among civilians.
2. Shriek (Vulture): Next up is the Predacon serial killer named Shriek. The three stooges are choirboys compared to this misogynist witch. The reason I say that she is a misogynist is that, thanks to her severe inferiority complex and insane jealous streak, she can't stand ANY female of any species. This leads her to actively hunt and kill women she perceives to be more attractive than her. Considering the fact that she is a twisted, hunchbacked figure with triple-jointed limbs and a beaky face reminiscent of her vulture mode, she is going to have a lot of targets.
3. Phalanx Prime (Cybertronian Humvee w/ Missile Truck Power Armor): Current Prime of Cybertron and lame-duck politician, Phalanx is a warrior trapped in an age of diplomats; ever since Hydraxus Prime's defection to Tyranok's Predacons in the Cybertronian Civl War, the Council of Elders rendered the position of Prime a figurehead post that rubber-stamped anything the Council wanted. Hydraxus's successor and Phalanx's predecessor, Aura Prime, had no problem with this, since she and the Council favored a severely limited military in favor of compromise and negotiation. That sort of thinking drives Phalanx insane: he knows that there is unrelenting evil in this galaxy; he barely surviveed it when the monstrous Tyranok took the field during the Civil War's climactic battle. When the Predacons launched a series of lightning blitzes in Europe, Asia, and Africa, Phalanx went to the Council of Elders in order to get permission to send troops after Tyranok. The Council instead opted for a Neville Chamberlain-style negotiation tactic: you keep what you have conquered, but you don't conquer anything else. As a result, Phalanx went to a civilian ally (Galeglide, whose personality I don't have down yet) in order to get funding for a joint operation that would involve Cybertronian spies and hired mercenaries aiding the humans in fighting off the Predacons.
4. Remedy (stretcher-pickup): One of the support staff sent to Earth in order to back up the special forces operation, Remedy isn't like the ruthless spies or the callous mercenaries. She only wants to use her medical knowledge to heal what others hurt. She wears her heart on her sleeve, a compassionate habit that is seen by some doctors as the direct path to burnout. Unfortunately, Remedy does not get to that point. Instead, Shriek, along with her ally Bogling, subject her to indescribable torments, shattering her mind like glass. Driven to Ophelia-like levels of insanity, Remedy can no longer function in the outside world.
5. Triage: At first, Triage seems like the polar opposite of Remedy. He is an ice-hearted bastard, while she is a sweet femme who cares too much. Sadly, Triage was once like Remedy; he wanted to do his best to make the world a better place. The carnage of the Civil War tore at his soul, causing him to form his frigid exterior as a self-defense mechanism. While Remedy was successful in getting him to lighten up, her descent into madness was the straw that broke the camel's back. Triage snapped as well, but in a different manner: he decided to kill everyone involved in the war in order to put an end to the suffering. After Triage killed several of his own group, Eldritch stepped in and killed the doctor, putting him out of his misery.
6. Bogling (Alligator): Like Shriek and Tyranok, Bogling is a grade-A menace to society. Unlike Shriek, however, Bogling doesn't care who his victims are, just so long as they have enough Energon flowing in their conduits to give him that extra boost he needs in a fight. One could say that Bogling is a vampire, except that he doesn't need other Cybertronians' Energon; he simply wants to use it to get stronger.
7. Tyranok (Cybertronian Battle Tank): To someone who first meets him, Tyranok seems like a composed, smooth, rational being, someone that could lead you to the next age. That age would be a galaxy-wide dark age, for behind his calm exterior, Tyranok is a beast, a Pit Lord (Transformer uber-demon) given Cybertronian form. Unlike the many Megatrons, Tyranok's objective is not, as he proclaims, conquest. His life's dream is to bring about a galaxy built upon murder, plunder, and rape, a galaxy where the strong could ravage the weak however they wanted, and principle be damned.
8. Eldritch (Vampire Bat): There are many evildoers in this galaxy, all of them differing in methods, targets, and motives; but nearly all of them have one thing in common: they are absolutely terrified of Eldritch. This nightmare is the monster that keeps other monsters awake at night with dread. He appears wherever there is strife or tyranny, butchering the butchers of innocents with a fang-laden smile on his face and a smile in his heart. He leaves mounds of broken corpses in his wake as he searches for a new target, another guilty man to make suffer. His conscience, combined with his unparalleled maliciousness, is what drives him to kill. Needless to say, most of the innocents he values are as afraid of him as the monsters are.