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Name: Thunderwing
Allegiance: Decepticon
Sub-group: Pretender
Function: Lieutenant Commander
Alt. mode: Space Shuttle, Interstellar Jet, Super Interstellar Jet
Weapons: Twin Cyclone Canons, Laser cannon, Electrostatic Rifles, Corrosive Laser, Toxic Gas Emitters, Quad Barreled laser cannon
Height: 31ft / 9.45m, w/shell 35ft / 10.67m
Quote: “Empires are gained and lost on a moment of opportunity.”

Strength: 08
Intelligence: 09
Dexterity: 09
Speed: 10
Endurance: 09
Courage: 10
Firepower: 09
Accuracy: 09
Melee: 09
Tech Skill: 09
Charisma: 09
Rank: 08

Profile: Thunderwing is a supremely confident being. He is convinced that he has an important role in history to play, to provide a benefit that only he can offer the Decepticons and take his place among the great leaders of the faction. To some, particularly to those below him, this confidence can be inspiring. To others it is seen as the height of arrogance.

Thunderwing is highly educated and intelligent, knowledgeable in topics ranging from history to Transformer biology. He presents a fine balance of self-controlled discipline and passionate inspiration. He is possessed of an infinite patience and keen observational skills. Thunderwing is also a driven mechanoid who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals. When he cannot achieve his goals through other means he is not above using his talent at treachery, subtlety and deceit to obtain them. If even those fail he will resort to his other valuable commodity, raw power.

In battle Thunderwing is a fierce opponent. Aside from his physical abilities he is a keen strategist. He will wait and observe his opponent, waiting for the moment of weakness before he strikes. When he does make his attack it is often unexpected, occurring with blinding speed and ferocity. He will commit all of his resources and abilities to a single devastating attack, sometimes to his detriment if reinforcements are needed later.

History: Thunderwing was an ambitious and intelligent Cybertornian prior to the outbreak of the war. The future Decepticon’s build and intelligence allowed him a great deal of freedom and mobility in Cybertronian society. With his intelligence and single minded focus he was able to accumulate a sizable amount of wealth and power through shrewd investments in energy supplies and off world investments. With the wealth he had acquired he was able to claim a sizeable portion of land on Cybertron known as Valkasta. This would become his home and base of operations.

Economic or even political power as not what drove Thunderwing however. The mechanoid was far more interested in the untapped potential of Cybertronians as a species. He knew that they were bound for something greater then the mundane existence the lived now. They simply needed to be pushed out of the rut they had dug themselves into. At first he decided the solution was to unlock the potential inside of individual Transformers.

Thunderwing was unafraid to search through the scant history of their race for information that others found little use of, including older, more unorthodox experiments in the past. With his power and wealth he even acquired bits of ancient data left by Jhiaxus. With the knowledge he gained he began a series of experiments on Transformer biology. These experiments would sometimes border on the unethical, including modifying other Transformers to varying degrees. He argued that these modifications were only improvements on the beings he had performed them on, but not everyone agreed. When word of these experiments got out he was rebuked by the science council and he agreed to never perform modifications on other Transformers, but when safely ensconced in what was becoming his stronghold in Valkasta the experiments continued, even going so far as to perform them on himself.

As time passed Thunderwing began to notice the decay of Cybertronian society. Perhaps due to his study of the planet’s history he was aware of it before the general population was. With revolution looking like a distinct possibility he began looking for the likely starting point for it while at the same time he began shoring up his own position. Shrewd investments were made in key technologies such as repulsors, weapons and energy production. At the same time he looked for the spark that would ignite the coming revolution. He saw that potential in the underground gladiatorial fights and the growing ‘Decepticon’ movement.

It was not just the spark he saw here, but a personal opportunity. He was drawn towards the modifications the gladiators made to themselves as they aligned a great deal with his experiments. Soon Thunderwing began making similar modifications to himself, greatly enhancing his strength and durability. With his contacts on Cybertron he was able to get in touch with the Constructicons and assisted them in some design and repair work while supplying them with the raw materials they needed to keep the games going. At the same time he began training with the gladiators and studying battle tactics and strategy. As he had proved with the various sciences he was a quick learner when it came to combat.

When the war finally did break Thunderwing was well prepared. His manor in Valkasta had been transformed into a fully armed and armored fortress. The various technologies he had acquired would help fuel the Decepticon war machine in the early part of the war. He was welcomed fully into the Decepticon movement with open arms. He believed that their victory would be inevitable and that the Cybertronian race would rise up to achieve its true potential of bringing order to not just their species and world, but to all worlds.

Thunderwing rose rapidly up the ranks of the Decepticons thanks to his cunning and battlefield prowess. He soon became one of Megatron’s top lieutenants and science advisors, particularly after Shockwave’s disappearance. With his fortress and powerbase still heavily entrenched in Valkasta Autobot propaganda began referring to him as the ‘Warlord of Valkasta.’ It was a title that Thunderwing took some liking to.

Some time after the disappearance of Shockwave, Thunderwing reached a similar conclusion on the eventual fate of their world if the war proceeded as it was. Even with the technologies he had acquired in energy production he was only staving off the inevitable energy shortage environmental collapse of Cybertron. He attempted to warn scientists on both sides about the impending ecological disaster but his words fell upon deaf ears.

With his warnings unheeded, Thunderwing took it upon himself to do something. He saw this as his moment to change the history of his people. He went back to his work on Cybertronian biology. He withdrew himself from the active battlefield and back to his lab. There he restarted his forbidden experiments with renewed vigor, seizing captured Autobots for his experiments.

As Cybertron disintegrated around him the Decepticon created the polydermal grafting process. This process involved the grafting of semi-organic tissue culled from living subjects onto a Transformer to create an armored symbiotic carapace. The technology would allow a Transformer to survive the pending environmental collapse of their homeworld. At the same time it would enhance the Transformer, providing him with an extra layer of armor that could be controlled by its host via mental contact. It was the next step in Transformer evolution that he had always sought. Thunderwing ignored the evacuation orders and instead tested the process on himself. The test was a success and the Decepticon was capable of remaining on Cybertron despite the toxicity of the atmosphere. He has remained on Cybertron perfecting the technology on himself, grafting additional weapons and abilities in to it from some prisoners he had kept in stasis.

Thunderwing recently became aware that Cybertron was slowly detoxifying itself. The atmosphere has recently become habitable again, if only barely. Now it is time for the Decepticons to return to their homeworld so they can view his greatest creation and one he hopes can swing the tide of the war.

Abilities: Subject possesses great strength, endurance and intelligence. His densely armored outer carapace magnified his formidable strength considerably. The shell itself is a veritable armory of weapons, including electrostatic rifles in the shoulder gun ports, a corrosive laser in the forehead, and hoses in his chest that emit damaging gases. His signature weapon in this mode is a quad barreled laser cannon. The weapon is nearly the size of Megatron’s fusion cannon and is usually held in one hand. It is capable of rapid cycling fire from each of the barrels or a more powerful single shot from all the barrels at once. Subject can deploy his alternate mode wings while in robot mode to increase flight speed and maneuverability. This has the drawback of making him a larger target however. Otherwise they remain folded on his back. In interstellar jet mode, the shell can still make use of the electrostatic guns and gas ports, in addition to a full load of explosive plasma-charged bombs and two wing mounted cyclone cannons (also usable in robot mode). The outer shell has a series of back-up power supplies, including a neutron power pack that enhances all of Subject’s firepower by 50 percent. Subjects inner robot transforms into a space shuttle armed with a laser cannon. The cannon is also usable in his robot mode. The inner robot can transform with the outer carapace to form a super interstellar jet with all alternate mode weapons at its disposal.

Weaknesses: Subject’s obsessive tendencies threaten to override his logic in key situations.