Scourge (G1)

The name or term Scourge refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Scourge (disambiguation).

Scourge is a Decepticon in the Generation 1 continuity family.

Looks just like daddy.

Scourge is Galvatron's implacable tracker and leader of his own wolf-pack of huntsmen, the deadly Sweeps. He was created by Unicron from the remains of a dead Decepticon. Though quite powerful in his own right, Scourge generally acts as a near subordinate to Cyclonus, and despite his leadership of the Sweeps is generally content to take orders from others. Scourge tends to grumble and complain a bit (a habit sometimes shared by his Sweeps). Immensely powerful like all the Unicronian Decepticons, arrogance is his only true weakness.

Fiction

Animated continuity

Generation 1 cartoon

Voice actors: Stan Jones (US); Shimaka Yutaka → Masaharu Satō (Japan)

Grumpy as all get out.

Following the Battle of Autobot City in 2005, Scourge was created from the remains of Thundercracker by Unicron. Scourge was designated commander of his legion of huntsmen, the Sweeps, and traveled with his new leader, Galvatron, back to Cybertron. Galvatron, Scourge and Cyclonus then returned to Autobot City and sent the remaining Autobots fleeing into outerspace.

After blasting their ship, the Decepticons believed the Autobots dead. Unicron sent a painful message to Galvatron, informing him he was wrong. Galvatron argued the point until Scourge reminded his leader "we belong to him". The Decepticons then tracked the Autobots to the Planet of Junk where Scourge and the Sweeps dismembered Ultra Magnus and stole the Matrix of Leadership. Unicron learned of Galvatron's intended rebellion and attacked Cybertron. Whether Scourge, who was vocally loyal to Unicron, fought to protect Cybertron is unknown.

After the Decepticons were sent packing to Chaar, Cyclonus and Scourge went on an expedition to track down their lost leader, Galvatron, who hadn't been seen since Unicron went kablooey. They found Galvatron soaking in a lava pit on Thrull, and much to their disappointment, discovered their leader had gone totally nuts.

Scourge continued to serve the Decepticon cause, though his effectiveness was debatable. Scourge would prove to be a very poor leader, with his followers, the Sweeps, constantly ignoring his orders (though they were scared to death of Cyclonus). He was later possessed by the disembodied ghost of Starscream, though this eventually became a mutual partnership. Starscream intended to help Unicron turn Cybertron into his new body in exchange for a new body of his own. Scourge began to have second thoughts about this until Unicron reminded him that "what I have given you, I can also take away". Scourge eventually left Unicron and rejoined the Decepticons.

At one point, Autobot Supreme Commander Rodimus Prime was seperated from the Matrix of Leadership by Galvatron. Galvatron, who was haunted by the spirits within it, instructed Scourge to dipose of the Matrix. Scourge decided to use the power of the Matrix to his advantage and installed it within his chest. Very bad idea. The Matrix proved incompatible with Decepticon programming, causing Scourge to morph into a hideus freak with the power driving him mad. Scourge attempted to sieze control of the Decepticons until Hot Rod took back the Matrix. Scourge was left at the mercy of a very unhappy Galvatron.

In 2006, Scourge journeyed to Nebulos with his fellow Decepticons while following the Autobots. The Decepticons formed an alliance with the Hive, and Scourge was binary-bonded to Fracas, becoming a Targetmaster.

Headmasters cartoon

Both Scourge's and Cyclonus' intelligence seemed to have evaporated by the year 2011, leaving Galvatron's once right-hand men nothing but a pair of bumbling oafs.

At one point they attempted to prove their worth by stealing Trypticon and using him to huntdown a mysterious sixchanger. However, that plan failed miserably when that sixchanger turned out to be their own ally, Sixshot. Both Scourge and Cyclonus ditched Trypticon in battle, leading to the Decepticon city's destruction (though he was eventually repaired). Scourge and Cyclonus did little of anything noteworthy after this.

Marvel Comics continuity

In a future timeline similar but different to that depicted in the animated continuity, set in 2006, rather than 2005, (2006 being the original date for the movie, amended to 2005 after the comics were penned) Scourge was also a creation of Unicron, presumably remade from the body of a dead or damaged Decepticon. Following Unicron's consumption of Cybertron's moons, Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge travelled back in time to 1986 as part of a plan to free themselves from Unicron's control by constructing a massive cannon that would destroy him upon their return to the future. The three Unicronian Decepticons proved themselves almost invincible in the face of the Autobots attacks, but were finally defeated when Galvatron was duped into believing he was trapped in a temporal paradox, and returned to his own time to live out the remaining events of 2006.

Following the destruction of Unicron at the hands of Rodimus Prime and the Matrix, Galvatron transported himself back in time to 1987, leaving Cyclonus and Scourge in the future, under Shockwave’s command. The duo were attacked by the freelance peace-keeping agent, Death's Head, who was seeking the bounty on Galvatron’s head, and Cyclonus revealed Galvatron’s whereabouts to him. Later, Shockwave hired Death’s Head to kill Rodimus Prime, but Cyclonus and Scourge interfered with the job as they sought to kill Rodimus first, in order to reclaim their lost standing amongst the Decepticons. This did not please Death’s Head, and consequently, he willingly accepted a contract from Rodimus to hunt down Cyclonus and Scourge, eventually tracking them down to the planet of Junk as 2008 dawned. Before he could finish the job, however, all three of them fell under the mind-controlling influence of Unicron, whose disembodied head had survived the destruction of his body and had landed on the planet, where he was having the native Junkions construct a new body for him.

Under Unicron's control, Cyclonus and Scourge killed Shockwave and became Decepticon leaders, reigniting the stalemated Cybertronian war to a furious degree to cover Unicron's actions. Death's Head, however, was able to fight the mind control and work with the Autobots' long enough to stop the chaos-bringer's plan. As explosions destroyed Unicron, Death's Head tackled Cyclonus and Scourge, pushing them through a time portal Unicron had built, promising to kill them another time. The two Decepticons were hurled into the past of Cybertron by the portal, where they came under the command of Scorponok.

Travelling to Nebulos with the rest of Scorponok's forces, they became Targetmasters and then travelled to present day (1988) Earth. Once there, they sought out Galvatron, and, no longer willing to serve him, instead demanded that he hand over his time travel device so that they could return to the future and their position as Decepticon leaders. The confrontation was disrupted by the sudden appearance of the Autobot commando squad, the Wreckers, who drew the ensuing battle away from the human settlement it was taking place in by professing to have stolen Galvatron's time jump mechanism, when in reality, the Decepticon no longer even had it for them to take.

Having met with failure again, Cyclonus and Scourge decided to cut their losses and team up with Shockwave's present-day Earth-based Decepticon forces. (At this point in time, the comic book personalities of Scourge and Cyclonus had been well-established, and distinctly different from the cartoon - here, Scourge was the intelligent, scheming brains of the duo, while Cyclonus was the dull-witted brawn, and that personality trait remained as strong as ever.)

Unfortunately, Cyclonus accidentally let slip that they would kill Shockwave in the future. Naturally wanting to ensure his continued existence, Shockwave unleashed a brainwashed Megatron clone upon the two. As Megatron killed Nightstick and grappled with Cyclonus, Scourge took aim at the clone...but stopped. He realised that killing Megatron in 1988 would likely prevent Galvatron's creation in 2006, and possibly his own as well. Unwilling to take the chance, he abandoned his comrade and fled.

Cyclonus and Scourge’s displacement into the past had circumvented the normal mass-replacement method used by time-travel, and had hence unbalanced the space-time continuum, causing a rift to appear in the fabric of space and time. Cyclonus’s death, twenty years before he was even created, proved to be the final straw, accelerating the rift, which soon threatened to consume Earth and Cybertron. Realising that the only way to stop it was to return himself, Galvatron and Cyclonus to their original time, Scourge attempted to recover Cyclonus’ body from Shockwave, only to be attacked by the deranged Decepticon, who had lost his mind due to the illogical nature of the situation, and had strung Cyclonus’s remains up like a twisted trophy. Scourge staggered back to the time rift and allowed it to take him, hoping that that would have some effect on the situation. It didn't. Ravage, however, succeeded where Scourge had failed, and was able to bring Shockwave back sanity enough for him to deposit Cyclonus’ remains after Galvatron and Scourge, and then seal it with an x-ray blast. Scourge was not seen again after this, and it is unknown exactly what happened to Scourge after he entered the rift.

An alternate version of Scourge later made a brief appearance, inhabiting an alternate future world of 2009 where Cybertron had been destroyed and Galvatron ruled Earth.

Dreamwave Armada comics

A version of Scourge from an unknown Generation 1 timeline served as one of Unicron's heralds, along with versions of Thunderwing, Bludgeon, Dirge, and Galvatron. He was blown up when Jetfire detonated the Decepticon headquarters that they had taken over.

IDW Hearts of Steel comics

Scourge appears in the last issue of Hearts of Steel as a zeppelin which drops bombs on the Autobot freight. Ironhide pops his balloon, and he explodes.

Toys

Generation 1

• Scourge (1986)

Japanese ID number: D-71

Scourge transformed into a space hovercraft. On early releases, the blue on the center of Scourge's alt mode was paint. This was changed to two stickers for later releases.

• Targetmaster Scourge (1987)

Scourge's hand holes and head hole were widened, as was the peg for his "head gun". His handgun was replaced with Fracas.

Titanium Series

• Scourge (6-inch Cybertron Heroes)

External links

• Scourge at TFU.info
• Scourge's Universe profile at NTFA.net