Characters / The Transformers More Than Meets The Eye The Scavengers

The Scavengers

The Scavengers in General

Imagine if you will, the cream of the Decepticon crop. The Scavengers are not those Decepticons — according to Tarn's analysis of Banzai-Tron's files, they are in fact the six worst Decepticons in history.

Still, they've survived when countless others have died. That's got to count for something.

In General

• Affably Evil: All of them to varying degrees at the start.
• The Atoner: After the events of issue 46, they decide to help the various disenfranchised Decepticons in the galaxy. Sadly this is left unexplored, becoming an Aborted Arc.
• Ambiguously Evil: They're willing to use a still living Autobot as a campfire among other things, but it's not clear if their hatred of the Autobots is a personal decision or because they were quite literally born to fight the war. By the time they finally cross paths with the Lost Light crew they seem mostly ambivalent to the whole faction thing due to Megatron's public renouncement of the cause.
• Babies Ever After: They collectively adopt a baby, whom they go to collect at the end of Issue #25.
• Anti-Villain: They aren't plotting universal conquest or raiding defenseless organic worlds and the like. Not anymore, that is. They simply wish to survive.
• Beware the Nice Ones: They're friendly screwups who're nonetheless armed, former soldiers willing to kill.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Oddballs? Yes, but resourceful oddballs you shouldn't underestimate.
• Born Lucky: All of them, but Crankcase in particular, having survived an attack by Thunderwing, who it should be noted managed to shrug off the combined firepower of the Autobot and Decepticon armies, with nothing more than a head-wound.
• Breakout Character: Are just as popular as the Lost Lighters themselves, in spite of ultimately being the leads of a side story.
• Butt-Monkey: They're some of life's preferred whipping boys. Especially Crankcase and Fulcrum.
• Child Soldier: Aside from Grimlock, Spinister and Nickel they're all Warborns who were brought online to bolster the Decepticon ranks alongside countless other grunts.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Just listen to them pronounce "Scavengers."
• Comedic Sociopathy: As Decepticons they lack much of the moral fiber of the Lost Light crew and that's used for humor quite often. Crankcase and Misfire are especially prone to it, with Spinister's strangeness hitting the trope sometimes as well.
• Cool Old Guy: Grimlock and Spinister.
• Crossover: An oddball example, since they're from the same book(s) but until the final stretch of Lost Light they and the Lost Light crew never, directly crossed paths, what with the Scavengers misadventures being a side story.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Most of them have this going on.
  • Crankcase nearly died fighting Thunderwing and freaks out whenever he sees the monster's likeness.
  • Fulcrum was sentenced to fatal torture before his punishment was switched to suicide bomber.
  • Nickel's colony Prion was annihilated by the Black Box Consortia and lost the newfound family she made with the DJD.
  • Grimlock was imprisoned at Garrus 9 before Scorponok got ahold of him, torturing the ex-Dynobot leader so badly he ended up with severe brain damage.
  • Krok lost his beloved pet sometime during the war, in addition to watching his best friend Radar die savagely at the hands of Roadbuster.
• Despair Event Horizon: Learning of Megatron's side-change and Starscream's election pushes them towards this. They abandon their plan to return to Cybertron and basically become bums, floating about the outer rim while occasionally taking odd jobs.
• The Determinator: It's partly how they've managed to evade death for so long.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: They escape the finale with their lives, make peace with Fortress Maximus, and head off to Troja Major to raise the Firstborn together, as well as getting quantum duplicates that end up going to an alternate universe with a version of the Lost Light to have more adventures.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Each other and the people they've lost along the way, such as Radar and Thundersaur. In Nickel's case the DJD.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Decepticons like the DJD are held in low regard by them, because whereas Tarn's crew are sadistic monsters who use preserving Decepticonism as an excuse to torture and murder as they please, the Scavengers are all (relatively) average people who wholeheartedly bought into Megatron's once genuine fight for a better world.
• Family of Choice: Over the course of their adventures, they definitely become this, even all raising a baby together.
• Foil: To the Decepticon Justice Division. The DJD are the elite of the elite, a specially picked cropped of sadists and psychopaths, feared throughout the Decepticon ranks for their ferocity and overwhelming power. The Scavangers are, by classification, the worst of the worst, a gaggle of screw ups and misfits that eventually banded together because no one else would take them. But while the DJD may profess at being an elite unit, they're largely just deluded maniacs who have an overwhelming sense of self importance. Meanwhile, the Scavengers are able to band together as a true unit and overcome overwhelming odds.
  • In addition, while the DJD profess to following the Decepticon code as a badge of honor, they quickly rewrite it when it no longer suits their purposes after Megatron denounces Decepticonism in a galaxy wide broadcast to contniue their sadism. But for the Scavengers, the end of the war and Decepitconism allows them to become introspective and discover who they are without the overarching conflict guiding them.
  • Taken to it's extremes by the end. The DJD's sadism and mania causes them all to be slaughtered while being mocked by the leader they worshipped, whereas the Scavengers live on to for many years as a unit, and are warmly embraced by Megatron upon meeting them for the first time.
  • In essence, the DJD represent the Decepticons at their worst. The Scavengers are the Decepticons at their best.
• Heel–Face Turn: By the end of issue 46, when they decide to stop screwing around with petty thievery and become a free-roaming support group for traumatised ex-Decepticons.
  Crankcase: What you're describing sounds suspiciously like helping people.
  Krok: I know, because guess what? I think we'd be pretty good at it.
• Heroes of Another Story: Well, anti-villains, but the principle is essentially the same, being a group of people doing their own thing, getting into misadventures separate from that of Team Rodimus.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While they each have their moments of rudeness and insensitivity, they're ultimately decent people at heart who care about one another and are perfectly capable of doing good.
• Karmic Jackpot: Their decision to take care of Grimlock ultimately results in Earn Your Happy Ending for all of them. Twice when you take into account their quantum duplicates.
• Manchild: Were the Nerf guns not a big enough clue?
• Minion with an F in Evil: They're more a danger to themselves than anyone else.
• Mythology Gag: Their vessel The Weak Anthropic Principle or W.A.P. which looks like The Ark spray painted purple with Decepticon insignias. it even crashes into the side of an inactive volcano.
• Noble Demon: They aren't the monsters, sadists and cutthroats we typically think of in regards to the Decepticon faction. They're amiable grunts who served because they wanted to make a difference.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Issue 45 shows◊ that they apparently got up to some rather insane adventures during the time skip between seasons 1 and 2.
• Pretentious Pronunciation: They pronounce their groups name a weird way, seemingly making it rhyme with Avengers in hopes to make it sound cooler. It does not work in the slightest.
  Krok: It's a name been keen to kill off. Too close to Scroungers.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Absolutely. Tarn even outright calls them the worst Decepticons.
• Redemption Equals Life: Them turning over a new leaf and striving to be better pays off for them twice.
  • First they fly off into the sunset to collect the Newborn and Cons4Eva, intent on living a quiet, peaceful existence together as a family.
  • Second their quantum duplicates are allowed to join the Lost Light crew on their exploratory voyage through a brand new universe, with Crankcase even fulfilling his lifelong dream of piloting a cool starship.
• Sanity Ball: Mostly passed between Krok (the most logical and practical of the group), Fulcrum (the most moral and a mostly rational thinker) and Crankcase.
• Token Good Teammate: The worst soldiers in Decepticon history doesn't make them the worst people who've ever worn the badge.
• Too Dumb to Live: Yes, several times over, especially in Spinister's case. Thankfully, they're also Too Crazy To Die.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Gradually they each become better people, their positives ultimately outweighing anything else.
• True Companions: By the time of Lost Light they've firmly arrived at this.
• Villain Protagonist: While they're alot nicer than most Decepticons, they're still Decepticons and believe in the cause wholeheartedly.
• Villains Out Shopping: A lot of their appearances feature them doing normal stuff like anybody else, only they're Decepticons so it becomes rather humorous. For example, when we catch back up with them in season 2, they're playing around with nerf guns.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: They squabble like children and snipe at each other every third sentence, but when trouble rears it's nasty, fuming head they come together.

Fulcrum

No, I'm jumping!

A cowardly but loyal techie with an impressive chin. Fulcrum was forcibly turned into a suicide bomber as punishment for fleeing in the middle of a battle. He survived and is now on the run from the DJD.

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• Affably Evil: Really friendly guy, as long as you're not an Autobot or organic.
• Canon Foreigner: He's the only one of the Scavengers that was completely made up for the series.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Despite the fact that he's not much to look at (and the Epic Fail mentioned below), Fulcrum apparently devised an apparently flawless plan to bust Misfire out of a high-security Galactic Council detention facility alone. And it would have worked too, if Misfire hadn't insisted on stopping for snacks. Well, that and their pick-up, the other Scavengers (save Grimlock, who's not much help) being busy getting killed by the Universal Killswitch.
• Delayed Reaction: It takes him a few seconds to realise Misfire's holding his fuel pump. Which he needs to stay alive.
• Disability Superpower: His intense fear of death was strong enough that it overrode the automatic transformation that gets wired into K-Class Decepticons when they're dropped.
• Epic Fail: He's the equivalent of a suicide bomb that didn't explode out of fear (though he WAS an unwilling participant).
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Highlighted in his speech to the Decepticon Justice Division. He might not have a problem with killing organics or the Decepticon cause in general, but he is disgusted by the sadists and psychos who use it as an excuse to inflict pain and suffering.
  • In issue 45 he objects to selling Grimlock to Demus on moral grounds.
• Faking the Dead: Is doing so unintentionally; after his botched Heroic Sacrifice, the DJD think he's dead.
• Fantastic Racism: Sees no problem with killing organics and proudly voices his support of the Decepticons' past genocidal actions towards organic species.
• Got Volunteered: Was going to be executed for abandoning his post, until Megatron ordered the creation of the K-Class.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Subverted. He attempts to use his bomb alt mode to blow up or at least scare away the DJD. Emphasis on "attempt" because, rather than explode, Fulcrum jumps off a ledge, transforms and smacks into the ground anticlimactically. Fortunately they abandon the Scavengers to hunt down Overlord instead. As it turns out, Spinister had removed Fulcrum's explosive components.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice: Despite being a Decepticon.
• Lovable Coward: He tends to run at the first sign of trouble, but will stick by with his friends when it really counts.
• Moral Myopia: In his speech to the DJD, he insults them for being murdering sadists while, at the same time, speaking with pride on how the Decepticons committed multiple genocides against "inferior" organic species.
• Nightmare Fetishist: He's fascinated by the Eldritch Location ship they find.
• Non-Action Guy: He has no seen weapons and a useless alt mode.
• Properly Paranoid: Suspects Demus to be up to something in issue 45 and is proven right almost immediately after.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Gives one to the DJD, and even tells Tarn to shut up and listen to it.
  • He later gives another one to Krok, calling him out on the hypocrisy of wanting to help people with mental illness but being willing to sell the disabled Grimlock to Demus.
• Real Men Cook: Capable of making energon treats.
• Romantic Wingman: Served as one for Crankcase, when the other Scavenger was about to meet his internet boyfriend for the first time on the Earth.

Crankcase

Bah!

A perpetually grumpy and cynical mechanic/pilot with a dream of being a big-name Decepticon. Has a horrific head wound from a past battle that has done nothing but make his foul mood even worse. Is horrible at naming things.

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• Ace Pilot: Very capable. Most of the time. An exception is when he recklessly abandoned the WAP's controls to participate in a game of Shoot Shoot Bang Bang, letting the ship crash-land on Tebris VII.
• Adapted Out: At no point is it ever mentioned that he was a janitor per his old G1 bio card.
• Ascended Extra: Has far more to do here than in Stormbringer.
• Berserk Button: Cowardice. Watching Fulcrum flee from the DJD sickens him.
• Blessed with Suck: His head wound derived facial paralysis actually comes in handy when Crankcase tricks Fort Max into thinking he was willing to bomb himself and everyone else in the same room.
• Body Horror: His head wound not only almost exposes his brain, but in issue 45 it's revealed that it's causing him to suffer facial paralysis.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: He's one of the most competent members of the team and would probably be a good leader, but is too lazy to take the lead.
• Cool Starship: He'd love to own one himself. He's thrilled when he gets to fly the Lost Light, and the quantum duplicate who gets sent to the alternate universe appears to take on the job full-time.
• Cowardice Callout: Does this when Fulcrum (initially) seems to be fleeing from the DJD.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Sure Crankcase is grumpy and lazy, but underneath that there's a malignant cunning that the other Scavengers lack. Couple that with a number of Villainous Valour moments and one can see a surprising competence under the surface.
• The Cynic: His name isn't Crankcase for nothing.
• Deadpan Snarker: Frequently.
  Crankcase: When I want your advice, Fulcrum, I'll kill myself.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: He's been through a lot, but now he gets to be happy with the rest of the Scavengers, even reuniting with Cons4Eva on Troja Major when they all go to pick up their baby and his quantum duplicate finally gets to be the permanent pilot of an awesome starship.
• Giver of Lame Names: Isn't very imaginative with naming things. The Cybernought he christened "Mighty Mega Puncher" is a true gem of utter suck.
• I Just Want to Be Special: His dream is to be respected as a great warrior and/or leader like famous Decepticons such as Sixshot or Shockwave.
• Irony: Despite aspiring to be a respected leader, he's shown to be really lazy and unmotivated to actually take charge on the WAP even though he'd probably do a pretty good job.
• Interspecies Romance: With a dire-wraith he met online who goes by the moniker "Cons4Eva" — though, before they met up in person he thought Cons4Eva was a fellow Decepticon.
  • Long-Distance Relationship: Cons4Eva declines Crankcase's offer for him to join the Scavengers, but Word of God revealed that the two maintain their relationship online. In the epilogue, after Tailgate advises Crankcase to "tell the ones you love that you love them", Crankcase decides to reunite with Cons4Eva in person.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Still wants to help Cons4Eva even after the reveal he is actually a dire-wraith, because Crankcase believes he deserves to be happy.
• Kick the Dog: In issue 45 he seriously considers selling Grimlock to Demus in order to buy a better ship. Unlike Krok (who had some altruistic reasons), and Spinister (who had a few Pet the Dog moments to balance it out), Crankcase's reasoning was the most callous and self serving.
• Lazy Bum: He's remarkably unmotivated to do anything, to the point that he actually gets nervous when the possibility of getting an actual job comes up.
  • It's worth noting though, that the reaction to a potential job is more likely due to how it went last time he had one than this.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Half his brain is exposed due to injuries sustained battling Thunderwing.
• Mundane Made Awesome: His facial paralysis enables him to deceive Fortress Maximus with an outwardly convincing murder suicide bomb bluff.
• Perpetual Frowner: He's frowning all the time, partly because he's cynical, partly because the head wound sometimes causes facial paralysis and leaves him with a scowl.
• Press-Ganged: This was how he became a Scavenger. Spinister and Krok fulfilled a dying con's wish by rescuing Flyhigh, aka Misfire, from a prison ship, which they would steal and later rename the Weak Anthropic Principle. Crankcase just so happened to be the pilot of that ship and he got pressed into joining their group.
• Shoot the Dog: When confronted with Maximus, Crankcase distracts him by sending a communication about Grimlock to Misfire all the while knowing it will be intercepted. He weighed up the options and feels that Fort Max would rather rescue an Autobot than waste his time killing 5 Deceptions. Even if Grimlock is sent to jail, hey at least nobody's dead.
• The Smart Guy: He's a grumpy guy, but he's also a good pilot, and tends to have his head in the game more than most of his team.
• The Snark Knight: Often takes the opportunity to snark at people, resulting in exchanges such as-

Krok: Why are you here Crankcase?

Crankcase: A question I ask myself every day.

• Unexplained Recovery: Fighting Thunderwing's pretty much a death sentence, especially for someone as unimportant as Crankcase. Despite being stomped flat, he survived, though a similar fate befell Twin Twist who also made it out alive.
  • Although it should be noted that while he did survive, he was deeply traumatized by the event as seen in the More Than Meets the eye: Revolution oneshot.
• Verbal Tic: Says "bah" aloud semi regularly.
• Villainous Valour: He's surprisingly brave and resourceful when danger rears it's head despite his relative small size and lack of combat skill. Off the clock though, near total slacker. Such highlights include:
  • During the fight with the DJD is issue 8 he calls out Fulcrum for being a coward and not helping fight.
  • When Fortress Maximus has them all cornered, Crankcase takes the opportunity to blast him in the back when he turns away from him.
• What the Hell, Hero?: He is not happy when he sees Fulcrum hiding and than running rather helping fight the DJD in issue 8.
• When He Smiles: Doesn't do it often, but in the rare situations he does such as reuniting with Grimlock or interacting with Cons4Eva, it's adorable.

Krok

We're scavengers — we're gonna do what we do best. We're going to make use of what's been left behind.

A calm, paternalistic commander and war historian on a quest to find his old squad whom he got separated from many years ago. Desperate to keep his idiotic band of friends in line.

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• Adaptation Deviation: The original version of the character was always named "Krok", whereas his alligator partner, Gatoraider, was his Action Master partner. Here, his alligator partner, implicitly the IDW version of Gatoraider, was just his pet and killed following a confrontation with the Wreckers, prompting him to change his name to "Krok" to honor him.
• Adapted Out: Isn't an athlete here.
• Berserk Button: Autobots, big time. All because the Wreckers savagely massacred his original squad, Krok's best friend Radar receiving an especially harsh death courtesy of a drug crazed Roadbuster pulling his spinal cord out. Gradually grows out of it, accepting Grimlock as part of the team being the first step.
• Butt-Monkey: Even compared to the rest of the team he really gets smacked around a lot.
• Dark and Troubled Past This guy's been put through the wringer in several ways, the most horrible being forced to watch his best friend Radar suffer a undeservedly violent death.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Can barely sit still in peacetime and is irritated seeing other Decepticons lead successful lives. Ultimately Krok decides he'd like to help others, the same way the Scavies helped him.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Issue 45 reveals that he used to have a pet, one so dear to him that when it died, he took up it's name to honor it. His deceased squad also fall under this and he seems genuinely heartbroken remembering how Radar died.
• A Father to His Men: Was this to his previous team and is this now to the Scavengers.
• Facial Horror: The result of Vos's "face" left him in pretty bad shape, though by his next appearance his face has been fixed.
• Freudian Excuse: Witnessing Radar's unwarrantedly horrible death resulted in him despising Autobots more than most purple badges. Krok gets better about this.
• Heel Realization: He has one about his voting to sell Grimlock to Demus for half a billion credits because he wanted to use his half a billion to open a center to help other Decepticons traumatized and mentally scarred from the war receive counseling and treatment. When Fulcrum angrily explains that those bots include Grimlock, Krok realizes he was wrong for wanting to sell him in the first place.
• He's Just Hiding: He's been in denial about the fate of his squad for years, convincing himself that they weren't actually dead and he just needed to find them. Eventually he makes himself understand they're dead, but still doesn't really come to terms with it until the encounter with Fort Max makes him realize how much the other Scavengers care for him. invoked
• Hidden Depths: He gives a very poignant speech about mental health in issue 46.
• Large and in Charge: Inverted, he might be the highest ranked of his group, but he's the smallest.
• The Leader: The crew's big cheese.
• The Mentally Ill: He started to suffer from delusions and bouts of anxiety after his old squad was wiped out by the Wreckers. His brushes with mental illness caused him to decide to open a mental health facility after the war ended. When the deal with Demus falls through, he settles for helping other Decepticons in the galaxy the Scavengers come across.
• Nervous Wreck: Starts becoming one after Megatron's side-change as his already serious anxiety and frustration with his teammates gets steadily worse.
• Noble Demon: He's ruthless in combat, willing to kill Autobots even off the battlefield since they're enemies. However out-of-combat he's stern but polite towards others and holds no true ill feelings towards the Autobots as he understands that there really isn't as much difference between the two sides as most think.
• Not So Above It All: He's as much likely to play Shoot, Shoot, Bang, Bang and assert how to pronounce "Scavengers" as his zanier teammates.
• Not So Stoic: After months of the Scavengers screwing around in the outer rim, he loses his cool and bitches out the rest of the group for not doing anything with their lives.
• Only Sane Man: Tries to be this, with mixed results.
• The Resenter: He resents a lot of other Decepticons who have found new purposes in life after the war for being so successful when he's stuck living hand-to-mouth.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Towards the end of the war he witnessed his squad get wiped out by the Wreckers. The only thing he has left of them is Radar's finger, which he salvaged from the poor 'con after Roadbuster tore his spine out and force fed it to him. The event definitely left it's mark on Krok.
• The Strategist: Was a tactician during the war, though according to Skullcruncher he wasn't actually that good at his job.
• The Stoic: The most low-key member of the group.
• Team Dad: His main job.
• Tears of Blood: During the scene that shows the aftereffects of the Killswitch.
• Tragic Keepsake: His clicker is actually the finger of a deceased squadmate. When he finally accepts his old squad's death, he plugs it into the WAP's navcomp so the Scavengers can track down and help other disenfranchised Decepticons.
• Twofer Token Minority: He's both constructed cold and a monoformer.

Flywheels

Primus spare my spark. Primus my spark.

A jittery and optimistic hypochondriac who's recently found religion. Suffers from a mental disorder so rare that it's probably made up, which causes him to transform whenever he lies.

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• Adapted Out: Is a Triple Changer rather than a Duocon. Though it's still alluded to. See Mythology Gag below.
• The Atoner: Was possibly one at the time of his death. Issue 48 reveals that he used to work in Grindcore Prison, a nightmarish glorified death camp where he was given the job of implanting gruesome devices called "mouth flowers" in prisoners. It's likely that his reconnection with his faith was linked to this.
• The Cameo: Makes a brief flashback appearance in issue 47, as a worker in Grindcore.
• Character Death: He is shredded by Tesarus in Who's Afraid Of The DJD?
• Character Development: Along with the other Scavengers, he chooses to stay and fight the DJD in issue 8. Significant because a later flashback reveals that he once threw himself into space rather than face them.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Though he probably had it better than most of the 'bots and 'cons Tesarus has killed. He got to go in head-first.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He used to work at Grindcore where he would gleefully help in the tormenting of prisoners.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: Isn't acknowledged again following his death.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Misfire and co's nonchalant attitude about his death, calling dibs on spare parts from his carcass, certainly paint Flywheels as having been this. The fact he's never mentioned again is another strong hint. At least Krok shows genuine concern for him when Tesarus butchers Flywheels.
• The Fundamentalist: Devoutly religious, being a neoprimalist who frequently prays.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Considering that Flywheels used to work in a death camp, helping to facilitate the installation of torture devices within the prisoners skulls it's rather fitting he's slaughtered by a notorious Torture Technician like Tesarus, even going in head first.
• Mythology Gag: A rather twisted one. When Tesarus pulls him into his bladed, grinder chest cavity, lethally shredding Flywheels upper body, he leaves behind the pelvis and legs, which darkly echoes his original toy's ability to split in half.
• Pinocchio Nose: He reflexively transforms whenever he lies.
• Posthumous Character: Flywheel's received more characterization in flashback issues long after he'd passed away.
• Token Religious Teammate: Has rediscovered his faith in Primus and can be heard praising/pleading with him several times.
• Thrown Out the Airlock: Does this to himself rather than face the DJD; he's one of the 31 handpicked Decepticons on "the list" that Shockwave took out of Garrus 9 in an attempt to bargain for his own life. Flywheels jumped ship and was luckily picked up by the nascent Scavengers.
• Say Your Prayers: When he hears that the DJD are coming, and again right before Tesarus executes him.
• Stepford Smiler: One, possible interpretation of him maintaining a friendly grin during his time at Grindcore, considering Flywheels later repentance.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: When the Scavengers are introduced in Issue 7, Flywheels has the least amount of characterization and is the only casualty in the next issue's conflict.

"Misfire"/Flyhigh

I'm thinking magnets, but I'm hoping magic powers.

A rude and overly-hyper junkie with absolutely abysmal aiming skills and a love of talking. A strong believer in the mystical Necrobot and seeks to find it in his travels.

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• Adapted Out: He never journeys to Nebulos or Master and meets Aimless.
• Appropriated Appellation: "Call me Misfire - everyone does. I blame the trial."
• Arch-Enemies: Skids claims he and Misfire are this, although Word of God would later explain that the intent of the scene was that Skids couldn't remember who his actual arch-enemy was, although given their prior history and the Grindcore incident it would probably be Tarn, and picked Misfire because he was looking into a Misfire-coloured drink at the time.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: According to his bio he has the cybertronian equivalent of ADHD.
• Beware the Silly Ones: As laid back and goofy Misfire seems, there are classic hints of Decepticon deviousness in him. Even when he screws up he can be a threat, he did get his name from a mistake that left several Decepticons dead.
• Big Brother Instinct: Develops something resembling this towards Grimlock, despite being much younger than him. Becoming the big guy's self appointed caretaker.
• Big Eater: He refuels so much that he'll stop for food during a jailbreak.
• Birds of a Feather: He and Swerve hit it off very quickly after the Scavengers and Team Rodimus meet up on Mederi/"Cyberutopia" due to their shared love of recaps and puns.
• Bittersweet Ending: He’s found a family in the Scavengers and a new friend in Swerve, but his quest for the Necrobot was All for Nothing.
• Cheery Pink: Is cheery and pink.
• Cloudcuckoolander: A chatty eccentric with a colorful, often melodramatic way of speaking.
• Epic Fail: He's a really really bad shot.
• Evil Counterpart: Rewind suggests that he might be Swerve's.
• Friend to All Children: Especially to the Firstborn. Despite the baby's origins he immediately becomes protective of her and determined to get her to safety, her welfare being one of the first things he asks Grimlock about when he returns after being separated.
• Genki Guy: Energetic, enthusiastic and very fond of giving nicknames to things.
• The Heart: Despite being rude, he is easily the nicest of the Scavengers, and has shown considerable empathy towards innocents or those who need help.
• Hidden Depths: Has his moments where competence shines through such as killing three Cybertronians at once while escaping Scorponok. Is also surprisingly empathetic despite his immense rudeness and although not much, knows and cares far more about organics than most Decepticons to the point where even First Aid wants to consult him about them.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Exaggerated and played for laughs. According to in-universe data sources, he once fired a bullet through a bullet-shaped hole in a slightly larger bullet. While riding a bullet train.
• Indy Ploy: Misfire's remarkable ability to bluff his way into/out of trouble and thnk fast on his feet means he can come up with plans that, while stupid at face value, are still clever enough to get the Scavengers out of trouble. It also means he instantly makes friends Swerve, who also tends to blather at length and makes a lot of things up as he goes.
• The Lancer: His zanier, chattier personality is a nice contrast to the far more subdued, down to earth Krok.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Misfire's good deeds tend to pay off in considerable ways. His relationship with someone called Thundersaur saved him from incarceration, while his efforts to help Grimlock saved the Scavengers lives on more than one occasion.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his rudeness, he does genuinely care about all the other Scavengers, especially Grimlock. This is made especially clear in issue 45. It's also him who refuses to let the innocent Firstborn be killed.
• Kick the Dog: Him mocking Krok for holding onto Radar's severed finger all these years, which the latter is quick to call Misfire out on.
• The Millstone: The Scavengers would probably be at least halfway effective if it weren't for Misfire. From accidentally shooting his own teammates during fights to nearly ruining a jailbreak by stopping for snacks, there are times where it seems like he's intentionally trying to get the others killed.
• Mister Exposition: Introduces us to the scavengers.
• Motor Mouth: Lampshaded and justified. He'd siphoned some fuel out of a soldier who'd been taking circuit speeders, and had sampled the goods without bothering to check. He is therefore quite high when we meet him. That said regular Misfire is fairly chatty regardless.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Skids describes him as such.
• Pet the Dog: He tries to teach Grimlock how to read and write again and even works on his temper to keep from lashing out at him. Later he's the one to most vocally object to selling Grimlock to Demus.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Though he doesn't know it yet, his search for the Necrobot is one, as the Necrobot has been murdered by the DJD.
• The Stoner: While not explicitly said, it's implied a couple of times. The first time when it is mentioned he likes to taste the goods in the first issue he appears in. The second when, during his rescue from Death Row, he pretty much botched it because he took a detour to get munchies.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Gradually becomes less of an insensitive arse with each new appearance, as highlighted by his Pet the Dog moments with Grimlock and Nickel, consoling her on losing her old teammates.

Spinister

The fire is giving me weird looks. I think I'm gonna shoot it.

A daydreamy and possibly mentally disabled bot who's also somehow a master surgeon and a skilled bomb defuser. Cares for his friends but flits between childlike joy and surprising acts of violence with distressing ease.

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• Adapted Out: Hairsplitter and Singe are nowhere to be seen or mentioned.
• Adaptational Dumbass: Is a childish, daydreaming nutcase rather than the levelheaded tactician he was in the Marvel books.
• Adaptational Intelligence: Strangely goes hand in hand with him being an insane moron given that Spinister is also a talented surgeon able to perform complex procedures.
• An Arm and a Leg: Grimlock rips off one of his arms. Spinister doesn't actually notice until Nickel points it out, beyond realizing his balance was off.
• Ascended Extra: After making a handful of silent cameos in earlier stories.
• The Big Guy: A role he shares with Grimlock, given that Spinister is the second tallest member of the team.
• Book Dumb: He seems to struggle with counting.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer:
  • Interrogates his hands, but he manages to defuse an incredibly powerful explosive charge with no problem.
  • After learning about the Roboids, he's able to give Fortress Maximus a detailed and entirely accurate means of undoing what was done to them, within less than an hour.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Amongst other things, he thinks random objects are sentient and evil and believes that squirrels live in peoples' heads.
• Contemplating Your Hands: He doesn't even have to be on drugs to do it.
• Cool Old Guy: From an audience member who witnessed young Megatron's bouts in the ring, to a survivor of Thunderwing's final big rampage, to the idiot doctor of a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits, to the curer of mode locked animal Transformers and feral zombified Lost Lighters let it never be said Spinister hasn't lead a long, colorful life.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Despite his apparent mental disability, he seems to be a decent fighter and it turns out that he's a savant with his complex machinery.
• Dumbass Has a Point: Maybe he's an idiot, but he's the first to notice that the DJD have apparently miscounted before anyone else does.
  • Questions why someone felt Grimlock, who is well known for his hatred of 'cons, was worth keeping alive.
  • When Fortress Maximus tells the Scavengers he needs to take Grimlock away to help him, Spinister points out that Grimlock needs to have a say whether he leaves or stays with the Scavengers.
• Hidden Depths: Nobody would look at this insane dumbass and think "surgical genius." Yet, he is.
• Idiot Savant: Surgical genius with his hands. Idiot with everything else.
• Kick the Dog: He considers Demus's offer to buy Grimlock in issue 45.
• Manchild: Most of the time he acts like a fairly friendly and harmless child. However during his more delusional moments he edges dangerously close to Psychopathic Manchild.
• The Medic: Often serves as the team's inhouse physician. Crankcase is reluctant to trust Spinister with treating his unattended head wound however due to the lumbering copter Con's dangerously bizarre mind.
• Mysterious Past: It's never explained just why Spinister acts the way he does, with the most popular fan theory being brain damage of some sort.
• Older Than They Look: You wouldn't know it from his appearance or Manchild behavior but Spinister is actually one of the oldest team members, having been a spectator to the gladiator matches way back in The Transformers - Megatron: Origins.
• Pet the Dog: He leaves behind instructions on how to repair the beast-form cybertronions that Demus lobotomized, allowing Fort Max to save them. Notably this happens shortly after his above-mentioned Kick the Dog moment - possibly aware of his own mentally disabled similarities to Grimlock.
• The Quiet One: Doesn't say much compared to the others.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: Compared to previous versions of the character. Although, given this series, there may be more to this than we know.
• Trigger-Happy: His first response to anything out of the ordinary is to shoot at it. With a very loose definition of "out of the ordinary." It's also stated that he determines whether or not something is trustworthy by the sound it makes when he punches it.
• Unrelated in the Adaptation: Prior incarnations of Spinister have him related somehow to fellow Double Targetmaster Needlenose, both being members of the Decepticons "Mayhem Attack Squad". Not only is this Spinister unrelated to IDW's version of the group, "Mayhem", he has no known connection with Needlenose either.

Grimlock

Me... Grimlock.

Former leader of the Dinobots and once a proud warrior, Grimlock disappeared after a stint in Garrus 9 and is found by the Scavengers in a mysterious Decepticon ship, having suffered brain damage. He initially became an honorary member of the group due to their hope that he could keep them from being arrested or killed once they got to Cybertron, but eventually became a member of the group proper.

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• Aborted Arc: Despite showcasing a wish to see his old teammates again, Grimlock never reunites with the other Dinobots.
• The Big Guy: His main role on the team as the largest, deadliest warrior they have.
• The Bus Came Back: Missing since Last Stand of the Wreckers.
  • Came Back Wrong: His low intelligence is a case of brain damage from a combination of various forms of torture by Scorponok.
• Cool Old Guy: One of the oldest Cybertronians still kicking in present times, Grimlock having served in the Primal Vanguard itself.
• Declaration of Protection: Makes one to the Firstborn he's now guarding in his empty chest cavity after sending the rest of the Scavengers to Garrus-9 via transmit, leaving them alone on a Worldsweeper full of Architects.
  Grimlock: Don't worry, kid. Someone looked after me for awhile. Did a good job, too. Now it's my turn.
• The Dreaded: Decepticons used to tell new recruits about him, to terrify the oil out of them.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After regaining his sanity, he retires to a hopefully peaceful life with the Scavengers raising the Firstborn.
• Good Is Not Nice: That red badge doesn't translate to him being pleasant company. Most of the time. Kup summed it up best in The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers.
  Guzzle: Will he be pleased to see us?
  Kup: Hell no. He's never pleased to see anyone.
• Good Is Not Soft: Remember, this guy used to be a gladiator in Kaon and sparred regularly with fellow heavyweights like Scorponok. That, and he hasn't any qualms about savagely fucking you up in self defense.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: After the time-skip between seasons 1 and 2, he begins to experience tantrums where he rampages about the WAP for seemingly no reason and has to be stunned into submission. Given that his pre-brain damage self had a notoriously bad temper, one can't help but wonder if this is his old self shining through...
• Handicapped Badass: Even without his higher brain functions, Grimlock is still capable of putting up a good fight. At first, at any rate.
  • After undergoing some recovery, Grimlock is perfectly capable of effortlessly annihilating dozens of bio-mechanical Treebots. Scorponok turns this against the Scavengers when he demonstrates his ability to knock out and revive Grimlock at will. He revives Grimlock as Spinister is in the middle of opening him up. All things considered, what follows goes about as well as you'd expect.
• Heel–Face Turn: First appeared in Autocracy as one of Optimus' group, he later joined the Decepticons before re-joining the Autobots at a later date.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Adopts one when he's brought before Scorponok, pretending not to realize that the Decepticon "guards" he just tore apart were actually his friends the Scavengers, who had been caring for him for the last few years, even telling Scorponok that being Decepticons, they got what they deserved. It's actually part of a delaying tactic to allow Spinister and Nickel time to reassemble the Scavengers and allow them to get the drop on Scorponok, and to give Scorponok a chance to monologue at Grimlock about his Evil Plan.
• I Choose to Stay: Stays behind on Scorponok's Worldsweeper after pushing the rest of the Scavengers through the transmat to Garrus-9, so he can destroy the console to prevent them from being followed, even though this leaves him (and the Firstborn he's guarding) alone on a ship full of pissed-off Architects, though because he's Grimlock, he doesn't seem overly concerned about the odds.
• Idiot Savant: When it comes to fighting. Even when partially brain dead, he still managed to do some damage to the members of the DJD.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: A violent, antisocial prick on even some of his better days, Grimlock still cares about those around him and believes in helping the weak. He even returns Misfire's hug when they reunite!
• MacGuffin Guardian: For the Magnificence, which was placed in his chest after he was arrested. Safest place in the universe, and harder to break into than anywhere, since getting into his chest requires Grimlock's cooperation.
• Manchild: Due to his brain damage he can't read or write anymore, sometimes wets himself, and begins to act out more.
• Morality Pet: Becomes one for Misfire.
• Mysterious Past: Hints aside Grimlock's brief time as a Decepticon isn't elaborated upon.
• Noodle Incident:
  • He's apparently caused trouble for Tarn before, based on Tarn commenting he's "forgotten how much I hated you". According to Nickel, he's the one who scarred Tarn's face.
  • Seems he was once a Decepticon in this continuity. Fortress Maximus indicates such, and there is a panel in an early issue showing him holding both an Autobot and Decepticon badge in his hands, as if making a Sadistic Choice. His switching sides led to his being only the second name bumped to the top of The List.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Issue 46 hints that he's either starting to regain his mental faculties or is hiding them for some reason. Lost Light issue 15 reveals it's not obfuscating - it's aphasia. Being in his T-Rex mode allows him to recover his intelligence due to the fact it moves his brain around, removing the pressure on it.
• Papa Wolf: Fights tooth and claw to keep the Firstborn safe before passing her along to Agonizer.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: This is his reason for not holding back against the Lost Light crewmembers who've been turned into Sparkeaters as they betrayed Rodimus and left them stranded.
• Sanity Slippage: When last heard of before the Scavengers find him, he'd gone insane from being a "guest" of Overlord's occupation of Garrus-9. Lost Light 14 reveals it was because Scorponok tortured him, so he would release the Magnificence.
• Sixth Ranger: Even moreso than Fulcrum, since he joined right after him.
• Token Good Teammate: While Grimlock isn't exactly a nice guy, he's an Autobot for a reason and has acted selflessly in the past bot towards Cybertronians and organics. Incredibly bregrudgingly but he's still done it.
• Tragic Keepsake: His sword which has the other Dinobots names carved into it.
• Verbal Tic: Making its first real appearance in this continuity, as a result of aforementioned brain damage.
• Wham Line: Says "Thanks. I appreciate that" to Misfire.

Nickel

After the deaths of the DJD, Nickel joined up with Deathsaurus and managed to replace him as the commander of his forces. But during a battle with the Galactic Council and the Black Block Consortia, the Scavengers coincidentally found themselves in the middle of it. As they tried to flee, Agonizer opened a portal to invite them for a job offer. However, Nickel was inadvertently blasted through the portal along with them. Despite her dislike of the team, she was forced to joined them due being unable to contact Deathsaurus and having nowhere else to go.

For tropes related to Nickel see the Decepticon Justice Division page.

Cons4Eva

An outcast dire wraith who prefers socialising to killing. Also the internet boyfriend of Crankcase, whom he first met via decepticon social media site the Big Conversation, until finally meeting in person on Earth.

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• A Form You Are Comfortable With: Thought Thunderwing would be this when meeting on Earth. Was very mistaken.
• All of the Other Reindeer: To the rest of his kind.
• Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence: Attempted with a ritual called "The Crossover", him even trying to convince Crankcase to come with him, but ultimately subverted as the ritual failed and he realises he didn't really want to leave after all.
• Despair Event Horizon: Thanks to his outcast status, he'd crossed it to the point he no longer even wanted to stay on this plane of reality before he even first appeared. His failure to do so after attempting the Crossover with MP3 and Crankcase, convinces him out of this and to make the most of his life instead.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Eventually reunites with Crankcase and the rest of the Scavengers at the Troja Major, with them all planning to raise the baby Firstborn together.
• Friend to All Living Things: Really wants to make friends and socialise and doesn't at all mind the species of those he does with.
• Half-Truth: How his conversations with Crankcase on the web were. He didn't lie and says himself later that everything said about his life, his anxieties and his feelings towards the Con were true, but he also left out several important facts and deliberately allowed him to come to wrong conclusions.
• Interspecies Romance: He's a dire wraith in a relationship with a cybertronian.
• Long-Distance Relationship: After their first meeting on Earth, Cons4Eva declined Crankcase's offer to join the Scavengers but Word of God is that they're both still in this sort of relationship.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: He dislikes how wraiths tend to kill and conquer and simply wants to socialise with people and make friends. This unfortunately lead to him being an outcast among his own kind.
• Meaningful Name: At least, his fake one, which is the one most often used is. Cons4Eva was chosen specifically to get into a Decepticon chat group.
• No Name Given: He does give his real name once to the Scavengers in-universe, but it's in a wraith language and not translated in-comic for readers.
  • Potentially subverted though, as out of comic translations suggest his name to really be "Symbols".
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Only ever referred to by his chat handle.
• Not What It Looks Like: He didn't mention he wasn't actually a decepticon when first chatting online and turns up to the first physical meeting looking like Thunderwing. Queue panic from the Scavengers and Cons4Eva frantically trying to tell "Grumpybox" to wait.
• Socially Awkward Hero: As much as he wants to socialise, he's clearly not the best at it. A lot of the trouble that goes down with the meet-up on Earth is down to this.
• Put on a Bus: While still in long-distance contact, he's physically off travelling the universe, still trying to figure things out.
• Token Religious Teammate: Of the Scavengers following Flywheels death, only Krok even recognises what he's talking about when he mentions The Brand, an important aspect of the Temptorian religion he's devoted himself too.
• Wrong Context Magic: Dire Wraiths in IDW's Hasbro comic 'verse function via Replicant Snatching, but Cons4Eva seems to be a pure shapeshifter. Either that or he assimilated Thunderwing's body somehow.

Spoiler Character

"The Firstborn"

• Amazing Technicolor Population: Is very purple.
• Children Are Innocent: With her being literally just a baby this trope is played completely straight, even being explicitly brought up by Misfire -

Misfire: Hey! Hey! Grimsy! You'll kill the baby...!

Grimlock: I have to.

Misfire: Why? She may have the world's worst facial tattoo but she's not actually done anything wrong.

• Designer Babies: A lot of science and genetic engineering went in to making this baby.
• Distinguishing Mark: The one covering her face is very obvious.
• Embarrassing Tattoo: Not quite a tattoo, but Misfire views the Decepticon insignia birthmark covering her face like this.
• Giant Woman: She can be carried in the arms of Cybertronians like a regular baby, which would make her bigger than an adult human.
• Living MacGuffin: Due to being a revolutionary example of science that is intended to help create a Decepticon Empire.
• Meaningful Name:
  • The Firstborn title was given to her by Scorponok, as an indication of her literally being the Firstborn of all of the children he was planning on making.
  • Word of God would later cheekily name the Firstborn "Connie".
• Minor Major Character: She's the big reveal of the Grand Architect story line and her existence creates plenty of possibilities and ethical concerns for Cybertron. However, due to her showing up so close to the comic's end, she disappears from the story almost as soon as she arrives.
• Morality Pet: To the Scavengers as a whole. Protecting her is the most heroic thing they've ever done.
• Non-Human Humanoid Hybrid: A mix between Cybertronian - possessing a Cybertronian spark - and some unknown giant purple organic species.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: In order for her to live, Scorponok needed to forcefully extract a spark from a Decepticon and place his spark in her, but any offspring she produces would have a newly formed spark. Scorponok originally planned to extract the sparks of thousands of Decepticons in order to create a self sustaining population.
• Purple Is Powerful: Likely the logic behind Scorponok wanting his baby to be Decepticon purple, the color associating her to a powerful faction.
• Super Breeding Program: Scorponok's plan was to create thousands like her and have them breed into a massive population before harvesting the sparks within them and placing them into robotic bodies to create a new Decepticon army.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: The last we hear of her, Grimlock has left her with Agonizer. The Scavengers wished to extract her spark and put it in a dead Decepticon body but the plot point is never followed up on.

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