Scourge (Transformers)

Transformers: Generation 1
===Animated series [edit] === Scourge is characterized as a merciless hunter who was created from the wreckage of Decepticons. He leads the Sweeps, a group of Decepticon hunter-trackers.[1]  His only weakness is his arrogance. He turns into a hovercraft in most incarnations, although this is usually portrayed as a space ship.[2]

In the aftermath of the Decepticons' attack on Autobot City in 2005, several injured and dying Decepticons were cast into the void of space in order to lighten the load for the return trip, and were soon drawn in by the world-eater, Unicron. After making a deal with Unicron, the deposed Decepticon leader, Megatron, was reborn as Galvatron. Unicron then used the bodies of the other injured Decepticons to create new troops who would serve Galvatron in his quest to destroy the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. Created from the battered form of Thundercracker, Scourge was the leader of a group of robots (identical in appearance to Scourge himself) known as the Sweeps.

Scourge did not immediately display any overt personality traits after his creation, beyond his unswerving loyalty to Unicron and Galvatron. Scourge began to come into his own after the apparent destruction of both. Less willing to take orders from Cyclonus, but doing so all the same, Scourge used his scanners to locate Galvatron's body, seeing across the galaxy into the Hydran system, where Galvatron lay in a pool of plasma lava on the planet Thrull. Upon arrival on the planet, Scourge was the one to pull Galvatron from the lava, but he and the Sweeps were then attacked by the deranged Galvatron, who only stopped his assault when Scourge professed his loyalty.

Scourge became one of Galvatron's most prominent minions, despite his lack of any real hierarchical weight, and would regularly lead the Sweeps on missions, often with Cyclonus, with whom he discovered the paradise planet of Paradron, which they quickly overthrew for Galvatron.

A short time later, Scourge was possessed by Starscream's ghost and brought to the decapitated head of Unicron. Thought a traitor by the Decepticons, Scourge had no option but to accompany Starscream on the tasks Unicron appointed him, stealing the eyes of Metroplex and the transformation cog of Trypticon. Before Unicron's head could be connected to Cybertron to form a new body for him, however, Scourge set aside his pride and contacted the Autobots, warning them of Unicron's scheme and enabling them to stop it. Returning to the ranks of the Decepticons, Scourge opposed the institutionalisation of Galvatron on the therapeutic planet of Torkulon, and was among those affected by Quintesson mind control and turned into an energy vampire by the Trans-Organic "Dweller."

When the Decepticons finally succeeded in obtaining the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, Galvatron could not make the talisman function for him, and, threatened by the spirits of the ancient Autobots within it, told Scourge to destroy it, but Scourge thought Galvatron a fool, knowing that the Matrix was no mere energy source, and saw it as a source of greater power. Somehow, Scourge was able to temporarily absorb the Matrix's energies, his body mutating into a monstrous, deformed state in the process, and he used his enhanced powers to depose Galvatron as Decepticon commander and lead an attack on Earth, where he was defeated by Hot Rod, who reclaimed the Matrix. Scourge's power play was not without repercussions for him, but after a beating from Galvatron in traditional Decepticon style, he was allowed to remain in their ranks unlike Blitzwing and Octane who were both exiled from the Decepticons.

In the year 2007, Scourge was among the Decepticons who attacked Autobot City and stole the key to the Plasma Energy Chamber, which Scourge himself then used to open the legendary forge. The released energy overloaded his system, and blasted the group of Autobots who had recovered the key across the galaxy to the planet of Nebulos. Recharged by Cyclonus, a furious Scourge co-led a team of Decepticons in pursuit of the Autobots, but after an initial victory in battle, they were soon overcome and defeated by the newly-formed Autobot Headmasters, a merging of the Autobots and a group of Nebulon rebels. The Decepticons were then approached by the Hive - the evil ruling council of Nebulos - to reproduce the Headmasters process with them, but Cyclonus bargained them down to using half of the Decepticons' heads, and the other half, their weapons. Consequently, Scourge became a Targetmaster when his gun was transformed into an exo-suit for the Nebulon Hive member Fracas, who transformed into a high-frequency incendiary cannon. In the battle that ensued, the Decepticons reclaimed the key, which was held by Scourge until Arcee stole it back from him, but was then herself captured by Scorponok, who returned all the Decepticons to Cybertron. Galvatron's plan to use the Plasma Energy Chamber to drive the Sun supernova, destroying Earth and Cybertron, was then stopped by Fortress Maximus and Spike Witwicky, and Scourge and the Decepticons were last seen being blasted across the universe by a stray tendril of plasma energy.