TRANSFORMERS: Revisiting The Characters Of Generation 1 - SCOURGE

 TRANSFORMERS:  Revisiting the Characters of Generation 1

    "Desolation follows in my trail." - Scourge, 1986.

DECEPTICON

Name - SCOURGE

Function - Sweep Leader / Tracker

Series Debut - 1986 / Wave 3

Sub-Group - None (1986), Targetmaster (1987)

BACKGROUND...

    Scourge was created in 2005 by the planet-eater - Unicron.  Fearing the power contained in the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, Unicron offered a new body and new troops to the defeated, near-death Megatron to find and destroy the Matrix.  After the deal was accepted, he reformatted Megatron into Galvatron and then took the wreckage of other Decepticon remains and converted them into new warriors.  As it appears, the body for Thundercracker was used to make Scourge.  It is important to note, however, that Scourge is NOT an upgrade of Thundercracker.  Scourge is an entirely new being.

    Unicron created Scourge to be a tracker with his sole purpose being to hunt and crush the Autobots and their allies.  He was built with intricate optical and heat scanning equipment which helps him to locate his prey.  He commands a small team of hunters called "the Sweeps" which look very similar to him in both robot and alt-mode.

    Scourge transforms into a wedge-shaped hovercraft/spacecraft.  His vehicle mode is armed with a powerful disintegrator ray that is capable of slicing through solid rock.  In robot mode, the disintegrator ray is mounted on his head and he carries a high-temperature incendiary laser blaster. 

    In 2006, a Decepticon team made their way to the distant planet Nebulos.  There they teamed up with a group of evil Nebulan natives.  Six of these Nebulans volunteered to undergo the "Targetmaster process".  They were outfitted with special armor that would allow them to transform into the weapons of 6 Decepticons.  Scourge was paired with Fracas - who could become his incendiary blaster.  It is said Fracas' temper matches that of his gun mode.  

MY THOUGHTS...

    You know, I never had Scourge back in the day.  Ever!  Either the original or the Targetmaster.  I never bought them.  I think it was partially because a neighborhood friend of mine got him pretty early on, before the Movie was released.  Also, I just thought the action figure was odd looking.  He was very "blocky" and one of the first Transformer figures with a moustache/beard.  I also didn't get why a "hovercraft" was in the assortment of jets?  Comparing the sleek look of Cyclonus' jet mode to the wedge-shaped Scourge, there was no contest.

    I understood Scourge more after the movie came out and his place in the Jet assortment made a little more sense.  I still wasn't sold on him though.  In the movie, his robot mode looked great... but the 3 Sweeps looked just like him!  Who was who??  Add in that weird part where he raises his head out of his ship mode to talk to Galvatron.  Bizarre!?!?

    Standing in for the original G1 figure is Scourge from the 2016 Titans Return line.  He is more "Headmaster" than "Targetmaster" now, with Fracas becoming his head.  This figure is cool though.  The robot mode is not perfect, but is definitely an improvement over the original.  The ship/hovercraft mode, however, is where this figure shines!  I think they did a fantastic job of nailing the look of it!  It looks much more "space-worthy" than before.  It's much more clear that this is a spaceship...  not a flat wedge.

Decepticon Targetmaster  assortment from the 1987 catalog.

    (Information on the character's lore was taken from the Sunbow Transformers cartoon series, including the Movie and the figure's original Tech-Spec.)