Turmoil

Turmoil is a Decepticon from the Generation 1 continuity family.

When his fearful shears he plies, he'll cut you down to cir-cum-ciiiiise!

Turmoil is a commander in the Decepticon forces, in charge of a battle cruiser with at least a dozen crew members. Blunt and taciturn, he prefers to let his ginormous arm-cannon do the talking for him. This philosophy lends him a surprising degree of stealth, since remaining quiet can allow a talkative enemy to unintentionally reveal all sorts of things—his location, for instance.

Turmoil once had a second-in-command named Deadlock who renounced all factions and tried to leave. Unfortunately, he seemingly perished before Turmoil himself could have the pleasure of destroying him. It would be quite a surprise indeed for Turmoil to hear his traitorous voice again.

It is unclear what Turmoil's alt-mode is, but the treads on his legs and the cannon on his arm suggest something tank-like.

Fiction

IDW Generation 1 continuity

Long ago, Turmoil was in charge of a ship of Decepticons and Deadlock was his increasingly problematic second-in-command. Things came to a head when, during one battle with the Autobots on an alien world, Deadlock ignored Turmoil's orders to not fire unless fired upon. Even though this action resulted in Decepticon victory, Deadlock's peers hated Deadlock so much that they tattled and turned on him once they returned to the ship. Turmoil had prepared to execute his wayward second-in-command when Deadlock freed himself and escaped the ship in a pod. Infuriated, Turmoil put out word that Deadlock was banished and should be killed on sight. Drift #1

In the modern era, Turmoil and his crew docked their ship on some alien world, the cruiser damaged but holding several Autobot prisoners. This stop ended up being a lethal mistake. While the locals bore some degree of hostility towards Cybertronians, the real danger came from two coincidentally convergent Autobot attacks.

One was carried out by a solitary warrior, Drift (formerly Turmoil's second-in-command, Deadlock). He paid some local Cybertronian-haters for access to the docking platform, then used his firsthand knowledge of the ship to get past its security systems. As he did so, the other attack commenced, to his surprise as much as anyone's: Kup, Springer, Twin Twist, Perceptor, and Roadbuster blasted their way through the side of the ship, intent on freeing their imprisoned comrades. The squad didn't recognize Drift, but they accepted his help as he led them straight to the brig, where they found the other members of their individual groups (Triple Changers, Jumpstarters, etc.)

"We're not doing Madame Chao's; the service is terrible."
"But takeout, you say!"
"Yeah, but why should I give my business to— Moishe, dainum."

Meanwhile, Turmoil had gathered his troops and prepared to storm the brig, but they found that the door had been relocked with new block-programs. At first one of his soldiers tried to undo them within the system, but Turmoil silently ordered him away from the door. On the other side, he could hear Perceptor talking to the other Autobots while continuing to hack the ship's computer. Turmoil blasted a massive hole through both the door and Perceptor's chest, then waltzed right in.

As the battle erupted, Turmoil recognized the voice of his old subordinate Deadlock. Condemning the traitor, he blasted at him and ended up sending him and Kup flying through a wall, away from the fight. Turmoil did not follow them, but his choice to stay in the battle was a poor one, as all of the other Autobots ended up escaping anyway.

So envision it, the big boom, rubble raining down, chaos, mayhem below!

Attempting to salvage a shred of victory, Turmoil tracked Drift and Kup to what appeared to be the engine room, where Drift had just finished sabotaging a key piece of equipment. Turmoil fired at them, sending Kup flying through a wall again (this time through an open hatch leading outside), but Drift remained to continue the fight. Dodging his shots, Drift pinned Turmoil to a wall with his two short swords and lectured him on how degraded the Decepticons had become. Turmoil scoffed, saying that the Autobots would never accept an outcast like Drift. Turmoil then dared Drift to kill him, claiming that doing so would prove that Drift was nothing more than he had been before.

In a debatable moral victory, Drift declined to kill him on the spot, trusting in his sabotage to do the job instead. Drift raced back to the brig to retrieve the fallen Perceptor, then exited the cruiser just as it erupted in a massive fireball. The two Autobots fell into Kup's waiting ship, and Turmoil was presumably destroyed. Spotlight: Drift

Notes

• Casey Coller designed Turmoil and posted a picture of him with his alt-mode included on his deviantart page.