Scrounge (G1)

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

Scrounge is an Autobot from the Marvel portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Just keep 'em turning, don't stop 'em rolling, the fire is on!

Scrounge has a special arm. There is no other like it.

He is a lot like Bumblebee—he is relatively small, weak, and over-eager to prove himself to the other Autobots; he's a passable spy thanks to the fact that he has a special arm (there is no other like it) specially designed for surveillance; he is yellow. Unlike Bumblebee, with his eagerness to please and general excitability, he has a habit of imagining any little bit of info he stumbles across into a huge and vital revelation that will change the course of the war.

The Autobots have heard him cry turbofox a few too many times, and so treat any info he uncovers with a good helping of doubt. Even his friend and partner Blaster tends to treat him as a useless, tag-along loser.

Maybe he'll get a bit more respect as part of the combiner Computron.

Fiction

Marvel The Transformers comics

He gets around, nyuk nyuk.

Scrounge, while searching for a clue on the whereabout of the abducted neutral scientist Spanner, infiltrated Darkmount and obtained coded information that was of great value to the Decepticons. He radioed his accomplishment to Blaster and urged to meet with him, but failed to show up himself when Shrapnel captured him in the Dead End. Scrounge was brought before Straxus, who ripped off his special arm because the Autobot refused to disclose what he had discovered. Right after, Straxus decided it didn't matter what Scrounge knew, since he would never be able to tell his comrades. Without another thought, Scrounge was thrown into the smelting pool.

And thus the Armmasters were born!

Blaster belatedly came to save his little buddy, who was little more than a melting torso by that point. Scrounge died a heroic death getting the Autobots the info, making them realize that they misjudged him, and leaving Blaster with a whole lot of angst, anger, and guilt to work through by killing as many Decepticons as he was able and generally being a hardass. The Smelting Pool!

Scrounge's death continued to hit Blaster hard as the war progressed, first as a reason to not repeat his loss when the scientist Spanner went missing. The Bridge to Nowhere! Blaster angrily brought up Scrounge's death later on Earth, after G.B. Blackrock questioned Blaster's credentials as an Autobot warrior. Crater Critters

IDW Generation 1 continuity

That doesn't look like Scr-- *looks at Scrounge (Animated)*Ohhhhh....

At one point during the Clampdown, Scrounge was walking past Maccadam's New Oil House carrying some conductors. Post Hoc Not long thereafter, he could be found scrounging for trash in the deepest, darkest slums of Cybertron. He still has a special arm. How many others are like it is unknown at this point. Megatron Origin #2

Scrounge really wanted a TV guest spot.

During the war, Scrounge fell in with the Autobots, but was on the list of warriors to be utilized only as a last resort, presumably because, like Wheelie, he's low on useful skills. (Besides his special arm, of course. There is, after all, no other like it.) Spotlight: Wheelie

He was seen on the Orvus Base space station orbiting over Salvvatan VI, mere seconds before Sixshot ripped through it. Sixshot threw Scrounge through the main viewing monitor, presumably out of jealousy of his special arm. After all, he has six modes but nothing like it! Spotlight: Metroplex

TransTech

“

Scrounge is what folks call me, but that’s just my nom-de-guerre, sir. But I'm really Emirate Xaaron, from universe Primax 093.0 Epsilon.

”

When Bulletbike, CEO of RoboCo, found his spark trapped inside a "lowtech" body that was not his own, a poor deluded lowtech named Scrounge was the only other Transformer who offered sympathy. Just like Bulletbike, Scrounge claimed to be someone he was not, by all outward appearances, but unlike Bulletbike, Scrounge was indeed mistaken. Insane though he may have been, he was lucid enough to be of legitimate help, plus he was harmless enough.

Scrounge agreed to help Bulletbike find EconTerm, though at increasing peril. Bulletbike was finding a growing appetite for violence, a troublesome tick that Scrounge was able to narrowly avoid. Ultimately, Scrounge was instrumental in providing support for Bulletbike's crusade to locate the beings who had transplanted his spark into another body, even if it resulted in Bulletbike's death.

In the aftermath, Scrounge was given excellent treatment by Commander Cheetor. The poor thing just needed some proper care. I, Lowtech

When the Waruders caused a blackout in Axiom Nexus, a Kreon Scrounge within the offworlder maximum security prison was caught in the middle of a brawl with his fellow inmates. A Kreon Straxus in particular caused him grief, coming after him even after Scrounge's arm had come off! Cybertron's Most Wanted

Toys

Generations

From having a special arm to being a special arm.

• Computron (Box Set, 2016)
  • Accessories: Weapons (combine to form a larger gun for Computron), Computron extremities

A redeco and retool of Generations Cosmos, Scrounge can combine with Combiner Wars Strafe to form the left arm of Computron.

Notes

Autobots with silly abilities like turning invisible or making holograms only wish they could do this.

• Scrounge's death haunted Blaster for a long time. He's kind of like Blaster's Gwen Stacy, only with a special arm instead of go-go boots.
• Scrounge has a special arm (how many times can we mention that?) with two sensored fingers that pick up sound and video. He claims there is no other like it. However, in the Classics story "Games of Deception", Elita One had a similar setup. And in Transformers Animated, Megatron had a setup where he could make his fingers control a headmaster unit. The fingers detached like Scrounge's. Rung has a microphone thumb, but it's definitely not detachable. Should have registered that patent, Scrounge.
• The Scrounge in "I, Lowtech" who thinks he's actually Emirate Xaaron isn't very good at being Xaaron. He claims he has a Matrix and that he's from universe Primax 093.0 Epsilon. Decoding that technobabble allegedly pegs him as an Emirate Xaaron from Transformers Fan Club fiction published in 1993. Yyyyyeah.
• Bob Budiansky revealed at one of his BotCon 2010 panels that Scrounge was partially based upon Gunga Din, but we didn't find out that he meant the 1939 Cary Grant film version of the character (as opposed to the original poem) until his 2013 interview in the Transformers: 30th Anniversary Collection.
• According to a Hasbro Briefing Binder for 1985 product, "Scrounge" was originally going to be the name for Scavenger. When that didn't happen, apparently Bob Budiansky found a use for the name elsewhere. [1]

Foreign names

• Portuguese: Crava (Portugal comic), Surrupio (Brazil comic)