Tarn (G1)
| The name or term "Tarn" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Tarn (disambiguation). |
- Tarn is a Decepticon from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
Tarn is an eloquent Decepticon. He enjoys nothing more than playing beautiful music as he waxes poetic quoting Towards Peace and other philosophical works by Megatron. He tends to indulge these pleasures at the same time he's using his specially modulated vocal processor to cause the Decepticon Justice Division's latest transgressor's spark to self-destruct. The current leader of the D.J.D., Tarn epitomises the mentality of the team. He is beyond zealous in his devotion to Megatron's cause, going so far as to emboss the Decepticon insignia onto his own faceplate. No traitor, no coward is capable of escaping his team.
Despite appearances, Tarn is a mess of contradictions. Viewing himself as the central pillar of the D.J.D., he can be as brutally violent as any other Decepticon, but views himself as a bureaucrat and his team as his administration. He believes his actions are entirely justified, yet sometimes his thoughts are a constant stream of self-denigration. He works hard to run a tight but fair ship, and is not above taking in an open-minded, needy stray. On the other hand, for all his thoughts of sophistication and control, Tarn can go from affable to life-threatening at the least provocation. His addictive tendencies have led to him burning out his original transformation cog years ago, and his reliance on the power-enhancing Nuke can lead to his losing himself to the lust for violence. And have no doubt that while he may try and convince himself otherwise, Tarn is a truly sociopathic murderer. Ultimately whether Tarn is a monster or not is irrelevant. His utter devotion to the Decepticon cause means he will ensure the fear of Megatron is put into any that would consider abandoning their noble goals.
Fiction
IDW Generation 1 continuity
"Yup"
As with all members of the D.J.D., Tarn's true identity was unknown, hidden by his mask and assumed name. He was forged, born an exceptionally powerful Point One Percenter, and his "weaponized conversation" was a natural ability, suggesting he may be an Outlier. Rebuilt under the supervision of Lobe, The Permanent Revolution Tarn's power and endurance was considered by Prowl to put him on the same level as a Phase Sixer. Remembrance Day At some point before taking the position of Tarn, he was commandant of Grindcore prison. One of his more notable inmates at the time was Skids. Speak, Memory: Part 1 After learning about Skid's technical skill, Tarn recruited him to repair the prison's teleport chambers. With the repairs complete, Tarn played The Empyrean Suite to cover up the screams as he used the "teleport chamber" for its true purpose: it had been retrofitted as a smelting chamber in which Autobots were melted down into raw materials for M.T.Os. Skids was invited to Tarn's office, where Tarn confirms that the teleport generators were working, and showed Skids a datapad of the promised prisoners being released into the Manganese Mountains. Skids tried to bargain for more, insisting that Tarn released a hundred prisoners next time, but Tarn informed him that Snare could fix the generators in the future, having watched Skids's do so. Tarn then told Skids that, as he was no longer of use to him, he would be sent off on the next mass teleport the following day. Skids asked if he could give his place to someone else. Apparently touched by Skid's gesture to let his cellmate Quark go free, Tarn allowed Skids to go with him. Once they were inside the teleport chamber though, Skids realized their true purpose. Tarn decided to spare the theoretician and teleported him back into his office, grabbing him by the head and forcing him to watch, "The Empyrean Suite" blaring in the background. Speak, Memory! (Part 2)
After the D.J.D. established a base on the world of Messatine in order to obtain the "Nuke" superfuel there, The Permanent Revolution Tarn coerced Pharma, head surgeon of the planet's Autobot medical facility Delphi, into helping feed his addiction by supplying him with an ever-increasing number of transformation cogs from deceased patients, in exchange for the hospital being unmolested by his team. Pharma would eventually cut off Tarn's supply by orchestrating the facility's shutdown. How Ratchet Got His Hands Back
Informed by Decepticon spy Brainstorm that high-priority target Overlord was aboard the starship Lost Light, Tarn and the D.J.D. continued to work through their list of offenders as they waited for Brainstorm to drop the ship's shielding so they could pick up Overlord's signal. The Permanent Revolution One such unfortunate was Black Shadow, whom Tarn explosively finished off with his deadly voice, after which the team set course of the planet Clemency to hunt down Decepticon deserter Fulcrum. Rules of Disengagement Arriving on Clemency, the team discovered a mysterious stasis tube awaiting them; when Tarn investigated, he found it contained a deranged, circuit speeder-enhanced Grimlock, unleashed by Fulcrum and his new allies, the Scavengers. Tarn was soon able to subdue the brain-damaged Dinobot, but was then crushed beneath the foot of a Cybernought battle-mech that Crankcase had activated. Tarn recovered in time to hear Fulcrum deliver a speech to all assembled about Decepticon ideals before apparently committing suicide. At that point, Kaon detected Overlord's long-awaited signal, and Tarn ordered the D.J.D. to head out—but not before warning the surviving Scavengers that their names had now made it onto The List. Who's Afraid of the DJD?
Tracking Overlord's signal, the D.J.D. found the Lost Light—which was, unbeknownst to Tarn and his team, actually one of two versions of the ship created by a malfunction of its quantum generators—near the planet Ofsted XVII. Despite having promised Brainstorm they would not harm any of the crew, the discovery that the traitor Deadlock was aboard the ship them set the D.J.D. off, and after dealing with him, they set about murdering the rest of the ship. The Permanent Revolution Tarn personally destroyed Ultra Magnus, Swerve, and Cyclonus, and forced a large portion of the crew to transform before executing them, leaving their transformation cogs warm for location and harvesting. Eventually, Tarn removed a still-restrained and suicidal Overlord's head with a chainsaw, and the D.J.D. left the ship. slaughterhouse The Road Not Taken
Sometime during the months that followed, Kaon spontaneously began writhing in agony right in front of Tarn, who tried to get his teammate to tell him what he could do to help, before the mysterious effect subsided. Arm the Lonely Also during this time, the D.J.D. welcomed a new member—Nickel, last survivor of a Cybertronian colony wiped out by the Black Block Consortia. At Nickel's insistence, they returned to Ofsted XVII to salvage the quantum engines from the derelict Lost Light. They wound up arriving in the middle of a battle between the Consortia and the Galactic Council, who teamed up against the Cybertronians. Under attack by both sides and faced with additional enemy reinforcements, Tarn was forced to retreat, leaving Vos and Kaon behind. The Permanent Revolution
The diminished D.J.D. returned to their duties, though Tarn began to weary of the work. After apprehending the Sparkeater-worshipping Blip, Tarn was about to end his life using his voice, until Blip used his last words to demand that Tarn remove his mask. Affronted, Tarn allowed Helex and Tesarus to finish Blip instead, averting his gaze beneath his mask. Tarn subsequently ordered performance reviews for the team, and nearly came to blows with Tesarus when he implied that abandoning Vos and Kaon was not the Decepticon thing to do. Calming himself, Tarn explained that they were returning to Ofsted XVII again in order to recover their bodies, but was interrupted by Helex's announcement that Vos and Kaon had returned to the ship safe, sound, and with something unbelievable: a postwar edition of Towards Peace that revealed Megatron himself had defected from the Decepticons.
His world shattered by this discovery, Tarn had the D.J.D. return to Messatine, where he attempted to fatally overdose on Nuke. Finding even the sensation of dying disappointing, Tarn opened his eyes to see a distraught Nickel pressed against the glass of his fueling capsule. The sight of her triggered a revelation for Tarn: she was a 'bot who had experienced first-hand the threat the predominantly-organic universe posed to Cybertronians, and who had fully embraced the Decepticon cause despite living her life outside of the war. The cause, Tarn now realized, was bigger than any one 'bot—bigger than Megatron. Galvanized, Tarn set up a meeting with the rogue Decepticon warlord Deathsaurus aboard his stolen Warworld. Knowing full well he was on the D.J.D.'s list, Deathsaurus pre-emptively attacked Tarn upon his arrival, even deactivating his audio receptors to protect himself from Tarn's voice, but Tarn was able to communicate with him and his troops through inter-Decepticon radio and explained the reason for his presence: he wished them to ally with him, in return for their being taken off The List. Deathsaurus agreed on the condition that Tarn kill the rest of the D.J.D., which Tarn refused to do—which was the response Deathsaurus had been hoping for. With their alliance cemented, Tarn declared their new objective: kill the traitorous Megatron and all of his allies! The Permanent Revolution Tarn and the DJD would later lure Megatron and the rest of Team Rodimus into a trap on the planet of the Necrobot, destroying the Rodpod and moving in to kill his former master. How Bright Their Frail Deeds Having cornered Team Rodimus inside the Necrobot's fortress, Tarn and his assembled army began shelling the building as a display of power, following a "script" of orders drafted by Megatron at the birth of the DJD. Following this, he pulled back to show he was fully in control of his forces, carving "sunset" into the ground outside to warn his prey of when they would return. Back on board the Peaceful Tyranny, Tarn showed off his collection of deceased miners who had been stationed on Messatine to Deathsaurus. Megatron's mentor, Terminus had arranged for his pupil's political writings to be inscribed in their internal mechanics, to smuggle it out of the mining complex. Admiring his resourcefulness, Tarn told a confused Deathsaurus he believed Terminus had been unfairly wiped from Megatron's biography, unaware it had been at Terminus' urging. Deathsaurus remained uninterested, questioning Tarn on why they had shown mercy to their targets and not simply executed them. Tarn replied that by letting them stew in their fear, he was prolonging their suffering; their withdrawal had not been an act of mercy, but one of torture. Later, in a meeting with the rest of his inner circle, Tarn began explaining his plan for a siege on the Necrobot's fortress. When questioned if the Autobots would simply run, Tarn replied he expected them to be desperately trying to assemble their defences, noting that, other than a few heavy hitters, they had little to worry about from the Autobot forces. When Helex brought up the possibility of them reconfiguring a storm shield to use as a makeshift barrier, Tarn laughed it off, noting that when Heretech had done it he had needed to drain his Warworld of power to fuel the shield. His mirth was cut short by a call on his personal communicator, to which only Megatron had the number. He followed a summons from his former master to the statue the Necrobot had been planning to use as his grave marker. When asked to show Megatron his face, Tarn refused, declaring he regarded his faction symbol mask as his face now. Megatron then surrendered into his custody. The Sun in Flight
Kre-O online comic
Tarn was part of Bludgeon's forces when they uncovered the Red Bucket. Treasure Competition! Defeat with Block Power!
TransTech
At Axiom Nexus, Tarn was a judge of Cybertron's Got Talent in the wake of Ego's death. Tarn enjoyed calling out sub-par transformations as part of his judging. Andromeda - Axiom Nexus News Reporter
Games
Transformers Legends
Tarn and the rest of the DJD pursued Black Shadow for taking bribes from the Autobots. The DJD found their target hiding on planet Clemency, and dispatched them with extreme prejudice as Tarn set course for their next assignment. Rules of Disengagement
Notes
- Alex Milne said in a Facebook interview that his ideal voice for Tarn is Keith David. That is AWESOME.[1]
- Prowl lists Tarn as being on par with the Phase Sixers Sixshot and Overlord in "Remembrance Day". So far there's no official confirmation that Tarn is himself a Sixer, though he was shown being rebuilt by Lobe and his assistant in "The Permanent Revolution". Tarn does have a green Spark, though; a heavy indication that he's a Point One Percenter.
- Like all non-toy robot Kreons in the Kre-O comics, Tarn is made from existing Kre-O parts, but extensively "painted". He uses the Ratchet helmet, the Megatron arm-cannon, and some kind of setup to wear the Bludgeon treads on his back.
