Scourge (RID)
| The name or term "Scourge" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Scourge (disambiguation). |
| This article is about the evil, black Optimus Prime clone from Robots in Disguise. For the other evil, black Optimus Prime clones, see Nemesis Prime (disambiguation). |
- Scourge is a Decepticon from the Robots in Disguise continuity family.
A protoform scanning mishap resulted in a Decepticon protoform attaining attributes of Optimus Prime yet retaining the Decepticon programming. This protoform became Scourge. Scourge is arguably Megatron's second in command, leading the new Decepticon forces, a much more effective unit than Sky-Byte's Predacons.
He is a ruthless and cunning warrior who contains all of Optimus Prime's strengths and skill, but none of his compassion and mercy. He's also a very ambitious warrior, with plans to dethrone Megatron!
Scourge's greatest strength is also his weakness—his temper. Fearless and furious, he charges into battle wildly hacking his broadsword as his trailer combat deck launches missile barrages overhead. Yet his rage also makes him impatient, petulant, and easily provoked; it also scares the heck out of his subordinates.
Naturally, Sky-Byte sees Scourge as a threat on just about every level. For once, he's right.
- Japanese name: Black Convoy
Fiction
Robots in Disguise cartoon
- Voice actor: Barry Stigler (English), Taitem Kusunoki (Japanese)
The robot who came to be named Scourge was originally one of a crew of six Autobots sent to Earth to reactivate the legendary Autobot battle station, Fortress Maximus. As leader of the expedition, Scourge was equipped with the ability to detect the unique energy signatures of the O-Parts, the Cybertronian components that held the key to reawakening Maximus. However, Scourge never had the opportunity to use that ability in the service of the Autobots, when the team's craft malfunctioned and crashed on Earth in the mid-20th century. Having been in protoform-state with stasis pods for the duration of their voyage, the six Autobots were entombed in their crashed ship.
In the early days of the 21st century, archaeologist and energy expert Doctor Kenneth Onishi's work eventually led him to find the various links in the chain of Fortress Maximus—he located the fortress itself beneath Metro City, mapped the location of the O-Parts, and discovered the location of the crashed Autobot spaceship. However, when the evil Megatron came to Earth with the intent of harnessing Maximus's power, he captured Onishi, and through mental scans, discerned the location of the Autobots' ship. Stealing the six protoforms, Megatron took them to a nearby military base to scan vehicle modes for them, infusing them with a part of his own spark energy to turn them to the side of evil. The first five became the Commandos, but when Megatron targeted a tanker truck to scan as the alternate mode of the final protoform, Optimus Prime leapt into action in order to save the truck's human driver, and as a result, the tanker, Prime and the human were all scanned. With an infusion of Megatron's spark energy to complete the concoction, Scourge was born, emerging from his pod as a dark twin of Optimus Prime, who proved that Megatron's programming had over-ridden any Autobot goodness within him. Appointing himself leader of the new "Decepticons", he quickly established himself as a force to be reckoned with. The Decepticons
To prove the effectiveness of the new troops, Scourge led them on a mission to attack Sherman Dam and made short work of the Autobot Brothers, tossing them into the lake behind the dam. Once the dam was mined with bombs, he attempted to detonate it, only to find that the bombs had been tampered with—Sky-Byte and the Predacons, annoyed at being pushed down in rank by the new arrivals, had taken control of the bombs in order to prove their own effectiveness to Megatron. The arrival of more Autobots in the form of Optimus and Team Bullet Train caused Megatron to call off the mission with only minor damage to the dam. Commandos
The next mission saw Scourge and the Commandos on guard duty, perhaps as a punishment for their previous failed mission, while the Predacon trio dug under a volcano. Scourge and Sky-Byte both fought Optimus when the Autobot leader arrived with the Spy Changers, although the shark appeared to regard Scourge as just as valid a target. When a flow of lava was unleashed, Scourge unleashed a Barrage Attack on the Spy Changers who were attempting to stop it, little caring that Sky-Byte and the Predacons were in the blast area. His amusement when the lava soon chased the Predacons into the water was almost palpable. Volcano
After Movor was shot into orbit, Scourge grew steadily impatient with the shuttle's hopeless attempts to guide the rest of the Decepticons to the Autobot base and threatened much bodily injury. Movor was tricked by the Autobots into leading the Decepticons into a trap. While Scourge grappled with Optimus, Movor attempted to help by firing on Optimus from space, but only succeeded in hitting Scourge, who promised to turn the shuttle into "metal confetti". Attack from Outer Space
As part of a new ploy, Scourge interrupted Sky-Byte's attack on an oil rig and chased off the Predacon. Seeing this, Optimus Prime believed that the Decepticons had begun to experience a resurgence of their Autobot sparks. Scourge was disgruntled with Mega-Octane's plan, believing lies and deceit to be unworthy of a warrior, but went along with it. The Decepticons successfully gave the appearance of changing sides to the Autobots and underwent various tests such as cleaning a forest, with Scourge holding his temper barely in check the whole time. The appearance of Sky-Byte (who'd been kept ignorant of the plan) gave Scourge an opportunity to blow off some steam, but his attack endangered the life of a passerby. When Optimus told him to stand down, Scourge exploded and ended up giving the whole plan away, forcing the Decepticons to retreat under the full force of Optimus' rage. The Test
Scourge presented the increasingly impatient Megatron with a new plan which involved attacking power plants. The Autobots were hampered by the misguided assistance of Sky-Byte, but seemed to repel most of the Decepticon assaults. The Fish Test Scourge and the Decepticons subsequently butted in on one of Sky-Byte's plans, stealing a disk supposedly containing the plans to the Autobots' Global Space Bridge which the Predacons were trying to obtain. Unfortunately it was an Autobot trick, and both the Decepticons and Predacons ended up in a sewer. Wedge's Short Fuse
Annoyed by the Autobots constant escapes through the space bridge, Scourge had Ro-Tor track one of the Build Team to the space bridge control center. The Decepticons broke in and Scourge sabotaged the controls, resulting in the space bridge sending any Autobots who used it to a random destination. Once chaos was established, Scourge and Megatron attacked the North Energy Research Center, but were unable to achieve much before the Autobots repaired the space bridge and arrived to chase them off. Landfill
Scourge and Ruination attempted to intercept Optimus on his way to taking the O-Parts to Sky-Byte, who had taken some humans as hostage. Ruination was swiftly disabled by the Autobot, but Scourge was only wounded and trailed Optimus to the site of the CGA Tower attack. He again fought Optimus in an attempt to take the O-Parts, but his threatened attack on the tower itself was thwarted by the Build Team. Optimus was able to chase Scourge off so that the tower could be saved. Sky-Byte Saves the Day
After a semi-successful attempt to raid an oil refinery, Scourge and Mega-Octane leaked a transmission ordering Sky-Byte to look for O-Parts in order to lead the Autobots into an ambush. However instead of the expected Autobots, they were confronted by Ultra Magnus. They attempted to fight the newly-arrived Autobot warrior, but retreated after Optimus Prime arrived to lend a hand. Ultra Magnus Back at base, they watched Movor's surveillance of Ultra Magnus beating down Optimus, and Megatron demanded of Scourge to know why one Autobot had done what the Decepticons had failed to do so many times. They were able to track Sky-Byte to the island on which Optimus was recuperating after the battle and mount an attack, but were chased off once again when Optimus and Ultra Magnus merged into Omega Prime. Ultra Magnus: Forced Fusion!
The Decepticons interrupted another of Sky-Byte's plans in order to kidnap the Autobot Brothers. With the three brothers as hostages, the Decepticons led Optimus into a trap and fought the Autobot leader savagely. They were again seen off after Magnus rescued the brothers. The Two Faces of Ultra Magnus Sensing an opportunity, Scourge met with Ultra Magnus to try to persuade the Autobot to join him against both Optimus Prime and Megatron. When Magnus turned him down, Scourge and the Commandos turned on him, only to end up fighting the three Autobot Brothers instead. Power to Burn!
With information extracted from Doctor Onishi, Scourge and the Decepticons were able to find a huge cavern beneath Metro City housing some ruins. Although the Autobots were on hand to try to fight them off, Scourge attempted to approach the ruins, and his proximity caused Fortress Maximus to rise. Fortress Maximus The exposure to the battle station's energies awakened memories of his original Autobot mission to find and reactivate Maximus and, twisted by Megatron's reprogramming, he became determined to take control of the huge Autobot in order to take over leadership of the Decepticon/Predacon forces and eventually the Universe. With Ruination fighting the Autobots as a distraction, Scourge set out to find Maximus, fighting with Optimus Prime and eventually breaking into the cavern to find that Maximus was gone. Upon retreating, Scourge also discovered that Sky-Byte had freed Doctor Onishi, but covered for him with Megatron so that the Predacon would owe him. Koji Gets His Wish
As the race began to locate the remaining O-Parts, Scourge rediscovered his ability to sense them, part of his original mission as an Autobot. The attempts by Scourge and the Decepticons to stop the Autobots finding the O-Part were hampered by Sky-Byte's misguided attempts to find the O-Parts himself, and eventually the Autobots were able to collect them all. A Friendly Contest Movor was soon able to locate the Autobots in the Sahara, and Megatron himself led the Predacons and Decepticons there to take the Orb of Sigma from them. With the loss of Megatron, Scourge and the Decepticons retreated. Peril from the Past
With Megatron gone, Scourge took command of the Megastar, much to the Predacons' dismay. They were able to successfully capture Cerebros from the Autobots, and Scourge was able to use the Autobot part of his bio-signature to dupe the robot into activating Maximus. However he soon found he was unable to control the giant robot, who ran amok until the Autobots' human ally, Koji, was able to stop it. Additionally the arrival of Galvatron, Megatron's reborn form, during the battle, also meant that Scourge had lost his new leadership. Maximus Emerges Realizing that humans could control Maximus, Scourge then amplified the human part of his bio-signature and succeeded in taking control of the giant, until he was overridden by a large group of human children. The Human Element Seeking to use Koji himself for the process, a case of mistaken identity resulted in the Decepticons capturing his best friend, Karl, instead, but when Karl proved able to activate Fortress Maximus, Scourge dropped his façade of loyalty and ordered Maximus to destroy Galvatron. Mistaken Identity
The revelation of his betrayal brought about a punishment most severe—Scourge and the Decepticons had their autonomy stripped by Galvatron, turned once again into loyal servants so absolutely dedicated to their leader that they continued to do his will even after he attempted to kill them with molten lava as a belated punishment. Galvatron's Revenge With Galvatron's ultimate defeat at the hands of Omega Prime, Scourge was captured and taken aboard Fortress Maximus for imprisonment with the other villains. The Final Battle
Ultra Magnus...to the Rescue?
Sent by Megatron to help Sky-Byte steal an experimental nuclear generator from a facility in Arizona, he and the Predacon bickered at length, until the arrival of Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus. After an unsuccessful attempt to engage Magnus in combat, during which he was slammed against the building, he realised that the Autobots' concern for the humans would be their downfall. Threatening the nearest human with his sword, Scourge commanded the two Autobots to surrender.
When Sky-Byte protested that this wasn't part of the mission, Scourge accused him of becoming soft. Magnus and Prime, after a brief discussion, agreed to surrender. Scourge raised his sword to strike them down, however he was interrupted by the Predacons making their escape with the nuclear generator. The distraction allowed Prime and Magnus to simultaneously punch Scourge in the face, and he and his Decepticons set out in pursuit of the Predacons. Ultra Magnus...to the Rescue?
Toys
Car Robots
- Black Convoy (Destronger, 2000)
- Japanese ID number: D-012
- Accessories: Sword, gun, 5 discs, 10 small missiles, 2 large missiles
- A black redeco of the Laser Optimus Prime mold, Black Convoy is a black Western Star 4964EX truck with teal paint apps, and darkish pink windows. His trailer is chrome, and he lacks all of Laser Prime's stickers. The toy lacks all of Laser Prime's electronics, to keep costs down. However, the arms still are restricted in motion, to prevent breaking the wires that no longer exist in the toy.
- Due to the molded Generation 2 Autobot symbols on the discs Black Convoy's launcher has, Takara made Black Convoy's faction symbol the Generation 2 Autobot one, but upside down.
Robots in Disguise
- Scourge (Decepticon, 2002)
- Accessories: Sword of Fury, gun, 5 discs, 10 small missiles, 2 large missiles
- The Hasbro release of Black Convoy, sold exclusively at Toys"R"Us. Specimens sold at retail were very similar to Black Convoy. Notable changes were that red translucent plastic replaces all the pink; the stickers are now a flat light gray with Decepticon logos instead of glossy silver with "negative-Autobot" logos; the sword was blunted; and the discs were remolded to make them blank, removing the faction symbol. The only change in paint is that Scourge has Decepticon sigils tampographed on his doors, while lacking Black Convoy's teal "stripe" along the cab's nose. The license plate sticker on the tanker now states "SCOURGE D-012".
- An early wave of Scourges sold on the Toys"R"Us website had the American-styled stickers but retained the Japanese cab paint applications and pink plastic.
- This version of the mold was later reused by Sonokong as Car Robots Black Convoy in the South Korean market, with Hasbro's paint decos and darker red plastic, but with Black Convoy's stickers, as well as for Takara's reissue of Laser Optimus Prime.
- X-Brawn / Scourge (Basic, 2002)
- The only new mold for this character, Spychanger Scourge was only available in a 2 pack with a Spychanger version of X-Brawn. Like most Spychangers, he features high speed axles and can roll very well across smooth surfaces, but lacks the weight to propel him quickly.
- As with most of the new Robots in Disguise releases, the X-Brawn / Scourge pack was available in Japan as a 'USA Edition' mass-released toy.
- Ironically, this mold was later redecoed both as Generation 1 Spychanger Optimus Prime in the Universe toyline and as "Movie" Optimus Prime for a Japanese pack-in DVD exclusive.
- Destructicon Scourge (Deluxe, 2003)
- Accessories: Gun, 2 missiles
- Released as a Kay-Bee Toys exclusive, Destructicon Scourge is a black redeco of Hero Optimus Prime. In either robot mode or tanker mode, he carries a missile launcher that fires when its air silo is squeezed. Scourge comes with two rubber-tipped missiles which can store on his back in robot mode.
- By the time this toy was released, its tooling had degraded somewhat since Hero Prime's original production run. As a result, neither robot nor vehicle mode held together very well on many specimens. Keeping his missiles stored was difficult, as they liked to pop out from their storage clips involuntarily. Additionally, initial shipments appear to have been missing a certain part that allowed the waist to ratchet, instead letting it spin freely.
