Fracas
- Fracas is a Nebulan and a Targetmaster partner from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Fracas's new Targetmaster body allows him to transform into an incendiary cannon for his new Decepticon partner Scourge—fitting, since Fracas is himself a hot-running, volatile scrapper who explodes into violent rages.
Fiction
Marvel Comics continuity
Fracas became the Targetmaster partner to Scourge, under Scorponok's command, near the end of the Decepticons' stay on his homeworld of Nebulos. When the Autobots left Nebulos, Scorponok's Decepticons followed, as did their Nebulan partners. Brothers in Armor!!
If Fracas knew his partner was a time-lost traveler from the future, he gave no indication of it. That fact would soon come into play on Earth, however, as Cyclonus and Scourge apparently deserted Scorponok to seek out their former commander Galvatron, who, like them, had arrived via time travel on 1980s Earth. En route, the pair encountered a squadron of Earth jets. When one nearly got the better of Cyclonus, Scourge ordered Fracas to have Cyclonus's partner Nightstick take control and retreat.
Cyclonus and Scourge met up with Galvatron in a human city, demanding his time-jump trigger mechanism. When Galvatron asked how they planned to defeat him without weapons, Fracas and Nightstick promptly transformed, taking their place as the two Decepticons' weapons. The arrival of the Wreckers at that moment prevented the three Decepticons from coming to blows.
In the midst of the ensuing battle, Scourge sent Fracas to find Nightstick, who had retreated when Cyclonus was briefly knocked out. The Decepticons finally ended up retreating when lured out into the open by Springer. Wrecking Havoc
The two Decepticons and their Nebulan partners returned to the headquarters of Shockwave, to whom they had promised allegiance in return for protection if their bid to return to the future failed. As they waited to meet with him, Fracas wondered why they didn't simply kill him and take control of the Decepticons of this time period, to which Scourge noted that they'd had help last time. Shockwave's arrival interrupted the conversation, and a slip-up by Cyclonus soon turned the meeting into a firefight, with Fracas and Nightstick converting to their weapon modes. The fight soon turned against them when Shockwave unleashed the brainwashed clone of Megatron on them. The clone bashed Scourge aside, wounded Cyclonus, and killed Nightstick. Scourge was confident that Megatron would not survive a full-powered shot from Fracas, but realized that if Megatron was killed before he ever became Galvatron, Scourge himself might cease to exist. Thus he decided to make his exit, leaving the wounded Cyclonus to die at the hands of "Megatron". Dry Run!
Scourge soon reconciled his differences with Galvatron, and he and Fracas were waiting when Ravage stumbled into their underground base. Galvatron stayed Scourge's hand, however, welcoming Ravage as a potential ally.
When the Wreckers and the Mayhem Attack Squad entered Galvatron's base, Scourge and Fracas challenged their leaders, Carnivac and Springer. Fracas waited nearby while Scourge presented himself as unarmed, hoping to goad Carnivac into an attack. But Springer recognized the trick, having seen it before, and held Carnivac back. Fracas transformed anyway and prepared to fire, but Springer spoke to Scourge, telling him that a rift in time and space had opened, and that he and Cyclonus were part of the problem. Scourge began to question his decision to side with Galvatron and soon left the battle.
Fracas and Scourge flew off and returned to Shockwave's headquarters. As they blasted their way in, Fracas wondered if returning there was such a good idea, considering how they'd fared previously, but Scourge was adamant that there was no other way. Fracas quickly transformed to arm his partner, taking some comfort in his firepower. Scourge then explained to Fracas how he and Cyclonus had time-jumped without using the proper mass-substitution, creating an imbalance and thus the rift which was now threatening to consume the Earth.
In Shockwave's control room, the pair found Shockwave sunk into dementia in the face of his future demise, and Cyclonus's body strung up like a wall hanging. When Scourge tried to remove it, however, Shockwave blasted him and left him for dead. Time Wars
The Transformers cartoon
- Voice actor: Neil Ross (English), Hitoshi Horikawa (Japanese)
Fracas was a member of the Hive, the ruling body of Nebulos who commanded machines with their very thoughts, but had let their physical shells wither and decay with disuse. Seeing an opportunity, the Hive leader Zarak forged an alliance with the Decepticons to create Headmasters and Targetmasters, giving Fracas and the others bio-mechanically supported exo-suits to restore their mobility. Fracas became the weapon for Scourge, one of the leaders of the Decepticons, although Scourge was less than thrilled with the arrangement. Fracas and the Nebulan Targetmasters assisted the Decepticons in recovering the Key to the Plasma Energy Chamber from their Autobot foes, but then insisted at Zarak's command that the Decepticons return to the Hive city without wiping out the Autobots. When Scourge resisted, Fracas showed him who wore the muzzle in the partnership, and politely insisted. The Rebirth, Part 2
Fracas continued to serve as Scourge's weapon after the rise of Scorponok, and their return to Cybertron. He was then formally initiated into the Decepticons: in other words, Galvatron threatened to kill him. Fracas and the Targetmasters were later on-board Scorponok when the plasma energy plumes rocketed it off Cybertron and into deeper space. The Rebirth, Part 3
Toys
Generation 1
- Scourge (Targetmaster, 1987)
- Fracas is a figure of an armored humanoid in gray armor with black legs. He folds in half to turn into an "incendiary cannon" that can be held by any Targetmaster (or any toy that uses 5mm pegs for accessory holding/mounting).
- Fracas was released in Japan without changes as Artfire's partner Nightstick.
United
- Fracas (Targetmaster Micron, 12-28-2010)
- A redeco of Power Core Combiners Chainclaw, Fracas is an exclusive "Targetmaster Micron" available only with the purchase of 3000 yens' worth of United product at Bic Camera and Yodobashi Camera stores in Japan on December 28 of 2010. He transforms into a non-firing multi-missile launcher and armor for a Power Core Combiners Commander figure. Fracas's Powerlinx socket makes him compatible with any toy with a Powerlinx plug, and he even has his own Powerlinx plug that lets you double-stack Mini-Cons or mount any weapon that has a 5mm post-hole.
- In addition to the three modes introduced in Icepick's instruction sheet, a promotional material provides another Fracas' altmode as a hand-carried weapon.
- This mold was also used to make Power Core Combiners Bomb-Burst.
Notes
- The character models for Fracas and Nightstick (the first one, with Cyclonus) apparently got swapped around in pre-production, so Fracas's fictional appearances in both cartoon and comic are based on Nightstick's toy, and vice-versa. Whoops.
- As such, Krunix is technically a giant Fracas, not a giant Nightstick.
- Targetmaster Scourge's box art shows him holding the Fracas mold in Nightstick's colors; so basically he's got model-sheet Nightstick.
- Amusingly, Fracas is merely referred to as "the Nebulan" in Scourge's on-package bio. Thankfully, his name is printed on the box-front and in the instructions.
- Generations Scourge has a pair of handguns that can combine into a single weapon resembling the original Fracas toy's rifle mode.
