Thundercloud
Nov 29, 2019 19:31:20 GMT -5
Post by Thundercloud on Nov 29, 2019 19:31:20 GMT -5
PLAYER INFO
Name/Alias: Toggs
CHARACTER INFO
Name: Thundercloud
Age: Late 20s
Gender: Male
Species: Cybertronian
Faction: Autobot
Original Occupation: Bouncer/Rent-a-thug
Occupation/Specialization: Frontliner
Appearance:
Thunder is a tall mech, standing roughly below Optimus’ shoulder, though his build is more solid throughout than the Prime’s. His armor is thick (especially around his shoulders and chest) and littered with nicks and dings he hasn’t bothered to buff out. His hands and pedes are especially scuffed, due this fondness for hitting things with them. Repeatedly. His paint job is muted - dark gray and steel blue, in contrast to his considerably brighter optics, which are yellow. Overall, Thunder is not a terribly remarkable-looking mech frame-wise, as he has a standard body and helm design, common among batch-builds. His only features that really stand out are the decorative bolt beneath his bottom lip, and the occasional shallow etching on his armor. He has the bad habit of engraving himself on a whim, particularly when he’s bored or left without supervision for too long. Thankfully, auto-repair tends to erase his etchings after a few weeks.
Altmode: Grumman F-14 Tomcat
Pertinent History:
Thundercloud, along with the 100+ mecha he was batch built with in a little run-down factory in Praxus, was designed to be an all-purpose physical laborer. Shortly after being brought online, he and the rest of his batch were shipped off to various businesses and private enterprises to serve various purposes - some became miners, others were put to work in construction, and some, like Thundercloud, were assigned to be the guard-dogs of various properties, buildings, and people.
Unfortunately, Thundercloud and his ilk were not constructed with the most quality care, and so they were sold off at reduced prices, often to less than reputable people. Atlas, the mech who bought Thundercloud’s contract, was one such person. He did not physically abuse those under his employ, (though not everyone in Thunder’s batch were quite so lucky as him), however he was a business mech first and foremost, and he had few scruples with turning a blind eye to matters of questionable legality. While he primarily utilized Thundercloud as a personal bodyguard whenever traveling on business to less-than-safe City-states, he also rented him out to various other people and businesses when he did not need the mech’s services himself.
One fateful day Thundercloud got assigned to a job guarding a warehouse in Polyhex, and everything went all to hell. Thunder made some mistakes, did some things he's not proud of. The enforcers got involved, a whole lot of people turned up dead, and the courts decided to ship Thundercloud off to Garrus-1 for his part in it all.
Life in G1 was far from sunshine and roses, but Thundercloud found a way to manage. It helped that he was a big mech, one specifically built to take and dish out beatings – it helped even more that he had made a friend, someone to keep him sane and have his back when things got rough.
Years passed, and the world they were orbiting around continued on without them – until the war rendered it completely uninhabitable, forcing Cybertron's decimated population into a mass exodus. This proved to be a rather fortunate turn of events for Thundercloud and several other inmates nearing the end of their sentences – in a desperate bid to fill their ranks, Autobot high command offered to grant some of the more well-behaved inmates an early release in exchange for fighting on the front lines.
Thundercloud took the deal, and would spend the next several years of his “parole” being utilized as canon fodder. Over time he would earn himself a place above 'expendable' in the eyes of his superior officers, partly by proving he was a better mech than his criminal record implied, partly by just not dying no matter how unreasonably the odds were stacked against him. His survival can be attributed in no small part to his friend Carbine, who helped him stay alive on the front lines just as he did when they shared a prison cell.
The two made a point of sticking together as the war raged on, one always following soon after the other if their companion was transferred to a new base without them. Eventually, they, like so many other Autobots, heard word of the Prime being located on some far off backwater planet no one knew a thing about. Deciding they could use a brief break from the constant warfare, the two took a road-trip across the universe to follow the Prime’s call. After crashing their ship like the negligent drivers they are, the two were recovered by a small rescue party (after a brief, confused scuffle) and proceeded to make nuisances of themselves thereafter.
Some time later, when the Autobots fuel shortage began to reach crisis levels, Thundercloud voluntarily entered stasis so that the Bots' Energon reserves wouldn't be stretched thinner than they already were. Now that the crisis is over, he's ready to come back online and make a menace of himself once again.
Personality:
Picture a moody teenager who speaks almost exclusively in sarcasm and biting remarks. Now picture that moody teenager as a giant surly jet who’s done some time. That is Thundercloud in a nutshell.
Less succinctly, Thundercloud is a cagey, standoffish mech who keeps himself closely guarded around others, often presenting himself in a deliberately intimidating and sometimes even hostile manner to keep people at arm’s length. He doesn’t like people feeling too comfortable around him, because comfort often leads to a sense of safety, and he doesn’t want people to forget for even a minute that he is a dangerous person - a threat to the wellbeing of those who earn his ire. Hence why carries himself with an air of aggression, and occasionally shows off an ugly mean-streak; he feels the need to constantly assert the idea that he is a perpetually angry jerk who thinks violence is the answer to all his problems, lest someone somehow mistake him for an easy target to prey upon.
Of course, this is nothing more than a personae he’s adopted. Over the years, Thundercloud has learned that the world is not kind to people who are kind themselves, and he’s found that gentle, friendly mecha are often exploited and targeted by those who would mistake their kindness for weakness. As such, he’s learned how to posture, to carry himself with confidence and an aggressive “I can and will break open your helm” attitude, to keep those that would use him or cause him harm from coming anywhere near him. It makes him feel safe, making himself out to look like a dangerous person; it makes most mecha not want to cross him, to think twice before trying to do him harm or harm those he cares for. His time in Garrus-1 has only reinforced his belief that the best way to keep himself and his kin safe is to make everyone else---even his allies---afraid to do them harm lest they provoke his wrath.
This is not to say Thunder is not an aggressive or bitter mech beneath the personae he projects, however. He is, just not to the degree he pretends he is. He’s simply amplified the negative aspects of his personality, exaggerating them around those he is not close to. He really does believe strongly that justice and revenge sometimes overlap, and that people deserve to reap what they sow. Likewise, he also believes that violence can solve a lot of problems (not all of them, but a lot) and that sometimes people just need to get slapped around a little to get a message through their heads. However, contrary to what he wants people to believe, he would never actually bully or harass someone he deemed undeserving of such treatment, and he actually does feel remorse when he does or says something meant in jest that crossed the metaphorical line.
Speaking of speaking in jest, Thundercloud has a wicked sense of humor, in both senses of the phrase. Always quick with a witty remark or a dry retort, Thundercloud speaks sarcastically almost as often as he speaks sincerely. His love of snark and biting humor shows in his day to day speech, as he almost always has some smart, completely unnecessary statement to make. As mentioned above, he does sometimes wind up taking his dark humor too far, particularly when he forgets himself and doesn’t remember that not everyone has the thick skins of the mecha he’s used to joking with. Often, he makes jokes and remarks that come off as mean-spirited that he intended to be a lighthearted, teasing jab, simply because he’s used to joking around with people who share his fondness for dark and shock humor.
Thundercloud is also notoriously stubborn and independent, to the point where he’s nearly resentful of authority. He does not like being told what to do, particularly when the orders he receives goes against his personal preferences or beliefs. He has his own methods of going about things, and he likes to do things his own way, which isn’t exactly something that meshes well with being part of a strict military regime. However, while he will complain and protest his case, more often than not, Thundercloud follows the orders given to him unless he very strongly disagrees with them. Otherwise, he just grumbles and reluctantly does as he’s told, cursing up a storm the entire time.
Try as he might to make himself seem like the big bad wolf, however, Thundercloud cannot help but let the gentler side of himself that he keeps from the world show from time to time. Behind the barb-wire he’s wrapped around his casing lies a spark that doesn’t want to admit that its kind. Thundercloud, for all his anger attitude, has a strong sense of empathy and a conscience that never lets him forget the wrongs he’s committed. He believes in repaying debts, in returning kindness, in protecting the weak and bringing the guilty to justice, as well as seeking justice for those who have been wronged. Likewise, he has a strong inclination towards performing random acts of kindness, though he’ll be damned if he lets anyone know he did them --- or at the very least, go about thinking he did them just to be nice. He has a reputation to keep, after all, hence why he makes a show of doing nice things begrudgingly, pretending like he’s totally not doing it just because it’s the right thing to do and being nice feels good.
Thundercloud would deny it day and night if someone were to call him out on his contrary behavior and point out that he is a thug with a good heart deep down, but at the end of the day, that’s what he is
Likes: Assigning people (usually insulting) nicknames, mildly antagonizing people, sleeping, brawls (watching, participating in, and instigating), drawing/etching, snark-battles, people who can take a joke, dark humor, flying, free-falling, cliff-jumping, sparring, harassing his friends (and enemies...and acquaintances), animals, drawing/etching, defacing walls and other public property, unwinding with high-grade, tossing Cons like empty soda cans
Dislikes: Being called Cloud, Cloudy, or any variation thereof, weather-puns relating to his name, getting up early, breaking his fingers, having his time wasted, being told what to do, authoritarians, organics (generally speaking), low/narrow ceilings and door frames, hot climates, snobs, small spaces, crowds, scrap yards, sand
Strengths/Weapons:
Taser touch - As a close-quarters combatant, Thundercloud tends to favor his fists and whatever blunt object he can get his hands on over guns and other long-range weapons. As such, he has had several modifications made to his hands and arms: reinforced plates so they can withstand severe and repeated blunt-force trauma, shock-absorbers in his joints to protect them from harsh impacts, and four retractable spikes sheathed above the knuckles of each hand. His strikes are augmented not only by the spikes, but by the small electrical generators built into his palms which allow his hands to function not unlike stun-guns. The electric charge produced by these generators is more painful than physically damaging, though it can cause minor system disruption in mecha whose armor is medium-grade or weaker. (Ex: shaky limbs, feedback loops, jitters, etc.)
Brute strength - Due to his sheer size, Thundercloud possesses formidable strength, particularly in his arms. He can dead-lift roughly twice his own weight and toss it like a caber, which is no small feat considering he weighs about 61,000 lbs. Even without a weapon, he can dish out a respectable amount of damage to other mecha with heavy armor.
Improvised Weapons - When it comes to utilizing objects for destructive purposes, Thunder is a champ. He knows how to make due with what he has and will not hesitate to turn a nearby object or a bit of the landscape into a weapon. Dumpsters, lamp posts, cars, other mechs - anything blunt and heavy that he can pick up, he will likely use as a projectile. Likewise, due to his stint in G-1, Thunder has learned a thing or two about fashioning simple weapons out of unusual materials. This is limited mostly to shivs and shanks, but he has a passing understanding of how to make zip-guns and (highly unstable) bombs out of half-empty ration packets and old motor oil.
Mace and chain- As evident by the above entries, Thunder has a preference for blunt, spiked objects as his weapons of choice. In addition to his spiked knuckles, his arsenal includes a flanged mace and a thick length of chain (unconnected to the mace) that can be used both to snare opponents and deal damage to them. The former is holstered on his back, between his wings when not in use, or on the secondary holster on his hip, while the chain usually remains sub-spaced.
Heel thrusters - Though not intended to be utilized as weapons, Thunder has no qualms about using the thrusters mounted in his heels as such. As one can imagine, getting kicked with what amounts to a blowtorch hurts rather badly, though the thrusters themselves cannot really weld through armor unless given enough time to concentrate their heat in one spot - something which really can’t happen with a quick kick unless his opponent’s armor is particularly thin.
Reinforced armor - As a guard dog-for-hire, Thunder was built to take heavy physical punishment and keep on trucking. As such his armor is thick, durable, and considerably heat resistant, though that is not to say he cannot be damaged. It simply takes more effort to crack his hardened shell than it does that of most other mecha, as he was built with the expectation that he would frequently be on the receiving end of shots and blows.
Weaknesses:
Hotheaded - Thundercloud is rather short-tempered, and is prone to letting his emotions get the better of him. He is easily provoked into battles, as his patience runs thin on a good day, let alone while he’s being antagonized. As a consequence, he has a bad habit of reacting viscerally to situations without giving careful consideration to his actions - in other words, he’s got a natural predilection towards making terrible decisions.
Limited range - As evident by his lack of long-range weaponry, Thundercloud’s offensive capabilities are limited almost entirely to close-quarters combat, with the exception of anything he might have on hand to throw at an enemy. As you can imagine, bringing a knife to a gunfight is not the most tactically sound decision - if he can’t close the distance between himself and his opponent, there’s really not much he can do beyond verbally antagonize them.
Tactics are for nerds - Thunder’s usual fighting strategy is simplistic and straightforward to a fault. His battle plans usually boil down to “Hit ‘em until they turn gray” which, while generally successful, leave much to be desired in terms of finesse and complexity. He’s used to going in and beating opponents down before they can get the chance to plan circles around him, but if they manage to evade him long enough to do just that, he would be hard pressed to gain the upper hand - not because he’s unintelligent or uncreative, but because he is stubborn as a mule and will do things his own way until it becomes blatantly obvious that his preferred methods aren’t working out for him.
What is this “Retreat” of which you speak - Getting Thundercloud to back down from a fight is no easy task - like a violent energizer bunny, he just keeps on going long after he should have quit. Once caught in the heat of the moment, he becomes fixated upon defeating his opponents and clearing the field until he runs out of people to punch. This berserker mentality is not easily shaken off, and at times Thundercloud will wind up fighting losing battles that he refuses to back away from, despite knowing he’s unlikely to win them. It’s not unheard of for mecha to have to physically pull him from the battle-field, or give him direct orders from his commanding officers in order to convince him to retreat.
Overconfidence - Thundercloud is, simply put, a cocky son of a glitch. He knows he’s bigger, stronger, and built tougher than the average soldier, and it shows in his behavior. He takes dangerous risks without a second thought, and he doesn’t even blink at the prospect of taking on challenges wherein the odds are stacked against him.
Restricted mobility - Giant supersonic twinjets are not exactly commonplace in the skies outside of warzones, which means Thunder cannot easily blend in and go unnoticed by the human populace. Therefore, his airspace is restricted to uninhabited locations where he is unlikely to be noticed by humans, and particularly high altitudes where he is beyond the range of human eyesight.
Does not work well with others - Who’d have thought the temperamental ex-convict has trouble playing nice? Just about everyone, as it turns out. Thundercloud makes no secret of the fact that he does not enjoy being tethered to others (generally speaking, there are exceptions) in battle. He prefers to work alone; to do his own thing and look out for himself. He can’t very well do that when he’s expected to watch someone else’s back and look out for them, especially when he doesn’t really trust many others to do the same for him.
Nerve blocks- The pain receptors in Thunder’s arms, from his shoulders to the tips of his fingers, have been surgically removed. This allows him to take and dish out a lot of punishment with his fists without being inhibited by pain, however, this lack of sensation comes with some unfortunate drawbacks - the most obvious being he cannot tell when his arms/hands are damaged, and thus he has no way of knowing if the next punch he throws is going to snap his joints or fracture his plates. Likewise, Thunder has difficulties sensing heavy pressure, so he cannot always tell when he is gripping something too hard or something is pressing against his hands/arms with damaging force. This can be particularly troublesome whenever he has to handle fragile things or needs to manipulate items that require fine adjustment. (He has crushed more cubes and broken off the triggers of more guns than he cares to count.)
Special Skills:
Chriolingual - Back in G-1, there weren’t many ways to privately discuss matters one didn’t want the guards or other inmates to hear, as the comm.systems of all inmates were disabled upon entry for exactly that purpose. To get around this issue, Thunder gradually learned how to ‘talk’ using his hands, with the help of his cellmate who had difficulties speaking verbally at times, and was more than happy to teach him an alternate method of communication. Granted, this ability is really only useful for speaking with other Chriolingual mecha, but it’s still a handy ability to have.
Valedictorian of the School of Hard Knocks - Thundercloud hasn’t had the easiest life. In his time he’s seen, done, and experienced some rather unpleasant things, and at this point there is not much that surprises him anymore. It’s difficult to shock or disgust him, and attempts to cause him pain or injury are generally shrugged off as nothing more than another brick in the great wall of slag that is his life. Knock this mech down, and he’ll just insult you from the floor, then pick himself back up and carry on.
Space cowboy - Thundercloud is space-flight compatible, however, he has to wait a bit until he cools down after landing before even thinking about transforming, as his densely compacted root-mode cannot dissipate heat as well as his roomier flying-pancake of an alt.
Duct-tape wizard - Thundercloud knows a thing or two about mechanics, and while he’s never been formally trained he can repair ships pretty decently, as well as most common base equipment like power-generators and ventilation systems. Granted, he mostly just jury-rigs things into working short-term, but if he has the time, materials, and the incentive, he can patch things up properly.
Extra Info:
HE DID HIS WAITING! 12(+) YEARS OF IT! IN GARRUS-1!
Name/Alias: Toggs
CHARACTER INFO
Name: Thundercloud
Age: Late 20s
Gender: Male
Species: Cybertronian
Faction: Autobot
Original Occupation: Bouncer/Rent-a-thug
Occupation/Specialization: Frontliner
Appearance:
Thunder is a tall mech, standing roughly below Optimus’ shoulder, though his build is more solid throughout than the Prime’s. His armor is thick (especially around his shoulders and chest) and littered with nicks and dings he hasn’t bothered to buff out. His hands and pedes are especially scuffed, due this fondness for hitting things with them. Repeatedly. His paint job is muted - dark gray and steel blue, in contrast to his considerably brighter optics, which are yellow. Overall, Thunder is not a terribly remarkable-looking mech frame-wise, as he has a standard body and helm design, common among batch-builds. His only features that really stand out are the decorative bolt beneath his bottom lip, and the occasional shallow etching on his armor. He has the bad habit of engraving himself on a whim, particularly when he’s bored or left without supervision for too long. Thankfully, auto-repair tends to erase his etchings after a few weeks.
Altmode: Grumman F-14 Tomcat
Pertinent History:
Thundercloud, along with the 100+ mecha he was batch built with in a little run-down factory in Praxus, was designed to be an all-purpose physical laborer. Shortly after being brought online, he and the rest of his batch were shipped off to various businesses and private enterprises to serve various purposes - some became miners, others were put to work in construction, and some, like Thundercloud, were assigned to be the guard-dogs of various properties, buildings, and people.
Unfortunately, Thundercloud and his ilk were not constructed with the most quality care, and so they were sold off at reduced prices, often to less than reputable people. Atlas, the mech who bought Thundercloud’s contract, was one such person. He did not physically abuse those under his employ, (though not everyone in Thunder’s batch were quite so lucky as him), however he was a business mech first and foremost, and he had few scruples with turning a blind eye to matters of questionable legality. While he primarily utilized Thundercloud as a personal bodyguard whenever traveling on business to less-than-safe City-states, he also rented him out to various other people and businesses when he did not need the mech’s services himself.
One fateful day Thundercloud got assigned to a job guarding a warehouse in Polyhex, and everything went all to hell. Thunder made some mistakes, did some things he's not proud of. The enforcers got involved, a whole lot of people turned up dead, and the courts decided to ship Thundercloud off to Garrus-1 for his part in it all.
Life in G1 was far from sunshine and roses, but Thundercloud found a way to manage. It helped that he was a big mech, one specifically built to take and dish out beatings – it helped even more that he had made a friend, someone to keep him sane and have his back when things got rough.
Years passed, and the world they were orbiting around continued on without them – until the war rendered it completely uninhabitable, forcing Cybertron's decimated population into a mass exodus. This proved to be a rather fortunate turn of events for Thundercloud and several other inmates nearing the end of their sentences – in a desperate bid to fill their ranks, Autobot high command offered to grant some of the more well-behaved inmates an early release in exchange for fighting on the front lines.
Thundercloud took the deal, and would spend the next several years of his “parole” being utilized as canon fodder. Over time he would earn himself a place above 'expendable' in the eyes of his superior officers, partly by proving he was a better mech than his criminal record implied, partly by just not dying no matter how unreasonably the odds were stacked against him. His survival can be attributed in no small part to his friend Carbine, who helped him stay alive on the front lines just as he did when they shared a prison cell.
The two made a point of sticking together as the war raged on, one always following soon after the other if their companion was transferred to a new base without them. Eventually, they, like so many other Autobots, heard word of the Prime being located on some far off backwater planet no one knew a thing about. Deciding they could use a brief break from the constant warfare, the two took a road-trip across the universe to follow the Prime’s call. After crashing their ship like the negligent drivers they are, the two were recovered by a small rescue party (after a brief, confused scuffle) and proceeded to make nuisances of themselves thereafter.
Some time later, when the Autobots fuel shortage began to reach crisis levels, Thundercloud voluntarily entered stasis so that the Bots' Energon reserves wouldn't be stretched thinner than they already were. Now that the crisis is over, he's ready to come back online and make a menace of himself once again.
Personality:
Picture a moody teenager who speaks almost exclusively in sarcasm and biting remarks. Now picture that moody teenager as a giant surly jet who’s done some time. That is Thundercloud in a nutshell.
Less succinctly, Thundercloud is a cagey, standoffish mech who keeps himself closely guarded around others, often presenting himself in a deliberately intimidating and sometimes even hostile manner to keep people at arm’s length. He doesn’t like people feeling too comfortable around him, because comfort often leads to a sense of safety, and he doesn’t want people to forget for even a minute that he is a dangerous person - a threat to the wellbeing of those who earn his ire. Hence why carries himself with an air of aggression, and occasionally shows off an ugly mean-streak; he feels the need to constantly assert the idea that he is a perpetually angry jerk who thinks violence is the answer to all his problems, lest someone somehow mistake him for an easy target to prey upon.
Of course, this is nothing more than a personae he’s adopted. Over the years, Thundercloud has learned that the world is not kind to people who are kind themselves, and he’s found that gentle, friendly mecha are often exploited and targeted by those who would mistake their kindness for weakness. As such, he’s learned how to posture, to carry himself with confidence and an aggressive “I can and will break open your helm” attitude, to keep those that would use him or cause him harm from coming anywhere near him. It makes him feel safe, making himself out to look like a dangerous person; it makes most mecha not want to cross him, to think twice before trying to do him harm or harm those he cares for. His time in Garrus-1 has only reinforced his belief that the best way to keep himself and his kin safe is to make everyone else---even his allies---afraid to do them harm lest they provoke his wrath.
This is not to say Thunder is not an aggressive or bitter mech beneath the personae he projects, however. He is, just not to the degree he pretends he is. He’s simply amplified the negative aspects of his personality, exaggerating them around those he is not close to. He really does believe strongly that justice and revenge sometimes overlap, and that people deserve to reap what they sow. Likewise, he also believes that violence can solve a lot of problems (not all of them, but a lot) and that sometimes people just need to get slapped around a little to get a message through their heads. However, contrary to what he wants people to believe, he would never actually bully or harass someone he deemed undeserving of such treatment, and he actually does feel remorse when he does or says something meant in jest that crossed the metaphorical line.
Speaking of speaking in jest, Thundercloud has a wicked sense of humor, in both senses of the phrase. Always quick with a witty remark or a dry retort, Thundercloud speaks sarcastically almost as often as he speaks sincerely. His love of snark and biting humor shows in his day to day speech, as he almost always has some smart, completely unnecessary statement to make. As mentioned above, he does sometimes wind up taking his dark humor too far, particularly when he forgets himself and doesn’t remember that not everyone has the thick skins of the mecha he’s used to joking with. Often, he makes jokes and remarks that come off as mean-spirited that he intended to be a lighthearted, teasing jab, simply because he’s used to joking around with people who share his fondness for dark and shock humor.
Thundercloud is also notoriously stubborn and independent, to the point where he’s nearly resentful of authority. He does not like being told what to do, particularly when the orders he receives goes against his personal preferences or beliefs. He has his own methods of going about things, and he likes to do things his own way, which isn’t exactly something that meshes well with being part of a strict military regime. However, while he will complain and protest his case, more often than not, Thundercloud follows the orders given to him unless he very strongly disagrees with them. Otherwise, he just grumbles and reluctantly does as he’s told, cursing up a storm the entire time.
Try as he might to make himself seem like the big bad wolf, however, Thundercloud cannot help but let the gentler side of himself that he keeps from the world show from time to time. Behind the barb-wire he’s wrapped around his casing lies a spark that doesn’t want to admit that its kind. Thundercloud, for all his anger attitude, has a strong sense of empathy and a conscience that never lets him forget the wrongs he’s committed. He believes in repaying debts, in returning kindness, in protecting the weak and bringing the guilty to justice, as well as seeking justice for those who have been wronged. Likewise, he has a strong inclination towards performing random acts of kindness, though he’ll be damned if he lets anyone know he did them --- or at the very least, go about thinking he did them just to be nice. He has a reputation to keep, after all, hence why he makes a show of doing nice things begrudgingly, pretending like he’s totally not doing it just because it’s the right thing to do and being nice feels good.
Thundercloud would deny it day and night if someone were to call him out on his contrary behavior and point out that he is a thug with a good heart deep down, but at the end of the day, that’s what he is
Likes: Assigning people (usually insulting) nicknames, mildly antagonizing people, sleeping, brawls (watching, participating in, and instigating), drawing/etching, snark-battles, people who can take a joke, dark humor, flying, free-falling, cliff-jumping, sparring, harassing his friends (and enemies...and acquaintances), animals, drawing/etching, defacing walls and other public property, unwinding with high-grade, tossing Cons like empty soda cans
Dislikes: Being called Cloud, Cloudy, or any variation thereof, weather-puns relating to his name, getting up early, breaking his fingers, having his time wasted, being told what to do, authoritarians, organics (generally speaking), low/narrow ceilings and door frames, hot climates, snobs, small spaces, crowds, scrap yards, sand
Strengths/Weapons:
Taser touch - As a close-quarters combatant, Thundercloud tends to favor his fists and whatever blunt object he can get his hands on over guns and other long-range weapons. As such, he has had several modifications made to his hands and arms: reinforced plates so they can withstand severe and repeated blunt-force trauma, shock-absorbers in his joints to protect them from harsh impacts, and four retractable spikes sheathed above the knuckles of each hand. His strikes are augmented not only by the spikes, but by the small electrical generators built into his palms which allow his hands to function not unlike stun-guns. The electric charge produced by these generators is more painful than physically damaging, though it can cause minor system disruption in mecha whose armor is medium-grade or weaker. (Ex: shaky limbs, feedback loops, jitters, etc.)
Brute strength - Due to his sheer size, Thundercloud possesses formidable strength, particularly in his arms. He can dead-lift roughly twice his own weight and toss it like a caber, which is no small feat considering he weighs about 61,000 lbs. Even without a weapon, he can dish out a respectable amount of damage to other mecha with heavy armor.
Improvised Weapons - When it comes to utilizing objects for destructive purposes, Thunder is a champ. He knows how to make due with what he has and will not hesitate to turn a nearby object or a bit of the landscape into a weapon. Dumpsters, lamp posts, cars, other mechs - anything blunt and heavy that he can pick up, he will likely use as a projectile. Likewise, due to his stint in G-1, Thunder has learned a thing or two about fashioning simple weapons out of unusual materials. This is limited mostly to shivs and shanks, but he has a passing understanding of how to make zip-guns and (highly unstable) bombs out of half-empty ration packets and old motor oil.
Mace and chain- As evident by the above entries, Thunder has a preference for blunt, spiked objects as his weapons of choice. In addition to his spiked knuckles, his arsenal includes a flanged mace and a thick length of chain (unconnected to the mace) that can be used both to snare opponents and deal damage to them. The former is holstered on his back, between his wings when not in use, or on the secondary holster on his hip, while the chain usually remains sub-spaced.
Heel thrusters - Though not intended to be utilized as weapons, Thunder has no qualms about using the thrusters mounted in his heels as such. As one can imagine, getting kicked with what amounts to a blowtorch hurts rather badly, though the thrusters themselves cannot really weld through armor unless given enough time to concentrate their heat in one spot - something which really can’t happen with a quick kick unless his opponent’s armor is particularly thin.
Reinforced armor - As a guard dog-for-hire, Thunder was built to take heavy physical punishment and keep on trucking. As such his armor is thick, durable, and considerably heat resistant, though that is not to say he cannot be damaged. It simply takes more effort to crack his hardened shell than it does that of most other mecha, as he was built with the expectation that he would frequently be on the receiving end of shots and blows.
Weaknesses:
Factory Defect- As is not uncommon with batch-builds produced rapidly and en masse, Thunder suffers from a bit of shoddy construction. His frame was designed so that he would be sturdy and solid in root-mode, but still aerodynamic in his alt-mode. Consequently, his frame was constructed in such a way that when he transformed into his root-mode the bulk from his alt would tightly overlap, making him smaller and more compact, thereby reducing his mass but increasing his overall density. Unfortunately, to cut costs, Thunder and the mecha he was batch-built with did not have much consideration put into the durability and longevity of their internal systems. Instead of being given a custom (ie: more expensive) design for their cooling systems, Thunder’s model series simply implemented a knock-off design from a similar model and called it a day.
Naturally, since this design was made to cool down a considerably less dense model, Thunder’s cooling systems are ill-equipped to properly regulate all the heat that builds up in his compact frame. In short, his off-model cooling systems are not properly equipped to disperse the heat his body produces, and as such he is prone to overheating - particularly while performing physically demanding tasks, or simply standing around in heated environments. Needless to say, hot, humid climates cause him to overheat more rapidly than moderate climates, as evident by the way plumes of steam billow from the gaps in his armor when his systems struggle to cool themselves.
Hotheaded - Thundercloud is rather short-tempered, and is prone to letting his emotions get the better of him. He is easily provoked into battles, as his patience runs thin on a good day, let alone while he’s being antagonized. As a consequence, he has a bad habit of reacting viscerally to situations without giving careful consideration to his actions - in other words, he’s got a natural predilection towards making terrible decisions.
Limited range - As evident by his lack of long-range weaponry, Thundercloud’s offensive capabilities are limited almost entirely to close-quarters combat, with the exception of anything he might have on hand to throw at an enemy. As you can imagine, bringing a knife to a gunfight is not the most tactically sound decision - if he can’t close the distance between himself and his opponent, there’s really not much he can do beyond verbally antagonize them.
Tactics are for nerds - Thunder’s usual fighting strategy is simplistic and straightforward to a fault. His battle plans usually boil down to “Hit ‘em until they turn gray” which, while generally successful, leave much to be desired in terms of finesse and complexity. He’s used to going in and beating opponents down before they can get the chance to plan circles around him, but if they manage to evade him long enough to do just that, he would be hard pressed to gain the upper hand - not because he’s unintelligent or uncreative, but because he is stubborn as a mule and will do things his own way until it becomes blatantly obvious that his preferred methods aren’t working out for him.
What is this “Retreat” of which you speak - Getting Thundercloud to back down from a fight is no easy task - like a violent energizer bunny, he just keeps on going long after he should have quit. Once caught in the heat of the moment, he becomes fixated upon defeating his opponents and clearing the field until he runs out of people to punch. This berserker mentality is not easily shaken off, and at times Thundercloud will wind up fighting losing battles that he refuses to back away from, despite knowing he’s unlikely to win them. It’s not unheard of for mecha to have to physically pull him from the battle-field, or give him direct orders from his commanding officers in order to convince him to retreat.
Overconfidence - Thundercloud is, simply put, a cocky son of a glitch. He knows he’s bigger, stronger, and built tougher than the average soldier, and it shows in his behavior. He takes dangerous risks without a second thought, and he doesn’t even blink at the prospect of taking on challenges wherein the odds are stacked against him.
Restricted mobility - Giant supersonic twinjets are not exactly commonplace in the skies outside of warzones, which means Thunder cannot easily blend in and go unnoticed by the human populace. Therefore, his airspace is restricted to uninhabited locations where he is unlikely to be noticed by humans, and particularly high altitudes where he is beyond the range of human eyesight.
Does not work well with others - Who’d have thought the temperamental ex-convict has trouble playing nice? Just about everyone, as it turns out. Thundercloud makes no secret of the fact that he does not enjoy being tethered to others (generally speaking, there are exceptions) in battle. He prefers to work alone; to do his own thing and look out for himself. He can’t very well do that when he’s expected to watch someone else’s back and look out for them, especially when he doesn’t really trust many others to do the same for him.
Nerve blocks- The pain receptors in Thunder’s arms, from his shoulders to the tips of his fingers, have been surgically removed. This allows him to take and dish out a lot of punishment with his fists without being inhibited by pain, however, this lack of sensation comes with some unfortunate drawbacks - the most obvious being he cannot tell when his arms/hands are damaged, and thus he has no way of knowing if the next punch he throws is going to snap his joints or fracture his plates. Likewise, Thunder has difficulties sensing heavy pressure, so he cannot always tell when he is gripping something too hard or something is pressing against his hands/arms with damaging force. This can be particularly troublesome whenever he has to handle fragile things or needs to manipulate items that require fine adjustment. (He has crushed more cubes and broken off the triggers of more guns than he cares to count.)
Special Skills:
Chriolingual - Back in G-1, there weren’t many ways to privately discuss matters one didn’t want the guards or other inmates to hear, as the comm.systems of all inmates were disabled upon entry for exactly that purpose. To get around this issue, Thunder gradually learned how to ‘talk’ using his hands, with the help of his cellmate who had difficulties speaking verbally at times, and was more than happy to teach him an alternate method of communication. Granted, this ability is really only useful for speaking with other Chriolingual mecha, but it’s still a handy ability to have.
Valedictorian of the School of Hard Knocks - Thundercloud hasn’t had the easiest life. In his time he’s seen, done, and experienced some rather unpleasant things, and at this point there is not much that surprises him anymore. It’s difficult to shock or disgust him, and attempts to cause him pain or injury are generally shrugged off as nothing more than another brick in the great wall of slag that is his life. Knock this mech down, and he’ll just insult you from the floor, then pick himself back up and carry on.
Space cowboy - Thundercloud is space-flight compatible, however, he has to wait a bit until he cools down after landing before even thinking about transforming, as his densely compacted root-mode cannot dissipate heat as well as his roomier flying-pancake of an alt.
Duct-tape wizard - Thundercloud knows a thing or two about mechanics, and while he’s never been formally trained he can repair ships pretty decently, as well as most common base equipment like power-generators and ventilation systems. Granted, he mostly just jury-rigs things into working short-term, but if he has the time, materials, and the incentive, he can patch things up properly.
Extra Info:
HE DID HIS WAITING! 12(+) YEARS OF IT! IN GARRUS-1!
