#slash the predacons would end up basing a lot of their culture off of scourge and jungle planet

[rin-the-shadow]

Strength and Scourge

Scourge is a character who I tend to see as being a bit underrated in the Transformers: Cybertron fandom. While I suppose some of it is the inevitable result of sharing a series with a lot of other great characters (and one of the most successful Starscreams in-universe) which explored quite a few conflicts, but at the same time, it’s been way too long since my last Transformers post, so I’d like to talk a bit about Scourge.

[ID: Scourge, a robot with long, spikey, winglike appendages coming from his shoulders, and a dragon’s face over his chassis, stands framed by Starscream’s leg on the left, and Megatron’s leg on the right. Part of Starscream’s arm, fist, and wing is visible in the shot. End ID]

Surprisingly enough, I don’t have his toy. I’m planning to remedy that at some point. But anyway, in Transformers: Cybertron, Scourge is introduced as the leader of Jungle Planet. He seems largely preoccupied with strength and power, and largely refuses to listen to Megatron until after they fight, at which point he concedes that Megatron would have defeated him. (Though actually, if you check the background of the shot Megatron’s in, you can see that Scourge’s tail is close to hitting Megs in the head, so it might have ended in a draw, even if Megs won’t acknowledge it.)

Even then, Scourge doesn’t entirely trust Megatron. There are some implications in “Search,” seemingly confirmed in the episode “Primal,” that Scourge knows where the Cyber Planet Key is from the get-go, but pretends otherwise because he suspects Megatron’s ulterior motives. There’s a moment in “Search” where Scourge looks off to one side while contemplating Megatron’s offer, and times where he repeats “the Cyber Planet Key” in a way that implies feigned ignorance. At the time I thought maybe he was just thinking, and that he might have called the Cyber Planet Key by a different name. 

Tfwiki’s article on the episode suggests that Scourge actually sees through Megatron’s claims and thus feigns just enough ignorance to keep himself out of trouble. While I didn’t think of it before that, this makes sense for Scourge given what we learn of him in the episode, “Honor.” In this episode, we learn that originally, Jungle Planet was a lot worse, and that Scourge got involved because he was disturbed by the conditions people were living under, and that in the process of his revolution, he became increasingly cynical until he had become the Scourge we’re introduced to in the series: kind of a hard-aft who puts way too much emphasis on “might makes right,” is willing to settle for maintaining order rather than actually achieving peace, and isn’t all that willing to listen to things which contradict his ideals. With that in mind, I agree that it would make sense for Scourge to be aware of attempts by others to deceive him. Otherwise it would probably be pretty hard for him to maintain his leadership of the planet.

Throughout the series, Scourge repeatedly struggles with the idea that might doesn’t necessarily make right, and that strength alone isn’t enough, despite it being “all [he has].” But at the same time, we’re also shown that, regardless of what Scourge believes about himself, this isn’t necessarily the case. He’s able to see through Megatron’s ruse, and seems to have a near-Dinobot-level regard for honor, given the emphasis he places on his planet’s traditions. At the very least, he seems to possess some degree of cunning and problem-solving ability. It just takes Bud’s unusual leadership bootcamp (ironically enough, in the episode titled “Scourge”) for him to become aware of it.

Regarding Scourge’s regard for honor, it definitely seems to be closer to Dinobot-brand Predacon honor than what the word might initially imply. Might makes right, but if you believe you’re stronger than the strongest person, you’re welcome to challenge them, just as long as you’re capable of putting your money where your mouth is, so to speak. He’s also shown to have no problem putting down an opponent, which he attempts to do both to Overhaul in “Race” and Snarl in both “Detour” and “Savage.” (Though in Snarl’s case, it’s because he believes him to be a traitor.) On the other hand, he refuses to allow Megatron to do the same after a fight with Leobreaker in the episode, “Honor.” He’s willing to put down an opponent, but also seems to have a certain logic behind when that is acceptable, as well as who is allowed to do so. If you weren’t the victor, you don’t get to decide whether or not to finish off someone else’s opponent. For a time, he even seems to think that his sense of honor binds him to die with the planet, before changing his mind and deciding it binds him to help carry on its ideals even if Jungle Planet is destroyed (see “Homecoming”). 

Scourge also concedes that Optimus Prime had fairly defeated him and respects his decision to return leadership to him, but for the most part, opts to remain neutral in the Black Hole Conflict. The main times we see him getting involved are in “Trust,” when he downs Thundercracker for repeatedly burning his jungle, and in the final episodes of the series when the black hole begins directly threatening Jungle Planet. That being said, he does have something of an alliance with Megatron from “Revelation” until about “Ambush,” but for much of that time, this is somewhat tense and kind of a loose alliance. He does what Megs says for the most part, but he makes it pretty clear in “Ambush” that his reason for joining is largely because he wanted the chance for a rematch against Optimus Prime, which is perfectly within the bounds of Jungle Planet culture. (Or at least, it makes sense that it would be with some of the Predacon-like elements of Jungle Planet.) At several points in this alliance, we also see Scourge expressing frustration with the lack of honor among Decepticons, sometimes even abandoning the mission at-hand because of it. In some ways, it almost seems like Scourge uses this alliance as an opportunity to look at other leadership styles as well as to see if his methods work anywhere outside of Jungle Planet.

At times, I’ve also wondered if part of Scourge’s temporary alliance with the Decepticons was because he was aware of Override’s having joined the Autobots. While I do think his primary motivation for joining was because he wanted a rematch against Optimus, in “Ambush,” he also states that he’s wanted to do battle with Velocitron’s leader for awhile, at least partially as a means of testing their worldviews against each other. What’s interesting to me about this point in his arc is that he has conceded that there are types of strength that aren’t just sheer power, and has clear respect for Lori, but still seems to look down on Override’s method of ruling Velocitron. I’d like to look at the ways in which Override and Scourge act as foils to each other, but this post is already getting a bit long, so I’ll opt to make that a separate entry.

In many ways, Scourge’s story is the story of someone who tried to take too much responsibility onto himself, got stuck in his initial methods of dealing with it, and eventually learned how to look at the bigger scope of things and to depend on others besides just himself. 

When he wins his duel for leadership of Jungle Planet in “Beginnings,” he’s even given a chance to apply what he’s learned over the course of the series. He’s still shown to enjoy challenges of strength, and still shown to feel a sense of responsibility towards Jungle Planet, but he probably won’t rely entirely on his own strength to lead it. Of course, I really like that he does win the battle for Jungle Planet’s leadership. From my perspective, if he’d lost, it would pretty much have been saying that it doesn’t matter what he’s learned because he already blew his chance before we were even introduced to him. But the way stuff happened in the series, he actually gets to apply all this. It’s also nice to see that while some leader figures turn their role over to someone else (as in the case with Override and Optimus Prime) others continue to learn and grow in their current roles, like Scourge.

[ID: Scourge stands with his hands on his hips, looking up and off to the right in a defiant manner, while Leobreaker, a smaller robot with a lion’s face on his chassis, watches as if neutrally confused.]