Ruckus (Transformers)

Ruckus is the name given to a fictional character in the Transformers Universes.

Transformers - Generation 1 (1988)

Ruckus' only appearance was during the toyline's fifth year. He did not appear in an episode of any Transformers cartoon. His only appearance in fiction was in the Marvel comic but more so than his fellow Triggercons; Ruckus being the most interesting of the three. Although he was shown to love fighting, writer Simon Furman also provided extra characteristic traits to his personality - that of a single-minded warrior who lived to destroy, lacking any sort of grand ambition of his own with a weakness of speaking his mind in even the most inappropriate of situations. This trait was most likely developed upon from the story in which Ruckus made his first appearance - U.S. #48 "The Flames of Boltax"; written by Bob Budiansky where his character was limited to only one line and a response from Megatron.

Ruckus' Marvel and Dreamwave Bios have provided more information on him: here he was revealed to have been little more than an unimportant courier in Megatron's service - until the day he managed to warn his Decepticon brethren of an Autobot ambush using his vocal chips - the only part of him that still functioned. A delighted Megatron had him rebuilt into a much larger body, which in turn led to Ruckus becoming one of the bravest and brashest Decepticons around.

Marvel Comics

Ruckus and his fellow Triggercons made their first appearance in a flashback to the early days of the war on Cybertron, where they were recruited by Megatron to follow Optimus Prime and discover his plans with Circuitmaster Boltax. On discovering Prime with the Underbase the Decepticons attacked, but were forced to retreat when the Underbase was launched by Prime to avoid the Decepticons capturing its' power for themselves.

Much later, after the disappearance of the Ark and the recommencement of the war on Earth Ruckus and the other Triggercons were under the command of the Triumverate, a trio of lazy and incompetent Decepticons who were more interested in gladiator games than winning the war with the Autobots. Ruckus and the others waited for the opportunity to rebel and seized their chance when Megatron (actually a Straxus created clone of the original) arrived and bested the Triumverate's warriors, saving him from an assassination attempt. Unfortuantely for them, Megatron's first commands to them were to find more competent minions. Subsequently Ruckus, now commanding a group of Decepticons, was dispatched to Earth to find the missing Thunderwing. Thunderwing then forcibly took command of the group and led them into a suicide mission against the Ark, much to Ruckus' displeasure. He managed to talk Thunderwing out of it though. Returning to Cybertron and forced into an uneasy alliance with the Autobot Pretenders to battle subterranean demons, in the U.S. comics Ruckus fell under Thunderwing's command again to pursue the quest for the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. However he rapidly grew uneasy about his superior's increasing mental instability. Openly voicing his displeasure on several occasions, he was usually punished for it, on one occasion being consigned to guard duty on the Decepticon battleship, inadvertently letting Autobot captives escape. Having seen Thunderwing's insanity first hand, the Ruckus-led Decepticons did nothing to aid him in his final battle with the Autobots. Ruckus then surrendered to the Autobots. He was not seen again.

IDW Publishing

Ruckus appeared in IDW Publishing's mini-series as part of the Decepticon infiltration cell on Nebulos. When Thunderwing attacked, the Decepticons reluctantly decided to assist the locals in fighting him - but Ruckus was one of the first casualties as Thunderwing crushed him beneath his foot.

Links

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