Post by Swindle on Dec 25, 2017 5:01:22 GMT
Player Alias: Kavac
Character Name: Swindle
Allegiance: Decepticons
Appearance Description: Although he likes to dress up in gold and jewels in his free time, Swindle is usually business-up-front when around his fellow Decepticons. He might not share the same stature as many of his airborne brothers and sisters, but Swindle knows how to make this most of it. Since traveling to Earth he’s had to mute many of his overt colors to properly blend in among the humans. Through all of his armor plating, weaponry and stolen merchandise, Swindle’s smile remains his most charming feature. To blend in, Swindle has taken the form of a Lockheed Martin JLTV as his alt mode.
Personality: Enchanting, suave, dramatic and intelligent! Words Swindle oft uses to describe himself; those he cheats have a few other choice words, though. A conman who knows exactly what you’re about to say, Swindle keeps his charms on the end of a string to dangle in front of your optics. Vanity beyond all reason is the hallmark of his personality; that and lying, and also kleptomania when the need arises. However, through all that insufferable smarm and charm lies the mind of a truly brilliant Decepticon, but not in scientific pursuits mind you.
Strengths + Weaknesses:
+Escape Artist - There’s never been a blown arms deal or hostage exchange gone wrong that’s ended up with Swindle being the one behind bars, at least not permanently. With virtually any sticky situation he finds himself in, Swindle always has an out prepped and ready to go. An arsenal of gadgets coupled with natural talent has kept him out of prisons around the cosmos, Autobot or otherwise.
+People Person - Swindle is such a smooth talker than you might just slip on the first ‘hello’. The ability to establish a transgalactic arms dealership isn’t something you do with pure firepower. It takes poise, finesse, and the right amount of savage cunning. Swindle is no stranger to fighting his battles with words instead of weapons, and is one of the few Decepticons to not engage Autobots the moment he encounters them.
-War Profiteering - Swindle got tired of Megatron’s speeches since even before he left the gladiator pits of Kaon, and the only reason he’s stuck around so long were the infinite entrepreneurial opportunities that war brings. As far as the long haul goes, he’s not in it for the Decepticons. That’s not to say he doesn’t value their choice in arms dealers, though.
-Gun Shy - Probably the last Decepticon to fire their weapon in a fight, Swindle would rather sell you the weapon rather than blast you with it. He sees the war between the Autobots and Decepticons as a solution to his true conflict: his empty pockets. While he may have been a dutiful soldier in the past, Swindle’s motivation is no longer crushing Autobot skulls for the fun of it.
Abilities:
Bruticus - While many Decepticons might remember Swindle as a literal boot in the Decepticon army, he elects to forget the detail. Once forming one of the legs of the supremely powerful Decepticon combiner Bruticus, Swindle’s left his days of being somebody else’s foot behind him. Despite having had a falling out with the rest of the Combaticons, he still retains the ability to combine into their ultimate form.
Arsenal - Don’t ask Swindle where he keeps all his merchandise, since half the time he forgets where he keeps it too; although the most useful bits are usually on his person, somewhere. If a weapon’s ever been fired at either an Autobot or Decepticon at any point in the past few million solar cycles, it has probably passed through the arms trader’s hands.
Weaponry:
Null Cannon - While normally comfortable with letting the bigger bolt-heads do most of the fighting, Swindle still keeps around a little ‘sidearm’ to give some bite to his bark. A massive cannon mounted onto the side of his right arm acts as the Decepticon’s main ranged weapon, capable of delivering quite the punch. Alternatively, the weapon can be set to a non lethal stun setting; can’t have dead customers, now.
Stun Grenades - A pack of powerful stun grenades are an effective fallback option should diplomacy fail, which it normally does. These small charges are capable of shorting out both nearby electrical systems, and Cybertronians for a short period of time.
Negatronic Forcefield Generator - Not that he’d ever use it for someone else’s sake, but Swindle keeps a portable field generator on himself at all times. He uses it primarily to generate a shield between himself and any disgruntled customer, but has been known to use it to also trap deadbeats trying to skip out on payment.
Stun Prods - No swords, hammers, maces or axes for this Decepticon, thank you. A pair of well-concealed stun prods built into Swindle’s wrists function as an effective rebuttal to any passionate and up-close threats.
Gatling Laser - A concealed but powerful weapon built in behind Swindle's chest, his gatling laser is the ultimate last resort weapon for pulling one over on a would-be captor.
History: Originally a bookie for Megatron during his days in the gladiator pits of Kaon, Swindle always knew he was destined to strike it rich someday. Besides settling debts between fighters, he also acted as a source of disinformation to the Autobots, as he was frequently targeted and arrested by Orion Pax to serve as an informant. When it came time to spark up revolution, Swindle didn’t hesitate to join his old boss in arms. Many of Swindle’s first engagements were rather plain and simple; go here, shoot at the Autobots a bit, go there, repeat. All that changed when Shockwave requested him and several other Decepticons to report for a series of experiments that would alter them forever. The Combaticons emerged several months later, quickly turning the tide of the war in Megatron’s favor, forming the titan Bruticus.
Swindle’s spot in the greatest combiner in the whole Decepticon war machine wasn’t all the glory he’d dreamed of, though. Throughout the entire conflict with the Autobots he felt like he wasn’t getting anywhere, which he was right to believe. He might have been part of a hulking monster but deep down, things were exactly the same as before, just in a different body. A dead-end job as a boot just wasn’t befitting of somebody with Swindle’s skills. After both the Autobots and Decepticons left Cybertron in their respective craft, Swindle remained behind to support Shockwave and his attempts to hold the planet in Megatron’s absence, although he left on his own shortly after.
With every galactic conflict, both sides needed weapons to kill each other with. Before leaving Cybertron, Swindle secured a massive cache of weapons leftover from the war, using them to establish a solid inventory. Although still technically a Decepticon, he used his connections, skills and weapons to climb his way up the transgalactic arms dealer food chain, selling weapons from Quintessa to Lithone. By the time Megatron put out the call for all remaining Decepticons to rejoin his command on Earth, Swindle was already flush with cash and customers. The promise of yet more profit to be made off the back of another war was too tempting an offer for the notorious swindler to pass up.
Roleplay/Writing Sample: See Spacewarp
Character Name: Swindle
Allegiance: Decepticons
Appearance Description: Although he likes to dress up in gold and jewels in his free time, Swindle is usually business-up-front when around his fellow Decepticons. He might not share the same stature as many of his airborne brothers and sisters, but Swindle knows how to make this most of it. Since traveling to Earth he’s had to mute many of his overt colors to properly blend in among the humans. Through all of his armor plating, weaponry and stolen merchandise, Swindle’s smile remains his most charming feature. To blend in, Swindle has taken the form of a Lockheed Martin JLTV as his alt mode.
Personality: Enchanting, suave, dramatic and intelligent! Words Swindle oft uses to describe himself; those he cheats have a few other choice words, though. A conman who knows exactly what you’re about to say, Swindle keeps his charms on the end of a string to dangle in front of your optics. Vanity beyond all reason is the hallmark of his personality; that and lying, and also kleptomania when the need arises. However, through all that insufferable smarm and charm lies the mind of a truly brilliant Decepticon, but not in scientific pursuits mind you.
Strengths + Weaknesses:
+Escape Artist - There’s never been a blown arms deal or hostage exchange gone wrong that’s ended up with Swindle being the one behind bars, at least not permanently. With virtually any sticky situation he finds himself in, Swindle always has an out prepped and ready to go. An arsenal of gadgets coupled with natural talent has kept him out of prisons around the cosmos, Autobot or otherwise.
+People Person - Swindle is such a smooth talker than you might just slip on the first ‘hello’. The ability to establish a transgalactic arms dealership isn’t something you do with pure firepower. It takes poise, finesse, and the right amount of savage cunning. Swindle is no stranger to fighting his battles with words instead of weapons, and is one of the few Decepticons to not engage Autobots the moment he encounters them.
-War Profiteering - Swindle got tired of Megatron’s speeches since even before he left the gladiator pits of Kaon, and the only reason he’s stuck around so long were the infinite entrepreneurial opportunities that war brings. As far as the long haul goes, he’s not in it for the Decepticons. That’s not to say he doesn’t value their choice in arms dealers, though.
-Gun Shy - Probably the last Decepticon to fire their weapon in a fight, Swindle would rather sell you the weapon rather than blast you with it. He sees the war between the Autobots and Decepticons as a solution to his true conflict: his empty pockets. While he may have been a dutiful soldier in the past, Swindle’s motivation is no longer crushing Autobot skulls for the fun of it.
Abilities:
Bruticus - While many Decepticons might remember Swindle as a literal boot in the Decepticon army, he elects to forget the detail. Once forming one of the legs of the supremely powerful Decepticon combiner Bruticus, Swindle’s left his days of being somebody else’s foot behind him. Despite having had a falling out with the rest of the Combaticons, he still retains the ability to combine into their ultimate form.
Arsenal - Don’t ask Swindle where he keeps all his merchandise, since half the time he forgets where he keeps it too; although the most useful bits are usually on his person, somewhere. If a weapon’s ever been fired at either an Autobot or Decepticon at any point in the past few million solar cycles, it has probably passed through the arms trader’s hands.
Weaponry:
Null Cannon - While normally comfortable with letting the bigger bolt-heads do most of the fighting, Swindle still keeps around a little ‘sidearm’ to give some bite to his bark. A massive cannon mounted onto the side of his right arm acts as the Decepticon’s main ranged weapon, capable of delivering quite the punch. Alternatively, the weapon can be set to a non lethal stun setting; can’t have dead customers, now.
Stun Grenades - A pack of powerful stun grenades are an effective fallback option should diplomacy fail, which it normally does. These small charges are capable of shorting out both nearby electrical systems, and Cybertronians for a short period of time.
Negatronic Forcefield Generator - Not that he’d ever use it for someone else’s sake, but Swindle keeps a portable field generator on himself at all times. He uses it primarily to generate a shield between himself and any disgruntled customer, but has been known to use it to also trap deadbeats trying to skip out on payment.
Stun Prods - No swords, hammers, maces or axes for this Decepticon, thank you. A pair of well-concealed stun prods built into Swindle’s wrists function as an effective rebuttal to any passionate and up-close threats.
Gatling Laser - A concealed but powerful weapon built in behind Swindle's chest, his gatling laser is the ultimate last resort weapon for pulling one over on a would-be captor.
History: Originally a bookie for Megatron during his days in the gladiator pits of Kaon, Swindle always knew he was destined to strike it rich someday. Besides settling debts between fighters, he also acted as a source of disinformation to the Autobots, as he was frequently targeted and arrested by Orion Pax to serve as an informant. When it came time to spark up revolution, Swindle didn’t hesitate to join his old boss in arms. Many of Swindle’s first engagements were rather plain and simple; go here, shoot at the Autobots a bit, go there, repeat. All that changed when Shockwave requested him and several other Decepticons to report for a series of experiments that would alter them forever. The Combaticons emerged several months later, quickly turning the tide of the war in Megatron’s favor, forming the titan Bruticus.
Swindle’s spot in the greatest combiner in the whole Decepticon war machine wasn’t all the glory he’d dreamed of, though. Throughout the entire conflict with the Autobots he felt like he wasn’t getting anywhere, which he was right to believe. He might have been part of a hulking monster but deep down, things were exactly the same as before, just in a different body. A dead-end job as a boot just wasn’t befitting of somebody with Swindle’s skills. After both the Autobots and Decepticons left Cybertron in their respective craft, Swindle remained behind to support Shockwave and his attempts to hold the planet in Megatron’s absence, although he left on his own shortly after.
With every galactic conflict, both sides needed weapons to kill each other with. Before leaving Cybertron, Swindle secured a massive cache of weapons leftover from the war, using them to establish a solid inventory. Although still technically a Decepticon, he used his connections, skills and weapons to climb his way up the transgalactic arms dealer food chain, selling weapons from Quintessa to Lithone. By the time Megatron put out the call for all remaining Decepticons to rejoin his command on Earth, Swindle was already flush with cash and customers. The promise of yet more profit to be made off the back of another war was too tempting an offer for the notorious swindler to pass up.
Roleplay/Writing Sample: See Spacewarp