Tailgate

〈 PLAYER INFO 〉
NAME: Lady
AGE: 23
JOURNAL: lady47
IM / EMAIL: lady474747@gmail.com
PLURK: Lady47
RETURNING: nope

〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Tailgate
CHARACTER AGE: Over 6 million
SERIES: Transformers IDW: MTMTE
CHRONOLOGY: Issue #13
CLASS: Team Mascot
HOUSING: Alone is fine

BACKGROUND:

Tailgate is a fantastic specimen of a Cybertronian. He studied metaphysics under Omega Supreme, was a champion kickboxer from the Ibex School of of Epistemology, helped invent a heat engine, coordinated a search for Luna-1, and he was part of Nova’s Prime’s closest associates. Not only that, but he was a Primal Vanguard and a war veteran to boot, and he was going to be aboard the Ark-1 mission but it took off without him.

Sounds too good to be true right? Because it totally is. Tailgate is, in reality, a fourth-class sanitation worker whose sole job was to clean the Ark’s coolant tubes before it took off. Unfortunately for him, on his way there when he got lost and ended up on the Mitteous Plateau. Being stuck below ground, he decided to try to blow up his energon reserves in an attempt to get attention from above. He kept passing out, but he got there eventually. Six million years later. When he blew up the energon, it was when Whirl was standing right over him, and this resulted in a slightly blown up Whirl. When Tailgate saw what he did, he immediately passed out from panicking.

Later, when he woke up in Ratchet’s medical station, he was told by Swerve that he was out for six-million years, much to his horror. It was that moment he started making things up about himself, building himself up to be the awesome amazing person he wanted everyone to believe he was. He wanted them to see him as something important. For some reason everyone bought it. But who was around that could tell him that he was wrong?

Tailgate and Swerve became friendly pretty quick. While they were out walking around they came across Chromedome and Rewind, and not long after that they came across Skids and a few giant non-sentient robots. It was an interesting day to say the least.

Things couldn’t stay quiet for long, since a short while later there was a Sparkeater loose aboard the ship. Tailgate had been trying to transform during Rodimus’ speech, and this unfortunately left him without legs. While everyone was filing out and going to their rooms, Tailgate was stuck on the floor, frantically trying to get someone to help him. That someone ended up being Cyclonus, who took pity on him and carried him to a room for them to share. Cyclons then proceeded to drop Tailgate painfully onto the floor. While the sparkeater fight took place, Cyclonus and Tailgate started discussing the six million years that Tailgate had missed, and Tailgate learned that he completely missed a war that had torn apart their planet. After further discussion, Tailgate announced to Ratchet --as Ratchet was fixing his half-transformed state-- that he wanted to become a Decepticon.

Word that Tailgate was a Decepticon sympathiser spread quickly, and Rodimus caught wind of it through Ultra Magnus. Rodimus then had the brilliant idea to hook Tailgate up to Rewind and have the compressed version of the war shoved into his head. The entire process took only a few seconds, but after realizing that the Decepticons were the bad guys, Tailgate didn’t want to become one of them anymore. He confronted Cyclonus about it and was immediately told off and knocked aside.

Deciding that he wanted to be an Autobot, he asked Ultra Magnus to teach him about the Autobot code. He regretted it later.

After the incident with Fortress Maximus and Rung, Rewind gathered together a group of people to tell a story that would help bring Rung’s mind back. Tailgate was there only as an extra, as his part in the story being told was virtually non-existent. He did learn a lot about Orion Pax, Prowl, and Optimus Prime during the telling though.

Rodimus and many members of the Lost Light, Tailgate included, touched down on Temptoria to fight a base of Decepticons and maybe find the Circle of Light if it was there. There was a huge fight that Tailgate wasn’t a part of, instead he and Rewind snuck around and tried to figure out what these Decepticons did have. It turned out they had a whole prison-load of organics that they were using to make Energon out of. Rewind insisted that they rescue the organics and Tailgate put his non-existant bomb disposal skills to use by trying to deactivate the giant bomb right outside the prison cell. If Rewind hadn’t been there to tell him how to deactivate it, Tailgate would have had no idea what to do.

He kept at it for as long as he could, refusing to leave in fear that the blast would reach the prisoners. He had activated the countdown and was determined not to escape until he had deactivated it entirely. Eventually he wasn’t given a choice when Cyclonus came in, grabbed him, and threw him out of the building. The bomb detonated with Rewind and Cyclonus trapped inside thanks to Whirl. Tailgate dragged Cyclonus all the way to the medical bay himself, probably being the only person who honestly cared about Cyclonus’ well being. After seeing people leave their innermost energon for Rewind, he tried to leave some of his for Cyclonus, but had it immediately rejected. Cyclonus returned after a moment to help Tailgate pick up the pieces.

Everyone needed some well-deserved downtime, so Tailgate went off with his friends during shore-leave and spent the evening hanging around with them. Aside from Ultra Magnus (who is a big mofo) passing out, and Cyclonus suddenly flipping out during Rewind’s screening, it went pretty well. It ended with Cyclonus and Tailgate bonding over ancient Cybertronian songs.

PERSONALITY:

What’s there to say about Tailgate, really? Well, not much to be honest, but he has a lot to say about himself. Most of it isn’t true. After spending the past six million of years in a coma, waking up to find that the entire universe itself is completely different has a huge impact on a person. Tailgate’s method of dealing with it was to lie about who and what he was in order to make himself more appealing to all these new people he was meeting. He had to, he didn’t want to be as forgettable to them as he was to the people he used to work with. They should have easily found him six million years ago, but they didn’t. He figured it was because no one ever cared enough to look for him, which was a devastating thought. Maybe if he seemed impressive and interesting, he’ll have real friends who would look for him if he went missing.

Though a talented liar, Tailgate himself is a very bright, naive, and cheerful guy. Everyone around him is interesting and important in some way, and he never misses a chance to interact with people. Every conversation reveals something new, and every friend means that he’s giving himself something precious. Don’t let his apparent youth fool you though, Tailgate happens to be very intelligent and a ridiculously hard worker. He’s endured an 8 hour lecture from Ultra Magnus about about the relevance of semi-colons and came out of it almost sane. His naivety is due to the fact that he has barely been “alive” for half a year, so he maintains an optimistic, rosy view of life. Everything is good and everything will work out just fine. Don’t think just because he’s naive that he’s meek, because Tailgate can do the sassy backtalk with the best of them. He won’t let himself be pushed around, and he will stand up for himself if he finds himself being picked on. While this shows that he’s as brave as any Autobot needs to be, he’s not so brave that he won’t panic and cry in the face of danger or incredibly confusing situations. Why yes, robot crybabies do exist and Tailgate is their poster boy.

There’s something about missing a violent, 4 million-year-long civil war that leaves a bot feeling out-of-place and behind everyone else. Tailgate knows that he’s not like his friends, all of whom suffered horribly during the war, and wants desperately to understand them. A violent war isn’t something easily understood from the outside, so his attempts sometimes fall flat. Out of a strong desire to belong, Tailgate instantly tried to choose sides, despite the war being officially over. At first it was under the Decepticon badge, as Cyclonus’ explanation to him appealed to him more. After a quick lesson from Rewind, he decided he wanted to be an Autobot instead, and focused all of his energy into earning the Autobot badge, which was why he spent so much time with Ultra Magnus. The ideologies of both sides never truly clicked with him, he just wanted to be like everyone else. To fit in.

If you asked Cyclonus to describe Tailgate, he would say that he was “persistent and annoying”, and he wouldn’t be wrong. Tailgate hasn’t fully mastered the art of conversation yet, and tends to push at personal things despite being told several times not to. He’ll keep pushing too until the person gives in and tells him what he wants to know. He’ll learn about boundaries someday. Maybe. But for now, he’ll take advantage of his own innocence and cute face to learn things about people.

The Lost Light is full of war-torn Cybertronians who all have various levels of crippling psychological issues. So naturally, there’s always a great big divide between him and them. Doesn’t mean they don’t like him though, most of them get along with him great. He cares about them greatly and considers them all to be a great big family to him. He wouldn’t give them up for the world. Even if most of them are seriously messed up (see: Whirl). He enjoys being where he is, and feels like he’s in the best place in the universe. This is not a common view shared by outsiders however, who see the Lost Light as a floating pile of crazy and chaos. They’re not wrong.

While friendly with everyone, Tailgate has several very close friends that he spends most of his time with. His closest are his two best friends Swerve and Rewind. Swerve is forever chatting, smiling, and always has a witty joke ready for any situation. How can you not admire someone who always has something to say? Tailgate’s not about to entrust him with any secrets though, legend says that the entire galaxy finds out about secrets when they’re told to Swerve. Heck, even those in alternate dimensions find out about them somehow. Rewind, on the other hand, is probably one of the most emotionally stable and mature bots on the ship. Yeah I know, it’s a huge surprise that they even exist. Tailgate admires Rewind’s relationship with Chromedome, and adores how self-assured the other minibot is. Also movie nights are so awesome that Tailgate considers them to be his favourite and most treasured memories.

Lastly there’s Cyclonus. Cyclonus is everything Tailgate wishes he was: A cold, respectable warrior who absolutely does not care what others think. Someone whose skill at battle is almost unmatched, and who is just so confident with himself. He broods a lot too, which just adds to the intrigue. The thing that the two of them share the most is that they both miss the Cybertron from before the war. Back when it was a massive and beautiful planet with glorious cities covering its surface. Now there’s nothing left but a primeval wasteland. The moment Tailgate saw Cyclonus, he decided that he absolutely must befriend him and they can do awesome friend things with each other. Cyclonus didn’t quite feel the same way, as one of the first two things he did with Tailgate was drop his crippled form onto the floor and then, later on, fling him across the room. Their relationship eventually got better when Cyclonus gave into Tailgate’s adorable pestering and started sharing stories and songs with him. It was a downhill slope to friendship from there, no matter what Cyclonus thought of it. Tailgate adores Cyclonus and feels like he’s the greatest person ever. Ignoring that Cyclonus once led a slaughter against the Autobots that resulted in a thousand deaths. But that’s just history, it has no connection to Tailgate.

POWER:

Cybertronian Form: Aside from being a 8 ft tall alien robot, Tailgate can transform into a car, which is an ability that is shared by all Cybertronians. Other advantages he gets from being Cybertronian is that he’s very resilient to physical damage (he’s made of metal), and is probably only slightly easier to kill than the average Cybertronian. Some say that the only reason why the war went on for so long was because Cybertronians are stupid hard to kill. You have to hit them right in the spark or else there’s a 95% chance that they'll survive. Limbs can be removed without any real consequences and a beheading is just barely worse than a broken arm. Also he can survive extreme temperatures without much problem, as they all regularly chill out in the vacuum of space like it’s no big deal.

Also Holomatter: Many Autobots have the ability to use a solid-light projection that creates an avatar they can use to interact on alien worlds.

Sonic crying: Sends out sonic waves whenever he starts crying.

Nothing else because being next to useless is the Tailgate way of life.

〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:

Okay, I'm really, really, really, curious about how you humans eat your food! That's not creepy is it? I mean, what's it like? I've seen you eat before and you make that mushy stuff look so good! Is it because of the texture or something? Does it just taste pretty awesome? I'm dying to know!

I'm also incredibly bored and I really, really want someone to entertain me for just a little while. You humans are fun to watch and I'm glad that I've gotten to know some of you. Just so you know.

Oh, and I may have owned a puppy a little while ago and I may have lost it. At least I think it's a puppy. I have a bit of a hard time telling organics apart. Anyway, it's about ten feet long, has greyish green scales, has a looong snout, lots of teeth, and a big long tail. I think it bites, so look out! I named him Cuddles. If anyone could find him and return him, that'd be great!

LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE:

This was all very exciting! Well, being kidnapped in general is never good, but to live in a world where "heroes" were everywhere? Fantastic heroes who did fantastic things! Except Tailgate wasn't all that fantastic. Actually, Tailgate wasn't anything at all. Which was the stark reality of his existence. Poor Tailgate, never amounting to anything. Poor Tailgate, who had the worst power out of everyone. Someone was making fun of him up there, that had to be the only explanation.

When his thoughts became so weighed down in bitterness and envy, he'd just go for a walk. Thoughts like these weren't good, after all! It's not everyone else's fault he had such a dumb power, and being jealous of people who had totally awesome powers wouldn't make him any friends. Was making friends a super power? Because Tailgate could do that as well as anyone! So being here wasn't so bad after all! So many new people he would never have met otherwise!

Besides, he thought his human form was really pretty though, so that had to be something. At least he thought his reflection was cute. It was hard to tell, he had no idea of what humans found attractive. Maybe the squiggly, hairy things on his face were stupid-looking, who knows? But if he did have a cute face (he'll have to ask someone about that), then he'll have to use it to its full potential. It's all he has right now, so he'd better use it.

FINAL NOTES: Tailgate's human form looks like this in all his 4'9 glory.

Tailgate only has a very short time to live, which is why I’m taking him a few months before. He suffers from Cybercrosis, a disease of the spark that will eventually cause the following: Fuel pump failure, Innermost Energon curdling, broken down Transformation cog, frozen limbs, blindness, muteness, and memory loss. So what triggered this disease? Well... quite frankly, old age did. Though young in mind, Tailgate’s body and spark will eventually give out on him. It’s not a worry right now, obviously, but it will be a thing about three months in the future.