MTMTE Entry - Raider

Other Statistics:

Name: Raider
AKA: Raid, Rai
Function: Warrior
Transformation: Single-headed land dragon
Continuity: Armada, AU, and Cybertron, Mild AU
Weapons Preference: Meelee weapons, Battle Blades, claws, talons, tail mace
Theme Song: Animal I Have Become - Three Days Grace
Voice Actor: Kristian Ayre (The same guy that did Ryura from Inuyasha the Movie 4: Fire on the Mystic Island. Just picture him not sounding as evil...)
Height: 46 ft. Robot Mode (just for reference, Armada Prime is like in the mid/high 20's...)
Weight: 54,140 Lbs.


Description:

This is a profile of one of my earlier original Transformers, Raider, done in the style of the Generation 1 "More Than Meets The Eye" pages... Even though he's not supposed to be in the G1 timeline. Originally completed for the HMW Character Pics thread over in the Heavy Metal War TF Game forum... and somesuch. I was on a MTMTE binge and wanted to get all my animal TF's done, so... naturally Raider got hisself fleshed out.

Also, if you want to see a higher-resolution version of his robot and dragon modes, head on over hurr: [link]



As for his backstory... well, we'll go with the Cybertron timeline for this one with hints of his Armada past.

Basically... Back during the Minicon Wars, Raider (still a tot/baby) was chucked through a warp gate on Cybertron by a particularly nasty Decepticon (After the outpost he and his parents were stationed at was attacked. Both his real 'rents were killed.), and ended up being sent to the 'Con's Moon base several galaxies away. If you've read "Baby Blues", you know that Wheeljack ends up smuggling Raider to the Autobots, joins them, there's chemistry between him and Windy, the three become a makeshift family, blah blah BLAH.

Anyhoo, this is where things take a turn AWAY from the direction of the old fanfic... fast forward a few months to when the Decepticons break into the base and steal the Requiem Blaster. Raider... goes missing. It's not known how, all I know is that in the commotion Raider is gone, presumed dead... (This, of course, breaks Windracer and Wheeljack's hearts, as well as the rest of the Autobots.) Strangely enough, however, he's found by EVAC (keep in mind that Evac has been an Earth Guardian for millions of years. I'd assume he laid low during the Micron Wars like Crosswise did... minus the whole being encased in a glacier dealio.), and he RAISES him for a time. Until Raider is old enough to take care of himself, and then Evac sets him loose on the Earth since 'Vaccy's the Guardian of Planet Earth and all and has plenty o' important Guardian-y things to do....

Raider makes his way to Western Europe, where he then adopts the form of a Western style dragon (remember the OLD, skinny-stick Raider? That's the one.). He realizes, though, that to keep hidden he must migrate further East, to Asia and the like, where he remains hidden throughout the Energon Wars and into the Cybertronian Wars.

THEN, the whole shindig with the black hole comes about, and he hears that the Autobots are returning to Earth (if only in disguise...). Raid, naturally, has faint memories of other Transformers that took care of him as an infant, and naturally wants to investigate. At this point Windracer's probably hooked back up with the Autobots after her hiatus in Energon, too, I might add...

Just as he's about to make his prescence known to the other Autobots, Megatron and his baddies swoop down onto the good guys with the idea that they're going to take control of the Omega Lock. Again. Still incomplete but with two of the keys inserted (Jungle, Speed. Earth doesn't get added until Starscream takes it, IIRC)... Anyshoe, Vector Prime is told to flee with the Lock while Optimus and the others hold off the tiny band of Evil-Doers. As he takes off into the skies over the forrested valley where they're fighting, he's shot down, and loses the lock amongst the thick foliage.

Guess who finds it? *wink wink*

So Raider has the lock, not knowing how valuable it really is to both parties. Megatron and the 'cons get about to searching for said Omega Lock, and eventually come across our poor intrepid hero... alone. When Raider discovers the gravity of his situation, he does his best to protect the artifact from falling into their hands, but at this point in his life he's just too weak a fighter to withstand the onslaught from the much more powerful Decepticon soldiers, and soon recieves teh smackdown0rz. Just as he's about to stasis lock, however, the Omega Lock (and ultimately, Primus...) prove to have a different agenda.

The partially completed lock begins to glow, and Raider is engulfed in the light of Primus (Overhaul/Leobreaker, style. : D). He is ultimately reformatted, recieving a massive power boost from both the Jungle and Speed planet keys. While the Speed Key really doesn't do much for him (except maybe boost his mental capacities. He wasn't stupid to begin with, mind you, it probably "matured" his mind or something), the Jungle key grants him a new, giant, frighteningly powerful body, ehnanced combat skills, courage... the works.

But unfortunately, Megatron and his crew still escape with the Omega Lock. They plan to finally strike down the Autobots, but just as Megs is about to waste Optimus Prime once and for all... none other than Raider decides to intervene! Unable to bring Megatron down, he does, however, give the Autobots the opportunity to re-capture the Lock yet again. Once it's in Prime's hands, the Decepticons flee, leaving the good guys to thank their giant, nameless hero.

He shyly introduces himself to the rest of the team, surprising the hell out of the handful of Autobots that knew him back when he was nothing more than an anklebiter... (Optimus Prime, Hotshot, Red Alert, Jetfire, Windracer, and even Evac since he couldn't recognize him in his new form) Commence crappy sappy scene between foster mother and son, maybe some instances where Raider actually RECALLS tidbits of his childhood (particularly this one scene where Hotshot was trying to give Raider a bath, left his guard down, and as a result there was a wild goose chase around the Autobase to capture the soapy nekked babybot. XD), yadda yadda yadda... When it comes right down to it, Optimus invites the formerly MIA mech to join the team... which he does. While still being caught up in this tumultous war for the Planet Keys, Raider couldn't be happier. He'd finally found a makeshift "family" for himself after almost endless years of lonliness and solitude...

Oooo, that was kinda poetic. I think I'm getting good at this.

But there's something more to Raider's new transformation... a strange side-effect bestowed upon him by the Beast Key that he has to learn to control, almost like a darker, animalistic side of him, and unfortunately... he has no clue how to handle it. When his loved ones are in danger he snaps, flying off the handle into blind rages where he acts on one impulse: destroy. Little is safe from him when he is in this state, even fellow Autobots if they approach him wrong (in one fight he accidentally snapped at Quickmix, unable to discern if the Gigantian was friend or foe. He wasn't hurt, just sent face-first into the ground after Raid' picked him up and threw him over his shoulder...)

But because of this strange defect, it has pushed Raider even farther into a quiet, pacificistic, withdrawn state for fear of losing control of the inner beast and doing something he would regret for the rest of his life. He is constantly trying to compensate for his flaw outside of combat, acting kind and gentle to a fault in the hopes that it will keep his inner evils at bay.



Anyway, FEAR! or... not fear! .... idunno. ._.; He's not realleh the fearsome type, is he? XD

My other Original Transformer MTMTE Pages:

- Windracer [link]
- Feralbrawn [link]
- Aurora [link]
- Aquila [link]
- Raindance [link]

Transformers (c) Hasbro
Raider (c) me