I Am So High, I Can Hear Heaven

Player Information
*Name/Alias: (Give us something to call you)
*Your Journal: mordoriannazgul
*Age: 26
*Contact Information: e-mail: Jaydepuff@aol.com; aim: Jaydepuff; plurk: Greywolf360
*Characters already in the game: Barricade (CRAU), Fracas (OCC)

Character Information
*Character Name: Swoop
*Character Canon: Transformers: Animated
*Age: He isn’t more than 2 or 3 years old, but he’s a lot smarter than that
*Race: Cybertronian, specifically a Dinobot
*Timeline/Pull Point: Post-Endgame/the end of the series, after most of Dinobot Island has been destroyed

*History: TFWiki Entry; I am including the events of the Titan Magazine comics with those of the cartoon for the sake of completion and to give Swoop a little more personality than is shown in the show.
*Personality: Swoop is rarely seen away from his fellow Dinobots, but their collective actions still give insights to their personalities. They are combative – both verbally and physically – towards other Cybertronians, regardless of their allegiances. In the cartoon and comics both they attack the Autobots and the Decepticons fairly equally. They think of themselves more as dinosaurs than robots, and take offense to mechs with car and truck modes in particular, since cars and trucks use fuel made from dinosaur fossils. They also tend towards being incredibly stubborn, refusing help and refusing to help unless there is no other choice… or if somebody shows up on their island and they want them off it. They all also seem to have a preference for living in nature – they rarely leave their island unless ordered to – but hate being stuck out in the rain: in one particular comic, they even end up invading the Autobot’s base until a storm passes.

Swoop himself seems much milder on his own, and is even willing to help out the Autobots in one of the comics… at least, once Bumblebee manages to appeal to his ego enough. He likes being a hero and getting attention from others; he presumably works for Blackarachnia because she is incredibly pretty, but also gives the best chin scratches. Of course, that doesn’t mean he has any particular loyalty to those that give him what he’s looking for. He is much less broken up about Blackarachnia vanishing than Grimlock is (though he might have known he didn’t stand a chance of getting her attention) and is not too bothered when Grimlock kicks him off the island in one of the comics. Swoop is especially prone to being offended by others, and spends an entire comic in a mute pout because Grimlock got upset at him and Optimus chewed him out. He’s still a fairly sociable bot anyway, sticking around Grimlock and Snarl when he’s able to – even with Grimlock’s temper – and rejoins Blackarachnia for a mission. Even his weapon – a flail – suggests a bit of fickleness and randomness on his part: while Grimlock and Snarl have slightly more directable weapons, Swoop has one that only swings in the proper direction on occasion.

While none of the Dinobots are particularly smart, Swoop is the smartest of the bunch. He correctly guesses where milk comes from (which is why Grimlock temporarily kicks him off the island) and is the most capable of the Dinobots as far as general tactics, able to evade even the Elite Guard. He’s also a bit of a smart aleck – when Optimus Prime mentions to Grimlock that the Dinobots are robots, after Grimlock asserts the Dinobots want to destroy robots, Swoop’s first thought… is to start the robot destruction on Grimlock. Swoop is probably also a little arrogant too, given that he is the most intelligent of the Dinobots… and the only flight-capable one. And why not be proud, when you attack intruders from more angles than even your leader?

All in all, he’s a decent bot, if poorly socialized, abrasive, and egotistical.
*Powers/Abilities: As with most Cybertronians, Swoop changes forms. In his case, it’s into a robotic pterodon, which will be referred to as his ‘Beast Mode’ here. His Beast Mode is fully flight-capable and extremely agile. He can pick up and carry objects – including other Cybertronians – and is strong enough to fly while doing it. As a rule, he generally prefers to be in Beast Mode, but will eventually get used to his robot mode a little more as time goes on in Re/Alignment. In his robot mode, Swoop is long and lanky, and holds the distinction of being the fastest and most agile of the Dinobots. While he is the shortest of the Dinobots, he is still rather tall compared to most of the Autobots in the series. He also has a wicked awesome cape made out of his Beast Mode’s wings.

Swoop technically only has one ‘natural’ weapon beyond his claws, and it functions differently depending on his current form. In Beast Mode, it’s fire breath; in robot mode, however, it is revealed as a flail that is made of magma. And he tends to hit people with it when they torque him off. It can get hot enough to melt Cybertronian armor, but given what it is, it’s rather unwieldy and random in combat. He’s skilled in using it in both of his modes. As well, in both modes he can make use of a sonic shriek to short out audio devices. As with the other Dinobots, he’s surprisingly powerful; he just about trounces the heroes in his debut, as well as helping to defeat Prowl and Bulkhead and almost Sentinel Prime. In the comics he even helps to beat Starscream and his clones. The only time anyone manages to beat him is when they outsmart him or, in the case of Jetfire and Jetstorm, gang up on him with better tactics.

Swoop has little need for energon, so long as the sun is shining; his Beast Mode wings and Robot Mode cape have a layer of solar paneling that allow him to collect solar energy to power his weapons and himself. Without a star nearby enough, of course, he’ll have to learn to drink energon just like everyone else.
*Inventory: Just his flail!
*Starting Polarity: I leave this in the capable hands of the mods.

If AU, how does your character differ from canon?: N/A

Writing Samples
*First Person Sample: [That is a very beaky face on the video – Swoop is still in Beast Mode and apparently forgot about it.]

Me, Swoop-

[… Oh, wait. Right. Robot. Swoop screeches in annoyance before finally shifts into robot mode, looking annoyed and sheepish at the same time.]

Me need help. Me no can find him Grimlock. Him big, so no know how lost him, but still lost anyway. Like me say, him big, and very angry. Him have colors like me- [He pauses again to back off to show his color scheme.] –but him no have wings. Is… Tyrannosaur. Should be easy to find; him much cooler than car or truck. You bots tell me, Swoop, if find him. Okay?
*Third Person Sample: The only other creatures that were regularly on the island were birds. Grimlock didn’t particularly like them, but they could fly, so he didn’t think they were so bad. That, and they taught him to chirp and sing; while that wasn’t nearly as fun as shrieking, it was still pretty entertaining. And singing brought more birds to fly with. Not that any of them were able to keep up with him. He was the best flier around. Or at least the best flier he knew. None of those Autobots could do it, could they? How embarrassing for them. His thoughts are not on the Autobots, though; they’re on the birds.

He watched carefully from his perch in one of the big trees on the island. The two yellow ones he saw most often were at the edge of a pond, splashing around. What were they even doing…? Was it supposed to be fun; they were chirping like it was fun. They dipped their heads under the water sometimes, flapping their wings and shaking themselves off. Droplets sprayed in every direction. He observed them until they finished or got bored and flew away, which was when he decided to investigate. With two powerful beats of his wings and pushing off the branch with his claws, he was in the air, alighting next to the pond. He tilted his head to get a better look at the water with one optic.

“Me no get it,” he muttered to himself, beak clanging audibly as he spoke. “What so fun?” Hrm. Maybe the fun was in the splashing? He might as well try, anyway; those birds seemed pretty smart. He jumped in… and floundered with a screech. The water was a lot deeper than he expected. He flailed his wings for a while before he realized it wasn’t helping, and transformed. His claws grasp at the shore as he finally manages to pull himself out, soaking wet and muddy. He looks down at his chassis, optics widening. Mud. Mud all over his nice, shiny paint! “Dumb birds. You trick me for last time! Me hate water. Is stupid.”

Now how is he going to get clean?!

Final Notes: N/A

How am I doing? Feel free to let me know!

Anon on, Screening on, IP logging off.

☣ Player

Name: Jayde
Personal LJ: mordoriannazgul
Age: 23
Contact:
Current Characters: N/A
[Optional] Where did you hear about PP? It was mentioned in the RP Anon Meme and I got curious.

☣ Character

Character Name: Swoop. Just Swoop.
Character Age: Physically, Swoop is in his twenties. Mentally, on the other hand, he’s closer to a teenager.
Canon + Format: Transformers: Animated (cartoon, with a side order of comic book)
Background: Swoop’s life began as an animatronic pterodon in Dino Drive, that Bulkhead managed to partially destroy, along with Snarl and Grimlock. Megatron rebuilt them in an effort to make drones and practice on building himself a new body. The Dinobots wrecked havoc after their return to Dino Drive… until Sari’s key infused them with Allspark energy, thus making them sentient. Megatron convinced them that humans were bad for using fossil fuels, but the cars that turned into robots were even worse. He rampaged through Detroit with the other two Dinobots, until caught in an asphalt ‘tar pit’. All three would have been destroyed if not for Prowl and Bulkhead recognizing that they were sentient and taking them to an island where they would be left in peace.

At a later date, a man named Meltdown forced him, Grimlock, and Snarl into kidnapping Sari and attacking their one-time saviors. There was not much they could do against someone that could melt their armor. As soon as Meltdown was caught, however all three of them transformed and made a menace of themselves against Meltdown’s twisted creations. A few massive explosions later, and all was right on Dinobot Island.

Winter eventually came to Detroit, and Megatron was preparing to return to his body. Prowl and Bulkhead took Optimus Prime to Dinobot Island to enlist the aid of the Dinobots. This… did not go as planned. Grimlock decided that all they wanted to do was fight robots. When Prime pointed out that the Dinobots are robots, Swoop and Snarl set on Grimlock.

Some time later, everyone discovered that Swoop could talk! He also helped the Autobots take back their base from an army of Starscream clones. But it was for a price – Swoop and the other Dinobots were told they would be able to stay at the Autobots’ base until it stopped raining. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop particularly soon…
Sometime after that, Swoop is evicted from Dinobot Island for out-smarting Grimlock when it came to a television quiz show. He storms off in a huff, refusing to open his trap for anyone or anything. On his way into the city to join up with the Autobots proper, he buzzes an Air Force jet. Unfortunately, this results in him getting a stern rebuke from Optimus. Feeling put-upon, he flies off again. Starscream hijacks a prototype stealth bomber, and the only one that can save the day is the only flier on-planet – Swoop. Bumblebee appeals to his honor, which doesn’t help. But after a bit of ego-stroking and appealing to his desire to belong somewhere, Swoop flies in, boards the bomber, and fiddles with the guidance enough to send it into the water.
Eventually, he’s allowed to return to Dinobot Island… just in time for Optimus to drag Sentinel Prime and Ultra Magnus there to meet the Dinobots. Unfortunately they intruded a bit much on Swoop’s territory and gave Sentinel a good aft-whooping, until Ultra Magnus scared him off with his hammer.

Swoop was later involved in breaking his old captor, Meltdown, out of jail, on order of Blackarachnia. They had found her after the battle between the Autobots and Megatron, and nursed her back to health. He and the other Dinobots fought with each other over the technorganic, but as usual Swoop and Snarl lost out to Grimlock. He later helped keep an eye on the poisoned Bumblebee and Prowl while Grimlock and Optimus Prime did all the dirty work… and while Grimlock fought with Optimus over Blackarachnia. However, he did show up in time to save Optimus Prime from one of Meltdown’s experiments and was there to witness the final dissolution of the Dinobots’ old enemy.

Swoop caught up with Blackarachnia, and received a new mission – bring her the crazed supposed-spy Wasp. He took advantage of Optimus and Sentinel’s arguing to capture him, and made an impressive show of evading the Elite Guard’s Jetfire, Jetstorm, and Sentinel Prime to bring Wasp to her. All for the reward of chin-pets. He settled in to stand guard over the cave, and ended up chasing Jetfire through the sky as a diversion to let Sentinel Prime through. It was a fight he didn’t win, but he would eventually recover from it… not that Dinobot Island recovered from Blackarachnia’s experiment. Wasp’s condition degenerated and he caused an explosion that took out a chunk of the island, and Blackarachnia with it. Swoop and the other Dinobots managed to escape the explosion, as Swoop and Grimlock had apparently evicted Snarl not long before Christmas. Jerks.
Source: Just because.

Canon Point: Following “Human Error: Part II”, and his stint in The Wake (see below)
Previous RP History: Swoop arrived in Nautilus in May, confused but ultimately tractable, and clever enough to realize he was completely the wrong place from where he had been. He was rather quickly greeted by Optimus Prime and Ratchet (both from his world), Jazz and Wheeljack (from G1) and V (for Vendetta). Wheeljack and Jazz offered to let him stay with them at least until he could settle in, as well as providing a pamphlet about life in Nautilus that helped him to understand the situation better. Even better, he and V had a chat that allowed Swoop to figure out the best way to frame the city in his own mind, coming to (uneasy) terms with the idea that his life before had been a dream-but-not. The pair met up shortly after, and Swoop became enamored with V’s home, the Fibonacci Museum. V gave him a vase full of violet carsons, and let him borrow copies of The Flies and Hamlet - Swoop took extremely good care of all of the items during his time in the city.

The city fell into chaos shortly after Swoop’s arrival, unfortunately, as people from all over the city forgot everything that had happened after their arrival. The Autobot’s truce with the Decepticons was – for a short while – broken, and Swoop enlisted himself to help get those that couldn’t defend themselves to safe places and to back up V in keeping the museum safe. The two had become fast friends, discussing philosophical matters and discovering that they weren’t very different from each other, in how people from their homes treated them.

He stayed with Wheeljack in his building, becoming familiar with most of the residents. Due to Wheeljack knowing his own Swoop (and Swoop’s general desire to hang around Autobots), they became friends, looking out for each other and comforting each other when they needed it. Wheeljack was the first one he told about his suffering at the hands of Meltdown. Swoop even considered Wheeljack as his flock leader, with the rest of Swoop’s friends as his flock – including the car K.I.T.T., whom he became interested in and fond of shortly before he left. He only did this after he realized that Grimlock was not the Grimlock he knew, and couldn’t be counted on to lead him or stick to what he felt were Dinobot ideals.

Eventually, he confessed his fears about Meltdown to V, and was a firsthand witness to the revolutionary’s anger – happily, not directed at him. He was calmed, at least, by the agreement between them that they would do whatever they had to in order to ensure that Meltdown wouldn’t hurt another soul if he Woke, further cementing Swoop’s friendship.

Swoop, K.I.T.T., and V performed a short amount of Hamlet for the network once, which Swoop was personally extremely proud of; he’d worked hard to get his lines right! The reviews were mostly positive, boosting his self-esteem tremendously. Of course, there will always be one critic, and that was Dean Winchester, who didn’t get along very well with V. Dean began to stir up trouble, and Swoop rose quite quickly to the defense of his friends. Swoop also mentally lumped Dean into the extremely small group of people he definitely didn’t like.

A month after this, Swoop faced his ultimate test. He was turned into a human, and his roses were turned into kittens. He had immediately decided that he disliked shoes and that suddenly being human was frightening. Luckily, Jazz could turn human, and was happy to help him with walking, while V and a humanized Wheeljack helped him get into a more positive mood about the change… and with taking care of his carson-cats. As it turned out, he eventually rather enjoyed it. Unfortunately, Nautilus sent him back to sleep shortly after, leaving Wheeljack in charge of his carefully tended violet carsons – which now meowed and purred, in spite of being flowers.
Personality: Swoop is the smartest of the Dinobots. That being said, his intelligence level is somewhere between a hyperintelligent animal and the average teenager. In spite of this, and his general child-like nature, he can be extremely clever and wise when the mood strikes him. He can be serious when the occasion calls for it, particularly after his long association with V and all their more grave discussions, but he has yet to completely lose his ability to have fun and be silly. He’s extremely curious about the world, and is prone to asking questions about everything, whether to get an explanation or clarification. He is especially curious about the arts, having developed an incredible interest in theater in addition to his old loves of television and film. Luckily, his curiousness has been tempered somewhat by his time in Nautilus, and he realizes that strange things happen a lot, and assumes there is usually a reason why strange things happen. Of course, that doesn’t stop him from investigating what that reason might be.

Swoop’s view of family is very fluid, given that he has been without his fellow Dinobots for a long while. Grimlock and Snarl will always be his very first and most important family, but Swoop values his friends just as highly. They are all part of his ‘flock’, and he is extremely devoted to them… and to protecting them. He will usually be the first to stand in the way of someone threatening, mocking, or hurting his friends, and is always quick to forgive them or offer a shoulder to lean on when they need it. Unfortunately, this can also make him much easier to manipulate, as he tends to roll over when someone stronger than him threatens to harm his flock – something that Meltdown took full advantage of. On the same token, his devotion to his friends can be matched by his devotion to disliking others. Typically, those he dislikes have tangled with him or his friends in the past… or have insulted Swoop’s looks or intelligence, two subjects he can be extremely sensitive about. As far as friends go, he likes humans, and enjoys the company of Autobots quite a lot. Thanks to his time in Nautilus, he’s used to not looking at Decepticons as enemies, but rather reluctant semi-allies.

Swoop likes nature, and the relative peace that Dinobot Island afforded he and the other Dinobots. He also enjoys flying, particularly with the birds native to the Island. Strangely though, he strongly dislikes rain, preferring to huddle inside and sulk until the rain stops. The only thing he outrightly and violently fears is acid, thanks to his encounter with Meltdown. He will do anything he can to stay away from acid, and keep others away from it at the same time. This is also why he has such dislike for the Alien franchise, even above other horror movies (all of which scare him terribly).

As mentioned, he is fairly intelligent (and tends to lord it over Grimlock and Snarl when he can get away with it). He knows basic information about Earth, and larger words than he usually lets on around his fellows. Everyone else is likely to get an earful of terms that he might have just picked up from television dramas and home and garden networks. He has also become wickedly familiar with soap operas, thanks to Nautilus giving him a television that only showed soap operas. And played DVDs, such as the Alien movies it later gave him.
Appearance: Swoop is normally a very tall robot that turns into a very large Pteradon. For this RP, he’s a tall human that doesn’t turn into anything!

As a human, he appears to be a tanned Caucasian in his mid- to late-twenties, with wavy reddish-brown hair that barely comes to where his shoulders and neck meet. He has been blessed (or cursed) with a nearly-perpetual five o’clock shadow, and bright blue eyes. His build is muscled, but still fairly lean, and he comes in at about 6’0”. He usually tries to avoid wearing shoes where he can, opting for boots when he can’t. His clothing is usually loose enough to allow him free movement, and he prefers the colors blue, red, gold, and grey. On the insides of his legs are several thick scars, courtesy of acid, and his right pec bears a tattoo of the Autobot symbol in red.
And he tends to smile. A lot.

The PB he is using is Facundo Arana.
Abilities: Swoop was designed by Megatron with fighting in mind, and fighting is one of the things he’s best at. He’s easily held off opponents bigger than him, and is the only Dinobot with the skill to wield a weapon as unpredictable as his flail, and the only one with strength enough to carry the molten rock and iron assembly. This strength is carrying over in small part to his human body, allowing him to carry slightly more than the average human – he won’t be lifting up any carts or carrying cattle on his shoulders, but he can haul a little extra wood for fires or carpentry. He’s also fairly flexible, even as a human, but no more than a former, casual gymnast.

He was also designed to breathe fire, which his human form will (eventually) be capable of. His esophagus and larynx will have to toughen up first, which will take time. This toughening will also let him use is favorite ability: a sonic screech that he has used in the past to disable and short out communications systems. It will never reach that level, instead stuck at simply causing minor interference – think when the picture on the television skips or gets a little background snow before righting itself.

His other abilities are slightly more mundane; he is quite good at keeping plants alive, having tended to V’s gifted roses with an unbelievable amount of care. Swoop can also understand birds, and can communicate with them to a degree that’s limited by his vocal cords. This is simply a leftover of his time spent with the birds of Dinobot Island back home.
Items/Weapons: Swoop is going to have three items. The first is his flail, which looks like it should be made of molten rock, but is just the typical stone on head and handle. Several of the links in its chain have been broken, rendering it useless until he can fix them. The second is a replica of the copy of Hamlet that V loaned him. It’s an old paperback, worn as if someone loved it very much, but in good condition. The last item is a blanket that Nautilus gave him. It’s dark blue, covered in suns, moons, and stars, and is big enough for him to hide under.

☣ Samples

First Person Sample: [A dull thumping noise comes through the communicator as someone taps at theirs, followed by a quiet hum.]

This work? [A churr.]

Uhm. Everyone say Swoop’s memories lies. Me, Swoop, not so sure. Swoop remember what remember, and it no seem like lies. Is no nice say that, anyway. How them like, if people tell them their lives lie?

[The speaker huffs.]

Swoop want know… any more Cybertronians here? Me not want be alone…

Third Person Sample: Swoop went to sleep in Nautilus, curled up with the twelve kittens that had been his violet carsons. When he woke up, he was… nowhere near Nautilus. Or his kittens. Point in fact, he was in some metal capsule, covered with something warm and slick. Worse, Swoop felt awful, like the room was spinning and his stomach was doing flips in his throat. He whimpered, trying to extract himself from the capsule. Eventually he managed it, hitting the floor. That was probably worse, since now he was dizzy, nauseous, and hurting. Eventually he managed to say something, voice sounding rough like he hadn’t used it. “V?” he called, followed by, “Wheeljack?” Anyone that he knew, that could help him. After a while, he started to feel more normal, slowly scrambling to his feet to look around. Aside from the capsules, he seemed to be alone. Not that Swoop wasn’t used to it; he had survived on his own before. He just… preferred to have his flock. And they weren’t here. At least they hadn’t rejected him like Grimlock had twice before. He churrs softly to himself before making his way toward the chamber’s exit, steps still slightly shaky, like he wasn’t sure if the dizziness would start again.

It didn’t, but a female voice startled a squawk out of him. Vault 1? Decontamination? When he finally noticed the intercom, he stared at it in confusion. “What mean, decontamination?” It didn’t answer his query, just repeated its phrase. Swoop let out a huff and crossed his arms over his chest. But with the doors shut behind him, he had nowhere to go but down the dimly lit hallway. Which eventually let to him shouting nonsense syllables as the floor spat air at him. The good news was that he was dried off. The bad news was that he was more annoyed than when he started. The news that he was in Boston mollified him somewhat, though. He knew of Boston; there had been a tea party there, right? And it couldn’t be too far from Michigan. Even though he was certain this wasn’t home. V had told him that going home from Nautilus would feel less real, like he was trapped in his body. Well, he didn’t feel like that here. Maybe because he was human…? He shook his head, exiting the chamber with the spitting floor. Good riddance.

After a few moments in the next room, he cautiously opened the box. His flail!… in pieces? That wasn’t good. He couldn’t defend himself with this. Still, it was his… rummaging through the box a bit more, he found clothes and something like the watches he saw humans wear. He slipped it onto his left wrist, eventually tugging the clothes on. Under those, he found his blanket – properly sized for him, which he was thankful for. He liked his other blanket being big, but he didn’t have to carry it around Nautilus. This would be easier to walk with. The thought made him look back his shoulder, which he experimentally twitched. No wings meant no flying. A disappointment. He didn’t like being grounded. Nestled under the blanket, he found one last thing, and it cheered him greatly. The copy of Hamlet that V had loaned him when he first got to Nautilus, scared and confused… rather the way he felt now. He held it in his hands, thumbing through the pages. Ah, there it was. He murmured a passage to himself, low:

“But soft, behold. Lo, where it comes again.
I’ll cross it, though it blast me. Stay, illusion.
If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,
Speak to me.”

He twitched a small smile, before closing the book and setting it and his broken flail onto the blanket, wrapping it all up together carefully. He had the important parts of his life bundled up in his arms, about to embark on something new and frightening. Swoop just kept in mind that when he Woke, he was told it was for a reason. So there must be a reason he was here, and he’d find it.