APP to RE/AL

SPOILER ALERT. SEE BOTTOM OF THE APP PLEASE.

Player Information
*Name/Alias: MMEJACK
*Your Journal: http://wist.dreamwidth.org/
*Age: very much older than 16
*Contact Information: PM this account. (or use contact already on the taken page)
*Characters already in the game: TFP Starscream

Character Information
*Character Name: Rung
*Character Canon: IDW Comics and supplementary canon (ex: published short fiction)
*Age: From the wiki: "Rung was an established psychotherapist as far back as six million years ago, in the times of Nova Prime, making him one of the few identified survivors of that era." Mentality wise, he's presented very much like a mature adult.
*Race: Cybertronian
*Timeline/Pull Point: From the end of the More than Meets the Eye comic issue #6

*History: http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Rung
*Personality:
Rung has been a psychotherapist for millions of years, and has even maintained some of the same patients for over 6 centuries, demonstrating his huge capacity for patience. He takes his work seriously, and genuinely cares about trying to help people. He is said to have a uniquely bright spark (which seems to be the equivalent of a 'pure heart') and this makes sense considering how forgiving he's shown to be, honestly trying his best to take care of the people he feels are his duty to protect. A semi-interesting note, another character at one point says that Sparkeaters (a supernatural creature hunting Rung) are attracted to misery and suffering as well. While the comic seems to imply that Rung truly has this very bright spark, it would make sense that he's also at the eye of the misery storm, given how he deals with people suffering from increasingly intense forms of PTSD and other personality disorders.

And while he's certainly a noncombative, being built frail with barely any armour, a small, vulnerable altmode, and no onboard weapons, it doesn't mean he's incapable of handling himself under situations of duress. His comic bio describes him as: "weak of body, but strong of mind". That is absolutely correct, because even while being held hostage at gun point with two very dangerous, mentally unstable individuals threatening each other (and him), Rung is able to stay calm and try to talk both parties down. He's also brave when he needs to be in a professional context, and even with a gun to his head, refuses to divulge confidential patient information. In that same hostage situation, he's able to figure out how to discreetly pass on messages to his would-be-rescuers via on-the-fly secret codes, and is recognizes as being quite intelligent. Outside of a professional context though, he looses a lot of that unflappability and reacts like you would expect a gangly, weak little robot faced with an impressive foe to behave. At the same time, if his antagonist ISN'T absurdly dangerous and the environment isn't dire either, Rung while preferring pacifism, won't actively enable his own bullying and will make an attempt to stand up for himself. (Sometimes this ends up with him being thrown across rooms though).

While not without his own little idiosyncratic quirks: he collects model ships, has an overly romantic fanboy view on the ship's crotchety doctor, is easily forgotten and ignored, and keeps to himself, Rung is still notably one of the saner members of the extended cast. Even though he is non-confrontational, he can still be stubborn. And while not directly involved in the front line fighting, he still contributed to the war in his own ways behind the scenes as an Autobot -- an alliance he still identifies with though the war is now over. Rung may be a kind, well meaning personality but he isn't completely pure, and is aware that he's a cog in the Autobot war marchine. Furthermore, he's privy to quite a lot of intel when it comes to brutal monstrosities done by both sides given his position as one of the most talented Psy-Ops. His involvement with Prowl (a brutal guy), the Wreckers (a brutal team), the Kimia Facility (where crazy brutal weapons are made), and prisoners sentenced to death, show that he's in contact with as much war negativity as your average Autobot (granted often from a further distance).

When it comes to these atrocities, he is self-aware enough as well as situationally aware enough to know that there are often no perfect ethical choices in some scenarios, and he does have his doubts about the Autobot entity as a whole, but he pushes most of that aside in order to do his job. And boy does he do his job well. He's considered the foremost expert when it comes to psychological analysis, and he's got word of god powers when it comes to the Autopedia (which is the Autobot version of wikipedia, but more classified, and more serious).


*Powers/Abilities:
While Rung is a giant robot on the smaller/weaker side, that still means he's much heavier, sturdier, and stronger than your average human. Along with being a robot come the general perks of being able to reattach removed / broken pieces of anatomy, not having to breath, and being a little more innately talented towards tech. He also transforms into a communications maintenance vehicle with a long ladder-like repair arm. (From the wiki). This may explain his ability to effortlessly hack other telecomunication systems without any visible sign of doing so. Also, given that his alternate form was built for maintaining communication equipment, it makes sense that he would have some forte in that realm.

This guy is designed to be strictly noncombative and lacks any onboard weapons, but does have a microphone in his thumb -- or rather the software to support a microphone in his thumb (with which he can patch into various audio systems wirelessly.) Currently though his thumb has been ripped out. He also has a set of panels on his body that function like a computer/skype interface, and he can send and receive audio-visual messages with it.

And this is a bit undefined, but he's also in possession of a uniquely "bright spark" which seems to be the equivalent of a 'pure heart.' This doesn't actually give him any abilities outside of describing his personality, but it is nonetheless something that physically sets him apart from his peers since the spark is a tangible thing.

Rung's abilities mainly revolve around his (millions of years of) experience as a robot psychologist. Susan Calvin can't touch this. He's the Autobot's main psych expert, and truly knows his way around motivations and the psyche. He can also be remarkably level headed even under the most dire of circumstances.

Additionally, Rung has got markedly well defined... robot eyebrows which allow for greater self-expression. Pair that with the little flaps (think Legion from Mass Effect) he has on his head, and he's got, uh, a very expressive robot face. This is totally an ability. Or something.... Yeah. It certainly makes him innately more subconsciously relateable if the species he's interacting with is use to very humanoid faces.

His serial code is "one hundred million" as well. Apparently this is impressive.

*Inventory: A 'little' toy ship figurine (the one we see him with in issue #6). 'Little' being subjective here, given that he's a giant robot. It might be the size of a small person, or a child.

*Starting Polarity: Dear mods, I'm stuck between VECTOR PRIME and PRIMA for polarity, and was wondering if you could make the call.

Pros for Prima:
- Rung strives to be fair and careful
- While he seems to always be available for his patients, he does seem to hold himself distant when it comes to interactions outside of a professional context
- Very, very strongly values understanding and empathy
- Probably would never refuse to hear someone if they sought out his counsel (since he's a counsellor)

Cons for Prima:
- Not a leader by a long shot
- Relatively powerless
- No word on Rung vs. Religion but he does disbelieve in superstitions

Pros for Vector Prime:
- Rung strives to uphold his ideals
- Truth, justice, and compassion seem to line up with Rung's value set too
- Doesn't seem to meddle in other's affairs, taking a more passive role in most things
- Certainly lives by his values too, and doesn't make idle promises
- More than tolerates the company of those with starkly different beliefs; he works with them every day
- They're both forgiving

Cons for Vector Prime:
- Not a knight in the least -- far too weak and timid
- Completely non combative

If AU, how does your character differ from canon?: N/A
'
Writing Samples
*First Person Sample:

Case Notes: 08 -765HT - GD04536TZX
It had been over a week since I've found myself on this apparently new Cybertron. I've also been told I've died, and while at first hard to believe, presented with recent evidence it does seem increasingly plausible. I'm not yet sure how I feel about this possibility.

Provided what I've been told is true, (and I have little reason to doubt the sincerity of my sources, at least) I do know that I don't blame either Rodimus of Swerve. It was an understandably tense situation, and they both did what they thought was best. I'm worried more about how this will affect our captain. While no stranger to death under his command, I do hope that any guilt revolving around this situation doesn't manifest in harshness directed to the rest of the crew, or a marked increase in rash decision making -- both of which could aggravate an already fragile environment. Rodimus though has Drift and Magnus to support him, and while he tends to repress his doubts, and acts out in rebellion, I believe he will be the least troubled by the... um... loss.

Whirl too will probably be alright -- though I wish I'd had a chance to discuss what came to light that night. I am concerned about what he might do to Swerve and Fortress Maximus following the events of my, well, death. As for myself, I've forgiven the both of them for whatever hand they've had in this. It was an unfortunate series of circumstances, and I can't help but but dread what what their reception and reintegration into the crew will be like. In a closed system like this, isolation and animosity can be magnified, further breeding more cyclical negativity.

I've no doubt Fortress Maximus will be incarcerated, and while that will take a step toward settling crew unease, I don't want him to be alone right now. Furthermore, without his 'bar' project, I feel Swerve will need other hobbies to distract himself while he copes. I can only hope either Rodimus or Drift realises this, and overrules Ultra Magnus's decision. The entire crew could do with a communal place to socialise.

*Third Person Sample:

Rung woke up in the middle of a vast, unfamiliar sandy terrain underneath a strange sky. These constellations were none he recognized and every comm line he tried to access only fed him back dead air.

Many people would have panicked in his situation, but Rung knew how useless panic was. Oh, it certainly had its purposes and was as legitimate a reaction as any other emotion a person might feel, but Rung had been through so much worse. Onlining alone, with no immediate threat bearing down on him, well, it was hardly a blip on the radar compared to what he'd endured on the Lost Light this previous month alone, even.

And on that note, this situation certainly didn't match up with what he remembered last. Pushing himself to his feet he looked around. Welp. That came back with a load of nothing as far as the eye could see.

Sighing, Rung sat back down, wrapping his arms around his knees. He didn't know where he was or how he'd got here but if the crew had noticed his disappearance and was going to send for a rescue team, he didn't want to make their job more difficult by wandering off and getting lost on a strange planet. Besides, this would give him some time to think, and honestly? He had quite a lot to think about. Like Fortress Maximus's latest episode; the ending to which he wasn't sure he remembered correctly. He had his suspicions of course, but... but it would be easier to start slow. Easier to address some smaller issues as he worked his way around to the larger picture.

Take Whirl's latest admission for example. While the situation that brought it about had been unfortunate, this was a step in the right direction. It meant that the rotary was that much closer to adjusting to life after the war --- perhaps more than let on.

Slowly Rung catalogued his observations, adding notes to his patients' files as he remembered them, and patiently waited for something to happen. By now he'd noticed that his chronometer wasn't working, and it was hard to tell if time was passing at all. Not for the first time, he wondered if he was in fact, dead. Then again, this might not have been death at all, but some construction of his subconscious as his body underwent some sort of huge trauma. Brain module and spark disconnects weren't unheard of, and if this truly was just a creation of his imagination, he could honestly say he was impressed with the level of detail he'd been able to conjure up.

This sand for example, it felt incredibly sandy, and while the sky never changed, there were irregularities in the sand, some stones being larger than others amongst all the grit. He figured this made sense, sand was a relatively easy thing to picture and mentally render, and the irregularity put him more at ease -- probably an internal attempt not to cause further mental damage, strain, or overheating. Dream exercises had proven that this experience was in fact, not a recharge info-feed loop, and that just led him closer to believing his original hypothesis. And if this really was a fabrication born of mental defense, Rung could only imagine what this meant for the science of psychology and understanding the untapped realm of the subconscious and its abilities to create.

On the other hand of course, maybe he was stranded on some strange world where his chronometer really was nonoperational. Well, if that was the case and no rescue attempts reached him, then he'd probably starve to death. And while that certainly wasn't much to look forward to... it would at least answer a few questions.

Final Notes:

-- The most recent issue featuring Rung canon came out on the 27th of June. My reserve expires on the 22nd of July. If you could possibly shuffle my application down the queue line 'til that date (since there is only 4 days left before his canon point acceptable) that would be great. Otherwise, if he's accepted, I will hold off intro-ing him until after the acceptable length of time (4-5 days wait). But if neither of these options is acceptable, please look at my app like a normal one, and have the canon point info be my application for a canon update, and I will hold off playing Rung until enough time has passed. Hope that makes sense.

-- Rung is being taken from his last moments of consciousness aboard the Lost Light. His thumb and microphone have been ripped out, and there's a scorched hole in the side of his head that takes out one of his eyes and a portion of his face. It doesn't reach his brain module yet, except for a little minor damage, but it does render him partially blind since the lenses of his eyes are now broken.