As someone who is not too familiar with IDW Transformers could you please give us a TLDR why the heck Thundercracker has a dog and a human girlfriend?
oh bOY OH BOY WHERE TO BEGIN.....
well, if you want a SUPER quick rundown of his IDW version, this video gives a very neat summary at the 7:45 mark! and his tfwiki entry has a much lengthier but more detailed description of his story in the comics
.... however, i kinda wanna brainrot about TC's arc from memory so hERE I GO I GUESS
from what i remember he started out pretty much as p much another goon in the decepticon army and part of the elite trine with starscream and skywarp; but his devotion to the cause started to waver when the cons launched a full scale invasion of earth; he didn't feel like humans were worthy adversaries and that what they were doing was just a senseless slaughter. it came to a breaking point when he found himself saving the autobots and new york city from a nuclear strike orchestrated by megatron. skywarp blasted him in the face (ouch) for his betrayal and left him for dead in the rubble of the city as the decepticons retreated and the autobots went into hiding/running from humans.
however, he survived this barely, and spent the next three years hiding in the rubble of the city and waiting for aid from a distress signal he managed to send out to any other comrades who may not have heard of his betrayal.
and it was HERE during this period that he pretty much had nothing else to do but kill time, and how did he do it? by watching human television. he watched pretty much anything, from news channels to history and nature documentaries, and more importantly, cheesy soap operas. and it was here that his perception of earth and its people, culture and nature completely shifted; his kind had been stagnant war for millions of years, and during that time on this lil blue orb entire civilisations had risen and fallen and risen again, nature continued to shift the face of the planet on a daily basis, and he found that beautiful. he gained a newfound respect and admiration for earth and its ability to, ironically, transform itself every day 🥹
oh gosh im getting carried away, bUT THAT ˆˆˆ is what drew me to his character in the first place, i thought it was so cool to see a cybertronian, a decepticon, gain that level of respect for humans and nature and culture 🥰
AFTER THAAAAT well there's a lot of shit that went down bUT BASICALLY. humans eventually recognized him as a neutral cybertronian and granted him refuge, fuel and A DOG. i don't know the details of what led him to getting buster but honestly that doesn't matter; she's his everything and he would do anything for her 🥹 he doesn't go unchecked tho, he has a human liaison and that is where marissa comes in: she's his contact with the government to make sure he has everything he needs, and in return the organization she works for, the earth defense command, may call in some favors from him when wanting to deal with extraterrestrial threats
his love of television also inspired him to want to become a scriptwriter himself!! he's kinda terrible at it at first bc he's writing human characters from the perspective of an alien, which leads to some very interesting pieces of literature 😂 but honestly, he's so earnest and enthusiastic about it, you can't help but root for the guy!! he's just living his absolute BEST life on earth, creating art, getting loved by a doggie and hopelessly crushing on his girlboss human friend!! HOW COULD I NOT LOVE HIM HE'S SO ADASFAFFSDA
