ALLEGIANCE: AUTOBOT
SUB-GROUP: TARGETMASTER

HUMAN COMPONENTS: TRACER AND HOLEPUNCH
FUNCTION: FIELD INFANTRY
FIRST APPEARANCE: TRANSFORMERS # 60

“Generosity has its own rewards.”

Profile: Scoop is an Autobot of few words. He lets his actions do the
talking. Respected by friend and foe alike for his gung-ho, never-say-die attitude,
he rightfully deserves his reputation as the most capable, reliable Autobot
warrior in a ground skirmish. Rather than pummeling his enemies into submission
through the use of sheer force, he relies on his cool-headed logic and vast
knowledge of military strategy to outwit and defeat them. And no matter how
dangerous the situation he’s in, he’s never too busy to lend a helping shovel
to a fellow Autobot. He’s the kind of soldier you would want nearby if you were
pinned down by Decepticon laser fire in a slag swamp and were running low on
ammunition. Scoop would get you out of there and have the ‘Cons firing at each
other before you could shift your gears.

Scoop is teamed with the Nebulans Tracer and Holepunch. Tracer was serving
time in a prison on Nebulos for a crime he committed as a youth and has regretted
ever since. He volunteered for service with the Autobot Targetmasters to defend
his world from the evil Scorponok and his band of power-hungry Decepticons as
a way of repaying his debt to Nebulan society. He hopes that his good deeds
with the Autobots will one day lead to an official pardon.

A former office manager for a water purification company on Nebulos, Holepunch
enlisted with the Autobots as soon as the Decepticon threat to Nebulos materialized.
“What’s the sense of working to keep the water supply clean,” he reasoned,
“if these Decepticons wind up befouling the whole planet?!”

Abilities: Scoop can transform into a power shovel ground vehicle. Composed
of a super-alloy devised by Quickmix, the shovel is impervious to all weapons
fire short of a small nuclear explosion and is often used as a shield. It can
lift up to 60 tons and smash through virtually any barrier. In this mode, Scoop
has a maximum speed of 80 mph and range of 200 miles. Tracer is bio-engineered
to convert to a twin-barrelled ion blaster with a laser-targeting sight. Holepunch
is bio-engineered to convert to a dual compression cannon. His concentrated
blasts of air are powerful enough to shatter plate steel and knock a jet fighter
out of the sky from a distance of two miles. Tracer and Holepunch combine to
form a single weapon that retains the capabilities of both components. Scoop
can wield Tracer and Holepunch in his robot and power shovel modes.

Weaknesses: Scoop is prone to overheating when using his shovel to lift
too heavy a load for extended periods of time, resulting in complete, albeit
temporary, systems shutdown. In combined weapons mode, the connections between
Tracer and Holepunch sometimes misalign, which causes them to jam when fired.