Camshaft

Godmaster Estate, Tesseract Plains, Upper Tarn, Cybertron *(Formerly)*

Autobot Academy *(Formerly)*

Student *(Formerly)*

Boy

Pal *(Swindle)*

Camshaft is the leader of the Outlaws vigilante group with the power to create electromagnetic pulses.

## Official Bio

*He is brave and caring, he is forged for a leader and be damned he will lead. Hailing from Upper Tarn, Camshaft was the child of two very well known businessmen. Pulling some strings, they enrolled him in the Autobot Academy. He didn’t feel really in place, so after a bit he dropped out. This didn’t sit well with his parents and led to a fallout, which left him homeless to fend for himself. Using his talent, he robbed shops, stole from people and gradually became a bad person. But one day he stumbled upon a young femme, who showed him the way. She was a drop out just like him and they grew attached to one another. Together with some other bots they created the Outlaws – a group of individuals with powers, who didn’t attend any school for gifted children and therefore what they did was considered illegal.*

## History

Camshaft was born to Pistonhead and Windracer, and raised in the Godmaster Estate, located in the Tesseract Plains of Upper Tarn on Cybertron. He would frequently run off to a "treehouse" he built, where he would dream about becoming a hero, rather than inheriting Godmaster Corporation from his parents. Camshaft's only friend was the family butler, Menisus.

One night Camshaft was forced to attend a party his parents held for the heads of several companies, and had his tie fixed by his mother in preparation for it. His father then informed him that he would have someone to talk with, and was delighted to meet Cromar and Aragon's daughter Downshift, who he brought to his treehouse. There they talked about how they wanted to be heroes instead of being with bots like the party guests until Camshaft was called back by his parents. Though Camshaft was able to avoid getting trouble by playing with Cromar's suggestion that he and Downshift went out for a walk, he ended up getting Pistonhead mad when he tripped while dancing with Downshift. This resulted in an argument over Pistonhead forbidding him to see Downshift again that cumulated in Camshaft activating his talent for the first time, which Windracer then came to comfort him about.

Camshaft was then sent to the Autobot Academy at the start of the next school year, but didn't have any classes with Downshift due to Pistonhead's arrangements. This didn't stop him from seeing her after classes, but overtime he grew disinterested in school and dropped out after his sophomore year.

Camshaft then started working for the Decepticons, and at some point stole a fighter with Swindle, only to have the credit taken by him. Camshaft would use this to get free stuff from Swindle afterwards.

Camshaft would eventually reconnect with Downshift, and left the Decepticons afterwards. The two would become a couple, and together formed the vigilante group known as the Outlaws along with Overdrive and Gunbarrel.

One summer night, Camshaft and the rest of the Outlaws were captured by the Decepticon Dispensor, who planned to bring them to Megatron in order to rise through the ranks. After telling Gunbarrel to stop joking about the situation, Camshaft told Dispensor that they would be useless for a reward and collaborated with Downshift's insistence that the group wasn't even related to the Autobots, prompting strikes both times. Camshaft then laughed and revealed that this was all a distraction so Overdrive could get free, and the group was able to defeat Dispensor and his men to leave for the police.

The next day, the Outlaws headed off to the Museum of Cybertronian Technology to see an exhibit on the weapons of the recently departed Professor Roadblock, and Camshaft insisted to Gunbarrel that the others were all excited to go, just not as much as him. Once inside, Camshaft jokingly told Gunbarrel not to swear before asking Downshift if she wanted to check out another exhibit, only to realize that she'd gone off on her own, much to his annoyance. Managing to find Downshift, Camshaft asked why she hadn't told the others where she was going, pointing out that they weren't allowed to be in the museum, but right as he agreed to relax a large creature arrived and took some of the exhibits weapons and Silver Knight armor. Extending his faceplate, Camshaft attempted to fight the creature, only to get knocked out when it leapt out him while escaping, and he was shaken awake by Downshift so he could get out before the police showed up.

Arriving back at their apartment, Camshaft washed up before eating dinner, forcing Gunbarrel to say the dinner prayer for eating first before discussing the events that had just transpired, guessing that the creature was a Decepticon and arguing with Overdrive about whether it mattered if it had been male or female. They then went to sleep, and but when Gunbarrel woke him up in the middle of the night Camshaft told him to calm down until he heard screaming. Waking the other Outlaws up, Camshaft went down to the lower floor and broke into the room the screaming was coming from to find the creature from the museum draining the energy of another apartment resident. Camshaft blasted the creature and the table it threw at his friends, and when it transformed and flew off he grabbed on to it, ordering the remaining Outlaws to follow in their speeder. While Camshaft managed to hold on when the creature tried to shake him off as it flew through a factory district, he finally let go when the creature flew higher to avoid shots from Gunbarrel, only being caught by Downshift flying the speeder under him, though this resulted in the creature shooting it down.

The Outlaws then headed towards the factory the creature went into, and Camshaft figured they'd need to jump over the fence surrounding it only to order to Gunbarrel to help the others over it when his friend pointed out he could just fly over it. The group readied their weapons and headed inside, only to find Professor Roadblock mass producing the Silver Knight armor. Asking the professor why he was making more of the armor, Camshaft realized he'd need to have the original, and putting together that the professor and the creature were one and the same, he attempted to shoot Roadblock, only to have the shoot blocked by the professor's pretender shell. Ordering the Outlaws to open fire, Camshaft was angered when the professor referred to the group as Autobots, and when Roadblock started draining his energy Camshaft asked the others for help, with Gunbarrel tearing the pumps at the cost of his legs. However, when Roadblcok fled and the police arrived, Camshaft was forced to get Downshift out of the factory while Gunbarrel stayed behind to sacrifice himself by blowing up the factory and all the weapons in it. Stopping to rest, Camshaft told the others that there was a Godmaster Corporation warehouse nearby they could spend the night in, and once inside Camshaft and Downshift cuddled together on a sofa before falling asleep.

Camshaft took watch in the morning, and when Downshift woke up he told her to get some rest before admitting he was also thinking about Gunbarrel. Declaring that he was going to capture the professor due to blaming himself for getting Gunbarrel killed, Camshaft made it clear that he'd go after Roadblock without the other Outlaws' help, but they agreed to join him. Heading to "Your Choice" for weapons from Swindle that could hurt Roadblock, Camshaft let Downshift know that the unimpressive shop was just a cover and warned her that Swindle might try to rob them, and once Swindle came to them Camshaft asked for three catalytic carbines, a magma frag launcher, and something to get through Roadblock's armor. Threatening to tell the authorities or Megatron that Swindle was playing both sides if he didn't give him the weapons, Camshaft followed Swindle to the back and collected his guns, using his usual method of getting them for free and explaining to Downshift that they wouldn't need to worry about paying. Camshaft then followed Downshift to an electronics shop to see Astroscope and locate Roadblock, with the shop owner joking that Camshaft was the one Downshift was looking for. Confused as to what the Undergrid was that the professor was located at, Camshaft asked Downshift how she knew Astroscope, surprised to learn that he was a friend of her father's and refusing to reveal what he thought their connection was. He then asked what the Undergrid was and learned that Downshift had once been a Decepticon as well.

Arriving at the Undergrid later in the day, Camshaft questioned if the club not changing since Downshift ran it was a good thing, and the group went to see the manager, Nitro, whose compliments to Downshift angered Camshaft. Remarking in the shift in tone between the two levels of the club and how easy it was to find the professor, Camshaft had the others ready their weapons and told Roadblock that he was coming with them, and when he threatened to activate the neutron bomb he had stolen, Camshaft simply used his talent to disable the bomb and all the lights. Though Camshaft figured the professor wouldn't be able to see either, his shell proved capable of doing so, and Camshaft was punched repeatedly by Roadblock, and after the professor let him go and jumped to the upper levels Camshaft tried to shoot him with the magma frag launcher, only to accidentally kill Nitro with it, leading to him being surprised that Swindle's weapon actually worked. Slammed to the ground and stepped on by the professor when the police showed up, Camshaft managed to get up and hit Roadblock with another magma grenade, then asked Downshift to toss the cosmic rust grenade his way, only for Roadblock to catch it instead. Camshaft then told Clamp Down that the bomb was the only thing that could kill Roadblock in his pretender shell, and the Outlaws and police department worked together to it, only for Camshaft to admit that he didn't actually know how to arm it. Once Overdrive did the job, Camshaft told Clamp Down that he'd explain the deal behind Professor Roadblock if he got out of the fight alive, insisting that stopping him even if it killed him was what a hero would do. Camshaft then slid under the professor's legs and attached it to his back, escaping before it detonated and telling the police to cut off Clamp Down's infected arm before the rust on it spread. Afterwards, Camshaft was thanked by Clamp Down for his work, and the Outlaws went off to continue protecting the city.

Six months later, Camshaft and the Outlaws went in to stop a bank robbery being committed by Trickout. Informing Downshaft that his talent wouldn't work on the bombs Trickout was throwing at them in response to his order to stand down, Camshaft made Overdrive stop shooting at the criminal so he would accidentally get killed. He would then distract Trickout by insulting him so his teammates to get close and defeat him. However, the trio had forgotten about Trickout's pigatron Hamill, and Camshaft had to use an EMP to knock out the pet before he could charge. As Camshaft handed Trickout over to the police, he received a warning about an artifact that would end the world as the cause for the robbery, which he brought up during his meeting with Clamp Down. Learning that several other criminals had mentioned the same thing, the Outlaws were sent to the private investigator Frontstrike, who, after Camshaft's questioning, informed them that he had been working a case on the Magnificence and it's pursuer, Dreadwing. Riding in Frontstrike's "Strike Mobile" to Altihex despite their reservations about going to Gunbarrel's home city, Camshaft had them stop for oil at a service station, and was forced to pay its expensive prices. Arriving at a bar in Altihex, Camshaft was dismissed for his joke about the PI's drink order, but noticed a confrontation that resulted in a bar fight. Frontstrike revealed that one of the bots that started the fight, Volks, was who they were after, and Camshaft generated an EMP to get them all out, though it accidentally knocked out the entire town's power. Despite Camshaft's suggestion of returning to their vehicle, the group headed to Volks' hut for safety.

Sitting down at Volks' place, Camshaft was irritated to learn that they would have to talk to Needlenose, who would more likely kill them, and was shocked to learn Volks had known Gunbarrel. That's when thugs arrived and blasted Frontstrike, and Camshaft was forced to split up with Downshift at Volks' suggestion and run back to the car to escape Altihex. Camshaft then decided that his old home would be the only place to get answers and drove back, arriving to see Windracer and Menisus, and he then explained everything he knew about the Magnificence to his mother.

However, Pistonhead then arrived and was incredibly displeased to see that Camshaft had returned, though he still suggested that they would find the Magnificence in the Sea of Rust. Camshaft was then ordered by his mother to stay for dinner, and after listening to his father question Downshift on her life choices, he snapped and launched an EMP at him. That's when he found out that Pistonhead had been preparing for it and had a new suit of Power Up Armor ready, which his father then used to fight Camshaft. After much of the manor was wrecked, Camshaft pointed out to his father that he had pushed everyone away, which caused him to stop fighting, allowing Windracer to knock him out. Camshaft then agreed to get some rest for the journey ahead, but woke up during the night and overheard his father discuss the Power Up Armor with Horntrap.

In the morning Camshaft and Downshift drove to the Observatory in the Sea of Rust, with Camshaft calling his mother to ask for back-up. Once there they learned that Magnificence had an ore inside of it and then attempted to locate the temple where the artifact was kept, eventually discovering it when Camshaft realized a dead end corridor actually had a holographic wall instead. Camshaft then grabbed the Magnificence, only to find that Dreadwing had just arrived.

Refusing to hand the artifact over, Camshaft was shot by Dreadwing's cane, causing him to drop the Magnificence and resulting in him being tied up with Overdrive and Volks. Rather then leave, however, Dreadwing decided to test the artifact, but Volks tricked him into stopping the artifact from answering his questions, which Camshaft pointed out. This proved to be enough time for Camshaft's parents to arrive, distracting the criminals long enough for the Outlaws to in the themselves and help defeat Dreadwing and Needlenose. Camshaft was then congratulated by his father for his hard work, who he gave the Magnificence to for safe keeping. Camshaft would then return to Iacon with the Outlaws, who now added Volks to their ranks, but he worried about the Magnificence's warning of their downfall by the one eyed cyclops.

## Powers and Abilities

Camshaft has the talent of EMP Generation, which allows him to create a pulse that can knock out electronic devices.

In addition, Camshaft has the ability to transform, taking on the form of a Cybertronian Sports Car.

## Relationships

### Allies

* Outlaws
	+ Downshift - Girlfriend
	+ Overdrive - Friend
	+ Gunbarrel - Friend
	+ Volks
* Godmaster Corporation
	+ Pistonhead - Father
	+ Windracer - Mother
	+ Menisus - Butler
* Cybertech
	+ Cromar - Acquaintance
	+ Aragon - Acquaintance
* Decepticons
	+ Onslaught's Sect
		- Swindle - Acquaintance
	+ Nitro
* Iacon Police Department
	+ Clamp Down
	+ Cog
	+ Stakeout
* Astroscope
* Frontstrike

### Enemies

* Decepticons
	+ Dispensor
	+ Professor Roadblock
* Trickout
	+ Hamill
* Dreadwing
* Needlenose
* Trashbin
* Jacker

## Appearances

### Text Stories

#### Shell Games

* Chapter I *(First Appearance)*
* Chapter II
* Chapter III
* Chapter IV
* Chapter V
* Chapter VI

#### Outlaws II

* Chapter 0
* Chapter I
* Chapter II
* Chapter III
* Chapter IV
* Chapter V

## Trivia

* Camshaft is based on the Generation 1 Omnibot of the same name, but with a completely different color scheme.
* Camshaft's vehicle mode is based on the Mazda RX-7 FC.