Decepticon: Bytesize

[dvandom]

Presenting Bytesize, the little Deceptifemme who transforms into a jumpdrive...but doesn't size-shift for robot mode.

DECEPTICON: BYTESIZE
Function: Data Thief
Altmode: USB Drive
Motto: "I'm in ur base, stealin' ur warez!  Kekekeke!"

     Most Transformers with human-scale alternate modes use mass-shifting
technology to become robots that tower over most Terran lifeforms, but
BYTESIZE has a better use for that technology.  She stores most of her
processing capacity and memory extradimensionally, giving her theoretically
infinite storage, although bandwidth is still limited by the interface.  In
practice, however, she can draw data out faster than any human computer can
send it, so this limitation doesn't worry her too much.  She delights in
copying the entire contents of a system into her extradimensional memory and
then subtly altering the originals in ways that the owners may not discover
for days, if not months.  She has also, to SOUNDWAVE'S dismay, picked up on
so-called "L33T" jargon and internet memes...and her effectively infinite
storage space means that attempts by him to reformat her to remove this habit
are essentially futile.  There's always a backup somewhere.

STR 1  INT 9  SPD 2  END 5  RNK 4  COUR 8  FRB 2  SKL 10  Avg 5.125

     Abilities: Stronger and more durable than she looks, she can rip open
steel barriers 1mm thick, survive anything a normal human can dish out, and
her forearms house needle lasers that can burn through most materials given
time.  Offensively, she often sets her lasers on wide dispersal to dazzle her
foes and allow her to escape, since the narrow setting can at best seriously
injure a human.  Although, if unnoticed, she can cut her way through a
full-sized AUTOBOT'S armor eventually.  Defensively, her trump card is that
since most of her mind exists in another dimension, destruction of her body
doesn't kill her.  However, rebooting from backup is unpleasant and she feels
like she loses a bit of her spark every time it happens.  She can fly in
either mode at speeds up to 20 mph.
     And, of course, she is an expert at computer infiltration (both hardware
and software) and is USB2.0 compatible.  For older or nonstanard systems, she
can extend probes from her fingertips to make contact with whatever interface
she encounters, although she says SCSI ports make her feel "dirty".
     When connected to a computer, she can send a power surge into it to fry
circuitry, even bypassing circuit breakers and other defenses, but she
prefers not to use this ability, as it can also leave her stunned for
valuable astroseconds.

     Weaknesses: BYTESIZE is only a few centimeters tall, effectively useless
in a fight against anything tougher than an unprotected human, and can be
crushed pretty easily by even the weakest AUTOBOT.  Rebooting from backup
often leaves her confused and clumsy for up to a solar cycle as she
reintegrates her memories.  She moves pretty slowly in flight, and even more
slowly on foot, so she generally has to be carried near her target by a
larger DECEPTICON or one of their human pawns.
     Her penchant for pranks can get her in trouble with her allies as well
as her enemies.  She also has trouble abandoning a download when trouble
comes up, even if the data she already has is more important than what she
has yet to get.  It's a point of personal pride for her to not leave a job
unfinished.  Both personality traits leave her in situations that she is not
physically capable of dealing with.

     Toy notes: The head/USB connector, shoulders and toes are light blue
plastic.  The face is painted white and black, the USB connector is painted
silver and white.  The thighs, upper arms and hands are white plastic, with
green paint on the wrist bits that show in jumpdrive mode.  The USB connector
cap, torso, forearms and boots are green plastic, with blue paint on the
fronts of the boots and center of the chest.  All the white piping on the
jumpdrive mode is painted.  The drawing is "Romita-ized" somewhat to make the
figure a bit more feminine and the torso less spindly (the back half unfolds
to be the arms, so the torso's not actually as deep as shown).
     I actually designed this figure as male (and a less curvy jumpdrive
mode) in late July 2005, long before the test shots of transforming phones
and gameboys and stuff started showing up, but those did inspire me to
revisit the design and modify it.  And for really obscure geek points, I
changed the original color scheme to the green/white/blue one in part because
of the colors of Byte, one of the villains in Firestorm #24 (1980s series).

Comments

[jarodrussell.livejournal.com]

So many, many ideas that involve Mainframe and the phrase "plug'n'play."

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Not to mention "dongle".

[jarodrussell.livejournal.com]

Or the ever popular "drive mounting."

[andrusi.livejournal.com]

Hard disk, maybe?