Decepti-Clones
The Decepti-Clones are a line of evil robots in the Sonichu comic series which work for the Private Villa of Corrupted Citizens. Created by Mary Lee Walsh and her minions for use in battle, the Decepti-Clones come in three variants with different purposes, all based on actual Decepticons from the various Transformers animated series, movies and comics. The very first of these was the Crackder, which appeared all the way back in Sonichu #4. However, in this model's first appearance, there was only one Crackder, and he was described as a "Change-Bot" rather than a transformer. Crackder would later reappear as a mass produced robot and backed up by two other Decepti-Clone models.
Conceptually, the Decepti-Clone army originated from the Transformers video game for PS2, which featured many weak, mass-produced enemies like the Decepti-Clones which could be killed in droves by the player character so as to reserve actual Decepticons for boss encounters. In essence, they were to the Decepticons what the Jerkops are to the Manajerks. Their spiritual successors in Sonichu serve much the same purpose.
S.A.V.s (Scoundrals as Vessels)
The S.A.V.s were the most prominently featured of Chris's Decepti-Clones, despite not being the first he created. Their purpose was simple: They were unmanned robots and came in large numbers, which meant that Chris's characters could destroy hundreds of them at a time and not have to worry about actually killing anyone. Unlike with a Jerkop, a giant robot can be sliced in half or blown up, and no-one will think anything of it, even if the robot is sentient. Also it goes without saying that fighting robots is infinitely cooler than fighting mall cops.
The S.A.V.s themselves transformed into armored S.U.V.s, hence the name, with large cannons mounted on top. They were said to act much like tanks in battle. They were slow and heavy, and Chris claimed among other things that an S.A.V. stomping could be heard and felt from ten miles away, and that a hit by a blast from their cannons was equivalent to an impact from "Class 5 Meteor".[1]
Their design is based on that of Swindle from Transformer Animated. The name is also most likely based of off the Transformers Animated episode "SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy", the episode in which Swindle was featured.
They appeared for the first and last time in Sonichu #9, where they almost outnumbered the Jerkops in their sheer numbers. Sonichu, Blake, Bubbles, Armoraxe and Reginald Sneasel are all seen killing S.A.V.s at various points in the comic, with Sonichu destroying an S.A.V. as part of the Sonichu Fan Promo adaptation and Blake also killing an S.A.V. with a crown who seemed to be a squad leader.
Towards the end of the comic, Magi-Chan sends a psychic message to Sonichu and Rosechu to tell them of the state of CWCville and the ongoing battle. In a long textwall, Magi-Chan mentions in passing that the entirety of Mary's Decepti-Clone army had been destroyed, and that Son-Chu and Excelina had already gathered up the parts and shipped them off to an army base to be recycled. The S.A.V.s are never seen again.
Crackders
The Crackder was one of the first Decepti-Clones to appear in Sonichu, having first been called upon in Sonichu #4 by Bagget to defeat Chris at the Get-Tar Region. Though Chris tried to defeat the Crackder, it easily won by tripping him up and causing his Chris-Chan Sonichu form to deactivate. Jerkops were then able to handcuff him while Crackder picked him up and dropped him from a high height, just because he deserved that little extra bit of humiliation. Crackder then transformed into a fighter jet (based on the Soviet Su-35) to take Bagget, Jerkhief and Chris back to PVCC headquarters, and was then not seen again until much later in the series.
Crackder, while similar in nature to Starscream, was actually a ripoff of a different Decepticon named Thundercracker, specifically the Transformers: Cybertron version of him. This is even alluded to in the dialogue, as Bagget at one point claims that Crackder was made from parts imported from Cybertron, which in-universe is the home planet of the Transformers and the namesake of the series.
There were many differences between Crackder in his two appearances. As was mentioned above, in his original appearance Crackder was referred to as a "Change-Bot" rather than explicitly as a transformer, and there was originally only one of him. By the time of his next appearance in Sonichu #9 however, his status was upgraded to an official Transformer, (or to a Decepti-Clone at least), he was mass produced, he was backed up by two other Decepti-Clone variants, and he seemed to have undergone a dramatic decrease in both power and ability, as in his original appearance, the lone Crackder was able to take down Chris in his superform single handedly, whilst by the time of Sonichu #9 Angelica was able to destroy four of them by herself in less than two pages, meaning that either the mass produced Crackders were a lot weaker than the original, or else Chris was just a useless pussy.
According to the CWCipedia, Crackders are primarily armed with long-range Guided Missiles in their jet form, and a massive Arm Cannon in robot form. They are described as the quickest of the Decepti-Clone variants, as well as the "most deadly and cunning".[2]
When the Crackder reappeared in Sonichu #9 as a mass produced model, it served as the Jerkop's aerial offensive on CWCville. While the S.A.V.s were unpiloted mechs which drove on the ground and the Punislavs were Jerkop driven cars in vehicle mode, Crackder still transforms into a jet fighter, and in fact is only ever seen in this form in the issue. Whether or not they are still piloted is never made clear, but if they were, then our heroes are most certainly guilty of murder now. Throughout the issue, a grand total of nine of them appear. Five of them attack Angelica Rosechu's church early in the issue and are all destroyed, Excelina shoots down one, and another three are seen flying over the shielded CWCville Mall, possibly trying to bomb it given the state of it later in the issue. Magi-Chan takes down at least one of them, and also has a psychic battle with Silvana Rosechu on top another. As stated above, by the end of the issue, Magi-Chan claims that all the Decepti-Clones were destroyed and the parts were sent off to army bases to be recycled, so it is assumed that he destroyed the other two as well.
Punislavs
The Jerkop Punislav (Джэркоп Пунислав) was the final model of the Decepti-Clones used by the Private Villa of Corrupted Citizens. Punislav is one of the most obvious ripoffs that Chris has created, with almost every feature an exact copy of Barricade as he appeared in the Transformers movie. Like Barricade, the Punislavs all transform into mock police cruisers with a parody of the police motto "To Protect and Serve". There are precisely two differences between Barricade and a Punislav, the first being that Barricade is black and white while the Punislavs are brown and gray, and second being that while Barricade has the far more menacing "To Punish and Enslave" description on the side, Chris's one track mind came up with "To Shatter and Torture All Hearts" instead.
While the S.A.V.s and possibly the Crackders too were both unmanned pilot free mechs, built to fight both on the ground and in the air, the Punislavs in the comic appeared to have the primary purpose of transporting Jerkops around CWCville in large numbers so that they could get to different parts of the battle quicker. While quite often seen in vehicle mode, some were seen in robot mode too, though whether they were still piloted in that form is never made clear. In their robot forms, they depend on their sharp claws, fast speed and quick reflexes to fight.[3]
The name "Punislav" is said to have come from Chris wanting to call the robot a Punislave, (from Barricade's inscription), but he decided to change it at the last minute to avoid accusations of racism, given that it was a brown car being referred to as a slave. However, the "-slav" suffix implies that the character has Slavic origins instead, as the Slavs are an ethnic group, meaning the name is still kinda racist, just unintentionally so now.[4]
In the comics, Punislavs only ever appeared Sonichu #9. Much like the S.A.V.s before them, they appeared in great numbers throughout the issue. A few were seen in the forest early on, with at least one destroyed by Simonla after causing it to crash into a tree in vehicle mode. Reginald Sneasel destroyed two more shortly afterwards at Angelica's church. Another two showed up in downtown CWCville destroying a building, both of which were destroyed by Sonichu and Rosechu, and a further two are killed by Prower and Bumble-Lumba. The biggest role they play however is in Chris's comic adaptation of Sonichu Fan Promo, in which it is a Punislav who captured Rosechu and takes her away, transforming into vehicle mode and driving away with her in the backseat. This particular Punislav is followed by Sonichu to CWCville Park, where it turns out to be under the control of Reldnahc Notsew Naitsirhc, Giovanni and Doctor Robotnik, who use the captured Rosechu held unconscious in the Punislav's arms as a ransom, demanding Sonichu hand over control of the city to them. The Punislav is destroyed however, and Rosechu is saved. All the Punislavs are assumed to have been destroyed and recycled by the army following Magi-Chan's claim towards the end of the issue. They are also never seen again.
Gallery of plagiarism
Crackder = Cybertron Thundercracker
S.A.V. = Animated Swindle
Punislav = movie Barricade
References
See also