Gryphoon

full ref sheet: http://panoptos.deviantart.com/art/TFP-Gryphoon-reference-472025402

PERSONALITY
Most know Gryphoon as the quiet, cautious and calculating guard dog by Skycutter’s side that is quick to become hostile if anyone insults, or threatens, his partner.
It would be an absolute miracle if you were ever to witness him with an expression on his face that isn't agitation or disinterest. His mouth is always curved down or set as a straight line, and his eyebrows creasing are pretty much the only sign his mood has changed.
He is typically silent around others and a nod, shake of the head or a growl is pretty much all you'll get from him unless the situation is dire.
He has a dislike and distrust of everyone around him; he cares not for their opinions and honestly just couldn't give a damn.
Besides this silent, grumpy exterior he is a worthy fighter, and occasionally quite the strategist. He knows to check for traps and has shown his skill in working out enemy weak points.

However, there is one bot who has managed to crack his silent exterior, and that is Skycutter. He cares for and respects her and her alone. He is also reluctant to take orders from anyone else.
When it is just the two of them on missions he is much more talkative, and will voice his opinions much more.
He loves listening to her talk about old Cybertron, as well as her aspirations to one day return to palaeontology work. He may not care about anyone else on Cybertron, Earth (or anywhere in the universe for that matter), but he grants all his care and attention to Skycutter, and will do whatever it takes to keep her safe from harm.
He hates the war that the pair have been thrown into, and greatly misses when the two of them would just have fun digging up old bones to study them- he didn’t even care what the end results were, he just enjoyed the time spent working together.
He may complain about 'petty human emotions' a lot, but in human terms, he heavily admires Skycutter, much more than just an ally.

It is very common for the other decepticons to use his admiration for blackmail purposes- getting him to do whatever they want by simply adding Skycutter's name into the conversation. Autobots have even used this tactic from time to time.

DESCRIPTION
As a beast his head probably comes up to the same height as the common vehicons, but in robot mode he is a little taller than the likes of Soundwave and Starscream, but still dwarfed by Megatron's stature. For a Predacon, he would probably be considered the runt of the litter, he is much smaller than Skylyx, Darksteel and almost half the size of Predaking as a beast.
Though in no way should you underestimate him, he is still a worthy foe. His smaller size means he is rather fast on his feet and in the air, and still throws quite the hefty punch.

When transformed to robot mode, his beast mode's tail breaks into two pieces to become his robot modes weapons. The tip of the tail becomes a mace (which he uses to strike quick, deep blows), while the main stretch of the tail folds out into a large, spiked shield (which he can use for defence as well as bashing enemies).

The tubing present all over his body is his biggest weakness. As he was a prototype, he has a few flaws, namely that his own energon systems work rather slowly. These tubes are needed to keep energon pumping through his system, and if one of those would break he would be in need of immediate medical attention.


BACKSTORY
Created in Shockwave's lab when he was attempting to create the perfect autobot hunter, Predaking, Gryphoon is a sort of prototype. He is much smaller as both a beast and transformed compared to the others.

Skycutter, one of the lab assistants at the time, taught him the basics of what it meant to exist as a cybertronian; the tech at their disposal, the planet's history, as well as sharing as much as she knew about important figures of the past and present. He came to admire this lab assistant quite a lot, and would usually prefer to stick around her than help with anything else.

The pair of them stuck around Shockwave’s lab merely as it was the only thing to do at the time, digging around the rusty husk of Cybertron trying to find more predacon bones to use in the process of creating the mighty Predaking. Gryphoon detested the idea of creating another one of his species, as he knew they would be bigger and stronger than himself. He definitely had a lot of self esteem issues during the creation of Predaking, but with time, he realised that his partner still preferred his company.


ONGOING STORY
Gryphoon and Skycutter later joined up with the decepticons aboard the Nemesis when Shockwave came across Knockout and a squad of Vehicons trying to salvage the Omega Lock. The pair were quite disappointed when Shockwave was welcomed back with his own new laboratory on the ship, while they were treated as just more cannon fodder for the Autobots whenever Megatron needed something collected.

The two are pretty much always put on a team, as the rest of the decepticons who were put on teams with Gryphoon found out quickly that he doesn’t listen to anyone. Even if he was sent out with just a group of Vehicons, he refused to listen to anything they said and pretty much left them for scrap when autobot trouble came knocking.
Team ‘whirlybird’, as they were dubbed, do work well as a team. Gryphoon is the close combat based backup for Skycutter, who prefers to attack at a distance.

Skycutter has noticed that since coming aboard the nemesis Gryphoon has taken on a much darker tone of personality. When on cybertron, he was much more talkative and enthusiastic, always ready to learn and help, but when he and Skycutter came aboard the nemesis, he suddenly realised the seriousness of the battle between Autobot and Decepticon. For him, it was one thing to learn about it from Skycutter, but another thing to actually be fighting in it. He hopes that one day he and Skycutter can just stay on cybertron, away from earth and from threatening battles.