Transformers Universe MUX
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Clutch
Clutch
Personal information
Real Name

Lance J. Steinberg

Birthplace

Asbury Park, New Jersey

D.O.B.

Unknown

Alias(s)

Double Clutch

Military information
Service branch

United States Army

Primary MOS

Transportation

Secondary MOS

Infantry

Rank

4 - E-8 - Master Sergeant

Weapon(s)

VAMP, Tread Ripper Tank

Organizational information
Factions

G.I. Joe

Subteams

Mega Marines

I can drive in and out of a hot spot before Cobra even has a chance to shift into second gear.

At first glance, Clutch may not seem to fit the part as one of the Joe Team's best drivers. He likes to keep his hair slick and shiny. He regularly keeps an unshaven appearance and even fancies himself as a ladies' man. He is a typical chauvinist who sometimes annoys some of his teammates but put him behind a steering wheel and he'll outrun his opponents and perform feats with a car you wouldn't dare imagine. Clutch grew up exposed to cars at an early age. He worked as a mechanic and participated in street racing before he enlisted in the Army.

Description[]

ClutchClassified2023

Conjuring images of the old-style grease mechanics is the soldier named Clutch. His face is lean and well-defined with prominent features such as a strong jawline and high cheekbones. His hair is kept short due to military regulations. It's scruffy and black, styled by what looks like and smells like motor oil. His eyes are deep brown. He sorts a very thick 5 o'clock shadow just hours from becoming a full-on beard.

Clutch stands roughly 6'2 with a slim body type with broad shoulders and a tapered waist. His clothes are what looks to be army issued. He wears a grease-stained dark green t-shirt with his dogtags hanging around his neck. The tags themselves have black silencers around them. The shirt is tucked into a pair of olive-green fatigues which are in turned tucked into a pair of black Ranger boots. About his waist is a simple army style belt with a dull silver buckle. To complete his look is a baggy matching green shirt which he wears open with the sleeves rolled all the way up to his shoulders.

History[]

Canonical/Pre-MUX/Theme History:[]

Lance Steinberg

Clutch was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey. His first job was working at his uncle's garage. Like many of his friends, Clutch was a car fanatic and was quick to race or play "chicken" with other cars. Clutch was a mechanic at Manny's Mean Machines and was heavily involved in racing street machines prior to enlistment. Clutch takes little seriously and is known to joke even when in dangerous situations. Someone once said that Clutch cares about little else than cars and women.

After enlisting in the army, Clutch graduated from many armored and wheeled vehicle training schools. He eventually was assigned as General "Iron Butt" Austin's personal driver. On one assignment, Austin only made the vague suggestion that someone should pick up his command truck at McGuire Air Force Base and drive it to Fort Holabird. Clutch did just that but found a handcuffed and blindfolded officer in the back seat. He later learned it was Lt. Colonel Clayton "Hawk" Abernathy, recently court-martialed. On the drive, a group of mercenaries in a van attacked the truck, armed with a heavy machine gun. Thanks to Clutch's incredible driving, he avoided the mercenaries, whose van ended up in a rollover. The attackers had been hired by a rogue general, and that knowledge was used by General Flagg and Sparks to blackmail the general into dropping the charges against Hawk. It was Clutch's driving skills in that incident that helped earn him a spot on the newly forming G.I. Joe team.


Clutch was one of the original 13 members of the G.I. Joe team. He was part of many of the Joes' major missions including the rescue of Dr. Adele Burkhart and was on the first mission in which the Joe team met the Soviets' Oktober Guard. On that mission, Clutch was responsible for saving the team after evading capture from a Cobra soldier and stealing his uniform. Clutch, Steeler and Breaker were driving the MOBAT tank in a parade down New York's Fifth Avenue when Cobra attempted to steal the tank. The vehicle was not carrying any ammunition, so the Joes had to outsmart the attacking Cobra soldiers. Once they were stopped, Clutch rammed the parade's reviewing stands and revealed a hidden Cobra control room under the stands. Clutch had an often-adversarial relationship with Scarlett, who thought he was nothing but a chauvinist. Clutch gave little evidence for her to think otherwise. They were teamed up on a mission to thwart Cobra's attempted assassination of a middle eastern ambassador. Scarlett respected Clutch's fighting skills, but the two never became friends.

Following a major Cobra assault on G.I. Joe headquarters ("The Pit"), Clutch went on leave to his hometown. Once there, he discovered that Cobra was attempting to infiltrate the town. He eventually saved the town, due in part to a timely rescue from the Joe team.

A brief time later, Clutch was part of the team that captured Cobra Commander. After the re-dedication of G.I. Joe headquarters, Clutch and many of the other original Joes were taken off active duty. Shortly afterward, while on leave, Breaker, Clutch and Rock & Roll were nearly killed when the Dreadnoks ran their car off the road. They captured the Dreadnok named Buzzer and later recovered from their injuries.

Clutch returned to the field many times despite being off active duty. He was one of the many Joes to participate in the invasion of the Cobra-controlled town of Springfield.

Shortly after that battle, Clutch led a small group of Joes into Argentina to assist a former Nazi who claimed he knew the location of a crashed bomber filled with poison gas. Clutch found it difficult to lead the mission after remembering the horrors his grandmother had gone through at the hands of the Nazis as a young Jewish woman in Germany. While Clutch's team protected the Nazi from Israelis who wanted him dead, another team of Joes found and neutralized the poison gas, learning that he had lied about what had occurred, stole money, and killed the plane's crew. Clutch told the Nazi that the deal was off. While the Joe's protected the man from the Israelis, they left the man in the hands of the other Nazis that now knew of his betrayal. While leaving the Nazi's jungle retreat, the Joes heard three gunshots from inside the home, but just kept walking.

Clutch's next assignment was to a small team of Joes who were testing new weapons for the team. During one such mission, Cobra attacked the team, which eventually repelled the attack.

During the Cobra Island civil war -- which the Joes entered on the side of Serpentor -- Clutch drove the AWE Striker that transported Hawk as he led Joe forces.

Clutch's bad luck on leave continued when he once again unsuspectingly ran afoul of Cobra. He and Rock & Roll drove to Broca Beach in New Jersey only to discover that Cobra ran the town. The two Joes tried to escape but were captured. They were held prisoner in the town and brainwashed. They were eventually rescued, but they and the other Joes knew nothing of what Cobra had done to them. Once they were inside the Pit in Utah, Cobra activated Clutch and Rock & Roll's "programming," sending them into a "berserker rage." The two Joes overcame the brainwashing because, according to Psyche-Out, their morality overrode the programming.

In 1993, he was made an honorary member of the Mega Marines, and given special Bio-Armor, a breakthrough in bio-mechanical armament.

From the very beginning of G.I. Joe, Clutch was an integral part of the team, and he stayed close to the original members. Many of his subsequent missions remain classified, but Clutch stayed on the Joe team until it was disbanded in 1994. In the years following, Clutch brought his skills as a mechanic to the Indy Racing League circuit, earning more wins for his drivers than any other mechanic in recent history.

MUX History:[]

When the team reformed, he was reinstated, and given control of the Motor Pool. For years Clutch ran the Motor Pool, drove Joes into Combat, and hit on the females, especially Cover Girl and Scarlett. Steeler was eventually put in charge of the Pit's motorpool, but he still relied on Clutch to take care of day-to-day maintenance and repair. Clutch spent his Thanksgiving of 2012 break prepping the Tread Ripper Tank for combat.

When Steeler was assigned to the El-Hassim Military Base in Iraq, Major Storm was put in charge of the Motorpool. Clutch now reports to him.

In 2017, Clutch and Steeler were assigned to Strike Team Bravo, operating out of the original Pit.

OOC Notes[]

Clutch is your essential Male Chauvinist Pig. But the Joes still love him, and none of the woman (Especially Cover Girl and Scarlett) have turned him into a soprano, yet...

Logs / Posts[]

2012[]

ChanceCoupe

Chance's wheels

2013[]

Mar 25 - Rift and Temera[]

To: G.I. Joe Command
From: Clutch
Subject: Vehicles at the Southwest Rift

Reports indicate that the Autobots have managed to close the spacetime rift in the Southwestern United States. Therefore, I'm bringing back our excess vehicles from the scene. Also, Dusty apparently ran into the mirror version of Temera, so I'm heading up to see if I can help contain her.

Clutch.


Players[]

Clutch has been available for application since November of 2007. As of November of 2012, he has been temped by bzero.

Gallery[]

Preferred Vehicles[]

External Links[]

References[]

This page uses content from Joepedia - The G.I. Joe Wiki. The original article was at Clutch.


The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Transformers Universe MUX, the text of Joepedia - The G.I. Joe Wiki is available under the Creative Commons Licensed.

MUK This page uses content from JMM’s My Useless Knowledge Website. The original article was at JMM's G.I. Joe Comics Home Page. A member of this wiki, User:Kadjem, was granted temporary permission to use this content. However, JMM’s My Useless Knowledge Website is not part of the GNU Free Documentation License program, so the content is being rewritten to adapt and fit into this wiki and avoid plagiarism.


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