A Sacred Why, A Mystery Gapping Inside.
Spotlight: Grimlock. April 23rd 2008.
I come with an offer you can’t refuse!
First an update on the Eugenesis auction from two weeks ago now it’s all paid up, the winner paid $1500 (or £1111 and change in God’s pounds for it), which has now been evenly distributed between the three charities. That’s nice, isn’t it?
Back in 2008, we have the only Spotlight issue from this little run of three that actually connects to any of the ongoing plots, as this is basically issue 0 to the forthcoming Maximum Dinobots miniseries (to the point I’d forgotten that Marcelo Matere rather than Nick Roche drew it). A miniseries that won’t start till December, 8 months from now. Which makes the timing of this odd (especially as it and the previous month’s Mirage swapped places at the last second). This definitely adds to the feeling that there are some very odd things going on around IDW at this time.
The issue itself feels rather like it was originally meant to be a subplot running through the six issue sequel to Devastation, having three distinct sections, two of which feel like they’ve been somewhat drawn out to meet the page count.
The first is in a seemingly abandoned warehouse in Carson City, Nevada, where Doctor Weston, the one sane man in Skywatch, is patiently explaining to Agent Red that sending Thunder Lizard 1 after the two lost controlled robots is a bad idea. The first attempt was after years of careful study, this time they’ve had weeks and TL1 has a far more complicated brain.
Something I suspect Ravage would disagree with.
I come with an offer you can’t refuse!
First an update on the Eugenesis auction from two weeks ago now it’s all paid up, the winner paid $1500 (or £1111 and change in God’s pounds for it), which has now been evenly distributed between the three charities. That’s nice, isn’t it?
Back in 2008, we have the only Spotlight issue from this little run of three that actually connects to any of the ongoing plots, as this is basically issue 0 to the forthcoming Maximum Dinobots miniseries (to the point I’d forgotten that Marcelo Matere rather than Nick Roche drew it). A miniseries that won’t start till December, 8 months from now. Which makes the timing of this odd (especially as it and the previous month’s Mirage swapped places at the last second). This definitely adds to the feeling that there are some very odd things going on around IDW at this time.
The issue itself feels rather like it was originally meant to be a subplot running through the six issue sequel to Devastation, having three distinct sections, two of which feel like they’ve been somewhat drawn out to meet the page count.
The first is in a seemingly abandoned warehouse in Carson City, Nevada, where Doctor Weston, the one sane man in Skywatch, is patiently explaining to Agent Red that sending Thunder Lizard 1 after the two lost controlled robots is a bad idea. The first attempt was after years of careful study, this time they’ve had weeks and TL1 has a far more complicated brain.
Something I suspect Ravage would disagree with.
What can possibly go wrong?
Red though, with veins bulging out of his head like he’s having a stroke, insists that now the aliens are known to a terrified public, they have no choice because... erm. Reasons.
We are two months and three issues from it turning out the general public were completely fooled by the government cover-up for the robots and barely gave them a second thought, again showing a real lack of coordination at the editorial lesson.
Dear reader, you’ll never guess what happens when they try to activate the mind controlled Grimlock.
Yes, with his head immediately full of Optimus Prime telling him off (something for the amateur Rung to think about) and how he had lied to the Dinobots about Optimus saying no to their mission but meaning it in a plausible deniability way, Grimlock wakes up and is pissed. With no idea what’s going on, he transforms and bursts out of the building, with Red’s containment team being completely useless. Though if he really thought they could stop TL1 if he went nuts, why not send them after Ravage and Laserbeak?
With Grimlock on the run through Nevada, Red’s natural response is to shut down their secret headquarters and run away. But not before telling Weston to prepare for Plan C, sending the other four Thunder Lizards after the robot that escaped that was supposed to go after the robots that escaped.
We are two months and three issues from it turning out the general public were completely fooled by the government cover-up for the robots and barely gave them a second thought, again showing a real lack of coordination at the editorial lesson.
Dear reader, you’ll never guess what happens when they try to activate the mind controlled Grimlock.
Yes, with his head immediately full of Optimus Prime telling him off (something for the amateur Rung to think about) and how he had lied to the Dinobots about Optimus saying no to their mission but meaning it in a plausible deniability way, Grimlock wakes up and is pissed. With no idea what’s going on, he transforms and bursts out of the building, with Red’s containment team being completely useless. Though if he really thought they could stop TL1 if he went nuts, why not send them after Ravage and Laserbeak?
With Grimlock on the run through Nevada, Red’s natural response is to shut down their secret headquarters and run away. But not before telling Weston to prepare for Plan C, sending the other four Thunder Lizards after the robot that escaped that was supposed to go after the robots that escaped.
Beatings will continue until moral improves.
Because he’s a prize prat.
The one consolation for Weston is none of this was his fault, as it turns out his team member Kloss is really a Machination man, putting in a secret call to Dante (adorably answering the phone in full Headmaster costume) about how their boy is free and for the taking.
Though I suspect Kloss never actually did anything but sit back and take the money whilst letting the general uselessness of Skywatch take its course.
The second, and simplest section, of the issue, is Grimlock walking through the town and out into the countryside, scaring a Jurassic Park looking Jeep (now there’s a crossover idea) and a school full of children.
As he stomps about, he remembers the basics of Spotlight: Shockwave (and throws in the new detail that their ship, the Skyfire—because Greg Berger played him as well as Grimlock in the cartoon has a recall teleport), and is confused by how and where he has woken up and is worried about damage to his vocal circuits.
Which, as he’ll talk fine, is an excellent and cheeky double bluff, one that will get a payoff years later.
And as he approaches Lahontan Dam, it finally hits him that he’s completely and utterly alone.
The one consolation for Weston is none of this was his fault, as it turns out his team member Kloss is really a Machination man, putting in a secret call to Dante (adorably answering the phone in full Headmaster costume) about how their boy is free and for the taking.
Though I suspect Kloss never actually did anything but sit back and take the money whilst letting the general uselessness of Skywatch take its course.
The second, and simplest section, of the issue, is Grimlock walking through the town and out into the countryside, scaring a Jurassic Park looking Jeep (now there’s a crossover idea) and a school full of children.
As he stomps about, he remembers the basics of Spotlight: Shockwave (and throws in the new detail that their ship, the Skyfire—because Greg Berger played him as well as Grimlock in the cartoon has a recall teleport), and is confused by how and where he has woken up and is worried about damage to his vocal circuits.
Which, as he’ll talk fine, is an excellent and cheeky double bluff, one that will get a payoff years later.
And as he approaches Lahontan Dam, it finally hits him that he’s completely and utterly alone.
All by myself.
But not for long, because during all this, Scorponok is flying in. Literally, because Furman has decided to make the various Bond references that have seeped into his IDW work overt (he must have been buying the two for one DVDs just before 2005), as Dante and Scorponok, struggling with their pronouns (“Myself/ourself”, Furman really had a bee in his bonnet about pronouns as well around this time...), is on a blimp.
Just like Max Zorin in A View to a Kill. Though as Scorponok is able to assume robot mode inside, it’s a considerably bigger blimp. Still, now it’s clear that Scorponok is meant to be Christopher Walken, or Walkenok if you will, everything about him makes much more sense.
It’s also a homage for the sake of a homage, as Walkenok just orbital bounces down to be in front of Grimlock, something he presumably could have done from headquarters without the page on the blimp (where we only really learn that he and Grimlock know each other, something that quickly becomes apparent).
And it’s on this hill as the sunsets, that Walkenok lays out his reasons for having arranged all this in the first place to a deeply baffled Grimlock.
Just like Max Zorin in A View to a Kill. Though as Scorponok is able to assume robot mode inside, it’s a considerably bigger blimp. Still, now it’s clear that Scorponok is meant to be Christopher Walken, or Walkenok if you will, everything about him makes much more sense.
It’s also a homage for the sake of a homage, as Walkenok just orbital bounces down to be in front of Grimlock, something he presumably could have done from headquarters without the page on the blimp (where we only really learn that he and Grimlock know each other, something that quickly becomes apparent).
And it’s on this hill as the sunsets, that Walkenok lays out his reasons for having arranged all this in the first place to a deeply baffled Grimlock.
Intuitive improvisation. The mark of real genius.
As he’s not the only one, as it turns out Walkenok is starting from the most clichéd of villain’s positions, “We are not so unalike you and I”, as he spells out Grimlock is now on Ultra Magnus’ fugitive list just like he is, so why not team up? He wants to remain a secret for now (which is why he’s meeting out in the open by a dam and near a town where presumably the authorities are about to come chasing the dinosaur that just marched through), so he need someone to run interference on Megatron for him, so that the Machination Empire can rise up unthreatened.
Yes, the Machination Empire.
Grimlock, who has missed thousands of years, is understandably wtf about all this. Which leads to what is probably the highlight of the issue. He has no stakes here, he doesn’t care about Earth, or Walkenok, or have any context for what is going on. He could just blow a raspberry at Walkenok and walk off.
Instead he thinks incredibly hard. And remembers the time that Walkenok stole a collection of solar agitators (note the McGuffin in The Man With the Golden Gun is a Solex Agitator) from a depot that Walkenok was guarding. Which makes it Scorponok’s time to go wtf as he points out that was nothing, or a Tuesday if you will, but for a Grimlock really gagging to fight someone (and also thinks bringing in Scorponok might score him some brownie points), it’s enough of an excuse.
Yes, the Machination Empire.
Grimlock, who has missed thousands of years, is understandably wtf about all this. Which leads to what is probably the highlight of the issue. He has no stakes here, he doesn’t care about Earth, or Walkenok, or have any context for what is going on. He could just blow a raspberry at Walkenok and walk off.
Instead he thinks incredibly hard. And remembers the time that Walkenok stole a collection of solar agitators (note the McGuffin in The Man With the Golden Gun is a Solex Agitator) from a depot that Walkenok was guarding. Which makes it Scorponok’s time to go wtf as he points out that was nothing, or a Tuesday if you will, but for a Grimlock really gagging to fight someone (and also thinks bringing in Scorponok might score him some brownie points), it’s enough of an excuse.
Surely not?
And the ensuing fight is great, because Grimlock is very much on the back foot, due to those Headmaster powers Walkenok now has and his own armaments having been depleted in his battle with Shockwave, with an especially nice touch being him forgetting he used up his mouth missiles in that issue.
Though you have to wonder why Skywatch let the giant killer dinosaur man have his flaming sword as well for just a tracking mission.
As Walkenok puts the squeeze on (in a very similar way to how he threatened to kill a minion of Unicron in Marvel US 74), Grimlock thinks back to how he not only lied to the other Dinobots about Prime not giving a double meaning to his refusal, but that he didn’t warn them about his bomb the site from orbit backup plan if the battle with Shockwave went south.
He betrayed them and, even though Walkenok has said they’re dead, he decides to live and use the Skyfire recall teleport, even with the odds that the ship has long since burnt up in orbit and he could be going somewhere very nasty.
Though you have to wonder why Skywatch let the giant killer dinosaur man have his flaming sword as well for just a tracking mission.
As Walkenok puts the squeeze on (in a very similar way to how he threatened to kill a minion of Unicron in Marvel US 74), Grimlock thinks back to how he not only lied to the other Dinobots about Prime not giving a double meaning to his refusal, but that he didn’t warn them about his bomb the site from orbit backup plan if the battle with Shockwave went south.
He betrayed them and, even though Walkenok has said they’re dead, he decides to live and use the Skyfire recall teleport, even with the odds that the ship has long since burnt up in orbit and he could be going somewhere very nasty.
"Can't believe you don't want to join the Machination Empire!"
This betrayal angle on the events of Spotlight: Shockwave feels a bit of a forced retcon as surely the other Dinobots would know Prime well enough to know when he says no, he means no. Nor that they’d care about disobeying orders. Nor indeed does it feel like they’d object to a “Bomb everything” backup plan if they’re losing.
Mind, my dislike for this aspect may be tainted by knowing where Maximum Dinobots is going to go with it.
Luckily, the Skyfire is just buried in ice (like Skyfire in the cartoon!), meaning Grimlock can now regroup and rethink for how to find his friends and make things right.
But Dante already has his next plan in play, because Skywatch need help to even think they’ve gotten things right, he orders that this time the other Thunder Lizards only be minimally altered so that Agent Red will think he’s in charge. Then, when the time is right, Grimlock will die “At the tooth and claw of his fellow Dynobots!”.
Oh yeah, Dynobots, I’d forgotten that.
Mind, my dislike for this aspect may be tainted by knowing where Maximum Dinobots is going to go with it.
Luckily, the Skyfire is just buried in ice (like Skyfire in the cartoon!), meaning Grimlock can now regroup and rethink for how to find his friends and make things right.
But Dante already has his next plan in play, because Skywatch need help to even think they’ve gotten things right, he orders that this time the other Thunder Lizards only be minimally altered so that Agent Red will think he’s in charge. Then, when the time is right, Grimlock will die “At the tooth and claw of his fellow Dynobots!”.
Oh yeah, Dynobots, I’d forgotten that.
How many a Tory MP has gone out.
This issue very much shows how much difference the author giving a fuck about a character can make. As a plot, it’s bitty (the opening Skywatch sequence especially doesn’t feel connected to the rest of the issue) and not a lot actually happens, Walkenok just offers Grimlock a job and he says no.
But, it’s much more fun that the previous three Spotlight issues, just because Grimlock is such a tremendous arsehole. Throw in a pleasingly barking Walkenok that just baffles Grimlock, and there are some good laughs to be had. It’s also helped by some great art from Matere, the fight may go on a little longer than it should, but it looks fantastic.
This is a just a solid example of how to do a light Spotlight, and sets the scene fairly well for Maximum Dinobots.
In 8 months.
But, it’s much more fun that the previous three Spotlight issues, just because Grimlock is such a tremendous arsehole. Throw in a pleasingly barking Walkenok that just baffles Grimlock, and there are some good laughs to be had. It’s also helped by some great art from Matere, the fight may go on a little longer than it should, but it looks fantastic.
This is a just a solid example of how to do a light Spotlight, and sets the scene fairly well for Maximum Dinobots.
In 8 months.
"And I'll do it in December"
It’s also the last “Normal” Spotlight from Furman, and as a endpoint for him on this strand, it’s certainly better than Arcee would have been.
He does help out on next week’s issue though, which reinvents a Wheelie controversial character.
SPOTLIGHT MIRAGE
2008
COMMENT
KO-FI
He does help out on next week’s issue though, which reinvents a Wheelie controversial character.
SPOTLIGHT MIRAGE
2008
COMMENT
KO-FI
