Random Happenstance

I mentioned, I've been putting together a lot of Transformers Blokees--I like the Galaxy Version, although I think I'm all in on the next light-up Shining Version wave. Build Cybertron itself, and it lights up! There's a pretty good variety of characters in that line so far, although you will get multiple Optimus Primes and Megatrons, even if you don't end up buying duplicates; and there are a few surprising ommissions: no Blaster, no Omega Supreme? I like it when they get deep into the roster, I'd take a set of these guys: from 2021, Transformers: Wreckers--Tread & Circuits #2, written by David Marriotte, art by Jack Lawrence. 

The team known as the Wreckers had gone through several incarnations during the IDW era, beginning as a special forces team during the war against the Decepticons: think the Inglorious Basterds, especially in the sense that they might have been somewhat...overzealous. I didn't catch it right away, but this series was from the 2019 continuity (a late-in-the-game reboot) and featured the team as an undercover security force, travelling under the cover of performing daredevils. These Wreckers were led by Thunderclash, a Transformer so obscure I thought he was an original character: he had been released in Europe in 1992, but to date I don't think he's ever had a domestic, in-store release. In the 2005 continuity More Than Meets the Eye/Lost Light, 'Clash was a chiseled, impossibly heroic paragon of goodness, inspiring and confident; and there to serve as a foil to Rodimus Prime, who was a good guy but could be petty, immature, and stupid. This story's version of Thunderclash wasn't quite that renowned, but still. 

The mission this series, involved the Transformers' colony planet Velocitron, which has appeared here and there in the various continuities: it's consistently big on racing, with the Speedia 500 determining the "First Senator" for the entire planet! The terrorist organization Mayhem override a Wreckers' broadcast to demand the end to the Speedia, as they felt it ensured slower citizens were blocked from representation. OK, they probably have a point; I'm not sure there's even a word for "governance by the fastest." Velocracy? Blurr is either mentioned or alluded to a few times: he had won the Speedia previously, but having no interest in government immediately abdicated, possibly having no interest in his replacement's competence either. Thunderclash and the Wreckers enter the race, trying to determine if there was an inside man, although his tactician Aileron thought that was a terrible idea, on multiple levels. They hadn't planned for it and were improvising, it was out of character for their cover, and worse, what if one of them actually won? Well, she probably doesn't have to worry about that last one...