Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers: Difference between revisions

A 2010 [[Transformers]] mini-series from IDW Comics, following the adventures of a [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits|Ragtag Bunch Of Misfit Autobots]] who join the Autobots' elite suicide squad, the Wreckers. The veteran Wreckers and the recruits try to liberate an Autobot prison facility from the rogue Decepticon Overlord.

 

 

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* [[Art Shift]]: The Battle of Pova flashbacks. The ones detailing the truth are more dark and gritty compared to the more clean and colorful of the "official" report.

** In both cases, the panel borders are yellowed and have lines across them as though wrinkled, mimicking the appearance of a comic that's a decade or so old. Other flashbacks to significantly long ago follow suit.

** Also writer/artist Nick Roche himself, an Irish Transformers fan now writing the characters he read in the UK ''Transformers'' comics.

** Autobot psychologist Rung also counts. Originally created as part of a fan novel, he became part of the canon with the psychological profiles of the wreckers, and then fully cemented when "Bullets" was published as part of the trade.

* [[Author Catchphrase]]: Simon Furman's infamous "Furmanisms" are parodied; Ironfist's datalogs feature many often-repeated phrases colloquially known as "Fisitronisms." When Skyfall told him about this he was a little upset, since he hadn't been doing it deliberately.

** Stalker is so very much this. He might even be sicker than Overlord.

* [[Backpack Cannon]]: Ironfist and Guzzle are both weird versions. Ironfist's lightformer cannon is worn like a backpack but he has to take it off to use it, and Guzzle never uses his tank mode turret in robot mode (though its barrel is smoking on the cover to the trade, which is also this article's page image) - probably because it would be almost impossible to aim.

* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Ironfist is probably the only Wrecker in ''history'' to be a pretty nice guy. He's a weapons designer and the use of most of his work is considered a war crime. A military tribunal is held over his cerebro-circuitry seeking bullets, and a disgusted Trailbreaker puts it this way - "Most weapons can be used to wound. To disarm. [...] Your weapon kills, every time." He invented Gideon's Glue, the horrific napalm-like substance that took and shattered many ''Autobot'' lives at Babu Yar, as well. Ultimately he may be responsible for more deaths than all of the other Wreckers ''combined''.

** He suffered depression and pangs of guilt because of all the damage his creations caused however. And Gideon's Glue wasn't his fault; he was ashamed of its creation and thought he destroyed every sample, but {{spoiler|Skyfall}} had already sold some to the Decepticons.

** {{spoiler|It's revealed that even THAT was all a ploy so that Overlord would get the showdown with Megatron he's always wanted.}}

* [[Break the Cutie]]: Poor, adorable Ironfist. {{spoiler|And ends in [[Kill the Cutie]].}}

* [[Cranial Processing Unit]]

* [[Cryptic Background Reference]]: Casual references to major stories that have never been told, such as the Roadbuster affair, the Lava Wars, the Nightmare Engine, and the Black Epoch.

{{quote|"Hold this, stay there, an' get ready to take notes."}}

** Overlord vs Fortress Maximus.

{{quote|'''Overlord''':"And what if, unlike these two, I aspire to be more than your little pet warhead?"}}

* [[Darkest Hour]]: How {{spoiler|<s>''Fisitron''</s> Verity describes the dire situation of the Wreckers at the end of the series. Although to be fair, she also mentions there's still hope as long as life persists.}}

* [[Dirty Business]]: {{spoiler|Prowl's intentions behind <s>retrieving Aequitas</s> preventing Aequitas' data falling into Decepticon hands. Turns out some Autobots and Decepticons are [[Not So Different]]. Had the data gone public, it would have caused great damage to the Autobot cause.}}

* [[Downer Ending]]: Arguably, and it only stops short from being a [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]] ending because they managed to imprison Overlord and safekeep Aequitas' data. {{spoiler|Only to be hinted that Prowl would have preferred for the data to be lost forever, and is seen applying pressure to the dataslug -- whether it was destroyed or not, its left to the reader.}}

{{quote|"'''Fisitron'''": It's a story of sacrifice and betrayal. And of good people dying in '''''stupid, pointless ways'''''.}}

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: Snare's motivation

* [[Evilly Affable]]: Overlord.

* [[Explosive Leash]]: The deterrence chips.

* [[Expy]]: Pyro is Optimus Prime without the wisdom and experience, inspired by the fact that he looks like an Optimus wannabe. {{spoiler|Emphasis on the "wannabe." In fact, he made himself look like Optimus Prime on purpose due to his obsession with Optimus.}}

* [[Extreme Melee Revenge]]: Used by Perceptor's team against Overlord after he kills {{spoiler|Rotorstorm}}, to little effect. Look closely at the panel where they're lunging at him - Topspin ''drops his gun''.

* [[Face Death with Dignity]]: {{spoiler|Topspin. Pyro as well, of all characters.}}

{{quote|{{spoiler|'''Pyro''': [[It Has Been an Honor|I figure that dying to save people you care about]] [[Heroic Sacrifice|is the most that anyone can do]].}}

{{spoiler|'''Pyro''': No... my [[Last Words]].}} }}

* [[False Friend]]: {{spoiler|Skyfall to Ironfist.}}

** [[Promoted Fanboy|James Roberts]] [[Word of God|solidifying the theory]] behind Prowl's real intentions on the "rescue" mission.

* [[Fan Nickname]]: "Wrookies", for the newbie Wreckers.

** {{spoiler|Overlord is treated to one as well. Let's see, first he's riddled with thousands of tiny deterrence chips that all explode simultaneously. This strips him of his external plating, leaving him a skeletal chassis that's on fire for several pages with no end in sight. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Impactor goes so far as to refuse to kill him, because actually paying for what he's done is exactly what Overlord deserves.}}

* [[Final Speech]]: Subverted with {{spoiler|Snare, who is killed mid-sentence.}}

** [[The Hero]]: Pyro, who is naive, superficial, and kindhearted to a fault. {{spoiler|At least that's what he wants the world to think. In reality, he's an arrogant, selfish [[Glory Hound]].}}

** [[The Smart Guy]]: Ironfist, an idealistic fanboy with a knack for inventing things.

* [[Flanderization]]: Since Overlord was a complete blank slate, the authors took his only previous appearance in the continuity - an [[Easter Egg]] cameo of Overlord cheering on Megatron at a gladiatorial match - and built his personality and motives around a love for gladiatorial combat.

** That would fall moreso within Western fiction - portrayal of Overlord in Japanese fiction was a wee bit different.

** Operation "Retrieval" {{spoiler|The name gives away Prowl's [[Fridge Brilliance|true intentions and priorities]] regarding the mission.}}

* [[For Science!]]: Apparently the folks at the Kimia Facility have a bit of a habit of regularly inventing utterly horrible weapons just because they can, especially Brainstorm.

* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: Utterly failed, as, according to the writers, Hasbro wasn't fooled this time around by the typical Transformers standby of [[Unusual Euphemism|Unusual Euphemisms]] and [[Double Entendre|Double Entendres]]. Among the vetoed comments were "clutch-munching piston-licker" and Rotorstorm asking if Overlord was having a "penal dysfunction problem". "Spawn of a glitch" was almost vetoed until it was pointed out that it had already been used previously in the IDW comics.

* [[Gladiator Games]]: What Overlord turns G-9 into. Interestingly, Kick-Off's success in the pit is due to experience; he'd been a part of a brutal forced combat circuit as a prisoner in a Decepticon pen on Polyhex.

** More than that, Pyro has a fully diagnosed MENTAL ILLNESS he's so obsessed with Prime. Apparently it's something that affects plenty of Autobots and even a few Decepticons. When Rotorstorm first sees Pyro, he claims it's the worst case he's ever seen.

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|Topspin and Twin Twist. Arguably, Pyro.}}

* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]: {{spoiler|Springer kills [[Torture Technician|Stalker]] with his own "endoscopic claw", a horrific-looking torture device.}}

** In a [[Tear Jerker|sadder example]], {{spoiler|Ironfist is revealed to have shot himself in the head with a prototype brain-seeking bullet several months ago. It was working its way towards his brain through the series, causing the fainting spells. Long thought an accident, the text story in the back of the trade reveals that it was sabotage - and Ironfist's "friend" Skyfall was behind it.}}

** [[Word of God]] says that neither "deaths" were truly fatal, and it usually takes the destruction of the head to kill a Transformer here (hence why Guzzle survived).

* [[Improbable Piloting Skills]]: Rotorstorm manages to fly two vehicles through heavy enemy fire '''simultaneously'''. He's ''just that good''.

{{quote|'''Springer:''' Turn up and shoot...'bout as fancy as it gets with us Wreckers. You wanna spend all day calculating "tolerable margins of error"? Call [[The Chessmaster|Prowl]]. Much simpler with me, kid.}}

* [[Ironic Echo]]: "Not exactly Prime's Fivefold Maneuver, is it?"

** "Sweet."

* [[Irony]]: After Springer's team lands, extracts from Fisitron's unofficial Wrecker's training guide are superimposed over the team disobeying each and every one of them.

* [[Kick the Dog]]: Pyro. {{spoiler|He claims that Verity and humans in general are worthless because they're so fragile, and insists that Ironfist be the one to take a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] because the death just isn't cool enough for him.}}

* [[Living on Borrowed Time]]: {{spoiler|[[Tear Jerker|Ironfist]]. Both Ironfist and Prowl are well aware of this; it's actually the entire reason Ironfist is on the team in the first place.}}

* [[Ludicrous Precision]]: Shockwave, as usual: "You've had control of the ''Last Resort'' for 11 months, three weeks, four days, 15 hours, 55 minutes and 11 seconds, and only ''now'' do you choose to reunite me with my body?"

* [[MacGuffin]]: The Wreckers are assigned to rescue someone, or something, called "Aequitas." {{spoiler|It's a computer used to "calculate guilt," the judge and jury of Garrus-9. The Wreckers are ''not'' impressed.}}

** [[Rashomon Style|Pov]]a, too.

* [[Mercy Kill]]: {{spoiler|Snare}} and {{spoiler|Topspin and Twin Twist.}}

* [[Mood Whiplash]]: First, Rotorstorm makes the "Combine!" joke. Then {{spoiler|Overlord reduces his cranium to so much debris.}}

* [[Morton's Fork]]: See [[Sadistic Choice]].

** Verity's suit is based on Daniel's transforming armor from ''[[Transformers: The Movie]]'' and Minerva's Transtector from ''[[Transformers Super God Masterforce]]''.

* [[Naive Newcomer]]: Ironfist.

* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Names To Distrust]]: "Why should I trust you? You're a Decepticon. Named ''Snare.''"

* [[No Mouth]]: Ironfist (in the present day), Guzzle, Pyro, and Stalker. Subverted with Snare, as he's shown to have a mouth under the faceplate {{spoiler|when he's shot in the head by Stalker}}, and Skyfall {{spoiler|who is described as unclipping his faceplate before drinking poison to commit suicide.}}

** Arguably, Black Shadow is one for Thunderwing. Because IDW's Thunderwing is currently a mindless brute, Black Shadow (who is a repaint/remold of Thunderwing's toy) gets to be an energetic madman, at least in the few panels he appears in.

* [[Oh Crap]]: This is the standard response amongst the Wreckers (even Twin Twist, Topspin and ''Kup'') when they find out that they're going up against Overlord. Which was a mirror of the reactions the Decepticons themselves initially had to Overlord arriving to take control of Garrus-9.

* [[Power Walk]]: When Springer and the rest of the Wreckers welcome the new recruits.

* [[The Psycho Rangers]]: Squadron X

* [[Rashomon Style]]: The Battle of Pova. The joke is in the name - POV(a).

* [[Red Eyes, Take Warning]]: Overlord.

* [[Redshirt Army]]: Springer is obligated to tell all recruits that the Wreckers' survival rate is 42%. Ironfist points out that it's actually 38% if you count Rack 'n' Ruin as two robots instead of one. While this math is a little faulty considering the number of known Wreckers, it still helps to illustrate their situation.

{{quote|'''Ironfist''':"It was always going to be one of us -- the ''second stringers''"}}

* [[The Resenter]]: Skyfall to Ironfist, even though if anything it should be the other way around.

* [[The Reveal]]: {{spoiler|Ironfist was living on borrowed time. Verity Carlo was the one who wrote the Wrecker's Last Stand datalog as Fisitron. And Prowl's [[Batman Gambit]] was not for Aequitas' data to be recovered, but for it to be destroyed and lost forever.}}

* [[Riddle for the Ages]]: {{spoiler|Even the writers don't know what Prowl did with the data slug.}}

* [[Sadistic Choice]]: When someone wins twelve fights in Overlord's gladiatorial arena, they get two choices: {{spoiler|commit suicide, or fight Overlord. As Snare points out, [[Person of Mass Destruction|it's not really a choice]].}}

* [[Secretly Dying]]: {{spoiler|Ironfist}}.

* [[Shell-Shocked Veteran]]: {{spoiler|Impactor, Rotorstorm and Ironfist.}}

** Flattop and everyone else who was at Babu Yar. Flattop was actually going to be invited to join the Wreckers but fainted when he saw Springer's hologram boot up, thinking it was "the Shimmer", an Autobot legend said to foretell death.

* [[Shoot the Fuel Tank]]: Perceptor does this to cover his escape from Overlord.

* [[Shoulder Cannon]]: Impactor, though he's never shown to use it in robot mode.

* [[Significant Anagram]]: Ironfist's pen-name, "Fisitron".

* [[Smoking Is Cool]]: Kup constantly chews on a cigar. {{spoiler|It was explained in an earlier series that it's actually full of stuff that stops him from going mad due to withdrawal from toxic radiation from a planet he was marooned on for some time.}}

* [[Someone Has to Die]]: {{spoiler|Activating Aequitas.}}

* [[Stripped to the Bone|Stripped To The Endoskeleton]]: {{spoiler|Overlord winds up reduced to a [[Infernal Retaliation|flaming]] endoskeleton after Springer shoots him with a [[Gatling Good|chaingun]] [[Abnormal Ammo|loaded with]] [[Explosive Leash|deterrence chips]], which Ironfist triggers shortly thereafter.}}

* [[Stupid Good]]: Ultra Magnus. {{spoiler|A duly appointed enforcer of the Tyrest Accord, it should have been in his best interest to verify the content of the dataslug that contains Aequitas' records, or at least make a backup of it. Instead, he [[Batman Gambit|decided to trust]] [[Manipulative Bastard|Prowl]] to do the right thing, by giving him the only existing copy.}}

* [[This Is Reality]]: Ironfist gets a nasty dose of this upon actually fighting with the Wreckers. For one, it seems that in all his research he never realized that the Wreckers are usually a [[Redshirt Army]]...

* [[Thrown Out the Airlock]]: Kup jokingly threatens to do this to Verity after she makes a disparaging remark about his hygiene habits.

* [[Tonight Someone Dies]]: The promotion for the third issue used this tactic.

** {{spoiler|It's Rotorstorm}}, in the best example of [[Mood Whiplash]].

** To make it even sweeter, {{spoiler|not only is Megatron dead (as far as the good guys know), but he never cared about Overlord enough to bother looking for him at all. Hell, the most likely scenario is that he was told about what happened on G-9 at one point and soon forgot about it entirely.}}

* [[War Is Glorious]]: Ironfist's idolized view of the Wreckers, and seemingly {{spoiler|Pyro's ultimate desire}}.

* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: Fortress Maximus disappears for the entirety of issue #4. {{spoiler|He shows up again, being carted around by Ironfist in issue #5.}}

* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: The [[Batman Gambit]] mentioned above - the morality of the goal is iffy enough to begin with, the methods {{spoiler|(sending a team that included several severely mentally scarred 'bots on a literal, but known only to him, suicide mission)}} were beyond the pale.

* [[What a Senseless Waste of Human Life|What a Senseless Waste of Life]]: [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by the authors themselves in a podcast, where they mention that part of the theme is "good people dying in pointless ways". Also lampshaded in-universe by {{spoiler|<s>Fisitron</s> Verity.}}

* [[Writing Around Trademarks]]: Not necessary in the book, but it is possible that Roche & Roberts created Ironfist's "Fisitron" pseudonym so that Hasbro could make a new toy for him without bumping up against trademark issues with the [[Marvel Comics]] character of the same name. This is exactly what happened when a toy of a ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' version of Ironfist came out.

* [[You Can't Fight Fate]]: Arguably, the Shimmer. See [[Brick Joke]].

* [[You Killed My Father]]: The reason Guzzle changed his mind about joining the team? {{spoiler|All of his friends died on a mission to save Kup, and he's just itching to confront the old oilstain about it.}} As far as can be told, he never found the time to do so.