Spotlight: Hardhead

The name or term "Hardhead" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Hardhead (disambiguation).

« The Transformers Spotlight #17 » Revelation
If I'm scared, then you know it's serious!
"The Transformers Spotlight: Hardhead" "Revelation: Part Two"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	July 16, 2008
Cover date	July 2008
Written by	Simon Furman
Art by	Nick Roche
Colors by	Kris Carter
Letters by	Neil Uyetake
Edits by	Denton J. Tipton
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Revelation

With Hardhead in tow, Nightbeat retraces his steps on Gorlam Prime, while the Autobots piece together clues about the Expansion.

Synopsis

Nightbeat is worried not only about his missing memories, but that his entire state of mind might be a danger to the Autobots. As he investigates this mystery, he takes Hardhead with him to eliminate Nightbeat if he loses control. They travel to Gorlam Prime, where Nightbeat discovers that the planet seems to be in suspended animation, and evolution has accelerated from organic, to techno-organic, to possibly fully technological. As they head toward the excavation site, Hardhead follows Nightbeat, giving him a clear shot if he needs it. Unfortunately, on the way, they encounter a large group of Micromasters who begin shooting at them. Or, more precisely, at Hardhead, as they seem strangely uninterested in harming Nightbeat. Hardhead escapes by jumping from the freeway to crash through the lower suspended freeways down to the ground.

On Corata-Vaz, the Wreckers are fighting a futile battle against Thunderwing, while Prowl and Optimus Prime observe from the Garrus-9 penitentiary. Optimus requests a report from Jetfire, who says that there's a large energy spike coming from the cavern Thunderwing's guarding that they can't categorize. He also reports that Omega Supreme has identified their "mystery Cybertronian" as being Cyclonus, and that he, along with Galvatron, was on the first Ark. Optimus remembers that the first Ark's destination was the Benzuli Expanse, and says that's where they'll start investigating.

Meanwhile, in the Dead Universe, Jhiaxus reports to Nemesis Prime that the three Nega-Cores and their guardians have all been activated. However, Cyclonus drew a fair bit of unwanted attention while activating his Nega-Core, and Nightbeat found his way back to Gorlam Prime. Nemesis is unconcerned about the results of Cyclonus's mistakes, given that Thunderwing is power incarnate, but tells Jhiaxus to see to Nightbeat personally.

Hardhead and Nightbeat enter the excavation site on Gorlam Prime while trying to elude the Micromasters. As they reach the end of the entryway, Jhiaxus suddenly takes remote control of Nightbeat, making him turn and point his gun right between Hardhead's optics. Jhiaxus speaks through Nightbeat, saying that the detective is now "theirs", and Hardhead has no place in the future they're planning.

In the Orcibe Cluster, Arcee arrives at what appears to be the aftermath of a major fight. After scanning for lifeforms, she discovers that Banzaitron is still alive amongst the wreckage, and forces him to tell her what happened. He tells her someone came and took Monstructor. He doesn't know who they were, but he does know where they went, as each of Monstructor's parts has been tagged, so if Arcee works with him they can both get what they want. Arcee tells him that she'd follow him into the abyss if the trail led to Jhiaxus.

Not just a name, apparently.

Back on Gorlam Prime, "Nightbeat" shoots Hardhead point-blank... and is amazed to discover that Hardhead lives up to his name, as it accomplishes nothing but producing a smoking pinhole in his optics. He then sics the Micromasters on Hardhead, who attempts to do battle with them but is eventually pushed back into almost entering the massive Dead Universe portal. "Nightbeat" monologues about the Dead Universe and how Hardhead should just accept that his time is up and choose which way he wants to go out. Hardhead responds by executing Nightbeat with a head shot, then diving headlong into the portal, ready to meet whatever change lies beyond it.

Jhiaxus screams in fury about their "instrument" now being gone. Displeased, Nemesis Prime states this accelerates a confrontation he had wished to avoid, but with Nightbeat dead, he will now have to do what Nightbeat was intended to do: eliminate Optimus Prime.

Cloudburst, Landmine, Groundbreaker, and Waverider arrive at the Benzuli Expanse to find that the entire surrounding area—planets, stars, etc.—is now gone, with a literal nothing in its place. When they report this to Jetfire, along with the fact that all probes and drones sent into the "nothing" cease to function as soon as they cross the event horizon, Jetfire ponders, then says to Cloudburst that the four of them "just volunteered".

Optimus Prime tells Jetfire that he's not sure about using this technology again, but Jetfire says they need to risk it to gain information on the anomaly. Optimus agrees, then receives a transmission from Dealer on a priority channel. Dealer says that he's been monitoring the current situation, and he thinks that all of the answers they seek lie in the Magnificence.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Others
Nightbeat (1) Hardhead (2) Broadside (34) Springer (35) Whirl (36) Road Rocket (38) Sideswipe (39) Twin Twist (40) Topspin (41) Roadbuster (42) Skram (43) Optimus Prime (44) Prowl (45) Jetfire (46) Scattershot (47) Afterburner (48) Nosecone (49) Lightspeed (50) Omega Supreme (51) Hound (56) Ultra Magnus (57) Arcee (65) Landmine (70) Cloudburst (71) Waverider (72) Groundbreaker (73) Searchlight (75)	Thunderwing (37) Gutcruncher (66) Banzai-Tron (67) Axer (68) Treadshot (69) Doubledealer (74)	Blackjack*(3) Road Hugger (4) Hyperdrive (5) Detour (6) Roadhandler (7) Free Wheeler (8) Tailspin (9) Big Daddy (10) Swindler (11) Motorhead (12) Groundpounder (13) Ground Hog (14) Neutro (15) Hubs (16) Roller Force (17) Greaser (18) Crumble (19) Takedown (20) Barricade*(21) Powertrain (22) Mudslinger (23) Tote (24) Highjump (25) Sidetrack (26) Tracer (27) Flak (28) Big Shot (29) Dropshot*(30) Bombshock (31) Growl (32) Whisper (33) Galvatron (on-screen display only) (52) Cyclonus (53) Jhiaxus (54) Nemesis Prime (55) Blaze Master (58) Storm Cloud (59) Nightflight (60) Tailwind*(61) Tread Bolt (62) Eagle Eye (63) Sky High (64)

*See "Continuity notes", below

Quotes

"I want you to watch me like an Ardurian roc, and if I lose control, even for an instant... eliminate me."
"Sure."

—Nightbeat and Hardhead: Great ally both when you need your back watched and when you need it shot at.

Notes

Continuity notes

• The inhabitants of Gorlam Prime are apparently an experiment of Jhiaxus's to prepare a template for the universe, where a species can withstand even the worst extremes in preparation for merging the Dead Universe with the "living" one. Based on the masses of Micromasters in the panel where this is explained, they're the final result of Gorlam's evolution.
• For those keeping track, out of the twelve original Micromaster Patrols, only Trip-Up, Sunrunner, and the Rescue and Monster Truck Patrols did not appear.
• This isn't the first time Hardhead has been charged with possibly having to eliminate an ally.
• Several of the Micromasters shown here would later appear as completely unrelated full-sized characters:
  • Tailwind, who later shows up in More Than Meets the Eye #12.
  • Blackjack, (making his second appearance after Spotlight: Nightbeat) in The Transformers vol. 2 #39
  • Dropshot, in All Hail Megatron #11
  • Barricade, in Punishment #3.

First appearances: virtually all the Micromasters (a relative handful appeared previously in Spotlight: Nightbeat); Landmine, Cloudburst, Waverider, Groundbreaker.

Transformers references

• Nightbeat's license plate number is "M1N-3RV4".
• Two of the inhabitants of Gorlam Prime look like they're dressed up as Optimus Prime and Bumblebee.
• Hardhead's last line is about meeting his fate, whatever it may be, "...HEAD ON!", with those specific words emphasized by being saved for his last panel/caption box. This seems to be an uncharacteristic reference by Furman to the Headmasters anime series, where this was the "transformation call" of the titular characters, including Hardhead.

Errors

• In the bottom-left hand panel on page 12, Nemesis Prime's faceplate appears to have been drawn incorrectly; usually it has a different colored piece coming up from his chin. In this panel, it is drawn as one solid piece, like Optimus Prime's faceplate.
• "Banzai-Tron" was written as such in Arcee's lifesign readings, but is otherwise spelled without the hyphen as "Banzaitron".

Other trivia

Hardhead, or hard-core?

• Roche's original cover had a background of skulls, and the image was reversed and lighter (see image on right).
• Swindler's Gorlam Prime-styled vehicle mode resembles the DeLorean DMC-12 of his original toy, but with two large heat sinks on the back.
• The flashback scene of Cyclonus was previously used as the sketch cover to Spotlight: Cyclonus.

Covers

• Cover A: Hardhead amongst rubble, second part of 4-issue image by E. J. Su.
• Cover B: Animated style of Hardhead, by Nick Roche.
• Cover RI: Text-free "virgin" version of Cover A.

• 
  Someone clean up this mess!
• 
  I'm hard as a rock.
• 
  Hardhead a virgin? Doubtful.

Advertisements

• Transform and Roll Out DVD (inside front cover)
• Spotlight: Doubledealer
• Doctor Who: The Forgotten in IDWords section
• Doctor Who: The Forgotten
• Journey: The Adventures of Wolverine MacAlistaire
• Spike: After the Fall
• The Dreamland Chronicles
• All Hail Megatron series
• Galaxy Quest
• DrawerBoxes Box Anchors (back cover)

Reprints

• The Transformers: Spotlight Volume 4: Revelation (February 4, 2009) ISBN 1600104215 / ISBN 978-1600104213
• The Transformers: The Premiere Collection Volume 2 (June 17, 2009) ISBN 1600104371 / ISBN 978-1600104374
• The Transformers: The IDW Collection Volume Four (May 25, 2011) ISBN 1600109381 / ISBN 978-1600109386
• The Transformers: Spotlight Omnibus Volume 2 (September 9, 2015) ISBN 1613779429 / ISBN 978-1613779422
• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 42: Revelation (October 17, 2018)

• 
  Spotlight Volume 4: Revelation – cover art by Nick Roche
• 
  The Premiere Collection Volume 2 – cover art by Nick Roche & Josh Burcham
• 
  The IDW Collection Volume Four – cover art by E. J. Su
• 
  Spotlight Omnibus Volume 2 – cover art by Jeffrey Veregge
• 
  The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 42: Revelation – cover art by Don Figueroa and Nick Roche