Spotlight: Blurr

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I'm so great even I can't believe it!
"The Transformers: Spotlight: Blurr"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	November 5, 2008
Cover date	November 2008
Written by	Shane McCarthy
Art by	Casey Coller
Colors by	Joana Lafuente
Letters by	Neil Uyetake
Edits by	Denton J. Tipton
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Pre-Great War

At the end of Cybertron's Golden Age, Blurr must make a choice between being a celebrity or a hero.

Synopsis

Blurr is the undefeated superstar champion of Cybertron's racing circuits. His success on the race track has made him an arrogant and distant individual, though. Following another victory he promises to celebrate with his pit crew (whose names he can't remember), only to reveal he intends to celebrate at The Circle, a nightclub only the elite of Cybertron can gain access to.

If you're down he'll pick you up, Doctor Robert. Take a drink from his special cup, Doctor Robert.

Blurr's world comes crashing down, however, after a Decepticon terrorist attack blows up the racing track. The manager of the races is ordered by the new Prime, Zeta Prime, to shut down the races in the name of public safety. Blurr runs into the lead tech on his pit crew, a bot named Parton Piston, in the race locker rooms. Blurr is surprised to see Piston clearing out his stuff, explaining that the races may very well return. Piston laments that they wouldn't matter even if they did return, as the Decepticon uprising is turning into an all-out civil war. Piston has opted to sign up with the Autobots, hoping to make something more of himself. Blurr refuses Piston's offer to join him among the Autobot ranks, declaring "The races might be over, but the parties aren't."

Blurr then arrives at The Circle to find it deserted. Bummer.

The bar's proprietor is shocked that Blurr didn't seem to notice the city's descent into the civil war. Hoping to drown his sorrows with a bottle of energon and an alternate reality generator, the race champion is interrupted by Starscream, who presents himself as "a friend". Blurr tells Starscream that the thrill of knowing what he's doing matters is what he loves about racing. Starscream then tells Blurr that his devotion to victory on the race track can lead to greater things, if he would only rebel against the weak regime and the Autobots who hold him down. Starscream remarks that, when the time comes, Blurr will know what to do.

Leaving The Circle, Blurr transforms to take a mind-clearing drive, only to enter into a war zone. Saved by Ironhide, he's rushed into the Autobot position. There he sees the dead bodies of Piston and his former racing comrade Fasttrack, early victims of the Autobot/Decepticon conflict. He then meets a young Autobot named Optimus, who explains to Blurr that his unique gift of making decisions in an instant is one he envies, and that Blurr would make a superb soldier, if he only turned his focus and drive outward instead of inward. Optimus then explains that the Decepticon group he and his teammates are fighting are an assassination squad, whose target is none other than the Autobot Commander Zeta Prime himself. Optimus's team can't communicate with Zeta's HQ, as the Decepticons are using Soundwave to block all transmissions in the area. Only Blurr is fast enough to break through the Decepticon line and warn Prime of the impending threat on his life.

After a heated exchange in which Optimus explains Cybertron's "Golden Age" only left the planet's rulers weak, and that the Decepticons are taking advantage of that weakness, the future Prime offers Blurr a spot within the Autobot ranks. After thinking it through, Blurr rushes off, breaking through the Decepticon barricade (and a few Decepticons as well), toward Zeta Prime's citadel headquarters.

As he speeds toward his objective, Blurr feels pride in the knowledge that what he's doing really matters.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons
Blurr (1) Piston (2) Ironhide (5) Optimus (6) Kup (7)	Fasttrack (3) Starscream (4) Skywarp (8)

Quotes

"Check that out... "simultronic." Reality inside reality."
"Brain fry. Who could ever want to run away from a world like this?"

—Blurr and Fasttrack discuss drug addictions.

"If this is going to be another conversation about how cold and arrogant I am, trust me, I've heard it all before."

—Blurr gets tired of criticism.

"The crowds. When I can feel them behind me. The lights. The roar. And that one moment, that one single moment, when I know what I'm doing really matters."

—Blurr, showing he is more than just a pretty face.

"You're wasting your time, kid. This one's just a pampered, arrogant, little upstart."

—Kup doesn't have time to deal with turbo-revvin' young punks.

Notes

Continuity notes

• Starscream's design in the issue is inconsistent with that shown in Megatron Origin. This is annoying.
• Kup refers to Orion Pax as "Optimus". Considering that Orion Pax didn't become Optimus Prime until Autocracy #9, this could be an outright error... however, he was also alternatively addressed as "Orion" and "Optimus" by his senator friend in "Chaos Theory Part 2", so who knows.
• The mouthplateless Pre-Prime Optimus is also inconsistent with that shown in Megatron Origin (well, his back, anyway), but this design is a pointed homage to Orion Pax. Artist Casey Coller stated that the design was Guido Guidi's. The different body was explained in "Omega's Conundrum" as a new, more fashionable upgrade.
• The big climax of the story is Blurr saving Zeta Prime's life… the same Zeta Prime who later stories will establish gradually went insane over the course of his reign and ultimately descended into authoritarian tyranny, culminating in the events of Autocracy and making this triumphant moment of character development into one of Blurr's greatest failures and regrets. Dark.
• First appearances: Blurr

Transformers references

• Blurr's limo is based on the alternate mode of Animated Bulkhead, a Generation 1 version of whom would much later be introduced in the Monstrosity flashback series.
• While getting hammered at the bar, the drinking vessels used to imbibe liquid energon are cube-shaped, so when full, they look just like small energon cubes.
• Optimus's backpack bears a strong resemblance to the canopy of the "artillery robot" in his Generation 1 toy's Combat Deck.

Real-world references

• Blurr's IDWverse design includes stylised Hermes/Mercury-style wing shapes on the sides of his helmet, in either a classical evocation, or a more pop-cultural reference to the Flash.

Errors

• Starscream gains a Decepticon symbol on his left shoulder that wasn't there on the previous page where he first appeared.
• The Decepticon assassination squad approaches the Citadel on foot despite at least two flight-capable warriors among their ranks.

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Blurr on a sports magazine cover; art by Casey Coller with colors by Joana Lafuente.
• Cover B: A monochromatic stylized, and rather art-deco image of Blurr sprinting by Trevor Hutchison.
• Cover RI: Sketch cover of Blurr and his enormous shoulders, by Guido Guidi.

• 
  Do you think Blurr would be interviewed by Eject?
• 
  Run, run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!
• 

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Reprints

• All Hail Megatron Volume 3 TPB (October 28, 2009) ISBN 1600105416 / ISBN 978-1600105418

• Collects the Spotlights: Blurr, Jazz, Drift, Cliffjumper and Metroplex.
• Bonus material includes a cover gallery, a 1-page art gallery featuring the Throttlebots and new cover art by Trevor Hutchison.

• The Transformers: The IDW Collection Volume One (May 26, 2010) ISBN 1600106676 / ISBN 978-1600106675

• Collects Megatron Origin, Spotlights: Blurr, Cliffjumper, Shockwave, Nightbeat, Hot Rod, Soundwave and Infiltration.

• The Transformers: The Complete All Hail Megatron (July 27, 2011) ISBN 1600109551 / ISBN 978-1600109553

• Collects All Hail Megatron issues 1–16, and the Spotlights of Volume 3.
• Bonus material includes a cover gallery and the art sketches from previous collections.

• The Transformers: Spotlight Omnibus Volume 2 (September 9, 2015) ISBN 1613779429 / ISBN 978-1613779422

• Collects Mirage, Wheelie, Cyclonus, Hardhead, Doubledealer, Sideswipe, Blurr, Jazz, Drift, Cliffjumper, Metroplex, and Prowl.

• The Transformers: The IDW Collection Compendium, Vol. 1 (July 6, 2016) ISBN 163140637X / ISBN 978-1631406379

• Collects the first two IDW Collection volumes.

• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 33: Megatron Origin (November 1, 2017)

• Includes the Megatron Origin series and the Spotlights for Blurr and Orion Pax.
• Bonus material includes a discussion of the production stages on Megatron: Origin by Eric Holmes, a cover gallery and an intro by Simon Furman.

• 
  All Hail Megatron Vol. 3 TPB; cover art by Trevor Hutchison
• 
  IDW Collection Vol. 1; cover art by E. J. Su
• 
  Complete All Hail Megatron; cover art by Trevor Hutchison
• 
  Spotlight Omnibus Volume 2; cover art by Jeffrey Veregge
• 
  IDW Collection Compendium, Vol. 1; cover art by Jeffrey Veregge
• 
  Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 33; cover art by Don Figueroa and Alex Milne