Spotlight: Blurr

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<tr style="background-color:#e7d492;text-align:center;font-size:12px;"> <td colspan="2" style="font-size: 14px; background-color:#e7d492; color:black;font-weight:bold;" align="center"> <table width="100%" style="background-color:transparent">

<tr style="font-size:14px;"> <td class="tti_buttonlink">« </td><td align="center">The Transformers: Spotlight #20 </td><td align="right" class="tti_buttonlink">» </td></tr> <tr class="tt1_secondarynav"> <td class="tti_buttonlink"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="right" class="tti_buttonlink"> </td></tr></table> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" style="font-size: 12px; background-color:#ffffff;" align="center"> <img alt="" src="/w2/images2/thumb/9/99/Spotlight_Blurr_a.jpg/230px-Spotlight_Blurr_a.jpg" width="230" height="342" border="0" /><br />I'm so great even I can't believe it! </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" style="font-size: 14px; background-color:#e7d492; color:black;font-weight:bold;" align="center"> "The Transformers Spotlight: Blurr" </td></tr> <tr> <td>Publisher </td><td> IDW Publishing </td></tr> <tr> <td>Date published </td><td> November 5, 2008 </td></tr> <tr> <td>Cover date </td><td> November 2008 </td></tr>

<tr> <td>Written by </td><td> Shane McCarthy </td></tr>

<tr> <td>Art by </td><td> Casey Coller </td></tr>

<tr> <td>Colors by </td><td> Joana Lafuente </td></tr>

<tr> <td>Letters by </td><td> Neil Uyetake </td></tr>

<tr> <td>Edits by </td><td> Denton J. Tipton </td></tr>

<tr> <td>Continuity </td><td> IDW continuity </td></tr> <tr> <td>Chronology </td><td> Pre-Great War </td></tr>

</table> 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.

File:Don't Do Drugs.JPG

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 <strike>Parton</strike> 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 team mates are fighting are an assassination squad, whose target is none other than the Autobot Commander Zeta Prime himself. Optimus' 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.)

<table border="5" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" align="center" style="border:#800000"> <tr> <th style="background:#FFEEEE"> Autobots</th><th style="background:#EEEEFE"> Decepticons </th></tr> <tr> <td style="background:#FFEEEE" valign="top">

• Blurr (1)
• Piston (2)
• Ironhide (5)
• Optimus (6)
• Kup (7)

</td><td style="background:#EEEEFE" valign="top">

• Fasttrack (3)
• Starscream (4)
• Skywarp (8)

</td></tr></table>

Quotes

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

—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."<br />

—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.

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.

Items of note

• While getting hammered at the bar, the drinking vessels used to imbibe liquid energon are cube-shaped, so when full, they look just like mini old skool G1 energon cubes.
• Cameos: Blurr's limo bears a striking resemblance to Animated Bulkhead.
• Blurr's IDWverse design includes stylised Mercury-style wing shapes on the sides of his helmet, in either a classical evocation, or a more popcultural reference to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flash" class="extiw" title="wikipedia:The_Flash">The Flash</a>.
• Starscream's design in the issue is inconsistent with that shown in Megatron: Origin. This is annoying.
• 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.

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 Burr sprinting by Trevor Hutchinson.
• Cover RI: Sketch cover of Blurr and his enormous shoulders, by Guido Guidi.

<table class="gallery" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td><div class="gallerybox" style="width: 155px;"> <div class="thumb" style="padding: 13px 0; width: 150px;"><div style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 120px;"><img alt="" src="/w2/images2/thumb/9/99/Spotlight_Blurr_a.jpg/81px-Spotlight_Blurr_a.jpg" width="81" height="120" border="0" /></div></div> <div class="gallerytext"> Do you think Blurr would be interviewed by Eject?

</div> </div></td> <td><div class="gallerybox" style="width: 155px;"> <div class="thumb" style="padding: 13px 0; width: 150px;"><div style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 120px;"><img alt="" src="/w2/images2/thumb/8/83/Spotlight_Blurr_cvrB.JPG/77px-Spotlight_Blurr_cvrB.JPG" width="77" height="120" border="0" /></div></div> <div class="gallerytext"> Run, run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!

</div> </div></td> <td><div class="gallerybox" style="width: 155px;"> <div class="thumb" style="padding: 13px 0; width: 150px;"><div style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 120px;"><img alt="" src="/w2/images2/thumb/6/66/Spotlight_Blurr_RI.jpg/77px-Spotlight_Blurr_RI.jpg" width="77" height="120" border="0" /></div></div> <div class="gallerytext"> ShOulDerZ HurT

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