G.B. Blackrock: Difference between revisions
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{{note|Blackrock did not appear in the story itself, just this illustration in the "[[Games of Deception]]" Diamond Edition prologue.}} | {{note|Blackrock did not appear in the story itself, just this illustration in the "[[Games of Deception]]" Diamond Edition prologue.}} | ||
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====''Regeneration One''==== | |||
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{{storylink|Loose Ends, Part 3}} | |||
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==Notes== | ==Notes== | ||
Revision as of 14:13, 26 September 2012
| This article is about the industrialist from Generation 1. For the industrialist from Shattered Glass, see R.J. Blackrock{{#switch:{{#sub:R.J. Blackrock|-1}} | != | .= | ?= | .
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- G.B. Blackrock is a human from the Marvel Comics portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
G.B. Blackrock is a shrewd businessman—he's built his company, Blackrock Enterprises, into a global success and is himself worth millions of dollars. Despite this, he also knows that people are more important than money, and his first concern, even before making money, is the safety and welfare of his workers. The fact that Josie Beller was injured defending his oil rig continues to haunt him.
With the arrival of the Autobots and Decepticons on Earth, Blackrock is one of the few humans with power to actually distinguish between the two sides, and his loyalties lie firmly with the Autobots. Perhaps he can convince more people to listen to him.
Fiction
Marvel Generation 1 comics
Blackrock Enterprises unveiled a new highly efficient oil-drilling platform to the public. Interviewed by Charlene Welles, G.B. Blackrock gave the credit for the rig's design to employee Josie Beller. Their broadcast was seen by the newly-arrived Shockwave. The New Order Less than an hour later, Shockwave attacked the rig. Blackrock sounded the alarm. Though the rig's defenses, controlled by Beller, were formidable, Shockwave overcame them all, and Blackrock ordered the evacuation of the rig. Josie, however, was knocked out by an electrical malfunction, and as Blackrock carried her out of the rig, Shockwave appeared in front of him, telling him to take the message back to the other humans that resistance was useless. The Worse of Two Evils!
Blackrock had the security beefed up at his other installations, adding artillery cannons and a private army to Blackrock Aerospace Assembly Plant Number One, but even this wasn't enough to stop Soundwave infiltrating it by tricking a worker. Blackrock learned about it from a news bulletin and announced he wasn't beaten yet. He visited the now-paralyzed Josie in her hospital bed at Blackrock Chronic Care Institute, delivering her the printed circuit design equipment she'd asked for. Though he felt the loss of the assembly plant meant that he'd failed her, he promised that the evil robots would be stopped. Warrior School! Enlisting the aid of Colonel Hawthorne and his men, Blackrock intended to take back the assembly plant. When Shockwave turned up at the plant, and the army opened fire, Blackrock was forced to tell them to stop, as the ricocheting shells were endangering his workers. He glared with silent anger while the reporter continued to try to question him. Repeat Performance!
Ames interrupted Blackrock's motor racing at Blackrock Motor Speedway to introduce him to General Capshaw, who warned him about unleashing the new superweapon he was building on the mysterious robots. Blackrock was dismissive of the General, worrying only about the safety of his workers and the security of his business. He instead visited Josie, who was keen to help, but Blackrock was determined to keep her out of harm's way. Later that night, Blackrock was visited in his office by Josie, now in a circuit exoskeleton she'd built for herself, and calling herself Circuit Breaker. Though Blackrock was impressed, he insisted she should keep out of the conflict and instead return to the clinic. She responded by storming out of his office.
The next day at the race track, Blackrock encountered Jazz, who took him for a ride and explained about the Autobot/Decepticon conflict. The pair struck a deal—Blackrock would supply the Autobots with fuel in exchange for them protecting his factories. Later, Blackrock attempted to unveil the Anti-Robot Photonic Multi-Cannon at the speedway, only for it to malfunction during the test firing. Circuit Breaker revealed that she'd sabotaged it so that he would have to unveil her as the secret weapon instead. When Starscream and Frenzy attacked, Jazz transformed to defend the humans, only to be zapped by Circuit Breaker despite Blackrock's protests that Jazz was on their side. When she zapped Wheeljack as well, Blackrock pleaded with her to stop and look at what she was doing. She acceded, but promised next time Blackrock wouldn't stop her from destroying the robots, and Blackrock realized that her experiences had turned her into a cold, inhuman killer. DIS-Integrated Circuits!
Prowl showed Blackrock around the Ark, visiting Jazz in Ratchet's medical bay while Prowl assured him that the Autobots were committed to staying hidden as much as possible. Blackrock suddenly remembered that all the phones at the aerospace plant were bugged, and he and Prowl used them to listen in on Shockwave talking to Optimus Prime's head. The Next Best Thing to Being There! This information would later aid the Autobots in rescuing Optimus and liberating the plant, though Blackrock himself didn't get involved. Prime Time! Blackrock went to check out the navy blockade surrounding the oil rig the Decepticons had captured, and talked to Walter Barnett. Though Blackrock was keen to recapture the rig, Barnett said that would run the risk of a catastrophic oil leak. He was further unimpressed by the navy's fruitless efforts to stop the Decepticons coming and going as they pleased. Rock and Roll-Out!
As Blackrock had had the most contact with the alien robots, Barnett invited him along to the Intelligence and Information Institute. He told them about the fact that there were two factions, but was abruptly dismissed, and the I.I.I. decided to treat all of the invaders as enemies anyway. When "Robot Master" subsequently appeared on television to claim all of the robots were under his control, Blackrock quickly concluded that I.I.I. were behind it and told Bumblebee as much when the Autobot met with him later. However a comment he made to reporters resulted in a rumor that Robot Master was a fraud, and Burnett demanded he take back what he'd said. Blackrock refused, suggesting the Decepticons might soon get sick of Finkleberg claiming to be their leader and kill him. When the Autobots arrived a short time later and were attacked by the military, Blackrock demanded Burnett stop the humans. After the Autobots were forced to retreat, and the nearby Megatron was restored to life, Blackrock watched as the Decepticons abducted Finkleberg. I, Robot-Master!
As promised, Blackrock would continue to deliver specially-treated fuel to the Autobots, though they used a lot of in battling the Decepticons. During one delivery, the place was attacked by Bombshell and Thrust and only quick work from Jetfire saved Blackrock's life. The Gift
Blackrock was enjoying some time off on a cruise ship when an aerial battle broke out overhead between G.I. Joe and Cobra over control of Power Station Alpha. Serpentor used the cruise ship as a bargaining chip by threatening to sink it if the Joes didn't let them get a way with the power station. Hawk agreed to let Cobra get away with the power station, but Serpentor ordered the cruise ship sunk anyway. While G.I. Joe evacuated the cruise ship, Blackrock overheard Crankcase talking about their problems with giant robots and offered his assistance. Power Struggle He was taken back to Fort Lewis where Mainframe and Crankcase were inspecting the remains of the yellow robot the Joes blew up earlier. Blackrock explained how the robots were aliens in a civil war and the robot they killed was one of the good guys. He was surprised when Mainframe told him that it might be possible to salvage the robot's life essence from the wreckage. Ashes, Ashes...
While out on a date with Felicia, Blackrock was approached by Goldbug who insisted on interrupting the date for a talk. Felicia was very unhappy about being driven home in a Volkswagen, leaving Blackrock in a less than agreeable mood. At a Blackrock gas station, Goldbug and Blaster told him they'd deserted the Autobot army now that Grimlock was in charge and they needed help in finding the Decepticons. They eventually persuaded Blackrock to help them, and he told them about a strange meteorite that had recently crashed. As they prepared to roll out, he quickly asked for a ride home. Crater Critters The meteorite turned out to be harboring Scraplets. When it transpired that the cure to Scraplets was water, Goldbug rang up Blackrock and arranged a couple of tanker trucks full of the stuff. Blackrock accompanied the trucks to Death Valley, and was dismayed when the Scraplets merged into a giant monster and trashed one of his trucks. Following the defeat of the Scraplets, Astrotrain surreptitiously used a hypnotic device on Blackrock. The Cure!
Under the Decepticons' influence, Blackrock set up a franchise of Wash and Roll car washes. After holding a press conference to tout the venture's success, Blackrock returned to his office where Ratbat congratulated him on his work. The car washes contained stroboscopic opticons, which temporarily hypnotized users into taking their cars to a Decepticon installation and siphoning their fuel for Decepticon use. Soon, he was unveiling to his franchise holders the Wash and Roll mark II, which would have permanent effects. When Buster Witwicky caused a neon sign to smash, the flash of light broke Blackrock and the other humans present out of their hypnosis and they chased Ratbat and Laserbeak away. Blackrock later thanked Buster and Jesse, promising his company would dismantle the Wash and Rolls and refund everyone's money, as well as use the profits from the stolen fuel to help the poor. Buster Witwicky and the Car Wash of Doom
Following the collapse of RAAT, Blackrock set about assembling a new group of superhuman defenders dubbed the Neo-Knights. After recruiting Thunderpunch and Rapture, he gained footage of a mysterious man fighting Decepticons at an oil refinery in Louisiana. Blackrock took his recruits to find Hector Dialonzo, though neither of them seemed to enjoy the gaudy superhero costumes Blackrock made them wear. They arrived at Dialonzo's location to find Starscream fighting Circuit Breaker. Once Hector accepted Blackrock's offer of membership in the Neo-Knights, Blackrock made the same offer to Circuit Breaker, and she accepted. The Human Factor! He and his new team arrived on the scene as Optimus Prime was trying to arrange a truce with Scorponok so the Autobots and Decepticons could fight Unicron together. ...All This and Civil War 2 During the Neo-Knights' fight with Scorponok, Circuit Breaker was shot by Shockwave and naturally assumed the nearby Autobots were to blame. Blackrock tried fruitlessly to stop her from blasting the Autobots in retaliation, until he spotted Shockwave nearby, and managed to switch Circuit Breaker's attention to the Decepticon who had originally paralyzed her. In the aftermath of the battle, Blackrock and the Neo-Knights were mistakenly transported to Cybertron by Primus. Out of Time!
With Circuit Breaker's sanity quickly breaking down as a result of being surrounded by robots, Blackrock told Optimus to ask Primus to send the Neo-Knights back to Earth. Primus unfortunately vanished before Optimus could do so. The Void As Unicron attacked the planet, the humans sought shelter. Thunderpunch believed they should help the Transformers against Unicron, though Blackrock thought it was hopeless. When the other Neo-Knights sided with Thunderpunch, he felt ashamed and joined them as well. Their attempts to attack Unicron proved fruitless, and Blackrock slapped Josie in an attempt to snap her out of her stupefied state. It worked, and with him goading her on, she blasted Unicron long enough for Optimus to grab the Matrix of Leadership and finish Unicron off. On the Edge of Extinction!
After the destruction of Unicron, Blackrock and the Neo-Knights were stuck in a room somewhere to await transport back to Earth. Blackrock blamed himself for Circuit Breaker's current condition, believing his bullying to get her into action had cost her what little sanity she had left. In the next room was Hi-Q, whose personality had been fused with that of Optimus Prime and now believed himself to be the Autobot leader. Exodus! Hi-Q insisted they had to stay on Cybertron and find the Last Autobot. Blackrock wondered what the six of them could do against a dying planet, but then Thunderpunch defeated him with logic, pointing out he'd been as pessimistic about their chances against Unicron. A Savage Circle Convinced, Blackrock and the Neo-Knights stayed on Cybertron after the Autobots left and indeed found the Last Autobot. The Last Autobot? After the Last Autobot resurrected Optimus Prime, Blackrock and the Neo-Knights helped defeat a group of Decepticons on Klo, and were returned to Earth by the Autobots. End of the Road!
Classics
Before leaving Cybertron, Blackrock looked on as the Last Autobot created Modus Prime, part of a new race of Transformer called the Mini-Cons whose task it was to restore Cybertron. The New World
Regeneration One
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Notes
- G.B. Blackrock was named after writer Bob Budiansky's friend Gary Bennett Schwartz. It is presumed that this is what his initials stand for. (Note also that the name "Schwarz", without a "t", means "black" in German.)
- Within Blackrock's first several appearances, he seems to not be able to decide whether he wants a mustache or not. He's got one up through issue 6, then in 7 and 8 he doesn't have one, then in 9 he has a mustache again, and then it's gone in issue 15. After that, he always has the mustache. Perhaps he decided to keep it to physically distinguish himself from his Chief of Staff, Ames, who is otherwise his perfect double.
- Blackrock was going to become part of the Furman/Wildman Techno-X series, a reworked Neo-Knights in the early 90s; the Transformers would have been just a simulation to train them against real robots. He was going to have a deep, dark secret and fight Tony Stark (probably not over who had the best 'tache). Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club issue 41 The series fell through, however.