G.B. Blackrock
| This article is about the Generation 1 human. For the Shattered Glass human, see R.J. Blackrock. |
- G.B. Blackrock is a human from 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.
Sometimes his first name is Garrison.
Fiction
Marvel Comics continuity
Marvel The Transformers 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!
In order to counter the robots, Blackrock began building an Anti-Robot Photonic Multi-Cannon. Decepticon Dam-Busters! 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! Christmas Breaker!
Unknown to Blackrock, Professor Peter Anthony Morris once accused him of masterminding the Transformers war to his superiors (and Blackrock's chief competitors) at Roxxon Oil. The Icarus Theory
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 in battling the Decepticons. During one delivery, the plant was attacked by Bombshell and Thrust and only quick work from Jetfire saved Blackrock from the resulting inferno. 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, parasites deadly to all mechanical life. 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 to be hauled in at the crash site. Blackrock accompanied the trucks to Death Valley, and was dismayed when the Scraplets merged into a giant monster and trashed one of his vehicles. 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 Blackrock Oil Storage Facility 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!
Transformers Comic-Magazin
A team from J.B. Blackrock's company helped the Autobots prevent the Decepticons from taking over an oil refinery in an event whose recording was used in a wayward simulation experienced by Goldbug. Memories of Bumblebee
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
After Megatron conquered Earth in 1995, Blackrock led a small band of humans to Argus Base, an abandoned military base. It was there that Blackrock used his knowledge of Circuit Breaker's neural-cybernetic technology to revive Spike Witwicky, who had been comatose since his Headmaster partner Fortress Maximus's death, as Circuit Smasher.
In 2012, Blackrock was there when Circuit Smasher brought the Wreckers to the base, asking them where Optimus Prime was. He later helped devise a plan to shut down the Ark. Loose Ends, Part 3
After Optimus Prime and reinforcements arrived from Cybertron, Megatron was destroyed and the Ark was deactivated. Nevertheless, Blackrock and Witwicky insisted the Autobots get off their planet, as Cybertronians were no longer welcome on Earth. Natural Selection, Part One
Along with Spike's wife and commanding officer Linda Chang, they began a settlement called Little America, Wyoming, and were less than thrilled to discover Prime remained behind despite their wishes. Still, Prime's proposal of a space bridge connecting them and Nebulos in order to pool resources had merit. Destiny, Part Two
After Cybertron's Star Chamber connected them to Nebulos, Blackrock and the humans met at their constructed space bridge in Oklahoma to greet their new "neighbors". Instead, a possessed Fortress Maximus emerged from the nexus, kidnapped Spike, and seriously beat Optimus. The War to End All Wars, Part 3 G.B. did his best to get Prime functioning again in order to discover what their enemy was. The War to End All Wars, Part 4 After the Dark Matrix's machinations ended, Blackrock went ahead and established the expected relations with Nebulos. The War to End All Wars, Part 5
IDW Generation 1 continuity
Long ago, Onyx Prime created a sleeper agent on Earth, a robot made out of meat and given false memories as a human: Garrison Blackrock. Helden Blackrock remembered this as a childhood visit from a "black angel" who gave him visions Lagrange and went looking for the ancient Enigma of Combination on Onyx's behalf. Helden
In public, Blackrock was the CEO of Onyx, a technology corporation using reverse-engineered Cybertronian technology to make people's life easier... on the surface, at least. Behind closed doors he was also in the business of war, building advanced weaponry and even a clone army of Transformers for Earth Defense Command Signals, Calls, and Marches., not to mention a space station "commune" for the Decepticons allied to Earth. South of Heaven Behind even that, he believed himself to be a descendant of Gilgamesh and had indeed found Cybertron's lost Enigma, along with many other relics from after the Transformers officially appeared on Earth and he began hunting their stuff down. ONoffON EDC leader Marissa Faireborn knew that there were no records of Blackrock existing at all before three years ago. South of Heaven
His latest invention, the Onyx Interface, was meant to simply be the hottest new kit.Signals, Calls, and Marches. In actual fact it used Enigma code to see right into the data of every device that used the Interface... and right into their very souls! What worried Blackrock was he couldn't see his own soul when he did it. The Nothing Man
During the public launch of the Onyx Interface, Blackrock was interrupted by Spike Witwicky hacking the conference to reveal the connection between Onyx and the EDC to the world. He tried to spin the interruption as a mistimed video game announcement as he awaited the arrival of Director Faireborn, then was annoyed she'd only brought one other agent to the scene, as more troops would have increased the insecurity among the population and allowed him to sell more weapons and distractions. Signals, Calls, and Marches. After a clash between Autobots, Decepticons and Witwicky in Tokyo, Blackrock saw fit to reveal to Faireborn that Onyx was in possession of the Enigma of Combination, the ancient Cybertronian artifact that he believed once built human society. Vs. After flying them to his Wanmu facility, he grandly proclaimed his ancestry, that the Enigma had constantly shaped our world, and that his family were always there to reap the riches. When the facility came under attack by Prowl's Devastator, Blackrock also revealed he could remotely activate and control the EDC's drone army! ONoffON
Cybertronian intervention took out that army and saw the Enigma, and a space bridge he'd acquired, taken from him, but the Onyx Interface had sold so it wasn't a total loss. He quietly activated the "Earth Enigma" function to start a-spying. The Onyx Interface Conclusion: The Obliterati
Shortly after, Blackrock finally revealed the snazzy new commune to Soundwave and Galvatron's Decepticons. The visiting Ayana Jones and Faireborne were weirded out by his calm demeanour. South of Heaven
Blackrock began to make his move from within the EDC's own base, all while talking to Spike: he hoped the dodgy geezer would be able to help him work out who and what the hell he was. While talking Spike through his big plans with Onyx, Blackrock used the operating system to take control of the Ark-7 and trap it within a forcefield; other Autobots were captured by drones. The Nothing Man Even Spike found it disturbing when Blackrock began slowly dissolving the captive Autobots so he could convert them into lonsdaleite! Aphelion However, Blackrock was keeping the prisoners in the EDC base, unknown to his human allies, and the jig was swiftly up when D.0.C. and Buster broke them loose!
Unfortunately for all concerned, that was when Galvatron attacked: he'd worked out Blackrock was a Cybertronian made to do Onyx's dirty work and then summon him to Earth, but the Decepticon had other plans! Helden Blackrock was kidnapped by Galvatron and Skywarp, who brought him to Shanghai, China where the invasion was set to begin. Perihelion
Kre-O comic
G.B. Blackrock was minding his own business at Metroplex when Earth's most wanted criminals attacked the Autobots' base! The villains nearly managed to take off with Metroplex's brain (downloaded onto a floppy disk) but Carzap snatched it out of the Headmaster's grip. G.B. Blackrock then used his Circuit Smasher to separate the Headmaster from Sentinel Prime's body, forcing the villains to flee empty-handed. The Brick List: Earth's Most Wanted
Toys
Timelines
- Carzap (2015)
- TFSS3 number: 1
- Accessories: 2 blasters, gas pump/laser blaster block set
- A retool of Generations Thrilling 30 Deluxe Class Bumblebee, Carzap sports a new head based on the Windbreaker mold, and a deco based on the cancelled Block Town Carzap toy. He transforms into a muscle car, and wields a pair of blasters that can be combined into one, larger weapon.
- In homage to Block Town, Carzap includes a small gas pump building set which can turn into a cannon, and a G.B. Blackrock Kreon. He was available only as part of the Transformers Figure Subscription Service 3.0.
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 unable 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 'stache).[1] The series fell through, however.
