The Re-Burn of Blurr

« SD SG issue #7
"The Re-Burn of Blurr"
Publisher	Fun Publications
Published in	Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club #71
First published	October/November 2016
Script	Derrick J. Wyatt
Art	Josh Perez
Letters	Jesse Wittenrich
Continuity	Shattered Glass

Nobody cares about Kremzeek's story.

Synopsis

On Cybertron, the foul-mouthed sergeant Arcee leads her motley crew of Autobots through the street: the anti-social Sari Sumdac, the quiet Siren, the hotheaded Hosehead, and the quirky Nightbeat. Arcee orders them to stop while she does some "waste disposal," ordering them not to learn anything. However, the group are soon approached by the miserable Kremzeek, who carries the cube that was once Blurr and offers to tell them his "tale of woe". Sari immediately shoots down his offer, and Nightbeat crushes the cube even further with her hammer. Kremzeek tries to explain that the cube was once their comrade, but Hosehead burns the cube to a crisp. Shocked, Kremzeek tries to explain how Blurr reached this fate: he was crushed by the "daring" Shockwave when Shockwave sat on some "comfy buttons," but Sari interrupts him, punting the cube that was once Blurr into the distance. Arcee returns and leads the four onward, leaving Kremzeek to wallow in self-pity.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Decepticons	Autobots	Others
Shockwave (8)	Sari Sumdac (1) Siren (2) Hosehead (3) Nightbeat (4) Arcee (5) Blurr (7)	Kremzeek (6)

Notes

Transformers references

• The whole strip is, appropriately enough, a mirror-universe inversion of the BotCon 2015 script reading, "The Return of Blurr", with the mirror-version of Blurr ending up much worse than his positive-universe counterpart.
• New characters introduced in this story include:
  • Arcee, based on the design of her positive-universe counterpart, with the colors of Generation 1 Scourge. Additionally, she has two red energy swords, and the "wings", forehead gun, and beard of Scourge (because mirror universe characters having beards is funny). Unlike her positive-universe counterpart, she's a gruff and vulgar drill sergeant who doesn't want her students to learn anything.
  • The Headmaster Jrs. are all based on their positive universe counterparts, but with the colors of the 1988 Decepticon Headmasters, sold the same year as their Generation 1 counterparts. Siren has Fangry's colors, Hosehead has Horri-Bull's, and Nightbeat has Squeezeplay's.
  • The sniveling Kremzeek, identical in form to his positive-universe counterpart, but pinkish-purple with blue eyes and mouth.
  • Blurr, based on his positive-universe counterpart, but in the colors of the Generation 1 Sharkticons.
  • Shockwave, based on his positive-universe counterpart, but in Autobot red rather than Decepticon purple. His optic "iris" is a horizontal rectangle rather than a vertical slit, and one of his horns hangs upside down; as opposed to his cold, logical counterpart, he seems very laid back and somewhat dim.
• In the positive universe, Shockwave crushed Blurr into a cube in the Animated episode "TransWarped".
• Arcee claims she has to find a Hydrantacon so she can "drain the Dinobot", an intentionally crass euphemism for urination.
• The Japanese characters on Nightbeat's hammer reads "Head Off!", inverting the phrase used by the Headmasters of Japanese fiction to bond with their Transtectors.

Real-world references

• Nightbeat's personality is based on that of DC Comics villain Harley Quinn, as opposed to her positive-universe counterpart's Batgirl-inspired personality. Her design reflects this, with her antennae tips pointing outwards in emulation of Harley's jester's hat, along with her weapon of choice (a massive hammer) and her speech patterns (dropping the "g" in "pudding," for instance).
• The purple and white skull on Sari's fast food cup is the logo for Z0NE, an online animator of pornographic cartoon parodies. Evidently, instead of making things you can't bring up in mixed company, the alternate universe Z0NE went into the fast food business. The gag may be that you shouldn't indulge in too much of either...
• Hosehead shouts "kill it with fire!" as he burns the Blurr cube, a popular expression on the internet.

Other trivia

• Arcee's beard and her line about having to "drain the Dinobot" (paralleling "drain the lizard," a euphemism for penile urination) can unfortunately be read as transphobic commentary on the character. According to the comic's creators, this was an unintended consequence of the parody elements at play—"mirror universe beards are funny" and "normal TFA Arcee is nice so SGA Arcee is crude"—but understood how it could be interpreted in that way, and apologized for any offense it may have caused.
• Siren's barely readable dialogue says: "Derrick J. Wyatt sees me in his dreams" and "Josh Perez thinks I taste like Mint Chocolate."
• When Sari punts the Blurr cube, it "tings" off the panel flashing back to Shockwave accidentally crushing Blurr.