The Arrival issue 4

« Transformers Animated: The Arrival #4 »
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	November 12, 2008
Cover date	November 2008
Written by	Marty Isenberg
Art by	Boo (on "A Few Loose Strands")
Pencils by	Dario Brizuela (on "The Insincerest Form of Flattery")
Inks by	Leandro Corral (on "The Insincerest Form of Flattery")
Colors by	Liam Shalloo
Letters by	Chris Mowry
Edits by	Denton J. Tipton
Continuity	Animated cartoon continuity

Bulkhead deals with some cheap knockoffs; Lockdown and Blackarachnia have a lunar showdown.

"The Insincerest Form of Flattery"

Synopsis

At the Annual Auto/Robo Show in the Detroit Convention Center, corporate slimeball Porter C. Powell is unveiling Powell Motorworks' newest consumer vehicle line: the Bulkhead, a gas-guzzling "mega van" inspired by the Autobot of the same name. Bulkhead himself, naturally, is deeply unenthusiastic about his name and altmode being appropriated in such a way, and crashes the press event to make his feelings known; Powell retorts that, as said altmode was based upon an existing Powell Motorworks vehicle in the first place, Bulkhead has no rights to any trademark, and proceeds to conveniently edit the Autobot's words of protest into a glowing recommendation. Soon, the streets of Detroit are flooded with the oversized and poorly constructed vehicles, with even Detroit's supervillains getting in on the Bulkhead action, causing danger and confusion to Autobots and humans alike.

Realizing that the slapdash manufacturing of the Bulkhead knockoffs are making them a hazard as well as a nuisance, Bulkhead formulates a plan to trap Powell; at Pimp My Bulkhead, a Powell Motorworks design competition for custom-painted Bulkheads, the sleazy CEO is tricked into boarding a Powell-themed vehicle, driven by a mysterious hooded figure, which proceeds to take him on a dangerous high-speed joyride, during which a terrified Powell confesses the perilous design flaws of the unit. The vehicle, of course, turns out to be the real Bulkhead repainted, and the hooded figure a hidden camera which has captured Powell's entire confession, forcing a recall of the defective vehicles.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"And I suppose you've registered the patent and copyrighted your name and image."
"Uh... no."

—Porter C. Powell informs Bulkhead that he's just lost the trademark on his own name. Don't worry, Bulkhead: just rename yourself "Autobot Bulkblast", and you should be right as rain.

"Curse this unwieldy gargantuan! My kingdom for a hybrid!"

—The Angry Archer regrets not listening to Al Gore.

"What I can't figure out is who in their right processor would want to ride around in such a gaudy custom paint job in the first place"

—Ratchet speaks out on the evils of neon repaints.

Errors

• None yet identified.

Items of Note

• Bulkhead's altmode was already a mass-produced vehicle: an armored personnel carrier.
• When the disguised Bulkhead transforms to robot mode, his paint job goes from the vehicle mode's solid blocks of color to random swooshes and blotches. According to colorist Liam Shalloo, this was done intentionally to show the movement of paint during transformation.^[1]

Real-world references

• The Angry Archer paraphrases "A horse! A horse! My Kingdom for a horse!" from Shakespeare's Richard III.
• Powell invites the people of Detroit to "Pimp My Bulkhead".
• Powell refers to the Bulkhead as "unsafe at any speed", a reference to Unsafe at Any Speed, a 1965 expose of the auto industry by Ralph Nader.
• Many of the Bulkhead's traits are references to notorious real-life cars: the idea of a military vehicle being converted for gas-guzzling civilian use invokes the Hummer, its habit of rolling over at a moment's notice suggests the Reliant Robin, and its poorly-placed fuel tank and habit of catching fire is pulled from the Ford Pinto.

"A Few Loose Strands"

Synopsis

At the Decepticon headquarters on New Kaon, Lockdown is hired by Blitzwing to bring in the Autobot presumed responsible for Megatron's death and is allowed to name his price—specifically, Lugnut's "Punch of Kill Everything". Tracking the Nemesis to the location of its crash on the Moon, Lockdown, through use of the security footage, determines that a repair crew led by Optimus Prime was responsible. At that moment, however, he is suddenly ambushed by Blackarachnia, who unbeknownst to him is also investigating the crashed hulk of the Nemesis.

Not willing to risk the bounty hunter finding the AllSpark before her, Blackarachnia attempts to dissuade him from investigating Earth, but Lockdown doesn't take kindly to her interference, and the pair come to blows. Seemingly incapacitated, Blackarachnia uses her download ability on Lockdown, knocking him out, but she is immediately overwhelmed by the sheer number of powers and modifications she ends up taking from him, and passes out herself.

When Lockdown comes to, Blackarachnia is seemingly gone. Dismissing this, he boards his ship and heads down to Detroit in pursuit of his real target, Optimus Prime, little realising that Blackarachnia, stowing away aboard his ship and hidden from its scanners thanks to her techno-organic make-up, has hitched a free ride to Earth and is now hot in pursuit of the very same Autobot...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

• None yet identified.

Errors

• Despite being set before "Lost and Found", Lugnut and Blitzwing are depicted with their Earth mode bodies.
• Similarly, Blackarachnia is using her discarded early character model, rather than the final version. It can't be a pre-Earth form, as Blackarachnia's whole deal is her inability to alter her form. (The early version was also used in the pilot episode, but was replaced by her second appearance.)

Continuity notes

• "A Few Loose Strands" takes place immediately prior to "The Thrill of the Hunt", and also reveals how Blackarachnia got to Earth in "Along Came a Spider".
• When Lockdown checks The Nemesis' databanks to find the Autobots responsible for Megatron's disappearance, Prowl is absent from the ship's crew manifest. Wonder why.
• Lockdown is incredulous at Megatron being offlined by a Space Bridge repair crew, saying that something doesn't add up; while the bounty hunter never learns of it, that "something" is the bomb that Starscream planted on Megatron's back, which damaged the Decepticon leader enough that Prime's crew were able to overcome him.

Items of Note

• In the background of page 13, Lugnut can be seen crushing the "infidel" Oil Slick in his grip for daring to suggest that mighty Megatron might be offline.
• Speaking of Luggy, that page was also used to canonize the name of his Punch of Kill Everything.

Transformers references

• The walls of the Decepticon headquarters are adorned with artifacts including the live-action movie Optimus Prime's energy sword and Generation 1 Starscream's null ray.
• Among the trophies seen on Lockdown's ship are the disembodied head of a white-coloured Bumblebee and what appears to be the Matrix of Leadership.

Real-world references

• The final panel with Blackarachnia is blatantly Spider-Man-ny, down to her holding the tangled, Todd-McFarlane-esque "spaghetti" web-line.

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Porter C. Powell looms menacingly over Bulkhead; art and colors by Marcelo Matere.
• Cover B: A poncho-clad Lockdown faces Blackarachnia; art and colors by Josh Burcham.
• Incentive Cover RI: Megatron stock art.

• 

  Bulkheads, I say Bulkheads fer sale!

• 

  Cue The Good, The Bad and the Ugly theme

• 

  Yessssss.

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• The Arrival #5
• The Dreamland Chronicles figurines
• The Dreamland Chronicles comic
• All Hail Megatron
• Target: 2006 TPB
• G.I. Joe comics
• Doctor Who: The Forgotten
• Ghostbusters: The Other Side
• Transformers Animated: The Game
• Transformers Animated comics
• Angel Omnibus (back cover)

References

1. ↑ Comment on TFWiki talk page