So reading the latest Optimus Prime and one thing that struck me was that Bludgeon's caption has him as "mad scientist".

...since when?

I mean yeah, he’s up to some spooky stuff with that wand thingy but that hardly makes him a scientist now does it?

And yeah, I get that John Barber is having all sorts of fun with those captions and it’s a way of addressing the relevant tropes as much as anything else, but still...

Bludgeon's a scientist?

It’s not the first time this has happened by any means. Stormbringer cast Thunderwing as a scientist with such reckless confidence that it hardly seemed right to question, but that too is a bolt out of the blue. He'd never been much interested in science before*. And hell, there was a time when even Shockwave wasn’t a scientist, but a logic-driven tactitian-type. Specifically, the time before Dreamwave.

But noooo, I guess now that Bludgeon's been invited into the science club everyone can get in. Scorponok? Scientist. Galvatron? Scientist. Jhiaxus? Scient- oh wait he already is. Fine.

*I loved the bio Thunderwing had in Dreamwave's More Than Meets The Eye series, where he was essentially a spymaster and intelligence gatherer. Such a breath of fresh air for a Decepticon leader, instead of the standard power-hungry warlord.

 

Couldn't this post have been made in the Optimus Prime #10 discussion?

 

Pretty sure bludgeon's been a scientist his entire idw portrayal from waaaaaaaaaay back. He was obsessed with thunderwing and his ideas and followed them with a religious zeal.

Although every other con big bad being aad scientist is getting cliche.

 

Wasn't Bludgeon's entire intro to the IDW universe based on him reverse-engineering Thunderwing's work? Plus, he's been experimenting with Trypticon's blood since Redemption.

Shockwave as a scientist works, considering that he's basically Evil Mr Spock and the Decepticons didn't have a dedicated Science Guy before Dreamwave. Thunderwing-as-scientist was a very much deliberate change from back in the early days of IDW when Furman was trying to make it clear that this was Not Your Daddy's Furman Transformers; IDW Thunderwing has little beyond appearance to do with Marvel Thunderwing.

 

Well, they've got plenty of time for research with their incredibly large life-spans. There also needs to be a few around for peer review. 

With a multi-million year arms race I'm actually surprised there aren't as many scientists as one would expect. Though much of the research and development of strategic technology for the Autobots was probably conducted by faceless engineers in the New Institute, who we'll never meet. Experiments for innovation can still be undertaken without the need for scientific method, of course.

It's probably difficult to apply careers to this scenario, probably more niche theory considering most affiliated individuals were soldiers of some type. Given the fairly homogeneous occupation, specialists and generalists were likely to distinguish themselves from others, suited for differing roles despite the commonality. Some found niche space within scientific research, which was probably in high demand given the technological aspect of the warfare. Though they still remain competent combatants.

In contrast, artists were few, presumably because developing the associated skills wasn't perceived as beneficial for the war effort, subsequently there were only a few poets, a playwright and a media producer. This changed completely when the Camiens were brought on scene, where even quantum physicists had to undertake movement studies.

As I stated, I'd think there would have been more scientists given the historical conditions. But this doesn't compare with the absence of numbers to construction and maintenance forces, planning crews and those specialising on energy production and management. How the hell did they sustain conflict for so long?

 

Galvatron is no scientist, he just knows how to steal cool high-tech stuff. If anything he has a disdain for the science-minded.


Granted, IDW Decepticons do have a bigger Mad Scientist club than most versions- with the note that Starscream appears to no longer be a scientist, unlike G1.

 

Starscream was a scientist, a lot of people forget that. He also had some medical skills as well.

 

Starscream was a scientist and medic only because the Decepticons didn't have another science guy. It literally never came up outside of Fire in the Sky.

 

Bludgeon was an average fighter but a brilliant scientist!

 

IDW Bludgeon was introduced by Furman as a member of weird science cult reverse-engineering and worshipping Thunderwing's synthetic flesh Pretender research. In this continuity he always was a scientist.

IDW Scorponok ALSO was introduced by Furman as a mad scientist doing his own research about fusing mechanical and organic.

Them both being scientists isn't anything invented by Barber or Roberts. It harkens back to Furman's initial run.

 

You're right, never mentioned again.

Except in the Cosmic Rust episode, An Autobot in King Arthur's Court, The Ultimate Doom, the follow up episodes to that...

That's off the top of my head, and I'm sure I could find more. Hell, Starscream's Brigade arguably shows it as well.

 

Aren’t we all scientists, in our own way?

 

I recall a lot of Furman's villains were depicted as scientists, but Bludgeon wasn't one of them. I thought it was always assumed that his inner circle/the Decepticon pretenders, merely had the combined skillset available to resurrect Thunderwing, and that he himself was just a high ranked hunter/tracker of the Decepticons. He later saw Thunderwing as a tool that could be used to bring the Decepticon dream to fruition; obviously becoming a bit of a fanatic of the stormbringer as he delved deeper into his research. He may be a little mad, but I never thought him to be a scientist. Jhiaxus was merely a theoretical strategist when he was first introduced, and I figured his experiments on Arcee were accomplished under his orders, and not necessarily by him directly. Scorponok, however, was definitely a scientist when he was first introduced, focusing more on dabbling with alien cultures as his specialty. Thunderwing was one, of course. But that's what made his story a tragedy, in that he attempted to avert disaster and inadvertently created one. Shockwave developed the ores, but he only did so because it seemed logical to put his mind towards that kind of work. He did invent the device used to force Soundwave into mode-lock, though, so I guess he dabbled a little in that department. The whole Hearts of Steel thing being his doing was ridiculous, though.

All in all, it is very weird that Bludgeon is a mad scientist now. Especially when we already have so many mad/pseudo mad scientist characters already. Also can I say I hate those tags they give the characters? They have no real rhyme or reason to them, often ranging from "Warrior" or "Tactician" to "Funny Bird" or "Teleportation powers" to "Feeling awkward" or "Trying to help". They either focus on how one-dimensional these characters are, gives hamfisted exposition about a character, or treat the character like they should be defined by some incredibly tenuous aspect about them. Why even point out that Bludgeon is a "mad scientist" archetype with nothing more to him? If you're going to write a boring villain why would you scream at your readers about how boring he is? I think I mostly just hate how inconsistent they are with their purpose.

 

Hasn't Soundwave been seen/portrayed as a scientist in some continuities (before or after Dreamwave)?

 

I don't think after Dreamwave. Maybe during Dreamwave. In which case, ugh.

 

On the topic of bludgeon(but off topic from thread) why does he have that gouge in his mouth since before his whole pretender process thing? was it a battle wound.

 

I think he's just always looked like that, he's got wires in place of a mouth in his first chronological appearance.

On the topic of Bludgeon as a scientist, he's actually had a history of interest in science. In Spotlight: Shockwave, he's assigned to observe Shockwave's projects, and shows an interest in the experiment beyond simple observation. He also underwent the Pretender process due to an interest in Thunderwing's science. He's been quite interested in these topics for most of his appearances, so his current role as a mad scientist, especially now that he's been immobilized, is quite accurate.

 

Starscream, Optimus, Arcee, Windblade and their gang are everything Barber or Scott needs them to be at any given time to make sure the story is only about them.

 

The Decepticons never run straight military operations. It's always an experiment to create something new or bring something back, so all the story's antagonists have to be mad scientists.

It's lazy, weak, and boring, and has been polluting the fiction for a loooooong ass time. Shockwave and Jhiaxus weren't even scientists at first

 

SCIENCE BROS