It’s the last of the main fights in this tournament. Which is fine, because I’m out of Bumblebee fights in the Marvel series. (So I wonder what I’m doing for the bonus round.) This also has an extra bit of significance: this is the point where I feel Furman went off the rails when it comes to his Transformers run. But that’s an article for another time, when I get into the Creation Matrix.

No, Spacebooger wants to see some tailpipe whooping, and that’s what I aim to bring you.

Round 12 of 12

The Battlefield: The Transformers #65 “Dark Creation”, part 4 of the 5-part “Matrix Quest” saga, by way of Titan’s collection also called “Matrix Quest”.

The Promoters: Simon Furman (writer); Geoff Senior (artist); Jim Massara (letterer), Nel Yomtov (hanger-on) and Don Daley (editor)

Long story short, because I’ll give you the hard stuff soon enough. Thunderwing versus the Autobot Classic Pretenders. Go!

This is how Grimlock solves all his problems. And by solve I don't mean solve at all.

Now remember that Grimlock (in his Pretender shell, so you don’t think he was THAT far off model–Senior’s sin was making the Transformers pretty much a bunch of boxes, although his humans and Pretender shell were decent) is Simon Furman’s pet character. His go-to for badasses. That means to show us how powerful Thunderwing is supposed to be, Grimlock is getting Worfed. WARNING: If you click that link, you’re going to TV Tropes. People have been lost for days on that site.

Does that make Thunderwing the Great Pretender? It's a song, look it up.

Yeah, that’s pretty much how Bumblebee goes down. Actually, another fight ensues later, but we’re only told about it–not even with pictures–the next issue, so I’m pretty sure this is the last we see of Bumblebee in the forefront of the fight. Not the way I wanted it to end, but we’ll see what happens in the bonus round. In the meantime…

click to vote in this week's tournament

Gather your friends and loved ones and get them involved in the Friday Night Fights! Wait, shouldn’t your friends be AMONG your loved ones? What’s wrong with you? Jerk!