Cultural Exchange and the Happiest Robot Ever

[terrykun]

So shall we review?

Combaticons (what's left of them) are working for/with North Korea.

The US President has declared any nation cooperating with Cybertronians will be labeled a terrorist faction.

A covert group of the US military, led by Commander Spike Witwicky, has been working with the Autobots to capture or disable any remaining Decepticons. Well, President or not, they're not just gonna sit around...


As we begin, our heroes have attempted to infiltrate North Korea via cargo ship, but after their bogus shipping manifesto is called out as such, a dock worker just gets punched out and chucked into the water.

Don't worry, he had a life-jacket on. He'll wake up in an hour or two, the soldier swears.




How... how do you look that excited without a mouth?

Oh, and here's a little somethin' somethin' for the ladies (and some gents).


 

Comments

[hyperactivator]

Maybe its my obsession with girl genius but death rays make me squee now.

[halialkers]

Call me cynical but I doubt the Dear Leader would invite immortal alien robots who've been fighting a war for the last 5 million years into his country. He'd probably fear they'd depose him and make his giant army actually a force to be reckoned with.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

I dunno, after decades of everyone feeding his ego, I'd bet he'd think he was enough to keep them in line.

It's not as if he's known for his wisdom and good judgement ;)

[halialkers]

Perhaps I should put it differently-the last thing the PRC will want is a super-powerful 1 million strong army amplified by alien technology on its border. That would trigger the mother of all arms races. The real North Korean Army is cannon fodder at best, while amplified by Cybertronian technology that would move it into the top 10 in the world in terms of quality as opposed to quantity.

I doubt Kim would push the Chinese on that matter.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Or he thinks he can grab South Korea before anyone can react. The armies of the world are still recovering from the Deceptioncon Invasion, and South Korea's capital is pretty close.

Sure, it's based on faulty logic, but North Korea's been running on that for years now ;)

[halialkers]

I don't think their logic is all *that* faulty, they've extorted billions out of the wealthy countries to keep the crapsack world Kim's running up and going. And before that they did the same to the USSR. All the same, if they let in the hostile aliens the PRC will invade them and wipe them out.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

They've only extorted enough to slide by, to prop up their regime but not nearly enough to be on solid ground. North Korea relies on outside help and foreign aid to avoid starving to death, which would be in short supply following an alien invasion.

Given that, and likely the illusion that he can control several of the most powerful aliens (the Combaticons can combine and it was stated they're playing him), making a power play is probably the only thing he can do. Otherwise, his army revolts or implodes

[halialkers]

Given that their regime survives at all, that's solid ground. And it's less foreign aid than their holding the entire population of Seoul hostage and using it to take money from the rich countries to develop nukes. The Chinese only support them for fear of an even bigger refugee crisis.

In any case there has to be an explanation for why the Chinese are tolerating a possible and real military threat on their border, which in this scenario would resume North Korea's traditional policies of allying with Russia.

[terrykun]

The Combaticons can't combine. They're missing Swindle and Blast Off for one thing, and the only gestalts so far are based off of deriving from the original, Monstructor.

The Constructicons were a success, but Menasor was only put together through Swindle's knowledge of the process, and it didn't work very well. Swindle hasn't hooked up with the other C-cons in a while.

[kamino_neko]

That would trigger the mother of all arms races.

The Americans have Cybertronian-based warsuits. If that (and the actual Decepticon invasion before it) didn't get the Chinese scrambling to build up a countermeasure, the invasion clearly left their economy and industrial base in such shambles it's doubtful that they can mount an effective reaction to the DPRK hiring the Combaticons. Having a neighbour (even a nominally allied one) with Cybertronians in their army will (most likely) accelerate the PRC's efforts, but they should already be building.

I doubt Kim would push the Chinese on that matter.

I don't - and your own post gives a very good argument as to why.

Right now, in the real world, the DPRK is relatively weak - strong enough to periodically rattle their sabres, but that's about it. In the IDWTF-verse, now that the Americans have Cybertronian-based weaponry, and are actively acquiring actual Cybertronians (again), they're not even able to do that.

Acquiring Cybertronian assets of their own not only brings them back to the world stage, it makes them one of the top dogs. (Theoretically, anyway...I'm not sure 4 Combaticons is really a major game changer.) That would appeal to the ego of a man like Kim, and the other leaders.

[halialkers]

I'm fairly sure that the Decepticons wouldn't have done well against the PRC. Their doctrine *allows* for the kind of suicidal attacks the US one doesn't. As strong as the aliens are there's only so much they'd be able to do against a modern military that's ready and willing for WWII-style bloodlettings, and in the context of a full-fledged invasion such scruples would be out the window.

And the Cybertronian assets idea I had in mind was more spreading the kind of advanced Cybertronian technology that North Korea has through the gigantic Army the Kim Dynasty has created. By that point Kim's got both Cybertronian-quality weaponry and enough numbers to counterbalance the United States.

And in any case in a realistic alien invasion scenario US conventional power could be easily destroyed in the first five minutes due first to it being spread literally all over the world and second due to being a relatively small 1 million strong volunteer force. If anyone's unrealistically powerful here, *it's the United States.*

[kamino_neko]

And the Cybertronian assets idea I had in mind was more spreading the kind of advanced Cybertronian technology that North Korea has through the gigantic Army the Kim Dynasty has created. By that point Kim's got both Cybertronian-quality weaponry and enough numbers to counterbalance the United States.

The kind of advanced Cybertronian technology North Korea has is 3 Decepticons (saying 4 above was a mistake) and an Energon processing plant. Like I said, not really much of a game-changer, so their moving up the ladder is mostly theoretical.

The US, on the other hand, has Skywatch, a unit primarily tasked with containing Cybertronians, who have mechs based on Cybertronian technology. They also have an alliance with the Autobots, which actually involves exchanges of information, but that's not publicly known (in fact, the subterfuge in this issue was because Cybertronians were declared WMDs, and therefore the alliance is illegal). On the other hand, while the real alliance is not known, there's not much chance that the captures aren't taken by those unfriendly to the US as building an army of alien robots (they had been trying to do just that before the invasion, in fact - though I skipped most of AHM, so I'm not sure how much of that is known in the wake of the fall of the Machination, and the changing of Skywatch's mandate).

BUT, the Koreans simply having a few Decepticon allies is is a) enough to tip the scales against an unprepared military without even that, and b) enough to imply they may have more, which could cow other nations until they can build their own countermeasures.

Could the Chinese overwhelm the Koreans, even with their Decepticon allies, if they decided to march? Probably...3 'bots can't be everywhere. But, why would they decide to march? The DPRK isn't hostile toward them. If they're worried, better that they accelerate their own build-up and make diplomatic enquiries.

Even ignoring the fact that the DPRK is constantly thumbing their nose at everyone else militarily, it's a good bet to make.

It's the US - who have both the technology to counteract the 'Cons, and an antagonistic relationship toward the DPRK - that would worth considering. But, again, it's not a bad bet that they could make some gains before the US mobilized against them.

And, again, if China isn't already doing something to counteract the possible use of Cybertronian tech against them (either by the Americans, or by a resurgent Decepticon army), that's a sign that the Decepticon invasion left them too spent to do so, so a theoretical threat from a friendly country isn't going to create an arms race.

[jarodrussell]

Wheeljack will be HAPPY to upgrade your guns. :-D

You gotta love a giant robot who lives in a giant robot factory. I know I do.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Heh, so Prime's trailer makes it's appearance. It's like a ninja!

[nezchan]

"I could sew a whole pair of pants in the time it takes to do these up."

Well, don't feel pressured to do them up on my account...

[grazzt]

Yeah, that's the flimsiest beefcake excuse I've ever seen.

Not that I'm complaining, mind.

[nezchan]

I'd prefer flimsier.

The pants, not the excuse.

[midnightvoyager]

This is what I get for skimming over what the comic actually was. I thought there were actual Koreans in the vehicles.

And then TRANSFORMERS.

*Dr. Pepper spewed out nose*

[kamino_neko]

How... how do you look that excited without a mouth?

I think the fact that Guidi posed him and composed the frame so that the seams and edges of his faceplate ended up shaped into 'ginormous grin' shape...

(Also that he's apparently trembling with joy.)

On another note, the extra panel...aside from being fairly nice to look at, puts my mind to the rather amusing...variety in how the various artists draw Spike... Though, at least Figueroa, Guidi, and Daes/Santalucia make him look more or less like the same character, I guess...I was halfway through issue 8 of the current series before I realized that it was about Spike.

[jlbarnett]

The G1 Cartoon had the best human/Autobot relationship. It's time to do a story based on that.

[geoffsebesta]

"how do you look that excited without a mouth?"

hand language, slightly concave lower eyelids, and a face mask that looks exactly like a smile.