*Long post about G.I. Joe Issue #20*
Here’s the thing about Skybound Duke from what I’ve gathered—
It’s not just his friend dying so suddenly and so callously that, as Hawk put it (or rather “Hawk” at that point already maybe), turned Duke into a “Walking American Nightmare”—
It’s the disillusionment and trust issues resulting from how the response to that by his superiors in the military was handled (with Colonel Hawk being the face of that).
Ever since his encounter with Starscream, people either haven’t believed him on how his friend actually died (and for an explicit half a year straight)—or had been actively lying to and keeping him from knowing certain things that are “bigger than him”—
And he. F*cking. Hates that.
He didn’t spend years working in search and rescue (as he cares very much about helping/protecting people) with pretty much a perfect record, just for his life to get turned upside down after a horrific situation that he couldn’t anticipate and fully control like he usually did with his missions—
And then basically told to shut up and get over it.
No. That’s not why he serves, and that’s not how things are supposed to be handled…but that’s often if not mostly what happens.
It’s what happened with Sparkplug, and it’s also what happened with Matt from what we know so far.
In short, Duke’s been through a lotta s**t, and is a ticking time bomb, and for good reason.
And he wants answers. Now.
So you can imagine how I felt reading this page lol—
*Sigh* Duke was so close, you guys.
All he had to do was ask Matt “What’s Shadow Watch? Who’s Mayhem? How do you know how to work with alien tech?”
And then Matt, well, might’ve given his whole backstory—which the writers obviously don’t want this soon, which alright, y’all wanna wait till June to spill the deets—
Duke would not gaf. Just sayin’. He didn’t put up with all this gaslighting from his side and Cobra bs just to still keep being left in the dark.
He would block Matt’s way until Matt explained exactly wtf’s been going on—or at least on his end.
That way Duke, Clutch and Hound would find out that the government/military pretty much knew about aliens/the robots the entire f*cking time, and Duke would remember Burkhart’s words about there being an arms race and connect the dots—
Duke: *Gets in his way* Is this Mayhem part of Cobra?
Matt: Wouldn’t count on it. He’s not one for being taken for a pawn. I’ll deal with him. You just keep taking care of Cobra and M.A.R.S.
Matt: Guess Clutch didn’t tell you this—I work alone. Less people get hurt that way.
*Walks around him* And you’re caught in enough crosshairs as it is.
If I need more help, I’ll figure it out.
Duke: Whatever “Shadow Watch” is, it wasn’t mentioned in your file.
Matt wanting to protect them (most likely from Flagg): *Opens door* Just be careful who you put your trust in.
Clutch as Matt drives off: Matt—? (Duke: ???????????????)
/ Obviously not perfect, but at least Duke would’ve acknowledged some of these details that sound pretty goddamn important and make him seem less OOC.
I pretty much have the same issue with Optimus—especially since Duke stressed that there needs to be transparency between them, or else there will be consequences.
With him explaining a whole fantasy he’s had about destroying all of them (he’s got some tits/balls, that’s for sure)—
And then after that Optimus drops this:
And Duke just stands there crossing his arms again!
And knowing what we know about this version of Duke—he wouldn’t care if they spent hours exchanging information so that they don’t get potentially blindsided in the future—
But once again, I’ll bs this.
Duke: General Flagg? How did he get energon?
Clutch: Hawk had “a few boring meetings” with him at Langley Air Force base while you were in Texas.
/ For those that haven’t read G.I. Joe, this never happened. They don’t know about Zartan being disguised as Hawk.
Optimus: According to him, Shadow Watch had acquired a stock pile over the years.
Duke: Over…the years? (Clutch: Shadow Watch…?)
Optimus: Are you alright?
Duke: He knew about you all? This whole time?
Optimus: I did not get the impression he knew until recently, though I found the way he said things to be rather…strange, but him and the head of Shadow Watch Miles Mayhem have been of great help to us.
Duke, if Matt at least conveyed that Mayhem was trouble: ❗️
Clutch: Optimus…Mayhem’s on the run. He’s now a wanted criminal.
Optimus: That…does not surprise me.
Duke: Alright—Flagg likely thinks I’m dead; Most people think I am.
Do not tell him about us.
*Turns with his hands on his head in frustration* Dammit, Trakker…
Optimus: I will be cautious of him. Thank you.
/ Like I’m not asking for Duke to crash out right then—he doesn’t have enough concrete info since Matt didn’t really say anything (and I can understand Optimus not wanting to tell him about Tacoma, Seattle and Chicago, even if that might [or rather should] lead to problems later), and obviously they’re gonna keep secrets from Hawk anyway (crash out over that imminent) —
But at least have him start to feel some type of way about why Mayhem and Flagg were involved/in charge of some secret government project involving energon/Cybertronians, especially if Shadow Watch is gonna be a bigger deal in the future after all.
Not saying Duke and Clutch can do anything about them with their own issues (CC + Destro), but it’s something to keep at the back of their minds as events continue, and it would be nice if Duke were to say something on the drive back like:
Duke: You know why I’ve turned down promotions?
Clutch: To stay in the field?
Duke: Maybe also not end up surrounded by people who’ve lost sight of what really matters.
/ Other than that…nice. :)
I like that we got to see inside of Duke’s mind, for one. Perhaps Optimus sees a bit of Carly in him with his desire for vengeance.
I like that Optimus brings up his own fear of losing himself, so it’s good that at least the pressure of the Matrix is off his shoulders.
(Like if it helps him make less awful decisions like getting rid of Megs’ arm [not saying use the arm—just keep it away from Megs], and letting Trailbreaker go out alone, and not make any sense at times with his dialogue [this literally made me suspect he was Nemesis], then irdc if he’s not a prime anymore. Hell, if he never becomes prime again. I just want him to be in a clearer state of mind so he can finally lock in and protect Earth).
(Also I like that he’s not Orion. Orion’s gone. Megs likely killed him, and Alpha Trion rebuilt him into Optimus before giving him the Matrix—
And you can’t go back to being someone who’s gone.
So in a way, he already lost himself before, so it makes sense that he’s so scared of that happening again that it messes with his decision making)
(Unless you wanna explore a story in which Orion is trapped in this body and mind he never asked to be in, while basically being Alpha Trion’s pawn, same with Megs being a pawn of his creator [*Coughs* Trannis? 👀], but *shrugs* eh)
I like that Hound gets to stay—and that exchange between him and Clutch actually conveys more of his character! If we get more moments like that going forward, hell yeah.
(Idk how everybot else will react to him staying…Oh wait, they won’t feel some type of way like they didn’t with Beachcomber lol)
And lastly I like that they’re one step closer into finding out what happened with Megs at Cobra-La (and perhaps Thundercracker can provide more insight on this).
So yeah. Don’t quite know how to end this, other than that I’m cautiously optimistic for what’s to come, and Duke’s still my fav Skybound protagonist (wasn’t expecting him to become my fav when I first started reading the EU, but coolio).
Only Carly can provide an idea of where he is now…
