Merklynn

Merklynn is a Prysmosian from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

"You are about to witness a truly petty act of vengeance, Optimus Prime, brought on by my own mindless jealously."

Whether he's Merklynn or Garrison Kreiger, the appearance of this alien wizard always spells trouble. No kindly wish-granting wizard here: Merklynn is capricious—bordering on cruel—inscrutable, and more than willing to sacrifice anyone, even close allies, to further his own goals.

Having discovered and harnessed the ancient Talisman, anathema of technology, Merklynn has refocused on his original dream of ushering in a new Age of Magic, when technology will fall and the citizens of the galaxy will return to the old ways. And if a few mechanical beings stand in the way of that goal, then who is he to argue against the natural order of the universe?

Fiction

2005 IDW continuity

Many years ago, Merklynn was a powerful wizard who inhabited the distant world of Prysmos, a world where technology ruled and magic had been forgotten by all. Scorned as a sad holdover of a dead religion, Schismatic Merklynn sought to restore the power of the "Arcana Vast" to his homeworld; some three hundred years ago, he did so by casting a spell that brought the planet's three suns into alignment, which shut down all technology on his homeworld. Cybertron No More In this new Age of Magic, Merklynn became a revered figure, and bestowed his gifts upon a group of Prysmosians, which became known as the Visionaries. Schismatic The Visionaries kept the peace on Prysmos for a time, but Merklynn—seeking to further consolidate his power over the planet and its people—masterminded a schism in their ranks, encouraging the silver-tongued Darkstorm to use his natural charisma to affect change. The Curtain

Thus divided, the Visionaries became two warring factions: Darkstorm's Darkling Lords and Leoric's Spectral Knights, who both vied for his favor. Good Men Merklynn's reign lasted for some time before the planet's destruction; though Merklynn blamed the planet's annihilation on the "Trinary De-Alignment," believing that he had failed to anticipate the day when the planet's three suns would move back out of alignment, their gravity tearing the world to bits, Schismatic Omega Supreme would claim that the planet had in actuality been destroyed by a surge of energy from the artifact that Merklynn would later discover and dub the "Talisman." Stranger Eons Either way, less than ten thousand Prysmosians survived the disaster, Schismatic and, searching for sufficient magical power to restore his homeworld, Merklynn struck out on his own. Historia

"The backstory is what drives an evil scientist. It is the 'Why does he do what he does?' of the 'What does he do?' My point is, at its best, evil science is like undergoing deep Freudian analysis with a theremin constantly playing in the background."

One way or another, Merklynn landed on Earth at some point before World War II. Merklynn wove a human disguise for himself, forging a new alter-ego as "Garrison Kreiger" First Strike #6 and claiming that he was the son of wealthy German immigrants to conceal the truth behind his extraterrestrial origins. Garrison Kreiger profile

Lonely and isolated, Kreiger would join the army before the US entered the war in 1939; despite the anti-German sentiment of the time, Krieger hoped to plot a new course for himself. Though his wealth landed him a spot on the officer track, it didn't keep him off the front lines as he had hoped. Instead, he became a Second Lieutenant, and by 1943 he was assigned to the Screaming Eagles, a special tactics unit led by daring do-gooder Sergeant Robert Savage. One Unholy Machine Garrison Kreiger profile Kreiger would remember Savage for his willingness to look past Kreiger's "German" heritage and see him as a fellow American fighting for his country, opening the stranded alien's eyes to the necessity of war in a harsh universe. One Unholy Machine As a Screaming Eagle, Kreiger soon received the nickname "Blitz". The Secret of the Mummy's Tomb

While on a mission in Kalistan that year, the Screaming Eagles encountered mysterious robotic soldiers fighting for the Axis. One of these robots managed to land a hit on Kreiger, scarring his left eye. The Secret of the Mummy's Tomb Recognizing the robots for the alien constructs that they were, Kreiger was left inspired by his encounter, having realized that other alien civilizations had already left their mark on Earth. One Unholy Machine

Kreiger's preliminary theories were confirmed in the winter of 1944, when the Screaming Eagles were deployed to Paris to work with the resistance. While on a routine patrol, they encountered more of the strange mechanical soldiers, who had been drawn a pair of metal goliaths battling it out. After defeating his opponent, the victor asked the Screaming Eagles for help in finding the ship that had brought him to Earth, so that he could return there die in peace. Strange Visitors Though disgusted by the idea of the "mechanical hell" that the giant robots embodied, One Unholy Machine Kreiger pushed Savage to help the stranded alien, hoping to find out more about its motivations for coming to Earth. Centurion profile

"Why must I be alone?"
"I dunno, why are raspberry icicle pops blue?"

Centurion, Savage, and Kreiger tracked the ship to Brasnya, where more of the robotic troops swarmed them. Savage held the machines off as Kreiger and their metallic associate investigated the starship's frozen wreckage. Inside, Krieger found an empty recess that had once held what he dubbed a "Talisman", correctly deducing that it was a magical artifact responsible for conjuring the many lesser automatons that they had battled during their journey. Centurion explained that it had belonged to his "master" long ago; before he could explain who that master was, there was a loud sound from outside: the remains of Centurion's commanding officer, reanimated by the drones. As Kreiger watched the Maximal brawl with the creatures, he determined the drones were being controlled by the Talisman. As he did, the drones did something that made the ship and the Sergeant himself vanish without a trace. As he saw a furious Centurion fell his former commander's remains, Kreiger was inspired, Strange Visitors hoping to recover the Talisman and harness its magic to recreate his destroyed homeworld of old. First Strike #6 With Savage gone, however, Kreiger needed a new ally. So he reached out to the devastated Maximal, offering to help him... Strange Visitors

Over the next several decades, Krieger and Centurion spent years hunting down what Kreiger called "Binaltech", using whatever scraps of alien technology he could find to replicate the original Talisman. The Iron Klaw Despite his hatred of the Transformers, Centurion became one of Kreiger's closest confidants, as he groomed the lost Transformer into trusting him unconditionally. Unification Day: Dawn The Iron Klaw Over the decades, this endeavor would lead to the creation of many duplicate Talismans, inferior copies of the original. The Iron Klaw His search for paranormal relics led him to recover the bodies of "Optimus Prime" and "Shockwave", which were relocated to a top secret government facility constructed in the Brasnyan crater where the Axalon had once rested. When Eagles Scream Power and Glory As the decades passed, using technology derived from his studies, he began replacing parts of his body with cybernetics to extend his lifespan. Garrison Kreiger profile

"Behold! The Talisman-inator!"

In 1984, Kreiger enlisted the help of Dr. Elliot Marsh in his search for the genuine Talisman. The two discovered the artifact in the Tomb of Amtoltec in Dahshur, whereupon Kreiger promptly killed his guide and began experimenting with the Talisman. Eventually, he was able to animate and control a horde of Iron Troopers, and the unusual energy this produced attracted not only the attention of Joe Colton and his Adventure Team, but also Soundwave. A battle ensued between the team and Soundwave, until the Cybertronian decided to leave, having realized the Talisman wasn't his goal. In the aftermath, Kreiger took the device for himself without giving his "rescuers" so much as a "thank you". The Secret of the Mummy's Tomb

"I'm building an evil empire. My own very fortress of eviltude."
"Aren't you a little old to be building a fort?"
"No. No, I'm not. Shut up."

Kreiger was sanctioned by the government to study the Talisman, which was relocated to the Ice Man facility with the rest of his growing collection of artifacts. When Eagles Scream In the early 1990s, a depressed Mike "Atomic Man" Power came to him, seeking further upgrades to his cyborg prostheses after a chance encounter with the Talisman during their earlier clash in Egypt. Power and Glory The Secret of the Mummy's Tomb Though professing good intentions, Kreiger instead used Power as a test subject in what would be called "Project: Ice Man", subjecting Power to a battery of cruel experiments involving the Talisman and Power's increasingly augmented physiology, aiming to make his test subject "one with the Talisman." These experiments reached a turning point in 1994 when Kreiger had Power interface with the Talisman once more, which had the unexpected side effect of returning the lost Axalon and Sgt. Savage to normal space-time. Seconds later, Colton's "Adventure Force" arrived to confront Kreiger and stop his experiments. Discovering that Atomic Man with no heartbeat, they mistakenly concluded that Kreiger had murdered him, Power and Glory and Kreiger was dishonorably discharged for his crimes. Garrison Kreiger profile It didn't bother him much, however—he had far greater ambitions by this point. Though the Talisman was taken from him by Colton's team, Kreiger continued his work in the Ice Man bunker, experimenting on the Atomic Man's mangled but still-living body and eventually turning him into the main nerve center of the base. Strange Visitors Power and Glory

To cover up and secure funding for his less-than-ethical experiments, Kreiger founded I.R.O.N., the "International Robotics Operation Network", where, as CEO, he developed a working relationship with Count van Rani, dictator of Kalistan and part-time supervillain. The Secret of the Mummy's Tomb Krieger's other shady contacts included the bounty hunter Colditz, who sometimes performed fieldwork for him with Centurion. Unification Day: Dusk

"It's a pitiful existence I lead, Joshua Red. Do you pity me? You should because I am pitiable. Everyone should pity me. Eh, you don't have to say pity too many times before it stops sounding like a word. Pity. Pity. Pit- See? That is only like two times and it's already just gobbledygook."

In the early 21st century, Kreiger joined Colton at Skywatch's "Project: Hot House" facility in Washington, where he was reunited with the Talisman and contracted to begin a series of experiments aimed at weaponizing the Talisman's corrosive energy. Circa 2006, Krieger realized that he needed Sgt. Savage to reactivate the artifact, and lured him to the base by using the Decepticon Bugly as bait. His body saturated with its power thanks to his trip through time, Savage's touch brought the Talisman back to life; its energies hurled Savage further into the future once more but killed Kreiger and Colton's Decepticon guinea pig Bugly outright, proving to Krieger that the artifact was toxic to Cybertronian life. When Eagles Scream

Kreiger disappeared from the public eye a few years prior to 2017. The Secret of the Mummy's Tomb Before he vanished, he ceded control of I.R.O.N. to van Rani, his main shareholder, who, in turn, appointed Tomax Paoli as the interim CEO of the company at some point after the fall of Cobra. The Secret of the Mummy's Tomb Kreiger worked with Miles Mayhem to test the effects of the Talisman on Mayhem's Decepticon prisoner Blitzwing. First Strike #0

"You know, in the future we won't sit and read newspapers in the morning. Instead, giant robots will control us in human death matches."

In the chaotic months that followed Optimus Prime's annexation of Earth into the Council of Worlds, Joe Colton decided it was finally time to bring the Talisman into play and eliminate the Cybertronian threat. Before he could do so, however, he was targeted by the Dire Wraiths for assimilation. Forced to amputate his own hand to survive and infected with Wraith bio-matter, Colton contacted Kreiger for assistance. The two met in Paris, and Kreiger brought Colton to the Brasnyan Ice Man facility for assistance. First Strike #0

Seeing in Colton's words a way to reach Cybertron and recreate Prysmos by using the power of the Talisman to wipe out its mechanical civilization, First Strike #6 Kreiger agreed to help Colton in his plan to go outside the law and assemble a global cabal of international supervillains to aid him his objective. First Strike #0 Feeding him a lie that the Talisman could be used to poison the core of Cybertron, and fitting him with a new mechanical hand derived from Talisman technology, Colton adopted a new persona: that of the masked villain "Baron Ironblood," First Strike #0 and never suspected that Kreiger was manipulating him to advance his own agenda. First Strike #6

Continuing to serve as Colton's second-in-command, the pair continued to gather allies from across the world; working with Doctor X and the Iron Klaw, Kreiger had the Talisman transferred to an I.R.O.N. facility operated by the SIS in Schleteva, Garrison Kreiger profile and used Talisman-derived technology to hybridize Storm Shadow's Red Shadows with extraterrestrial biomatter. Ghost in the Machine

Shortly afterwards, Kreiger found the Predacons, who had been marooned on Earth following Galvatron's failed invasion some months back. Using his knowledge of Cybertronian biology, he found a way to mind-control them, and used one of his Talisman copies to improve on a previous failed combiner experiment and create Predaking. The brainwashed Predacons became private shock troops for van Rani. The Iron Klaw At a meeting in van Rani's Iron Castle, the group received a message warning them that Garrison Blackrock had accidentally stumbled on the Talisman. Ghost in the Machine

Realizing that they would need to accelerate their plans, The Iron Klaw Krieger sent Centurion along with several other Iron Ring operatives to recruit Tomax Paoli The Secret of the Mummy's Tomb and ordered him and Centurion to retrieve the data on the original Ice Man experiments from I.R.O.N.'s headquarters in San Francisco. The Iron Klaw Shortly afterwards, Kreiger received a visit from Tomax Paoli, who had caught Blackrock and brought him to Kreiger so the man could have a look at him. Kreiger relished the opportunity, determined to find out why the Talisman reacted to Blackrock. Before he could get started, however, Baron Ironblood noticed an intruder lurking in the shadows. On Ironblood's warning that the former Joe wasn't working alone, Kreiger unleashed the Predacons. With Snake Eyes apparently subdued, Kreiger questioned Paoli about his success working on "Project: Iceman" in San Francisco, at which point Paoli turned out to be the real Snake Eyes, the other being a robot duplicate. Thanks to Snake Eyes, and the actions of his allies, Kreiger lost both Blackrock and the Predacons.

"So, Action Man, as they say in Mexico, 'dos svindaniya!' Down there, that's 'two Svindaniyas."

In the aftermath, Baron Ironblood declared they had no choice but to scrub Centurion and Paoli. The Iron Klaw Visiting Paoli in person, Kreiger warned him of the incoming band of "Revolutionaries", informing Paoli that their plans had changed and that he and Centurion were now bait. After Paoli and Centurion were taken in by the team, Kreiger took part in a conference call with his allies as he prepared to travel the Ice Man facility, stating his presence was "needed" to finish what they were planning. Strange Visitors The "Revolutionaries", joined by the forces of M.A.S.K., caught up with Kreiger in the Ice Man base. Kreiger turned the full fury of his inventions against the intruders: deploying a suite of anti-Cybertronian technology to take out Blackrock and Kup and even unleashing his monstrous "I.R.O.N. Cybertronians" against Action Man. Action Man, Mayday, and M.A.S.K. fought their way into the nexus of the facility, whereupon Kreiger infused Atomic Man with a sample of Ore-13 as his final, desperate weapon: the Talisman made flesh. Kreiger's ultimate gambit failed when the grief-stricken cyborg realized his mistakes and chose to commit suicide; in the aftermath, Krieger was arrested and taken into G.I. Joe custody. Power and Glory

"Finally, my greatest nemesis vanquished. Now, Sgt. Savage, prepare to meet your dim- doom, I mean doom. Prepare to meet your- man, talk about blowing the moment."

Awaiting a pickup in Buenos Aires, Kreiger tried to appeal to a time-displaced Sergeant Savage, but the soldier had little patience for his treacherous comrade. Salvation came for the villain when Centurion—still loyal to his old friend—remotely hacked Blackrock's Onyx tower so that its defenses would fire on the incoming GI Joe air division. When Eagles Scream Gloating that Centurion couldn't be turned, Krieger slipped his restraints and shot Savage in the back as Metrotitan and Optimus Prime joined the conflict. Kreiger took command and ordered everyone to teleport out using the M.A.S.S. Device; though Centurion was left behind, the rest of Ironblood's team regrouped back in Kalistan, where, Talisman in hand, Colton told his operatives that it was time to strike. Ghost in the Machine As Colton's alliance made their final preparations, Kreiger recounted his motivations to his leader, pleased at the notion of using the Talisman as a weapon of conquest—the ultimate realization of the ideals Sgt. Savage had once imparted upon him. One Unholy Machine

Piggybacking off Metrotitan's space bridge signal using the M.A.S.S. Device, Kreiger accompanied Ironblood and his cabal of villains to Cybertron as part of Colton's plan to wipe out the species. Carrying the Talisman aboard Miles Mayhem's "Outlaw" the team deployed Shazraella to enerchange with a Cybertronian and unleash the Talisman in Cybertron's core.First Strike #2 His plans to recreate Prysmos well underway, Kreiger sought to eliminate one final loose end and dispatched Colditz to locate Centurion—who had recently absorbed the power of the Talisman and the memories of Mike Power—and remove him from play. Unification Day: Dawn Colditz was able to persuade Centurion to travel with him into the wildernesses of Cybertron, unaware that Centurion planned to murder his old master in revenge for two lifetimes of mistreatment. Krieger had deliberately manipulated all players in the hopes that Centurion and the "Revolutinaries" would annihilate one another, but the heroes were able to peacefully talk Centurion down and spare his life. Unification Day: Dawn

In the meantime, Kreiger stopped to install sound-dampeners to prevent Soundwave finding them, then had to get between Manheim and Shazraella as they bickered. Kreiger openly expressed his belief the Microspace native would inevitably betray them, which prompted her to set some security drones on the squad, as warning against further signs of disrespect. First Strike #3 The group was momentarily waylaid by the need to set a booby trap to delay Scarlett's forces, which allowed Metroplex to pinpoint them and begin reconfiguring his internal architecture to pin them down. As they reached the access hatch that would take them into the core of the planet, Colton successfully dropped Sunstreaker, leaving them with no further obstacles to their objective. First Strike #4 As they clambered towards the heart of Cybertron, Kreiger briefly slipped and would have fallen if not for Colton's intervention. The team fought their way through an Insecticon swarm guarding the center of the planet... only to find that Scarlett and her allies had caught up with them, just outside the core. First Strike #5

"Witch! Witch! Witch!"
"Not witch, warlock! It's a robe! Not a dress!"

In the ensuing battle, Kreiger fought Matt Trakker and Gloria Baker, using his technology to hack their power-granting masks. The fight quickly went south as Elita One, Starscream, and Obsidian arrived, turning the fight into a chaotic free-for-all. His ultimate plan to infect the whole of Cybertron now stymied, Kreiger made a break for the Talisman, rationalizing that he could at least remake a fraction of the planet in Prysmos's image. Uttering a magic chant to activate the alien device, Kreiger harnessed the Talisman's energy to take control of the planet's energon supplies; shedding his human disguise, he revealed himself as Merklynn to all assembled and explained his motivations. His dream of colonizing a new world at last fulfilled, Merklynn used the planet's energon to forge the city of "New Prysmos" and gloated that the Spectral Knights and Darkling Lords would soon arrive to wipe technology from the galaxy and usher in a new age of magic. His goal completed for the time being, Merklynn teleported the combatants back to the surface of Cybertron. First Strike #6

"You know what I never understood? Genies. They tell you to wish for anything, but they add some terrible twist, like you wish to jump high so they turn you into a frog. Who gains from this? The genie?"

Merklynn's new freedom was short-lived; when the other Prysmosians arrived on Cybertron, political tensions forced them to imprison their leader within their city, where he was constantly overseen by members of the Cybertronian Security Force. He enjoyed a modicum of freedom, however, and shortly after the Knights and Lords arrived he was permitted to oversee a summit where the two factions weighed up their options. Schismatic Realizing that Leoric's even-handed approach would not lead the Prysmosians to wipe out the Cybertronian race as he had hoped, Merklynn thus began stoking Virulina's natural ambition, encouraging her to take a proactive stance against the Cybertronians and begin the war of annihilation that he hoped for. Good Men Virulina was unaware that Merklynn saw her as a means to an end; once her fiery rhetoric no longer served a purpose, he would eliminate her and replace her with his next puppet, Arzon. Good Men

When negotiations with Ironhide and Kup broke down—fatally, in the case of the latter—Merklynn used his magic to easily disintegrate his guards, and joined Virulina as she prepared to destroy the force field that the Cybertronians erected around their city and begin the genocide of the Transformer race. When Spectral Knight leader Leoric objected to their plan, Merklynn easily swatted him aside with a bolt of spectral energy. Cybertron No More Following a failed insurrection against Virulina by the Spectral Knights, Merklynn approached Arzon and informed him of his plan to depose Virulina once the Transformers were extinct and Prysmos reborn. Arzon thus became a Darkling Lord, and Merklynn provided Virulina with a spell to torture her captives, draining their life force to accelerate the Talisman's progress to the core. Good Men

When Leoric returned to New Prysmos to take down Virulina himself, Merklynn allowed them to fight until the time came for him to betray Virulina; using the same life-draining spell on her, he aimed to eliminate both of them and allow Arzon to seize control. When Ironhide and Wheeljack detonated a counter-frequency bomb, however, the subsequent burst of magical energy raised New Prysmos to the surface of Cybertron, transforming the surrounding region into a pristine recreation of old Prysmos.

"Curse you, Leoric the Lion... and my own poor planning skills..."

This was of little comfort to Merklynn, however: once the Spectral Knights restored order, they imprisoned Merklynn once again. Though the Darkling Lord Cindarr assured him that he still had loyalists amongst the Prysmosians seeking to see him released, Merklynn had already used a puddle to see into the future... and knew that soon it wouldn't matter. The Curtain

Notes

• In his Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook artwork, Kreiger’s uniform is colored red, as it was on his original toy, rather than the green actually used in his fictional appearances.
• The final Visionaries story in the back pages of Unicron #5 namedrops the "River Merkelia" as part of ancient Prysmos; Merklynn may or may not be named for this geographical feature.
• Merklynn is evidently a fan of Percy Bysshe Shelley as in Revolutionaries #8, he paraphrases "Ozymandias" when he gloatingly calls upon Mayday to "look unto his works and despair!" There's a villain with taste.
• While the name "Merklynn" may sound like it is a play of "Merlin", the character's name and original likeness were actually based on that of Hasbro sculptor Bill Merklein, who worked as a sculptor for both Visionaries and G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.^[1]
• Even outside of his human disguise, Merklynn's association with the Iron Ring is fitting considering that his 1987 counterpart lived on top of the Iron Mountain.
• In a strange coincidence, the idea of Merklynn spending countless generations under an assumed identity—waiting for a time when magic would become ascendant once again—originates in the Visionaries cartoon show bible, revealed in late 2021. In the bible and early version of the first episode script, he spent the Age of Technology disguised as the sandwich board-toting vagrant Savanus. Only once the future Spectral Knights and Darkling Lords had reached his shrine atop Iron Mountain, would he stand revealed in his true form at the end of the episode.

References

External links

• Merklynn at TheVisionaries.net