INTERPOLATION INSERTERINTERPOLATION INSERTER
Classification: Extraterrestrial energy-manipulating technology (see comments)
Creator: Unrevealed/unidentified parties with Timely, Incorporated's Entertainment Division
Possessors: Last seen in the hands of Arnok Gruntgrill;First Appearance: Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy (2017)
Powers/Abilities/Functions: Essentially a teleportation
device, the Interpolation Inserter operated off of tachyon-state
temporal energies. It contains a multi-phase destiny generator (totally
experimental), that, once triggered, calibrates the causal nature of
reality, recognizes the pathways of the Universe in terms of satisfying
dramatic progressions, and deposits the user -- in theory -- at exactly
the right place in time and space to effect the greatest dramatic
consequence.
Or, alternatively stated:
It assesses the universal life as a story, and places the user in precisely the right moment to influence that story.
It harnesses narrative energies,
reads the Universe as an ongoing continuity, and interpolates the user
directly to the most satisfying moment.
It drops you into the unspoken cosmic narrative at moments of dramatic significance.
History:
(Guardians
of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Six: Meanwhile (Forty-three minutes earlier on Alpha Centauri)
(fb) - BTS) - Timely, Incorporated's Entertainment Division undertook
development of the Interpolation Inserter using experimental technology
(notably the multi-phase destiny generator).
However, after they found that the device ended movies and vid-plays
before they even began, it was shelved.
(Guardians
of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Six: Meanwhile (Forty-three minutes earlier on Alpha Centauri)
(fb) - BTS) - Seeking to discretely recover escaped Recorder 127 as he
contained the information needed to completely Timely, Inc.'s Project
616 -- which would grant them power over the galaxy or universe (see comments) -- Corporate Security chief Xorb Xorbux enlisted retired
Galadorian Spaceknight turned mercenary Roamer. To aid him in is mission, Xorbux attached to his back an Interpolation Inserter, which would insert him at the right
place in time and space to effect the greatest dramatic consequences.
(Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Six: Meanwhile (Forty-three minutes earlier on Alpha Centauri) (fb)) - Xorbux presented his solution to discretely recover escaped Recorder 127 to Timely's Senior Special Projects Executives. When Arnok Gruntgrill, Senior Vice Development Executive, objected, asking how Xorbux had gotten hold of that as it was still in testing and had not yet been utilized.
Xorbux countered, "Needs must," but Gruntgrill then discussed the nature of the device, reiterated that it had not been adequately field-tested and that it could potentially disrupt and collapse the causal tension of reality. "It's dangerous."
Roamer assured the board that he
was not afraid, and Senior Vice Executive President (Special Projects)
Odus Hanxchamp approved the plan, authorizing payment of Roamer's fees,
and instructed Roamer to bring back the Recorder.
Roamer activated the device, and
there was a halo of crackling light, and the Executive Boardroom
momentarily smelled of plot twist and shock reveal, with an aftertaste
of page-turn splash.
And the Spaceknight vanished...
(Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Two: A Spot of Brother - BTS) - The Interpolation Inserter brought Roamer into the middle of Leery's (a bar in Dive-town, within the Lumina starport/cosmopolis on the planet Xarth III), directly in the firing line between Badoon commander Droook and the Recorder at the split-second Droook's plasma exterminatron discharged.
Roamer's shields absorbed the worst of the blast and deflected the rest, which shattered Rocket (Raccoon)'s drink (a much sought after Timothy)...which, of course, led Rocket and his associate Groot to enter the conflict.
(Guardians
of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Twelve: Our Al Capone Moment)
- The Interpolation
Inserter brought Roamer to an impound dock on Nova Corps headquarters
on
Xandar, where Rocket, Groot, and Recorder 127 were being held by Nova
Corpsman Grekan Yaer.
Reality bulged, buckled, and
bubbled, like the frame of old cinema film caught in the projector and
melting as it heated from the light. Reality popped open like a blister, and suddenly Roamer was standing there.
(Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Fourteen: In which there are No Surprise Twists Whatsoever (dissembling mode activated)) - Ultimately, Rocket, Groot, and the Recorder escaped in a stolen spaceship. Facing Xandarian ships that could disintegrate him. He then activated his Interpolation Inserter and vanished in a blister of torn reality.
(Guardians
of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Sixteen: Meanwhile (Twenty minutes earlier on Alpha Centauri)) - Via the Interpolation Inserter, Roamer
appeared via reality-warp -- with reality unfolding like reverse origami -- in the Timely Inc. building.
Meeting with Timely executives, Roamer detailed his concerns regarding his Interpolation Inserter, noting that both times it had brought him to the Recorder, it was at the most inconvenient times, typically under combat situations. After Gruntgrill advised that there was no way to alter the device, Roamer used it to depart, leaving behind the lingering aftersmell of unexpected change of fortunes.
(Guardians
of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Twenty-Nine: Meanwhile
(In an Adjudarian hostelry called Pandubundy's)) - Reality blinked and flickered, and -- in haze of re-connecting causality membranes -- Roamer materialized
via the Interpolation Inserter atop a circular Gramosian salvage bench in the corner of Pandubundy's
Bar & Tech, in Adjufar City, on the planet Adjufar, confronting Gamora and Recorder 127.
(Guardians
of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Thirty: Which Contains a Certain Amount of Disagreeable Violence)
- After Gamora introduced herself, Roamer recognized the name and was
confused as to why this had been a moment of dramatic significance as
she had not seemed to be threatening the Recorder
(referring to why the Interpolation Inserter brought them there).
Gamora had no idea what he was talking about, and violence ensued with
the arrival of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard's Ebon.
After Roamer had wounded Gamora,
Roamer prepared to activate his Interpolation Inserter and teleport
away with the Recorder;
however, the Recorder managed to escape Roamer's grasp and then flee
after Ebon returned
(Guardians
of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Thirty-One: Dead or Alive)
(fb) - BTS) - After the Recorder and his allies escaped Adjufar in
their ship, Roamer presumably departed as well via the Interpolation
Inserter.
(Guardians
of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Thirty-Two: Meanwhile (Ten Minutes Later on Alpha Centauri))
- As Arnok Gruntgrill checked out Project 616 in Timely Inc.'s
subbasement 86, reality unzipped beside him and the shockwave of
twisting cosmic narratives threw him over the walkaway. Roamer
subsequently
appeared, explaining that the Interpolation
Inserter could get him through any security measures. After Roamer
expressed concerns with the device's functionality, as its placement
in times of conflict had led to his failure to recover Recorder 127,
Gruntgrill reiterated that every time he fired it up, it "planted him
four-square in the most dramatic sequences of the Recorder's existence."
After examining the device and
confirming it to apparently be in working order, Gruntgrill further
proposed that the Interpolation Inserter was perhaps
trying to insert him into heroic roles, as he was meant to be
a hero (as opposed to as a mercenary). Despite Roamer's arguments to
the contrary, Gruntgrill suggested that the
Interpolation Inserter knew his true self better than he did and knew
what he truly wanted. Refusing to accept this, Roamer
insisted that he would find the Recorder and bring its head to him.
Activating the Interpolation Inserter, Roamer vanished in a flash of cliffhanger and shock reveal.
(Guardians
of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Thirty-Five: You've Got Mail!)
- Via the Interpolation Inserter, Roamer appeared in the mail room on
floor 4006 of Timely Inc.'s mail room as the mail in the wire bins
started to flap and flutter as if caught in a strong breeze, and
reality split and bloomed.
(Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Thirty-Five: You've Got Mail! - BTS) - Ultimately, while Roamer battled arriving security guards, Rocket delivered the Recorder, himself, Groot, and Gamora down to the sub-80 level basement.
(Guardians
of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Thirty-Nine: Project 616)
- As those present tasted page-turn surprise and dramatic twist, the
Interpolation Inserter delivered Roamer to the sub-basement
86 level where Recorder 127 -- having discovered that he could be used to
complete Project 616 and grant Timely Inc. cosmic power to control the
entire galaxy (or universe) -- sought his own destruction.
Roamer was opposed by Gamora until she was blasted from behind by Timely Security head's Xorb
Xorbux's Subduematic, after which he noted that he had delivered Recorder
127 as promised.
(Guardians
of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Forty-One Truth or Dare)
- As Roamer forced Recorder 127
toward the datamap energy of Project 616,
the Recorder discussed how the Interpolation Inserter -- the
purpose of which was to place him in the precisely correct dramatic
moment to affect destiny and universal continuity -- had consistently
placed Roamer in a position to save the Recorder or had helped bring the Recorder
closer to his goal.
After the Recorder questioned Roamer's role in the
cosmic narrative, Gruntgrill noted how he had previously told Roamer
that the device continued to read him as a hero, despite his posing as
a soulless mercenary. Ignoring Roamer's orders to be silent, the Recorder suggested that he use
the Interpolation Inserter again and see where the dramatic urges of
creation believed he should be.
(Guardians
of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Forty-Three One With Everything (fb) - BTS) - Roamer tried the Interpolation Inserter three times, but he remained exactly where he was.
(Guardians
of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Forty-Forty-Three One With Everything)
- Although Roamer revealed the Interpolation Inserter's keeping him
there, he refused to accept the heroic role it saw in him, and he forced
Recorder 127 into the cage.
When the Universal Church of
Truth's Cardinal Navorth went after the Recorder, however, Roamer
intercepted and battled him.
(Guardians
of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Forty-Three: One With Everything - BTS) - Recorder 127 dropped into the datacore, as did Groot while trying to save him.
(Guardians
of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Forty-Forty-Four: Watched) - Roamer and Navorth continued their savage battle.
(Guardians
of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Forty-Forty-Five: Great Power, Great Responsibility-
BTS) - Having achieved the full power of Project 616, Recorder 127
deposed it to Groot, who sent away Roamer and all others who had sought
to manipulate the Recorder. Groot then restored the damaged
building, returned to life all those slain in the recent conflict, and
then not
only dispersed the Datacore but made it so that no one could ever
re-create it again (if anyone ever thought of trying to recreate the
datamap in pursuit of power, they would instantly forget how to do it).
(Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Forty-Forty-Five: Great Power, Great Responsibility (fb) - BTS) - Roamer triggered the Interpolation Inserter.
(Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot -- Steal the Galaxy Chapter Forty-Forty-Five: Great Power, Great Responsibility) - Roamer reappeared in Timely's sub-basement 86 level -- emerging amidst the smell of surprise twist, a waft of shock reveal, and a flash of light -- just as the chain holding the cage containing Recorder and Groot broke. Roamer rescued the pair.
Convinced that interpolation inserter was casting him as a hero, Roamer resolved to accept that role again.
Comments: Created by Dan Abnett.
In the Acknowledgments section, Dan thanked Stuart Moore, Jeff
Youngquist, Axel Alonso, Dan Buckley, Sarah Brunstad, and James Gunn
for their support in this project.
He also noted "fist-bumps to <the Appendix's own> Ronald Byrd for continuity-fu."
In-continuity?
People question whether novels should be in-continuity. They should
when they work hard to fit seamlessly in-continuity and they add to the
rich texture of the "Marvel Universe." In any case, characters in such
stories as novels, games, etc. that don't contradict -616 continuity
are considered "fringe characters." They fit into existing continuity,
but are not definitively part of it until they are confirmed to be so
in a story, handbook, etc.
There is one significant continuity glitch, but it
has been referenced in other stories confirmed to take place in
Reality-616 (see Donald's discussion below)
They
sure fit in better than a lot of stuff by certain writers...you know
who you are...and we know who you are...
Not only that, but the story specifically references the universe in
which they dwelled to be Reality-616...however, the Marvel Cinematic
Universe movies refer to their mainstream reality as -616 also...
Counterpoint by Donald Campbell:
As much as I liked this novel, there were some
elements that bothered me. For example, Alpha Centauri is described as a
"cosmic hubworld (that governs) almost thirty systems and trillions of
lives." This definitely does NOT sound the like 616 Alpha Centauri system
where the Centaurians are usually depicted as only having a
"bow-and-arrow" level technology, the Alpha Centaurians (assuming
they are not nearly extinct) are focused on desperately trying to keep their
homeworld habitable, and the Centurii from Centuri-Six (which may or may not
actually be part of the Alpha Centauri system) were all kidnapped by slavers.
And yes, I hold this opinion despite the fact that, in
Annihilators#1/2, Abnett and Lanning established that Rocket Raccoon had
worked for six months as a mail clerk at the Alpha Centauri offices of the
Customer Services Division of Timely Inc. Also, while the Timely offices
were aboard an orbiting ship in that comic, in this novel they are on the
planet Alpha Centauri...which is also wrong/inconsistent with the Marvel Comics
universe.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed the novel but I
don't think it was meant to be canon and I don't think that it should be
treated as being "in continuity." And I would REALLY like some writer
to finally get around to explaining the current status quo in the 616 Alpha
Centauri star system. I mean, what level of technology do the Centaurians
actually possess? What do the Centaurians actually call their race? What is
their name for the planet known to Terrans as Centauri-IV? Can Alpha
Centaurians still live on Arima or was the planet left too dehydrated after
Sub-Mariner I#18? Is Centuri-Six actually in orbit around Proxima
Centauri?
Me again:
Valid point on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the difference is
that the novel is not clearly a different reality or part of a
different Multiverse than the comics Reality-616 as the cosmic
hierarchy, (Uatu the Watcher, Galactus, etc.) etc., is the same. Additionally, this story goes to
great lengths to fit solidly with Reality-616's continuity, alien
races, etc.
The Alpha Centauri discrepancy is
certainly significant, but bigger issues than that happened consistently in
Bendis' and other writers stories that are considered Reality-616.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Interpolation Inserter should be distinguished from:
images: (without ads):
No images exist
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
First posted: 08/13/2023
Last updated: 08/13/2023
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