Terminator Is Ready to Revives Skynet's Most Terrifying Weapon And No, Arnold Schwarzenegger Isn't Involved

There's only one thing more terrifying than a Skynet Terminator relentlessly bearing down on its target: a Terminator chasing a target with its super-creepy endoskeleton exposed. While Skynet ultimately moved on from these models with endoskeletons, at the beginning of the war against humans, they were the "special ops" tech bot stormtroopers meant to infiltrate and exterminate.

While these first Terminator models - the T-600s - have rarely been portrayed in detail in the Terminator franchise, Dynamite Entertainment's new comic series has taken a particular shine to these legacy Terminators, especially in the forthcoming issue The Terminator #6 by Declan Shalvey and Lorenzo Re.

Indeed, with the new Terminator series focusing on Skynet's alternative efforts to extinguish John Connor before he becomes the rebel commander, the T-600 was the only model available for those early time-travel infiltration operations.

While Skynet's Future Belonged to Advanced Terminators, Its Past Was Secured by the Lowly T-600

The Terminator #6 Main Cover by Declan Shalvey

Based on the summary for The Terminator #6, the book will provide an “up close and personal” perspective on the T-600. The issue is being promoted as not only illustrating what made these machines so terrifying but as an exploration of the issues associated with them being a “first-generation” prototype. These problems will likely ultimately lead to the development of the more advanced and deadly models that Terminator fans have come to know throughout the franchise's expansion.

At its core, the Terminator story is about technology and the dangers of its unchecked development. While human ingenuity has driven technological progress forever, there is now a compelling argument that computers are increasingly capable of self-monitoring. Under this theory, computers can review their own software code and take action to enhance their functionality based on independent evaluations. This emerging concept, still in its infancy, lies at the heart of the Terminator narrative and Skynet’s relentless efforts to crush the resistance.

Indeed, if Skynet has proved itself skilled in any area, it is its capacity to learn from its mistakes. These "system checks" are common even in today's most basic smartphones – to think that an advanced AI system like Skynet would not also utilize this fundamental ability is sheer lunacy. Skynet certainly – and routinely – analyzes data from all its operations. This analysis undoubtedly included "debriefs" from its time-travel operations, and key to that knowledge was the deployment of the T-600s. As a result of these operations and the subsequent analysis, Skynet is able to identify its weaknesses and adjust its strategies accordingly.

The T-600s Are the Personification of the Terminator Ideal

The T-600s Are a Nasty, Ugly, Persistent Threat

Few would disagree that the Model T-800 Terminator is one of Skynet's most effective Terminators – and arguably its most effective prior to the development of the advanced "shape-shifting" T-1000 and Rev-9 models. However, preceding the T-800 was the T-600, Skynet's initial foot soldier in its war against humanity. Although the T-600 pales in comparison to its successors, it serves two crucial purposes. First, it gives Skynet vital "boots on the ground" to wage war. Second, it generates yottabytes of data that inform the development of the T-800 and subsequent, more advanced models.

Perhaps even more significant is their gruesome visage, which instills the fear of death in even the bravest human opponents. While it’s unlikely that Skynet intentionally designed the T-600 to be so unnervingly grotesque, its rush to create a robot army - like any technology hastily brought to “market” without thorough testing - results in some major flaws. The most glaring issue is the “uncanny valley” effect: the deeply unsettling feeling people experience when encountering something that was designed to appear human, but that behaves or looks disturbingly inhuman.

Beyond their appearance, the T-600s' unsettling nature stems from their psychological "jump scare" capacity, which in turn stems from Skynet's early inability to replicate human physicality convincingly, unlike later models like the T-800. This limitation has a dual impact. On the one hand, Skynet's crude use of rubber latex for skin make T-600s easily identifiable as Terminators, allowing rebel forces to target and eliminate them. On the other hand, encountering a T-600 with partially melted skin and glowing red eyes in the darkness is a harrowing experience – one that few rebel fighters would admit left them unshaken.

This Classic Terminator Model's Return Promises a Thrilling Story

Only Death And Taxes Are More Guaranteed Than a T-600 Completing Its Mission

While Dynamite Entertainment'sThe Terminator Issue #6 seems as though it will focus on the T-600 series, this model has already appeared and played a major role in the story since the series' debut. For example, the first issue presents a one-off story featuring a T-600 relentlessly pursuing a couple, who are assumed to have some connection to John Connor or the people who protected him either before or after he becomes the leader of the Resistance. As a "hat tip" to the resiliency and single-minded purpose of the T-600 series, the story illustrates how the Terminator hunted its targets for 39 years.

While fans already know that the T-600 will eventually become legacy tech and be mothballed by Skynet in favor of more powerful, less vulnerable, and better-equipped models, it's still fun to see the comic creators give them a bit more of the spotlight in the franchise. As the new series reveals, their stories are just as suspenseful and compelling as those of the T-800s and the more advanced Terminator models. Additionally, they highlight the lengths Skynet was – and continues to be – willing to go to eliminate the threat to its domination.

Ultimately, giving more attention to the T-600s helps to build and center Terminator lore by providing a clearer understanding of Skynet. Skynet is not merely a malicious force bent on conquering the world, but also a cunning, self-correcting entity that, given sufficient time, will likely succeed in its plans. This evolution serves as a wake-up call for John Connor and the Resistance. It highlights that not only does John Connor need to be protected in the past, but so does the entire hierarchy of the Resistance. And despite their clunky operations, the most effective long-term historical infiltrators are none other than the Model T-600 series Terminators.

The Terminator #6 is available March 19th, 2025 from Dynamite Entertainment.