Thicker Skin

	; Skold's a fan of Nirvana.
	"Thicker Skin"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	October 27, 2021
Cover date	October 2021
Written by	Erik Burnham
Art by	Josh Burcham
Letters by	Jake M. Wood
Editor	David Mariotte, Jazmine Joyner and Riley Farmer
Continuity	Transformers: Beast Wars

An encounter with a Maximal stasis pod in the wilderness forces the timid Skold to come out of her shell.

Synopsis

At the Darksyde, Megatron holds a toast for the victorious Predacons: not only has Tarantulas dealt the Maximals a crushing blow by hacking their stasis pods and reprogramming half of their protoforms into loyal Predacons, but this sabotage has already yielded a new warrior, the ruthless Blackarachnia. Despite his jovial front, the Predacon leader pointedly reminds Tarantulas that his attempts at subterfuge have not gone unnoticed, but that's immaterial now: with a new army on the way, all they have to do is find the crashed stasis pods, destroy the Axalon, and conquer Cybertron with their loyal new recruits. When Terrorsaur suggests simply using transwarp technology to change history by destroying their enemies before they're ever created, Megatron snaps that time travel is inherently dangerous;: directly altering the past could cost them more than they stand to gain. As Megatron begins organizing search parties to find and activate the stasis pods, Blackarachnia explains that all of the stasis pods have been programmed to land within five hundred kliks of the Maximal starship. Terrorsaur immediately suspects treachery, but Blackarachnia points out that if she wanted to harm the Predacons, she wouldn't resort to tricks—and demonstrates this by easily disarming the flying Predacon and easily pinning him to the floor. Impressed by this show of martial prowess, Skold suggests a teamup... but is hurt when Blackarachnia insults her for even suggesting such a thing; ignoring Scorponok's suggestions to help with maintenance, Skold mumbles that she just wants to be alone right now.

While clearing her head on a walk outside the ship, Skold comes across a lake; with her energon running low, her onboard computer suggests hunting for food using her aquatic beast mode. But while snapping up some passing fish, a strange red light draws Skold's attention—the light belongs to a downed stasis pod wedged between two rocks. Skold's robot mode strength allows her to easily haul the fallen pod ashore; the moment she sets it down, however the machine's onboard DNA scanner informs her that it's found a suitable alternate mode for its Maximal occupant, who promptly punches his way free... then thanks his new friend for helping him out of a tight spot! In unspace, the three Vok observe the two Cybertronians; while Pakak is intrigued by the concept of mechanical "birth", Tonrar observes that the two Cybertronians hail from opposing factions. Noting that one of the Cybertronians has already changed sides, Tikaani's interested to see just how far Cybertronian factionalism might go—a concept that intrigues Pakak, who arranges a little experiment...

The new Maximal introduces himself as Razorbeast; as a newborn Cybertronian unaware of present circumstances, he's confused by the planet's abundant energon radiation and a Predacon on an interplanetary exploration mission. When Razorbeast asks if there's a base where he can report to, Skold stalls for time by taking him on a walk through the woods. While walking, Razorbeast tries to get his first and only friend to talk about herself; why did she, a Predacon, join an exploration mission? Skold explains that, originally, she wanted to be an artist—but whenever she admired the works of art in Iacon's Sculpture Garden, she was relentlessly teased and bullied for trying to break into a traditionally "Maximal" pastime... and this rejection led her down a different path entirely.

Before Skold can continue her story, a horrific howl breaks the evening ambience—a pack of mechanical ironwolves have blocked their path! Razorbeast quickly charges into action, using both his beast and robot modes to scatter the creatures. Skold smashes her way through the pack while shouting for Razorbeast to get to safety, but Razorbeast won't abandon his new friend. As the wolves drag Razorbeast down, Skold fights her way through the entire the pack to rescue him, punching out the beasts one by one before finally driving them off coming across Razorbeast's mangled body. Watching from afar, the Vok puzzle over the outcome of this experiment; although Tonrar laments the loss of their only ironwolf pack, Tikaani and Pakak are intrigued by Skold's altruism. As Razorbeast slips into stasis lock, Skold's left with a moral dilemma—if she takes him back to the Darksyde for repairs, her fellow Predacons will surely kill him. There's only one thing to do...

Aboard the Axalon, Rattrap informs Optimus Primal that Skold's camped outside their base; when Primal and Dinobot disengage the shields to meet with the lone Predacon, she presents them with Razorbeast's body and informs them that he was seriously injured while trying to save her from ironwolves. When Primal asks why a Predacon would show mercy to a Maximal, Skold simply points out that she owes him her life. As she turns to leave, Dinobot points out that she hasn't stuttered or mumbled once since she showed up, and suggests that she's a good spark in need of a better environment—perhaps, even, a place with the Maximals. A furious Skold shoves Dinobot aside, snarling that the Maximals are worse than the Predacons: Megatron might be a tyrant, but at least he doesn't disguise his cruelty behind a veneer of kindness. The next time they meet, she warns, she won't be this merciful, but as she walks away, Dinobot growls that "next time" could be sooner than she thinks...

Featured characters

(Characters in italic text appear only in flashback.)
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Maximals/Autobots	Predacons/Decepticons	Others
Razorbeast (8) Longtooth (13) Landmine (14) Bighorn (15) Stiletto (16) Manta Ray (17) Rhino (18) Panther (19) Vroom (21) Cloudburst (22) Skyhammer (23) Metalhawk (24) Rattrap (26) Optimus Primal (27) Dinobot (28)	Terrorsaur (1) Skold (2) Waspinator (3) Scorponok (4) Blackarachnia (5) Megatron (6) Tarantulas (7) Stranglehold (12) Submarauder (20)	Pakak (9) Tonrar (10) Tikaani (11) Ironwolves (25)

Quotes

"The past is a delicate foundation. If you remove the wrong place, everything it holds will fall."

—Megatron

"Tell me about yourself, Skold. You're literally the only friend I have, I'd like to get to know you."

—Razorbeast.

"Ironwolves! I've never seen them anywhere but Pferra!"
"Can we outrun them?"
"I don't know."
"In that case, let's make them regret interrupting your story!"

—Skold and Razorbeast

"Maximals only put on a kind face to hide their cruelty. With Megatron and the others... at least I'll always know where I stand."

—Skold

Notes

Continuity notes

The conversation between the three Vok seems to suggest that at least some of the species on the planet are not native, with the implication that they've been relocated from other planets in the galaxy as part of the Vok's ongoing experiments—while the ironwolves are pretty clearly unearthly in nature, you might not notice that the fish Skold eats possess an extra pair of pectoral fins.
Dinobot's exchange with Optimus and Nyx in #5 noted that most Maximals saw the Predacons as inherently violent beings; in Skold's flashback, we see these prejudices play out as a group of Maximals tease Skold for not working in a mine or fighting in a gladiator pit - which also happen to be the professions many Megatrons take before becoming Decepticon leader.

Transformers references

While discussing their plans, Terrorsaur suggests using transwarp technology to destroy their enemies before they ever come online, only for Megatron to immediately shoot down the plan for being too risky. This kind of grandfather-paradox attack was, of course, one of Megatron's most notable schemes in the original Beast Wars cartoon, which saw him attempt to kill the original Optimus Prime in the "The Agenda" three-parter—as Megatron points out here, his actions unleashed a destructive timestorm that nearly destroyed the cast.
Razorbeast is, of course, one of the breakout characters of the modern Beast Wars universe—although he never appeared in the original cartoon, he had a memorable starring role in IDW's The Gathering and Ascending limited series, and this star-making role also dramatically raised his toy's aftermarket value. In his confrontation with the ironwolves, he's shown wielding the mane-blaster that came with his original Beast Wars toy.
While observing Skold's interactions with the newly-born Razorbeast, Tonrar compares the process to mentorship, a quasi-familial practice from IDW's ongoing Transformers reboot.
Skold's flashback on page twelve is a veritable bonanza of random characters. The Maximal trio who bully Skold are based on the McDonald's-exclusive characters Manta Ray, Rhino, and Panther; while Manta Ray was originally described as a Predacon, she was reimagined as a Maximal in the Beast Wars: Uprising prose stories. And, speaking of Uprising, Bighorn and Stiletto appear on the same page, both using the bodies Josh Burcham designed for them in the prose story "Burning Bridges". The rest of the characters are all based on various Pretenders from the original Transformers toyline, including Stranglehold, Submarauder, and Vroom. In particular, Crossblades was originally among those featured, but would be replaced in the finished comic by Megatron.
Razorbeast's dynamic entry into battle is based on Optimus Prime's famous transforming leap during the opening act of The Transformers: The Movie.
Razorbeast swears by the Pit, a hellish location that saw frequent use as a Predacon swear word on the original Beast Wars cartoon.

Real-world references

Skold's multi-panel battle against the ironwolves takes inspiration from Invincible's double-page fight scenes.

Errors

The art seems inconsistent about which of the Vok is which, with characters apparently replying to themselves on some occasions.

Trivia

Originally, the team considered making Moon the Maximal Skold befriends, but Hasbro said he wasn't available for use, so Razorbeast filled the role instead.^[1]

Covers (3)

Cover A: Skold takes a swim, by Josh Burcham
Cover B: Blackarachnia vs. Terrorsaur, by Priscilla Tramontano
Retailer incentive cover: Razorbeast emerges from his stasis pod, by Alex Milne

Reprints

The Transformers: Beast Wars Volume 2 (June 29, 2022) ISBN 1684059038 / ISBN 978-1684059034
- Collects Beast Wars issues #7–12.
- Bonus material includes alternate covers, and an one-page sketch by Burcham.