Things Fall Apart, Part 1: "New Arrivals, Old Encounters"
From Transformers Wiki
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 "I've circled the areas where you need improvement." | |||||||||||||
| "New Arrivals, Old Encounters" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | IDW Publishing | ||||||||||||
| First published | December 9, 2009 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | November 2009 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | Mike Costa | ||||||||||||
| Art by | Don Figueroa | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | James Brown | ||||||||||||
| Letters by | Chris Mowry | ||||||||||||
| Editor | Andy Schmidt | ||||||||||||
| Assistant editor | Carlos Guzman | ||||||||||||
| Associate editor | Denton J. Tipton | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | 2005 IDW continuity | ||||||||||||
| Chronology | Current era (2010) | ||||||||||||
Spike's a prick, Hot Rod's a prick, everybody's a prick! Except Bumblebee.
Contents |
Synopsis
Leaving his affair in Albuquerque, Spike Witwicky receives the call from Skywatch personnel informing him of the attack on their holding facility; they request his attendance to deal with the surrender of Optimus Prime.
Back at their base, the Autobots discuss Optimus Prime's actions; Cliffjumper theorizes that it may be a test of some kind, although Hot Rod credits it to his inability to handle the situation. While the others call for a leadership vote, Hot Rod states his desire to leave the planet despite the protests of Brawn. The former asks if anyone else wants to join him in his desertion, and Jetfire, Red Alert, Prowl, Sandstorm, Silverstreak, and Mirage do so to Bumblebee's obvious disappointment.
At the Skywatch facility, Spike holds a conference call with his father regarding the status of Optimus Prime, and the commander nixes Optimus's transport to the command center. He implies disappointment with Spike's abandonment of his duties, and says that he'll be conferring with the other chiefs before making any plans.
The Autobots who remained at the base resume their plans for a leadership election, and when asked who he would nominate, Cliffjumper chooses himself.
In the desert, Hot Rod, Mirage, Red Alert and Prowl discuss plans to find another world with Omega Supreme. Although alone he lacks the energon to reach orbit, they figure they can escape Earth by pooling their resources. However, on hearing of Optimus Prime's surrender, Omega Supreme refuses to leave.
The group are being monitored by some of the Decepticons abandoned on Earth, including Swindle, Scrapper, Thundercracker, and Tankor; they had been planning a revenge attack on Omega Supreme but now see a better alternative. After a brief skirmish, Swindle calls for a ceasefire.
At Skywatch, Spike orders the transformation suppressor removed from Optimus Prime; as the latter resumes robot form, Spike offers to talk.
Swindle appeals to both the Autobots and Decepticons, reminding them that there is no longer a need to fight since the war is over; he suggests they work together in order to go home. Prowl is suspicious, but Hot Rod decides to put it to a vote.
At the Autobot base, Wheeljack brings in the results of the leadership election; much to Bumblebee's surprise, he has won. Cliffjumper laments that it was just a "popularity contest", but Ratchet assures Bumblebee that the rest of the Autobots consider him trustworthy and dependable. They are interrupted by the arrival of a Cybertronian ship and go out to meet it as it lands. Ultra Magnus emerges and demands to know who is in charge. With the others looking at him, Bumblebee confirms that he is...
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"He just left. He couldn't hack it, he freaked out, and he left."
"He didn't 'freak out.'"
"He just went and turned himself in to the humans! That counts as a freak-out!"
- —Hot Rod's prickitude is immune to Bumblebee's logic.
"Look, think about it. Why are we fighting?"
"Because they're Autobots!"
"Yeah, yeah, Tankor, I know. I know they're Autobots. Sometimes I wonder why we freed you from the humans. What I'm saying is so what if they're Autobots? What does that even mean anymore? Look, guys, the war is over! There are no sides anymore. Say we win this fight. So what? What then? We're still stuck here, right? I'm saying why don't we work together on this?"
- —Swindle starts talking sense, a giant red flag that nobody picks up on.
Notes
Continuity notes
- Some retconning of plot points from All Hail Megatron:
- Thundercracker is up and about, despite being shot in the head by Skywarp at the end of All Hail Megatron #12. (Guess Skywarp really is useless without Megatron or Starscream to tell him what to do.) Part 3 of this story would reveal that Thundercracker had been repaired by the other stranded Decepticons, who were unaware of his betrayal.
- The 1984-focused cast of All Hail Megatron made it seem that only those Decepticons were on Earth for that series; here we find out that Swindle and Drag Strip were on Earth as well, following on from Spotlight: Prowl's revelation that Thrust was there. More previously unseen Decepticons from that period will show up on Earth in later issues and in the Transformers: Bumblebee mini-series.
- The chain of command that was specifically noted on All Hail Megatron (After Optimus Prime, Prowl or Jazz or Hot Rod) has been completely abandoned in favor of a voting system for leadership.
- Silverbolt, last seen in Spotlight: Blaster, is mentioned as being among Bumblebee's Autobots but isn't seen.
- Sandstorm and Silverstreak are mentioned as part of Hot Rod's team, but are not seen in this issue, besides some really obscured images on a monitor.
Transformers references
- Mirage and Tankor have been slightly redesigned from their All Hail Megatron designs. Drag Strip appears in the present day for the first time, in a design drawing inspiration from his Universe toy. Red Alert shares a base design with Sideswipe, and thus has some design elements descended from the Universe Sideswipe/Sunstreaker mold.
- Bluestreak has been renamed Silverstreak.
- Tankor has "OC-10" (pronounce Octane) written on his shoulder, as a mention of his "old" name.
Real-life references
- New Arrivals, Old Encounters is a story by Brian Aldiss, as are the subtitles to the other issues in Things Fall Apart.
- "Things Fall Apart" is itself a quote from the poem "The Second Coming" by W.B. Yeats. It is also the name of a book by Chinua Achebe which is about a crisis in the transition of leadership and the exploitation thereof by enemies.
Errors
- In promotional materials, cover A said "Rodimus" instead of "Hot Rod."
- Despite being beaten up and smashed in Issue #1, Breakdown is in perfect condition here.
- In spite of the fact that he mentioned Windcharger's and Gears's capture by Skywatch last issue, Hot Rod doesn't seem the least bit interested in rescuing them before leaving Earth.
- As the Decepticons monitor the Autobots, Hot Rod is identified as Rodimus—several issues before Swindle dubs him as such.
- Red Alert is incorrectly colored as Sideswipe when he leaves with Jetfire, Prowl and Hot Rod.
- Punctuation is used somewhat intermittently, with some sentences being properly punctuated but others lacking any punctuation at all.
Other trivia
- The grill-like teeth drawn for the Transformers in the first issue are gone, replaced by more-traditional white-spaces.
- Optimus's vehicle mode now has white stripes along the side.
- Mike Costa answers readers' mail in Decepticomments.
Covers (3)
- Cover A: Hot Rod, Mirage, Prowl, and Red Alert with circles around their heads and their names displayed; art by Don Figueroa and colors by James Brown.
- Cover B: Bumblebee standing in the midst of rubble; art by Andrew Wildman.
- Cover RI: Concept art of a redesigned Omega Supreme; art by Don Figueroa.
"Everyone say cheese!" "grhrarhrhrrrrgh"
Fearless Autobot leader Bumblebee!
Guess who actually doesn't transform in this issue?
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- The Transformers #3
- The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers
- G.I. Joe #12 and #13
- Classic G.I. Joe Vol #7
- All Hail Megatron trade paperbacks
- The Transformers: Bumblebee
- The Transformers Continuum and The Transformers #1 2nd print
- Star Trek Alien Spotlight: Cardassians
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Fool's Gold
- Last Stand of the Wreckers (back cover)
Reprints
- The Transformers, Volume 1: For All Mankind (June 9, 2010) ISBN 1600106846 / ISBN 978-1600106842
- Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #1–6.
- Bonus material includes art from all covers, including design sketches from Don Figueroa.
- Trade paperback format.
- Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 46: Things Fall Apart (October 4, 2017)
- Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #2–8.
- Bonus material includes character design sketches by Figueroa, an extract from Decepticomments from The Transformers #4 by Mike Costa, and a bio on IDW Swindle.
- Hardcover format.
Volume 1: For All Mankind – cover art by Don Figueroa and James Brown
The IDW Collection Volume Six – cover art by E. J. Su
The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 46: Things Fall Apart – cover art by Makoto Ono and Don Figueroa
