« Optimus Prime #23 »
Rum-Maj...the Ever-LIVING!
"Time Will Rust"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	September 5, 2018
Cover date	August 2018
Written by	John Barber
Art by	Priscilla Tramontano
Colors by	Josh Burcham
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	David Mariotte
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era

The consequences prove fatal when Slide leads the other colonists in an attempt to rescue Jazz from G.I. Joe.

Synopsis

Six months ago, on the planet Devisiun, an elder of the planet's native species recounts the planet's history for two children. Once Devisiun was a lush, green world, until what they called the "Unyielding Shimmer" descended upon the planet—a fatally wounded Titan who fell from the sky. Cybertronian colonists emerged from the Titan and took Devisiun for their own, remaking the planet in their mechanical image.

In South Dakota on Earth, Jazz finds himself in chains after surrendering to G.I. Joe in order to secure Rom passage to Cybertron through Trypticon's Spacebridge. While Jazz and his jailer Spike Witwicky trade barbs over the past indiscretions that initially brought them to blows—Spike's illegal stockpiling of Cybertronian weaponry, Jazz's killing of police officer John Powell—senior Joe officer Flint argues outside with teammates Mainframe and Hi-Tech, his own daughter Marissa Faireborn, and the Dinobots about the dangers Cybertronians pose to Earth. Unfortunately, Flint's negative views are only reinforced by what happens next, as Sky Lynx comes swooping out of the skies, and Slide and the other young colonist soldiers leap from his cargo bay! They are here with the intention of rescuing Jazz, as proof that they—unlike, Slide thinks, Optimus Prime—have not abandoned their comrades. While Slug, Swoop, and Strafe engage the impetuous youths, Mainframe and Hi-Tech ready non-lethal rounds in defiance of Flint's lethal force order, and Marissa tries to call Thundercracker in to help.

Slide remembers the colonization of Devisiun less morbidly. In her memory, the natives were a poor people with little to live for, who the colonists saved from their feral existence. She remembers her happy life there, playing with the natives with her bonded partner Oiler... and how that life was taken away from her when Oiler died on Earth, thanks to following the words of Optimus Prime.

In Little Cybertron on Bikini Atoll, Wreck-Gar and Rum-Maj eavesdrop on Marissa's phonecall to Thundercracker. Rum-Maj reflects that cyclical violence seems to be the way of Cybertronians, worsening now as the enormity of the threat of Unicron hastens everything on the way to its end. Neither of the two want to see another world they've come to call home die, but Wreck-Gar has no idea how to prevent it. Fortunately, Rum-Maj tells him as she looks over over the shoal of Sharkticons swimming in the waters below, she does...

Jazz reflects on his first trip to Earth, sent by Optimus Prime as an advance scout on a mission of infiltration; on the escalation that followed as he called in the other Autobots; and on the devastation that resulted as the Decepticons unleashed their fury upon the planet. Lost in thought, he does not notice the noise of battle outside until Spike brings it to his attention by cautioning him that it is not his problem. But as far as Jazz is concerned, it's absolutely his problem; he is responsible both for bringing the Autobots to Earth in the first place, and for the colonists being here, now, trying to rescue him. Revealing that he was only a prisoner because he allowed himself to be one, Jazz stands, easily snaps his chains, and smashes his way through the door outside, determined to stop the fighting.

Gimlet thinks back on his life on Eukaris, a world founded as a haven for beastformers by a Prime who worked to have his kind accepted by other Transformers. It was in the spirit of that noble goal that Gimlet and his friend Bump volunteered to join Optimus Prime and help bring peace to another organic world, Earth.

Frustrated at being repeatedly shot by Mainframe, Gimlet crushes the VAMP he is driving. Too late, Gimlet realizes that in doing so, he has grievously wounded Mainframe himself—but that realization only lasts a moment before Slug, driven to a berserker fury by the young colonist's act, cleaves Gimlet in two with his sword, killing him. Lying in Hi-Tech's arms, Mainframe recalls how he blamed all Cybertronians for the destruction they brought to Earth, and how he learned the error of his ways upon getting to know some of them personally, realizing they were all individuals, just like humans. It is with this thought in his mind that Mainframe dies, using his last words to urge Hi-Tech not to let the entire Earth/Cybertron alliance fall apart because of what has happened.

Sky Lynx turns on Slug, blasting him with his flame breath, while Slide charges into the Dinobot from behind, angrily declaring him "the same as Optimus Prime." The words cut deep; Slug has long had issues with Prime and the way Slug believes he has used the Dinobots to do the Autobots' dirty work and keep his own hands clean. Slug is reminded of the new purpose the Dinobots now have—defending the next generation of protoforms born within Trypticon—and the red mist lifts, leaving him horrified and numb at what he has done to Gimlet. Still the fighting rages on as Slide and Strafe grapple, and things seem poised to get even worse when Rum-Maj and Wreck-Gar descend from the heavens, riding at the front of the Sharkticon swarm. Fortunately, Jazz is able to get between the Junkions and everyone else and confirms that they are here as friends. Slide, of course, doesn't want to hear it; the Junkions killed Oiler, after all, and she still hates Optimus Prime for allying with them—just as he allied with killers like the Decepticons, and just as Slide believes he is now standing by and allowing the ultimate killer, the planet-eating Unicron, to destroy the colonies.

It is then, as if on cue, that Unicron itself appears in the skies over Earth...!

Featured characters

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

Quotes

"First it was an embassy, then a city, now a giant space dinosaur—the Cybertronians are turning our world into theirs."
"I kinda like the dinosaur."

—Flint and Mainframe

"This is the nature of Cybertronians. A cycle repeating, only more rapidly, as history approaches its finale. Unicron is the black hole—the singularity—the strange attractor at time's end. Events are recycled, faster and faster. This is, through conspiracy, what Shockwave wrought. This is what, through brashness, Optimus wrought. This is what, through intrigue, Pyra wrought. In their desire to forestall the collapse of all things, they have done little but escalate the chaos. Junkions know of such things as endings. You and I stood by while our homeworld died, my love. I refuse to do so again."

—Rum-Maj

"Prime never wanted the how of it all... he just wanted results. I'm sure it was a lot easier if he didn't know. His finger pulled the trigger. He blamed the bullet for what came next."

—Slug

Notes

Continuity notes

• As with last issue, the title of this story is a line from the Dark Cybertron prophecy.
• The events of Unicron #1-3 have occurred between last issue and this one; this issue takes place concurrently with Unicron #4, released on the same day, which also concludes with Unicron arriving over Earth. Flint notes "the president had more important places to be," with a footnote directing readers to Unicron #4; as seen in that issue, she's with the larger Joe force in Trinity Bay, Texas.
• The fact that the Titan who brought Cybertronian life to Devisiun did not survive its landing on the planet was originally revealed in Windblade vol. 2 #6. This Titan's name is never given, but the native Devisens refer to it as the "World Breaker," and all that came from it as the "Unyielding Shimmer."
• Spike recalls the conversation he once had with Optimus Prime in a prison cell, in Transformers vol. 1 #3.
• The idea that Jazz was the first Autobot sent to Earth by Optimus Prime was introduced in The Transformers vol. 1 #25 and clarified with more detail in Optimus Prime #8.
• Jazz is shown scanning an alternate mode on Earth; the mechanism by which Transformers in the IDW continuity assumed their alternate mode has always been somewhat nebulous, with several offhand comments implying manual reconstruction playing a role in the process. This scene finally clarifies that the process is similar to the on-board scanning used by Transformers of the live-action movies, involving an on-board set of optical scanners capable of nigh-instantaneously reconstructing a Transformer's alternate mode into an identical shape. Barring an off-panel scene in the now-integrated Hearts of Steel miniseries, this is the first time we see a Transformer changing alternate modes in the space of a single issue.
• Other scenes seen in flashback include Optimus Prime arriving on Earth for the first time (which took place off-panel in Infiltration #6), Devastator's rampage (from All Hail Megatron), and John Powell wielding a Megatron gun (from The Transformers vol. 1 #17).
• This is not the first time Gimlet's temper has landed him in trouble; in what might be called foreshadowing, Optimus Prime #11 had an emotional Gimlet almost flatten Mainframe.
• Mainframe recalls working with Soundwave in Revolution #5.
• Slug's longstanding issues with Optimus Prime were explored in Punishment.
• Slug flashes back to the Dinobots watching the emergence of the next generation of protoforms, from Salvation.

Transformers references

• Rum-Maj's description of Unicron (quoted above) as "the black hole at time's end" is certainly very evocative of the Unicron Singularity from Transformers: Cybertron, a black hole created by Unicron's destruction which was, in the episode "Guardian", even described as "the end of time."
• Wreck-Gar says he fell in love with Rum-Maj on the planet Thrull, a world that first appeared in the Generation 1 cartoon episode "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1."
• Appearing as Gimlet and Bump's friends on Eukaris are fellow Japanese Beast Wars characters Tasmania Kid and Longrack.

Other Hasbro franchise references

• The G.I. Joe base near Trypticon is based on the "Headquarters Command Center" playset from the '80s G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline. The Dragonfly and VAMP vehicles from the same line can be seen outside.

Real-life references

• Wreck-Gar's sounding a little more like his classic self with the number of pop-culture references he makes this issue, including:
  • "Second verse - same as the first"—a phrase popularized by the band Herman's Hermits in their song "I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am", although Wreck-Gar may be more directly referencing its later homage in the Ramones song "Judy Is a Punk", given his punk-rock contextualization.
  • "Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent"—from the opening narration to Dragnet
  • "No one is innocent"—probably an allusion to the Sex Pistols song of the same name
  • He refers to Rum-Maj as "Honey Bunches of Oats", the name of a breakfast cereal by Post.
• Rum-Maj's Sharkticon steed is given the name "Vajra," a Sanskrit word meaning "thunderbolt" and "diamond," which is the name of a clubbed weapon wielded by the Vedic deity Indra.

Errors

• On page 3, Marissa's surname is misspelled "Fairborne" instead of "Faireborn."
• Wreck-Gar refers to Rum-Maj as "mon chère," which is grammatically incorrect French; he ought to be using the feminine determiner, "ma chère" (while the male would be "mon cher").
• Swoop's eyes are miscolored as blue instead of their usual yellow.
• Perhaps not strictly an error, but during the flashback to Gimlet and Bump's days on Eukaris, Bump is depicted as wearing a faceplate. Unlike Gimlet, who was always be-faceplated, Bump's original toy had a normal mouth and it had also been previously implied he and the other colonists only began wearing faceplates as a tribute to Optimus. By contrast, Slide's flashback depicts both her and Oiler with mouths before they met Optimus. In the same vein, Soundwave's faceplate is drawn slightly differently from his other appearances, having a raised point in the center like his G1 cartoon counterpart instead of sloping down to the center.
• During Gimlet's flashback to his days on Eukaris, a native Devisen can be seen perched on a tree.
• Slug's flashback is something of an anachronism; it depicts the Dinobots in their dinosaur bodies, battling Decepticons during the height of the Great War — when the team only adopted those same dinosaur modes ten thousand years ago on Earth. It's not clear if this is an artist or authorial error!

Other trivia

• Originally solicited for released in August 2018, this issue arrived a little late, in the first week of September.

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Rum-Maj, Wreck-Gar, and the Sharkticons, by Kei Zama and Josh Burcham
• Cover B: The colonist soldiers by Priscilla Tramontano
• Retailer incentive cover: Black-and-white lineart version of Cover A

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Reprints

• Optimus Prime Volume 5 (February 6, 2019) ISBN 1684054117 / ISBN 978-1684054114
  • Collects Optimus Prime issues #22–25 and Annual 2018.
  • Bonus material includes art from most covers.
  • Trade paperback format.

• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 85: The Falling Part 2 (June 3, 2020)
  • Collects Optimus Prime issues #18–24.
  • Bonus material includes a cover gallery and an intro by Simon Furman.
  • Hardcover format.

• 

  Volume 5 – cover art by Casey Coller and John-Paul Bove

• 

  The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 85: The Falling Part 2 – cover art by Dreamwave and Kei Zama

External links

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