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I guess Starscream didn’t like the mixtape you made him.
Publisher	Image Comics Skybound Entertainment
First published	April 10, 2024
Cover date	April 2024
Written by	Daniel Warren Johnson
Art by	Jorge Corona
Colors by	Mike Spicer
Letters by	Rus Wooton
Editor	Ben Abernathy
Continuity	Energon Universe

Having taken back their ship, the Autobots plan their next move against the Decepticons, who have found themselves caught in a power struggle. Meanwhile, the war still rages back on Cybertron…

Synopsis

On Cybertron, a squad of Autobots led by Elita One are ambushed by Decepticons while attempting to storm a fortress belonging to Shockwave looking for one of their own. One by one, Huffer, Warpath, and Kup are taken down, with the latter urging Elita to keep going and save “him”. Kicking in the door to the fortress, Elita is horrified to find who they were looking for: Ultra Magnus, stripped to a near-skeletal pile of parts.

Back on Earth, in the Pacific Ocean, the captain of the U.S.S. Henry Harrison gets a call from an Admiral ordering him to head to the coast of Washington in search of “giant robots.”

"Hello. My name is Soundwave. You kicked my cat. Prepare to die."

Meanwhile, Soundwave calls a meeting amongst the Decepticons to challenge Starscream for command. Starscream tries to turn the others against Soundwave, but Thundercracker reminds Starscream that this is their way, and to prepare himself for combat. Soundwave begins to beat on Starscream without hesitation. Though the Seeker tries to bargain with Soundwave, he refuses to yield, and the battle culminates in Starscream losing an eye to Laserbeak before Soundwave rips several pieces from Starscream's chest and sends him over the edge of a cliff. Soundwave promises the other Decepticons that he will not just act in his interests, but that they will rebuild, conquer, and destroy together. The rest of the Decepticons kneel before him, pledging their loyalty to their new leader.

Outside the Ark, Arcee introduces herself to Carly, who's practicing with a rifle. Arcee asks if she can join her and blasts away Carly's makeshift can and bottle targets, impressing the human girl. Arcee laments her own talent for killing and tells Carly that she reminds Arcee of herself: her clan was killed when she was young, but she was rescued by Ultra Magnus, who taught her how to fight. But as the war progressed, Arcee learned how the path of hate takes more than it heals, claiming Ultra Magnus died because of her. Carly, incredulous at this lecture, returns to shooting her rifle. Inside the ship, the pair are watched by Jazz and Cliffjumper. Cliff tells Jazz that Carly hasn't spoken to him since he refused to pull the trigger on Starscream, but Jazz assures him he did the right thing.

Optimus Prime and Ratchet go to visit Spike Witwicky at the Farmingham Hospital, but Spike doesn't wish to speak to him, saying that he needs more time after his father sacrificed himself. As the two drive back to the Ark, Optimus has a vision of himself holding a baby human. He is so distracted by this vision that he ends up driving off the road. Ratchet asks what happened, and Prime simply responds that he doesn't know. The pair eventually return to the Ark, where Wheeljack informs the Autobots that repairing more of their forces has been difficult with the Skywarp-augmented Teletraan 1 locking him out of the repair systems and that it will take him time to figure out a workaround. Optimus asks him to make haste; the Autobots have the upper hand but they need to take the fight to the Decepticons. Wheeljack says they'll need a way to find them, idly musing about creating some sort of flying vehicle. Optimus says he has a plan for that, looking at the remains of Jetfire.

Featured characters

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

Quotes

"You kicked my Ravage."

—Soundwave to Starscream, right before ripping his chest open.

"Optimus says I'm the best shot he's ever seen. I wish I wasn't so good at it."
"What?! You should be totally stoked! It'll help when it comes to killing Decepticons. Killing Starscream."
"I can see the fire in your eyes. Be careful it doesn't consume you."

—Arcee and Carly

"Eat. My. Vapors. Auto. Bast--"
"That's enough of that."

—Skywarp/Teletraan mocks Wheeljack.

Notes

Continuity notes

• This issue marks Cybertron’s first appearance outside of flashbacks in the main Transformers title. We had previously seen the planet in Void Rivals #4, with Shockwave standing vanguard while his fellow Decepticons were said to be in stasis due to low resources. However, the situation seems to have changed since then, with the Decepticon forces active and in conflict with Elita's Autobots. Also, while the lack of an exact timeframe seems to point at the possibility that these events could also conceivably take place before the peek at Cybertron in Void Rivals, the following issues indicate this isn't the case.
• The comic doesn't directly state that the stripped Cybertronian Elita finds is Ultra Magnus, but context clues indicate they are one and the same: besides Arcee's flashback being the most obvious clue, the bot's considerably large size matches and what remains of his outer armor is the right shade of blue.
• This issue is the culmination of Soundwave's continued grievances with Starscream's leadership, a thread that began back in issue #4. In particular, Soundwave takes Starscream kicking Ravage back in issue #5 very personally.
• Rumble is depicted as having only one arm, stuck in piledriver mode, consistent with the injury inflicted on him by Jazz at the dam battle in issue #5.
• Arcee refers to her "clan" when telling her story to Carly, terminology established with Cliffjumper's similar story in issue #4.
• Optimus' vision is almost certainly a consequence of Sparky's sacrifice to the Matrix of Leadership last issue. Paired with the fact that the vision occurred as Optimus was thinking about Spike and the baby having black hair, we can assume this is meant to be Optimus-as-Sparky cradling a baby Spike.
• Wheeljack's still operating as a torso mounted on a keypad-operated drone, as was last seen in issue #5. Similarly, we get a better glimpse at Skywarp as a retrofitted part of Teletraan 1, which was also first seen in that issue.
• Jetfire's remains have been brought back to the Ark since his death back in issue #1.

Transformers references

• The fortress that Elita’s Autobots storm in the opening pages is drawn to resemble Shockwave’s eye and chest, suggesting it to be a new version of Shockwave's Tower.
• Elita One leading a team of Autobots left behind on Cybertron against Shockwave is in line with her original Generation 1 cartoon counterpart.
• Soundwave claiming leadership of the Decepticons most directly recalls his Marvel UK counterpart.
• Just like in their debut, The Transformers: The Movie, Ultra Magnus and Arcee are presented as having a commander/subordinate relationship.

Real-world references

• U.S.S. Henry Harrison is named for the ninth President of the United States, William Henry Harrison. This follows a tradition of aircraft carriers and other Navy ships being named after Presidents, though in real life, Harrison is one of the Presidents to not have a single Naval vessel named for him. In fact, the usage of Harrison's name in particular might be an ill omen: Harrison infamously was the first president to die in office, which also wound up making him the president with the shortest term — he was only in office for 31 days.
• Jazz notes that Skywarp "sounds seriously off the beat," continuing his use of musical analogies and puns.

Errors

• The introductory caption for the U.S.S. Henry Harrison misspells the name as Henry Harrisson.
• Starscream calls Rumble a "welp", misspelling "whelp".
• In the letters page, editor Ben Abernathy notes that the scene with Optimus and the deer from issue #2 "was a punch in the guy."

Other trivia

Covers

This article needs to grow up a little bit. This comic series, compliation/TPB, feature or continuity article is a stub and is missing information. You can help Transformers Wiki by expanding it. Note: For single issues or individual stories, use {{issuestub}} What's needed: 15/18 covers documented

• Cover A: Starscream yanks the tape out of a destroyed Soundwave, by Daniel Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer.
• Cover B: The Autobots stand on top of the Ark, by Jorge Corona and Mike Spicer.
• Cover C (1:10 Copy Incentive): Connecting cover by Karen S. Darboe.
• Cover D (1:25 Copy Incentive): Soundwave stands over Starscream, by Caspar Wijngaard.
• Cover E (1:50 Copy Incentive): Arcee shoots Starscream, by Taurin Clarke.
• Cover F (1:100 Copy Incentive): Arcee and Ultra Magnus, by Mike del Mundo.
• Big Time Collectibles exclusive A: The Matrix emits light from inside Optimus' chest, by John Giang.
• Big Time Collectibles exclusive B: Virgin foil variant.
• East Side Comics exclusive A: Optimus with Megatron's arm, by John Gallagher.
• East Side Comics exclusive B: Optimus charges Megatron's fusion cannon, by John Gallagher. Virgin foil variant.
• East Side Comics exclusive C: Optimus fires Megatron's fusion cannon, by Redcode.
• Jonathan Comics exclusive A: Optimus Prime rolls out, by Tiago Da Silva.
• Jonathan Comics exclusive B: Virgin foil variant.
• Stadium Comics variant: Optimus leads the Autobots into battle, by Alex Milne.
• The Comic Corner VIP Club variant: Line art variant of Redcode's cover.

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Reprints

• Transformers Volume 2: Transport to Oblivion (November 27, 2024) ISBN 1534345272 / ISBN 978-1534345270
  • Collects issues #7–12.
  • Trade paperback format.

• 

  Volume 2: Transport to Oblivion – cover art by Daniel Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer

External links

References