Shadowplay, Part 1: Post Hoc

2012-09-26T14:27:12Z

109.153.21.88: The way this is told and narrated really doesn't lend itself to our usual "past bits in italics" approach.

{{Comicstory|
|series=mtmte|issueno=9
|prev=Scavengers (Part 2): Who's Afraid of the DJD?
|next=
|caption=
|image=MTMTE9_cvrA.jpg
|title="Shadowplay (A Totally Epic Story Based On Real Events That Definitely Happened) Part 1: Post Hoc"
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date=[[September 26]], [[2012]]
|coverdate=September 2012
|story by=[[James Roberts]]
|art by=[[Alex Milne]]
|colors by=[[Josh Burcham]]
|letters by=[[Chris Mowry]]
|editor=[[John Barber]]
|continuity=[[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW continuity]]
|chronology=[[IDW timeline|Current era (2012)]]
}}

'''A group of Autobots are gathered by Rewind to tell a story of corruption, conspiracy and murder from long ago on Cybertron.'''

==Synopsis==

''On [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], before the war, [[Nightbeat (G1)|Nightbeat]] and [[Quark]] meet outside [[Maccadam's Old Oil House|Maccadam's New Oil House]] to discuss the increase of violence in the face of the [[Clampdown]] and the rise of the [[Decepticon]] movement. Nightbeat is sympathetic to the worker class cause, while the science-class Quark fears for the future... but their argument ends when a drop of [[energon]] lands in Quark's drink, and the pair look up to discover the dead body of [[Sherma|Senator Sherma]], suspended from the Interstate Bridge!''

In the present day, aboard the ''[[Lost Light]]'', [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] arrives late to a meeting called by [[Rewind (G1)|Rewind]] in [[Swerve's bar]]: the archivist has called him, [[Drift (G1)|Drift]], [[Chromedome (G1)|Chromedome]], [[Whirl (G1)|Whirl]] and [[Skids (G1)|Skids]] together (with [[Swerve (G1)|Swerve]] and [[Tailgate (G1)|Tailgate]] as an audience) to help him tell a story that will aid in [[Rung]]'s mental recuperation. The true-life tale is set shortly after the instigation of the Clampdown, beginning with the assassination of Senator Sherma, and reveals how, thanks to one Autobot, all those present played a role in a greater story than they ever realized...

Chromedome begins the story by recalling how he and his partner in [[Mechaforensics]], [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], were called in to investigate Sherma's murder, easily deducing the Decepticons as the culprits from the presence of their [[insignia]], graffitied on Sherma's back. Skids interrupts to ask for some clarification on Prowl, who he doesn't remember; Swerve has a few choice words to describe him, and Rewind tries to emulate his fondness for flipping tables over, but can't quite manage it. Drift, receiving some messages from [[Hot Rod (G1)|Rodimus]], tries to hurry the story along, so Rewind turns narration over to him, asking about his time as a homeless circuit booster addict in the [[Dead End (place)|Dead End]]. Drift recounts how he was attacked by [[Sonic (G1)|Sonic]] and [[Boom]] and was saved by decorated police officer [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Orion Pax]] and brought to a medical drop-in center run by [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]]. Ratchet takes issue with Drift's embellishment of the facts, as he jokingly claims the atheistic medic was praising [[Adaptus]] and [[Primus]] as he worked, but what he begrudgingly is unable to deny is that he told Drift that he was special. Drift tells of how he lied to Ratchet about going to a local [[Relinquishment Clinic]], prompting Tailgate to ask exactly what the clinics were; Rewind plays an infomercial for one, which explains that they were used in the days of functionalism to give 'bots the chance to experience life in bodies with other [[alternate mode]]s via Sparkswap technology. Never a fan of the clinics, Ratchet picks up the story, remembering the news broadcast that played immediately after he had repaired Drift: the broadcast that announced the death of [[Nominus Prime]], with its claim that he was the victim of a rust infection that Ratchet, having operated on Nominus following the attempt on his life, knew was a lie. His part in the story complete, Drift is forced to leave to meet Rodimus, whose messages have grown increasingly angrier.

Ratchet continues the story of what happened next, as Orion Pax requested that he accompany him to a rendezvous with his senator friend. The senator confirmed Orion's suspicions that Nominus was killed by the Senate after the [[Matrix of Leadership]] within his chest was revealed to be a fake, and revealed his fears that the Senate's head of security, [[Sentinel Prime (G1)|Sentinel]], was planning something involving the Decepticons. For the sake of drama, Rewind has Ratchet stop there and hand back over to Chromedome, who carries on with the story of Sherma's autopsy. Having discovered that the senator was shot to death, Chromedome and Prowl traced fragments of [[cerulean glass]] found in his boots and treads back to the privileged community of [[Translucentica Heights]], and headed there on [[Skydart]]s. They discussed Prowl's upbringing in the strict town of [[Petrex]] and the existence or not of the [[Institute]] along the way, but upon their arrival, a corpse came flying out a high-rise window and landed in front of them, sporting another graffitied Decepticon symbol...

Meanwhile, down in the ''Lost Light''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s oil reservoir, Drift arrives to answer Rodimus's call. The reason is anything but pleasant... dredged out of the oil by [[Grapple]], they have discovered the remains of [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]], and Rodimus blames [[Cyclonus (G1)|Cyclonus]] for his death!

==Featured characters==
(Characters in ''italic text'' appear only in flashbacks.) 
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
{{{!}}border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent"
{{!}}-
{{!}}style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"{{!}}
*''[[Scrounge (G1)|Scrounge]]'' (1)
*''[[Nightbeat (G1)|Nightbeat]]'' (2)
*''[[Quark]]'' (3)
*[[Rung]] (4)
*[[Drift (G1)|Drift]] (6)
*[[Chromedome (G1)|Chromedome]] (7)
*[[Rewind (G1)|Rewind]] (8)
*[[Swerve (G1)|Swerve]] (9)
*[[Skids (G1)|Skids]] (11)
*[[Whirl (G1)|Whirl]] (12)
{{!}}style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"{{!}}
*[[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] (13)
*''[[Nominus Prime]]'' (14)
*''[[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]]'' (16)
*''[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]]'' (17)
*''[[Optimus Prime (G1)|Orion Pax]] (20)
*''[[Slamdance (G1)|Slamdance]]'' (21)
*[[Grapple]] (23)
*[[Hot Rod (G1)|Rodimus]] (24)
*[[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]] (25)
{{!}}}
|c2=
*''[[Boom]]'' (18)
*''[[Sonic (G1)|Sonic]]'' (19)
|c4=
*''[[Sherma]]'' (5)
*[[Tailgate (G1)|Tailgate]] (10)
*''[[Proteus]]'' (15)
*Unnamed senator (22)
}}

==Quotes==

==Notes==

*[[Wikipedia:Post-hoc analysis|"Post hoc" analysis]], from the Latin meaning "after this", is the examination of data in search of patterns after the fact. As Rewind explains, this is the purpose of his story: to reveal to the gathered characters' how their exploits all crossed over with one another without any of them knowing.
*This story is essentially a direct sequel to Roberts's "[[Chaos Theory Part 1|Chaos Theory]]" [[Chaos Theory Part 2|two-parter]] from the [[The Transformers (IDW)|ongoing series]], published a little over a year before this story began. It follows up on events established by that story, like the injury of Nominus Prime by a suicide bomber, the establishment of the [[Clampdown]], Orion Pax's reconstruction with a new chamber in his chest, and his dalliance with an enigmatic senator who conspicuously continues to go unnamed. The window of Maccadam's is even still cracked from where Rung collided with it in the first few pages of "[[Chaos Theory Part 1]]".
*Roberts previously used "Quark" as the name for an Autobot in his ''Eugenesis'' fan-novel, but that's about as far as similarities between the two characters go. This Quark's head is based on [[Perceptor (Animated)|''Animated'' Perceptor]], as they both turn into microscopes.
*Speaking of ''Animated'', the luckless Scrounge makes a cameo in the first panel with an appearance based predominantly on his [[Scrounge (Animated)|''Animated'' counterpart]]. Also visible is [[Rattrap|''Beast Machines'' Rattrap]].
*This issues gives us our second mention of the [[Primal Vanguard]], the unit to which Tailgate was attached, as he mentioned back in "[[Liars, A to D Part 2: Hangers On|issue #2]].
*Several references are made to "Proteus's Promise", an unspecified political promise made by [[Proteus|Senator Proteus]] from "Chaos Theory". This was the title of the public information film shown by Rewind in [[Scavengers (Part 2): Who's Afraid of the DJD?|issue #8]].
*A billboard reading "Everyone's Shape Serves A Purpose" can be spotted outside Maccadam's; this slogan was repeated by Rewind in [[Liars, A to D Part 1: How to Say Goodbye and Mean It|issue #1]].
*The model ship Rung is building on page 2 is the ''Lost Light'' itself, or at least a ship of the same class.
*Ratchet comments that he spray-paints his hands red; and well he should, as they're replacements gained from [[Pharma]] in [[How Ratchet Got His Hands Back|issue #5]] which are actually blue.
*[[Sherma Bridge]] has cropped up in several places in Roberts's stories, starting with "Chaos Theory Part 1". Here we learned it was formerly the "Interstate Bridge", and was re-named (formally or colloquially, it's not specified) after the dead senator hung from it.
*Chromedome is sporting a body based on his original Generation 1 toy in the flashback sequences.
*Drift's time as a homeless drifter (snort, giggle) was previously shown in [[Drift issue 2|issue #2 of his self-titled mini-series]].
*Sonic and Boom previously appeared in issues [[Life After the Big Bang|#4]] and #5.
*We first got a glimpse of a Relinquishment Clinic in [[Interiors|issue #6]], where one was implied to have some link to Chromedome and Rewind's shared history. The images used in the clinic's infomercial are redrawn from the original Generation 1 toy [[instructions]] for the [[Powerdasher|Drill Powerdasher]] and [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]].
*[[Sentinel Prime (G1)|Sentinel Prime]]'s involvement in Nominus Prime's unfortunate fate was implied in a montage of images in [[Liars, A to D Part 3: The Chaos of Warm Things|issue #3]], and made explicit here.
*With the revelation that the Matrix within Nominus Prime was a fake, combined with the fact that his predecessor [[Nova Prime]] has never been shown to hold the talisman and Optimus Prime's discovery of it in the [[Undergrid]] in ''[[The Transformers: Autocracy|Autocracy]]'', a picture is emerging that suggests the Matrix may actually have been missing since ancient times, only being rediscovered by Optimus Prime and ''never actually held'' by any of the other Primes, despite what the Senate has told the population.
*"Chaos Theory" and ''[[The Transformers: Megatron Origin|Megatron: Origin]]'' are bridged with the revelation that Megatron was shipped off-plant after the earlier story, to the planet [[Messatine]], future home of the [[Delphi]] medical facility, previously established to be home to [[nucleon]] mines. This presumably places [[Mining Outpost C-12]] from ''Megatron Origin'' on that planet.
*The mysterious "Institute" gets another mention this issue, one of several that have been peppered throughout Roberts's works.

===Covers (3)===
*'''Cover A:''' Many key characters in fractured panels that together make up a close-up of the Decepticon insignia, by [[Alex Milne]] and [[Josh Perez]]
*'''Cover B:''' Orion Pax in a shadowed alley, by [[Nick Roche]] and [[Josh Burcham]]
*'''Cover RI:''' Optimus Prime, by [[Marcelo Matere]] and [[Priscilla Tramontano]]

<gallery>
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*Joe Kubert's ''Tarzan of the Apes'' Artist's Edition
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Shadowplay, Part 1: Post Hoc