New Cybertron Part 5: Future Glories Lost

|- {{#if: OP5 regcvr.jpg | | colspan="2" style="font-size: 12px; background-color:#ffffff;" align="center" | {{#if: Someone hates Weird Al. |
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As Optimus Prime leads the counter-attack against the Junkions, Soundwave employs a subtler form of combat to turn the tide of the battle.

Synopsis

In Mexico City, Jazz continues to shadow the human woman he recently encountered, still hoping that he can open up lines of communication for their mutual benefit. She remains uninterested; even his presence is making her a target, she argues, as she has begun to suffer online harassment over her apparent association with him. Jazz is forced to concede that she may have a point when, suddenly, the sky rips open and Sharkticons begin spilling through the portal and into the city, eating everything in sight!

Above the Matterhorn, the Junkions plunge the pointed tip of their corkscrew spaceship straight into Metrotitan, causing chaos down on the Titan's deck. While Aileron and Jetfire evacuate the visiting human delegates and Sky Lynx transports the comatose Sideswipe to safety, Optimus Prime awes his colonist followers by calling upon Metrotitan to partially transform and seize the Junkion ship to prevent it from escaping. With the ship held firmly in place, Prime orders the Autobots to begin an all-out counter-attack against the Junkions. Pyra Magna expresses some discontent in the violent, ruthless order, but nevertheless orders the Torchbearers to combine into Victorion to take part in the fight.

Four million years ago, Orion Pax and Prowl fit Jetfire with a "wire" that will record his impending meeting with Decepticon gun-runners Horri-Bull and Needlenose. Though the operation has the potential to mark him as the hero who separated true Decepticon ideology from terrorist violence, Jetfire is hardly ebullient, wishing that he could just have his normal life back. Worse still, when he finally meets with Needlenose and his cohorts, he discovers that the weapons they are selling were provided by Soundwave himself, which means his claims that he was unconnected to the gunrunners were lies.

Flung from the Junkion ship just before the beginning of the battle, the badly-wounded Cosmos is safely recovered by Soundwave and undergoes treatment at the hands of Hi-Tech at the G.I. Joe encampment on the Matterhorn. As Cosmos weakly recounts the sight of the cramped pen that held the Sharkticons aboard the Junkion ship, Soundwave has a realization: the Sharkticons are the Junkons' servants, and Soundwave knows exactly how to rile up an underclass. Flying up into the midst of the Sharkticon swarm, Soundwave addresses the creatures and quotes segments of Towards Peace, urging them to understand that they are oppressed and have the power to cast off their own shackles.

Soundwave meets with Starscream to discuss the plan the latter has brewing. Soundwave is concerned that the scheme will result in the death of loyal Decepticons, but Starscream is perfectly willing to carry out such a sacrifice; yet another reason for Soundwave to doubt the tactics the Decepticons are employing in the name of their beliefs. Whatever doubts Soundwave may have, however, are far eclipsed by Orion Pax's fury at learning the Decepticon communicator lied to him. Prowl is unsurprised and tries to calm the angry Orion, but this act of dishonesty seems to the last straw for Cybertron's "hero cop"—his sympathy for the Decepticons has evaporated, and he is out to bring them all in, regardless of consequences.

As the battle between the Autobots and Junkions continues to rage, Oiler meets his end when his head is cut in half by a Junkion's sword. Seeing her brother's death sends Slide into a fit of rage, and she unleashes a barrage of firepower that annihilates the Junkion. The escalation of the conflict leads the Junkions to realize that the Cybertronians are more dangerous than they had expected, and Wreck-Gar decides to sneak away, his heart never having truly been in the fight in the first place. As he tries to slip into the shadows, though, he is confronted by Arcee, who demands that he take her to the positron core that he previously offered the Autobots so she can use it to repair Sideswipe. The babbling Wreck-Gar insists that he can't... but only because, as he reveals a moment later, he doesn't have to take her anywhere, since he's got it on his person already.

Back in Mexico City, Jazz tries to hold off the Sharkticons, while the woman angrily laments that situations like this are proof that her employer is wrong, and that the Autobots don't need another platform to spread their message. Jazz is intrigued to find out what she does for a living, but notes he'll have to wait until after the fight before they can talk about it... at which point, the Sharkticons all stop attacking. Soundwave's speech has worked, and as one, the Sharkticons all transform to robot mode and turn on the Junkions!

Featured characters

Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.
{{#if: ||(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)}}

{{#if:{|border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent"

Jazz (2)
Metrotitan (4)
Cosmos (5)
Optimus Prime/Orion Pax (6)
Pyra Magna (7)
Aileron (8)
Jetfire (10)
Arcee (16)
Sky Lynx (17)
Sideswipe (18)
Skyburst (20)
Stormclash (21)

Midnight Express (22)
Roulette (23)
Rust Dust (24)
Bump (25)
Slide (26)
Oiler (27)
Dust Up (28)
Jumpstream (29)
Gimlet (30)
Prowl (31)
Victorion (37)

|

!! style="background:#ffdddd;" | Autobots }}{{#if:* Soundwave (13)

Horri-Bull (32)
Needlenose (33)
Other gunrunner (34)
Heavywait (35)
Starscream (40)|

!! style="background:#ededff" | Decepticons }}{{#if:* Rum-Maj (11)

Wreck-Gar (12)
Various Junkions (36)|

!! style="background:#fbefde;" | Junkions }}{{#if:* Talon (14)

Spike (15)
Mainframe (38)
Hi-Tech (39)|

!! style="background:#ffeeb8;" | G.I. Joe }}{{#if:* Sofía Orozco (1)

!! style="background:#d5e6d5;" | Others }}{{#if:| !! style="background:#fedeb5;" | Misc }} |- {{#if:{|border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent" |- |style="background:transparent;border:0px" valign="top"|

Jazz (2)
Metrotitan (4)
Cosmos (5)
Optimus Prime/Orion Pax (6)
Pyra Magna (7)
Aileron (8)
Jetfire (10)
Arcee (16)
Sky Lynx (17)
Sideswipe (18)
Skyburst (20)
Stormclash (21)

|style="background:transparent;border:0px" valign="top"|

Midnight Express (22)
Roulette (23)
Rust Dust (24)
Bump (25)
Slide (26)
Oiler (27)
Dust Up (28)
Jumpstream (29)
Gimlet (30)
Prowl (31)
Victorion (37)

|}|| style="background:#ffdddd;" valign="top" |

Jazz (2)
Metrotitan (4)
Cosmos (5)
Optimus Prime/Orion Pax (6)
Pyra Magna (7)
Aileron (8)
Jetfire (10)
Arcee (16)
Sky Lynx (17)
Sideswipe (18)
Skyburst (20)
Stormclash (21)

Midnight Express (22)
Roulette (23)
Rust Dust (24)
Bump (25)
Slide (26)
Oiler (27)
Dust Up (28)
Jumpstream (29)
Gimlet (30)
Prowl (31)
Victorion (37)

}}{{#if:* Soundwave (13)

Horri-Bull (32)
Needlenose (33)
Other gunrunner (34)
Heavywait (35)
Starscream (40)|

| style="background:#ededff;" valign="top" |

Soundwave (13)
Horri-Bull (32)
Needlenose (33)
Other gunrunner (34)
Heavywait (35)
Starscream (40) }}{{#if:* Rum-Maj (11)
Wreck-Gar (12)
Various Junkions (36)|

| style="background:#fbefde;" valign="top" |

Rum-Maj (11)
Wreck-Gar (12)
Various Junkions (36) }}{{#if:* Talon (14)
Spike (15)
Mainframe (38)
Hi-Tech (39)|

| style="background:#ffeeb8;" valign="top" |

Talon (14)
Spike (15)
Mainframe (38)
Hi-Tech (39) }}{{#if:* Sofía Orozco (1)
Sharkticons (3)
President of the United States (9)
D.0.C. (19)|

| style="background:#d5e6d5;" valign="top" |

| style="background:#fedeb5;" valign="top" |

}}

|}

Quotes

Cosmos: Disagreed With Something That Ate Him.

—Cosmos's post-Sharkticon-encounter ID caption

"Protect the humans at all cost! That's why we came here!"
"Ah, the decisive orders one would expect from the killer of Galvatron."

—Optimus is trying, Pyra Magna, could you just... could you just not, for once?

"My daddy used to say, 'you never go wrong with killing the robots.'"

—Spike, could you also not, thanks?

"What, did you think you'd joined a book club?"

—Needlenose reacts to Jetfire's surprise at the sight of weapons.

"These Sharkticons serve the Junkions. They are an underclass. And fortunately for us, class warfare is my specialty."

—Soundwave

"Think this through, Orion."
"What is there to think through? We were wrong. The Decepticons are running guns."
"We don't have any reason to think Hefter was involved."
"Maybe he should have picked better friends."

—Prowl witnesses Orion Pax's turn to the dark side.

"We pray to Primus or whoever... we ask for change. We think it matters what we want. But 'Primus' is just a thermodynamic reaction set in motion at the beginning of time. When we place our faith in others, real or imaginary, we set ourselves up for that ultimate fall. Words can inspire... but where inspiration meets reality, desperation rules. Thermodynamics set in motion at the beginning of time can corrupt the noblest thoughts... until the final truth is revealed: only the strong survive."

—Arcee lays out her beliefs

Notes

Continuity notes

In her narration, Arcee reveals that she hails from the "Darklands", the region of ancient Cybertron that Robots in Disguise #30 noted was the home of Galvatron. That would suggest that Arcee (who it's easy to forget is super old) was a member of Megatronus's tribe back during the era of the Primes. Further information would come in issue #10.
Having being previously alluded to in The Transformers #52 and Sins of the Wreckers #3, Arcee again makes some veiled references to having been an ally of Jhiaxus and the rest of Galvatron and Nova Prime's group when they rebuilt Cybertronian society after the end of the First Cybertronian Civil War. Arcee notes that "even I was just a lie I told myself," and that she "truly became herself" later, dialogue in-keeping with earlier remarks made in #52 that the being she is now is who she was "always meant to be." Though gender is not specifically referenced here, it was in #52, suggesting that these implications are intended to mitigate the longstanding questionable circumstances of what Jhiaxus did to her.
Soundwave quotes from the segment of Towards Peace we previously saw being composed in More than Meets the Eye #34.
Orion's turning point in this issue shows how he went from the optimistic guy from earlier stories like "Chaos Theory" and "Shadowplay" to the jaded, skull-busting cop seen in Autocracy.
Arcee talks again about her friendship with Hardhead while they lived on Gorlam Prime together, between Revelation and Heart of Darkness, and Hardhead's death in More than Meets the Eye #25.

Transformers references

As in their debut appearance in The Transformers: The Movie, the Sharkticons are "defeated" not through force, but by being convinced to turn against their masters. Soundwave accomplishes it with a little more finesse than Grimlock's roaring and foot-stomping.
Rum-Maj swears by "the sacred voice of Weirrall", a reference to "Weird Al" Yankovic, who provided the Junkion song "Dare to Be Stupid" for the movie soundtrack, and voiced the Animated incarnation of Wreck-Gar.
Wreck-Gar refers to himself as "Wreck-n-Rool", referencing the oft-slung catchphrase of the Wreckers.
The Sharkticons' robot modes are drawn and colored largely based on the concurrently-available Generations Gnaw toy (though of course, none of them are identified as being Gnaw himself).

Real-life references

As with all chapters of "New Cybertron", this issue's subtitle is taken from the lyrics to the [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Covenant (band)|{{#if:Covenant|Covenant|Covenant (band)}}]] song, "Babel".
"Junkionisms" used by Wreck-Gar this issue include:
- "Now what's what I call a counterattack, volume eleven!" — A reference to the multi-volume [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Now That's What I Call Music!|{{#if:||Now That's What I Call Music!}}]] album series. The "volume eleven" part might also be a reference to the movie [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}This Is Spinal Tap|{{#if:||This Is Spinal Tap}}]], and its famous speakers with volume knobs that "go up to eleven."
- "Tune in same Wreck-Time, same Wreck-Channel." — The famous closing narration of the 1966 [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Batman (TV series)|{{#if:Batman television series|Batman television series|Batman (TV series)}}]].

Covers (4)

Regular cover: Arcee lays into Wreck-Gar, by Kei Zama and Josh Burcham
Subscription cover A: Optimus, Arcee, and Victorion watch as the Sharkticons descend, by Casey Coller and John-Paul Bove
Subscription cover B: Buster watches a Sharkticon chow down on Michelangelo's David, by Andrew Griffith and Josh Perez
Retailer incentive cover: Optimus Prime by E. J. Su; connects to the Su cover of Lost Light #4 to form a complete image, which homages Su's connecting covers to Infiltration #5 and 6.

Not bad for a girl.
Sharknado?
The Sharkticon ate a weenie.
Infiltration homage.

Reprints

Optimus Prime Volume 1 (June 21, 2017) ISBN 1631409697 / ISBN 978-1631409691
- Collects Optimus Prime issues #1–6.
- Bonus material includes art from most covers.
- Trade paperback format.

Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 78: New Cybertron (November 14, 2019)
- Collects Optimus Prime issues #1–8.
- Bonus material includes a sketch gallery by Kei Zama, a cover gallery and an intro by Simon Furman.
- Hardcover format.

The Transformers: The IDW Collection Phase Three: Volume 2 (April 6, 2022) ISBN 1684058775 / ISBN 978-1684058778
- Collects Till All Are One issues #9–12, Optimus Prime issues #1–6, and Lost Light issues #1–7.
- Hardcover format.

Volume 1 – cover art by Kei Zama and David García Cruz
The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 78: New Cybertron – cover art by Don Figueroa and Casey Coller
The IDW Collection Phase Three: Volume 2 – cover art by Sara Pitre-Durocher

External links

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