The Cracks Beneath Your Feet Part Two

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	"The Cracks Beneath Your Feet Part Two" {{#if: \| {{#if: \|; (')}} {{#if:\|; ""}}}}
Publisher	IDW Publishing}}
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First published	July 3, 2019}}
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Cover date	June 2019}}
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Written by	Brian Ruckley}}
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Art by	Anna Malkova (pg. 1-7), Angel Hernandez (pg. 8-14), Beth McGuire-Smith (pg.15-20)}}
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Colors by	Joana Lafuente & Josh Burcham}}
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Letters by	Tom B. Long}}
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Editor	David Mariotte and Tom Waltz}}
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{{#if: TF2019 08 cvrA.jpg | {{#if: IDW Publishing | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: July 3, 2019 | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: June 2019 | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: Brian Ruckley | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: Anna Malkova (pg. 1-7), Angel Hernandez (pg. 8-14), Beth McGuire-Smith (pg.15-20) | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: Joana Lafuente & Josh Burcham | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: Tom B. Long | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: David Mariotte and Tom Waltz | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: 2019 IDW continuity | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: |

{{#switch:{{#sub:xx|2|14}}|dark cybertron=}}

As Megatron meets with an old mentor, Bumblebee struggles to settle into a new life, and Prowl and Chromia receive some unexpected assistance.

Synopsis

In the Memorial Crater, Flamewar reports the recent sabotage of the communications cables that she was laying down to Shadow Striker, who orders her to keep an eye out for the culprit. The impulsive Ascenticon has other ideas, however, and the moment she spies the perpetrator she makes her move...only to find that she's bitten off more than she can chew—she's run into an irate Cyclonus, whose initial charge sends her flying! Though Flamewar surprises the larger Cybertronian with her built-in flamethrowers, her gadgets and trickery have nothing on the old warhorse, who decisively overpowers her and warns her to stay down. The fight takes a new turn when Shadow Striker arrives; ignoring the wheedling of his hallucinatory companions, Cyclonus uses Flamewar's discarded blaster to kick up a smokescreen, then hurls the defeated Flamewar at her compatriot as he transforms and blasts off towards the nearby city of Iacon. As she fires one last rocket at Cyclonus's retreating form, Shadow Striker scolds Flamewar for her recklessness: her thirst for action has jeopardized their clandestine, tightly-knit operation.

Elsewhere in the wilderness, Megatron arrives aboard a floating elevator to the doors of a massive fortress—the fortress of Termagax, founder of the Ascenticon movement and her new home following her self-imposed exile. Ever the engineer, Termagax has spent her long solitude building and inventing whatever she pleases. As Megatron soon learns, she has no time for visitors and even less time for idle chatter; brushing off Megatron's news of the explosion at their latest rally, and his concerns that whoever carried out the attack could very well choose to attack her next, Termagax tells him that she's utterly unconcerned with what has transpired beyond the walls of her fortress: in her eyes, the Cybertronian race is diminished since the Age of Expansion, stagnant and afraid of change. Until the day that the Cybertronians remember and celebrate their past, rather than bury it beneath the Nominus Edict, Termagax is uninterested in their dealings, and takes the opportunity to remind Megatron that Sentinel Prime and the Senate will never embrace that change. Secretly, however, this is exactly what Megatron has hoped to hear: as he departs her fortress, he puts in a call to Soundwave, and informs his second-in-command that there will be no interference from her...

At Ascenticon headquarters, meanwhile, Bumblebee is still coming to grips with life as a member of the Ascenticon Guard under the supervision of Elita-1, remembering his old life as a member of Security Operations. Elita makes it clear that she doesn't intend to dig up the past any more than necessary, and wishes that the other two members of the Guard—veteran soldiers looking for any excuse for violence—could be more like him. On the other hand, however, Elita muses that Quake has gone missing, which is all the stranger considering his history of sociopathic behavior. The conversation turns to Rubble again, and Bumblebee confesses his worries about the state of Cybertron. As if to underline this, Elita reveals to Bumblebee that Megatron will require an escort during the Senate's next emergency meeting—and that escort is Bumblebee, chosen for his history with the Autobots and his security training. 'Bee immediately recognizes that he's being used as a trophy for Megatron to parade about, but brushes it off: after all, there are worse things in the world...

Elsewhere in Iacon, Prowl and Chromia have brought in Froid for questioning regarding Quake and his connection to Rubble's murder—a case made all the more urgent by the fact that Quake has disappeared, one more name on the list of the hundreds of Cybertronians who have abruptly vanished. Froid can't offer any concrete answers and, when Chromia pushes this line of questioning, the psychologist finally snaps back: the postwar Autobot philosophy has been built around the Nominus Edict, a doctrine of self-control and restraint... and that kind of restraint, on a planetary scale, simply cannot last forever. When the metaphorical dam bursts, everything will come spilling out... and the frontline enforcers of Autobot philosophy, the 'bots of Security Operations, will be the first ones to feel the effects of that wave. As if to punctuate this, the battered form of Cyclonus crashes into their tower! Wounded but still functioning, Cyclonus grimly tells them what he found out in the wilderness: the missing 'bots are out there somewhere, building up their numbers, intent on staying undiscovered—and backing up that intention with lethal force.

After Chromia grills Cyclonus for their specific location, and Prowl prepares to escort him to Ratchet to receive medical attention, Froid tells the old warrior to talk to Paragon—the 'bot that, in his opinion, Cyclonus needs to see. In the meantime, however, Chromia tells Sideswipe to call in Barricade and Windblade and break open the arsenal, with or without Orion Pax's authority... because they're going in.

Featured characters

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

{{#if:| {{#if:|| style="background:#ffdddd;" valign="top" | }}{{#if:* Megatron (6)

Termagax (7)
Bumblebee (8)
Elita-1 (9)

The Rise

Flamewar (1)
Shadow Striker (2)|

Autobots }}{{#if:* Megatron (6)

Termagax (7)
Bumblebee (8)
Elita-1 (9)

The Rise

Flamewar (1)
Shadow Striker (2)|

Ascenticons }}{{#if:|

Humans }}{{#if:* Cyclonus (3)

Gridlock (4)
Grudge (5)
Prowl (10)
Chromia (11)
Froid (12)
Sideswipe (13)|

Others }}{{#if:|

Misc }}{{#if:|

Misc }}

Megatron (6)
Termagax (7)
Bumblebee (8)
Elita-1 (9)

The Rise

Flamewar (1)
Shadow Striker (2) }}{{#if:|

}}{{#if:* Cyclonus (3)

Gridlock (4)
Grudge (5)
Prowl (10)
Chromia (11)
Froid (12)
Sideswipe (13)|

Cyclonus (3)
Gridlock (4)
Grudge (5)
Prowl (10)
Chromia (11)
Froid (12)
Sideswipe (13) }}{{#if:|

}}{{#if:|

}}

Quotes

"Isn't that Shadow Striker?"
"I can't even remember. These crazies have got illegally good guns, too."

—Gridlock and Grudge

"Careful. That could turn everything up to your elbows into an ionized mist. It's pretty, but you'd probably find it inconvenient."

—Termagax

"I owe you more than I can ever repay, Termagax. I am proud to carry your banner and your legacy. But I never once met anyone who entirely chose what they cared about."
"Enjoy the novelty while you can, since the chances I'll let you in again are not currently on an upward trajectory."

—Megatron and Termagax

"I just want to know if Quake is capable of something like this, Froid. That's all."
"But it's a hopeless question! Of course he is. Have you seen him?"
"Oh, for—psychologically, we mean. We don't need you to tell us he's big."

—Chromia interrogates Froid

"We are wilful, protean, creative, curious, assertive, troublesome beings. Restraint and constraint were never going to work forever."

—Froid

Notes

Continuity notes

This issue kicks off just before the final scene of the the previous issue, showing events from Flamewar's perspective.
Hundreds of Cybertronians—Flamewar and Shadow Striker now revealed to be among them—were discovered by Security Operations to have abruptly "gone off the grid" in issue #5.
Termagax was previously mentioned to have gone into exile in issue #4; her engineering skills were alluded to in issue #2, which also explained that she was the engineer who designed and oversaw the construction of the Winged Moon.
A dead Voin appears as one of the many artifacts in Termagax's possession, as does... Gridlock's severed head?! The mystery behind Cyclonus's ghostly companions grows deeper...
Termagax reveals a name for a previous era of Cybertronian history: the "Age of Expansion." Given this name, it's likely that the war against the Threefold Spark, combined with the explicitly anti-expansion Nominus Edict, were responsible for ending this era.
Continuing from some pretty heavy implications in the previous issue, this comic reveals that both Refraktor and Skytread were soldiers in the war against the Threefold Spark, and also suggests that Shadow Striker was also involved.
Froid made his last appearance in issue #3; that issue also revealed that he had also served as Quake's psychotherapist in the past.
After crash-landing, Cyclonus refers to Chromia's veiled threat against him in issue #4, in which she ordered him to report for questioning at the Iacon precinct office lest she bring him in by force.

Transformers references

Shadow Striker makes a surprise debut as a member of the Ascenticons; while the name has belonged to a variety of female Decepticon characters in the past, this incarnation is pretty specifically based on her Cyberverse counterpart from the concurrently-running Cyberverse cartoon in a bit of unexpected brand synergy. This version of the character is drawn to resemble her original, pristine form, as seen in the episode "Shadowstriker," but it's anyone's guess as to whether or not she'll meet with a gruesome accident as per Cyberverse lore...
Termagax describes a previous age of Cybertronian history as the "Age of Expansion". The term was first used in The Allspark Almanac II to describe a similar era of interstellar colonization and outward growth.
Termagax name-drops Pyra Magna during her monologue, wondering if she has been "let out;" in the same breath, she goes on to mention the "artifacts," and whether or not they've been recovered. As the original incarnation of Pyra Magna in the 2005-2018 IDW continuity was specifically introduced as an archaeologist-type, who sought out Cybertronian relics in the Sea of Rust with her Torchbearers, it certainly seems as though there's a connection being implied here...

Errors

In Froid's dialogue in page 16, panel 4, the UK spelling "wilful" slips through for "willful" counter to IDW's U.S. spelling policy.

Other trivia

Originally solicited for an end-of-June release, this issue arrives one week late, landing in the first week of July.
Print copies of both this issue and the preceding one feature free trading cards for use in the Transformers Trading Card Game.

Covers (3)

Cover A: Cyclonus squares up for a fight by Anna Malkova
Cover B: Megatron gives a speech, by Casey W. Coller and Josh Burcham
Retailer incentive cover: A retro-styled tourism poster advertising the previously-unnamed "Cybertronian Mountains" that appeared in issue #1, by Jeffrey Veregge

Where's Whirl?
Stop! In the name of love!
...and see Titan corpses and body parts!

Reprints

Transformers Volume 1: The World In Your Eyes (January 22, 2020) ISBN 1684055318 / ISBN 978-1684055319
- Collects Transformers (2019) issues #1–12.
- Bonus material includes alternate covers.
- Hardcover format.

Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 99: The Cracks Beneath Your Feet (October 21, 2020)
- Collects Transformers (2019) issues #8–14.
- Bonus material includes a cover gallery, and an intro by Simon Furman.
- Hardcover format.

Volume 1: The World In Your Eyes – cover art by Cryssy Cheung
The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 99: The Cracks Beneath Your Feet – cover art by Dreamwave (Cyclonus) and Angel Hernandez

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The Cracks Beneath Your Feet Part Two

Contents

Synopsis

Featured characters

Quotes

Notes

Continuity notes

Transformers references

Errors

Other trivia

Covers (3)

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The Cracks Beneath Your Feet Part Two

Synopsis

Featured characters

Quotes

Notes

Continuity notes

Transformers references

Errors

Other trivia

Covers (3)

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External links

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