Things Fall Apart, Part 5: "Earthworks"

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"Earthworks"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published April 28, 2010
Cover date April 2010
Written by Mike Costa
Art by Don Figueroa
Colors by James Brown and Andrew Dalhouse
Letters by Chris Mowry
Editor Andy Schmidt
Associate editor Denton J. Tipton
Continuity 2005 IDW continuity
Chronology Current era (2010)

Major Witwicky and Optimus Prime come to terms with each other, while the giant gestalt, Menasor, wreaks havoc in the desert.

Synopsis

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Having been retrieved from his close encounter with the Stunticons, Spike Witwicky is on his way back to base aboard a Skywatch gunship when the craft receives word of an altercation nearby. Heading to investigate, they find Ultra Magnus's Autobots locked in battle with a gestalt Decepticon. Lacking the ordnance to take out the monster themselves, Spike has the ship return to base, where he is able to convince Optimus Prime to help end the fight before human populations become endangered. Despite the mission not being officially sanctioned, Spike, Prime and a team of Skywatch troops set out for the battle site in a transport plane.

Meanwhile, the mentally fragmented Menasor has apparently defeated Ultra Magnus, and a smug Swindle gives a gloating monologue to his long-time adversary. The speech is interrupted, however, when Optimus airdrops in and lands directly onto the Decepticon. Whilst the former Autobot leader engages Menasor, Bumblebee is saved from Scrapper by Thundercracker, who has no desire to see the war continue.

The Seeker leaves to help Rodimus, as Bumblebee notices that Menasor's components are failing to work together. With this realization, he has the Autobots focus on each Stunticon in turn until their increasing arguments leave the combiner completely incapacitated. As Spike's forces move in to clean up, Bumblebee orders that the Autobots do not flee, tired of living like fugitives.

After a short conversation, Spike and Bumblebee reach an agreement: the Autobots will work together with Skywatch to hunt Decepticons, and in return will be given accommodation and energy resources. A barely-recovered Ultra Magnus storms up to the two leaders, demanding to know what became of Swindle after the battle, but learns that he escaped. At that moment he notices Rodimus, who is sitting and moping about the failure of his plan to leave the planet. Magnus attempts to arrest him for colluding with Decepticons, but Bumblebee stands up to him, taking issue with the law enforcer undermining his position as Autobot leader. Whilst Bumblebee asserts his authority, Rodimus slips off, steals Magnus's ship, and flees Earth. Scornful of Rodimus' cowardice, the Autobots who followed him rejoin under the finally confident Bumblebee.

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(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Humans

Quotes

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"I turned myself in because there had to be a change, and my people would not have been able to enact it if I had told them what I was doing."

—Optimus Prime


"See, the thing is, Magnus, you were after me for stealing combiner technology. You always figured I was gonna sell it. But it never occurred to you that I'd figure out how to use it myself, right? Because you didn't think I was smart enough. Well, who's stupid now?"

—Swindle dares the universe to drop an anvil on him.


"Everyone wants to focus on the big guy. Just 'cuz we have a new combiner."

—Scrapper envies Menasor for taking the spotlight.


"Listen. Both of us can expend resources chiseling away at each other. Or we can work together to neutralize actual threats, like the one today."

—Spike Witwicky sounding a lot like someone else that made a similar proposal.


"On this planet you answer to me. We have to start accepting what we see, and not how we remember things. We feel lost. We feel scared. Let's face it, we've felt this way since we lost the Matrix. But we did lose the Matrix, and unless we get it back and it chooses someone else, I'm in charge. So you will listen to me. And you will obey. No Autobot is being arrested today while I'm here, regardless of their mistakes."

—Bumblebee tells Ultra Magnus to shut up and deal with it now.

Notes

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Continuity notes

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  • Thundercracker gives us our first official confirmation that Swindle is a Combaticon. He'd not been seen working with the team at this point in IDW continuity.
  • Menasor's ad hoc combination does not appear to involve the mass displacement that makes other combiners so huge, nor does it seem to merge the component Transformers' minds at all, forcing the Stunticons to manually coordinate their actions as a larger robot.
  • Bumblebee's initial reluctance to accept an alliance with Skywatch is based on his experiences in The Transformers: Bumblebee.
  • Magnus notes that he answers to "a body of governors that's been empaneled to --" before Bumblebee cuts him off.
  • Hot Rod is prominently in the foreground, visibly reacting, when Bumblebee mentions the loss of the Matrix—foreshadowing his attempt to reclaim it in issue #13.

Transformers references

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  • The arguments among Menasor's components not only reflect the description given in his original bio, but also recall a cut plot point from the G1 episode "Masquerade" that had Menasor himself silencing the arguing Stunticons!

Real-life references

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  • Earthworks is a story by Brian Aldiss, as are the subtitles to the other issues in Things Fall Apart.
  • "Things Fall Apart" is itself a quote from the poem "The Second Coming" by W.B. Yeats.

Errors

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Other trivia

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  • The cover showing the Autobots fighting Menasor was originally advertised as a wraparound cover. However, this was changed into cover A and cover B being two halves of that wraparound cover. [1]
  • Additionally, the cover erroneously depicts Bumblebee in his pre-upgrade body, and Sideswipe, who didn't actually participate in the battle.

Covers (3)

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  • Cover A: Close up of Menasor attacking Rodimus and Bumblebee; art by Don Figueroa and colors by James Brown.
  • Cover B: Close up of Optimus Prime; art by Don Figueroa and colors by James Brown.
  • Cover RI: Optimus Prime admiring the forest scenery; art by Andrew Wildman.

Advertisements

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Reprints

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  • The Transformers, Volume 1: For All Mankind (June 9, 2010) ISBN 1600106846 / ISBN 978-1600106842
    • Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #1–6.
    • Bonus material includes art from all covers, including design sketches from Don Figueroa.
    • Trade paperback format.
  • Volume 1: For All Mankind – cover art by Don Figueroa and James Brown
    Volume 1: For All Mankind – cover art by Don Figueroa and James Brown
  • The IDW Collection Volume Six – cover art by E. J. Su
    The IDW Collection Volume Six – cover art by E. J. Su
  • The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 46: Things Fall Apart – cover art by Makoto Ono and Don Figueroa
    The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 46: Things Fall Apart – cover art by Makoto Ono and Don Figueroa
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