Wannabee, Part 1

	{{#if: Who are you? \|; Who are you?}}}}
	"Wannabee, Part 1" {{#if: \| {{#if: \|; (')}} {{#if:\|; ""}}}}
Publisher	IDW Publishing}}
Published by	}}
Imprint	}}
Published in	}}
First published	March 4, 2020}}
Shipping date	}}
On-sale date	}}
Cover date	January 2020}}
Credits	}}
By	}}
Manga	}}
Manga by	}}
Original story	}}
Story & art by	}}
Story and color art	}}
Story	}}
Story by	}}
Story consultants	}}
Story concept	}}
Screenplay by	}}
Screenplay	}}
Adaptation by	}}
Adapted by	}}
Adaptation	}}
Based on	}}
Writer	}}
Writers	}}
Writing	}}
Written by	Kate Leth and Cohen Edenfield}}
Written & art	}}
Plotter	}}
Plotters	}}
Plot	}}
Plot by	}}
Plot/Script	}}
Scripter	}}
Scripters	}}
Script	}}
Scripting	}}
Script by	}}
Script and art	}}
Sript [sic] consultant	}}
Translation by	}}
Artist	}}
Comic artist	}}
Artists	}}
Art	}}
Art by	Alex Milne}}
Additional art by	}}
Flashback art by	}}
Art assistant	}}
Art assist by	}}
Line-art	}}
Line-art by	}}
Line art by	}}
Penciller	}}
Pencillers	}}
Penciler	}}
Pencilers	}}
Pencil art	}}
Pencils	}}
Pencils by	}}
Penciled by	}}
Penciling	}}
Guest penciler	}}
Layouts	}}
Pencil breakdowns	}}
Breakdowns	}}
Breakdowns by	}}
Illustration	}}
Illustrations	}}
Illustrator	}}
Illustrated by	}}
Illustration by	}}
Illustrations by	}}
Finished pencils	}}
Finishes	}}
Finished art	}}
Finishes by	}}
Inker	}}
Guest inker	}}
Inkers	}}
Inks	}}
Inks by	}}
Ink finishes	}}
Ink assist by	}}
Additional inks	}}
Inking	}}
Backgrounds	}}
Backgrounds by	}}
Colorist	}}
Colorists	}}
Colourist	}}
Colourists	}}
Color	}}
Colors	}}
Color art	}}
Colour	}}
Colours	}}
Colored by	}}
Color by	}}
Colors by	Josh Perez}}
Color art by	}}
Colors assist by	}}
Color assists	}}
Color assistance by	}}
Additional colors	}}
Additional colors by	}}
Color assist by	}}
Colour/Computer FX	}}
Computer coloring/effects	}}
Color Reconstruction	}}
Flats	}}
Flats by	}}
MTMTE Profiles	}}
Letterer	}}
Letterers	}}
Lettering	}}
Letters	}}
Letters by	Jake M. Wood}}
Lettered by	}}
Lettering\|Production	}}
To}}	}}
Collaborators	}}
Contributors	}}
Editor	David Mariotte and Tom Waltz}}
Editors	}}
Editing	}}
Edits by	}}
Compiled and Edited by	}}
Original series editor	}}
Original Edits by	}}
Deputy editor	}}
Assistant editor	}}
s}}	}}
Editorial Assistance; provided by	}}
Senior editor	}}
Associate editor	}}
Story consultant	}}
Project manager	}}
Production by	}}
Designer	}}
Design by	}}
Designed by	}}
Design/editorial	}}
Book design by	}}
Collection designer	}}
Collection editor	}}
Collection Edits by	}}
Graphic design	}}
Graphic design by	}}
Collection Design by	}}
/ Layout}}	}}
Contributing editors	}}
s}}	}}
Managing editor	}}
Editor-in-chief\|Editor in chief}}	}}
Editorial consultant	}}
Dinosaur consultant	}}
Publishing manager	}}
Cover	}}
ist}}{{#if: \| by}}	}}
and Elements }}by	}}
Inside cover	}}
Apologies to	}}
Continuity	2019 IDW continuity}}
Chronology	}}
ISBN	}}
TPB ISBN	ISBN }}
UPC	}}
Page count	}}
Price	}}
Packaged with	}}
Printed in	}}
Animation	}}
Music	}}

{{#if: TFGalaxies 5 cvrB.jpg | {{#if: IDW Publishing | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: March 4, 2020 | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: January 2020 | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: Kate Leth and Cohen Edenfield | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: Alex Milne | {{#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: Josh Perez | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: Jake M. Wood | {{#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=}}

Deathsaurus needs some help dealing with an alien race that literally worships Bumblebee... but with a certain yellow 'bot unavailable, he'll have to settle for the next best thing!

Synopsis

On the bleak world of Probat, a pair of recently-arrived Cybertronians make their way to the elevator that will take them down from the planet's spaceport into the settlement below. But while Ambassador Deathsaurus has visited the planet many times as part of his routine energon-collecting duties for the Senate, it's Cliffjumper's first time on Probat... although, oblivious to the awed whispers of the native Probats in the elevator down, he's puzzled as to why the cold, brusque ambassador, who can't even keep Cliffjumper's name straight, brought him along on this particular assignment. Deathsaurus doesn't answer right away; the moment he opens the doors to the Probat city beyond, however, Cliffjumper gawps at the sight of hundreds of bat-like citizens lining the road to the city's energon refinery. Foreman Natalus leads this strange congregation and joyfully announces that their "savior" has returned—their savior, Bumblebee!

Correctly anticipating Cliffjumper's confusion, Deathsaurus grabs his fellow Cybertronian and whispers for him to play along: the Probats "see" with echolocation, and can't distinguish color, but Cliffjumper has no time to process this before he's shoved into the crowd and beset by his adoring fans. Pleased with the festivities, Natalus watches from a distance, but Deathsaurus has no time for these pleasantries: he's more concerned with picking up his regularly scheduled energon allocation and returning to Cybertron.

Still puzzled by his apparent popularity, Cliff quickly deduces that Bumblebee is a hero to the Probats, adored for helping to "uplift" their race and helping to install the city's energon refinery. Indeed, the Probat claim that Bumblebee even appointed Natalus as their leader; out of respect, all other Probat deliberately mutilate their wings and render themselves flightless in reverence to Natalus. Finally, Cliffjumper realizes that this is just the latest in a series of frustrating misunderstandings: in his humble job as a sanitation engineer on Cybertron, everyone mistakes him for his more popular yellow lookalike. Before he can correct his fans, however, the Probats abruptly hustle him off to their homespire to continue the celebration. Deathsaurus and Natalus watch as the riff-raff disperse, and the Probat leader invites Deathsaurus back to his own spire for a feast; Deathsaurus, however, demands that Natalus take him to the energon refinery immediately so that he can inspect the shipment.

The towering roost that is a Probat homespire is home to dozens of Probat, but Cliffjumper's discomfort in the lightless environment prompt the Probats to build a fire for his benefit, igniting a portion of the mysterious, highly-reactive "substance" that lines the spire floor. Intrigued, Cliffjumper asks just what this substance is, and in response the Probats recount a portion of their creation myth. Long ago, his host explains, the Probats were helpless cave-dwellers until the substance changed their bodies, giving them the power to fly and echolocate. Eventually, the Probats incorporated this miraculous element into every aspect of their lives—but when Cliffjumper asks just what this substance is, he's a little disturbed when the storyteller explains that the substance comes from them, the Probats themselves! Although slightly disgusted by this revelation, Cliffjumper learns that the Probats have learned to farm their own waste, carefully harvesting only that which they need to survive and shipping the excess guano to Natalus for further "refinement". No sooner does Cliff asks what that entails, however, before the fire burns out and the cavern is illuminated by a strange, purple glow...

In the Cybertronian outpost, Natalus and Deathsaurus make their way towards the shipment of energon bound for Cybertron. Still oblivious to Deathsaurus's ruse, Natalus praises Deathsaurus for bringing "Bumblebee" back to their planet, but points out that the most recent growing season has been unsatisfactory as he shows Deathsaurus the shipment: a shipment far below Probat's expected quota of energon cubes. Deathsaurus doesn't buy Natalus's story for an instant, however, and immediately smashes a nearby wall to reveal a hidden energon stockpile—proof that his trading partner has been lying to him.

Bidding his new friends farewell, Cliffjumper hurries back to the Cybertronian facility to share his discovery with Deathsaurus, unaware that his fellow Cybertronian is currently threatening the helpless Natalus. Natalus desperately tries to explain that the Probats have been trying to stockpile energon in case of disaster, but Deathsaurus refuses to listen; as Cliffjumper rounds the corner, he watches in shock as Deathsaurus transforms into his monstrous beast mode and annihilates Natalus with a single gout of flame! Cliff's cry of horror alerts Deathsaurus to his presence. Demanding to know why Cliffjumper has come early, the smaller Cybertronian explains the truth behind Probat biology: they've never needed the refinery at all. If heated correctly, Probat waste instantly becomes a hyper-refined energon crystal, but when he shows one such crystal as proof, Deathsaurus simply grabs and devours it. Although he only brought Cliffjumper along as a distraction to keep the rabble busy, Deathsaurus is pleased with his choice in lieutenants: once Deathsaurus has burned every spire to the ground and stolen the resulting energon for himself, Cliffjumper will be free to take whatever's left. Cliff refuses to help Deathsaurus destroy the Probat, however, and so the much larger Cybertronian simply piledrives him into the ground. Cliffjumper only gets one chance, Deathsaurus warns, so he had better choose wisely...

Featured characters

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

{{#if:* Orion Pax (4)| {{#if:* Orion Pax (4)|| style="background:#ffdddd;" valign="top" |

Orion Pax (4) }}{{#if:|

Autobots }}{{#if:|

Decepticons }}{{#if:|

Humans }}{{#if:* Cliffjumper (1)

Deathsaurus (2)
Windblade (5)
Starscream (6)|

Cybertronians }}{{#if:* Natalus (3)|

Others }}{{#if:|

Misc }}

}}{{#if:|

}}{{#if:* Cliffjumper (1)

Deathsaurus (2)
Windblade (5)
Starscream (6)|

Cliffjumper (1)
Deathsaurus (2)
Windblade (5)
Starscream (6) }}{{#if:* Natalus (3)|

Natalus (3) }}{{#if:|

}}

Quotes

"Hold on a second. I'm not-"
"-comfortable with all the attention, we know, but come now, Bumblebee. These crawling things are your people!"

—Cliffjumper and Deathsaurus

"You uplifted us! Brought us the Great Facility!"
"Appointed and anointed our glorious leader!"
"We have kept the faith that you would return, Bumblebee."
"I'm never getting away from this, am I?"

—Cliffjumper makes some new friends

"Come now, ambassador. We've done what we can under the circumstances."
"I'm hearing a lot of excuses. A lot of 'we.' You know where I usually hear that? Last words."

—Natalus and Deathsaurus

"Please, Ambassador, I was—we've been hoarding—storing for...for... against some unknown disaster..."
"Failure to meet your quota is a disaster, organic. Wasting my time is a disaster. Lying to me, though? Thinking me your equal—no, your inferior? That's not a disaster. IT'S A CATASTROPHE!"

—Natalus gets a lesson in why Deathsaurus gets to call himself that

Notes

Continuity notes

As per Transformers issue #1 and #5, Bumblebee was formerly a member of Security Operations, but was expelled under unclear circumstances and eventually joined Cybertron's search and rescue division. Keeping that in mind, it's not entirely clear when he visited the Probat homeworld to set up this energon-trading operation: it's possible that he took another job in between these two careers, or this might be an adventure that he had before joining the force.
Transformers #2 had Bumblebee allude to the existence of energon crystals elsewhere in the galaxy, a more efficient fuel source than the energon harvested by Cybertron's own Winged Moon. Presumably, they're not all...um... "manufactured" this way...

Transformers references

We'd be remiss if we didn't at least touch on the big meta-joke here: Bumblebee is one of the most prominent Transformers in the franchise, and the concept of an entire alien race infatuated with the little yellow guy seems like a wink at Bumblebee's meteoric rise to fame as the star of the first live-action film and his high levels of popularity since then, headlining multiple comics, movies, and television shows, while Cliffjumper's status as a forgettable nobody seems like a bit of a jab at how he's, well, not achieved anything close to Bumblebee's success. The Probats mistaking him for Bumblebee also references the fact that most Cliffjumper toys use variations of a Bumblebee mold.
The concept of an alien race who literally...er... produce energon is not a new one: the first issue of Blackthorne Publishing's "Transformers in 3-D" comics featured a different race of organic creatures with a similar ability.

Real-life references

In keeping with the theme of the Probats, Natalus takes his name from the [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Natalus|{{#if:identically-named bat genus|identically-named bat genus|Natalus}}]] that encompasses various tropical bat species.
It's not clear if this was a deliberate influence on the story at hand or just a fun coincidence, but in the real world guano really was a valuable natural resource for a hot minute: to exploit gigantic guano deposits, various 18th-century colonial powers set up elaborate harvesting operations on New World islands... although, in that case, they were harvesting bird droppings, not the kind left by bats!

Errors

On page seven, there’s an extra comma in Cliffjumper’s dialogue in panel five: "it’s, Cybertron." This was fixed in the trade.

Other notes

Originally solicited for the end of January, this issue arrives extremely late, landing in the first week of March. This will be a trend for the foreseeable future.

Covers (4)

Cover A: "Bumblebee" struggles with his new fans, by Alex Milne and Josh Perez
Cover B: Cliffjumper's got an inferiority complex, by Sara Pitre-Durocher
Retailer incentive cover A: "Bumblebee" poses in front of a statue, by Anna Malkova
Retailer incentive cover B: Cliffjumper and Deathsaurus, by Kei Zama and Josh Burcham

"Everywhere I go...
"I always see..."
"his face."
"Go to a Therapy Bot for your Complex, they said... The Bots there are calming, they said..."

Reprints

Transformers Volume 2: The Change In Your Nature (September 16, 2020) ISBN 1684056756 / ISBN 978-1684056750
- Collects Galaxies issues #1–6 and Transformers (2019) issues #13–18.
- Bonus material includes alternate covers.
- Hardcover format.

Volume 2: The Change In Their Nature – cover art by Cryssy Cheung

External links

Preview

Wannabee, Part 1

Contents

Synopsis

Featured characters

Quotes

Notes

Continuity notes

Transformers references

Real-life references

Errors

Other notes

Covers (4)

Advertisements

Reprints

External links

Navigation menu

Wannabee, Part 1

Synopsis

Featured characters

Quotes

Notes

Continuity notes

Transformers references

Real-life references

Errors

Other notes

Covers (4)

Advertisements

Reprints

External links

Navigation menu

Search