Editing Escape Part One

{{Comicstory
|seriesissue=''[[Transformers: Escape]]'' #1
|prev=Storm Horizon Part 3
|next=Escape Part Two
|caption=
|image=TFEscape 1 cvrA.jpg
|title="Escape Part One"
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date=[[December 30]], 2020
|coverdate=December 2020
|written by=[[Brian Ruckley]]
|art by=[[Beth McGuire-Smith]]
|colors by=[[Priscilla Tramontano]]
|letters by=[[Jake M. Wood]]
|editor=[[David Mariotte]], [[Tom Waltz]], and [[Riley Farmer]]
|continuity=[[2019 IDW continuity]]
|chronology=
}}

'''Amidst impending civil war, Nautica, Road Rage, and Hound defend Cybertron’s organic immigrants from an ancient threat.'''

==Synopsis==
Ninety kilocycles ago, the [[A'ovan]] race narrowly avoided extinction thanks to the efforts of the [[Transformer|Cybertronian]] race, and those few surviving refugees relocated to the custom-built [[A'ovan habitat]] in [[Iacon (polity)|Iacon]]'s [[Xeno-Quarter]]. But when [[Hound (G1)|Hound]] tracks a distress signal to the complex, he finds the habitat ransacked, its plants and animals dead and dying; when he discovers a handful of terrified A'ovans huddled under some debris, they warn him that the Cybertronians responsible for the devastation are still here, just before he turns to see the [[Insecticon (G1)|Insecticon]] [[Shrapnel (G1)|Skrapnel]] pounce on him! 

In the repair bay, [[Hoist (G1)|Hoist]] helps patch up [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]]; the engineer still can't believe what's happened to [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] since he returned from the [[Winged Moon]], but before they can finish their conversation, the sound of an altercation from the doors draws both of their attention. The pair find [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] and [[Flatline (G1)|Flatline]] barring [[Gutcruncher (G1)|Gutcruncher]]'s gang of Decepticons from searching for Autobots on the premises, but it's Hoist who intimidates them into leaving by pointing a cloud of [[Diagnostic Drone|diagnostic drone]]s at the trio. Understaffed, undermanned, and underdefended, Ratchet laments that there just aren't enough 'bots willing to stand up to the Decepticons.

In the A'ovan habitat, Skrapnel has Hound pinned, paralyzed, and ready to eat—only for [[Road Rage (G1)|Road Rage]] to charge the Decepticon and kick him into the wall of the habitat! Road Rage's charge [[Nautica (G1)|Nautica]] shouts for her to watch out for [[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]] before [[Bombshell (G1)|Bombshell]] clobbers her with an uprooted tree. While Hound tackles Bombshell, and Skrapnel tackles Hound Nautica grabs Road Rage's discarded blaster and uses it to keep Kickback at bay, while Road Rage uses her [[alternate mode]] to charge all three of the Decepticons; this final act convinces them to retreat and sate their hunger elsewhere. Nautica explains that she was also following the A'ovan distress signal, but is more concerned by the reappearance of the [[Insecticon (G1)|Insecticon]]s, who had supposedly been banished from Cybertron long ago. Hound, meanwhile, is just relieved to see that his friend [[Pra'tyne]] is safe, but Nautica gently reminds him that the concept of "safety" is something unknown to the A'ovan. Indeed, Pra'tyne points out that for a hardy race like the Cybertronians, who live for eons, outlive the consequences of their mistakes, and can tangibly grasp the existence of their souls, a future is all but assured... but to the A'ovans, who lost everything and once more teeter on the brink of extinction, "safety" is a foreign concept to their culture. Nevertheless, Hound promises that he and his friends ''will'' do everything they can to make up for what has happened to their sanctuary. 

Out in the badlands, the three Insecticons regroup; since returning to Cybertron, the three have developed a taste for organic matter, and Kickback and Skrapnel momentarily lose themselves to the hunt as they pursue a lone [[skitter]] before Bombshell snaps them back to attention. Having survived the [[War of the Threefold Spark]], the trio are well-equipped to ride out the impending conflict... and have recently discovered that only ''life'' can properly sate their endless hunger. Even now, Cybertron pulses with more life than the trio can hope to harvest; they need more of themselves to consume it all, and Bombshell knows just who to turn to...

At Autobot headquarters, Nautica and Hound report to [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]. When the Cybertronians took in the A'ovan, they promised them sanctuary, and Hound's determined to uphold that promise. Optimus agrees: [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]]'s Decepticons care little for the organic creatures who have made Cybertron their home, and so the Autobot leader orders Nautica and Hound to organize a coordinated evacuation of Iacon. That evening, Hoist and Wheeljack watch as a shooting star illuminates the night sky, one of the many spaceborne [[Titan (group)|Titan]]s skimming the atmosphere as its orbit decays. Between an entire generation of post-war Cybertronians who have never known conflict, and more and more injured 'bots piling up by the day, the medic wishes that they had some way of evacuating the planet, but with the Titans offline, Cybertron doesn't have any starships big enough to handle the task. Wheeljack notes that that's not ''entirely'' true: there are still at least four [[Ark (G1)|Ark]]s, gigantic colony ships from the [[Expansion|Age of Expansion]], somewhere on Cybertron. The [[Nominus Edict]], meant that they were grounded, mothballed, and stripped for parts, but someone with the right set of skills ''could'' get them up and running again... but since they were parked in the city of [[Darkmount (Cybertron)|Darkmount]], whoever wants them will have to deal with [[Straxus (G1)|Straxxus]] first.

In the A'ovan habitat, Hound and Nautica explain the situation to a group of Iacon's organic immigrants: although the Autobots will do what they can to protect immigrants in Iacon, the pair are organizing a refugee convoy out of Iacon for safer pastures; although Pra'tyne understands the danger her people face, she worries that the council might reject the proposal despite Hound's reassurances that they'll be able to rebuild their civilization somewhere else. As they approach an A'ovan dwelling, Hound hears a strange noise; Pra'tyne explains that when the Insecticons attacked, a group of A'ovan children broke into the archives and stole a precious relic: a beacon that would summon the same 'bot who had rescued their people from the Thraal all those years ago. Though Pra'tyne knows that their savior has gone immersant, she let the children use the beacon anyway in the hopes that they, too, would learn that their hero will not come... or that's what they think, anyway. Deep underneath the surface of Cybertron, the beacon reaches the sensors of a dormant Cybertronian, who opens his eyes and rips himself free from the ground: [[Dai Atlas (Zone)|Dai Atlas]]!

==Featured characters==
(Characters in ''italic text'' appear only in flashback.)<br> 

{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
* [[Hound (G1)|Hound]] (1)
* [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] (3)
* [[Hoist (G1)|Hoist]] (4)
* [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] (9)
* [[Road Rage (G1)|Road Rage]] (10)
* [[Nautica (G1)|Nautica]] (11)
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] (15)

|c2=
* [[Shrapnel (G1)|Skrapnel]] (2)
* [[Airwave (facility)|Airwave]] (5)
* [[Gutcruncher (G1)|Gutcruncher]] (6)
* [[Reflector (G1)|Refraktor]] (7)
* [[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]] (12)
* [[Bombshell (G1)|Bombshell]] (13)
* ''[[Straxus (G1)|Straxxus]]'' (16)

|c4=
* [[Flatline (G1)|Flatline]] (8)
* [[Pra'tyne]] (14)
* [[Sonic Bomber (Zone)|Sonic Bomber]] (17)
* [[Dai Atlas (Zone)|Dai Atlas]] (18)
* [[Roadfire]] (19)

}}

==Quotes==

"They '''shot''' me! I was explaining important stuff and they just '''shot''' me! No more thought or hesitation than wild slaargs!" <br>
"Well, slaargs are long extinct. Unfortunately, it seems like the '''Decepticons''' are just getting started."
:—'''Wheeljack''' and '''Hoist'''


"Let's not escalate, okay? I've got a whole little helpful cloud of lasers and cutters and burners and drillers here. All intended for innocent and useful purposes. But '''anything''' can be re-purposed, right? You're '''not''' getting in. We fix those that need fixing, and there's '''no one''' here who needs the kind of fixing '''you're''' offering."
:—'''Hoist'''


"You change constantly, as is your nature. And you change hardly at all, because your deaths are so long postponed. You '''know''' that you are endowed with souls. You rarely grasp the doubts and sorrows that brevity and uncertainty grant the '''rest'''  of us. You can be glacially slow, because you live with an abundance of time. Yet you can be impetuous and careless, because error and consequence seem transitory. You expect to '''outlive''' them. When you imagine the far future, you imagine your individual selves in it. You '''know''' you will be there. And some of you think that gives you '''ownership''' over it. '''Safe''', friend Hound? No. We '''never''' assumed we were safe."
:—'''Pra'tyne'''


"Death and chaos and war salved our hungers once before. They will do so again." 
:—'''Bombshell'''

==Notes==
===Continuity notes===
* Spinning off from [[War World: Prime|''Transformers'' issue #25]], ''Escape'' runs alongside the "War World" arc over in the main [[Transformers (2019 comic)|''Transformers'' ongoing]]. [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] is shown recovering from the injuries he sustained in that issue after running afoul of the [[Battlecharger]]s; [[Hoist (G1)|Hoist]], [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], [[Nautica (G1)|Nautica]] and [[Hound (G1)|Hound]] all appeared as members of the Autobot resistance in [[War World: Awakenings|issue #26]], as did [[Gutcruncher (G1)|Gutcruncher]] amidst the Decepticons, so this story must run more-or-less in parallel with that issue.
* Numerous issues of ''Transformers'' touched upon the sad history of the [[A'ovan]] race: forced to flee their home after the warlike [[Thraal]] sterilized their planet with nuclear weapons, [[Sentinel Prime (G1)|Sentinel Prime]] afforded them refugee status and authorized the construction of the [[A'ovan habitat]] in [[Iacon (polity)|Iacon]]'s [[Xeno-Quarter]], a place where they could preserve their biological and cultural heritage. However, as seen in [[Rise of the Decepticons: Swindle's|''Transformers'' #20]], the complex was badly damaged when the [[Tether]] collapsed, and things have only further deteriorated in the days since.
* The brief flashback at the beginning of the issue gives us a glimpse at the A'ovan homeworld before its destruction: the cityscape features a glimpse of a [[skitter]], which stowed away on Cybertron-bound refugee ships and turned invasive as per [[The World In Your Eyes Part Two|''Transformers'' #2]], and a dog-like reptile resembling the dead animal that [[Hound (G1)|Hound]] handled in ''Transformers'' #20. That same scene also first introduced Hound's friend [[Pra'tyne]], impromptu representative of her race. 
* The [[Insecticon (G1)|Insecticon]]s first appeared in ''[[Transformers: Galaxies]]'' [[Constructicons Rising, Part 2|#2]] as members of [[The Rise]], 'bots whom [[Nominus Prime]] had banished from Cybertron after the [[War of the Threefold Spark]] for fear that their rapacious hunger would turn to cannibalism. After convincing the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicon]]s to destroy everyone on the planet [[Mayalx]], [[Onslaught (G1)|Onslaught]] and his compatriots arrived to smuggle them home to Cybertron; in between then and now, it seems as though they've developed a taste for organic material. 
* [[Bombshell (G1)|Bombshell]] muses that the Insecticons "must be countless" to devour everything on Cybertron, and that he knows how to make that happen; the [[Storm Horizon Part 3|final issue]] of ''Galaxies'', released on the same day as this issue, concluded with Rise leader [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] unveiling an army of [[Insecticon clone]]s...
* The Rise took the Titans offline with a specialized data-bomb in [[The Change In Your Nature Part Five|''Transformers'' #17]] to pave the way for [[Vigilem]]'s attack. Although [[Glyph (Universe)|Glyph]], [[Tap-Out (Universe)|Tap-Out]], and [[Blaster (G1)|Blaster]] vowed to get the [[Titan Net]] up and running again in [[Rise of the Decepticons: Tremors|''Transformers'' #21]], it seems that their efforts have not yet paid off. 
* While lamenting a lack of large starships on Cybertron, Hoist mentions "that one that the [[Reversionist]]s've got", referring to the starship ''[[Exodus (G1 ship)|Exodus]]'' from [[Arcee/Greenlight: Run|''Transformers'' #18]] and issues [[Gauging the Truth: Part One|#7]]-[[Gauging the Truth, Part Three: Moment of Truth|#9]] of ''Galaxies''. He notes that the starship's inoperable, however, in keeping with the ending of ''Galaxies'' #9 which saw the damaged ''Exodus'' grounded for repairs after [[Gauge]] helped foil [[Heretech]]'s attack on Cybertron.
* The crowd of alien immigrants that Hound and Nautica assemble include a few alien races [[Rubble]] glimpsed in the [[Xeno-Quarter]] during [[The World In Your Eyes Part Five|''Transformers'' #5]]. Returning faces include a trio of four-armed beings wearing round bubble helmets, a hunched, hooded creature with a long green tail, tall humanoids with cloaks and breathing masks, and several pig-like beings in jumpsuits, though these ones are red rather than greenish-yellow.
* [[Dai Atlas (Zone)|Dai Atlas]] had received a previous mention in [[Rise of the Decepticons: All Fall Down|''Transformers'' #19]] as one of the four [[Great General]]s who had once led the fight against [[Exarchon]] during the [[War of the Threefold Spark]]; although that issue also revealed that he'd since gone immersant, the revelation that he had a hand in the A'ovan refugee crisis at some point before retiring is a new one.

===Transformers references===
* In their original appearance in [[Titan Magazines]]' ''[[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|Transformers]]'' comic, the warring Thraal and A'ovan both inhabited the planet [[Na'conda]]; in this universe, however, the planet Na'conda is a gas giant, and the A'ovan evolved on its third moon. Whether this means that the Thraal evolved on the same moon, hail from a different moon, or come from another star system altogether is not yet clear.
* Wheeljack likens the Decepticons to wild [[slaarg]]s, referencing the aggressive and as-yet-unseen creatures first mentioned in "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1]]". Slaargs were previously mentioned to have existed in this universe in ''Transformers'' #25, which featured [[The Slaarg & Turbofox|a bar]] named after the animals, although this issue confirms that they are extinct.
* The Arks, of course, are a reference to the [[Ark (G1)|traditional Autobot starship]] from the original ''Transformers'' series bible, but the idea of ''multiple'' Arks is not a new one: the Autobots of the [[2005 IDW continuity|original IDW universe]] had a tradition of naming their various starships after [[Ark (G1)#2005 IDW continuity|the original ''Ark'']], which vanished along with [[Nova Prime]] in ancient times. Indeed, ''this'' continuity's depiction of the giant starships as relics of Cybertron's colonial past hearkens back to Nova Prime's mission of supremacist "[[Expansion]]" as seen in the ''[[The Transformers: Spotlight|Spotlight]]'' maxi-series.
* His name's spelled with an extra "X" here, but it seems that our heroes are up against everyone's favorite despot [[Straxus (G1)|Straxxus]] for control of the Arks! Wheeljack warns that he's in control of [[Darkmount (Cybertron)|Darkmount]], his stomping grounds from his time as the ruler of Cybertron in the "Return to Cybertron" arc back in Marvel's [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|''The Transformers'' comic]], and Straxxus is shown standing on a narrow catwalk that sure looks like one of his beloved [[smelting pool]]s...

===Other trivia===
* Originally solicited for a mid-December release, this issue continues IDW's ongoing delays by dropping two weeks late, just before New Year’s. 

===Covers (3)===
* '''Cover A''': Hound and Wheeljack, by [[Beth McGuire-Smith]]
* '''Cover B''': The Arks flee Cybertron, by [[Winston Chan]]
* '''Retailer incentive cover A''': A determined Wheeljack, by [[Sara Pitre-Durocher]]
* '''Retailer incentive cover B''': Our heroes, by [[Alex Milne]]
* '''Black Flag/KRS Comics cover A''': [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]], by [[Raymund Bernandez]] and [[Sebastian Cheng]]
* '''Black Flag/KRS Comics cover B''': Chibi Cybertronians clash in a bedroom, by [[Albert Morales]] and Sebastian Cheng
* '''Wicked Gator Comics/Jolzar Collectibles/Yellow Snow Comics cover''': Scary Insecticons, by [[John Giang]]

<gallery>
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File:TFEscape 1 cvrRI A.jpg
File:TFEscape 1 cvr RI B.jpg
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File:TFEscape 1 cvrRE 2.jpg
File:TFEscape 1 cvrRE 3.jpg
</gallery>

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===Reprints===
*'''''Transformers Volume 4: Declaration of War''''' <small>([[August 10]], 2021 **''scheduled''**) ISBN 1684058066 / ISBN 978-1684058068</small>
**Hardcover.
**Collects ''Transformers'' issues #25–30, ''Transformers Valentine's Day Special'', and ''[[Transformers: Escape|Escape]]'' issues #1-5.
**Bonus material currently unknown, most likely alternate covers.

<gallery>
image:TF-IDW-2019v4.jpg|'''''Volume 4: Declaration of War'''''; cover art by [[Cryssy Cheung]]
</gallery>

==External links==
* [https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2020/12/comic-book-preview-transformers-escape-1/ Preview]

[[Category:Galaxies issues]]