Editing Earthfall Part 1: Hello Cruel World

{{Comicstory|
|series=rid|issueno=28
|prev=Black Planet: Dark Cybertron Chapter 11
|next=Earthfall Part 2
|caption=
|image=RID28 subcvr.jpg
|title="Earthfall Part 1:<br>Hello Cruel World"
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date=[[April 23]], [[2014]]
|coverdate=April 2014
|written by=[[John Barber]]
|art by=[[Andrew Griffith]]
|colors by=[[Josh Perez]] (present day)<br>[[Joana Lafuente]] (flashbacks)
|letters by=[[Tom B. Long]]
|editor=[[Carlos Guzman]]
|continuity=[[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW continuity]]
|chronology=[[IDW timeline|Current era (2014)]]
}}

'''Following a clue left by Alpha Trion, Optimus Prime leads a team of Autobots back to Earth, where an alliance of enemies old and new awaits them.'''

==Synopsis==

Six months have paased since the defeat of [[Shockwave (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Shockwave]] and his plan to fulfill the [[Dark Cybertron]] prophecy. But those events went unnoticed by [[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]], who is continuing to live his life on [[Earth]] in relative peace, his interest in human television having turned him into an aspiring writer. After a day flying around the globe while working on his screenplay—starring female human nurse "Susan Journeyer" and potential love interest "Josh Boyfriend"—he returns home to find that his dog, [[Buster (IDW)|Buster]] has gotten out. Taking her back inside, he is greeted with an acerbic critique of his writing by his human liaison [[Marissa Faireborn]], who has come to request his help...

''Half a million years ago, on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], the [[Decepticon]]s lay siege to the [[Autobot]] stronghold [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]], with the Autobots incapable of doing little but fighting a holding action. When [[Bumblebee (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Bumblebee]] returns from a scouting mission with news that [[Megatron (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Megatron]] shows no signs of letting up, [[Optimus Prime (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Optimus Prime]] decides to take the field of battle himself, much to [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]]'s consternation. [[Alpha Trion (G1)|Alpha Trion]] speaks up in Prowl's favor, proposing an alternate tactic: fearful of the resurgence of dark secrets from Cybertron's past that Megatron and Shockwave's desire for a [[Metrotitan (body-type)|Metrotitan]] portends, Trion takes Metroplex and departs the planet, intending to stop whatever [[Regenesis|great game]] Shockwave has in motion out among the stars.''

In the present day, the ''[[Ark-7]]'' arrives in Earth orbit, only to be attacked by a barrage of missiles of highly advanced design that start burrowing their way through the ship's hull. Presuming the weapons to be of Cybertronian design but unsure of where humans could have obtained them, Prime orders the ship to pull back behind the [[Moon (moon)|moon]]. A frustrated Prowl protests, assuming they are giving up, but Prime reveals that he has another plan in mind: he is going to take a small team down to the surface aboard [[Sky Lynx (G1)|Sky Lynx]]. As the team heads down, their rear is covered by a rather grumpy [[Cosmos (G1)|Cosmos]], who is unhappy to discover that the promise of building a new future that convinced him to leave the ''[[Lost Light]]'' has led only to yet more fighting.

''Six months ago, back on Cybertron, shortly after the conclusion of Megatron's trial, Cosmos tries to have a conversation with Prowl, but the police-bot is more interested in having somebody to complain to about the trial's verdict and Megatron becoming an Autobot. [[Starscream (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Starscream]] struts up to join the chat, further infuriating Prowl by comparing himself to him: perpetually destined to play second fiddle to his faction's leader... except Starscream has broken that cycle and taken leadership for himself. Optimus overhears and cautions Starscream to watch himself, his words backed up by [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] and [[Windblade (G1)|Windblade]], who promise to keep an eye on their new city leader while Optimus is away. Because Optimus is now preparing to following a message from Alpha Trion, passed on to him by Windblade... a message calling him to Earth.''

Reaching Earth's surface, Sky Lynx hides beneath the ocean for a time to be sure of shaking off their mystery attackers. After sending an update to the ''Ark-7'', Sky Lynx surfaces, and Prime takes [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] and [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] to track down a life-sign they detected upon approach to the planet, while Prowl works to discover who launched the missiles. Cosmos tracks Prime's team's progress from orbit, letting them know their proximity to the signal, but as they arrive at the site, he suddenly goes mysteriously silent. Realizing that the signal belongs to Thundercracker, Prime opens the door to his home to find the Seeker in a malaise, cryptically commenting that he is happy not to see Bumblebee among the Autobots, since he "liked him". Puzzled and annoyed, Prime inquires as to the whereabouts of Alpha Trion, but Thundercracker merely laughs, not having a clue. The Autobot leader explains about the end of the war, but it takes the reveal of Megatron's change of heart to make Thundercracer believe him. At that moment, the walls of the building are torn open, and a platoon of Decepticons led by [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] storms in, engaging the Autobots in battle! Thundercracker, it is revealed, was merely the reluctant bait to bring Prime in... but when the Autobots take the fight outside, they discover that Thundercracker is not Galvatron's only ally, as they are met by the armed forces of Marissa Faireborn and the [[Earth Defense Command]], the human half of the "Earth/Decepticon Alliance", who place them under arrest! 

==Featured characters==
Characters in ''italic text'' appear only in flashbacks.<br>
{{Featuredcharacters
|c1=
{{{!}}border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent"
{{!}}-
{{!}}style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"{{!}}
*[[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]] (4)
*[[Sky Lynx (G1)|Sky Lynx]] (7)
*''[[Bluestreak (G1)|Bluestreak]]'' (8)
*''[[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]]'' (9)
*[[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] (10)
*[[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] (11)
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Optimus Prime]] (12)
*''[[Alpha Trion (G1)|Alpha Trion]]'' (13)
*[[Kup (G1)|Kup]] (14)
{{!}}style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"{{!}}
*''[[Bumblebee (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Bumblebee]]'' (15)
*[[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]] (19)
*[[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]] (20)
*[[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] (21)
*[[Cosmos (G1)|Cosmos]] (22)
*[[Windblade (G1)|Windblade]] (24)
{{!}}}
|c2=
*[[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]] (1)
*[[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] (5)
*[[Buzzsaw (G1)|Buzzsaw]] (6)
*[[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] (16)
*''[[Megatron (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Megatron]]'' (17)
*''[[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]]'' (18)
*[[Galvatron (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Galvatron]] (27)
*[[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] (28)
*[[Brawl (G1)|Brawl]] (29)

|h3=[[NAIL]]s|c3=
*''[[Starscream (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Starscream]]'' (23)
*''[[Longtooth]]'' (25)
*''[[Circuit (G1)|Circuit]]'' (26)
|h4=[[Human]]s|c4=
*[[Marissa Faireborn]] (3)
|h5=Others|c5=
*[[Buster (IDW)|Buster]] (2)

}}

==Quotes==

"Susan approaches the HOSPITAL and JOSH BOYFRIEND, a male Earth human who is handsome like an F-22 jet fighter, greets her."
:—One of many tone-deaf lines from '''Thundercracker'''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s screenplay.


"Megatron has '''reasons''' for his actions? Fine—but he hasn't got '''justification.'''"
:—'''Prowl''' on Megatron


"If it'll help, I can go out there and '''blast''' the missiles myself. I have a jetpack and '''everything'''."
:—'''Sideswipe'''


"2000 years of studying at the '''Institute''' so I can pilot a spaceship on account of I turn into an '''airplane'''..."
:—'''Jetfire''', muttering to himself


'''Prowl:''' "We've no shortage of enemies on this planet."<br>
'''Jazz:''' "Maybe so, man—but only a few cats can keep a missile launch of '''that''' magnitude off the '''airwaves''', dig?"<br>
'''Kup:''' "You got a way o' speakin', Jazz—makes a fella miss havin' a universe to himself."


"'''Thundercracker.''' We come in peace."<br>
"Sure, that's what you all say—then somebody '''pulls''' a '''piece'''."<br>
"'''Wordplay''' from a Decepticon '''Seeker'''?"<br>
"I'm '''not''' a Seeker. I'm a '''writer'''. I write '''screenplays'''. Really good ones. I almost have an '''agent'''."
:—'''Optimus Prime''' and '''Thundercracker'''

==Notes==
===Continuity notes===
*Thundercracker has been living on Earth since the end of the [[The Transformers (IDW)|2009-2011 ongoing series]]; chronologically, he was last seen in ''[[The Question|Spotlight: Bumblebee]]'', in which he was packing up his old home (that's why he's got a new one in this story). He refers to his turning against the Decepticons during Megatron's attack on Earth, which took place in [[All Hail Megatron issue 12|''All Hail Megatron'' #12]].
*Marissa compares Thundercracker's screenplay to the TV show ''[[Nurse Whitney]]'', which Thundercracker was shown developing a fondness for in [[Things Fall Apart, Part 3: "Seasons in Flight"|issue #4]] of the ongoing. 'Cracker's script includes the line "That would be just beautiful"; Nurse Whitney's catchphrase was "That's just beautiful."
*The reason and circumstances for Metroplex's departure from Cybertron have been a mystery up until now, hinted at only as a "secret mission" of some kind in the [[Primus: All Good Things|2012 ''Robots in Disguise'' annual]]. It is here explained that he and Alpha Trion have been working against Shockwave's plans for the last half-million years—these activities are evidently tied in with the still-untold story of how Metroplex acquired the [[Ore-7]] that played a key role in "Dark Cybertron". The 500,000-years-ago timeframe of the flashback places it right around the time Shockwave himself left Cybertron to examine the fruits of his [[Regenesis]] program.
*After abandoning his faction to stay within Iacon in [[Second Exodus|issue #18]], Jazz is back on the Autobot side again.
*Prowl recalls Jazz's destruction of [[Skywatch]]'s stockpile of Cybertronian technology in [[Police Action Part 3: A Second Chance at Eden|#29 of the ongoing]].
*Jetfire is revealed to have worked at the [[Institute]]
*Cosmos joins the cast of ''Robots in Disguise'' after spending the last two years over in ''[[The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye|More than Meets the Eye]]'' on the ''Lost Light''. He didn't do much of anything over in that book, but did put in a couple of crowd-scene appearances that proved memorable because of how ''surprisingly gigantic'' he was. He's still bigger than you might imagine Cosmos being in his appearance this issue, but he's not nearly as huge as ''More than Meets the Eye'' depicted him.
*Kup reminds everyone of his last experience on Earth—being blasted through a portal to the [[Dead Universe]]—from ''[[The Transformers: Infestation issue 2|''Infestation'' #2]].
*Prime references Jazz's killing of human [[John Powell]] from [[Revenge of the Decepticons Part 4: Burning Chrome|ongoing #17]].
*Thundercracker remembers the last time he saw Alpha Trion as being the time he tried to kill him and Prime, as seen in ''[[Omega's Conundrum|Spotlight: Orion Pax]]''.

===Transformers references===
*"Buster" is a name with [[Buster (disambiguation)|history]] in the Transformers franchise, but ''has'' been used for a [[Buster (DOTM)|dog]] once before.
*John Barber seems to be taking a pop at his own writing style with Marissa's critique, as she notes it's "pretty hacky to use a voice-over". First-person voice-over narration has been a consistent element in Barber's Transformers work.
*Blitzwing appears with the design of his 2013 ''[[Transformers: Generations|Generations]]'' toy.

===Real-life references===
*This issue's title is, of course, an inversion of the cartoon-cliche pre-suicide phrase "Goodbye cruel world", which has also been used as the title of various [[Wikipedia:Goodbye Cruel World|songs and albums]], though its origins are unknown.

===Trivia===
*This issue's story is followed by a letter from John Barber welcoming readers to the book.
*Similar to the pre-launch promotion for ''More than Meets the Eye'' and ''Robots in Disguise'' two years prior, this series was trailed by a "scavenger hunt" for a series of six promo posters that were released to various sites around the internet: Optimus Prime on [https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152330032183279&set=a.10150239372238279.337626.8473603278&type=1&stream_ref=10 IDW's Facebook page], Arcee on [https://twitter.com/theunderbase/status/458350741095075840/photo/1 The Underbase podcast's Twitter] (typo'd as "Acree"; a corrected version was released through [https://twitter.com/TheJohnBarber/status/458389167806758912/photo/1 John Barber's Twitter]), Cosmos on [https://twitter.com/trnsmissions/status/458357479403831296/photo/1 The TransMissions podcast's Twitter], Galvatron on [http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/idw-publishing-dawn-of-the-autobots-teasers-seibertron-exclusive-robots-in-disguise-galvatron/29977/ Seibertron.com], Jazz on [http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/comics-16/idw-rid-promo-jazz-is-beleaguered-179762/ TFW2005.com] and Prowl on [http://tformers.com/prowl-discontented-transformers-robots-in-disguise-exclusive-promotional-art-cover/23114/news.html TFormers.com].

<gallery>
File:RIDPromo optimus prime.jpg|"Determined"
File:RIDpromo arcee.jpg|"Undecided"
File:RIDpromo cosmos.jpg|"Disgruntled"
</gallery><gallery>
File:RIDpromo galvatron.jpg|"Uncivilized"
File:RIDpromo jazz.jpg|"Beleaguered"
File:RIDpromo prowl.jpg|"Discontented"
</gallery>

===Covers (3)===
*'''Standard cover:''' Optimus Prime superimposed over the Earth, by [[Casey Coller]] and [[Joana Lafuente]]
*'''Subscription cover:''' Optimus, Sideswipe, Jazz and Arcee by [[Andrew Griffith]] and Lafuente, in homage to [[The Autonomy Lesson|issue #1]]'s cover E.
*'''Incentive cover:''' Optimus Prime by [[Livio Ramondelli]], part of a three-piece image alongside [[World, Shut Your Mouth Part 1: Towards Peace|''More than Meets the Eye'' #28]] and [[A 'Bot and Her City|''Windblade'' #1]].
<gallery>
File:RID28 cvrA.jpg|
File:RID28 subcvr.jpg|
File:RID28 cvrRI.jpg|
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==External links==
*[http://www.newsarama.com/20878-idw-april-23-previews-g-i-joe-rah-201-extended-robots-in-disguise-28.html Preview]