Speak, Memory! (Part 2)

« The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye #49 »
"Speak, Memory!" (Part 2)
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	February 10, 2016
Cover date	January 2016
Written by	James Roberts
Pencils by	Hayato Sakamoto
Colors by	Joana Lafuente
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	John Barber
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era (2016)

Rung steps up as Sunder stalks the halls of the Lost Light, and Skids's repressed memories grow dangerously close to overwhelming him.

Synopsis

His mind invaded by Sunder's remote mnemosurgery, Skids relives the long-repressed memories of his time in Grindcore... memories of how the prison commandant, Tarn, conscripted him to repair the facility's teleport chambers, in exchange for the liberation of fifty prisoners. Skids completes the work, much to the consternation of his cellmate Quark, who doubts Tarn will keep his promise, but Skids believes that at the very least, functioning teleporters will mean prisoners will get to leave the living hell of Grindcore, even if it is to work as slaves on other planets. The pair's argument ends when loud music beings playing through the camp... music that Quark identifies as "The Empyrean Suite..."

To Rung's horror, Froid unlocks Sunder's cage, deeming his release "the least worst option." Kindle and Fervor rush aboard the ship and level their weapons at the serial killer, but he turns his gaze upon them, and Skids and Rung gasp in horror at what occurs. Reacting quickly, Rung transmits a live recording of the proceedings he has been making to Megatron in order to warn the crew...

Some time later, Tailgate awakes from his coma to find all lights on the Lost Light deactivated, with strange, spherical balls of machinery dotted around the corridors. Exploring the darkened vessel, he finds Getaway in the brig after his recent crimes, but when the escape artist remains silent in the face of all the puzzled Tailgate's questions, the little 'bot punches the wall in anger, and somehow, all the nearby windows shatter. Just as Tailgate bends to examine one of the machine-balls, Rung, Skids, and Froid appear, and Rung explains what the ball is: horrifyingly, it is Rodimus, who has fallen victim to one of Sunder's favorite mind-tricks. The killer uses his mind powers to force his victim to transform, but causes them to forget how to, resulting in them turning themselves inside out. The lights are out and the crew are locked up in their rooms to prevent Sunder from seeing his intended victims, but Rung is out looking for Chromedome, as he needs his mnemosurgical skills to prevent Skids from remembering his traumatic time in Grindcore, lest the sudden, violent recollection of those memories permanently damage his mind. Unfortunately, the grinning Sunder then rounds a nearby corner, and Skids clutches his head as the memories begin again...

Skids is invited to Tarn's office, where Tarn confirms that the teleport generators are working, and shows Skids a datapad of the promised prisoners being released into the Manganese Mountains. Skids tries to up the ante, insisting that a hundred prisoners will have to be freed next time, but Tarn informs him that Snare can fix the generators in the future, having watched Skids's repair job. Tarn then tells Skids that, as he is no longer of use to him, he will be sent off on the next mass teleport the following day, but Skids asks if he can give his place to someone else.

Villain, you picked the wrong story to appear in.

Rung blocks Sunder's line-of-sight on Skids with his own body and drags Froid in to help, but the rival psychiatrist makes the mistake of looking Sunder in the eyes, and screams in agony as he is made to transform himself inside-out. A sudden blast fells Sunder, courtesy of Thunderclash, who has arrived with Megatron and Chromedome, but the killer survives and quickly flees. As Chromedome goes to work sealing off Skids's memories once again, Thunderclash, Megatron, Tailgate, and Rung pursue Sunder back to the shuttle bay, where yet another unpleasant surprise is waiting for them—Froid's shuttle, it turns out, is the dead, transformed body of Sunder's brother Sceptre, which Sunder now transforms into a giant robot-battle-suit! Thunderclash falls victim to Sunder's mind-powers and is turned inside out, but before the same can happen to Megatron, Rung reveals his own ace in the hole: his model ship collection, all actually armed and flight-capable, which he controls via a remote and uses to shoot out Sunder's eyes! Tailgate shouts for Megatron to pick up Thunderclash's dropped gun and end Sunder's threat, but Megatron tries to talk Sunder down instead; when the killer doesn't listen, Tailgate does the job himself... by picking up the Rodpod and using it to crush Sunder!!

Later, Megatron meets with Rung on the bridge, where the psychiatrist tenders his resignation. His secret dismissal by the tribunal of the Fateful Archetype is now out in the open, since Froid's recounting of it was part of the recording Rung sent to Megatron. Megatron proposes that Rung let his patients decide if they want to keep seeing him, but Rung refuses. As he leaves, the repaired Rodimus enters, and presents Megatron with Velocity's analysis of Tailgate's baffling show of strength: it turns out that his spark, "uniquely susceptible to mutation as a result of the background radiation generated by quantum travel," has undergone a stress-related mutation that has turned him into a new breed of super-strong, super-fast, super-durable outlier. Bizarre as that might be, Rodimus is even more flummoxed by Megatron's refusal to fire on Sunder, and the ex-Decepticon reveals that recent events in his life have led him to a decision. Henceforth, Megatron renounces the use of violence!

Skids and Quark line up to enter the teleport chamber, expecting to be sent to the planet Ambervalia. Quark is the 'bot Skids gave his place to, but Tarn, "touched" by the gesture, has allowed them both to leave. Once inside, however, Skids studies the boiling-hot chamber and comes to a ghastly realization... scant moments before he alone is teleported out, into Tarn's office. The "teleport chamber", the commandant explains, is in actuality a smelting chamber, which melts down the bodies of those inside for raw materials to be used in the creation of Decepticon M.T.O.s. "The Empyrean Suite" is played merely to drown out their dying screams. Tarn seizes Skids by the head and forces him to watch as Quark and all the others die horrible, molten deaths, and Skids's faith in Primus dies with them.

Featured characters

(Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.)
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Others
Skids (1) Rung (2) Sunder (3) Quark (7) Kindle (8) Fervor (9) Getaway (10) Tailgate (11) Rodimus (12) Megatron (13) Chromedome (14) Thunderclash (15) Sceptre (16) Sunshine (18) "Creature from the Black Lagoon" (19) Rev-Tone (20)	Tarn (5) Snare (6) Talon (17)	Froid (4)

Quotes

"I'd say you were ashamed, but I don't think you've got it in you."

—Tailgate, on Getaway.

"You think death scares me in the slightest? I've lived half my life in its shadow. It is the fate of every mnemosurgeon to die on the job—a victim of their addiction. We know when death is near; we can feel it creeping closer—but never close enough to make us stop. The fatal injection is always the next injection—until one day it isn't."

—Sunder

"Say hello to my fleet, Sunder! You're not the only one who likes to do things remotely!"

—Rung made a pun!

"I won't accept this. You're spent your whole life forgiving other people's mistakes. Why should you be denied that same kindness? I want you to tell everyone on board about the tribunal—and then let your patients decide whether they want to keep seeing you."
"Do you really think so little of me—so little of my work—that you'd suggest something like that? "Let your patients decide"—would you say that to a brain surgeon who'd been struck off? Or a failed space bridge engineer—would you let his passengers take the risk? I will tell everyone about the tribunal... but only by way of explaining why I'm no longer practising."

—Megatron and Rung

"Rodimus. Good to see you're in.... better shape."
"Did you come up with that joke all by yourself?"
"Ultra Magnus suggested the pause."

—Megatron and Rodimus

"I suppose you could call me an agnostic. You see, I'm not sure about heaven... but I'm pretty sure hell exists."

—Tarn

Notes

Continuity notes

• Tailgate carries a vial of Cyclonus's innermost energon around his neck, left at his bedside while he was recovering after the events of issue #47. We first learned about this ritual back in issue #12, when Tailgate attempted to do it for Cyclonus.
• Snare and Talon were previously shown working together under Turmoil in Drift #1, which probably takes place after this. Snare will go on to have a bigger role in Last Stand of the Wreckers; his profile in that series notes that he enjoyed treating prisoners cruelly for the fun of it, which certainly fits with the revelation he worked at Grindcore.
• We learned back in issue #36 that, before the war, Sentinel Prime had been exposing sparks to radiation in an attempt to artificially create Outliers. With the revelation of Tailgate's radiation-induced Outlier powers, it would seem that Sentinel was actually onto something and merely using the wrong kind of radiation.
• This issue continues the previous one's trend of Tarn going noticeably unnamed in flashbacks (because he is not using that codename yet). Furthering the suggestion from last issue that Skids and Tarn are already familiar with one another, the pair act quite informal and trusting; we'd find out why in issue #55.

Transformers references

Where's Waldo?

• Thunderclash's weapon is based on the large central non-removable cannon sculpted into the trailer/base on his original toy.
• The exterior of the smelting chamber is based on the Decepticon Power Base featured in the Marvel UK comic story, "The Fall and Rise of the Decepticon Empire."
• This is Sakamoto's art, so naturally, loads of the robots seen in the group of generics inside the smelting chamber are pre-existing designs taken from other sources. One is a red version of the Zone Micromaster Drillbuster (a character created by Sakamoto for a fan-comic, named "Sunshine"), while the others are based on concept artwork for unmade toy designs seen in Transformers Generations Deluxe, including the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
• Tarn makes reference to the Inferno, aka the Pit, the Transformer equivalent of Hell that originated with the Beast Wars cartoon. This is the first mention of the concept in IDW continuity, and indeed, the first mention of it in any major Transformers media since the Prime episode "Loose Cannons", aired about four years prior to this issue's release. Tarn also uses the term "Afterspark" as analogous to "Heaven," a name that's been used to refer to the afterlife several times in IDW continuity, starting with The Death of Optimus Prime. This seems like further proof that it's the same thing as what we know as the "Allspark" (a term that's fallen out of fashion in reference to the afterlife, after the introduction of the physical AllSpark object).

Real-life references

• Ambervalia takes its name from the Roman agricultural festival Ambarvalia. Said festival involved sacrificing a group of animals after first leading them in a procession... not unlike the way in which the prisoners of Grindcore are led into the "teleport" chamber, then slaughtered.
• Building on that, Grindcore is a grim parallel to the many Nazi Concentration Camps of World War II. Commanders of Concentration Camps would often put up a sense of respect or security before slaughtering their inmates. Furthermore, having Skids work on the 'teleport chamber' is similar to how Concentration Camp prisoners would be forced to work in 'showers' or the crematoria. Finally, leading from the 'teleport chamber', many Concentration Camps disguised gas chambers as showers or cafeterias, just as the smelter is disguised as a teleporter. Yikes.

Errors

• In the opening caption of the second epilogue, "Grindcore" is misspelled as "Grindore". This is fixed in the trade.

Other notes

• This issue arrives rather late, seven weeks after the previous one, halfway through February instead of the originally solicited January.
• This issue's title has an exclamation mark, but last issue's didn't.
• Getaway's punishment for his role in issue #47's scheme is a severe one: to inhibit his escape artist abilities, he's had his arms and legs removed, and being a noted charmer whose silver tongue has let him talk his way around others, his voicebox has also been taken out, leaving a gaping hole in his face, hence his silence when Tailgate questions him. Yikes.
• Much like a certain senator, Tarn is never actually referred to by name in either this issue or the previous (except for in the out-of-universe recap of last issue on the inside front cover). As he is never mentioned in the context of the extremely high-profile Decepticon Justice Division, his time spent running Grindcore appears to predate his leadership of the group, and thus his adoption of the name "Tarn".
• Tarn's got at least three partially-dismembered bodies strung up on the wall of his office as gruesome decorations. The only one we get a proper look at (on page 8) seems to share a few design cues with Megatron's old "miner" design (and by extension, Terminus), particularly the helmet with the hazard-stripe forehead ridge, but besides that none of the specific details match either of the two characters. Later, we'd find out it's one of the bodies Terminus used to smuggle out Megatron's political writing for distribution to the masses.

Soundtrack

• "Monkey vs. Shark" by Thee More Shallows
• "The Living Dead" by Suede
• "Losing My Religion" by R.E.M.

Covers (3)

• Regular cover: Tailgate defends the cowering Thunderclash, by Alex Milne and Josh Perez
• Subscription cover: A defiant Rung stares up at the caster of a threatening shadow, by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham
• Retailer incentive cover: Whirl, Cyclonus, Skids, Rung, Riptide, and Brainstorm, by Alex Milne and Josh Perez; part of a series of variant covers "counting down" to the release of the 50th issues of The Transformers and More than Meets the Eye in February 2016, which connect to the other covers in the series to form a larger image.

• 
  "Pick on someone your own size!"
• 
  "You wouldn't hit a 'bot with glasses, would ya?"
• 
  The crew.

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• More than Meets the Eye #50
• The Transformers and More than Meets the Eye #50
• The Transformers #49
• Sins of the Wreckers #3
• IDW Transformers Reading Guide

Reprints

• The Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye Volume 9 (May 4, 2016) ISBN 1631406159 / ISBN 978-1631406157
  • Collects More than Meets the Eye issues #45–49.
  • Bonus material includes covers of each issue.
  • Trade paperback format.

• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 66: Speak, Memory (December 25, 2019)
  • Collects More than Meets the Eye issues #43–49.
  • Bonus material includes a one-page article about the Scavengers, a cover gallery and a forward by Simon Furman.
  • Hardcover format.

• The Transformers: The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 10 (January 1, 2020) ISBN 1684055849 / ISBN 978-1684055845
  • Collects Windblade (2015) issues #6–7, The Transformers (2012) issues #44–45, Combiner Hunters #1, Sins of the Wreckers issues #1–5, More than Meets the Eye issues #45–47 & #48–49, and The Transformers Holiday Special: Choose Me & The Thirteenth Day of Christmas.
  • Hardcover format.

• 
  More Than Meets the Eye Volume 9 – cover art by Alex Milne and Josh Perez
• 
  The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 66: Speak, Memory – cover art by Dan Khanna (Getaway) and Hayato Sakamoto (retro)
• 
  The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 10 – cover art by Marcelo Matere

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