Savage Landing Part 1

Transformers: Beast Wars #1 »
"Savage Landing Part 1"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	February 3, 2021
Cover date	February 2021
Written by	Erik Burnham
Art by	Josh Burcham
Letters by	Jake M. Wood
Editor	David Mariotte, Tom Waltz and Riley Farmer
Continuity	Transformers: Beast Wars

Optimus Primal and his crew pursue a group of Predacon criminals across time and space to recover a stolen relic, and find themselves stranded on a mysterious planet.

Synopsis

On Cybertron, the Tripredacus Council receive a transmission from the ambitious Predacon Galavar, who explains his plan to steal a valuable golden disk from the Maximal Science Ministry. His heist is as ambitious as it is audacious: under cover of night, Scorponok, Dinobot, and Terrorsaur rappel into the ministry's main hall and easily dispatch the Maximal security guards—though Dinobot, who feels that there's no honor in killing defenseless foes, fails to convince his fellow Predacons to simply stun their victims. At the same time, Waspinator, Tarantulas, and Skold break into the Great Shipyard in Vos and sabotage almost every transwarp-capable vessel before stealing the Maximal warship Darksyde; before Cybertron can mount a coordinated response, they'll have a head start to flee into deep space, travel through time, and decode whatever secrets the disk possesses. Council members Ram Horn and Cicadacon don't see the wisdom in this bold plan and order him to stand down, but Galavar tells the three that he doesn't need their permission—he's already done it! So taken is he with his triumph that he's adopted a new name; like his namesake, the newly-christened "Megatron" gloats that the Council will soon kneel before him before he abruptly cuts the feed. The brazen power play infuriates Ram Horn, but Sea Clamp and Cicadacon advise patience: Galavar could never play the long game, and that is why the Tripredacus Council will outmaneuver the upstart and capitalize on his success... or failure.

Far away, aboard the starship Axalon, Rhinox delivers a status report to his old friend Optimus Primal as they spar in the ship's gym. Despite his recent promotion to captain, Primal yearns for some real adventure and idly wonders what would happen if they used the Axalon's transwarp drive to explore time as well as space, though Rhinox gently reminds him that transwarp technology is strictly regulated to prevent any temporal contamination. Primal grouses that Maximal Command deliberately posted him to a dull protoform delivery mission to get him to fall in line, but before they can finish their match, helmsman Nyx contacts the pair to inform them that they're receiving a priority transmission from Cybertron. On the ship's bridge, the crew receives word of the attack from Ironhide, who warns them that the Predacon separatists will assuredly use their stolen ship to flee through time. Optimus quickly realizes why Ironhide's hailing the skeleton crew of a lightly-armed science vessel to do something, and the Maximal leader confirms his suspicions: with the rest of Cybertron's transwarp fleet out of commission, they're the only ones close enough to respond in time.

Optimus orders his crewmembers to their stations; while Cheetor briefly wonders why the Predacons haven't already jumped to the past, Rattrap reminds him that the Predacons need time to bypass the access codes to their stolen ship and flew out to this remote region of space to do it. With a few minutes before the Darksyde approaches their position, Rhinox readies a last-resort transwarp lock, while Cheetor brings their weapons online... moments before Rattrap reports that their scanners are detecting the incoming vessel. When the Darksyde races past, Optimus brushes off Rhinox's suggestion to hail the Predacons and instead orders his crew to intercept the vessel and take out their engines. On the Darksyde, Skold reports that they've got a ship on their tail, and Megatron commands his Predacons to open fire. Although the Axalon outmaneuvers their attacks thanks to Nyx's evasive maneuvers, their sensor-jammers mean that Cheetor can't get a clear shot at the engines before Tarantulas cracks the transwarp drive—but as he enters the coordinates from the golden disk, the scientist can't help but wonder why these coordinates seem oddly familiar. Aboard the Axalon, Rhinox warns that the Predacons are warming up their transwarp drive and are getting ready to make their final escape. The only way to stay on their tail is to lock onto their transwarp signal, but it's a risky gambit: with no way of knowing where exactly the Darksyde is going, the risky maneuver could very well tear their ship to bits without the right midflight adjustments. Nyx is determined to bring the Predacons to justice, however, and Optimus orders them to make the link; when the Darksyde then jumps to transwarp, the Axalon gets dragged along with them into transwarp space! Megatron is reluctantly impressed by their bravado but mulls that they'll have to destroy them on the other side—though Dinobot has to first stop the impatient Terrorsaur from firing on them in transwarp, lest he accidentally destroys both ships.

Seconds later, the Darksyde rematerializes somewhere far away, over an unfamiliar green planet; with a few seconds until the Axalon reappears, Megatron orders Terrorsaur to ready weapons—the Darksyde promptly blindsides the other ship when it rematerialises, scores two direct hits, and incapacitates their weapon systems. In desperation, Nyx simply rams the ship straight into the Darksyde in the hope of pushing the other ship into the atmosphere—but the plan works too well, and sends both ships plummeting towards the planet's surface. With only minutes before impact, Rhinox realizes what must be done and jettisons their cargo of stasis pods into orbit in the hopes that they might someday recover them, moments before both ships crash-land on opposite sides of a lush valley, and hit the ground hard enough to knock their passengers into stasis lock. It only takes a few moments for their artificial intelligences to reboot, then set about rebuilding the damaged Cybertronians... but deadly levels of energon radiation prompt them to activate their DNA scanners, analyze living creatures and fossilized remains, then rebuild the Maximals and Predacons into techno-organic beast modes. The Maximals soon awaken in their new forms, and while Nyx's overjoyed at the sight of her new wings, Optimus consults the ship's computer and learns that prolonged exposure to raw energon will lead to stasis lock and death without adequate protection. Aboard the Darksyde, the newly-reformatted Tarantulas demands to know why they've come to here, of all places, and Megatron explains: the Maximals extracted the location of this energon-rich planet from the disk before he stole it. Now that they know that to be true, whatever else hidden on the disk must be as well. With so much energon at their disposal, the Predacons would have enough power to overthrow the Maximals for good—but before they can turn their attention to galactic conquest, they must first find and deal with their pursuers, who have assuredly survived the crash...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Maximals	Predacons
Under-3 (5) Rhinox (12) Optimus Primal (13) Cheetor (14) Rattrap (15) Nyx (16) Ironhide (17)	Sea Clamp (1) Ram Horn (2) Cicadacon (3) Megatron (4) Terrorsaur (6) Scorponok (7) Dinobot (8) Skold (9) Tarantulas (10) Waspinator (11)

Quotes

"That name no longer suits me, councilor. I have evolved. From now on, I only answer to the name—Megatron."

—Galavar Megatron

"I warn you, I'm a little rusty..."
"You're a cybernetic being, you know. You should probably get that checked out."

—Rhinox and Optimus Primal

"The monotony is meant to help me fall in line. But I don't like falling."

—Optimus Primal

"Waspinator! Free the ship!"
"Nnn-can't! Damage from impact coupled with research ship'zzzz velocity and planet'zzz gravity meanzzz...we're going down!"

—Megatron and Waspinator

"I have wings! Wings!"
"Well, at least someone's happy."

—Nyx and Rattrap

"We survived that crash... and until I see their corpses with my own eyes, it only makes sense to believe they did as well. We have enemies here, on this little planet. Enemies we will eliminate. A new war has come, my friends... and this time, it is ours to win."

—Megatron

Notes

Continuity notes

• BEAST WARS! (guitar shredding) Released to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the franchise that saved the brand, Transformers: Beast Wars reimagines the original Beast Wars cartoon series from the ground up in the vein of IDW's other Transformers reinventions, reintroducing the characters and concepts for new audiences. Most previous ancillary Beast Wars media told stories set prior to, parallel to, or after the original cartoon, with only Beast Wars: Uprising breaking away entirely from the established continuity of the show—and while Transformers: Beast Wars does borrow some from the likes of IDW's previous Beast Wars comics, it's a totally new spin on the original show premise, unconnected to any prior piece of Beast Wars media.
• This particular issue is a largely faithful adaptation of the opening act of "Beast Wars (Part 1)", but tweaks many details both large and small—most prominently, it adds the brand-new characters Nyx and Skold to the cast. The Megatron of this reality appears to be an agent in the employ of the Tripredacus Council; in the cartoon, however, Megatron was a loose cannon, an independent criminal who acted in direct opposition to the Council. On the Maximal side of things, Optimus Primal is a younger, more gung-ho commander eager for adventure, who has been expelled from Cybertronian security and reassigned to the Axalon under as-yet unrevealed circumstances. This is similar to another, fan-favorite incarnation of Optimus.
• In "Nemesis Part 2", Megatron explained that he renamed himself after the "great destroyer" foretold in the Covenant of Primus, with the implication that the original Megatron may also have taken his name from the same text. In the reboot, it's a little simpler, as Megatron claims to have simply taken the name of the old Decepticon leader in anticipation of his victory.

Transformers references

• The Tripredacus Council had a small but memorable role in "The Agenda (Part 1)" as the 'bots responsible for sending Ravage back in time to eliminate Megatron. Their depiction in this comic combines traits from their cartoon and toy selves; notably, they appear on Megatron's communicator in red and black, homaging their appearance in the dramatically backlit scene from Beast Wars, but they're later shown to possess toy-accurate color schemes under normal lighting.
• Cicadacon wears a chain around his neck in homage to his getup in "The Agenda" and The Gathering. Concept art for the character shows that chain attached to a medallion with a bird-faced insignia that appeared in issue #2 of The Gathering; this symbol seemingly represented the G1 Predacon Divebomb, who was implied to have founded the Beast Wars Predacons along with his fellows.
• Cybertronix text on page three reveals that the facility holding the Golden Disk is named the "Wheeljack Ministry of Science"; appropriately, it features a pair of statues based on Wheeljack.
• Cybertron's moon is drawn to resemble the unusual "gashed" planetoid that made infrequent appearances throughout the Beast Machines cartoon. Similarly, the Great Shipyard in the city of Vos features a tall structure drawn to resemble the Central Spaceport in Cybertropolis from the Beast Machines episode "Fires of the Past".
• Terrorsaur and Scorponok kill the Maximal Under-3 during their raid on the Science Ministry; this obscure character began as a McDonald's Happy Meal toy, but his appearance here is based on the toy he received at BotCon 2016, a redeco of Combiner Wars Streetwise under the name "Unit-3". His fellow Maximal security guards all seem to share his appearance—perhaps in reference to "Theft of the Golden Disk" and "Dawn of Future's Past", where every member of the Maximal Command Security Force (and Cheetor) used a body-type based on Cybertron Clocker. In this issue, Dinobot even picks up a guard in a similar manner and color to when he did the same in "Theft of the Golden Disk."
• Barring Nyx and Dinobot, who are wholly-original designs, the other Maximals and Predacons' pre-beast bodies are influenced by various toys and other homages to the "Beast Era".
  • Optimus Primal takes design cues from his 10th Anniversary figure. Most prominently, he possesses that toy's characteristic grey feet and antennae, mechanical segments on his abdomen, red knees, and blue chest highlights. His alternate mode, meanwhile, was based on his BotCon 2006 toy, but with a pick-up style alternate mode, rather than that toy's racer form.
  • Megatron is a heavily stylized version of his 2006 BotCon toy, with the missile being excluded.
  • Cheetor incorporates traits from his 2006 Timelines toy with the inclusion of the hooped wheels, visor, and vehicle mode from his canceled Transtech toy. Of course, the latter characteristics would eventually serve as the basis for Animated Cheetor. His alternate mode also takes some inspiration for an unused design for War for Cybertron Bumblebee.
  • Rattrap and Rhinox are both stylized versions of their respective 2006 Timelines toys.
  • Terrorsaur is a revamped version of his Combiner Wars toy featuring lime-green detailing and purple shins in homage to his original Beast Wars toy.
  • Waspinator is a retooling of his 2006 BotCon toy with a helmet poached from his Animated counterpart Wasp.
  • Scorponok is partially based on his Combiner Wars toy, most prominently in colors and his chest design.
  • Tarantulas is a stylized version of his "Mesothulas" body from the 2005 IDW continuity with a tweaked version of Cybertron Brakedown's vehicle mode.
  • Even though she is a new character, Skold is heavily based on Beast Machines Tankor's first toy.
• The crew of the Axalon take direction from Ironhide, who's wearing a Cybertronian-ized version of his Beast Wars toy. Both the Universe and IDW's own Beast Wars comics previously established the three members of Magnaboss—Ironhide, Prowl, and Silverbolt—as the Maximal Elders, former Autobots who downsized into Maximal bodies after the end of the Autobot-Decepticon war; The Ascending even featured the three in vehicle-mode versions of their Beast Wars forms and the direct inspiration for Ironhide's design here.
• The Axalon appears to have rear-swept dorsal-mounted fuel quills similar to those of the Lost Light from the 2005-2018 IDW comics.
• As the Axalon and Darksyde fly through transwarp, Dinobot refers to the dimension as "unspace". This term recently saw prominent use in the Cyberverse cartoon to describe the extradimensional realm the characters periodically visited, which was essentially transwarp in all but name, and this comic officially ties the two concepts together by using them synonymously.
• Similar to the first episode of Beast Wars, Rhinox ejects the Axalon's cargo of stasis pods into orbit, on the pretext that protoforms within wouldn't survive the crash (whereas in the animated series, it's because the "stasis hold" is damaged). As in the cartoon, the pods are shown safely orbiting the planet, though there the suggestion is that they're to remain in space for their protection, whereas here Rhinox explicitly hopes they come to the surface and, well, see errors below.
• One pod is marked with a large red "X". In the Beast Wars cartoon, this special pod held "Protoform X", the murderous mutant who later became "Rampage". We'll have to see if the same is true here, although Primal's mention of "delivering science experiments" seems to be a sly reference.
• The first glimpse we get at this alien planet features two moons and a floating mountain range. The mysterious second moon was a long-running mystery throughout the first season of the Beast Wars cartoon that culminated in the reveal of the alien Planet Buster, while a floating mountain filled with energon played a key role in the season one episode "Power Surge". The second season famously revealed that the Maximals and Predacons had in fact crashed on prehistoric Earth; here, Tarantulas notes that the planet's coordinates seem "familiar", but it's not yet clear if this comic will take the story in a similar direction.
• The crash-landing knocks all of the Cybertronians into stasis lock, prompting the ship's respective artificial intelligences to rebuild and reactivate them. This concept owes more to the traditional Generation 1 origin story than it does Beast Wars, as both the Maximals and Predacons were fully conscious after arriving on Earth in the pilot. The DNA scanners the ships deploy, on the other hand, are directly lifted from the corresponding scenes in the cartoon.
• Optimus Primal describes his new gorilla form as "interesting" as he emerges from the ship's CR chamber in reference to his first onscreen appearance in "Beast Wars (Part 1)".
• Following the crash, Waspinator is in pieces being reassembled, a recurring gag from the original series.
• In the backmatter interview with artist Josh Burcham, he teases content for upcoming issues with the statement, "A simple name for so arrogant a race." This is verbatim to Tarantulas's statement when he learns the name of the Vok in "Other Victories".

Real-world references

• The name of this story arc is likely in reference to the Savage Land of Marvel Comics fame, which also played a significant role in the early issues of Marvel's The Transformers comics.
• On page two, Terrorsaur chases down Under-3 using the infamous "Naruto run" of ironic meme fame.
• According to artist Josh Burcham, Cybertronian Dinobot's swords are a nod to the Gundam Spiegel from Mobile Fighter G Gundam.

Errors

• On page twenty-four, Nyx's line—"Optimus... I'm sorry"—is missing a period.
• Rhinox's justification for ejecting the stasis pods doesn't really add up. The protoforms in the stasis pods apparently wouldn't survive the Axalon crash-landing on the planet (which wasn't a concern when ramming the Darksyde moments earlier). As they go into orbit, he explicitly hopes they can make their way to the surface one day, which would almost certainly involve unprotected entry into the atmosphere and likely a crash-landing, all of which would surely do more direct harm to a pod and its protoform than being secured in the Axalon as it crashed.

Other trivia

• The original Beast Wars television show had three of the four Maximals make a big show of renaming themselves just after crashing on prehistoric Earth. Here, however, the characters all possess their beast-themed names before ever actually assuming the appropriate alternate modes. There's no real in-universe explanation for this one — just go with it!
• Backmatter for this double-sized issue includes an interview with writer Erik Burnham, another with artist Josh Burcham, and a lot of concept art: Nyx and Skold, the Axalon and the Darksyde, and Cybertronian bodies for the Maximals and Predacons that appear in this issue.
• David Kaye did a dramatic reading of portions of the comic with members of the TransMissions Podcast, following a YouTube/Reddit AMA on February 13, 2021.

Covers (4)

• Cover A: Our heroes, by Josh Burcham
• Cover B: Optimus Primal and Megatron, by Dan Schoening and Luis Antonio Delgado.
• Cover RI-A: Maximals and Predacons, by Fico Ossio
• Cover RI-B: Optimus Primal, by Nick Brokenshire

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Reprints

• The Transformers: Beast Wars Volume 1 (March 23, 2022) ISBN 1684058589 / ISBN 978-1684058587
  • Collects Beast Wars issues #1–6.
  • Bonus material includes alternate covers, a sketch gallery by Josh Burcham, and a Q&A with writer Erik Burnham and artist Burcham.

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  Beast Wars, Vol 1; cover art by Josh Burcham

External links

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