All His Engines

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"All His Engines"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	May 26, 2010
Cover date	May 2010
Written by	Mike Costa
Art by	E. J. Su
Colors by	James Brown
Letters by	Neil Uyetake
Editor	Carlos Guzman
Associate editor	Denton J. Tipton
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era (2010)

A recovering Megatron reflects on the current state of the Decepticons and the Autobots' alliance with humanity.

Synopsis

"Hey."
"Yeah?"
"You ever wonder why we're here?"
"It's one of life's great mysteries isn't it. Why are we here?"

Three years after Megatron's defeat on Earth, the majority of the remaining Decepticons are located on a desolate asteroid, under the self-proclaimed command of Starscream. Sunstorm and Acid Storm sit dejected, while Rumble and Kickback fight with each other. Elsewhere on the asteroid, Dreadwind is pursued by Needlenose, Shrapnel, Kickback, and Pounce after stealing more than his share of energon rations. After initially escaping by firing his boot jets into the others, Dreadwind is gunned down and killed by the other three, who then fight amongst themselves over who gets what part as they cannibalize the body, during which Razorclaw looks on approvingly.

Elsewhere, Shockwave has isolated himself in his laboratory, allegedly striving to fix the space bridge, while Soundwave is based in the ship that took them to the asteroid. Starscream, wearing the Matrix, confronts Bombshell over his lack of progress in developing an energon processor, to which Bombshell replies that the Decepticons on the asteroid are now self-governing through cannibalism, under the supervision of Razorclaw. Starscream demands to know what Bombshell has been working on, and Bombshell presents him with a cerebro-shell, which would allow Starscream to exert control over any Cybertronian he affixes it to.

At that moment a disgruntled Decepticon blasts a hole through the wall and bursts in, declaring "death to tyrants". Starscream throws the cerebro-shell at him, and once it is affixed he opens fire, shouting "die!" at the intruder, who then promptly dies, seemingly because Starscream ordered him to, as opposed to from any wounds. Starscream asks if Bombshell has created any more cerebro-shells.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Optimus Prime and General Witwicky meet at a military facility, and Optimus thanks him for the contributions of human soldiers that made the defeat of the Decepticons possible. In private, General Witwicky is angered by the release of Optimus Prime and the Autobots, stating that Spike Witwicky has superseded his authority. Spike retorts that it was a tactical decision, that the Autobots aren't the enemy, and that they'd never be able to keep up technologically otherwise. General Witwicky points out that if General Allenby finds out. Spike will probably be court-martialed, to which Spike replies that they'll just have to keep it a secret.

After the general leaves, Spike speaks to Sandra, a soldier who used to work for General Allenby. She points out that if he is so much suspected of breaking protocol, Allenby will have him court-martialed, and that he has jeopardized all of those under his command by asking them to back his story, and that this underhanded approach goes against all the reasons that she decided to join the military for. Spike replies that the only lie that General Allenby has to believe is that Prime escaped custody prior to fighting Menasor, as opposed to being released. They then go to meet the rest of the Autobot recruits, in the form of Blurr, Jetfire, Bumblebee, and Ratchet.

Back on the asteroid, Megatron, badly damaged and in a CR tank, stirs, clenches his fist, and vows that upon his return, Optimus Prime will be defeated.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Optimus Prime (15) Ratchet (19) Bumblebee (20) Jetfire (21) Blurr (22)	Sunstorm (1) Acid Storm (2) Rumble (3) Kickback (4) Dreadwind (5) Shrapnel (6) Needlenose (7) Pounce (8) Razorclaw (9) Shockwave (10) Soundwave (11) Starscream (12) Bombshell (13) Quake (14) Megatron (23)	Spike Witwicky (16) Daniel Witwicky (17) Sandra (18)

Quotes

"Shockwave has isolated himself in his workshop, toiling without stop to rebuild the space bridge. Or so he says. No one has thought to check. No one would know what they were looking at if they did."

—Megatron thinks that Shockwave may have hatched a cunning plan.

"Razorclaw has not been chosen by the Matrix of Leadership. He may enjoy observing this place like a game warden, but in Megatron's absence I must lead us into a new era!"

—Starscream makes sure that Bombshell hasn't forgotten that he's the boss.

Notes

Continuity notes

• In IDW continuity, Dreadwind and Darkwing are siblings.

Real-life references

• The chapter title is from a quote from John Milton's 'Paradise Lost': "(...)Nor aught availed him now to have built in heaven high towers; nor did he 'scape by all his engines, but was headlong sent with his industrious crew to build in hell." It refers to Mulciber, one of Satan's chiefs, who was once an architect of Heaven, but now builds all his works in Hell.

Errors

• Some of Dreadwind's body parts are inconsistently colored—on page 2 and 3 his "leg wings" are colored gray, but on page 4 and 5 they're the same teal color as his shoulders, and then they're gray once more on page 7. His kneecaps suffer the same mis-coloring as they are colored purple in every page except 3 and 7 where they're gray.
• Bombshell's cerebro-shells are depicted as miniature versions of his insect mode. This could be related to the miniature Bombshell from Spotlight: Blaster, but it seems Bombshell invented them just now. Years later, this continuity goof would be papered over in a bit of dialogue, dismissing that first Bombshell as "a different one".
• Blurr is back in his Cybertronian body à la The Transformers: Bumblebee.
• And speaking of Bumblebee, he's oddly back to his old Volkswagen body, rather than his Dodge Challenger-inspired body which had been used for the last few issues.
• To complete the alternate mode roundabout, Jetfire is now in a simplified version of his body from Stormbringer, as opposed to the much larger body with an Earth bomber alternate mode that he had previously.
• How does a barely functioning/on life support/half dead Megatron know so much about what's going on in the Decepticon camp and Earth anyway?
• The issue title, which should be printed on the last page, is missing.

Other trivia

• Includes a Decepticomments section where editor Denton J. Tipton says good-bye to the readers. It also reveals the winner of the contest from "Seasons in Flight".
• With this issue, art duties have been turned over to E.J. Su, and the characters are no longer drawn in Don Figueroa's movie-inspired style. For example, the Autobots' designs are simplified versions of the character models Su developed back in 2005 for the Infiltration series.

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Close up of Megatron's face; art by Don Figueroa and colors by James Brown.
• Cover B: An angry Megatron featuring a black helmet like in the Marvel comics; art by Andrew Wildman.
• Cover RI: Concept art of Hot Rod; art by Don Figueroa.

• 
  He's one mean mutha!
• 
  Meaner than bull that's seen red!
• 
  Rodimus tries to sell his knee-skates.

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Reprints

• The Transformers, Volume 2: International Incident (December 8, 2010) ISBN 1600108040 / ISBN 978-1600108044
  • Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #7–12.
  • Bonus material includes art from all covers, including design sketches from Don Figueroa.
  • Trade paperback format.

• The Transformers: The IDW Collection Volume Seven (October 17, 2012) ISBN 1613774060 / ISBN 978-1613774069
  • Collects Infestation issues #1–2, The Transformers (2009) issues #7–18, and Ironhide issues #1–4.
  • Hardcover format.

• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 46: Things Fall Apart (October 4, 2017)
  • Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #2–8.
  • Bonus material includes character design sketches by Figueroa, an extract from Decepticomments from The Transformers #4 by Mike Costa, and a bio on IDW Swindle.
  • Hardcover format.

• 
  Volume 2: International Incident – cover art by Guido Guidi and James Brown
• 
  The IDW Collection Volume Seven – cover art by E. J. Su
• 
  The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 46: Things Fall Apart – cover art by Makoto Ono and Don Figueroa