Chaos Part Three: Kings

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"Chaos Part Three: Kings"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	October 19, 2011
Cover date	October 2011
Story by	Mike Costa and James Roberts
Written by	Mike Costa
Art by	Livio Ramondelli
Letters by	Shawn Lee
Editor	John Barber
Associate editor	Carlos Guzman
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era (2011)

Optimus and his Autobots are forced to contend with a deadly new enemy (and Galvatron).

Synopsis

Imagine getting stuck on a ship with this lot.

Somewhere in the depths of space, an escape pod from the Kimia Facility is drifting, its fuel having run out in an attempt to reach Cybertron. Brainstorm and Chromedome lament their situation and the cramped conditions (to say nothing of the gaggle of survivors sitting on top of one another crammed into the pod's rear section), but salvation suddenly appears in the form of Arcee, who prepares to dock her craft with the pod.

On Cybertron, mayhem erupts as the escaped Megatron begins mercilessly tearing his way through the Sweeps with the added power of his new armor. The Autobots attempt to fall back, planning to allow the Decepticon leader to take out the enemy forces and then overpower him after the battle leaves him weakened, but their scheme goes out the window with the abrupt arrival of the other Decepticons, who they had believed were stuck on Earth. The Autobots still outnumber their newly arrived foes, but the tide turns again when the Constructicons merge into Devastator, proving capable of doing so even though Scrapper is dead. The non-functioning nature of one of his components does hinder Devastator's speed and mobility, however, giving Sunstreaker time to come up with a plan: he loads his hoverchair with all the explosives Garnak can find, and, pretending to still be crippled, taunts Devastator into stomping on him. Sunstreaker springs away at the last second, and the unsuspecting Devastator is consumed by the explosion he triggers, and toppled.

Meanwhile, Optimus Prime, Rodimus, Ironhide, and Drift pursue Galvatron and Jhiaxus into the opening blasted in Cybertron's surface by Kimia, down into the planet's depths. They quickly catch up to the villains, but Prime's order for them to halt is met only by furious raging from Galvatron that "it's almost here!" Punctuating this moment of madness, Decepticons all across Cybertron suddenly become entranced and break off from fighting, gathering together on one spot, where their bodies merge to become a towering "Deceptigod". This unholy new creation begins a terrifying rampage, starting by smashing Omega Supreme to prevent the Autobots' escape. Even former Decepticon Drift feels the mental corruption of this mysterious effect, and turns on his Autobot allies, providing cover that allows Galvatron and Jhiaxus to escape and carry on their way. Just as Drift impales himself on his sword to stop himself, Cliffjumper gets on the comm to inform Prime of the Deceptigod's appearance. Megatron seizes the device and demands that Prime join him in battle against the beast, but Prime insists that he must pursue Galvatron. And so the fight is left to Megatron...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Others
Chromedome (1) Brainstorm (2) Sureshot (3) Rung (4) Swerve (5) Mainframe (6) Rad (7) Crosshairs (8) Rewind (9) Slamdance (10) Arcee (11) Cliffjumper (12) Wheelie (13) Sideswipe (14) Blurr (17) Ratchet (18) Hound (19) Mirage (32) Broadside (33) Jetfire (34) Huffer (39) Red Alert (40) Omega Supreme (41) Sunstreaker (42) Optimus Prime (44) Rodimus (45) Drift (46) Ironhide (47)	Megatron (16) Ravage (20) Soundwave (21) Starscream (22) Shockwave (23) Blitzwing (24) Astrotrain (25) Shrapnel (26) Bombshell (27) Kickback (28) Skywarp (29) Hook (30) Bonecrusher (31) Long Haul (35) Mixmaster (36) Scrapper (37) Devastator (38)	Sweeps (15) Galvatron (49) Jhiaxus (50) Garnak (43) Bob (48) Deceptigod/D-Void (51)

Quotes

"Chromedome, why are escape pods always so small? Shouldn't they be big enough to accommodate everyone who might, y'know, need to escape? Otherwise, it's a bit, well, pessimistic."
"Is that your way of saying you're cramped?"
"Maybe."

—Brainstorm and Chromedome discuss the finer points of escape pod design.

"Arcee's coming to pick us up, so I want everyone to behave. No one mention Jhiaxus, not even as a joke. I'm looking at you, Swerve..."

—Chromedome does not want to upset their rescuer.

"Megatron's escaped! In hindsight...we probably should have expected that."

—Ratchet knows the routine.

"You've always said that Cybertron is important to you. Now it's time to prove those weren't just hollow words. You're going to have to protect it for as long as you can."
"Prime, who do you think you're talking to? Nobody stands in my way."

—Megatron stares down the Deceptigod as he reassures Optimus Prime.

Notes

Continuity notes

• When we see Swerve at the beginning of this issue, his left shoulder is patched up. Boy howdy, surely this won't end up being important much later, right?
• Chromedome's insistence not to mention Jhiaxus in Arcee's presence alludes to their long, complicated history. Jhiaxus is responsible for a lot of Arcee's misery, and forever remains a sore spot for her.
• How the Decepticons suddenly arrive on Cybertron and, indeed, Megatron's entire plan behind being captured in the first place is not clearly spelled out in this issue. Later, Spotlight: Megatron and Spotlight: Bumblebee would provide backstory on the Titan technology that lets Megatron open Space Bridges, and how the Decepticons planned to launch a surprise attack on the Autobots once they ferried Megatron back to Cybertron. Why he wanted to fight over a dead Cybertron is still open to question.
• Quite a bit of the escape pod's crew will become familiar to readers of the soon-to-launch More Than Meets the Eye; James Roberts is already laying down characterization and plot threads—in particular, Brainstorm has his briefcase with him.
• First appearances: Mainframe and Rewind.

Real-world references

• The comic is named after the Biblical Books of Kings.

Errors

• Scrapper's corpse appears in his alt mode, despite having been killed in robot mode. It's possible this may be deliberate, though, given the later establishment of rigor morphis.

Foreign Localization

Swedish

• Title: "Kaos Del 3: Kungar" ("Chaos Part 3: Kings")

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Megatron; art by Livio Ramondelli.
• Cover B: Sunstreaker; art by Livio Ramondelli.
• Cover RI: Black & white art of Decepticons; art by Livio Ramondelli.

• 
  Megatron with his battle mask.
• 
  Sunstreaker looking guilty
• 
  Glorious Decepticons!

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Collections

• The Transformers, Volume 7: Chaos (March 14, 2012) ISBN 1613771401 / ISBN 978-1613771402
  • Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #24, #26, #28, & #30–31.
  • Bonus material includes art from most covers, plus B&W art sketches from Livio Ramondelli.
  • Trade paperback format.

• The Transformers: The IDW Collection Volume Eight (May 7, 2013) ISBN 1613776276 / ISBN 978-1613776278
  • Collects Heart of Darkness issues #1–4, and The Transformers (2009) issues #19–31.
  • Hardcover format.

• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 52: The Death of Optimus Prime (December 13, 2017)
  • Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #24, #26, #28, & #30–31, and The Death of Optimus Prime.
  • Bonus content includes an interview with James Roberts on how he worked his way up to become an ongoing writer, character design sketches by Livio Ramondelli, a cover gallery and an intro by Simon Furman.
  • Hardcover format.

• The Transformers: Chaos (October 31, 2018) ISBN 978-4-86491-400-0
  • Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #24, #26, #28, & #30–31.
  • Japanese reprint. Trade paperback format.

• Transformers: Kaos och skuggor (November, 2020)
  • Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #22–24, #26, #28 & #30, The Death of Optimus Prime, and More than Meets the Eye issues #9–13.
  • Swedish reprint. Hardcover format.

• 
  Volume 7: Chaos – cover art by Livio Ramondelli
• 
  The IDW Collection Volume Eight – cover art by E. J. Su
• 
  The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 52: The Death of Optimus Prime – cover art by Don Figueroa (Prime) and Livio Ramondelli (retro)
• 
  Chaos – cover art by Nagi Miyako
• 
  Kaos och skuggor – cover art by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham