Second Exodus

« The Transformers: Robots in Disguise #18 » Dark Cybertron Prelude
Soundtrack by The Weather Girls.
"Second Exodus"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	June 5, 2013
Cover date	June 2013
Written by	John Barber
Art by	Atilio Rojo
Colors by	Priscilla Tramontano
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	Carlos Guzman
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era (2013)

As the Autobots spend their first night outside Iacon, Arcee struggles to adapt to a world without fighting, and Bumblebee gets a makeover.

Synopsis

As dawn breaks over Iacon, Starscream makes his speech to the assembled masses, calling for the banishment of all those who will not forego their factions. As the crowd of NAILs immediately begins to turn against the Autobots, Fixit points out that they cannot be expected to leave their wounded behind; Starscream makes clear that they do not have to leave, and even if they choose to, the injured—such as Omega Supreme and Superion—will be cared for and offered the same choice when they are well. Fixit and Ironhide try to point out the dangers of the wilderness, but Starscream counters with the fact that the signal that caused the madness outside the city was Megatron's doing, and is no more. When all of the shouting is done, the Autobots see only one path before them: if they stay, they will only wind up fighting with the NAILs, so it is for their sake, and not their own, that they depart Iacon. Led through the city gates by a weakened Bumblebee, sadly observing that former comrades like Jazz have elected to stay behind, the Autobots have barely gone a few steps before they are confronted by the Constructicons. The Dinobots immediately attack the Decepticon team, but Prowl observes that the Constructicons are not fighting to injure their opponents, and forces the battle to stop. The Constructicons explain that their combination with Prowl afforded them a look inside the Autobot's head, and they think he's "pretty awesome" and want to be on the same team as him! Bumblebee tries to explain that all the "terrible stuff" Prowl did was only a result of his mind-control by Bombshell, only for Arcee to offhandedly correct him when he claims Prowl didn't have Ratbat killed: that one, she notes, thinking that she is speaking in his favor, was all him. As Bumblebee struggles to process his new information, his injuries take their toll on him, and he collapses.

By evening, the Autobots have set up a camp, where Fixit has begun repairing Bumblebee using pieces of his old Earth mode body and Goldfire shielding. Arcee tries to apologize to Prowl for revealing his secret, struggling for the words: repeatedly killing Jhiaxus on Gorlam Prime was simple for her, and made a kind of sense, but trying to read the emotions and social cues of ordinary Transformers is proving very difficult, and she still doesn't understand why people think and feel the way they do. Sideswipe soon proves a case in point, as he bars her way when she attempts to visit the convalescing Bumblebee, contrary to her belief that he would let her through because they made a good team during the battle for Iacon. Confused and dejected, Arcee leaves, but is suddenly struck on the head by a piece of debris tossed by one of the Constructicons, who mock her lack of an insignia and are clearly spoiling for a rematch with her. This, Arcee thinks, makes perfect sense to her, and she launches into battle with gusto. The other Autobots do nothing to stop the fight until Ironhide appears to halt it, instructing the Dinobots to watch the six troublemakers; the Constructicons shrug and accept the Dinobots' offer to go drinking, but Arcee, angry at being lumped in with the 'cons, slaps Slag's hand away and stalks off on her own. Ironhide confides in her that he is a little worried about the possibility of the signal that drove the Dinobots mad and caused the Aerialbots to spontaneously fuse into Superion reappearing during the night, and encourages her to try to get along with the others, as they'll stand a better chance together, but when he turns around, she has disappeared.

After night has fallen, Arcee knocks out Sideswipe so she can take over guarding Bumblebee herself, fairly confident that if the violence-inducing signal does return, it won't affect her, as she is already as violent as they come. She spends the night wrestling with the fact that she agrees with different elements of Decepticon and Autobot ideology, and presently, the trailer opens and Bumblebee emerges, repaired with a new golden body and in particular, a new head to replace his crushed old one. As Arcee brings him up to speed, he notices something on her shoulder: Arcee has come to a decision about who she is and what she wants to be at last, and has cut an Autobot symbol into her arm with her sword. Though a little taken aback, Bumblebee observes that they have made it through the night, as the sun begins to rise... but Arcee realizes that dawn should still be hours away. The glow on the horizon is not the sun... Arcee can sense it is the work of Jhiaxus, and as it spills across the landscape, tearing up the ground in front of it, she can tell her creator is not alone when Shockwave strides out of the light!

Featured characters

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

Autobots	Decepticons	Others
Ironhide (1) Bumblebee (2) Prowl (3) Arcee (4) Fixit (8) Omega Supreme (9) Superion (10) Swoop (20) Snarl (21) Slag (22) Sludge (23) Sideswipe (24) Tracks (25) Cliffjumper (26)	Mixmaster (14) Long Haul (15) Scavenger (16) Hook (17) Bonecrusher (18) Devastator (19) Shockwave (27)	Dirge (5) Starscream (6) Metalhawk (7) Squawkbox (11) Swindle (12) Jazz (13)

Quotes

"Bumblebee might have disappointed a lot of people... but he's still Bumblebee. And the Autobots can't get enough of the little yellow guy."

—Arcee

Notes

Continuity notes

• Omega Supreme is still unconscious after being bombed back in issue #11.
• Superion, fortunately, turns out to still be alive after Devastator tore him to bits in issue #15.
• Ironhide recalls the giant turbofox that attacked him and the Dinobots in issue #8.
• Arcee tussled with the Constructicons back in issue #4.
• Swoop is still laughing it up as he watches others fight amongst themselves, as he was back in issue #8. Guess that wasn't the work of Megatron's signal, then; IDW Swoop is just a bit of a dick!
• Arcee lived on Gorlam Prime and killed Jhiaxus repeatedly between the end of Revelation and Heart of Darkness.
• Judging by the times of day, Prowl and the other cold-constructed members of the Autobot camp feel the effects of Tyrest's universal killswitch between pages 17 and 18 of this issue, as seen briefly in More than Meets the Eye #20.
• A big point is made this issue of the fact that Arcee has no faction symbol until she gives herself an Autobot one at the story's end. It's true that she hasn't had a symbol throughout Robots in Disguise, but she actually did have one way back in Spotlight: Arcee, outside of the flashback to her being experimented on by Jhiaxus. While the chronology suggested that she joined the Autobots despite her post-tampering instability until she went on the rampage ended by Ultra Magnus, her status as an Autobot prior to the end of this issue seems to have been firmly retconned out (and in turn, makes the Decepticons' acceptance of her in their grand plot less questionable).

Transformers references

• Starscream mentions a medic called Flatline, a name that originated with a Decepticon surgeon from IDW's live-action movie comics. Flatline makes his on-page debut in issue #20.
• Bumblebee's new body is, obviously enough, promoting the upcoming Generations Goldfire toy, which at the time of this issue's publication had not yet been formally announced by Hasbro. The toy is a redeco and retool of the earlier Generations Bumblebee figure, which depicted the character in the body he wore for most of the ongoing series (promoted by Spotlight: Bumblebee), in homage to his upgraded "Goldbug" form from the original Generation 1 toyline, cartoon and comic. Of note is that 'Bee's new body here is specifically drawn based on the toy, and not the comic design the mold was based on, incorporating changes such as having vehicle bumper rather than windscreen kibble on the shoulders.
• Due to Goldbug being turned into a separate character from Bumblebee in IDW continuity back in Spotlight: Metroplex, Bumblebee changing his name any time soon is pretty unlikely. However, the toy's name is referenced through the mention of 'Goldfire shielding' incorporated into the new body.

Errors

• On page 9, Prowl yells "Constructions" rather than "Constructicons". This was corrected in the trade paperback collection, but not in the version of this issue packed with the Generations Thrilling 30 Deluxe Class Goldfire toy.
• Shockwave appears to be missing his gun-arm when he appears on the last page.
• All three covers, as well as the byline, render Priscilla Tramontano's last name as "Tramotano". They did however manage to get it right in the trade paperback's credits.
• Arcee's burnt-in Autobot symbol is missing in the final panel of the page where it is revealed.
• On the same page, somebody says "He have a situation" instead of "We have a situation." This goes uncorrected in the trade.

Other

• Similar to the pack-in versions of various other existing IDW comics, the version of this issue available with the Generations Deluxe Class Goldfire toy was also subject to some changes, most of them being instances of censorship:
  • On page 4, Starscream's line "Poor Metalhawk died standing for peace" was changed to "Poor Metalhawk was destroyed because he stood for peace."
  • On page 7, Prowl's line "Be ready to start shooting" was changed to "be ready to start blasting".
  • Rather inexplicably, some rearranging speech bubbles and addition of sound effects: Slag's line "Only poetry you be hearing--" was moved from the final panel on page 7 to the first panel on page 8. In place of the speech bubble on page 7, a new "C-c-cra-cc-" sound effect was added, and another "Ka-coom" sound effect on page 8.
  • On page 10, Bumblebee's line "I mean obviously he didn't >koff< kill you guys" was changed to "I mean obviously he didn't put >koff< you guys out of commission". Likewise, Arcee's like "He totally had me kill Ratbat" was changed to "He totally had me destroy Ratbat".
  • On page 12, Arcee's mention of "killing" Jhiaxus over and over was changed to "destroying" Jhiaxus over and over, and "he came back to life" was changed to "he got better". She also doesn't hope Bumblebee "doesn't die", but that he "gets better".
  • On page 13, Sideswipe calls Arcee an "unstoppable war machine" instead of an "unstoppable killing machine".
  • On page 14, Arcee understands "fighting" the Constructicons wholeheartedly, rather than "killing" them. Also on the same page, Cliffjumper refers to Arcee and the Constructicons as "these guys" rather than "these maniacs".
  • On page 16, Arcee claims the Constructicons sounded like they needed to "get hurt" rather than "die".

Foreign localization

Japanese

• Title: "Daini no Dasshutsu" (第二の脱出, "Second Escape")

Covers (5)

• Cover A: Starscream atop a peak, as Bumblebee, Ironhide, and Prowl tumble from it, by Andrew Griffith and Josh Perez
• Cover B: Arcee strides away from the burning Iacon, with the silhouettes of the series cast falling behind her, by Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente
• Cover RI: Bumblebee in his new body by Phil Jimenez and Romulo Fajardo Jr.
• Convention 2013 Edition: Blank cover for sketches.
• Hasbro exclusive cover: Cropped version of cover RI, exclusively available with Generations Deluxe Class Goldfire.

• 
  I didn't push them, they tripped!
• 
  It's rainin' bots, Hallelujah!
• 
  Bumblebee looking very Goldbuggy.
• 
• 
  Goldfire toy cover.

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Reprints

• The Transformers: Robots in Disguise Volume 5 (December 4, 2013) ISBN 1613778368 / ISBN 978-1613778364
  • Collects Robots in Disguise issues #17–22.
  • Bonus material includes a cover gallery.
  • Trade paperback format.

• Transformers: Robots in Disguise Box Set (December 2, 2015) ISBN 1631404261 / ISBN 978-1631404269
  • Collects Robots in Disguise Volumes 1–5.
  • Bonus material unknown at this time.

• The Transformers: The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 4 (October 12, 2016) ISBN 1631407155 / ISBN 978-1631407154
  • Collects Monstrosity issues #1–12, Robots in Disguise issues #12–16 & #17–18, and More than Meets the Eye issues #14–16.
  • Hardcover format.

• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 58: Shockpoint (May 15, 2019)
  • Collects Robots in Disguise issues #15–22.
  • Bonus material includes a 2-page history of IDW Shockwave's history-setting plans.
  • Hardcover format.

• 
  Robots in Disguise Volume 5 – cover art by Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente
• 
  Robots in Disguise Box Set – cover art by ???
• 
  The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 4 – cover art by Marcelo Matere and Tom B. Long
• 
  The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 58: Shockpoint – cover art by Don Figueroa (Monstructor) and Livio Ramondelli