Onyx Interface Part Three: ONoffON

« The Transformers vol. 2 #37 » Combiner Wars #13
"Onyx Interface Part Three: ONoffON"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	January 14, 2015 (iBooks) January 21, 2015 (print)
Cover date	January 2015
Written by	John Barber
Art by	Andrew Griffith
Colors by	Josh Perez & Thomas Deer
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	Carlos Guzman
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era

Unexpected alliances are forged as Prowl and Spike join forces to obtain the Enigma of Combination, and Arcee and Galvatron find some common ground.

Synopsis

At the Earth Defense Command's Bikini Atoll base, Sanjay Bharwaney contacts Marissa Faireborn to let her know that Thundercracker is circling in the sky above. Faireborn is busy dealing with Garrison Blackrock and has little time for Thundercracker's eccentricities, and simply cautions that he not be allowed to discover the army of Ramjet and Thrust drones being manufactured below the base.

In Tokyo, Arcee finds herself caught between Galvatron's Decepticons and the Constructicons... but just as it looks like she's about to pick a side in the fight, she instead takes flight on Sideswipe's borrowed jetpack, Jimmy Pink still in hand. Galvatron pursues her, knocking Jimmy from her hands and into the waiting clutches of Buzzsaw, then dragging her into the upper atmosphere and slamming her into a satellite. Arcee retaliates by grabbing the Decepticon leader and flying at high speed back towards the planet, dropping him on the Australian outback at terminal velocity, but the impact does little to harm Galvatron. As he emerges from the crater his landing has made, it becomes clear that fighting is not his intention: he merely wants to talk to Arcee in private.

Hiding in a wood with Spike Witwicky, Prowl receives an update on the fight from Scavenger—whom he once again accidentally refers to as "Scrapper", only to deny doing so a moment later—and orders him break off the fight and converge on his position. Prowl and Spike's conversation then resumes: Spike believes that Prowl forgives him because he now understands that Spike was fighting for his species' preservation, but Prowl explains his reasons are not so empathetic. In actuality, he understands Spike's actions because he now sees how truly destructive the Transformer race is, and wants Spike's help to recover the Enigma of Combination, which will somehow "stop" their ever-continuing conflict. As a final prod to convince Spike to help him, Prowl reveals that Galvatron killed his father.

As Faireborn, Blackrock, and Jones arrive at the Onyx Wanmu facility, Blackrock continues talking about the history of human civilization, going so far as to claim that Gilgamesh, Earth's first hero, is his ancestor, and that his family name derives from the walls of "black rock" he erected to protect the city of Uruk. Civilization was born, Blackrock explains, from the effects of the Enigma of Combination, uniting minds and ideas, just as it would do all throughout history, with his family line always there to reap the benefits. Following the arrival of Cybertronians on modern-day Earth, Blackrock realised the Enigma's origin, and began collecting Cybertronian artifacts, which he now displays in a huge "trophy room" that he guides Jones and Faireborn through.

Galvatron talks of the Enigma to Arcee, and of Jhiaxus's attempts to resurrect aspects of lost Cybertronian history—including, he implies, the mad scientist's experiments on Arcee herself. Claiming that Prowl was responsible for Daniel Witwicky's death, and professing such moral degradation is an inevitable result of the process of combination's erasure of mental individuality, Galvatron convinces Arcee to temporarily join forces in order to foil Prowl's plans by destroying the Enigma. Together, the pair head for the top of Mount Fuji, where Jimmy Pink is being held aboard a Decepticon shuttle.

Aboard the Ark-7, Kup chews out Sideswipe for letting Arcee take his jetpack, lamenting the loss of the good old days of clearer morality. Sideswipe shifts blame onto Sky Lynx, who took Prowl and the Constructicons to Earth in the first place, but Sky Lynx whines that Prowl bribed him with high-grade Engex, and believes that he wouldn't do anything really bad.

Concurrently putting the lie into Sky Lynx's words, Prowl, Spike and the Constructicons cross the Wanmu Reservoir, closing on the Onyx facility. The Constructicons lie about Jimmy being safe with Arcee, eager to take their revenge on Spike, but Prowl keeps them in check, and provides Spike with a stealth polymer coating to allowing him to slip into the Onyx base unseen. Sneaking in through the vents, Spike eavesdrops on Blackrock, Faireborn and Jones's conversation, and spies the Enigma in the trophy room below. As news comes in from Cosmos that the Decepticons' shuttle is approaching their position, Prowl has him scramble communications in the area, and then combines with the Constructicons into Devastator to launch a direct attack on the Onyx facility. Tearing into the base, his true intention is made clear: the alliance with Spike has been a sham to get the Enigma, and he's still as determined to kill the human as ever. Blackrock, however, is unfazed by the sudden attack, and at the press of a button, he activates the drone army beneath Bikini Atoll, which rockets into the sky and heads straight for Wanmu!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans	Others
Arcee (7) Prowl (19) Sideswipe (26) Kup (27) Sky Lynx (28) Cosmos (30) Devastator (31)	Galvatron (9) Laserbeak (10) Frenzy (11) Blitzwing (16) Rumble (17) Buzzsaw (18) Ramjet's head (23) Mini-Constructicon's corpse (24) Thrust's corpse (25)	Sanjay Bharwaney (2) Marissa Faireborn (3) Jimmy Pink (6) Spike Witwicky (20) Ayana Jones (21) Garrison Blackrock (22)	Thundercracker (1) Ramjet drones (4) Thrust drones (5) Long Haul (8) Scoop (12) Bonecrusher (13) Scavenger (14) Mixmaster (15) Hook (29)

Quotes

"Someday, after you all get yourselves killed, I'll really miss these tête-à-têtes. For now, let's agree to... actually, you know what? None of this is my problem. Have fun, idiots."

—Arcee decides not to help the Constructicons

Jones: "E.D.C. is securing the situation in Tokyo. No fatalities, somehow."
Faireborn: "Gah."
Blackrock: "That bothers you?"
Faireborn: "Only because it means that somehow Prowl might actually be in control."

"You sent the Enigma to Earth? Smooth move, old man. How's that working out?"
"I see why Jhiaxus liked you."
"Well, I hated him."
"We have many things in common."

—Arcee and Galvatron

Faireborn: "You talk to us like a James Bond supervillain and now, what—you expected this?"
Jones: "Is this all your mad scheme to rule the world"?
Blackrock: "No, all that stuff was a relatively lonely trillionaire trying to impress two ladies who aren't impressed by money."
Jones/Faireborn: "Ew."

Notes

Continuity notes

• Prowl talks about his past as "a cop"; it's a role he's occupied more or less all his life, first as a mechaforensics officer during Nominus Prime's era, as seen in More than Meets the Eye's "Shadowplay" trilogy, then as a member of Sentinel Prime's security forces in Megatron: Origin, and after that, as a member of Optimus Prime's Autobots when they were a law-enforcement unit under Zeta Prime, seen in Autocracy. He refers to the corruption of the system and helping to take it down, only for Megatron to exploit their revolution and try to seize power, a truncated recap of the events of Autocracy.
• Prowl also notes that, in the process, he "lost everything... everyone", which is hard not to interpret as a reference to his failed relationship with Chromedome; his joining the security forces was the impetus for their break-up, as noted in More than Meets the Eye #36. After that, he goes on to say he "almost walked away"—he'd previously detailed a failed attempt to escape the war in The Death of Optimus Prime.
• Recognizable objects in Blackrock's "trophy room" include: Ramjet's disembodied head, last seen in Megatron's possession after he dismembered the traitorous Seeker in Spotlight: Ramjet; Thrust's charred body, removed from the burning building it was left in in Spotlight: Prowl; the remains of a Mini-Constructicon (probably not the one Spike killed in issue #35, since its head is intact); a white Lamborghini that is probably one of the Machination's Sunstreaker clones; and a space bridge which Blackrock says he found in Mesa Verde National Park, which identifies it as the one the Decepticons used to return to Cybertron in Spotlight: Bumblebee. See also "Transformers references", below.
• While talking with Arcee about Jhiaxus, Galvatron remarks "we lost much from the ancient days", his words implying that the scientist's experiments on Arcee were to "restore" of an element of the Cybertron of old, like combination. This, then, would mean that she did not represent, as she has always been presented up until now, the introduction of gender into the Cybertronian race, but rather, its reintroduction. This revelation likely goes hand in hand with the recent addition of the original thirteen Transformers to IDW continuity, given that a female Transformer, Solus Prime, is counted among their number and was name-checked in issue #34.
• Galvatron describes how the gestalt process "rots away the individual". It's been clear that the process hasn't been agreeing with Prowl for some time now, after the nosebleeds he's been suffering and the demand for something or someone to "get out of his head" in issue #35, but this explanation goes a little further than that: under John Barber's pen, the five remaining Constructicons have always spoken with a rather unified voice, lacking in any of the individualistic quirks that previously defined them (Hook's snobbishness, Mixmaster's craziness, Scavenger's self-esteem issues, etc.). As they have been combining longer than anyone save Monstructor, this serves as a retroactive explanation for their comparatively recent lack of individuality.

Transformers references

• As he takes off after Arcee, Galvatron has boot-jets, but he also uses his cannon for propulsion, hearkening back to when he did the same thing in The Transformers: The Movie.
• Also in Blackrock's trophy room are a car is based on the Decepticon Slicer, who has not appeared in IDW continuity yet, and one resembling a Ford Model T, and is rather evocative of the AllSpark mutation seen in John Barber's earlier Sector 7 mini-series, set in the live-action movie continuity.
• Though far from an exact match, the Decepticons' shuttle in this issue takes some design cues from their original Generation 1 spaceship, the Nemesis, with its large three rear fins/wings.

Real-life references

• Like the other chapters of "Onyx Interface", this issue is named after a Mission of Burma album, in this case ONoffON. As is comic book standard, the title is rendered in all-caps as "ONOFFON", but we've taken the formatting of the album title to be the "correct" one for this article.
• Building upon last issue's references to the city of Uruk, this issue introduces Uruk's king Gilgamesh into the narrative. Though a real historical figure, Gilgamesh is perhaps better known—as Blackrock describes him—as "Earth's first hero", from his starring role in one of the first great works of literature in recorded history, the Epic of Gilgamesh, in which he is depicted as a great hero of strength so prodigious it enabled him to build the city walls Blackrock talks about here.
• The Enigma of Combination is credited by Blackrock with allowing the scientists of the Manhattan Project to create the atom bomb, and with leading DARPA to develop computer networking technology. This wouldn't be the first time something from Cybertron allowed for advancements in human technology: the live action-movie series Megatron was noted to be the source of many parts of the modern age, including the former, according to the Movie Prequel and aforementioned Sector Seven mini-series.
• Jimmy Pink tries to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with the Decepticons.

Errors

• On page 5, the Constructicons' battle cry of "Have fun!" is routed to Blitzwing. Maybe he's supposed to be making fun of their intelligence, but more likely it's just an editing mistake.
• Thomas Deer's coloration of Galvatron depicts him in a noticeably deeper purple that hews more to his "normal" color scheme than the faint white-and-lavender coloration every other artist has used for his current body.
• The recap page again misnames the Earth Defense Command as the Earth Defense Corps.
• The original printing of this issue is labelled part two of "Onyx Interface", when it's actually part three. Since this error was fixed for the trade paperback collection, we've chosen to adopt the latter rendition for this article's title.
• The errors in the spelling of Uruk's name and the date of its founding carry over from last issue. This time, neither error is corrected for the trade.

Other notes

• This issue's release was slightly delayed by highway closures in the US, but iBooks evidently didn't get the message to delay their release of the digital version accordingly, as it went up a week early.

Foreign Localization

Swedish

• Title: "Onyx Del tre: PÅavPÅ" ("Onyx Part 3: ONoffON")

Covers (4)

• Regular cover: Arcee versus Galvatron, by Andrew Griffith and Josh Perez
• Subscription cover: Thundercracker and Buster stargaze, by Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente
• Retailer incentive cover: Prowl and Arcee, by Kotteri
• Hasbro exclusive cover: Artwork of Prowl by Ken Christiansen and Volta, based on his Generations Combiner Wars Deluxe Class toy, available with said toy in the United States, Australia, and Asia. Rebranded as Combiner Wars #13.

• 
  "Arcee, what do you think of my 6-pack?"
• 
  "Ya know Buster, I come from one of those little points out there."
• 
  "Prowl, in another time and place, could we...? Nah, forget it."
• 
  Hasbro exclusive comic with Prowl toy

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Reprints

• The Transformers Volume 7: Combiner Wars First Strike (April 8, 2015) ISBN 1631402854 / ISBN 978-1631402852
  • Collects The Transformers (2012) issues #33–38.
  • Bonus material includes covers from each issue.

• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 64: Windblade (August 9, 2017)
  • Collects Windblade (2014) issues #1–4, and The Transformers (2012) issues #35–38.
  • Includes a bio for Windblade, an overview of her conception, pictures of her Thrilling 30 toy, and early design sketches by Hasbro.

• The Transformers: The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 8 (December 5, 2018) ISBN 1684053722 / ISBN 978-1684053728
  • Collects More than Meets the Eye issues #35–38 & #39–40, The Transformers (2012) issues #35–38, Punishment issues #1–5, and Drift - Empire of Stone issues #1–4.

• Transformers: Optimus Prime - Tillbaka till jorden (February 15, 2023)
  • Collects Robots in Disguise issues #28–32 & #34–38, and Punishment issues #1–5.
  • Swedish reprint. Hardcover format.

• 
  Volume 7: Combiner Wars First Strike – cover art by Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente
• 
  The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 64: Windblade – cover art by Guido Guidi (Starscream) and Saren Stone (retro)
• 
  The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 8 – cover art by Marcelo Matere and Tom B. Long
• 
  Tillbaka till jorden – cover art by Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente

External links

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