Insight

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"Insight"
Publisher	Fun Publications
Published in	Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club #68
Writers	Jesse Wittenrich & Pete Sinclair
Pencils	Dan Khanna
Inks	Jake Isenberg
Colors	Evan Gauntt
Letters	Jesse Wittenrich
Managing editor	Pete Sinclair
Continuity	Of Masters and Mayhem
Chronology	2020

While Spike and the Pretenders try to evade detection, Impactor tries to help his wounded friend.

Synopsis

Though the mugger's bullet has done enough damage to splash some of his mech-fluids onto Spike's shirt, Metalhawk is none the worse for wear, but the glowing blue wound in his chest has blown his disguise. Vroom and Crossblades instantly tackle the thug, disarming him before he can shoot anyone again. As they try to figure out what they're going to do with the man, the actual police show up to arrest them! At the police station, with the thug—Mendez—not talking, the investigators assigned to interrogate him begin to ask Spike and co. what happened—and why there were reports of a gunshot, but no bullets found at the scene. Vroom nearly blows their cover, but Elizabeth quickly covers for him by assuring the investigators that, as a certified field nurse, she verified that no one in the vicinity was injured by the "stray" bullet. Satisfied with what they've heard so far, the investigators let them go.

Several galaxies from Earth, on the planet Paradron, Impactor walks the marketplace nearby a medical center. As he returns to check up on his friend, he briefly questions Lifeline on her dangerous-looking "medical tools" before asking on his friend's status. Lifeline reveals that one of his pal's dual robot configurations had sustained heavy damage, and she was capable of only saving one of his robot modes. Outraged, Impactor starts to leave, before having some second thoughts...

Back on Earth, Ramjet expresses contempt that this Earth contains only humans, before dismissing the situation as irrelevant: once he unites with the other source of evil he senses, all life in this universe will be destroyed.

In Merida, Spike, Elizabeth, and the Pretenders exit the police station... only to run into their mysterious stalker! The man immediately states that he knows some of their number are Cybertronian. Despite Vroom's attempts to deny the man's claims, the stalker explains he cares nothing about their charade, only that he has a message for them—specifically, a warning: "he" will be here soon.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Humans	Others
Metalhawk (1) Crossblades (2) Vroom (4) Impactor (7) Lifeline (8) Impactor's "friend" (9) Quickslinger (10)	Mendez (3) Spike Witwicky (5) Elizabeth (6)	Ramjet (11) Mysterious man (12)

Notes

• Lifeline is noticeably antsy when Impactor notes that her medical tools look a lot like weapons—a nod to her profile, and the fact that her medical tools are simply a redeco of Generations Arcee's weapons!
• Impactor's friend is Punch—now permanently stuck in his Counterpunch form. This would be addressed in further detail in "The Truth We Make".

Continuity notes

• As Metalhawk is leaving the police station, he overhears one of the investigators mention that her brother was a RAAT, as well as a RUNT Driver.

Transformers references

• Metalhawk notes after being taken into custody that his "Holo-Frame" is nearly repaired from being shot. This implies that he and his fellow Pretenders' smaller size is a result of some sort of use of holomatter avatars, as opposed to their regular pretender shells.
• One of the police officers who interrogates the Autobots mentions that her police captain still has nightmares due to past encounters with Transformers. She also mentions others who took part in the captain's mishaps: Jed, Allan, and Sam, revealing the captain to be a grown-up Robin Lindley, the last member of the Spacehikers.
• When Impactor is walking through the Paradron Marketplace, you can pick Sandstorm's back out from the crowd—in the original cartoon, Sandstorm was native to Paradron.

Real-world references

• In the police station, there's a human with a Autobot logo on his shirt, with the text "I Still Believe"—probably a call-out to alien conspiracy shows and memorabilia.
• Two of the robots in the Paradron crowd-shot bear a resemblance to Peridot and Garnet from the television cartoon Steven Universe.

  

  They must have taken the wrong warp pad.

• In that same shot, what appears to be Bender from Futurama is in the far back of the crowd.