Natural Selection, Part Five: Difference between revisions
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*On page 13, Highbrow is colored like Needlenose. | *On page 13, Highbrow is colored like Needlenose. | ||
*The Ark is drawn to match it's [[The Transformers (cartoon)|cartoon]] appearance instead of its unique Marvel shape, but is still colored in traditional Marvel silver. | *The Ark is drawn to match it's [[The Transformers (cartoon)|cartoon]] appearance instead of its unique Marvel shape, but is still colored in traditional Marvel silver. | ||
*Swoop is shown in pteranodon mode blasting the bridge supports, yet mere seconds later, he's shown in robot mode reacting to Grimlock's death. | |||
===Trivia=== | ===Trivia=== | ||
Revision as of 10:43, 11 April 2013
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| "Natural Selection" Part 5 | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | IDW Publishing | ||||||||||||
| First published | April 10, 2013 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | April 2013 | ||||||||||||
| Writer | Simon Furman | ||||||||||||
| Penciler | Andrew Wildman | ||||||||||||
| Inker | Stephen Baskerville | ||||||||||||
| Colorist | John-Paul Bove | ||||||||||||
| Color assists | James Stayte | ||||||||||||
| Letterer | Chris Mowry | ||||||||||||
| Editor | John Barber | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Marvel Comics continuity | ||||||||||||
As subterfuge from within brings his plan crashing down, Scorponok faces off against Grimlock in final battle.
Synopsis
Deep within Cybertron, Hot Rod holds the Sword of Primus above the head of a cowering Demon, and announces that the will of Primus decrees he use the blade to exterminate all of the creature's kind so the next step in the evolution of the Transformer race can begin. But after a moment's hesitation, Hot Rod concludes that Primus' will is not his will, and he will not further the grievous wrong their creator committed, on which their race is built. Taking the Covenant of Primus as well, Hot Rod exits the chamber—the gashes on his chest healing closed as he does so—and returns to the surface, the Demons all parting before him, genuflecting in fear of the light of Primus's artifacts. Hot Rod vows to return, to try and undo the harm done to Cybertron's first inhabitants.
At the Iacon Civil Defense Hub, Roadblock is regaling a Gene Key-modified Guzzle with a story of having been surrounded by Mecannibals, when they hear a loud thumping noise, looking up just in time to see Grimlock running towards them in dinosaur mode at top-speed. Guzzle only has time to curse before Grimlock rams them aside to make way for the Dinobots, Blurr, Crosshairs, Grapple and Hosehead. Speeding past Guzzle's non-moving form, and noting that Guzzle is "one of ours", Crosshairs cautions the others that if Scorponok's plan can be sabotaged, and Gene Key-modified Autobots returned to their natural state, that they need to set their weapons to only stun or disable any others they come across, as he transforms and takes out Crankcase and Landfill. Swoop blasts Runamuck off his feet, while Blurr quickly neutralizes (and apologizes to) two generics and Sparkstalker. Entering another chamber, Crosshairs cautions the group to wait, as there might be other defenders waiting. Grimlock says there's no time to wait, that the element of surprise is all they have. He then rams into the control room where Pounce and Wingspan are. The two quickly decide to surrender. Grapple and Blurr examine the control panel, noting that it doesn't seem like the data on building Nucleon-free bodies Scorponok transferred from Nebulos has been dumped, though they are locked out as the control panel is passcode-encrypted.
The Valiant is returning from Earth with its crew, its flightplan locked in via coordinates from Space Traffic Control, and put on autopilot by Smokescreen. Hound notes that after receiving an extremely unwelcome reception on Earth, he is looking forward to Cybertronian hospitality, not knowing it was Pounce and Wingspan who gave the landing coordinates on Scorponok's orders, with further instruction to blow the ship out of the sky.
On Earth, in the Yukon, Galvatron has prepared the Ark for takeoff, intending to return to Cybertron and rule the planet. Several decks below the bridge, Shockwave calls out to Starscream. Stirring, and asking who called his name, Starscream discovers that he can talk again. Shockwave says that he inhibited Starscream's basic functions before, but that he how has free reign to turn his thoughts into actions. Starscream asks why, if Shockwave can now think and act, is he still doing Galvatron's bidding? Shockwave explains that after Auntie's destruction, he arose from his catatonic state, but is still not completely autonomous- the Ark still needs a pilot, to which Starscream replies with a scheming grin, that the pilot might as well be himself...
At the Sonic Canyons, Scorponok is growing increasingly volatile at delays in the building and activation of the Gene Key, berating Perceptor for all the glitches, and threatening to kill him if it continues. Perceptor replies that he was fixing the glitch before Scorponok interrupted him. Turning away from the Autobot scientist angrily, he sees Roadblock. While asking Roadblock what he's looking at, Scorponok violently backhands (backclaws?) Roadblock off the bridge the Gene Key is on and to his death in the depths of the Sonic Canyons. Scorponok then turns to Spinister, Needlenose and Skyquake, asking if any of them have opinions they'd like to express. Scorponok then starts pontificating again about his grand plan, but is interrupted by Grimlock firing shots from atop a hoversled. He scatters Scorponok's bots with several shots, saying that he's learned the hard way that fear doesn't equal respect, and that loyalty can only be earned. Spinister and Needlenose raise their weapons, but Scorponok forbids them, transforming into scorpion mode and blasting the hoversled with his stinger, disabling it and causing Grimlock to crash to the ground. Scorponok takes out the crystal that gives him control of Grimlock's body and orders Perceptor to activate the Gene Key at once.
Inside the Civil Defense Hub, an alarm is sounded. Grapple responds to Crosshairs' inquiry about the sound that it's missile silos targeting the Valiant. Crosshairs orders Blurr to abort the launches, but even with Blurr going his fastest to decrypt the control panels, he still hasn't been able to unlock them. Realizing they only have seconds to spare, Crosshairs turns to the Decepticon clones, demanding the passcode, stating that if Pounce doesn't give it up, Crosshairs will execute him on the spot. Pounce, not believing that an Autobot would do something like that, hesitates, earning Wingspan an immediate blast through the midsection from Crosshairs' gun. As he kills Wingspan, Crosshairs reflects that because of Scorponok's actions, they're all making major adjustments. Crosshairs then states that he won't ask for the passcode a second time, and a shocked Pounce immediately gives the passcode, enabling Blurr to cause the missles targeting the Valiant to detonate before they hit the ship. However, because the missiles detonate so closely to the ship, Ultra Magnus believes they're under attack and orders the shields up and the Wreckers to prepare for immediate battle.
As the Gene Key begins to glow and power up, Scorponok once again begins waxing poetic about the true unification of Cybertron and his role in it. However, something is suddenly going terribly wrong- Scorponok feels the Gene Key affecting him as well! As the Gene Key is also affecting Highbrow, Skram and Landmine, they come to their senses. Highbrow briefly wonders where he is before noting that he remembers everything. Landmine felt like he was having an out of body experience, while Skram guiltily recalls enjoying all the destruction and mayhem. Scorponok realizes that the Gene Key was tampered with and that it could only have done by Perceptor! Recalling how Grimlock demonstrated then reversed the Gene Key's effects on him, then told him to "pretend to be bad!", Perceptor looks down at Scorponok, who notes how well Perceptor played evil, but that it will only delay his plans, not stop them. He prepares to fire his shoulder-mounted cannons at Perceptor, but is head-butted by Grimlock and knocked off-aim. Grimlock then orders the Dinobots to attack, before transforming and chomping on Scorponok's arm with his jaws, forcing Scorponok to drop the crystal controlling Grimlock. Spinister and Needlenose quickly transform and fly away, while Perceptor orders Override, Slapdash and two other Autobots on the bridge to get off immediately, as the Dinobots are destroying the bridge the Gene Key is situated on. Grimlock and Scorponok fight fiercely, with Grimlock gripping onto Scorponok to prevent him fleeing. Scorponok screams that Grimlock will kill them both, and Grimlock replies that Scorponok finally gets it- thanks to him, Grimlock went too far over the line, and intends to take Scorponok down with him. As Snarl realizes what Grimlock is doing, he flies by on his hoversled, desperately trying to get a hold on his leader. Grimlock notes that the bigger they are, the farther they fall. As Sludge, Snarl and Swoop look on in horror, the bridge finally crumbles, and Scorponok and Grimlock plunge into the Canyons.
Back on Earth, Optimus Prime arrives at the Ark site... just as the giant vessel takes off! Looking up at the bridge window, Optimus sees Galvatron staring back, and believes that Megatron has returned!
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Others | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
Notes
Transformers references
Real world-references
- For some head-scratching reason, the passcode Pounce provides is in Japanese: "juu-kyuu-hachi-juushi-nijuu-juu-yon" is "10-9-9-14-20-10-4." Any significance those numbers might have, we haven't sussed it out yet.
Errors
- On page 13, Highbrow is colored like Needlenose.
- The Ark is drawn to match it's cartoon appearance instead of its unique Marvel shape, but is still colored in traditional Marvel silver.
- Swoop is shown in pteranodon mode blasting the bridge supports, yet mere seconds later, he's shown in robot mode reacting to Grimlock's death.
Trivia
- Shockwave says he has "destricted" Starscream's blocks. "Destriction" is in fact a word, from "striction", meaning "binding", but is marked as both obsolete and rare by the Oxford English dictionary.
- Introducing two Transformers who share a name into a continuity within a single issue just to immediately kill both of them must be some kind of first.
Covers (3)
- Cover A: Grimlock vs. Scorponok on the bridge above the Sonic Canyons, by Andrew Wildman and Jason Cardy.
- Cover B: Grimlock in scorpion-mode Scorponok's grip, by Guido Guidi.
- Cover RI: Scorponok fires on Grimlock's sky-sled, by Geoff Senior and Josh Burcham.
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