Second Exodus

« The Transformers: Robots in Disguise #18
"Second Exodus"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	June 6, 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	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 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

(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)	Dirge (5) Starscream (6) Mixmaster (14) Long Haul (15) Scavenger (16) Hook (17) Bonecrusher (18) Devastator (flashback, 19) Shockwave (27)	Metalhawk (7) Squawkbox (11) Swindle (12) Jazz (13)

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 dick!
• Arcee lived on Gorlam Prime and killed Jhiaxus repeatedly between the end of Revelation and Heart of Darkness.

Transformers references

• Bumblebee's new body is, obviously enough, promoting an upcoming Generations toy which at the time of this issue's publication had not yet been formally announced by Hasbro. The body/toy is a redeco and retool of the earlier Generations Bumblebee toy that depicted the character in the body he wore for most of the ongoing series (promoted by Spotlight: Bumblebee), but obviously intended to homage his upgraded "Goldbug" form from the original Generation 1 toyline, cartoon and comic. Of note is that 'Bee's new body here incorporates the changes made to the ongoing design in the transition to toy form, such as having vehicle bumper rather than windscreen kibble on the shoulders.
• That said, Goldbug was turned into a separate character from Bumblebee in IDW continuity back in Spotlight: Metroplex, so we can probably not be expecting Bumblebee to change his name any time soon. But that works out okay, since the toy is pretty unlikely to actually be called Goldbug; the only Hasbro Goldbug figure since the original was dubbed "Gold Bumblebee", and Ironhide mentions that Bumblebee's body is being repaired with "Goldfire shielding", so we're probably looking at "Goldfire Bumblebee". The "Goldfire" prefix is not new, having previously been used by Hasbro on a golden redeco of Animated Grimlock that was never released.

Errors

• On page 9, Prowl yells "Constructions" rather than "Constructicons".
• 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".

Covers (3)

• 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.

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