Syndromica (1)

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"Syndromica (1)"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	June 13, 2012
Cover date	June 2012
Story by	John Barber
Art by	Livio Ramondelli
Letters by	Shawn Lee
Editor	Carlos Guzman
Continuity	IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era (2012)

Away from the events on Cybertron, Orion Pax finds both a new mission and some old friends.

Synopsis

Half a million years ago, Shockwave visits the ruined world of Arduria, and finds that its native rocs are dying from a catastrophic loss of planetary heat. Venturing into the depths of the planet, where the few survivors have huddled, Shockwave discovers the source of the heat loss, and confirms his suspicion that he was responsible for it...

In the present day, Orion Pax receives a call from Hardhead and meets with him and his crew—Wheelie and Garnak—at an interstellar way station. Hardhead explains that after the rebirth of Cybertron, the trio captured the catatonic Jhiaxus and took him off-planet. Things changed just recently when their ship picked up a signal from Arduria, which caused the mad scientist to awaken and begin screaming Pax's name, prompting Hardhead to call on him. Pax is brought before the babbling Jhiaxus, whose gibbering about "regenesis" prompts Pax to order a course plotted to Arduria right away.

Arriving on the frozen planet, Orion and Hardhead explore beneath its surface, discussing Jhiaxus's relationship with his student Shockwave. Hardhead confirms that Shockwave is still on Cybertron, having checked with Bumblebee; he also imparts to Pax the news of the destruction of the Lost Light, but Orion is sure that Rodimus and his crew are fine, wherever they may be. The pair then come upon the source of the planet's heat loss: one of Shockwave's Regenesis missiles, whose ore has clearly had a different effect on Arduria than the one that carried Ore-13 had on Earth. More worrying still is the giant, frozen figure clutching the missile: Monstructor! Worse yet: the titanic horror is not really frozen at all, and has been lying in wait for the Autobots, drawing them to the planet as a trap so that his master Bludgeon can free Jhiaxus. As the monstrous combiner attacks, Pax tries blasting Monstructor's old weak spot, but it becomes apparent that Bludgeon has had the combiner ports reinforced. Nevertheless, his work as a distraction done, the combiner splits into his component parts, who flee with Bludgeon and Jhiaxus aboard the Decepticons' ship.

A little later, after the injuries Bludgeon has subjected Wheelie and Garnak to during his rescue of Jhiaxus have been treated, Hardhead and Orion deduce that Jhiaxus and Bludgeon are on their way to the Lenocinium Velnero System, where Wheelie had previously been stranded years before. Mention of the system sends Wheelie into (non-rhyming) panic, but the decision is made: Orion has realized that Jhiaxus is tracking down the fruits of Shockwave's Regenesis program, and that another of his missiles must be planted in the L-V System. If the ore seeded on Earth was number thirteen, and Arduria held another missile, that means there are eleven left... but Orion Pax is resolute in the face of danger, and tired of walking away.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Others
Wheelie (3) Orion Pax (5) Hardhead (6)	Shockwave (2) Monstructor (8) Bludgeon (9) Wildfly (10) Slog (11) Scowl (12) Icepick (13) Birdbrain (14) Bristleback (15)	Ardurian rocs (1) Garnak (4) Jhiaxus (7)

Quotes

"You believe my servant wouldn't fix Monstructor's only weakness?"
"Only weakness? Well, to be fair, it's also completely insane."
"THAT IS NOT A WEAKNESS!"

—Jhiaxus doesn't take Hardhead's constructive criticism very well.

Notes

Continuity notes

• This issue catches up with Orion Pax, who abandoned the name "Optimus Prime" and set off to adventure in space in The Death of Optimus Prime.
• Shockwave's Regenesis program was introduced waaaay back in Spotlight: Shockwave.
• Ardurian rocs previously got a one-time mention way back in Spotlight: Hardhead.
• Aliens sharing the space station's bar with the Autobots include an Ilxian, a species introduced in Spotlight: Blaster, and residents of Zull from Spotlight: Ultra Magnus.
• Jhiaxus and Shockwave's master-and-student relationship was introduced inSpotlight: Doubledealer, though it was only a passing mention that was never touched upon again until now.
• Monstructor and Bludgeon were last seen in All Hail Megatron #15. Thanks to John Barber's patented continuity-massaging, their curious appearance there now retroactively makes a bit more sense.
• Orion has knowledge of Monstructor's weak spot from when he last battled him in Spotlight: Optimus Prime.
• The LV System was introduced in Spotlight: Wheelie, in which Wheelie was shown to be stranded on the planet LV-117, and reappeared in The Transformers #19, by which time he had relocated to the neighboring world of LV-118. This is the first time we learn what "LV" stands for.

Errors

• "Ore-13" was given that name by Starscream's group, who were ignorant of its true origin as part of Shockwave's Regenesis project. So where do Orion & co get the idea that there must automatically be thirteen planets in the program?

Other trivia

• "Syndromica" (along with "Shadowplay") was written on request from Hasbro, who were concerned that Optimus was going to be absent from the comics for over a year.

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Orion Pax striking a pose, by Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente
• Cover B: Orion's head looms over Shockwave, by Livio Ramondelli
• Cover RI: Black and white lineart version of Cover A

• 
  Tell me once again, who's bad?
• 
  Don't turn around!
• 
  Cover RI

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