Constructicons Rising, Part 3

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"Constructicons Rising, Part 3"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	November 27, 2019
Cover date	November 2019
Written by	Tyler Bleszinski
Art by	Livio Ramondelli
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	David Mariotte and Tom Waltz
Continuity	2019 IDW continuity

Termagax finds her ambitions eclipsed when the Senate becomes involved in the case of the increasingly-unstable Constructicons.

Synopsis

Iacon is on the mend—as Wheeljack watches, the Constructicon combiner is hard at work at a tower. It's a magnificent scene to the crowds of Cybertronian workers who gather to watch the titan at work, but the reality is something entirely different: within the combiner's head, the six disparate personalities of the Constructicons bicker how to best control their new form, a struggle for control that's made all the worse as all six members are overtaken by something, a black void of rage they can't control. As they succumb, one after the next, the combiner abruptly topples its own creation with one furious swing, and smiles at the devastation...

The observers flee for cover save for Termagax, who orders the combiner to lift her to eye level. Barely suppressing its own anger, the combiner does so; Termagax orders them to disengage, and the gestalt collapses back into its component parts. Wheeljack immediately chews out the six 'bots for their inexplicable recklessness, but none of them can explain the bizarre episode. Ignoring Wheeljack's complaints of the danger that the Constructicons seemingly pose to everyone around them, Termagax, fascinated by the concept, asks the team to explain what happened. Hook and Scrapper try to explain: they've had to deal with the peresence every time they've combined, but this is the first time that they've let it win.

Wheeljack warns them that it isn't worth the risk, but Long Haul disagrees—the Enigma of Combination they've found has imprinted on them a deep need to combine, to be together at all times. Termagax muses on this new development as Hook begs their leader for another chance, and warns the team that they'll have one more shot to make things right, ignoring Wheeljack's sullen protests. As the builders regroup, Scrapper confides in Termagax that the presence is more powerful than anything he or his team has ever encountered before, forcing them to fight its influence every step of the way. Termagax suggests another solution: rather than fight the seventh personality for control, they need to work with it, as fighting the anger only makes it stronger. The team members are hesitant to try again, but Long Haul is the one who gets them into motion by pointing out that, presence or no presence, there's work to be done.

At the Senate, Wheeljack argues his case in front of the body of Senators: while Termagax meant well, her pet experiment grows increasingly dangerous, and the six Constructicons should be forbidden from ever combining again. Termagax defends herself, explaining that the latest incident is but a minor stumble. After all, she insists, the Constructicons sacrificed everything they ever knew to become the greatest builders on Cybertron. Nominus Prime, head of the Senate, thanks Termagax for supporting the team through their tumultuous development, but has his own concerns about the combiner. Both he and Termagax are old enough to remember the war against the "abomination" that ravaged their home, the rapacious fuel-guzzler that drained their world of energon. Now, with Cybertron recovering from the War of the Threefold Spark, what happens if this new combiner starts this cycle all over again? The Constructicons will be allowed to repair the damage they've caused, complete their sector of Iacon... and then, Nominus decrees, the Senate will find an alternate way for the Constructicons to contribute to society.

Days later, the Constructicons complete their masterwork: having finally mastered their combined form, the city of Iacon is completed, brighter and better than ever before. Termagax congratulates them on their hard work—a sentiment shared by Nominus Prime himself, who heartily congratulates the team on a job well done. Scrapper whispers to Termagax that her suggestion to let the other consciousness into their shared psyche allowed them to finally unlock the combiner's true power; Hook mumbles that something still doesn't feel right about the new strategy. As a tribute to their heroic efforts, Nominus presents the team with six badges of honor... but the subsequent toast to their accomplishments is quickly spoiled when Scrapper realizes that every 'bot responsible, no matter how minor their contribution, has been given the exact same badge.

Time passes, and the Constructicons prepare for their next assignment. Scrapper hopes that they'll be tasked with rebuilding another Cybetronian city, but Nominus informs them that this new job is far more important: they'll be heading to the distant world of Mayalx to help supervise the construction of an energon-harvesting colony. Nominus thanks the for their sacrifice, and Termagax bids her proteges goodbye, confessing that they've allowed her to realize that every Cybertronian has the ability to ascend beyond their expectations. And so, as the Constructicons leave their homeworld behind, the team wonders just what their future might bring...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Cybertronians
Nominus Prime (10)	Wheeljack (1) Constructicon combiner (2) Scrapper (3) Hook (4) Mixmaster (5) Scavenger (6) Bonecrusher (7) Long Haul (8) Termagax (9)

Quotes

"It's finally happened. They lost control! I hate being right all the time."

—Wheeljack

"You know from experience that you don’t stop experimenting when you have one failure."
"If it threatens your life, you do."

—Termagax and Wheeljack

"The Constructicons, in their combined form and as individuals, sacrificed so much, all so that we could look out upon a rebuilt city today and argue about their fate."

—Termagax

"Thank you for your unrelenting faith and commitment to Cybertron. The Constructicons will never be forgotten."

—Nominus Prime speaks too soon...

Notes

• First appearances: Nominus Prime

Continuity notes

• This story is set between the two preceding issues, and serves to explain how the Constructicons went from rebuilding Iacon to their current low-ranking job on Mayalx.
• First alluded to all the way back in issue #2, Nominus Prime finally makes his long-awaited debut! The former leader of the Senate has been succeeded by Sentinel Prime in the present day at the time of publication, but the effects of his reign have been felt far and wide in the form of his Nominus Edict, a historic piece of legislation that limits the production and consumption of energon. True to form, Nominus's appearances in this issue depict him as very concerned about fuel usage and energy consumption, going so far as to scold Scrapper for letting his men waste energon on frivolous activities. Appearance-wise, Nominus is drawn using the same body he wore in More than Meets the Eye in the original IDW continuity.
• The badges of honor that Nominus gives out to the Constructicons appear to be based on a simplified Autobot insignia, suggesting that this may be the in-universe origin for the faction symbol.
• Nominus Prime mentions that the Constructicons aren't the only 'bots responsible for rebuilding Iacon, specifically flagging up Megatron's mining teams and the archivists—this had previously been alluded to in Galaxies issue #1, and we saw both of these teams in action in issue #6 of the main Transformers ongoing.
• As the Constructicons depart Cybertron, Termagax warns them that "not all Cybertronians who leave Cybertron do so for noble reasons," which feels like a deliberate call-forward to the team's eventual encounter with the similarly-exiled Insecticons that occurred in the previous issue.
• Following up from similar dialogue in issue 1, Termagax declares that the Constructicons have allowed her to see how all Cybertronians have the ability to ascend beyond expectations, again foreshadowing her eventual founding of the Ascenticon movement
• Termagax was noted to have something of a dislike for Nominus Prime, to the point where, as per issue #8 of Transformers, she will eventually sequester herself off from Cybertronian civilization entirely until the Nominus Edict was overturned. This issue suggests that her dislike of the Prime may have started when the leader of Cybertron not-so-subtly exiled her six star pupils to a distant world and (deliberately or not) permanently put them beyond her reach.

Transformers references

• The shot of the six Constructicons fighting to coordinate their movements within their combined form's head is evocative of a similar scene in Till All Are One #4, which saw the Combaticons struggling to control a newly-created Bruticus.
• Long Haul describes the Enigma of Combination as, essentially, addictive, giving the team a deep need to be connected. A similar phenomenon occurred in the original IDW continuity; during the 2015 Combiner Wars crossover, Prowl mused that it was the fate of all combiners to naturally become addicted to the process, losing their individuality and eventually more-or-less permanently merging into a combined form.
• The final timeskip is measured in "breems", a unit of timekeeping that first appeared in the Marvel Comics continuity. As this continuity has only thus far used "cycles" as the primary timekeeping unit, it's not entirely clear how much time has actually passed; its traditional designation of 8.3 minutes seems waaaaaaay too short a timeskip between the two scenes, which begins with Bonecrusher having completed more than 44,000 pushups in the interim... unless Bonecrusher is just that good at athletics. (You decide!)

Real-world references

• Nominus Prime's bodyguards consist of a pair of red, visored 'bots wielding elaborate bladed spears; they appear to be Transformer-ized versions of the Imperial guards from the Star Wars franchise.

Errors

• During his first appearance in the Senate, Nominus Prime's face is miscoloured pale yellow instead of orange.

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Devastator and his components, by Livio Ramondelli
• Cover B: Termagax and Devastator, by Winston Chan
• Retailer incentive cover: Devastator weighs heavily on Wheeljack and Termagax, by Angel Hernandez and Josh Burcham

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