Storm Horizon Part 3

« Transformers: Galaxies #12 »
"Storm Horizon Part 3"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	December 30, 2020
Cover date	October 2020
Written by	Brandon Easton
Art by	Andrew Griffith
Colors by	Josh Burcham
Letters by	Jake M. Wood
Editor	David Mariotte, Tom Waltz, and Riley Farmer
Continuity	2019 IDW continuity

It's a race against time as Ultra Magnus goes up against Soundblaster and an alien armada to rescue Alpha Trion from the Black Sphere.

Synopsis

Time's running out for Ultra Magnus: not only are Alpha Trion and Soundblaster under siege from a Kworian armada, their battered starship is nearing the rim of the Black Sphere... and Chromedome reports that the gravitational space-time distortions they're experiencing could mean that they're already too late. As Victory Leo hauls the squabbling Octane and Spinister away to the ship's brig, Chromedome explains the situation to Magnus, who's already donned a bulky suit of spaceworthy armor to make the rescue: by piggybacking off the holographic signal Soundblaster used to contact them on Obsidar and patching it directly into his new armor, Magnus will be able to find the ship using this improvised "homing beacon" and communicate with Alpha Trion. The general wastes no time as he leaps out of the nearest docking bay and blasts off straight towards the Kworian flotilla. Magnus is smaller and more agile than the massive battlecruisers, and uses his maneuverability to his advantage as he weaves in and out of their line of fire and gives them the chance to retreat from the danger zone by shooting out their weapons.

Although Magnus believes the Kworians to be enemies, Trion explains that this is not the case, and that the truth is far more complicated. Though he initially sought to cut a simple bargain with Soundblaster, Trion's would-be business partner grew consumed by greed and monomania, and his obsession with finding and selling old Cybertronian relics led to unsanctioned excavations that have soured the perception of the Transformers across many different worlds. Indeed, when Magnus asks if Trion could call off the aliens, he notes that it's unlikely the Kworians will see Magnus as anything but an enemy. Finally, Magnus reaches their vessel and blasts his way up through the hull and into the bridge but when he tells Trion that they have to leave, Soundblaster refuses and tells the general that the sage must fulfill his end of the bargain they cut. Indeed, Soundblaster's madness is such that, even amid the chaos of a burning starship, he offers Magnus a part in their impromptu "organization"... and when Trion tries to convince Soundblaster to release him from this insane contract, the angry relic hunter unleashes a blast that sends them both flying! As the concussive waves batter Magnus's armor, and Chromedome warns that their ship's nearing the event horizon, Magnus finds his second wind and pushes his way through Soundblaster's waves of sonic force and hurls a disorienting flashbang that stuns Soundblaster long enough for Magnus to scoop up Trion, activate the ship's emergency thrusters, then blasts open an exit with his shoulder missiles and gets ready to blast off. Soundblaster makes a final grab for the both of them before Magnus manages to kick their attacker free and takes off—seconds before Trion's ship vanishes into the black hole.

Back aboard the Fist of Iacon, it's congratulations all around for the heroes of the hour as Trion thanks Magnus for saving him, and Magnus, in turn, thanks his friend for helping him to change his outlook all those years ago. Chromedome, however, has news, both good and bad: although they'll be in Cybertronian space soon, Victory Leo confirms that the space-time distortions during their last rescue mission have put them seventy cycles behind schedule. Worse yet, things have only further deteriorated in their absence, and Megatron has overthrown the Senate. When Magnus tries to contact Omega Supreme on a private comms channel, he gets nothing; Chromedome confirms that the only message they can pick up is one of Megatron's recent speeches playing on loop. Magnus briefly despairs at the sight, and wonders if Spinister was right—if maybe the Cybertron he fought for really is gone. Alpha Trion offers some comfort; he sought those ancient relics not just out of abstract academic curiosity, but because the relics of the past—and the codes that they contain—may be the key to saving the future. All they need is some faith in their cause and the courage to forge ahead...

Sixty-six cycles earlier: Soundblaster has survived his encounter with the black hole and returned to Cybertron ahead of Ultra Magnus to warn his master Shockwave of his recent defeat. The scientist is disappointed by this failures, but decides to let him live—after all, his splice-thieving operation have given the scientist enough raw materials to finish his latest project, and as Shockwave unveils an army of Insecticon clones, he admits that he'd hate to deny Soundblaster his role in the new order...

Featured characters

(Characters in italic text appear only in flashback.)

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Decepticons	Cybertronians
Soundblaster (2) Octane (6) Spinister (7) Megatron (8) Shockwave (9)	Ultra Magnus (1) Alpha Trion (3) Chromedome (4) Victory Leo (5)

Quotes

"Cease your whimpering, Octane! I look forward to permanently silencing you the moment I get the chance."
"How about I take these chains off and you threaten me in that tone of voice? What are the chances your head will be in the next quadrant before you complete that sentence?"

—Spinister and Victory Leo

"Soundblaster... there's no profit to be gained from suicide. But you're right about one thing... I am persistent...I am valiant... I am a warrior of Cybertron!"

—Ultra Magnus vs. Soundblaster

"I wish to extend a word of thanks."
"For what?"
"For never once making a comment about 'the gravity of our situation.'"
"Chromedome, you realize that I can toss you into the Black Sphere?"
"Heh. Good one, general. You're kidding, of course. Right? General?"

—Chromedome and Ultra Magnus

"I've always needed a sense of direction... of perspective about matters of social progress. A warrior's mandate is clear, but simplistic. A functional world requires greater complexity than edge of a sword."

—Ultra Magnus

"To kill you would be a phenomenal waste. And I'd hate for you to miss the storm approaching the horizon of the future. The Decepticon future."

—Shockwave

Notes

Continuity notes

• Megatron's prerecorded speech in this issue is the one he gave to the citizens of Iacon during Transformers issue #21.
• Spinister mentioned a "master" in the previous issue; it was a sure bet at the time that he was working for Shockwave, who'd been put in charge of coordinating the activities of various banished Cybertronians as per Transformers #15, and this issue bears that theory out. That same issue also revealed that Shockwave had been experimenting with Exarchon's old caches of technology, and that the leader of the Threefold Spark was very interested in cloning... although the comic remains ambiguous as to whether Soundblaster himself is a clone.
• Shockwave's Insecticon clones will go on to play a role in the Escape miniseries—indeed, issue #1, released on the same day as this comic, had Bombshell muse that they would need "more of themselves" to devour everything on Cybertron. We'll have to keep reading to find out if Trion's knowledge will somehow assist Wheeljack in his hunt for the missing Ark ships!

Transformers references

• Ultra Magnus attempts to contact Omega Supreme on frequency "gee-wun", in reference to the snarky moniker for overly-nostalgic Transformers fans.
• "Code: Tarnhauser" is a reference to Tarn-Hauser Gate, a location seen in Siege portion of Netflix's War for Cybertron show. Ultra Magnus fought beside Megatron at the Battle of Tarn-Hauser Gate.
• Magnus describes Omega as one of many "city guardians" in what's probably a reference to the existence of multiple "Guardian robots" from the The Transformers episode "War Dawn".
• Alpha Trion's holograms of the past include a glimpse of an Ark-class ship—this one identical to the golden vessel from the original Transformers cartoon--and Vector Sigma, the ancient supercomputer that's closely associated with Alpha Trion himself after the The Transformers episode "The Key to Vector Sigma".

Other trivia

• One last delay for old time’s sake: originally solicited for October, then deliberately pushed back until November, the final issue of Galaxies arrives another whole month behind that, barely missing the end of 2020.

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Ultra Magnus versus the Kworians, by Andrew Griffith and Thomas Deer
• Cover B: Ultra Magnus flies through space, by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham
• Retailer incentive cover: Soundblaster, by Livio Ramondelli

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Reprints

• Transformers Volume 3: All Fall Down (December 15, 2020 **scheduled**) ISBN 1684057396 / ISBN 978-1684057399
  • Hardcover.
  • Collects Transformers issues #19–24 and Galaxies issues #7–12.
  • Bonus material currently unknown, most likely alternate covers.

• 
  All Fall Down; cover art by Cryssy Cheung

External links

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