A Long Way Down

« The Transformers: Windblade #2 »
"A Long Way Down"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	May 21, 2014
Cover date	May 2014
Written by	Mairghread Scott
Art by	Saren Stone
Letters by	Chris Mowry
Editor	John Barber
Assistant editor	Rebecca Huard
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era (2014)

Trying to keep one step ahead of Starscream, Windblade coerces Waspinator into helping her discover the dark secret in the bowels of Metroplex.

Synopsis

With faithful camerabot Longtooth at his side, Circuit attempts to conduct interviews with various civilians regarding the bombing in Acrolight. Chromia refuses to speak to him, and when he visits Maccadam's Old Oil House, Blurr kicks him out after he is able to extract only the briefest testimonials from the Tankors and a downhearted Waspinator.

As Starscream and Rattrap come to visit the injured Windblade at the medibay, Chromia bars their way, threatening to report the blast to Optimus Prime per the Autobot leader's instructions. Starscream cooly informs Chromia that if she had any proof, she would have done so already, and brushes past her to see Windblade, to whom he offers a veiled warning. Putting on a brave face, Windblade demands that he leave, and after he does so, she tells Chromia about the orange wire she discovered at the site of the blast—part of an igniter capsule. Before she can give voice to her theory, the two females realize that Circuit and Longtooth are secretly filming them; after Chromia scares them off, Windblade says what they're both thinking: that Starscream had Rattrap set off the blast. Chromia warns her to watch what she says, so the pair set off for a more secluded spot, their departure watched by Starscream and Rattrap, who are already planning their next move.

Windblade and Chromia meet with Ironhide, who has been guarding Metroplex's brain in their absence. He is unsurprised to hear Windblade's theory, but encourages her to find tangible proof against Starscream before pursuing any action; suspecting that the blast was meant to cover up some activity of Starscream's within Metroplex, a forlorn Windblade consults with the Titan to try and pinpoint which of the many problems going on inside him could be the Seeker's doing, but is faced with too many possibilities to narrow it down. Fortunately, Chromia and Ironhide have turned up a lead while watching Circuit's footage: Waspinator remarked that knew he was "not wanted" in the city's underground, which indicates someone told him to keep out. Windblade and Chromia head straight for Maccadam's, and although Waspinator immediately bolts when they try to question him, Chromia quickly subdues him. Windblade takes pity on the put-upon 'bot and tries offering him some compassion, but it isn't enough for Waspinator to overcome his fear of whoever or whatever warned him out of the underground. However, while he refuses to name names, he agrees to lead Windblade to the underground site where the encounter took place—Metroplex's filtration systems. Even her disgust at the sight of Waspinator slurping down energon from Metroplex's internal reservoirs doesn't stop Windblade from realizing what is going on: Starscream is trying to obtain one or both of the Regenesis ores that Metroplex was infused with by filtering them out of the Titan's system. She immediately streaks off for the surface, with Waspinator close behind, but their departure is observed by a monstrous shadow...

Windblade gets in touch with Circuit, and allows herself to be interviewed in Maccadam's soon after, telling the reporter the entire story. Circuit asks for proof, and Windblade leads him, her allies, and some of the bar's interested patrons, down into Starscream's "mine" so they can see for themselves. Soon after their arrival, a skittering in the shadows is followed by an energy blast that Chromia blocks with her shield; someone is here to ensure that the group does not leave the mine alive, and as figures emerge from the shadows around them, Windblade draws her sword and prepares for battle.

Featured characters

Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Others
Chromia (3) Windblade (10) Ironhide (11) Metroplex's brain (12) Slug (13) Nautica (14)	Rippersnapper (15) Sinnertwin (16) Cutthroat (17)	Longtooth (1) Circuit (2) Blurr (4) Tall Tankor (5) Fat Tankor (6) Waspinator (7) Starscream (8) Rattrap (9)

Quotes

Waspinator: "You want to hurt Wazzpinator!"
Chromia: "What a load of-"
Windblade: "Wait... why would we hurt you?"
Waspinator: "Everyone hurtzzz Wazzpinator. Right?"
Windblade (internal narration): "That... is really depressing."

"Argh, that is just gross! That's someone's energon."
"Shhhh! It's free." (Slrp!)

-Windblade and Waspinator, hip deep in the stuff

Notes

• This issue was not named in print. "A Long Way Down" comes from Mairghread Scott's commentary.

Continuity notes

• We saw Optimus warn Windblade to watch out for Starscream in Robots in Disguise #28.
• As Windblade converses with Metroplex, we hear the verse, "...and some are light and fleet of foot / and some as fierce as beasts / and some were paired forevermore / though fools called them the least." This foreshadows the other Metrotitan colonies revealed in issue 4 – those of racers, Fuzors, and Micromaster Combiners respectively.
• The whole business with Metroplex and Shockwave's ores went down in Chapter 9 of "Dark Cybertron". We even get a flashback panel showing Metroplex's plot-centric severed thumb reattaching itself!
• This is Rippersnapper's first appearance in the IDW continuity since Spotlight: Sixshot nearly eight years prior. Cutthroat and Sinnertwin were both seen in the pages of Robots in Disguise only a year prior amongst rioting Decepticons, and Cutthroat just recently appeared again in "Dark Cybertron" Chapter 11 fighting the Ammonites.

Transformers references

• Starscream is waaaaay more "delicately creepy" than normal in this issue; it's clear Scott's time on the Prime cartoon and its particular treatment of its Starscream is seeping through.
• The Terrorcons appear with the designs of their Prime counterparts: Rippersnapper as Rippersnapper, Sinnertwin as Twinstrike, and Cutthroat as Windrazor.

Covers (3)

• Standard cover: Windblade by Saren Stone
• Subscription cover: Windblade by Alex Milne and Priscilla Tramontano
• 30th Anniversary cover: Part of a series of "30th Anniversary" covers from the May 2014 Transformers titles by Marcelo Matere that appear to have been released in reverse order; the broken bodies of Optimus Prime, Rodimus, Cyclonus, and Hardhead are rebuilt by the Combat Deck, in homage to this scene from the first Marvel issue. Colors by Priscilla Tramontano.

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• Windblade #3
• Robots in Disguise #29
• More than Meets the Eye #29
• IDW Godzilla comics
• IDW Littlest Pet Shop comic
• IDW: Getting Into Your Head for 15 Years (back cover)

Reprints

• The Transformers: Windblade TPB: (October 1, 2014) ISBN 1631400525 / ISBN 978-1-63140-052-0

• Collects issues #1 to #4.
• Bonus material includes a cover gallery.

• The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 6 (October 18, 2017) ISBN 1684050855 / ISBN 978-1684050857

• Contains issues #1 to #4 (Windblade volume 1), as well as Dark Cybertron Chapter 1, Robots in Disguise issues #23 to #27, More than Meets the Eye #23 to #27 and The Transformers: Dark Cybertron Finale.

• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 64: Windblade (August 9, 2017)

• Collects issues #1 to #4 of the first volume, along with issues #35 to #38 of The Transformers vol. 2.
• Includes a bio for Windblade, an overview of her conception, pictures of her Thrilling 30 toy, and early design sketches by Hasbro.

• Transformers Windblade: The Last City (February 14, 2018) ISBN 978-1684052240

• Contains all 11 issues from both volumes of Windblade... but not the alternating chapters of Combiner Wars from The Transformers vol. 2 needed to complete the story. Um.
• Bonus content includes covers of each issue.

• 
  The Transformers: Windblade TPB; cover art by Saren Stone
• 
  The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 6 HC; cover art by Marcelo Matere and Tom B. Long
• 
  The Definitive G1 Collection: Vol. 64: Windblade HC; cover art by Guido Guidi and Saren Stone
• 
  Transformers Windblade: The Last City TPB; cover art by Sara Pitre-Durocher