The Impossible Knot

« The Transformers: Bumblebee #2 »
"Cybertronian, Motherfragger... DO YOU SPEAK IT?!"
"The Impossible Knot"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	January 20, 2010
Cover date	January 2010
Writer	Zander Cannon
Artist	Chee Yang Ong
Colorist	Moose Baumann
Editor	Andy Schmidt
Associate editor	Denton J. Tipton
Continuity	IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era (2010)

Bumblebee's ability as leader of the Autobots is put to the test as he and his team are tasked with finding and apprehending Blurr.

Synopsis

Blurr is racing across the New Mexico desert. After unsuccessfully trying to contact Hot Rod, he notices a figure in the distance, which causes him to transform and come to an abrupt stop right in front of what turns out to be Bumblebee. This startles Blurr to the point where his concentration is broken, causing him to speak at an uncontrollably fast rate.

Blurr notices the new Skywatch badge on Bumblebee's chestplate and is flabbergasted when he hears that Bumblebee and his team are now working for the humans, which Bumblebee says is much better than hiding out in a cave. Bumblebee then apologizes to Blurr and tells him that he's to be turned over to the humans and that he's surrounded. The distraught Blurr pulls out his gun and shoots Bumblebee in the chest. Hound orders the rest of the team to take down Blurr while Ratchet tends to their wounded leader, only to find out that Blurr's shot only damaged Bumblebee's Skywatch badge. Bumblebee asks Hound and Wheeljack if Blurr is secure, then tells them that they are not waiting for the heavy transport.

Colonel Gordon Horiuchi contacts Bumblebee at the Autobot hideout, demanding to know why they did not deliver Blurr to the heavy transport. Bumblebee states that he and his team understand the mission objectives and that they have Blurr with them, but refuse to turn him over to Skywatch custody. Colonel Horiuchi is furious about this, stating that almost getting shot at by one of your comrades is just a pitfall of command. Bumblebee disagrees and tells Horiuchi that he and his team are done doing his dirty work. The colonel isn't pleased with Bumblebee's insubordination and proceeds to activate the kill-switch in the Autobot's badge.

"What the... You sunk my battleship!!"

Bumblebee and Ratchet are both surprised to see that Bumblebee does not transform back into vehicle mode after the kill-switch is enabled. Horiuchi calls Lieutenant Klonowski over to find out what's going on with Bumblebee's badge. As Bumblebee starts to explain that the badge's malfunction is due to Blurr's damage to it, Ratchet stops him from letting the colonel know that he is immune and tells Bumblebee to feign a forced transformation. Klonowski is pleased to see that the badge still works (or so he thinks) and then releases the kill-switch. At this point, Ratchet steps in and states that Bumblebee is now stuck in his vehicle form since the badge is stuck in lock mode. Horiuchi asks Klonowski how the badge could be damaged. Klonowski assures him that Ratchet is correct because he is the mechanic, and that they will have to travel to the Autobot hideout in order to replace the badge. Once the transmission is discontinued, Bumblebee transforms back into robot mode. When the others stay silent, he realizes that the colonel can monitor transmissions through the badges and that he is the only one that can speak freely. Bumblebee vows to free the other Autobots from their slavery and quickly decides that they need to find a vehicle that closely resembles him for when the colonel replaces the damaged badge.

Meanwhile, on top of the U-Stor-It complex, Skywarp has assembled a communications array and begins to transmit a message to Megatron. He states that he has collected a variety of weapons, that the killers at Allodyne and Dynomic (the companies that made the weapons that fought the Decepticons) shall die by their own swords, and that he is only days away from completing a weapon that is capable of crippling every Autobot in a single strike.

Bumblebee asks Blurr if he would be willing to help him find a decoy car that matches Bumblebee's vehicle form. When Blurr asks why, Bumblebee replies that they simply need him and his speed. Blurr races through the city, searching for a car that is a direct match to Bumblebee, and eventually finds one, while back at the headquarters, Bumblebee gives a passionate speech to his Autobot comrades.

Bumblebee then makes his way down to the shipyard while Wheeljack communicates to him through a text-only frequency that he needs to find some very rare element called Darmstadtium. Bumblebee travels to the shipyard at night to avoid detection and locates a container labeled "Darkmatter Logic Systems". However, he catches a glimpse of a power shovel and immediately recognizes it to be the Constructicon Scavenger in disguise. Scavenger transforms and tells Bumblebee to be quiet, as it took him a week to infiltrate the shipyard so that he could sneak onto one of the outgoing containers and escape the stranglehold of Skywatch. Bumblebee explains to Scavenger that Autobots and Decepticons need to work together now if they want to prove that they are equal to the humans as opposed to being beneath them, but Scavenger then attacks Bumblebee, denouncing the Autobots' goal to live in peace with the humans rather than rule over them. Bumblebee retreats, racing off into the desert against the night sky.

Featured Characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Blurr (1) Bumblebee (2) Ratchet (3) Hound (4) Wheeljack (5) Blaster (7) Roadbuster (9) Cliffjumper (10) Jazz (12) Sideswipe (13)	Skywarp (11) Scavenger (14)	Colonel Gordon Horiuchi (6) Lieutenant Klonowski (8)

Quotes

TBD

Errors

• Blurr sported an Earth-based alternate mode in "A Rude Awakening". However, here he is drawn in his Cybertronian alternate mode. What gives, IDW? (The answer, of course, is simply that Chee is drawing nearly everyone based on their toys and/or original Generation 1 character models, regardless of what they look like elsewhere.)
• Although not apparent last issue, this issue's dialogue makes it fairly clear that the badges Horiuchi gave the Autobots are supposed to be covering their Autobot insignias: Blurr claims there is something wrong with Bumblebee's insignia and is described as shooting him "dead center" (where his insignia is), and yet only hits his badge. The art doesn't reflect this, putting Bumblebee's badge on his upper-right breast, leaving his insignia unobstructed and making Blurr's dialogue and the fallout of his actions make little sense.

Items of note

• Writer Zander Cannon wrote Blurr's text all smashed together to simulate Blurr talking a mile-a-second. This was done to emulate John Moschitta's voice acting from the original cartoon series, as well as the Transformers Animated series. However, this is the first time Blurr speaks like this in the IDW continuity.
• Hot Rod is on one of this issue's covers, but doesn't actually appear in the story.

Trivia

• Bumblebee comments on Scavenger repainting himself. This could be a reference to the technique of making new toys from old molds by recoloring them, though like a lot of fans, Bumblebee was not fooled.

Covers (3)

• Cover A: A stern-looking Bumblebee and Hot Rod against a black and white background with Blurr's head in a set of cross hairs; art by Guido Guidi with colors by Josh Burcham.
• Cover B: An upward angle closeup of Bumblebee pointing his blaster; art by Chee Yang Ong with colors by Moose Baumann.
• Cover RI: Black and white sketch version of cover B.

• 
  Where the hell did you come from, Hot Rod?
• 
  Go ahead... Make my day.
• RI cover
  RI cover

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