Original Sin

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"There's... a giant human looking at us!"
"Original Sin"
Publisher	Dreamwave Productions
First published	June 16, 2004
Cover date	May 2004
Story	Brad Mick, Adam Patyk
Pencils	Don Figueroa
Inks	Elaine To
Colors	Espen Grundetjern
Letters	Ben Lee
Continuity	Dreamwave Generation One continuity
Chronology	Modern era

Bumblebee and Jetfire hurry to stop Sunstorm and Starscream from doing... well, nobody is sure what they're doing, but with those guys, it has to be evil, right?

Synopsis

Bumblebee marvels at the downed Omega Supreme, his ginormous figure lying face down on the landscape. Bumblebee questions his own faith in Primus, while the agnostic Jetfire isn't so pessimistic about the situation. Jetfire prepares to head out to find Sunstorm, but first, Cliffjumper and Bumblebee demand full disclosure from Jetfire, who concedes and explains how he came to Earth.

Millions of years ago, Jetfire was part of Operation: Containment. Having creative differences, he and Omega Supreme split up from the band to try to locate the missing Ark. They followed a mysterious Decepticon energy signature to Earth. Entering Earth's atmosphere, their ship came under attack from Scourge. As the ship crashed, a stasis pod was ejected as a trap to contain Scourge. Jetfire explored Earth, but became separated from the comatose Scourge when both were trapped in an avalanche.

Jetfire's flashback ends when Omega Supreme awakens. The massive Autobot apologizes for his underestimation and defeat at the hands of Sunstorm. It's agreed that Bumblebee and Jetfire will follow Sunstorm, and Cliffjumper will remain behind as Omega Supreme's protositter.

On the Autobase, Cybertronian headquarters of the Autobots, Prowl and Perceptor come closer to figuring out the connection between Shockwave's clones and Vector Sigma and figuring out what went wrong in Shockwave's laboratory in Quadrant Epsilon. The two are unaware that the missing clone happens to be wreaking mayhem on Earth at the time, but Prowl does know that Earth does hold some major significance to Shockwave's plans. Disconnected from Perceptor, Prowl enters a meeting with the other Autobots who are on Earth.

Hunting down Sunstorm, Jetfire and Bumblebee discuss attitudes and behavior. Jetfire suggests that at one point, Omega Supreme might have been an emotional brother and not the machine he was last seen as. The subject changes to the nature of Sunstorm and if he's really as crazy as he acts. Right then, they approach an incredible excavation.

Sunstorm stands radiant, using his power to move the earth, directing Starscream to a buried seal adorned with a familiar logo. Sunstorm commands Starscream to open the seal, which only Starscream can do because of an unspecified connection to Megatron. Jetfire and Bumblebee arrive and attack, but Starscream opens the seal in time, unleashing a bright purple light and revealing a hole in the earth leaking darkness. With no place else to go, Jetfire flies inward.

Inside the massive, hidden cavern, the walls appear to be covered in organic wires. Plunging deeper, the two Autobots find themselves trapped between Starscream and his overpowered clone. Changing to robot mode, the four players end up with Starscream under Jetfire's gun and Bumblebee in the grip of Sunstorm, the four standing on a strange mesa inside the cavern, around a pool of electric, purple liquid.

Starscream ends the stalemate by opening fire on Sunstorm—whom Starscream can damage thanks to modifications he made to his null-ray. Because he's jerky, Starscream also takes out Jetfire. About to finish off Bumblebee, Starscream first blasts away Sunstorm once more. With his brother full of holes, Starscream kicks the dying Sunstorm over the edge of mesa into the electric liquid.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons
Bumblebee (1) Cliffjumper (2) Jetfire (3) Omega Supreme (4) Perceptor (6) Prowl (7) Bluestreak (8) Hound (9) Mirage (10) Gears (11) Ironhide (12) Trailbreaker (13) Huffer (14) Push-Button (15)	Scourge (5) Sunstorm (16) Starscream (17)

Quotes

"You know, I have to admit that I kind of liked you, kid.
Sure that wide-eyed optimism can be a bit annoying, but you've got gumption, and that goes a long way to earning my respect. Unfortunately…
…even that has its limits.
Any last words?"

—Starscream

Notes

• Jetfire's flashback:
  • Operation Containment: The other half of crew on Jetfire's ship are Groundshaker and Countdown. After the two split up from Jetfire and Omega Supreme, they chase Skystalker into the Micromasters miniseries.
  • So that's why Scourge was in the Autobot escape pod that the Autobots and Decepticons fought over in Alaska.
  • Jetfire being buried under ice mirrors his original appearance in the Generation 1 cartoon.
  • There's still no explanation for why Starscream was able to find Jetfire locked aboard the Nemesis.
• When riding in Jetfire, Bumblebee doesn't wear his seatbelt.
• In the War Room, the Autobots are being served the same Kremzeek-based drink seen being consumed in a previous issue.

Upside down, it still looks like a sad face

• See that logo on the seal Starscream opens? Boffo.
• Regarding the female robots seen in Issue #0, Roger Lee wrote in the letters page of Issue 3,

"They were definitely SOME sort of female robots. Looks like the lovely Arcee could have some competition in the fem-bot department… keep reading for the full scoop on these new robo-beauties."

But in this issue, Matt Moylan responds to a reader question with:

"Who says those were female robots on the Quintessons' planet?"

• Wavelengths features an article from the desk of Don Figueroa.
• On the "Prime Transmissions" page, reader mail is answered by post-production manager, Matt Moylan. There's also cool fan art of Springer submitted by James Trang.

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• Transformers: Armada Playstation 2 video game. (two-page spread interior cover).
• Energon #24
• Transformers: Micromasters miniseries (Double-page sideways centerfold).
• Dreamwave pocket digest collections.