Finale (OMAM)
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| "Finale" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Fun Publications | ||||||||||||
| Published in | Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club #72 | ||||||||||||
| Writers | Jesse Wittenrich & Pete Sinclair | ||||||||||||
| Pencils | Dan Khanna | ||||||||||||
| Inks | Jake Isenberg | ||||||||||||
| Colors | Evan Gauntt | ||||||||||||
| Letters | Jesse Wittenrich | ||||||||||||
| Managing editor | Pete Sinclair | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Of Masters and Mayhem | ||||||||||||
| Chronology | 2020 | ||||||||||||
Wreckers, Pretenders, and humans battle Thunder Mayhem for the fate of Earth.
Synopsis
As Ramjet heals himself from Toxitron's touch, Megatron takes the opportunity to engage him. Megatron notes that Ramjet, too, is a Decepticon, but not one of his; he fights only to kill and destroy. Realizing that Ramjet was the one who sent the signal to the Mayhem Attack Squad, Megatron vows to stop Ramjet, and orders his partner, the diminutive Decepticon Spacewarp, to transform to gun mode and link to a black hole. But Ramjet is unimpressed by Megatron, having faced numerous incarnations of before, and unleashes his power against the former Decepticon leader. The Wreckers turn their attention away from the fight, as they head off to face their target: Thunder Mayhem. The massive combiner holds onto Optimus Prime, hoping to break him once more by forcing Prime to watch as he destroys the city, but Prime is freed when the Wreckers combine into an unstoppable force of their own: Wreckage! Thunder Mayhem is shocked, as Wreckage's semi-incoherently rants, claiming that he is the universe's retribution against Mayhem. However, Mayhem quickly regains his composure, and the two combiners engage each other.
Meanwhile, on the streets, Elizabeth has called G.B. Blackrock; Blackrock tries to persuade her from "revealing herself," worried about what will happen to her after the fight is over. Elizabeth, however, refuses to listen, knowing if that she doesn't get involved, there won't be a world to return to after the fight is done. A shocked Spike Witwicky watches as Elizabeth reveals that she is a superhuman, a "living battery" with the ability to absorb energy. The wounded Crossblades, knowing there's nothing else he can do, offers his energon to her. As Thunder Mayhem gains the advantage and wounds Wreckage, he is distracted when Elizabeth unleashes her abilities on him, with the RAATs arriving soon after to unleash their payload on the Decepticon. Wreckage takes the chance to stab Thunder Mayhem in the chest, finally wounding the combiner, revealing the true source of his power to a shocked Optimus Prime: a sixth, green spark, encased in a Matrix! Elizabeth realizes that Crossblades power won't be enough to stop him, and turns to Wreckage. The Wrecker combiner refuses to share his power, but Elizabeth forces it from him, unwilling to let his selfishness stop her. Metalhawk, Prime, the other Pretenders, Elizabeth, RAAT, and everyone else aim at the monster's spark, and do the one thing that the Cybertronians alone could not: destroy Thunder Mayhem once and for all. The destruction of his ally causes Ramjet's resolve to shatter, and he flees, calling out for his master. Megatron, meanwhile, reverts to his human disguise; for the first time in a long time, Megatron is truly free.
A few weeks later, things have appeared to return to normal. The Wreckers have taken the weakened Mayhem Attack Squad on their ship, leaving Earth. Prime has joined Skyhammer in hunting down Ramjet, to prevent him from sowing any more darkness. At Buster Witwicky's home, his family is joined by Spike and his friends, watching the news reports on the events of the past few weeks. Elizabeth explains to Spike that Blackrock was able to keep her and the Pretenders' true nature concealed from the public, knowing their importance to Earth's defense; Spike, somewhat angry at her deception, tries to get her to talk about Blackrock's other team, but Elizabeth plays dumb. Vroom wonders if whatever had transported them had planned for them to help defeat Thunder Mayhem, but Jesse and Buster, having had enough of "reality" for one day, turns to something fictional: wrestling. However, all of them are in for a shock when they see one more straggler from their old universe: Decepticon Pretender Stranglehold!
Truly, it never ends...
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Wreckers | Others |
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Quotes
"If we're going to get past it, I'm going to need to take more than Crossblades has. I'm going to need some of your energy, big guy."
"WHAT? No! I don't share power with any —"
"Did I sound like I was asking?"
- —Elizabeth and Wreckage
Notes
Transformers references
- Spacewarp's blaster form channelling the energy of a black hole is a reference to the original toy bio of Megatron, whose fusion cannon was powered by the same. Her doing so through a space bridge in her chest, meanwhile, is a reference to the 2005 IDW continuity version of Megatron, whose stealth bomber form from the 2009-2011 The Transformers ongoing had a space bridge link within his body. Spacewarp even asks why he isn't the one with the bridge!
Marvel Comics references
- It's skirted around thanks to rights issues, but Elizabeth is clearly intended to be a mutant, of Marvel Comics fame—Blackrock doesn't want her to reveal herself for fear of prejudice, and Metalhawk refers to "a few—very few—with other powers". This, of course, stems from how the Classics universe from which she hails is a splinter of the Marvel Transformers comics, which were established in its early issues to take place in a world similar to that of Marvel's other comics, and which featured a team of mostly mutant heroes, the Neo-Knights (led by Blackrock himself!), starting with issue #68.
Other trivia
- When Ramjet talks about being able to "extinguish [Megatron's] spark with the flick of a finger", the L and the I run together, resulting in a... rather unfortunate-looking text bubble.
