Conquerors Part 1: Aphelion

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« The Transformers vol. 2 #46 »
"Conquerors
Part 1: Aphelion"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published October 21, 2015
Cover date October 2015
Written by John Barber
Art by Sara Pitre-Durocher
Colors by Josh Perez
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor Carlos Guzman
Continuity IDW continuity
Chronology Current era

Optimus Prime tries to come to terms with how the Camiens see him, as the Decepticons prepare to make their move on Earth and Cybertron.

Synopsis

As Galvatron broadcasts a speech to Cybertron, rallying the Decepticons there to action, Optimus Prime meets with the Mistress of Flame on Caminus. Optimus attempts to explain to her the significance—or lack thereof—that being Prime has on Cybertron in comparison to the Camiens' deification of the title, but the Mistress passionately insists that while the circumstance of his becoming a Prime may be different, his dedication to freedom for all marks him as the good, pure soul that they believe a Prime should be. Prime has helped Caminus and Cybertron work together to gain more freedoms for one another through co-operation... could not the same, she proposes, be done for Earth?

On Earth, the injured Jazz awakens in a darkened room, screaming in agony as the vat of liquid he finds himself floating in seeps into his wounds and burns his spark. Unbeknownst to the Autobot, he has been captured by Garrison Blackrock, who is attempting to dissolve his metal body and convert it into lonsdaleite, a mineral with a hexagonal diamond lattice that Blackrock requires for another mysterious project—an action that even Spike Witwicky finds horrifying...

On Cybertron, Optimus returns through the space bridge and meets with Windblade to discuss progress on the formation of the Council of Worlds. As they walk through the streets of Iacon, they observe an altercation between some Camien pamphlet distributors and Slug, still nursing a grudge over his recent butting of heads with Prime and tired of listening to their praise for him. The other Dinobots manage to haul Slug off, but one of the Camiens, Sterling, has grown tired of trying to convert an uninterested populace and leaves for the day. Impressed by how the other Camien, Aileron, handled herself during the fracas, Optimus introduces himself to her; she immediately falls on her knees before him, but an embarrassed Optimus asks her to get up, and invites her to talk so he can learn more about Caminus and how its people see him.

Aboard the Nemesis on Earth, the Decepticons make their plans to obtain the Autobots' space bridge, sealed up inside the inverted deflector shield Blackrock has surrounded the Ark-7 with. Galvatron sees something familiar in the ebony sphere that envelops the ship, something he recognizes from his youth, and prepares to act before the Autobots can use the bridge for their own ends... which is just what Arcee, Sideswipe, and Alpha Trion are attempting to do at that moment, as they fight their way through the Ark-7 defenses to get to the bridge. Alpha Trion seems without hope, believing that the code from the Enigma of Combination that has brought about their plight cannot be combated by mere mortal 'bots, but Arcee is far from convinced.

As the sun sets, Prime and Aileron talk, with Prime contrasting Aileron's wide-eyed optimism with the Mistress of Flame's discontent in what she sees as his failure to be more involved in the workings of his planet. Aileron feels badly for the lonely Prime, wishing he had someone better suited to talk to about these problems—then hits upon a solution. Prime should seek out the ones who were responsible for helping Aileron herself see the light: the Torchbearers!

At the Decepticons' Jupiter commune, Soundwave welcomes the passengers of the Peace Without Tyranny, the first ship of new arrivals, to their new home. Slugslinger and Sky-Byte are the first off the ship, with Slugslinger pointing out that buying passage off Cybertron was expensive, and that they would do well to get the promised space bridge up and running soon. Soundwave assures him a plan is in motion... but is cut off mid-sentence as he hears Cosmos calling out to him from across the solar system. Alone and scared, fearing all his comrades are dead, Cosmos requests permission to come aboard the commune, and Soundwave welcomes him in.

Back on Cybertron, Starscream has another "conversation" with the imaginary vision of Bumblebee he has begun seeing, who continues to needle him and remind him that nobody likes him or wants him in charge, and that all he has on his side is Rattrap. Even Starscream doesn't really believe Rattrap is loyal to him... at which point Rattrap enters to announce that couple of insistent visitors have arrived. Needlenose, Brawl, and Dreadwing push past him, and politely but menacingly insist that they will be requiring use of the space bridge this evening, and that Starscream will need to look the other way when they do...

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

Autobots Decepticons Humans Others

Quotes

"Don't be so sure which side Rattrap is on."
"Uh-huh, well, I trust him as far as I can throw... well, I could throw him pretty far, I guess."

—Optimus Prime and Windblade


"Someone other than us has made a move in this game. And in doing so crippled our enemies. Sealed them inside a black egg the likes of which I have not seen since my youth."
"You were young?"
"The stars were young once. Before the galaxy became what it is now."
"Uh. Which is?" "Ours."

—Galvatron and Astrotrain

Notes

Continuity notes

  • Windblade recaps the events of her recently-concluded series for Optimus Prime, describing the alliances that were forged with Velocitron, Eukaris, Devisiun, and Elita One.
  • Optimus cautions Windblade not to assume Rattrap is loyal to Starscream, alluding to the revelation that he was actually working secretly with Prowl, discovering during Combiner Wars. Rattrap himself has previously expressed surprise to learn that Optimus had not out-and-out told Windblade about this, in Windblade #4.
  • Aileron previously appeared handing out fliers back in issue #44; the red and blue robot seen with her in that story is here revealed to be named Sterling. She also refers to another 'bot named Swift who has since "run off with some loser", who is presumably the green helicopter 'bot seen with the pair in the same issue.
  • Dinobots don't take well to authority figures at the best of times, but Slug's had a bit of a beef with Optimus Prime going on since Punishment, in which Prime yanked the Dinobots around and said some pretty terrible things to them as part of an unfortunate but necessary plot to lure a killer out of hiding. This plot thread will carry on into The Transformers: Redemption, in which the scene of Slug accosting Sterling and Aileron is duplicated.
  • The automated defenses of Ark-7 include drones of the same model as D.0.C., lacking his fwiendly widdle face.
  • Although the characters themselves do not appear in the issue (aside from Pyra Magna showing up in a one-panel half-flashback), we learn a little more about the Torchbearers this issue, who previously turned up in Combiner Hunters. They are religious emissaries and acolytes of the Mistress of Flame, who all share a color scheme that marks them as bearers of this title. There are always six Torchbearers, representing the "hexagonal lattice" of Solus Prime's Creation Lathe—a nugget of information that clearly implies Blackrock's experiments with hexagonal lattices have far-reaching origins and intentions.
  • A new group of Torchbearers has replaced Pyra Magna's team in their duties, as Magna's group is currently staying on Cybertron and living in the "worst part" of the planet, indicating they have chosen to stay in the Rust Sea following their adventure there in the Combiner Hunters one-shot.

Transformers references

  • Galvatron's speech at the start of this issue ("We are conquerors!" "Only we have the right to wear this symbol!") is paraphrased from the original 1985 commercial promoting the addition of rubsigns to Transformers toys.
  • The 'bot standing behind Sparkstalker and Sinnertwin as they watch Galvatron's broadcast doesn't seem to actually be Onslaught, but he has stolen Onslaught's color scheme from the Generation 1 cartoon. The big guy on the right of the same panel, with the shoulder wheels and spikes, looks like he's borrowed Toxitron's paint job.
  • As Windblade describes the colonies that alliances have been made with, she singles out Elita One as an odd case, and Prime takes interest, in a quiet nod to Prime and Elita's relationship in the Generation 1 cartoon.
  • Having recognized the Onyx source code as being from the Enigma of Combination, Alpha Trion names two other Artifacts of the Primes: the Star Sabre, Prima's sword, and the "Onyx Triptych", clearly another, slightly grander-sounding name for Onyx Prime's Triptych Mask.
  • There are other 'bots aboard the Peace Without Tyranny besides Slugslinger and Sky-Byte, but we only see one clearly; he features the purple color scheme that Soundwave sported in the Marvel Generation 1 comic.

Real-world references

  • This chapter's title, "Aphelion", is a word meaning the point of orbit at which a celestial body is furthest from the sun.
  • Alpha Trion describes the Artifacts of the Primes as "weapons of the gods" and "metaphors made real", terminology very evocative of writer Grant Morrison's take on Jack Kirby's New Gods. Morrison described these alien gods as wielding "concept-weapons" and "hunter-killer metaphors", conceptual outgrowths of Kirby's original "anti-life equation".

Errors

  • "Eath". Seriously?

Other trivia

  • Stone the crows, mate, Swoop's only gone and picked 'isself up a Cockney accent somewhere along the way! Would you Adam and Eve it?

Covers (4)

  • Regular cover: Galvatron performs some crowd control, by Andrew Griffith and Josh Perez
  • Subscription cover: Blank cover for sketches, including blue-line art board borders and a small thumbnail sketch of Optimus by Pitre-Durocher, from inside the issue, in the corner
  • Retailer incentive cover: Optimus finds himself being worshipped by Camiens, by Casey Coller; part of October's series of black-and-white "Artist's Edition" incentive covers.
  • Rhode Island Comic Con exclusive cover: Optimus Prime and Megatron do battle by Casey Coller and John-Paul Bove. Available exclusively from Rhode Island Comic Con.

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