A Common Foe

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"A Common Foe"
Publisher Fun Publications
First published September 24, 2014
Writer Jesse Wittenrich
Art Josh Burcham
Layouts David Reynolds
Letters Jesse Wittenrich
Special Thanks Karl Hartman, Benson Yee, Greg Sepelak, S. Trent Troop, and all our friends at Hasbro and BotCon
Creative Director Lanny Lathem
Managing editor Pete Sinclair
Editor in chief
Continuity Wings Universe
Chronology 2013

Reinforcements from Earth arrive to turn the tide of the Machine Wars, as Autobots and Decepticons unite to save their homeworld.

Synopsis

Though surrounded by the clone armies of Jhiaxus, Obsidian and Strika refuse to surrender, and battle is resumed immediately. Octane is not very enthusiastic, given that the only reason he was there at all—Sandstorm—has just turned out to be a clone of his old friend, rather than the genuine article, and tries to voice his discontent to Acid Storm. Alas, the Seeker is deaf to his complaints and launches into the fight, ignoring Octane almost completely.

As the battle rages, the odds seem bad for Obsidian and Strika's forces, but it turns out that this has actually been Obsidian's plan all along—having communicated with the Autobot Earth commander Pyro five days prior, Obsidian discovered that the real Sandstorm was on Earth, and that the Sandstorm among his forces was a clone. Now that all of Jhiaxus's forces are gathered in one place, Obsidian activates the tiny spider-like serro-gyro mekarach that he had secretly planted on the Sandstorm clone, which disables the clone and draws on his energon supply to beam a pre-arranged signal to Earth. The signal is received at Autobot City, where Pyro orders two strike teams into the space bridge to provide reinforcements on Cybertron—the Autobot Alpha Team led by Rapido, and the Decepticon Bravo Team led by Serpentor, though Serpentor would rather the naming was the other way around. Upon arrival, they immediately seize the space bridge control room; Bravo Team is particularly enthusiastic about getting to vicariously beat up on the "big names" of Cybertronian history, even if it's just clones of them. Locating Jhiaxus takes priority, but Krok kills Soundwave before they can interrogate him.

Elsewhere, Megaplex is assailed by a voice within his head—the programming of the original Megatron, inherent in Megaplex as a clone of the Decepticon leader, has bubbled up within his subconscious. Inside his own mind, Megaplex battles with this manifestation of his template; Megatron claims that he merely allowed Jhiaxus to believe he had been buried, and that he has been biding his time all along, but Megaplex proves strong enough to overpower his progenitor, destroying him and finally freeing himself from Jhiaxus's control.

Meanwhile, teams Alpha and Bravo have sighted Jhiaxus, but are unable to fight their way through his clone legions. While Alpha Team stays to hold the clones off, Bravo Team follows Nacelle to what he believes in a secret passage that will allow them to circumvent the battlefield. The passage turns out to be much smaller than he realized, but that proves no problem for Krok's partner Gatoraider, who slithers inside and blows the passageway open wide enough for the larger 'bots to follow him inside.

As Jhiaxus surveys the ongoing battle, Hubcap observes how resistance has managed to confine their forces to Iacon and suggests having Prowl formulate a new strategy. Jhiaxus instructs him to wait, intrigued by a series of unexpected scenes that play out before him: Bitstream helping get an injured Backstreet to safety; Mirage and Electro facing a platoon of Skywarp drones when their attempt to ambush Skywarp fails, only for them to be aided by a team of Decepticons, including Oilmaster, grown to gigantic size by Magnificus's macroscope; and Strika coming to Octane's rescue against some Thundercracker drones, convincing the Decepticon to join the fight at last. Jhiaxus's observations are interrupted as Bravo Team bursts from a nearby vent, and Serpentor engages him directly. Jhiaxus fells Serpentor with a single swipe, but as he looms over the fallen Decepticon, impressed by his Earth-made body, Serpentor releases his partners Gob and Zad, who merge into his Serpent Scepter, with which he impales Jhiaxus. Just then, Nacelle belatedly emerges from the vent and finds himself staring down the barrel of Hubcap's gun, but before the clone can pull the trigger, the wounded Jhiaxus staggers over and orders him to lower his weapon. Although he has not accomplished his goal through the means he intended, Jhiaxus explains, he has nonetheless achieved success: the Autobots and Decepticons have cast aside their animosity, as he always desired, and banded together to fight him. Satisfied with this achievement, Jhiaxus surrenders... but just as Serpentor cuffs him, Megaplex charges onto the scene and impales Jhiaxus on his blades, slaying him. Megaplex rants that the Decepticons can now take Cybertron for their own once again, but the Decepticons of Bravo Team prove they have no desire for that to be their future as they subdue him.

One week later, at Autobot City on Earth, the assembled representatives of the Auobots, Decepticons, and Jhiaxus's clones signed a peace treaty to formally declare the end of the Great War—though Scourge is unsure what the presently-offline Galvatron will think of things when he recovers. Obsidian and Strika have disappeared, not wanting their presence to remind the public of the war, something that Clamp Down is not unhappy about.

Somewhere else, the Predacons, having no tolerance for this talk of peace, have joined up with Sky-Byte and recovered a selection of clone chambers from Jhiaxus's secondary lab. As they begin the process of thawing out the 'bots who will form their new army, Tantrum observes four pods that are different from the rest. Sky-Byte is unable to explain them, but the Predacon isn't particularly concerned... even as one of the pods begins to open, and Tarantulas emerges!

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Cybertronians Predacons

Quotes

Notes

Continuity notes

  • Like other Earth-born Autobots in this continuity, Rapido has a surname. Here we learn it is 'Depressa', a Portuguese word meaning 'fast' (just as his forename does in Spanish). Additionally, the United EX "Racemaster" version of Rapido used a Depressa drone as one of his limbs.
  • Nacelle misremembers the tunnel he leads his team to as the one used by the Female Autobots back in "The Search for Alpha Trion". Instead, it actually turns out to be the one Spike Witwicky and Carly used to escape Shockwave in "Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 2".
  • That the Predacons should have fallen in with Sky-Byte is not too much of a surprise, as they are all creations of the Quintessons in this continuity. Together, it is implied that they are founding the faction which will become the Predacons of the Beast Wars era; not the first time that the original Predacon sub-group has been credited as the originators of the faction. In this continuity, Sky-Byte is the first to wear the insectoid insignia that the group will later adopt as their sigil.
  • Tarantulas's appearance here forges a connection between him and Jhiaxus's "second generation", which was one potential origin that Larry DiTillio and Bob Forward toyed with for the character; the Beast Wars cartoon only ever had him note that he had "different origins" to the Autobots and Decepticons, in the episode "Other Victories". The fact that his pod is singled out as mysterious, though, leaves the question of his true nature open; other stories have connected him to Unicron. The other three pods, meanwhile, are obviously intended to contain the Tripredacus Council, who were stated to share Tarantulas's enigmatic origins.

Transformers references

  • A Cybertronian rat seen in the space bridge complex is based on Transmetal Rattrap's "vehicle" mode, sans tail.
  • Oilmaster refers to Magnificus as being Mebian; Mebion was the Cybertronian settlement ruled by Magnificus in his original e-HOBBY toy bio. Indeed, Oilmaster and Magnificus being partnered up at all is a reference to "Badlands", the e-HOBBY comic that paired them off in the first place, which was also available through the Collectors' Club.
  • The document signed at the story's close is written in "Ancient Autobot". Translating what is visible reveals that it is the Pax Cybertronia, the peace treaty that the Beast Wars cartoon established was signed at the war's end.
  • In a twist on a popular Furmanism, Rapido says that the war "es completo. ¡Terminado!"
  • The first two 'bots shown to emerge from clone chambers are Generation 1 incarnations of Robots in Disguise Dark Scream and Slapper, appearing here alongside Sky-Byte as a nod towards their counterparts' roles as subordinates of that universe's Sky-Byte. This isn't the first time Slapper has made a Generation 1 continuity appearance, having put in an unnamed cameo in "Wreckers: Finale Part II".

Real-life references

  • The Pax Cybertronia ends with "By Grabthar's Hammer!", a quote from the movie Galaxy Quest.
  • Rapido paraphases Inigo Montoya's famous quote from The Princess Bride (in Spanish!) while covering Serpentor and his team's retreat.
  • The panel of a Skywarp drone's gun being shot out of its hand references the famous title sequence of Batman: The Animated Series.

Other notes

Covers

  • Serpentor, Carzap, and Krok stand over the fallen Jhiaxus, with images of Optimus Prime and Galvatron in the background, looking confused.

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References

  1. ↑ Jesse Wittenrich post on The Allspark
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