All Hail Optimus Part 3: The Medium and the Message

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« The Transformers vol. 2 #52 »
"All Hail Optimus Part 3:
The Medium and the Message"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published April 20, 2016
Cover date April 2016
Written by John Barber
Art by Livio Ramondelli
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor Carlos Guzman
Continuity IDW continuity
Chronology Current era

With his list of allies growing ever shorter, Optimus Prime must compromise his morals even further in the pursuit of peace, even as Starscream seeks to capitalize on his fall and end his legacy for good.

Synopsis

Aboard the Nemesis, Galvatron watches a recording of Optimus Prime's battle with the Seeker clones on the White House lawn, content to see that the current holder of the "Prime" name is now acting just as outwardly arrogant as the Primes of old. Galvatron informs Blackrock he is departing to keep an "appointment," but as soon as he has left, Blackrock turns to address the eavesdropping Skywarp, still injured and molecularly unstable. As Galvatron seems to have no intent of following through on his promise to heal Skywarp, Blackrock offers to scratch the Seeker's back if he scratches his...

On Cybertron, Starscream gleefully talks with the "spectre" of Bumblebee about Optimus Prime's fall from grace, made all the more sumptuous by the fact that it is legitimately the result of his own actions, and not any trickery or twisting of the facts by Starscream himself. Rattrap knocks on the door to inform Starscream that Prime has arrived to state his case before the Council of Worlds, but Starscream insists on "keeping up appearances" by not arriving until the very last second before the Council meets. Once he does arrive, he immediately accuses Optimus of starting interstellar war by annexing Earth. Prime appeals to the group to recognize that his intentions are noble and to allow the planet representation on the council, but unfortunately, none of the delegates are willing to blindly accept this, and even Windblade cannot fully side with Prime. Starscream reminds all present of the many violent despots who have also carried the Prime name; Optimus begins to lose patience with Starscream's word games, but the evidence against him only continues to mount as footage of rioting Cybertronians and Sterling's corpse are played as further proof of the damage his actions have caused. The Council refuses Prime's request; Windblade apologizes, but Optimus grimly accepts the judgement, aware from the beginning that he was bringing this upon himself.

Back on Earth, Astrotrain drops off Galvatron at the Copahua volcano on the Chile-Argentina border for his "appointment"—a meeting called by Arcee, who immediately attacks him in pursuit of vengeance for the Decepticon assault on the Ark-7. As they battle in the caldera, Galvatron wonders aloud if Optimus's recent combination with Prowl has altered his mind and influenced his recent actions; Arcee rejects the notion, but Galvatron tells her she should know better than to believe in "allies," given her own past. Considering herself to be on the side of right regardless of the things done to her during her life, Arcee disappears into an ash cloud, vowing that her rivalry with Galvatron will inevitably end in death for one of them... just not today.

Optimus and Aileron arrive on Caminus via space bridge; Prime has forgiven the impetuous Camien for her actions in Washington, explaining that the only reason he did not take them himself was because of the complicated past Cybertronians have with humanity, a way of thinking that is difficult for Aileron, as the teachings of the Way of Flame urge one to always be moving forward. The pair go to meet with the Mistress of Flame, where Optimus requests that she share the knowledge Pyra Magna had previously implied she possessed: the true identity of "The Arisen," the thirteenth and final member of the Thirteen Primes. The Mistress agrees, and begins by highlighting the massive significance that Earth has had in Cybertronian history, believing that it is the thirteenth colony. Thus, she rations that Earth's leader must be a Prime... that the Arisen is none other than Optimus Prime himself!

Arcee returns to the Autobots' bivouac in Monument Valley, and visits the beside of the comatose Sideswipe. Presently, she is joined by Tracks, and Arcee brings up the subject of his Decepticon brother Needlenose. Tracks admits that he doesn't blame Needlenose for what he's doing, given the Autobots were responsible for killing his Conjunx Endura Horri-Bull... a statement that grabs Arcee's attention. A short time later, after Optimus Prime and Aileron have returned, and plans are in motion to visit Sanctuary Station, Arcee approaches Prime with some important information...

Optimus Prime, Thundercracker and Buster pay a visit to Sanctuary Station, but their arrival is met with icy hostility from Soundwave. Nevertheless, Prime and Thundercracker try to convince Soundwave to ally with them; the Decepticon communicator refuses to work with a Prime, even when it is pointed out that Soundwave has compromised his morals for the greater good in the past. With Soundwave unwilling to budge, Optimus drops the bombshell provided by Arcee: it was Soundwave, not Bumblebee, who triggered Horri-Bull's I/D chip and killed him, and Prime will tell Needlenose, and let the Decepticons tear themselves apart from the inside out, if Soundwave does not work with them. Backed into a corner, Soundwave has no choice but to put himself at Optimus's service.

Back on Cybertron, Starscream puts a new strategy in play: he summons news reporters Circuit and Longtooth to his office, and announces that he will be sending them to Earth so that they can report on exactly what is happening on the planet, allowing Starscream to bury the legacy of the Primes forever.

Characters in italic text appear only as hologram record images.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Others

Quotes

"Creatures such as you and I can afford no such sentimentality. An "ally" turned you into what you are."
"I'm what I was always meant to be."
"That seems like a healthy attitude. What changed it?"
"Somewhere along the line, I realized I'd wound up on the right side."

—Galvatron and Arcee


"Soundwave isn't really a bad guy. Send anybody else but you and Soundwave'll join us, I know it. The thing is, he just doesn't like Primes."
"Cosmos... I don't want Soundwave to bow to someone else. I want him to bow to me."

—Cosmos and Optimus Prime. Holy crap, Prime, we're gettin' a little worried about you, over here.


Thundercracker: "You've compromised your beliefs for the greater good before. Megatron killed billions of organics—look at all the humans he murdered."
Soundwave: "This is nonsense. Humans are not the equal of Cybertronians. By attempting to place them in a Cybertronian council, Optimus denigrates us. And by calling himself "Prime," he places himself above us, denigrating us further. Following him is one moral compromise too far. Was this request to join the Autobots your final piece of business?"
Optimus Prime: "Not quite. Needlenose, and presumably the rest of the Decepticons, believe Bumblebee detonated the I/D chip that killed Horri-Bull. But that's not true. You, Soundwave, had secretly disabled the chips before Horri-Bull died. Bumblebee tried to kill him, but in truth... you pulled the trigger. If Needlenose learned the truth, and told the others, that would be the end of your dream. You already made one moral compromise too far."

Notes

Continuity notes

  • Optimus has an entirely grey left arm, an as-yet-unpainted replacement for the limb he lost last issue.
  • Galvatron brings up Jhiaxus's experimentation on Arcee once more. As part of the ongoing drive to mend IDW's early issues with gender among Transformers as best as possible, there's an alluded attempt to address the issues that surround Arcee's questionable "transition," as she delivers the line quoted above, asserting that the form she has now is the right one.
  • Prime originally spoke with the Torchbearers and learned of the Mistress's questionable beliefs back in issue #47. All that we learned from Pyra Magna in that issue was that the Mistress professed to know who "The Arisen" was, with this issue revealing that she believes it is Optimus himself (see "Transformers references," below).
  • While covering the history of Earth, the Mistress of Flame refers to the fact the war ended there and shows an image or Prime and Megatron battle, in reference to the climax of All Hail Megatron. She also covers the history of the Enigma of Combination, revealed to have fallen to Earth back in issue #34, and Shockwave's planting of Ore-13 on the planet, from way back in Spotlight: Shockwave.
  • We called it! Soundwave was revealed to have remotely triggered Horri-Bull's I/D chip all the way back in issue #2. It makes sense Arcee would know about this, as she was brought into the Decepticon fold soon afterward (though even if she hadn't been, that was when she was in her "skulking around in shadows on the rooftops watching everything and everyone" phase, so it's still no surprise she'd have known).

Transformers references

  • Starscream refers to the Crystal City Metrotitan as just "Metrotitan" (not "the Metrotitan" or "a Metrotitan"), the "ancient Titan." "Metrotitan" has fallen out of use as the name of the race in IDW's comics in the last couple of years, with them usually just being referred to as "Titans" instead; does this suggest the word has been repurposed as an individual name for the Crystal City Titan, making it a version of the Zone Metrotitan character? It was always blue and magenta like him...
  • The concept of Optimus being one of the Thirteen was introduced in The Covenant of Primus, and previously applied only to the Aligned continuity family. Obviously, there are a lot of specifics as to how this might work in IDW continuity that have yet to be addressed.

Real-life references

Other trivia

  • The religion of Caminus is referred to as the "Way of the Flame" again, as it was in More than Meets the Eye #42, when it was just the "Way of Flame" (no "the") when it was introduced in Windblade vol. 2 #1. We're two for one on that now...
  • Buster in a spacesuit!!!

Errors

  • The real-life volcano Copahue is misspelled "Copahua".

Covers (4)

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