Eye in the Sky
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 I am the eye in the sky Looking at you | |||||||||||||
| "Eye in the Sky" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Fun Publications | ||||||||||||
| First published | May 1, 2009 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | Trent Troop and Greg Sepelak | ||||||||||||
| Illustrations by | Tom Whalen | ||||||||||||
| Cover | Tom Whalen | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Shattered Glass | ||||||||||||
| Chronology | Current era (2009) | ||||||||||||
| Page count | 29pp | ||||||||||||
The Decepticons fight to save Earth from Rodimus Prime's Autobots.
Synopsis
After Heatwave manages to locate Soundwave's stasis pod and get him reactivated, they gather up Soundwave's cassettes who have landed nearby, and go off in search of the Nemesis. They eventually find the ship's crash site, and discover there's a team of local scientists snooping around. After a misunderstanding between the scientists and Ravage, the Decepticons eventually learn that the humans—Professor Henri Arkeville and his interns—are friendly and sympathetic, and invite them on board to meet up with Starscream and Cliffjumper, who survived the crash.
Rodimus, on the other hand, meets up with his own set of human allies—the Witwicky brothers—when the three try to steal him. He takes them back to the Ark and convinces the other Autobots to accept the humans' help, though not before dealing with an attempt by Goldbug to usurp leadership. Rodimus ultimately wins by using the Ark's defenses to restrain Goldbug mid-fight (and insists that what he did isn't "technically" cheating.) After listening to advice from the Witwickys, Rodimus decides to change the Autobots' modus operandi; instead of pillaging the entire world of its energy, leaving it an empty husk as they have with Cybertron, they plan to "farm" the world of its energy in small increments, essentially turning it into a source of renewable energy and resources. Rodimus also studies Earth's transmissions and hatches his first plan to achieve this end: Hijack one of the United States' military bases, take control of the country's defense satellite, and use it to hold the planet hostage until the humans accept the Autobots as their new Mafia-like leaders.
With help from the Witwickys', Rodimus and a small group of Autobots muscle their way into the army base. The Autobots' ability to transform catches the military men entirely by surprise. Though Lieutenant McMillan puzzles out that he was done in by a "Trojan Horse" tactic when he detained the three joyriding Witwickys for trespassing on his base, he does so far too late. With their older brother, First Sergeant Bruce "Buzz" Witwicky, as their inside man, the Witwickys had already won the their hostile take-over before it had begun.
Cliffjumper, Heatwave, Soundwave and their human allies locate Crasher's pod in a demolition yard. The female transformer is rebooted and joins the group. As Cliffjumper voices his thoughts over how humans in a "backwards" dimension are not quite what he expected (he anticipated them to be caught up in much more turmoil) the Decepticons learn of the Autobots' success in gaining control of the satellite base. Using the Decepticons' human allies in a "Trojan Horse" strategy of their own, Soundwave has Ravage and Frenzy infiltrate the base. Then, he rejoins the other Decepticons as they launch a full-frontal assault to free the base from Rodimus's command. During the fight, Heatwave is able to gain access to the satellite's controller and use it to disable the Autobots' control and evacuate the base. He then turns the satellite on the base itself, destroying it, and finally crushes the controller as well. The satellite's fail-safes then causes it to self-destruct.
When President Colton hears of the situation, he decides that first, the government will continue to send orbital defenses up; second, his administration will keep a passive eye on the Decepticons and their allies; and third, the Autobots are the faction he is intrigued by first and foremost...
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Decepticons | Autobots | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"Metal monsters from the center of the earth! The government said that'd never happen again!"
"Whoah, little meaty dudes! Fear not, for we come from outer space."
"The government said that wouldn't happen again, either!"
- —Will is not happy about meeting Soundwave.
"Sorry 'bout the memory failure there. They only recently started making bots like you back in my dimension, you'd think it'd help me remember you better."
"Bots like me?"
"Well, yeah, because... uh... I mean you're..." (Cliffjumper waves his hands in a vague hourglass shape) "That is, you've... y'see... there's bots and then there's... oh, hey, look Heatwave's here!"
- —Cliffjumper and Crasher discuss Crasher's... curviness.
Heatwave: I really don't like talking to your infoweb, I feel like I need a decon wash after every connection.
Ravage: Rilly? I think it's full of win.
Heatwave: Is that supposed to be a euphemism for—
Cliffjumper: Can we just get on with this?!
- —Heatwave and Ravage discuss the internet, much to Cliffjumper's consternation.
"You dudes may be numerous, but there's one thing you don't know. I have no mouth...yet I must rock."
- —Soundwave
"Hello there, I am Heatwave. I'm afraid I've got bad news. Yes, you've been hijacked by a hostile power. No, it's not them. I don't know who the 'Russkies' are, but the Autobots are worse, trust me on this."
- —Heatwave introduces himself to a military satellite defense controller.
"Clay...in all the years you've known me, where have the concerns of the international community typically lain in my priority list?"
"Somewhere between National Bran Awareness Day and your alimony payments, sir."
- —President Colton and Vice President Clay discuss presidential concerns.
Notes
Continuity notes
- Cliffjumper notes that fembots are a recent phenomenon in his home universe.
Transformer references
- The Ark ends up crashing in the ocean off the West Coast, and the Autobots use it for their underwater base. Meanwhile, the Nemesis crashes into the side of a mountain.
- Professor Arkeville has some cybernetic parts, the same as his counterpart, though for unknown different reasons.
- Autobots generally don't fly in this universe either.
- The Witwicky brothers' father is referenced twice but goes unnamed. Based on the history of the Transformers franchise, we can probably guess what his name is.
- Abdul Fakkadi is a pacifist in this universe, and his people referred to as the "Ottomans".
- Goldbug confuses Frenzy with Rumble.
- Goldbug has stingers, just like his Animated counterpart.
Real-world references
- Sephie identifies Heatwave's Earth alternate mode as a "Stompbox Mobile Missile Deployer", yet another of writer Greg Sepelak's references to a They Might be Giants song, in this case the differently-parsed Stomp Box.
- In this universe, World War III occurred during the 1980s. In 1988 one specific attack destroyed the Western seaboard of the United States and sent most of it underwater. Other details are unknown, including the participants and who was on what side, though the current day military characters seem generally afraid of the Soviets and "communists", and the British are mentioned as wanting to invade the United States. Rick also makes mention at one point of "rebels" of some kind operating in the United States in the current day.
- The Statue of Liberty has a sword instead of a torch. Er, well, it did, anyway.
- The humans possess "oPods" and post on "Yatter".
- The monsters from the center of the Earth are a reference to the Inhumanoids, another Marvel/Sunbow production from the same era as the Transformers.
- Soundwave's line "I have no mouth... Yet I must rock", is a reference to Harlan Ellison's short story "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream".
- Beachcomber's line "Cats in the cradle! And the silver spoon!" is from "Cat's in the Cradle" by Harry Chapin, while his line "Now's your time to burn your mind!" is from "Fire" by Arthur Brown.
- The Decepticons discover Crasher's stasis pod in "Bay's Demolition Yard", a reference to Michael Bay.
External links
- "Eye in the Sky" at The Official Transformers Collectors' Club
