Battle Lines, Part 6
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| "Battle Lines, Part 6" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Fun Publications | ||||||||||||
| Published in | Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club #42 | ||||||||||||
| Story | Pete Sinclair | ||||||||||||
| Writers | Jesse Wittenrich & Pete Sinclair | ||||||||||||
| Pencils | Dan Khanna | ||||||||||||
| Inks | Dan Khanna | ||||||||||||
| Colors | Evan Gauntt | ||||||||||||
| Letters | Jesse Wittenrich | ||||||||||||
| Managing editor | Pete Sinclair | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Wings Universe | ||||||||||||
As the threats of energy depletion and war continue, many find their own solutions to those problems.
Synopsis
The Decepticons bear down in Iacon, with new combiner Devastator at the forefront. Surrounded, the Autobots open fire; Kup is reminded of a situation on Derelictus Five, as does Thunderclash, who realizes that what they did their might just work here. Opening fire on a hanging cable, they are able to sever it, sending it crashing into the Devastator. Although the jolt manages to cause him pain, the giant Decepticon manages to shrug it off, but Dion realizes that Devastator can be hurt. Shouting at everyone to aim for the knees, the combined fire of all the Autobots manages to force the leg components of Devastator to disconnect from the rest, forcing him back into his components. Magnum praises Dion for his quick thinking, but Megatron declares he still has an army to command. Optimus Prime shouts that while that may be true, his army lacks something the Autobots do: courage and a pair of leaders who Megatron could never hope to outwit. Megatron takes him at his words, and blasts Magnum with the full force of his fusion cannon. Dion jumps in front of Optimus before Megatron can do the same to him, and an angered Optimus blasts back at Megatron. With the Autobot's leadership crippled, Megatron orders the Decepticons out of the city, and as the Autobots cheer, Prime kneels next to his two damaged friends.
With the battle over, the Autobots take stock; both military and civilians alike lay dead and damaged across Iacon. Prime brings Magnum and Dion to Alpha Trion, who can only save one of the pair. Meanwhile, Wheeljack, Perceptor, Hoist, Ratchet, and other Autobot scientists rebuild the damaged civilians into war capable bots. Later, Alpha Trion has managed to save the Autobot who made it, rebuilding him into "Ultra Magnus", a name befitting his new size. Other Autobots, such as Countdown, look to upgrades for smaller bodies to conserve energy as part of the Micromaster initiative, to which Flak agrees. Many Autobots flee Cybertron, not wanting to be part of the war, even including former Guardsmen Landshark and Sprocket, who leave along with a group of medics. The medics plan to call whatever planet they end up on "Paradron", an old Cybertron word for peace; Sprocket claims that Rumbler likes the sound of that, unable to cope with his brother having died in the battle in Iacon.
5 million years of war later, energy on Cybertron had become dangerously low; Prime and the Autobots plan to leave the planet to find new sources of energy. Gathering the best of the Autobots, they built a ship in secret, but the Decepticons managed to uncover their plans. When it came time to launch, the Decepticons attacked, leaving a group of Autobots serving under Elita One behind...as recounted by Side Burn into a datapad. Elita comes to tell him that Alpha Trion has prepared stasis pods that will hide the Autobots from the Decepticon forces still on Cybertron. Alpha Trion tells them they will come back online once significant energy sources are detected coming back to Cybertron. As most of the Autobots get in, Trion asks Kup if he and the others members of Cybertron Defense are sure about staying online, as without energy the Transformer aging process dramatically increases. Kup reasons that someone has to stay online to fight the Decepticons, and that in any case, he's only 5 million years old; what harm would it do. Alpha Trion cryptically tells him he'd be surprised, and the Autobots walk out as their comrades enter stasis...
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | ||
|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"Not electricity: a concussive jolt!"
"You're gonna swear at him?"
"What? No..."
- —Dion and Side Burn
Notes
- Among those put in stasis are the Autobots introduced during the second season of The Transformers, as way of explanation as to where they were during season one. Though if Inferno and Powerglide went into stasis along with the Female Autobots, you'd think they'd have been kind enough to tell Optimus Prime in 1986 that they weren't extinct, or at least that his girlfriend wasn't a casualty of the Ark launch...
- Five million years passed between Alpha Trion rebuilding Ultra Magnus and the Autobots going into stasis, just enough time for Trion to have grown a beard. Er, however that works for robots.
- On page 4, there's a guy who looks like First Aid but in blue. It's not a coloring mistake; First Aid wasn't created yet, so that's just a guy who looks like First Aid, but in blue.
- Countdown appears in his Universe 2008 toy body.
