Movie Prequel issue 3

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It is being brought.
It is being brought.
Oh, he's doin' somethin'...

Another editor is doing extensive changes to this article right now, and is requesting that all other editors hold off on any edits until their work is finished, in order to make sure nothing important gets lost.

« Transformers: Movie Prequel #3 »

Bumblebee is not a tree-hugger
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published April 11, 2007
Cover date April 2007
Written by Simon Furman and Chris Ryall
Art by Don Figueroa
Colors by Josh Burcham
Color assist by Mark Bristow
Letters by Robbie Robbins
Edits by Dan Taylor
Continuity Movie continuity

They have arrived.

Synopsis

The year is 1924, and Archibald Witwicky has become a resident of the Psychopathic Institute for the Long-Term Insane in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Although the facility is keeping him medicated, it does little to help his state of mind, with the former explorer experiencing periodic episodes in which he shouts about having glimpsed the future during his otherworldly Arctic encounter – a future in which their war comes to our world, leaving no human safe...

Years later, in 1935, two agents of Sector Seven visit Boulder Dam, which has been constructed around the cube-shaped artifact found in the Colorado River 33 years ago. Looking out from atop the vast structure, conversation turns to Sector Seven's other crown jewel, the "Mega-Man", and the elder of the two agents reminisces about being present for its original excavation in the Arctic Circle. The two men head down inside the facility, which is currently undertaking preparations to receive Mega-Man, which is set to finally be removed from the location of its discovery. Currently scheduled for later that year, the transfer will depend on the successful installation of cryo-blocks at the dam facility, intended to maintain the "ice man" at its sub-zero temperature. As the pair enter the cube's containment area, the older agent explains that he will be retiring soon, and has come to look upon the "glory" of the artifact one last time. As they gaze upon the alien device and its blinding power, the younger man wonders whether Mega-Man's ilk will one day find their way to Earth; his companion insists that it merely a matter of when.

In 2003, Sector Seven agents have traced Bumblebee, now dubbed N.B.E.-2, from Mars to Earth, where he has crashed down near the Interstate 64 highway. Discovering tire tracks leading out onto the road, the agents reconvene at a mobile ops-command vehicle to review satellite surveillance footage of the highway. Their analysis quickly reveals that their target has somehow "mimicked" the appearance of a '70s Camaro which passed down the highway, and plans are made to track the extraterrestrial's journey.

Elsewhere in the country, in the town of Tranquility, twelve-year-old Sam Witwicky is being introduced by his parents to the legacy of his great-great-grandfather Archibald. An excited Sam opens up a box of heirlooms, expecting to find exotic relics and artifacts, and is disappointed to discover nothing but unremarkable personal effects and news clippings of Archibald's descent into madness. After briefly toying with his ancestor's glasses, Sam loses interest and leaves to visit his friend Miles, never noticed the alien symbols etched faintly into the antique spectacles...

In St. Louis, Missouri, Bumblebee parks outside an internet café in vehicle mode, connecting to one of the computers inside to search the Internet for details of extraterrestrial sightings on Earth. His efforts are fruitful, turning up details on Archibald Witwicky and his "Ice-Man", and the Autobot resolves to investigate further. But unbeknown to Bumblebee, he is in turn being investigated by Sector Seven. In Richmond, Virginia, a "specialist" named Agent Simmons arrives to join the N.B.E.-2 case, bringing with him a unique asset: a radioactive substance that will trick their alien visitor into thinking it has located the cube artifact. The team sets out for the New Mexico bunker where they will lay their trap, with Simmons vocally confident that their plan will go off without a hitch.

But little does the agent know that Earth is about to receive even more visitors: Starscream, Blackout and Barricade have arrived in the Solar System, touching down on Mars and destroying the Beagle 2 rover!

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Humans

Notes

Continuity notes

  • The destruction of the Beagle 2 rover was the focus on the very first teaser trailer for the Transformers film. Assuming a similar timetable to the real-life Beagle 2 (which was actually a stationary lander, not a rover), the present-day events of this issue can be placed specifically in December 2003.

Transformers references

Real-life references

  • According to colorist Josh Burcham, the portraits on the walls of the Sector Seven base in Richmond depict Robert Oppenheimer, William Hayward Pickering (both identified in dialogue), Frederick Sanger, Jack Kilby and artist Don Figueroa himself. Apparently Don views himself as looking like a young Michael Keaton.
  • Bumblebee uses a search engine called "Shwiggle", a parody of Google (complete with "I feel Shwiggly" option) named after a nickname for Josh Burcham used by his uncle.
  • The songs Bumblebee plays on his radio feature lyrics that are similar, but not quite identical to those of existing songs, possibly to avoid licensing issues. The original songs are:
    • Waiting (For a Girl Like You) by Foreigner
    • I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For by U2
    • Who Are You by The Who

Errors

  • Of the two original Sector Seven agents introduced in the previous issue, it was the dark-haired, bespectacled, mutton-chopped man who was depicted as having the growing obsession with the Mega-Man. In this issue, however, it is the other man—chubby and moustachioed—who has been given that role, as he returns to Hoover Dam an elderly man to reflect on his history. When these characters were brought back and fleshed out for the Sector 7 comic a few years later, a gentle retcon firmly established that it was the moustachioed man (Walter Simmons) who had the obsession, while the other character (Theodore Joseph Wells) was given a different role to play.
  • Sector Seven is shown making preparations to move Megatron from the arctic to the Hoover Dam in early-to-mid 1935, contradicting the claim made by Tom Banachek in the movie itself that he was moved in 1934. Further, the estimated time of Megatron's arrival is fall of 1935, but the prequel novel Ghosts of Yesterday has Megatron not being transferred until 1969. A few years later, IDW's Sector 7 mini-series smoothed these errors over, writing Banachek's claim off as a lie (after all, Hoover Dam hadn't been finished in 1934), and crediting some delays in getting the cryo-block system up and running, followed by the outbreak of World War II, as the reason for the organization's failure to move Megatron in the 30s.

Other notes

  • Mentioned characters: Miles Lancaster
  • Taken at face value, the issue appears to suggest that contact with Megatron gave Archibald Witwicky a literal vision of the future, showing him the exact alternate modes of Jazz, Ratchet and Starscream a century before they exist. This, uh, seems like an unlikely power for Megatron to have, so maybe it's supposed to be non-literal.

Covers (4)

Let's see what you can see...

This article is in need of images.

Specifics: alt covers

—A, B, and RI by Don Figueroa, RE by Andrew Wildman

  • Cover A: Bumblebee
  • Cover B: Uncolored sketch of page 2, in reverse
  • Cover RI: Uncolored sketch of cover A
  • Retailer Exclusive: Uncolored sketch of Barricade and Blackout

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