The Truth We Make
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| "The Truth We Make" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Transformers Collectors' Club (online exclusive) | ||||||||||||
| First published | May 9, 2016 | ||||||||||||
| By | Justin Severson | ||||||||||||
| Illustrations by | Paul Vroman and Dan Khanna (cover) | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | Jesse Wittenrich | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Of Masters and Mayhem | ||||||||||||
| Page count | 17pp | ||||||||||||
The story of Punch...or is it the story of Counterpunch?
Synopsis
Long ago, before the war, Autobot spy Punch was an actor from Harmonex, the city of the singing crystals-a profession no one has had on Cybertron for years now. Punch reveled in the magic of making characters on a script come to life, becoming them—but then the Decepticons came. Punch was the first to sign up from his city, and before he left, he celebrated with his acting colleagues, promising to be back soon. 27 days later, Harmonex was utterly destroyed by the Decepticons. Flooded with rage, Punch promised to make the Decepticons pay, and in his first engagement, a routine scout patrol encountered the Decepticons. Unfortunately, his whole unit was slaughtered, and Punch was heavily damaged, loosing his mobility. Approached by a a crimson-clad doctor, Punch was told how his transformation cog was special-it allowed him to take on another robot mode. And so, Punch was re-engineered and rebuilt, and on the orders of Autobot High Command, began to play one final role: the Decepticon warrior, Counterpunch. These days, Punch lets his role subsume him, distracting him from the grief, and the feeling that the worse thing to ever happen to Cybertron wasn't the war—but its people.
Or, at least, that's what he believes his past to be.
On the secret Autobot base on Gargoid, Punch is woken from his dreams by a knock on his door. At first, he's afraid that the base has been attacked, but his aggressive comrade, Firecracker, lets the Autobot spy know that the commander wants to see him. Uncharacteristically shaky, Punch makes his way to the commander's office, where the untrusting Suppressor is waiting for him. Suppressor informs the spy that the Autobot's outpost on Athenia, where the potential last hope of the Autobots was being built, was razed by the Decepticons 24 megacycles ago, and that he and Autobot High Command have been investigating how the location was leaked. Punch tells his commander that he hadn't found anything in the Decepticon channels indicating Athenia was compromised, but as it turns out, Suppressor hasn't called him here for that—instead, Suppressor lets Punch know that he doesn't trust him, and that the only reason that he's not yet in the brig is that High Command wishes to let the spy provide an alibi for himself. He then provides Punch with a datapad, showing security footage from Athenia. Punch watches in disbelief as he sees a figure shoot the security officer and input codes to disable the base's defenses...his own figure. Suppressor tells the shocked Punch that the footage is authentic, and that the codes imputed were his specific access codes. Punch tries to protest, telling his commander that he just saw him yesterday—but Suppressor tells him it's been four days. Punch tries to convince him there's some explanation for what has happened, but Suppressor, convinced of the spy's guilt, sends him to the brig.
In his cell, Punch tosses and turns, trying to come up with an explanation for what happened, when a voice mocks him. Bolting upright, he is shocked as a figure steps out into the lit portion of the brig: his Decepticon alter-ego, Counterpunch! Punch doubles over in pain as the apparition tells him that his life is a lie; it was Counterpunch who created Punch, not the other way around. Counterpunch then reveals that there's a reason why nobody talks about or remembers Harmonex the way that Punch does: it never existed, having been made up by the Decepticons as a great tragic backstory for their spy, knowing no one would ever question the Decepticons doing such a thing, and making Punch seem all the more trustworthy. As Punch tries to fight off the mental anguish, Counterpunch bids farewell to his Autobot identity, and with the shot of his blaster, seemingly kills Punch.
Sometime later, Counterpunch wakes up on the floor of his cell with a massive headache, as loud explosions sound off outside. Dazed and confused, the Decepticon watches as the wall in front of his energy-cell explodes, and a squadron of the Decepticon files in to rescue him: the boisterous Crash Test, fliers Skyfire and Wind Sheer, the quiet Rotorbolt, and the aggressive Six Changer Killswitch, now rechristened Hexadeathimal. Initially confused, Counterpunch is shocked back to reality when Wind Sheer mentions his name, realizing that he's now "free" of Punch. Counterpunch trades some light banter with his Decepticon comrades, then has Rotorbolt disable his cell, and goes with the others to raze the base. The Decepticons quickly begin slaughtering the Autobots, and Counterpunch reflects on how, if everything goes to plan, the Autobots will be gone once and for all. Suddenly, he is stricken by a sense of sadness over all the silence, allowing the heavily damaged Firecracker to attack his former comrade. Firecracker accuses him of being a traitor, but Counterpunch gleefully informs him that he was never with the Autobots, and that for all his talk, Firecracker would never kill another Autobot, not even one he didn't trust. Furious, Firecracker rushes forth, and Counterpunch tries to aim his gun at the Autobot...but finds he can't. Counterpunch is saved when Crash Test shoots Firecracker in the back, who then falls into Counterpunch's arms toppling them both over. Unsettled, Counterpunch turns to look at the dying Autobot, who slowly raises his head and gives Counterpunch a smile, before falling offline for good. Counterpunch is suddenly overcome, as he loses control of himself; Firecracker's death has allowed Punch to reassert control, and he declares he isn't sure what is real anymore, but knows one thing for sure: that he'd rather die an Autobot than live as a Decepticon! Punch shoots Crash Test point blank, sending her offline, and the others, unaware of what is happening, quickly return fire. Punch/Counterpunch falls, and as he shuts down, he dreams of Harmonex...
Sometime later, Counterpunch wakes back up in an operating room on Paradron, confused as the two lives he lived blur together. A medic explains to him that he was brought here by a "friend", and that he suffered excessive damage to his robot mode, which should have killed him. However, because of his other robot mode, they were able to save him by removing the damaged form's parts. She notes that, rather peculiarly, it wasn't just his transformation cog that was special; it was as though he had a second spark chamber and brain. She then sends Counterpunch into induced stasis sleep, preparing to tell his "friend" the good news. As it turns out, his "friend" isn't someone he expects: Wrecker leader Impactor. The Autobot commando bluntly tells him that he should have left Counterpunch to die, now that he knows the seeming truth about Counterpunch. But with the threat of Thunder Mayhem and the death of much of the Cybertronian race, he'll need all the help he can get, even from a Decepticon. Initally, Counterpunch doesn't respond; he remembers his two backstories, but can no longer tell which is the fiction, and which is the reality. Eventually, Counterpunch speaks; he asks Impactor if he remembers Harmonex. Taken aback, the Wrecker leader remembers the tragedy that befell the city, one of the worst examples of Decepticon brutality. Impactor asks the Decepticon if he ever visited, and Counterpunch, unsure, tells him that he thinks a part of himself came from there. Watching out over the city, Impactor takes a moment to think, and tells Counterpunch he thinks he went to the city once before the war...but it's been so long, he isn't sure whether or not his memories of Harmonex were real, or just a dream.
And neither is Counterpunch.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Autobot? Decepticon? |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes
Notes
- Characters mentioned but not seen include: a "crimson-clad doctor," Scorponok, the clan of the six, and Thunder Mayhem
Continuity notes
- Impactor was shown bringing Punch/Counterpunch to Paradron in "Insight". That story also identified the physician who treated Punch/Counterpunch, who is not named in this story, as Lifeline.
Transformers references
- The idea that Counterpunch was an actual separate personality, more Decepticon than Autobot, came from the long version of his bio published in back-up The Transformers Universe profile for Punch/Counterpunch in issue #71 of the Marvel The Transformers comic. Virtually all fiction prior to this story ignored this idea, instead simply depicting Punch as having full control of himself in both forms, going off the shortened version of his bio published in his toy's Tech Specs, which simply depicted him as vaguely mysterious, but ultimately an Autobot.
- Punch notes that those constructed cold after the war began might not believe that Cybertron once had actors and musicians. "Constructed cold" is a term for one of the two ways Transformers were created in the IDW Publishing comics continuity, primarily featured in the writings of James Roberts in More than Meets the Eye. Those who were constructed cold after the war were called M.T.O.s: Made to Order soldiers.
- Punch's supposed home city, Harmonex, was introduced in IDW Publishing Monstrosity series, where it was known as the "Singing City" due to lithic crystals that grew within it, which "sang" in a perfect harmonic frequency. Sadly, it was ravaged by the rampaging Trypticon.
- The "crimson-clad doctor" that Punch has trouble remembering is a Generation 1 version of the Decepticon medic from Transformers: Prime, Knock Out. Author Justin Severson noted that he included him as an homage to several unrealized story ideas he had written for the Club, including a story with Lyzack he co-wrote with Jesse Wittenrich, and a story that was to repurpose the Club's Shattered Glass Drift toy as the character (at that point, the toy's color scheme hadn't yet been finalized, and was potentially going to be based on Prime Knock Out); he notes that he was unaware that Knock Out was to appear with a different physical appearance in "The Toxic Transformer". Given the unreliable nature of Punch/Counterpunch's narration, however, it could quite simply be a false memory anyway!
- Punch/Counterpunch's transformation cog (the part of a Transformer's body responsible for allowing them their transformation abilities, introduced in the opening mini-series of the third season of The Transformers, "Five Faces of Darkness") is noted to be special, allowing for "extraneous segmentation" for a secondary robot mode. Later in the story, Lifeline notes that Counterpunch also appears to have a secondary spark chamber and brain, presumably referring to the concept of "Rossum's Trinity" from More than Meets the Eye. The word transformation cog is consistently rendered as "t-cog" throughout the story; the shortened version of the term introduced in the Transformers: Prime cartoon.
- Firecracker was one of the Generation 2 Go-Bots. He was chosen for this story due to his Tech Specs' description of his temper, which shows up quite a fair bit in this story, constantly aggressive towards Punch. Punch notes early on in the story that his bright red armor sometimes gives off an "eerie glow" in the right light, referencing the fact that Firecracker's toy was translucent. Punch jokingly wonders whether or not he's contracted a strain of Hate Plague, a madness inducing disease from the two-part season 3 finale of The Transformers, "The Return of Optimus Prime".
- Three of Counterpunch's rescuers debut in this story as characters based on unmade toys: Crash Test is based on the "GTP Racer" Go-Bot, Rotorbolt is the Diaclone jet-helicopter Triple Changer that Fumes was based on, in the toy's blue colors; and Kill-hexa-switch-deathimal is an unused Decepticon deco for Quickswitch shown in Legacy: The Art of Transformers Packaging. The other two members of the team are G1-continuity imports Wind Sheer and Skyfire, originally from the 2001 Robots in Disguise toyline.
- Killswitch/Hexadeathimal mentions the latter name being given to him by the Clan of Six.
Errors
- Dan Khanna has provided the lineart for the cover, but is uncredited.
- Suppressor's name is misspelt "Supressor" throughout. This was corrected in a later revision.
- On page 10, in Counterpunch's line beginning "“First of all", "that’s doesn’t really" should be "that doesn't really". This was also corrected in a later revision.
Other trivia
- A few days after the story was released, an updated version of it was released on the Club's website. Aside from fixing the aforementioned errors,
External links
- "The Truth We Make" at The Official Transformers Collectors' Club
