World, Shut Your Mouth Part 1: Towards Peace

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"World, Shut Your Mouth
Part 1: Towards Peace"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published April 30, 2014
Cover date April 2014
Written by James Roberts
Art by Alex Milne
Colors by Josh Burcham
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor John Barber
Assistant editor Rebecca Huard
Continuity 2005 IDW continuity
Chronology Current era (2014)

The Lost Light has some new faces aboard, including a brand new captain... Megatron! But how did the fearsome former Decepticon's trial lead to him joining the crew, and why have things started to disappear all around the ship?

Synopsis

Six months have passed since the defeat of Shockwave, his attempt to fulfill the Dark Cybertron prophecy thwarted, and the Lost Light is back out among the stars. New crewmember Nautica returns from a visit to the fuel furnace, where the Pyrobots are angry over some missing nucleon rods, and resumes her conversation with Brainstorm, though she expresses some doubt in his idea for guns that shoot color-coded lasers which can tell if their wielder is "good" or "bad". As they pass by Rung's quarters, they observe several of the crew listening at the door, which Brainstorm explains is because their captain is receiving his first session with the psychiatrist. Their captain... Megatron!

Six months ago, back on Cybertron, Rodimus arrives late to a meeting called by Optimus Prime, eager to get back aboard the Lost Light and off on their quest once again, only to be informed that nobody is going anywhere until the captive Megatron is put on trial in accordance with the public's wishes, during which Optimus himself will sit in judgement in the absence of a Chief Justice. Starscream and Ratchet show signs of uneasiness at a military trial, but Optimus points out the precedents of the Phobos and Desecrus trials. Prowl, meanwhile, is disgusted with the whole idea of a trial, seeing it as pointless and urging for an execution, but brightens when he is appointed prosecutor; Ultra Magnus is less enthused at speaking for the defense, but accepts the assignment quietly.

After the meeting ends, Optimus finally takes some time to catch up with Rodimus, and learns the disheartening news about the destruction of Rodimus's half of the Matrix. Rodimus explains that he is planning to continue his quest without the map the Matrix had held by seeking out Thunderclash, who has professed to have had dreams that are leading him to the Knights of Cybertron. He also admits that he is worried about the great Autobot after recent attempts to reach him have failed, so Optimus takes him aside to show him a way that can hopefully expedite Megatron's trial and get him back on-mission quickly.

Two hours into his session with Rung, Megatron is growing tired of the therapist's analysis of his fusion cannon, so Rung takes a different tack, requesting that he describe some of the most significant encounters in his life. As Ravage quietly listens from below the desk, Megatron describes how he met Rung himself, prompting Rung to consult what he describes as the only surviving original, unaltered copy of Megatron's own autobiography, Towards Peace, to match up the dates. He asks a question about the work's history—namely, why Megatron removed a dedication to someone named "Terminus" from a later edition of the book, deleting what he believed were all the dedicated copies, briefly digressing to offer up a candid opinion on the revealing nature of self-editing—but a sudden blackout that briefly plunges the room into darkness brings their session to an abrupt end. Megatron departs with the answer that Terminus was the one who taught him "not to get attached", and tells Rung that "self-editing" is not limited to just writings, but something that people do to their lives every day via denial, selective memory, and more. But sometimes, the former Decepticon notes, such editing is not enough, and one must start their lives over again—just like he is now.

As the Lost Light gets ready to resume its mission, Swerve holds auditions for new crewmembers with a little help from Crosscut and a disinterested Riptide. His criteria for admission prove deeply unusual, as he rejects Groove for being easily distracted and Bluestreak for looking too much like Prowl, but just as he is about to turn down a particularly enthusiastic Nautica for having a trisyllabic name, Nightbeat bursts in and reveals that the whole thing is a prank Swerve is playing—after all, Ultra Magnus would never have permitted the interviews to be advertised as "crewditions".

Optimus and Rodimus visit Megatron in his cell, bringing Chromedome, intending to have him use his mnemosurgery skills to extract memories from Megatron's mind that can be used to corroborate his testimony in court, thereby ending the trial quicker. A horrified Megatron cries out for his guards, fearful that the procedure will be used as cover for tampering with his mind—something which he refuses to permit, and will die to prevent. A resigned Prime departs with Chromedome, but Rodimus remains behind a moment to deliver a final speech to Megatron, matter-of-factly stating how happy everyone will be when he is inevitably executed. Megatron takes his words in quietly, then calmly requests that he do him a favour, and hands him a communicube.

Nightbeat and Skids try to check on Chromedome, who has slunk back into depression following the end of Megatron's trial, and now stays in his hab suite listening to Rewind's final message on repeat. Unsurprisingly, he doesn't answer the door when the pair knock, and Nightbeat decides it's best to leave him be, more intrigued by the curious absence of the "8" from the suite's door number. As they leave, neither seems to notice that some letters have also disappeared from the "fuel furnace" sign behind them in the length of time they have been standing there... and neither is present to share in Chromedome's shock when Rewind's repeating message suddenly changes, ending on a tortured scream.

Returning to his quarters, Megatron discovers his door defaced with graffiti denouncing him as a murderer whose time is marked. Seconds later, he blocks an arrow sent flying towards his head with his hand, and turns to see Whirl standing with a bow. Whirl is apparently about to deny his actions, before suddenly savagely attacking Megatron, tackling him through a wall and into the fuel furnace below. Whirl claims that he is tired of waiting for Megatron to make his move to settle their old score, and so he has struck first. Boasting about his "immortality" as they fight, Whirl is offered a shocking revelation by Megatron: the only reason he has lived so long is because Megatron ensured it, ordering his Decepticons never to kill Whirl out of 'gratitude' for Whirl showing him that words were not enough to effect change.

Taunted by the knowledge of what he turned Megatron into, a furious Whirl punches through Megatron's stomach... only to have his arm disappear, lost to the Gordian Knot of space bridge portals that Shockwave's manipulations have turned Megatron's innards into. Megatron instructs Whirl to clean up the graffiti in exchange for his keeping quiet about the attack, and leaves, muttering about the absence of the workshy Pyrobots from the furnace. Whirl recovers and follows a short time later, reporting to someone over a communicator that his attempt to bait Megatron into attacking him has failed...

Before the assembled populace of Cybertron, the shackled Megatron is escorted to his hearing, and the trial begins. Prowl reads off his litany of charges, and Megatron quietly, calmly, pleads guilty.

Megatron returns to the bridge for an update on the ship's progress tracking Thunderclash. Magnus also informs him that an unidentified object they had detected out in space earlier is now within visual range. Study of the Autobranded object's size and lack of engines suggests it is a coffin...

(Characters in italic text appear only in the flashback portion of the issue.)
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Others

Quotes

"Color coded lasers. Red if you're an Autobot, purple if you're a Decepticon. And this is the best bit: the color changes depending on who's firing the gun."
"So the gun would—"
"—know if you were good or bad! Yes! What do you think? Good idea? Amazing idea? Be honest."
"Honestly? I think for an intuitive weapon to promote long-discredited notions of moral absolutism is problematic in the extreme."
"..."
"..."
"It doesn't have to be red and purple..."

—Nautica and Brainstorm


"Starscream! Will you stop saying "my people"? They're not your people. They're not your anything. They're ordinary Cybertronian citizens who went insane and put you in charge. Any day now they'll wake up, realize what they've done, and kill themselves. Suicide by face-palm."

—Rodimus


"I hate to disappoint you, Rung, but sometimes a fusion cannon is just a fusion cannon."

—Megatron on compensation


"My life is a succession of decisions made in confined spaces."

—Megatron


"Here's a little—whatever. A little thing. A disclosure. An insight. Revisionism—I've always been fascinated by it. By the idea of a writer going back and altering things. Make no mistake: an edit is a profoundly aggressive act. As Froid once said, we grieve for the murdered word. If you want to get the measure of an author, don't look at what they've left on the page.... look at what they've taken away."

—Rung


"I was once reprimanded for making an aside."

—Swerve

Notes

Continuity notes

  • Everyone crowded around Rung's door in the opening sequence is a new arrival on the Lost Light. With the exception of Groove, all those present were shown to have been on Cybertron at various points during the first two years of Robots in Disguise.
  • During the "Crewditions", Swerve references making an aside at some point in the past. His awareness of doing so is surely an effect of the meta-bomb, which was detonated in issue #15.
  • In a long distance shot of Metroplex, we can see Atomizer supervising the spray-painting of the Lost Light's name onto the ship; fitting, since he's a former decorator.
  • Optimus refers to the trial of a character named Phobos, adding context to the "Phobos controversy" mentioned in issue #11.
  • Rodimus's Matrix-half was shattered back in issue #21. That issue also features the defeat of Tyrest that Rodimus mentions, which is why there is no Chief Justice available for Megatron's trial, forcing Optimus to take the chair. When he does, he wears a crown like Tyrest's.
  • The Lost Light was previously shown to be searching for Thunderclash in "Dark Cybertron" Chapter 1. The superlative Autobot's divine guidance towards the Knights of Cybertron was introduced when the crew first encountered him in issue #22.
  • Rung's "encounter" with Megatron was shown in issue #22 of the 2009-2011 ongoing series. It was Rung's first pictorial appearance. Why Rung does not recall the encounter would be explained in issue #37.
  • Megatron's line about decisions in small spaces (mine shafts, alt modes, cells) was a direct response to his meeting with Whirl in a cell from that same issue. His decision in a mine shaft almost certainly refers to the opening from Megatron Origin #1. The last reference may also be to an event mentioned in the ongoing issue #22—after the Battle for Hell's Point, Megatron's T-cog was damaged and he was trapped in gun mode for two years. The decision this led to is unknown, though.
  • Rung refers to Froid, his psychoanalytical rival mentioned in "Signal to Noise".
  • Riptide is one of the Hydrobots, a team that was mentioned in issue #24. We also hear of his teammate Aquabat.
  • We learn that the mines Megatron originally worked in (before he was reassigned to Messatine, per issue #9) were beneath Nova Point, adding substantially greater meaning to the fact that he delivered his declaration of war from the top of this peak, as we learned in issue #7.
  • Rewind's farewell message appeared back in issue #16.
  • In this issue, Rewind's message contains the line "And to think I'll never see you again," which is repeated twice. In its appearance in issue #16, the same line was rendered "And to think -- I will never see you again," without the contraction. Little edits...
  • One of the slurs scrawled onto Megatron's door is 'spawn of Mortilus', a term previously used by Metroplex to refer to Trypticon in Monstrosity #10. Its usage here as what is clearly an idiom seems intended to confirm that Trypticon isn't actually a spawn of Mortilus, which was almost certainly the misguided intent of the original dialogue.
  • Optimus has somehow managed to convince Chromedome to perform mnemosurgery on Megatron despite Chromedome making it abundantly clear he was finished with it just two issues earlier, in response to a similar request. This will prove to be a trend in 'Season 2' as Chromedome is routinely asked for more injecting and agrees to it just this once. He ends up doing it in Part 3 of this very story!
  • Broadside was last seen in Robots in Disguise #14, in which the building he was in was crushed by Devastator. The same goes for Sky High, who was crushed in Devastator's grip. Nice to see they're okay!
  • Meanwhile, his fellow Triple Changer and former Wrecker Sandstorm reappears here for the first time since Chaos. And he's no longer hideous. Thank Primus for a new toy, amirite?
  • Megatron is charged with warfare against the Senate and the Stratocracy but not against the Grand Convocation. This is not an error: Megatron was absent for most of Monstrosity and never had the chance to go to war with it!
  • If you're not darkening your pants at the use of the word "coffin" in this issue's final panel, it's 'cause you're not remembering the message from the future from all the way back in issue #1 which warned "Don't open the coffin".

Transformers references

  • Brainstorm's color-coded guns hearken back to the original The Transformers cartoon, in which each faction's weapons fired uniquely-colored blasts. However, in what might be an error, Brainstorm here suggests that Autobot guns would fire red energy blasts; in the cartoon, the Autobots' weapons fired orange blasts, this being their signature color in every respect save for insignia and their blue eyes, used for bases, technology, spaceships and more, in the same way the Decepticons used purple for everything (except their red eyes!). The idea of red energy blasts for Autobots wasn't introduced until the Unicron Trilogy cartoons.
  • The Dostoyevsky quote on page 2 is written in Richard Starkings's "Bithead" typeface which was first used way back in BotCon 1997's "Ground Zero" for Predacon dialogue.
  • The wireframe "X-ray" effect Rung and Megatron are drawn with during the brief blackout pays homage to Unicron's reformatting of the abandoned Decepticons in The Transformers: The Movie.
  • Megatron has taken up residence in hab suite 113, another of Roberts's multiple references to the number.
  • Before Megatron and Whirl crash into the fuel furnace, a sign on the wall reads "P-38", in reference to Megatron's original Walther P38 pistol alternate mode. Below that is "C-16"; 16 was Megatron's original Japanese ID number, from before they started adding "C-" or "D-" to them to denote whether the toy was a "Cybertron" (the Japanese name for the Autobots) or "Destron" (Decepticon). Megatron is an Autobot now, hence this little "C-16" in-joke.
  • Rung has a model Starhopper in his spaceship collection.

Real-life references

Alien culture. You wouldn't get the reference.Bluestreak
  • The title of this three-parter is derived from the Julian Cope song of the same name.
  • The issue opens with the dialogue "aaaaand... we're back!", which is, of course, a meta-reference to this issue's position as More than Meets the Eye's 'second season premiere' after the interlude that was "Dark Cybertron".
  • Megatron's "Sometimes a fusion cannon..." line is a paraphrasing of the famous quote "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar", a phallic imagery joke misattributed to Sigmund Freud.
  • Bluestreak directly references the 1994 movie Shallow Grave, which opens with three people amusing themselves by running a fake interview!
  • Nautica is a quantum mechanic, a play upon the real-life field of quantum mechanics. The cheat engines and Möbius ships she professes interest in are also wordplays, on heat engines and Möbius strips respectively.
  • As with real distilled alcoholic spirits, such as vodka, "triple distilled" engex, per Chromia's description of Nautica's demand for "really good" engex, is apparently the expensive stuff.
  • A stratocracy is a form of military government, where the military are the government by constitutional right.

Errors

  • There's a free-floating asterisk after Rodimus says "the greatest Autobot of all time" that doesn't have a footnote attached to it. It was removed in the collection.
  • As Chromedome listens to Rewind's message, it includes the line "I've probably got 0.8 seconds..." In issue #16, this was rendered as two sentences spliced together "I've probably got about n—ought point eight seconds"; the word "about" has disappeared from the line this issue. While it's tempting to draw a parallel with this issue's theme of editing, this accidentally-dropped word was actually a mistake by TFWiki when the speech was written up and edited for readability for issue #16's article (which also included turning "n—ought point eight" into "0.8"). Seems like Roberts knew he could source the quote from the article quickly rather than spend time searching his hard drive for the script!
  • To the extreme left of the trial double-page splash, by Sandstorm's elbow, Metalhawk appears to be sitting in the audience, despite having died in the conclusion to "Dark Cybertron".

Crew manifest

  • The crew gets a big overhaul. The exact number of 'bots aboard is presently unknown, having last been calculated at 190 functional crewmembers and several non-functional wounded. (In Roberts' letter at the end, he says there are 300, but that may be an inexact number.)
    • Confirmed previous crew: Ultra Magnus, Brainstorm, Rung, Skids, Chromedome, Whirl, Perceptor, Mainframe, Blaster, Getaway, Swerve
    • Confirmed new arrivals: Megatron, Nautica, Joyride, Nightbeat, Mirage, Hosehead, Groove, Sky High, Bluestreak, Ravage
    • Confirmed departures: Fizzle and Cosmos

Other trivia

  • Megatron never says he wanted to kill Whirl himself, but that he was "grateful" for Whirl's attack showing him that one needed actions, not merely words, to change the world.
  • Ravage's appearance on the Lost Light comes as a surprise. One of James Roberts's early ideas for More than Meets the Eye included Ravage stowing away on the ship; whether or not that's what happening here isn't quite clear yet.
  • Rung refers to a female "fellow bibliophile" from whom he acquired the original copy of Towards Peace. Given Nautica's voracious love of reading, mentioned a few pages later during her interview with Swerve, and the fact that the opening scene of the issue established that she knows Rung is a booklover, it's highly unlikely this bibliophile is anyone other than her.
  • Rung reveals that his cute little round spectacle-like optics actually are a pair of spectacle lenses than he can remove, as he does so this issue.
  • Bluestreak comments that this is his second attempt to sign up for the Lost Light, an outside reference to the fact that Roberts tried to get the character for the book at its outset, but he wound up going to Robots in Disguise because that book's artist Andrew Griffith loves the character.
  • This issue's story is followed by a letter from James Roberts welcoming readers to the book, which is missing from the Comixology download.
  • Similar to the pre-launch promotion for More than Meets the Eye and Robots in Disguise two years prior, this series was trailed by a "scavenger hunt" for a series of six promo posters that were released to various sites around the internet. This round of More than Meets the Eye images featured a "tarot" theme, and included: Megatron on IDW's Facebook page, Nautica on Seibertron.com, Nightbeat on BWTF.com, Riptide on The TransMissions podcast's Twitter, Tailgate on The Underbase podcast's Twitter, and Trailcutter on TFormers.com.
  • "The Apostate"
    "The Apostate"
  • "The Savant"
    "The Savant"
  • "The Inquisitor"
    "The Inquisitor"
  • "The Knave"
    "The Knave"
  • "The Ingenue"
    "The Ingenue"
  • "The Catalyst"
    "The Catalyst"

Soundtrack

Covers (3)

  • Megatron, on his final frontier.
    Megatron, on his final frontier.
  • No we don't!
    No we don't!
  • Space Ghost!
    Space Ghost!

Advertisements

  • "Dawn of the Autobots"
  • More than Meets the Eye #29
  • Star Mage
  • IDW: Getting Into Your Head for 15 Years (back cover)

Reprints

  • The Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye Volume 6 (December 10, 2014) ISBN 163140184X / ISBN 978-1631401848
  • Contains issues #28 to #33.
  • Bonus content includes covers of each issue.
  • Contains issues #28 to #34, and Robots in Disguise issues #28 to #34.
  • Hardcover collection of More than Meets the Eye #28 to #34.
  • Bonus content includes "Season 2" character poster art, a cover gallery and a forward by Simon Furman.

References

  1. ↑ James Roberts on Twitter
  2. ↑ James Roberts on Twitter
  3. ↑ James Roberts on Twitter
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