Rise of the Decepticons: Tremors
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 Broke into the wrong goddam rec room didn't you, you bastards?! | |||||||||||||
| "Rise of the Decepticons: Tremors" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | IDW Publishing | ||||||||||||
| First published | July 22, 2020 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | July 2020 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | Brian Ruckley | ||||||||||||
| Art by | Billie Montfort (pages 1, 6, 8-10, 17-20) Blacky Shepherd (pages 2-5, 7, 11, 16) | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | Joana Lafuente and John-Paul Bove | ||||||||||||
| Letters by | Jake M. Wood | ||||||||||||
| Editor | David Mariotte, Tom Waltz and Riley Farmer | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | 2019 IDW continuity | ||||||||||||
A routine geological survey turns deadly when a team of scientists cross paths with the most dangerous terrorists on Cybertron.
Synopsis
[edit]While investigating some unusual seismic activity out in the Cybertronian hinterlands, a geological survey team consisting of Azimuth, Beachcomber, Geomotus, and Landmine discover a flock of disturbed flyts circling above a new fissure, and inside, a furious Leviathan. The gigantic Transformer was on her usual route when the crevice opened beneath her; she has no patience for Geomotus's long-winded scientific theories, refuses to accept Azimuth's suggestion to simply transform and climb out of the hole—her alternate mode is her form now—and roars for them to contact search and rescue for her.
Elsewhere, Bumblebee, now under the protection of Security Operations, meets with Windblade at a hidden safehouse. Still reeling from his betrayal in the Ascenticon Guard, Bumblebee feels that he doesn't need this kind of security and says so; Windblade and Stakeout try to assure him that, as a key witness, Bumblebee needs all of the protection he can get. But another speech from Megatron interrupts the conversation; a gigantic hologram of the Ascenticon leader appears over Iacon to deliver his latest tirade against the Autobots. His fiery speech echoes across city and even reaches Orion Pax and Chromia as they take in the sight from a distant balcony. Chromia warns Orion that, even with their growing body of evidence against the Ascenticon and The Rise, the situation's too far gone for them to arrest Soundwave. Prime agrees, but notes that Sentinel Prime intends to condemn Soundwave and outlaw the Ascenticons anyway, regardless of the consequences. Remembering his old friendship with Megatron, Orion grimly muses that Megatron and his message of social upheaval have an advantage that the Autobots do not: a clear end goal.
In another part of the wilderness, Rage has the unenviable task of keeping some of the most wanted members of The Rise—thuggish Quake, sociopathic Triggerhappy, unstable Fangry, and the annoying duo of Frenzy and Rumble—quiet as Roughstuff tows them to another remote base. Rumble quickly gets under Rage's skin, but before the argument can escalate, a second groundquake splits the ground, upends their trailer and sends it tumbling into the new fissure! Not far away, Geomotus picks up the disturbance, and the four head out to investigate. As they travel, Beachcomber can't understand how such a violent quake could occur in the oldest and most stable region of the planet; it's as though the recent social unrest sweeping the planet is upsetting Cybertron itself. As they reach the new crevasse, Landmine sees the wrecked trailer... and Quake. Recognizing the 'bot as one of several wanted Risers, Landmine calls in Security Operations, while an anxious Geomotus decides to take refuge with Leviathan.
At the bottom of the chasm, Rage gets off a call with Sixshot, and pointedly informs his teammates that Astrotrain has better things to do than pick them up—and they won't be able to drive back out of the canyon either, not after Triggerhappy casually shot Roughstuff for no reason. Frenzy spies a glint on the cliff above; without thinking, Triggerhappy transforms, blasts off, and holds the scientists at gunpoint, demanding they say his name. Beachcomber points out that none of them know his name and takes a blast to the chest for his troubles; Triggerhappy easily outmaneuvers Landmine, then takes to the air... only for Windblade to soar overhead, followed by the other members of Novastar's new counterterrorism team!
At a Security Operations precinct in Iacon, Pointblank eyes the recently arrived Voin asserter, who demands to see Quake. Pointblank isn't sure how the Voin even know that Quake's responsible for killing their Voin, but Nautica explains that the opportunistic Voin have their own intelligence network... and back that soft power up by employing contractors capable of levelling buildings.
The badlands skirmish heats up as Springer sends Fangry plunging back into the crevasse, only for Quake to transform and use his tank mode to shoot Springer out of the air. Smokescreen kicks up a cloud of dust to confuse Frenzy and Rumble...but Quake's reckless charge prompts Smokescreen to quickly change tactics and bait Quake into chasing him. The tank-bot obliges, and, as Rage bails and slips away, Quake blunders right into Novastar's trap, tangled and paralyzed by her electric net.
As the Titan Net comes back online, Blaster checks in with Lightbright and Lodestar as they depart Cybertronian space for the Black Hub. Closer to home, Glyph has volunteered to help bring the damaged network back online in the hopes of awakening more Titans, while Chromia introduces Blaster to Tap-Out and Steeljaw, who've volunteered to provide extra security.
With Quake incapacitated and in custody, Novastar checks in with Windblade, who reports that she can't match Triggerhappy's turn of speed—and, worse yet, Sixshot himself is on his way to the battle! Sureshot and Blades bag Frenzy, but leave themselves open for Sixshot, who takes out the pair in his beast mode. Sixshot, Frenzy, and Rumble square off against Springer, Smokescreen and Novastar, who orders her team to stand their ground...
Not far away, Leviathan overhears the sound of the confrontation and demands to know what's going on. But when Geomotus anxiously tells her that his friends are fighting The Rise, his response prompts an unexpected reaction from the giant crawler: as Geomotus watches, Leviathan transforms into her colossal robot mode and rises from the fissure, ready to fight!
Featured characters
[edit](Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Ascenticons | Cybertronians | Others | ||
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Quotes
[edit]"There are unexplained perturbations, fissures opening. It's all part of some strange pattern of extreme planetary—"
"Don't care!"
- —Geomotus and Leviathan
"They say we are the great deceivers! They would have you call us Decepticons! But look what they have bought with your sacrifices, your silence, your patience! All their promises—order, peace—all of it dust and debris! They lie, and lie, and lie! And worse, they use our tragedies to indulge their fears, their crushing controls!"
- —Megatron
"I've done nothing to deserve getting stuck with you rustholes."
"Not yet. Guess Shockwave reckons it's only a matter of time. Welcome aboard the crazy shuttle, Rage."
- —Rage and Rumble
"Mostly, Sixshot wanted to know why Roughstuff couldn't hitch up to the other end and haul us out if he'd driven us in. I told him that wouldn't work... but not exactly why."
"We probably shouldn't have shot him. I mean me. I shouldn't have shot him. Maybe. Right? Hard to say."
- —Project management with Rage and Triggerhappy
"This crew wouldn't know the word team if they'd been shut in a box with it for a megacycle."
- —Smokescreen on The Rise
Notes
[edit]Continuity notes
[edit]- We last saw Geomotus and his friend Landmine in issue #14, where they were investigating unusual seismic activity at the Metal Geysers; in this issue, they, Azimuth, and Beachcomber are tracking a series of anomalous groundquakes at the behest of Highbrow, a respected scientist that Shockwave previously namedropped in #15. The intense tectonic disturbances in this issue suggest that, whatever's going wrong with Cybertron's geology, things are only getting worse...
- Leviathan last appeared way back in issue #3, though Prowl did namedrop Leviathan and her connection to Cybertron's flyts in the previous issue.
- Bumblebee's doubts about the Ascenticon cause came to the fore in issue #19, where he was doublecrossed by Skytread and nearly assassinated by Treadshot. Having now gathered enough data for Orion Pax, and lost all faith in the Ascenticon cause, he's officially left the faction, though he notes he has yet to scour off their insignia.
- Chromia refers to Prowl's arrest of Storm Cloud, which also happened last issue.
- Orion Pax remembers an old conversation he had with Megatron about changing Cybertron, from issue #6.
- While bickering with Rage, Rumble notes that "you don't break up a team over one mistake". This is, presumably, in reference to Brainstorm's death, in which Frenzy supposedly played a role; although we still don't know the specifics of the murder, dialogue between Ruckus and Kaskade in issue #13 suggests that Frenzy panicked during a heist on Brainstorm's energon transmission station and, whether deliberately or by accident, killed the scientist by impaling him on the drills that he deploys during the fight in this issue.
- Novastar drafted Windblade into her new rapid response team—Novastar, Sureshot, Blades, Springer, and Smokescreen—in issue #19.
- Tap-Out and Glyph return! The pair had a romantic adventure together in Transformers Valentine's Day Special, which also established that Glyph was a talented data analyst who worked for Cybertron's Xeno-Relations division. Valentine's established Tap-Out as an out-of-work gladiator; his profession isn't specifically flagged up here, but it seems as though he's still working as Glyph's bodyguard after the pair returned to Cybertron.
- Lodestar returns to active duty after her battle against Vigilem in issue #17. In the previous issue, Orion Pax sent her to the Black Hub for a battle-ready refit to pursue Vigilem, who went missing after he destroyed the Tether.
Transformers references
[edit]- Azimuth is based on the character of the same name from the Aligned continuity family, who first appeared in The Covenant of Primus. There, the character was depicted as the leader of the cartography-focused Patterner cult, which perhaps explains why this comic depicts her as a geologist. Though Azimuth did not physically appear in the Covenant of Primus book, 2015's Ask Vector Prime feature revealed that she had a body based on on one of Takara's MC-6 Kronoform watches, which she sports here. However, this comic gives her a silver color scheme, rather than the gold variant as described in Ask Vector Prime—a mistake that probably stems from the photo on Azimuth's wiki article more prominently displaying the silver toy.
- Beachcomber notes they're standing on one of the oldest parts of Cybertron, and alludes to an ancient battle between Halonix Maximus and Preditron that took place there. Both characters have their origin in Fun Publications' Wings Universe stories; Halonix Maximus was the name retroactively applied to a fake hologram Hound generated in the The Transformers episode "Heavy Metal War", while Preditron was a minor warlord who perished in the text story "A Team Effort"—though he went on to play a much bigger role in the Beast Wars: Uprising universe. The idea of these two historical warriors facing off is evocative of the primordial clash between Prima and Predaking, as detailed in The Covenant of Primus.
- "And away we go!" shouts Triggerhappy as he takes off, a turn of phrase that originated with Jackie Gleason's character on The Honeymooners, but has seen extensive use within Transformers media as Powerglide's catchphrase of sorts.
Errors
[edit]- Lafuente appears to have colored Quake as Masterforce Overlord, blue and grey with a large purple-pink cannon.
Other notes
[edit]- While Quake's robot mode continues to be based off his Titans Return figure, his alternate mode has been drawn quite differently, retaining a few details such as the front treads. The cannon has also been interpreted here as being dead center on the tank body, with a cockpit on either side instead of a single cockpit with the cannon on the other side of the body.
- Originally solicited for May 6, this issue was deliberately pushed back two months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Covers (3)
[edit]- Cover A: Risers represent, by Casey Coller and John-Paul Bove
- Cover B: Our intrepid heroes, by E. J. Su
- Retailer incentive cover: The gang's on the loose, by Philip Murphy and Leonardo Ito
Advertisements
[edit]- IDW digital comics
- Transformers vs. The Terminator
- Transformers '84: Secrets & Lies
Reprints
[edit]- Transformers Volume 3: All Fall Down (February 24, 2021) ISBN 1684057396 / ISBN 978-1684057399
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Volume 3: All Fall Down – cover art by Cryssy Cheung
