What It's Really Like

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« Optimus Prime #8 »
"What It's Really Like"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published June 14, 2017
Cover date June 2017
Written by John Barber
Art by Casey Coller
Colors by John-Paul Bove
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor Carlos Guzman
Continuity 2005 IDW continuity
Chronology Current era

Invited to be interviewed on television, Jazz thinks he's finally got the chance to tell his story, while in the past, Jetfire is also searching for someone he can talk to.

Synopsis

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Jazz arrives at a warehouse on the outskirts of Mexico City, where he is met by Sofía Orozco, the woman he recently befriended, and her boss, journalist Hector Ramirez, who will be conducting the interview Jazz has been invited to give. After signing the requisite paperwork, Jazz is led inside the converted warehouse and is positioned in front of the cameras, as Hector gets to work...

Four million years ago, Jetfire continues to find life working for the security forces hard, as his partner in the science lab, Nosecone, continues to insist on giving him the silent treatment after nearly a week. Jetfire storms out and goes flying to clear his head, but he is soon approached by Orion Pax, who has heard about his angry departure and hopes they can talk about it. Jetfire has little time for Pax, blaming him for pulling him into the world in which he now finds himself; Pax tries to remind Jetfire that the Decepticons are the "bad guys," but Jetfire dismisses the black-and-white morality Pax has recently begun to espouse, pointing out that the governmental stranglehold that the Senate subjected Cybertron to is not getting better under Zeta Prime, and that the Decepticons' desire to see it ended is not an immoral one. Pax insists that their use of violence to make their point is the problem, but Jetfire retorts that Pax meeting that violence with more violence is no better. Pax asks him a final question: if they all laid down their guns, what would he do to effect change?

At the "Little Cybertron" refugee camp on Bikini Atoll, the Autobot colonist soldiers help the Junkions reassemble a collapsed building. The Junkions are very grateful, but the colonists are bored and somewhat annoyed that they have been stuck with duty on the island, and are quick to transform and drive off to find something else to do. Unfortunately, they all forget that, since the death of her parnter Oiler, Slide cannot transform, and she is left behind in their dust. Pyra Magna appears behind the dejected Slide to continue sowing dissent, reminding her that though others may do so, she will not forget Slide and her pain.

Aboard Autobot City, the president informs Optimus Prime that she has intel on the "top secret" location where Jazz's interview is being filmed. Having previously expressed misgivings about the whole thing given Jazz's history with human law enforcement, the president knows there will be blowback, and urges Optimus to take himself off the board for the moment, to distance himself from the proceedings. Weighing his options, Optimus follows the president's advice and decides to withdraw to Cybertron for a short while, sending a message to Little Cybertron to request that Pyra Magna accompany him so they can talk out their differences. Stormclash is immediately suspicious of Prime's motives, thinking he is trying to keep the Torchbearers separate and vulnerable, but her sister Skyburst disagrees; Pyra appears to share Skyburst's view, but nonetheless makes sure Marissa Faireborn is told exactly where she is going before she leaves, just in case. Aileron has concerns of her own about Prime's leave of absence; she is starting to feel very alone, unsure if anyone shares her feelings, so Jetfire tells her about a time he felt the same, and how he found someone to talk to...

Four million years ago, Jetfire visits a Decepticon bar, where he is immediately met with hostility from the patrons. Despite this, he finds the person he is looking for: his old friend Deluge, who recently beat him up for selling out Needlenose and Horri-Bull to the police. Deluge shows remorse; he just wants to help Cybertron be a better place, and as a scientist, he appreciates and respects the efforts of Decepticon scientists like Thunderwing and Bludgeon—he didn't join up to bust heads, and had no idea that the other two 'Cons were running guns. Jetfire just wants to do some good too, which is why, despite everything, he'll still be going back to work for the security forces tomorrow. Deluge gestures to the bartender, and the pair get set to drink their sorrows away.

Pyra arrives at Autobot City in a borrowed Junkion shuttle, and greets Optimus as bluntly as ever. She questions his choice of Cybertron as neutral ground for their impending talk, but Prime explains they're going to a remote spot far from prying eyes. Just before they step through the space bridge, Prime sends a quick text message...

Jazz's interview progresses smoothly at first, as he recounts his youth in the industrial city of Staniz, where his love of music took form and he made his living performing at bars and clubs. The instigation of the Clampdown necessitated that he get a "real job," which saw him join up with the security services under Optimus Prime. Jazz goes on to talk about how he was the first of the Autobots to come to Earth, an advance scout set by Prime, and how he fell in love with the planet's music, particularly the genre from which he takes his English-language name. Things start to take a worrying turn, however, as Ramirez presses him on complex and unflattering issues, eventually bringing up the death of John Powell and Jazz's recent interference with the Detroit police department, twisting Jazz's words at every turn to call his actions into question. Jazz breaks off the interview, hurt to discover that he has been deceived, and that he is not getting a chance to tell his version of events after all. Just then, Jazz's communicator chimes, as Optimus's text message comes through: "RUN."

Minutes later, the forces of Talon's G.I. Joe unit (with Salvo for additional firepower) burst into the warehouse, fully armed... but Jazz is already long gone, having left his Aghartan electro-bass behind. Sofía sighs; she can tell Jazz was not just upset by her act of entrapment, but disillusioned by the realization it will take a lot more than simply telling his story to change people's minds about Transformers...

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Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons G.I. Joe Others

Quotes

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"Miguel has some papers for you to sign. You can write your name?"
"It's only four letters and two of 'em are z."

—Salma and Jazz


"You don't get it at all, Orion. I'm not a flier or a scientist. I'm both. And that's something 'normal channels' won't let me be. That's the point the Decepticons are making, Orion. We can be ourselves."

—Jetfire


"Samba, hip-hop, taiko. So much good stuff. I heard Bach and I thought 'this sounds like what Prowl's head's gotta be like.'"

—Jazz on music


"Thank you for coming, Pyra."
"When the Prime calls, what choice does a servant of Solus have? I assumed you had requested I oversee the construction of this Junkion city to create distance between us."
"You're very blunt, Pyra."
"There is no reason not to be."

—Optimus Prime and Pyra Magna, always super-cheery good-time buddies


"Thunderwing's a nut."
"Ha. I thought you liked him. A scientist flier."
"I can't say he didn't inspire young Jetfire, but then I got to know him, and he's a nut."

—Jetfire and Deluge

Notes

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Continuity notes

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  • First appearances: Hector Ramirez, Miguel, Salma Gutierrez, Salvo (in Transformers comics)
  • Earliest chronological appearances: Blot, Cutthroat, Deluge, Gutcruncher
  • Jazz talks to Hector about the Clampdown, a period of martial law on Cybertron which was initiated by the Senate as part of their failed plan to crush the incipient Decepticonism. In the flashback portion of the story, Jetfire notes how Zeta Prime has extended the Clampdown, retroactively tying in his closure of the planet's stadiums—introduced in Spotlight: Blurr, several years before the concept of the Clampdown was invented—in with it.
  • When last seen in the present day, in Punishment #2, Gutcruncher had opened a bar. This issue reveals that this was his original pre-war occupation as well.
  • As observed by a footnote, Optimus and Pyra's meeting plays out on Cybertron in the 2017 Transformers annual.
  • Hector's done his research; in addition to Jazz's incidents with John Powell (The Transformers vol. 1 #17) and the Detroit police (The Transformers vol. 2 #51), he is also aware of the time Optimus Prime worked with Megatron to overthrow the government of Cybertron, as seen in Autocracy.
  • Jetfire is established to already be personally acquainted with Thunderwing at the time of this story's flashback portion, and regards him as a "nut." Thunderwing's... extreme tactics would eventually lead to his transformation into the monster that rendered Cybertron uninhabitable, as seen in Stormbringer; it was in issue #1 of that series that Jetfire was originally shown to know Thunderwing, when he and the other scientists of Cybertron ignored what they saw as his insane rantings.
  • Jazz mentions that he was the first Autobot to officially be sent to Earth by Optimus Prime. This is consistent with The Transformers vol. 1 #25, where Jazz made the off-handed comment to Bumblebee that he had been on the planet "longer than any of them".
  • Salvo isn't a regular member of the G.I. Joe team who appears in this title like the others seen in this issue; she recently joined the Joes in G.I. Joe vol. 5 #3, and normally functions as a member of that unit. Skywarp likes the cut of her jib.

Transformers references

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  • Hector Ramirez jumps in wholesale from the original "Sunbow animated universe" of the 1980s. Originally created by writer Buzz Dixon for the G.I. Joe episode "Twenty Questions," Hector became a recurring character in Dixon scripts, showing up in more Joe episodes, as well as Jem and Inhumanoids. He has a questionable (unnamed, somewhat off-model, voiced by a different actor) appearance in the Generation 1 episode "Prime Target", and the colors of his outfit in this issue (brown suit, yellow shirt, blue tie) are based on how he looked in that episode.
  • Jazz describes how his love of music was inspired by a magna march, a kind of Cybertronian music first mentioned in the bio published on the packaging of the 2010 Universe reissue of the original Blaster toy.
  • Deluge orders Jetfire a drink called a Grand Uprising, named for the titular revolution of Beast Wars: Uprising.

G.I. Joe references

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  • Salvo can't recall the name of the pilot flying the craft that transports the Joe team to Mexico City. He doesn't appear on-panel, but the craft is the Phantom X-19, which means the pilot is Ghostrider—and it's a running joke in G.I. Joe lore that nobody can remember his name.
  • The President leaves Autobot City in a Ghost Hawk II, from the G.I. Joe: Retaliation toyline.

Real-life references

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Trivia

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  • It wouldn't be unfair to reflexively assume "Staniz" is a misspelling of pre-existing Cybertronian city Stanix, but all the attributes of the town described here are different (it's in the north of Cybertron, and home to a spaceport, whereas Stanix, historically located in the south-west, is home to the Fort Scyk military complex and the Acid Wastes), indicating it's a new city.
  • Despite Sofía Orozco having an accent on her given name per Spanish language convention, Hector Ramirez and Salma Gutierrez do not; in Spanish style their names should be rendered "Héctor Ramírez" and "Salma Gutiérrez".

Covers (4)

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  • "Hey man, this show's gonna be outta sight!"
    "Hey man, this show's gonna be outta sight!"
  • Ironically not Spotlight: Jazz.
    Ironically not Spotlight: Jazz.
  • He'd rather look at the stars today instead of travel through them.
    He'd rather look at the stars today instead of travel through them.
  • The titular character.
    The titular character.

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Reprints

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  • Optimus Prime Volume 2 (January 24, 2018) ISBN 1684051312 / ISBN 978-1684051311
    • Collects Optimus Prime issues #7–10, and Transformers Annual 2017.
    • Bonus material includes art from most covers.
    • Trade paperback format.
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