Shockwave reflects on his long and changeable life as the seeds of a plan sown millions of years ago at long last bear fruit...
Synopsis
Featured characters
(All characters other than Dreadwing and Shockwave appear only in flashbacks.)
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
Quotes
Notes
- This issue is trailed on its front cover as a prelude to "Dark Cybertron", the event looming in the future of IDW's Transformers books. The inside front cover (containing the "story so far" segment, issue credits and thumbnail cover gallery) is redesigned as part of this, with a Shockwave background graphic.
Continuity notes
- This story take place concurrently with the last few issues of the series, following Shockwave's remarked-upon disappearance in issue #15.
- The seeming destruction of Crystal City as a result of the Metrotitan's explosion occurred in the 2012 Robots in Disguise annual. Flashbacks in that issue were also the source for both the battle between Omega Supreme and Monstructor that Shockwave is shown watching, and the original devastation of Crystal City and its return to the planet's underground.
- Shockwave's role as a student of Jhiaxus was originally introduced in very brief passing by Simon Furman waaaaay back in Spotlight: Doubledealer, and it has been mentioned several times in the course of Robots in Disguise thus far, but this is our first look at master and student contemporaneously.
- Shockwave's original two-handed, binocular form was introduced by James Roberts in his "Chaos Theory" storyline, but we did not know that this character was Shockwave until the game-changing "Shadowplay" trilogy in issues #9--11 of Roberts's More than Meets the Eye, which detailed the events summarized across pages 11-12 of this issue—Shockwave's rebellion against the Senate, the death of Nominus Prime, the rise of Sentinel Prime, and how the ritual of empurata transformed Shockwave into the 'bot we all know. Throughout this issue, we see Shockwave in all the various color schemes he wore during the "Chaos Theory" and "Shadowplay" stories, a hallmark of his expressive pre-empurata self.
- The Jhiaxian Academy of Advanced Technology was also introduced during the "Shadowplay" storyline, a note of foreshadowing of Shockwave's true identity before the audience learned it.
- Senator Proteus is another James Roberts creation, debuting in "Chaos Theory" and playing a key role in "Shadowplay".
- Dai Atlas speaks of his familiarity with Omega Supreme, as seen in the 2012 Robots in Disguise annual. Here we see him as a senator, similar to the role he occupies in the Monstrosity series, with the added explanation of how he avoided being executed alongside the other Senate members in Megatron: Origin #4.
- The Senate's projector is a member of the Disposable class, an underclass introduced in More than Meets the Eye #12.
- Megatron and Impactor here debut as miners departing for Luna 2, whose mining facilities were introduced in "Shadowplay", and seen in more detail in More than Meets the Eye #14. This is prior to the events of "Chaos Theory", after which "Shadowplay" notes Megatron will be shipped off to Messatine, setting up the events of Megatron: Origin.
- Shockwave's concern over resources, leading to the development of his Regenesis program, has been the driving force being his bubbling sidestory through Robots in Disguise thus far, and was introduced by Simon Furman waaa-hay-haaaay back in Spotlight: Shockwave.
- Shockwave's role in the creation of Megatron's combiner—Devastator—was noted back in issue #14, clarifying that issue's slight chronology confusion.
- Four of Shockwave's Regenesis ores are numbered: Ore-1's effect on LV-117 was seen in issue #10, Ore-4's devastation of Arduria featured in issue #6, and of course, Ore-13 was a major plot device during Simon Furman's run, particularly Infiltration. The one new ore introduced here, Ore-8, is described as creating "crystals of pure destruction" on the planet Tsiehshi—recognizable from its landscape and twin suns as the formerly-unnamed world from Spotlight: Kup, canonizing a longstanding fan theory about that world's dangers being the product of Regenesis.
- The scene of Shockwave's lab, filled with dead bodies strung upside down from the ceiling, is an homage to when he did the same to the Autobots back in issue #5 of the original Marvel series.
Errors
- Monstructor is consistently described as being formed from five Cybertronians, when actually, he's made up of six.
Covers (3)
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