Shockwaves

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« The Transformers: Robots in Disguise #17
"Shockwaves"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published May 22, 2013
Cover date May 2013
Written by John Barber
Art by Livio Ramondelli
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor Carlos Guzman
Continuity IDW continuity
Chronology Current era (2013)

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

As Iacon burns, Shockwave secretly withdraws from the city, confident that the Decepticon uprising will fail, taking Dreadwing with him to investigate the remains of Crystal City, out beneath the wilderness. Dreadwing is rather grumpy at having been taken out of the fight, but that melts away, to be replaced with amazement at the discovery that Crystal City is still standing, despite supposedly having been obliterated by the explosion of the Metrotitan weeks beforehand. Shockwave suggests he can help solve the conundrum... and shoots him dead. Shockwave waits, then... and reflects on the life that has brought him to this point...

Millions of years ago, Shockwave is performing an experiment in Crystal City when his teacher, Jhiaxus, pulls him away from his work to observe his latest creation: Monstructor, embroiled in battle with Omega Supreme. When Monstructor falls before the ancient Transformer, Shockwave's faith in Jhiaxus is shaken for the first time, and he watches as his master leaves Cybertron aboard the Ark-1 before his first failure can disgrace him.

Inheriting Jhiaxus's role, his teachings, and his sciences, Shockwave becomes a senator in the new regime that arises on Cybertron. On his first day as a member of the senate, he announces the founding of the Jhiaxian Academy of Advanced Technology in honor of his teacher, but clashes with senator Proteus, whose ardent functionism and open abuse of a Disposable class projector 'bot rankles with Shockwave. Presently, he is approached by Dai Atlas—initially wary of Shockwave due to concerns expressed by Omega Supreme over his continued study of Jhiaxus's work, but impressed by his reaction to Proteus—and tries to explain his greatest concern for the future of their race to him: the inevitability of a catastrophic energon shortage. In an attempt to safeguard against this, Shockwave explains that he seeded something in Crystal City—but with the city devastated and sealed back underground, that experiment is unlikely to come to fruition, and so he has begun to consider replicating it on other planets...

Observing that neither the Senate nor Nominus Prime were willing to entertain change, Shockwave begins courting prospective candidates for new Primes, including Orion Pax. Following the rise of Sentinel Prime, Proteus's discovery of Shockwave's defiance results in his being subjected to empurata and Shadowplay: his head and hands replaced and the emotion centers of his brain cut away. But while Proteus believed he was punishing Shockwave, in truth, the now-emotionless Shockwave considers himself truly free, as he now no longer cares about Proteus, and can act solely in his own interests, morality no longer an obstruction to the most logical means of preserving Cybertron. After rebuffing Dai Atlas during a hearing in which his former friend attempted to explain Shockwave's earlier concerns to the senate, Shockwave is approached by Starscream and brought before Megatron, who offers him the resources to continue his experiments in return for developing a Decepticon combiner. Shockwave accepts, and begins experimenting on an increasing number of Cybertronian citizens, few of whom survive the process.


It is being brought.
It is being brought.
Oh, he's doin' somethin'...

Another editor is doing extensive changes to this article right now, and is requesting that all other editors hold off on any edits until their work is finished, in order to make sure nothing important gets lost.

(All characters other than Dreadwing and Shockwave appear only in flashbacks.)
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Decepticons Others

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.

Transformers references

  • 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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