Shadowplay, Part 1: Post Hoc

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"Shadowplay
(A Totally Epic Story Based On Real Events That Definitely Happened)
Part 1: Post Hoc"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published September 26, 2012
Cover date September 2012
Story by James Roberts
Art by Alex Milne
Colors by Josh Burcham
Letters by Chris Mowry
Editor John Barber
Continuity IDW continuity
Chronology Current era (2012)

A group of Autobots are gathered by Rewind to tell a story of corruption, conspiracy and murder from long ago on Cybertron.

Synopsis

On Cybertron, before the war, Nightbeat and Quark meet outside Maccadam's New Oil House to discuss the increase of violence in the face of the Clampdown and the rise of the Decepticon movement. Nightbeat is sympathetic to the worker class cause, while the science-class Quark fears for the future... but their argument ends when a drop of energon lands in Quark's drink, and the pair look up to discover the dead body of Senator Sherma, suspended from the Interstate Bridge!

In the present day, aboard the Lost Light, Ratchet arrives late to a meeting called by Rewind in Swerve's: the archivist has called him, Drift, Chromedome, Whirl and Skids together (with Swerve and Tailgate as an audience) to help him tell a story that will aid in Rung's mental recuperation. The true-life tale is set shortly after the instigation of the Clampdown, beginning with the assassination of Senator Sherma, and reveals how, thanks to one Autobot, all those present played a role in a greater story than they ever realized...

Chromedome begins the story by recalling how he and his partner in Mechaforensics, Prowl, were called in to investigate Sherma's murder, easily deducing the Decepticons as the culprits from the presence of their insignia, graffitied on Sherma's back. Skids interrupts to ask for some clarification on Prowl, who he doesn't remember; Swerve has a few choice words to describe him, and Rewind tries to emulate his fondness for flipping tables over, but can't quite manage it. Drift, receiving some messages from Rodimus, tries to hurry the story along, so Rewind turns narration over to him, asking about his time as a homeless circuit booster addict in the Dead End. Drift recounts how he was attacked by Sonic and Boom and was saved by decorated police officer Orion Pax and brought to a medical drop-in center run by Ratchet. Ratchet takes issue with Drift's embellishment of the facts, as he jokingly claims the atheist medic was praising Adaptus and Primus as he worked, but what he begrudgingly is unable to deny is that he told Drift that he was special. Drift tells of how he lied to Ratchet about going to a local Relinquishment Clinic, prompting Tailgate to ask exactly what the clinics were; Rewind plays an infomercial for one, which explains that they were used in the days of functionism to give 'bots the chance to experience life in bodies with other alternate modes via Sparkswap technology. Never a fan of the clinics, Ratchet picks up the story, remembering the news broadcast that played immediately after he had repaired Drift: the broadcast that announced the death of Nominus Prime, with its claim that he was the victim of a rust infection that Ratchet, having operated on Nominus following the attempt on his life, knew was a lie. His part in the story complete, Drift leaves to respond to an increasingly irate Rodimus, while Ratchet goes on to summarize how he accompanied Orion to a rendezvous with his senator friend. The senator confirmed Orion's suspicions that Nominus was killed by the Senate after the Matrix of Leadership within his chest was revealed to be a fake, and revealed his fears that the Senate's head of security, Sentinel, was planning something involving the Decepticons. For the sake of drama, Rewind has Ratchet stop there, turning things back over Chromedome to have him carry on with the story of Sherma's murder. Having discovered through autopsy that the senator was shot to death, Chromedome describes how he and Prowl traced fragments of cerulean glass found in Sherma's boots and treads back to the privileged community of Translucentica Heights and headed there on Skydarts. They discussed Prowl's upbringing in the strict town of Petrex and the existence or not of the Institute along the way, but upon their arrival, a corpse came flying out a high-rise window and landed in front of them, sporting another graffitied Decepticon symbol...

Meanwhile, down in the Lost Light's oil reservoir, Drift arrives to answer Rodimus's call. The reason is anything but pleasant... dredged out of the oil by Grapple, they have discovered the remains of Red Alert, and Rodimus blames Cyclonus for his death!

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

Autobots Others

Quotes

Ratchet: By the vaulted heights of—
Drift: You had him hidden behind the bar?!
Chromedome: So embarrassing.
Skids: —not seriously telling me that he's been here the whole time?!
Whirl: Cool.

—Reactions to Rewind pulling Rung's catatonic body out from behind the bar in Swerve's.


"The Decepticons are behind this."
"What makes you say that? Does the upside down corpse reference the Decepticons' plans to upend societal hierarchies? Is the position of the body such that at sunset, the shadow will point to the Functionalist council building where the first Decepticon activists were arrested?"
"There's all that, obviously. But for me the real clincher is the massive Decepticon symbol graffitied on his back."

—Chromedome and Prowl


"It's Prowl! 'Prowl the Pragmatist!' You know—Prowl!"
"Oh! Turns into a Predabot? Posted at Delphi? Likes a hug?"
"No! Prowl with the head spikes and the cruel mouth and the--cross all the time! Epically, pre-emptively, existentially cross. And cold! Supercilious and cold! Imagine Ultra Magnus without the warmth and people skills."

—Swerve and Skids


"How many times has he flipped a table?"
"Prowl? Ooh, four times."
"Y'know, when we left his office for the Lost Light I swear I heard-"
"You're right! Five times."

—Rewind and Chromedome


"So I'm laying on a circuit slab in Ratchet's Dead End workshop—and he says: 'Primus guide me, Primus protect me, I beseech you, oh might Primus, please—' MMMPH!"
"Unreliable narrator alert! Do not, I repeat do not listen to what he says!"

—Drift and Ratchet

Notes

Continuity notes

  • This story is essentially a direct sequel to Roberts's "Chaos Theory" two-parter from the ongoing series, published a little over a year before this story began. It follows up on events established by that story, like the injury of Nominus Prime by a suicide bomber, the establishment of the Clampdown, Orion Pax's reconstruction with a new chamber in his chest, and his dalliance with an enigmatic senator who conspicuously continues to go unnamed. The window of Maccadam's is even still cracked from where Rung collided with it in the first few pages of "Chaos Theory Part 1".
  • Furthermore, the issue's opening line, "What am I looking at again? Not more violence?" is a call back and deliberate contrast to Chaos Theory's opening line, "What am I looking at again? Not more poetry?"
  • This issue gives us our second mention of the Primal Vanguard, the unit to which Tailgate was supposedly attached, as he mentioned back in issue #2.
  • Several references are made to "Proteus's Promise", an unspecified political promise made by Senator Proteus from "Chaos Theory". This was the title of the public information film shown by Rewind in issue #8.
  • A billboard reading "Everyone's Shape Serves A Purpose" can be spotted outside Maccadam's; this slogan was repeated by Rewind in issue #1.
  • Ratchet comments that he spray-paints his hands red; and well he should, as they're replacements gained from Pharma in issue #5 which are actually blue. Some paint even transitions onto Drift's face when Ratchet tries to gag him during the storytelling.
  • Red Alert's name is also present on Rewind's hotspot diagram, yet unlike the others, he is not present at the storytelling meeting. With the last page's cliffhanger, the reason for that becomes graphically clear.
  • Sherma Bridge has cropped up in several places in Roberts's stories, starting with "Chaos Theory Part 1". Here we learn it was formerly the "Interstate Bridge", and was renamed (formally or colloquially, it's not specified) after the dead senator hung from it.
  • Skids confuses Prowl with Dent, who we met back in issue #4, where it was explained that he used to be named "Prowl" as well. His suggested animalistic alternate mode is confirmed (as a "Predabot"), and humorously, the reason he was shambling towards Pipes in that issue despite being infected with Red Rust is because he "likes a hug".
  • Drift's time as a homeless drifter (snort, giggle) was previously shown in issue #2 of his self-titled mini-series.
  • Sonic and Boom previously appeared in issues #4 and #5, where they were likewise enjoying the upper hand on would-be victims before getting quickly and thoroughly trounced by a new arrival.
  • Mentioned several times but perennially silent and off-screen is an allegedly chatty, teasing cohort of Orion's named "Roller". If this is an earlier incarnation of Orion's future component, or perhaps someone for whom that component would be named in honor, we don't know yet.
  • We first got a glimpse of a Relinquishment Clinic in issue #6, where one was implied to have some link to Chromedome and Rewind's shared history. The images used in the clinic's infomercial are redrawn from the original Generation 1 toy instructions for the Drill Powerdasher and Blurr.
  • A few of the names on the memorial for the Ark-1 are obscured by Ratchet's hand. While "Cyclonus" can be easily figured out from what we can see of it, the final name, starting with "Hype...", raises more questions. Could this be a hint at a greater backstory for Roberts-original character Hyperion? A reference to the obscure Transformer seen only in Skyquake's Megavisor, Hyperdrive?
  • A name beginning with "Tail" is also on the memorial. Issue #13 reveals that this is not short for Tailgate.
  • Pax's unnamed senator friend has had his color scheme tweaked a little in this issue compared to "Chaos Theory", with some more blue added to his chest.
  • Sentinel Prime's involvement in Nominus Prime's unfortunate fate was implied in a montage of images in issue #3, and made explicit here.
  • The revelation that the Matrix within Nominus Prime was a fake ties in to Optimus Prime's discovery of the real talisman in the Undergrid in Autocracy. When and how the Matrix went missing is eventually revealed in issue #19.
  • "Chaos Theory" and Megatron Origin are bridged with the revelation that Megatron was shipped off-planet after the earlier story, to Messatine, previously established to be home to nucleon mines and future home of both the Delphi medical facility and the Decepticon Justice Division. This presumably places Mining Outpost C-12 from Megatron Origin on that planet too.
  • In a big retcon, the Decepticons exist before the events of Megatron Origin, inspired by the early datalogs published by Megatron.
  • The mysterious "Institute" gets another mention this issue, one of several that have been peppered throughout Roberts's works.

Transformers references

  • Roberts previously used "Quark" as the name for an Autobot in his Eugenesis fan-novel, but that's about as far as similarities between the two characters go. This Quark's head is based on Animated Perceptor, as they both turn into microscopes.
  • Speaking of Animated, the luckless Scrounge makes a cameo in the first panel with an appearance based predominantly on his Animated counterpart, carrying a bundle of energy conductors (though probably not enough to last a quartex). Also visible is Beast Machines Rattrap.
  • The model ship Rung is building on page 2 is the Lost Light itself, or at least a ship of the same class.
  • A jug on the bar table has the same unique shape as the chemical flasks seen in the Lithone scientist's workshop at the beginning of The Transformers: The Movie.
  • Chromedome is sporting a body based on his original Generation 1 toy in the flashback sequences. He notes that he was not called "Chromedome" at this point in his life, but for clarity's sake Rewind just has him use his current name while telling the story. His old name would be revealed in issue #14, and was not some crazy secret conspiracy, thank you very much internet forums.

Real-world references

  • "Post hoc" analysis, from the Latin meaning "after this", is the examination of data in search of patterns after the fact. As Rewind explains, this is the purpose of his story: to reveal to the gathered characters' how their exploits all crossed over with one another without any of them knowing.
  • The Primal Vanguard shooting took place somewhere called "Apophenia." The word means the experience of seeing connections in meaningless or random data, a fitting title given what Rewind and this story are doing.

Crew Manifest

  • Red Alert's headless corpse is recovered from the oil reservoir.
  • 6 deaths, 5 new arrivals (plus 20 or so Faders) since the launch.

Errors

  • In the panel where Nightbeat and Quark first see Sherma's hanging, dead body, Sherma's hands are drawn backwards.
  • On page 7, Prowl refers to "the Functionalist council"; the council's ad on the same page, and page 2 before it, says "Functionist" and that's what Quark called them on the second page. This was corrected for the TPB.
  • On page 16, panel 3, "understanding" is misspelled as "undersanding", this was corrected for the TPB.
  • On the same page, on a subsequent panel, "someone" is misspelled as "somone", this was corrected for the TPB.
  • Mechaforensics recovers glass from Senator Sherma's traction treads, but his body is not depicted as actually having any treads. We can't even argue that they're folded on the inside when he's in robot mode because we don't see any at the autopsy either.
  • On page 18, panel 3, assuming that the names on the Ark-1 memorial are all of Cybertronian polities already established in fiction, "Protihex" is misspelled as "Protohex".

Soundtrack

For the three-part "Shadowplay" story:

For this issue:

It's also worth noting that the title is also a song, by the 1980s English band Joy Division.

Covers (3)

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