Bullets

The name or term "Bullet" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, seeBullet (disambiguation).

The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers »
"Bullets"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	September 1,2010
Story	James Roberts
Editor	Shaun Knowler
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era (2010)

Seeds for the new Wreckers take root.

Contents 1Synopsis 2Featured characters 3Mentioned characters 4Quotes 5Notes 5.1Errors 5.2Foreign localization

Synopsis

First Aid's boss,Pharma,catches him reading datalog #113 ofWreckers: Declassifiedwhen he should be working and orders him to go check on a "Fader". While going to check onRoulette,First Aid recalls the time whenSpringercontacted him asking for help with a special project. He is surprised when newly injured members ofDogfight's recon team are brought into the medical ward. First Aid began carefully checking them all over, paying special attention to their Autobotinsignias,while everyone else is confused by his strange behavior. He finds something of interest onDodgerand excitedly tells him he has to operate immediately. First Aid contacts Springer letting him know what he found.

Rungtreats the shell-shockedFlattopand finds out that he is a survivor of theBabu Yaratrocity. He was given a new body like any survivor who requested one, and assigned toSilverstreak's group. On his first mission after recovering from Babu Yar, Flattop saw theShimmer,which completely pushed him over the edge, and was why he was being treated by Rung now. As Rung gives Flattop scientific and psychoanalytical explanations for the Shimmer, Flattop dies right there in his office.

Ironfistis questioned by theEthics Committeeregarding his invention ofcerebro-sensitive bullets.The committee comes to the conclusion that use of the bullets would constitute a war crime, and orders him to surrender the bullets within 36 hours. On the way out, he runs intoSkyfall,who's impressed by his restrained reaction to the Committee confiscating his work.Brainstormarrives, bringing his latest development, theMalevolent Counterintuitive Pathogen,before the committee, Ironfist and Skyfall aren't quite sure if he's kidding as they head back to the lab.

OnHydrus 5,PyroandAfterburnersurvey the wrecked planet, newly freed from the threat of the Decepticons. Afterburner compliments Pyro on his bravery before speeding off, just before Pyro finds himself experiencing The Shimmer.

Springer stands on the command deck of theDebris,mulling overAgent 113's report, retrieved from a slug lodged in Dodger's Autobot insignia. The report warns of recent happenings at theGarrus-9penal colony. With it in mind, Springer is deciding on who to invite to join theWreckers.

Guzzle,currently stationed at theIgue-Moor Fuel Depot,is shooting statues withThe Judgewhen he sees a sort of shimmer...

In his workshop, Ironfist reviews the schematic of his head and the cerebro-sensitive bullet lodged in it, remembering his long relationship with Skyfall. He had developedOptimus Prime'sion blaster,though the Autobot leader attributed its invention to Skyfall. Ironfist had continued to support Skyfall, after the latter spent a hundred years in the DecepticonGrindcore prison camp,and after theblack phosphexincident when Skyfall was assigned for a time as a guard at Garrus 9.

Rotorstormenjoys the victory the Autobots have just attained in the battle ofKarashi Delta,but even that is tainted by his memories of theIaconian Aerial Academy,and the bullying he suffered at the hands of his instructor,Jetstream.He's brought out of his reverie when he spies the Shimmer and opens fire at it.

Springer decides on the four Autobots who will be invited to join the Wreckers: Rotorstorm, Guzzle, Pyro and Skyfall.

Skyfall passes on reactions to the "Fisitron"datalogs to Ironfist, such as readers having coined the term"Fisitronisms".Irritated by the criticisms, Ironfist returns to packing up the cerebro-cannons and Skyfall leaves. Shortly afterward Ironfist receives a call fromProwl,who's well aware that he's behind Fisitron.

Springer meets withKup,and reveals that Prowl has vetoed Skyfall as a Wrecker and is sending a substitute. Kup relates a story of how Prowl once killeda Decepticonby readingCybertron lawat him until he triggered his own kill-switch. The current Wreckers vote on the three Autobots whom Springer has picked to invite.

As Ironfist tidies his workshop, Springer appears to him in a shimmer and invites him to join the Wreckers. Ironfist naturally agrees, and Springer reports back to the other Wreckers that the only one who turned him down was Guzzle. HoweverTwin Twistreports that Guzzle's holding on line 2.

Skyfall is astounded at Ironfist's being accepted into the Wreckers. When Ironfist gives him the workshop, he's so excited that he doesn't hear Ironfist saying that he doesn't think he'll be coming back. Once his friend has left, Ironfist receives another call...

Ironfist arrives at Igue Moor and meets Guzzle, who's impressed when Ironfist reveals he's Fisitron. The pair encounter Rotorstorm and then Pyro, who they at first mistake for Optimus Prime come to see them off. They decide to try out thelightformer cannonIronfist has brought along.

Nine months later, Skyfall objects to the Ethics Committee cleaning out the contents of his workshop, due to his failure to attend hearings. No sooner hasXaarondisconnected the call than a pre-recorded message begins to play, triggered by Ironfist's death. Ironfist reveals that he knows Skyfall tampered with the cerebro-gun so it would "accidentally" go off, and that Skyfall leaked theGideon's Glueresearch to the Decepticons. As the recording is also being sent out as a datalog, theEnforcement Squadbegins banging on the workshop door in short order. With nowhere to run, Skyfall drinks a vial of Gideon's Glue found concealed in thesky-sled.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Mentioned characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"That, is the best story ever."

—Springer,upon hearing Kup tell him about the time Prowl literallyboredsomeone to death.

"A head shot at close range...not a pleasant way to go."

—Rotorstorm,unknowingly being ironic.

"I nearly forgot to tell you, I've programmed the workshop terminal to treat this message as one of Fisitron's datalogs. Which means that every one of my subscribers will have these words beamed directly into their neural processors. You said you were a slow reader, Skyfall. You're a slow listener as well. There are 4,000 Autobots out there who've heard this part of the message before you have."

—Ironfistfrom beyond the grave, telling Skyfall that he's screwed.

Notes

• This text-only story was released as a bonus feature inLast Stand of the Wreckerstrade paperback, and is a framing device for the material in the trade.
• The story had some minor revisions in the version printed in the hardcover edition, most notably Rung's deliberations on vocal synthesizers. The errors mentioned below are still present. Additionally, the hardcover also includes several scenes originally intended for "Bullets" that had been cut for space, as a sort of "deleted scenes" extra under the name "Out of Bullets".The hardcover edition ofLast Stand of the Wreckersis the only way to obtain these extra scenes; they'renotincluded in the subsequentWreckers Sagatrade paperback.
• First Aid initially misreads the initial on the Wreckers business card Springer gives him as "M" —a description strongly resembling the booby-trappedMachinationcard found byVerity CarloinEscalation#4.
• Rung has a model of theArk-1.
• The Autobot insignia used for passage breaks in theWreckers Sagatrade paperback are definitely the live-action versions. See the page onInsigniato tell the difference, but the giveaway is the angry eyes.
• Delphiwas the name of a secret Autobot base in James Roberts'sEugenesisfanfiction.
• The number113crops up in a bunch of places:Agent 113is the spy who passes on the information about Garrus-9,Room 113is where the Ethic Committee meets, and Datalog 113 is the one that concerns the Pova incident. This is a little in-joke by James Roberts, in reference toissue #113of the Marvel UKTransformerscomic, which was the issue that got him hooked on the series.
• The description of Pyro's attack on theTremorcons—how he runs over two of them before boosting up and transforming in mid-air—is very similar toOptimus Prime'sfamous entrance intoAutobot CityduringThe Transformers: The Movie.
• In the story Kup tells to Springer about raiding a Decepticon ship named theFatal Consequence,he lists a group named theHeliobotsamong the Autobots who were accompanying him during said raid. However, in the text story "Zero Point"published in the hardcover edition ofLast Stand of the Wreckers,Springerhimselfis said to have been a member of the Heliobots, which would suggest that he should have been there during the events Kup describes to him in this story. For the reprint of "Bullets" in the hardcover edition ofLast Stand,Kup's mention of the Heliobots was thus changed to refer to only "a dozen other" Autobots in order to avoid the contradiction; however, theWreckers Sagatrade paperback, which also contains reprints of both "Bullets" and "Zero Point", again features the original version of the line in question with the Heliobots as part of the raid.

Errors

• Zeta Primeis described as being killed by a sniper.Later fictionwould retcon this by having Megatron kill Zeta in his climactic final battle.
• On page 123, "you're" should be "your".
• On page 125, there's an extra "to" in Xaaron's dialogue.
• On page 127, "centric" is misspelled "centirc".
• One scene begins with Perceptor describing the effects of "vicarious perception", but randomly jumps focus to Ironfist after the first few lines. It looks like those lines were actually meant to be the final lines of the previous scene, and that the scene switch was erroneously inserted a paragraph too late.
• The version of Bullets printed in the Swedish hardcoverWreckers Sista Stridaccidentally leaves out the final few paragraphs of the story. Said paragraphs, as well as an apology from the publisher were printed on a piece of A5 paper that was inserted between the pages.

Foreign localization

Japanese

• Title:"Jūdan"( súng đạn," Bullet ")

Swedish

• Title:"Kulor"(" Bullets ")
• An illustrated version of "Bullets" (resembling the old Marvel UK annual text stories) was printed in the Swedish oversized hardcover collection,Transformers: Mer än ögat kan se.The illustrations consisted of First Aid holding an Autobot insignia, pencilled byNick Rocheand colored byMalin Sasse;Rung in session with Flattop, pencilled byStephen Baskervilleand colored byWinston Chan;The Autobot Ethics Committee, pencilled and colored byJeff Anderson;Afterburner standing around, pencilled by Nick Roche and colored by Malin Sasse and Skyfall about to drink Gideon's Glue, pencilled byThomas Sjöströmand colored by Winston Chan. The hardcover was published byAdes MediaonMay 30,2019,and was limited to 500 copies.