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All Hail Optimus Part 2: Edge of the Earth

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« The Transformers vol. 2 #51 »
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"All Hail Optimus
Part 2: Edge of the Earth"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published March 16, 2016
Cover date March 2016
Written by John Barber
Art by Andrew Griffith
Colors by Josh Perez (pg. 1-15, 20), Josh Burcham (pg. 16-17), and John-Paul Bove (pg. 18-19)
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor Carlos Guzman
Continuity 2005 IDW continuity
Chronology Current era

The Autobots try to prove their good faith to the people of Earth, but a confrontation is forced when Aileron's tolerance for humanity wears thin.

Contents

Synopsis

Following Optimus Prime's announcement to the world, the Autobots set out to prove that they are here to help by offering relief in trouble spots all around the globe, from protecting victims of terrorism to bringing internet to the impoverished. The Aerialbots carry out a cargo-drop above the deserts of West Africa, easily avoiding the anti-air guns unleashed against them, but when human jet fighters enter the fray and start rattling their hulls with machine gun fire, the team starts to grow irritated. Silverbolt keeps them from engaging their attackers and has them pull out as, down below, the canisters they dropped sprout into rapidly-growing plant life that will bring relief to the arid region.

Elsewhere, another nightmare assails the sleeping Optimus Prime: he sees the Mistress of Flame decry his actions, accusing him of sacrificing others to his godless ambition; Soundwave declares him unwelcome in the new peaceful world he is seeking to make; Starscream laughs and compares himself to Prime; and Prowl levels a gun at the back of his head and express regret for what Prime has become. Awakening with a cry, Prime is quickly attended by Aileron, who updates him on the Aerialbots' mission. Prime apologizes for having so far failed to live up to the deified image Aileron has of him, but the Camien believes that the goal he has the Autobots working toward is worth dying for, just as her friend Sterling did.

At the Witwicky family home, Spike enjoys a short-lived reunion with his mother before Ayana Jones arrives in a jet craft to collect him for an op. Rendezvousing with Zilong Qian and his unit, they head for Thundercracker's old homestead, which they have discovered has suddenly become cloaked. Though they aim only for containment, Zilong is more than willing to generate some casualties—but it soon turns out that neither will be happening today, as Thundercracker's former residence is discovered to be abandoned, deliberately left for the humans to find, with the message "WE ARE HERE TO HELP" written all around it.

Aboard the Skyroller, in flight, Prime requests that Tracks, who has just arrived from Cybertron via the repaired space bridge, reach out to his brother Needlenose aboard the Decepticons' Sanctuary Station. The proposal appalls Sunstreaker, who harbours anger over the injuries those same Decepticons recently inflicted on Sideswipe, and his anger in turn, drives Aileron into a rage; the fact that Cybertronians cannot put their differences aside and work together is bad enough, but the fact that they keep fighting while the Autobots are determined to make friends with the race that killed Sterling is more than she can take. In the heat of the moment, unwilling to listen to Prime's platitudes, Aileron opens the ship's cargo door and leaps out, flying off on a mission of her own.

In Washington, D.C., Faireborn and Jones cautiously try to convince the President to take the Autobots' message at face value, admitting that while it might not be what humanity wants, they should not ascribe any hostility to the Autobots' actions. Any hope they have of convincing their commander-in-chief is promptly thrown out the window when Aileron lands on the White House lawn and demands an audience with the president to discuss humanity's surrender. The Seeker clones guarding the building move to attack her, but Optimus and Sunstreaker, hot on Aileron's tail, arrive to fend off the automatons' assault. Prime tries to make Aileron see she is only propagating a circle of violence, and calls for the humans to lay down their arms so they may talk, but the humans have other ideas: at Marissa's reluctant direction, Zilong targets Prime with one of his country's laser satellites and blasts his left arm clean off. A second satellite blast is unleashed a moment later, but fortunately for Prime, this one is diverted by the gravity powers of the newly-arrived Victorion. The combiner levitates the Transformers away, using her powers to render them invisible, but as they disappear, Spike realizes that the human forces have seen their enemies' weakness: Optimus Prime could kill them... but he won't.

Victorion takes Prime, Sunstreaker, and Aileron back to the Skyroller, where Aileron still refuses to listen to Prime even as he tries to tell her he understands her anger. Deferring medical treatment until later, Prime then enters the ship and does something he had been putting off for too long: a teleconference with Soundwave, Starscream, and the Mistress of Flame to discuss what happens next...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Humans Others

Quotes

"You idiots—can't you put aside your zillion-year-old war to see you're on the same side! But the humans we came to save? They murder us!"
"Whoa, hey, I know where you're coming from, but they aren't all like that."
"Not all humans? So what."

—Aileron is sick of Sunstreaker's SJW bullshit and she's gonna go post about it on Reddit


"Let me talk to your leader—I want to negotiate your terms of surrender!"
"Huh. I didn't know that happened in real life."

—Aileron and the President


"I guess you could say... things got a bit out of hand? Eh?"

—Sunstreaker tries to find some humor in Prime's missing limb

Notes

Continuity notes

(thumbnail)
Some things never change.
  • Superion has finally separated into the individual Aerialbots for the first time since Combiner Wars.
  • Spike's unnamed mother previously appeared all the way back in All Hail Megatron #2. (She appeared to be much more composed back then; presumably, several extra years of age, a Decepticon invasion and her husband's death have all contributed to her somewhat more fragile mental state here.) The Witwicky's palatial home is also faithfully recreated from its appearance in that issue, and Spike recalls how his father was airlifted from its grounds in the same scene.
  • Spike's real name is revealed to be "Stevie"! Action Man: Revolution would go on to clarify his legal given name to be "Steven".
  • Spike and his mother talk about Spike's unnamed sister, whose sole previous mention came in issue #17 of the 2009-2011 ongoing series.
  • Spike refers to the brief time his family thought he was dead, in All Hail Megatron #5.
  • It's good to know Sunstreaker has mellowed; it wasn't so long ago (All Hail Megatron again, to be exact) that he made a deal with the Decepticons to have them kill every human alive, and now he's the one telling Aileron that not all humans are bad.
  • Speaking of Sunstreaker, his appearance in Singapore? The humans don't know what he was up to there. We're sure that's not going to come up later.
  • The montage of Transformer activity shows Thundercracker, the one who least wants to fight and is interested in human culture, bringing internet to poor villages rather than anything requiring violence.
  • The location of Thundercracker's home is finally specified: "The Sierras", presumably referring to the Sierra Nevadas, which are nicknamed such in real life.
  • File footage is pulled up of Jazz killing John Powell from the aforementioned issue #17, in the form of a panel lifted from that issue.
  • The President refers to a billion dead from the Transformers. Years before, "Ride-Along" would imply this much of a death toll from "All Hail Megatron"; that may have been an error but this isn't!
  • Upon seeing the damaged Prime, Jazz quips that he knows what losing an arm feels like, referring to his own recent loss of a limb during the "Conquerors" storyline, not to mention all the way back in Devastation #4.

Real-life references

  • Upon learning Spike's real name, Jones jokes "Did they name the dog Spike?", a reference to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, in which audiences learned that the title character had named himself after his dog.
  • Among the Autobots activities are two topical moves: stopping Islamic State/Daesh "radicals" attacking a Middle Eastern girls school and stopping police brutality against a black youth in America. Probably no accident that the all-girl Torchbearers are doing the former and Jazz, traditionally voiced by black actors in the cartoons, is doing the latter.

Other trivia

  • Whither Rust Dust? The poor lass is still missing from the group shot of the Torchbearers, just as she was last issue! She does make an appearance as part of Victorion, but is otherwise absent from the story.
  • Victorion's power over gravity is revealed to extend to the manipulation of light particles, allowing her to bend light to create an invisibility field.

Covers (3)

  • (thumbnail)

    "I can't quit you, Prowl."

  • (thumbnail)

    "Freedom is the right of me to blow you to smithereens."

  • (thumbnail)

    Mine!

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