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Heavy Is the Head

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« The Transformers: Robots in Disguise #16 »
Combiner Wars #8 »
RID16 cvrA.jpg
"Heavy Is the Head"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published April 17, 2013
Cover date April 2013
Written by John Barber
Pencils by Andrew Griffith
Inks by Brian Shearer
Ink assist by Rick Ketcham
Colors by Josh Perez
Letters by Shawn Lee
Editor Carlos Guzman
Continuity 2005 IDW continuity
Chronology Current era (2013)

This is the story of the end of the world...

Contents

Synopsis

Bumblebee and his team pursue Megatron through the burning streets of Iacon, but Metalhawk and Dirge both chide the Autobot leader for making the destruction of the Decepticons his primary aim, rather than the rescue of Starscream—an insistence upon the idea of factions that they consider to be the reason his government has consistently failed. Bumblebee is incredulous; Sideswipe and Arcee keep out of the argument and busy themselves taking down Skywarp. Rumble appears, still smarting over Arcee's attack on the Decepticon pen, but the little punk's whining is abruptly silenced when the newly arrived Ironhide and the Dinobots blindside him. While Ironhide then goes to confront Devastator, hoping he can get through to Prowl, lost in the chaotic mind of the rampaging gestalt, the Dinobots stay with Bumblebee's team to provide muscle, giving the little 'bot the boost he needs to take charge and order his team forward. They soon catch up to the fleeing Decepticons, and Metalhawk cuts his way through to Starscream's side, at which point the pair are confronted by Turmoil. The Decepticon blasts one of Metalhawk's arms off, but Starscream, snapped out of his paralyzing depression by the realisation that Metalhawk has not turned against him and really is his friend, springs into action. Seizing Metalhawk's severed arm, Starscream uses its wing-blade to slice Turmoil's cannon off, then cleaves his head open.

Elsewhere, Swindle is in the process of gathering up wounded but still-living Autobots and bringing them to the safety of the city's prison, only to find himself staring down the barrel of Needlenose's gun just as he carries Blurr inside. But before he can fire, Needlenose is caught unawares by his old victim Zetca—backed by a group of other NAILs and turncoat Decepticons—who holds a gun on him for a moment before allowing him to run away. Zetca is surprised by Swindle's actions, but smiles as Swindle explains that Blurr was hurt saving him and he was repaying the favor.

(thumbnail)
A face THAT big and prickish is just asking for an Ironhide knuckle-sandwich!

Ironhide, meanwhile, is clambering around Devastator's head, causing the combiner to howl in confusion, unable to comprehend why Ironhide is persisting despite seemingly impossible odds. Ironhide tells him that he has come to a revelation: where once he thought his vision of the future was fixed, his time in the wilderness has convinced him that nothing is incapable of change. These words reach Prowl, who has long been struggling with the belief that any attempt to alter his own way of life will be fruitless, and he manages to take control of Devastator's body, using the giant's arms to tear its own head off. Devastator crumbles back into his component Constructicons, and Prowl emerges, himself once again, at last. The fight is not over yet, however: Megatron has been waiting for the Autobots to bring Devastator down, so that he himself can combine with the Constructicons and form a truly unstoppable titan. As the combination begins, Dirge pleads with Megatron not to start the war again, but Megatron simply shoots him, mockingly asking if change is so "important" to him that he will die for it. This word reminds Bumblebee of Wheeljack's dying utterance, a call to remember "What's most important." Realisation dawns: Wheeljack was referring to his system bypass code, made up of what he used to call "three most important words in the Cybertroninan language." As one, Bumblebee, Prowl, and Ironhide speak the activation code "Wheeljack Wheeljack Wheeljack," and a forcefield belt that Wheeljack had secretly integrated with Megatron's spark casing flares into life. The energy sphere immobilizes Megatron, stopping his combination and ending the conflict at last.

At another spot on the battlefield, out of view of the others, Metalhawk explains to Starscream his reasons for saving him, recalling Starscream's appointment by the Metrotitan as the "Chosen One", and his own newfound certainty that Starscream will be able to understand that this is a responsibility, not an opportunity. Starscream, on the other hand, has found a new opportunity all his own... and kills Metalhawk with Turmoil's cannon. Lifting his former friend's body, Starscream ascends to a peak overlooking the Autobots and NAILs below, already back to squabbling over what to do with the Decepticons now that the fighting is done, and cries out for their attention. He holds Metalhawk's dead body aloft, blaming his death on the war, and repeating Metalhawk's words about opportunity and responsibility as his own. Starscream tears the Decepticon insignia from his chest, and calls for all who will listen to do the same, to give up their factions as Metalhawk always wanted. And the people...

...side with Starscream.

Under Starscream's proclamation, those Autobots and Decepticons who will not renounce their factions are banished from Iacon and sent out into the wilderness, Bumblebee's team paramount among them. As they go, and Bumblebee reflects on the long string of failures that was his leadership, Starscream pulls his crown from the rubble of the city, dons it, and surveys his new world.

Featured characters

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

Autobots Decepticons NAILs

Quotes

"Can you handle the rest o' the 'cons, Arcee?"
"With five Dinobots, I can retake the planet."
"We only got four."
"Then I'll see what I can do."

—Ironhide and Arcee


"You pair of cowards. I bear the scars—the bite marks—of a warrior forged in the cauldron of battle, while you—a pacifist—and an opportunist—run to hide in the shadows."
 "Opportunist. I like that, Turmoil. You're not the first person to call me that, but I like it. Thing with opportunists—"
(Starscream grabs Metalhawk's severed arm.)
"—don't show them opportunities."
(KER-SLASH)

—Turmoil and Starscream


"I... thought... you were my friend."
(SHABLAMMO)
"I was. I just want this more."

—Metalhawk and Starscream

Notes

Continuity notes

  • Devastator makes use of a drill in place of his left hand, a callback to the original Devastator toy, whose forearms doubled as missile launchers that could hold drill-shaped missiles.
  • Rumble remembers Arcee's attack on the Decepticon pen from issue #11, tying up the last particularly obvious question surrounding Arcee and her role in the Decepticons' plan (while believed by the 'Cons to be on their side at the time, she attacked them because Starscream may have been watching).
  • Ironhide cracks that he's sure he already smashed Rumble, referring to his takedown of his twin Frenzy, last issue.
  • The idea of Starscream being reduced to the near-paralytic levels of inaction he has displayed the last few issues following the complete failure of one of his plays for leadership, only to snap back to vicious action when pushed too far, isn't new: we saw him suffer through the same thing in Spotlight: Megatron.
  • Blurr and Swindle got flattened by Astrotrain back in issue #14 while Jetfire, Bluestreak, and Warpath were taken down in the Decepticon raid of the prison in issue #13.
  • Zetca recalls his beating at the hands of Needlenose from aaaaaaall the way back in issue #1.
  • We first learned about Ironhide's vision of the future in issue #5.
  • Wheeljack's forcefield belts first appeared in issue #7, and he used them on Megatron in issue #12. He attempted to remind Bumblebee of "what's most important" in issue #14, which we learn this issue was referring to the "three most important words in the Cybertronian language"—the passcode consisting of his own name repeated three times—seen previously in issue #4.
  • Arcee reminds Dirge of when she told him that "we all want what we can't have", from issue #4.
  • Starscream's crown is, of course, the crown he wore during his coronation in The Transformers: The Movie, which he was previously seen trying on for size in issue #11.
  • The central theme of issue #5: Ironhide's job as a bodyguard before the war was helping people "make the right choice". Here, in an explicit callback, his ability to help Prowl make the right choice neutralizes the threat of Devastator.
  • For the first time in the series, the last names of the inker and colorist of the issue were on the front cover.

Real-world references

  • The title of this issue is derived from a common paraphrasing of a quote from Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2, "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." As a double meaning, Prowl is the head of Devastator.

Errors

  • In the edited version of this issue available with the Generations Combiner Wars Deluxe Class Dead End and Brake-Neck toys, Metalhawk's speech bubble in panel 1 on page 1 says "This is terrible idea, Bumblebee.", lacking an "a". (The unedited version instead has the speech bubble say "This is suicide, Bumblebee.")
  • As in the previous two issues, all the Decepticons are wearing the narrower, diamond-eyed Decepticon insignia usually found on movieverse Decepticons.
  • On page 12, a typo turns "what" into "whate". This was corrected in the trade.
  • When Prowl and the Constricticons combined two issues ago, it appeared that Prowl's head physically (and painfully) grew into Devastator's head. Here, when Devastator rips his own head off, we see that Prowl's regular head is underneath it, looking completely normal.

Edits

Similar to the pack-in versions of various other existing IDW comics, the version of this issue available with the Generations Combiner Wars Deluxe Class Dead End and Brake-Neck toys was also subject to some changes:

  • On page 1, Metalhawk's speech bubble in panel 1 is changed from "This is suicide, Bumblebee." to "This is terrible idea, Bumblebee.", with the speech bubble itself resized accordingly; (see also "errors"); and his speech bubble in panel 3 has "You want to kill Megatron." changed to "You want to destroy Megatron.", also with the speech bubble itself resized accordingly.
  • On page 6, Bumblebee's third and fourth captions in panel 1 both have "I screwed up" changed to "I messed up".
  • Three edits on page 10: In panel 1, Swindle's speech bubble is shortened from "Aw, hell." to simply "Aw.", with the speech bubble itself resized accordingly; also in panel 1, Needlenose's second speech bubble is changed from "I thought Astrotrain killed you." to "I thought Astrotrain flattened you."; and in panel 2, Needlenose's speech bubble is changed from "Are you collecting dead Autobots?" to "Are you collecting destroyed Autobots?"
  • On page 11, Sky-Byte's speech bubble in panel 1 is changed from "You murdered our friends." to "You blasted our friends."
  • Four edits on page 15: Megatron's speech bubble in panel 1 is changed from "Is change so important to you that you'll die for it?" to "Is change so important to you that you'll give up everything for it?", with the speech bubble itself resized accordingly; Prowl's speech bubble in panel 2 has "It'll probably kill us, and most of the city" changed to "It'll probably destroy us, and most of the city", also with the speech bubble itself resized accordingly; Bumblebee's first speech bubble in panel 2 has "Shut up, both of you." changed to "Quiet, both of you."; and Bumblebee's first speech bubble in panel 7 has "Dammit." changed to "Of course."
  • On page 17, Starscream's speech bubble in panel 4 has "I'm not going to let a fellow Cybertronian die for no reason." changed to "I'm not going to let a fellow Cybertronian be destroyed for no reason.", with the speech bubble itself resized accordingly.
  • On page 19, Starscream's third speech bubble in panel 5 is changed from "Dead—murdered by our would-be leaders." to "Gone—destroyed by our would-be leaders."
  • On page 20, Starscream's third speech bubble in panel 4 is changed from "…no more secret assassins…" to "…no more secrets…", with the speech bubble itself resized accordingly.

Foreign localization

Japanese

  • Title: "Shidōsha no Jūseki" (指導者の重責, "Heavy Responsibility of Leaders")

Covers (5)

  • (thumbnail)

    Charge!...RETREAT!!!

  • (thumbnail)

    3 Amigos

  • (thumbnail)

    The Bee

  • (thumbnail)

    Dead End toy cover

  • (thumbnail)

    Wildrider/Brake-Neck toy cover

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