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New Cybertron Part 4: Dance Among the Shadows

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I got gadgets and gizmos a plenty. I got who-zzits and what-zzits galore!
"New Cybertron Part 4:
Dance Among the Shadows"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published February 22, 2017
Cover date February 2017
Written by John Barber
Art by Alex Milne
Colors by Josh Burcham
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor Carlos Guzman
Continuity 2005 IDW continuity
Chronology Current era

Pyra Magna and Optimus Prime come to blows when Prime's dangerous gambit to bring Earth and the Junkions together reaches a tipping point.

Contents

Synopsis

Rumble, Frenzy, and Cosmos desperately try to fight off the Sharkticons that rain down upon them, but they are horrendously outnumbered, unable to get a signal out to call for help, and are soon swarmed by the beasts. Their defeat is watched over a bank of monitors by Rum-Maj and Wreck-Gar, the latter of whom is still keen to make a deal with Optimus Prime for Ore-13 despite this act of deceit, while the former takes it as proof that they cannot work together and begins plotting reprisal.

Four million years ago, Orion Pax stands alongside Zeta Prime and watches as a pre-recorded announcement from Zeta is played for the populace promising that the questions about the integrity of Cybertron's police force will soon be put to rest. Orion is uncomfortable over Zeta's statements regard Hefter's guilt and the potential effects such claims will have, but Zeta waves off his concerns, pointing out that everything he is doing is pageantry in the name of the greater good a point he punctuates by revealing his phony Matrix, and promising Orion that one day, everything Zeta has built might become his...

Optimus Prime and Aileron return to Autobot City from Cybertron through the spacebridge and are immediately met by the colonist soldiers, whose persistent genuflection before Optimus continues to test Aileron's nerves. After receiving an update on current events from Jetfire, Optimus requests that he contact Soundwave and have him invite the leaders of Earth to Autobot City the next morning. Soundwave, still visiting the G.I. Joe encampment on the Matterhorn, agrees, though his reluctance to mention his current activities to his fellow Cybertronians tips Talon off to the fact that he is acting without Optimus's approval.

In Cairo, Thundercracker, Marissa, and Buster take in the sights at a bazaar, while Thundercracker wheedles more information out of Marissa about her estranged father, Flint. He eventually convinces her that Flint's offer for her to join G.I. Joe was just a way to get to know her better, and, giving her little choice in the matter, carries her after Flint and Chameleon's departing Sky Hawk. Their fly-by interrupts a very similar awkward conversation going on between the two Joes, and they follow Marissa's directions to land in Sicily, where father and daughter finally talk a little more openly about their complicated relationship. Marissa explains that she didn't turn down Flint's offer because she didn't want to work with him: she did it because she genuinely doesn't believe there's any way to win against the Transformers, and she just wants to enjoy life before the Earth pays the price for their presence.

Aileron takes Optimus Prime aside to ask him what he is planning, and Prime explains that, inspired by Starscream's words, he is going to force the Council of Worlds to vote on Earth's membership by actively brokering an unprecedented breach of the Tyrest Accord between humans and Junkions. Aileron is distressed to hear that Prime is so willing to bring the two planets so close to a potential war; she accuses him of letting his Prime status go to his head, but Prime once again tells her that he does not pretend to divinity—he merely tries to steer the faith of those who blindly follow him and the Matrix toward "something constructive." Unfortunately, his and Aileron's conversation is overhead by Pyra Magna, who, disgusted by the way she believes Prime toys with the beliefs of his followers, marches right up to Optimus and cracks his faceplate with a powerful punch! The sound of the fight brings all the Autobots in the city running, even though Optimus refuses to strike back. Pyra re-asserts her claim to the Matrix as a true believer in its power, and angrily recants her vow to help Optimus learn how to use it, previously having thought of him as a well-meaning ignorant, but now seeing that he is a user of others' beliefs, devoid of any of his own. Prime does not counter her arguments, but merely tells all assembled to gather on the deck at dawn to receive their human guests.

Prowl uncuffs Jetfire and sends him on his way, but the scientist does not leave without a parting sock to the cop's jaw. The punch is observed from the shadows by Decepticons Horri-Bull and Needlenose, who take it as evidence of Jetfire's loyalty to their cause, and provide Jetfire with one of the new guns they have smuggled into the city to "defend" himself with in the future. A little later, Pax and Prowl meet at the deserted Cosmic Carnival, where it turns out the scene was all a set up: Prowl and Jetfire's fight was an act, and Jetfire hands over the gun to Pax as evidence to help clear Hefter's name. Pax points out it will take more than this and Soundwave's word about what "true Decepticons" believe to convince anyone, to which Jetfire replies that he knows the time and location of the next gun shipment's arrival...

As dawn breaks, the President of the United States and various other world leaders gather on the deck of Autobot City before Optimus Prime and his forces. Together, they watch as a Junkion shuttle arrives overhead... but no-one is prepared when, rather than landing, the shuttle merely hovers overhead so Rum-Maj can toss Cosmos's battered body out of its hatchway! Panic breaks out among the 'bots and humans as, at Rum-Maj's order, the Sharkticon horde begins pouring out of the Junkions' spacecraft, ready to destroy everything in its path!

Featured characters

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

Autobots Decepticons Junkions G.I. Joe Others

Quotes

"All creatures do is destroy. All living creatures in the galaxy. Do you want to see us? We are the trash that has been built—from what creatures destroyed. That is the meaning of civilization. All it is good for... is spare parts."

—Rum-Maj


"Sir—it's not real. The Matrix is just a prop."
"Well, I had lights installed."

—Orion Pax and Zeta Prime


"Flint's some guy who got my mom pregnant, and she's no prize."
"Where is she?"
"The bottom of a bottle, I imagine."
"Is she very tiny, or is the bottle—"

—Marissa and Thundercracker


"Why shouldn't the Matrix reside with a Camien? With a believer? Why shouldn't it reside with me? This isn't arrogance. I understand the burden of leadership. I have watched mentors and friends die. I know what I ask for, and I don't do it for glory. I believe in the Way of Flame. Whatever disagreements I have with the Mistress... I exist to light the way. There's nothing wrong with wanting to light the entire galaxy."

—Pyra Magna


"Nice dent. Jetfire?"
"Yeah."
"Well, you deserve it for the interrogation room."
"Oh, I'm sure I deserve it for more than that."

—Orion Pax and Prowl discuss Prowl's shiner


"The difference between Optimus and me is simple. I am honest about my ambitions. Optimus cloaks his crusade in the trappings of a holy endeavor. Belief is a means to an end for him—a path to victory. But that is not the way of a true Prime. Victory is the path to belief. And I know the path fate demands I walk."

—Pyra Magna

Notes

Continuity notes

  • Frenzy generates his signature sonic attack with the wrist-drills unique to the IDW version of the character, which were introduced with his debut in All Hail Megatron #2, but haven't been seen since 2012's Robots in Disguise #11.
  • Pyra Magna's narration in this issue recounts her team's major roles in IDW stories up to now, including their arrival on Cybertron in the Sea of Rust ("the worst, most desolate region") in the Combiner Hunters one-shot, and her meeting with and agreement to help Optimus Prime from The Transformers #47.
  • Soundwave considers humans his favorite creatures on Earth, after elephants. He was previously seen admiring elephants in The Transformers #38.
  • A worried Mainframe says there's "more tactical megatonnage than Nanzhao." That'd be the country that was turned into a smoking crater in the second volume of IDW's Joe comics.
  • Marissa mentions how G.I. Joe "pretended to be dead for a while"; this was standard operating procedure for the team in IDW continuity until their existence was made public, with each member abandoning their civilian life, leaving their friends and loved ones to believe them dead, fake funeral and all.
  • Marissa also alludes to her mother being an alcoholic; coupled with the obviously young age at which Flint fathered her, this is a hint to her mother being Claire Austin, the hard-drinking college girlfriend of Flint mentioned in 2013's The Cobra Files #6.[1]
  • Optimus refers to the Matrix as a "pulsewave generator"; "pulsewaves" were the name used to refer to the waves of life-giving energy released by Vector Sigma in More than Meets the Eye #19, alluding to the Matrix's life-giving capabilities.
  • Needlenose and Horri-Bull were a double-act in the first issue of Robots in Disguise, and their history together was expanded on in The Transformers #44, in which it was revealed that Horri-Bull had brought Needlenose over to the Decepticon side. Here, Horri-Bull blames Needlenose's brother for him being "uptight"; he's referring to Tracks, whose familial connection to Needlenose was revealed in that same issue.
  • When the Joes discuss the build-up of foreign forces, People's Liberation Army Mecha Force mechs are seen! Evidently the Chinese got them working again or had some spares.
  • Though art style differences make it difficult to determine, the man to the left of the U.S. President appears to be the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who previously appeared in Action Man #0.
  • Meanwhile, the President standing on the right is evidently the Chinese President. Though The Transformers vol. 2 #36 identified Xi Jinping as President of China, the man who appears in this issue appears to be a different individual.
  • The presence of these three national leaders is presumably due to their nations each wielding weaponized alien technology, as noted in Action Man: Revolution.

Transformers references

  • Wreck-Gar mentions his "Nebulan headlights" and "Parthan mudflaps." That last one's a Transformers reference by virtue of the planet having been named in sources like The AllSpark Almanac and Ask Vector Prime, but it's originally a GoBots reference—the planet appeared in the Challenge of the GoBots episode "Et Tu, Cy-Kill". The correct adjective should be "Parthian," though!
  • One of the civilians watching the broadcast of Zeta Prime's speech has Bombshell's silhouette.
  • Though its origin isn't expounded on here, the Cosmic Carnival was a non-Cybertronian business that originated in issue #44 of the original Marvel Generation 1 comic book. Almost everything seen in this issue is a faithful recreation of a feature of the carnival seen in that original story, from the cannon, the red two-wheeled apparatus, the red and yellow podiums, the yellow ramp, the yellow curved units that link up to form the carnival ring, the cylindrical cages, and the high-dive water pit. The carnival is not seen from the outside, but fliers lying on the ground show it as it appeared in the Marvel issue, as a metallic, serpentine spacecraft.
  • Decorations seen on carnival equipment depict the ever-present Milne Easter egg Kremzeek, and a Mecannibal, a kind of metal-eating alien that also appeared in the Marvel series.

Real-life references

  • As with all chapters of "New Cybertron", this issue's subtitle is taken from the lyrics to the Covenant song, "Babel".
  • Zeta Prime quotes from the Cybertronian propaganda film The Birth of Cybertron, a reference to The Birth of a Nation, a real-life U.S. silent film widely denounced for blatant racism and historical revisionism.
  • Pax says he could disarm Jetfire in six ways, which may be a nod to similar boasts by Batman in The Dark Knight Returns.
  • Wreck-Gar's erratic speech this issue trends a little more toward the traditional Junkion style, using quotes and slogans from popular culture. His references include:
    • "They're outta there!" — a baseball umpire's call
    • "Now that's revenge! This time it was personal!" — alluding to the movie Jaws: The Revenge, and its tagline "This time, it's personal"
    • "Guess you got stuck in the middle with them" — from the Stealer's Wheel song "Stuck in the Middle with You"
    • "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the air..." — another Jaws reference, this one to the tagline of Jaws 2, "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..."

Errors

  • On page 4, Zeta refers to Orion Pax as "Optimus", before he ever got that name. This was corrected in the trade.

Covers (4)

  • (thumbnail)

    "How about I dare to kick your ass?"

  • (thumbnail)

    "Come on you two - kiss and make up."

  • (thumbnail)

    Play that muthafreakin' bass!

  • (thumbnail)

    Roll out!

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Reprints

References

  1. ↑ "Good eye! Claire Austin is indeed Marissa's mother, and you're the first person I've heard figure it out!"—John Barber, Twitter, 2017/03/30

External links

Retrieved from "https://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/index.php?title=New_Cybertron_Part_4:_Dance_Among_the_Shadows&oldid=1774457"
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