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Shockpoint

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« The Transformers: Robots in Disguise #21 »
Dark Cybertron Prelude
RID21 cvrA.jpg
"Shockpoint"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published October 9, 2013
Cover date September 2013
Written by John Barber
Art by Andrew Griffith (present)
Livio Ramondelli (past)
Colors by Priscilla Tramontano (present)
Livio Ramondelli (past)
Letters by Shawn Lee
Editor Carlos Guzman
Continuity 2005 IDW continuity
Chronology Current era (2013)

Soundwave's history with Shockwave unfolds as the two come to blows over the future of Cybertron and the Decepticons.

Contents

Synopsis

Months ago, immediately following the dissolution of the Deceptigod, Soundwave watches as his fellow Decepticons extricate themselves from the pile of deactivated Sweeps that now litter the landscape, synesthetically perceiving their emotions. When Ratbat surrenders on behalf of the faction and is taken away by the Autobots, Bombshell proposes to Soundwave that they flee, at which point the ever-unreadable Shockwave appears from the mists with a message that sparks hope in Soundwave's heart: Megatron lives.

In the present day, in the subterranean Crystal City, Dreadwing marvels at the healing properties of Shockwave's Ore-14, while Shockwave himself communicates with Jhiaxus. Listening in on their discussion from afar is Soundwave, up on the planet's surface, now entirely aware of the extent of the cyclopean Decepticon's betrayal, and apologetic to Ravage for convincing him to follow his plans. Astrotrain and Blitzwing are a lot more angry than Ravage, however, and want to go back to Iacon to get revenge on Starscream. Soundwave is having none of it, declaring Shockwave the true enemy and making it clear that he is in charge... which promptly causes a battle to break out between the Triple Changers and his cassettes. Surprisingly, it is Needlenose who steps in to end the brawling, speaking for the other Decepticons: they trusted the chain of command before, in Iacon, and it lost them both the war and their chance for peace. The Decepticons are done being soldiers.

Abandoned and alone, Soundwave ventures into the planet's depths, still intent on ending Shockwave's life. As he goes, he remembers the inspirational leadership of Megatron, and the strength of his will: a strength so great that he was able to resist becoming part of the Deceptigod when all the other Decepticons succumbed to its pull, and in turn defeated it. But there was one other who did not become part of the Decepticon, who stood apart from the unity of purpose that allowed the being's creation—Shockwave. Approaching Crystal City, Soundwave calls Shockwave out, but is met in battle by Dreadwing, who ignores his pleas for alliance.

Years ago, as the energy-deprived Decepticons languish on their asteroid, Shockwave returns to their ranks at last and confers on current events with Soundwave. The two unite their resources to repair the shattered Megatron, with Shockwave using the venture to complete his dual goal of perfecting space bridge technology.

As the battle continues, Soundwave shreds Dreadwing with his shoulder cannon, leaving a smoking corpse. Shockwave strides from the darkness to face Soundwave, just as he did once before...

Years in the past, Shockwave approaches the mode-locked Soundwave with a deal to free him from his alternate mode if he deactivates the bomb planted within him by Skywatch. Soundwave agrees on one condition: that Shockwave tell him the truth about his Regenesis program. Shockwave refuses, presenting the logical argument that Soundwave will lose any hope of gaining the information if the spymaster doesn't prevent the bomb from destroying him. Soundwave professes that the acquisition of information is not his only goal, but that he truly believes in Megatron's cause. All the more reason, Shockwave claims, for them to work together...

Soundwave watches Ore-14's healing effect restore Dreadwing, and believes that it can be used to revive Megatron. Shockwave has no such plans for his ultimate creation, however, considering Megatron's failures a betrayal of the Decepticon cause, and his lack of trust in Shockwave his final undoing...

Thousands of years in Cybertron's past, Megatron assigns Bludgeon the task of looking into the absent Shockwave's projects. Soundwave, in turn, is tasked with watching over Bludgeon: it is clear to Megatron that Shockwave had a far-reaching plan in motion when he disappeared, and it will be Soundwave's task to discover and exploit it for the Decepticon cause. Even though Soundwave's mind-reading powers allow him to sense Megatron's mistrust of him, born of the hardships suffered throughout his life, he can also sense the honesty of his leader's spark, and so he serves with a loyalty born of true hope for the future Megatron will make for them.

And if Shockwave bars the way to that future, Soundwave's hope will crush him.

Featured characters

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

Autobots Decepticons Others

Quotes

"I never did trust a guy I couldn't smell... but Shockwave hasn't even got a nose. That's a lot worse."

—Ravage

Notes

Continuity notes

  • Oooooooooooooooooooooooooh-KAY!
  • In this issue and the next, all the flashbacks take place in reversed order, starting only a few months ago and then moving further and further into the past.
  • The first "past" sequence takes place immediately after issue #30 of the ongoing, showing us how the Decepticons wound up imprisoned in The Death of Optimus Prime with Ratbat as their spokesman. We also see how Shockwave, Soundwave and Bombshell's plan, working with Megatron from afar, got underway.
  • Jhiaxus's appearance in this issue takes place shortly before issue #19, as he awaits Orion Pax's arrival on Gorlam Prime, which took place in that issue.
  • Astrotrain and Blitzwing refer to the "last time" Shockwave and Soundwave conspired together, referring to the Decepticons' despondent cannibalistic phase during the 2009-2011 ongoing series. We get a glimpse of it later in the issue.
  • Blitzwing threatens to "dump [Soundwave] on Junkion", hearkening back to when Scorponok did the same thing to Megatron in Monstrosity #1.
  • Needlenose notes that he misses Horri-Bull, who died all the way back in issue #1.
  • Judging by the times of day involved, Ravage and any other cold-constructed members of the Decepticon camp feel the effects of Tyrest's universal killswitch between pages 8 and 13 of this issue, as seen briefly in More than Meets the Eye #20.
  • Soundwave describes Galvatron as a hero of the First Cybertronian Civil War, a conflict first revealed to have taken place in the 2012 Robot in Disguise annual. The introduction of this war into continuity also patched an old error from Heart of Darkness #3, in which Galvatron knew the "ancient Headmaster" Thinkbox from a time of war; that's flagged up again here where it is noted that Galvatron vanquished these mysterious ancient Headmasters. Issues #30 and #34 would subsequently depict relevant portions of the war involving the ancient Headmasters and Galvatron.
  • The energies used to create the Deceptigod are explored a little more here. As was implied when the same energies were used to forge the new Devastator in issue #15, a common way of thinking is used to unite the minds into the gestalt form; where Prowl and the Constructicons were able to merge through their shared hatred of Spike Witwicky, Soundwave here notes that he and his comrades were combined through their shared belief in the Decepticon cause.
  • The flashback of Shockwave and Soundwave on the asteroid occurs concurrently with issue #7 of the ongoing; in particular, the scene of Decepticons cannibalizing one another is lifted directly from that issue and shows Needlenose, Shrapnel, and Kickback eating Dreadwind.
  • Soundwave notes that the present-day Bombshell is a "different Bombshell" than the one Shockwave knew from his time among the Decepticons prior to his dormancy on Earth, which is a nod toward an old IDW continuity error. Bombshell first appeared in IDW continuity in Spotlight: Blaster, only for The Transformers: All Hail Megatron to ignore that appearance and introduce the character in the present day as a newly created being. The full extent of Soundwave's words isn't yet clear.
  • Shockwave mentions Bludgeon and Monstructor's battles with Autobots during his imprisonment, which we saw in All Hail Megatron #15. He also mentions "discussing the terms of his release"; we saw him doing that with Overlord in Last Stand of the Wreckers #3.
  • The flashback of Shockwave and Soundwave meeting on Earth is set between scenes of Maximum Dinobots #4, specifically following directly after page 3 of that issue.
  • In this flashback, Soundwave, still not knowing the full extent of Regenesis, believes that Starscream coined the name "Ore-13" for Ultra-Energon, as was the case in the original Simon Furman-written stories. Robots in Disguise has performed a gentle retcon on this, establishing at several points that the name originated with Shockwave, with no explanation for how Starscream learned it; that is papered over a little here, as Shockwave wryly notes that Starscream "has a way of knowing things".
  • The final flashback of the issue takes place alongside other flashbacks covered in the pages of Spotlight: Shockwave and Spotlight: Soundwave, repeating the scene of Megatron tasking Bludgeon, and subsequently tasking Soundwave to keep an eye on Bludgeon, and then extending it. Although the dialogue is consistent with the dialogue from the Soundwave issue, there is a discrepancy with the Shockwave issue (see "errors" below).

Transformers references

Errors

  • In the flashback scenes set during the "Chaos" storyline (covering their merge into the Deceptigod and the immediate fallout), the Decepticons are all drawn with the bodies based on their War for Cybertron designs that they aren't supposed to get until some point between "Chaos" and The Death of Optimus Prime.
  • Moreover, Soundwave and the Constructicons appear in these scenes with the beefed-up designs (note Soundwave's extra little shoulder guns) which they would not gain until they were rebuilt in the Black Room prior to issue #13.
(thumbnail)
Did the research… and yet at the same time did not do the research.
  • As Astrotrain helps up Blitzwing during Needlenose's impassioned speech, Blitzwing has the pointy start of a speech bubble, but the speech bubble itself is missing.
  • Buzzsaw is colored red, like Laserbeak, instead of his normal gold on page 6. You can still tell the difference between them, though, because they have different bodies now.
  • Soundwave suggests that Ore-14 could be used to bring Megatron "back to life", an odd statement considering that the Decepticon leader is merely trapped in a stasis field.
  • Presumably as a result of only referencing Spotlight: Soundwave (rather than the first version of this scene, published in Spotlight: Shockwave), the final flashback of this issue (right) replaces Megatron's first few lines from the Spotlight: Shockwave version with a new line ("You must defend the cause this day, Bludgeon"). Also, a comma was slipped into Megatron's line about Bludgeon conducting a "full and painstaking investigation".

Foreign localization

Japanese

  • Title: "Shōgekiten" (衝撃点, "Shockpoint")

Covers (3)

  • RID21 cvrA.jpg
  • RID21 cvrB.jpg
  • RID21 cvrRI.jpg

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