The Falling, Chapter 4: The Hallowing

« Optimus Prime#19 »
"There is...logic,in what he says. "
"The Falling Chapter 4: The Hallowing "
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	May 30,2018
Cover date	May 2018
Written by	John Barber
Art by	Sara Pitre-Durocher
Colors by	Josh Burcham
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	David Mariotte
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era

With Optimus Prime gone, Starscream believes his time to shine has finally arrived, but he's in for a rude surprise.

Contents 1Synopsis 2Featured characters 3Quotes 4Notes 4.1Continuity notes 4.2Transformers references 4.3Real-world references 4.4Errors 4.5Other trivia 4.6Soundtrack 4.7Covers (3) 4.8Advertisements 4.9Reprints 5References 6External links

Synopsis

Though hisofficial biographytells the story rather differently from how it actually happened,Starscreamhas led a life that has seen his every endeavour meet with failure, from his youth as a street hustler inIacon—where he ran afoul of police officerOrion Paxfor the first time—to conning his way into a job as a senator forVos,only to be left drinking his sorrows away when he finds none of the appreciation or glory he'd hoped for. From there, he joined theDecepticonsand witnessed Orion Pax's fall, and his rebirth as Optimus Prime.

Today, Starscream watches Optimus Prime fall once again—from Onyx Prime'smothershipdown into the ruins ofCrystal City,where Optimus, and theMatrix of Leadershipwithin him, are consumed by the miniature singularity at the city's heart. Confident that history has proven Optimus will eventually come back to life, Starscream realizes he has a limited time to act; the time has come for him to finally fulfill the prophecyMetrotitanspoke of, to become the savior of Cybertron destiny claims he is.Devastatorbelieves he has deduced the true meaning of the prophecy: Starscream is the reincarnation ofMegatronus,the Fallen Prime.Bumblebeedismisses the notion as absurd, but Starscream figures he can work with it nonetheless, and has Devastator carry him to where the body of the defeated Metrotitan lays.

Aboard his ship,ShockwaveinstructsLiege Maximoto take a squad ofMaximalsand finish off theAutobotswho were aboard Metrotitan when he was shot down. Maximo's half-hearted protestations at being tasked with such gruntwork are silenced, and he does as ordered, leading the beast warriors down to locate and pick off the survivors:Arcee,Aileron,theTorchbearers,and the badly-woundedJetfire.Maximo's forces arrive at Metrotitan at the same time as Starscream, Bumblebee, and Devastator, and Starscream orders Devastator go and join the battle as well. Bumblebee offers no rebuke; instead, he appears to be talking to someone else, who Starscream cannot see, and then suddenly disappears...

Windblade,theMistress of Flame,andMarissa Fairebornwatch events unfold from afar, amazed to see that anyone has survived the fall of Metrotitan. Faireborn contactsTrypticon,urging him to get the next generation ofprotoformswho live within his body to safety; theDinobotswant to join the fight, but Trypticon overrules them,spacebridginghimself toEarthto get the protoforms out of the line of fire.

While Arcee holds off the beasts, and the Torchbearers merge intoVictorionto engage Devastator, Aileron helps the injured Jetfire get to safety. Starscream, meanwhile, is left alone to clamber up to Metrotitan's head, where he discovers that the fallenTitanstill lives. Metrotitan confirms Devastator's belief that Starscream is the reincarnation of Megatronus, and for one, shining moment, Starscream's life of failures and defeats makes sense to him, all his struggle part of some great destiny... until it is all ripped away a second later, when Shockwave appears and reveals that the prophecy is nothing more than a work of fiction, invented and sown into history by him, which Metrotitan only believes in because Shockwave usedRegenesisores to reprogram his mind. If Cybertron had anintelligentleader, Shockwave says, they might have been able to see through his machinations—but by manipulating history and "destiny" to place afoollike Starscream on the throne, Shockwave ensured the planet would become divided, left weak and vulnerable for the force of chaos that is soon to descend upon them all. Shockwave punctuates these revelations with a powerful blast that finishes Metrotitan off and leaves Starscream utterly shattered spiritually.

Elsewhere, Optimus Prime awakens within a shadow-shrouded mirror of Crystal City. He initially believes he has died and gone to theAfterspark,but as he picks his way through the ruins, he realizes he is, in fact, inInfraspace,the transitional limbo between life and death he visited once before. And he's not the only one... as from the darkness, Bumblebee appears to greet him!

Featured characters

Characters initalic textappear only in flashbacks.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"I know oneuniversal rule—whatever the game, the easiest way to win... is to kill all the other players. "

—Arcee

"What are yourorders,my lord? "
"You're agiant green monster,Devastator. What do youthinkI'm going to order you to do? Engage in adiscussionon thefiner pointsofdecorative soldering?"

—DevastatorandStarscream

"I'll just slow you down.Leaveme andfly.I'll be okay. "
"Didfour million years of warmake you idiots decidesuicideis alwaysOption One?"

—JetfireandAileron

"I should have hadfaith.But everybody—Optimus, Megatron,Windbladeeven... all they ever did was cast doubt. I thought belief wasnonsense.That the universe was justentropy.But now Iseeit. The universe wasalwayson my side. "

—Starscreamabout 10 seconds before discovering otherwise.

"I needed afoolin charge of Cybertron. A powerful leader—anOptimus,aMegatron,anArcee,perhaps even thisWindblade—they would haveseenwhat was coming. But I knewyouwould never look past yourown reflection."

—Shockwavedrops a truth bomb on Starscream

Notes

Continuity notes

• Starscream's biography was originally mentioned in his profile inissue #3of theHasbro Heroes Sourcebook.
• Starscream appears in three separate bodies in three separate time periods seen in his flashback.
  • First, he appears in the earliest form he ever had, previously seen inTill All Are One#12(but shown here in color for the first time), based pretty directly on his classic Generation 1character model.
  • Next, we see him as a senator for Vos, a part of his past that we first properly learned about intheOptimus Prime2018 Annual.Here, he sports the design seen inSpotlight: Blurr.
  • Finally, we see the events ofAutocracy#8,in which Megatron betrayed and shot Orion Pax. Naturally, Starscream appears with the design he had in theAutocracyseries, which originated inMegatron Origin#3.
• The reappearance of Metrotitan on Earth inThe Transformers#54after his apparent death inthe 2012Robots in Disguiseannualis at last explained; Shockwave used his Regenesis ores to move him through space and time. Further, as we surmised back in our notes for last issue, based on what we saw inissue #10,Shockwave confirms that he made up the"Dark Cybertron" prophecyand used his ores to reprogram Metrotitan to believe in it.
• Optimus Prime recalls his first trip to Infraspace, way, way back inEscalation#6.He also mentionsGarrison Blackrock's voyage there, as seen inRevolutionaries#8.
• While in Infraspace, Prime's hand brushes a circular symbol containing a curled tendril, and speaks of "Onyx's footsteps". The symbol is the one seen on the front of theTalisman,the mysterious relic that was the central plot device ofRevolutionaries,an apparent creation of Onyx Prime's (or rather, as we now realize, Shockwave's), the true purpose of which has still yet to be revealed.

Transformers references

• As seen in his opening flashback, Starscream's earliest body appears in the color scheme of hisMarvel Comics incarnation,distinguished by its blue head and white feet.
• A high-society robot seen in Starscream's flashback is colored like theGoBotTux.
• Another robot in Starscream's senator-era flashback, who drags him out of a bar and preps him for a press conference, is based onArmadaSwindle,Mini-Conpartner to theStarscream of that universe.
• More recognizable characters appear among the ranks of Shockwave's Maximals:
  • On page 7, the crowd includesLonghorn,Night Viper,Triceradon,Striker,and in beast mode,GeckobotandQuickstrike.The crowd is block-coloured, so Triceradon and Strikercouldarguably be any of the other characters who share their toy moulds, but it seems pretty safe to assume their identities since they, like all the other characters, are fromBeast Machines.
  • Striker, Triceradon, Longhorn, Geckobot, and Quickstrike reappear in beast mode on page 11, which continues theBeast Machinestheme by addingDeployersRav,Mol,andDillo,all also in beast mode.
• Shockwave sheds his Onyx Prime disguise entirely to reveal that, like Optimus, Soundwave, Starscream, and Windblade before him, he has adopted his "evergreen"design.

Real-world references

• Starscream's comment about Devastator being a "giant green monster", and Devastator's follow up about being told to "smash" everyone, are of course a reference toThe Incredible Hulkand his favorite thing to do.

Errors

• On page 5, "ethereal" is misspelled as "etherial". This is corrected in the trade paperback.
• Devastator explicitly refers to Starscream as "the resurrection of the Prime Megatronus", yet it has been established that the Fallen's true name was struck from the record. Maybe Alpha Trion or Starscream told Scoop?
• On panel 6 of page 16 (as Starscream's ego shatters) there is an extra space between "with" and "an". This is corrected in the trade paperback.

Other trivia

• Two additional Regenesis ores are named for the first time in this issue, used by Shockwave in conjunction withOre-1to condition and position Metrotitan:Ore-10,"Deception," which grants control over the mind, andOre-9,"Space", with the power to teleport. Ore-9 came fromVelocitron(and how appropriate is that that an ore governing instantaneous movement through space should come from the planet of speed?); Ore-10's origin is not mentioned.

Soundtrack

• "Controller"byHercules & Love Affair^[1]
• "The Strangers"bySt. Vincent^[2]

Covers (3)

• Cover A:Optimus Prime, Starscream, and Windblade at the mercy of Shockwave, byKei ZamaandJohn-Paul Bove
• Cover B:Our cast, within the silhouette of Starscream, byCasey CollerandJohn-Paul Bove
• Retailer incentive cover:Black-and-white lineart version of Cover A

• 
• 
• 

Advertisements

• Optimus Prime#20
• Transformers: Unicron
• Requiem of the Wreckers
• Atomic Robo: The Spectre of TomorrowTPB
• Sonic the Hedgehog#5
• Jem and the Holograms: DimensionsTPB
• Ghostbusters: Answer the CallTPB
• Star Trek:The Next Generation: Through the Mirror

Reprints

• Optimus Prime Volume 4(November 21,2018)ISBN 1684053633/ISBN 978-1684053636
  • CollectsOptimus Primeissues #15–21.
  • Bonus material includes art from most covers.
  • Trade paperback format.

• Transformers: The Definitive G1 CollectionVolume 85: The Falling Part 2(June 3,2020)
  • CollectsOptimus Primeissues #18–24.
  • Bonus material includes a cover gallery and an intro bySimon Furman.
  • Hardcover format.

• 

  Volume 4– cover art byMarcelo Matere

• 

  The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 85: The Falling Part 2– cover art byDreamwaveandKei Zama

References

External links

• Preview