All Hail Optimus Part 1: Once Upon a Time on Earth

« The Transformers vol. 2 #50 »
"All Hail Optimus Part 1: Once Upon a Time on Earth"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
Published in	The Transformers #50
First published	February 24, 2016
Cover date	February 2016
Written by	John Barber
Art by	Andrew Griffith
Colors by	Josh Burcham (pg. 1-15), John-Paul Bove (pg. 16-20), and Josh Perez (pg. 21-30)
Letters by	Tom B. Long and Chris Mowry
Editor	Carlos Guzman
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era

In order to protect Earth from the Decepticons, Optimus Prime annexes the planet into the Cybertronian Council of Worlds. But few agree with his drastic decision...

Synopsis

All across Earth, Optimus Prime appears on every communications device, his words broadcast in every language. The Autobot leader has come to bring the Earth freedom—freedom from the harm at both the hands of the Decepticons and its own native evils—by introducing it to the larger cosmic community.

In the centre of Shanghai, Galvatron ignores Optimus's demand to stand down, and orders his Decepticons into battle. Simultaneously, at the E.D.C. Headquarters on Bikini Atoll, Thundercracker insists that Marissa allow him to join the fight; she refuses, finally admitting that she just doesn't want to see him hurt, and orders the activation of the Transformer-crippling "mindbomb" instead. Though abandoned by a furious Soundwave, Galvatron still has a mindbomb countmeasure–he forces the captive Garrison Blackrock to give the Onyx source code to one of his troops, the telepathic outlier Mindwipe, who then combines it with his mental powers to interfere with the mindbomb's activation, protecting Galvatron and a handful of other Decepticons from its effects. Unfortunately for the Decepticons, Wheeljack uses a device of his own to shield all the Autobots from the mind-weapon, and, vastly outnumbered, Galvatron has Skywarp teleport the operational Decepticons, and the captive Blackrock, away.

For a brief moment, it appears the Autobots have won... at which point, they come under attack from China's own People's Liberation Army Mecha Force, a military unit led by pilot Zilong Qian, equipped with transforming jet fighters created with Cybertronian technology sold to them by Blackrock! Aileron is shocked as the crippled Decepticons are slain one after the other by the mechas, but her friend Sterling can't muster any sympathy for the villains. But things soon go from bad to worse as Chinese satellites begin to rain down heat rays upon the battlefield, slaying Sterling and others. At Optimus Prime's instruction, Aileron takes flight and heads into space to shoot the satellites down; as she zooms off, she crosses paths with the Peace Without Tyranny, which contains Soundwave and Cosmos and has arrived to collect any Decepticons who wish to relocate to Sanctuary Station. Several take Soundwave up on his offer, including Needlenose and Swift, but when Soundwave refuses to bring any of Optimus' followers aboard, Cosmos stays loyal to his friends and elects not to return to Sanctuary.

With the satellites successfully destroyed, Aileron returns to the battle just as the Autobots reactivate the spacebridge and begin transporting all the wounded back to Cybertron. But time is short, as the bridge is running low on power, and while Victorion defends the evacuation, Optimus, Sunstreaker, and Cosmos rescue Arcee, Sideswipe, and Alpha Trion from the wreckage of the Ark-7. Meanwhile, Aileron believes she has hit upon a solution, and runs through the faltering bridge, though the situation is no better on the other side: the evacuated Decepticons are still trying to fight back, and Starscream has called in Devastator to keep the peace, which is going about as well as could be expected. Evading the combiner, Aileron makes her way to her objective: Optimus Prime's personal ship, the Skyroller, which she pilots back through the bridge to Earth. All the remaining Autobots pile aboard, Prime sets the Ark-7 to self-destruct, and the Skyroller streaks off into the sky with the spacebridge safely attached to its hull.

The Skyroller sets course for E.D.C. Headquarters, where Spike Witwicky encourages Marissa to finish the Autobots off now that they are weakened. Realizing that Optimus Prime just saved the Earth and knowing that he is only coming to collect his comrades, Marissa shuts Spike down and has him thrown in a cell, then everyone heads up to the surface to greet Prime's ship. Things are tense to begin with, but Thundercracker is able to corroborate Marissa's explanation that it was the traitorous Blackrock, not them, who was responsible for abducting Kup, Jazz, Jetfire, and Sky Lynx. Wishing to leave the E.D.C. and its subterfuge behind, Thundercracker asks Optimus to put the past aside, and the Autobot leader welcomes the former Decepticon into his ranks. Prime's unit departs with a warning to Marissa to get her house in order... and Marissa cannot help but wonder: what if Spike was right about the Autobots?

Thundercracker takes the Autobots back to his old homestead, where they can use what little Cybertronian tech he has to recharge and repair the spacebridge. While recharging, Prime is plagued by visions... visions of a crashed Decepticon Worldsweeper and a burning White House... of Arcee and Galvatron fighting side by side... Victorion triumphing over Superion in battle... a Titan's fist emerging from beneath an Earth desert... Sanctuary Station burning... Windblade and Chromia bowing before him... Aileron as the new Mistress of Flame... and of himself, surrounded by flame, with Galvatron's head on a pike, all the while hearing the Dark Cybertron prophecy. Hearing his cries, Aileron wakes him from his slumber, but rather than tell anyone what he has seen, Optimus has an idea. With Jetfire and Wheeljack's help, he uses the Skyroller's systems and the spacebridge to transmit his message of freedom all across the Earth and Cybertron...

...and all across the Earth and Cybertron, others watch. Marissa realizes she was wrong; Arcee fears what will come next; Qian vows vengeance; Spike is outraged; Soundwave is unsurprised; Galvatron is delighted; Starscream and Windblade are concerned... and Prowl prepares to take action.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Why don't you want me to do something?"
"I don't want you to die, okay? I like hearing your stupid stories."
"Aw."
"And if your flying's anything like your writing, you wouldn't last two minutes, anyway."

—Thundercracker and Marissa

"I'm glad somebody else 'round here looks like a spaceship."

—Cosmos, on Aileron

"We've only got seconds left, guys. Our best bet is to get that tall lady-
"VICTORION!"
"-yeah, you, to carry the bridge, an' try an' march out of the city real fast-like."

—Wheeljack comes up with a plan, if only he could remember what's-her-name.

"The prisoners have been injured. Shall I kill the humans?

—Pyra Magna on seeing her captive fellow Autobots

"You need to get your house in order... and if you don't, I will."

—Optimus warns Marissa and Ayana Jones to clean up their act

"They'll find us anyway, my dear."
"Prime or not, Trion- don't ever, ever call me that again."

—Pyra Magna isn't above getting testy with a Prime

"I'm too tired to even make something up so I sound better'n I am.

—Wheeljack

"People of Earth. I... am Optimus Prime. I speak to you in all languages, across all frequencies, with a message of hope. I understand the terror and hatred you feel toward those like myself. I ask you only to listen, and consider my words. Your world is now under my protection. Yesterday's violence in the People's Republic of China was unfortunate. I, and my forces, acted to prevent an invasion by those called Decepticons. Five years ago, it was Decepticons who conquered your world, and my forces who liberated it. We left this planet, an action I believed would protect the people of Earth. I was wrong. Instead, your own governments gave resources, aid, and a home to this ultimate evil... while humans die from starvation and preventable diseases... while authority subjugates those it should serve. I vow to eliminate the threat my people brought to your world—but that is not the end goal. It is time for humankind to enter the cosmic community. I am not here to rule you, but to help you on this path. I bring the people of Earth that which is the right of all sentient beings... I bring you freedom."
"Like hell you do."

—Optimus Prime's speech, and Prowl's reaction

Notes

Continuity notes

• The final panel on page 1, last in a sequence of Optimus Prime's face being displayed on communications devices around the world, looks quite different from the others, with gritty, textured coloring. The final page reveals that this is the monitor Prowl is watching the speech on, which means this coloring choice was likely a deliberate one by Josh Burcham to evoke the palette of Sins of the Wreckers, in which Prowl was appearing at the time of this issue's publication. Chronologically, though, this storyline takes place after that mini's conclusion. Prowl's still missing the eye he lost during Combiner Wars (although it was shown to be intact again in the epilogue for issue 5 of Sins).
• Squawktalk and Beastbox appear as individuals for the first time in IDW continuity; previously, only Squawkbox (their toys' traditional combined form) has put in several appearances as one of the regulars at Maccadam's during the book's first story arc. Given the rarity of combiner technology in the IDW universe, Squawktalk and Beastbox are in all likelihood their own separate individuals.
• Four of the Predacons appear in China among Galvatron's loyalists; ironic given that they were working for China back in the "International Incident" arc of the 2009-2011 ongoing series.
• Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are explicitly stated to be brothers for the first time in IDW continuity. Spotlight: Sideswipe, the only up-close look at the pair's relationship, had refrained from mentioning any kind of familial connection between the two, a noticeable omission that seemed to implicitly suggest they weren't brothers in this continuity. (Even before that, though, Sideswipe did call Sunstreaker "bro" back in Megatron Origin #3, which was still open for interpretation.)
• Starscream laments that Devastator's overly violent approach to putting down the Decepticons allows "a bunch of fugitives" to escape; the escapees are not identified, but this is probably a wee bit of butt-covering to make sure Brawl and Onslaught, who have been part of the Decepticon mob in the last few issues, are still on the loose for their upcoming role in Till All Are One, as foreshadowed by the final issue of Windblade.
• Prime used the Skyroller while he was off on his self-imposed exile as "Orion Pax" during the first two years of the series. He brought it with him aboard the Ark-7, then used it to take himself back to Cybertron in issue #35, where it has remained until now.
• The words heard during Optimus Prime's prophetic vision are more or less the ancient prophecy recited by Scoop during Dark Cybertron. However, it's not an exact match, as there are a few additions and alterations. It's probably not an error, since Scoop did mention the original prophecy had been translated, and it was incredibly old, which gives enough wiggle room to suggest someone missed a few pertinent details at some point.
• A Worldsweeper is seen in Optimus's vision, crashed in the middle of Washington, D.C. These giant symbol-ships have shown up over in More than Meets the Eye a few times, but this is their first appearance in this book.

Transformers references

• One of the generic Decepticons aboard Sanctuary Station has the coloration of Tomahawk, a movieverse Autobot from the 2010 Transformers toyline, but with a Whirl/empurata-style head.
• This story arc's title is, of course, a reference to IDW's own All Hail Megatron comic book. Like, duh.
• Mindwipe, you say? Gosh, why ever would he turn up so suddenly?
• There's a lot of generics biting it in this issue, but one who shows up and manages to not explode is Red Wing, a red Seeker introduced in Fun Publications' Transformers: Timelines #8. See "Errors", though.
• Optimus's override code for the Skyroller is "Zeta Nova Nemesis Kaon Prowl".

Real-life references

• This issue's title is a riff on the movie Once Upon a Time in the West, likely a partial reference to the fact that actor Henry Fonda was cast against type as a villain in the movie, paralleling the traditionally heroic Optimus Prime's questionable position in this story.
• As the Skyroller readies for takeoff, Aileron reports "Atomic turbines to power—and we're ready to leave!"—a mashup of the activation procedure for the Batmobile in the 1960s Batman TV series, "Atomic batteries to power! Turbines to speed! Ready to move out!"
• Qian tells his forces to "activate counter-measure jiguang", jīguāng (激光) being Mandarin for "laser".

Errors

You blink for a second, and suddenly everyone has teleported somewhere else.

• There are a lot of discrepancies between the final page of the previous issue depicting Optimus and his allies coming through the spacebridge (which is repeated in its entirety as part of the recap at the beginning of this issue) and the double-page spread that opens this story proper, which supposedly occurs a mere moment afterwards:
  • In the original panel, Victorion is shown wearing Dust Up and Jumpstream as her arms while Stormclash and Skyburst form her legs, but in the two-page spread, Victorion's components have switched positions, with the helicopter twins now forming her arms, and Jumpstream serving as her left leg.
  • Even though everyone was shown to be behind Optimus in the original panel, everyone except for Sterling (who isn't drawn in the two-page spread at all) and Aileron is now either standing next to or in front of him.
  • Also, in the original panel, Ironhide, Sunstreaker and Bob were to Optimus's left (from Optimus's perspective) while Aileron was to his right, but now Aileron is to his left while the other three are to his right.

Merely a scratch.

• Optimus attests that it has been five years since the events of All Hail Megatron, but in issue #30, eight years were said to have passed since then. Deliberately or not, this timescale does fit with issue #29's claim that 2011's Occupy Wall Street movement was happening when All Hail occurred, but it's hard to reconcile it with everything else that's happened in IDW continuity since then (the two-year gap between All Hail and the Costa ongoing, the entirety of said ongoing, and four real-time years of this series). In addition, a Hasbro Universe timeline included in Revolutionaries #1 affirmed issue #30's timescale by placing All Hail Megatron in 2008 and the 2016 Revolution crossover event in 2016. All in all, this issue would appear to be the one in error.
• Tantrum's looking a little off-color as Victorion lifts him with her gravity powers on page 4, with a greenish-yellow body instead of orange, and grey feet instead of red.
• Continuing with miscolored Predacons, on page 9, the doubled-over Headstrong is all red and grey.
• For his one-panel appearance, Red Wing's left hand is red, while his right hand is black. As he otherwise very closely matches the deco layout of the artwork released of him by Fun Pub, we know both his hands ought to be black.
• Sideswipe appears to be in very good shape for someone who has been shot at point blank range after having been blown up by grenades. Last issue he was sporting significant damage to his arms and appeared to be shot in the head by Brawl, but when next seen in this issue, both his arms and head seem fine.

Other trivia

• Victorion and Pyra Magna are both shown with Autobot symbols on their chest, indicating that the previously factionless Torchbearers have formally joined the Autobots. Notably, the symbols are hand-drawn by Andrew Griffith, not the computer-applied ones that normally appear in the book (which can be seen on Optimus Prime and other characters throughout the issue); this might just be an error that resulted from someone forgetting to apply the symbols (Superion also has a hand-drawn one on page 13) or it might mean that, in-universe, the symbols have only been drawn onto the Torchbearers hastily.
• Speaking of Victorion, she spends this issue with a mouthplate she's never had before. It's missing in one panel on page 16, which we're going to say indicates it's retractable rather than being an error.
• Bob also shows a moveable faceplate when he growls at Buster.
• Poor old Rust Dust can't catch a break; though she does appear as Victorion's chestplate (which she hasn't always managed to in the past), she's the only Torchbearer who doesn't appear on-panel after the combiner separates.
• Though Optimus Prime bids Thundercracker "welcome to the Autobots", 'Cracker's co-operation with Prime's forces only lasts through this story and its fallout, after which he strikes out on his own again. He never wears the faction's insignia, or self-identifies as an Autobot, and above all, doesn't actually follow Prime, so is not categorised as an actual Autobot on our articles.
• Bharwaney says "neocortexes". One could argue that as a scientist by occupation, he would be aware of the traditional Latin plural form "neocortices".

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