First (and Second) in Flight

« Transformers Animated: Rise of Safeguard Transformers Animated: The Arrival #6
"First (and Second) in Flight"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	2009
Cover date	2008
Story by	Eric Siebenaler and Marty Isenberg
Written by	Marty Isenberg
Art by	Boo (pp.1~12) Matthew Frank (pp13~24)
Colors by	Liam Shalloo
Letters by	Robbie Robbins
Edits by	Kris Oprisko
Continuity	Animated cartoon continuity
Packaged with	Jetfire and Jetstorm

The Autobot Elite Guard intends to use the captive Starscream to help create the first flying Autobot. But the resulting twin brothers Jetfire and Jetstorm are more than they bargained for.

Synopsis

In the wake of the Decepticon uprisings on the rim of the galaxy, Ultra Magnus sends a secure transmission to the Autobot troops, stressing a need for a decisive show of force to remind the Decepticons of Autobot military superiority. Though he does not feel the situation is dire enough to revive Project Omega, clearly action is needed, and he is willing to pursue unorthodox combat upgrade protocols for the Autobots. Back at the Elite Guard flagship, this is met with some skepticism by Sentinel Prime and Jazz. Ultra Magnus has suggested installing flight protocols into Autobots, a feat that is entirely unprecedented. Magnus stresses that they have a rare opportunity in the form of the captured Decepticon Starscream, and that downloading his programming may allow them to do what was previously thought impossible.

Unfortunately, Starscream escapes in the process, but soon Magnus is able to address the Autobot Council on Cybertron and announce that the data download of the Decepticon's programming was successful. He turns this data over to the Ministry of Science, tasking Perceptor with the means to commence with Project Safeguard. Perceptor expresses some unease at the risks involved, prompting Magnus to tell him not to endanger Elite Guard resources, and instead find test subjects that are expendable from the farms and refineries.

The future of Cybertron, folks.

As if on cue, a pair of refinery bots are engaging in grievous shenanigans while on the job, and as a result fall victim to a catastrophic industrial accident. Perceptor promptly has them shipped back to the Ministry of Science, sensing that his "volunteers" have been procured. Indeed, as the test-subjects are split protoforms, Perceptor crows that this is a grand opportunity to experiment a bit with the project. Wheeljack reins in his comrade's scientific glee with the possibility that the data-merge will have unfortunate side-effects upon the twins.

In an upgrade process that takes the better part of a deca-cycle, the twins' structures are reinforced to better withstand the stresses of the data-merge that Red Alert is providing. Even the considerable resources of the Ministry of Science are strained, and things get a bit touch-and-go for a bit. However, Perceptor is soon able to present the finished product to Ultra Magnus.

Magnus assigns the twins to Sentinel Prime for training, who somewhat resents being busted back down to drill sergeant. Assigning the twins the codenames of Jetfire and Jetstorm, he laments that he's out of practice on naming. The twins pass his combat tests with flying colors, but sadly lay waste to most of the training grounds. Ultra Magnus arrives and recommends simulated combat in the future.

Jazz oversees the twins' servo-to-servo combat training. Initially he is able to defeat them easily, but as soon as he turns his back to them, they promptly kick his skidplate. He remarks to Magnus afterward that their flight abilities may be helping them ace the combat training, but that the twins are quickly becoming overconfident. Magnus agrees with these concerns, and Perceptor comments that Starscream's programming could be used to upgrade the combat simulator to give the twins a real challenge.

Strapped into the simulator, the twins make easy work of most of the drone troops sent after them, but have considerably more trouble once the machine tosses a simulated Starscream at them. Proving a much greater danger, Starscream brutalizes the twins up and down the battlefield, eventually grounding Jetstorm. The Starscream may be simulated, but his sadistic nature is spot-on, and he prepares to mutilate Jetstorm for the pleasure of it. Perceptor is alarmed by this, as it wasn't part of the program he'd prepared. Sentinel Prime goes to disconnect the twins before it's too late. This proves impossible, as the simulator rigs are arcing with electricity, preventing the Elite Guard from approaching.

Rise of this, rise of that...

Incensed by his brother's treatment at Starscream's hands, Jetfire manifests a previously unknown ability to project flames, blasting the Decepticon away from his sibling. This is mirrored by his body being immolated in the simulator rig, endangering the facility. Thankfully, his recovered sibling discovers a similar ability to use his wind turbines to produce intense cold, balancing out Jetfire. Starscream recovers from Jetfire's blast and once again floors the twins. They counter by initiating a third previously unknown ability and merge into a gestalt form. Now the potent Autobot known as Safeguard, they are finally able to dispatch Starscream, which allows Perceptor to end the simulation.

Convinced of their usefulness, Ultra Magnus inducts the twins as junior officers in the Elite Guard and assigns them to join Sentinel Prime in pursuing the Autobot traitor Waspinator.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

Wheeljack: "We don't know how their Autobot shells will react to the Decepticon code. They may experience some slight side effects."
Ultra Magnus: "Such as…"
Perceptor: "Increased size, strength, and firepower."
Wheeljack: "Or an overwhelming desire to destroy every Autobot in sight. …It's a joke. I hope."

—Professional scientists

Jetfire: "You are looking different, brother."
Jetstorm: "As are you, brother."
Jetfire: "I didn't think it possible for you to look even uglier than before."
Jetstorm: "Your face is no picnic on energon farm either."
Jazz: "If these cats are Cybertron's future, I think I'm gonna stick to groovin' on the past."

—Cybertron's future is revealed and Jazz reacts accordingly

"On the bright side, Sentinel… with these clowns, you got nowhere to go but up."

—Jazz delivers his support of Sentinel Prime

Sentinel: [on Jetfire's transformation] "Not bad… I'm gonna call you… Jetfire!" [to Jetstorm] "Now you! Transform!"
[Jetstorm transforms]
Sentinel: "Well, you don't get points for originality, but… I'm gonna call you… Jetfire!"
Jetfire: "But, sir, I am already called "Jetfire", sir. Will that not be confusing, sir?"
Sentinel: "Mute it, cog! I haven't done this in a few thousand stellar cycles, so I'm a little rusty with the nicknames, okay?! All right, how about Jetstorm?"

—In spite of his apparent loss of creativity, Sentinel succeeds in naming the twins

Jazz: "Name is Jazz, dig? I'm here to hip you to some cyber-ninjitsu martial arts moves. Circuit su. Metalikato. You dig?"
Jetstorm: "What is this "dig"?"
Jetfire: "We are requiring shovels?"
Jazz: "What I mean is, are we solid?"
Jetfire: "Solid? Oh, yes! We are most solid!"
Jetstorm: "Except our hydraulics. They are liquid."

—In which Jazz struggles to bridge the vocabulary barrier

Starscream: "Looking for this, Auto-brat?"
Jetfire: "Put… my… brother… down!"
Starscream: "Not before I have a little fun with him!"

—Starscream simulator, now with more brutal sadism!

Notes

• This issue was available with the Jetstorm/Jetfire action figure set, with the words "Rise of Safeguard" printed on the cover. Originally, it was also supposed to be printed as the sixth issue of The Arrival and sold through comic book retailers, but it was canceled on the basis that the Arrival edition of the story would have wound up being released before the toys were, thereby robbing the printing included with the toys of its promised-on-package exclusivity. The Arrival trade paperback collection does contain the issue, with the addition of the proper title. The issue is also sold separately as a digital comic on online retailers such as Amazon.com and Comixology.
• There are two Autobots alongside Ultra Magnus in the Autobot Council Chamber who look like they share Prowl's bodyframe, but in red and green trim. The AllSpark Almanac II would go on to name these characters Horsepower and Sparkride.
• When the comic was released in Europe, it was printed in a "flip-book" style featuring two versions of the story, each in a trilingual style a la the Armada mini-comic: English, French, and German; and Spanish, Italian, and Dutch. Alas, this meant that the English language section had to be edited down from the original U.S. printing in order to fit all the languages into speech bubbles. The lives of Europeans are, indeed, pain.
• The Elite Guard considers non-members to be "expendable", and has no problems with performing dangerous experiments on ordinary robots who don't appear to have volunteered. Wheeljack himself said that using Starscream's code could turn them both into raging psychopaths. Ultra Magnus thinks that Sentinel showed great initiative when he claims to have used live ammo for a test which could have easily resulted in both Jetstorm and Jetfire dying if they hadn't happened to be so naturally adept at flying. And then they pop them into an untested and rather buggy simulator with Starscream, which nearly kills them. These are the good guys?
• This book must extend over two or three weeks, as the beginning of the comic book is before "A Fistful of Energon", then Jetstorm and Jetfire are created a deca-cycle later, which, according to Magnus himself, is when he (Magnus) was able to contact Optimus and the Autobots. The end of this issue seems to happen shortly before the present-day events of "Autoboot Camp".

Transformers references

• Jazz mentions the cyber-ninjitsu martial arts Circuit-Su and Metallikato.
• When Jazz is training with Jetstorm and Jetfire, there is a target practice doll of a Conehead in the background.

Real world references

• Jazz continues to speak in 1950s beatnik slang, using words such as "Clyde", "dig", "nowheresville", and "square".

Errors

• Red Alert is depicted as having a real left hand, when that should be the arm that ends in her hard-light surgical tool.
• Although he doesn't transform, it's clear from several shots that Sentinel Prime still has his Earth alt mode, despite the episode "Autoboot Camp" showing that he had reverted to his Cybertronian alt mode soon after leaving Earth. This was explained in The AllSpark Almanac as Sentinel changing his mind and re-adopting his Earth mode after Ultra Magnus decided to keep his (the suck-up!). By coincidence or design, this all fitted very nicely with "TransWarped", which depicted Sentinel with his Earth mode before he knew he'd be heading back to the planet again.
  • Jazz also still has his Earth-mode kibble. (It's also possible that Jazz kept his Earth alt mode, since he really seemed to like it.)
• Wasp is referred to as "Waspinator" by Ultra Magnus, but is still universally called "Wasp" by both the Autobots and himself in Animated episodes which take place afterward. Somewhat surprisingly, this was corrected to "Wasp" for the European printing of the comic (but only in the English part of it, while the foreign translations keep "Waspinator"); likewise, the trade paperback edition of the story.
• Jetfire and Jetstorm are clearly stated to be the first flying Autobots; it seems everyone has forgotten about the giant Autobot that saved everyone in the Great War (though, Project Omega was mentioned by Ultra Magnus). Swoop can also fly. Everyone forgets about poor Swoop. (Swoop was built on Earth, though, so it stands to reason the twins might be the first Autobot fliers.)

Covers

• Cover that came w/ the 2-Pack: Jetstorm and Jetfire flying through space; art by Boo and colors by Benjamin Meier.
• Unused The Arrival #6 cover: Sentinel Prime with Jetfire and Jetstorm; art by Boo and colors by Liam Shalloo. This was included in the TPB, along with an additional version that has the two brothers recolored to represent them using their powers.

• 

  Jets. Jets with fire!

• 

  Alas, it was not to be.