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Mistakes and Mayhem

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« The Transformers: Windblade vol. 2 #2 »
« Combiner Wars
Part 3 		»
Windbladev2 2 regcvr.jpg
Oh we would rue the title.
"Mistakes and Mayhem"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published April 22, 2015
Cover date April 2015
Story by Mairghread Scott and John Barber
Written by Mairghread Scott
Art by Livio Ramondelli
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor Carlos Guzman
Continuity 2005 IDW continuity
Chronology Current era (2015)

When Prowl attempts to use Devastator to destroy the spacebridge and sever contact between Cybertron and Caminus, Starscream retaliates by creating the newest Autobot combiner: Defensor!

Contents

Synopsis

As the clean-up on Caminus continues, Ironhide watches Sparkstalker aid Lightbright and remarks with some surprise on how helpful the Decepticons are being. Chromia responds with some of her trademark passive-aggression, prompting Ironhide to call her on her attitude, and to reveal that he knows she was responsible for the recent bombing in Acrolight. Chromia expresses regret, but makes it clear that the fate of Caminus is more important to her than the deaths she caused; Ironhide admits that he did not turn her in because he could see in her the same level of faith in Windblade and her cause as he has in Optimus Prime and his, and knows that many a 'bot has done terrible things in the name of such a cause. The pair start to bond over their shared love of problems that are solved by punching stuff, and the fates choose that moment to deliver just such a problem to them: Devastator appears through the spacebridge and orders all Cybertronians to return to their homeworld. When Sparkstalker refuses, Devastator opens fire.

The shuttle O Fortuna sets down on Cybertron, and Mirage immediately bounds out of it, intent on delivering news of his prophetic vision to Optimus Prime, over First Aid's protestations. Directions from Sunstreaker steer Mirage and his "Protectobot" guardians to the summit going on in a nearby tower, where Optimus, Windblade, Starscream, and the representatives from Caminus are heatedly discussing the formation of their interplanetary council. Just as Mirage bursts in, a communication from Chromia alerts everyone to Devastator's attack on Caminus, and Optimus, fearing what Prowl has planned, invites the Protectobots to join him in securing the spacebridge.

Devastator continues his rampage on Caminus, but is soon opposed by Superion. The Autobot combiner's versatility seems to give him the upper hand in the fight: when one of his arms is wrenched off by Devastator, it merely flies back into place, and when Devastator pins him, he is able to transform one of his legs into a third arm to tear a hole in the armor on Devastator's back. Unfortunately, Devastator's brute strength wins out, and Superion is soon rendered unconscious and dragged back through the spacebridge to Cybertron. Prime, Windblade, Starscream, and the others are waiting in the spacebridge chamber, and demand that Prowl/Devastator explain himself; the giant claims that the unification of Cybertron and Caminus can only lead to mutual destruction, and begins to tear the spacebridge apart to separate the two worlds for good. Optimus tries to reason with him, but Starscream and Windblade agree that he must be destroyed. Chromia, Ironhide, and the Decepticons burst through the bridge and occupy Devastator long enough for Starscream to use the Enigma of Combination—hidden in the chest compartment of his new body—to heal Superion, but, realizing that the Aerialbot combiner will not be enough, he also uses the Enigma on the confused Protectobots, merging them into a new Autobot combiner: Defensor! The three-way battle that follows is brutal, but finally brought to a close when Defensor launches Blades from his shoulder-socket like a missile, blasting him right through the weakened spot on Devastator's back and out the rampaging combiner's chest. Catastrophically wounded, Devastator disintegrates back into Prowl and the Constructicons.

Starscream is ready to kill Prowl on the spot, but the intervention of Optimus and Windblade saves his life and sees him arrested. Prowl's actions and his impotent raging as he is dragged off afford Chromia a moment of self-reflection, as she sees something of herself in him, while Optimus admits that Prowl's concerns are not unfounded... as the group looks over at Starscream, who has once again emerged on top, and is even now arranging with the Camien representatives to station one of his combiners on Caminus...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Others

Quotes

"I bring him down first: I'm officially changing my name to 'Better Tankor'!"

—Fat Tankor, on battling Devastator


"Gotcha Waspy! They don't call me 'Fast Tankor' for nothing'."
"Hate to break it to you, bud, but they don't call you 'Fast' Tankor at all!"

—Fat Tankor and Ironhide


"Windblade.... Did they forget to tell you how many times Cybertronians have brought our world to the brink of annihilation? Or were you so desperate that you would join with a race doomed to destroy itself?"
"We're not desperate, Devastator; we're hopeful. Together, Caminus and Cybertron will be stronger."
"Together we will both die."

—Devastator and Windblade


"Defensor: Online. Target: Devastator. Mission: Destroy!"
"Superion agrees."

—Defensor and Superion already in sync moments after Defensor is created


"Thank you for your mercy, Windblade. It would seem the war has warped Prowl's mind."
"It's not war... it's fear... it's the fear of something you can't see, some threat, that no one else does. It eats at you. Until it becomes so clear, so certain, it's easier to think that everyone else is wrong."

—Optimus Prime and Chromia

Notes

Continuity notes

  • When telling Chromia he is aware of her deeds, Ironhide mentions an "earthquake", which was the tremor caused by the activation of Metroplex's spacebridge in Windblade vol. 1 #4. Chromia's loss of an arm to Starscream's blades in that issue is also referenced.
  • Sunstreaker is revealed to have left the Lost Light and remained on Cybertron.
  • Ironhide refers to the last time he defeated Prowl/Devastator, in issue #16.
  • Back in Windblade vol. 1 #1, it was noted that nobody calls "Fat Tankor" by that nickname to his face, but it's been seeing use recently. Here, we find out that people have been getting away with it because he thinks they're calling him "Fast Tankor"!

Errors

(thumbnail)
Now with fewer mistakes, but equal amounts of mayhem.
  • On the recap page, First Aid is incorrectly referred to as "Fixit", and "so-called" is misspelled as "co-called".
  • On the cast page, Menasor's headshot instead features a picture of Motormaster.
  • The errors surrounding the Protectobots from the previous chapter carry over into this one, as Grotusque and Mainframe continue to be drawn in the places of Streetwise and Blades all through the issue before the team combines. This was corrected for the trade paperback, with new art of the two being added to the scenes. Unfortunately, in this new art, Blades has been drawn with mold-mate Alpha Bravo's head, which probably wouldn't be too noticeable if it didn't mean he had a mouthplate instead of a face.
  • Additionally, Rook, the new member of the Protectobots added to the team for the Combiner Wars toyline, has suddenly appeared among the group. However, his presence is completely unacknowledged by the script—Starscream addresses the Protectobots as "you five" when there are now six of them—and he appears in only three panels, with only his head visible peeping over someone else's shoulder every time. It looks very much like the issue had been mistakenly written as if Defensor is formed from the traditional five Protectobots, and Rook had to be added to the art after the fact because he's an integral component of the new Combiner Wars Defensor design. This gets papered over rather than corrected for the trade; Rook is still present, silent and unacknowledged, but now, Starscream merely refers to the Protectobots as "You!" rather than "You five!" He is however visible as Defensor's right leg.
  • Furthermore, when Defensor is formed, Groove is not attached as his chestplate or his leg despite being present in the group shots.
  • And in a surprising case of an error added for the trade, First Aid is drawn with a red "X" on his mouthplate in the redrawn panels depicting the Protectobots. Apparently, the reference material included artwork from More than Meets the Eye #4, where the red "X" was used to mark those who had come into contact with the Red Rust virus.
  • In the panel where Starscream tells Defensor to kill Prowl, Superion's visor is blue instead of red. Yet again, this error is only present in the trade. Curiously, it appears as if he was originally drawn with a blue visor that was later colored over in red. Maybe the trade accidentally used the original, unaltered art for that page?

Other trivia

(thumbnail)
Prowl (Prowl)
  • While More than Meets the Eye is reduced from 22 story pages to 20 starting this month, this issue still clocks in at 22, presumably because it was produced some time ago as part of the Combiner Wars toyline tie-in.
  • Superion and Defensor utilize some of their toy-derived abilities including Superion reattatching severed limbs and transforming a leg directly into an arm (an ability that can be accomplished for all Combiner Wars toys even without removing the limb from the socket first!), and Defensor firing an arm directly into his opponent's back. Superion also displays some decidedly non-toy-derived abilities, such as the ability to split his head into three pieces to avoid Devastator's haymaker.
  • On the cast page, Prowl's headshot features his name printed twice beneath it, instead of his name and a descriptor. Extensive mislabelling and errors in this issue made it unclear if this was a joke or a goof, but it continues into the next chapter, indicating the former.

Covers (4)

  • Windbladev2 2 regcvr.jpg
  • Windbladev2 2 subcvr.jpg
  • Windbladev2 2 cvrRI.jpg
  • CW Wheeljack comic.jpg

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Reprints

  • Transformers: Windblade - The Last City (February 14, 2018) ISBN 978-1684052240
    • Collects Windblade (2014) issues #1–4, and Windblade (2015) issues #1–7, but not the alternating chapters of Combiner Wars from The Transformers vol. 2 needed to complete the story. Um.
    • Bonus material includes covers from each issue.
    • Trade paperback format.

External links

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