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The World In Your Eyes Part Two

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"I didn't mean to shoot the son of a glitch, the gun went off I don't know why."
"The World In Your Eyes Part Two"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published March 27, 2019
Cover date March 2019
Written by Brian Ruckley
Art by Angel Hernandez (pg. 1-16), Cachét Whitman (pg. 17-20)
Colors by Joana Lafuente (pg. 1-16), Josh Burcham (pg. 17-20)
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor David Mariotte and Tom Waltz
Continuity 2019 IDW continuity

Prowl and Chromia try to get to the bottom of a puzzling murder investigation while Rubble receives his first taste of life on the job.

Contents

Synopsis

Rubble worriedly watches as Security Operations head Chromia and special investigator Prowl secure the perimeter of the crime scene at Brainstorm's energon transmission station. Prowl wonders if Brainstorm's death might have just been an accident, but Chromia is quick to point out signs of botched sabotage that lead her to suspect foul play... more specifically, foul play on the part of The Rise, which is just the excuse Chromia needs to start rounding up the troublemakers. In the meantime, Prowl and Chromia encourage Rubble and his guardian to continue their tour of Cybertron and meet up with Wheeljack at their next destination. As the two depart aboard a floating carrier, Chromia takes the opportunity to emphatically remind Rubble that this grisly scene is an aberration, an event that should not have happened on their peaceful world.

With Rubble out of the way, Chromia wonders if the little 'bot is really as innocent as he lets on, but Windblade maintains that the newly forged Transformer had nothing to do with the murder. Instead, Chromia questions Windblade regarding her lenient treatment of the Voin scavenger she encountered—a possible suspect—on the way to the energon station. When Prowl starts to push the issue, however, Chromia cuts him off and orders him to get the body ready for transport. As he does so, Chromia reminds Windblade that they'll need to stay ahead of the populace on this case; as the first murder in living memory, Cybertronians will be frightened, and it'll be their job to keep the public reassured: there is zero room for mistakes. With the crime scene a dead end in terms of possible leads, Chromia and Windblade put in a call to Senator Orion Pax to update him on their investigations. The Senator has worse news for the trio: Megatron's latest Ascenticon rally in Tarn is pulling in record numbers, and Pax desperately needs more security forces on the ground in case things get ugly, as has been the case with several other Ascenticon gatherings. Even though their forces are already spread thin due to recent events, Chromia assures the Senator that she'll do what she can to help keep order.

Dawn breaks as Rubble and Bumblebee arrive at the gigantic space elevator known as the Tether, the next leg of their journey across Cybertron. Despite his young protégé's enthusiasm, Bumblebee warns Rubble to keep the events of last night a secret as they disembark and meet up with the enthusiastic Wheeljack. The kindly engineer is eager to give Rubble a tour of his workplace; as he explains for the benefit of his new student, the entire Tether is built to connect Cybertron to one of Termagax's crowning achievements, the "Winged Moon." Once a simple moon of Cybertron, the satellite has been completely re-engineered into a massive, geosynchronous energon-harvesting station that captures and processes free-flowing energon from the very fabric of space-time. Though Rubble is briefly distracted by an organic skitter, Wheeljack offers him the chance to work at the Tether for the day so as to better understand the ins and outs of engineering as one possible career choice: an offer that Rubble accepts.

After a busy shift of lifting, hauling, welding, and sorting, Bumblebee returns to pick up Rubble as evening falls. Pleased with Rubble's performance, Wheeljack invites the pair to take a rooftop seat to take in the fruits of their labor and watch the Winged Moon unfold into its harvester configuration. The two chat about energon harvesting for a while, but when the conversation inadvertently turns towards Brainstorm, Rubble can't help but ask about The Rise. Bumblebee explains that they're a radical group, violent extremists who espouse many of the same views as Megatron's Ascenticons. Concerned, Rubble wonders if he'll have to choose a side one day... but his mentor assures him that he'll be allowed to make that choice in his own time, or, like Bumblebee, simply remain independent from any of Cybertron's many factions.

Their conversation is cut short by the majestic scene of the Winged Moon coming online, its metal surface unfurling like the petals of a flower as the station begins its evening harvest. Then and there, Rubble declares the sight the most amazing thing he's ever seen, and Bumblebee initially tries to correct him... but then changes his mind and agrees with his young friend: it really is the most amazing thing he's ever seen.

In the city of Tarn, meanwhile, the crowd eats up Megatron's words as he launches into his latest tirade: arguing against the restrictive laws and ordinances that have, in his eyes, "weakened" the power and potential of the Cybertronian race. But as he begins to praise Termagax, the very first Ascenticon, his speech is interrupted by an explosion that knocks him and Soundwave off the stage! As a pair of shots fired by an unseen assailant ricochet off of his armor, Megatron yells for the crowd to get to cover as he leaps towards the source of the shots—only to find that the culprit has already escaped.

Megatron is far from cowed, however—then and there, the Ascenticon leader swears that there will be a reckoning...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Ascenticons Others
 

Quotes

"Of course he would have checked. He never makes a mistake."
"Oh, he makes mistakes. If he didn't put so many dents in everyone around him, he'd be running security instead of me."

- Windblade and Chromia on Prowl


"Do you know what construction engineering is?"
"Well, I think so. I mean, it's-"
"It is the noblest of callings. The highest calling. There is nothing more purposeful or productive than to make, with your mind and your hands."

- Wheeljack and Rubble


"We are unique, we Cybertronians. There is nothing, and no one, in all the known universe in which we see our own nature reflected. That nature, in its longevity, its capabilities, its adaptability--in the many gifts Primus, the origin, bequeathed to us--that nature is unparalleled!"

- Megatron waxes poetic

Notes

Continuity notes

  • Internal narration from Rubble's POV also reveals that most Cybertronians don't die from natural causes, per se, noting that they can either "choose to sleep" or "merge into Cybertron itself." The previous issue began with Rubble scaling the face of a giant Transformer, its crumbling superstructure growing out of the ground like a mountain, suggesting that it was in one or both of these states of being.
  • Additionally, Rubble ponders that, while Cybertron itself is peaceful, violence between Transformers is more common on colony planets. It's not yet clear what connection these colonies have to Cybertron itself here, and if old planets, like Windblade's traditional home planet of Caminus, exist in this continuity.
  • Mentioned by Ironhide and Orion Pax in the previous issue, Prowl makes his on-panel debut, appearing in his contemporary Siege toy design.
  • We learn a little more about the mysterious Termagax; issue #1 quoted some of her musings on Transformer sociology, while this issue reveals that she oversaw the creation of both the Winged Moon and the Tether. As a matter of fact, both of these wonders made an appearance on the second page of issue #1, which also happened to feature her quotations. Very sneaky, Ruckley!
  • The Autobots and Ascenticons aren't the only factions to exist on Cybertron, with Bumblebee bringing up several minor factions such as the Primals and Reversionists.
  • Many of the generics who appeared in the previous issue's Ascenticon march reappear here amidst Megatron's rally, except, oddly enough, Ruckus, the sole pre-existing character to show up amongst the bunch.
  • Megatron blames something called the "Nominus Edict" as the law responsible for the rationing of energon and the "weakening" of Cybertronians; this appears to be a reference to the preexisting character Nominus Prime, who first appeared in the original IDW continuity as the elitist head of Cybertron's corrupt Senate. What role does he play in this universe? We shall have to wait and see...

Transformers references

  • Rubble notes that he is "forty-one cycles" old; while the precise value of a cycle has varied wildly from one continuity to the next (see Animated's 1.5 minutes versus the previous IDW continuity's rough estimate of an hour), Brian Ruckley clarified that in this universe, a cycle is roughly equivalent to one Earth day.[1]
  • The hovering "carriers" that ferry Transformers to and fro bear more than a passing resemblance to the Mobile Autobot Repair Bays of the Marvel Transformers comic.
  • This is not the first time that one of Cybertron's moons has been put to work this way: issue #5 of Lost Light saw the Functionist Council rebuild their universe's Luna Two into a similar "harvester unit"... though that version was decidedly less benevolent.
  • Wheeljack describes the skitters as an invasive species from the A'ovan homeworld; the A'ovans originally appeared in Titan's 2007 Transformers magazine as a civilization locked in an endless conflict with another species on their planet, the warlike Thraal. The Thraal aren't specifically mentioned here, but the skitters are said to have stowed away aboard A'ovan "refugee ships," and Wheeljack muses that their home is by now an "irradiated wasteland."
  • Bumblebee observes that the Winged Moon is a rather inefficient means of gathering energon, noting that in some places it's possible to find the substance in a concentrated, crystalline form. The so-called "Energon crystals" of which Bumblebee speaks are a common sight in other Transformers stories, most prominently the Beast Wars and Prime cartoons.
  • Lots of lookalikes! One worker at the Tether sports Perceptor's colour scheme, but it's during the Ascenticon rally that things really kick into high gear. Doppelgängers in the crowd include a 'bot loosely based off Moonracer's appearance in the prior IDW continuity, another Ascenticon coloured like Misfire, and a security officer who shares a livery with the Torchbearers, but doesn't seem to be based on any one member.

Errors

  • One of the generic Ascenticons on page 17, waving his flag directly in front of Megatron, is coloured teal with a black head; during the close-up shot two panels later, however, he's shown to sport a grey-and-yellow paintjob. The same goes for the female compatriot to his left, whose helmet and back-mounted engines go from purple to teal.

Covers (4)

  • TF2019 02 cvrA.jpg
  • TF2019 02 cvrB.jpg
  • TF2019 02 cvrRI.jpg
  • TF2019 02 cvrRE.jpg

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  • Synergy one-shot
  • Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons and Dragons TPB
  • Various Ghostbusters comics
  • Glow comic (back cover)

Reprints

External links

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