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Tread & Circuits Part 3

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Tread & Circuits #3 		»
Tread&Circuits 3 cvrA.jpg
"Tread & Circuits Part 3"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published December 8, 2021
Cover date December 2021
Written by David Mariotte
Art by Jack Lawrence
Colors by Brittany Peer and Rebecca Nalty
Letters by Val Lopez and Jake M. Wood
Editor Riley Farmer and Tom Waltz
Continuity 2019 IDW continuity

A full-scale attack on the Speedia 500 forces Thunderclash and the Wreckers to take Mayhem head-on.

Contents

Synopsis

The Speedia 500 is underway! As the racers leave the city limits and follow the racetrack out into the desert beyond, the competition heats up as the racers push themselves to their limits, and the Wreckers get into the spirit of the competition: with Thunderclash's permission, Hot Shot and Ricochet gun their engines and keep pace with the underhanded Drag Strip. With Override, Road Rocket, and Sideways all vying for position at the head of the pack, the racers get ready to take the second bend... and stumble right into a Mayhem ambush! From his vantage point, Skullgrin sets off a massive explosive charge that collapses part of the cutting straight onto the roadway, blocking part of the track and forcing the slower racers to maneuver around the sudden avalanche, which gives Axer the time he needs to mount his bespoke cycle, enter the race, and start picking off the disoriented racers. Road Pig is his first victim; after entangling his wheels in an energon net, the bike-bot loses control, skids off the track, and flies straight into Octopunch, who slices him in half. Having hacked the floating camera drones to broadcast their execution to the citizens of Velocitron, Octopunch turns to the camera: they didn't listen to their warnings, and now they pay the price. At the finish line, Breakdown orders all the spectators to evacuate the track; when he tries to communicate with the racers on the track and call off the race, however, he finds his comms systems unresponsive; Mayhem's already locked down all of the emergency frequencies, and the racers are on their own.

When Hot Shot and Ricochet come across the sabotage, Drag Strip swerves around the pair and leaves them choking on his dust—thinking quickly, Hot Shot simply transforms and launches his comrade over the landslide to keep pace. Unfortunately for the pair, however, their aerial jaunt attracts the attention of more Mayhem operatives—Slugslinger and Thunderblast pelt the pair with a missile barrage! Slugslinger's second bombing run takes Hot Shot out of commission; as the pair discuss circling round for a third time, however, an angry Aileron rams Slugslinger and sends Thunderblast toppling straight onto the racetrack below, where Thunderclash piledrives her into the rockslide; the remaining racers do their best to weave around the three-way brawl between Thunderclash, Skullgrin, and Submaurader, and wind up trampling Thunderblast even further. Wounded but still in the fight, Thunderblast aims her rocket launcher and draws a bead on her foe... at which point Leadfoot, intent on saving his new friend, leaps into the fight to punch her unconscious!

Although Ricochet tries to rouse a wounded Hot Shot, it's Aileron who rouses him back into action by giving him a surprise airlift to get the drop—literally—on Slugslinger. As a living air-to-ground weapon, Hot Shot has just enough time to strike a heroic pose before he smashes straight into Slugslinger's fuselage and pile-drives him into the ground, right in front of Leadfoot and Thunderclash. While the Wrecker leader orders Ricochet to evacuate one of the wounded racers, Thunderclash and his new friend have a plan: riding Leadfoot's alternate mode like a skateboard, the pair catch up with the rest of the racers, who are under threat from a fast-moving Submarauder and Axer. The Wrecker commander carefully stepping-stones his way across the racers; from Leadfoot to Hauler, over Clampdown, and finally landing on Lickety-Split. With the Autobots on their tails, the Mayhem operatives have only one shot at taking out Road Rocket, but they make that count: Submarauder's harpoon impales the First Senator through the windshield, and as they and Override spin out of control, Knock Out skates around the pileup and takes the lead. At that point, members of Velocitron's security mob the track to pull Submarauder off Thunderclash and arrest the Mayhem operative... but none of them notice that the real Submarauder has already shed his outer shell and made his escape.

With the rest of the racers tangled up by security, it looks like the race will go to Knock Out, but he's got one more competitor to deal with—Axer, intent on finally ending the Speedia by killing the last useless layabout, attempts to run him off the road, before a missile from Breakdown obliterates Axer as Knock Out outruns the explosion. At the finish line, Xaaron, Scrounge, and Signal Lancer wonder what's become of the racers now that Mayhem's successfully ruined the race. For the first time in its history, Velocitron may have no First Senator... until a lone plume of dust on the horizon reveals the victor of the race: Knock Out! As the rest of the racers and officers limp over the finish line, Minerva rushes out to greet the other Wreckers, but Thunderclash grimly informs her that at least two racers are dead and the members of Mayhem have escaped amidst the confusion triggered by local security blundering into a situation they don't understand. Thunderclash doesn't care who won the race—all that matters is that the Wreckers have failed...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Ascenticons Mayhem Others

Quotes

"We told you what would happen. You did not take us seriously. Now suffer the consequences. We are Mayhem... and you are dead."

—Octopunch


"Sorry all! Seems there's some scrap in the road trying to block our way!"
"I'll-you-servo-sniffing-Thunder-poser!"
"You should watch your mouth. Most of those words aren't allowed on the air, you know."

—Thunderclash runs over Thunderblast


"C'mon, hothead, you're missing all the action."
"Ricochet? You're helping me?"
"Course. You can't eat my dust if you're lying down."

—Ricochet and Hot Shot


"Ya don't care about our trauma. Ya don't care about the bots that live here. Ya just care about winning."
"You're right. I care about winning. And right now, you're keeping me from that. So goodbye!"

—Axer and Knock Out

Notes

Continuity notes

  • The announcer notes that Knock Out's representing the Ascenticon party in the race—confirming our theory from issue #2, this would indeed set the story at some point before Megatron formally renamed his movement in issue #23.

Transformers references

  • In addition to some returning cameos from #2, "virtual" redecos in this issue include a gold and white Robots in Disguise Blurr and a red and yellow Robots in Disguise Sideswipe.
  • Other unnamed but recognizable racers include a tiny yellow Formula based on Armada Mirage, Clampdown the police car, and a massive green construction crane who can only be everyone's favorite one-scene wonder Hauler. Clampdown and Hauler are drawn as repaints of Siege Sideswipe and Earthrise Grapple, respectively.
  • New Mayhem operatives in this issue include a new Generation 1 incarnation of Cybertron femme fatale Thunderblast—she'd previously been namedropped way back in a Wings Universe prose story, but this marks her first speaking role. She's teamed up with Slugslinger, who's using a body based on his recent Titans Return toy.
  • As Breakdown tries to re-establish contact with the racers, Scrounge is shown deploying a microphone from his left index finger: this, is, of course, his infamous "special arm" in action, a power that dates all the way back to his first appearance in issue #17 of the Marvel US comic. 35 years and there's still no other like it!
  • Leadfoot becoming a deputy Wrecker is likely based on IDW's own The Transformers: Regeneration One maxiseries, which included him as a new member of the team—in turn, a double homage to both the Generation 2 comic and his live-action film counterpart from Dark of the Moon.
  • Amidst the chaos, Submarauder bails by shedding his outer armor as a decoy; while his outer armor takes inspiration from most recent Power of the Primes figure, his inner robot is faithfully coloured to resemble his original Pretender toy. That Submarauder—and presumably Octopunch and Skullgrin as well—are classic-styled Pretenders at all is pretty notable: their fellow Pretender Bludgeon of 2021 annual fame is not a Pretender; like many modern incarnations, he simply unites features from his outer shell with his inner robot.
  • Thunderclash briefly uses Lickety-Split as an improvised ride, who tells him that she's a big fan. Her characterization as a sports aficionado dates back to her Animated counterpart; the AllSpark Almanac II guidebook established her as a big fan of, um, Buzz Lightyear (just go with it).
  • Knock Out becoming Velocitron's First Senator evokes the events of Windblade, in which he and Moonracer became delegates representing Velocitron on Cybertron's Council of Worlds.

Errors

  • On page ten, "Robots in Disguise Blurr" is colored light green instead of gold and white.
  • Lickety-Split's vehicle mode colours vary from appearance to appearance—on page three and page nine, her headlights and wheel well are grey, while in all other panels she's completely orange.
  • Another car, who may or may not be Moonracer, goes from teal and grey to grey and purple on page fifteen.

Covers (3)

  • Tread&Circuits 3 cvrA.jpg
  • Tread&Circuits 3 cvrB.jpg
  • Tread&Circuits 3 cvrRI.jpg

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