War's End Part One

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"War's End Part One"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	February 23, 2022
Cover date	February 2022
Written by	Brian Ruckley
Art by	Jack Lawrence
Inks by	Matt Froese
Colors by	John-Paul Bove and Priscilla Tramontano
Letters by	Jake M. Wood
Editor	Riley Farmer, David Mariotte, and Tom Waltz
Continuity	2019 IDW continuity

A dangerous third party enters the war for Cybertron as a reborn Exarchon gets the old band back together.

Synopsis

An eerie wind whistles through the desolate Sonic Canyons as five Autobots—Landmine, Geomotus, Zetar, Sureshot and Pointblank—pick their way through its treacherous, winding terrain. While Sureshock and Pointblank don't like leaving Crystal City while the rest of the Autobots prepare for a full-scale Decepticon assault, Landmine, despite his own discomfort at revisiting the site of his infamous spelunking accident, reminds the group that Optimus Prime and Pyra Magna sent them on a vital mission: look for anything that could be connected to Exarchon, who's hidden something important in this mountainous landscape.

The people of Cybertron assumed that Exarchon perished in the final battle for Iacon, and he very nearly did—reduced to just a single, critically damaged body, Exarchon jumped into Provoke's wounded shell mere moments before the planet's convulsions buried him alive. With no other choice, Exarchon rode out the megacycles in stasis, patiently awaiting the day when he might return... and now, as he explains to his former lieutenants Shockwave and Skywarp, that time has finally come. However, the pair point out that Cybertron has changed in his absence... with Megatron and the Decepticons ascendant, Exarchon's not the only 'bot in town offering grandiose visions of conquest and scientific advancement anymore. Still, Exarchon sneers that the civil war tearing the planet apart will only make it easier for him to conquer: when his mysterious benefactors showed him a vision of the planet's future, they showed him a Cybertron with no room for anyone but Exarchon and those chosen few who shared his vision. When Exarchon reveals that he has many more secrets to share, including arcane tools and technologies he never shared with his partners during the war, Shockwave admits that he's intrigued...

Outside Decepticon Headquarters in Iacon, Roughstuff and Gutcruncher compare their experiences working for Swindle before a battered, angry Cyclonus, Provoke's severed head in his hand, storms up to the building and demands to see Megatron. The two Decepticons bar his way and quickly pay the price as Cyclonus easily trounces the pair; before he can finish them off, however, Sixshot orders him to stand down... but pauses when Cyclonus tells him why he's come: Exarchon's back, and he's got proof.

In the Sonic Canyons, Geomotus uses his sensors to scan the metallic cliffs for any irregularities that might indicate an artificial structure... but accidentally trips an ancient defense system instead! Long-buried automated turrets spring from the ground and promptly open fire on the intruders; although Zetar, Pointblank, and Sureshock try to fight back while Geomotus panics, Sureshot orders a full retreat... with no other way to go, the five 'bots take the fastest route to safety by diving right off the nearest ledge!

Despite the gravity of Cyclonus's warnings, Megatron has no time for chasing ghosts: with the siege of Crystal City at hand, his Decepticons have more important things to focus on. However, Sixshot points out Exarchon's supposed return does explain some of the strange things that've happened recently: Ruckus's miraculous rebirth and subsequent death coincided with the disappearance of both Flatline and Deathsaurus. Although Cyclonus requests their help in his mission, Starscream has a different idea: why not use these rumors to their advantage? Providing the citizens of Cybertron with a common enemy will cement Megatron's public image as a benevolent protector—all it takes is finding Deathsaurus and Flatline...

During the war, Exarchon constructed a hidden facility in the Sonic Canyons, a cache of exotic technologies he kept hidden from even his closest allies. Now that he's returned, he can offer Shockwave the chance to take his experiments even further—and while Soundblaster, Onslaught, and the remaining Combaticons all stand behind Exarchon, Skywarp, who's already hitched his wagon to Exarchon once and paid the price, announces he's out and teleports away before anyone can react. Exarchon's unconcerned: all that matters is securing the Sonic Canyons from the Autobots who might otherwise use his secrets against them. Fortunately, Exarchon's already got a man in place for just such a contingency...

On the canyon floor, the Autobots pick themselves up after their rough landing. Although Geomotus wants to go home, Sureshot points out that they must be on the right track: during the war, the Threefold Spark used automated blasters to defend their facilities; evidently, the Cybertronians must've missed one. While Landmine muses that the Sonic Canyons are unlike any other region on Cybertron--more like an organic scar than anything mechanical. At that moment, however, Geomotus announces he's found an anomalous blip in his scanners; realizing that someone's deliberately camouflagued whatever it is against scans, Sureshot orders Zetar to drive an access shaft into the ground. As Zetar transforms and gets to work, however, a concealed hatch suddenly slides back to reveal Exarchon's next line of defense: his latest "iteration", in control of Deathsaurus's body!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"The war ended. Perhaps it looked like defeat to those of you unable to see deeper. But I am not like the rest of you. I persist. I rise again."

—Exarchon

"The future has no room for any but me and those I elevate. Those few. This planet, this entire civilization... I am its destiny."

—Exarchon

"Exarchon wasn't even Cybertronian anymore, not really. He was destruction. Walking, talking destruction. Like a black hole, just tearing everything apart."

—Sureshot

"I am on the brink of crushing the Autobots! Crystal City will be ours, and Optimus Prime mine, within cycles! And you would have me divert attention, divert strength, to chase the phantom of an imaginary Exarchon? All on the word of this one. Who is mad, is he not, Sixshot?"
"Hard to say."
"He is carrying a head!"

—Megatron and Sixshot

"You know, I've had a lot of time to think, and in hindsight, I'm pretty sure Exarchon's not the sharing sort. So fun as it might be, this isn't a track I'm going to race around again. I'm out."

—Skywarp

"I don't like it here now, either."
"The Sonic Canyons always find a way to be unpleasant. At least we can bond over our dislike."

—Geomotus and Landmine

"Intruders. You will wish you had died before..."

—Exarchon

Notes

Continuity notes

• As the editor's note on page two reminds us, this issue takes place around the same time as the battle of Crystal City in Transformers #40. Notably, that issue's "story so far" recap actually wound up featuring a few panels from this issue, a week before it released; going by Megatron's comment that Crystal City will fall in a matter of days, perhaps it's actually set during the brief gap between Transformers #39 and #40?
• Landmine and Geomotus last appeared together in Transformers #36, where they indirectly saved the Autobots by alerting Optimus Prime to the deteriorating continental shelf surrounding the Rust Sea. They're acting on a tip from Optimus regarding Exarchon's possible whereabouts: a conversation with Codexa in Transformers #37 confirmed that Exarchon had returned and snuffed out Ruckus's spark.
• The Sonic Canyons received their first mention back in Transformers #14; as Landmine reminds us they're where he mounted his ill-fated subterranean expedition that stranded him a third of the way towards the planetary core. How exactly Optimus and Pyra Magna knew to send the team there isn't quite clear: in Transformers #32's bad future, Jumpstream learned that a version of her and Cyclonus had died in the canyons, but that's about the only on-panel connection we can make at the moment.
• Page three depicts the final battle of the War of the Threefold Spark from Exarchon's perspective and explains how he managed to steal Provoke's body after Cyclonus lost track of her in Transformers #37. In this sequence, Exarchon's possessed a lanky, vaguely hunched Cybertronian with antennae, prominent shoulders and hoses wrapped around their torso: this specific "iteration" appeared during a brief flashback in Transformers: Escape #3.
• Last glimpsed in Transformers #39 undergoing heavy repairs, Skywarp's still recovering from his run-in with Sky Lynx, who chomped and roasted him in the climax of Transformers #36.
• Outside Decepticon Headquarters, Gutcruncher and Roughstuff compare their experiences working with Swindle; Gutcruncher ran with Swindle's casino crew up until Megatron overthrew the Senate in Transformers #23, at which point Swindle hired Roughstuff to replace him when he and Bumblebee escaped from jail in Transformers #28. Perhaps unsurprisingly, both of them conclude that Swindle was a pretty horrible boss.
• Cyclonus brings Provoke's severed head as proof of Exarchon's return; he killed "her" in Transformers #39 after realizing Exarchon had stolen her body.
• Sixshot warns Cyclonus to back down unless he wants a rematch; the last time they crossed paths in Transformers #28, Sixshot gained the upper hand.
• In a discussion with Skywarp, Soundblaster reminds his comrade that he's a clone, which we already knew from a previous exchange with Shockwave in Transformers #34. In that issue, Shockwave spoke of a "we" when discussing Soundblaster's creation; confirming what we theorized, this issue reveals that he was a collaborative project between Exarchon and Shockwave.
• Onslaught has seemingly abandoned Megatron and pledged loyalty to Shockwave and Exarchon—in the future timeline Jumpstream glimpsed in Transformers #31, Exarchon had stolen the bodies of Shockwave, Onslaught, and Megatron. Skywarp explicitly points out that he doesn't trust Exarchon; perhaps this entire affair is Exarchon's attempt to backstab his nominal allies?
• Brawl tells Shockwave that Blast Off's gone AWOL after getting an important message—it's a sure bet that he's flown off to meet with Cosmos, who asked Lancer to pass along a comms package instructing Blast Off to join him on the Winged Moon as the damaged planetoid drifted into interstellar space in Transformers #27.

Transformers references

• The Sonic Canyons have been a mainstay feature of Cybertron since 1986, when they were introduced in Siren's Universe profile in 1986. This depiction is quite different from how they're usually portrayed, however: Geomotus notes that the eerie sounds of the canyon are a natural phenomenon caused by air currents whistling through the tiny micropores that line the canyon walls.
• As per dialogue in issues #35 and #37, an alien race supposedly found Exarchon in deep space, corrupted him into the living bioweapon, and unleashed him on Cybertron. In this issue, Exarchon mentions someone or something showing him a vision of Cybertron’s future (perhaps the same one Jumpstream visited in #31?) and describes this mental state as the “quintessence”. While the word can refer to a kind of elevated mental state, Transformers fans will probably jump to the manipulative Quintessons, who’ve been known to farm out their dirty work in different continuities. Could these squid-like aliens have something to do with Exarchon’s mutation, or even Cybertron as a whole... and might there be some connection between them and the cephalopod Voin, who featured prominently in Jumpstream’s bad future?
• In a cute bit of toy-accuracy, Zetar’s transformation shows him splitting himself apart and reforming as a drill-tank, keeping in line with his most recent "Weaponizer" toy.

Errors

• On page sixteen, Soundblaster is coloured like Soundwave, complete with a yellow stripe around his shoulder cannon.
• As he scans the canyon walls, Geomotus talks about his onboard sonar systems. However, because he's using it to analyze a solid cliff face, he should really be using radar—specifically, something analogous to the ground-penetrating radar systems used by human geologists.

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Shockwave, Megatron, and Skywarp, by Angel Hernandez and Fran Gamboa
• Cover B: Exarchon looms over the Autobots, by Freddie E. Williams II and Andrew Dalhouse
• Retailer incentive cover: Landmine vs. Exarchon, by E. J. Su
• Online exclusive cover: Cyclonus confronts Gutcruncher and Roughstuff, by Diego Zúñiga and Sid Ven Blu

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Reprints

• Transformers Volume 6: War's End (November 16, 2022) ISBN 1684059410 / ISBN 978-1684059416
  • Collects Transformers (2019) issues #37–43, War's End issues #1–4, and Fate of Cybertron.
  • Bonus material currently unknown, most likely alternate covers.
  • Hardcover format.

• 

  Volume 6: War's End – cover art by Cryssy Cheung

External links

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