The Energon Pub

[MYoung23]

Whoo boy.

Some nice reveals this month.


Any canon questions were attempted to be quashed with this issue. For the first time there was direct linkage with the previous series' like the Decepticons being in their Furman series forms in the beginning of the issue. The downside is that other continuity questions remain.


But, I may have figured out who the traitor is but I will save that for the very end of this post. And it isnt Mirage.........

Forget about Bombshell using his Cerebro shell on an Autobot. Megatron informs the beaten Autobots after main Cyberton outcast group's collective tail whoopin' that they were betrayed willingly by one of their own.

The Autobots were given bad intel and lured into an ambush Old West style. Devastator makes his first appearance to the Autobots and merges for the kill. The problem here is that that Jazz makes it sound like they had never encountered this technology before when we all know about Monstructor. He could have been referring to the notion that the Decepticons finally found a way to copy gestalt technology and adapt it. I thought the writing here was a bit clunky.

Anyone rooting for the continued adventures of Hunter/Sunstreaker can forget about it. The Headmaster process was reversed. Sideswipe tries to have a tender moment with Sunstreaker about what happened but Streaker blows him off.

We also get to see who made Sideswipe a lefty.

The space bridge make its debut and surprisingly it wasnt the Matrix getting ripped out of his chest that really messed up Prime. The space bridge is how the Autobots got to Cybertron as part of Megatron's Bond villianesque execution plan.

Cybertron is still toxic to Transformers but its effect are lessened which acts as slow acting torture to the Autobots.

Ironhide gets fed up and goes Code Red on Mirage as Sunstreaker watches on. The expressions on the faces of Ratchet, Trax, Trailbreaker, Wheeljack and Sunstreaker on the last panel indicates that well.... I think you get the idea.


Now on to my traitor theory. Dont not scroll down if you dont want the possibility in your mind

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The Autobot traitor is Hunter Onion.


In the issue Sunstreaker isnt just traumatized he is in denial. Denial about what happened to Hunter. Sideswipe knows the deal but really doesnt put all the pieces together which on the surface appears to be that after they were separated Sunstreaker and abandoned Hunter something bad happened to him like the Decepticons killing him.

I dont think the Decepticons killed Hunter but captured him. When Megatron asks Bombshell about his function (torment) and then tells he has someone he needs him to meet I think it is Hunter.

Bombshell tortures Hunter until he gives up all the Autobot secrets. Remember, they shared the same mind and it is not crazy to think that Hunter would then know everything that Sunstreaker knows. That is an assett that the Decepticons couldnt possibly pass up. A defenseless human with all the knowledge of a relatively high ranking Autobot.

The Decepticons likely knew Mirage was spying on them and let him bring back fake intel setting the Autobots up. The Decepticons also likely knew the reservations via Hunter that many Autobots have about Mirage making him the perfect fall guy.

[i_amtrunks]

Wow. Just Wow.

All it took was 7 issues for McCarthy to finally set-up AHM. The first 6 issues could have been condensed into one, and this should have been issue two.

The flashback was nice, it really didnt answer anything, but did give vague tie-ins to Furman's previous work. AHM is still far too different to comfortably sit in the IDW Furman-verse, but there was an effort to tie the two together. I do wonder how much was changed/added in to allay the complaints of AHM being so far from Furman's work. EJ Su's art was lovely and a nice contrast to Guido's art, which itself was good.

The flashbacks are vague for most things, MYoung has already done a recap, so I'll just expand on a few things:
- Sunstreaker had the Headmaster process removed, no mention on any specifics, will hopefully be left to MD to tell the story, and hopefully will not end up a between stories event.
- Devastator forms and routs the Autobots, unlike Monstructor, Devastator does not turn feral when merged.
- Prime has the Matrix ripped from his chest, but no clue as to when he inherited the Matrix
- Prime was left in his current state by saving the Autobots in relation to the spacebridge. It's not clear what he did, or how.

It's all kind of convenient for McCarthy to skip the details, so very dues ex machina.

I'm also confused about Bombshell, I think the events that occur in regards to him are happening in the past, since he and the other insecticons appeared in previous issues, but it is not ever defined.

Writing is still clunky, and the pacing for this issue is better, but for the overall series, a 7 part setup for 5 parts payoff is just not up to scratch.

I fully expect the next 5 issues to run as: Prime to recover, boost Autobot morale, forgive the traitor and attack and defeat the Decepticons when Starscream tries to betray Megatron.

Wow a 12 issue comic that reads like an old G1 episode!

[MYoung23]

The events with Bombshell are in the past. If you look the Decepticons are in their Devastation forms. It leads me to believe that sometime after the events of Devastation the Decepticons left Earth and went back to Cybertron to do the Insecticon experiments, executed their End Game against the Autobots and then returned to Earth.

[i_amtrunks]

The events with Bombshell are in the past. If you look the Decepticons are in their Devastation forms. It leads me to believe that sometime after the events of Devastation the Decepticons left Earth and went back to Cybertron to do the Insecticon experiments, executed their End Game against the Autobots and then returned to Earth.

Thanks for pointing that out, didn't really pay that much attention to the alt modes.

And I do like your traitor theory.

[King Henrik]

awesome traitor theory myoung. i hope it is true because i can't think of anything better.

i was thinking that that the traitor was going to end up being someone who wasn't with them during the attack, even though megatron does say "one amongst you". simply because why would an autobot turn traitor without getting something in return(like his own safety)? it doesnt make sense for an autobot to do that and still be left in to endure the supreme ass kicking. or maybe the deal was for the autobots to only get a supreme ass kicking and not just outright killed?

also i agree that prime is probably going to come back soon, but i wonder how? it's it going to be something major to bring him back from near death and also to get the autobots in fighting shape. maybe the dinobots enter the picture? or an autobot combiner? which i guess would most likely be computron at this point since we havent seen anyone from any other combiner teams yet except silverbolt.

[MYoung23]

Thanks fellas. I dont think my theory is correct though. It may be related to bot I have in question.


If the traitor is an actual "Autobot" that was among the attacked then he could have been betrayed by the Decepticons himself. Do you really think the Decepticons were going to follow through with any promises they made?

I think they are going to fix Prime with the energon salvaged from The Trion. They didnt have enough to fix the ship but probably enough to fix Prime. With the Swarm around they are moving to a safer location or at least a location they can secure.

There is a possibility of an Autobot combiner but I dont think the Autobots have one yet. If they had one they would have used it like the Decepticons did. If Jetfire is still alive then he likely could with the right equipmentment make gestalt tech work safely. It seemed like it didnt take him long to make Pretender tech safe.

Speaking of combiners.....Devastator looks like he mass shifts. He is ginormous in this issue. His parts shouldnt make a bot that massive. The front part of Mixmaster's cab looks to be twice as tall as Prime in robot mode. He dwarfs Monstructor.

Or it could be a grievous artistic error.

[Chaoslock]

The gestalts giant size is typical DW-style, where Menasors limbs (which should be normal 2-4 meter long vehicles) were giant:
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Scale#Combiner_characters

[ponycorn]

There was a chain of events that led to something that could have been considered a betrayal, but not in the direct, cooperative fully conscious way. At least if that had happened, we haven't seen it yet.

Loved the G1 Marvel nod with the Insecticons having made the spacebridge. IIRC, they were the ones that made the first one for Straxus back in G1.

Loved the way Cliffjumper was armed for the fight! Could he even walk after loading himself that heavy in weapons? LOL

Loved the way Thundercracker was acting - and I wonder, what silenced that attitude? He was getting pretty bold there, and in recent comics, he is sullen and barely even talks. Could it have to do with Skywarps hatred of Bombshell? Could the Boss have introduced Bombshell to Cracker after that last scene?

The dialogue between Swipe and Streaker reminded me of a show I used to watch, Supernatural. The whole brothers thing, what with one of them not wanting to talk and the other endlessly pushing it. Also, is Sideswipes arm slowly growing back?

Loved Ironhide flying off the handle at Mirage - it's not the first time we've seen him have an outburst and bash his fellow 'Bots heads in, and I doubt it will be the last - Is Sunstreaker the next?

[Dead Metal]

There is also one more thing that makes your first traitor theory impossible McChartney had no idea that Hunter exister or was Sunstreaker's Headmaster, he only learned about that after he had finished the beginning of the "story" that's why it's mentioned so briefly.
Oh man just one more issue of this crap and idw I'll finally have more money for good things.

[MagnusPrimal]

I got the feeling the whole 'Headmaster' experience really messed Sunstreaker up, and he was the traitor.

Still not enjoying this series very much. Can we please return to what Furman had planned?