IDW - More Than Meets the Eye #7

Staff

Title: Rules of Disengagement

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Alex Milne

Colour by: Josh Burcham and Joanna Lafuente

Letters by: Shawn Lee

Editor: John Barber

Plot

The Decepticon Justice Division has captured Black Shadow and are punishing (read torturing) him for betraying Megatron by destroying a fleet of War Worlds for the Autobots in the past, Black Shadow begs for his life, but Tarn doesn't listen and kills him with his vocal weapon, causing him to explode. The DJD move onto their next target, who is on the planet Clemency.

On the Lost Light Rung is being kept alive on life-support, and he's visited by some of the crew (including Swerve and Skids). Red Alert comes to visit and confides in Rung that Overlord is in the "basement" of the Lost Light, but he can't tell anyone, because he can't trust anyone but Rung, so he places a data slug with a recording of Overlord into Rung's hand and leaves, saying goodbye, as he things someone's going to kill him next. He is unaware that a Diagnostic Drone is recording this.

On Clemency Misfire and his mis-matched team of Decepticons find a survivor on a battlefield and greet him (after mistaking him for a zombie and a miracle-resurrection, and even trying to steal his fuel pump), and introduce themselves to him.

In Brainstorm's workshop on the Lost Light, Chromedome visits him, and finds the scientist building weapons upside down (because only he can!) and Brainstorm shows Chromedome Skids' gun that Chromedome swiped a while back, and finds that it's exploded, but it's very curious and impossible, as it seemed to come from the Institute.

On Clemency the Decepticons are sitting around a camp-fire and discussing the war (and Fulcrum just learns the war has ended) and how they think they've lost it, and they realize that they don't really care about the war anymore, or even who won (even despite being totally okay with killing an Autobot straggler on the planet for the fire a few moments later). Meanwhile, on the Lost Light Rung has a mysterious visitor, who steals the data slug from his hand and leaves.

Back on Clemency the Decepticons begin searching through the wrecks of former Transformers, looking for supplies to power their ship and themselves, when Misfire freaks out and thinks he's seen the Necrobot and flies off, afraid that he's going to die or something. Misfire lands near a downed Decepticon ship, in the shape of a giant Decepticon Symbol, and calls the others to help him investigate.

The crew enter the ship and find several weird things, such as brain modules stuck into the ceilings, half formed protoforms in jars, a robot made of wood, some sort of organic epidermis inside the ship and other small things. After the group reunites (and discuss whether to run away screaming or not) Krok receives a communication, which he transmits to Misfire's Communicube, and it's Tarn saying that one of their group has angered the DJD in some way (and he knows who he is) and if they give him up, the other six can watch them kill him. The group are confused as there's only six of them anyway, they assume the DJD just miscounted, until Krok finds Grimlock in a stasis tube....

Characters

Autobot

Brainstorm - Jet

Chromedome - Car

Skids - Van

Swerve - Van

Red Alert

Ambulon - Leg

Ratchet - Ambulance

First Aid - Ambulance

Rung - Communications Maintenance Buggy On Life Support, Headless

Grimlock In Stasis

"Mystery Thief"

Valve (Flashback)

Rack or Ruin (Flashback)

Hyperion - Treaded Vehicle (Flashback)

Impactor - Tank (Flashback)

Nightbeat (Flashback)

Other Wreckers (Flashback)

113th Battalion (Flashback)

Pyro - Truck (Flashback)

Optimus Prime - Truck (Flashback)

Ultra Magnus (Flashback)

Hardhead - Tank (Flashback)

Kup - Pick Up Truck (Flashback)

Rewind - Memory Stick (Flashback)

Rodimus - Car (Mentioned)

Perceptor (Mentioned)

Fortress Maximus - Tank (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Fulcrum

Misfire - Jet

Flywheels - Tank

Spinister - Helicopter

Krok

Crankcase

Tarn

Vos

Helex - Smelting Chamber

Kaon - Electric Chair

Tesarus - Metal Mincer

Black Shadow - Jet Killed by Tarn

Dead Decepticons Killed in Warfare

Megatron - Tank (Flashback)

Overlord - Tank and Jet (Mentioned)

The Conclave (Mentioned)

A Monstercon (Mentioned) Dead

Other

Diagnostic Drone

Turbofox

Swerve's Waiter-Drone (Flashback)

Necrobot (Mentioned)

Notes

• As of this issue, all three known Phase-Sixers have betrayed Megatron in some manner.
• Phase-7 would have been "Repopulation of Cybertron"
• Black Shadow is shown here in his Generations toy line character model
• Lots of dead guys make appearances in the backgrounds of the Black Shadow flashbacks
• Skids was asking other characters about if they listen to music in a few other issues...and Tarn seems to love music and uses his voice as a weapon too...coincidence?
• One of Megatron's written pieces is titled "Towards Peace"
• Rung is still alive, but only by being kept on life support (much like Springer is)
• Swerve is notably upset with Rung's condition, and even placed one of his toy spaceships next to him (as shown above)
• A diagnostic drone spies on Red Alert, who is convinced he's being watched
• One of the seven Transformers on Clemency has angered the DJD, most likely that one is Agent 113, who is an Autobot spy (probably Fulcrum)
• Misfire sort of breaks the fourth wall here, by saying he'll introduce the hell out of everyone (ie an infodump)
• The sun that Hydrus 4 and 5 orbit has apparently gone out, thanks to the thing in Brainstorm's briefcase
• Brainstorm is working on something secret now, which needs to be kept secret until it's finished, or it wont work
• Brainstorm can't decide what colour to make his new ammunition to prevent what happened to Rung happening again
• Skids' gun was stolen from him by Chromedome during that scene in issue 4 where Skids catches the waiter in Swerve's bar, which seemed random at the time.
• The gun exploded as soon as Brainstorm started to analyse it, and all he was able to work out from it was that it only held 2 cartridges and it seems to have been made in the Institute (he named it the binary gun)
• At one point in the war Optimus and Megatron locked themselves inside Omniglobes so they could coordinate the vast-state of the war at the time
• The Decepticons on Clemency assume the war was won by the Autobots...just because.
• Each of the Decepticons on Fulcrum have a bit of an odd personality. Misfire is a bit ADHD, Fulcrum is just overly friendly, Krok is a military strategist with no war left, Spinister is stupid, Flywheels can't lie without transforming, and Crankcase is a chronic grump.
• Grimlock hasn't been seen since Maximum Dinobots, but he was mentioned as being missing from G-9 in Last Stand of the Wreckers.
• Red Alert believe's Rung was shot because Red told him about "the voice"
• This is the first MTMTE story so far to mostly star characters other than the Lost Light crew
• Communicubes come in various sizes
• The Monstercon's are likely counterparts to the Monsterbot's
• The DJD members shown here are named after several Decepticon conquered cities