IDW - Robots in Disguise #16

Title: Heavy is the Head

Written by: John Barber

Pencils by: Andrew Griffith

Inks by: Brian Shearer

Ink Assist by: Rick Ketcham

Colors by: Josh Perez

Letters by: Shawn Lee

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Plot

The Iacon battle continues with the "good guys" being pinned down, however Dirge and Metalhawk urge Bumblebee to help them in rescuing Starscream, as he's one of them now. Elsewhere, Starscream is moaning about how he'd basically WON the elections when Megatron attacked. Elsewhere still, Sideswipe is attacked by Rumble, who is then threatened by Arcee and pummeled by Ironhide and the Dinobots. Ironhide lends Arcee the Dinobots to take down the Decepticons, whilst he goes to try and set Prowl straight from inside Devastator (by punching him).

Bumblebee leads the group against Megatron and the others to rescue Starscream, with Metalhawk actually reaching him first, only to have his arm blasted off by Turmoil from behind, Starscream then takes the opportunity to grab the fallen arm (with it's arm blades) and slices off his gun, then slashes into his head, killing him.

Swindle drags some injured Autobots into a shelter when Needlenose arrives and prepares to kill him as a traitor, only to by stopped when Zetca, Tappet, Sky-Byte, Tankor and Squawkbox arrive and tells him to leave (at gun point).

Outside, Ironhide finally manages to get through to Prowl, who tears off Devastator's head, and causes the components to de-combine, Prowl is back to normal (except he has a Devastator-part alt mode as well). Megatron however mocks them, saying this means nothing to him, as he wanted Devastator stopped anyway and starts to combine with the Constructicons, Dirge tries to stop him, only to be shot by Megatron, who asks him if change was so important to him. This reminds Bumblebee of Wheeljack's last words, telling him to remember what's important, then remembers several events, like Wheeljack working on Megatron and what the most important words on Cybertron are...Bumblebee activates the System Bypass (Wheeljack, Wheeljack, Wheeljack) which causes the force-field belt inside Megatron to expand around his spark, disabling him.

Elsewhere, Metalhawk and Starscream hear the commotion, and Starscream deduces what happened. Metalhawk says he thinks the Titan's words to him before he died were to try and make him take responsibility, it's not a holy thing, to which Strarscream takes his chance to win, he picks up Turmoil's cannon and killed his friend Metalhawk.

Back at the battlefield, the Autobots try to calm down the aftermath, when suddenly Starscream appears with Metalhawk's body and claims that the war killed him, he then tears off his insignia from his chest (the one on the cockpit) and says that all those who refuse to denounce their factions should be forced out of the city, as otherwise more war will just follow...the people agree.

Before long at Autobots and Decepticons who chose to remain with their factions are forced out of the city they've built, and Starscream remains, now donning the crown he was testing out a while earlier, the leader of the city.

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Car

Prowl - Car

Sideswipe - Car

Arcee - Car

Ironhide - Van

Fixit - Ambulance

Jazz - Car

Longtooth

Circuit

Swoop - Pteranodon

Snarl - Stegosaurus

Sludge - Apatosaurus

Slag - Triceratops

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex (Mentioned)

Blurr - Race Car Injured

Jetfire - Jet Injured

Bluestreak - Car Injured

Warpath - Tank Injured

Omega Supreme - Rocket and Base Maybe Dead?

Other Autobots

Wheeljack - Car (Flashback) Dead

Decepticon

Megatron - Devastator Torso Disabled by Force Field Belt

Starscream - Jet (Leaves Decepticons)

Turmoil - Tank Killed by Starscream

Swindle - Van

Dirge - Jet Injured by Megatron

Skywarp - Jet

Needlenose - Jet

Tankor

Squawkbox

Astrotrain - Train/Shuttle

Blitzwing - Tank/Jet

Slugslinger - Jet

Soundwave - Van

Ravage - Cassette

Laserbeak - Data Disk

Rumble - Tank

Frenzy - Tank

Hook - Crane

Bonecrusher - Bulldozer

Scavenger - Excavator

Long Haul - Dump Truck

Mixmaster - Mixing Truck

Devastator - Constructicon Gestalt Disassembled by Prowl

Other Decepticons

Seekers (Mentioned)

NAIL

Metalhawk - Jet Killed by Starscream

Zetca

Tappet - Car

Sky-Byte - Flying Shark

Other

Primus (Mentioned)

Metrotitan (Mentioned) Dead

Notes

• Arcee reveals here that the reason she attacked the Decepticons before, despite her and them being in on the plan because she thought Starscream might be watching (though I bet she enjoyed it a bit too)
• Ironhide confuses Rumble for Frenzy here, a COMMON problem for some fans
• Grimlock's absence from the Dinobots is actually mentioned here! (He's with the Scavengers remember)
• It's revealed here that Starscream actually IS stronger than Turmoil
• Jetfire, Bluestreak and Warpath are shown to be still alive and Swindle rescues them along with Blurr
• Wheeljack implanting the force-field belt inside Megatron is quite a clever thing, and seems very in-character, considering he suggested just killing him when he was captured back on Earth.
• I'd just like to point out that Metalhawk's fate here is very similar to his fate in the TFCC comics too, where he was shot point-blank by his "friend" Onslaught, though the after-effects were very different.
• Why is Tappet so uptight about Bumblebee not remembering his name? He's just one guy in a big city, he hasn't done anything major from Bumblebee's point of view, unlike others like Metalhawk, at least he remembers it begins with a "T"!
• Not everyone who is forced out of the city is very clear, but it's likely guys like Dirge, Tankor, Squawkbox, Blurr, Longtooth and Circuit remained behind, along with some others who may have stayed behind as "spies" for the main forces (perhaps Jazz under the cover of his duet with Sky-Byte)
• It's not clear what's actually happened to Megatron...is he dead, or just paralyzed?
• So what happens to the forced out guys now? Will they make their own other cities outside of Iacon, since the only reason the wilderness was a hazard was because of Megatron, or decide to leave the planet?
• Omega Supreme's body is still just laying around....is he actually dead then, or just recovering?
• Thinking about it, Starscream taking command of the city COULD be why the Lost Light's contact attempts have failed lately...