IDW - Deviations: Transformers

Written by: Brandon Easton

Art by: Priscilla Tramontano

Colours by: Priscilla Tramontano & John-Paul Bove

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Edits by: John Barber

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

As usual, the battle of Autobot City commences with the Decepticons invading on a hi-jacked Autobot shuttle, and several Autobots are killed in the battle. Optimus arrives to take on Megatron one-on-one, but Hot Rod gets the urge to help his leader win. However, unlike what should happen, Kup manages to tackle the younger Autobot, and stops him from joining the battle, and becoming a hostage, allowing Optimus to finally kill Megatron.

Following his death, the Decepticons escape on Astrotrain, with Starscream taking command of the Decepticons, with no challenges. On the way back to Cybertron, Astrotrain needs them to lose some mass so he can continue the journey, resulting in the injured Decepticons being jettisoned, however without Megatron amongst them, they are simply devoured by Unicron, who is on his way to Cybertron as well...

Back on Earth, the Autobots mourn the dead, and Optimus decides to lead a mission to Cybertron to finish the Decepticons whilst they are weakened. Hot Rod starts to feel like something is wrong, but is being ignored due to him causing problems lately, with him attempting to join the battle against Megatron, and other things. Hot Rod is placed under Magnus' command on his shuttle, and charged with protecting Daniel until they reach Moon Base Two so he can be reunited with his father.

On Cybertron, Starscream is officially crowned the Decepticon leader, but during the ceremony, Unicron appears and orders Starscream to destroy the Matrix for him, as it is the one thing that can harm him. Starscream gets upgraded by Unicron, but begins to annoy the deity when he keeps asking for more things.

Shortly afterwards, on Magnus' shuttle, Hot Rod is talking to Daniel where he admits that he's been seeing visions of Optimus dying, and thinks that something is trying to tell him something. Magnus overhears this and believes Hot Rod is planning treason, but before anything can happen, the shuttle is attacked by "Megascream" and his loyal Seekers. During the battle, Magnus is badly injured by an exploding console, and Hot Rod attempts to save the day by stalling the engines, like he has a hunch to, but unfortunately it just causes the engines to blow out, sending them flying.

Megascream prepares to turn his attention to Optimus' ship, but Soundwave contacts him informing him that Unicron is eating Moon Base One. Megascream now angrily heads back to Cybertron.

Optimus wonders why Megascream left so fast, but they then set their attentions to the other shuttle, which has been flung off further than it ever should have. Optimus decides to land on the nearby planet of Quintessa for repairs.

On Quintessa, the Autobots are approached by a hoard of Sharticons, who almost immediately attack them. Optimus decides that they have no time for this, and orders the Autobots to defeat them. The crew enter the main court room of the planet, and promptly scare off the Quintessons and free their prisoners. There, they meet Kranix, who tells them about Unicron, and how he just ate his planet of Lithone. Knowing the planet isn't too far away from Cybertron, Optimus figures that that may have been the reason for Megascream's retreat before, and decides to return to Cybertron too, after rescuing Magnus and the others.

Magnus' shuttle is in a terrible condition, but Hot Rod is ordered into the last working escape pod with Daniel and manages to escape to the Planet of Junk's surface safely, whilst the shuttle crashes, and kills the rest of the Autobots.

Back at Cybertron, Megascream confronts Unicron, who tells him that he has grown tired of his whining, and has decided to destroy Cybertron now, transforming into his robot mode, and starts his violent assault.

Optimus' shuttle arrives at the Planet of Junk, and rescues Hot Rod and Daniel. On the way back to Cybertron, Hot Rod apologizes for his causing the deaths of Magnus and the others, but Optimus tells him that they will mourn later, as they need to concentrate on the upcoming battle.

The shuttle arrives at Moon Base Two, where Daniel is reunited with his father, and the Autobots begin to rally. Optimus announces that he believes the power of the Matrix will defeat Unicron, and heads to the monster alone in a shuttle.

On Unicron's surface, Optimus is confronted by Megascream, who tells Optimus to give him the Matrix, and combines with four other Decepticons to attack the Autobot leader, and take it from him. Megascream is about to crush Optimus, when suddenly Hot Rod appears, having snuck aboard the shuttle and knocks Optimus out of Megascream's hand. He takes the Matrix from the injured Optimus, explaining that he KNOWS this is meant to happen, he places a teleportation disk on him from Wheeljack's lab, and sends him safely back to Moon Base Two.

Hot Rod briefly fights the giant Decepticon, but manages to unleash the power of the Matrix, and ascends to his true form, Rodimus Prime, and kills himself, Megascream, and Unicron in the process.

In the aftermath, the Autobots return to Cybertron and celebrate the end of the Cybertronian wars. Optimus looks up, and promises to Alpha Trion, and the briefly lived Rodimus Prime that he will never question the will of the Matrix ever again (which is good since it's BEEN BLOWN UP!!)

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Hot Rod - Sports Car Ascended into Rodimus Prime

Rodimus Prime - Caravan Killed in Matrix Explosion

Ultra Magnus - Car Carrier Killed in Shuttle Crash

Springer - Rocket Car/Helicopter Killed in Shuttle Crash

Arcee - Sports Car Killed in Shuttle Crash

Perceptor - Microscope Killed in Shuttle Crash

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Blurr - Race Car

Blaster - Boom Box

Bumblebee - VW Beetle

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Swoop - Pteranodon

Sludge - Apatosaurus

Slag - Triceratops

Ironhide - Van Dead

Prowl - Police Car Dead

Wheeljack - Race Car Dead

Windcharger - Sports Car Dead

Scrounge - Wheel

Alpha Trion (Vision)

Other Autobots

Decepticon

Megatron - Gun Killed by Optimus Prime

Starscream/Megascream - Fighter Jet Killed in Matrix Explosion

Soundwave - Cassette Player Died as Part of Megascream Gestalt

Astrotrain - Train/Space Shuttle Died as Part of Megascream Gestalt

Thrust - Fighter Jet Died as Part of Megascream Gestalt

Dirge - Fighter Jet Died as Part of Megascream Gestalt

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet

Sunstorm - Fighter Jet

Acid Storm - Fighter Jet

Ramjet - Fighter Jet

Blitzwing - Tank/Fighter Jet

Laserbeak - Cassette

Rumble - Cassette

Shockwave - Ray Gun

Mixmaster - Mixing Truck

Long Haul - Dump Truck

Scrapper - Front End Loader

Skywarp - Fighter Jet Devoured by Unicron

Bombshell - Boll Weevil Devoured by Unicron

Shrapnel - Stag Beetle Devoured by Unicron

Kickback - Locust Devoured by Unicron

Gladiaron (Statue Only)

Floron (Statue Only)

Dery (Statue Only)

Ghoulon (Statue Only)

Human

Daniel Witwicky

Spike Witwicky

Other

Unicron - Ringed Planet Killed in Matrix Explosion

Quintessons

Sharkticons - Sharks

Kranix

Other Quintesson Prisoners

Notes

• This special is part of the 2016 IDW cross-line event, in the same vein as "Infestation" or "Mars Attacks <insert name here>". This year's theme is based on the "What If...?" line from Marvel.
• This is actually NOT the first time that we've had an alternate version of what happened during the Movie. In the Marvel days we had Rhythms of Darkness, which showed that Galvatron won the events of the movie, and in Regeneration One we actually see the final battle from that story.
• Also, in the Regenerations One scene, the Autobot shuttle crashed on the Planet of Junk and killed the crew, much like what happened here.
• The recap page for this comic actually comes from the IDW adaptation of the movie, rather than screenshots from the film.
• The fateful moment that was changed in this story, was that Hot Rod was stopped by Kup from interfering with Optimus and Megatron's battle. So in a way, all the bad things that happened here are Kup's fault!
• Amongst the dead bodies in this story is an Transformers: Animated Autotrooper....weird...
• Apparently if Hot Rod never interfered then Megatron would be a terrible shot as he completely misses Optimus' head.
• Following the shock of Megatron's death, no one challenges Starscream's plan to take leadership.
• Ultra Magnus' attitude with Hot Rod is based on an abandoned plot line from the script of the movie where he was going to reprimand him for breaking Kup's cordon on Lookout Mountain during the start of the film.
• Optimus takes Hot Rod's place on Kup's shuttle, with Optimus going on Magnus' too.
• It's actually mentioned here that the reason not all the Autobots are joining the shuttle trips back to Cybertron because they are part of a clean-up crew for the city.
• Despite not touching the Matrix or being exposed to it, like in the movie, Hot Rod appears to be receiving messages from it, further cementing his position as the "Chosen One"
• It's actually brought up that Daniel being exposed to a horrible war with people dying all around him MAY have affected him negatively.
• Starscream has to discard his cape and crown when he transforms. Nice touch. Though I guess a jet with a cape would look a bit stupid.
• Because he never stopped to observe Optimus' death and had his bargaining debate with Megatron, Unicron arrived at Cybertron DURING Starscream's coronation.
• Starscream isn't as good of a negotiator as Megatron was, all he got was a modified body, gave the ability to combine with him to 4 other random Decepticons, and that is it....YAY!
• Starscream's new "Megascream" body appears to be loosely based on Leozack's body, and likewise his combined form looks somewhat like Liokaiser's design. Hopefully this is a hint for a Liokaiser set coming out in Combiner Wars :)
• The Sharkticons "greet" the Autobots on Quintessa, in the actual film it was the Allicons.
• Amongst the prisoners freed on Quintessa is Scrounge...THROW HIM TO THE SHARKTICONS!!!!
• Arcee never speaks in this comic.
• Why couldn't more of the Autobots fit inside that escape pod with Hot Rod and Daniel?! From what we see of it, it looks large enough for at least a couple more!
• In the actual movie, Unicron attacks Cybertron after Galvatron tries to blackmail him with the Matrix, here he just does it because Starscream annoys him.
• The Autobots resolved their issues on Quintessa so fast, that they never encountered Wheelie, and because the Autobots on the Planet of Junk never went scavenging for parts, they never bothered the Junkions, so they were never met either!
• Starscream confronts Unicron before he can eat Moonbase Two, so the Autobot's base there is left intact.
• Thinking about that though, since the Autobots never enter Unicron here, does that mean Jazz and Cliffjumper, and the rest of the Moonbase One Autobots were killed either in his digestive system or the explosion?
• Despite being modified for combination, none of the other Decepticons have been modified appearance-wise.
• Optimus mentions how he questioned the ways of the Matrix, does that mean the Matrix told him to give it to Hot Rod so he could fulfil his destiny?
• Oh, and the Matrix appears to he blown up with Rodimus Prime here...let's hope there's no hate plague round the corner!!