Title: Before & After
Written by: James Roberts
Pencils (Before) by: Alex Milne
Inks (Before) by: Atilio Rojo with Alex Milne
Pencils (After) by: Brendan Cahill
Inks (After) by: Brian Shearer
Colour by: Josh Burcham
Letters by: Tom B. Long
Editor: John Barber
Plot
A scout ship from the Lost Light (The Leading Light) heads to planet Temptoria, where Magnus has discovered the Decepticons have taken over the planet, the ship is full of soldiers ready to liberate the planet, on the way in Chromedome and Rewind have an argument about the respective habits and Whirl drags him off to record him and his awesomeness.
In Sensenica the Decepticons detect the Autobots arriving and get ready for battle. When they arrive, the battle is full blown, Swerve, Tailgate and some others sneak into the Decepticon base (The Battery). Once inside, Rewind and Tailgate find the prison inside not full of the Circle of Light like they thought, but full of Temptorians being converted into fuel. Tailgate starts defusing a bomb in the base by draining out the propex, outside the bomb's chamber Cyclonus, Whirl and Swerve are fighting off Decepticons, when Swerve borrow's Whirl's new gun, the Shoomer (made by Brainstorm of course) which blows up in his face.
Whirl compliments Cyclonus for his skills, but Cyclonus says he doesn't care and that he's still going to kill Whirl for what he did to him back on Cybertron, Rewind comes in and asks for help in getting Tailgate away from the bomb before it blows up, as he's set off a timer, and won't leave until all the Propex is gone, or it might kill the prisoners. Cyclonus launches him out of the room and Whirl locks the door with Tailgate and Cyclonus inside. The bomb goes off and Cyclonus shields Rewind from the blast.
After the battle, the Autobots take off with heavy casualties, including Rewind and Swerve (with his face blown off). Rewind is rushed to be fixed by First Aid whilst Ratchet deals with some more severe injuries, whilst Tailgate drags a badly injured Cyclonus by himself.
Rodimus congratulates the crew on the mission and the brig now full of Decepticon prisoners, and First Aid asks Chromedome for permission to perform the Spark Jumpstart like he did with Fort Max on Delphi, but he needs a compatible spark, like Chromedome's. Chromedome and Tailgate wait for their respective friends to be fixed, and Chromedome explains how Rewind once lost a dear friend and now he goes to wherever he can find warfare to try and find him, dead or alive, and he met him when he was rummaging through a morgue at the Relinquishment Clinic.
Chromedome is told that his spark is too weak, despite being a match, so he calls out for a new donor. Chromedome goes back to his room where he sulks, but someone tries to console him through the wall and tells him there's someone in the basement he should meet, and how there's a way to make it so the Decepticons cant hurt anyone any more.
Chromedome is called back to the medibay where he learns Whirl is a match and is willing to jumpstart Rewind's spark. Tailgate tries leaving some innermost Energon for Cyclonus, but he wakes up and it smashes, Cyclonus berates him for being sentimental for him, despite their lack of a bond, but when he sees that he had no offerings, but Rewind had loads, he stops and helps Tailgate clean the mess he made with the phial up.
Characters
Autobot
Rodimus - Car
Ultra Magnus - Car Carrier
Drift - Car
Rewind - Giant Memory Stick
Chromedome - Car
Whirl - Osprey Helicopter
Swerve - Van Face Blown Off by Accident
Pipes - Truck Injured (Again)
First Aid - Ambulance
Skids - Van
Trailbreaker - Van
Hoist - Crane
Hound - Jeep
Powerflash
Sureshot
Dogfight
Atomizer
Brawn
Sunstreaker
Perceptor
Highbrow
Ambulon - Leg
Xaaron
Fizzle
Strafe
Rollout
Dipstick
Pincher
Crosshairs
Steeljaw
Dominus Ambus (Flashback Only) Missing
Optimus Prime (Mentioned)
Red Alert (Mentioned)
Rung (Mentioned)
Ratchet (Mentioned)
Brainstorm (Mentioned)
Fortress Maximus (Mentioned)
Zeta Prime (Mentioned)
Spoke (Mentioned) Injured
Lockstock (Mentioned) Injured
Other Injured Crew Members (Mentioned)
Other Autobots
Decepticon
Snap Trap Killed by Drift
Nautilator Killed by Whirl
Blip
Hun-Gar Killed by Ultra Magnus
Snapdragon
Rage
Bulletbike
Seawing
Slugfest Stomped on by Ultra Magnus
Turbo Master Beaten up by Ultra Magnus
Tailwind Slashed by Drift
Tentakil Slashed by Drift
Overkill
Megatron (Mentioned)
Overlord (Mentioned)
Blot (Mentioned)
Decepticons in Brig (Mentioned)
Other Decepticons
Other
Cyclonus - Space Jet
Tailgate - Car
Temptorians
Guy Talking to Chromedome
Flashback Guys (Flashback Only)
Rosanna (Flashback Only)
Flip Sides (Flashback Only)
Circle of Light (Mentioned) Missing
Primal Vanguard (Mentioned)
Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned)
Primus (Mentioned)
Functionists (Mentioned)
Notes
- Due to the back and forth fashion of this story, I decided to just put everything in chronological order, since it doesn't affect the story telling of the present stuff to do so.
- Rodimus singles out the injuries and actions of Lockstock and Spoke here, showing us how out main characters are actually some of the lesser crew members, as is a theme in Roberts work it seems (with the new Wreckers being the main characters in LSOTW)
- Tailgate's "happy place" is the movie night from issue 6
- Trailbreaker's had guns added to his legs, like Fort Max has
- Nautilator sounds just like Megatron, this probably implies he has a Tarnian accent
- After the reveal of his blown off face, we don't see Swerve in the present again, whilst no deaths were mentioned, it's still worrying....
- Pipes is shown to be injured again, further adding to the recurring joke of him being hurt on every mission
- The recon mission Magnus was doing in issue 10
- It's shown here that Sparks have types, much like blood
- Tailgate and the Primal Vanguard (which was under Nova Prime) used to attack organic life, this isn't shocking!
- Innermost Energon is the fuel around your spark, it's the only thing in a Transformer that never changes, however some like Chromedome are born dry (ie don't have them)
- Tailgate's innermost energon is green for some reason, probably due to his age (or it's the wrong stuff)
- Chromedome has a weak spark
- Chromedome is Rewind's Conjunx Endura (significant other) N'awwwww
- The reason for Rewind's obsession with snuff films and recording the war etc to try and find Dominus Ambus, his first friend
- Flip Sides and Rosanna are seen in the flashback to Rewind's early years, even though female Transformers aren't supposed to exist (or something)
- The Relinquishment Clinics were repurposed as suicide chambers after the start of the war, and Chromedome once went there to commit suicide until he met Rewind.
- Cyclonus still plans to kill Whirl one day for what he did in issue 1
- Rewind's allergic to UV Light...hmmmm...that's also the only thing that can show Chromedome's puncture marks too....
- Rewind's still recording, even though he's on the medical table
- Tailgate works better at defusing a bomb when he's panicked
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