IDW - Windblade #1

Title: A 'Bot And Her City

Written by: Mairghread Scott

Art by: Sarah Stone

Letters by: Chris Mowry

Editorial Assistance: Rebecca Huard

Editor: John Barber

Plot

Six months have passed since the climax of the Dark Cybertron prophecy, and Metroplex has been made the last city on Cybertron. Windblade has been made the "Cityspeaker" for Metroplex, since he is unable to talk still due to his injuries, and Starscream is still in charge of the planet.

Starscream meets with Windblade to ask her why the city (Metroplex) is losing power, she says she's working on the problem, but he doesn't believe her. He thinks she's trying to undermine him and make him seem like a weak leader, and threatens her to fix the problems, or he'll turn everyone against her.

As Starscream and Rattrap leaves, Chromia wonders why no-one ever killed Starscream. Windblade however agrees with Starscream, she NEEDS to find out what's wrong with Metroplex.

She goes to converse with his brain module and learns that there's a power diversion in a section of the city she hasn't found yet, but thinks that Ironhide might know where it is, due to him exploring the depths, she teases Chromia about telling him how she feels about him before flying off.

Windblade manages to find Ironhide and feels sorry for him losing his faith in the future following Drak Cybertron, but she does learn where the junction she needs is located, so she calls Chromia to meet her there.

The two female Autobots start searching the area, but can't find the appropriate junction so Chromia forces Windblade to call it a night. On the way home, Windblade comes across Maccadam's Old Oil House, and decides to do some recon on Starscream, to see what sort of a person he is....Before long she has been through the entire bar and has learned that Starscream is only out for himself, and will get rid of anyone who gets in his way.

The next day Chromia and Windblade get ready to start their search again when suddenly a bomb goes off and Windblade is badly injured. Chromia manages to save her life and several others around her. Starscream blames the explosion on poor maintenance and urges the populace to move back to the Iacon Ruins (they don't)

During her recovery, Windblade recalls how her planet was visited by Thunderclash and told about the problems with Metroplex, which is how they were sent to him in the first place, and recalls how she hoped to find Cybertron, the long lost planet of their origins, a nicer place than Caminus, but instead found it as a ruin during a massive battle.

She ends her reverie by showing that she saw Rattrap leaving the site, just before the bomb was set off, which told her something important...Starscream tried to kill her, and will likely try again!

Characters

Autobot

Windblade - VTOL Jet

Chromia - Wheeled Vehicle (not confirmed what yet, likely a car?)

Ironhide - Van

Metroplex - City/Spaceship Repairing self

Fizzle - Baja Buggy

Slug - Triceratops

Blurr - Race Car

Thunderclash (Flashback)

Nautica (Flasshback)

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (Flashback)

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport (Flashback)

Rodimus - Sports Car (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Tall Tankor - Oil Tanker/Cargo Plane

Shockwave - Flying Artillery (Flashback) Dead

United Cybertron

Starscream - Jet

Rattrap - Mole-Rat

Fat Tankor - Tank

Swindle - Van

Waspinator - Wasp

Sky-Byte - Shark

Circuit

Inhabitants of Metroplex

Primus (Mentioned)

Cybertronian

Caminus - City/Spaceship (Flashback)

Camiens (Flashback)

Notes

• As to be expected from her titular comic, we learn a lot about Windblade here. Her face makeup is made in honour of Caminus, the Titan from her homeworld. Her affinity with speaking to Metroplex is revealed to be actually a learned skill from her planet.
• Chromia is revealed to be a bodyguard here, explaining her fighting skills shown in Dark Cybertron.
• Starscream is revealed to be still in charge of Cybertron here, despite having his plans to vilify Metalhawk exposed to the Autobots, and Rattrap is still his second in command too!
• The pictograms Windblade sees when she speaks to Metroplex are sort of similar to those seen by Skids on "Cyberutopia" so most likely he was talking to a Titan at that point.
• Chromia being worried about Windblade telling Ironhide she thinks he's mopey is sort of a reference to their relationship in the G1 cartoon.
• The city of Iacon is revealed to have been destroyed fully in Dark Cybertron. To the extent that Metroplex is now the sole city left (why they haven't built any more settlements in 6 months is beyond me of course!
• Ironhide's faith from the earlier RID issues is gone now, since several points from his vision of the future have been rendered mute (Gorlam Prime being destroyed is a major one of course). So now he's exploring Metroplex to find answers
• Blurr has reopened Maccadam's Old Oil House again! This time it looks like a traditional pub.
• Fizzle is revealed to have left the Lost Light here.
• Following his attack from Bludgeon near the end of Dark Cybertron, Waspinator is shown to be alive after all!
• The two Tankors have become friends, to the extent that other people refer to them as Fat and Tall Tankor to distinguish between them.
• Swindle looks a bit like his Animated counterpart
• Circuit is still running his news service
• Titans are revealed here to have naturally occurring Hot Spots within them, explaining how new Cybertronian life can be born on new worlds.
• One of the Camien Cityspeakers resembles Prime Arcee.
• Female Transformers are explained simply as existing because they evolved that way on Caminus.
• If my theory that the Knights of Cybertron are actually the Original Thirteen, then the one that Caminus is supposed to guard is most likely Solus Prime.
• It's not explained how Windblade and the others are Autobots. Maybe Thunderclash inducted them?