IDW - Transformers: Windblade #4

Written by: Mairghread Scott

Art by: Corin Howell

Colours by: Thomas Deer

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: John Barber

Plot

On the outskirts of Metroplex the Decepticons and the newly arrived Camiens are having an almost violent argument over the Decepticons daring to use energy from the sacred Titan to power their shanty town. Windblade is forced to leave as she has to meet with some delegates from Velocitron, leaving Chromia to solve the situation alone, without resorting to violence this time.

Windblade arrives at the meeting twenty minutes late, but tries to make it up to Knock Out and Moonracer from the newly found colony. After a quick tour and explanation of how the Council of Worlds will work, Knock Out declines their offer for membership since Velocitron is a closed society, and have enough Energon and energy sources in general to last them, so they leave. Windblade catches up with them, and invites them to a party at Blurr's bar before they go.

The three of them arrive at the bar where they are introduced to fellow racer Blurr, who whips them up some drinks. Windblade explains to Moonracer that the Cybertronians need to have the colony worlds join with them so they can rebuild without the history of factions, and the colonies can expand and return to Cybertron to help themselves too.

Following this, Knock Out sits with Blurr and the two talk about racing, with Knock Out not believing that Blurr could be as fast as he claims to be, and Moonracer goes socializing with the other patrons.

After a while, Windblade sits with Moonracer, where Moonracer explains that life on Velocitron is very stunted, and that only racing is important, and she worries that their entire way of life is getting smaller every year. Moonracer reveals that there's an open race the next day, and if they can win, they could present the proposal for the Council of Worlds to the planet's leaders without fail. Whilst Moonracer cannot officially invite them, she does give Windblade her comm-link frequency, so they can meet up when/if they come to Velocitron to win. Knock Out and Moonracer return to Velocitron following this.

Later, Windblade, Chromia, Wheeljack and Ironhide enter Metroplex's brain chamber, where Wheeljack gets the coordinates for Velocitron from Metroplex's records, and Metroplex gives Windblade some information on Velocitron, and how they were originally scientists who wanted to develop superior energy sources, resulting in them becoming obsessed with using that energy to become faster. Windblade finds Blurr and invites him along for the trip to Velocitron, considering his past as a great racer.

Rattrap lets Windblade and the others, minus Wheeljack, who runs the bridge, through the portal. The group arrive on the planet and find it freezing cold, and deserted, except for a large set of track-marks. Suddenly Chromia looks behind her and realizes why the planet uses moving cities, rather than stationary ones, as a city is driving towards them, followed by a cloud of fire!

Characters

Autobot

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Chromia - Speedbike

Blurr - Race Car

Ironhide - Van

Wheeljack - Race Car

Slug - Triceratops

Metroplex - City/Space Ship

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (Photo Only)

Jazz - Car (Photo Only)

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport (Photo Only)

Decepticon

Sparkstalker - Insect Monster

Waspinator - Wasp

Fat Tankor - Tank

Tall Tankor - Oil Tanker/Cargo Plane

Angry Decepticons

United Cybertron

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Rattrap - Rat

Badgeless Officers

Devastator - Constructicon Gestalt (Mentioned) In Custody

Camien

Lightbright

Camien Migrants

Velocitronian

Knock Out - Car

Moonracer - Car

Override (Flashback)

Crumplezone (Flashback)

Ransack (Flashback)

TFA Bumblebee Mold (Flashback)

Random Velocitronians - Cars (Flashback)

Navitas - City/Space Ship (Mentioned)

Knock Out's Conjunx Endura (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronians

Council of Worlds (Mentioned)

Solus Prime (Mentioned)

Notes

• Following the end of Combiner Wars, the series has now moved onto a colony-exploring storyline
• The dialogue shows that Devastator is still in custody in this issue, meaning this is set just before the events of Robots in Disguise #42. This would also imply that the planet Windblade and Chromia were returning from may have been Velocitron following this storyline.
• Lightbright and Sparkstalker appear to have started dating....awwwww
• The Camiens have started building new constructs outside of Metroplex...hopefully this means they can start to live outside of the Titan before long!
• Knock Out, fully seen here, if a direct reference to his Prime series counterpart...so yeah, you can put those Prime Knock Outs on the CHUG shelf now!
• The "Part 4" part of the "Not the End of the World" party most likely follows the parties after the Decepticon riots in Iacon, the party they had after the Necrotitan died, the presumed party after the death of Shockwave, and now for the resolution of the Combiner Wars (even though the Combiner Wars didn't really affect Cybertron itself too much)
• Looking at the revelation in MTMTE that Caminus prioritizes the arts, and Velocitron prioritizing racing as the only worthwhile things, it seems like Functionism evolved on those planets too!
• Knock Out's unnamed Conjunx Endura, mentioned by Moonracer here was confirmed to be based on Prime Breakdown by Mairghread Scott, so yeah, it's canon now!
• Override, Crumplezone and Ransack, as seen in Moonracer's explanation are based on their Cybertron counterparts. The other robot with them looks like he's based on Animated Bumblebee's Earth character model, which makes sense considering his need for speed too.
• If we continue the assumption that the Knights of Cybertron are also the Thirteen Primes, then it seems that the Velocitronians, being originally scientists may have been preceded by Alchemist Prime.