Written by: John Barber
Art by: Andrew Griffith
Colours by: Josh Burcham
Letters by: Tom B. Long
Editor: Carlos Guzman
Publisher: Ted Adams
Plot
The Cybertronians at Monument Valley are surrounded by EDC troops, whilst Buster and his Cybertronian friends are getting a free pass (Faireborn doesn't want anyone to kill the dog!!). Soundwave and Aileron are being stopped from attacking the humans on Optimus' orders, and Circuit continues to report this situation back to Cybertron.
Meanwhile, in the Indian Ocean, Superion is being pummelled by Sky Reign and the Seeker gestalts, during the fight Pyra Magna reveals that Victorion was compelled to de-combine by the Earth Enigma, but was unable to do so with Superion, since he was created WITHOUT the Enigma. Despite this, Superion claims to hear the Enigma in his head, and begins to take control of it. Superion forces the other combiners to de-combine, but in the process his mind is being over-written. One of the first functions to be deactivated by this new writing is his mass-displacement program, and thus he starts to expand in size without control.
Inside the Nemesis, Galvatron is furious that the Enigma failed him, and that the whole Onyx system is collapsing. The ship starts to lose power, allowing Blackrock to swim away, grabbing his removed face in the process.
Outside, Arcee's team begin to break into the Nemesis to try and take control of the ship, and notice that Superion is getting bigger and bigger. Nearby, Jetfire determines that Superion is taking on the entire Enigma into himself, and deduces that if he de-combines then the code will be trapped inside Superion's mind, but split across the five Aerialbots, thus stopping it from working, but he's worried that he'll lose his mind BEFORE he can de-combine.
Kup manages to give the Aerialbots a pep-talk and saving the world with a great sacrifice (like he did during Infestation) and Superion understands, he manages to de-combine and Silverbolt comments on how Superion is now dead, but it was worth it to defeat Galvatron in this battle.
Back at Monument Valley, Soundwave is tired of hiding from the humans, and goes against Optimus' orders, and starts firing back at them, followed shortly by Aileron. Meanwhile, Optimus is reminded by Trion that he came here because of his vision, and he must stay strong and figure out why.
During the battle, Optimus tricks Soundwave into using his powers to read the human soldier's electrical brain signals, like he can do with other Cybertronians.
Following this, Soundwave has a sudden realization that humans aren't inferior creates like he previously believed and surrenders to the humans, and forces Aileron to do the same.
Underwater again, Galvatron locates Astrotrain, and wakes him up (following being de-combined by Superion) to take him away from Earth. Sunstreaker appears, and threatens to shoot the two Decepticons, but is attacked by Galvatron's fusion cannon instead. Thundercracker knocks Sunstreaker out of the way to save him, as he's a "hero" now, however this allows Galvatron and Astrotrain to escape.
Inside the Nemesis, Arcees team are heading towards the bridge of the ship when they encounter Blackrock trying to escape, suddenly Faireborn and Jones appear in a submersible, and rescue Blackrock, revealing that he added a distress message to the images that Galvatron previously sent to the EDC. The Autobots try to stop them from taking Blackrock, since he isn't human, but Skywarp appears and reveals that he's made a deal with Blackrock himself, and teleports the humans and himself away, much to Arcee's annoyance.
At Monument Valley, the Cybertronians are all but defeated, and are considering surrender, but Optimus suddenly starts to realize why he's there...he kneels down, places his hand to the ground, and awakens a long lost Metrotitan, buried on Earth long ago. The EDC fly away in fear of the city-sized Transformer, all whilst this is being transmitted back to Cybertron, leaving Starscream slack-jawed and unnerved.
In the aftermath, Arcee contacts Optimus to report her failure in retrieving Blackrock, but he doesn't mind, and gives her a new mission...to find Galvatron and stop him, whatever the cost. Arcee gleefully accepts the mission....
Characters
Autobot
Optimus Prime - Truck Cab
Alpha Trion - Tumbler
Arcee - Sports Car
Tracks - Muscle Car
Jazz - Sports Car
Jetfire - Fighter Jet
Kup - Pick Up Truck
Pyra Magna - Fire Truck
Rust Dust - Motorcycle
Dustup - Sports Car
Sky Lynx - Space Shuttle
Thundercracker - Fighter Jet
Sunstreaker - Sports Car
Cosmos - Orbiter
Silverbolt - Commercial Jet
Alpha Bravo - Rescue Helicopter
Fireflight - Fighter Jet
Skydive - Fighter Jet
Air Raid - Fighter Jet
Superion - Aerialbot Gestalt De-combined, never able to re-combine
Victorion - Torchbearer Gestalt (Mentioned)
Decepticon
Galvatron - Tank
Skywarp - Cybertronian Jet
Soundwave - Personnel Carrier
Frenzy - Motorcycle
Rumble - Motorcycle
Needlenose - Fighter Jet
Swift - Helicopter
Slugslinger - Twin Nosed Jet
Dreadwing - Stealth Bomber
Acid Storm - Fighter Jet
Mindwipe - Bat
Blitzwing - Tank/Jet
Astrotrain - Train/Space Shuttle
Sky Reign - Forced Gestalt Forced to De-combine by Superion
United Cybertron
Starscream - Fighter Jet
Rattrap - Mole Rat
Circuit
Longtooth
Camien
Aileron - Space Shuttle
Sterling - Car (Mentioned) Dead
Other Cybertronian
Blackrock
Titan of Earth
D.0.C.
Bob the Insecticon
Primus (Mentioned)
Human
Marissa Faireborn
Ayana Jones
Spike Witwicky
Zilong Qian
EDC Troops
Sanjay Bharwaney (Mentioned)
Other
Buster the Dog
Seeker Clone Gestalts Forced to De-combine by Superion
Thrust Clones - Jets
Ramjet Clones - Jets
Notes
- So Sky Reign IS a Decepticon then? At least when on Earth...I wonder if they recombine they'll still be a Decepticon?
- Despite the big reveal of him last issue, Galvatronus is no where to be seen (though his components are seen in the aftermath.
- It is completely confirmed here that Combiners use mass displacement when combining to scale the mis-sized limbs together.
- Aileron appears to use a slightly yellow/orange instead of her usual reds his issue.
- It's revealed that Optimus relocated the Autobots to Monument Valley because of his vision in issue 50.
- In that same vision, we saw Victorion standing near a defeated Superion. Assuming that the Aerialbots never re-combine, as they declare to do in this issue, that would make that part of the vision just figurative, and thus the same could be said for some of the remaining unfulfilled parts as well.
- Soundwave remembers Spike from the battle in Manhattan, as he was responsible for hurting one of his cassettes. Also Spike recognizes the sound he makes as him trying to read their minds from the same invasion.
- So...after a few years of interactions with humans, Soundwave has NEVER tried to read their minds and happened upon the realization that they are just simpler versions of Cybertronians before now?
- Swift implies that she has joined the Decepticons here, desite her not having a visible insignia yet.
- Needlenose and Tracks both instinctively push each other out of the way of Faireborn's gun fire...n'awwww.
- Optimus awakens his third Titan in this issue! The first was Metroplex, then the future Necrotitan, and now the Titan of Earth.
- Also of note, the only Titans that Optimus has ever awoken have shared the same body-type as Metroplex....coincidence?
