IDW - Optimus Prime #1

Title: New Cybertron Part 1: To walk among the chosen

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Kei Zama

Colours by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Just before the war really began, Orion Pax is given a complaint from Tappet about how one of his officers, Outback, killed his Conjunx Endura whilst he was in custody, just for being a Decepticon supporter. Orion promises to investigate the situation, but Outback just gloats about what happened.

Shortly afterwards, Zeta Prime appears to Orion and asks him to announce to the rioters outside that Hefter, the victim, was a violent Decepticon, and Outback simply did his job to protect people, pointing out that they both want to do the right thing, and Orion agrees, hoping that his friend was different to the past Primes...

Later, Orion finds Outback in a bar to confront him about his actions, and Outback justifies it as it being a pre-emptive strike to save himself, whilst Orion demonstrates how he could have disarmed the threat, instead of killing him. Orion is still angry though, as Outback points out that the world is dangerous, and there isn't always a third option, just like with Sentinel Prime and the Decepticon uprising.

Later still, Orion meets with Ratchet who examines Hefter's body, and discovers that he was shot from behind, leading both to be distrustful of Zeta Prime and his ulterior motives. Ratchet takes Orion to meet with his newest student, a flier-turned-scientist, Jetfire, who immediately attacks Orion, revealing himself to be a Decepticon, though not a strong one, since Orion easily knocks him down..

In the present day, the people of Mexico City on Earth are protesting the Cybertronian presence on their planet, when several new arrivals appear, to hunt down a dangerous cache of Cybertronian-derived weapons located in the city. The newly arrived colonists are very raw in their tactics, and are soon attacked by some individuals with Cybertronian guns, one shoots Midnight Express, knocking him down, prompting the other Colonists to go to attack the humans, but Aileron stops it, just as Metrotitan appears overhead, and Optimus arrives with Arcee and the rest of his command team.

They soon discover the weapons, and Arcee is worried about the Colonists all wearing face plates to emulate Optimus, but he just dismisses it as an affection of theirs.

Optimus is more concerned about the weapons on Earth, and how their misuse here is in clear disregard for the Tyrest Accord, so he decides to head to speak with the President along with Arcee and Soundwave.

The Colonists have returned to Autobot City, which is currently flying over Washington, where the Colonists all wax lyrical about how great Optimus Prime is, and Aileron is getting annoyed by all the talk, despite her being the same way not to long ago. Jetfire points out that Optimus wasn't always a revered figure, and has only started to embrace it recently, since Pyra Magna and others started to convince him that he was a true Prime, and a god himself.

As if on cue, Pyra Magna makes an appearance, and reports to Jetfire that they're detected a large space ship heading to Earth, but Jetfire decides to hold off from telling Prime about it, until after his meeting with the President.

Below them, Optimus and his team and talking to the President, with her armed GI Joe guard where he explains that the misuse of Cybertronian technology on Earth cannot continue, and pushes her to decide on a representative for Earth on the Council of Worlds, as he threatens to charge Earth's people with disregard of the Tyrest Accord, unless they join completely.

Before anything can be accomplished however, Soundwave detects the space ship as well, leading Optimus to send a team to intercept it.

Optimus, Arcee, Soundwave, Aileron and the Torchbearers arrive at the Matterhorn, where they wait for the space craft. Optimus becomes nostalgic and looks at his remaining half of the Matrix, which suddenly lights up, which is shouldn't be able to do now, bringing all the Camiens in the area to awe. Pyra however shows Optimus that the Matrix is reacting to the Ore-13 in the mountain, and cautions him to understand the Matrix better, so he doesn't become consumed with it's legends, like the Camiens are..

Then the space craft smashes into the Matterhorn and causes a massive crater in the already massive mountain....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime/Orion Pax - Truck Cab (Formerly Cybertronian Truck)

Arcee - Sports Car

Jazz - Sports Car

Jetfire - Fighter Jet

Pyra Magna - Emergency Vehicle

Rust Dust - Motorcycle

Stormclash - Helicopter

Skyburst - Helicopter

Dust Up - Sports Car

Jumpstream - Sports Car

Zeta Prime (Flashback)

Outback - Van (Flashback)

Police Force (Flashback)

Sentinel Prime - Truck (Mentioned) Believed to be Dead

Decepticon

Soundwave - Personnel Carrier

Hefter - Forklift Truck (Flashback) Killed by Police

Colonist

Aileron - Space Shuttle

Midnight Express - Bullet Train

Roulette - Muscle Car

Oiler - Front of Oil Tanker

Slide - Rear of Oil Tanker

Gimlet - Lobster

Bump - Armadillo

Other Cybertronian

Metrotitan - Autobot City Space Ship

D.O.C.

Ratchet - Ambulance (Flashback)

Tappet - Car (Flashback)

Bartender (Flashback)

Grotusque - Winged Monster (Flashback)

Repugnus - Insect Monster (Flashback)

Warpath - Tank (Flashback)

Blackout - Helicopter (Flashback)

Demolishor - Tank (Flashback)

Doublecross - Twin Headed Dragon (Flashback)

Hooligan - Jet (Flashback)

Sandstorm - Buggy/Helicopter (Flashback)

Dial (Flashback)

Ramhorn (Flashback)

Steeljaw (Flashback)

Rosanna (Flashback)

Flipsides (Flashback)

Other Protestors (Flashback)

The Old Senate (Mentioned) Destroyed by Decepticons

The Thirteen Primes (Mentioned)

Solus Prime (Mentioned)

Primus (Mentioned)

Nominus Prime (Mentioned) Dead

Human

Madame President

GI Joe Troops

Mexican Protestors

United Nations (Mentioned)

EDC (Mentioned) Disbanded

Other

Newly Arrived Aliens (Mentioned)

Dire Wraiths (Mentioned) Defeated on Earth

Council of Worlds (Mentioned)

Notes

• This is the follow-up series to Robots in Disguise/Transformers Ongoing in the wake of the Revolution event, and the start of the IDW Hasbroverse
• Outback is shown to have been a bit of a trigger-happy jerk in the past...I don't feel so bad about his horrible skewering death in the future now...
• Zeta essentially tells Optimus that he wants him to act as a symbol for his new regimes, and for him to trust him and his decisions. This seems to lead into the events of Autocracy in this regard.
• Ahem...Flipsides and Rosanna are FEMALE Transformers, there aren't supposed to be any females on Cybertron at this point in history. Unless society didn't consider females of the disposable classes to be the same as "proper" Transformers.
• The Cybertronian Colonists are now starting to perform missions along with native Cybertronians. All of the new Colonists shown in this issue are from previous Transformers franchises.
• Slide is shown with an Autobot insignia already, I don't think this is official and may just be an homage to Optimus', like his face plate, since he's the only one in the group be have an insignia, and Aileron, who has been working with Optimus since before Earth was annexed, still doesn't seem to have an insignia yet!
• Following the events of Revolution, it appears that Metrotitan is staying in his shuttle mode instead of city mode.
• The Colonists are shown to be now wearing face plates to emulate Optimus
• Jetfire is revealed to have been a Decepticon before joining the Autobots. Also, he was only allowed to train as a scientist during the Functionist eras because Ratchet, as CMO, pulled some strings to allow for it (despite Jetfire being a flier)
• Pyra Magna reveals that the Matrix reacts with Ore-13 to make it glow on occasion, and suggests that something similar happened when he came to Caminus despite the Matrix having been spent by Optimus in Chaos.
• The alien vessel is a Quintesson Cruiser, as seen in the 86 Transformers movie, and throughout Season 3.