IDW - Optimus Prime #9

Title: The Life of Sideswipe

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Kei Zama

Colours by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

The President meets with Marissa at Little Cybertron, where she wants to talk to the island's supervisor about a new role where she'll have to "travel abroad", and appears to be impressed with her ways with the Transformers.

In Autobot City, Sideswipe finally wakes up following his long standing injuries, thanks to a repaired Positron Core curtesy of Wreck-Gar. The Autobots are happy with their returned friend, but Sideswipe notices that Arcee has skulked away, so he follows her. She explains that Sunstreaker promised that he was going to be there, and even spoke to her from Cybertron earlier that day. At first Sideswipe declares that he doesn't care, but Arcee brings up how she let her brother die, and feels bad about that every day, and Sideswipe agrees to look for his brother.

Soon, Arcee and Sideswipe have arrived on Cybertron, where Sideswipe is unimpressed with how the planet looks, and claims that he never would have fought if he knew things would turn out like this. They arrive at Sunstreaker's apartment, where they are ambushed by Bob, who is acting as a guard dog there. Sideswipe is about to shoot him, before Arcee stops him and they tend to the pet, who has been left unattended for a while now... Sideswipe gets concerned when he finds scuff marks on the floor, and knows that Sunstreaker wouldn't allow his home to be messy.

Sideswipe leashes Bob to him, and uses the Insecticon to hunt down his owner, and locates him at a warehouse in the Decepticon Ghetto. Sideswipe quickly breaks into the warehouse and starts firing on a group of Decepticons, led by Soundwave, who appear to be smuggling energon. Before he can finish off the Decepticons, he is stopped by Sunstreaker himself. At first Sideswipe is confused and thinks that Sunstreaker is teamed with the Decepticons, but he and Arcee reiterate that there are no sides any more, and Sunstreaker is on Cybertron to help with the relief in the Decepticon Ghetto, which Sideswipe takes as a challenge and decides to help MORE than him...

Later, Sideswipe has helped with the relief effort and now sees Cybertron as a good place again, and soon realises why everything seems to be a bit off around here, he thanks his brother and friend for all they did for him, and takes one last look at the Cybertron he loves, before allowing himself to die...

In the real world, Sideswipe's spark and mind have finally gone out, and the assembled Autobots and Wreck-Gar mourn his death, with Wreck-Gar apologizing for not being able to really fix the Positron Core as he hoped to, but the wo Autobots, who were hooked to Sideswipe's mind to help him go happily, thank him for this, since it was the right thing to do.

Arcee leaves the room, and stands outside, where Aileron joins her and tells her that her religion says that no one really dies, and they get reincarnation, Arcee laughs at this. Aileron at first thinks she is mocking her beliefs, but Arcee just comments that if that was true, then she'd be in trouble with all the returning victims. She asks Aileron to stay with her for a while, and says her last goodbyes to Sideswipe, and hopes that he's watching over her....

Characters

Autobot

Arcee - Sports Car

Sideswipe - Sports Car Dies from Injuries

Sunstreaker - Sports Car

Aileron - Space Shuttle

Jetfire - Fighter Jet

Metrotitan - Autobot City

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (Dream Only)

Ironhide - Van (Dream Only)

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet (Dream Only)

Blurr - Race Car (Dream Only)

Jazz - Sports Car (Image Only) On the Run

Alpha Trion - Space Shuttle (Mentioned)

Pyra Magna - Fire Truck (Mentioned)

Prowl - Police Vehicle (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Soundwave - Personnel Carrier (Dream Only)

Steamhammer (Dream Only)

Onyx Primal (Dream Only)

Killer Punch (Dream Only)

Sizzle (Dream Only)

Switchblade (Dream Only)

Jolt (Dream Only)

Rook (Dream Only)

Megadeath (Dream Only)

Backfire (Dream Only)

Tall Tankor - Oil Tanker/Cargo Plane (Dream Only)

Megatron - Tank (Flashback Only)

Starscream - Fighter Jet (Flashback Only)

Galvatron - Tank (Mentioned) Dead

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Bob

D.O.C.

Wreck-Gar (Head Only)

Wreck-Gar's "Chauffeur"

Little Cybertron Denizens

A Sharkticon - Shark

Iacon Denizens (Dream Only)

Solus Prime (Mentioned)

Primus (Mentioned)

The Badgeless (Mentioned)

The Senate (Mentioned) Defunct

Human

Madam President

Marissa Faireborn

Chameleon

Brad Emory (On Television)

Jake "The Jackhammer" Jackson (Mentioned)

Notes

• The twist that most of this issue is set in a dream are present throughout. Optimus is seen on Earth, despite it being mentioned that he is still on Cybertron. Wreck-Gar is seen in a full body, despite being still a head.
• This issue's dream begins dark and moody, but ends bright and happy, representing Sideswipe's change in mood.
• Due to this being mostly a dream, we should probably not take any of the cameos seen on Cybertron as canon.
• This is the first issue of Optimus Prime to not feature a flashback to the early days of the war.
• Jazz is still on the run following the ambush by GI Joe last issue. It is also confirmed that the President tried to get Optimus to cancel the interview because of this plan.
• By her dialogue, it seems likely that the President is about to name Marissa as the representative for Earth for the Council of Worlds, which we know the Earth's entry into is the plot back-drop for the upcoming First Strike crossover event.
• Arcee implies that her brother was killed in front of her. This, accompanied by the preview for the next issue would likely mean that she considered Galvatron her brother, who was killed in front of her by Optimus Prime.
• Amongst the cameos in Sideswipe's dream are the Movie Twins, RID Fixit and someone with the same character model as Prime Ripclaw, but as I mentioned before, due to the dream nature they are probably just made up.
• Cybertron is a lot more developed and populated in Sideswipe's dream than it is in reality. Guess that made Sideswipe happy in the end.
• So...who wants to bet that Pyra is going to try and manipulate Arcee into joining her coup against Optimus by using either the deaths of Galvatron or Sideswipe as reasoning?