Title: Schismatic
Written by: Magdalene Visaggio
Art by: Fico Ossio
Colours by: David Garcia Cruz
Lettered by: Gilberto Lazcano
Assistant Editor: David Mariotte
Edited by: Sarah Gaydos
With Assistance From: Carlos Guzman
Published by: Ted Adams
Plot
Merklynn has been imprisoned by his Visionaries, who have now arrived and taken residence in New Prysmos, shocked that it is in the more of an inhabited planet rather than a barren one that they were promised. The Visionaries are forced to hold talks with the Cybertronians due to his actions, but the Darkling Lords are dismissive of this, since they don't consider the Cybertronians to be real life, as they are mechanical.
Ironhide and Kup enter the city where they head towards meeting the two Visionary leaders, Leoric of the Spectral Knights, and Virulina of the Darkling Lords. Kup just wants peace between the two species, but Ironhide is himself dismissive of the peace talks, since he considers the Prysmosians as invaders and is worried that they are using Cybertron's now very limited resources too much.
The two groups meet and begin their talks, after Kup embarrasses everyone by trying the universal greeting on the newcomers.
Wheeljack and Breakdown, his new assistant, head towards the city on Windblade's orders to examine the effect the Talisman is having on Cybertron's environment, when Breakdown notices a surge of energy coming out of the ground. He touches it and his arm immediately turns to rust and begins spreading. Wheeljack quickly removes the arm with his laser scalpel, but both are horrified to see the severed arm crumple into nothing within seconds.
Inside the city, the meeting goes bad when Kup brings up that the Council of Worlds wants the Visionaries to hand over Merklynn as an act of good-will, leading Virulina to claim they just want to keep them imprisoned on the planet. Ironhide agrees and points out that if they don't start agreeing with their terms, then they'll be kept behind the energy grid indefinitely. Virulina and Ironhide both storm off, leaving Leoric and Kup alone, where they calmly discuss how both species have been in civil wars, and how Leoric had hoped their current situation would bring the two Visionary factions together, but sees that he is wrong. Kup tells Leoric about how even after their long standing war, the Cybertronians have made peace, and even had Megatron join the Autobots post war, so there is still hope for peace for the Visionaries.
In his cell, Merklynn continues to mope about his failed takeover of Cybertron, as he had hoped that the planet would be perfect to rebuild Prysmos on since it was vacant and war-torn...but he notices something in a cauldron that cheers him up...
Virulina meets with Cindarr in the Monastery of the Darkling Lords, where she bemoans the peace talks with him. He, however, informs her of what happened with Breakdown outside the city, and gives her the idea that their magic can hurt the Cybertronians, and has discovered something about the Talisman...
At Wheeljack's lab, Ironhide and Kup are shown what happened to Breakdown, and explains that the energy from the Talisman has a negative effect on Cybertronian bodies, causing them to decay at a rapid rate, just like what happened to Breakdown's arm. He also reveals that the Talisman is moving closer towards Vector Sigma, at the planet's core, and if it does it will fully infect the energon supply, poisoning it and likely killing all Cybertronian life on the planet. Ironhide storms off to confront the Visionaries about this discovery.
Back in New Prysmos, the Autobots confront Leoric and Virulina about this Leoric has no idea what is happening, but Virulina admits to knowing all about the Talisman's actions and is glad about it. She takes out a magically charged staff and lunges at Ironhide with it, but Kup pushes him away, taking the hit instead, and immediately is hit but the rusting effect and falls to the ground, dead, with Virulina declaring that Cybertron will be theirs!
Characters
Autobot
Kup - Pickup Truck Reduced to Rust by Virulina
Ironhide - Van
Wheeljack - Race Car
Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)
Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet (Mentioned)
Decepticon
Fat Tankor - Tank
Other Cybertronian/Colonist
Breakdown - Armoured Van
Cybertronian Guards
Council of Worlds (Mentioned)
Vector Sigma (Mentioned)
Primus (Mentioned)
Spectral Knight
Leoric
Galadria
Arzon
Witterquick
Cryotek (Mentioned)
Darkling Lord
Virulina
Cindarr
Cravex
Lexor
Darkstorm (Statue Only) Killed with Prysmos' Destruction
Other Prysmosian
Merklynn/Garrison Kreiger Imprisoned by Visionaries
New Prysmosian Civilians
Old Prysmos Population (Mentioned) Most Killed with Prysmos' Destruction
Notes
- I don't normally comment on the credits, but I don't understand the Carlos Guzman credit, they already had an assistant editor, so why did they need a non-assistant editor assistant editor credit too? My only guess is that Sarah Gaydos is new and she needed some extra help on her first project (I've never heard of her anyway)
- This story continues on from the end of the First Strike event, set at least a few weeks after the event. We also get verbal cues that this is set after the Till All Are One Annual, as Windblade is hinted at being in charge of Cybertron now.
- So turns out that the planet that Unicron burst out of was not Prysmos after all, as Prysmos is mentioned as being torn apart following Merklynn's spell...so what was the scene with Unicron being summoned due to the Talisman all about then?
- On topic of the Talisman, I'm a little confused as to why Merklynn didn't just use the device on Earth, it appears that the device used Energon for it's ability to re-create Prysmos...so why not tap into Earth's Ore-13 and create a city on there instead of trying to capture Cybertron? Surely Earth would have a more hospitable environment too...I mean if it was Vector Sigma they needed then that's different, but still...why Cybertron?
- It's implied in this story that the barrier around New Prysmos was erected as a containment field by the Cybertronians, but the First Strike event made it look like it was created by Merklynn. Maybe Metroplex erected a field around it as a self defence move, and it just looked otherwise.
- Oh a fun detail I noticed after reading this book about five times. The Visionaries only wear their face paint when they are interacting with the Cybertronians, when they are alone they look normal. This implies that the face paint is either a piece of formal wear or maybe a tribal thing. I like that little detail!
- We learn through dialogue that Darkstorm, the traditional leader of the Darkling Lords, was left to die on Prysmos when it was destroyed, leaving Virulina as their leader.
- Kup last tried using the Universal Greeting with the Micronauts in the Revolutionaries series. That time it actually worked, here, not so much.
- Hey look! Knockdown's previously unnamed Conjunx Endura is finally named in universe, and it is indeed Breakdown as it was in the Prime series! If we didn't already have several characters with shared named in this universe then I may be annoyed, but I'm fine with this :)
- We saw during the Revolutionaries series that the Talisman had the power to kill Cybertronians, so seeing it spread it's energies here makes sense.
- To be fair to her, despite looking fed up during the meeting with Kup and Ironhide, Virulina didn't act up until the Cybertronians suggested that they should hand Merklynn over to them as a sign of good will between the two species. Though to be fair to the Cybertronians, HE DID TRY TO DESTROY THEIR WORLD!!
- Virulina does lie to Cindarr however, when she claims that they just want the Visionaries to be prisoners and under their control, when they do offer them land to use for themselves on the planet if they still want to stay.
- Wheeljack states "Breakdown is a PRIME example"...HAH!!
- Oh no! Kup is dead! This has never happened before except that time he was sent to the Dead Universe for billions of years that is....
- The end of this comic sort of emulates the end of the first issue of Mike Costa's Transformers line where Ironhide is killed defending Hot Rod, a lot like how Kup "takes a bullet" for Ironhide himself here. We all know how that ended up too though...
- Okay I'm pretty sure if a delegate attacks another one, and kills them, then they are in massive trouble, so will Virulina get arrested for this or what?
- This issue is followed by a memorial to Kup and his IDW career, which is quite nice...especially if he stays dead, otherwise it's just emotional fluff designed to evoke sadness in the readers to make the end more impactful.
- I wonder how Ian/Action Man will take the news that his robot best friend is dead now? I smell a spin-off revenge plot!!
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