Title: Thundercracker in "Starscream: the Movie"
Written by: John Barber
Art by: Priscilla Tramontano and Andrew Griffith
Colours by: John-Paul Bove and Josh Burcham
Letters by: Shawn Lee
Editor: David Mariotte
Publisher: Greg Goldstein
Plot
Annoyed by seeing Optimus being revered by the colonists in Iacon, Starscream gets an idea to create a propaganda film to make the colonists, and even the humans love him. To do this he visits Thundercracker inside Trypticon, still acting as the Earth's Embassy to Cybertron. Despite working on a new screen-play on Chuckles saving Earth from Cobra, he happily takes on the new role, since Starscream will be funding the entire project.
Starscream soon tries telling Thundercracker about how awesome and heroic he was in the past, leading to Thundercracker questioning the validity of his story. During the script writing process, Thundercracker has hired Proxima to deal with the camera work, Tankor to do the make-up, and Acid Storm to play the title role of Starscream.
After being told more lies about what he did during the Earth Invasion, Thundercracker decides to go see other people involved in the events for their accounts of Starscream's actual history.
Dirge explains how Starscream convinced him and Deluge to go with the Autobots back to Cybertron when they were defeated before the Earth Invasion, because he trusted him, but he believes that Starscream actually sent him because he could tell they would probably be killed on Cybertron, which Deluge was...and then Dirge was abandoned on Cybertron until after the planet was reborn.
Thundercracker heads to the GI Joe Lemuria base, where he meets up with Skywarp, and the two reminisce on their days at the Jhiaxian Academy for being Outliers, and how Starscream recruited them for his own needs, and wanted to exploit their gifts.
Soon, he returns to Cybertron and meets with Starscream to ask him what being a Decepticon really meant for him, which he states that he always wanted to point people in the right direction, but he was never really listened to until after the war, when Metrotitan named him the Chosen One. Thundercracker leaves Starscream to continue mumbling about how everyone listens to him now...seemingly ignoring his office being in massive disrepair.
Thundercracker decides to visit Alpha Trion, who explains to him that he believes the Titan that named Starscream the Chosen One, to not be the one who appeared on Earth later, but just a random dying one. He goes on to explain that stories can be used to spread a narrative, which Starscream understands how to do, which is why he's so successful, but warns that Thundercracker should try to use truths, rather than just making an entertaining story for Starscream to spin.
Soon, Thundercracker is having problems on the set, with the paint being used to make Acid Storm look like Starscream not working right, and Flamewar, now cast as Rodimus, moaning that they never really met before the war, having only been put in the story because he's a popular "character".
Thundercracker hides with Marissa back in Trypticon, who decides to help him by getting the phone number for a famous human actor and former hero, Richard Ruby, to help with the film.
Before long, Thundercracker screens some scenes for Ruby, but he's unimpressed since it is just historical and is too wordy, human audiences will be bored, since they want to see action from the alien robots, not talking heads.
Taking his advice, Thundercracker decides to use his movie to try and inspire people, much like how the Nurse Whitney show inspired him to be a writer when he was stuck on Earth following the invasion. Acid Storm gets annoyed by the new script and the constant horrible paint work, leading him to quit the film. Thundercracker soon takes up the role of Starscream for himself, just as Swift walks in, announcing that Starscream has admitted to all his crimes, and has been arrested. The crew are upset since this means their film is doomed, but Thundercracker just states that this gives their film an ending now.
Thundercracker completes the film, indeed ending it with Starscream's imprisonment, and screens it for Starscream inside his cell. Starscream is unimpressed, but points out that there's no point in showing the film now, since he doesn't need to impress anyone anymore, but Thundercracker is determined to show it still.
As he leaves, Starscream manages to bribe his guard, Beachcomber, to deliver a message to a "friend" of his for a reward, which he agrees to.
At the wrap party, Thundercracker gifts his crew some goodies, including a plushie of Buster and a copy of his Chuckles movie script, before leaving to drop off the film to Earth (leaving Proxima to wonder if she'll actually get paid still).
Thundercracker goes through the space bridge, aiming for Earth, but is redirected to the dead world of Prion instead, forcing him to rush Buster into his cockpit so she can breathe. Two Badgeless officers follow him into the portal, where they attempt to kill him, having been hired by Starscream to do so, so his film cannot be shown. Fortunately, Thundercracker still has his fighting skills and kills the Badgeless.
Thundercracker soon arrives on Earth, confusing Aileron as to why he was on the dead world of Prion, but she tells him that Ruby wants to see him.
Richard Ruby tells Thundercracker that Rumble and Frenzy also made a movie, that got released two weeks earlier, and it failed terribly, leaving human audiences to not care about Cybertronian cinema anymore. He has managed to sell the movie to a subscription service, but isn't sure how to watch it even himself.
Thundercracker returns to Cybertron, where he contemplates giving up on his writing dreams, but is pulled through by a call from J.J. Hackensack, a major director on Earth, who saw his movie and wants to work with him on a new one, if he is interested...which of course he is.
Characters
Autobot
Optimus Prime - Truck Cab
Proxima
Alpha Trion - Space Shuttle
Metrotitan - Autobot City
Aileron - Space Shuttle
Beachcomber - Dune Buggy
Ratchet - Ambulance (Flashback Only)
Prowl - Police Car (Flashback Only)
Jazz - Sports Car (Flashback Only)
Cliffjumper - Sports Car (Flashback Only)
Mirage - F1 Race Car (Flashback Only)
Hound - Military Jeep (Flashback Only)
Tracks - Muscle Car (Flashback Only)
Bumblebee - VW Beetle (Flashback Only)
Wheeljack - Race Car (Flashback Only)
Impactor - Tank (Fantasy Only)
Ironhide - Van (Fantasy Only)
Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport (Fantasy Only)
Scrounge - Wheel (Fantasy Only)
Windcharger - Sports Car (Mentioned)
Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet (Mentioned)
Rodimus - Sports Car (Mentioned)
Seaspray - Hovercraft (Mentioned)
Decepticon
Acid Storm - Fighter Jet
Fat Tankor - Tank
Swift - Helicopter
Waspinator - Wasp (Footage Only)
Sky-Byte - Shark (Footage Only)
Laserbeak - Cassette (Footage Only)
Slugslinger - Twin Nosed Jet (Footage Only)
Rumble - Motorcycle (Footage Only)
Frenzy - Motorcycle (Footage Only)
Thrust - Fighter Jet (Flashback Only)
Astrotrain - Space Shuttle/Train (Flashback Only)
Viewfinder (Flashback Only)
Deluge - Sports Car (Flashback Only) Killed by Insecticon Swarm
Apeface - Ape (Flashback Only)
Dead End - Sports Car (Flashback Only)
Battletrap - Helicopter/Van (Flashback Only)
Motormaster - Truck (Flashback Only)
Brawl - Tank (Flashback Only)
Needlenose - Fighter Jet (Flashback Only)
Shrapnel - Stag Beetle (Flashback Only)
Megatron - Gun (Fantasy Only)
Seekers - Jets (Mentioned) Defunct
Ramjet - Fighter Jet (Mentioned)
Blitzwing - Tank/Jet (Mentioned)
Other Cybertronian/Colonist
Thundercracker - Fighter Jet
Starscream - Fighter Jet
Skywarp - Fighter Jet
Dirge - Fighter Jet
Flamewar - Motorcycle
Rattrap - Mole Rat
Trypticon - Earth Embassy Building
G2 Sideswipe - Car
Other Newborn Cybertronians
Two Badgeless Officers Killed by Thundercracker
Cybertronian/Colonist Crowdfillers
Extras in Movie (Footage Only)
Onyx Prime Actor (Footage Only)
Prima Actor (Footage Only)
Insecticon Swarm (Flashback Only)
Teletraan (Voice)
Primus (Mentioned)
Solus Prime (Mentioned)
Metalhawk - Fighter Jet (Mentioned)
Human
Marissa Faireborn
Rashid Nasir
Baker
Richard Ruby
J.J. Hackensack
Hi-Tech/Sanjay Bharwaney
Rumble and Frenzy's Human Actors (Footage Only)
Chuckles (Fantasy Only)
Cobra Commander (Fantasy Only)
Earth Invasion Era US President (Mentioned) Dead
Ayana Jones (Mentioned)
Jem (Mentioned)
Karen Fishook (Mentioned)
Orson Welles (Mentioned)
Nurse Whitney (Mentioned, Fictional Character)
Karen Fishnet (Mentioned, Fictional Character)
Susan Journeyer (Mentioned, Fictional Character)
Other
Buster the Dog
Notes
- This special issue is set during the Till All Are One Annual, and also between issues 14 and 15 of Optimus Prime. It begins with Starscream in charge of Cybertron, later showing his office in a wreck, clearly set after the scene where Windblade confronts him over his crimes, and ends with Starscream arrested for his crimes.
- As mentioned earlier in the series, the old film "The Birth of Cybertron" is based on the real world film "Birth of a Nation", and like the fictional one is mentioned to be, it was a very racist and revisionist history type of film.
- Since it was mentioned that the film is "Nominist propaganda" earlier in the series, and here we see that the original Primes are involved in some way, we can probably assume that a part of the film was to show that Nominus Prime was directly descended from them and was a "true Prime"
- Despite him being the title character of this series, Optimus only actually appears in one panel in the entire book....why didn't they just name this "Transformers Annual" like they did last year??
- Rashid Nasir was one of the survivors from the attack on the White House during the Revolution event, clearly he must feel safer with Marissa after what happened then.
- We learned back in All Hail Megatron that the Seekers changed their bodies to resemble their commander (Starscream) out of respect. Here we learn that they were manipulated into looking like him so he could hide amongst them from angry tax-payers that he defrauded during his senate days
- Starscream's false history tells us that Megatron was the one who destroyed Air Force One during All Hail Megatron, and that Starscream tried to stop him. What actually happened was that Starscream shot down he plane!
- When is the scene set on the Lemuria set? Is it before the current Scarlett's Strike Force series, or after? I ask because Skywarp seems happy there, but we learned in issue 2 of the series that he plans to betray the team to Duke.
- Alpha Trion believes that the Titan that named Starscream as the "Chosen One" was not Metrotitan, despite everyone believing it to be, and was just a random dying one, since Alpha is certain that Metrotitan was always under earth's surface sleeping. To be fair, I'm pretty sure Metrotitan hasn't said it was him, just everyone assumes it is...huh...
- Proxima being amongst Thundercracker's crew likely means that the Vis Vitalis did end up reaching Caminus, and the crew have since gone their separate ways, with Proxima heading to Cybertron.
- FLAMEWAR IS HERE?!?! We don't see an insignia, so we can assume she's a colonist. She is also based on her second Botcon toy which turns into a motorcycle, so I'll assume that's her alternate mode here too.
- However, Flamewar knows quite a bit of Starscream and Rodimus' shared history, so maybe she's a former Decepticons who just ditched her insignia at some point, or maybe they teach the personal histories of key Cybertronian figures on the colonies now?
- The Protoform that was dubbed Sideswipe by Arcee has now started looking more like his namesake, but in his G2 toy colours...I wonder if he'll get a bandolier in the future?
- Ayana Jones met with, and got the number for Richard Ruby during the Revolutionaries series
- I'm actually quite surprised that Trypticon has remained in his dinosaur mode, and not changed to city-mode for the Earth Embassy job. It's a cool sight though, so no matter!
- During the scene in the film where Starscream recruits Skywarp and Thundercracker, we can see a slight bit of colour bleeding around the Seekers, I guess Proxima's colour filter edits aren't so perfect after all huh?
- Beachcomber passing off a message for Starscream sets up why Beachcomber feels guilty in Optimus Prime #16, released the same day as this issue.
- So....how does Starscream have the power to convince two Badgeless to try and kill Thundercracker? He's in jail and no one trusts him any more...is he just still rich from his days as a money-extorting senator?
- Aww no Buster! Don't suffocate on Prion! I swear this series wants to make me paranoid about Buster dying in every issue she appears in! (PS, to the team of Transformers vs Visionaries, this is due to Prion not having an atmosphere for organic life, much like what Cybertron has outside of Iacon!)
- Rumble and Frenzy's movie is clearly supposed to be a joke about how Transformers movies are seen in the real world, with violence, bikini clad women, explosions, lots of military, more explosions, and nonsense.
- Rumble and Frenzy refer to themselves as the "Tape Bros"....they don't turn into tapes at this point in time, they are motorcycles.
- J.J. Hackensack is based on both J.J. Abrams (for the films shown of his, and the name) and George Lucas (for the general look)
- Karen Fishook is a nod to Carrie Fisher, who is mentioned as reprising her role as Queen Spacela in the new Space Battle movie, directly referring to her role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The Fishook character also appeared in a similar role back in the G1 cartoon days.
- The lighting is credited to being done by Flash Bang, the name of a torch sold for the Movie lines.
- The main story is followed by a credit screen, starting with in-universe credits, but ending with thanks to all the creative teams for the works referenced in this special, ending with a "no humans were harmed in the making of this film" parody credit from most films that feature animal characters in the real world, and a promise that "Starscream will return". A credit mostly made popular with superhero movies.
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