IDW - Unicron #4

Main Story

Title: Road's End

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Alex Milne

Colours by: Sebastian Cheng & David Garcia Cruz

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Side Story

Title: Transition

Written by: Christos Gage

Art by: Paolo Villanelli

Colours by: Mattia Iacono

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Edits by: David Mariotte

Main Story Plot

In Deep Space, Prowl is informed by Stardrive that they have lost contact with Cybertron, which the Autobot is not shocked by he reveals that he always assumed Cybertron would fall, and that he always believed the final battle would be held on Earth...

On Earth, the President is informed that they have also lost contact with Cybertron whilst she is visiting a GI Joe facility, holding Joe Colton prisoner, where they are discussing a recent attack on GI Joe from what looked like Cybertronians and he brings up the Talisman, a device that can be used to kill Cybertronians..

On Cybertron, Windblade arrives at New Prysmos, where she tells Leoric her plan to use the Talisman to transport everyone off the planet to Earth, as the Talisman once managed to move the city to the planet's surface, which the Visionary leader agrees too, seemingly with his own  plans too...

Unicron continues to tear Cybertron apart, as the population of the planet starts to panic and flee for their lives. Blurr sees this from his bar, and also notices the Talisman's magical ribbons transporting anyone it touches away. He rushes outside and starts throwing anyone he comes across into the beams of energy before running for one himself, however before he can reach it, he is caught by an underground explosion, and is torn apart.

Optimus is still talking to Shockwave in his cell, where the latter reveals that he has always had a transporter ready to save himself, and urges his old friend to join him on Earth. Optimus sees the energy ribbons and dives into it, radioing Aileron to have her bridge away the city and everyone they can to Earth.

In orbit, Unicron starts swatting at the ships still fighting him, as they are being transported away by the magic too. To give them extra time, the still barely alive Elita One pilots the remains of Carcer into Unicron's face, killing herself, but giving the fleet a few moments to be rescued...

Now alone, Unicron tears Cybertron in two and begins feasting upon it, with the stars in the sky behind him all blinking away in the process.

Shockwave and some loyal Maximals arrive in Toronto on Earth and immediately start slaughtering the humans they come across and destroying the city so Shockwave can begin his new empire, confident that Unicron was killed when he ate Cybertron, and the Talisman.

At Sanctuary Station, in orbit of Jupiter, Cosmos is trying to make contact with Cybertron when Bludgeon and his corrupted Decepticon fleet arrives, still loyal to Unicron and starts attacking the station. Cosmos, Sky-Byte, Buzzsaw and Laserbeak go out to stall the fleet and allow the remaining denizens escape to Earth, whilst the station plummets into Jupiter, and the four defenders are slaughtered one by one.

Soon, Prowl's team arrives and Stardrive is sent in to slaughter the Maximals and corrupted Decepticons one by one, however she stops in her tracks when Unicron teleports in behind her, leaving everyone in shock at his magnitude.

Back on Earth, Shockwave watches as Toronto is being destroyed, but becomes aware that Unicron is still alive, meaning that the Talisman wasn't on Cybertron when it was devoured...

At the Zambia/Zimbabwe border, Windblade and Ironhide are alone with the Talisman, and Windblade believes that everyone else was killed on Cybertron and despairs, however the survivors of Cybertron's destruction begin to teleport in and she embraces Optimus with joy at everyone having been saved.

Everyone starts to reunite with their friends and take stock, with Starscream even getting punched by Arcee for his negative attitude when Optimus receives a call from Prowl, informing him that Unicron is approaching Earth and they need to stop him there in their final stand....

Side Story Plot

The Micronauts learn that Baron Karza, the now-ruler of Microspace is preparing for war, due to something happening in the larger Macroverse. They discuss whether they should try a revolution whilst he is distracted, or if they should go to help their allies, like Rom and the Autobots.

The team's former leader, Oziron Rael appears before the team, now as a Time Traveler to explain to them that something big is happening in Macrospace, something that will cause great change, but even he cannot see what will happen next. He urges them to put any affairs they have in order, and prepare for an upcoming change on the horizon.

The team ultimately decide that regardless of what happens, they want to continue to adventure together, as a team, for as long as they have left....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Metroplex - Iacon City

Arcee - Sports Car

Aileron - Space Shuttle

Jetfire - Fighter Jet

Cosmos - Orbiter Killed by Decepticon Vengeance Division

Bumblebee - Hatchback

Pyra Magna - Fire Truck

Skyburst - Helicopter

Jumpstream - Sports Car

Ironhide - Van

Blurr - Race Car Killed by Explosion on Cybertron

Tracks - Muscle Car

Strongarm - Police Vehicle

Chromia - Speedbike

Roadmaster - Truck

Firestar

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Wheelie - Car

Omega Supreme - Rocket Base Dead

Other Torchbearers (Mentioned)

Mainframe (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Shockwave - Flying Artillery

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Fat Tankor - Tank

Needlenose - Fighter Jet

Sky-Byte - Flying Car Killed by Decepticon Vengeance Division

Buzzsaw - Motorcycle Killed by Decepticon Vengeance Division

Laserbeak - Motorcycle Killed by Decepticon Vengeance Division

Bludgeon - Tank

Monstructor - Monster Decepticon Gestalt

Broadside - Tank Under Unicron's Thrall

Wideload - Dump Truck Under Unicron's Thrall

Sledge - Backhoe-Payloader Under Unicron's Thrall

Decepticon Vengeance Division Under Unicron's Thrall

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Gorilla

Beast Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Rhinox - Rhino

Unicron's Maximal Army

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Elita One - Car Kamikaze's self into Unicron's Face

Vigilem - Carcer Ship Remains crashed into Unicron's Face

Moonracer - Sports Car

Vanquish - Part of Jet

Fireshot - Part of Jet

Stardrive - Car/Jet

Skywarp - Fighter Jet

Swift - Helicopter

D.O.C.

Cybertronian/Colony Survivors 

Turbofoxes Killed with Cybertron

Insecticons (Mentioned)

Human

Madame President

Scarlett

Joe Colton

GI Joe Troops

Secret Service Troops

Toronto Denizens Several Killed by Maximals and Shockwave

GI Joe Mainframe

Solstar Order

Rom

Livia

Sata

Nikomi

Q'b

Guar

Elonian Survivors

Visionaries

Leoric

Galadria

Other Visionaries

Microspace

Oziron Rael/Time Traveler (Side Story Only)

Larissa (Side Story Only)

Phenolo-Phi (Side Story Only)

Acroyear (Side Story Only)

Biotron (Side Story Only)

Microtron (Side Story Only)

Baron Karza (Side Story Only)

Acroyear III Army (Side Story Only)

Reptos Army (Side Story Only)

Other

Unicron

Garnak

Notes

• So...if Unicron only got his alternate mode, and therefore his head when the Nemesis was merged with him...then why does Prowl have a bust of his head in his store of old Cybertronian artefacts? Maybe him or Shockwave will travel through time with this image soon?
• Scarlett references the attack on GI Joe, seen in the side story from issue 2 of this series. This confirms that it was happening before Unicron arrives on Earth in the next issue.
• During Scarlett's talk about the events of issue 2, she says that the Maximals almost annihilated GI Joe, implying that some of the Joes did die. Since we haven't seen them here, or earlier, we could assume that the death toll includes characters like Salvo and Spitfire.
• Joe Colton is revealed to have been transported to a GI Joe facility on Earth, instead of remaining on Cybertron. This COULD explain how several Cobra villains were seen on Earth following their capture, assuming they somehow escaped jail en-route to the Joe base.
• Again, Cybertron is seen in it's planet-wide city appearance, despite it supposed to be mostly a wasteland still...maybe the planet just had some layout lines on it for future developments? Oh well I guess it doesn't matter any more!
• Strongarm, a character imported from Robots in Disguise 2015, makes her first speaking role this issue. She previously appeared amongst the new Wrecker recruits in Requiem of the Wreckers, and is shown to have a personality similar to that of her RID counterpart here.
• As mentioned in my review of Optimus Prime #23, Blurr makes reference to the Unicron/Unicorn joke.
• Blurr reveals that when he is using his super-speed his brain works faster too, explaining how he can act fast and make corners without crashing due to his high-speed
• NOOOO!!! They forgot to rescue the Turbofoxes from the dying Cybertron!! And here I thought Soundwave was all about protecting ALL life, including the animals....
• Rhinox, Optimus Primal and Beast Megatron (yes, that's his official name in this series) travel to Earth with Shockwave. We knew Rhinox was loyal to Shockwave still, but last time we saw the latter two they were showing off their demon insides to Bludgeon and his crew...so whose side are they actually on now? Unicron or Shockwave? Is Shockwave even aware of their demon insides? Considering the duplicates we've seen, it's possible that the ones we saw with the demonic innards were just copies of the real ones who ARE loyal...I dunno...
• Bludgeon explains that Unicron merging with the Nemesis not only gave him an eye, but also a T-Cog, allowing him to transform, something that Shockwave was not apparently aware of.
• Bludgeon's crew are shown alive, despite Victorion seemingly killing them last issue, though they can apparently talk again now!
• The destruction of Sanctuary Station here was foretold in Optimus' prophetic dream back in Optimus Prime #50, implying that the few remaining parts of the dream are still to come to fruition in this event.
• The timeline is getting a bit wobbly again! We know from Lost Light that their events are happening at least a year before this story, so when Buzzsaw and Laserbeak discuss how Mainframe is on the Lost Light, and how they may lose contact with them next. It seems a bit odd. This seems to imply that they are in contact with the Lost Light again, but if that is the case then why wouldn't they know that Mainframe was killed on Mederi, and why wouldn't Rodimus and his crew have been called back home to help with the battle, considering the Lost Light is arguably one of their best vessels?
• So, despite Optimus and most of the population being transported to Earth by the Talisman, and Metroplex space bridging the rest to safety, they not only all arrive on Earth at the same time, but also at the same location? How convenient....
• Judging from the art, before they were being transported, it looks like Firestar was defending some Elonians, since they are seemingly between her legs as she is sitting on the floor.
• Also, amongst the Elonians, we can see that kid with his alien-dog that Bumblebee befriended in issue 0.
• Windblade seems to finally forgive Optimus for his past mistakes as she hugs him after believing him and the others to have died on Cybertron.
• The Visionaries not being amongst those transported to Earth seems to imply that they were sent to another world/universe to continue their own solo series later (I'm sure this will be elaborated on in a future side story, most likely in Unicron #6)
• The Micronaut's side story was originally planned for release in issue 2, but was moved to here for no known reason.
• Oz finally returns, having left the team after dying to become a Time Traveler!
• Oz explains that regardless of what happens in the Macroverse, the Microverse will be affected, even if Unicron never comes there. My guess is that this is a potential reference to a future continuation of Micronauts, but with them staying in Microspace (depending on if the Earth survives Unicron's attack that is).