IDW - Unicron #5

Main Story

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Alex Milne

Colours by: David Garcia Cruz

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Side Story

Title: A World and a Future

Written by: Magdalene Visaggio

Art by: Fico Ossio

Colours by: David Garcia Cruz

Lettered by: Curtis Fandango

Edited by: David Mariotte

Main Story Plot

Shockwave watches on from the CN Tower in Toronto as his Maximals continue to destroy the city, readying it for a new Cybertronian Empire. And he determines that the Talisman must have been transported to Earth with the Transformers, so he links up with his Titan, Nemesis, who is within Unicron to scan the planet to find the device so he can retrieve it and use it on Unicron. He is however unaware that Snake Eyes and a group of Ninjas are currently approaching his location...

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Thundercracker is helping to put out fires and rescue trapped Humans, due to Unicron's proximity to Earth causing natural disasters. He soon realizes that he forgot to return a call to Marissa, which he tries to do, but is told they cannot talk, as she is in a meeting.

Marissa hangs up on her friend as she stands with Scarlett, Flint and a few world leaders, preparing a mission with the assembled forces of Earth, including the Action Man programme, GI Joe, Cobra, Dire Wraiths and the Dinobots, amongst others. Soon, the meeting is intruded on by Shockwave, Swift, Ironhide, Rom and Livia, who are acting as representative of Cybertron and the colonies.

After a short altercation between the Solstar Knights and Dire Wraiths, Trypticon orders everyone to get along, for the sake of everyone, including the still forming new Cybertronians within him.

Back in Africa, the refugees from Cybertron are preparing for battle, and reuniting with their friends  when Prowl's shuttle arrives with his crew and the Autobot Colonists in tow, willing to help in the final battle.

Soon, Jetfire calls everyone together to explain to them that Unicron devoured the black hole that his original planet form orbited, which is why he is also blinking out he stars whenever he devours a planet, meaning this threat is to everyone and everything, not just them. Optimus appreciates this, but they have to focus on defeating Unicron before fixing the damage, and they plan to use the Talisman to do it...

Shockwave has located the Talisman using the Nemesis and relays it's location to Bludgeon, ordering him to bring it to Unicron to kill him before he gets to Earth. Unfortunately Bludgeon's loyalties are now with Unicron, so he sends the Maximals down to destroy it instead....

In a moment of quiet, Optimus looks out to the stars and is joined by Arcee, who is now worried for her future, since she is finally happy with Aileron, and is worried that she'll lose her in this war. Optimus tells her that despite what happens, she has to cherish what she has now, and not dwell on what could happen. Their moment is soon ended however when Aileron reports that the Maximals are approaching the city.

Earth's militaries, including GI Joe meet the Maximals head-on, with several being killed on both sides, but the Maximals manage to slip past them. Luckily they gave the city enough time and Destro links his Mass transport device to Metroplex, allowing the city and all the ships around it to be transported away, to the confusion of the Maximals.

Thundercracker reaches Mount Rushmore, which Trypticon has also left and gives Buster to Marissa to look after for him, shocking her as Thundercracker loves his dog more than anything. He leaves to join the battle and asks her to explain that she left her out of love..

In Toronto, the Ninjas attack Beast Megatron, whom is shot in the throat by Helix with a sniper rifle, soon Stardrive arrives to help them out with Prowl heading to the CN Tower to take on Shockwave himself.

Thundercracker joins up with Starscream and Skywarp as they head towards Unicron, seemingly alone, with Thundercracker carrying the Talisman whilst the others carry Optimus and Arcee in their undercarriages. Bludgeon sees this and laughs at Starscream's feeble attack, sending Monstructor to kill him, unaware that the surviving Torchbearers have been handing onto the side of the ship this whole time.

Before Monstructor can get too far, Metroplex and Trypticon appear before him, and unleash the entire Cybertronian army, and other space-faring warriors upon him, utterly shocking Bludgeon.

Whilst the bulk of the forces face off with the corrupted Decepticons and Maximals, Starscream and the others sneak the Talisman, Optimus and Arcee to Unicron, for their final battle...

Side Story Plot

Virulina wakes up on what she assumes is Earth, but soon finds foliage and landmarks that tells her it is actually Prysmos, despite the planet's destruction. She is soon joined by Galadria, Cindarr and Witterquick, and they toy with the idea that they are in heaven, but Cindarr soon explains that they are actually on an ancient version of Prysmos, having been transported there by the Talisman.

The team start to look for more of their people and start planning some shelters, but find themselves on a cliff-ledge where they bask in the beauty of their untouched world, ready to start anew.

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Arcee - Sports Car

Aileron - Space Shuttle

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Chromia - Speedbike

Bumblebee - Car

Ironhide - Van

Jetfire - Fighter Jet

Jazz - Sports Car

Metroplex - Cybertronian City

Garrison Blackrock/Sovereign - Head

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Wheelie - Car

Goldbug - Car

Slide - Part of Oil Tanker

Bump - Armadillo

Roulette - Muscle Car

Midnight Express - Bullet Train

Sandstorm - Buggy/Helicopter

Slug - Triceratops

Swoop - Pteranodon

Snarl - Stegosaurus

Sludge - Apatosaurus

Tracks - Muscle Car

Sunstreaker - Sports Car

Pyra Magna - Fire Truck

Rust Dust - Motorcycle

Jumpstream - Sports Car

Dust Up - Sports Car

Skyburst - Helicopter

Primus (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Shockwave - Flying Artillery

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Tall Tankor - Oil Tanker/Cargo Plane

Fat Tankor - Tank

Needlenose - Fighter Jet

Acid Storm - Fighter Jet (Mentioned)

Red Wing - Fighter Jet (Mentioned)

Dirge - Fighter Jet (Mentioned) Dead

Maximal/Corrupted Decepticon

Bludgeon - Tank

Monstructor - Monster Gestalt

Broadside - Tank

Sledge - Backhoe-Payloader

Wideload - Dump Truck

Decepticon Vengeance Division

Beast Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex Throat Shot out by Helix

Optimus Primal - Gorilla

Rhinox - Rhino

Inferno - Ant

Maximal Army

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Trypticon - Earth Embassy

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet

Stardrive - Car/Jet

Centurion - Luxury Car

Swift - Helicopter

Strafe - Car/Two Headed Dragon

D.O.C.

Bob the Insecticon

G2 Sideswipe - Sports Car

Next Generation Cybertronians

Cybertron/Colony Survivors

Nemesis - Unicron's Eye/Titan Ship (Mentioned) Merged into Unicron

GI Joe

Skywarp - Fighter Jet

Scarlett

Flint

Stalker

Snake Eyes

Agent Helix

Mayday

Spike

Talon

Slip-Stream Killed by Maximals

Ace

Chameleon

Hi-Tech

Action Man Programme

Action Man, Ian Noble

Terrence Salmons

Bryce Chan

Solstar Order

Rom

Livia

Cobra

Cobra Commander/Krake

Cobra Commander/Tomax

Cobra Commander/Baroness

Major Bludd

Destro

Tempest

Red Shadow Ninjas

Storm Shadow (Mentioned)

Iron Ring

Joe Colton

Miles Mayhem

Colditz

Iron Klaw

Doctor X

Lady Shazraella

Dire Wraith

Countdown

Various Wraiths

Other Human

Madame President

Chinese President

British Prime Minister

Marissa Faireborn

Sergeant Savage

Bulletman

Jet Pilots Many Killed by Maximals

Toronto Civilians Being Killed by Shockwave's Maximals

L.A. Civilians

L.A. Emergency Responders

Visionaries

Virulina

Cindarr

Galadria

Witterquick

Leoric (Mentioned)

Other

Unicron

Buster the Dog

Garnak

Notes

• How does Shockwave not know that the Maximals now work for Unicron? He seems to know literally everything else in the Hasbroverse! Why is he being out of character in trusting Bludgeon so much to assume that he is blindly loyal to him and no-one else?
• The Nemesis is revealed to have actually been a Titan, and that was how it's absorption into Unicron gave him a T-cog. Apparently Shockwave also still has contact with it, and can see through it....making my earlier point about him not knowing that the Maximals have betrayed him even worse now....
• It's still unclear whether Beast Megatron, Optimus Primal and Rhinox are actually still loyal to Shockwave, or if they are just acting as double agents for Unicron.
• Matt Trakker is mentioned as being missing from the assembled heroes and villains of Earth, he was shown to be in Detroit with his team back in an earlier side story, showing them helping protect the people from the effects of Unicron's arrival.
• Amongst the assembled villains are THREE Cobra Commanders! The Krake version from before the Revolution event, Tomax, who was shown inheriting the title in Revolutionaries, and Baroness who became the new Commander for the last few issues of the Sitterson GI Joe run.
• Also, noticeably absent from the crowd are most of the cast of Sitterson's GI Joe team, further implying that they were probably killed in the Maximal attack on the Lemuria.
• Destro mentions that he has repaired Skywarp's teleportation powers, which have been messed up since the start of Robots in Disguise.
• Unicron having devoured and become a black hole explains how he can consistently devour planets without getting "full". It also explains the side-effect of the stars blinking out of existence whenever he eats a world, rather than it just being a poetic ending to this continuity.
• Not to be that guy, but this issue confirms a fear I had regarding Arcee and Aileron's new relationship. It was only started up because they wanted to give Arcee someone to worry about and not want to lose, rather than just having her not want to let her friends and family (aka the Autobots) die horribly...yay...
• The Earth forces include a ton of GI Joe vehicles, but since I'm not really a Joe fan, I wont be talking about them beyond this.
• It's revealed in this issue that not all of the new Cybertronians have actually be fully formed yet, with G2 Sideswipe and a couple of other generics being the only ones
• Thundercracker, assuming that he will die and not wanting to risk Buster's life in space, returns her to Marissa, who gave the puppy to him as a peace offering at the start of Season Two of Robots in Disguise.
• Tempest mentions that she wants to see if she is equal to her predecessor, implying Storm Shadow...but she lost that title when another/the original Storm Shadow arrived...maybe he died in the unreleased issues of Scarlett's Strike Force and she ended up taking the title back
• Tempest and her Red Shadows gained their Dire Wraith powers from the Talisman before the events of Revolutionaries.
• Amongst the Maximals appear to be characters using the models of the Predacons from Prime and Dinobots from Age of Extinction. Though due to the block colouring and some simplified details it can't be certain
• Uh oh, the last time Prowl and Shockwave battled it resulted in the destruction of Junkion...good luck Toronto!!
• All three original Seekers, albeit all in different body deigns, are reunited for the first time since the events of All Hail Megatron.
• If you look closely to Starscream and Skywarp in space, you can just see Arcee and Optimus underneath them, albeit heavily shadowed.
• Centurion, despite not being a Titan Master, has apparently had some sort of training from Blackrock to allow him to assist Trypticon in battle.
• Bludgeon's text box is white in his last lines, implying that he's been putting on a scaryvoice before now (much like Sunder did in MTMTE)
• This story ends with a "To be Continued". Shouldn't that be "Concluded" since it's the final issue?
• The Visionaries are revealed to have been sent to a prehistoric Prysmos, from before their civilization developed, without weapons and with a fresh start, implying this could be the backdoor pilot to a new series...
• HOWEVER! This isn't exactly a good thing for them! Assuming this isn't another dimension and was just time travel, that means that they are doomed to eventually lose their planet in the same way, with their descendants ending up on Cybertron and everything happens again
• Why does everyone act like Virulina got them to Prysmos? It was Leoric who used the Talisman to do this (you can tell this was his plan from his face last issue!)