IDW - Transformers (2019) #1

Title: The World in Your Eyes Part One

Written by: Brian Ruckley

Art by: Angel Hernandez & Cachet Whitman

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

A newborn Cybertronian, Rubble climbs a "mountain", really a sleeping Titan, and admires the beauty of Cybertron, much to the annoyance of his mentor, Bumblebee, who is trying to escort him to see Brainstorm and learn what he does for a job, to give Rubble some ideas for his own future career and alternate mode.

Soon the two encounter some Voin Scavengers, but are saved from them by Windblade, a friend of Bumblebee's who has received some reports from Brainstorm about anomalies, so decides to join them in their trip there.

Elsewhere, the Ascenticons are marching towards Tarn, whilst Senator Orion Pax summons their leader, his fellow Senator Megatron, and the two politely argue over the marches, especially after the last one left dozens injured. Megatron leaves on bad terms to rejoin his people..

On the way to Brainstorm's Energon Transmission Station, where Rubble marvels about how the ground naturally lights up rather than being illuminated by other means, soon Rubble sees a shooting star, but Windblade explains that it's a sleeping Titan in orbit, ready to protect the planet if needed in the future, and it's revealed that Bee used to work with Windblade in security, but left for unknown reasons...

Soon the trio reach the station, but Windblade notices a broken window, so investigates the area with Bee, Rubble is left alone outside, where he hears a noise and soon finds Brainstorm with bullet holes riddled through his chest!

Characters

Autobot

Orion Pax - Truck

Ironhide - Van

Prowl - Police Car (Mentioned)

Ascenticon

Megatron - Treaded Vehicle

Ruckus - Van

Elita One?

Other Marchers

Other Cybertronian

Bumblebee - Car

Windblade - VTOL Jet

Rubble

Brainstorm - Jet Shot and Dying

Security Drones

Orbiting Titan Dormant

The Sleeping Titans  Dormant

Termagax (Mentioned)

Other

Voin Scavengers

"The Rise" (Mentioned)

Notes

• This is the start of the new IDW continuity, the first true reboot of the comic franchise since 2005!
• The second artist of this issue, Cachet Whitman, did the scenes of Orion Pax's side of the story, with Hernandez doing the Rubble and Bumblebee story. Personally, I prefer Whitman's art to Hernandez'.
• The characters in this story are mostly based on available Siege toy models, with exceptions to either new characters like Rubble and characters without a toy yet, like Bumblebee and Windblade. Brainstorm is seemingly based on his design from MTMTE.
• During Whitman's scenes, you can see what are clearly the peg holes of the character's toy counterparts. It's possible that they actually have a use, like they are ports for weapons or something, but otherwise it may be just overly accurate to the toy designs.
• Rubble isn't supposed to have an alternate yet by this time in the story, but we can see two very prominent wheels on his back, either this means that land based vehicles are just the default for newborn Transformers, or they are just decorative (or it's just an art mistake)
• This series is already showing a clear difference to the previous IDW continuity, with Functionism being nowhere to be seen, Rubble being a newborn, and being able to visit and choose a career of his own, AND being allowed to later choose an alternate mode is clearly against the whole Functionism doctrine of "every shape has a purpose"
• Bumblebee asks if his voice box is malfunctioning, a joke to the gimmick for the character in most recent continuities, including the Movies, Aligned continuity and Cyberverse.
• The only Transformer who transforms this issue is Windblade.
• The Autobots at the moment seem to be just Orion Pax's crew, and the only character wearing the badge is Orion himself (I'll count Ironhide and Prowl as Autobots too, since they are mentioned as working for him directly)
• The Ascenticons are obviously a prelude to the Decepticons, and their insignia appears to be a simplified upside down Decepticon insignia.
• Tarn is mentioned as the destination for the Ascenticon march, this city is traditionally one of the major early conquests of the Decepticons later in history.
• Cyebrtron is mentioned as being a "living planet", possibly hinting at a "Cybertron is Primus' physical body" twist for later in the series, which was a popular storyplot before the previous IDW continuity.
• Bumblebee and Windblade are mentioned as being longterm friends, much like they are in the Cyberverse cartoon.
• Megatron and Orion Pax are mentioned as both being senators, and being pretty much the same age as each other, showing that they have had a long history as rivals, even before their destined war, and further showing the heavy differences between this continuity and the previous one.
• The Titan in orbit isn't shown too clearly, but due to Omega Supreme being in the Siege toyline as a Titan class toy, we can probably assume that this is him.
• We can see at least two moons in orbit of Cybertron in this issue, showing us subtly that the Guiding Hand's backstory from the previous continuity is also not likely to be in place here too
• Considering the solicits for this series makes it clear that a murder is the main focus of the series, we can assume that Brainstorm's injuries this issue are going to the be fatal (he's not dead yet, due to the "TZZT" sound effect coming off him now and again)