IDW - Transformers (2019) #3

Title: The World In Your Eyes, Part Three

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

Following the attack on his rally, Megatron announces on a live feed that he has formed a new Ascenticon guard to protect himself and the rest of his people.

Chromia, watching from the security offices is horrified to see Quake amongst the new fighters, as he is well known for being unstable and hyper-violent, having been without a cause since the end of their wars a long time ago. Froid soon arrives and tries to get Orion to stop Megatron from using Quake due to his mentality, which Orion agrees to, if he is able to that is...

Orion Pax orders his security forces to continue their investigations and bolster their troops, in case things go bad.

Elsewhere, Bumblebee is showing off his alternate mode to Rubble and trying to get him to choose a form for himself to adopt, however, Rubble is distracted by the Winged Moon again, and watches as it closes up.

Bee, trying to reclaim Rubble's interest points out a larger Cybertronian to him named Leviathan, who roams the planet for ores to be processed into new bodies and materials for others to use.

Bee realizes that Rubble is stuck on the topic of the Moon however, and suggests that they go visit it again soon, and this time actually travel up the Tether to visit the Moon first-hand. Rubble looks excited, until; he suddenly ducks, as Windblade swoops in fast, almost knocking the two over.

Bee moans at his friend for scaring him, but she states that he is needed with the Senate for a meeting, and that she'll escort Rubble back to his home.

On their way to his apartment, Rubble worries that he's disappointed Bee by not being interesting in everything he's been shown, but Windblade rebukes that, stating that Bee is ecstatic to be his mentor as it is a great honour to be chosen to do so, and reassures him that Bee is just worried about Brainstorm's murder and that's all.

The two of them arrive at Rubble's apartment building, but are met by Chromia and Geomotus when they get inside. Chromia asks Windblade to help them with their investigation at the Transmission Station, as Froid doesn't like Geomotus to be around Prowl, as he is irritating. Rubble is left behind, but Chromia links his communicator with her's and Prowl's, in case he needs help with anything...

Outside, Windblade immediately realizes that Chromia placed a tracer onto the signal too, but she states that it's inactive, but can be turned on if they discover he is SOMEHOW involved in this incident....

In his room, Rubble believes that he can see a Titan in the sky from his balcony...

Elsewhere, Orion Pax opens a large set of doors and meets with a Cybertronian names Codexa, who is melding with the walls of the room, and he tells her that something is going wrong....

Characters

Autobot/Security Forces

Orion Pax - Truck

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Chromia - Car

Windblade - VTOL Jet

Ironhide - Van

Barricade - Police Vehicle (Mentioned)

Sideswipe - Car (Mentioned)

Ascenticon

Megatron - Treaded Vehicle

Soundwave - Hovercraft

Elita-1 - Jet

Quake - Tank

Skytread - Tank and Jet

Refraktor - Hovercraft

Other Ascenticons (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Bumblebee - Winged Hovercraft

Rubble

Geomotus - Radar Mounted Rover

Froid - Jet

Leviathan - Metal Ore Harvester

Codexa Being Merged into Cybertron

Random Cybertronians

Cyclonus - Jet (Flashback Only)

Threefold Spark Army (Flashback Only) Defeated

Ancient Cybertronian Army (Flashback Only)

Sentinel Prime (Mentioned)

Nominus (Mentioned)

Brainstorm - Jet (Mentioned) Dead

Wheeljack - Car (Mentioned)

Blurr (Mentioned)

Bee's Senator Friends (Mentioned)

The Rise (Mentioned)

The Senate (Mentioned)

Megatron's Attacker (Mentioned)

Mystery Prisoner (Mentioned)

Bee's Past Mentor (Mentioned)

Other

Aliens on Cybertron

Unlicensed Voin Scavenger (Mentioned)

Notes

• Okay! Conspiracy time! My guess is that Megatron's "attacker" was a plant by him to try bring sympathy and legitimacy to his own faction, hence why the explosion hurt no-one, and the weapon's fire was stated to be too weak to harm him or anyone.
• Also, continuing from last month's theory, The Rise did kill Brainstorm, but they are also an off-shoot or allied faction to the Ascenticons, I'm guessing we'll get the answers by the end of this story arc.
• The named Ascenticon guards in this issue are all references to recent toylines. Skytread and Refraktor are from the Siege toyline (and are the trademark friendly names for Flywheels and Reflector). Quake is based on his Titans Return toy, and Elita-1 is seemingly based on her Power of the Primes body, but still with wings similar to her Timelines toy.
• Interestingly, if the characters are supposed to be in scale to their toys, then if Elita is based on the Timelines figure, then she's perfectly in scale with Skytread and Refraktor, but if not, then she should tower over them. Quake on the other hand, is way too big, possibly to make him seem more dangerous?
• Oh hey! It's Froid! This is the first IDW 1.0 exclusive character to make an appearance in the new continuity, and from the sounds of it, it looks like he's pretty much taken Rung's original role in the series, as a background psychologist who has concerns about the mental health of other Cybertronians.
• It's mentioned that there's a patient that Froid is not allowed to meet with, this is either a reference to his previous role, where he eventually helped a serial killer to find victims in IDW 1.0, or it is a hint at where Termagax is hiding (since she can't have died, since that would defy the whole premise of this series)
• A previous war before the peaceful era is revealed here, regarding something called the "Threefold Spark", and it's actions led to the Nominus Edict, which is implied to regarding the limitation of how many Cybertronians can be allowed to be born. All we know about them, is that they had a faction symbol.
• Cyclonus is seen amongst the ancient warriors against the Threefold Spark, continuing the recent trend of him being an old character, and not a creation of Unicron. He appears to be using his Combiner Wars character model in his brief appearances.
• Sentinel Prime is namedropped as the head of the Senate, a reference to his Aligned continuity counterpart...hopefully this one isn't a twat like Infinitus was....
• Bumblebee's alternate mode is revealed to be the winged hovercraft that he had in the first episode of the Transformers G1 cartoon....DOES THIS MEAN WE GET A TOY OF IT NOW?!?!
• Rubble sure does have a fascination with the Winged Moon doesn't he? Maybe there's more to him than meets the eye? Like maybe he's a recycled spark of someone who worked there, or maybe even Termagax in a new body/mind?
• This story shows us that Leviathan (and likely others) gather up ore to be used for the construction of Cybertronian bodies. This implies that the birthing process for Forged Cybertronians is different in this continuity, as in IDW 1.0 their bodies were made from the Sentio Metalica found around their Spark, not from a separate source...
• A piece of graffiti in the street on the way to Rubble's apartment states "Kill the Killers. Death to Hu-" with the rest being obscured by a removal laser. What the hell could that be about?!
• Also, adding to the constant note that this Cybertron isn't as idyllic as it may seem, the street mentioned above is VERY dark and dingy, especially when compared to anywhere else we see in this issue!
• The new character Geomotus is designed to be on the Cybertronina version of the Autistic Spectrum, which is why he needs his "shapes" to feel comfortable in unusual locations for him. Though, I'm not sure exactly why a geologist is needed in a murder investigation, I know they say that he can see "patterns" and things others cannot, but isn't that Prowl's whole shtick? 
• Barricade and Sideswipe are mentioned as being part of the security team. Barricade is obvious since his whole deal is being a cop, but Sideswipe's role here appears to be based on his IDW 1.0 counterpart, who had a security position in the early parts of Robots in Disguise.
• Codexa, one of the Cybetronians who have merged with the planet, but apparently is still alive, (which is disturbing to think about, since we saw Rubble climbing all over one a couple issues ago) is also shown to be at least 2-3 times the size of Orion Pax. This is the third larger Cybertronian we've seen this issue (Leviathan, Codexa and a random character Rubble admires in the street). Were Cybertronians just larger in the past or something? We're they downsized at some time in this mysterious history?