IDW - Transformers (2019) #11

Title: The Cracks Beneath Your Feet, Part Five

Written by: Brian Ruckley

Art by: Angel Hernandez & Anna Malkova

Colours by: Joana LaFuente & Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

Now back on Cybertron, Sentinel and Starscream walk through the Council Chamber's corridors with Orion Pax and Chromia, where they discuss the Ascenticon blockade, stopping Prowl from speaking with Barricade about recent potential crimes.

Sentinel says that he wants them to just storm the Ascenticon's base and take him by force, but Orion points out that following the destruction of the war memorial, which some are blaming on Security, so he wants to talk to Megatron about all of this first. Sentinel agrees, but asserts that if Barricade isn't in custody by sunfall, then they need to storm the base.

Afterwards, Chromia speaks with Orion, telling him that Windblade managed to shield the data she was recovering during the explosion and they have forty names of Rise members, who they are going to start sifting through to find their murderers.

Elsewhere, Megatron is furious with Soundwave, now that he has learned that he passed information taken from his mole, Barricade, to Shockwave, and he used Quake to kill the Voin witness, and now he is publically denying Security access to Barricade, making them look even worse.

Knowing he cannot keep Barricade around anymore, Megatron sends a secret message to Shockwave to have Barricade whisked away, and to make it look obvious.

Bumblebee visits the still badly injured Windblade in the medical facility, where Orion Pax also arrives, telling his friend that she will get better. He also asks Bee to end his covert operation as an Ascenticon member, due to the upcoming raid on the base by Security, as he doesn't want him caught in the crossfire. Bee however refuses, as he wants to do this to get out of Orion's debt, and now also feels he needs to atone for not being there for Rubble either, when he was murdered too, or he's going to end up breaking in some way...

Later, the Ascenticons man their stations, as they know Security are planning to raid them, during the scattering however, Bee notices Barricade speaking to Soundwave, and follows him, finding him and Skytread at one of the old Gladiator gates. At that moment, the doors are blown in by Sixshot and his team, who are there to take Barricade away.

Bumblebee manages to beat away the Risers, but has problems with Sixshot, however before the Riser can take him out, Skytread uses a taser to knock out Bee. Before anything else can happen, Prowl and his security forces break in, and the Risers flee, with Barricade in their custody.

In the aftermath, Megatron looks over the damage, and sees a way to make this work for him, he starts another broadcast and declares that his people are under attack, and that Security was not only planning to attack too, but that they let the Rise attack them as well. He uses a blowtorch to modify the insignia of his group, into what will one day be known as the Decepticon insignia....declaring it to be the future of their world.... 

Characters

Autobot

Sentinel prime - Spaceship

Orion Pax - Truck

Security Forces

Chromia - Car

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Ascenticon Base Raiders

Windblade - VTOL Jet In CR Stasis, Will Recover in Time

Ascenticon

Megatron - Treaded Vehicle

Soundwave - Hovercraft

Elita-1 - Car

Bumblebee - Hovercraft

Barricade - Police Vehicle "Abducted" by Sixshot

Skytread

Refraktor - Hovercraft

Acid Storm - Tetrajet

Strika

Jhiaxus - Jet

Ratbat

Other Ascenticons

The Rise

Sixshot - Jet/Car

Storm Cloud - Jet

Visper - Jet

Shockwave - Spaceship (Mentioned)

Flamewar - Motorcycle (Mentioned)

Shadow Striker - Car (Mentioned)

Quake - Tank (Mentioned)

Mindwipe (Mentioned)

Frenzy (Mentioned)

Rumble (Mentioned)

Slipstream (Mentioned)

Blackjack (Mentioned)

Treadshot (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Starscream - Tetrajet

Senate Attendant

Alpha Trion (Stained Glass Depiction Only)

Solus Prime (Stained Glass Depiction Only)

Nexus Prime (Stained Glass Depiction Only)

Solomus (Stained Glass Depiction Only)

Quintus Prime (Stained Glass Depiction Only)

Rubble (Mentioned) Killed by Quake

Glyph (Mentioned)

Other

The Voin Scavenger Witness (Mentioned) Killed by Quake

Notes

• The bots in the stained glass windows in the hallway leading to Sentinel's office were chosen to represent different branches of state. As stated here, judging from the layout of the hallway, the opposite side may feature some more.
• The stained glass bots are also all members of the Thirteen Primes, or the Guiding Hand, implying that both groups are part of the mythology of this series too.
• Solomus being shown is interesting, as we can see his "crown" that was on his true form, who went by the name of "Tyrest" in the previous IDW continuity, implying that this universe didn't have a memory wipe of the Guiding Hands' identities and appearances, however we saw a statue of Primus in issue six, which was designed after the traditional Primus design, and not after "Rung". Now this could be just due to the artist wanting to use this design over the mythical form, but this could mean that Primus DOES have his traditional form in this universe, and isn't Rung again this time (HOPEFULLY!)
• The Statues sitting outside his office are also just cheeky references to the Movie version of Sentinel Prime, but with a sword inside of his Primax Blade
• As seems to be a habit now, the front cover that I have has nothing to do with the contents. Chromia appears in the opening scene, Windblade is seen in her CR chamber, and Sideswipe is nowhere to be seen. This would have been better suited for a couple of issues ago, when the trio went into the Monument base.
• Starscream is revealed to be the Head of Intelligence here.
• Glyph gets name-dropped in this issue, and appears to be based on the character introduced in the Extended Universe Botcon lines. I wonder if Tap-out hangs out with her too?
• Rumble is mentioned as being one of the Risers, possibly ending the conspiracy theory that Rubble was actually him in disguise (simply due to his name)
• All of the characters listed on the datapad as being Risers have had a new toy in recent years, so I could assume what alternate modes they have, but I wont that that risk, until it is confirmed (especially since a few have had multiple toys)
• Barricade is revealed to have been a member of the Ascenticons for a while now, but stayed in the Security Forces to act as a mole for Soundwave, and is confirmed to be the one who passed on the Voin's identity to Shockwave, leading to him sending out Quake to kill him, and Rubble by association. Megatron was apparently not aware of this mole situation.
• So...why did Soundwave or Shockwave send Quake to kill the Voin? Quake was made a very public member of the Ascenticons, meaning that the investigation, which will link back to him, will automatically link the Ascenticons to the murder too...what was the plan here? (They could have just had Sixshot or another warrior kill them instead!) My guess would be that they are somehow acting AGAINST Megatron to take leadership for themselves, much like the Marvel counterparts.
• Orion mentions that Windblade will recover from her injuries in time. This appears to be to quell the fears of the readers, who notice the similarities to Sideswipe's condition from the previous IDW continuity, which proved to be fatal.
• It is confirmed that Bumblebee was implanted into the Ascenticons on Orion's orders to spy on them, we also learn that Chromia is aware of this plan, but is the only other person to be aware of it.
• Orion comments on how inept the attack on Megatron in issue 2 was, something that people, including me, have been assuming was a staged attack ever since it happened.
• It is alluded to that Bumblebee was "saved" by Orion in the past. This is likely related to his firing from Security, which is still unexplained to us.
• The Ascenticon base is shown to be an old Gladiator Arena. I don't think this has been revealed before now!
• Sixshot is shown to be at least a triple changer, as we see his car mode for the first time this issue, we can probably assume he is a six-changer after all!
• Sixshot also still sports the wound from Windblade's sword skewering him from the last time we saw him. It is even affecting his T-Cog when he uses his car mode! Nice continuity and implementing an existing injury there!
• Skytread appears to be aware of the Ascenticon-Rise connection as he helps Sixshot to "kidnap" Barricade. Is Bumblebee the only one who doesn't know?
• As people have noticed since the start, the Ascenticon insignia is shown to be the basis of the Decepticon insignia, with Megatron revealing the new design this issue.
• Amongst the newly revealed Ascenticon members are Acid Storm and Jhiaxus, using their Siege and Thrilling Thirty designs respectively. And Strika and Ratbat in new character models