IDW - Transformers (2019) #15

Title: The Change In Your Nature, Part Three

Written by: Brian Ruckley

Art by: Anna Malkova & Bethany McGuire-Smith

Colours by: Joana LaFuente & Josh Burcham

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

Megatron watches a live feed of Sentinel Prime addressing the population, denouncing the Ascenticons as liars for their promises of restoring Cybertron to it's pre-war rules etc, and accuses them of using the Rise's violence to gain sympathy for their cause, with Orion Pax behind him, but clearly disagreeing with his statements.

As he watches the feed, Jhiaxus pumps him with the emergency Energon reserves, so he can be fully energized when he goes to visit Shockwave.

Whilst being energized, Megatron thinks back to his early days as a miner and gladiator, which all came to an end when the war started. He was drafted into combat, and during one large battle, Exarchon (or some of his iterations anyway) approached him, intending to use him for his needs, but was chased off. Megatron however saw Exarchon's true worth that day, he wasn't a great evil, but someone who everyone feared due to his immovable will...

Following the war, the Ascenticon movement was formed and the mines were closed, Cybertron was brought to a halt to try and stop another Threefold Spark from occurring. Despite her early ability to rally the forces, Termagax was eventually forced into self-imposed exile, so Megatron, taking after Exarchon's ways built on his own will and took over the Ascenticons for her, refusing to be denied or defeated by anyone....

Bumblebee meets with Orion Pax and Chromia, where he explains what happened at the Titan and how he suspects that Soundwave used his staff to try and kill the Risers. The other two decide to inform Bee about their suspicions that Barricade was feeding intel to the Ascenticons, which led to the Voin Scavenger and Rubble being murdered by Quake. Bee is furious that they didn't tell him sooner, but Orion just states that he was afraid of what Bee would do, and now decides to give their findings to Sentinel Prime....

Megatron arrives at the Rise's current HQ, where everyone has been put into lock-down, as per standard precautions, and Shockwave comes to meet with the Senator. Megatron learns that Shockwave has been recruiting from the exiled bots off-world, and appears to be worried. 

Megatron requests that Shockwave summon his top "lieutenants" to join them, and once Sixshot and Slipstream arrive, Megatron beats down Shockwave in front of them, the latter being no match for Megatron due to the minimal fuel reserves they are working from in the Rise.

After Shockwave is beaten and bloodied, he orders him to not act on his own accord any more, that he is to only work on his behalf and to HIS purposes, and to not allow a situation like that at the Titan, or the recent killings to happen ever again, and makes the lieutenants agree too.

Orion and Chromia have given Sentinel their evidence, and he declares a few controversial new orders. The security forces will be allowed unrestricted amounts of Energon, and access to weaponry in the search for Shockwave, Sixshot, Frenzy, Quake and Barricade, whilst capturing them is desirable, neutralizing is acceptable. He also deputizes Hound and Novastar to run the missions to take them down, as he doesn't believe that Chromia has the ability to deal with the problem, based on recent failures. Finally he wants Chromia to liaise with Ironhide to arrest and interrogate Soundwave, and he wants him captured soon, no matter the cost...

Characters

Autobot

Sentinel Prime - Space Shuttle

Orion Pax - Truck

Security Forces

Chromia - Car

Ironhide - Van

Hound - Jeep (Mentioned)

Novastar - Car (Mentioned)

Ascenticon

Megatron - Mining Vehicle

Jhiaxus - Jet

Bumblebee - Winged Hovercraft

Termagax - Truck (Flashback Only)

Rally-Goers (Flashback Only)

Strika - Battle Tank (Mentioned)

Soundwave - Hovercraft (Mentioned)

Elita-1 - Car (Mentioned)

The Rise

Shockwave - Weapons Platform Beaten Down by Megatron

Sixshot - Tank/Jet/Beast/Tank/Gun

Slipstream - Jet

Flamewar - Motorcycle

Shadow Striker - Car

Hyperdrive - Car

Barricade - Police Vehicle

Shockwave's Failed Experiments Dead 

Quake - Tank (Mentioned)

Triggerhappy (Mentioned)

Rumble (Mentioned)

Frenzy (Mentioned)

Ruckus - Buggy (Mentioned) Either Killed or Left Comatose in Titan Explosion

Wirespike (Mentioned) Either Killed or Left Comatose in Titan Explosion

Lowload - Drill Tank (Mentioned) Either Killed or Left Comatose in Titan Explosion

Kaskade (Mentioned) Either Killed or Left Comatose in Titan Explosion

The Threefold Spark

Exarchon's Iterations (Flashback Only)

Skywarp - Jet (Flashback Only)

The Clone Swarm (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Audience at Sentinel's Speech

Warpath - Tank (Flashback Only)

Flak - Multiple Missile Launcher (Flashback Only)

Blitzwing - Tank/Jet (Flashback Only)

Lugnut (Flashback Only)

Headlock (Flashback Only)

Miners (Flashback Only)

Brainstorm - Jet (Mentioned) Dead

Rubble (Mentioned) Dead

Nominus Prime (Mentioned)

Highbrow (Mentioned)

Ultra Magnus (Mentioned)

Ultra Magnus' Assault Force (Mentioned)

The Constructicons (Mentioned)

Other Species

Voin Scavenger (Mentioned) Dead

Notes

• Sorry I'm late with this again, but more ennui etc is making I hard to do reviews in decent time (but I'm getting a bit of a pile right now..sooooo......
• Malkova provides the art for the current day scenes, whilst McGuire-Smith provides the art for the flashback scenes.
• Exarchon, the leader of the Threefold Spark, is revealed to have his consciousness split between multiple bodies, which apparently happened to him somehow offworld, and seemingly drove him to evil, explaining he restriction on further colonization and exploration in the Nominus Edict.
• Headlock appears as a Gladiatorial coach in the flashback, somewhat similar to his role in the RID2015 cartoon.
• Lugnut is clearly seen as one of Megatron's opponents in the Gladiator matches, this was a role previously mentioned for him in the Aligned universe.
• Skywarp is the only legacy character to be confirmed as a part of the Threefold Spark's forces, showing that it's not just an army of clones, but also brings Skywarp's current whereabouts to question. 
• The scene where Chromia and Orion speak to Bumblebee is essentially a recap of all the evidence into who the murderers are, just in case anyone was still confused after 15 issues.
• It's mentioned that two of the four Risers seemingly killed last issue are still on life-support, but we don't get to know which ones yet.
• It's mentioned that the current Rise base is an old outpost of the Threefold Spark, and that Shockwave is trying to replicate the process that allowed him to split his mind between different bodies (which most people are assuming will somehow involve Refraktor, to give him his traditional triple-bot look)
• It's not confirmed, but Megatron's dialogue may suggest that Shockwave was also part of Exarchon's forces, which could be why he was exiled in the first place.
• The Galaxies spin-off series is directly referenced this issue, confirming that the Constructicon storyline (at least) is set concurrently with this series
• Amongst the weapons in the Rise base, are some cannons that look very similar to Megatron's traditional fusion cannon, though he uses it as a bludgeoning weapon instead of a cannon here.
• Slipstream is introduced out of nowhere are a co-field commander with Sixshot, somewhat resembling her role in Cyberverse.
• Ultra Magnus is mentioned as not being available to assist security, but it's not clear if this is because of death or something less serious.
• It's mentioned that none of the great generals will serve, implying that either they are unable to serve due to injury, or perhaps out of disapproval of Sentinel and his methods.