IDW - Transformers (BNE) #16

Title: The Change In Your Nature, Part Four

Written by: Brain Ruckley

Art by: Bethany McGuire-Smith & Anna Malkova

Colours by: Josh Burcham & Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

A meeting takes place in secret between the Senators, minus those affiliated with the Ascenticons, considering the recent situation, especially regarding the imminent arrest of Soundwave. Most of the Senate seem upset with the decision, and Froid takes this moment to try and speak with Nnautica about Cybertronian psychology when dealing with aliens.

Following the meeting, Heretech goes to meet with Megatron, and informs him of the real reason of the meeting being to capture Soundwave, and that he cannot condone these actions, and just wanted to warn Megatron of this ambush. He also mentions that he plans to lead the Reversionists in an exodus from Cybertron, to escape from the crumbling society of their homeworld.

As Heretech leaves, Starscream comes out of the shadows, saying he isn't there to warn Megatron like Heretech was, as he's backing everyone until he knows who will win this conflict, but did want to mention to Megatron that Bumblebee may be working with Orion Pax, due to his continued links with him, despite being removed from Security in the past. Megatron doesn't want to believe that his friend would plant a spy in his ranks, but is starting to question it...

Nautica manages to escape from the annoyance that is Froid, when she learns that a Voin shuttle is docking at the space port, and is devastated to learn that it is in fact a  Voin Asserter, a special variant designed to deliver justice after a crime is committed against the Voin, and this will be trouble....

Megatron calls Elita-1 to meet with him, and asks her if she has any concerns about Bumblebee's loyalties. She denies any concerns, but does express that she feels that Soundwave is not truly on their side, and reveals her belief that he killed the Risers to cover up some secrets. Megatron dismisses her, and contacts Soundwave, still furious with him after his recent failures. He wants him to contact Shockwave to proceed with their plans ahead of schedule, no matter how messy it'll get...

A Rise team head toward a near-abandoned Cityspeaking facility, where they plan to take it over. They manage to take down the three security officers stationed there, but not before the last one, Headrush, manages to call in for reinforcements 

Knowing they don't have much time, they have their seemingly reluctant member, a Cityspeaker named Skystalker, link up to a machine that allows him to talk with the Titan in Cybertron's orbit, Vigilem, and tells him it's time to wake up, and proceed with their earlier discussed plans...

Characters

Autobot

Orion Pax - Truck

Sentinel Prime - Space Shuttle (Mentioned)

Security Forces

Chromia - Car

Ironhide - Van

Brawn - Van

Pipes - Truck

Headrush Killed by Hyperdrive

Red/Green Guy Killed by Tracer

White/Blue Guy Killed by the Risers

Ascenticon

Megatron - Mining Vehicle

Elita-1 - Car

Soundwave - Hovercraft (Mentioned)

Strika - Battle Tank (Mentioned)

Bumblebee - Winged Hovercraft (Mentioned)

The Rise

Slipstream - Jet

Shadow Striker - Car

Flamewar - Motorcycle

Tracer - Helicopter

Blackjack - Car

Hyperdrive - Car

Skystalker - Car

Astrotrain - Trackless Train/Space Shuttle

Immersant Titan Team (Mentioned) 2 Dead, 2 Comatose

Shockwave - Hovercraft (Mentioned)

Quake - Tank (Mentioned)

Barricade - Police Vehicle (Mentioned)

Bitstream - Jet (Mentioned)

Sparkstalker (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Starscream - Jet

Nautica - Submarine

Road Rage - Flying Car

Froid - Jet

Heretech

Vigilem - Titan Ship

Space Port Workers

Immersant Titan (Mentioned) Destroyed

Strika's Heavies (Mentioned)

The Reversionists (Mentioned)

Proxima (Mentioned)

Crosscut - Van (Mentioned)

Other Species

Voin Asserter

Murdered Voin (Mentioned) Dead

Notes

• McGuire-Smith provides the art for the early scenes, whilst the entire Riser raid is provided by Malkova
• It's mentioned this issue that Nautica seems to have no interest in relationships with Cybertronians, furthering her seeming preference to alien species seen in previous issues.
• As mentioned in a previous issue, the murdered Voin was someone important, and the Asserter has been called to exact justice for it.
• Strika is mentioned as being a Senator in the present day.
• Strika's Heavies were previously seen during Megatron's flashback to the war with the Threefold Spark, which included Flak, Warpath and Blitzwing.
• So....the death count on Cybertron is really racking up from this issue it seems!
• Skystalker, due to his demeanour and needing to be "reminded" of his loyalties to the Rise seems to imply that he's not a willing member, but someone who was abducted and forced to join them due to his Cityspeaker skills.
• Also, Cityspeakers are brought back to the franchise, following their prominence in the previous IDW continuity. It's unclear yet if Windblade is also a Cityspeaker, as she traditionally is, but considering her position in Security, it's unlikely (unless she had a career change or something)
• Cityspeaking in this continuity appears to be more akin to the Titan Masters of that continuity, where they are linked up to the Titan in some way, rather than reading their brain patterns to communicate for them like Cityspeakers were shown to do.
• And oh poopy! The Titan in orbit around Cybertron is revealed to be Vigilem, the personal Titan of Liege Maximo from the previous continuity, who was mentally and mode-locked by the ancient Cybertronians, as well as having his name changed to "Carcer" for him aiding Maximo in his crimes. Since we get his name as Vigilem, and see he is active already, we can assume that this part of his history never happened in this Universe
• So, jumping ahead a bit, the solicits for the next few issues mention a catastrophe and  mass exodus of the population, so I'm guessing that Vigilem is going to cause a few problems next issue....