IDW - Transformers #23

Title: Rise of the Decepticons, Part 5: We Have Deceived You

Written by: Brian Ruckley

Art by: Anna Malkova

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters & Design by: Jake M. Wood

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Plot

The special session of the Senate has come to discuss the recent actions of the Rise and for Sentinel to formally denounce the Ascenticons, however Megatron and his Ascenticon co-Senators arrive, uninvited, as this is about them. Orion Pax allows them to enter since they ARE elected officials, but also requests more guards inside the senate building.

At the prison, Bumblebee is being held for the murder of Quake, and Starscream visits him, and implies that the world is about to change, and he may have a place for him in this new world...

At the meeting, Megatron takes the podium where he accepts the name "Decepticon" for his faction, and claims that he will no longer wait around while the Autobots let the world fall apart around them. He claims that the Rise have surrendered to him, and implies that the Autobots were the ones to destroy the Tether...

Outside, the Decepticons make their move, attacking the guards outside and breaking into the main Senate hall, where Ion Storm uses his abilities to shoot an EMP through the assembled Senators, though draining him at the same time. During the attack, Strika grabs hold of Sentinel, intending to bring sanity back to Cybertron.

Several guards are killed or captured, but Strika chases Ironhide and a couple others out of the Senate building. From the front doors, she declares that the Decepticons are now here to rule Cybertron, and the crisis caused by the Autobots is over....

Characters

Autobot

Sentinel Prime - Space Shuttle

Orion Pax - Truck

Security Operations

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Strongarm - Police Vehicle

Bumper - Car

Vibes

Nightbeat - Car

Sideswipe - Car

Chromia - Car (Mentioned)

Senate Guard

Ironhide - Van

Grotusque - Winged Beast Detained by Decepticons

Chainclaw - Bear Detained by Decepticons

Brawn - Van

Groove - Motorcycle

Backstreet - Car

Roulette - Car

Pipes - Truck

Subsea - Submarine Seemingly Killed by Nova Storm

Flareup - Motorcycle Seemingly Killed by Nova Storm 

Decepticon

Megatron - Mining Vehicle

Strika - Battle Tank

Ratbat - Cassette

Acid Storm - Jet

Ion Storm - Jet Drained from using Powers

Nova Storm - Jet

Apeface - Jet/Ape

Runamuck - Car

Runabout - Car

Clench - Truck

Ravage - Cassette

Howlback - Cassette

Laserbeak - Cassette

Buzzsaw - Cassette

Squawktalk - Cassette

Beastbox - Cassette

Refraktor - Hovercraft (Mentioned)

Sixshot - Gun/Car/Jet/Winged Beast/Tank (Mentioned)

Quake - Tank (Mentioned) Dead

Other Cybertronian

Starscream - Jet

Bumblebee - Winged Hovercraft Imprisoned

Proxima

Andromeda

Voxpop

Cyclonus - Jet

Assembled Senators Hit by Ion Storm's EMP

Crowd Outside Senate Building

Highfire (Ghost)

Gridlock (Ghost)

Grudge (Ghost)

Provoke (Ghost)

Primus (Mentioned)

Other

The Thraal (Mentioned)

The A'ovan (Mentioned)

Notes

• Voxpop's theory about the Thraal dropping to Tether to try and take out the A'ovan actually sounds plausible since one of their compounds was destroyed in the fall. Though we know from an outsider's perspective that it was caused by the Rise.
• Megatron has now formally adopted the Decepticon name for the Ascenticons, and claims that the Rise have surrendered to them. I think it's safe to just stop pretending that they're separate factions now.
• Proxima is revealed to have been made head archivist now, the position that Orion was primed to take on before taking on his senatorial position.
• Flareup appears to be a scaled up and bulked up version of her original toy, so I'm assuming she still turns into a motorcycle here too.
• Starscream knows about the attack on the Senate this issue because of his mole within the Decepticons, Refractor.
• We don't see which of the Rainmakers shoots the electricity that takes out Subsea and Flareup, but since we see Ion Storm's ability, and we can assume the acid rain is from Acid Storm, it's most likely that Nova Storm is the one who blasts them.
• The Infiltration Troopers mentioned earlier in the storyline are revealed to be Soundwave's future cassette minions.
• Clench's trailer is designed to eject the troopers out of it...this is something I never knew I needed from an earth vehicle mode for Soundwave...