IDW - Optimus Prime #19

Title: The Falling Part 4: The Hallowing

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Sara Pitre-Durocher

Colours by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Starscream mused to himself, via his memoirs about his rise to power, but that Optimus Prime kept getting in his way, so now that he is witnessing Onyx Prime throwing Optimus from his ship, and into the Crystal City singularity, seemingly killing him, he is glad.

Starscream has Devastator carry him towards the downed Metrotitan, so he can try and talk to him again, and along the way, Devastator puts forth his theory that Starscream is the reincarnation of Megatronus, the Fallen Prime. Starscream doesn't believe it, but thinks he can spin it in his favour.

At Shockwave's ship, the Nemesis, he orders Liege Maximo and his Maximals to head to Metrotitan to finish off the survivors, since he knows the crew have survived, as well as the Titan. Shockwave proceeds to remove his Onyx Prime disguise and prepares the next stages of his grand scheme...

At Metrotitan, Arcee, Aileron, Jetfire and the Torchbearers emerge from the crashed Titan, uncertain of what to do now, having also witnessed Optimus' apparent death. Devastator reaches Metrotitan as Maximo and his beast troops also arrive. Bumblebee's "ghost" starts talking to someone unseen to Starscream, confusing him, as Bumblebee simply vanishes before him. Starscream heads off to Metrotitan's head alone, and sends Devastator off to deal with the Autobots, and possibly the beasts.

Maximo and his troops start hunting the Auotbots, who are hiding. Arcee plans to take down the beasts and Maximo alone, knowing she's strong enough to handle them. Aileron is ordered to get the injured Jetfire to safety, whilst the Torchbearers are forced to combine into Victorion to fight the newly arrived Devastator. Victorion uses her gravitational powers to try and stall Devastator, but he is stronger than she expects and still continues towards her...

In Iacon, Windblade and the Mistress of Flame watch in shock at the battle going on at Metrotitan. Marissa Faireborn tries to get Trypticon and the Dinobots to join in on the fight, but Trypticon refuses to risk the lives of the new generation of Protoforms he holds within him, so he opens up a Spacebridge and sends himself and the Dinobots to Earth to both keep them safe, and replace Metrotitan as the Cybertronian city-link on Earth.

Starscream reaches Metrotitan's head, where Metrotitan confirms Starscream's claim to be the reincarnation of Megatronus. Starscream is elated to be so important, but is quickly put in his place by Shockwave, who appears behind him. Shockwave reveals that he used his Ores to alter the mind of Metrotitan to make him name Starscream as the Chosen One, having also created the Dark Cybertron prophecy as well, then used more Ores to send the Titan through space and time to place him in Crystal City and under Earth at the perfect times to manipulate Cybertron into electing Starscream it's leader. He reveals that he did this to weaken the planet by having a weak leader instead of someone like Optimus, Megatron or even Arcee.

Shockwave shoots Metrotitan in the face, finally killing him, his purpose being fulfilled, leaving Starscream distraught...and he asks for Bumblebee to come back to help him again...

Optimus wakes up in a dark, destroyed city, he first thinks it's the Afterspark, but soon realizes that he is in Infraspace, and notices some markings from others who have been there in the past, including himself and Blackrock. Soon he is greeted by an old friend...Bumblebee, who has been wondering where he was for some time now!

Characters

Autobot

Arcee - Sports Car

Jetfire - Fighter Jet

Aileron - Space Shuttle

Pyra Magna - Fire Truck

Stormclash - Helicopter

Skyburst - Helicopter

Dust Up - Sports Car

Jumpstream - Sports Car

Rust Dust - Motorcycle

Victorion - Torchbearer Gestalt

Metrotitan - Autobot City Killed by Shockwave

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Slug - Triceratops

Optimus Prime/Orion Pax - Truck Cab Sent to Infraspace

Bumblebee - Car Stuck in Infraspace

Ironhide - Van (Flashback Only)

Prowl - Police Car (Flashback Only)

Garrison Blackrock/Sovereign - Head (Mentioned)

Metroplex - Iacon City (Mentioned)

The Dinobots (Mentioned)

Zeta Prime - Truck (Mentioned) Dead

Decepticon

Megatron - Tank (Flashback Only)

Soundwave - Acoustic Tank (Flashback Only) 

Maximal

Striker - Stegosaurus

Triceradon - Triceratops

Longhorn - Bull

Snarl - Lion

Quickstrike - Wolf

Night Viper - Viper

Iguanus - Iguana

Geckobot - Gecko

Rav - Raven

Dillo - Armadillo

Mol - Mole

Rest of Beast Hoard 

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Devastator - Construction Gestalt

Onyx Prime/Shockwave

Liege Maximo

Trypticon - Earth Embassy City

Mistress of Flame

Strafe - Two Headed Dragon/Car

Turbofoxes

Tux - Car (Flashback Only)

Grid - F1 Race Car (Flashback Only)

Past Cybertronians (Flashback Only)

Scoop - Front End Loader (Mentioned)

Solus Prime (Mentioned)

Megatronus/The Fallen (Mentioned)

Primus (Mentioned)

New Generation Cybertronians (Mentioned)

Human

Marissa Faireborn

Rashid Nasir

Notes

• The Cybertronian whom Starscream tries to sell a badge to in the past is based on the Go-Bot character Tux...since there's nothing that would contradict that, I'll say it is him! (Yay!)
• Starscream's senator-era partner is based on Armada Swindle, his Mini-Con partner. Due to there already being a Swindle in this continuity, I'll just name him Grid here, after his Japanese name.
• I'm guessing that Shockwave exposed his true identity to his beasts and Liege Maximo at some point in the past, since none of them appear to question taking orders from this one-eyed guy wearing their master's skin as a suit...
• So turns out, except for a few scratches, the only Autobot to be injured during Metrotitan's fall was Jetfire, who looks kind of mangled
• I love how Aileron and Starscream both point out how Optimus is likely to come back to life, despite his apparent death. They must read a lot of comics :)
• Liege Maximo mentions how Arcee, being an ancient Cybertronian knows more than the rest of her team about Onyx and the other Primes. This is true, since she (in her original form) was present when the Primes were united.
• Maximo also mentions how he can sense the spawn of Solus Prime amongst the Autobots, referring to the Torchbearers and Aileron, who all come from Caminus, Solus' colony. How he knows they are amongst them is another question though...does he have some sort of mind-reading power like Soundwave?
• Devastator mentions how he has been a combiner much longer than Victorion has, and how he once helped to conquer Earth... except that was two Devastator's ago, the one with Scrapper as a member.
• I ADORE how Shockwave is so condescending towards Starscream when he points out how he used the Ores to manipulate things to make him the leader of Cybertron, rather than a competent leader.
• We learn this issue that the Crystal City we saw Bumblebee in, in the past was actually Infraspace, the Cybertronian limbo.
• OH MY GOSH I NEVER THOUGHT BUMBLEBEE WOULD BE BACK IN THIS CONTINUITY! ESPECIALLY NOT AFTER READING THE EARLIER RELEASED UNICRON #0 WHICH HEAVILY FEATURED HIM!
• Just a real-world anecdote here, the same day I received this comic the same day I bought Power of the Primes Starscream, and the bio card was of "Megatronus Starscream". Seems kind of perfect considering Starscream's sub-plot this issue being that he might be the reincarnation of the Fallen :)

IDW - Optimus Prime #18

Title: The Falling Interlude: The First Who Was Named

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Sara Pitre-Durocher and Livio Ramondelli

Colours by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Optimus, now chained up by Shockwave asks what happened to his old friend, and how he is posing as Onyx Prime. Shockwave happily explains it all to his friend...

After he was drawn into the singularity in Crystal City, he was launched twelve million years into the past, badly injured, but still alive. He is soon found by a roaming shepherd, the original Onyx, who asks if he can help him. Without hesitating Shockwave kills Onyx, sending his beasts running to safety. One of the "beasts", a biped remains, who Shockwave named Megatronus.

Soon, Shockwave manages to gather the beasts again, and becomes known as Onyx Prime. Along with Megatronus, he teaches them to fight, creating an army of his own. Before long, he sends Megatronus out to create his Darklander army and begin his siege on other territories. Shockwave dons his full disguise as Onyx and sets out to unite the Thirteen Primes to create their new society.

Following their founding of society, Shockwave manages to convince the others to attempt Expansionism, and spread their message to the stars, however on the first world they encounter Shockwave manipulates things so the Cybertronians attack the natives, slaughtering them, and traumatising Alpha Trion, who was there to document the mission.

When they returned to Cybertron, Prima had a screaming match with Megatronus, blaming him for the slaughter on the unnamed planet. This eventually leads to Shockwave manipulating Liege Maximo into, in turn, manipulating Megatronus into attempting to kill Prima. During their battle, Solus rushes to help Prima, but she ends up being run through by her own Star Saber, Megatronus escapes, taking the sword with him, and the other Primes renounce him as "The Fallen".

Liege Maximo is captured for his manipulation of Megatronus, imprisoned inside his own Titan, Vigilem, with his people charged to be his wardens and keep him away forever. After Vigilem is sent away, Prima leads a mission with "Onyx" and Trion to hunt down Megatronus aboard his own Titan, Emissary.

Soon, Prima and Onyx encounter Megatronus on planet Tsiehshi, where Megatronus manages to cleave Prima in half with ease, however "Onyx" betrays Megatronus and decapitates him, and brings their bodies back to Emissary, where he tells Trion that they died fighting each other. Trion believes his story and they are interred back on Cybertron.

Emissary takes Prima's body into space, however "Onyx" sabotages Emissary, causing him to eventually crash onto the prehistoric world of Elonia, bringing about the end of the era of the Primes...

Back in the present, Shockwave explains that all he has done has been to spear-head the progress of Cybertron, even these dark days he has brought about by attacking the planet. Optimus disagrees, which Shockwave always knew he would. 

He decides to give Optimus the chance to change his mind, by sending him into the Singularity too...as he pushes him right into it....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab Thrown into Crystal City Singularity by Shockwave

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Metrotitan - Autobot City Seemingly Dead

Decepticon

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Needlenose - Fighter Jet

The Primes

Onyx Prime/Shockwave

Liege Maximo

Megatronus/The Fallen (Flashback Only) Killed by Shockwave

Prima (Flashback Only) Killed by Megatronus

Solus Prime (Flashback Only) Killed by Megatronus

Alpha Trion (Flashback Only)

Alchemist Prime (Flashback Only)

Amalgamous Prime (Flashback Only)

Nexus Prime (Flashback Only)

Quintus Prime (Flashback Only)

Vector Prime (Flashback Only)

Micronus Prime (Flashback Only)

"The Arisen" (Flashback Only)

Maximal

Iguanus - Iguana

Snarl - Lion

Backstop - Rhino

Ramulus - Ibex

Other Maximals/Herd Members (Flashback Only)

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Mistress of Flame

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Devastator - Constructicon Combiner

Original Onyx (Flashback Only) Killed by Shockwave

Vigilem - Space Ship (Flashback Only) Lobotomized by The Primes

Emissary - Space Ship (Flashback Only) Crashed into Elonia by Shockwave

Arcee - Cannon (Flashback Only)

Galvatron - Cannon (Flashback Only)

Omega Supreme - Space Shuttle (Flashback Only)

Omega Sentinel Army - Space Shuttles (Flashback Only)

Darklander Army (Flashback Only)

Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned)

Ancient Headmasters (Mentioned)

Other

Primitive Elonian (Flashback Only)

Cybertron's First Victims (Flashback Only) Dead

Notes

• Wow sometimes being behind schedule on these things does have it's benefits! The planet that Emissary is shown crashing on has been confirmed as being Elonia in Unicron #0
• So...turns out Shockwave is pretty much responsible for everything that happened in Cybertronian history, even the seemingly coincidental stuff, such as the Eukarian ship that would end up doing the Hearts of Steel re-enactment being filled with a crew that just happened to look like the main G1 cast of Transformers. We know that "Onyx" sent them towards Earth, where he knew his younger self was going to experiment on them...YIKES!
• Shockwave has immense knowledge of what happened on Cybertron in the early years of the Primes because he listened to the stories told by Alpha Trion.
• It's revealed here that Shockwave was launched twelve million years into the past when he was drawn into the Crystal City singularity. We learned a while ago that Bumblebee was somehow alive inside the Singularity, and thanks to the Unicron #0 preview, we knew he was going to be returning to the "real world" soon anyway. So at least this isn't out of the blue I guess?
• In an astonishing amount of detail, the original Onyx, whom Shockwave killed and replaced is shown to be a quadruped, where the Shockwave version of him has been mostly bipedal...and people just thought that was an art error!
• It's revealed here that Shockwave named Megatronus here, explaining why his name is similar to Megatron's, given that in this continuity Megatronus' name was unknown until recently.
• This issue explains that Shockwave, knowing of their doomed futures, managed to manipulate the Primes to doing as he pleased, especially when manipulating Megatronus and Liege Maximo
• It's revealed here that, despite what was shown in earlier stories, Solus Prime was killed by Megatronus stabbing her with her own Star Saber.
• This issue confirms that the Matrix was indeed originally the hilt to the Star Saber
• Briefly during the flashback we see a heavily silhouetted figure of "The Arisen". We should presumably discover who he really is, and his supposed connection with Optimus soon

IDW - Optimus Prime #17

Title: The Falling Part 3: The Ground

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Kei Zama

Colours by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

News about the explosion at the Spire, and the death of Alpha Trion reaches Earth, leading to Aileron deciding to head back to Cybertron to back up Optimus in this situation. Jetfire prepares the space bridge for her, as well as the Torchbearers to join in, when suddenly the city transforms, sending Aileron flying down a hole. Arcee chases after her, whilst the city flies into a space bridge portal, heading to Cybertron.

On Cybertron, Optimus denies Onyx Prime's claims that Soundwave and the Decepticons were involved in the explosion, causing arguments between the public and Optimus' allies, with Onyx planting the idea that Humans, Decepticons and the colonists have corrupted the Cybertronian race, and Optimus himself. He then adds more problems by playing a recording of Soundwave killing Horri-Bull and pinning the blame on Bumblebee, before leaving, saying they can do with Liege Maximo as they wish now, and heads back to his ship.

Needlenose, who loves Horri-Bull is furious with Soundwave for what he did, and for not telling him, further adding to the fire, and starting a riot in the city, with Marissa calling for the Dinobots to come help and the Constructicons to head off on their own mission now. Optimus contemplates what is going on, and why all this is happening, when Metrotitan appears and  begins attacking Onyx Prime's vessel, the Nemesis.

On the ground, Needlenose fires all his weapons at Soundwave, who just shrugs them off, before bitch-slapping him away, telling him there's more important things to deal with. The Constructicons appear and combine into Devastator, and attack the prison, rescuing Starscream, expecting him to lead them as the "Chosen One" again, despite his own protests.

Optimus calls out to Metrotitan to explain why he is on Cybertron, which he explains is to save Starscream. Optimus and Windblade fly to him to try and get him to calm down, but he simply attacks the "False Prime" Optimus, who he now distrusts (for some reason). Windblade loses her grip on Optimus and he falls, only to be caught by Onyx Prime, who immediately orders his Nemesis to fire on Metrotitan, who lows a hole in his chest, seemingly killing him and most likely everyone still on board the Titan.

Optimus attacks Onyx for killing his Titan, but Onyx easily defends himself, and reveals himself, by tearing off his face to reveal himself as....SHOCKWAVE!!!

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Aileron - Spaceship

Arcee - Sports Car

Jetfire - Fighter Jet

Tracks - Muscle Car

Metrotitan - Autobot City Blasted Through Chest by "The Nemesis"

Slide - Rear of Oil Tanker

Midnight Express - Bullet Train

Alpha Trion - Shuttle Dead

Bumblebee - Car ("Ghost" Only)

Pyra Magna - Fire Truck (Flashback)

Zeta Prime - Truck (Mentioned) Dead

Torchbearers (Mentioned)

The Dinobots (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Needlenose - Fighter Jet

Swift - Helicopter

Dreadwind - Stealth Bomber Dead

Horri-Bull - Bull (Footage Only) Dead

Ratbat - Cassette (Footage Only) Dead

Skywarp - Fighter Jet (Voice in Footage Only)

Menasor - Stunticon Combiner (Flashback)

Swindle - Van (Flashback)

Galvatron - Tank (Mentioned) Dead

Colonist

Mistress of Flame

Elita One

Moonracer - Sports Car

Fireshot - Part of Jet

Sterling - Car (Flashback) Dead

Random Camiens (Flashback)

Other Cybertronian

Onyx Prime/Shockwave

Starscream - Fighter Jet Liberated from Jail Cell

Scoop - Front End Loader

Bonecrusher - Bulldozer

Long Haul - Dump Truck

Hook - Crane

Mixmaster - Mixing Truck

Scavenger - Excavator

Devastator - Constructicon Combiner

D.O.C.

Circuit

Longtooth

Tappet - Car

Cybertronian Crowds

Zetca (Footage Only)

Prima (Mentioned)

Solus Prime (Mentioned)

Megatronus (Mentioned)

Liege Maximo (Mentioned)

The Other Primes (Mentioned)

The Darklanders (Mentioned)

The Titans (Mentioned)

Human

Marissa Faireborn

Rashid Nasir (Mentioned)

Other

Black Block Consortia (Mentioned)

Notes

• This issue was released the same day as the digital releases of issue 18 and Lost Light 17. The physical copies of the latter two were released a week later.
• Oh look! The colonists are at the mines after all! (But I guess that storyline isn't important enough to really show)
• Unless you look closely, you won't notice that Dreadwind, who Tracks was trying to repair at the start, has died, he's turned grey and everything!
• Onyx claims that he got the "security footage" of Soundwave killing Horri-Bull remotely from hacking into the security network on the planet, however given the revelation of Onyx being Shockwave in disguise, this is likely actually his own memories being shown
• So Onyx flying around in a giant single eye makes sense considering he is actually Shockwave huh?
• The Dinobots were revealed to now be living in Trypticon, acting as the Earth embassy in "The Redemption"
• Small question here, Metrotitan has shoulder mounted cannons and other weapons...why does he shoot energy beams out of his fingers?
• Am I missing something? Is there a reason why Metrotitan suddenly believes Optimus to be a "False Prime"?
• Have I mentioned yet that Onyx Prime is actually Shockwave in disguise? He was last seen being willingly killed to deactivate the black-hole he created, resulting in the singularity in Crystal City.