Maximals Strike Back, Part 1

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"Maximals Strike Back, Part 1"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	November 24, 2021
Cover date	November 2021
Written by	Erik Burnham
Art by	Josh Burcham
Letters by	Jake M. Wood
Editor	David Mariotte, Jazmine Joyner and Riley Farmer
Continuity	Transformers: Beast Wars

Terrorsaur's ambitions get the better of him as the Maximals gear up to take the fight to Megatron.

Synopsis

Since their crash-landing, Optimus Primal and the Maximals have hunkered behind the Axalon's impenetrable shields while attempting to contact Cybertron using a transwarp beacon. But after Blackarachnia breached their shields and sabotaged more than half of their orbiting stasis pods, this passive stance is no longer an option, and Optimus is ready to take decisive action. In the ship's main hangar, the Maximal leader briefs the assembled Maximals to announces that they're launching a full-scale attack on the Darksyde, hitting the Predacons where it hurts, and using that advantage to liberate the Golden Disk from the Darksyde. Though Rattrap openly voices his doubts, Dinobot snarls that the secrets encoded on the Golden Disk gives Megatron an incredible advantage, and recounts the story of the artifact's discovery.

While searching for energon in the Upsilonus Belt, Dinobot explains, a lone prospector discovered a wrecked space probe of alien origin, salvaged the mysterious golden disk it carried, and returned the artifact to Cybertron. When Cybertron's Science Ministry analyzed the disk, they detected signs of transwarp energy—a clear indicator that the artifact had repeatedly travelled through time at some point—and even managed to decode one of the disk's files, but ultimately chose to downplay the significance of their findings. One Predacon scientist disagreed with their decision; when the Ministry refused to reverse their ruling, he went outside the law, sought the assistance of an upstart Predacon named Galavar... and the rest is history. That first file on the disc led both the Axalon and the Darksyde to this mysterious, energon-saturated world: what other secrets might the disk contain?

Optimus lays out their objectives: incapacitate the Darksyde, retrieve or destroy the Golden Disk, and sabotage the Predacons to prevent them from mounting an effective counterattack—since Blackarachnia can slip past the Axalon's defenses at will, the Maximal leader wants to ensure that the Predacons will have their hands full for as long as possible while the Maximals search for as many downed stasis pods as possible and reactivate the protoforms within. Although Primal's hopeful that they might be able to capture the Predacons alive, and even someday return them to Cybertron to stand trial, Dinobot grumbles that Primal is far too merciful. Rattrap points out a more pertinent problem: how can they get all the way across the valley without attracting undue attention? Fortunately, Optimus already has that covered, and unveils their secret weapon—he and Dinobot have refitted one of the ship's escape ships into a jury-rigged shuttlecraft. As the Maximals pile aboard the ship, Dinobot takes the controls, and the ship rockets off toward the Predacon base. Although Dinobot's eager to leap into glorious combat, new recruit Razorbeast has his doubts. Although Optimus tries to assure him that there's no other way, Rattrap scoffs at how Primal's itching for action, despite the fact that the ragtag crew under his command is a far cry from the army he wants to lead. As the shuttle closes on their destination, Optimus lays out their battle plan: while Dinobot and Nyx break into the Predacon ship to sabotage the vessel's transwarp drive, Rattrap will secure the Golden Disk while the rest of the team makes a big enough distraction to keep the Predacons occupied. Although Rattrap still has his doubts, and openly bristles at the idea of taking orders from ex-Predacon Dinobot, he reluctantly falls in line when Primal presses the issue.

At the Darksyde, the Predacons have troubles of their own: although Scorponok's been put in charge of drilling the Predacons into shape, Terrorsaur has no patience for these repetitive exercises. The disagreement escalates into an argument, and eventually Terrorsaur's ambitions are laid bare when he shouts that he should lead the Predacons. But Terrorsaur didn't bargain on Megatron himself showing up within earshot of his outburst; although the Predacon leader is at first merely amused by Terrorsaur's insolence, he quickly orders Terrorsaur to prove himself in one-on-one combat! Terrorsaur first tries to fight back, then to flee, but Megatron snatches the flier from the sky, pins him under his foot, and prepares for an execution... but when he unleashes a blast from his weapon, he's shocked to see that Terrorsaur's gone! As it turns out, Tarantulas has used a portable force bubble to save Terrorsaur at the last second, and the spider-bot reminds his leader that they can't afford to throw away potentially useful warriors. When Terrorsaur asks why Tarantulas went out of his way to save him, Tarantulas coldly replies that it was mere pragmatism: if Megatron had melted him on the spot, there'd be nothing to salvage from his corpse.

With only minutes to go, the Maximals prepare: while Rattrap gets on Dinobot's nerves, Rhinox admits to Nyx that he's willing to fight if it means peace in the long run, but Dinobot points out that Megatron has no room for peace in his worldview. Although Primal orders Dinobot to set them down behind a nearby mountain to launch a surprise attack, Dinobot has a plan of his own, and softens up their targets by unleashing a payload of explosives that send Waspinator and the other Predacons diving for cover! At first, Scorponok can't understand who's attacked them, since Maximals never strike first... but that illusion is quickly dispelled when a furious Optimus steps forward and demands to see Megatron!

Featured characters

(Characters in italic text appear only in flashback.)
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"It's nice you're feelin' so responsible, but I think we're doing more than our share right now."
"We haven't been doing anything!"
"Not true. We defended ourselves, like, twice. Not bad for a science squad."

—Rattrap and Cheetor

"Goin' on the offensive is like a dream for you. But you don't have an army... you got two bots who suffered a trauma, two that aren't keen on fighting, one bot that moves before he thinks half the time, and me. And I only decided to come because if everyone I know is about to die, I want to know about it when it happens!"

—Rattrap

"You saved me? Why?"
"Because if Megatron had melted you to slag, there would've been no usable parts left. Like I said... a conservation of resources."

—Terrorsaur and Tarantulas

"If we're successful today, it might bring about some peace."
"There will be no peace until Megatron either rules or is destroyed. His ego doesn't leave room for any other options."

—Rhinox and Dinobot

Blackarachnia: Wait, what's that sound?
Terrorsaur: I don't hear anything.
Waspinator: I do... It'zzz familiar. I-- --! Everybody down! Now!
<cue missile strike>

—Waspinator recognizes the sound of impending doom

"We're being attacked!"
"But the only ones who could, wouldn't—they don't—"
"I guess you learned something new today. Now... where's Megatron?"

—Blackarachnia, Scorponok, and Optimus Primal

Notes

Continuity notes

• In his speech, Optimus alludes to Blackarachnia's recent attack on the ship in issue #9, in which she bypassed their shield by dint of her Maximal spark signature.
• In issue #7, Megatron decoded a section of the disk and briefly glimpsed a fragmentary message from an alternate version of himself—as he notes to Terrorsaur here, he believes that this "other" Megatron hails from the future. The veracity of this theory is not yet clear, but this issue suggests that the Golden Disk itself is saturated with transwarp energy as a result of multiple trips through time.
• Wheeljack makes an appearance as a researcher working on the Golden Disk. Issue #1 featured the Golden Disk being kept at a research lab flanked by a pair of Wheeljack statues, with Cybertronix plaques identifying the building as the "Wheeljack Ministry of Science".
• Razorbeast notes that he owes his life to one of the Predacons in reference to his encounter with Skold in the previous issue. Although they're back on opposing sides of the conflict, the pair seem to maintain a healthy respect for one another as a result of their shared adventure.
• While dismissing Optimus Primal's ambitions, Rattrap notes that two 'bots under his command have already suffered trauma: Nyx was captured and tortured by the Predacons in issue #3, and Dinobot suffered debilitating injuries after a near brush with death in issue #6.
• Cheetor's eager to get even with Blackarachnia after the last time they crossed paths in issue #8, which ended with her fooling Cheetor into retreating back to the Axalon while she made her escape.

Transformers references

• It probably goes without saying that the mysterious vessel in the Upsilonus Belt is, of course, the original Voyager space probe, which carried the Golden Disk into interstellar space in both real life and in the original Beast Wars cartoon. The idea that the probe itself travelled through transwarp, however, didn't originate with the Beast Wars cartoon, but shares some conceptual DNA with the recent War for Cybertron Trilogy cartoon, which showed a time-travelling Galvatron flinging the disk back in time to a younger Megatron in an attempt to change the past.
• The asteroid miner who stumbles across the Voyager space probe is based on Energon Landmine. While the greyscale flashback makes it impossible to tell which version of the character he's supposed to be, artist Josh Burcham clarified that it's meant to be a Generation 1 version of the American-exclusive character Landquake.^[1]
• The Beast Machines-original character Botanica makes an appearance on two, although she's sporting a humanoid body based on her brief appearance in the Beast Wars: Uprising magazine comic. She's accompanied by another Maximal who's using Rattrap's Cybertronian body from issue #1; according to Burcham, this is actually the Uprising-original character Labrat.^[2] Also present is Wheeljack, sporting the design of Transformers Animated Wheeljack^[3] instead of the Generation 1-based design his statues had in issue #1, and a coneheaded Predacon who leaks news of their findings to the young Galavar. Although he's not named in the issue, Burcham has clarified that this is a new version of the Universe character Reptilion and not the Beast Wars character Iguanus.^[2]
• A passerby on page one of panel four appears to be based on Prime Soundwave with a new head.
• While bickering with Dinobot, Rattrap sardonically implores him to "kiss [his] skidplate", an insult lifted from the first episode of the original Beast Wars cartoon.
• On the final panel, Optimus deploys his mouthplate; his animated counterpart also featured a retractable face plate, which featured prominently in the episode "Gorilla Warfare".

Other trivia

• In addition to the long-running "Maximal Mailbag" feature, backmatter for this issue also includes artist Josh Burcham's concept art for Razorbeast.

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Fly the friendly skies, by Anna Malkova
• Cover B: The Maximals, by Freddie E. Williams II and Jeremy Colwell
• Cover RI: Strike a pose, by Casey Coller and John-Paul Bove

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Reprints

• The Transformers: Beast Wars Volume 2 (June 29, 2022) ISBN 1684059038 / ISBN 978-1684059034
  • Collects Beast Wars issues #7–12.
  • Bonus material includes alternate covers, and an one-page sketch by Burcham.

• 

  Beast Wars, Vol 2; cover art by John Yurcaba

References

External links

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