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Unification Day: Dusk

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TFFS cvrB.jpg
"Unification Day: Dusk"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published November 8, 2017
Cover date October 2017
Written by John Barber
Art by Priscilla Tramontano
Colors by Joana Lafuente
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor David Hedgecock
Assistant editor David Marriotte
Continuity 2005 IDW continuity
Chronology Current era

Arcee teams up with the Revolutionaries for a mission into the wilds of Cybertron to rescue Blackrock from the apparently-treacherous Centurion.

Contents

Synopsis

In talking head interviews, Kup, Action Man, Mayday, and Arcee recap recent events: Baron Ironblood's attack on Cybertron, Centurion once again turning on his allies and siding with the bounty hunter Colditz, and their abduction of Garrison Blackrock.

Blackrock awakens to find himself inside the vehicle-mode Centurion, who has been taken out of Iacon by Colditz and a trio of Red Shadows into the wilderness that surrounds the city. The lead Shadow is not happy with the mission; she is distrustful of Centurion and his mercurial allegiance, and is sure the large, obvious path the team is hacking through the wilderness will make them too easy to follow. Blackrock is just as frustrated, unable to understand why either of the two personalities who make up Centurion's composite self would be willing to rejoin the side of Garrison Kreiger, but Centurion has his reasons...

The villains' trail proves just as easy for Arcee and Blackrock's fellow "Revolutionaries" to track as the Red Shadow suspected, and Action Man, having taken a bit of a fancy to Arcee, offers to ride with her as they follow it. Ostensibly, he intends to catch her up on his past encounter with Colditz, but in reality, it just turns into awkward "flirting" that Arcee either doesn't even seem to pick up on or has no interest in. The embarrassment is mercifully brought to an abrupt end when the team comes under attack from two of the Red Shadows; Action Man takes out one, while Arcee—loathe to use lethal force on a human opponent—follows Kup's advice to chop the other's legs off, a non-fatal prospect for the biomechanically modified ninja.

Elsewhere in the wilderness, Colditz has set up camp with Centurion, the lead Red Shadow, and the captive Blackrock, having laid a trap for their pursuers. As they wait, however, Colditz finds that Kreiger is not responding to his communications. The Shadow believes they have been betrayed, but Colditz—having worked with Kreiger and Centurion in the past—cannot believe that Kreiger would willingly abandon his important "mechanical pet." As Colditz and the Shadow talk business, Blackrock presses Centurion for answers as to why he has willingly sided with Kreiger again, and this time, Centurion explains: he is actually playing the villains for fools, intending to get close to Kreiger and kill him in revenge for two lifetimes' worth of manipulation and betrayal. Before he can elaborate, Kup and Arcee burst into the clearing, whereupon Colditz triggers his trap, setting off a cache of Doctor X's Dragon X explosive. The two Transformers are caught in the blast, then set upon by the remaining one-and-a-half Red Shadows. In the chaos, Centurion frees Blackrock from his bonds and finishes his explanation, revealing that Kreiger must die to prevent him from using the Talisman to destroy Cybertron. Blackrock questions how Centurion can know that this is Kreiger's plan... and gets his answer when Centurion's body suddenly erupts with the Talisman's destructive light, the connection forged between it and both his Cybertronian and human selves by Kreiger still intact. As the light consumes and destroys both the Red Shadows and one of Kup's hands, Colditz realizes he has been duped by Kreiger and attempts to flee, but is intercepted by Action Man and Mayday. Colditz explains what he has deduced to the two heroes: Kreiger did not want Centurion recovered, but eliminated, because his connection to the Talisman would enable him to stop the villains' plans. He had Colditz take Centurion out into the wilderness to lure the Revolutionaries there, and has triggered the current release of energy from Centurion's body to make it appear that he is a threat, thereby tricking the Revolutionaries into killing him. Mayday radios Arcee to warn her of this, but Arcee is not willing to take the chance and hurls her sword at Centurion. Fortunately, Blackrock snatches it out of the air, and tries talking to Centurion instead, hoping he can gain control of himself. Urged on by Blackrock's words, Centurion manages to get the Talisman energy under control... but at a price, as he is left comatose in stasis lock. The victory is Pyrrhic at best; the heroes have managed to prevent Centurion's death, but Kreiger has still emerged triumphant, as Centurion cannot help stop his plans.

In more interviews, the Revolutionaries reflect on the day's events. Kup laughs at Action Man's infatuation with Arcee, but the human takes it in stride and gets a few jokes of his own in, which Arcee herself takes a little amusement in. Blackrock reflects on the importance of a team consisting of both humans and Cybertronians, and what they represent in these troubled times, and though Mayday thinks they still have a lot to learn about working together, that's a good reason to keep doing it.

Featured characters

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

Autobots The Iron Ring Other humans Axalon crew

Quotes

"I didn't see that twist coming! Cybertronians invade us, we invade them. It's what Alanis Morisette might call 'ironic.'"
"And they say I'm the old one. Even I know that's a dated reference, kid."

—Action Man and Kup


"I think he likes the pink robot."
"Well I thought he liked m—ohhhhh. 'Likes.' But that's disgusting. Ian's a cool guy, but under all the jokes an' stuff he's just a hairy bag of meat. No offense."

—Mayday and Kup


Mayday: "[Kreiger] played all of us. Used our fears and mistrust."
Arcee: "But maybe we've learned something."
Action Man: "Hey Arcee—you maybe want to grab a cup of coffee after we save the world?"
Arcee: "Or maybe we haven't."


"I can't believe you, Ian. She's 12 million years older than you and made of metal."
"I like older women."

—Kup and Action Man

Notes

Continuity notes

  • This one-shot continues on from Optimus Prime: First Strike, functioning as the Revolutionaries tie-in to the First Strike crossover event. It runs parallel with issues #2-#4, and following the events of this issue, Arcee goes on to rejoin the story in the main series in First Strike #5.
  • Arcee notes that she has "personal problems" with Blackrock; he was a thorn in the Autobots' side not so very long ago, capturing several of them and immobilizing the Ark-7 during Arcee's tenure as acting Autobot commander on Earth, circa The Transformers #45-49.
  • Blackrock grumbles that he is "sick of being kidnapped"; he was previously abducted by Galvatron in The Transformers #49 and then by Sentinel Prime in The Transformers #56.
  • Arcee mentions that she has "spent time" in the wilderness of Cybertron; her "favorite spot" is out there, a sharp peak that overlooks Iacon, where she hung out in Robots in Disguise #3 and The Transformers #42.
  • Centurion again remembers his past as both a Transformer and as Mike Power, recalling scenes from Revolutionaries #3, #5 and #6, and Hearts of Steel #1, including the crash of the Axalon, battling "Decepticons" during the Ice Age, entering hibernation, breaking Shockwave's brainwashing during World War I, Mike Power meeting the 1960s Action Man and encountering the Talisman in the Tomb of Amtoltec, and both of his selves meeting Garrison Kreiger.
  • Centurion refers to Smarts, Mike Power's dog, seen in Revolutionaries #6.
  • As in the previous issue, Centurion also make reference to a "black star," a recurring piece of imagery connected to Onyx Prime and his looming return, which has been popping up here and there since Optimus' vision in The Transformers #50. This story gives us a little new info to go on: Centurion specifically describes the black star as being "in the sky above his homeworld". Seemingly, he should be referring to Eukaris, but the only "black star" we have actually seen in connection with this mystery is the singularity around which Antilla orbits, as shown in the 2017 Transformers annual. Curiouser and curiouser...
  • Ian jokes about "liking older women," in reference to Arcee. He obviously used to (?) have a bit of a thing for Mercy Gale, his former-friend-turned-archenemy Doctor X, who is several years his senior, but doesn't like admitting it; he's been fending off jokes about her being his "girlfriend" all through Revolutionaries as well as in this issue itself, and he tried using the excuse that she was "a bit old" when Bryce Chan called him on it in Action Man #1.

Transformers references

  • The concept of stasis lock, the Transformer equivalent of an "induced coma," hails from the Beast Wars television show. It was most often used there as it is in this issue, as a way for characters to survive extreme damage by allowing their life-functions to shut down so they could be repaired. The concept has come up in IDW continuity before, albeit rarely; the Dinobots were forced into stasis lock by Ore-13 radiation in Spotlight: Shockwave, and Grimlock was being held in stasis lock by a stasis pod in More than Meets the Eye #7, also a concept taken from Beast Wars.

Hasbro franchise references

  • The explosive "Dragon X" takes its name from the pet komodo dragon action figure that came packaged with the 2005 "X-Missions" Doctor X toy.

Real-life references

Errors

  • In Centurion's flashback, "Prowl" is colored with his beige, pre-Earth colour scheme rather than the correct black-and-white livery.
  • Kup loses his right hand to the Talisman energy on page 17, and it's the subject of a joke on page 20. Unfortunately, while it is missing in page 20, panel 3, he's been drawn with both hands in panel 1.

Other trivia

  • Originally solicited for release in October, this issue arrives a few weeks late, in early November, after the main First Strike series had already concluded.
  • This issue was originally teased as Revolutionaries: First Strike, but by the time it was fully solicited in July, the "Revolutionaries" had been dropped and replaced with the generic "Transformers". It was also originally solicited as having art by Guido Guidi, the artist of Optimus Prime: First Strike, rather than Priscilla Tramontano.

Covers (3)

  • TFFS cvrA.jpg
  • TFFS cvrB.jpg
  • TFFS cvrRI.jpg

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Reprints

  • Optimus Prime Volume 3 (June 6, 2018) ISBN 168405270X / ISBN 978-1684052707
    • Collects Optimus Prime issues #11–14 & First Strike #1, and Transformers: First Strike #1.
    • Bonus material includes art from most covers.
    • Trade paperback format.

External links

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