Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Personal tools

Winners & Losers: Dark Cybertron Chapter 3

From Transformers Wiki

Jump to: navigation, search
« The Transformers: Robots in Disguise #23 »
« Dark Cybertron
Chapter 3 		»
RID23 cvrA.jpg
"Winners & Losers"
Dark Cybertron Chapter 3
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published November 27, 2013
Cover date November 2013
Written by John Barber and James Roberts
Art by Atilio Rojo and James Raiz
Colors by Josh Perez
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor Carlos Guzman
Continuity 2005 IDW continuity
Chronology Current era (2013)

The power of the Necrotitan lays waste to Cybertron, while the Lost Light is pulled off-mission on an unexpected Titan Quest.

Contents

Synopsis

With the population of Iacon looking to him for guidance in the face of the Necrotitan's appearance—misinterpreted by all as the return of Metrotitan—Starscream takes a moment to visit Metalhawk's body as it lies in state, once again talking out loud to his departed friend. Unfortunately for Starscream, he is entirely unaware that Rattrap is eavesdropping on him and has overheard him apologize to Metalhawk for killing him. Departing the mausoleum, Starscream tries to calm the throng of citizens outside, informing them he is going to speak to the Titan; Rattrap comes scampering up, feigning concern for Starscream, but Iacon's ruler isn't falling for the act. He's aware of Rattrap's scheming nature and respects it, proceeding to leave for the Titan after offering the ex-Autobot a nugget of wisdom: "don't make your first move until you're sure of your last one." Rattrap takes this to heart, and decides to visit Scoop to get more information on the "Dark Cybertron" prophecy, talk of which has somehow begun to spread among the populace despite Scoop's incarceration, and which he is starting to believe is much more than some random conspiracy theory. Scoop has realized that Starscream has an important role to play in the prophecy's catastrophic fulfilment, and in this, Rattrap sees an opportunity...

Mainframe magnus winners and losers.jpg

On the Lost Light, Ultra Magnus is distracted from the unease he feels with his new captaincy when the ship is unexpectedly pulled off course. Magnus and Getaway are summoned to Brainstorm's lab to witness the cause of their sudden change of direction: Metroplex's severed thumb, on board since before the Titan Hunters' invasion of the ship, is levitating, pulling on the craft, and Brainstorm theorises that Metroplex is trying to call them to him.

At the Necrotitan's feet, the battle between Bumblebee's Autobots and Soundwave's Decepticons is brought to a halt by the appearance of Starscream overhead, heading for the Titan. Prowl is infuriated by Bumblebee's willingness to compare notes with the Decepticons, insisting on immediate action, but before anyone can do anything, Starscream lands on the Titan's shoulder and tries to speak with it. The giant's eyes flare to life... and it emits a colossal energy wave that tears across the surface of the planet, devastating everything in its path. The shattered Autobots and Decepticons, many gravely wounded, try to take stock of the sudden, violent eruption, while Starscream rockets away, just ahead of the wave, trying to beat it back to Iacon. He calls for his subjects to flee, and tries to stand in the wave's path, but it sweeps over Iacon irresistibly, putting the city to ruin. The wave also has a second, unexpected effect: it brings Metalhawk back to life! The reanimated NAIL turns on Starscream, hungry for vengeance, but after trading a few blows, announces that now is not the time to settle old accounts. Instead, Metalhawk smashes into the vault holding the immobilized form of Megatron, deactivates the stasis field restraining the Decepticon leader, and absconds with his unconscious body. His departure is observed by Rattrap and a liberated Scoop, now conspiring against Starscream together, but for the moment, Scoop is more concerned with helping the victims of the disaster.

Rid23-p23-lost-light-underwater.jpg

Back on the Lost Light, Ratchet argues against looking for Metroplex, on the basis that Orion Pax's request for them to hunt down Jhiaxus takes precedence. Brainstorm and Perceptor, however, advocate following Metroplex's signal, and manage to bring Magnus around to their side. The Lost Light locks on to Metroplex's signal and quantum jumps to its source, materializing beneath a blood-red ocean on an unknown world, where it is immediately beset by a swarm of robotic lifeforms!

Metalhawk delivers Megatron to Shockwave, who clearly has plans for the space bridge technology contained within his former leader's body. As Megatron awakes, Shockwave is confident that he will help fulfil their plans, as doing so - even at the cost of "unimaginable pain" - will realize all their dreams...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Others

Quotes

"Well then! Leadership. Leading. Being a leader. What's it like so far?"
"Meh."
"'Meh'?"
"Sorry, Getaway—Earth word. Friend of mine used to say it a lot."
"What does it mean?"
"I think it means—I think it just means 'meh.'"

—Getaway and Ultra Magnus


"Rung says that if I relax my self-imposed ban on idioms, metaphors, and slang it'll help soften my image."
"Whatever floats your boat."
"No need to show off."

—Magnus and Getaway


"Don't just let this—this—Decepticon control you!"

—Attention Prowl, this is the kettle. Stop calling me black.

Notes

Continuity notes

  • Starscream killed Metalhawk in issue #16. We previously saw him visiting his dead body and talking to it in issue #20.
  • While discussing conspiracies, Rattrap refers to the explosion of the Toraxxis mega-refinery, which occurred in Monstrosity #4. Popular conspiracy theory apparently blames Optimus Prime for triggering the explosion, when it was actually Scorponok's doing.
  • He also notes another conspiracy theory: that Ultra Magnus is really a "little guy in armor". Little does he know that that one is true, as we learned in More than Meets the Eye #19!
  • Magnus refers to an unnamed friend from Earth from whom he learned the word "meh"; clearly, he's talking about Verity Carlo, whose association with him was covered in Last Stand of the Wreckers.
  • While Magnus and Getaway walk down the corridor, we see the holographic equivalent of a bulletin board. Most of its signs are callback to concepts or character quirks from past issues of More than Meets the Eye and are fairly self-explanatory, with one notable exception: A "VOTE" sign in the center. The meaning of this will be revealed in chapter 8.
  • Magnus's dislike of ambiguity in speech is flagged up by Getaway, previously explored in "Signal to Noise".
  • Rodimus orders a "weak energon spritzer" for Magnus... exactly the same drink that Tailgate speculated Magnus would favor, way back in issue #6.
  • The Lost Light brought Metroplex's thumb on board in Spotlight: Trailcutter.
  • Turns out that when Megatron transferred his spark et al. into his new body back in issue #14, the space bridge technology that had been a defining feature of his previous form (seen in the 2009-2011 ongoing series) was also transplanted along with it.

Real-life references

  • Ravage paraphrases the classic opening from the 1950s Superman TV series—"Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!"—when he spots Starscream heading for the Titan: "Up. In the sky... it's a plane..."

Edits

Similar to the pack-in versions of various other existing IDW comics, the version of this issue available with the Generations Deluxe Class Skywarp toy was also subject to some changes, most of them being instances of censorship:

  • No less than three changes on page 1 (not counting the "previously" pages): The speech bubble in panel 1 changes from "I guess you could say you died for your dream, Metalhawk" gets changed to "I guess you could say you gave it all for your dream, Metalhawk"; in the second speech bubble in panel 3, "you probably don't get out much, you know, being dead" gets changed to "you probably don't get out much, you know, not being alive"; and the second speech bubble in the final panel gets changed from "sorry I killed you, pal" to "sorry I blasted you, pal".
  • Two more edits on page 14: Prowl's first speech bubble in panel 2 changes from "All guns on the Titan..." to "All blasters on the Titan...", and the caption in the final panel, "—that death wave is heading right for the city—" is shortened by the word "death", also changing formats in the process so the text fits into two instead of three lines.
  • Two of Metalhawk's speech bubbles in panel 2 on page 17 replace "you killed me" with "you destroyed me", and are enlarged accordingly to fit the longer word.
  • On page 19, the caption in the second panel is changed from "—people are dying—" to "—people are hurt—".

Trivia

  • As in Chapter 2, Rojo illustrates the scenes on Cybertron, while Raiz lends his lines to those on the Lost Light.
  • This issue is packaged with Generations Skywarp, but given the character's non-role in the story, it seems likely a reshuffling of the toyline forced it to be swapped with Chapter 5, in which Skywarp features heavily, and that this was supposed to be Rattrap's pack-in issue.

Errors

(thumbnail)
Good thing they're on ball joints.
  • Scoop's Targetmaster partners Tracer and Holepunch, who appear among the citizens of Iacon on page 2 (not counting the "previously" pages), are drawn based on the designs of their new Generations toys, rather than the modified designs Andrew Griffith created for them in issue #20 that gave them construction vehicle alternate modes. They're colored right this time, though.
  • Also on page 2, Starscream's name is misspelled as Starcream. This error was fixed for the Dark Cybertron vol. 1 trade paperback collection, but is still present in the version of this comic included with the Generations Deluxe Class Skywarp toy.
  • Metalhawk is missing the wrong arm in the first panel on the last page. The panel was partially redrawn to fix this error for the Dark Cybertron vol. 1 trade paperback collection, but the error is still present in the version of this comic included with Generations Skywarp.
  • Mainframe says that despite cutting the engines, the ship is “still moving”, which is how he works out that Metroplex is pulling his thumb - and with it the spacecraft - towards himself. But if the Lost Light was in motion in space, then cutting the engines would mean it would indeed still move: the laws of physics dictate that bodies in space move continually in a straight line in their momentary direction of motion as long as no resistance impedes them. Cutting the engines would have had no effect either way. You'd have thought Mainframe would have known that.

Covers (4)

  • (thumbnail)

    You blew it up! Goddamn you! Goddamn you all to hell!

  • (thumbnail)

    Yes, we're in this comic now.

  • (thumbnail)

    Skywarp's other body is at the cleaners.

  • (thumbnail)

    Exclusive Skywarp toy cover.

Advertisements

Reprints

External links

Retrieved from "https://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/index.php?title=Winners_%26_Losers:_Dark_Cybertron_Chapter_3&oldid=1693091"
Advertisement
TFsource.com - Your Source for Everything Transformers!