Transformers: Robots in Disguise #16 and 18

[superboyprime]

It's a new era for post-war Cybertron...





















Issue 18:







Arcee and the Constructicons get into a tussle.

Comments

[q99]

Starscream won! Not Megatron. Not even Bumblebee. Starscream won.



Also, needs even more Arcee :) She had so much great this issue.

[cainofdreaming]

I wouldn't expect this to last, though. He didn't just win, you see, he also practically demilitarized the Transformer society by sending away the veterans of the civil war (from what I see from these scans, if the rest of the issue paints a different picture then feel free to correct me). That's going to come back and bite him in the waste disposal chute.

[q99]

Keep in mind *most* Cybertronians are combat vets, even large numbers of the neutrals started out as one faction or other. A lot of the core fighters on each side left, but there's still a good number who stayed, as well as a lot more total numbers.

I'm pretty sure Jazz and Thundercracker probably stayed, for example, for a badass from each side. Skybite and Dirge and Blurr definitely are. We don't know the breakdowns for each side, but he got plenty of bots.

[kamino_neko]

I am so very disappointed by Bee and his 'Bots in this arc.

Yah, it's Starscream that won. You've still got what you nominally wanted - non-denominational peace.

Either Screamer actually, really, truly intends to run Iacon as a more or less egalitarian society (just one HE happens to be in charge of), in which they're kicking themselves out of paradise on a stupid principle, or he intends to be full-bore maniacal autocrat, meaning having a few people who've spent the last 4 million years fighting on hand to depose him will be useful, so they're tossing the NAILs to the wolf just because sticking around would mean not thumbing their noses at him.

[matrix_dragon]

I'm not that disappointed with the Autobots. Bee was clearly out of his depth trying to rebuild the planet, but the guy obviously gave 150% the whole time, to the point I get the impression his utter exhaustion worsened his injuries to the point that they nearly killed him this issue.

It was noted in the latest issue on some of the other pages that the Autobots left because they knew damn well they couldn't trust Starscream at all, even if they didn't know he'd murdered Metalhawk as a PR stunt, and the alternative was to go and pick a fight with the NAILS, simply because they're sick of being caught in the middle of a war they wanted no part of. I get the feeling that if things hadn't started to go in the direction of a new crisis at the end of the issue, they would have been keeping an eye on the city, ready to lend a hand when things go wrong.

And things will go wrong. Besides the fact that Starscream is loyal to no one except himself, and will turn on anyone the moment he sees a shortcut to what he wants as shown right here with Metalhawk, he's nowhere near as competent a leader as he still likes to think. His last stint as leader of the Decepticons was an utter failure that left the entire army in ruins, and sooner or later, even the NAILS have to clue into the fact he's a menace. And of course, there's the fact that a major element of the upcoming Dark Cybertron story arc has been revealed as resurrection technology. Twenty bucks says Metalhawk's going to get up and tell everyone just what Screamer did.

My main disappointment with the past few story arcs, and RiD in general really, is with the NAILS. I get that IDW has added a bit of grey to the old good/evil dynamic of the Transformer factions, and I can even understand the civilians having problems with the Autobots. But the constant hate and contempt the NAILS give the Autobots every single time even one of them has a speaking part, the abuse, the insults, irritates the heck out of me. And Metalhawk was the worst, never doing anything but telling Bee how much he sucks, how the Autobots are to blame for everything, and yet never contributing anything useful to the rebuilding effort. And the whole time, he's hanging out with Starscream, being all friendly, having drinks with him, bonding over how much they think the Autobots suck. I'll admit to being slightly pleased that it was Starscream that killed him. Maybe before the end, he finally realized just who he was hanging out with.

I've compared the NAILS putting Screamer in charge as a dumbass stunt equal to the Marvel Universe putting Norman Osborne in charge of national security, and I admit, I'm looking forward to it biting them in the ass. Most of all though, after about a year and a half of watching the main cast get kicked in the teeth over and over, I'd just really like them to have something go their way for once.

[q99]

- His last stint as leader of the Decepticons was an utter failure that left the entire army in ruins, and sooner or later, even the NAILS have to clue into the fact he's a menace-

Though, this is a rather different situation in that he's a civilian leader rather than a general now.

I don't actually expect this to fall apart on his own. Unlike some other Starscreams, IDW Screamer, *when in something he knows*, can handle himself.

-And Metalhawk was the worst, never doing anything but telling Bee how much he sucks, how the Autobots are to blame for everything, and yet never contributing anything useful to the rebuilding effort.-

Eh, he did tell Bee he trusted him on important matters on several occasions. And he played a big role in keeping the more resentful Nails placated.

[q99]

Though if Starscream is legit, they can change their mind and come back, and if he's not, they don't want to be around while they're vulnerable.

[the_phantom]

I don't think I've even seen Starscream written so well.

[silverzeo]

Hmm... seeing Starscream's betrayal like that makes me wonder about Armada Starscream a bit more...

[md84]

Yeah, Starscream's triumph isn't going to last. It never does. It all boils down to the fact that he's just not a very good leader. It's telling that the people who are supporting him are mostly NAILS, the only group who don't actually know Starscream.

[q99]

He's not a good war leader. Leading a fairly united populace in peace, on the other hand...? He just may manage.

[jlbarnett]

that'll probably be the one thing he doesn't want though. The paperwork, the bueracracy, things like that will drive him nuts

[q99]

I don't think it will. He's been one of the trio of administrators for months now, and in the early-early days of the war he was the Decepticon spy in the Senate. He's got some experience with that side of things.

[zechs80]

I truly wonder how Shockwave is going to throw the ultimate monkey wrench into all of this. We know he's plotting his own schemes and he "disappeared" just when Megatron started to unleash his grand plan.

[akodo_rokku]

Well, as mentioned above, Shockwave seems to have created Energon that can raise the dead.

[zechs80]

Crazy energon hungry zombies that if they bite you too become infected back from the dead? Brainless berserk zombie back from the dead ala dark energon? Or actual bring back from the dead dead? I sound like Miracle Max.

[q99]

More like the latter. We've only seen it in use once- Shockwave blasted a hole in Dreadwing, Dreadwing got back up not long after (still with hole) and joked he wished he'd had some warning.

[icon_uk]

Really? Is it Transformers: Prime's "Dark Energon" then?

[q99]

It's one of the 'Regenesis' Ores that Shockwave has been working on.


He seeded multiple places with experiments that'd cause energon to form over long periods of time, and there's different varieties. The Ore-13 of Earth boosts transformer's capabilities (as seen in the first IDW miniseries). Ore-8 is dangerous and radioactive (Spotlight: Kup). And so on. This one is Ore-14 was planted in the ruins of Cybertron's 'Crystal City', and is this one.

[kamino_neko]

Nope. They're not brainless killing machines, they come back with their faculties, and their personalities, intact...or they seem to, based on the sample of one we have so far.

[q99]

We're going to find out reeeeeaaaally soon.