In last month's Transformers #55, Galvatron went to space.

[thanekos]

Arcee followed him.

They fought in the skies of Jupiter, axe to sword.

He mocked the side she stood on, saying that she'd be betrayed.

She mocked his having betrayed everybody, having ended up " .. with no one left..

" .. while an Autobot is never alone. "

Optimus Prime spoke up from behind Galvatron, putting the truth to that.

Next to the leader of the Autobots stood Soundwave, also invested in dealing with Galvatron.

Galvatron rushed at them.





Arcee came back into the fray.



The intent was declared..



.. and acted on.

Galvatron reeled, smoking and fractured and defiant.

Soundwave offered his hand, pointing out that he'd realized the error of his way.

Galvatron laughed, resolute in his- he knew what was coming to them.

" And if you want to win- if you want to survive.. you will need me. "



(Sparing the villain's life actually being considered a selfish and self-indulgent thing, when the larger picture is taken into account? There's an idea that needs more discussion and less dismissal.)



He took Galvatron's head to Earth, leaving it as a message that the Cybertronians working against the planet's people'd been dealt with by the Cybertronians who wanted to work with them.

Comments

[beyondthefringe]

It is a cold and terrifying thing to see Optimus Prime, of all people (robots), kill someone in cold blood after they've surrendered. I mean, this is the Prime who famously let himself be killed during a duel even though the other side cheated. The Prime who died when Megatron surrendered and then turned on him in the movie. The Prime who...

... y'know what? I don't blame him. It's Galvatron. Time someone eliminated that menace.

But still, you can just see =everyone= going "Oh shit" when Prime does the deed.

I love the IDW universe for its willingness to take risks with the franchise.

Eh, I suppose Galvatron will return somehow when they need him for another action figure... behold the power of the toy tie-in.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Funny enough, they just came out with a new Galvatron toy based on his comic design (not this Earth form, but his Cybertronian form) that has a detachable head as part of the Titan Masters gimmick.

Also, I dare say this is not the same Optimus Prime as you describe, no more than Chris Nolan and Bruce Timm and anyone else's Batman are the same. ;)

[icon_uk]

I suspect that Galvatron might have been trying to warn them about something bigger than him coming, which might be Unicron perhaps?

Or has Unicron been dealt with in the IDWverse?

[kamino_neko]

Unicron has not appeared in the IDW-verse.

He's actually been explicitly stated not to exist, but that was by Furman who also said female Transformers aside from Arcee didn't exist, so it's not impossible that that pronouncement will be ignored too.

[owlbrigade1]

Oh god, the Furman Arcee mess. How did anyone think that was ever a good idea?

[scorntx]

Unicron hasn't appeared, but the MTMTE said Primus had an opposite, who went conspicuously unnamed.

And the final issue of the old ongoing mentioned Wheelie saw something called "the Great Destroyer"...

And something destroyed the planet LV-117...

[kamino_neko]

I actually doubt that's Unicron.

'Conspicuously unnamed'...that's the mark of a red herring, right there. (See also Tarn's original identity.)

[owlbrigade1]

The whole Tarn thing was masterful though, one of the few times the red herring and bait and switch has actually been successfully pulled off.

[kamino_neko]

Eh, I thought the actual reveal of that one was kind of weak. I liked false leads and the reveal that it couldn't be Roller...but the actual reveal of who it was fell flat for me.

Half the clues required that it be someone close to Prime, and while Glitch does fit that, we barely saw him to know that, and the Empurata being reversed, while it made sense in context (and was necessary to maintain the false leads), made it much less clear that Glitch-Who-Became-Tarn was the same guy as Glitch-Who-Worked-With-Prime.

(Now, Shockwave being Prime's mentor...that was a clever twist, well-revealed.)

[cynic79]

For me, that's why the Glitch reveal worked. Tarn was a nobody whose entire existence was predicated on his obsession with Megatron and the Decepticon order. For all his put on airs, he was ultimately just a thug who thought too well of himself. Having him actually be a nobody and die like a punk worked given that was all he was: A bully with a fusion cannon.

[matrix_dragon]

TWO fusion cannons.

[kamino_neko]

Him being a 'nobody' doesn't actually work, though, since Megatron specifically referred to him as corrupted because he was close to Prime and seemed incorruptible, so that was a coup that would really cut Prime to the spark.

And, again, what we saw of Glitch was suggestive of that being true...but there was so little of it, it undercut itself. He was just shy of being Ponce de León. A basic nobody for the readership, but for Megatron and Prime, his identity was hugely important. So, Megatron got to angst about corrupting a GOOD bot apparently beyond redemption (or at least, judging from Megs himself, beyond anything Megatron could do in the circumstances), but the readership only had his statements about the importance of getting Glitch to understand that from.

[q99]

-I suspect that Galvatron might have been trying to warn them about something bigger than him coming, which might be Unicron perhaps?-

Hints are it's surviving members of the 13 original Primes, likely including Onyx Prime of the Beastformers (who notably, left his Titan with 'kill all standard cybertronians that arrive on the planet' standing orders. Which could've just been fairly reasonable paranoia, but...).

[owlbrigade1]

Since IDW seems committed to the "Headmaster" thing, I'm sure a headless Galvatron body and his head being dumped on Earth (now home of the equally off-putting G.I. Joe massive multi megacrossover mess line) that we'll be seeing a new toy and a comics return of Galvatron far too soon.

I do applaud the way IDW has effectively turned Optimus into Megatron and Megatron into Optimus though. It has created a lot of in-depth discussion of the nature of morality and the way people and institutions can change. The inertia of deeming someone a "good guy" and another a "bad guy" is very topical. Even much bigger comic companies would have balked at this. Not bad for a comic to sell toys.

[kamino_neko]

The Headmaster Galvatron toy is already out.

[lieut_kettch]

You can't really say if Optimus would've spared Megatron when he pleaded for mercy. He might have finished him if Hot Rod hadn't interfered. Or maybe he was waiting for Megs to go for the gun so he'd have an excuse to shoot.

[quatoria]

"Never get in the power of a completely good man, Carrot. If there's a bad man looking down his crossbow at you... well, you know he'll gloat and boast, because he's got you in his power, and that's what he's really after, and you may have a chance. But if a really good man thinks you deserve to die, he'll turn and kill you without a word."

[lieut_kettch]

Galvatron, who is without mercy, now pleads for it? I thought he was made of sterner stuff.

[scorntx]

Y'know, Optimus executing a badly damaged opponent who's pleading for mercy really doesn't seem like the sort of thing he'd do...
But it is exactly the sort of thing Prowl would do.

In fact, since Combiner Wars, Optimus has been acting more and more like old Iron Ass...
Guess that combination wasn't so consequence free after all...

[kamino_neko]

Too bad it didn't go the other way around...Prowl's been acting more Prowlish than usual. >_>

[scorntx]

I dunno. In MTMTE he seemed kind of like he had a few screws loose...
(Well, looser.)

I think he might have picked up a bit of Sunstreaker.

[janegray]

If we are going to blame Prowl for Optimus' actions here just because they combined, shouldn't we then blame the Decepticons for Prowl's actions in CW since he was forced to combine with them during Dark Cybertron?

[matrix_dragon]

No, I think this decision, right or wrong, was Primes, and certainly not Prowls.

Speaking of Prowl, I seem to recall you'd moved on from getting MTMTE. Have you seen the latest issue of that?

[janegray]

Oh, I completely agree with you.

And, frankly, I don't even think it was the wrong decision. I feel Optimus was irresponsible to spare Megatron too, because even *IF* Op could know for certain that Megs was sincere (and he couldn't. For all they knew it was a bluff. It wasn't even the first time Megs had claimed he wanted to work by their side for peace, and last time it had ended with Megs shooting Optimus in the back and ordering the torture and execution of all remaining Autobots), there was always the risk Megs might turn bad again and resume murdering billions of people. But at least in that case Megs had clearly stated that he completely regretted his actions and wanted to atone for his sins and he would spend the rest of his life doing his best to amend and to help save people, and he had just helped save the Universe. So, okay, I can see mercy as a legit option. Here? None of that applies here, where Galvatron has made it clear he has absolutely no intention to stop, is only sorry they caught him, and nearly destroyed the Universe twice.

Plus, much as I like Optimus... Look, he is really not the perfect guy people see him as. Just a single example off the top of my head, he nearly beat Swindle to death in the early days of the War because Swindle (a prisoner, and a low-ranking mook whose worst crime at the time was selling stolen goods) had laughed at him and told him that the Autobots were corrupted and even worse than the Decepticons. If Bumblebee hadn't stopped him, Optimus would have murdered a defenceless prisoner in cold blood just because he had mocked him. Optimus is usually cool and rational and merciful, but he does have moments where he is just "fuck it, maybe violence is the answer."

I'm just a little sore about the usual double standard. Op does something "bad" after combining with Prowl, must be Prowl's fault. Prowl does something bad after being mindraped by one of the most sadistic Decepticons who ever lived and then forced to keep him in his head for half a year and then to combine with a whole gestalt of some of the most brutal Decepticons in the faction, must be Prowl's fault.

Haven't been reading MTMTE, but I've been checking the TFWiki articles and some scans on Tumblr so I know what happened.

[q99]

Optimus's changes have definitely been noted.

[dustbunny105]

I disagree. Having someone else execute a badly damaged opponent who's pleading for mercy is more of a Prowl thing to do. While this might be extreme for Optimus, the straightforwardness of it does, I think, suit him.

[locuatico]

To quote Ned Stark: "if you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. and if you can not do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die. A Ruler who hides behind paid execitoners soon forgets what death is:"

[akodo_rokku]

Prowl actually comments almost exactly this in this very comic.

[dustbunny105]

I knew my psychic powers would kick in one day :D

[matrix_dragon]

This isn't the first time we've seen an Autobot kill a surrendered prisoner in the IDWverse. That dubious honor belongs to Impactor, who spent quite a few years locked up at Garrus-9 for it. So, having Optimus do this is a big deal, since it's established that no, the Autobots do indeed have rules for this sort of thing. Someone go ask Magnus which chapter of the Tyrest Accords we need to look up.

That said, it's not quite the same circumstances. Impactors victims were just random soldiers. Hell, the extra info in the Wreckers trade even noted that one of them was planning on defecting to the Autobots out of fear of the DJD. And those killings were because Impactor was upset at being ordered to let them go, after he'd attacked them in a region of space claimed by a species the Autobots had a treaty of non-interference with.

Galvatron is an undeniable war criminal, one that's been involved in at least two separate attempts to murder reality. He's responsible for a number of terrorist attacks, both on his own and under the orders of Nova Prime, and as Optimus notes above, he will never stop.

[lieut_kettch]

Hmm... spending a few years locked up with nine Garruses (Garri?) doesn't seem like much of a punishment...

[janegray]

Sparing the villain's life actually being considered a selfish and self-indulgent thing, when the larger picture is taken into account? There's an idea that needs more discussion and less dismissal.

Thank you.

[cynic79]

Setting aside the content, the art in this issue blew me away. It was Andrew Griffith's last issue, and he hit it out of the park, and having Josh Burcham on colors didn't hurt at all.

The IDW Transformers comics really do have some of the best art teams in comics-dom.

[kamino_neko]

Sadly, they also have Livio Ramondeli, who made this month's issue near unreadable. v_v

But, yeah, most of the teams on them are awesome. (IDW's got a lot of great artists in general. Jem's consistently been knocked out of the park, even when Sophie Campbell is off, and Micronauts has been lovely so far. Star Trek is variable, and Rom and Action Man are merely serviceable, but still...)

[matrix_dragon]

"Sadly, they also have Livio Ramondeli, who made this month's issue near unreadable. v_v:"

I know, right? It's always so flat and lifeless. Although I've seen some of his art uncoloured, or done by other people, and while it's still far from my favourite, it's a lot better than what we get in the comics. The approach they take with colouring and shading it really doesn't help.